Cornell Cinema continues several film series this month focusing on such diverse subjects as heroin addiction and Barbie Doll culture.
With the fashion world now being accused of glamorizing heroin use through its advertising and the steady stream of showbiz superstars checking in to detox centers, Cornell Cinema confronts the issue with its series "The Needle and the Damage Done: Heroin Addiction on Film," sponsored by ALERT Peer Education, Drug Risk-Reduction Program and the Gannett Health Center. Six films on the subject will be shown through December. Admission for each is $4.50; $4 for students. All screenings will be in Willard Straight Theatre, unless otherwise noted. The series includes:
Clint Eastwood's Bird, about the life of jazz legend Charlie Parker, devotes much attention to Parker's heroin addiction, and Dustin Hoffman's Oscar-nominated performance as comedian Lenny Bruce in Lenny adroitly explores the persecution and paranoia of an addict. Bird will be shown Nov. 13 at 10:30 p.m., and Lenny, Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
The most recent film in the series is Trainspotting, which has come under fire in some circles for presenting the drug culture in a positive light. The film, based on the novel by Irvine Wells, follows the exploits of heroin addicts in Edinburgh, Scotland. The film will be shown Nov. 20 at 10 p.m. in Willard Straight, Nov. 22 at 9:45 p.m. and 23 at midnight at Uris and Nov. 25 at 10:15 p.m. in Willard Straight.
Rounding out the series is Let's Get Lost, a documentary on jazz great Chet Baker's life (Dec. 4 at 7:20 p.m.); The Panic in Needle Park, the story of two down-and-outers who fall in love with each other -- and heroin -- (Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m.); and Sid and Nancy, the sordid story of Sex Pistols bassist and heroin addict Sid Vicious and his girl-friend groupie (Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m.).
The film series "Barbies, Binges, Bodies, Beauty," sponsored by the Cornell Council for the Arts and the Women's Studies Program, focuses on the female body in voice, vision and radical representation. All films in the series will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in the Center for Theatre Arts Film Forum. Admission is $2.
On Nov. 12 three films will explore women and their struggles with bulimia: It Scares Me to Feel This Way by Sallie Fuchs, Trick or Drink by Vanalyne Green and Binge by Lynn Hershman.
On Nov. 19 films by five female directors uncover the explorations, celebrations, infatuations and frustrations with the female body in the films: We're Talking Vulva, Dangerous When Wet, Body Hair, the animated Your Name in Cellulite and Period Piece, which records the conversations of a diverse group of women on the subject of menstruation.
On Dec. 3 "Reinventing Female Fashion" is the focus of two films: Framing Lesbian Fashion, a look at the evolution of lesbian attire and identity, and Stigmata: The Transfigured Body, which documents the popularity of body modification practices among women.
While not part of the aforementioned film series, Cornell Cinema is showing a new print of Barbarella, featuring a 30-year-old Jane Fonda in a wardrobe of plastic, fighting off an orgasmatron-wielding villain (Nov. 8 at 7:20 p.m. and Nov. 9 at midnight, in Uris).
For more information on Cornell Cinema offerings, call 255-3522.