Film Screenings / Programs / Series
CAMUS: A STRANGER IN THE CITY
April 11 – April 13
This spring marks the 70th anniversary of French writer Albert Camus’ one and only trip to the United States. From March to May 1946, under French Government sponsorship, Camus delivered lectures at universities, spoke of the French resistance to Nazi occupation, and acted as a critical observer of American society. To commemorate this special occasion, Anthology Film Archives is participating in “Camus: A Stranger in the City,” a major, city-wide retrospective of concerts, readings, and panel discussions, to consider the legacy of the seminal French philosopher, novelist, and playwright.
More than 50 years after his death in a car crash, Albert Camus remains a major intellectual figure throughout the world. His writings on justice, identity, and violence not only continue to stimulate discussion and provoke debate but also inspire artists in different fields, such as music, theater, and cinema. Our first screenings, Luchino Visconti’s LO STRANIERO (1967) and David Oelhoffen’s FAR FROM MEN (2014), will respectively revisit his classic literary work, THE STRANGER (published in English for the first time during his 1946 visit), and his life and times in Algeria, where he was born in 1913 to a Pied-Noir family of French descent.
On April 13, French director Joël Calmettes will present two of his Camus documentaries: SARTRE-CAMUS: A FRACTURED FRIENDSHIP (2014), about the love-hate relationship between the French existentialist philosophers, and LIVING WITH CAMUS (2013), an exploration of the profound effect of Camus’s essays, novels, and plays on readers from all around the world.
Each evening will feature a conversation between the audience and filmmakers and scholars, including Joël Calmettes, musician Eric Andersen (who will be performing his Camus-inspired song cycle at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust on April 16, as part of the city-wide series of events), and others.
“Camus: A Stranger in the City” is presented with generous support from The Florence Gould Foundation. Special thanks to Catherine Camus, Alexandre Alajbegovic, Eric Andersen, Joël Calmettes, Valerie Marshall (Tribeca Film), Stephen Petrus, and Paola Ruggiero (Cinecittà) and Richard Barone. For more info about “Camus: A Stranger in the City,” visit facebook.com/CamusNYC2016
