Northern Lights Film Society
Northern Lights Film Society shows films both classic and contemporary from around the world. View movies on our 16-foot screen in our newly reconstructed theater. Together with the new projection and sound system in the Arts Center's 106-seat theater, we give the island city its first permanent cinema since the Wilbur Theater stopped showing movies in the early 1970s.
Membership and admission are free; a $5 donation to help defray costs is suggested.
Join our email list to receive our weekly movie calendar. Call 853-2374 for more information on the Film Society.
Upcoming Movies:
July 10, 2008: FORBIDDEN PLANET
Flying saucers, a planet apparently with a mind of its own, and a gorgeous damsel in distress intersect in this nervy, funny, suspenseful and very clever 1956 science fiction adaptation of Shakespeare's final play, The Tempest. In the year 2200 space explorers are investigating an earlier expedition that never returned. On an abandoned planet they encounter an embittered genius building a utopia with his beautiful daughter and a trustworthy, comic robot. Distinguished for ground-breaking electronic music by Bebe and Louis Barron and beautiful widescreen photography by George Folsey. With Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and, of course, Robby the Robot.
"…the gaudiest layout of gadgets this side of a Florida hotel, offering some of the most amusing creatures conceived since the Keystone cops. Best of the lot is Robby, a phenomenal mechanical man who can do more things in his small body than a roomful of business machines. He can make dresses, brew bourbon whisky, perform feats of Herculean strength and speak 187 languages, which emerge through a neon-lighted grille. What's more, he has the cultivated manner of a gentleman's gentleman. He is the prettiest piece of mechanism on Planet Altaire. You will note we said 'piece of mechanism.' For the prettiest thing there, by far, is Anne Francis-also known as Altaira-the daughter of Dr. Morbius."-Bosley Crowther, N Y Times
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox USA 1956 98 mins.
July 13, 2008: CARAMEL (Sukkar Banat)
First-time writer, director, and star Nadine Labaki leads this "utterly entrancing and completely brilliant" (Amy Taubin, Film Comment) romantic comedy about a cross-section of Lebanese women who frequent a Beirut beauty salon and discuss matters of love, freedom, femininity, and sexuality. Costarring Yasmine Al Masri, Joanna Moukarzel, Gisele Aouad, Sihame Haddad, and Aziza Semaan-none of whom are professional actors. In Arabic and French with English subtitles.
"As tart, and tantalizing, as that little pot of caramel already bubbling on the stove, just waiting to bring delight -- or quick stabbing pain."--Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
"Set in a culture caught between East and West, between male chauvinism and female empowerment, Labaki's movie isn't about to revolutionize a genre -- its charms are modest, but many."--Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
"One of those small films that give a glimpse into a culture that's both foreign and familiar. It's filled with real-life touches and small insights and wonderfully human characters, and the whole thing feels as real as crossing the street."--Tom Long, Detroit News
"In a culture where female sexuality is problematic at best, how is a woman supposed to feed both body and heart? Through makeovers, support, and necessary lies, Caramel curtly answers."--Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Dir: Nadine Labaki Lebanon/France 2007 93 mins.
First-time writer, director, and star Nadine Labaki leads this "utterly entrancing and completely brilliant" (Amy Taubin, Film Comment) romantic comedy about a cross-section of Lebanese women who frequent a Beirut beauty salon and discuss matters of love, freedom, femininity, and sexuality. Costarring Yasmine Al Masri, Joanna Moukarzel, Gisele Aouad, Sihame Haddad, and Aziza Semaan-none of whom are professional actors. In Arabic and French with English subtitles.
"As tart, and tantalizing, as that little pot of caramel already bubbling on the stove, just waiting to bring delight -- or quick stabbing pain."--Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
"Set in a culture caught between East and West, between male chauvinism and female empowerment, Labaki's movie isn't about to revolutionize a genre -- its charms are modest, but many."--Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
"One of those small films that give a glimpse into a culture that's both foreign and familiar. It's filled with real-life touches and small insights and wonderfully human characters, and the whole thing feels as real as crossing the street."--Tom Long, Detroit News
"In a culture where female sexuality is problematic at best, how is a woman supposed to feed both body and heart? Through makeovers, support, and necessary lies, Caramel curtly answers."--Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Dir: Nadine Labaki Lebanon/France 2007 93 mins.
July 17, 2008: HONEYDRIPPER
Independent filmmaker John Sayles dramatizes the transition from rural blues to the birth of rock and roll in 1950s Alabama. Danny Glover is the proprietor of a struggling blues lounge, the Honeydripper, and crafts a plan to pay off the landlord by booking the popular Guitar Sam for a one-night engagement. Problem is, he doesn't have the dough to pay him, and that's if Sam shows up. This is where a young, guitar-playing drifter (Gary Clark Jr.) comes in. Co-stars Stacy Keach and Mary Steenburgen.
"Sayles spins a ground-level human comedy, a movie rich with characters and flowing with music."--Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"Even more than the music in this musically rich picture, the great pleasure of Honeydripper is in watching Danny Glover as Tyrone Purvis, the club owner."--Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"An atmospheric production that takes the time to appreciate a largely African-American cast, along with rocking musical interludes and just the faintest wash of spirituality."--Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
"Together with production designer Toby Corbett and costume designer Hope Hanafin, Sayles and his cast get their visual cues from the narrative and the music, creating a rich, down-to-earth environment where violence and magic seem equally possible."--Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
"Veteran American director John Sayles shows just how much life music can give to a movie."--Philip Marchand, Toronto Star
Dir: John Sayles US 2007 123 mins.
Independent filmmaker John Sayles dramatizes the transition from rural blues to the birth of rock and roll in 1950s Alabama. Danny Glover is the proprietor of a struggling blues lounge, the Honeydripper, and crafts a plan to pay off the landlord by booking the popular Guitar Sam for a one-night engagement. Problem is, he doesn't have the dough to pay him, and that's if Sam shows up. This is where a young, guitar-playing drifter (Gary Clark Jr.) comes in. Co-stars Stacy Keach and Mary Steenburgen.
"Sayles spins a ground-level human comedy, a movie rich with characters and flowing with music."--Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"Even more than the music in this musically rich picture, the great pleasure of Honeydripper is in watching Danny Glover as Tyrone Purvis, the club owner."--Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"An atmospheric production that takes the time to appreciate a largely African-American cast, along with rocking musical interludes and just the faintest wash of spirituality."--Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
"Together with production designer Toby Corbett and costume designer Hope Hanafin, Sayles and his cast get their visual cues from the narrative and the music, creating a rich, down-to-earth environment where violence and magic seem equally possible."--Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
"Veteran American director John Sayles shows just how much life music can give to a movie."--Philip Marchand, Toronto Star
Dir: John Sayles US 2007 123 mins.
July 20, 2008: REDS
At its center, Reds is the passionate love affair of journalist-socialist John Reed (Warren Beatty) and feminist author Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton). Beatty, who co-wrote, produced and directed the film, crisscrosses the emotional undercurrents with social history, exploring the American labor movement; the emergence of socialism; and the bohemian Greenwich Village group that included playwright Eugene O'Neill and anarchist Emma Goldman. The extraordinary cast includes Jack Nicholson, Maureen Stapleton, Gene Hackman, and Being There author Jerzy Kosinski as bolshevik leader Gregory Zinoviev. Cinematography by Vittorio Storaro.
"Stapleton is terrifically earthy and peremptory as Emma (she won an Oscar). Best of all, Jack Nicholson's moody, anguished portrait of Eugene O'Neill all but steals the film. O'Neill has Bryant figured out, but he still gets wounded by her; Nicholson's slow-burning intensity unearths the endearing vulnerability in Keaton, and their melancholy, painful love scenes stop the movie cold several times."-Dan Callahan, Slant
"On one hand Reds provides a traditional Hollywood 'love story written on the canvas of history,' and with glorious romanticism, surprising intelligence, and a consistent wit. It is the thinking man's Doctor Zhivago, told from the other side, of course. But for Beatty, Reds is his bravura turn. He got the idea, nurtured it for a decade, found the financing, wrote most of the script, produced, and directed and starred and still found enough artistic detachment to make his Reed into a flawed, fascinating enigma instead of a boring archetypal hero."-Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Dir: Warren Beatty USA 1981 195 mins.
