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THE LAST OF TRAVELING CINEMA.
After four years and close to 200 films screened, Traveling Cinema is taking a break.

DREAMS THAT MONEY CAN BUYS. 1947. US. A film made up of seven dreams crafted by a who's who of the 40's avant garde: 1)"Desire" by Max Ernst; music Paul Bowles; 2)"The girl with the prefabricated heart" by Fernand Léger; 3) "Ruth, roses and revolvers" by Man Ray; music, Darius Milhaud; 4)"Discs" by Marcel Duchamp; music by John Cage; 5 & 6)"Circus" and "Ballets" by Alexander Calder; music by David Diamond; 7)"Narcissus" by Hans Richter; music by Louis Applebaum. Directed by HANS RICHTER

DAGUERREOTYPES (1974) France. 80mn. Varda is one of the few New Wave veterans still making personal and relevant films. Her "Gleaners and I," shot in DV, set the tone for a new generation of filmmakers. Daguerreoptype, shot in 16mm (the dv of its time) is a documentary about rue Daguerre where the director has lived for forty years. She interviews the shop-owners on her block - cafe, hair salon, accordion store, butcher etc.....most of whom have been in business since the 50's. She focuses on the rituals of everyday life, compares life stories and, without a hint of patronizing or pretension, manages somehow to articulate a silent commentary on social life that seems to spell universal truths. Humanism at its best - not to mention one of the best portrayal of the Paris of the 70's. Most of the stores have since vanished, except for the accordion store....and Varda's production company which is housed in one of the old storefronts. Directed by AGNES VARDA.

FOREST OF BLISS. (1986) US. 99 min. An extraordinary documentary by a master of the genre. Robert Gardner leads us through Benares, fascinated by the way death permeates both the mundane and the sacred. The film unfolds without voiceover or subtitles, letting images of daily life tell their own stories and using editing and juxtapositions to articulate his wordless commentary . Seamus Heaney said of the film " It is hard to distinguish the beauty of this film's technical means from the strength of its subject matter, which is always a sure sign of achieved artistic purpose. Robert Gardner transmits the sensation of the deep and literate gaze, and does so with an intensity that passes from the documentary into the visionary." Directed by ROBERT GARDNER.

SALT OF THE EARTH. US. 1954. (94 min). Produced at the height of the McCarthy hysteria by a team of blacklisted filmmakers, the film is the hardly fictionized story of a 15 months strike by Mexican American zinc miners in New Mexico. Produced with the help of the union using non-professional actors it was considered so controversial at the time that it only ended up being shown in 13 theaters across the country. Repeatedly portrayed as an evil communist propaganda vehicle, the film was hardly seen for years but has since become a classic based both on its content and its unique esthetic - it even got official recognition when it was included in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Directed by HERBERT J. BIBERNAN.