Screenings

Film Screening: ‘Agnes Martin: With My Back to the World’ > December 7th

This moving documentary on the internationally renowned painter Agnes Martin was shot over a period of four years, from 1998 through 2002. Interviews with Martin are intercut with shots of her working in her studio located in Taos, New Mexico, with photographs and archival footage, and images of her artwork spanning over five decades. The film is a venue for Martin to speak about her work, her working methods, her life as an artist, and her views about the creative process. Dir. Mary Lance, 2002, 57 mins. Registration essential. Esker Foundation is proud to partner with Sidewalk Citizen on our film series. The bakery is generously providing complimentary treats inspired by each film screening this fall.

Visual AIDS Day With(out) Art: Alternate Endings, Activist Rising > December 2nd

Visual AIDS’ longstanding Day With(out) Art Project

ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS is the 29th iteration of Visual AIDS’ longstanding Day With(out) Art Project. Highlighting the impact of art in contemporary AIDS activism and advocacy, the program features new short videos from six inspiring community organizations and collectives—ACT UP NY, Positive Women’s Network, Sero Project, The SPOT, Tacoma Action Collective, and VOCAL NY. ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS seeks to reflect the persisting urgencies of today’s HIV/AIDS epidemic, including HIV criminalization, Big Pharma, homelessness, and the disproportionate effects of HIV on marginalized communities. At a moment of growing interest in the histories of AIDS activism, ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS foregrounds contemporary engagements between activists, artists, and cultural workers on the front lines. 60 minutes. Registration essential.

Film Screening: ‘Gabriel’ > November 23rd

In 1976, Agnes Martin filmed Gabriel, her only completed cinematic work. Photographed in California, Colorado, and New Mexico with an Aeroflex camera, it follows a ten-year-old boy, played by Peter Mayne, as he wanders aimlessly across varied landscapes. These scenes are interspersed with sequences of running creeks, fields of flowers, and excerpts of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. For Martin, her film was about “happiness, innocence, and beauty…it’s about this little boy who climbs a mountain and all the beautiful things he sees” and was made “to protest the commercial films being negative, [those that are] about deception and deceit and violence.” The title references the Biblical Archangel, Gabriel, who symbolized purity. Dir. Agnes Martin, 1976, 78 mins. Registration essential. Esker Foundation is proud to partner with Sidewalk Citizen on our film series. The bakery is generously providing complimentary treats inspired by each film screening this fall.

Film Screening: ‘Citizen Jane: Battle for the City’ > March 9th

In 1960, Jane Jacobs’s book The Death and Life of Great American Cities sent shockwaves through the architecture and planning worlds, with its exploration of the consequences of modern planners’ and architects’ reconfiguration of cities. Jacobs was also an activist, who was involved in many fights in mid-century New York, to stop “master builder” Robert Moses from running roughshod over the city. This film retraces the battles for the city as personified by Jacobs and Moses, as urbanization moves to the very front of the global agenda. This film sets out to examine the city of today though the lens of one of its greatest champions. Dir. Matt Tyrnauer, 2017, 92 mins. Registration essential. Esker Foundation is proud to partner with Sidewalk Citizen on the presentation of this film. The bakery is generously providing complimentary treats created in response to the film. Coincidentally, the novel by Jane Jacobs was the inspiration for the naming of the bakery.  

Esker Film Series: ‘Boy’ > December 7th

Dir. Taika Waititi

Boy is a dreamer who loves Michael Jackson. He lives with his brother Rocky, a tribe of deserted cousins and his Nan. Boy’s other hero, his father Alamein, is the subject of Boy’s fantasies, and he imagines him as a deep sea diver, war hero and a close relation of Michael Jackson. In reality Alamein is an inept, wannabe gangster who has been in jail for robbery. When Alamein returns home after seven years away, Boy is forced to confront the man he thought he remembered, find his own potential and learn to get along without the hero he had been hoping for.   Dir. Taika Waititi, 2010, 87 mins. Registration essential.   We are excited to partner with local bakery, Sidewalk Citizen who will be providing complimentary treats, inspired by and accompanying every screening this fall.  

Esker Film Series: ‘The Fence (La Barda)’ > November 23rd

Dir. Rory Kennedy

In October 2006, the U.S. government decided to build a 700-mile fence along its troubled 2000-mile-plus border with Mexico. Three years, 19 construction companies, 350 engineers, thousands of construction workers, tens of thousands of tons of metal and $3 billion later, was it all worth it? The Fence (La Barda) investigates the impact of the project, revealing how its stated goals – containing illegal immigration, cracking down on drug trafficking and protecting America from terrorists – have given way to unforeseen consequences.   Dir. Rory Kennedy, 2010, 36 mins. Registration essential.   We are excited to partner with local bakery, Sidewalk Citizen who will be providing complimentary treats, inspired by and accompanying every screening this fall.  

Esker Film Series: ‘Living with Wildlife’ > November 16th

Dir. Leanne Allison

The Bow Valley of Alberta is the busiest place in the world where people and grizzly bears still coexist. The documentary Living with Wildlife tells the hopeful story of how communities in the Bow Valley have come together over the past 20 years in order to coexist with grizzly bears and other wildlife. The film also takes a realistic look at the challenges and constant pressures wildlife face. Filmmaker and director Leanne Allison will join us following the screening to answer questions and discuss the film.   Dir. Leanne Allison, 2017, 23 mins. Registration essential. We are excited to partner with local bakery, Sidewalk Citizen who will be providing complimentary treats, inspired by and accompanying every screening this fall.     

