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La Nuit Fantastique

A startling, delirious "dream film" from French surrealist Marcel L'Herbier

La Nuit Fantastique
Fantastic indeed: a startling, delirious "dream film" which has been compared to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, but is infinitely more playful and elegant in its visual invention and atmosphere than the famous German work.

Denis, an overworked student who labours at night stacking boxes in the market at Les Halles, is ditched by his girlfriend but finds his dreams haunted by a heavenly vision, a young woman in shimmering white.

On the second night, Denis follows the mysterious woman into a succession of strange adventures in Parisian art galleries and museums, night clubs, and, in a celebrated sequence that looks back to Caligari, an insane asylum.

Master of silent French avant-garde cinema and of what he called "visual music," Marcel L’Herbier here gives full vent to his taste for elaborate sets and camera movements. The decor, lighting, and movement are all flamboyantly strange – fantastical in every way. L’Herbier seems determined to create a world sealed off from reality, with extravagant sets, a camera that cranes, pans, and whips around, and showy optical effects, such as the multiple image that captures Denis’ inebriated state. (R. Armes)

La Nuit Fantastique

Sponsored by Alliance Francaise de Denver and The French Film Office

Sun October 9, 2005, 7:00 only, Muenzinger Auditorium

103min, France, 1942, in French w/English subtitles, Black and White

recommend

Tickets

10 films for $60 with punch card
$9 general admission. $7 w/UCB student ID, $7 for senior citizens
$1 discount to anyone with a bike helmet
Free on your birthday! CU Cinema Studies students get in free.

Parking

Pay lot 360 (now only $1/hour!), across from the buffalo statue and next to the Duane Physics tower, is closest to Muenzinger. Free parking can be found after 5pm at the meters along Colorado Ave east of Folsom stadium and along University Ave west of Macky.

RTD Bus

Park elsewhere and catch the HOP to campus

International Film Series

(Originally called The University Film Commission)
Established 1941 by James Sandoe.

First Person Cinema

(Originally called The Experimental Cinema Group)
Established 1955 by Carla Selby, Gladney Oakley, Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage.

C.U. Film Program

(AKA The Rocky Mountain Film Center)
First offered degrees in filmmaking and critical studies in 1989 under the guidance of Virgil Grillo.

Celebrating Stan

Created by Suranjan Ganguly in 2003.

C.U. Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Established 2017 by Chair Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz.

Thank you, sponsors!
Boulder International Film Festival
Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

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