Audiovisual Library

The Revolution Has Been Televised

New Arrivals

How to Start a Revolution (2011). Dir: Ruaridh Arrow. Call Number: LD13-0531

Just Do It: A Tale of Modern-Day Outlaws (2011). Dir: Emily James. Call Number:  LD13-0533

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Image: Courtesy of How to Start a Revolution

How to Start a Revolution celebrates the ideas and influence of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr. Gene Sharp, whose work on nonviolent revolution has provided popular uprisings all over the world with concrete methods to protest without resorting to violent means. Scottish director Ruaridh Arrow includes interviews with a number of people whose lives and struggles have been profoundly influenced by the work of Dr. Sharp, including Srdja Popovic, leader of the Serbian nonviolent resistance group Otpor! and Ahmed Maher, leader of April 6 Youth Movement from Egypt.

Released the day after the first Occupy protests on Wall Street in New York in September 2011, How to Start a Revolution became the unofficial film of the Occupy movement. The documentary highlights a number of the 198 methods of nonviolent protest described in Dr. Sharp’s The Politics of Nonviolent Action, including displays of flags and symbolic colours, consumer boycotts and mock elections and funerals. Described by the Huffington Post as “a vital conversation starter and educational tool for a world awash in violence" (Siegel, 2011), How to Start a Revolution serves as a timely and poignant reminder of the power of people to instigate change through nonviolent means.

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Image: Courtesy of Left Field Films

Dr. Sharp’s ideas are put into practice in the documentary Just Do It: A Tale of Modern-Day Outlaws, which profiles with a number of individuals involved in nonviolent direct-action campaigns across the UK. Filmmaker Emily James spent a year tracking the activists involved with such campaigns, providing an inside eye into protest planning, coordination and execution. Amongst the climate change activists we meet are Marina, who believes in the transformative power of a good cup of tea, and Sally, a Cambridge University student who doesn't just read theories of civil disobedience but puts them into action. Just Do It has been described as a “smart, adrenalized portrait of 21st-century activism” (Leigh, 2011) and offers the promise that with a bit of planning and a commitment to the cause, change is possible.

References:

Leigh, Danny. (17 June 2011). The Best of Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011. Guardian.co.uk. 

Sharp, Gene. (1973). The Politics of Nonviolent Action. Boston, MA: Porter Sargent.

Siegel, Dan. (19 October 2011). Film Review: How to Start a Revolution. Huffington Post.

Alexis McCullough
Audiovisual Library/Arts Information Services

posted @ Friday, June 14, 2013 4:24 PM | Feedback (0)

Fine Arts at AV

New Arrivals

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012)      Dir: Alison Klayman   Call Number: LD13-0233
The Artist is Present (2012)           Dir: Matthew Akers     Call Number: LD12-1020

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Image: Courtesy of HBO Films

One of the most prominent performance artists of the last 40 years, Marina Abramovic has used her body in ways that challenges its boundaries.

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has garnered international attention as much for his ambitious artwork as his political provocations, which caused him to ‘disappear’, to be fined for tax evasion and to be imprisoned.

The Artist is Present takes place New York Museum of Modern Art as a major retrospective of Abramović's work takes place.  During the run of the exhibition, Abramović performed “The Artist is Present,” a 736-hour and 30-minute static, silent piece, in which she sat immobile in the museum's atrium, while spectators were invited to take turns sitting opposite her. If you don’t think a woman sitting on a chair could be an exciting watch, let The Artist is Present challenge you! The film is “an intelligent overview that makes a radical artist’s work comprehensible to audiences with no previous awareness of her or her chosen path” (Koehler, 2012).

Never Sorry chronicles two years of Weiwei’s life as he creates enormous artworks like Sunflower Seeds, which is made up of millions of hand-crafted porcelain seeds, and as he challenges China's repressive political system. “Watching"Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry"is like experiencing a thrilling unfinished symphony: The story is enthralling, but it's not over, and there's no telling where it's going. Which makes what we see on screen all the more involving” (Turan, 2012).

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Image: Courtesy of Madman Entertainment

References:
Koehler, Robert. Review.  variety.com. 21 Jan. 2012.
Turan, Kenneth. Review. http://articles.latimes.com. 3 Aug. 2012.

Vulcan Demirkan-Martin
Audiovisual Library

posted @ Tuesday, May 28, 2013 4:00 PM | Feedback (0)

130th anniversary of The University of Auckland

Image of the AV Library Display at the General Library

posted @ Thursday, May 23, 2013 11:24 AM | Feedback (0)

Atypical Crime Drama

New Arrivals

Polisse (2011)      Dir: Maiwen     Call Number: LD12-1242

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Image: Courtesy of Artificial Eye

“All the tears I shed were hard-earned. So were all the laughing and clapping and eye-covering” (Morris, 2012). 

Winner of the Jury Prize at 2011 Cannes film festival and nominated for 15 Cesar Awards in 2012, Polisse follows the daily lives of the members of Child Protection Unit and is based on real events.

