Artist-Curated Film Series: Сталкер (Stalker) (1979)
Still from Сталкер (Stalker), 1979. Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. 2h 42min. Courtesy of Janus Films.
A date with the Zone.
— The Professor
Huddled together on a railway car, the stalker (Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy) smuggles a writer (Anatoliy Solonitsyn) and a professor (Nikolay Grinko) out of town and into a forbidden forest. Over the course of the film, the three men embark on a perilous journey through an invisible labyrinth—dotted with rotting telephone poles, dilapidated cars, and rusted armored tanks—to find a wishing well…of sorts. Legend has it that outside the city there is a room that will grant one’s innermost desires. For Tarkovsky, the story explores faith, self-awareness, and the question of creation as a manifestation of individual will and one’s capacity for hope.
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky / 2hr 42min
About the Program
For the Visual Art Center’s first artist-curated film series, Maria Antelman selected three science-fiction movies that deal with evolving perceptions of power, authority, and free will and reflect on the various ways in which technology shapes our social, emotional, and political realities.
Screening Schedule
All screenings at 5:30 PM in Art Bldg, Rm 1.102. Light refreshments served.
October 24 — Alphaville (1965), directed by Jean-Luc Godard
November 21 — Stalker (1979), directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
December 5 — Videodrome (1983), directed by David Cronenberg