April Programs at the Walker Cinema
April unfolds at the Walker Cinema with films that stretch perception, memory, and history into new cinematic forms. From Stan Brakhage’s landmark of the American avant-garde, Dog Star Man, to Deborah Stratman’s geologic meditation Last Things and Maryam Tafakory’s politically charged Gol[e] Sorkh, this month traces connections between landscape, language, and lived experience. With live performance, rare film prints, and artist conversations, April invites audiences into cinema as a space of inquiry—sensory, speculative, and deeply felt.
Dog Star Man by Stan Brakhage
Thursday, April 2, 7 pm
$8 ($6 Walker members, seniors, and students)
Walker Cinema
One of the most radically inventive works of the American avant-garde, Stan Brakhage’s five-part epic blurs psychological and cosmological scales of perception. The film follows a mythical narrative of a woodsman ascending a snowy mountain, with Brakhage employing astrophotography, multiple superimpositions, rapid montage, and hand-painting to create a dream of subjective experience. Inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1992, the film is presented on a rarely screened 16mm print from the Walker’s collection. 1961–1964, US, 16mm, silent, 78 min.
Part of Cinema Revived: Timeless Selections from the Vault, an ongoing presentation of notable feature-length films from the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection.
Last Things by Deborah Stratman
Thursday, April 9, 7 pm
$15 ($12 Walker members, seniors, and students)
Walker Cinema
Combining science and speculative fiction, Last Things considers the meaning of life through rocks—Earth’s elemental parts that have survived millennia. Using macro and micro images of geological formations alongside testimony from scientists and writers, this work of experimental nonfiction invites us to see evolution as a process that extends beyond the human-centered perspective. 2023, US, 35mm, in English and French with English subtitles, 50 min.
A conversation with filmmaker Deborah Stratman follows the screening.
Mali Obomsawin: Sugarcane plus Live Trio
Thursday, April 16, 7:30 pm
Tickets start at $25
Walker Cinema
“[Sugarcane] is immersive and incredibly beautiful, shot like poetry…. The result is both stunning and sobering.” —New York Times
The film Sugarcane features a score written by composer/bassist Mali Obomsawin (Odanak First Nation) that stands as a testimony to Indigenous struggle and resilience. This screening/performance event begins with a short live set by Obomsawin’s trio before the film.
The eponymous Oscar-nominated documentary follows an Indigenous community grappling with the painful history of a residential school run by the Catholic Church. Centering on members of the Williams Lake First Nation in present-day British Columbia, the film unfolds alongside a haunting score filled with tender character studies and sprawling landscapes. After the screening, join Mali Obomsawin at the audience reception in the Main Lobby.
Note: Due to a program change, the screening will not be presented with a live score as previously announced.
This is night one of a two-night engagement with Obomsawin. Learn more about her sextet performance at Icehouse on April 18.
Sans Soleil by Chris Marker
Saturday, April 18, 2 pm
$8 ($6 Walker members, seniors, and students)
Walker Cinema
An experimental travelogue interweaving documentary footage, stock images, and fictional film excerpts, Chris Marker’s groundbreaking essay film probes the complexity of memory. As images unfold across locations, including Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and Tokyo, an anonymous narrator reads letters sent by a traveling cameraman, who acts as a fictional guise for the filmmaker. Eschewing the omniscient narration of conventional travelogues, Marker grounds this cinematic letter in a deeply personal and inquisitive perspective. 1983, France, 35mm, in French with English subtitles, 100 min.
Part of Cinema Revived: Timeless Selections from the Vault, an ongoing presentation of notable feature-length films from the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection.
Gol[e] Sorkh by Maryam Tafakory
Thursday, April 23, 7 pm
$15 ($12 Walker members, seniors, and students)
Walker Cinema
In her newest work, artist and filmmaker Maryam Tafakory traces the censorship of the word gol, or “flower,” in the final years of imperial Iran (1974–1979). Taking place during a time of tumultuous upheaval just before the Iranian Revolution, Tafakory’s film examines the role of women in leftist movements of the time, highlighting the repression the movements faced from internal and external political forces.
Rooted in archival research, Tafakory’s films resist the register of documentary truth-telling, instead using poetic collage and the essay form to reflect on her subjects. For this program, her newest film is presented as a hybrid live-film performance and is preceded by two recent short films, (Daria’s Night Flowers) and Razeh-del.
(Daria’s Night Flowers), 2025, UK/Iran, digital, 16 min.
Razeh-del, 2024, UK/Iran, digital, 28 min.
Gol[e] Sorkh, 2026, UK/Iran, digital, approx. 30 min.
Middle School Movie Club: Be Kind Rewind
Saturday, April 25, 12 pm
Free
Walker Cinema
Come watch Be Kind Rewind by director Michel Gondry on the Walker Cinema’s big screen! Come early or stick around after the film to make art and visit the galleries—all for free.
The film screening begins at 1 pm, with drop-in art-making offered from noon to 4 pm. Registration is available online and limited walk-up tickets will be available on the event day at the Main Lobby desk. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Caregivers and family members are welcome to tag along to activities or check out the galleries during the event. Friends and families of middle schoolers also receive free admission and film tickets.
ABOUT THE WALKER ART CENTER
Known for presenting today’s most compelling artists from close to home and around the world, the Walker Art Center features a broad array of contemporary visual arts, music, dance, theater, and moving image works. Ranging from concerts and films to exhibitions and workshops, the Walker’s programs bring us together to examine the questions that shape and inspire us as individuals, cultures, and communities. The adjacent Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, one of the first urban sculpture parks of its kind in the United States, holds at its center the beloved Twin Cities landmark Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen as well as some 60 sculptures. Visit walkerart.org for more information on upcoming events and programs.
FUNDING CREDITS
Walker commissioning support for Gol[e] Sorkh provided by Lois and John Rogers.
Major support to preserve, digitize, and present the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection is generously provided by the Bentson Foundation.