Faces Places
2017 | France | 89 minutes
Directors: Agnes Varda and JR
Screenwriters: Agnes Varda and JR
Producers: Emile Abinal, Charles S. Cohen, Julie Gayet, Nadia Turincev, Nichole Fu, and Etienne Comar
Cinematographers: Romain Le Bonniec, Clair Duguet, Nicolas Guicheteau, and Valentin Vignet
Editor: Maxime Pozzi Garcia
89-year old Agnes Varda, one of the leading figures of the French New Wave, and acclaimed 33 year-old French photographer and muralist JR teamed up to co-direct this enchanting documentary/road movie. Kindred spirits, Varda and JR share a lifelong passion for images and how they are created, displayed and shared.
Together they travel around the villages of France in JR’s photo truck meeting locals, learning their stories and producing epic-size portraits of them. The photos are prominently displayed on houses, barns, storefronts and trains revealing the humanity in their subjects, as well as themselves. Faces Places documents these heart-warming encounters, as well as the unlikely, tender friendship Agnes and JR formed along the way.
- Published in 2018, Colonial Theatre, Feature Films
Edith+Eddie
2017 | USA | 29 minutes
Director: Laura Checkoway
2018 Academy Award Nominee, Documentary Short
Edith and Eddie, ages 96 and 95, are America’s oldest interracial newlyweds. Their love and affection for each other has invigorated their lives. However, Edith and Eddie’s unique love story is disrupted by a family feud that threatens to tear the couple apart. What happens when someone’s life is taken out of his/her own hands? Who has their best interest in mind? Filmmaker Laura Checkoway (Lucky) presents an unforgettable emotional portrait of a guardianship abuse case. The story of Edith+Eddie is a testament to all elders who deserve dignity and the right to live out their last days as they have earned.
- Published in 2018, Colonial Theatre, Short Films
Dolores
2017 | USA | 97 minutes
Director: Peter Bratt
Screenwriter: Peter Bratt
Producers: Brian Benson and Peter Bratt
Cinematographer: Jesse Dana
Editor: Jessica Congdon
Dolores Huerta is among the most important, yet least known, activists in American history. An equal partner in co-founding the first farm workers unions with Cesar Chavez, her enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized. Dolores tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice alongside Chavez, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the twentieth century, and she continues the fight to this day at the age of 87. With intimate and previously unprecedented access to this intensely private mother of eleven, the film reveals the raw, personal stakes involved in committing one’s life to social change.
- Published in 2018, Feature Films, Putnam Theatre
Blitz
2017 | USA | 13 minutes
Director: Chad Knuth
Pressured by his single mother to pursue a football scholarship, a high school student wonders if it is the best path for him to gain a quality education. This dramatic short explores the choices we have to make in order to move towards a brighter future for not only ourselves, but also for the ones we love.
- Published in 2018, Colonial Theatre, Short Films
Amerika Square
2016 | Greece | 86 minutes
Director: Yannis Sakaridis
Screenwriters: Yannis Tsirbas, Vangelis Mourikis, Yannis Sakaridis
Producers: Yannis Sakaridis, Nikkos J. Frangos, George Th. Lemos, Venia Vergou
Cinematographer: Jan Vogel
Editor: Yannis Sakaridis
Principal Cast: Yannis Stankoglu, Makis Papadimitriou, Vassilis Koukalani, Themis Bazaka, Alexandros Logothetis, Rea Pediaditaki, Errikos Litsis
Nakos, a disgruntled resident of the Athens neighborhood of Amerika Square decides to take action against the influx of immigrants coming from the Middle East. His scheme undermines the efforts of Billy, his friend and neighbor, who takes great pains to help refugees Tarek and Tereza escape the turmoil of their home countries and make better lives for themselves elsewhere in western Europe.
- Published in 2018, Colonial Theatre, Feature Films
Abundant Acreage Available
2017 | USA | 80 minutes
Director: Angus MacLachlan
Screenwriter: Angus MacLachlan
Producers: Kate Churchill, Angus MacLachlan
Executive Producer: Martin Scorsese
Cinematographer: Andrew Reed
Editor: Michael R. Miller
Principal Cast: Amy Ryan, Terry Kinney, Max Gail, Francis Guinan, Steve Coulter
Awarded Best Screenplay at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival for a U.S. Narrative Feature film, Abundant Acreage Available deals with the question of legacy and ownership of land rights. A middle-aged brother and sister Jesse (Terry Kinney) and Tracy (Amy Ryan) are coping with their father’s recent death on their North Carolina tobacco farm when three mysterious strangers pay an unexpected visit. Claiming a right to the land that had been in their family for generations before, the three brothers camp out on the farm with no intention of leaving. Torn between their own grief and empathy for the three strangers, Jesse and Tracy try to resolve the underlying tension that continues to build in a stand-off between the two sets of siblings.
- Published in 2018, Colonial Theatre, Feature Films
Birdlime
2017 | Canada | 11 minutes
Director: Evan DeRushie
Birdlime is the name for a sticky substance spread on branches in order to trap wild birds intended for export or trade. This film observes one bird that barely manages to escape this industry, yet remains trapped in a cage and surrounded by unfamiliar sounds and un-birdlike creatures.
- Published in 2018, Colonial Theatre, Short Films
’63 Boycott
2017 | USA | 30 minutes
Directors: Gordon Quinn, Rachel Dickson, Tracye A. Matthews
In 1963, 250,000 students boycotted the Chicago Public Schools to protest racial segregation. This documentary combines unseen 16mm footage of the boycott with insights from both the original participants, as well as present-day protesters against school closings. ‘63 Boycott connects the forgotten story of one of the largest northern civil rights demonstrations to contemporary issues around race, education, and youth activism.
- Published in 2018, Colonial Theatre, Short Films
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
2017 | USA | 88 minutes
Director: Steve James
Producers: Mark Mitten and Julie Goldman
Cinematographer: Tom Bergmann
Editors: John Farbrother, David E. Simpson
From acclaimed director Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters, Life Itself), Abacus: Small Enough to Jail tells the incredible saga of the Chinese immigrant Sung family, owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York. Accused of mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., Abacus becomes the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The indictment and subsequent trial forces the Sung family to defend themselves – and their bank’s legacy in the Chinatown community – over the course of a five-year legal battle.
- Published in 2018, Colonial Theatre, Feature Films