Masters
Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation Barbara Kopple
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
USA, 2015 DCP, color / black-and-white, 93 min Director: Barbara Kopple Cinematography: Gary Griffin Editing: Richard Hankin Sound: Michael Jones, David Cassidy, Steve Clack Music: Max Avery Lichtenstein Production: Suzanne Mitchell, Barbara Kopple for Cabin Creek Films Executive Production: Hamilton Fish Screening Copy: Cabin Creek Films
Barbara Kopple:
Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), Keeping on (1983), American Dream (1990), Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy (1992), Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson (1993), Prisoners of Hope (1995), Wild Man Blues (1997), Woodstock ‘94 (1998), A Conversation with Gregory Peck (1999), My Generation (2000), Bearing Witness (2005), Havoc (fiction, 2005), Shut Up and Sing (2006), High School Musical: The Music in You (2007), The House of Steinbrenner (2010), A Force of Nature (2011), Running from Crazy (2013), Miss Sharon Jones! (2015) a.o.
Two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple takes a lively behind-the-scenes look at The Nation, America’s oldest progressive liberal weekly magazine. Its influential history is a testament to independent, thorough, critical journalism. After an introductory scene juxtaposing headlines from 150 years of American political history alongside the evolution of the tools of publishing, we are introduced to the editorial team, staff members and interns working in-house and out in the field. Infused with humor by way of The Nation’s writers, the film also shows how past, present and future are closely interwoven. A scene in which a reporter talks to farmers who are affected by climate change is followed by a 1935 article and archive footage about the Dust Bowl. The re-election of unpopular Wisconsin Republican Scott Walker is coupled with the 1952 re-election of fanatical Communist-hunter Senator Joseph McCarthy; the homelessness caused by the earthquake in Haiti with a 1963 article titled “Can Haiti Be Helped?”; and a report on voter suppression in North Carolina with an opinion piece written by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965. Hot Type shows The Nation to be a committed and tightly-knit journalistic family behind a magazine that places social debate center stage, and has an aversion to sensation-seeking, mainstream opinions and those in power.
In Jackson Heights Frederick Wiseman
USA, 2015 DCP, color, 190 min Director: Frederick Wiseman Cinematography: John Davey Editing: Frederick Wiseman Sound: Frederick Wiseman Production: Frederick Wiseman for Moulins Films LLC Executive Production: Karen Konicek World Sales: Zipporah Films Screening Copy: Zipporah Films
Frederick Wiseman:
Titicut Follies (1967), High School (1968), Hospital (1970), Basic Training (1971), Juvenile Court (1973), Primate (1974), Welfare (1975), Manoeuvre (1979), Model (1980), Racetrack (1985), Deaf (1986), Missile (1987), Blind (1987), Near Death (1989), Aspen (1991), Central Park (1991), Zoo (1993), High School II (1994), Ballet (1995), Public Housing (1997), Belfast, Main (1999), Domestic Violence (2001), Domestic Violence 2 (2002), State Legislature (2007), Boxing Gym (2010), Crazy Horse (2011), At Berkeley (2013), National Gallery (2014) a.o.
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens where immigrants of many nationalities live together in relative harmony. Walk into a beauty salon and you’re in India; visit the community center and you’ll hear Mexican immigrants telling their escape tales. The area is home to a whole gamut of minority groups, with Hari Krishnas, transgender people, Koran-studying children in hijabs, and elderly Jews commemorating the Holocaust. But Jackson Heights is only 20 minutes by subway from Manhattan, and local businesses are concerned about the neighborhood’s future; perhaps it’s about to suffer the same fate as nearby Brooklyn, where the hipsters have taken over and the threatened invasion of major retail chains have sparked skyrocketing rents. After previous films about big organizations such as a hospital, a prison and a ballet company, the acclaimed director Frederick Wiseman has turned his focus on the panoply of subcultures in this little corner of New York City. He takes the viewer along on his visits to a halal butcher, a nail studio, a dog grooming parlor, a belly dance lesson and meetings in the community center. In his customary fly-on-the-wall style, Wiseman films the goings-on in Jackson Heights without comment. Despite the differences between them, the residents are all happy to join forces to preserve their beloved neighborhood and battle against rent hikes.
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