Spike Lee’s “Chi-Raq,” a modern-day adaptation of the ancient Greek play “Lysistrata,” and the coming-of-age tale “The Wonders” open Jan. 8 at UNL’s Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center.
Based on the play by Aristophanes, “Chi-Raq” features a group of women who band together after a child is murdered by a stray bullet. Led by Lysistrata, the women organize against on-going violence in Chicago’s Southside, creating a movement that challenges the nature of race, sex and violence.
A special introduction and post-screening discussion on “Chi-Raq” is scheduled for 5 p.m. Jan. 20 at the Ross. The event is hosed by UNL’s Department of Classics and Religious Studies and CORE, a council of multicultural registered student organization executives that works to promote diversity at UNL. Groups represented through CORE include the African Student Association, Afrikan People’s Union, Middle Eastern Students Unite and Multicultural Business Students Association.
“Chi-Raq,” which shows through Jan. 21, is rated R for strong sexual content, including dialogue, nudity, language, some violence and drug use.
“The Wonders” is a tribute to a vanishing way of life, telling the story of a family of beekeepers living in stark isolation in central Italy.
The dynamic of the family’s overcrowded household is distributed by a simultaneous arrival of a silently troubled teenaged boy taken in as a farmhand and a production crew recruiting local farmers to participate in a cheesy televised celebration of ancient Etruscan culture. Both intrusions are interests of the family’s eldest daughter, Gelsomina, who is struggling to find her footing in the world.
“The Wonders,” winner of the Grand Prix at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, is directed by Alice Rohrwacher. It is not rated and plays at the Ross through Jan. 14.
For more information on movies at the Ross, click here or call 402-472-5353.
