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IAP 2007 Activity


Staging Revolutions on Film
Meriam Belli
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)

This five-day film series presents cinematic portrayals of revolutionary characters and moments in world cinema, from the U.S. to China, including France, Iran, and Russia. This series figures as the foretaste of a new subject offered by the History Faculty in Fall 2007, entitled, "How to Stage a Revolution," which will explore the revolutionary pasts of the aforementioned countries.

Screenings will be presented by a member of the History Faculty.
Contact: Mabel Chin, E51-285, x3-9846, mchin@mit.edu
Sponsor: History

Staging Revolutions on Film - "Reds" (United States)
Prof. Christopher Capozzola
Warren Beatty, Reds (1981). 194 min.
This historical epic recounts the reel-life of radical journalist and political activist John Reed (1887-1920) and feminist Louise Bryant between 1915 and 1920. The story follows Reed and Bryant from the U.S. through Europe, and finally to Russia in 1917, as they witnessed the October Revolution. NOTE: This event starts at 6:00 pm.
Mon Jan 22, 06-10:30pm, 32-155

Staging Revolutions on Film - "Danton" (France)
Prof. Jeffrey Ravel
Andrzej Wajda, Danton (France/Poland, 1983). 136 min.
This film recreates the “Reign of Terror,” the brutal and divided political atmosphere of 1794 revolutionary France. After the suppression of the counter-revolution, Jacobinists, under the decisive lead of Maximilien Robespierre, controlled the Parisian political theater and “Madame Guillotine.”
Tue Jan 23, 07-10:00pm, 32-155

Staging Revolutions on Film - "The Battleship Potemkin" (Russia)
Prof. Elizabeth Wood
Sergei Eisenstein, The Battleship Potemkin (Russia, 1925). 74 min.

A cinematic and propagandistic chef-d’oeuvre, an ode to the communist Russian revolution, and an aesthetic revolution in itself, this film dramatically recounts the 1905 historical rebellion of a battleship crew against its Tsarist officers.
Wed Jan 24, 07-10:00pm, 32-155

Staging Revolutions on Film - "Morning Sun" (China)
Prof. Peter C. Perdue
Carma Hinton, Geremie Barmé, and Richard Gordon, Morning Sun (US, 2003). 120 min.
This award-winning documentary recreates the political, cultural, and ideological climate of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and is based on interviews conducted with men and women who were born around the time of the creation of the People’s Republic of China (1949) and who grew up during the Cultural Revolution.
Thu Jan 25, 07-10:00pm, 32-155

Staging Revolutions on Film - "Two Women/Do Zan" (Iran)
Meriam Belli
Tahmineh Milani, Two Women/Do Zan (Iran,1999)
This film, received as an event in Iran in 1999, tells a story of friendship between two female architecture students in Tehran in the early, politically agitated years of the Islamic Revolution(1979). The women’s destinies take different turns. Urban middle-class Roya continues a brilliant career, while Fereshteh, a provincial girl, is trapped in an abusive marriage.
Fri Jan 26, 07-10:00pm, 32-155
Latest update: 16-Jan-2007


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