Press Contact: Meredith Kessler

meredith.kessler@walkert.org 612.375.7651

Online Press Room: press.walkerart.org

Twitter: @WalkerArtMedia

WALKER CINEMA: JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2015

FILMMAKERS IN CONVERSATION

IN CASE OF NO EMERGENCY: THE FILMS OF RUBEN ÖSTLUND

January 1718

Walker Cinema

One of Scandinavias most innovative directors, Swedens Ruben Östlund visits the Walker for the Filmmakers in Conversation series. Known for works that confront our prejudices while examining human behavior in everyday situations, Östlund returned from this years Cannes Film Festival with the Jury Prize for Force Majeure. This new film, set in a ski resort in the majestic French Alps, takes an intimate look at ways that people cope with unexpected situations. Join the filmmaker for a discussion after the Walker Cinema screening. Unless otherwise noted, tickets are $9 ($7 Walker members, students, and seniors). Films are in Swedish with English subtitles. The touring retrospective is produced by Comeback Company, in partnership with the Swedish Film Institute and Plattform Produktion, with additional support from the Embassy of Sweden in the United States and the Consulate General of Sweden in New York.

INVOLUNTARY (DE OFRIVILLIGA)

Saturday, January 17, 2 pm

A challenging and intelligent Swedish drama that still raises laughs.

Empire

This comedy of Swedish manners offers five interset stories in which respect for authority is challenged. Whether focused on a famous actress unwilling to confess a crime or teens exploring their sexuality via webcam, the film poses questions about group mentality and social influences. 2008, 35mm, 98 minutes.

PLAY

Saturday, January 17, 7:30 pm

The boldest formal experiment Slant

Set in Sweden and drawn from 40 actual cases of bullying by a single group, Play follows a gang of teens who intimidate and rob three younger boys without using any physical violence. Issues of race become paramount as shifts in attitude are exposed, illustrating the path between open-mindedness and racial profiling. 2011, 35mm, 118 minutes.

FORCE MAJEURE (TURIST)

Sunday, January 18, 2 pm

$12 ($10 Walker members, students, and seniors)

Filmmakers in Conversation: Join Ruben Östlund for a post-screening discussion with Dennis Lim, director of programming at Film Society Lincoln Center, New York.

Precisely calibrated . . . visually stunning . . . emotionally perceptive

Variety

When faced with harm, do people decide to save themselves or their loved ones? In this darkly comedic tale, Tomas makes a split-second decision in a sudden crisis during his family ski vacation. Featuring the most spectacular avalanche scene in cinema history (Swedish Film), Force Majeure examines ways that family roles, masculinity, and heroism are perceived (and rejected) by others. Winner of the 2014 Cannes Jury Prize and Swedens entry for the Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film. 2014, DCP, 118 minutes.

FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS SCREENINGS

FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS NOMINATED FILMS SCREENINGS

For Walker and IFP MN members

January 13February 11

Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 6 and 8 pm FREE

Walker Cinema

The 30th-annual Film Independent Spirit Awards celebrates artist-driven cinema and recognizes the finest achievements of todays dynamic filmmakers. In advance of the awards ceremony in Los Angeles on February 21, members of the Walker and Independent Filmmaker Project Minnesota have a chance to see the nominated films in four categoriesBest Feature, Best First Feature, Best Documentary, and the John Cassavetes Awards.

Tickets are available to general members at 5 pm on screening nights on a first-come, first-served basis. Walker Film Club and IFP Minnesota members can reserve two free tickets in advance. RSVP to donors@walkerart.org or 612.375.7641; IFP MN: rsvp@ifpmn.org.

EXPANDING THE FRAME

Expanding the Frame

January 2229

Continuing Walkers tradition of combining film and performance, Expanding the Frame presents three unique and stimulating programs that use revolutionary techniques and inspiring approaches to immerse the audience in a multidisciplinary experience. Presented in conjunction with Out There 2015. For details, visit walkerart.org. Expanding the Frame is made possible by generous support from Elizabeth Redleaf.

CINEASTAS

Mariano Pensotti

ThursdaySaturday, January 2224, 8 pm

Thursday, $20 ($18 Walker members); FridaySaturday, $25 ($22)

McGuire Theater

A tour de force in which fiction and reality converge. British Theatre Guide

Four filmmakers in Buenos Aires each start a new project, not knowing that the creative process will change their lives forever. This filmic drama is performed by a handful of actors seamlessly switching characters on an elaborate two-story, split-screen set that allows for fluid shifting between the lives of the filmmakers and the works being shot. Cinematic techniques adapted for the stage tell compelling stories of love, loss, joy, and despair. The Walker introduced this virtuoso director on his first US tour as part of Out There 2012. In Spanish with English surtitles.

This engagement of Mariano Pensotti is made possible through Southern Exposure: Performing Arts of Latin America, a program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation.

