‘Birds of Paradise’ explores loyalty, greed

Cornell Cinema is showing “Birds of Passage” (2018), directed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra, March 22 at 7 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre. The film also screens March 24 at 4:30 p.m.; the last screening will be hosted by Susana Romero-Sanchez, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of History.

The film follows Rapayet, who is torn between his desire to become a powerful man and his duty to uphold his Wayuu culture’s values. He enters the drug trafficking business in the 1970s and finds quick success despite the disapproval of his tribe’s matriarch. 

A sprawling epic about the erosion of tradition in pursuit of material wealth, “Birds of Passage” is a visually striking exploration of loyalty, greed and the voracious nature of change.

Romero-Sanchez is a historian of modern Latin America, with an emphasis on Colombia; her research focuses on ideas and practices of economic development and modernization.

Also showing: “The 20th Annual Animation Show of Shows” – 15 thought-provoking, poignant and very funny animated shorts from around the world, including work from six countries and six student films – March 22 at 9:30 p.m. and March 23 at 7 p.m. 

Five recent experimental shorts in the Experimental Lens series – “Trees Down Here” (Ben Rivers, 2018), “Bad Mama, Who Cares” (Brigid McCaffrey, 2017), “A Leaf is the Sea is a Theater” (Jonathan Schwartz, 2018), “Wherever You Go, There We Are” (Jesse McLean, 2017) and “Onward Lossless Follows” (Michael Robinson, 2017) – will show March 26, 7-8 p.m. 

“Wanda”(1970), written by, directed by and starring Barbara Loden, offers a compassionate and wrenching portrait of a woman, stranded on society’s margins in Pennsylvania coal country. Part of the Women/Film, Past/Present series, it will screen March 27, 7 p.m.

Bhangra XVIII

The Cornell Bhangra team presents its 18th annual South Asian dance exhibition in Barton Hall, March 24, 7-10:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 general admission and $20 VIP, available from Cornell Bhangra members and online.

Vibrant costumes and high-energy music and dance routines are part of the annual celebration of Punjabi culture and “the joy and passion of Bhangra as an art form,” according to Cornell Bhangra.

Pao Bhangra XVIII will showcase performances by the Cornell team and four visiting Bhangra teams, plus other Cornell music and dance groups.

The Bhangra Olympics will add friendly competition to the event this year, with matchups between Bhangra teams. The audience decides the winner.

Jensen to play with Jazz Ensemble

Guest trumpeter Ingrid Jensen joins the Cornell Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Paul Merrill, for a concert of music by modern women composers March 24 at 3 p.m. in Bailey Hall. The Bissett Jazz Sextet, coached by Peter Chwazik, also performs; the concert is free and open to the public.

Jensen is one of the most in-demand trumpet players on the jazz scene and has regularly performed with the jazz orchestras of Maria Schneider, Darcy James Argue and Terri-Lyne Carrington. In addition to her soloist and side player schedules, Jensen leads her own bands and teaches at the University of Michigan and the Peabody Conservatory. She was an artist-in-residence in 2018 at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

The Jazz Ensemble is the flagship group of the Cornell Jazz program. Students perform classic, modern and contemporary repertoire in a large ensemble format.

Moisey to discuss ‘The American Fraternity’

Andrew Moisey, assistant professor of art history and visual studies, explores the often dark rituals, ceremonies and secret oaths that shape college Greek life in his new photo book, “The American Fraternity: An Illustrated Ritual Manual” (2019, Daylight Books).

His Chats in the Stacks book talk will take place March 27 at 4:30 p.m. in 106G Olin Library.

An award-winning photographer, Moisey will talk about his book, which contains photographs taken over seven years inside a fraternity. With the photos and scanned pages from the fraternity’s decades-old ritual manual, “The American Fraternity” gives an intimate and provocative look at the secretive world that has helped shape the majority of our modern leaders, from U.S. presidents and senators to justices and executives. It is listed as one of the “Best Photobooks of 2018” by Time magazine and Buzzfeed.

The book talk, free and open to the public, is sponsored by Olin Library. Light refreshments will be served.

Dragon Day is March 29

This year’s Dragon Day, the rite of spring celebrated for more than a century at Cornell, takes place March 29.

Every year, an enormous dragon created by first-year architecture students parades across campus. Accompanied by AAP students in outrageous costumes, the dragon lumbers to the Arts Quad where it does battle with a phoenix created by rival engineering students.

The Dragon Day Parade will be streamed starting at 1:20 p.m. (slight delay). The parade leaves from the Foundry at approximately 1 p.m. and heads east on University Avenue. The parade route continues with three right turns – south on East Avenue, past Day Hall to the Engineering Quad; west on Campus Road; and then north on the walkway through Ho Plaza, entering the Arts Quad between Uris and Olin libraries. The dragon comes to rest at the north end of the quad, in front of Sibley Hall.

Enjoy videos of past Dragon Day parades on CornellCast. Dragon Day 2019 T-shirts can now be purchased online.