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| Photo courtesy of Sasha Waters Freyer. |
Date: May 31, 2016
To: All media for immediate release
Re: A Bijou Presents screening on June 11
From: The Bijou Film Center
The
next Bijou Presents event will be offered to the public on Sat., June
11, 2016. We are calling the program of three films "Through the Eyes of
Children." We will be using the facilities at 1708 Gallery, 319 W. Broad
Street. The doors will open at 7:30 p.m. The film program will begin at
approximately 8:30 p.m.
"Chekhov for Children"
(2010): Color with some black and white footage. 72 minutes. Directed
by Sasha Waters Freyer. Note: The director of this award-winning
documentary combines footage of a 1979 staging of Chekhov's "Uncle
Vanya" by fifth- and sixth-graders in New York City, with videos and
Super 8 films shot by children in the same era, with updated glimpses at
those kids, grown up, some 30 years later. When an artist stretches to
combine elements that might seem unrelated, it's always risky; sometimes
it's audacious. When the resulting assemblage creates a unique harmony
that is both fresh and familiar, it can outweigh sum of the parts in a way
that seems magical.
"Mouseholes"
(1999): Color. 8 minutes. Directed by Helen Hill. Note: "Since I could
not stop my grandfather's death, I tried to understand, through
recordings of his voice, home movies and animated scenes of Heaven." --
Helen Hill.
"Les Mistons"
(1957): B&W. 17 minutes. Directed by François Truffaut. Cast:
Bernadette Lafont, Gérard Blain. Note: A group of five boys becomes
obsessed with a beautiful young woman (Lafont in her first film) who
rides her bicycle around the village and sometimes to meetings with her
boyfriend. Out of a mixture of curiosity and jealousy the boys stalk the
lovers and make mischief to annoy them. Liberated from the restrictions
of the static camera and sound stage this delightful short film helped
to set the French New Wave in motion; it got Truffaut the money to make
his first feature.
Why these three movies? The
thread that runs through them is
that each offers us a view of life, essentially through the eyes of
children. Before children have fully grasped what society expects them
to notice and classify, they sometimes see what may be invisible to
adults.
This presentation will move the Bijou Film
Center closer to what is envisioned to be its nature, once we have
completed the one-off phase of our development and landed in our
permanent location. Our plan is to consistently invite those who get it
to take in cinematic experiences they will not find the likes of
anywhere else in Richmond. Have a beer, or a glass of wine, or a cup of
coffee. Have a bite to eat. Share the whole experience with people who
enjoy watching good movies together, because they get it -- they know it
makes a difference.
By the way, this will be the Richmond premiere of "Chekhov for Children."
Admission: Bijou Film
Center members will get in free and a $5.00 donation will be accepted
from
non-members. Note: The same three films will be presented the night
before, Fri., June 10, to members only with admission free. Seating will
be limited to 70 people on both nights.
Background on the Filmmakers:
Sasha
Waters Freyer is currently the chair of Virginia Commonwealth
University's Photography and Film Department. More information about her
can be seen here;
Helen
Hill was born in Columbia, SC, where she began making animated films as
a child. She was educated at Harvard, taught filmmaking in Nova Scotia
and was murdered in the nightmarish aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in
New Orleans in 2007. More about Hill can be seen here.
François Truffaut is perhaps the best known/most celebrated director of what became known as the French New Wave of the 1960s. Among others his feature films included: "The 400 Blows," "Jules
and Jim," "Fahrenheit 451," "Small Change" and "Day for Night." More about Truffaut can be seen here.
The Bijou's Mission: The
centerpiece of the Bijou Film Center we envision will be a small
independent cinema -- a little art house theater that will strive to
present the
best of first-run independent and imported films available. They will be
sandwiched between short runs of selected classics. Live music will
occasionally be presented. In a small adjoining café/coffeehouse we will
serve sandwiches, soups, salads, bagels, pastries,
coffee, tea, beer, wine and so forth.
We
hope to soon (very soon!) sign a lease on a temporary space in which to
experiment and further develop the concept. This will allow us to offer
regular programs in the same space. Compared to what we've done so far,
this event's atmosphere and programming style, sans folding chairs,
should more closely resemble what's envisioned for operations in our
permanent space. Beyond the
exhibition of our gourmet film fare, we hope to be a friend to those
interested in the preserving of old films and the making of new films.
