Event

Hunger

(Steve McQueen, United Kingdom, 2008, 35mm, 96 min)

A tour-de-force debut by renowned British visual artist Steve McQueen, Hunger follows the final six weeks in the life of Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands. Displaying a breathtaking control of image, sound, pacing and tone, McQueen delivers a devastating portrait of political violence as it is inflicted and as it is felt. His imagery includes a pair of bloodied hands immersed in a basin, contraband packages passing silently between inmates and their loved ones, and a young man of principle, delirious from starvation, bravely rallying against a dying light. Though its primary subject is IRA member Bobby Sands and the 1981 hunger strike he waged to improve conditions for fellow political prisoners, the film is not a biopic but a lyrical reverie on human suffering. Hunger is a provocative exploration of the politics of torture and the yearning for spiritual transcendence.

Screens with the short film GRAY DAYS.