The Department of Theater, Film, and Media Studies (TFMS) at St. Mary’s College of Maryland will host its sixth annual film series, “Ethnography and Alterity,” at 8:15 p.m. on Monday evenings, October 1, 15, and 22, in the college’s Cole Cinema (Campus Center). Kicking off the series on October 1, will be award-winning filmmaker and anthropologist J.P. Sniadecki.
Harvard University anthropologist J.P. Sniadecki will screen and discuss his film, “Foreign Parts” (2010), which he co-directed with fellow anthropologist Véréna Paravel. “Foreign Parts” explores the neighborhood of Willets Point, Brooklyn, which is an industrial zone fated for demolition in the shadow of the New York Mets’ new stadium. Filled with scrapyards and auto salvage shops, lacking sidewalks or sewage lines, the area seems ripe for urban development. But “Foreign Parts” discovers a community of workers and residents, where wrecks, refuse, and recycling form a thriving commerce. The film observes and captures the struggle of a contested “eminent domain” neighborhood before its disappearance under the capitalization of New York’s urban ecology.
Sniadecki’s films have shown around the world and have received several awards, including the 2009 Joris Ivens Award for his 2008 documentary “Chaiqian” (“Demolition”), which focuses on migrant labor and urban space in Chengdu, China. He is also a chief organizer and curator of Emergent Visions, a film series that screens new independent cinema from the People’s Republic of China. Sniadecki’s other films include “The Yellow Bank” (2010), “Sichuan Triptych” (2010), and “Songhua” (2007).
For more information, contact Mark Rhoda of the TFMS department at marhoda@smcm.edu or 240-895-4231, or visit the TFMS web site at www.smcm.edu/tfms.