[Top]

 

 

 

 

                                  [Top]

 

 

 

 

 

November 2009 - International Women's Film Series

November 3 | November 10 | November 17 | November 24 

The Allen Public Library is screening a special International Women’s Film series in November every Tuesday evening beginning on November 3 and running through November the 24th at 7:00 p.m.  Each movie will be introduced by a distinguished guest speaker. After the movie, the speaker will facilitate a discussion. These free movies are sponsored by the Bach to Books Cultural Arts Series.

Our first film is a Hindi film, entitled Water (November 3) (subtitles in English and Spanish). Cherryl Dawson hosts this film. She has been a film critic with The Movie Chicks since 2000 and is a voting member of DFW Film Critics Association. She has interviewed hundreds of actors and directors for the Internet and for a local television station. Cherryl is a Rotten Tomatoes critic and her reviews have been read by people in 85 different countries, translated into Italian and Russian, and she’s been quoted in the New York Times. After watching over 300 films a year and attending a dozen film festivals, she knows what it takes to make a good movie
 Cherryl Dawson says that the film, Water, “is a powerful story about how widows were treated in India. It tugs at the heartstrings, but the movie is softened with gentle humor and hope. This is one of those great foreign films with outstanding performances that you wish Hollywood would make so more people would go see them.” Water was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film of the year in 2007.

                                                                                                                                                                                                [Top]

Our next movie is the French film Amelie (November 10) (subtitles in English), hosted by Nancy Churnin, journalist for the Dallas Morning News. A Harvard graduate, Nancy also holds a graduate degree in journalism from Columbia University.  One of her most unforgettable experiences was her interview with Maurice Sendak and discovering that both of their families came from the same little town in Poland.  Nancy has appeared on an episode of Happy Days.
Amelie was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Screenplay for 2002. Amelie’s childhood was restricted due to her father’s mistaken belief that she had a heart defect. Amelie grows up with little contact with people outside her father, so she develops a fantastical inner life to cope. As a young woman, Amelie becomes a waitress at Montmarte café, and watching the people around her struggle with life, Amelie decides her mission is to make people happy. But in helping others, she disregards her own need for happiness.

                                                                                                                                                                                                [Top]

Raise the Red Lantern, is a Chinese film (November 17) (subtitled in English, French and Spanish), hosted by Chris Vognar. Chris Vognar is movie critic for the Dallas Morning News. He was the 2009 Nieman Arts and Culture Fellow at Harvard University, where he also taught journalism over the summer. He is currently teaching arts journalism at Southern Methodist University. He has also taught film history at the University of Texas at Arlington. Raise the Red Lantern was nominated for an Oscar in 1992 for Best Foreign Language Film. The story centers around a young Songlian woman who is forced to marry the lord of a powerful family after the death of her father. The older lord already has three wives each living in separate quarters in the same castle. Competition for the master’s attention among the wives assures power and privilege for the favored one. A red lantern is lit in front of the house of the chosen wife each night and the wives scheme to ensure their place in their lord’s affections.

                                                                                                                                                                                                [Top]

Like Water for Chocolate, a Spanish film (November 24) (subtitles in English), is our final entry for this series. Dr. Carolyn Perry, Professor of Humanities and Film History, from Collin College is the host. Dr. Perry has been the film history professor at the college since 2006 and is also Collin College’s Auteur Film Series Director. Like Water for Chocolate was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film for 1993. This is a love story between Pedro and Tita and how the traditions of Mexico at the time forced Tita to wait to marry until her older sister marries. Mama Elena wants Tita to be her stay-at-home daughter instead of marrying and to enforce this, she offers her elder daughter to Pedro instead, and he only accepts in order to be closer to Tita. 
 

This series was made possible by a generous donation from Ann and Mark Livingston.

                                                                                                                                                                                                [Top]