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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1976)
'Chac' film transcends physical, surface magic * ■ STARTS FRIDAY ACADEMY AWARD WINNER BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY Fact — not fiction! THE/VWN 14/HO SKED DOWN EVEREST FRIDAY & SATURDAY KFMY 98 Presents THE 980 MIDNITE MOVIES McCabe & Mrs. Miller this week’s feature ONE OF THE MOST HIGHLY ACCLAIMED FILMS FROM LATIN AMERICA AAAA The magical Mayan legend of a sorcerer’s struggle between two worlds... a journey into psychic space. OREGON PREMIER—NOW SHOWING Baal • Films explore frontiers Putting together an experimen tal program of short films is an ex citing, but often arbitrary affair. These films are usually grouped by subject matter; erotic, ani mated, women's, etc. The EMU Cultural Forum, which has pre sented an “experimental" prog ram each term with great success has come up with a composite of a wide variety of material for spring term,. The show, simply titled "Experimental Films" will be on May 12 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. in 180 PLC. Included in the line-up is an ob viously great, but neglected, film Shut Up Barbie. The Serious Bus iness catalog describes this short as, “A semi-documentary about a 7-year-okJ girl and her addiction to Barbie dolls. Her life, both real and fantasy, centers around her family of 30 some odd dolls.’’ A film to balance the heavy so cial implication of Barbie will be Jefferson Circus Songs, by Susan Pitt Kraning. This film is a live ac tion pixillation and flat amimation combining in a “magical train ride to another world where children with mops for hair and stockings over their faces preside over ab surd creatures and ceremonies of the imagination." Some new films just previewed at the Hollywood International Film Exposition are also to be fea tured. Arabesque by James Whit ney and Yinhsien by his brother. John, are highlights of the year and shouldn't be missed by any one interested in the future of computer animation and its spiritual possibilities. Another rare attraction will be a film done by a U of O graduate, John Haugse. His film, This is not a Museum is a surrealistic view of art and artists, teachers and stu dents. The story takes place in a art museum against a backdrop of culture that spans two centuries Museum has been shown at in ternational festivals as well as numerous festivals in this country winning awards at Ann Arbor. Athens, and New York. To bring everyone back to romantic reality there will be a classic, petite film by Francois Truffaut. /_es Mistons (The Brats) is erotic, entertaining, enjoyable and can only be compared to Truffaut's great early feature, 400 Blows. Three young boys fall in love with an “older woman — need we say more? This exhibition is not organized by subject matter, but each film is similar to the others in the fact that they all surface high amidst the boundless sea of "experimental'’ celluloid. KZEL-FM Presents JimmyB and The Coral Reefer Band with Jerry Jeff Walker . and The Lost Gonzo Band Thursday, May 20, 8 p.m. Lane Comity Fairgrounds Auditorium (with chairs) Tickets are $5 in advance, $6 at the door Available at Sun Shop, Chrystalship, EMU Main Desk at U of 0, and Everybody’s (Corvallis & Eugene) A Double Tee Event The land is dry and the people are thirsty The crops won't grow and the people are hungry. The people need to talk to and ap pease Chac, the god of Rain in Mayan myth. These Indians of today need to find a Sorcerer, a Rainmaker with the power and knowledge to bring forth the rain. Finding such a man, the trust they must place in him during the odyssey he leads them on and the struggle of power with the village chief comprise the basic plot of a new foreign film opening tomor row at the Waco Cinema II. I say basic because the film goes much deeper than that. The film deals with magic, but not magic in the sense of sieight-of hand parlor games. Its magic is very similar to that employed by the brujo Don Juan in Carlos Castaneda s books. It is the magic achieved when one attains mas tery over self and knowledge of one’s relationship with non ordinary realities. There are no name actors in the film, all are nonprofessionals. The cast consists of the villagers of Tanejapa in the Sate of Chiapas. Mexico. Most are true descen dants of the Mayan Indians. In one sequence of the film, the Sorcerer and the elders of the vil lage come across a small village during their trek deep into the jungle. The Sorcerer talks with them, smokes a cigar with the chief and they pass on. As a side note, the inhabitants of that village are the purest strain of Mayans left in the world. There are only around two hundred of them left and, through centuries of inbreed ing to keep the strain pure (they are not allowed to marry outside the village), there are quickly dis integrating. Watch closely, for within a few generations this tribe will be no more and the Mayans as a people will have died out. Cinematographer Alex Phillips. Jr. has wisely chosen to combine lovely long distance shots of the country (the film was made en tirely on location in Yucatan) with many lingenng close-ups of the Indian's faces, thereby creating fascinating character studies just by camera placement. The color and texture revealed in the print is amazing. Each pebble is outlined and one could get lost in deep blue of the sky. Truly a perfect setting for the magic of nature. ■'Chac.'' which recently won the Best Feature Film, Best Direction, and Best Film in Latin America at the Virgin Island Film Festival, is in the Tzeital and Mayan dialects with English subtitles. The fi Im will be at the Waco from May 7 to May 13 only so you might want to try to catch it while it's here. Any film which works so successfully on several different levels is worth seeing. CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S First Feature ume im with Jackie Gm({an Friday and and Saturday THE IDLE May 7, 8 CLASS 150 Science $1 7A9-J0
