Women Without Men and Night on Earth

Greeting Soldiers and Cinephiles,

I apologize for not making my weekly post this past week, but I assure you Shooting Wall is alive and well. In fact, we are just about finished with the first issue. The layout is complete, we just need to do a little editing, then we will be printing and distributing! After much ado, Shooting Wall Issue#1 should be out by the end of October and this is a promise fellow cinephiles.

Tonight we have some nice events at International House. At 5pm visual artist Shirin Neshat's debut feature film Women Without Men will be capping off the three day Women Directors from North Africa and the Middle East series. I went last night to see Algerian novelist Assia Djebar's very rare first film La Nouba des femmes de Mont-Chenoua, which was a difficult, but overall very rewarding film. Women Without Men is the centerpiece of the series, and I have heard nothing but good things about it.
This will be followed by Jim Jarmusch's 1991 film Night on Earth. This is part of International House's continuing Janus film series and should be quite good. I expect Jarmusch's film will get much more of a turnout considering he and his films are much more well known, but cinephiles, I think Women Without Men should be essential viewing as well. Everyone who can attend both should. Last night's screening of La Nouba des femmes de Mont-Chenoua was not heavily attended, which was quite disappointing for such an interesting, rare, chanllenging and adventurous film. These are the kinds of films Shooting Wall should be seeing and discussing; it is not just about seeing the well-known films by the famous autuers, but about expanding cinema and discovering lost films and great new ones. Cinema of the past has not been written in stone and there are so many great and interesting films that have yet to be discovered. All cinephiles should feel obligated to seeking out these undiscovered films, especially these non-Western films, which have been seriously neglected in Europe and America for many years. Not to mention films by women, which in many cases are far more adventurous and challenging and intellectual than the more well-known films by men from the same period. I encourage everyone to attend tonight.

More updates on the what's going on in Philadelphia film tomorrow with the weekly update. I hope to see all Shooting Wall soldiers and cinephiles tonight at International House.