Cornell Cinema series look at info control, Dutch films

With the election fast approaching, join Cornell Cinema in September and October to watch an illuminating series of documentaries and feature films exploring the ways in which filmmakers view the media, government and corporations working in concert to control information, protect special interests and advance ideological agendas.

The series begins with François Truffaut's adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic novel, "Fahrenheit 451," the inspiration for the title of Michael Moore's latest film, "Fahrenheit 9/11," which will screen in early October. Truffaut's science fiction favorite will be shown Wednesday, Sept. 1, and Friday, Sept. 3.

"Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the perceived dangers of controlling the public's right to know. It can be seen free Thursday, Sept. 2, at a screening co-sponsored with the Cornell Democrats.

Cornell Cinema presents "Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train," a documentary about the anti-war/civil rights activist, Sept. 8 and 9. Courtesy of Cornell Cinema

"Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train," a documentary about anti-war/civil rights activist Zinn, premieres Wednesday, Sept. 8, and screens again Sept. 9.

A new print of Volker Schlonforff's 1981 "Circle of Deceit," a film about how Western journalists confront terrorism in the Middle East, shows Wednesday, Sept. 15. Another Ithaca premiere, "The Corporation," a timely and accessible documentary that explores the veiled history, complex structures and dubious ethics of modern corporations, will be screened between Friday, Sept. 17, and Wednesday, Sept. 22.

"Orwell Rolls in His Grave," also an Ithaca premiere, uses George Orwell's 1984 as a departure point in a film the Seattle Post-Intelligencer calls "this most chilling of all new-wave political documentaries." It will show Wednesday, Sept. 29, and Friday, Oct. 1. The series will continue throughout October with several more titles. All screenings will take place in Willard Straight Theatre. Tickets prices are $6 general; $4.75 for students and seniors; and $4 for Cornell graduate students and kids 12 and under. For screening times or more information, call 255-3522 or visit http://cinema.cornell.edu.

Cornell Cinema also presents a program of selected highlights from the history of Dutch cinema, "The Human Dutch: Films from the Netherlands." This lineup of 13 films will run in September and October as part of the Pentangle Film Series, the Latin American Studies/CUSLAR series and as part of Cornell Cinema's regular programming. All September screenings will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Uris Hall Auditorium and are free of charge.

The series begins Sunday, Aug. 29, with "Seamen's Wives." Set in an Amsterdam of bright lights and dark shadows, the film tells the dramatic story of a woman caught between the love of a worthy sailor and the criminal she cannot escape. Made in 1930 and intended to be the first Dutch sound film, it ultimately was released as a silent film due to unforeseen complications with the new sound technology. In 2003 Dutch composer Henny Vrienten added a new soundtrack -- with music, sound effects and partly synchronized dialogue reconstructed by lip-reading the actors' words -- to the film, which is the version that will be shown at Cornell Cinema.

The series continues on Sunday evenings in September and features "The Spanish Earth" by renown Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens, on Sept. 5; "Little Rascal," the last European film made by Douglas Sirk before going to Hollywood, on Sept. 12; Bert Haanstra's "The Human Dutch," part city symphony, part ethnographic essay documentary about this unique country, on Sept. 19; and "Brass Unbound," in which late documentary filmmaker Johan van der Keuken travels from Ghana to Surinam to Nepal to Indonesia in pursuit of the colonial pathways of brass instruments and the cross-cultural currents of global influence.

"The Human Dutch: Films from the Netherlands" was conceived by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Nederlands Filmmuseum in association with the Consulate General of the Netherlands, Los Angeles. The program is presented with the support of the Dutch Cultural Fund.