Los Angeles: Bergman, Tarkovsky, and Film at LACMA

LACMA's film department is currently screening "Cries and Whispers: The Psychological Cinema of Ingmar Bergman." Films being exhibited include "The Silence" (1963) and "The Seventh Seal" (1956), the former about contemporary alienation and the latter about a medieval plague. Although renown as a director of dramas, Bergman's films transverse genres, moving from the austere to the comedic to the libidinous. Not surprisingly, Woody Allen described him as "probably the greatest film artist...since the invention of the motion camera."
Bergman and actress Ingrid Thulin during the production of "The Silence"

Early this year LACMA's Film Department held a retrospective of Andrei Tarkovsky, a Russian filmmaker whose film "My Name is Ivan" (1962) was central to Kirsten Everberg's 2008 exhibition at 1301PE. "My Name is Ivan" is about a 12-year old boy who works as a spy on the eastern front during WWII. Ivan's small stature allows him to cross the Soviet/German border unnoticed, traveling through marsh, barb wire, and the Dnepr River.

Title screen for "My Name is Ivan" (translates as Ivan's Childhood)

Film stills

Images from Kirsten Everberg's exhibition at 1301PE

Kirsten Everberg, "My Name is Ivan (After Tarkovsky)", 2008, Oil and enamel on paper

Film ticket purchase at LACMA

3D Model of LACMA available for download in Google's 3D Warehouse

Thom Anderson, director of "Los Angeles Plays Itself," defends LACMA's Film Program to the LA Times.