A subtly ravishing passage through the halls of time and memory, this sublime reflection on twentieth-century Russian history by Andrei Tarkovsky (Stalker, Solaris) is as much a poem composed in images, or a hypnagogic hallucination, as it is a work of cinema. In a richly textured collage of varying film stocks and newsreel footage, the recollections of a dying poet flash before our eyes, his dreams mingling with scenes of childhood, wartime, and marriage, all imbued with the mystical power of a trance. Largely dismissed by Soviet critics on its release because of its elusive narrative structure, Mirror has since taken its place as one of the director’s most renowned and influential works, a stunning personal statement from an artist transmitting his innermost thoughts and feelings directly from psyche to screen.
We’re thrilled to partner once again with local bookstore sQecial media to bring you The Rosa Goddard International Film Festival, an annual celebration of cinema classics from around the world. This year we are featuring films by Andrei Tarkovsky, Víctor Erice, and Yasujiro Ozu. Tarkovsky and Ozu are widely considered two of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive is regarded by many as one of the greatest Spanish films ever made.
Tarkovsky’s film Mirror will be followed by a Q&A led by Raymond De Luca, Assistant Professor of Russian Studies and a Tarkovsky scholar at the University of Kentucky. Masamichi Inoue, Associate Professor, Japan Studies, University of Kentucky will lead a Q&A following Yasujiro Ozu’s Good Morning. Carmen Moreno-Nuño, Professor of Hispanic Studies and a specialist in cinema and the Spanish Civil War will lead a Q&A following Víctor Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive.
All films are in their original language with English-language subtitles.
