Nobel Lecture delivered on video by the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature Harold Pinter (1930–2008), who was at the time hospitalised and unable to travel to Stockholm to deliver it in person.
In Southern India, family disputes are settled by Jamaats—all male bodies which apply Islamic Sharia law to cases without allowing women to be present, even to defend themselves. Recognizing this fundamental inequity, a group of women in 2004 established a women’s Jamaat, which soon became a network of 12,000 members spread over 12 districts. Despite enormous resistance, they have been able to settle more than 8,000 cases to date, ranging from divorce to wife beating to brutal murders and more. Deepa Dhanraj follows several cases, shining a light on how the women’s Jamaat has acquired power through both communal education and the leaders’ persistent, tenacious and compassionate investigation of the crimes. In astonishing scenes we watch the Jamaat meetings, where women often shout over each other about the most difficult facets of their personal lives.
Filmed during a rehearsal and performance of Beethoven's Quartet in B Flat Major, Opus 130, "The Juilliard String Quartet: Keeping Beethoven Contemporary" is an exciting portrait that explores the creation and history of the famed Quartet, offering a glimpse inside the world of its four current members. Founded in 1946 by Juilliard School president William Schuman and violinist Robert Mann, with the intent of pursuing the brilliant musicianship of the classical genre, the Quartet continued well beyond its original membership, bringing the music along into a new era. Opening up their dialogue to us, the members of the Quartet, Joseph Lin, Joel Krosnick, Ronald Copes and Samuel Rhodes, speak in detail about the string quartet as a musical genre, its vibrant history, and the significant contributions of Beethoven
Critic Kenneth Frampton is a masterful commentator on the architecture of our time. At the start of his long-spanning career Frampton worked as an architect in London before settling into his writing and teaching, which mainly took place at Columbia University. Over the past fifty years Frampton has certified himself as a prolific and influential contributor towards a progressive interpretation of the role of architecture in modern society. In "Kenneth Frampton: A Critical Voice", architect Stan Allen interviews the renowned critic and questions him about his architectural contemporaries, notable past projects, and published writings.
"The New Clark: Bringing the Ando Experience to the Berkshires" is a revealing insight into a long-term radical expansion of the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The film follows the close collaboration between the museum and its internationally-acclaimed Japanese architect, Tadao Ando. Both Ando and the director of the Clark Art Institute, Michael Conforti, ponder the complexities of the project and the challenges involving aesthetic, setting, and community impact during the difficult twelve-year period. Determined to honor the institute's original buildings while introducing the modern elements associated with his unique style, Ando's design evokes a classic tranquility that seamlessly blends the Clark Art Institute with its stunning surroundings.
In an effort to work without the distractions of the city, artist Carroll Dunham moved his studio from Manhattan to a small village in Connecticut, not far from where he grew up. Finding himself to be more at peace in the calm, rural setting, Dunham feels the freedom to create wildly bold and visually stimulating work, painting his way through expression and sexuality. Continuously holding a mirror up to society, Dunham aims to examine the ways in which we interpret images and ideas surrounding the physical human form and our contrived notions of appropriate depictions of it through art and media. Dunham's large canvas works are flooded with vivid color and striking imagery that grabs the attention of its audience and encourages a reconsideration of form and gaze. "The Artist's Studio: Carroll Dunham" documents a visit with critic Roberta Smith as she observes his new captivating work: a series entitled "In the Flowers" and a large canvas "The Beach".
Greg Lynn, one of the leading figures in computer-aided architectural design, visits the first in a series of exhibitions initiated by the Canadian Centre for Architecture for which he is the curator. The exhibitions, which will travel to the Yale School of Architecture Gallery, are meant to explore the role of digital technologies in the design process since its beginnings. The first exhibition, entitled "Archaeology of the Digital", features four individuals who are pioneers in applying new technologies to architectural design: Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Chuck Hoberman, and Shoei Yoh. At the exhibition Lynn is joined by three of the four practitioners: Eisenman, Gehry and Hoberman, who each explain their path to the digital at the time.
