Duke University screening and symposium
September 2007

The Ister will screen at the Nasher Museum of Art Auditorium, Duke University (Durham, North Carolina), on 27 September 2007. This will be followed on 28 September by a symposium on the film at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies. Daniel Ross will be present at the screening and will participate in the symposium.
See the Duke University Events calendar for more information on the screening and symposium.

USA theatrical season commences
January 2006

First Run / Icarus Films are pleased to announce that The Ister will soon begin limited theatrical seasons in New York City and the San Francisco Bay area. New York's Anthology Film Archives (from February 10) and the California Film Institute in San Rafael (from March 10) will screen the film, with more venues to be announced soon.

Upcoming screenings: Yale, London ICA, Auckland, Adelaide & Columbus, Ohio
August 2005

Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut will host a screening of The Ister on Friday 21 October at 7pm. In London, the Institute of Contemporary Art will run its second season of the film between (Fri 16 Sep - Tue 20 Sep 2005).

The Ister on Japan's 'University of the Air'
July 2005

Extended excerpts from The Ister will feature as part of an upcoming program on NHK television's 'University of the Air' network in Japan.

The program, "Chi no kioku, Chi no mirai" ("Intellectual memory, Intellectual future"), will broadcast at 20:00 on July 17, 2005.

Feature article appears in Chronicle, review in Artforum International

An extended feature article about The Ister has appeared in the The Chronicle of Higher Education. It traces the reception of the film, as well as its development. A new review (PDF 1MB) has been published in the Summer 2005 edition of Artforum International.

The Ister co-director to deliver keynote address
June 2005

Daniel Ross, co-director of The Ister and author of Violent Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2004), will be delivering the keynote address at an upcoming conference entitled The Politics of Space in the Age of Terrorism, hosted by the School of Architecture and Design at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. He will also take part in a forum at the Sydney Film Festival: Is It Possible To "Think" In Images Rather Than Words?

"This forum will draw upon the experience of film-makers, writers, and theorists, to explore the possibilities of cinema as a medium for thinking. Chair: Robert Sinnerbrink (Philosophy, Macquarie Uni), with Lisa Trahair (Film, UNSW), and local and overseas filmmakers with films in the festival." (From the Sydney Film festival 2005 website)

The Politics of Space in the Age of Terrorism - Keynote address
Friday 1st July, 2005, School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University
360 Swanston Street, Melbourne

Is It Possible To "Think" In Images Rather Than Words?
State Theatre's Statement Bar - Wednesday June 22 - 2:30pm

Distribution deal signed for United States and Canada
April 2005

The Ister is now being exclusively distributed in the United States and Canada by First Run / Icarus Films. Enquiries about screenings and sales in these territories should be directed to mailroom@frif.com.

United States Premiere: Film Comment Selects series
February 2005

The Ister will make its US premiere at New York's Lincoln Center on Sunday February 13 at 2pm.

The screening is part of the the 5th annual Film Comment Selects series, which "serves up an eclectic mix of new films championed in the pages of Film Comment magazine over the past six issues." The screening will be followed by a panel discussion.

Recent reviews: (opens new window)
-The Village Voice
-The Jewish Week

Portland screening
The Ister will also screen as part of the 28th Portland International Film Festival on February 20 at 7.30pm.

More US and Canadian screenings will be announced over the coming months.

Philosophers in discussion at Paris premiere
January 2005

A newly completed French-language version of The Ister will screen at the Centre Pompidou in Paris on January 26 at 6pm.

This screening will bring together three key French philosophers who contributed to The Ister. Jean-Luc Nancy, Bernard Stiegler and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe will participate in a discussion after the screening. This is the first time the three philosophers have appeared together to talk about their involvment in the film.

Jean Luc Nancy's book L'Intrus has recently been adapted for the screen by Claire Denis. Bernard Stiegler's most recent texts include Technics and Time and Echographies of Television (with Jacques Derrida). He is also director of IRCAM. Among Philippe Lacoue Labarthe's most recent texts are Heidegger. La politique du poème and a translation of Martin Heidegger's text La pauvreté (die Armut).

Please note that the French-language version does not contain English subtitles.

Canadian Critics' Prize awarded; Kluge TV profile to broadcast in Germany
October 2004

The Prix de l’AQCC (Association Québécoise des Critiques/Quebec Association of Film Critics) has been awarded to Australian documentary The Ister at the 33rd Festival of New Cinema in Montreal.

This is the second award for the film, which received the Prix GNCR (National Association of Research Cinemas) at the Marseille Documentary Festival in July.

The Ister has screened recently at the Vancouver Film Festival, and has also completed a successful two-week season at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London.

