The year is coming to a close, and with its end comes the ever-present specter of finals. To alleviate the burdens of studying, students are welcome to attend any or all of the upcoming screenings at the IU Cinema this month. With 18 events before the end of the semester, there are plenty of opportunities to escape the cold and enjoy musicals, action films, arthouse classics and more.
The IU Cinema is beginning the month with classic films that introduced cinematic techniques that would define the industry in the decades to come. “October (Ten Days that Shook the World),” a Soviet film celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, while the Japanese film “Rashomon” will screen at 7 p.m. Friday.
“October” is directed by Sergei Eisenstein, a Soviet filmmaker who introduced the cinematic montage to the world at large. The legendary director of films such as “Battlefield Potemkin” and “Ivan the Terrible,” Eisenstein took great pains in recreating many historical scenes from the Russian Revolution, including the storming of the Winter Palace, the ordering of Lenin’s arrest and more.
“Rashomon,” directed by Akira Kurosawa, is a thriller that revolves around solving a brutal crime. The crime has four prime witnesses, who despite sharing largely similar versions of the event, differ from one another in important ways, thus calling into question the underlying motives behind each testimony. The “Rashomon Effect,” a term used in law enforcement and in legal professions to describe the unreliability of eyewitness testimony, is based on this film.
Later this month, the cinema will screen two timeless family films: “Pinocchio” and “The Sound of Music.” “Pinocchio," the second full-length animated feature from Disney Animation, tells a classic story of a puppet who is brought to life to act as the son to the lonely woodcarver Geppetto. The film will screen at 1 p.m. Sunday following a tour and family program at the Eskenazi Museum of Art at noon.
The screening of “The Sound of Music” will take place at 4 p.m. Dec. 15. The screening will be the IU Cinema’s fifth-annual Quote-Along, where attendees are encouraged to wear costumes and sing or talk along to the film. This classic musical follows the Von Trapp family as it attempts to escape a coming Nazi invasion.
The Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa al-Mansour will come to the IU Cinema at 4 p.m. Dec. 13 to give an interview and to present her latest film “The Perfect Candidate.” Al-Mansour is the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia, and three of her films were screened in November.
“The Perfect Candidate” will screen later that day at 7 p.m. The film tells the story of Maryam, a doctor who is stymied by the limited opportunities for women in her community and decides to run for office.
Additional information on these showings and more is available on the IU Cinema website. Tickets are available for these showings online, at the IU Auditorium Box Office or in the IU Cinema Lobby an hour before each showing.
