Friday, June 9 at 7PM
Intro & Q&A with filmmaker Theo Anthony
$5 – $10 sliding scale, free for kids and teens

2017’s BASILICA NON-FICTION SCREENING SERIES launches Friday, June 9th 2017 with a screening of Rat Film and an appearance from director Theo Anthony. The film will be followed by a dynamic conversation about urban rat life with Theo, professional exterminator Lester Gibson and Chair of the City of Hudson Planning Board, Tom dePietro.

ABOUT RAT FILM
Rats, Maps, and Extermination in an American City.

Across walls, fences, and alleys, rats not only expose our boundaries of separation but make homes in them. “Rat Film” is a feature-length documentary that uses the rat—as well as the humans that love them, live with them, and kill them–to explore the history of Baltimore. “There’s never been a rat problem in Baltimore, it’s always been a people problem”.

ABOUT DIRECTOR THEO ANTHONY
Theo Anthony (b. 1989) is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker currently based in Baltimore, MD. His work been featured by the The Atlantic, Vice, BBC World News, and other international media outlets. His films have received premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival, SXSW, and Anthology Film Archives. In 2015, he was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film”. His first feature, RAT FILM, debuted at the 2016 Locarno International Film Festival to critical acclaim, with Richard Brody of the New Yorker calling it “one of the most extraordinary, visionary inspirations in the recent cinema”. RAT FILM will be distributed domestically by Cinema Guild and internationally by Visit Films.

ABOUT BASILICA SCREENING SERIES
Basilica Hudson is proud to announce the return of the Basilica Non-Fiction Screening Series for summer 2017. The series will again be produced in collaboration with Chris Boeckmann, film programmer for the Columbia, MO-based True/False Film Fest, a pioneering film festival dedicated to exploring creative nonfiction film. The Basilica Non-Fiction Screening Series celebrates and interrogates the documentary genre through screenings and dialogue with visiting directors.

The collaboration was born following the premiere of Tony Stone’s 2016 documentary PETER AND THE FARM at True/False, when Basilica Hudson co-founders Stone and Melissa Auf der Maur found a synergy of vision with the True/False mission. Basilica Non-Fiction Film Series follows a similar model, creating a vibrant film festival in a small city surrounded by a rural landscape, with a dedicated audience of regional residents and national film enthusiasts.

PRAISE FOR RAT FILM
It’s one of the most extraordinary, visionary inspirations in the recent cinema.
Richard Brody, The New Yorker

A unique blend of poetic intrigue and scholarly precision.
Eric Kohn, Indiewire

Richly informative essay on the planet’s most-maligned critters.
Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter

One of the most compelling, food-for-thought nonfiction movies of the past few years.
David Fear, Rolling Stone

Remarkable…brilliantly defies categorization
Eric Kohn, Indiewire

A dazzling collage…working in the spirit of Chris Marker, Agnès Varda and Werner Herzog.
Noel Murray, Playlist

Rat Film is one of the most original films of the year, fiction or nonfiction.
Daniel Schindel, The Film Stage