At its center, Reds is the passionate love affair of journalist-socialist John Reed (Warren Beatty) and feminist author Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton). Beatty, who co-wrote, produced and directed the film, crisscrosses the emotional undercurrents with social history, exploring the American labor movement; the emergence of socialism; and the bohemian Greenwich Village group that included playwright Eugene O'Neill and anarchist Emma Goldman. The extraordinary cast includes Jack Nicholson, Maureen Stapleton, Gene Hackman, and Being There author Jerzy Kosinski as bolshevik leader Gregory Zinoviev. Cinematography by Vittorio Storaro.
"Stapleton is terrifically earthy and peremptory as Emma (she won an Oscar). Best of all, Jack Nicholson's moody, anguished portrait of Eugene O'Neill all but steals the film. O'Neill has Bryant figured out, but he still gets wounded by her; Nicholson's slow-burning intensity unearths the endearing vulnerability in Keaton, and their melancholy, painful love scenes stop the movie cold several times."-Dan Callahan, Slant
"On one hand Reds provides a traditional Hollywood 'love story written on the canvas of history,' and with glorious romanticism, surprising intelligence, and a consistent wit. It is the thinking man's Doctor Zhivago, told from the other side, of course. But for Beatty, Reds is his bravura turn. He got the idea, nurtured it for a decade, found the financing, wrote most of the script, produced, and directed and starred and still found enough artistic detachment to make his Reed into a flawed, fascinating enigma instead of a boring archetypal hero."-Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Dir: Warren Beatty USA 1981 195 mins.
July 24, 2008: YEHUDI MENUHIN
We will begin with clips of a virtuoso contemporary with Intermezzo, Yehudi Menuhin, playing selections from Bach and Brahms.
INTERMEZZO
A world renowned, and married, violinist (Leslie Howard) has a love affair with his musical protege, a young pianist played by a stunning young Swedish actress making her Hollywood debut, Ingrid Bergman. Remarkable cinematography by Gregg Toland. Highlighted by the love theme by Robert Henning-Heinz Provost. Bergman is radiant in her first English-speaking role.
"One of the best love stories ever filmed."--Leonard Maltin
"Bergman's incipient star qualities flower under the careful hand of producer David O. Selznick, who went against Hollywood practice by letting her play with minimal makeup."--Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Dir: Gregory Ratoff USA 1939 70 mins.
INTERMEZZO
A world renowned, and married, violinist (Leslie Howard) has a love affair with his musical protege, a young pianist played by a stunning young Swedish actress making her Hollywood debut, Ingrid Bergman. Remarkable cinematography by Gregg Toland. Highlighted by the love theme by Robert Henning-Heinz Provost. Bergman is radiant in her first English-speaking role.
"One of the best love stories ever filmed."--Leonard Maltin
"Bergman's incipient star qualities flower under the careful hand of producer David O. Selznick, who went against Hollywood practice by letting her play with minimal makeup."--Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Dir: Gregory Ratoff USA 1939 70 mins.
August 10, 2008 THE COUNTERFEITERS (Die Falscher)
This "swift and suspenseful thriller" (The New York Times) from Austrian-born filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky recounts the true story of a group of concentration camp prisoners who are given relatively luxurious accommodations in exchange for operating the grandest counterfeiting scheme of all-time. Conflicts soon arise within the group over their complicity in prolonging the German war effort just to save their own skins. Starring Karl Markovics, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach, and August Diehl as real-life counterfeiter Adolf Burger, whose memoir provided the basis for this 2007 Academy Award-winning Best Foreign-Language Film. In German, Russian, and Yiddish with English subtitles.
"Slick, exciting, emotionally trenchant - well done all around."--Ty Burr, Boston Globe
"The Counterfeiters is a testament to guile. Director Ruzowitzky scored the picture with tangos, and the tangos are meant to be Sally's music -- seductive, insolent, triumphant.--David Denby, New Yorker
"The moral conundrum at the heart of Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky's The Counterfeiters is worthy of Kafka or Dostoevsky."--David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle
"Counterfeiters pays sympathetic attention to those who play their cards to win even when the rules are terrible, not least because the remarkable Markovics is so riveting as an unsaintly survivor."--Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Dir: Stefan Ruzowitzky Austria/Germany 2007 99 mins.
