PRECARIOUS NIGHTS showing SNOWPIERCER (2013) with lecture by Willem Schinkel and Rogier van Reekum

In their recently published book “Theorie van de Kraal: kapitaal, ras, fascisme” (which could be translated to Theory of the Corral: Capital, Race and Fascism), the authors Willem Schinkel and Rogier van Reekum use the corral, a closed off space where cattle is kept, as a metaphor or concept for our current biopolitical condition: we are captured in the enclosing movement of capital, a movement that orders bodies, labor and identities for the purpose of accumulation.

After this lecture, we will screen Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer (2013). The film takes place in the not-too-distant future, as humanity is on the brink of extinction with the remaining humans circumnavigating the earth in a train, built by wealthy industrialist Wilford. The train is defined by a class system, with the people in the back living in poverty and subjected to the random abuse and authority of guards and the people in the front living “quite comfortably”, as they say. Needless to say, this train can’t go on like this forever.

Snowpiercer is written and directed by Bong Joon-ho, who won the Palm d’Or this year for his film Parasite (2019). Due to a feud with Harvey Weinstein, the film’s distributor at the time, Snowpiercer got a limited release which is the reason why many people did not get the chance to see the film on the big screen. On October 28, the film will be screened for a one time viewing at Focus film theater during Precarious Nights. Be sure not to miss it!