7:30
The Bed-Sitting Room
Richard Lester (U.K., 1969)
The shortest war in history has decimated London. Now everyone is mutating into dressing cabinets and parrots. A dark comedy with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Ralph Richardson and others.
9:20
Dr. Strangelove
Stanley Kubrick (U.K., 1964)
A mad comedy with renegade generals, a loony president, and a Cold War that won't cool down. Peter Sellers in a double role as the Prez and Herr Strangelove. Also with George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens.
7:00
Rhapsody in August
Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1991)
Four teenage cousins visit their grandmother, a survivor of the A-bombing of Nagasaki. Through her stories and their own curiosity, the teenagers come to understand the proportions of this man-made tragedy. A delicate
contemporary drama.
9:00
Black Rain
Shohei Imamura (Japan, 1989)
The physical and psychological impact on a family from Hiroshima is depicted as they try to overcome the effects of radiation exposure five years after the bombing. An exquisite, unflinching film.
7:00
The Children of Hiroshima
Kaneto Shindo (Japan, 1952)
The first uncensored dramatic film from Japan made about the A-bombing. Based on a popular collection of stories written by children who survived the devastation.
7:00
Traces, plus short works
Peter d'Agostino (1995)
Born between the first A-bomb test in July, 1945 and the bombing of Hiroshima less than a month later, d'Agostino collides the public history of the Atomic Age and his personal memories.
8:40
Bell of Nagasaki
Hideo Oba (Japan, 1950)
An intriguing, somewhat sentimental melodrama about a doctor's struggle to gain faith during the turmoil of war. This is the first Japanese film about the A-bombing--heavily censored by the Occupying forces.
plus Nagasaki Journey
Chris Beaver, Judy Irving (1995): Confiscated footage shot in Nagasaki just after the bombing. Screened publicly for the first time.
7:30
Ladybug, Ladybug
Frank Perry (1963)
The serenity of a rural elementary school is shattered when the Civil Defense alarm sounds, then the students scurry home for shelter. Perry's film looks at the irrational fear and corrosive anxiety of the Atomic Age.
9:10
Desert Bloom
Eugene Corr (1985)
An early '50s nuclear family is no place for a troubled thirteen year-old girl. What's worse: they live on the outskirts of an A-bomb test site. Always looming, the bomb represents cultural atomization. With Ellen Barkin, Jon Voight, Jobeth Williams.
7:30
Eclipse of the Man-Made Sun
Nicolette Freeman, Amanda Stewart
(Australia, 1990)
The dust had barely settled when the atomic bomb passed into myth. Eclipse of the Man-Made Sun astutely and humorously examines the language and imagery associated with nuclear weaponry and power ala Atomic Cafe. Plus shorts: Involuntary Conversion and About Fall-Out.
9:10
Nine Days of One Year
Mikhail Romm (Russia, 1961)
A rare Soviet film about a nuclear physicist dangerously exposed to radiation during an experiment. Surprisingly enlightened views about weaponry and science expressed during the glory days of the Cold War.
7:30
Five
Arch Oboler (1951)
The first of the post-apocalypse films looks at the last five people on earth. Trying to build a brighter tomorrow, they find attitudes from the Old Order creeping back. A pop blast from the past.
9:20
Panic In Year Zero!
Ray Milland (1962)
Vacationers can't go home: Los Angeles has been destroyed. Instead, the family holds up in a cave as protection against the looters and assorted hooligans. With Frankie Avalon, Ray Milland and others.
7:00
The Beginning or the End
Norman Taurog (1947)
A docu-drama about the development of the A-bomb, concentrating on man's triumph over nature. Propagandistic elements surface through occasional historical inaccuracies. With Brian Donlevy, Robert Walker and others.
9:05
Above and Beyond
Melvin Frank, Norman Panama (1953)
A glamorized bio-pic about the crew of the Enola Gay, centers on the domestic squabbles of crew chief Col. Tibbets and wife Lucy. With Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, James Whitmore and others.
7:00
Them!
Gordon Douglas (1954)
The very first of the Big Bug movies finds gigantic ants living in the New Mexico desert. The effort to destroy these unnatural mutations is a great combination of '50s camp and catastrophe. With the Jamess--Arness and Whitmore.
9:00
Atomic Drive-in
featuring Bruce Conner's Crossroads (1976)
Expect to be blown away by radiating messages from the avant-garde, as well as artifacts from the atomic dustbin of history. The heated core of the Atomic Drive-in is Bruce Conner's Crossroads, a brilliant re-working of footage from the first underwater A-bomb test at Bikini Atoll. Around this visual nucleus, we'll screen brief experimental films and ephemeral propaganda on the wall of the UAM.Free Screening in the University
Art Museum's sculpture garden!