Frequently referred to as Wire-like, the film is at the same time sad, funny, upsetting and charming.  An accomplished ensemble cast of French actors give incredible and naturalistic performances and the crime is unlike anything we see in conventional American crime movies and TV series: “Polisse  is so like those shows that it’s utterly unlike them. It’s raw where, say, “SVU” is slick. It’s personal where “CSI” is histrionically forensic. It’s funny where “NCIS” can be labored” (Morris, 2012). This is an exciting and rewarding watch.

Reference:
Morris, Wesley. Polisse.  www.boston.com. 25 May. 2012.

Image: Courtesy of Artificial Eye

Vulcan Demirkan-Martin
Audiovisual Library

posted @ Friday, May 17, 2013 4:06 PM | Feedback (0)

South Korean Epic

New Arrivals

Nameless Gangster (2012)     Dir: Yoon Jong-bin Call      Number: LD LD13-0059

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Image: Courtesy of Showbox

Image: Courtesy of Showbox
 

posted @ Friday, May 03, 2013 1:34 PM | Feedback (0)

Eloquent Political Drama

New Arrivals

Rebellion (2011)  Dir: Mathieu Kassovitz    Call Number: LD13-0378

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 Image: Courtesy of Mongrel Media

In 1988, 27 police were kidnapped and 4 killed by local separatists led by Alphonse Dianou in the French colony of New Caledonia. Counter-terrorism agent and skilled negotiator Philippe Legorjus (Kassovitz) is helicoptered in to negotiate peace.

The story is told mostly from Philippe’s limited perspective as he is helplessly trying to find a peaceful solution to the crisis; however, it is election time and Mitterand is forced to consider more aggressive options as Chirac challenges the socialist president.

“This is a vastly sensitive subject in France and New Caledonia. The French army refused to co-operate with the film, and shooting was relocated to remote islands in Tahiti, after Kassovitz failed to convince Kanak leaders and the families of the dead of his good intentions. They were never going to trust a white French filmmaker with this story, and why would they?” (Byrnes, 2012).

Maybe Kanak leaders were wrong. This a beautifully shot and eloquent political drama based on Legorjus’s book that exposes the political intrigue behind the scenes.

Reference:
Byrnes, Paul. "Directors aims high and hard to tackle French hostage drama". Sydney Morning Herald. 12 April, 2012.

Image: Courtesy of Mongrel Media

Vulcan Demirkan-Martin
Audiovisual Library

posted @ Friday, April 19, 2013 9:52 AM | Feedback (0)

Martial Arts Action-Comedy

New Arrivals

Tai Chi 0  (2012)  Dir: Stephen Fung  Call Number: LD13-0073

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Image: Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment

posted @ Tuesday, April 09, 2013 9:23 AM | Feedback (1)

The Bronte Experience

New Arrivals

Jane Eyre (2011)   Dir: Cary Fukunaga     Call Number: LD12-0859

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Image: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Unarguably one of the better Jane Eyres onscreen,  Fukunaga’s film is one of the truest to the novel.  Fukunaga succeeds in bringing to light both the fine details of the novel and creating a Gothic atmosphere.

“Rather than Twilight-izing a classic tale (. . .) Fukunaga has made his Jane Eyre an intimate, thoughtful epic, anchored by strong lead performances and the gorgeous, moody 100-shades-of-gray cinematography of Adriano Goldman” (Longworth, 2011).

Central to this movie's power is Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre), who looks haunted at all times and is properly glum and unglamorous.  Fassbender may be seen as too handsome for Rochester, who is described in the book as decidedly unattractive, however, the crucial age gap and the tension between the two is sustained.

Reference:
Longworth, Karina. “A Masterful Jane Eyre Stresses Independence”.  www.villagevoice.com. 09 March. 2011.

Image: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

posted @ Monday, March 18, 2013 2:30 PM | Feedback (0)

A charming adventure

New Arrivals

The Fairy  (2012)     Dir: Dominique Abel     Call Number: LD12-1221

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Image: Courtesy of Kino Lorber

When a mental patient (Fiona) rushes into a hotel and declares to the clerk (Dom) that she is a fairy, he doesn’t feel surprised. Fiona grants Dom three wishes and Dom chooses two: a scooter and a lifetime of free gasoline, but he is not much of a dreamer and can’t decide on a third wish. This starts a series of hilarious and absurdist adventures.

The Fairy is an homage to silent cinema with its nearly wordless slapstick routines. The actor-directors have been influenced by American silent film, Jacques Tati and Jerry lewis, but the film’s “appeal is rather in watching people who have devised their own original style of comic performance and have taken it to a rare level of refinement” (LaSalle, 2012).

Reference:
LaSalle, Mick. "Wish for Gentle Comedy? Granted" www.sfgate.com. 4 May. 2012.

Vulcan Demirkan-Martin
Audiovisual Library

posted @ Monday, March 11, 2013 2:02 PM | Feedback (0)

AV Library Orientation

Come to the Audiovisual Library and join a 10 minutes tour!

When? Monday 4 March - Friday 8 March, 10:05am, 11:05am, 1:05pm, 2:05pm.

Where? Audiovisual Library, City Campus, Building 409, Ground Floor, Symonds Street 24.

Visit the AV Library's homepage for more information about hours, contacts, services and location.

posted @ Monday, March 04, 2013 9:28 AM | Feedback (0)