Knights of the South Bronx
When: Saturday, Feb 7, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Allen Hughes
Starring: Ted Danson, Malcolm David Kelley
Runtime: 90 minutes
Year: 2005
Description: This is the true story of Richard Mason (Ted Danson) who has the courage in mid-life to give up a corporate career in order to fulfill his dream of teaching at an inner city school in the Bronx. As the 4th grade substitute teacher, he isn’t winning over any of the kids until one day in the park when his toughest student watches while Richard plays chess in a most astonishing way. Suddenly, Mr. Mason realizes that the game of chess might just provide a whole new way to reach a classroom full of unwilling students.
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Hobart Shakespeareans
When: Saturday, Feb 21, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Mel Stuart
Runtime: 52 minutes
Year: 2005
Award: Christopher Award
Description: There is something extraordinary happening in a Los Angeles inner-city elementary school. A 5th grade teacher named Rafe Esquith is inspiring his classes towards excellence through an incredible array of teaching methods that peak with a yearly performance of a Shakespearean play. The children’s work brings such greats as Sir Ian McKellen and Michael York to the audience. Share the joy and wonder of a group of 9 to 11 year olds as they learn, grow, blossom and discover themselves in this unlikely and awe-inspiring classroom.
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Mr. Mergler's Gift
When: Saturday, Feb 21, 2009 - after Hobart Shakespeareans
Director: Beverly Shaffer
Runtime: 31 minutes
Year: 2005
Description: The girl sits at the piano and plays the opening bars of Für Elise. Daniel Mergler has heard the Beethoven bagatelle countless times over the decades, but this is different. He listens with surprise, and delight lights up the old man's eyes. This is the remarkable story of Xin Ben, a 9-year old daughter of Chinese immigrants and her mentor, Mr. Mergler, a dying man with dedication to his young prodigy. Together they explore the transcendental beauty of music and experience its life-changing gifts.
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Music of the Heart
When: Saturday, Feb 28, 2009 - 8:00pm
Starring: Meryl Streep, Cloris Leachman
Director:Wes Craven
Runtime: 124 minutes
Year: 1999
Award: Critics Choice Award – Best Song
Description: The true story of a young teacher who fights against the board of education in her bid to teach underprivileged kids in a Harlem school the beauty of music through the violin. In her struggle she loses everything as the system comes down on her with all their might but her determination for the kids happiness helps her to battle back with wonderfully inspirational results.
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Tocar Y Luchar
When: Saturday, Mar 7, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Alberto Arvelo
Runtime: 70 minutes
Year: 2006
Award: Miami Film Festival - Best Documentary
Description: This feature length documentary tells the inspiring story of an entire country that enlisted all of its children, no matter their economic background, in a music program designed to uplift their spirits. Years later, we can see the progress that this program has inspired through classical music, hard work, and the dedication of teachers and students. An incredible story in a time when turning a country around seems almost impossible -- here's proof that it's not.
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The Namesake
When: Saturday, Mar 14, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Mira Nair
Starring: Kal Penn, Irrfan Khan
Runtime: 122 minutes
Year: 2006
Award: Love is Folly International Film Festival - Golden Aphrodite
The Namesake maps the lives of the Ganguli family. Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli are arranged to be married by their families in Calcutta. A few days after the wedding, immigrate to America. Their son Gogol, growing up in America, stumbling along a first-generation path, he becomes a bright American boy, goes to Yale, has pretty girlfriends, becomes a successful architect. Gogol discards his unremarkable Indian lifestyle and adopts the American instead, but he can still find no peace. After hearing of his father’s death, he is finally able to appreciate the little details of his father's life and his own upbringing, but still is torn by conflict…
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East Is East
When: Saturday, Mar 21, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Damien O'Donnell
Starring: Om Puri, Linda Bassett
Runtime: 96 minutes
Year: 1999
Award: British Independent Film Award
Description: Manchester in 1971 is not the ideal time and place to raise a proper Pakistani family. But George Khan Om Puri, father of seven unruly moppets and husband to a willful British wife, is determined to wield his influence over his clan. But what a clan this is, with Nazir, who refuses his arranged wife; Saleem who creates controversial works of art; Tariq, the mod boy who lives for discos and English girls; Meenah, the only girl and tomboy extraordinaire; and Sajid, who lives in a dirty fur-trimmed parka. Puri is magnificent straddling the line between lovable father and brute enemy as he demands that the others obey his will and sympathies toward the characters shift throughout the film, highlighting the superb acting of the entire cast.
