The Aspen Institute Arts Program and ASPEN FILM Announce 2014 NEW VIEWS Documentaries & Dialogue Series

June 19, 2014

Contact: Cristal Logan
Director, Aspen Community Programs
The Aspen Institute
Cristal.Logan@aspeninstitute.org
Tel. 970-544-7929

Aspen, CO, June 19, 2014 –– The Aspen Institute Arts Program is pleased to announce its 2014 NEW VIEWS Documentaries & Dialogue Series featuring critically acclaimed documentaries and conversations with special guests. The series launches July 22 and continues through August.

Films will be screened at the Paepcke Auditorium on the Aspen Meadows campus in Aspen, CO at 7:00pm. NEW VIEWS is generously sponsored by Leonard Lauder and Jane and Michael Eisner. Tickets will be available for sale on Friday, June 20 and can be purchased at http://www.aspenshowtix.com, (970) 920-5770, or at Aspen Show Tickets at the Wheeler Opera House. As full-capacity audiences are expected for this series, early ticket purchasing is encouraged. Doors will open 45 minutes prior to the start of the event and tickets, if still available, will be on sale at the door.

Tuesday, July 22
Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq
Producer/director/writer Nancy Buirski and choreographer/dancer Arthur Mitchell will be featured in a post-screening discussion. 

Of all the great ballerinas, Tanaquil Le Clercq, known to all as “Tanny,” may have been the most transcendent. She was the inspiration and then the wife of choreography genius George Balanchine. She also sparked the imagination of Jerome Robbins, who created his famous version of Afternoon of a Faun for her. Then, in 1954, at age 27 and the height of her fame, she was struck down by polio. Nancy Buirski’s radiant film finds a tone to match Tanny’s exquisite dancing and long, lovely physique, well represented in photos, home movies and kinescopes. In addition to being a rich and compelling story of a dancer who can no longer dance and a muse who can no longer inspire, Buirski’s movie is also a vivid portrayal of a world and a time gone by. In addition to the breathtaking photos and archival footage, Afternoon of a Faun also features interviews with those who knew Tanny, including dancers Jacques D’Amboise and Arthur Mitchell. (USA, 2013, 87 min.)
“A magnificent behind-the-scenes view of the New York City Ballet…a compelling tale of love, friendship, and perseverance.” – San Francisco Chronicle

Monday, July 28
Print the Legend
Presented by the Aspen Institute Arts Program and The Aspen Action Forum
Producer Chad Troutwine will be featured in a post-screening discussion. 

3D printing is changing the world – from printing guns and human organs to dismantling the world’s industrial infrastructure by enabling home manufacturing. It’s been called “the next Industrial Revolution.” For the first time in history, the stories of the human beings building an industry have been filmed. The result: this absorbing award winner, which follows the people racing to bring 3D printing to our desktops and into our lives. For the winners, there are fortunes – and history – to be made. Print the Legend is both the definitive 3D Printing Documentary – capturing a technology in the midst of its “Macintosh Moment” – and a compelling tale about what it takes to live the American Dream in any field. From the award-winning team whose members produced Freakonomics (New Views 2010), Make Believe (Filmfest 2010), and the Oscar winner Undefeated (Filmfest 2011). (Directed by Luis Lopez + J. Clay Tweel, USA, 100 min.)

“A technology that promises (some would say threatens) to permanently transform our lives…Print the Legend gives us remarkable access to the major players in the highly competitive, ingenious industry of 3D printing.” – Variety

Monday, August 4
E-TEAM
Producer/director Katy Chevigny and producer/director/cinematographer Ross Kauffman will be featured in a post-screening discussion.

As soon as allegations of human rights abuse arise, members of Human Rights Watch’s Emergency Team hit the ground to witness and document the truth. Risking their lives, these international investigators jump into some of the world’s fiercest theaters of war. Shot over two and a half years, this Sundance award winner follows four seasoned watchdogs into the bullets and, fascinatingly, back to their homes. Married with young children, Anna and Ole struggle to balance family demands and the Syrian government’s shelling of civilians. Few investigators know Gadhafi’s reign of terror as intimately as Fred or Peter, who count the bodies and illegal arms in Tripoli before flying home to their kids. Possessing the guts and brains of crack secret agents, they are revealed as flesh-and-blood humans willing to work in the most adverse situations as they crusade for justice. (USA, 89 min. In English, Arabic, French, German, Russian with Eng. subtitles)

The valiant and vital work of four globetrotting human rights activists is expertly illuminated in E-Team, a dynamic and immersive piece of you-are-there verité…Unforgettable characters in a documentary that’s devastating, entertaining and inspiring in equal measure.” –Variety

Sunday, August 10
Ai Weiwei The Fake Case

After 81 days of solitary detention, internationally renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is put under house arrest. He suffers from sleeping disorder and memory loss, 18 cameras are monitoring his studio and home 24/7, police agents follow his every move, and heavy restrictions from the Kafkaesque Chinese authorities weigh him down. Picking up where Alison Klayman’s Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry left off, Ai Weiwei The Fake Case is more explicitly political, reflecting Ai’s battle against the gigantic lawsuit thrust upon him by the Chinese government in an effort to silence him. Ai Weiwei is shaken, but, during his year on probation, he steadily finds new ways to provoke and challenge the mighty powers of the Chinese authorities in his fight for human rights and free expression. This is a humanizing portrait of a fearless provocateur willing to speak his truth by any artistic means necessary. (Directed by Andreas Johnsen, Denmark, 79 min. In English and Mandarin with Eng. subtitles).  Post screening conversation guest to be announced.

“Powerful. Moving. Absorbing. The world’s press turns off their cameras, but it is here that Andreas Johnsen’s film begins. Fascinating.”– Screen

NOTE: Event details subject to change.  For more information on Aspen Institute events open to the public, please contact Jillian Scott at 970-544-7914 or jillian.scott@aspeninstitute.org, call the information hotline at 970-544-7970, or visit the Institute’s website at www.aspeninstitute.org/aspenevents.
The Aspen Institute Arts Program was established to support and invigorate the role of arts in America, and to return the arts to the center of the Aspen Institute’s “Great Conversation.” Directed by Damian Woetzel, it brings together artists, advocates, educators, managers, foundations and government officials to exchange ideas and develop policies that strengthen the reciprocal relationship between the arts and society. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/artsprogram.
Established in 1979, Aspen Film is one of Colorado’s most active film arts organizations, presenting dynamic programs and featured guest artists throughout the year. Internationally recognized, Aspen Film organizes a major film event in every season, along with an extensive education program:  Aspen Filmfest, Academy Screenings, Aspen Shortsfest, and Film Educates. With a mission to enlighten, enrich, educate, and entertain through film, Aspen Film stimulates thought, encourages dialogue, and broadens understanding of our world and ourselves through the diverse spectrum of ideas presented by filmmakers worldwide. For more information, visit www.aspenfilm.org.
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