ARTISTS ON FILM: NAEEM MOHAIEMEN ON CHRIS MARKER'S 'THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT' (2004)
NYU’s PROGRAM FOR ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN STUDIES presents:
Asian American Visual Cultures inaugural event
ARTISTS ON FILM: THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT
(dir. Chris Marker, 2004), 59 min.
Followed by a discussion between Prerana Reddy & Naeem Mohaiemen
When: 7pm, Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Where: Room 471, 20 Cooper Square (Bowery and East 5th) — FREE AND OPEN TO PUBLIC
THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT
In 2001, shortly after the attack on the World Trade Center, a yellow cat appeared from nowhere in Paris. Stencils of this smiling feline began to crop up on the city’s walls, sidewalks and demonstration placards. Who was Monsieur Chat and what did he represent? For Chris Marker, director of such classic cine-essays as ‘La Jetee’, ‘Sans Soleil’ and ‘The Last Bolshevik’, and whose 1977 film ‘Grin Without A Cat’ included a provocative claim that "a cat is never on the side of power", these mysterious eruptions of feline graphology became an occasion to embark on a series of drifts and peregrinations through the French capital. Everywhere turbulence reigned: the streets were clogged with marches against the war in Iraq, the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the casualisation of labor. 'The Case of the Grinning Cat', shot over three years, is a city symphony, a diary film, and a witty and associative meditation on political idealism — its necessity, blind spots, melancholy.
The screening will be presented by Naeem Mohaiemen, who will be discussing the film with Prerana Reddy, in relation to the project "Live True Life or Die Trying" at Cue Art Foundation.
Prerana Reddy is Director of Public Events at Queens Museum of Art. She is a member of 3rd I NY, which exhibits South Asian film & video on a monthly basis, and a member of the South Asian Solidarity Initiative, which works with progressive organizations in South Asia. She is also board member of Alwan for the Arts, a Middle East and Arab cultural space in Lower Manhattan. She has worked as documentary filmmaker exploring such topics as World Social Forum (w/ Jawad Metni & Naeem Mohaiemen) and alternatives to juvenile detention.
Naeem Mohaiemen's projects include "My Mobile Weighs A Ton" http://mobileton.wordpress.com at Gallery Chitrak, Dhaka), "Otondro Prohori, Guarding Who" (at National Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka), and "Kazi in Nomansland" (Lines of Control group project at Dubai/Karachi). His essays include "Islamic Roots of Hip-Hop" in ‘Sound Unbound’ (MIT Press) and "Adman Blues Becomes Artist Liberation" in ‘Indian Highway’ (Serpentine Gallery). "Live True Life" is his current project in New York.
http://cueartfoundation.org
Queries: ss162@nyu.edu