THIS WORLD MADE ITSELF

Miwa Matreyek

Thursday, January 29, 6:30 and 8:30 pm FREE

Walker Cinema

Matreyeks work is an enchanting blend of animation and live performance; one of the few digital artists who is able to keep a strong element of human presence in her work. Venu

This kaleidoscopic, dreamlike merger of the fanciful and the scientific takes you to a world rich in surrealism and metaphor. Miwa Matreyeks shadow silhouette interacts with video projections to create a history of the Earthfrom its epic beginnings to the complexities introduced by human beings to this universe. Preceded by the short work Myth and Infrastructure. Presented in conjunction with the Expanding the Frame series and the Out There festival.

THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS

Directed by Sam Green

Friday, February 6, 7 and 9 pm

$15 ($12 Walker members, seniors, and students)

Walker Cinema

In Person: Director Sam Green with musicians Todd Griffin (The Quavers), Brendan Canty (Fugazi), and Catherine McRae (The quavers)

The experience of it was absolutely delectable, not to mention unreproducible. ScreenCrave

Academy Awardwinner Sam Green presents a live musical documentary meditating on time, fate, and overall human experience. Inspired by entries in The Guinness Book of World Records, Green unites trio Todd Griffin, Brendan Canty, and Catherine McRae as he provides in-person narration about record-holding people, places, and things. These include the worlds quietest room at the Orfield Labs in Minneapolis, the tallest man (7 ft. 9 in.), the man struck by lightning the most times (seven), and the woman with the longest name. At the Walker in 2013, Green performed The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller with Yo La Tengo. 2014, 65 minutes.

TWIN CITIES EXCLUSIVE

TIMBUKTU

Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako

Fridays, February 20 and 27, 7:30 pm

Saturday, February 21, 2 and 7:30 pm

Sunday, February 22, 2 pm

Saturday, February 28, 7:30 pm

$9 ($7 Walker members, students, and seniors)

Walker Cinema

Sissakos passionate and visually beautiful film Timbuktu is a cry from the heartwith all the more moral authority for being expressed with such grace and such care. Guardian (UK)

Based on real-life events under the 2012 northern Mali takeover by religious fundamentalists, Timbuktu focuses on the humanistic effects on the townspeople. The familiar woes of everyday life and remarkable resistance to a hostile takeover encircle a narrative that follows a herder and his family residing on the outskirts of town. Universal truths of human nature emerge as he experiences an upturned idea of justice following a dispute over his slaughtered prize cow. 2014, DCP, in French and Arabic with English subtitles, 97 minutes.

This presentation is made possible by generous support from the Bentson Foundation.

FREE FILMS ON VIEW

FRAME UP

Directed by Ericka Beckman

Lecture Room

January 6March 29

Screens daily from 11 am

Ericka Beckmans dual-screen projection reimagines the construction of the Walkers Herzog & de Meurondesigned building as a video/pinball game. The short film is edited from hours of footage shot during her 20032005 Walker artist residency.

This presentation is made possible by generous support from the Bentson Foundation.

ALIVE FROM OFF CENTER

Various directors

Best Buy Film/Video Bay

Through February 7

Alive from Off Center took performance into the realm of broadcast television by featuring groundbreaking work on the frontiers of comedy, dance, music, performance, and video. On view are episodes from the first three seasons of this classic Walker/Twin Cities Public Television (KTCA) collaboration (19841987). Program length: 28 minutes each.

This presentation is made possible by generous support from the Bentson Foundation.

MNTV

Various directors

Best Buy Film/Video Bay

February 9June 28

Showcasing the talent of Minnesota filmmakers, MNTV is produced in collaboration with the Walker, IFP/MN, and Twin Cities Public Television. Program length: 60 minutes each.

Program 1: FILMETTOPorta 241, Ann Prim; Ayananta, Neha Belvalkar; Funeral for Fun, Annie Enneking and Kevin Opsatz; Into the Roil, Kevin Russell; home. not home., Andrea Shaker; Home Near Water, Christopher Lange.

Program 2: Artist Series: Shelly Mosman, Jami Olson; Sermon of the Serpent, Mark Brown; The Hammer and the Axe, Preston Johnson; The Job of the Architect, Horacio Devoto; Albert Einstein, John Akre; INCONTEXT, Mike Hazard.

Program 3: Former Best Friends Forever, Peter Nelson; Rosie, Alexander Kohnstamm; A Mind of Winter, Katie Rensch and Jes Reyes; The Last of Fall, Peter Franco; City of Fear, Cody Brown.

This presentation is made possible by generous support from the Jerome Foundation.

GALLERY HOURS AND ADMISSION

$14 adults; $12 seniors (65+); $8 students (with ID)

Free to Walker members and children ages 18 and under.

Free with a paid event ticket within one week of performance or screening.

Free to all every Thursday evening (59 pm) and on the first Saturday of each month (10 am5 pm).

Enjoy free gallery admission on Thursday nights from 5 to 9 pm.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 11 am5 pm

Thursday, 11 am9 pm

Closed Mondays

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Major support to preserve, digitize, and present the Ruben/Bentson Film and Video Study Collection is generously provided by the Bentson Foundation.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

The Walker Art Center is located at 1750 Hennepin Avenuewhere Hennepin meets Lyndaleone block off Highways I-94 and I-394, in Minneapolis. For public information, call 612.375.7600 or visit walkerart.org. Stay connected via your mobile device and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.