Blight / Aquarius
This program is presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Part of the UCLA Film & Television Archive screening series (Dis)placement: Fluctuations of Home, Part II. Learn more at cinema.ucla.edu.
Blight (1996)
Filmmaker John Smith and composer Jocelyn Pook lived in the East London community whose destruction is documented in Blight. Though widely protested by residents, construction of the M11 Link Road began in 1994, leading to the demolition of hundreds of homes. Smith filmed the destruction and the rise of the new motorway over two years. Fragmented images of torn-down houses intertwine with field recordings and snippets of conversations with residents. The result is a symphony of real and constructed sounds and images that evoke the crumbling sensation of losing one’s ground.
DCP. Director: John Smith.
Aquarius (2016)
Clara (Sônia Braga), a widow and grandmother in her early 60s, spends her days swimming blissfully at the beaches of Recife, listening to her beloved records in her ocean-view apartment, and gathering with friends and family. Everything appears idyllic until it becomes clear that she is the last remaining resident in her building. When a persistent grandfather-and-grandson development team approaches her with an offer to buy her apartment, Clara refuses, preventing the planned demolition of the complex. As her once-joyful life becomes increasingly marked by harassment and stress, those closest to her urge her to sell and move on. But Clara is not that kind of person. Poised and fearless, she takes on the fight to protect her home.
DCP. Director/Screenwriter: Kleber Mendonça Filho. With: Sonia Braga, Maeve Jinkings, Irandhir Santos.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a division of UCLA Library, and presents its public programs in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer, among other venues. For more information about the Archive, visit cinema.ucla.edu.
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