Director's Cuts - Faith

Movie lovers are invited back to Flick’s Café for viewings of an eclectic mix of films presented by library director David Clapp. "Faith," the theme of the Director’s Cut series,  begins May 20 and runs through July 15.

Human beings stand alone among the creatures on Earth because of their search for reasons, their application of moral arguments to the things they do. This faith in a personal narrative that explains life can as often be destructive as positive. A belief in religion can fight with a belief in the power of sexual attraction. A tragedy can leave someone frozen in the belief that action has no purpose or that they have been abandoned because of something they failed to do the right way. Faith in redemption can lead some to hope when there are no outward reasons to do so, or to perform heroic acts of self denial. Those consumed by loss may lose themselves in a fantasy to avoid the “real” world they cannot face. Finally, faith combined with resolute purpose and strength of mind can stand against all odds. All of the films chosen approach faith in different ways, united only in depicting the nobility available to all humans when their faith includes respect and love for others.

Clapp, a serious film buff, has regularly reviewed films for over seven years.  “As a film lover maintaining an Internet review thread, I have written over 2,500 reviews.  I have a personal movie collection of over 2,000 DVDs.  Flick’s Café is a great way to raise funds and awareness for the library’s film collection. I am delighted to share my passion for the art of motion pictures for the enrichment of the library,” stated Mr. Clapp.

The downtown library auditorium, a.k.a. “Flick’s Café,”  will be accessed from the library’s 11th Street entrance on Tuesday nights during the film series. The café setting allows movie patrons a relaxed comfortable seating arrangement.  Doors open at 6:00 p.m. for coffee and desserts.  Films will begin at 6:30 p.m. after Mr. Clapp gives the audience a film review and the reasons he selected the film for inclusion in the Director’s Cuts series.  

Movie tickets will be $2.00 each or $10.00 for a series pass.  Coffee and desserts will be priced separately. All proceeds will be used to buy new materials for the library’s Fine Arts collection. Because public viewing rights do not include the rights to advertise film titles, see Flick’s Cafe film clues below:

Flick’s Café : Faith

May 20: Hallelujah! (1929) http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0019959/
The first all-black musical feature film, this early talkie (shot as a silent with sound added later) was filmed in Tennessee and Arkansas. Zeke, a share-cropper who is duped by a beautiful woman, leaves his home and returns as a preacher who draws the faithful in large numbers. The spell of the woman still lingers, but his faith casts a spell of its own. King Vidor, MGM, 100 minutes

May 27: Boy Who Could Fly
http://www.imdb.com/Title?0090768
Eric, an autistic boy whose parents were killed in a plane crash, stands in high places with outstretched arms as if about to fly and ignores the world around him. This film follows his friendship with Millie, a troubled girl next door, who comes to believe him. Warner Home Video 1986, 113 minutes, PG

June 3: Black Robe http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101465
This depiction of the seventeenth century culture clash between a French Jesuit missionary to Canada and the Huron and Algonquian natives living there is visually stunning and grittily real. Bruce Beresford, MGM 1991, 101 minutes, R

June 17: Jakob the Liar http://www.imdb.com/Title?0071688 Jakob is a shopkeeper in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. In order to raise the spirits of his fellow residents, he convinces them that he has a secret radio and hears news of their imminent rescue. Peter Kassovitz, Sony 1997, 120 minutes, PG-13

June 24: Fairytale: a True Story http://www.imdb.com/Title?0119095 In 1917 two young English girls take pictures of winged creatures, which many adults believe proves that fairies really exist and all have deep-seated reasons for wanting to believe they are real. 99 min. PG Charles Sturridge, Paramount, 1997, 99 mins.

July 15: A Man for All Seasons http://us.imdb.com/Title?0060665 Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) stands up to King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) when the King rejects the authority of the Catholic Church in order to divorce and remarry.
Fred Zinnemann, Sony 1967, 120 mins.

For more information on these films and Flick’s Cafe, please call 757-5310. To view notes from the previous series see Director's Cuts - Romance and Complicated Youth.