Movie

Friday, September 27   Which Way Home   2009 / 90 min. / NR

Documentarian Rebecca Cammisa follows a group of unaccompanied Central American children trying to reach the US by riding on the tops of trains traveling through Mexico. In addition to physical danger, they  face hunger, being exploited, being separated from family and friends, and the possibility of being arrested and abused by ICE. The film, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Programming, is hard-hitting. English subtitles.

Friday, September 20   City of God    2002 / 130 min. / R

This crime drama is set in Rio de Janeiro slums created by the Brazilian government to isolate poor people from prosperous parts of the city. Two young men take different paths. One friend becomes a drug kingpin. The other learns photography to record the life of his community, making the film an extraordinarily vibrant visual experience. Nominated for Academy Awards for directing, adapted screenplay, cinematography and film editing. English subtitles

Friday, September 13   The Official Story   1985 / 112 min. / NR

In 1983, during the final months of an Argentinian military dictatorship, a high school teacher (Norma Aleandro) sees families of “disappeared” leftists in the street daily demanding to know the whereabouts of their loved ones (or their remains). She sets out to find out who the mother of her adopted daughter is, but her nervous, conscientious search threatens to upend the comfortable life she enjoys with her authoritarian husband. English subtitles.

HISTORICAL NOTE: During World War II, unions generally did not strike because of the urgency of the war effort. Afterward, that changed because of pent-up frustrations with inadequate pay and poor working conditions. Then in 1947 Congress passed the Taft Hartley Act, which criminalized certain union tactics, including wildcat strikes, solidarity strikes and mass picketing. At the same time, the House Unamerican Activities Committee subpoenaed hundreds of people suspected of being Communists, and many lost their jobs. Some went to prison.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage month with families and individuals at the library with a screening of the animated Pixar film, Coco! After the screening, the film's production designer and Academy Award winner Harley Jessup will showcase some of his artwork and field questions from the audience.

Book Into Film is a library series meeting approximately every other month, where you are invited to read the book on your own, watch the film with others at the library, and stay after the screening for a discussion of both book and film. 

This time, it's New York reporter John Berendt's nonfiction account of a murder, featuring Savannah's colorful inhabitants and architecture, which became Clint Eastwood's movie starring Kevin Spacey.  The library has print and e-book editions you can check out.  Which version tells the tale better? 

Join us for a Screening of The Pushouts:   The Pushouts focuses on the alarming rate of high school dropouts and the critical state of public education through the story of Victor Rios. Rios was a gang member in West Oakland who was headed for a life of incarceration when he met an inspirational teacher. Now a professor at UC Santa Barbara, he and his mentor dedicate their lives to motivating young Mexican and African-American teens to realize their potential.  Afterward, we will have a Q&A with Co-Director Dawn Valadez.   

Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin is a feature documentary exploring the remarkable life and legacy of the late feminist author Ursula K. Le Guin. Best known for groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy works such as A Wizard of Earthsea, The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Dispossessed, Le Guin defiantly held her ground on the margin of “respectable” literature until the sheer excellence of her work, at long last, forced the mainstream to embrace fantastic literature. Her fascinating story has never before been captured on film.

Seventeen year old Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is always in trouble at school. His parents are not happy with him. He wonders if THEY were ever teenagers? It so happens Marty’s eccentric friend, Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd), has invented a time machine from a jiggered DeLorean. The accidental adventures Marty has in the DeLorean let him see his parents as teenagers, but at the risk of changing their lives and wiping out his own existence!

More Super Cinema titles

Two street gangs, one white, the other Puerto Rican, scrabble for turf on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, with tragic results. Be warned. Two gang members die. It’s the Romeo and Juliet story, after all. The film stars Natalie Wood, George Chakiris and Berkeley’s own Rita Moreno. The dancing is enough to have recommended it for Best Picture, which it won, and 10 other Oscars as well. The film was adapted from the 1957 Broadway musical drama. It is directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.