Cine-socialize (6PM) + watch "Paulina" (7PM) + discuss (8:45PM)
Details
FILMS@FACETS AUGUST MEET UP
6:00PM: Drinks, snacks and chit chat in the lobby. FREE!
7:00PM - 8:35PM: Screening of Paulina. NOT FREE!
($10 general admission or $5 for Facets members. Buy tix at the box office or online at https://facets.secure.force.com/ticket ).
8:50PM - 9:00PM: Break & informal discussion.
9:00PM - 10:00PM: "Formal" film discussion.
THE FILM:
Paulina (Dolores Fonzi) abandons a promising future as a lawyer to teach politics to young kids in a rural province of Argentina, much to the chagrin of her father Fernando, who wants her to pursue her career and finish her PhD. Her arrival in the small town where she is to teach, a region close to the border with Paraguay, brutalized by deforestation, is immediately disappointing: the students are unreceptive, opting to walk out of the classroom rather than engage in a philosophical debate about freedom of choice, choosing action over the rhetoric she offers.
With classes frequently cancelled and her students unengaged, she takes solace in a friendship with co-worker Laura. One evening, riding home from Laura's house, she is attacked and raped by a gang of local boys, though it is initially unclear what has happened to her. Despite her traumatic experience and the lack of trust around her, Paulina refuses to give up her social ideal. As her father struggles to keep his daughter's life and career intact, she begins making choices that may be pulling her deeper into danger.
Paulina explores the thin lines between morality and self-preservation, survival and sacrifice.
Directed by Santiago Mitre, Argentina/Brazil/France, 2015, 107 mins. In Spanish and Gurani with English subtitles.
REVIEWS:
"As stinging as a slap in the face... a severe story, made more so by its powerhouse lead actress"
—New York Times
"A challenging and complex take on a subject more often dealt with in stark black and white... [Dolores] Fonzi is riveting in a demanding role"
—Hollywood Reporter
"Paulina is appropriately unsettling and disconcerting in its complex examination of the gray area that lies between the morals we conceptually hold and the actions we're willing to perform to affirm those beliefs in the world"
—Slant Magazine
"Mitre's film explores issues around the ownership of experience... Fonzi's performance is perfectly judged; she knows when to hold back, convincing us of her character's sanity, and yet we never lose sight of her strength, of her power"
—Eye for Film
"A psychologically nuanced exploration of political idealism... the film offers a difficult examination of the human body as a site of political conflict"
—Sight & Sound
AWARDS:
WINNER, Critics Week Grand Prize & FIPRESCI Prize - Cannes Film Fest
WINNER, Best Actress - Argentinean Academy Awards
NOMINATED, Best Film, Best Director - Argentinean Academy Awards
Cine-socialize (6PM) + watch "Paulina" (7PM) + discuss (8:45PM)