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Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Monthly Film Digest: March


Dive into this preview of what's coming to our screens in March, featuring original commentary from members of the film programming team.

Friday, February 14, 2020

Never Records Artist Spotlight: ĀJŌ

Photo credit: Ted Riederer


Never Records is an exhibit and installation at The Rudin Family Gallery at BAM Strong that brings together artists and admirers of the arts. Musicians, spoken word artists, and others with something to share via an audio medium have three hours to record with New York-based conceptual artist and musician Ted Riederer, who created the exhibit, and will leave with a freshly cut vinyl record and a digital file of their music. Visitors to the project, which is in its tenth year, can browse vinyl recordings from Liverpool, Derry (Ireland), London, Lisbon, New Orleans, Victoria, Texas, Amman, and now Brooklyn!

ĀJŌ, a Brooklyn-based singer songwriter who has been performing her quirky brand of R&B and hip hop songs around New York City for nearly a decade, and who I first met when we were both undergraduate students at Columbia University, recorded at Never Records on Feb 9. Before her session, I spoke to her about her music and why she’s looking forward to performing at Never Records.

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Morality in Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite and Alban Berg’s Wozzeck

Parasite (2019)
By David Hsieh

Income inequality is often framed as a political and social issue in the United States. But can it be a moral issue? Two very different works—Bong Joon-Hos’ Parasite, currently screening in black and white at BAM Rose Cinemas, and Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck, which BAM audiences can see on February 6 in The Met: Live in HD series—suggest so. [Editor's note: Spoilers follow]

Beyond the Canon: The Hitch-Hiker + Badlands


It is no secret that the cinema canon has historically skewed toward lionizing the white, male auteur. Beyond the Canon is a monthly series that seeks to question that history and broaden horizons by pairing one much-loved, highly regarded, canonized classic with a thematically or stylistically-related—and equally brilliant—work by a filmmaker traditionally excluded from that discussion. This month’s double feature pairs Ida Lupino's The Hitch-Hiker (1953) with Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973).

By Dana Reinoos

By age 29, Ida Lupino had already acted in more than 40 films, and was fed up. Born in London into the Lupino theatrical family, she made her film debut at age 14, eventually rising from Hollywood bit player to, in her own words, “the poor man’s Bette Davis.” While her collaborations with directors like Cecil B. DeMille, Raoul Walsh, and Michael Curtiz earned her critical acclaim and legions of fans, Lupino often clashed with Warners Brothers boss Jack Warner, refusing to take “undignified” roles and chafing at unwanted script revisions. Her contentious relationship with Warner resulted in multiple suspensions and eventually, in 1947, Lupino left the studio.