(1966, dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, 111 mins., NR)

Winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967, and generally acknowledged as the zeitgeist film of the era, Antonioni’s Blow-Up is a film about apathy and passion, convention and conscience, perception and voyeurism. Set in swinging London, the taut plot hinges on a mod, nihilistic fashion photographer who inadvertently shoots evidence of a murder, and a dangerous woman (Vanessa Redgrave) who knows more than she admits. Blow-Up was an international box-office success and marked a milestone in liberalized attitudes toward sexuality in popular film. Puzzling, existential, and adroitly-assembled, Blow-Up is one of the greatest films ever made about the act of watching. Introduced by cultural critic David Hoppe. Shown in 35 mm as part of a film series related to the IMA exhibition Snapshot: Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard

Made possible by the Myrtie Shumacker Lecture Fund.