[ThisWeek] American Indian Film Festival and Best of Youth at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre

[thisweek at kenworthy.org]

This week at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre...

Kenworthy Film Society presents
Best of Youth, part 1 (R)
Sunday, April 2
3:10 & 7:00 PM
$5/adult
(See Review below)
* * *

University of Idaho presents
American Indian Film Festival
March 29 - April 1

MOSCOW, Idaho ³American Indian Activism and Leadership² is the theme of this
year¹s American Indian Film Festival hosted by the University of Idaho.
            
The films selected for this year¹s festival bring to light national and
local issues and concerns, including dam removal, young tribe members
struggle with pop-culture and American Indian leadership representation.

The four day festival begins March 29 with ceremonial opening with remarks
by Rebecca Miles, a member of the Nez Perce Tribe, and the first female
elected chairman in the tribe¹s history, and ends April 1 with a
presentation by John Trudell, American Indian activist and actor.

The free films, partially funded by the Idaho Humanities Council, will be
shown at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre at 7 p.m. each day, with panel
discussions following the screening.

The following is the film schedule with brief descriptions:

Wednesday March 29

Film:   ³Thunderbird Woman-Winona LaDuke²
        Filmed on the White Earth Reservation: A story of Winona LaDuke
Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), a leading figure in the struggle for American Indian
land rights and sovereignty, vice-presidential candidate, novelist,
environmentalist, anti-nuclear activist and mother.
 
Panel: American Indian women leaders and activists, including Rebecca Miles.
 
Thursday March 30

Film:   ³Doing it?²
        An abstinence-education documentary. Three Nez Perce high school
students are influenced by the images and messages they see on television
and want to find out if everyone is ³doing it². Filmed in Lapwai in March
2005, it was produced by Nez Perce Tribe Students for Success Program.
 
Film:   ³Surviving Lewis and Clark: The Nimiipuu Story²
        This documentary focuses on the contributions of the Nez Perce
people to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Highlights the major events that
have contributed to some of the social and economic difficulties in today¹s
Nez Perce homeland.
 
Panel: Dialogue with filmmakers and actors
 
Friday March 31

Film:   ³Unconquering the Last Frontier²
        This documentary chronicles the Elwha Klallam Tribe¹s struggle to
survive in the midst of hydroelectric development in Washington.
 
Film:   ³The Snowball effect²
        Film explores the controversy surrounding the recently proposed ski
resort expansion and snowmaking with wastewater on the San Francisco Peaks.
American Indian tribal officials, spiritual leaders, Forest Service
officials and concerned citizens discuss the issues of economic
misconceptions, threats to the environment, global warming, sacred lands
protection and public health concerns associated with groundbreaking studies
on wastewater. 
 
Panel: Native Americans and non-Native Americans working with treaty rights,
salmon preservation, sacred land, economic development and private property
right issues.
 
Saturday April 1 

5 p.m. - 8 p.m. UI Native American Student Association will be selling
Indian tacos outside the Kenworthy.
 
Film:   ³Trudell - The Movie²
        A documentary about American Indian activist John Trudell, a poet,
singer and powerful voice of the human spirit. His work began as an activist
for American Indian rights and freedoms and was the national spokesperson
during the Indians of All Tribes Occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969.  He
assisted in the formation of American Indian Movement (AIM) in the Œ70s and
has appeared in several movies, including ³Incident at Oglala,²
³Thunderheart,² ³On Deadly Ground² and ³Smoke Signals.²
 
Presentation / Question and answer: with John Trudell.

Contacts: Katie Dahlinger, UI Communications and Marketing, (208) 885-7251,
kdahlinger at uidaho.edu
* * *

Next week at the Kenworthy-

Sirius Idaho Theatre presents
A Walk in the Woods
Thursday, Friday & Saturday, April 6, 7 & 8
7:30 PM
Saturday, April 8
2:00 PM
$15/Adult, $10/Senior, $5/Student
All seats for opening night only $5 each
Tickets available at BookPeople of Moscow
(see press release below)

Kenworthy Film Society presents
Best of Youth, part 2 (R)
Sunday, April 9
3:10 & 7:00 PM
* * *

Also in April at the Kenworthy-

Sirius Idaho Theatre presents
Collected Stories
Thursday, Friday & Saturday, April 13, 14, & 15
7:30 PM
Saturday, April 15
2:00 PM
$15/Adult, $10/Senior, $5/Student
All seats for opening night only $5 each
Tickets available at BookPeople of Moscow
(see press release below)

Caché (R)
April 21, 7:00 PM
April 22 & 23, 4:10 & 7:00 PM

Why We Fight (PG-13)
April 28, 7:00 PM
April 29 & 30, 4:30 & 7:00 PM

Coming in May: Brokeback Mountain, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story,
Match Point, Rendezvous Showcase

Regular movie prices:  $5/adult, $2/child 12 or younger
KFS series pass prices:  $30/10 films, $75/30 films. KFS pass good only for
Sunday movies.

