January 28 First Kill, Directed by Coco Schrijber
2002, 52 minutes
What is the psychology of war? Do soldiers become murderers when they enjoy killing? Is war beautiful? Are all humans capable of monstrous acts?
First Kill examines these and other questions, as it explores what war does to the human mind and soul. Interviews with several Vietnam veterans evoke the contradictory feelings that killing produces — fear, hate, seduction, and pleasure. Director Coco Schrijber juxtaposes confessional testimonies with images of Vietnamese, Americans, and others who now visit the former killing fields as tourist sites, conveying people's fascination with war and its memory.
February 4
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, Directed by Lisa F. Jackson
2008, 76 minutes
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo is concerned with survivors of rape in the regions affected by ongoing conflicts stemming from the Second Congo War. Central to the film are moving interviews with the survivors themselves, as well as interviews with self-confessed rapist soldiers.
The Greatest Silence was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize and won a Special Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. It was also nominated for two News & Documentary Emmy Awards in 2009.
February 18
Wooden Crosses (Les Croix de Bois), Directed by Raymond Bernard
1932, 110 minutes
Hailed by the
New York Times on its Paris release as “one of the great films in motion picture history,” Raymond Bernard’s
Wooden Crosses, France’s answer to
All Quiet on the Western Front, still stuns with its depiction of the travails of one French regiment during World War I. Using a masterful arsenal of film techniques, from haunting matte paintings to jarring documentary-like camerawork in the film’s battle sequences, Bernard created a pacifist work of enormous empathy and chilling despair. No one who has ever seen this technical and emotional powerhouse has been able to forget it.
February 25 The Danube Exodus, Directed by Peter Forgacs
1998, 60 minutes
Oxygen, Directed by Adina Pintilie
2010, 40 minutes
This double screening is programmed in conjunction with “The Black and Blue Danube Symposium” taking place at Colgate University on March 2, 2013. For
The Danube Exodus, director Forgács found amateur footage made by a Danube riverboat captain during World War II, and documenting the attempt of Slovak and Austrian Jews to travel down the Danube and reach Palestine. Forgács provides context for the images in the voiceover, and joins this footage with some the captain shot of Bessarabian Germans being forced to repatriate to Germany by the Third Reich. The film starts off slowly, but by its midpoint is absolutely fascinating and absorbing.
Oxygen is an experimental fiction piece by young filmmaker Adina Pintile. It sketches a portrait of Romanian despair. The Danube seems a tantalizing route of escape, but becomes an uncrossable boundary in the film.
Please join us for discussion of the films after the screenings. March 18
Atomic Mom, Directed by M.T. Silva
2010, 87 minutes
Atomic Mom lifts the veil on a part of U.S. history that not many know of and those who do, do not want to remember. Pauline Silvia, a Navy biologist in the 1950’s conducted experiments for the U.S. Atomic Testing Program at the Nevada Test site. After 50 years, Pauline breaks her silence to talk to her daughter, filmmaker M.T. Silvia, about these experiments and why they haunt her still today.
March 25
Nuclear Savage, Directed by Adam Jonas Horowitz
2011, 87 minutes
A shocking political expose, and an intimate ethnographic portrait of Pacific Islanders struggling for survival, dignity, and justice after decades of top-secret human radiation experiments conducted on them by the U.S. government.
April 1
Big Lebowski, Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
1998, 117 minutes
Screening in the
Ho Tung Visualization Lab
Join the Dude and PCON for our 9th annual Big Lebowski Fest! The Dude, an unemployed LA slacker and avid bowler is mistaken for a millionaire named Jeffery Lebowski. After his favorite rug is desecrated, The Dude seeks compensation and events, both tragic and comedic, unfold. PCON Professor Daniel Monk touts it as the most profound anti-war movie of our generation.
April 29
Armadillo, Directed by Janus Metz Pedersen
2010, 105 minutes
In 2009, a group of Danish soldiers accompanied by documentary filmmaker Janus Metz arrived at Armadillo, an army base in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. Metz and cameraman Lars Skree spent six months following the lives of young soldiers situated less than a kilometer away from Taliban positions. The outcome of their work is a gripping and highly authentic war drama that was justly awarded the Grand Prix de la Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes film festival, and provoked furious debate in Denmark concerning the controversial behavior of certain Danish soldiers during a shootout with Taliban Fighters.
