Filming Words. Four Days with Nurith Aviv.

Celebrate language and our ability to speak, make poetry, sing, translate, invent sign systems, and follow languages as they pass through history and acquire a life of their own. Following the screening of a selection of Nurith Aviv’s films, she will discuss them with translators, poets, linguists, text scholars, filmmakers, and all of you.

Nurith’s films explore language and move lyrically through landscapes, collective myths, and intimate narratives that shape humans’ ways of being together. Drawing from her own experience of growing up among multiple languages, she delves into the mystery of how sound and meaning intertwine, traverse different alphabets, and influence the human psyche and communities.

This tribute is the fruit of a collaboration between the Fordham University Center for Jewish Studies, the Primo Levi Center, and the Fordham Center on Religious and Culture, and is the first of its kind in New York City. It will gather long-time Aviv fans, newcomers to her work, and lovers of language from all backgrounds to celebrate through images and words this exceptional director as she turns 80. 

The first woman to be a director of photography in France, Nurith has shot 100 fiction and documentary films with directors such as Agnès Varda, Amos Gitai, René Allio, and Jacques Doillon.

She has received important prizes, including the Edouard Glissant Prize (2009) and the Grand Prix de l’Académie française (2019). Her works have been shown in multiple retrospectives in Paris, including a week-long one last month.

All screening and discussions are free, and donations are welcome. Reserve your seat here.

Films are subtitled and the conversations with Nurith Aviv will be in English. Doors open 30 minutes before start time. Tickets will be held at the door until 10 minutes before the start time. Thank you.

This program is sponsored by Fordham University with additional support from the Achille and Maria Viterbi Centro Primo Levi Endowment, Jeff Keil and Danielle Pinet, and Dr. Claude Ghez. If you are able to, please consider donating to Centro Primo Levi.

Read about Nurith Aviv in our online magazine Printed_Matter. 

CALENDAR

Tuesday, April 22, 7:00 pm 
Anthology Film Archives, 32 2nd Avenue
Traduire (Translating) [1h10m] (2011)
Post-screening conversation: Nurith Aviv with Aviya Kushner, Jacques Lezra, and James Redfield.

Wednesday, April 23, 7:00 pm
Anthology Film Archives, 32 2nd Avenue
Langue sacrée, Langue parlée (Sacred Tongue, Spoken Language) (2008) [1h13m]
Post-screening conversation: Nurith Aviv with Ofer Dynes, Aviya Kushner, Jacques Lezra, and Moulie Vidas.

Thursday, April 24, 6:30 pm
Bookhouse, 15 West 16th Street, 6th floor
Words That Remain [52m]
Bruly Bouabré’s Alphabet [17m] (2005)
Post-screening conversation: Nurith Aviv with Gil Anidjar, Cynthia Madansky, James Redfield, and Moulie Vidas.

Friday, April 25, 10:00 am  
Bookhouse, 15 West 16th Street, 6th floor
D‘une langue à l’autre (From Language to Language) [55m] (2004)
Allenby, Passage [5m] (2001)
Post-screening conversation: Nurith Aviv with Gil Anidjar, Yemane Demissie, and Cynthia Madansky.