UC Santa Barbara’s Carsey Wolf Center Launches Fall Season with Series “Panic!”

The Carsey Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara is set to launch its 2024-25 fall feature screening series “Panic!,” which aims to use cinema to spark critical reflection and discussions about panics in the contemporary age. Starting on October 1, Pollock Theater will feature all types of films, from Hollywood classics to documentaries and critic favorites.

“We live in panicky times. Cycles of outrage over perceived threats to the moral order have become a defining feature of our political and social lives,” said Patrice Petro, Dick Wolf Director of the Carsey Wolf Center (CWC). “‘Panic!’ aims to examine these histories, highlighting how cycles of moral and cultural panic tend to recur over time, re-emerging with particular force in moments of crisis and unrest.”

Petro continued, “This is an exciting, diverse, and timely lineup of films, and we look forward to welcoming our patrons back to Pollock Theater for an outstanding season of cinema.” 

“Panic!” will kick off with a rare public screening of Memoria (2021), directed by Palme d’Or–winning filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Starring Tilda Swinton, Memoria is a compelling drama about a Scottish woman who begins experiencing a mysterious sensory syndrome while in the jungles of Colombia. Haunted by the loud booming sound she continues to hear, she begins to investigate. Weerasethakul drew from his own experience in Colombia, along with his personal hallucinations.

“While researching, I often heard a loud noise at dawn. This symptom is inseparable from my exposure to Colombia. It has formed the basis of a character whose audio experience synchronizes with the country’s memory,” Weerasethakul explained.

The next part of the series is on October 12, showing F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927). Made in the silent era of film, the movie explores the societal anxieties towards modernity. When a married farmer falls in love with a woman from the city, he grapples with the temptations of modernity and the city after his mistress proposes he kill his wife.

While made nearly a century ago, Sunrise still holds true to this day. The film features multiple discourses surrounding the influence of modernity, depicting the dangers and allure of city life.

The CWC will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Shu Lea Cheang’s post-apocalyptic eco-satire Fresh Kill on October 15. The 1994 film envisions a future world littered with electronic waste, suffering from the consequences of mass marketing and high-tech commodity culture. When a young lesbian couple gets involved in a global exchange of industrial waste, they work to expose the corporations profiting off of the toxic landscape. 

Fresh Kill is fast-paced and riveting, a captivating and telling post-apocalyptic tale. The film will be presented on the newly remastered 35mm print, making it the first film to screen on 35mm at Pollock Theater since 2017.

October 22 will feature The Fruit Machine (2018), including a screening and discussion with director Sarah Fodey. The Fruit Machine is a harrowing documentary about the Canadian government’s LGBT purge from its ranks in the post-WWII years. The film features the survivors of the purge seeking justice for the discrimination and abuse at the hands of their government.

The final screening of “Panic!”will take place on November 16 with a presentation of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train. Depicting the paranoia of the Cold War era and produced during the growing anti-Communist post-war hysteria, Strangers on a Train features contemporaneous panics over homosexuality and the alleged threat it posed to national security.

After the November 16 presentation, screenwriter and playwright Phyllis Nagy will lead a post-screening discussion.

More information about “Panic!” and the CWC’s complete fall schedule of screenings and events can be found on the CWC website. All events are free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended in order to guarantee a seat.

To stay up to date, follow the Carsey-Wolf Center on Instagram, Facebook, and Letterboxd.