This "swift and suspenseful thriller" (The New York Times) from Austrian-born filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky recounts the true story of a group of concentration camp prisoners who are given relatively luxurious accommodations in exchange for operating the grandest counterfeiting scheme of all-time. Conflicts soon arise within the group over their complicity in prolonging the German war effort just to save their own skins. Starring Karl Markovics, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach, and August Diehl as real-life counterfeiter Adolf Burger, whose memoir provided the basis for this 2007 Academy Award-winning Best Foreign-Language Film. In German, Russian, and Yiddish with English subtitles.
"Slick, exciting, emotionally trenchant - well done all around."--Ty Burr, Boston Globe
"The Counterfeiters is a testament to guile. Director Ruzowitzky scored the picture with tangos, and the tangos are meant to be Sally's music -- seductive, insolent, triumphant.--David Denby, New Yorker
"The moral conundrum at the heart of Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky's The Counterfeiters is worthy of Kafka or Dostoevsky."--David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle
"Counterfeiters pays sympathetic attention to those who play their cards to win even when the rules are terrible, not least because the remarkable Markovics is so riveting as an unsaintly survivor."--Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Dir: Stefan Ruzowitzky Austria/Germany 2007 99 mins.
August 17, 2008 BEFORE THE RAIN
Three intertwined stories about love and violence are joined in this haunting feature made during an especially turbulent period in the history of the Balkans. A Macedonian priest under a vow of silence discovers a young Albanian woman hiding in his cell-certain death for both if she is discovered. A Macedonian photographer, trying to escape the violence of his native land, flees to London, only to entangle himself in an affair with a married woman. When he returns to Macedonia, a third story ties all three together. Director Manchevski combines ethical and moral quandaries with compelling situations and striking settings. Starring Katrin Cartlidge, Rade Serbedzija, and Gregoire Colin. Winner of Venice Film Festival Golden Lion and an Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Picture. In English, Macedonian, Albanian, and Serbian with English subtitles.
August 21, 2008 THE HARDER THEY COME
Reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff is Ivan, a country boy who comes to the city to make a record and get his share of that pie up in the sky. But it isn't until he shoots a cop and becomes a fugitive from the law that he gets his sought-after notoriety, proving that--as one of the featured songs puts it--you can get it if you really want. The pulsating reggae soundtrack features Cliff, Toots and the Maytals and Desmond Dekker. Jamaica's first feature film. Dir: Perry Henzell Jamaica 1973 104 mins.
Family Movie Matinees - Once a month during the fall and winter Northern Lights Film Society will show a movie suitable for children. These will be shown at 3:00 PM on Sunday afternoon. Admission is by donation. Suggested donation $2 per person, or $5 maximum for a family. Children under ten need to be accompanied by an adult.
THANKS to all the individuals and organizations whose cooperation helps make it possible for Northern Lights to put on these programs, including: Eastport Arts Center, Shead High School, The Quoddy Tides, Winstanley Institute and Winstanley Fund, Eastport ArtsBloom, Eastport Lycaeum, St. Croix Regional Technical Center, Union 104 Adult Education, Shackford Institute, Eastport Unitarians, Quoddy Cinematheque, and Arts & Humanities Outreach Project, Inc.
N.B. The Society and the Lycaeum screen films in this seminar series under the provisions of U.S. Code TITLE 17 CHAPTER 1 Sec. 110, and under the terms of the public performance umbrella license (12150210) issued to the Society by the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation.
THANKS to all the individuals and organizations whose cooperation helps make it possible for Northern Lights to put on these programs, including: Eastport Arts Center, Shead High School, The Quoddy Tides, Winstanley Institute and Winstanley Fund, Eastport ArtsBloom, Eastport Lycaeum, St. Croix Regional Technical Center, Union 104 Adult Education, Shackford Institute, Eastport Unitarians, Quoddy Cinematheque, and Arts & Humanities Outreach Project, Inc.
N.B. The Society and the Lycaeum screen films in this seminar series under the provisions of U.S. Code TITLE 17 CHAPTER 1 Sec. 110, and under the terms of the public performance umbrella license (12150210) issued to the Society by the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation.