Blue or Red Pill? Marx Reloaded in Belgrade

The Serbian-language premiere of Marx Reloaded took place yesterday evening in Belgrade at the world-famous Center for Cultural Decontamination (CZKD). It was also the occasion for the first of a series of debates entitled “Blue or Red Pill?” in which prominent intellectuals, filmmakers and social commentators discuss the film’s themes and their social implications. Details of forthcoming debates in other European cities will be published soon.

 

Joining Jason Barker for last night’s debate was the acclaimed Serbian director Želimir Žilnik (pictured at the event, below), whose illustrious career spans more than 40 years and includes numerous prizes such as the Berlin Golden Bear, awarded in 1969 for his film Rani Radovi.

 

Predictably the screening itself was packed to the rafters. And the debate, moderated by Marxist sociologist Milan Rakita, generated some impassioned interventions, especially from Želimir Žilnik, who unfortunately had to leave before the end to catch his train. “That was one advantage under socialism,” he remarked as he put on his coat. “There were more trains.”

As usual our thanks to everyone involved and especially to CZKD for hosting the event.

Marx Reloaded in Lima: News from PUCP, Peru

The cinema was "packed to bursting" for the South American premiere of Marx Reloaded at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in Lima. Congratulations to the organisers who reported "the most popular event in the history of the Social Sciences Faculty". After the projection several academics and commentators made interventions, including the Peruvian sociologist Guillermo Rochabrún. 

More information (in Spanish) can be found here:

http://erichluna.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/marx-reloaded-en-lima/

World Premiere - PUCP, Lima, 13 December 2011

The Spanish-language World Premiere of Marx Reloaded will take place at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) on Tuesday 13 December 2011 at 4pm. The director and co-producer of the film, Jason Barker, will join the event via satellite link.

On behalf of the producers and co-producers of the film we wish the university every success with this event.

More information can be found at the following facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/events/203947526353327/

If you are interested in organising a similiar event at your college or university, or a public screening, then contact us directly.

Marx Reloaded - La película en español

 

una película de Jason Barker

Producida por Medea Film - Irene Höfer 
en coproducción con Films Noirs para Arte/ZDF

Marx Reloaded es un documental cultural que examina de qué modo las ideas del filósofo y socialista alemán Karl Marx pueden ayudarnos a entender la crisis económica y financiera global del 2008-2009. Dicha crisis provocó la recesión global más profunda que se había visto en setenta años e hizo que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos invirtiera más de un trillón de dólares en salvar del colapso a su sistema bancario. Todavía hoy no sabemos hasta dónde llegarán las consecuencias de esta crisis en Europa y en el resto del mundo. Pero, ¿debemos aceptar esta crisis como un desafortunado efecto secundario del libre mercado? O ¿existe otra explicación de por qué sucedió lo que sucedió y de cuáles serán sus posibles efectos en nuestra sociedad, nuestra economía y nuestra forma de vida?

En este momento, una nueva generación de filósofos, artistas y activistas políticos, está retomando las ideas de Marx para tratar de entender la crisis y preguntarse si es posible concebir un mundo sin capitalismo, o más allá de éste. ¿Se puede leer la gravedad de la recesión como un signo de que los días del sistema capitalista están contados? Veinte años después de la caída del Muro de Berlín, ¿es posible que el comunismo sea la solución a los crecientes problemas económicos y medioambientales a los que se enfrenta el Planeta?

Escrita y dirigida por Jason Barker – un veterano escritor, profesor, traductor y doctor en Filosofía – Marx Reloaded incluye entrevistas con pensadores fundamentales del Marxismo, incluyendo algunos que han estado a la cabeza de una reavivación popular de las ideas marxistas y comunistas. La película también incluye entrevistas con algunos pensadores que se mantienen escépticos ante esta reavivación, así como escenas de animación más ligeras que muestran las aventuras de Marx a través de la matriz [matrix] de sus propias ideas.

Entre las personas entrevistadas se encuentran Norbert Bolz, Micha Brumlik, John Gray, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, Nina Power, Jacques Rancière, Peter Sloterdijk, Alberto Toscano y Slavoj Zizek.

El DVD de Marx Reloaded (con subtítulos en español y nuevo material hasta ahora inédito) está ya a la venta para bibliotecas universitarias escribiendo a la siguiente dirección:

filmsnoirs@yahoo.fr

Marx Reloaded at Belgrade University Occupation

On 23 October, Marx Reloaded was screened at the student occupation of the Philosophy Faculty of Belgrade University. The screening took place as part of an alternative educational programme, organised by the students themselves, in which the film's director Jason Barker and several dozen students took part.

Below is a brief description of the occupation's objectives written by one of the participants:

It is a peaceful student takeover, until our demands are fulfilled. Our demands are based around ideas of free and affordable education for all, and against privatization of public services which education ought to be part of. During the occupation, students are organizing an alternative educational program that consists of lectures, movies, plays, debates, etc. in that way challenging the existing institutional practices.

The occupation began at the School of Philology by a decision of a student assembly called Plenum in which all students were called to take part 10 days ago. Meanwhile, it has spilled over to the School of Philosophy. At the moment we are struggling to spread our occupation to other schools as well.

This is the first time that this kind of opposition to the establishment occurred at our University since 2006. We also see our struggle connected to the similar events in the region, especially with the still ongoing students' protests at School of Philosophy at the University of Zagreb.

Occupation is an event that promotes the values of direct democracy as opposed to not only representative democracy of legal students' bodies, but also the oppressive administrative model of decision making in academia in general, equality as opposed to segregation produced by fees and taxes and credits, solidarity as opposed to application of cost-benefit analysis in our social lives.

News can be found at this Facebook page (only in Serbian unfortunately):
  
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000347097076