Block Cinema: The Birdpeople (2004)

40 Arts Circle Drive,Evanston IL 60208

16 February, 2022

Description

An essay film indexing the North American social-cultural phenomena of birding with wry humor and elegiac attentiveness to humans and birds THE BIRDPEOPLE (Michael Gitlin, 2004, 61 min, 16mm) [Narrator remarks to the birds] … “I watch you the way I used to watch movies. I remember you the way I used to remember movies.” Michael Gitlin’s experimental essay film The Birdpeople indexes the North American social-cultural phenomena of birding with wry humor and elegiac attentiveness to humans and birds alike. Gitlin, himself an amateur birdwatcher, reflects on the position of birders behind their binoculars as he does on the filmmaker’s practice, pushing against the categories of nature documentary and ethnographic film and their impetus to capture and preserve. Instead, the archival strategy is turned back upon the birdwatchers. Creating an archive of its own, the film registers an array of people transfixed by birds, including a community of birders in Central Park of the early aughts, bird banders with their near-invisible nets, specimen collectors in dozens of natural history museums, and the passionate few still searching the Louisiana bayous for evidence of the lost ivory-billed woodpecker. Free and open to all Film stills courtesy of the artist The Block Museum is Northwestern University’s art museum. The Block is a dynamic, imaginative, and innovative teaching and learning resource for Northwestern and its surrounding communities, featuring a global exhibition program that crosses time periods and cultures and serves as a springboard for thought-provoking discussions relevant to our lives today. The museum also commissions new work by artists to foster connections between artists and the public through the creative process. Each year, the Block mounts exhibitions; organizes and hosts lectures, symposia, and workshops involving artists, scholars, curators, and critics; and screens classic and contemporary films at its in-house cinema. The museum also reaches national and international audiences through its traveling exhibitions, publications and website. Its growing permanent collection of approximately 5,000 works focuses primarily on prints, photography, and drawings. The Museum is located on the southeastern portion of Northwestern's Evanston campus, near the lake and Sheridan Road. Parking is FREE after 4PM on weekdays and all day on weekends. The nearest parking garage is located at the Segal Visitor's Center on Campus Drive.  The Block is free and open to all.