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Monthly Screenings

1968: The Year of Revolt

1968 was the most political year of the 20th century. In 56 countries, protests and uprisings took place, mainly among students. In the streets of major cities around the world, strikes, violent demonstrations and barricades broke out. For the first time, young people rose up against regimes and forms of political and social thinking. Youngsters all over the world united against the regime, political culture and the way of life, demanding a fundamental change.

Despite the different nature of the protests in each country, the main protest was against the new provisions created after World War II. Using innovative forms of expression - films, songs, performances, theater, poetry and new intellectual discourse; Modern technology - television, video, transistors and loudspeakers - the messages that emerged from it created a new young political culture that contributed to the image of 1968 as the year the world was on fire.

Despite the strong impression left by the riots, they faded towards the end of the decade. In response, conservative, authoritarian and neoliberal order took over the West and at the end of the century even other parts of the world. One can also see the right-wing populism that has taken place in recent decades in several Western countries as a late reaction to the spirit of 1968. Some see the post-modern discourse, politics of identities, and the later stages of feminism as the aftermath of 1968.

This program will feature contemporary films that reflect the exciting events of the year.

Continual Past

Opening remarks (in Heb.): Prof. Oded Heilbronner / Speaker (in Heb.): Prof. Moshe Sluhovsky, Hebrew University Jerusalem

In the intense Now

Dir.: João Moreira Salles
| 127 minutes

Can the camera lens capture an historical revolution in real-time? In this fascinating documentary, Brazilian filmmaker Joao Moreira Salles questions how the drama of imminent revolutions is immortalized on film. 

1968: Revolution

Speaker (in Heb.): Dr. Ronny Regev, Hebrew University Jerusalem

Best of Enemies

Dir.: Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville
| 87 minutes

In 1968, ABC asked liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. to follow and commentate on the national democratic and republican conventions. Their televised debates managed to capture one of the most violent and turbulent years in American history. 

If Britain took Part in the Events of 1968

Speaker (in Heb.): Prof. Oded Heilbronner, Shenkar

If...

Dir.: Lindsay Anderson
| 111 minutes

Students at a boarding school plot a revolution – or do they? If... with its episodic structure, amusing mixture of fantasy and realism, and color scheme, became one of the flagships of the youth revolt of the late 1960s.

But Nothing happened...

Speaker (in Heb.): Dr. Ofer Ashkenazi, Hebrew University Jerusalem

A German Youth

Dir.: Jean-Gabriel Periot
| 93 minutes

The mid-1960s saw an awakening of radicalism among students in Germany who lost all faith in the old establishment. They tried to launch a revolution, at first using intellectual and artistic discourse, and eventually, resorted to violent action. 

Medium Cool

Dir.: Haskell Wexler
| 111 minutes

 A tough news presenter, whose interests include racial tensions and violence, discovers that the network has been passing his materials to the FBI. He is fired for his protest and decides to make his way to the 1967 Democratic Convention. 

Teorema

Dir.: Pier Paolo Pasolini
| 98 minutes

 A young man penetrates the home of a rich industrialist and sleeps with every member of the family – the father, the mother, the son, the daughter, and the maid....