“Watkins is a provocateur, determined to smash complacency, to reveal injustice, hypocrisy, and ignorance, and to spur his audience into action - not goals which tend to sit easy with producers or distributors, no matter their stripe. Watkins’s career has been marked by a constant struggle to get his films made, and even more, by a constant struggle to get them seen, in the face of institutional suppression, censorship, and critical hostility.” Jared Rapfogel, Senses of Cinema
“An unprecedented cinematic constellation whose inspiration and importance has only increased since its release in 1986.” - Tate Modern
Saturday, January 18, 11:00 a.m.–Sunday, January 19, 11:00 a.m. | Though Peter Watkins’ anti-nuclear arms opus THE JOURNEY premiered in 1987 at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival to positive response, the film was quickly met with resistance and hostility by media executives (at a screening for the National Film Board of Canada, a producer yelled at the screen "what's all this about?!"), and thus overlooked and underscreened for decades. Filmed in 12 countries over three years, and structured in 90-minute segments, THE JOURNEY is a pacifist plea against nuclear war. Taking a simple approach that yields devastating results, Watkins interviews families and groups of people in Sweden, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Soviet Union, Mexico, Japan, Scotland, Polynesia, Mozambique, Denmark, France, Norway, West Germany, and the United States about the state and consequences of the world arms race, and the effects, including some his subjects had experienced personally, of nuclear weapons. Critical of global government, media, and education, the film’s concerns, reflected through the frank observations and responses of his interviewees, feel all the more grave in the 38 years since Watkins made THE JOURNEY. One of the longest non-experimental films ever made, clocking in at 14 hours and 33 minutes, THE JOURNEY is critical, vital viewing as we head into a likely tumultuous 2025 with ongoing wars in no fewer than five countries. Program includes two intermissions both days.
Admission is $35 for Film Center members and $55 for general audiences and includes tickets to both days. Tickets include bottomless refills on popcorn and coffee with purchase. Option to add a boxed lunch, courtesy of our friends at Goddess And The Baker ($13–15). *Tickets with boxed lunch must be ordered at least 72 hours in advance of individual screenings.
Settle In: Binge watching a television show or catching a double feature? Child’s play. Prove your passion for pacing with four films that test the limits of runtimes, that lean into their length, and that invite you to Settle In. Ticket price listed in individual descriptions, all tickets include bottomless refills on popcorn and coffee (with purchase), and bathroom and stretching breaks (feel free to bring a pillow). Ticket holders have the option to add a boxed lunch to their experience, courtesy of our friends at Goddess And The Baker* ($13-$15) Read more
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu