The Magician

Cabaret Cinema

Friday February 8, 2013 @ 9:30 PM

Due to weather conditions, tonight’s CabaretCinema screening of Bergman’s The Magician has been cancelled.

1958, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman, 100 min.

Starring Max von Sydow, Ingrid Thulin and Gunnar Björnstrand

Introduced by vision scientist Ben Backus

Free with a $7 bar minimum 

SMOKE SCREENS:

• The original Swedish title is "Ansiktet" which means "the face". It was released theatrically in the United Kingdom as "The Face".

• Max von Sydow is Dr. Vogler, a nineteenth-century traveling mesmerist and peddler of potions whose magic is put to the test in Stockholm by the cruel, eminently rational royal medical adviser Dr. Vergérus.

•  The character name Vergérus is one that recurs throughout Bergman's work and is generally associated with lack of emotion and heartlessness. He was based on critic Harry Schein who disliked Bergman's work.

About the Speaker

Ben Backus is a professor at the Graduate Center for Vision Research, in the SUNY College of Optometry, across 42nd from Bryant Park.  He teaches and studies what the brain does when the eyes are open.  He is an expert on binocular vision and stereoscopic depth perception and studies disorders such as amblyopia and strabismus.  His lab is funded by the NSF, NIH, and HFSP.  He speaks regularly at conferences and colloquia and spoke about visual illusions at the Secret Science Club at Brooklyn’s Bell House.  This time last year he was preparing to spend five days in absolute darkness.

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