For more information on movies, events, rental rates, and/or to download a
schedule, visit our website at www.kenworthy.org
* *  *

For immediate release: March 28, 2006

Sirius Idaho Theatre celebrates Two Seasons
Two Men, Two Women, Two Shows in Two Weeks

To celebrate the end of their second season of theatre, Sirius Idaho Theatre
is bringing two shows to the stage, a two-man play followed by a two-woman
play. The final two shows of their 2005-06 season include A Walk in the
Woods, by Lee Blessing and Collected Stories by Donald Margulies. All
performances will be at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, Moscow, Idaho.

A Walk in the Woods, nominated for both the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize in
1988, takes place in a ³pleasant woods on the outskirts of Geneva.² The
story follows the differences dividing two arms negotiators, one Soviet and
one American. It is a refreshing and humorous look at the frustrations
inherent in the negotiating process and allows us to understand the humanity
of these wise and decent men. Directed by Luis Guerrero, the cast consists
of two men: Andrey Botvinnik, a 57 year old career Soviet diplomat, played
by John Dickinson and John Honeyman, a 45 year old American negotiator,
played by Gregory Newell Smith.

Collected Stories, directed by Forrest Sears, follows the interconnected
lives of two women. An accomplished and respected short-story writer and
teacher, Ruth Steiner, played by Valerie McIlroy, has carved out a
comfortable life for herself in a Greenwich Village apartment she has
occupied for decades. Lisa Morrison, a child of suburban privilege, played
by Isabella Whitfield, is a callow yet talented graduate student and
aspiring writer when she meets Ruth and offers to become her assistant. Over
six years, in as many scenes, Collected Stories eavesdrops on Ruth and Lisa
as their relationship evolves (from mentor/protégée to loving friends to
adversaries) and ultimately disintegrates -- touching on issues of age,
artistic license, and betrayal.

The two plays will be staged at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre in
consecutive weeks. A Walk in the Woods opens Thursday, April 6 at 7: 30 pm,
with additional evening performances  on April 7 & 8 and a Saturday matinee
April 8 at 2:00 pm.  Collected Stories opens Thursday, April 13 at 7:30 pm,
with additional evening performances on April 14 & 15, and a Saturday
matinee April 15 at 2:00 pm. Tickets for the opening night of each play will
be only $5 for all seats. For the other performances, ticket prices will be
$15 Adults, $10 Seniors, and $5 Students. Tickets are available at
BookPeople of Moscow and at the Kenworthy box office an hour before each
performance.

For more information about the plays or to volunteer with Sirius Idaho
Theatre, contact Pam Palmer, Managing Artistic Director, at 208-596-2270
siriusidahotheatre at gmail.com or visit the web site of Sirius Idaho Theatre
http://www.siriusidahotheatre.com/

Contact information:
Sirius Idaho Theatre, P.O. Box 8762, Moscow, ID 83843
(208) 596-2270
* * *

This week¹s movie review-

The Best of Youth

Miramax presents a film directed by Marco Tullio Giordana
Written by Sandro Petragia and Stefano Rulli
In Italian, with English subtitles

Running time: 6 hours, 6 minutes ­ Presented in 2 Parts
Rated R (for language and brief nudity)


As reviewed by Roger Ebert writing for the Chicago Sun-Times

Every review of "The Best of Youth" begins with the information that it is
six hours long. No good movie is too long, just as no bad movie is short
enough. I dropped outside of time and was carried along by the narrative
flow; when the film was over, I had no particular desire to leave the
theater, and would happily have stayed another three hours. The two-hour
limit on most films makes them essentially short stories. "The Best of
Youth" is a novel. 

The film is ambitious. It wants no less than to follow two brothers and the
people in their lives from 1963 to 2000, following them from Rome to Norway
to Turin to Florence to Palermo and back to Rome again. The lives intersect
with the politics and history of Italy during the period: the hippies, the
ruinous flood in Florence, the Red Brigades, kidnappings, hard times and
layoffs at Fiat, and finally a certain peace for some of the characters and
for their nation. 

The brothers are Nicola and Matteo Carati (Luigi Lo Cascio and Alessio
Boni). We meet their parents, Angelo (Andrea Tidona) and Adriana (Adriana
Asti), their older sister Giovanna (Lidia Vitale), and their kid sister
Francesca. And we meet their friends, their lovers, and others who drift
through, including a mental patient whose life seems to follow in parallel.