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Mississippi Masala
When: Saturday, Mar 28, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Mira Nair
Starring: Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury
Runtime: 118 minutes
Year: 1991
Award: Venice Film Festival - Ciak Award for Most Popular Film
Description: The tender love story between Demetrius and Mina of different races and cultures is tested by the social and economic pressures from both American blacks and the South Asian community. The lovers struggle to stay together and to understand the controversy that swirls around them while bouncy east Indian rhythms spice up the music soundtrack and add to the film's enjoyment.
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Monsoon
When: Saturday, Apr 4, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Shyam Balsé
Starring: Bhanu Uday, Ravi Baswani
Runtime: 21 minutes
Year: 2006
Award: Los Angeles Indian Film Festival - Audience Award
Description: Govinda, a cardiologist now living in California, has journeyed back to his homeland to convince his Indian father, a devout Hindu Brahmin, to undergo medical treatment for his ailing health. Much to his frustration, his father, a devout Hindu Brahmin and the hard headed patriarch of the family, refuses medical treatment claiming that only God can heal him. As the tension between father and son grows, Govinda gets drawn back into the mystery surrounding his wife's death that threaten to split the family apart forever.
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Mini Cine Tupy
When: Saturday, Apr 11, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Sérgio Bloch
Runtime: 10 minutes
Year: 2003
Award: Havana Film Festival - Sara Gómez Award
Description: It’s amazing what you can find in other people’s trash if you know what to look for. This short documentary takes us to a poor area of Sao Paulo, Brazil, where one resourceful man, who is completely obsessed with the magic of cinema, makes the most of his surroundings, finding the materials to create miniature movie shows for the local children. He has turned his modest garage into a gathering place for the children of the village who experience the joy of cinema (and popcorn) free of charge.
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America's Heart and Soul
When: Saturday, Apr 11, 2009 - after Mini Cine Tupy
Director: Louis Schwartzberg
Runtime: 84 minutes
Year: 2004
Award: MovieGuide Awards - Best Movie Documentary
Description: World-class cinematographer Louis Schwartzberg takes us on a whirlwind tour of America in this inspiring and beautifully filmed feature-length documentary. We meet an incredible array of ordinary people, living extraordinary lives. From the Vermont dairy farmer, to the blind mountain climber, to the father and son marathon runners, their inspiring stories are as different as can be -- passionate, colorful, courageous, funny, touching.
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Lemonade Stories
When: Saturday, Apr 18, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Mary Mazzio
Runtime: 46 minutes
Year: 2004
Description: A heartwarming documentary on famous entrepreneurs and the unique women who raised them. Where did our business leaders learn the life lessons that prepared them for their later finanacial success? With mom in the kitchen, mixing lemonade to sell by the side of the road, of course! Listen while entrepreneurs Richard Branson of Virgin, Russell Simmons of Def Jam, Arthur Blank of Home Depot and Kay Koplovitz of USA Networks (among others) talk openly with their moms about what lessons inspired them to be the influential and innovative adults they’ve become.
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The Alma Drawings
When: Saturday, Apr 25, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Jeremy Munce
Runtime: 48 minutes
Year: 2005
Description: Alma Rumball began drawing strange pictures in her 50th year, claiming no authorship over the art works. Could she have been channeling the drawings in a process called psychic automatism? Having no knowledge of the content and design of the drawings coming from her hand, she lived an isolated existence. While her family provided her with pencils and paper, the images kept pouring forth. This fascinating documentary explores the mystery of Alma’s drawings, opening doorways of possibility about our potential and the nature of the universe.
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Laughing Club of India
When: Saturday, May 2, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Mira Nair
Runtime: 36 minutes
Year: 2000
Award: Biarritz International Festival - Special Mention
Description: This joyous documentary introduces us to a new trend spreading across India: laughing clubs. Knowing the positive health benefits of laughter - founded by a medical doctor, Madan Kataria - these clubs bring hundreds of people together, beyond caste or class, to laugh for 40 minutes each day.
Mira Nair traces the roots of these clubs by following some member’s home, revealing challenging lives in much need of laughter as a form of medicine. Now laughing clubs have spread throughout the world.
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Hysterical Blindness
When: Saturday, May 16, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Mira Nair
Starring: Uma Thurman, Juliette Lewis
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 2002
Award: Emmy Awards - Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress
Description: An intimate, character-driven drama that follows three working-class women - two best friends in their late 20s, and one older woman who's the mother of one of the two friends - set in working class New Jersey in 1987. Attempting to build relationships and find meaning in their lives, Debbie and Beth are desperate to find Mr. Perfect, but keep settling for men who have no interest in staying with them, while Debbie’s mother finds her man in Nick, a warm, loving widower.
