IMMERSIVE FILM SERIES
Films are, by their nature, immersive experiences. For this brief series, Curator (and film buff) Laura Burkhalter invited participating artist Matthew Willie Garcia and Dina Smith, a film scholar and associate professor of English at Drake University, to select movies that explore immersion through genre, aesthetics, and methods of worldbuilding.
The Fifth Element, 1997
Luc Besson, director
Rated PG-13 / 122 minutes
Post-film commentary by Artist Matthew Willie Garcia and Curatorial Manager Laura Burkhalter
In the decades since its release, The Fifth Element has become a cult classic for its candy-colored take on the sci-fi action genre as well as its unusual expression of gender and sexuality. In the 23rd century, a New York City cabbie, Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), finds the fate of the world in his hands when Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) falls into his cab. Together, they must race against time and the wicked industrialist Zorg (Gary Oldman) to save humanity.
