Burke Film Series: 'The Exiles' + 'Bunker Hill'

The Burke Lectureship on Religion and Society presents the Burke Revival Film Screening & Discussion Series. The program probes religion & society themes embedded in significant films. Images in these films exemplify the mission of Burke in ways that contrast and complement the keynote Lectures. Moving images are the new Lingua Franca of our times and instill in our communications much demanded new avenues of perception. Film screenings are in the Digital Gym Cinema located at UC San Diego Park & Market.

Film introductions & special presentations following each film will be led by Rev Scott Young, a Wesley Foundation (UMC) Campus Minister/Religious Advisor at UCSD.

The post-screening discussions will include a moderator-led audience interaction, a moderator interview with panelists, and an interview with a Film Reviewer. The presentation & discussions are key to the viewer’s experience.

Burke Lectureship Film & Discussion featuring "The Exiles" (1961), plus + "Bunker Hill" (1965) a USC Student-made Short Documentary Film by Kent MacKenzie (90 minutes) on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, from 7:30-9:30 p.m.

"The Exiles" chronicles a night in the life of a group of 20-something Native Americans who left reservation life in the 1950s to live in the Bunker Hill district of Los Angeles. The film is a narrative feature with a script pieced together from interviews with the documentary subjects.

Like Charles Burnett’s "Killer of Sheep," "The Exiles" is a gritty and poetic, frills-free depiction of a marginalized Los Angeles community. Both films did not get theatrical release; were featured in Thom Andersen’s film "Los Angeles Plays Itself"; and were restored by Ross Lipman at the UCLA Film & Television Archives.

"The Exiles" is an American Cinematic experience in what is known in film history as Cinema Verite or “truthful cinema.” The influence of European Cinema Verite can be detected, and Director Kent MacKenzie joins Truffaut, Godard, and De Sica in independent, experimental, unrelenting realism film. The Exiles has been described as “a landmark in American independent cinema” and is placed in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress. A film of gravity and grace. Celluloid with Sacred images and Holy meaning.

ADDITIONALLY: DES is proud to support the Indigenous Heritage Week & Sustainable Design Forum, produced in partnership with Sister Cities International, San Diego