Nocturne + Footlight Parade

Nocturne
1980
Dir. Lars von Trier
8min, Digital Projection
With Yvette, Solbjørg Højfeldt and Anne-Lise Gabold

This tense, experimental look at a woman whose life is disrupted by shattered glass and is afraid of sunlight recalls the work of avant-garde pioneers Maya Deren and Luis Buñuel, using visual poetry to create tension with the narrative. Made while at the National Film School of Denmark, "Nocturne" won von Trier the Best Film Award at the 1981 Munich Film Festival.

Screens with

Footlight Parade
1933
Dir. Lloyd Bacon with sequences by Busby Berkeley
104min, 35mm
With James Cagney, Joan Blondell, and Ruby Keeler

 Following a Broadway producer who starts producing musical “prologues” for movie theatres, Footlight Parade is one of the most vital works showcasing the transition of the spectacle from stage to screen.  Made during the Pre-Code era, its humor is quite risqué, with many references to prostitution and suggestions of profanity largely unseen in studio films until the 1960s, when the Production Code collapsed.  Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being, the film includes some of Busby Berkeley's biggest dance numbers that would come to define the Hollywood musical spectacle.  

LAURA SIMMS

Laura Simms, senior research fellow for Rutgers Newark, is an award winning storyteller, writer, educator and humanitarian engaged in individual and community transformation. She is working with Mercy Corps, inc in Haiti as narrative therapist, and with Paula Allen in the Rue Freres Camp. She offers performances, keynotes and workshops in conferences, villages, schools, universities and community events worldwide. She is a member of the Therapeutic Arts Alliance of Manhattan, and a senior teacher of Shambhala Buddhist meditation, Laura received the Brimstone Award for Engaged Storytelling. and Sesame Street’s award for work with children worldwide. She is co-faculty with Terry Tempest Williams’ at University of Utah, with ETSU’s CANCER STORIES project, and is spoken word consultant for the REAL Arts High School in Portland,. Oregon. Most recent book OUR SECRET TERRITORY: The Essence of Storytelling (sentient books, June 2011).

www.laurasimms.com