It will be the focus of an upcoming episode of Alexander Kluge’s Prime Time program on German television (RTL network). "Heidegger in Australien: Ein Film von den Antipoden über Heidegger und Hölderlin" (Heidegger in Australia : A film from the Antipodes about Heidegger and Hölderlin) will screen across Germany on November 28. Dr Kluge, himself a major figure of the New German Cinema of the 1970s, interviewed the directors of the film at the Munich Film Festival earlier this year.

Variety have recently acclaimed the film in a recent issue as "a philosophical feast --- at which it is possible to gorge oneself yet leave feeling elated." See the complete article.


Two-week London season ends with critical acclaim
October 2004

The Ister recently completed a successful two-week season at London's Institute of Contemporary Art cinemas, with The Observer's Philip French describing the film as ""a stimulating three-hour journey in time, space and the mind, " while Cahiers du Cinema have hailed it as a "gripping philosophical journey" in their September edition.

For more reviews see the reviews page.

Upcoming screenings: Montreal, Sydney, Mexico City
October 2004

The Ister will be screening at the The Montreal Festival of Nouveau Cinema, on Monday October 18. See Full details.

The film will also screen in December at the Australian Society for Continental Philosophy's annual conference in Sydney. Co-director Daniel Ross will present a paper at the conference.

In February 2005 The Ister will screen at the Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival.

North American and British premieres announced for September
September 2004

The North American premiere of The Ister will take place at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Two screenings have been scheduled;

The Ister will make its British premiere in London, at the Institute of Contemporary Art. It will screen in a limited one-week season from September 24-30, as part of an ongoing series of cinematic works that bridge film and philosophy.

The Montreal Festival of Nouveau Cinema (October 14-24) will also present the film. Dates and times will be announced soon.

MEDIA PLEASE NOTE: Media kits and high-resolution images are available online. Please contact davidbarison@theister.com.

New book by The Ister co-director Daniel Ross
September 2004

Daniel Ross, co-director of The Ister, has completed a new book to be published by Cambridge University Press, entitled Violent Democracy. The book will be available in September.

From the publisher's website:
"Challenging conventional wisdom, Daniel Ross shows how violence is an integral part of the democratic system from its origins and into its globalised future. He draws on the examples of global terrorism and security, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the relation of colonial powers to indigenous populations, and the treatment of asylum seekers. His analysis of these controversial issues moves beyond the comfortable stances of both left and right to show that democracy is violent, from its beginning and at its heart."

French prize awarded at Marseille festival amid controversy
August 2004

The Ister was awarded Le Prix du Groupement National des Cinémas de Recherche (GNCR) at the Marseille International Documentary Festival in July. The prize consists of support by the French association for distribution in cinemas throughout the country.

The film was in competition with a wide selection of French and International documentary films screened at the Marseille festival. These screenings of The Ister marked the film's French premiere.

The screenings were almost overshadowed by the controversy at a round table discussion on Monday July 5, where French multimedia artist Gregory Chatonsky attacked an editing decision in the section of the film addressing the relation between Martin Heidegger's thought and the Shoah. Around 100 people - around a quarter of the audience - stormed out of the forum after heated comments exchanged between Chatonsky, philosopher Bernard Stiegler, and the public.

Australian screenings sell out as critics hail The Ister
August 2004

Australian critic Adrian Martin has acclaimed The Ister as "the most intellectually rigorous and searching film ever made in this country."

The review appeared in the Brisbane International Film Festival catalogue. It is reproduced here by kind permission of the festival.

Earlier this year, in his overview of the 2004 International Film Festival Rotterdam in January, Film Comment's European editor Olaf Moeller named The Ister "the find of the festival." The complete article is available in PDF format (reproduced with permission). It appears in the March/April edition of the magazine. See also: Film Comment online.

Screenings in Marseille, Melbourne and Sydney international film festivals played to sold-out sessions this year, with the Brisbane, Buenos Aires and Munich festivals playing to near-capacity crowds.

The Ister screens at Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente
June 2004

The Ister recently screened at Argentina's premier film festival in Buenos Aires, which ran from April 14 to 25, 2004.

One of the directors of the film, David Barison, was in attendance at the festival.

This was the sixth year of the festival which has survived recent national political turmoil to become a major event on the world film festival calendar.

The Ister premieres at Rotterdam film festival
January 2004

The Ister had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, on Friday January 23, 2004.

Both sessions of the film sold out, and the premiere session was followed by a lively question and answer session.

The film, based on a wartime lecture course by Martin Heidegger, takes the viewer on a journey up the Danube river from the Black Sea to the Black forest. For more information about the film, see the introduction.

See also : International Film Festival Rotterdam

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French website translations kindly provided by: