This Wednesday, May 23, we’re showing Hiroshi Teshigahara’s 1964 film, WOMAN IN THE DUNES at the Edwin Johnson Theatre, 1418 5th. St., Berkeley, 7:00 PM. Like the other films in the Films About Love series, WOMAN IN THE DUNES is unforgettable, another vivid antidote to the Hollywood and Indiewood fare this country seems terminally addicted to. Made with modest means this film relies on intelligence and artistic vision to show that love in society is laden with social and personal burdens which trump personal romantic taste. The metaphoric use of sand creates a claustrophobic, paranoiac atmosphere in which love is both terrifying and compelling. It’s another classic film which should make us glad to be part of an elite minority which has had the luck to come upon, and the determination to understand, a poetic language of film created by international cinematic masters. The Films About Love Series is dedicated to speaking that language, and encouraging its use in a society which distrusts it but needs it to combat its shallow, politicized vernaculars. The film will be preceded by a short scene from Deniz Demirer and Jonathan Silvio’s feature in progress.

Rob