Upcoming Film Events with the Sacramento Psychoanalytic Society

Join us next Saturday, March 28th at the Dreamland Cinema for a showing of Aftersun. This film tells the story of a seaside vacation 11-year-old Sophie spends with her father, Calum. Director Charlotte Wells has said she made the film as a way of working through memories and feelings she hadn't fully processed as a child, and it functions, in both narrative and style, as the working through of a screen memory. SPS Board Member Danielle Martin, M.A. will guide what is sure to be a rich discussion after the showing. More details here.

On consecutive Saturday evenings, April 11th and 18th at 6:30 p.m. at 422 Alhambra Blvd., SPS will screen Century of the Self, a four-part documentary series by Adam Curtis that explores the profound influence of Freud's ideas on modern society. The film centers on Freud's nephew Edward Bernays, who used his uncle's theories of the human psyche and the unconscious to develop the modern practice of consumer marketing and corporate public relations--with far reaching and devastating effects.

The film traces the development of Bernays's marketing practices throughout the 20th century, showing how they were used not only by corporations to manipulate consumers into buying products, but by governments and politicians to control populations. It raises provocative questions about desire and free will and may offer a fascinating if unsettling perception of the place of the individual in current national and global affairs. At this moment, when many find themselves at a loss, truly "not masters of their own houses" insofar as that concept extends to government in a supposed democracy, this film may aid our thinking about how we find ourselves here.

We'll screen the first two parts of this documentary on April 11th, and the final two on April 18th. Each part is approximately one-hour. Drinks and snacks will be provided.