Dead End Kids (1987) by JoAnne Akalaitis
Thursday, November 12, 1987, 8:00 pm
Amnesia/The Loss of History (Memory)
New Films by Jack Walsh & Mabou Mines
Jack Walsh in person
Tonight’s program marks the return of former Bay Area filmmaker Jack Walsh who is currently Executive Director of the Collective for Living Cinema in N.Y.C. “History remains lost to us, obscured by linear structure. Only in fragments, like an amnesiac, can we begin to approach it. And just as we begin to connect a trend, we turn a corner encountering an abysmal darkness. Both of these films set out to explore, probe, and retrace the past in order to shed light on the present. In Present Tense (1987) consumption and desire are examined in relation to the contemporary world. Centered around personal phenomena, the film explores issues relating to gender, class, torture, genocide and surveillance. Dead End Kids (directed by JoAnne Akalaitis, 1986) was based on a theater piece by Mabou Mines, and traces the development of the nuclear age by fragmented construction of the history of radium. Focusing on the abuses and misuses of power, the film uses a collage of narrative, documentary and kitsch experimentation to explore the blind acceptance of the nuclear age.” (J.W.)