CSGS Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at New York University » film screening

REVIEW: Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded: “Things Change A Lot”

Robert — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:08:35 +0000

Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded: “Things Change A Lot”
New York University, 27 October 2011

The screening and panel discussion of Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded, co-sponsored by the NYU Asian/Pacific/American Institute and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, reflected the importance of “reloading” an analysis of popular representations of Asian women. The film covers a range of issues very succinctly, reflecting on the progress and/or lack thereof that might be seen in the decades between this and the original 1988 documentary, and presenting contemporary issues and strategies that have arisen in the period between the two films. The documentary was screened after a brief introduction from director and producer Elaine Kim, professor of ethnic studies at UC Berkeley; it was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by NYU’s Gayatri Gopinath, and featuring Kim, comics guru Jeff Yang, and Benjamin Han, a doctoral candidate in Cinema Studies at NYU.

Both films were produced by Asian Women United, a project-driven activist organization co-founded by Kim in 1981. While the original Slaying the Dragon, released in 1988, was produced with a $300,000 budget—now the equivalent of $800,000—the sequel was produced with $15,000. As Kim stated, they “couldn’t get any funding” for the sequel, because “race and representation of Asian women is kind of an old idea.” Of course, the irony of this statement reflects the intervention of the documentary, which demonstrates, as the saying goes: “the more things change, the more they stay the same”—and, as Kim put it, “things change a lot.” The film presents the prevalence of multiculturalism onscreen as one example of changes in representation in the last 20-odd years, and suggests that while the fact that there are “more brown faces” onscreen now than in the 80s might seem “comforting” in the context of the documentary’s interest in representation, the characters being portrayed are “still white characters,” whose cultural history and experience is erased in the service of presenting “universal” (read: white) experience, demonstrating the “interchangeability and commodification of race” in our current moment.

The tension between universal and particular experience was discussed as a perennial issue for Asian-American writers and performers, who struggle to, as Jeff Yang put it, “depict characters in a way that allows them to live in their skin without being defined by that skin.” Kim offered films like The Motel, Robot Stories, and Colma: The Musical as examples of films that “address and embrace race without being obsessed by it,” while Yang suggested the Harold and Kumar trilogy as another example—yet, as Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded suggests, and Kim reminded us, the strides in representation for Asian-American men onscreen are not yet similarly reflected in roles for women. Of course, these struggles are in large part due to the fact that such stories “haven’t yet been given the budget, the resources, or the freedom” for such complex depictions.

The lack of budget for Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded resulted in a DIY ethos, and led to a number of conceptual choices that differentiate the sequel from the original documentary, in ways that were both necessary and strategic, and reflect the film’s interest in the ways new media and technology productively complicate representation and the primacy of mainstream culture. While Slaying the Dragon was recorded on 16mm film and ran 60 minutes, the sequel is a concise 30 minutes. The shorter running time was certainly not due to a lack of content; rather, Kim wanted to ensure that the film was a functional length for use in classroom contexts, while still allowing time for discussion. Kim’s pedagogical focus can also be seen in the formal composition of the sequel, which was recorded digitally, rather than on film, and was put together on the filmmakers’ laptops. Kim described the process of making the original documentary on 16mm as ultimately finite: “as soon as you make it, that’s it.” In contrast, Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded is a dynamic site that welcomes commentary, response and contribution. Kim described it as an “agglutinative project,” because, ideally, the film will continue to expand through feedback and discussion in order not only to reflect the continued evolution in representation of Asian women, but also to keep such conversations alive.

–Julia DeLeon

Julia DeLeon is a PhD student in Performance Studies at NYU.

Screening: “Resisting Police Brutality and Criminalization: Short Films About Sex Worker Rights”

djm489 — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:20:11 +0000

Screening: “Resisting Police Brutality and Criminalization: Short Films About Sex Worker Rights”

Where: Bluestockings, 172 Allen St., NY, NY
When: Monday, October 24, 2011 from 7pm – 9pm

More Info: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=211142062286368

Join us for an evening of short films from the sex worker community exploring the impact of police brutality, repression, and criminalization on communities of sex workers. This evening, take a stand in solidarity with the national day of action against police brutality and violence organized by the October 22 Coalition.

Films include “Prostitution Free Zone” and a scene from the forthcoming film “No Human Involved.”

This event is hosted by SWOP-NYC and SWANK. < http://www.swop-nyc.org >

Sex Workers Outreach Project New York City (SWOP-NYC) and Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK) are both volunteer-based, grassroots organizations and part of a national network dedicated to improving the lives of current and former sex workers/those with experience in the sex trade in the New York metro area, on and off of the job.

