UC Irvine Summer Session Announces Free Film Series

IRVINE, Calif. – June 27, 2005 – UC Irvine announces today that four free films will be available to students and the public every Thursday during the month of July. This free and original film series, Unruly Frames and Fantastic Visions, is sponsored by UC Irvine Summer Session and the Department of Film and Media Studies.

The series will be curated by James Leo Cahill, Ph.D. candidate in UC Irvine's Visual Studies program, teaching assistant for UC Irvine’s Film and Media Studies Department and UC Irvine Summer Session instructor. The series themed Unruly Frames and Fantastic Visions, will feature the following films: Donkey Skin by Jacques Demy, Careful by Guy Maddin, Beaver Trilogy by Trent Harris and Little Otik by Jan Svankmajer. The films will be shown on UC Irvine’s campus, in the Humanities Instructional Building (HIB), room 100 at 7pm each Thursday, during the month of July.

“Our film series provides an excellent venue to bring students and the public at large to the UC Irvine campus this summer. It’s been a pleasure working closely with James Leo Cahill and our Film and Media Studies Department to offer these wonderful and truly unique films,” says Molly Schneider, Associate Director, UC Irvine Summer Session.

Donkey Skin [Peau D’âne], Jacques Demy (France, 1970, 89 minutes, subtitled) has been recently restored to 35mm under the supervision of Agnès Varda (Cléo from 5 to 7) and will be shown on July 7th. Bursting with song, psychedelic colors, and Freudian wit, this adaptation of Charles Perrault’s fairy tale stars Catherine Deneuve (Umbrellas of Cherbourg) as a princess forced to disguise herself in the skin of a donkey and live as a malodorous scullion in order to escape the untoward attention of her father (Jean Marais, Beauty and the Beast) and find her true love.

Careful, Guy Maddin (Canada, 1992, 100 minutes) will be shown on July 14th and is considered by critics to be one of the strangest films to ever come out of Canada. Murderous desires, thwarted passions, and blind ghosts torment three brothers in the 19th-century Canadian-Alpine village of Tolzbad, where even the smallest noise threatens to set off a massive avalanche. A reinvention of the long-forgotten “mountain film” genre, Careful combines absurdist humor with the silent film styles of the German Expressionists and an ethereal two-strip Technicolor film process to create a delirious aesthetic all his own.

UC Irvine Summer Session Film Series

Beaver Trilogy: The Beaver Kid, The Beaver Kid 2, The Orkly Kid, Trent Harris (USA, 1979-1985, 83 minutes) will be shown on July 21st. A cinematic echo chamber, The Beaver Trilogy offers a fascinating study on the nature of chance, obsession, repetition, and blonde ambitions that blurs the lines of documentary and narrative film forms. The Beaver Kid documents Harris’ chance encounter with a teenage-outcast obsessed with Olivia Newton John. The Beaver Kid 2 is a shot-for-shot recreation of the original video starring a young Sean Penn in the titular role. The Orkly Kid re-visits both films through an inspired early performance by Crispin Glover.

Little Otik [Otesánek] Jan Svankmajer (Czech Republic, 2000, 127 minutes, subtitled) will be shown on July 28th. Bozena and Karel want nothing more than to have a baby. When Bozena’s intense maternal desires bring a tree stump to life, the couple believes their prayers have been answered—until the little miracle’s monstrous appetite threatens to become all-consuming. Internationally acclaimed animator and director Svankmajer’s re-interpretation of this classic Czech fairy tale offers a wicked, surreal look family and not-so-conspicuous consumption.

“I’m thrilled to inaugurate our Summer Film Series with these rarely screened films and videos, most making their first Orange County premiere. Each film attempts in its own way to reinvigorate and reinvent the fairy tale as a mode for dealing with often inexpressible appetites and desires with sophistication and wit”, says James Leo Cahill, Ph.D. candidate in UC Irvine's Visual Studies program, teaching assistant for UC Irvine’s Film and Media Studies Department, and UC Irvine Summer Session instructor.

For more information about UC Irvine’s free film series, visit summer.uci.edu or call (949) 824-5493 for details.

Summer Session, the fourth quarter of the University of California Irvine, is offering over 550 courses this summer. Open Enrollment means that Summer Session serves University of California (UC) students from all campuses as well as college, international, and high school students seeking to earn university credit toward a degree. Summer Session is offered during three convenient sessions beginning June 27th and August 8th 2005. For more information about open enrollment at UC Irvine Summer Session, visit summer.uci.edu or call (949) 824-5493 for details.