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Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
When: Saturday, May 23, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Mira Nair
Starring: Indira Varma, Sarita Choudhury
Runtime: 112 minutes
Year: 1997
Award: Independent Spirit Awards - Best Cinematography
Description: A sumptuous and sensual exploration of the friendship and rivalry between two young women, a princess and her servant, in a 16th century Indian court. Both use the teachings of the "Kama Sutra", the ancient century treatise on love and sexuality, as weapons in their complex relationship.
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Illusion
When: Saturday, May 30, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Michael Goorjian
Starring: Kristen Clement, Ted Raimi
Runtime: 106 minutes
Year: 2004
Award: Hamptons International Film Festival - Best Screenplay
Description: This incredible movie is a father-son relationship (or lack thereof). Kirk Douglas plays a movie director near the end of his life. He is taken into an other-worldly cinema, where he watches scenes from the life of the son he never had any contact with, and deeply regrets his lack of involvement in his son's life. The story is both heart-wrenching and uplifting.
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Song Of Songs
When: Saturday, Jun 6, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Chris Brickler
Runtime: 66 minutes
Year: 2006
Description: This feature documentary explores the challenges of relationships. If we are all so fascinated by love, why is it so difficult to make a romantic relationship last? Experts like Harville Hendrix and Helen Hunt speak on this topic, along with people who have made relationships work, like the filmmaker’s grandparents who have just celebrated their 60th anniversary. This sweet film reminds us of our true inner nature: one that is inspired and nourished by love.
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Yellow Brick Road
When: Saturday, Jun 13, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Matthew Makar
Runtime: 114 minutes
Year: 2005
Award: Long Island International Film Expo - Best Documentary
Description: In one of the most heart-warming documentaries we've seen, filmmaker Matthew Makar takes us into the magical world of a Long Island based organization called A.N.C.H.O.R. (Answering the Needs of Citizens with Handicaps through Organized Recreation). This film chronicles ANCHOR's production of THE WIZARD OF OZ, from start to finish, sharing with us the joys, heartaches, and triumphs of this incredibly special and loving group of actors, who wear their hearts and souls on their sleeves. It is an inspiration to all of us searching for our life's purpose.
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Body and Soul: Diana & Kathy
When: Saturday, Jul 4, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Alice Elliott
Runtime: 40 minutes
Year: 2007
Description: In this most touching documentary, we meet Diana and Kathy, activists, best friends, two parts who make a whole. They met almost 40 years ago in a home for the physically and mentally challenged and have been taking care of each other ever since while fighting for rights for those with disabilities. But now, we are introduced to them at a time in their lives when their age and infirmities are more than the two of them alone can handle. You will never forget these two incredible women and the difference they’ve made on the planet.
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The March of the Penguins
When: Saturday, Jul 11, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Luc Jacquet
Narrator: Morgan Freeman
Runtime: 85 minutes
Year: 2005
Description: Each winter, alone in the pitiless ice deserts of Antarctica, deep in the most inhospitable terrain on Earth, a truly remarkable journey takes place as it has done for millennia. Emperor penguins in their thousands abandon the deep blue security of their ocean home and clamber onto the frozen ice to begin their long journey into a region so bleak, so extreme, it supports no other wildlife at this time of year. In single file, the penguins march blinded by blizzards, buffeted by gale force winds. Guided by instinct, by the otherworldly radiance of the Southern Cross, they head unerringly for their traditional breeding ground
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Rain Man
When: Saturday, Jul 18, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Barry Levinson
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise
Runtime: 133 minutes
Year: 1988
Award: Academy Awards - Best Picture and Best Director
Description: Rain Man is a moving story about two brothers, one a selfish yuppie and his autistic brother whose late father has left him $3 million in a trust. This gets the attention of his materialistic younger brother, a hot-shot LA car dealer named Charlie who wasn't even aware of Raymond's existence until he read his estranged father's will. Charlie kidnaps Raymond from his residential home and begins a long journey and discovery that will forever change both their lives.
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Rhythm Is It
When: Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 - 8:00pm
Director: Thomas Grube
Starring: Simon Rattle, Royston Maldoom
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2004
Description: You can find your life in a dance class!! 250 young adolescents, who have never danced before, and a lot of them come from the lower class in the society, some even exiled from other countries, will dance to the Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemps". The new conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle, leads the project. He believes that the music, the classic music, is not only for people from higher class of the society, but belongs to all people. It is just like water and air, people need music to live. Through the dancing in a modern ballet, the adolescents find their power, their values that they have never had in their life
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