This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. On November 9, 1989, a peaceful revolution in East Germany brought down this grim symbol of the Cold War and ended political oppression and the postwar division of Germany. While remnants of the Berlin Wall have become tourist attractions by now, other walls around the globe continue to cut through regions and countries, separating people and, in numerous cases, costing the lives of many. The film and discussion series “Tracking the Wall: Cinematic Encounters with Borders, Politics and Identity” will shed light on the histories and representations of border walls around the world. Along which cultural, political, ideological, and economic faultlines were these walls erected? What is their impact on the lives of individuals and communities? How are walls depicted in film, and to what extent do these cinematic representations reveal or conceal the invisible walls behind the visible ones? Each event will feature a film, introduced by a faculty member and followed by a discussion.

Peter Rosenbaum Visiting Lecturer 860/297-2521 Peter.Rosenbaum@trincoll.edu

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Edda works as a freelance press photographer, usually on commission earning little for uninteresting jobs: taking pictures of cocktail parties, meetings, and reunions. She struggles to maintain her commitment to herself as a woman, artist and single mother, and to support herself and her daughter financially and spiritually. She joins a small team of photographers who have been commissioned to take pictures of West Berlin. The women approach the “wholeness” of the divided city with a critical eye, much to the chagrin of the men who meant to exploit feminism for profit while promoting West Berlin to attract business investors. Sander’s film is a brilliant yet subtle meditation on representation - how to visually and aurally depict both women in their personal and professional lives, and Berlin in its dialectical process of “being” a city; the film questions the construction of identities of both women and the city in conflict with common perceptions about them. (DEFA Film Lib.)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 7:00PM   iHouse on 104-106 Vernon St.

A film by Mexican director Carolina Rivas and cinematographer Daoud Sarhandi about the experiences of the Amir family who lives in a small Palestinian village 15 miles from Tel Aviv. They are surrounded by the West Bank Wall, where their daily lives are dominated by electrified fences, locked gates and a constant swarm of armed soldiers. This documentary shares their private world, allowing a glimpse of the constant struggles and the small, endearing details that sustain them.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 7:00PM   iHouse on 104-106 Vernon St.

In "From the Other Side" renowned director Chantal Akerman provides an unsentimental look at the plight of illegal Mexican immigrants as they attempt the dangerous crossing from Agua Prieta in Sonora, Mexico, to Douglas, Ariz. Akerman assumes an unobtrusive and objective standpoint, avoiding an omniscient narrator, who “might suggest an unequal power relationship between filmmaker and the filmed,” and using long camera angles that capture the miles of fence along the Mexico-Arizona border to produce an air of uninterrupted verisimilitude.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 7:00PM   iHouse on 104-106 Vernon St.

Prof. Terri Ginsberg: "From Germany to Palestine: Toward an Epistemology of Cinematic Walls" Terri Ginsberg is the author and editor of numerous works including "Holocaust Film: The Political Aesthetics of Ideology," "Historical Dictionary of Middle Eastern Cinema," "Perspectives on German Cinema" (forthcoming) and "Media and Film Special Issue of the International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies." She has taught at NYU, Rutgers, Dartmouth, Ithaca College and currently serves as a director at the International Council for Middle East Studies in Washington, D.C.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 - 12:15PM   iHouse on 104-106 Vernon St.

Jürgen Böttcher`s documentary "The Wall" gives a multi-facetted picture of this symbolic construction of the Cold War at the very moment of its dismemberment. The celebrated events of 1989/90 are witnessed at important original locations in the center of Berlin. In addition the director combines historic documentary material with fascinating film projection techniques to bring to life German history of the 20th century.

Thursday, December 3, 2009 - 7:00PM   iHouse on 104-106 Vernon St.

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