Every one of the films we discuss will be available to view for free on the Kanopy streaming service (http://www.kanopy.com)\, accessible through your DC Public Library card. The aim of the group is to engage with a deep and div erse pool of film history&mdash\;we will explore films both classic and co ntemporary\, from a variety of artistic movements and regions.
\nOn March 24th\, we will discuss two unique films: Italian di rector Ermanno Olmi&rsquo\;s 1961 movie Il Posto and The Tria l\, Orson Welles&rsquo\; extravagant and expressionistic adaptation o f Franz Kafka&rsquo\;s novel of the same name. These movies explore the ab surdity of bureaucracy through wildly divergent styles. \; \;
\ nThe group meets virtually via Google Meet. Please contact Cody at \;cody.walker@dc.gov \;for inf ormation on how to join. See you there! \;
\n \n&ldquo\;Say what you like&rdquo\;\, Orson Welles said in 1962\, &ldqu o\;but The Trial is the best film I ever made&rdquo\;. Opinions m ay differ\, but The Trial is as striking and ambitious as anythin g in his filmography. After producer Alexander Salkind offered Welles the chance to direct an adaptation of a public domain literary work\, Welles s elected Franz Kafka&rsquo\;s The Trial&mdash\;which turned out to not be in the public domain after all. Developing a new structure and mod ern setting for the novel&rsquo\;s story\, Welles cast Anthony Perkins to play Kafka&rsquo\;s Josef K\, a lowly bureaucrat who wakes up one day char ged with a crime that the police refuse to specify. Thrust into the cogs o f an overwhelming bureaucracy\, Josef K tries futilely to assert his innoc ence. Shot in the former Yugoslavia (with Zagreb as a substitute for Pragu e)\, France\, and Italy\, the film features an international cast to match &mdash\;including Jeanne Moreau\, Romy Schneider\, and Welles himself. Fea turing innovative cinematography and a fearless\, unconventional approach to narrative\, this is an adaptation only Welles could have directed. \; \;
\n\nErmanno Olmi\, born and raised i n northern Italy\, became interested in film during the burgeoning neoreal ist movement in the late 1940s. Working at an electrical company in Milan\ , he began to produce documentaries on subjects such as power plants\, eve ntually transitioning to feature-length fiction filmmaking. Il Posto is his second feature\, a coming-of-age story centering on\, Domenico\ , a young man who travels from his village to Milan in order to secure a j ob to support his family. Between alienating interviews and assimilation i nto a stultifying workplace\, Domenico&rsquo\;s preparation for his &ldquo \;job for life&rdquo\; is as absurd as anything Kafka wrote. Olmi imbues t he neorealist roots of Il Posto with a dry comic sensibility\, an d his realistic visual style stands in stark contrast to Welles&rsquo\; gr andstanding. Humanist but not didactic\, Il Posto remains one of the best portrayals of alienation in the white-collar workplace. Olmi went on to win a \;Palme d&rsquo\;Or for his 1978 film The Tree of Woo den Clogs\, a realistic portrayal of peasant life in the late 19th ce ntury. \;
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