PRIDE MONTH PRESENTS: Captive Genders at NYU

djm489 — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:44:57 +0000

A panel on trans/queer folks, mass incarceration and the politics of abolition.
Tuesday, October 25 · 7:00pm – 9:00pm
NYU Kimmel Center, Rosenthal 10th Floor
60 Washington Square South

Free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible.

Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex (AK Press)

Pathologized, terrorized, and confined, trans/gender non-conforming and queer folks have always struggled against the enormity of the prison industrial complex. The first collection of its kind, Eric A. Stanley and Nat Smith bring together current and former prisoners, activists, and academics to offer new ways for understanding how race, gender, ability, and sexuality are lived under the crushing weight of captivity. Through a politic of gender self-determination, this collection argues that trans/queer liberation and prison abolition must be grown together. From rioting against police violence and critiquing hate crimes legislation to prisoners demanding access to HIV medications, and far beyond, Captive Genders is a challenge for us all to join the struggle.

captivegenders.net

with:

Eric A. Stanley works at the intersections of radical trans/queer politics, theories of state violence, and visual culture. Eric co-edited Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex (AK Press, 2011) and along with Chris Vargas, directed the films Homotopia (2006) and Criminal Queers (2011).

Ralowe T. Ampu is the seductive fragrance wafting through milieus of unbridled danger and intrigue. Yes, whether it be outing gay Castro realtors as AIDS profiteers with ACT UP and GAY SHAME or trying to free the New Jersey 4, or prevent the non-profit management company in her SRO from killing her neighbors, Ralowe is there.

Reina Gossett lives in Brooklyn & works at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project supporting SRLP’s membership and community organizing work. She believes creativity & imagination are crucial for growing strong communities and practicing self-determination.

Nadia Guidotto is a Contract Faculty at York University in Department of Political Science. Her current research analyzes intersex and how authoritative discourses like medicine and law support each another in maintaining a hierarchy of bodies.

Toshio Meronek is on the editorial collective for The Abolitionist, Critical Resistance’s newspaper and runs whereslulu.com, a website on disability and popular culture.

Michelle Potts is a PhD student in the department of Rhetoric at UC Berkeley. Her work looks at the intersections of labour, race and health. She lives in Oakland, CA.

Kimma Walker lives in East Orange, NJ and is the PROUD MOTHER of Terrain Dandridge who is one of the New Jersey 4. http://freenj4.wordpress.com/

Event cosponsored by Counterpublic NYC.

Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded

Robert — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:52:08 +0000

SLAYING THE DRAGON: RELOADED

film screening and panel discussion presented by the NYU Asian/Pacific/American Institute

Read a review of this talk!

October 27, Thursday
6 to 9 pm

Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded
2011, 30 minutes, USA
director Elaine H. Kim

Confirmed panelists:

Benjamin Han, Cinema Studies, NYU

Elaine H. Kim, Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies, UC-Berkeley

Jeff Yang, Asia Society, New York City

Moderated by: Gayatri Gopinath, Social and Cultural Analysis, NYU

Slaying The Dragon gets a reboot in Elaine Kim’s recent documentary Slaying The Dragon: Reloaded. Still exploring Asian images in Hollywood film, the documentary takes into account a new generation of viewers and films. While some Asian archetypes remain the same, others are being explored.

The post-screening discussion will feature director Elaine Kim; Benjamin Han, Cinema Studies NYU; and Jeff Yang, curator of the current A/P/A Institute exhibition “Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986,” and will be moderated by Gayatri Gopinath, director of the A/P/A Studies Program at NYU. The discussion will address new and persisting images of Asians in the popular imaginary as well as some of the complexities of shifting archetypes and their psychological and developmental effects on Asian American youth.

Cantor Film Center
Theater 101
36 East 8th Street
between University Place and Greene Street

This event is free and open to the public. Venue is wheelchair accessible.

To RSVP, email apa.rsvp@nyu.edu, call 212-992-9653, or visit A/P/A Institute.

Co-sponsored by the NYU Asian/Pacific/American Institute and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality.

Ke Kulana He Mahu: Remembering a Sense of Place film screening

Robert — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:12:41 +0000

KE KULANA HE MAHU: REMEMBERING A SENSE OF PLACE

a film screening and discussion with producer Connie Florez

April 5, Tuesday
6 to 9 pm

a film by Brent Anbe and Kathryn Xian
67 minutes, 2001, USA

For more film information, please visit http://www.zangpictures.net/Projects/KeKulanaHeMahu.html

This documentary examines how colonialism has profoundly shifted attitudes toward gender and sexuality for indigenous Hawai’ians, and has shaped the marginalization of transgendered communities in Hawai’i today.

