Arts ©Entertainment
Ross film series focuses on women in movies
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1 p.m. HOMECOMINGS
3 p.m. STRAIGHT FROU
7:30 p.m. THE FILMS OF
1 p.m. THE FILMS OF SU
3 p.m. WOMEN WHO MADE
7:30 p.m. THE FILMS OF
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9 p.m. DOUBLE i
W ‘Filmmaker Su
discuss her wo
By Stacey McKenzie
Senior Reporter
The truth is: women invented the
movies.
Legacies to that invention will
show Thursday through Nov. 1 in
“Women Make Movies At 20,” a film
series at Ross Film Theater.
Wheeler Dixon, chairman of the
film studies program and professor of
English at UNL, can rattle off name
after name of women who were and
are the foundation of the film indus
try.
“There have always been women
making movies, since the dawn of
cinema history,” he said.
One of the earliest, if not the very
first of the women film directors, was
Alice Guy Blachl, a Frenchwoman.
Blachd made more than 600 films
in her 25-year career and was the first
to make a film with a fictional narra
tive plot. She had many other “firsts.”
Dixon’s wife,Gwen Foster-Dixon,
is the director and producer of
“Women Who Made the Movies,” to
be included in film festival.
“Women Who Made the Movies”
is a documentary about women film
directors from 1896 to 1960. Blach6’s
work is included.
But there is much more to the
festival: it celebrates the 20th year of
the New York-based media arts orga
nization by the same name, Women
Film leaves Columbus clash unsolved
“1492: The Conquest
of Paradise"
By Anne Steyer
Staff Reporter__
Sometime in 1492, Christopher
Columbus landed at San Salvador.
Five hundred years later, sitting in
the Douglas Theater (13th and P
. streets) watching Paramount Pictures’
re-ef'eation of that fateful day, it’s
difficult to be sure how I feel.
Withoul being a history scholar or
a Native American, the traditional
Anglo-Saxon opinion of Christopher
Columbus comes from those grade
school presentations where Colum
bus is a hero, the natives arc savages
and Amerigo Vespucci steals the
credit.
Publicity surrounding the explorer
accuses him of genocide, a man who
brought about the destruction of a
culture and ihodiscnfranchiscmcnlof
an entire people.
I he question remains whether
Columbus was a visionary, looking
for a better world, or a racist butcher.
Somewhere between the two must
lie the truth.
Ridley Scott, director of “Blade
Runner,” “Alien” and “Thelma and
Louise,” is no stranger to creating
compelling visions of controversial*
material.
For “1492” he relies on historical
journals, original documents and let
ters, and the research of journalist and
screen writer Roselync Bosch for the
tore of the story.
Scott’s film, well-crafted and vi
sually stunning, spans 20 years in the
life of Columbus from the beginnings
of the explorer’s search for funding to
his ruinous downfall at the end. The
film also documents the sea voyage,
the “discovery” of the New World
and his formidable struggle to realize
his dream.
French superstar Gerard Depardieu
(“Green Card“Cyrano de Bergerac ”)
brings his powerful presence to the
film in the role of Columbus. His
interpretation shows a passionate ex
plorer and seaman with a vision of
paradise.
Sigourney Weaver isQueen Isabel,
the matriarch of Spain who develops
an affection for the bearish man and
funds his trips across the ocean.
Weaver’s casting is a bit disturb
ing as she is not Spanish and makes no
attempt at a Spanish accent.
This is also true of Depardieu,
whose performance as an Italian
sounds more French. However, his
stilted and soft-spoken English de
tracts little from his towering pres
ence.
Armand Assante (“The Mairibo
Kings”) is Sanchez, treasurer to the
Spanish crown, who underhandcdly
secures Columbus’ meeting with the
queen and monitors his progress in the
New World.
The strangest character in the film
is Spanish nobleman Adrian dc
Moxica (Michael Wincott of “Robin
Hood: Prince of Thieves”). He ac
companies Columbus on his second
voyage and incites a brutal mutiny.
Thus begins the downward spiral *
of the relationship between Colum
bus and the crown, and the Europeans
and the natives. In seems that de
Moxica represents the negativity in
volved in the founding of the New
World.
