About Endlessness
UW Cinematheque 821 University Ave., UW Vilas Hall, Room 4070, Madison, Wisconsin
Courtesy Magnolia Pictures
A scene from "About Endlessness," directed by Roy Andersson.
UW-Madison's real film cinema turns on the projector for the fall season once more. Friday boasts the first Madison theatrical screening of Roy Andersson’s About Endlessness, a satirical, experimental construction utilizing a locked-down camera and deep focus long takes. That coup is topped (arguably) on Saturday with a showing of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood, the first time a 35mm print of the film has been screened in Madison. In Tarantino's 2019 film, Leo and Brad take on Hollywood of the late 1960s and the Manson family. All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public. See the complete fall schedule at cinema.wisc.edu.
press release: Premiere Showcase
ABOUT ENDLESSNESS (OM DET OÄNDLIGA)
Sweden | 2019 | DCP | 78 min. | Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Roy Andersson; Cast: Martin Serner, Tatiana Delaunay, Jan-Eje Ferling
In what he has stated will be his final film, director Andersson concludes a quartet of darkly satirical features, each composed with a number of vignettes that reveal the foibles and limitations of the human race. Using a locked-down camera and deep focus long takes, Andersson delivers a number of random episodes, some poignant, some gag-driven. He also follows a few recurring characters, such as a priest suffering a crisis of faith, an older man who feels slighted by an old classmate, and a couple who embrace each other as they float amongst clouds. All of the brief episodes are filmed entirely on brilliantly detailed sets at Andersson’s private studio. Preceded by Rikke Gregersen’s satirical short The Affected (Norway, 2020, 13 min.)
Screenings mostly take place at 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Avenue. Once-a-month Sunday afternoon screenings take place at the Chazen Museum of Art, 750 University Avenue. In accord with current UW Madison policies, masks are required for entry to our venues.
All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public. Please visit our website for a complete listing of programs and descriptions from September 3 through December 18.
Crafted with the same curatorial acuity we bring to our repertory series, the Premiere Showcase presents exciting new documentaries and feature films by contemporary directors that would otherwise have no theatrical venue in the area. Fall 2021 selections include Swedish satirist Roy Andersson’s final film, About Endlessness; A new work of claustrophobic horror, acclaimed at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, We Need to Do Something; Michel Franco’s prize-winning and shattering depiction of a Mexican military coup, New Order; Cane Fire, a look at how indigenous Hawaiians struggle to find themselves represented in movies filmed on location in the islands, presented through the Asian American Media Showcase; and the dark fantasy-comedy A Dim Valley, from UW Madison PhD Brandon Colvin.