The Taste of Things
July 9 | 7:00 pm
The Helene and Stephen Weicholz Global Film Series
In French with English subtitles
France / Rated PG-13 / Directed by Anh Hung Tran / 2023 / Drama, History, Romance / 135 minutes
Set in France in 1889, the film follows the life of Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel) as a chef living with his personal cook and lover Eugénie (Juliette Binoche). They share a long history of gastronomy and love but Eugénie refuses to marry Dodin, so the food lover decides to do something he has never done before: cook for her.
The theme of this year’s trio of films is The Pursuit of Happiness.
“In our fractious and contentious world, we all seek different ways of finding happiness. Sometimes we find it in love, other times in the pleasures of the senses, and even in the simplicity of daily tasks. Our series will focus on three poignant and satisfying international films that explore the many paths to happiness.” —Dale Pollock
Explore the series’ films with Dale, as he discusses:
- Why the filmmaker chooses to explore this particular path to happiness
- How they do so by various cinematic techniques (camera, sound, design)
- How each of these explorations pursues a particular style of storytelling
- Why all of the characters, in the end, achieve their goal.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Born in Vietnam and living in France since 1975, Tran Anh Hung studied filmmaking in Paris at l’École Nationale Louis Lumière from 1985 to 1987. His directorial debut, The Scent of Green Papaya (1992), won him a reputation internationally by winning Camera d’Or and the Prix de la Jeunesse at the 46th Cannes Film Festival and the Best First Film Award at the 19th Cesar Awards. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
His second film, Cyclo (1995), is the gritty story of a struggling cyclo driver (Hong Kong star Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) navigating the underworld of Ho Chi Minh City. The film won the Golden Lion Award for the Best Film at the 52nd Venice Film Festival. His next film was his third film set in Vietnam, The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000), and followed the lives of three sisters living in Hanoi. It marks his first collaboration with APSA winning cinematographer Mark Ping Bing Lee, who has gone on to shoot all of Hung’s films to date. His next feature was the English language thriller I Come With The Rain (2009), starring Josh Hartnett. This was followed by the Japanese language adaptation of the internationally acclaimed eponymous Murakami novel Norwegian Wood (2010). Starring Rinko Kikuchi and Kenichi Matsuyama, it premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival before going on to be released internationally.
His most recent film, Eternity (2016), is an adaptation of the Alice Ferney novel ‘L’Elegance des veuves’ (The Elegance of Widows), was his first film in French language and starred Audrey Tautou, Berenice Bejo and Melanie Laurent.
LOCATION: Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts, 733 Rivers St., Boone, NC 28608
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact the Box Office at theschaefercenter@appstate.edu or call 800-841-2787 or 828-262-4046.
ACCOMMODATION STATEMENT: Appalachian is committed to providing an inclusive experience for individuals with disabilities. If accommodations are needed in order to fully participate on the basis of a disability, contact the Office of Disability Resources (828.262.3056). It is recommended that accommodation requests be made two weeks prior to the event.
TICKETS: $10
SHOWTIME:
Tuesday, July 9, 2024 | 7pm
Doors open at 6pm
ACCOMMODATION STATEMENT: Appalachian is committed to providing an inclusive experience for individuals with disabilities. If accommodations are needed in order to fully participate on the basis of a disability, contact the Office of Disability Resources (828.262.3056). It is recommended that accommodation requests be made two weeks prior to the event.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Dale M. Pollock, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, received a BA in Anthropology from Brandeis University in 1972 and a MS in Communications from San Jose State University. In 1977, he became the head film critic for Daily Variety until he was hired by the Los Angeles Times to be their chief entertainment correspondent. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in the early 1980s and wrote Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas in 1983, which has sold more than 150,000 copies and remains in print. In 1985, Pollock joined David Geffen’s company as a development executive, where he discovered the scripts for Beetlejuice, The Burbs and Universal Soldier. He joined A&M Films as vice president in charge of production, and was named president in 1990, producing such films as The Beast, The Mighty Quinn, A Midnight Clear and Mrs. Winterbourne. Pollock ran his own film company, Peak Productions, for 10 years, producing the box office hit Set It Off. He co-founded the producing program at the American Film Institute in 1995. In 1999, he became Dean of the School of Filmmaking at the (then) North Carolina School of the Arts, stepping down in 2006 to become Professor of Cinema Studies. He was awarded Emeritus status in 2019 and served as Interim Dean for nine months in 2021. Pollock was awarded an Endowed Professorship in Film in his name at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking in 2014 and is the 2016 recipient of the UNC Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence. He also received the 2020 Arts Council of Winston Salem’s Annual Award, its highest honor. Pollock’s first work of fiction, Chopped: A Novel, was published in March 2023, and is available on Amazon and at bookstores everywhere. The audio book, narrated by Pollock, will debut in April 2024 on Audible and other services. Pollock is at work on his next historical novel, set in Winston-Salem, NC at the end of World War I.