Esker Film Series: ‘Living with Coyote’ > November 16th

Dir. Priya Shelly

Living with Coyote, a short documentary, follows generational sheepherders and urban biologists in the American West who share a common concern: coyote presence. With rural coyotes predating on lambs in the Rocky Mountain ranges and urban coyotes feasting on garbage, small pets, and fruit trees in suburban/urban areas, killing the problem coyote seems like a great quick fix. Contrary to this belief, there is no simple solution. Living with Coyote delves into the complexities of keeping our wild neighbours on the land that we share and raises awareness on the importance of human responsibility and stewardship. Dir. Priya Shelly, DP. Shaka Brookes, 2015, 19 mins. Registration essential. We are excited to partner with local bakery, Sidewalk Citizen who will be providing complimentary treats, inspired by and accompanying every screening this fall.

Esker Film Series: ‘All of Me’ (Llévate mis amores) > November 2nd

Dir. Arturo González Villaseñor

Hundreds of thousands of people attempt to cross from Mexico into the United States by train each year and are exposed to many dangers along their journey. Since 1995, a group of Mexican women in the village of La Patrona, known as “Las Patronas,” prepare water and food packages to toss to people aboard the train as it rushes by. Amid chaos and turmoil, Las Patronas give hope and offer love.  Dir. Arturo González Villaseñor, 2014, 90 mins. Spanish with English subtitles. Registration essential. We are excited to partner with local bakery, Sidewalk Citizen who will be providing complimentary treats, inspired by and accompanying every screening this fall.

Raymond > August 25th

Yuen asks her father to name all the people he knows who have died. She pairs each name with a branch, a seed, a flower, or an organic fragment that has fallen to the street in a rainstorm. The names describe the history of immigration to Hawaii through the sugar cane plantations that brought Yuen’s ancestors to the islands. The plants are also migrants: they came to Hawaii in the jet stream, a high elevation wind corridor that carries species over the ocean for hundreds of miles. Dir. Nina Yuen, 2015, 11 mins. Registration recommended.

Time and Time and Again > August 25th

Time and Time and Again is a film about time and art, based on the life and work of Icelandic artist Hreinn Friðfinnsson (b. 1943). Merging reality with fiction, the film uses selected works by Friðfinnsson as a springboard for a narrative. The ensuing story tells of a pair of twins who were separated at birth. One was brought up in the mountains of Iceland and the other below sea level in Amsterdam. Despite their shared genetics and birth date, the different forces of gravity in their environments have caused them to age differently. Dir. Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir and Markús Þór Andrésson, 2014, 48 mins. Icelandic, Finnish, and English with English subtitles Registration recommended.

The Holy Mountain > July 6th

A Christ-like figure wanders through bizarre, grotesque scenarios filled with religious and sacrilegious imagery. He meets a mystical guide who introduces him to seven wealthy and powerful people, each representing a planet in the solar system. These seven, along with the protagonist, the guide, and the guide’s assistant, divest themselves of their worldly goods and form a group of nine who will seek the Holy Mountain in order to displace the gods who live there and become immortal. Dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973, 113 mins. Viewer Discretion Advised (contains strong sexual content and graphic violence) Registration recommended. Limited number of tickets left!

Planet of Storms (Planeta Bur) > June 1st

Planet of Storms (Planeta Bur) is a Soviet science fiction film based on a novel by Alexander Kazantsev. Three Soviet spaceships are en route to explore planet Venus, when a meteorite destroys one of the ships. The two other ships decide to continue their mission. When the cosmonauts land on the planet they encounter prehistoric beasts, ancient cities, volcanoes, and vestiges of intelligent life. Dir. Pavel Klushantsev, 1962, 78 mins. Russian with English subtitles Registration recommended.

Hieronymus Bosch: Touched by the Devil > March 23rd

In 2016, the Noordbrabants Museum in the Dutch city of Den Bosch held a special exhibition devoted to the work of Hieronymus Bosch, who died 500 years ago. This late-medieval artist lived his entire life in the city, causing uproar with his fantastical and utterly unique paintings in which hell and the devil always played a prominent role. In preparation for the exhibition, a team of Dutch art historians crisscrosses the globe to unravel the secrets of his art, using infrared cameras to examine the sketches beneath the paint, in the hope of discovering more about the artist’s process. Dir. Pieter van Huystee, 2015, 89 mins. Dutch, English, Italian, and Spanish with English subtitles. Registration recommended. This program is now full. If you would like to be put on the waitlist, please follow the register link to Eventbrite.

Ghost Noise > February 9th

Ghost Noise leads the viewer into the world of third generation Inuit artist, Shuvinai Ashoona. The film mirrors the poetry found within Ashoona’s meticulously detailed drawings that deftly reflect personal experience, psychological perception, Inuit mythology, and the arctic landscape. As Ashoona states, “Everything’s a ghost noise… It’s good to listen to them but it’s not good to learn it.” Dir. Marcia Connolly, 2010, 23 mins. Registration recommended.

Kinngait: Riding Light into the World > February 9th

The Baffin Island community of Cape Dorset is world-renowned for the art produced at the Inuit owned and operated Kinngait Studios. Weaving together many voices with images of iconic artworks, the film is a captivating chronicle of how art making replaced fur-trapping in the 1950s, detailing the complex relationships between the artists and their network of supporters. This film brings together artworks of successive generations that eloquently illustrate the immense changes experienced by Inuit to their way of life and their environment over the past half-century. Featuring hauntingly beautiful Arctic scenery and evocative music by Tanya Tagaq, Lucie Idlout, and other contemporary Inuit performers. Dir. Annette Mangaard, 2010, 64 mins. English and Inuktitut with English Subtitles. Registration recommended.