FALL FREE FILM SERIES!

FALL FILMS 2007
All shown in the Program Room, at 6pm

Sept. 17: THIRST
Oct. 1: Breaking the Silence
Oct. 15: In the Light of Reverence
Oct. 29: Coming to Light
Nov. 5: The Same River Twice
Nov. 19: Dreaming of Tibet
Dec. 3: Beethoven's Hair


MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH:
Thirst
Globalization/Access to Water
62 minutes
CINE Golden Eagle Award
First Place, EarthVision Environmental Film Festival
Hot Docs, Toronto
2004

“I hope Thirst is viewed widely, discussed at town meetings and in legislative debates, and that it energizes citizen involvement in water decisions. A powerful – and needed – film.” Sandra Postel, Director, Global Water Policy Project.

“Beautiful and engaging…” Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director.

“Do you know who controls your water? You’d better find out… See this film, and be inspired to act.” Peter H. Gleick, MacArthur Fellow and Author, The World’s Water.

“Thirst deserves to be seen by all who drink, flush, and cook with life’s most essential element. Highly recommended.” Video Librarian.

A character-driven documentary, with no narration, Thirst reveals how the debate over water rights between communities and corporations can serve as a catalyst for explosive and steadfast resistance to globalization.


MONDAY, OCTOBER 1ST:
Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War on Terror
Political/Journalism
52 minutes
BAFTA (British Oscar) Nominee for Best Documentary
Gold Award, WolrdMedia Festival, Hamburg
Honorable Mention, Society for Visual Anthropology Film Fest.
2003

“Highly recommended.” Visual librarian

“Astonishing…should be required viewing in every home, school and office.” The Guardian (UK)

“Breaking the Silence is a film with enormous emotional power, bringing us the human consequences of our attacks on the Middle East countries. It also provides us with important insights into the reasons for these cruelties, exposing the emptiness and hypocrisy of the claims made by the Bush administration that is fighting ‘terrorism’ and promoting ‘freedom’. I wish this film could be shown in every classroom in the United States.” Howard Zinn, Author, A People’s History of the United States.

“Provides a frighteningly lucid account of President George W. Bush’s potentially never-ending war on terror.” The Sunday Times.

Award-winning journalist John Pilger investigates the discrepancies between American and British claims for the ‘war on terror’ and the facts on the ground.

Pilger interviews many of the architects of the ‘New American Century’, the ‘crazies’ dismissed by the first Bush administration when they presented their plans for pre-emptive wars and global domination.


MONDAY, OCTOBER 15:
In The Light of Reverence
Protecting the Earth/Anthropology
73 minutes
Best Documentary, Wilbur Awards
Certificate of Excellence, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
2001

“This beautifully-crafted film shows how the places most sacred o the Native Americans are being both disrespected and destroyed, and how the Indians are fighting back to save their own religious heritage. This film is a wake-up call for everyone who cares about the environment and human rights.” Robert Redford.

In the Light of Reverence tells the story of three indigenous communities and the land they struggle to protect: the Lakota of the Great Plains, the Hopi of the Four Corners area, and the Wintu of northern California.


MONDAY, OCTOBER 29TH:
Coming to Light
Native American History
84 minutes
Best Documentary, Saguaro International Film Festival
Best Documentary, MountainFilm, Telluride
Best Documentary New Jersey International Film Festival
2000

“Coming to light tells more than the story of its main subject, Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indians. It tells, too, of the tragedy of cultural loss and hopes for recovery of memory… In its sensitive and intelligent fusion of image, sound and story, the film offers an extraordinary experience of living history. It cannot be praised enough.” Alan Tractenberg, Neil Gray Professor of English and American Studies, Yale University.

Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952) was driven to document a vanishing way of life, and captured over 10,000 recordings and 40,000 photographs of Native American life. Including Hopi, Navajo, Eskimo, Blackfeet, Crow, Blood, Piegan, Suquamish, and Kwakiutl. This film documents the story of his quest, and reveals an unseen peak into the life of indigenous people of the North American continent.


MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH:
The Same River Twice
Adulthood
78 minutes
Nominee, IFP Independent Spirit Award
Official Selection Sundance Film festival
Official Selection, AFI Film Festival
Best Documentary, Nashville Independent Film Festival
Best Documentary, New England Film and Video Festival
Best Documentary, Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival
2004

“A piercingly poignant then-and-now portrait…so palpable it puts a lump in your throat.” Stephen Holden, New York Times.

“…Magical. A poignant meditation on life as a work in progress.” Seattle Times.

Poignant simplicity. A pleasure to watch.” Washington Post.

“Beguiling, lyrical portrait of idealism and adulthood.” New York Magazine.

Film maker Robert Moss records his shifting ideology, blending footage of his 1978, month-long trip down the Colorado River with his often-naked, free-spirited friends, to running for mayor in the present. A compelling portrait of cultural metamorphosis. Contains nudity, from home video of hippies along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.


MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH:
Dreaming of Tibet
Anthropology/Sociology
58 minutes
Audience Award, Amnesty International Film Festival
Mill Valley Film Festival
Barcelona International Festival of Human Rights
2006

"Dreaming of Tibet...is a strong piece of advocacy for Tibetan sovereignty. Recommended." Video Librarian.

"An intimate portrait." San Francisco Chronicle

Looks at the lives of three Tibetan exiles, and the recent history of their country that forced them to flee.


MONDAY, DECEMBER 3RD:
Beethoven’s Hair
Anthropology/Historical
84 minutes
Video Librarian's Best Documentaries of the Year List
Festival Director's Prize, Golden Prague International Television Film Festival
Best Direction, Writing, Sound, Gemini Awards
Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival, Toronto
2006

"Forensic crime-solving dramas may be all the rage on network television, but Larry Weinstein's cheeky little documentary Beethoven's Hair...is a definite cut above...Beethoven's Hair is a fascinating detective story, well told. Highly Recommended." Video Librarian's Best Documentaries of the Year List.

"Told in a splendidly imaginative manner, the narrative moves through the intriguing milieu of Vienna in the 19th century, to the terrible drama of the Second World War, and right up to the world of contemporary science and a sort of CSI forensics plot. Even if you have zero interest in Beethoven, the true story of what happened to that lock of hair is way stranger than fiction." John Doyle, The (Toronto) Globe and Mail.

"Several rich strands are intertwined in "Beethoven's Hair," a musical mystery tour starring a hard-traveling forelock from Ludwig Van. Side trips into the Holocaust, kitschy Americana, and up-to-the-minute science give breadth to this tale of musical obsession, which never loses sight of the genius that generates the action. This most recent feature from Larry Weinstein (who received a retroretro tribute at Hot Docs, drawn from the Rhombus Media founder's 20 pics in as many years) deserves noisy fanfare at music-minded fests...Beethoven's music, beautifully performed by musicians in the Czech Republic (where most of the nicely lit restagings took place) add to the drama, while deft sound design and editing add smooth textures across the board." Ken Eisner, Variety.

Traces the journey of a lock of Beethoven's hair, culminating in the scientific analysis that reveals Beethoven's medical secret.

BEETHOVEN'S HAIR traces the unlikely journey of a lock of hair cut from Beethoven's corpse and unravels the mystery of his tortured life and death. The film begins in modern times when a pair of Beethoven enthusiasts, Ira Brilliant and Che Guevara, purchase the hair at a Sotheby's auction. As the story unfolds, it follows the past generations of owners, culminating in the futuristic science that reveals Beethoven's "medical secret". Set to a lush score of some of Beethoven's most glorious music, the film explores the world of forensic testing in sharp relief against the romance of 19th century Vienna and the horrors of 20th century Nazi Germany.

Based on Russel Martin's bestselling book, this is the story of characters separated by time and place, whose only connection is an odd relic that touched each of their lives. Along the way, BEETHOVEN'S HAIR sheds new light upon the cause of Beethoven's various maladies, including his deafness, as well as accounting for his volatile personality and perhaps even the nature of his art.