2001 film "Avalon" to be screened October 5, 2012

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Still photo from "Avalon" (2001, directed by Mamoru Oshii)

ALBANY, NY (09/21/2012)(readMedia)-- "Avalon" (Japan and Poland, 2001, 107 minutes, color and b/w, directed by Mamoru Oshii) will be shown on Friday, October 5, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. in Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, on the University at Albany's downtown campus. Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute as part of its Classic Film Series, the screening is free and open to the public.

"Avalon" is the second film in a mini-series within the Classic Film Series entitled, The Future of Film. The selections for The Future of Film series are based on film critic J. Hoberman's list of global cinema's quintessential 21st century motion pictures. Hoberman, (who will appear at the Writers Institute on December 7), offers his selections in his book Film After Film (2012), an exploration of the future of the film industry with the advent of new digital image-making technologies, globalization, and accelerated cultural change.

Japan's Mamoru Oshii pioneered the concept of a computer-generated world on film with his 1995 anime feature, "Ghost in the Shell," a major inspiration for 1999's "The Matrix". With "Avalon," Oshii creates what Hoberman calls, "a new sort of cyborg entity, namely a digital-photographic fusion." Made with a Polish cast and a Japanese crew, the film employs digital versions of vintage, sepia-tone photographs to create a battle simulation game set in Eastern Europe in the mid-20th century.

For additional information contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

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