Film Series - Fall 2012
September 10
The Assads' Twilight, Directed by Vincent de Cointet and Christophe Ayad
The Assads’ Twilight is a history of the Assad regime, from its origins to its teetering, possibly final days in 2011. The filmmakers recount the history of the regime and the region — including the tortured and troubled history of Syrian involvement in Lebanon. The film uses archival footage, as well as the testimony and analysis of members of the U.S. and Israeli security establishment, key politicians, dissidents, and political scientists. Highly recommended, with Anthropology Review writing "An important and timely film...Anyone who intends to give an opinion on American or Western policy toward Syria should watch this film first."
A Flood in Baath Country, Directed by Omar Amiralay
Syrian documentary maker Omar Amiralay was a great champion of modernization in his country. He devoted his first film to the construction of the Tabqa dam spanning the Euphrates — a triumph for the ruling Baath party. The second part, Everyday Life in a Syrian Village, won the 1976 Interfilm Award — Otto Dibelius Film Award in Berlin. In this third film of the trilogy, Amiralay returns to the region and its village of el-Machi near Lake Assad, where he examines the impact of 40 years of Baath rule. A Flood in Baath Country chronicles both the effects of the Tabqa dam on the local inhabitants and the director’s own change of opinion about modernization in Syria.
October 1
The Interrupters, Directed by Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz
From producer/director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) and author-turned-producer Alex Kotlowitz (There are No Children Here), The Interrupters tells the moving and surprising story of three “violence interrupters” in Chicago who with bravado, humility, and even humor try to protect their communities from the violence they once employed. An official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and winner for best documentary at the Miami and Minneapolis Film Festivals, this film follows Ameena, Cobe, and Eddie as they go about their work and, while doing so, reveals their own inspired journeys of hope and redemption.
October 15
Qarantina, Directed by Oday Rasheed
From Iraqi filmmaker Oday Rasheed comes a film about a broken family under an incestuous patriarch who take on a mysterious boarder. Rasheed gorgeously captures today’s Baghdad, a moody and colorful place in the grip of a brooding listlessness. This stunned atmosphere is furthered by the performances of the formidable cast, who suggest unexpected sources of resilience in the wake of catastrophe. In the end, each character's future unfolds as a direct result of their flaws or undertakings. Screened by MoMA, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the San Francisco Film Society, this film is an important glimpse into life where bombs and gunfire have become part of the urban landscape.
October 29
El Velador (The Night Watchman), Directed by Natalia Almada
Award-winning director Natalia Almada returns with a beautiful and mesmerizing new film. From dusk to dawn, El Velador (The Night Watchman) accompanies Martin, a guard who watches over the extravagant mausoleums of some of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords. In the labyrinth of the cemetery, this film about violence without violence reminds us that, amid the turmoil of a drug war that has claimed more than 50,000 lives, ordinary existence persists in Mexico and quietly defies the dead. Official Selection, 2011 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.
November 12
Grey Matter, Directed by Kivu Ruhoarahoza
From Kivu Ruhorahoza comes the first feature-length film from Rwanda written, directed, and produced by a Rwandan. Grey Matter (Matière Grise) tells the story of a young Rwandan filmmaker trying to make his first feature about madness. The film gives a rare narrative insight into the “burden of surviving” for multiple sectors of the Rwandan population, as well as offering a unique view into the nature of political violence. Debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011 and headlining the part of the touring film exhibition project, Global Lens 2012, conceived to encourage filmmaking in countries with emerging film communities.
November 26
INVISIBLE WAR, Directed by Kirby Dick
From Oscar- and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated; Twist of Faith) comes The Invisible War, a groundbreaking investigative documentary about one of America's most shameful and best kept secrets, the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem-today: a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. Called ”shocking and important” by Entertainment Weekly and winner of the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award in 2012.
Our students and faculty frequently participate in special workshops and events, both at Colgate and at other institutions, that are targeted at expanding upon our studies and understandings of curricular themes in peace and conflict studies. Here are some examples of past special events:
In addition, each year Colgate hosts the Peter C. Schaehrer '65 Memorial Lecture Series, which brings challenging and insightful speakers to campus to spur discussion on campus and within the program.
Learn more about the lecture series.