July
Forthcoming events
Sun 1 July 2 pm
Art: Walk the walk talk, Hayward Ostrich Lounge, South Bank Centre, London
Amalia Pica leads a walking lecture and discussion looking at the
role of walking in creative processes. The group is joined by guest
speakers along the way, including artists and writers who walk as part
of their practice.
Approximate duration: 90 minutes
Amalia Pica (b.1978, Neuquén, Argentina)
Many of Amalia Pica's
installations and temporary interventions address the absurd slippages
and failures in everyday communication. Her work also examines the power
of false memories and the ways in which cultures and regimes seek to
govern and control thought. Individual works are frequently specific to a
place or a situation, and often concern ideas of transition, passage,
migration and dislocation. She says that she would like her works 'to be
like myths, to unfold into several versions or levels, none of which is
more valid or authentic than the other.' A recent year-long project
with the London borough of Tower Hamlets involved the journeyings of a
nomadic sculpture which Pica sent out into the community, where it was
looked after by local residents in their own homes. In the context of
this project, Pica asks: 'What makes an area? Is it its buildings? Is it
its history? Is it its people, every single one of them?'
Tickets:
Sun 1 - Sun 8 July
Music: Havana Rumba, South Bank Centre, South Bank, London
The rapturous party show of the summer! It's time to go wild with
infectious rhythms and the world's hottest dancing as Havana Rumba
transports you to the Cuban capital.
Featuring mambo, salsa, rakatan, cha cha cha and the beautiful
textures and stories of Cuban life, brought to you by the kings and
queens of cuban dance and music, who have performed with Buena Vista
Social Club, Enrique Jorrin's Orchestra and Shakira.
Tickets:
Fri 13 - Thu 26 July 18:10
Film: Nostalgia for Light, followed by Q&A; with Patricio Guzmán, BFI, Soutbank, London
Patricio Guzmán combines astronomy, geology, archeology, history and politics. It begins with Guzmán's boyhood obsession with the stars, taking us into the rarefied, bone-dry air of Chile's Atacama desert to observe the skies; there, he finds scientists reseraching the origins of the universe, historians seeking evidence of ancient people's and women searching for the bodies of husbands and sons who disappeared under Pinochet.
Dir. Patricio Guzmán, Chile-France-Germany-Spain 2010, 96 min.
Tickets:
Sat 14 July 11:00 - 17:00 NFT 3
Talks: Patricio Guzmán Study Day: The Battle of Chile: Yesterday and Today, BFI, South Bank, London
With minimal support and despite extreme odds, Patricio Guzmán's The Battle of Chile captured an exceptional moment in history to win itself a place in the pantheon of all-time great documentaries. To complement the Guzmán season, an extended afternoon of talks, screenings and panel discussion will investigate its production and wider legacy as well as the heritage of the ousted President Salvador Allende. Director Patricio Guzmán will discuss his work and chair, season curator Michael Chanan will screen his Three Short Films About Chile, and the afternoon will also include a screening of Ken Loach's film, 11'09''01 - September 11.
Tickets:
Part 1: Sun 15 July 16:00, Tue 17 July 20:40, Part 2: Sun 15 July 18:20, Wed 18 July 18:30, Part 3 Sun 15 July 20:40, Fri 20 July 18:30
Film: The Battle of Chile, BFI, South Bank, London
A fertile mixture of direct cinema, investigative reportage, and political analysis, the footage for The Battle of Chile was smuggled out immediately after the coup of 11 September 1973, and edited in Cuba at the film institute, ICAIC, the results appearing between 1976 and 1979. An exemplary trilogy of films from every point of view. Instead of a chronological record, the three parts each recount the events from different perspectives.
Part One: The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie
Part One focuses on the growing confrontation between Allende's supporters and the increasingly violent rebellion of the middle classes which gave the military their excuse of 'restoring order'.
Part Two: The Coup d'État
Part Two tracks the deterioration of Allende's position following the attempted coup of 29 June 1973, while Part Three is a coda which documents the loose coalition of workers and citizens who respond to right-wing initiatives by grassroots self-organisation in defence of Allende's visionary politics.
Part Three: The Power of the People
Part Three is a coda which documents the loose coalition of workers and citizens who respond to right-wing initiatives by grassroots self-organisation in defence of Allende's visionary politics.
Tickets:
Tue 17 July 18:10 and Sat 21 July 20:30
Film: La cruz del Sur (The Southern Cross), BFI, South Bank, London
First, a visually rich and reflective exploration of the role of religion in Latin America from pre-Columbian myth to liberation theology. Then one of Guzmán's most personal films, a video diary of his trip to the island 600 miles off the coast of Chile which as a child he assumed to be a fictional creation. But even here his limpid camera and gently ironic narration discovers an allegory of Chile's history.
Venezuela-Spain, 1992, 80min.
Tickets:
Sun 22 July 15:40 and Wed 25 July 20:40
Film: Pueblo en vilo (A Village Fading Away) and Chile, la Memoria Obstinada (Chile, Obstinate Memory), BFI, South Bank, London
First, the workings of tradition and shared memory in the small Mexican town of San José de Gracia, seen through the eyes of the Mexican historian Luis González y González, who was born and raised there - a micro-history revealing much about the larger historical forces at work. Then, in one of his most moving films, Guzmán returns to his homeland with a copy of The Battle of Chile, which has never been seen there, to find some of the characters in the film who survived the dictatorship's violence. A profoundly self-reflexive work of remembrance, filmed with the utmost tact, the experience is nevertheless a painful revisitation of the past for those who remember, and when he screens the film to a student audience, a shocking revelation to a younger generation presented with a history which has been hidden from them.
Dir. Patricio GuzmánYear, Canada-France, 1997, 58 min.
Tickets:
Mon 23 July 20:40 and Sat 28 July 16:00
Film: Salvador Allende, BFI, South Bank, London
Guzmán's tribute to Allende is not so much a biography as a personal homage to a man who he says 'marked my life'. A scrapbook of family photos and archive footage, with contributions from friends, family and followers, the film unfurls a portrait of a complex personality, the idealism of his political ideas, excitement of his electoral campaigns, euphoria of his first months in office, and the tragedy of his demise.
Dir. Patricio Guzmán, Belgium-Chile-France-Germany-Spain-Mexico, 2004, 100 min.
Tickets: