Saturday, 20 January 2018 - 7:30 pm
Billy Wilder Theater UCLA
10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Luis Ospina: A Rational Act of Faith
In person: Luis Ospina
Colombian rabble-rouser Luis Ospina returns to his alma mater, UCLA, to screen a collection of his rarely seen early short films. His trademark style—already present in his early works— crosses boundaries between documentary and fiction, parody and melodrama, the archive and historical invention. We will screen his recently restored thesis film Acto de Fe (Act of Faith, 1972), a dark short film adaptation of Jean Paul Sartre’s short story “Erostratus” shot in Los Angeles, as well as Autoretrato (Dormido) (1971), El bombardeo de Washigton (Air Strike on Washington”, 1972), Oiga vea (co-directed with Carlos Mayolo, 1972, 28 min.), En busca de 'María' (co-directed with Jorge Nieto, 1985, 15min), VIDEO (B)ART(H)ES (Luis Ospina, 2003, 3 min), among others.
These screenings are part of Los Angeles Filmforum’s screening series Ism, Ism, Ism: Experimental Cinema in Latin America (Ismo, Ismo, Ismo: Cine experimental en América Latina). Ism, Ism, Ism is an unprecedented, five-month film series—the first in the U.S.—that surveys Latin America’s vibrant experimental production from the 1930s through today. Revisiting classic titles and introducing recent works by key figures and emerging artists, Ism, Ism, Ism takes viewers on a journey through a wealth of materials culled from unexpected corners of Latin American film archives. Key historical and contemporary works from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, México, Paraguay, Perú, Uruguay, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the United States will be featured. Many of the works in the series are largely unknown in the United States and most screenings will include national and area premieres, with many including Q&A discussions with filmmakers and scholars following the screening. The film series will continue through January 2018 at multiple venues, organized by Filmforum. www.ismismism.org
Ism, Ism, Ism is accompanied by a bilingual publication, Ism, Ism, Ism / Ismo, Ismo, Ismo: Experimental Cinema in Latin America (Jesse Lerner and Luciano Piazza, editors, University of California Press, 2017) placing Latino and Latin American experimental cinema within a broader dialogue that explores different periods, cultural contexts, image-making models, and considerations of these filmmakers within international cinema. Available worldwide, https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520296084.
Ism, Ism, Ism is part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. Explore more at www.ismismism.org, lafilmforum.org, and www.pacificstandardtime.org.
Lead support for Ism, Ism, Ism is provided through grants from the Getty Foundation.
Significant additional support comes from the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts.
Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America.