ZERO FOR CONDUCT (Zéro de conduite)   Director: Jean Vigo Year: 1933 Runtime: 45 min. Country: France Language: French with English subtitles Color: B&W Format: 16mm
This dreamlike, hallucinatory short feature is set in a run-down provincial boarding school where four boys wage a rebellion against their narrow-minded, mean-spirited teachers. Orphaned at a young age, the director was himself educated under the same wretched conditions as those depicted in his first narrative film. The anarchic spirit of François Truffaut's The 400 Blows and Lindsay Anderson's If.... owe everything to Vigo's ZERO FOR CONDUCT which was banned in France for a dozen years until the end of the second World War. "A wholly original creation, the film walks a narrow line between surrealist farce and social realism." — Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
L'ATALANTE   Director: Jean Vigo Year: 1934 Runtime: 89 min. Country: France Language: French with English subtitles Color: B&W Format: 16mm
One of the most cherished films among cinephiles, L'ATALANTE - the simple and engaging story of a young woman's stormy initiation into married life on a river barge - was the sole feature film made by director Jean Vigo, who died at age 29 from tuberculosis just as the work premiered. Under Vigo's sensitive direction, naturalism and surrealist fantasy blend beautifully as everyday life is infused with magical moments: in the ship mate's (Michel Simon) fantastic travel stories; in the strange, plein-air bridal procession; in the young barge captain searching for his sweetheart under water. "One of the glories of the old French cinema. L'ATALANTE is the world in springtime—a place where shimmering reflections, smoky breezes, empty streets, and a free-floating sense of erotic energy are the essence of life and of movies." — J. Hoberman, The Village Voice "One of the supreme masterpieces of French cinema. A major inspiration to subsequent generations of filmmakers, yet no one has ever succeeded in matching it." — Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader "The loveliest, least maudlin study of human desire ever committed to film. In less than 90 minutes it covers more ground than most directors’ entire filmographies." — Time Out     showtime Monday, June 4 at 7 pm location THE GREEN ROOM 144 West Street admission $6 general / $4 GBFS members

Home | About GBFS | Schedule | Memberships | Personnel | Contact | Forum | Links