Screening Time: Saturday, May 3, 8:30 PM, Charles Theatre 1

Director: Gaspar Noé

Cast: Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Nahon

Country: France
Year: 2002
Running Time: 99 minutes
Format: 35mm

When it played at Cannes and Sundance, this film drove people out of the theater. It has two of the most violent scenes ever filmed, it asks the audience to work, and the whole thing is told backwards. It’s also beautifully shot and acted and you’re not likely to forget it. The second feature from French director Gaspar Noe (his first, I Stand Alone, is John Waters’ Maryland Film Festival pick this year), Irreversible continues to develop themes Noe has been working on since his first short film, Carne. They are big themes, and, like a political firebrand, Noé is willing to do whatever is necessary to explore them.

--Jed Dietz

Presented By: John Waters and Maryland Institute, College of Art Professor Mikita Brottman

John Waters recently hosted the Independent Spirit Awards, the annual celebration of independent filmmaking, for the third year. He is a legendary independent filmmaker who has first hand experience making and marketing provocative films.

Mikita Brottman is a professor of literature at Maryland Institute College of Art, who writes regularly on film and popular culture for both academic and mainstream publications, including INDIEwire, IFC Rant, Film Quarterly, Headpress, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. She is the author of three books on the horror film, and many articles on independent and underground films. Her latest book is the edited collection, Car Crash Culture.