Acropolis Cinema
Bringing experimental, international, and undistributed films to Los Angeles
A Night of Knowing Nothing (Dir. Payal Kapadia, 2021)
Date: February 18, 2022
Time: 8:00pm
Location: 2220 Arts + Archives
Address: 2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057
Los Angeles premiere!
Through fictional love letters found in a cupboard at the Film and Television Institute of India, we meet L, a film student writing to her estranged lover while he is away. Gradually we’re immersed in the drastic changes taking place at the school and in the lives of young people across the country as they take to the streets to protest widespread discrimination.
In her debut film, Payal Kapadia deftly merges reality with fiction, weaving together archival footage with student protest videos to create a vital tapestry of the personal and the political. With its dreamlike editing rhythms and a revelatory use of sound, A Night of Knowing Nothing—which won the best documentary prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival—is both an essential document of contemporary India and a nostalgic look at youth fighting the injustice of their time.
The best film of the year...wondrous, trancelike.
Michael Phillips, The Chicago Tribune
Foregrounds cinema itself as a site of resistance.
Michael Sicinski, MUBI Notebook
One of the best student films ever made...imbued with a sense of history unfolding in the moment.
Siddhant Adlakha, Indiewire
Extraordinary...a hypnotic essay about the loss of innocence and the spark that inspires one to fight.
Pat Mullen, POV Magazine
A fervent cinétract on love and revolt...alluring in its mix of sensuality, intimacy, and collective movement.
Andréa Picard, ICA Frames of Representation
