Little Art Theatre

Sponsored by Antioch College

Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Antioch College, Lewis Trelawny-Cassity has assigned a screening of THE ISTER as part of his Global Seminar on water. The public is invited to attend the screening for free and to participate in a discussion following the film.

Course Overview

While water is the origin and sine qua non of all life on Earth and, perhaps, of all possible life in the universe, Adam Smith was, in 1776, able to note the paradox that while water is invaluable, it is ubiquity and plentitude makes it essentially valueless in the marketplace. While water has been taken for granted in the past, retrospect allows us to see the essential and irreplaceable role that water plays in both the development of civilizations and the functioning natural processes. In twenty-first century looming water scarcity, degradation, and emerging ideas about the management and value of water allow us to reassess the nature and value of water from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. In this Global Seminar we will broadly investigate the nature of the local, regional, international water systems, and we will examine the roles that water plays in sustaining life on Earth. By understanding the interconnections between the ecological, economic, agricultural, scientific, ethical and life-sustaining aspects of water, students will develop their ability to engage in interdisciplinary analysis of hydrological issues that are of both contemporary and perennial importance.

About the Film

Documentary. 189 minutes. There will be an INTERMISSION 1/2 way through. Not Rated. 2005.

In 1942, at the height of World War II, Martin Heidegger, the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century, delivered a series of lectures on The Ister, Friedrich Hölderlin's poem about the Danube River, which referred to the waterway by its ancient Greek name.
Heidegger had achieved worldwide fame in 1927 for his philosophical magnum opus, Being and Time. In 1933, Heidegger embraced the National Socialist 'revolution,' becoming rector of Freiburg University. His inaugural address culminated in "Heil Hitler!" After clashing with the Nazi bureaucracy, however, he resigned the rectorate in 1934.
Eight years later, as the tide of the war was turning against Germany, Heidegger spent the summer semester lecturing on the poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin, focusing on his poem The Ister. Rather than an esoteric retreat into the realm of aesthetics, Heidegger's lectures directly addressed the political, cultural and military chaos facing Germany and the world in 1942.
THE ISTER takes up some of the most challenging paths in Heidegger's thought, as we journey from the mouth of the Danube River in Romania to its source in the Black Forest. However controversial Heidegger remains, his thought remains alive in the work of some of the most remarkable thinkers and artists working today, four of whom discuss the contemporary social relevance of Heidegger, including Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Jean-Luc Nancy, Bernard Stiegler, and filmmaker Hans-Jürgen Syberberg.
Winding through the shattered remains of the former Yugoslavia, through a Hungary busily restoring its national mythology, and through a Germany that is both the heart of the new Europe and the ghost of the old one, the Danube itself is the question of the film. In addition to its mentally stimulating, at times even challenging, philosophical discourse, THE ISTER features stunning natural vistas along the nearly 2,000-mile length of one of Europe's major rivers, as well as ancient Greek ruins, the Mauthausen concentration camp, Yugoslavian bridges devastated by NATO bombings, and King Ludwig's Walhalla temple.
By drawing the places and times of the river into a constellation with Heidegger's thought, THE ISTER invites the viewer to participate in some of the most provocative questions facing Europe and the world today. These questions-of home and place, culture and memory, of technology and ecology, of politics and war-concern us today just as much as they did Heidegger in 1942.

"Possesses a visual beauty that's rare in the documentary field… An impressive cinematic tribute to the river from which it takes its name."—Tom Dawson, Channel 4 (UK)

"A stimulating three-hour journey in time, space and the mind."—Philip French, The Observer

"A probing, evasive meditation on time, culture and change, images and actions, and the necessity for both."—Film Comment

"Exposes some of the most powerful transformative currents and possibilities at play in the philosopher's reading of the Western tradition…THE ISTER'S thoughtfulness lies in its encounter of Heidegger's thought in awareness of the impossibility, the loss, and the concrete differences in which philosophical thinking finds its configurations. Wth their visually articulate commentary, Barison and Ross have made a unique contribution to the critical articulation of Heidegger's thinking, this in a time when images seldom engage thought and words often seem insufficient in their articulation of thought's movement in its loss and difference."—Alejandro A. Vallega, Director of the Collegium Phaenomenologicum and Author of 'Heidegger and the Issue of Space: Thinking on Exilic Grounds'

Watch the trailer