Join ACT and the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art for a collaborative curation of film and art. See artistically acclaimed short films and explore the Allicar’s galleries and exhibitions alongside curators and other experts.
Virtual Movie Night Program
While we physically distance, ACT and the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art believe art, culture, and connection are more essential than ever. We have partnered to produce a virtual program to explore intersecting themes in film and art that ask complex questions about sports culture and identity. Here’s a downloadable PDF of the program, or scroll for more.
1. Watch I AM YUP’IK (online, free) directed Daniele Anastasion & Nathan Golon | 2015 | USA | 16 minutes
A 16-year-old Alaskan Yup’ik teenager leaves his tiny village and travels across hundreds of miles of frozen tundra to compete in a basketball tournament and bring pride to his village.
2. Check out David Scott Diffrient and Lynn Boland’s mini-lectures (13 minutes).
Scott Diffrient examines themes and techniques in the film I AM YUP’IK.
Lynn Boland discusses an untitled Mixografia print on handmade paper by Darío Escobar (Guatemala City, 1971 – ).
3. Discuss and delve deeper. Here are some discussion questions to consider:
- What roll does basketball play for the people in Toksook Bay? Personally? Communally? How is sports culture manifested in private and public spaces?
- Sports are often called the greatest unifier across geography and culture. Basketball both fulfills and replaces various customs, traditions, and community practices in Toksook Bay and Guatemala. What is beneficial and what is problematic with this?
Artist bios:
Daniele Anastasion directed the documentary The Redemption of General Butt Naked, about a former Liberian warlord seeking forgiveness from victims. It premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and received the Excellence in Cinematography Award for Documentary; it was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Anastasion wrote and produced Oprah Winfrey’s Belief series, exploring spirituality and humankind’s search for meaning.
Nathan Golon is a cinematographer, director, and co-founder of GoodFight Media in Washington, DC. He grew up in Maine, studied at Boston University, and has filmed in nearly 40 countries. Golon has worked as a cinematographer for documentaries premiering at the Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals. He has filmed commercials and series for National Geographic, PBS, ESPN, Discovery, NFL.
Darío Escobar (Guatemala City, 1971 – ) Through his manipulation of common objects of sporting equipment, Darío Escobar examines the cultures surrounding them. In his Untitled (2013) print, the artists considers the acculturation occurring as basketball displaces some of soccer/fútbol’s popularity in his native Guatemala. The print’s production by Mixografia, a remarkably innovative printmaking workshop founded in Mexico City and now based in Los Angeles, adds further elements to a consideration of transnational issues of cultural and economic exchange. This work is included in “Highlights from the Americas Collection: 31 Americans,” on view at the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art until December 19, 2020. – Lynn Boland.
Presenter bios:
Lynn Boland, Ph.D.
Director and chief curator of the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art since 2017, Lynn Boland brings more than 20 years of experience in academic museums, with a museological focus on access and an art historical focus on the 20th and 21st centuries.
David Scott Diffrient, Ph.D.
Professor of Film and Media Studies in the Department of Communication Studies, Scott Di ffrient began planning the ACT Human Rights Film Festival after receiving the 2014-2016 William E. Morgan Endowed Chair of Liberal Arts. He serves as the festival’s programming director.