School of Film and Media Studies

Maya Man, an artist focused on contemporary identity culture on the internet, will speak about contemporary issues in digital culture and internet art. Her work examines dominant narratives around femininity, authenticity, and the performance of self. 

 All are invited to participate in a facilitated discussion. 

Blue Angel is “the first full-length German talking picture, and it fused the erotic and economic dimensions of “Weimar sexuality” in all its decadence and despair.” (The Guardian)

Shown tonight on 16MM, Blue Angel is on loan from the Purchase Film Archive and presented by Lauren Wren, Purchase College Cinema and Television Studies alumna and former Cinemaroll Journal and Purchase Film Archive student. Following the screening, Ms. Wren leads a discussion of 16MM film and post-grad opportunities for work in archival film.

“The Blue Angel pulls off an amazing trick — it takes an old chestnut of a mismatched love story and follows it through, mainly within the walls of a fantastically low nightclub, yet Von Sternberg’s directing somehow makes it all fresh.” (Feminema)

May is “an odd blend of romantic comedy and slasher film. As a child May was lonely, ostracised by the other children for her lazy eye. Her only friend was Suzie, a creepy beatified doll encased in a glass cabinet. Now she is a veterinary nurse and amateur seamstress. With newly corrected vision, she sets out in the world to find love and companionship.” (Eye for Film UK)

Notable for its eerie and cult classic character performances, and staunch late 90s/early 2000s indie horror aesthetics “May herself is an amazingly complex character played so sweetly by Bettis. Layers and layers built on low self esteem, desire for perfection and the love of sewing. Her connections to the people in her life are odd and awkward. Yet, her love of morbid tales and mortality is done with relish and lust. Little hints of darkness are expressed through facial features or the clever use of props. This is where May shines the most. The details.” (The Alternative)

Nowhere (1997) directed by the New Queer Cinema director Gregg Araki is presented as a collaboration between the FMS Screening Series and the Cinemaroll Film Journal.

With the release of Nowhere “Araki’s career takes a sharp turn, and not a minute too soon. Though still quite imperfect, it’s a convincing teen movie and a reminder of Araki’s unique, punchy way with youth-culture iconography.” (ArtForum)

Nowhere is “described as a surreal “American Graffiti” crossed with a kinky “Beverly Hills 90210,” as imagined by a punked-out acolyte of John Waters or Andy Warhol.” (New York Times)

Audiences should be advised that the film contains content that could be disturbing to some audiences, such as staged sexual and physical violence.

“Caché on its fundamental level is about a family that becomes aware it is being watched. And not merely watched, but seen.” (Roger Ebert)

” crafts a thriller that has audiences twitching with suspicion, letting out gasps…emerging from the cinema in deep discussion. I can’t recall a film in the last decade that has provoked so many theories, nor demanded so many explanations - none of which appear to satisfy, simply feeding the appetite, rather, for second viewings and yet more interpretations.” (The Guardian)

Please join Global Black Studies for a film screening of BLKNWS:TERMS & CONDITIONS a genre-bending documentary adapted from Director Kahlil Joseph’s renowned video art installation. Post film discussion to follow.

Water Lilies (2007) directed by Celine Sciamma is presented as a collaboration between the FMS Screening Series and the Purchase New Media Club.

Sciamma, director of Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) and Petite Maman (2021) depicts queer adolescence and the awkward romanticism of a coming of age in Water Lilies, her directorial debut.

Water Lilies is “a requiem for childhood left behind, and the struggle of continuing adolescence ahead.” (Filmotomy)