Europe in Four Themes: Animals

In collaboration with the Getty Center, UCLA Film & Television Archive and the UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies have partnered this year to present a quarterly, interdisciplinary festival of film and music that explores European culture, politics and society through the prism of four themes: Animals, Food, Music and Architecture/Landscape.  Each calendar in 2018, the Archive will devote a weekend to works by European and Russian filmmakers that explore these themes in compelling ways.  A noted expert in a related field of study will be invited to respond during post-screening conversations.

We launch this initiative February 23-25 with three films centered around animals: Robert Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar (France, 1966), Kornél Mundruczó’s White God (Hungary/Germany/Sweden, 2014) and Vladimir Bortko’s Heart of a Dog (Soviet Union, 1988).  Philosopher and ethologist Vinciane Despret, professor at the University of Liège, Belgium, will join us at each screening to discuss the films.  A leading voice in the emerging field of scientific humanities, Despret, in her latest book, What Would Animals Say If We Asked the Right Questions? (University of Minnesota Press, 2016), challenges with humor and insight the received scientific and anecdotal wisdom about animal behavior and agency.

These screenings take place in conjunction with a lecture-concert at the Getty Center on Saturday, February 24 at 7:30 p.m., featuring a presentation by Laure Murat and performances of works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Fauré, Rameau, Rossini, Cage, Gershwin and others.  The program also features the first U.S. appearance of Vincent Penot, clarinetist of the Opéra de Paris, who performs three pieces on the program.  For more information, please visit getty.edu.

Special thanks: Laure Murat, director, UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies.