2006 Flickerings @ Cornerstone Festival

Featured Screenings

Following the devastation of World War II, "rubble films" depicted that postapocalyptic world. We're interested in the path out of the rubble, the journey of survivors both struggling to get on with life, and to somehow preserve humanity in the process.

The Postwar Journey of Roberto Rossellini Flickerings celebrates the centennial of one of the most spiritually-minded and influential directors in cinema, journeying with Roberto Rossellini from the rubble of shattered Berlin to the haunted ruins of Pompeii, in a series of neorealist epiphanies wherein hope is rekindled and the future reclaimed. A film series that can be undertaken as both an artistic and spiritual retreat.

The Brothers Dardenne The films of Jean-Paul and Luc Dardenne are a variety of rubble films, the ruins here being family disasters or the crumbling certitudes of the once-confident West. The brothers document the survivors' progress in their raw and improvisational style, one that belies a firm sense of control and moral purpose.

Among the Ruins Hope and redemption stirring in the ashes — from the fine art of dumpster-diving, to a desperate German student Resistance against Hitler, to a Rainman-like journey through a shattered land toward a second chance at life.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 5th

Roberto Rossellini
Germany: Year Zero
Roberto Rossellini, 1947; 71 mins.
Wednesday, 3:00 PM

Rossellini’s journey begins here, in a Europe shell-shocked and disillusioned by war. Shot amid the ruins of shattered Berlin

Roberto Rossellini
Romagna (an excerpt from the film, Paisan)
Roberto Rossellini, 1947; 21 mins.
Wednesday, 6:00 PM

An episode from Rossellini's film anthology of the Allied advance up Italy: a monastery, isolated from the war, is visited by three war-weary US Army chaplains.

Among the Ruins
The Gleaners and I
Agnes Varda, 2000; 82 mins.
Wednesday, 7:00 PM

A celebration of second-hand life – dumpster-diving, cast-off clothes, the gleaning of images. An inspiring film with a generous, Franciscan spirit.

Roberto Rossellini
The Flowers of St. Francis
Roberto Rossellini, 1950; 87 mins.
Wednesday, 10:00 PM

For hope in a war-torn world, Rossellini turned to St. Francis. This simple depiction aptly conveys the humility and faith of the saint.

Our screening of The Flowers of St. Francis will be both part of Flickerings' series on Rossellini and also sister-program the Imaginarium's series on saints, and will be screened in the Imaginarium.

THURSDAY, JULY 6th

Among the Ruins
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
Marc Rothemund, 2005; 117 mins
Thursday, 11:00 AM

True story of the arrest and trial of members of the White Rose, the brief anti-Hitler resistance led by German college students.

Dardennes
Rosetta
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 1999; 95 mins.
Thusday, 3:00 PM

A troubled teenager determines to make a normal life, rising above her dysfunctional upbringing and a world that wants to stop her.

Roberto Rossellini
The Miracle
Roberto Rossellini, 1948; 43 mins.
Thusday, 6:00 PM

A simple peasant girl receives a visitation from someone she believes is St. Joseph that changes her forever. Part of Rossellini’s film, L’Amore.

Dardennes
La Promesse
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 1996; 90 mins.
Thusday, 7:00 PM

Difficult relationship between a father and son – who exploit illegal immigrants for a living – is threatened by a deathbed promise.

FRIDAY, JULY 7th

Film Showcase Feature
Danielson: A Family Movie
J. L. Aronson, 2006; 109 min.
Friday, 9:00 AM

Quirkily-inventive musician-visual-artist Daniel Smith is the subject of this documentary, starring the Danielson Famile and Sufjan Stevens.

Select Short
On a Sunday
Bevan Klassen, 2004; 16 min.
Friday, 10:50 AM

In a 1950s Canadian prairie town, a son’s long-time desire to attend a church camping retreat with his father unearths a long-standing grudge held by a controlling church leader.

Film Showcase Feature
Pearl Diver
Sidney King, 2004; 95 mins.
Friday, 11:00 AM

Two sisters work through family tragedies past and present amid culture clashes that include Mennonite country life and big city dreams.

Roberto Rossellini
Europa '51 ala "The Greatest Love"
Roberto Rossellini, 1952; 107 mins.
Friday, 3:00 PM

What if someone like St. Francis were to show up in a devastated, cynical postwar Europe? Ingrid Bergman stars.

Select Shorts
Winnipeg Film Group Shorts
Featuring Guy Maddin's Sombra Dolorosa
Wednesday, 6:00 PM

It must be something about those long, cold winters and all that prairie: a program of off-the-wall shorts from those ever-inventive Winnipeggers — featuring local-boy-made-good Guy Maddin boxing with Death in a Dia de los Muertos -style romp.

Dardennes
L'Enfant
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2005; 95 mins.
Friday, 7:00 PM

A young punk wants to live with his girlfriend but is far from ready to be a father to their baby, so he tries to sell the child on the black market.

SATURDAY, JULY 8th

JUST ADDED!
Documentary
Winter Soldier
Winterfilm Collective, 1972; 96 mins.
Saturday, 11:00 AM

Controversial and rarely-screened documentary featuring young Vietnam vets describing atrocities and torture committed by US Soldiers.

Among the Ruins
Lamerica
Gianni Amelio, 1994; 116 mins.
Saturday, 2:00 PM (Note: new time)

Crooked businessmen aim to pick the bones of a wounded land but the plan aborts and one is left behind to struggle with the people he came to rip-off.

Roberto Rossellini
Stromboli
Roberto Rossellini, 1949; 106 mins.
Saturday, 4:00 PM (Note: new time)

Angry young woman (Bergman) seeks escape from refugee camp by marrying a fisherman who takes her to his volcano-dominated island.

Roberto Rossellini
My Dad is 100 Years Old
Guy Maddin, 2005; 16 mins.
Saturday, 6:00 PM

Isabella Rossellini’s oddball and sweet tribute to her father, directed by the pride of the Winnipeg Film Group, Guy Maddin.

Roberto Rossellini
Voyage to Italy
Roberto Rossellini, 1953; 97 mins.
Saturday, 7:00 PM

Estranged couple (Ingrid Bergman & George Sanders) travel to Italy and encounter in the ruins a presence that shatters their defenses.