Paul Cézanne counts as the father of modern painting. Far from Paris, in the South of France, his obstinacy as man and artist made him a pioneer of a new way of seeing. Returning always to the same sujets – the Mont Sainte-Victoire, bathing figures, or still lifes – he abandoned central perspective, distorted body-shapes and broke all the traditional rules of landscape painting. Aided by experts, and descendants of the artist, Matthew Collings gives a thorough introduction to Cézanne’s life and work, exploring the lifelong artistic quest of the man whom Picasso called “my only master”.
A report on the National Black Political Convention held in Gary, Indiana, in 1972, a historic event that gathered Black voices from across the political spectrum, among them Jesse Jackson, Dick Gregory, Coretta Scott King, Richard Hatcher, Amiri Baraka, Charles Diggs, and H. Carl McCall.
As flood waters threaten, a visionary architect is building solar floating schools -- and creating a blueprint for his country's survival. But can 'Bangladesh's Noah' keep his imperiled nation from drowning? By turns witty and heart-wrenching, 'Easy Like Water' takes you on an off-the-grid journey that offers a refreshing new perspective on the resilience of the Global South.
August 2011, Seoul station was ‘reborn’ restoring the historical traces it once had. It was named as ‘Cultural Station 284’. To commemorate this very day, an opening exhibition was held, named as ‘COUNTDOWN’. However, among all the fine works of art alongside the exhibition, the best piece of art was not to be found. To be precise, that very piece of art was not available at that time. That work of art needed time to be established. After observing and speculating the abject moments of the restoration process, finally, it was completed.
Robert McChesney lays the blame for the US's current state of affairs squarely at the doors of the corporate boardrooms of big media, which far from delivering on their promises of more choice and more diversity, have organized a system characterized by a lack of competition, homogenization of opinion and formulaic programming.
Set in Taiwan and HawaiĘ»i, territories where languages of the Austronesian family are spoken, this documentary focuses on the questions, desires and challenges of young indigenous peoples to learn the languages of their forebears— languages that are endangered or facing extinction.
The Sensual Nature of Sound portrays four New York based composers and performers in terms of their musical lives and artistic passion. Though Laurie Anderson, Tania Leon, Meredith Monk and Pauline Oliveros are all pioneers in American music, each composer pursues a distinct direction of her own. Their rehearsals and performances show a common pursuit of lyrical storytelling through which a new set of contemporary narratives has been forged. Through body, sound, movement and composition, these women have forged their own path through the wild world of modern music.
For years, there has been widespread speculation, but very little consensus, about the relationship between violent video games and violence in the real world. Joystick Warriors provides the clearest account yet of the latest research on this issue. Drawing on the insights of media scholars, military analysts, combat veterans, and gamers themselves, the film trains its sights on the wildly popular genre of first-person shooter games, exploring how the immersive experience they offer links up with the larger stories we tell ourselves as a culture about violence, militarism, guns, and manhood. Along the way, it examines the game industry's longstanding working relationship with the US military and the American gun industry, and offers a riveting examination of the games themselves -- showing how they work to sanitize, glamorize, and normalize violence while cultivating dangerously regressive attitudes and ideas about masculinity and militarism.
Unknown or forgotten by most Americans, the Korean War divided a people with several millenniums of shared history. Memory of Forgotten War conveys the human costs of military conflict through deeply personal accounts of four Korean American survivors whose experiences and memories embrace the full circle of the war: its outbreak and the day-to-day struggle for survival, separation from family members across the DMZ, the aftermath of a devastated Korean peninsula, and immigration to the United States. Each person reunites with relatives in North Korea conveying beyond words the meaning of four decades of family loss. Their stories belie the notion that war ends for civilians when the guns are silenced and foreshadow the futures of countless others displaced by ongoing military conflict today.
In Jandamarra's War, we learn how in the 1890's the European colonialists arrive in the Kimberley with vast herds of sheep and cattle, determined to make their fortune by feeding a rapidly growing population in the South. But the settlers soon discover they are in land populated with indigenous tribes, ready to fight the red-faced invaders.