As the film opens, Nicola has qualified as a doctor and Matteo is still
taking literature classes. Matteo, looking for a job, has been hired as a
"logotherapist" -- literally, a person who takes mental patients for walks.
One of the women he walks with is Giorgia (Jasmine Trinca), who is
beautiful, deeply wounded by electroshock therapy, and afraid of the world.
On the spur of the moment, Matteo decides to spring her from the institution
and take her along when he and Nicola take a summer trip to the "end of the
world," the tip of Norway.

Because of the length of the film, the director Marco Tullio Giordana has
time and space to work with, and we get a tangible sense of the characters
growing older, learning about themselves, dealing with hardship. The journey
of Giulia, the radical, is the most difficult and in some ways the most
touching. The way Nicola finally finds happiness is particularly satisfying
because it takes him so long to realize that it is right there before him
for the taking. 

The film must have deep resonances for Italians, where it was made for
national television; because of its politics, sexuality and grown-up
characters, it would be impossible on American networks. It is not easy on
Italy. As he is graduating from medical school, Nicola is advised by his
professor: "Do you have any ambition? Then leave Italy. Go to London, Paris,
America, if you can. Italy is a beautiful country. But it is a place to die,
run by dinosaurs." Nicola asks the professor why he stays. "I'm one of the
dinosaurs." 

When you hear that this film is six hours long, reflect that it is therefore
also six hours deep.

As reviewed by A. O. Scott writing for the New York Times

The Best of Youth" was shown as part of the 2003 New York Film Festival. One
subject of "The Best of Youth," is the transformation of Italy into a modern
consumer society. In the montage of newspaper images that introduces Part 1,
the major symbol of this change is television, and one of the first things
we see is a boxy old set being hauled up the stairs of a Rome apartment
building. 

This is only fitting, since "The Best of Youth" was originally made as a
mini-series for Italian television and was broadcast in several other
European countries after being released theatrically in Italy. Its genesis
as a multi-episode small-screen epic accounts for its length, but also makes
it easier to take. The director, Marco Tullio Giordana, is motivated by
generosity - toward both his characters and his audience - rather than by
self-indulgence. 

The story he has to tell, written by Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli, is
full of nuance and complexity, but it is also as accessible and engrossing
as a grand 19th-century novel. Yes, "The Best of Youth" is long. But "War
and Peace" is long. "Middlemarch" is long. Life is also long, and there is
so much life in these six hours - 37 years, to the extent that you can
quantify it - that you may marvel at Mr. Giordana's economy.

Despite its unblinking attention to the destructive forces at large in
Italian society - from the Red Brigades terror and the political scandals of
the 1970's to the anti-Mafia campaigns (and further political scandals) of
more recent years - the spirit of "The Best of Youth" is quietly, wryly
optimistic. Its political point of view turns out to be precisely the
tolerant, middle-class humanism, with its belief in human goodness and the
possibility of social progress, that the postwar generation claimed to rebel
against. 

As reviewed by Sean Axmaker writing for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Originally made as a television miniseries but released directly to
theaters, this compelling and compassionate six-hour experience was both a
critical and popular hit in Italy. The rich tapestry of history is enlivened
with characters that weave in and out of their lives, who touch and
transform the brothers as much as the events around them. Giordana's
redemptive vision provides a sense of discovery and a well of hope in the
most devastating of troubles, and beautiful surprises in love, friendship
and family.

Marco Tullio Giordana drifts through 40 years of Italian political and
social history via the experiences of brothers Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio) and
Matteo (Alessio Boni).

Idealistic university students in 1966 Italy, their lives undergo a seismic
shock when their rescue of a tormented young woman from a barbaric asylum
collapses. While Nicola undergoes an odyssey of self discovery and dedicates
himself to reform, Matteo shuts himself off emotionally from the world and
retreats into the structure and regimented authority of the army. Nicola's
professional life, which occasionally drifts into the foreground of the
story, involves him in efforts to improve the treatment of the mentally ill,
and this rather specialized cause is the clearest statement of the film's
central idea, which is that a commitment to human dignity is ideology
enough. Maya Sansa joins the cast as a sensitive photographer who touches
the lives of both brothers.


Film reviews researched and edited by Peter A. Haggart
* * *

Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre
508 S. Main Street, Moscow, Idaho
208-882-4127
Sign up for this weekly email on events and movies at the Kenworthy by
logging onto our website
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAMELA PALMER, Volunteer
Mailto:ppalmer at moscow.com
Film and Events Committee
Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre

http://www.kenworthy.org
To speak with a KPAC staff member,
call (208) 882-4127
Mailto:kpac at moscow.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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