Wed, May 3rd, 2:30-5:30pm | Lang Auditorium Hunter North Building
Visiting Artist Event, screening of film, Cemetery of Splendor and Q&A with Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Preceding the screening Apichatpong led a meditation for students and shared his thoughts on student work in our TV Studio and Grad Lab.
About Apichatpong Weerasethakul, from the Film at Lincoln Center website on the occasion of their upcoming retrospective of Apichatpong’s films:
“Among the 21st century’s most essential artists, Apichatpong Weerasethakul has amassed a richly original and transcendently mesmerizing body of work that few filmmakers can match. From his feature debut, Mysterious Object at Noon (2000), to the Palme d’Or-winning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), to his metaphysical latest, Memoria (2021), Weerasethakul’s formally daring oeuvre is marked by a meticulously controlled sense of cinematic sensuality and a powerful, understated gift for locating the political within the everyday. A towering figure in both world cinema and the art world, Weerasethakul continues to work in short- and feature-length filmmaking, always manifesting an experimental desire to rethink the possibilities of the medium.”
About Cemetery of Splendor:
“Soldiers with a mysterious sleeping sickness are transferred to a temporary clinic in a former school. The memory-filled space becomes a revelatory world for housewife and volunteer Jenjira, as she watches over Itt, a handsome soldier with no family visitors. Jen befriends young medium Keng who uses her psychic powers to help loved ones communicate with the comatose men. Doctors explore ways, including colored light therapy, to ease the mens’ troubled dreams. Jen discovers Itt’s cryptic notebook of strange writings and blueprint sketches. There may be a connection between the soldiers’ enigmatic syndrome and the mythic ancient site that lies beneath the clinic. Magic, healing, romance and dreams are all part of Jen’s tender path to a deeper awareness of herself and the world around her.”
The event was made possible by Hunter President, Jennifer Raab and was coordinated by Film and Media Professor Ivone Margulies and Professor Rebekah Rutkoff at New Jersey Institute of Technology, Film and Media Department Chair Kelly Anderson and IMA Professor Michael Gitlin