This special screening will be accompanied by a selection from Connie Florez’s current documentary project The Glades Project and a discussion with the director in dialogue with members of the Pacific LGBT community in NYC including Kristabelle; and Elizabeth Conley, MPH Sexuality & Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

The program will be moderated by Gayatri Gopinath, Director of the Gender & Sexuality Studies Program at the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis at NYU.

NYU Kimmel Center
60 Washington Square South
Shorin Performance Studio, Room 802
between LaGuardia Place and Thompson Street

To RSVP: email apa.rsvp@nyu.edu, or call 212-992-9653

Co-sponsored by NYU’s Asian/Pacific/American Institute; Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis; Center for Media, Culture and History; and Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality; and by Na ‘Ōiwi NYC.

On Hostile Ground: film screening

Robert — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:08:00 +0000

ON HOSTILE GROUND

a film screening and discussion

March 9, Wednesday
6:30 to 8:30 pm

Introduction by Faye Ginsburg, Anthropology, NYU

Post-screening discussion with co-director Jenny Raskin

a film by Liz Mermin and Jenny Raskin
71 minutes, 2001, USA

For more film information and trailer, please visit http://www.aubinpictures.com/ohg/.

On October 23, 1998, a sniper carrying a high-powered rifle assassinated Dr. Barnett Slepian in his home, altering forever a family, a community, and the bounds of our imaginings about anti-abortion violence. This horrific act punctuated a decade of escalating harassment and violence against women’s heath care providers – a decade marred by murders, assaults, death threats, stalking, clinic blockades, arsons, bombings, and chemical attacks. How do these events affect the personal and professional lives of abortion providers? What motivates them to continue their work in the face of such terrorism?

This compelling film explores the issues of anti-abortion and women’s health care violence through the eyes of three dedicated U.S. abortion providers. The film puts a “human face” on abortion provision, challenging the campaign of misinformation perpetuated by the anti-abortion movement. Through the voices of sons, daughters, spouses, coworkers, and patients emerges a heartwarming portrait of committed health care professionals rooted in their families and communities and appreciated by the women they serve.

Department of Cinema Studies, Michelson Theater
721 Broadway, Room 648
between Waverly and Washington Places

Co-sponsored by the NYU Department of Cinema Studies and the Center for Religion and Media.

This event is free and open to the public. Venue is wheelchair accessible.

For more information, please call 212-992-9540 or email csgs(at)nyu.edu.

Sex in an Epidemic film screening

Robert — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:12:59 +0000

SEX IN AN EPIDEMIC

A screening and discussion with filmmaker Jean Carlomusto

a documentary by Jean Carlomusto
70 minutes, color, USA, 2010

December 8, Wednesday
6:30 to 8:30 pm

Click here for trailer.

This pioneering documentary explores the personal, political and structural challenges that have continually hampered the best efforts of HIV educators and community groups to curb HIV infection rates in the United States. It is a compelling history of the devastating early days of the epidemic in NYC, when men with “GRID” were a stigmatized population that died swiftly of a terrifying new disease.

Few concepts have had as great an impact on sexuality over the past 28 years as that of “safer sex.” Yet, as a concept, it is important to remember two things: first, safer sex had to be invented amidst an alarming lack of information that existed before the discovery of HIV in 1984; and second, safer sex as a concept had to be sold by the persistent and creative persuasion of community-based groups all across the country.

Michelson Theater, Cinema Studies
721 Broadway, 6th Floor

Co-sponsored by NYU’s Department of Cinema Studies; the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior, and Prevention Studies (CHIBPS); and CSGS.

This event is free and open to the public. Venue is wheelchair accessible.

For more information, please call 212-992-9540 or email csgs(at)nyu.edu.

Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, The Pillars of the Global Economy Film Screening & Discussion with Director Mark Schuller (CUNY)

djm489 — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 18:52:38 +0000

The Africana Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies Programs Present:
Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, The Pillars of the Global Economy
Film Screening & Discussion with Director Mark Schuller (CUNY)

Monday November 1st, 2010
6:30pm to 8:00pm
Dept of Social & Cultural Analysis at New York University
20 Cooper Square, 4th Floor
New York, NY

“Everyone else has spoken for Haitian women, yet, we have a history of speaking for ourselves. I support Poto Mitan because it offers us a rare glimpse into how Haitian women in the struggle understand their complex conditions and what they are doing for themselves.”
- Gina Ulysse, Haitian American scholar/activist/performer

