Jim Jarmusch to lead discussion following New York premiere of Empires of Tin

IFC Center will host the New York premiere of Empires of Tin, Jem Cohen’s “documentary musical hallucination” on Tuesday, August 11th at 7:30pm as part of the Movie Nights with Jem Cohen series. Following the screening acclaimed filmmaker Jim Jarmusch (Stranger Than Paradise, Mystery Train, The Limits of Control) will join Cohen for a discussion about the film, in which the audience can take part.

Empires of Tin brings together film, text and musical performance to create a unique meditation on a central question of our time: what are the effects of empire? Are past manifestations mirrored in our own time, and if empires still exist, how can we measure their rise and fall? The project juxtaposes the twilight of the Austro-Hungarian dynasty just before World War One with recent conditions in the U.S. It originated as a multi-media event commissioned by the Viennale (Vienna International Film Festival) which consisted of 16mm film footage shot by Cohen in Vienna and New York, archival images, readings from the texts of Joseph Roth (whose 1930s novels served as key inspirations) and a soundtrack of recorded live performances by Vic Chesnutt, Members of Silver Mt. Zion, Guy Picciotto (from Fugazi), and T. Griffin with Catherine McRae. The film version unites the original 16mm footage with documentation of the live musical performance, creating a distinctive hybrid form.

Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Location: IFC Center, 323 Sixth Avenue, New York City, New York