The Rehearsal by Jules Dassin | Saturday, November 15 at 5:30 PM

[Calliope Dourou]

Dear friends and colleagues,

We are thrilled to invite you to a screening of Jules Dassin’s The Rehearsal (1974) on Saturday, November 15, at 5:30 PM, in the Screening Room of the Logan Center for the Arts. We are especially happy to present this event in collaboration with the Hellenic Student Association of the University of Chicago. A reception will follow, offering an opportunity for conversation and reflection.

About the film

As resistance against the junta gathered momentum, Jules Dassin and Melina Mercouri—exiled from Greece for several years—continued their anti-dictatorial campaign across Europe and America. The Rehearsal (1974), Dassin’s impossible-to-categorize film essay on popular uprisings, depicts the rehearsals and filming of a work about the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising and the torture of those who opposed the regime. Blending documentary and re-enactment with a Brechtian structure, prose, music, and personal reflection, Dassin created a work brimming with energy, pain, and hope. Theodorakis and Markopoulos performed their songs live, while Melina Mercouri recited The Star Lantern from Odysseas Elytis’s To Axion Esti. Completed just as the junta fell, The Rehearsal never received theatrical release, remaining an enduring artistic and political enigma. We would like to thank the Melina Mercouri Foundation for providing a copy of this rare and remarkable film.

We very much hope you can join us for what promises to be an exciting evening.

With warm regards,

Calliope

Calliope Dourou

Associate Professor (Instructional) of Modern Greek Literature and Culture

Department of Linguistics

The University of Chicago

Rosenwald Hall 205C

dou...@uchicago.edu