On Vermont screens this week, you’ll find everyone from senior citizens to pirates (sort of) to cyborgs. Oh, and sharks! Whether it’s acceptable to use the term "everyone" to refer to a cyborg is something we’ll leave to the grammarians, roboticists and ethicists. This is an article about movies.
Wednesday, June 24
At South Burlington's Palace 9 Cinemas, the film that kicked off the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s gets the royal treatment. Steven Spielberg's Jaws, still toothy after all these years, is 40 years old, and the Palace 9 is hosting a celebration of this important film and its legacy. Shown in its original aspect ratio and with an introduction from the folks at Turner Classic Movies, Jaws screens twice, at 2 and 7 p.m.
Vermonters can’t seem to get enough of well-intentioned social-issues documentaries. They’re playing on screens all over the state this week.
Tuesday, March 31
Tonight, in the Cinema Room of Johnson State College’s Stearns Student Center, PBS’ monthly Community Cinema series touches down with a screening of the documentary The Homestretch. The film follows three young men who have brains, talent and ambition — but do not have homes. The subjects of the film challenge all the stereotypes about what it means to be homeless, and provide ample evidence that their struggles, though serious, are much like those of teens everywhere.
The film plays for free at 7 p.m. and is open to the public. Conversation to follow.
If experiencing subfreezing temperatures is insufficient proof that Vermont is in the dead of winter, several upcoming film screenings should seal the deal.
Friday, January 23
The first of two polar screenings at the Hopkins Center for the Arts in Hanover, N.H., is a fascinating reinterpretation of a legendary classic.
Robert Flaherty's 1922 film Nanook of the North is one of the most important texts in the history of documentary — and one of its most controversial. Even as he established storytelling and stylistic standards for documentary that persist to this day, Flaherty also used questionably ethical practices in directing it. He famously used reenactments in numerous scenes (something most documentaries do), and the film has long been tainted — rightly or wrongly — with a whiff of imperialist exploitation.
As temperatures dance cruelly around the single digits, Vermonters have good reason to scurry to the nearest movie theater. Soothingly warm cinemas and buckets of popcorn aren't the only reason to take in a film, though: As it happens, quite a few unusual and intriguing films are coming to Vermont screens this week.
Tuesday, January 20
The public is invited to attend a free screening of and discussion about the new documentary A Path Appears, which addresses the subject of forced prostitution in America. Filmed as part of the PBS series "Independent Lens," A Path Appears was made with the participation of Nicholas Kristof and Olivia WuDunn, authors of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Other participants in the film include actors Malin Akerman, Jennifer Garner and Mia Farrow.
Johnson State's Stearns Student Center will host the 7 p.m. screening as part of PBS' monthly Community Cinema program, the purpose of which is to encourage local discussion of important issues.
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