Moderator Prayatna
Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:02:33 -0800
Hello Prayatna Pune Meet on Sun Jan 15, 2012, 4 to 7 pm - Special Film - The Laramie Project - & Dialogue
In our 1st Prayatna meet of 2012, we plan to screen a very special film & then have a dialogue on it. Film - The Laramie Project Summary Selected as the Opening Night Premiere at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, The Laramie Project is a groundbreaking HBO Film event that recreates the efforts of a New York theatre troupe to shed light on a western town's loss of innocence following a hate crime perpetrated on a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student. Adapted from the acclaimed play of the same name which premiered in 2000, the film features an all-star cast. Details: True story - On October 6th 1998 in Laramie Wyoming, 21 year old Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, robbed, beaten, tied to a fence, tortured and left to die. Because he was gay. The Laramie Project (adapted from the play with the same name) explores that terrible event and its aftermath, and is a compassionate movie that, while trying to fill in the blanks surrounding Matthew's murder and the prosecution of his killers, lets us see the world in miniature, with people at their best and people at their worst. The format of this film is very interesting. It is based on a play, written and directed by Moisés Kaufman, who also directed this feature. For the play he and members of the Tectonic Theater Project interviewed the people of Laramie and then reproduced these interviews on stage. This format is used for the movie as well, interlaced with actual news footage. What makes it interesting is that most of what you are seeing is not real. This is blatantly obvious; the filmmakers make no pretenses about that. In fact it is made very clear that these are actors portraying the people of Laramie (a very talented and well-known cast of actors in fact). However, at the same time what you are hearing is real. Because the words coming out of the performers mouths are the words of the Laramie residents, verbatim, taken from over 200 interviews. So you are not watching a documentary, and yet you are not watching fiction. The format is not just a trick, trying to make the film interesting to look at. It is actually a very good way of bringing across what was said in the interviews, and their contents shows us Laramie as a metaphor for the world, for everything and everybody is present here. Think of it as the depiction of the world in a snow globe. All is there, only smaller and closer, and therefore easier to see. Perspective is at the same time narrowed and enlarged. We are looking at people just like us, we recognize both them and their reactions to what has occurred here. And sometimes we are shocked by their point of view. Laramie is being brought inside of us, closer to our lives, not just “somewhere else” anymore, but “right here, right now”. We are made aware that Laramie is right outside our front doors. The moviemakers are not unbiased in their depiction. It is clear from the beginning that they are appalled by what has happened, but having said that, everybody in this movie gets an equal say. And there is no judgement in the performances themselves. Only in the way the interviewers react, during and afterwards, to what has been said, their opinion is formulated. And even then this is presented as the point of view of that person, the viewer is still able, allowed, and requested even, to make up his or her own mind. At the end of the film it addresses the bigger picture by showing us what has happened, but also what has not happened. For all the outrage, local and national, following the death of Matthew Shepard, what has changed? People have been made more aware of the bigotry and violence against gay people, but at the same time no hate-crime laws have been passed, prejudice is still condoned and sometimes even cultivated. The Laramie Project is used to teach about prejudice and tolerance in personal, social, and health education and citizenship classes in schools, and it has also been used in the UK as a General Certificate of Secondary Education text for English literature. It has also inspired grassroots efforts to combat homophobia. So don't miss this truly outstanding film. Sunday January 15, 2012, 4 to 7 pm at Open Space, B-301, Kanchanjunga building, Kanchan lane, off Law College road, Pune 411004 [Kanchan lane is the lane between Barrista & Krishna Dining Hall on law college road. Kanchanjunga bldg is almost at the end of the lane ( 3rd last building) on your left.] Looking forward to seeing you there. Please be there on time as we plan to begin the film at 4 pm sharp. Warm regards, Omky