'Revolution!' series brings filmmaker Robert Fenz to campus

As an expansion of its "Haitian History" series and a reflection of the times in which we live, Cornell Cinema presents "Revolution!" a series of classic films depicting revolutionary upheavals in Algeria, Cuba, France, Haiti and Russia, in addition to two documentaries addressing revolutionary times both past and present. Today, April 15, at 7 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre, filmmaker Robert Fenz will present his program of related experimental films, "Meditations on Revolution," which explores definitions of the term "revolution" both inside and outside the political realm. Tickets for this screening are $6 general; $5 students and seniors; and $4 Cornell graduate students. For more information call 255-3522 or visit http://cinema.cornell.edu.

Also featured as part of the series is "The Weather Underground," directed by Sam Green and Bill Siegel, which was one of this year's Academy Award nominees for Best Documentary. The film uses archival footage to depict the heady, raging days when the Weathermen, a group of student activists, carried out bombings in retaliation for the murder of Black Panther Fred Hampton. This footage is juxtaposed with contemporary interviews that reveal the former group members to be people aware of their wrongs yet committed to community activism.

On April 19, Cornell Cinema will screen a restored print of the extraordinary "The Battle of Algiers," Gillo Pontecorvo's stirring and timely pseudo-documentary about the Algerian revolution against the French; it was viewed by the Pentagon last August in hopes of gaining insight into how to handle the guerilla tactics being used in postwar Iraq. The film treatment was written by an Algerian National Liberation Front leader while in French prison, who upon his release produced the film. With a compelling score by Ennio Morricone and remarkable footage shot in the labyrinthine lanes of the Casbah and on the streets of Algiers, the film was nominated for numerous Academy Awards and won the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival. This restored print features new subtitles that convey the French and Arabic dialogue accurately for the very first time.