Boston University’s American and New England Studies Program held the first of three film screenings Friday night at the College of Arts and Sciences for its second-annual film festival, “New Visions in American Non-Fiction Film.”
About 80 people attended a showing of two documentaries by Alan Berliner, a recipient of the Rockefeller, Guggenheim and Jerome Foundation Fellowships.
The first film shown was “Nobody’s Business,” which explores the history of Berliner’s late father, Oscar, and the Berliner family paternal heritage. Berliner said he made the film to complement a previous film on his maternal legacy.
“Nobody’s Business” is a comical interview with Oscar Berliner featuring footage from the family’s home movies, old pictures and interviews with other family members about Oscar.
“My father was the saddest person on earth,” Berliner said. “The film gave [Oscar] a gift,” which included articles about the movie sent to him, recognition on the streets of New York and even marriage proposals.
Berliner said there were many reasons he made the film.
“I was born into Americanism; I want my textures back … whatever created the accident of my birth,” he said.
The film stresses Oscar’s apathy toward his heritage and ancestors, Berliner said.
“It was a real revelation for me … the integrity of his indifference,” he said.
The second film shown was “The Sweetest Sound,” which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February last year. The film explores people’s names and focuses on the director’s desire to be the only person named Alan Berliner.
After making films about his family heritage, Berliner said he wanted to focus on another type of connection: people with the same name.
“I’ve been making these films about identity for a long time,” Berliner said.
“I found every Alan Berliner in the world,” he said. There are 13 Alan Berliners in the world, all middle-aged white men, he said. The various Berliners included another filmmaker, a photographer, two lawyers, an accountant and a social worker.
“I hope the film transcended the specificity of my family,” Berliner said.
Adam Randolph, a College of Communication sophomore, said he attended because he is a film major interested in documentaries.
“I thought it was great,” Randolph said.
Randy Bell, a Harvard University film production teaching assistant, will have his films shown in two weeks as part of the festival. Bell said he thought Berliner’s films were excellent.
“He’s very formally vigorous,” Bell said. “He’s exploring very personal issues, such as family and identity.”
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