Two noted international documentarians will screen recent films at the University of Colorado Boulder in the coming weeks.
Lucien Castaing-Taylor, a professor of anthropology at Harvard University who previously taught at CU-Boulder, will present and discuss his award-winning documentary “Leviathan” on Thursday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. in room E-50 of the Muenzinger building.
Academy Award winner Alex Gibney will screen his 2013 documentary “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks” on Monday, May 5, at 7 p.m. in room 102 of the ATLAS building. Both screenings are free and open to the public.
“Lucien Castaing-Taylor is one of the world’s pre-eminent ethnographic filmmakers,” said Dan Boord, professor of film studies and director of CU-Boulder’s Stan Brakhage Center for media studies. “He brings to his work a close study of culture and masterful experimental filmmaking techniques.”
Gibney’s work “casts new and piercing light on some of the most important and controversial stories of the day,” said Boord.
“Leviathan,” directed by Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, has no narration or interviews. Instead, viewers are immersed in the sights and sounds of a fishing boat navigating the often-dangerous waters off the New England coastline -- the same waters that inspired “Moby Dick.”
The film uses an arsenal of cameras that allows the point of view to swoop rapidly from below sea level up into the sky. It was released internationally, has regularly appeared in film critics’ top 10 documentary lists and won numerous awards.
Gibney’s “We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wiki-Leaks” explores the 2010 leak of an enormous amount of classified U.S. data and the impact of the revelations on international events.
Gibney is a producer and director known for the films “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson,” “Taxi to the Dark Side” and “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.”
The screenings are sponsored by CU-Boulder’s Department of Anthropology, Film Studies program and the initiative for the proposed College of Media, Communication and Information (CMCI) at CU-Boulder.
The proposed CMCI would unite seven CU-Boulder departments and programs focused on digital storytelling in its scholarly, journalistic, creative and persuasive forms. The college would include a new Master of Fine Arts in interdisciplinary documentary media practices, as well as an undergraduate concentration in documentary media.
For more information, and to comment on, the proposal for the College of Media, Communication and Information visit www.colorado.edu/cmci. For more information about the screenings call 303-492-0460.
Gibney’s work “casts new and piercing light on some of the most important and controversial stories of the day,” said Boord.