Told through compelling lives of five courageous Haitian women workers, Poto Mitan gives the global economy a human face. Each woman’s personal story explains neoliberal globalization, how it is gendered, and how it impacts Haiti: inhumane working/living conditions, violence, poverty, lack of education, and poor health care. And while Poto Mitan offers in-depth understanding of Haiti, its focus on women’s subjugation, worker exploitation, poverty, and resistance demonstrates these are global struggles. Finally, through their collective activism, these women demonstrate that despite monumental obstacles in a poor country like Haiti, collective action makes change possible.

http://potomitan.net/

Margarethe Von Trotta’s VISION comes to the FILM FORUM October 13

djm489 — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 17:53:11 +0000

OCTOBER 13-26 – TWO WEEKS ONLY
MARGARETHE VON TROTTA IN PERSON OPENING WEEKEND!

209 W Houston Street
(212) 727-8110 www.filmforum.org
Showtimes: 1:00, 3:15, 5:40, 7:50, 10:00
Tickets available online beginning October 6

Hildegard von Bingen was truly a woman ahead of her time. A visionary in every sense of the word, this famed 12th-century Benedictine nun was a Christian mystic, composer, philosopher, playwright, poet, naturalist, scientist, physician, herbalist and ecological activist.

In Vision, New German Cinema auteur Margarethe von Trotta (Marianne and Juliane, Rosa Luxemburg, Rosenstrasse) reunites with recurrent star Barbara Sukowa (Zentropa, Berlin Alexanderplatz) to bring the story of this extraordinary woman to life. In a staggering performance, Sukowa portrays von Bingen’s fierce determination to expand the responsibilities of women within the order, even as she fends off outrage from some in the Church over the visions she claims to receive from God. Lushly shot in the original medieval cloisters of the fairytale-like German countryside, Vision is a profoundly inspirational portrait of a woman who has emerged from the shadows of history as a forward-thinking and iconoclastic pioneer of faith, change and enlightenment.

Visit our brand new website and watch the trailer: http://www.visionthefilm.com

http://www.filmforum.org/films/vision.html
http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com

Assume Nothing by Rebecca Swan

djm489 — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:43:11 +0000

Assume Nothing by Rebecca Swan

Multi Media Performance Event

Acclaimed mixed media artist Rebecca Swan from Aotearoa / New Zealand is in New York to launch Assume Nothing – a searingly beautiful book celebrating gender diversity. This work has been aptly described by Art News New Zealand as: “Touchingly intimate yet powerful no holds barred approach . . . tremendous tenderness”.

Assume Nothing is also an exhibtion and film honouring gender diversity across cultures and continents – and resonates with the language and music of Aotearoa and the Pacific. Rebecca’s portraits and her working relationship with some of those photographed have been documented by award-winning film-maker Kirsty MacDonald.

This one night event is sure to open your heart and mind, make you laugh and cry, and leave you with an expanded sense of what’s possible. It is an intoxicating cocktail of stunning performances, teasers from Assume Nothing the film and passionate insights from Rebecca into the heart of this 15 year project.

Featuring:

MilDred Gerestant- a Haitian American, universal woman, who is a performance artist, educator, healer, and gender illusionist based in NYC (http://www.DredLove.com)

Jack Byrne – performer, trans activist and Rebecca’s partner

Shigeyuki Kihara- a celebrated multi media artist who is Samoan, Japanese and fa’afafine

Ema Lyon- a Maori weaver who describes herself as ia (which in Te Reo Maori means both he and she).

Mani Bruce Mitchell- an intersex activist who shares the power of photographs in the reclaiming of her identity.

“Not only does Rebecca Swan provide us with a timely and evocative motto for the 21st century, she does it with style and panache. Assume Nothing shows us what it looks like when theory is put into practice with love and considerable skill.” —Del LaGrace Volcano- gender variant visual artist and activist.

October 29th 7.30-9pm

The Tank
354 W. 45th Street between 8th and 9th.

$10 tickets (available at the door 30 minutes prior to the show, cash only)
http://www.thetanknyc.org

Thursday October 28th, 7pm

FREE

Blue Stockings Bookstore and Activist Centre
172 Allen St between Stanton and Rivington
http://www.bluestockings.com

Panel discussion “Art, Activism and Gender Identity” exploring the interplay between human rights activism and art followed by book signing.Panel includes, Rebecca Swan, author and photographer of Assume Nothing Jack Byrne, performer, trans activist, and Rebecca’s partner Justus Eisfield, co director and co- founder of global Action for Trans* Equality.

Check out Rebecca’s website:
http://www.rebeccaswan.com

Check out facebook for the latest info!
http://www.facebook.com/RebeccaSwanArtPhotography?ref=mf