Mining Bisbee ‘17: A Conversation with Robert Greene and Jarred Alterman

Inspired in part by Peter Watkins’s La Commune (Paris, 1871), Robert Greene set out to tell the story of the Bisbee Deportation through a mix of performance art, documentary, and genre- bending experimentalism, mixing the modern lives of Bisbee, Arizona residents with a historical story of lawless atrocity. Meanwhile, cinematographer Jarred Alterman created a look for the film that melded genres and film references into a nonfiction vision of a town dealing with its darkest day. Bisbee ’17 is a film about mythologies and images, history and the present. With clips from the film and images from other movies that inspired them, Greene and Alterman will discuss the making of Bisbee ’17, the tragic story of immigrant labor strife that inspired it and the images and ideologies on which the film is built, working to answer the question, “how do we use genre to attack poisonous mythologies?” Bisbee ’17 opens at Film Forum on September 5.

Free with Museum admission. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Museum members may reserve tickets in advance by calling 718 777 6800. For more information about becoming a Museum member and to join online, please click here.