Filmed on location in Spain and
Costa Rica, “ 1492” is full of sweeping
visuals and authentic costuming, as
well as a swelling score, courtesy of
award-winning composer Vangclis
(“Chariots of Fire”).
It drags in places, and at two hours,
25 minutes, it becomes a bit tedious.
As well as this trouble, the film lacks
a strong p!6t and makes little attempt
to accept or refuse the blame placed
on Columbus.
But Depardieu's presence, coupled
with Scott’s visionary style, makes
“1492: The Conquest of Paradise” an
evocative portrait of one of the most
noted and mysterious men in history.
--- -
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Gerard Depardieu stars as Christopher Columbus in “1492:
Conquest of Paradise,’’ an epic adventure directed by Ridley
Courtesy ot Women Make Movies
“Canto a la Vida ” a documentary on Chilean women exiles
directed by Lucia Salinas, is one of many films featured in the film
series “Women Make Movies at 20.”
Make Movies, the largest distributor
of films and videos by and about
women.
New York filmmaker Su Friedrich,
whose film “First Comes Love,” is
included in the series and will appear
with screenings of her work at 7:30
p.m. on Thursday and Friday.
Friedrich has won numerous
awards and is widely screened and
broadcast throughout the United Slates
and Europe. Her films include:
“Damned if You Don’t,” “The Tics
That Bind,” “Gently Down The
Stream,” “Sink Or Swim” and “First
Comes Love.”
“Her films arc remarkable,” Dixon
said of Friedrich. “Her stuff is great.”
This scries will give audiences an
alternative view of cinema history,
Dixon said.
“Cinema history has been a patri
archal affair,” Dixon said.
Women Make Movies works to
correct this, he said.
But, he said, women “still are not
getting the credit they should.”
This series may remedy that.
Bloom film festival to be
free-for-all entertainment
By Lisa Newberg
Staff Reporter _
A Claire Bloom film will be
shown outdoors today as a special
free-for-all form of entertainment.
Bring lawn chairs and blankets
to prepare for the unique festivity
sponsored in part by the Mary
Riepma Ross Theater and the Lied
Center for Performing Arts.
The presentation will be in the
garden between Sheldon Art Gal
lery and the Lied Center. “The Spy
Who Came in From the Cold,” is
the main attraction that will begin
at 7 p.m.
Bom in London, Claire Bloom
made her first appearance at the
age of 16. She is known for her
appearances in films such as “The
Lady’s Not for Burning,” “Ring
Around the Moon,” “Limelight,”
“The Man Between,’’“Richard III,”
- “A Doll’s House,” “Islands in the
Stream“Clash of the Titans,” and
Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Mis
demeanors.”
Bloom now divides her career
between the United States and En
gland.
Her most notable stage roles
have included Ophelia, Juliet,
Viola, Cordelia and Miranda at the
Old Vic. In London’s West End,
she has appeared as Sasha in
“Ivanov,” Nora in “A Doll’s
House,” Rebecca West in
“Rosmcrsholm,” and Mmc.
Ranyeskvya in “The Cherry Or
chard.”
In 1974, Bloom won three ma
jor English theatrical awards for
her London portrayal of Blanche
du Bois in “A Streetcar Named
Desire.”
Bloom also has appeared on
many television programs, includ
ing “Bridcshcad Revisited” with
Lawrence Oliver, “The Ghost
Writer,” and “Shadowlands,” for
which she won a British award for
the best television actress of the
year.
Claire Bloom now is appearing
as a narrator with major symphony
and chamber orchestras and tours
the United States extensively with
her one-woman performances.
entgJcfetLp^nent
‘Getting Out’ kicks off Theatrix
From Staff Reports
The Thcatri x fall 1992 season opens
Thursday with “Getting Out,” a play
by Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha
Norman.
Theatrix stages original and ex
perimental works.
The play,directed by MarkGieslcr,
a theater graduate student, is about a
young woman who must come to
terms with her past after she is re-~
leased from prison.
Arlene, the lead character played
by Meredith Morgans, is shadowed
throughout most of the play by the
image of her younger self, Arlie,
played by Angie Claus.
She is “haunted” by memories of
herpast, including her abusive mother.
The play features a minimal set,
lighting and costume support.
"Getting Out” will be performed at
8 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 2
p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday in Room 301
of the Temple Building.
Tickets arc $2 and available at the
door.