Spring 2018 Season
THE CHINA HUSTLE
Monday, March 19
7:00pm Theatre Three, Main Street,
Historic Port Jefferson Village
Guest Speakers: Director, Jed Rothstein by Skype and Dr. Juan Carlos Conesa, Chair of Dept. of Economics, Stony Brook University
In the midst of the 2008 market crash, investors on the fringes of the financial world feverishly sought new alternatives for high-return in the global markets. With Chinese indexes demonstrating explosive growth, China suddenly emerged as a gold rush opportunity with one caveat: US investors were prohibited from investing directly in the country’s market. Makeshift solutions led to a market frenzy until one investor discovered the massive web of fraud left in it’s wake. Jed Rothstein’s documentary uncovers the biggest heist you’ve never heard of.
Time: 82 minutes
SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOTTA BE ME
Monday, March 26
7:00pm Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A
Historic Stony Brook Village
Guest Speaker: Laurence Maslon, Screenwriter & Co-Producer
Moderator: Tom Needham, Host of “Sounds of Film” on Stony Brook University’s Own Radio Station, WUSB
SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOTTA BE ME is the first major documentary to examine Davis’ vast talent and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress in 20th century America. A star of stage and screen and member of the legendary RatPack, Sammy Davis, Jr. broke racial barriers, but paid a heavy price for it. Defying societal norms concerning interracial romance, religion and political affiliation, Davis courted controversy many times, but always with grace and honesty. Featuring new interviews with such luminaries as Billy Crystal, Norman Lear, Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg and Kim Novak, with never-before-seen photographs from Davis’ vast personal collection and excerpts from his electric performances in television, film and concert, the film explores the life and art of a uniquely gifted entertainer.
Time: 100 minutes
THE JUDGE
Monday, April 2
7:00 PM Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A
Historic Stony Brook Village
Guest Speaker: Erika Cohn, Director
When she was a young lawyer, Kholoud Al-Faqih walked into the office of Palestine’s Chief Justice and announced she wanted to join the bench. He laughed at her. But just a few years later, Kholoud became the first woman judge to be appointed to the Middle East’s Shari’a (Islamic law) courts. THE JUDGE offers a unique portrait of Judge Kholoud—her brave journey as a lawyer, her tireless fight for justice for women, and her drop-in visits with clients, friends, and family. With unparalleled access to the courts, THE JUDGE presents an unfolding legal drama, providing rare insight into both Islamic law and gendered justice. In the process, the film illuminates some of the universal conflicts in the domestic life of Palestine—custody of children, divorce, abuse—while offering an unvarnished look at life for women under Shari’a.
Time: 76 minutes
THIS IS CONGO
Monday, April 9
7:00 PM Theatre Three, Main Street,
Historic Port Jefferson Village
Guest Speaker: Daniel McCabe, Director
Moderator: Dr. Shimelis Gulema, Prof. Africana Studies and History, SBU
THIS IS CONGO is a riveting, unfiltered immersion into the world’s longest continuing conflict and those who are surviving within it. Following four compelling characters: a whistleblower, a patriotic military commander, a mineral dealer and a displaced tailor — the film offers viewers a truly Congolese perspective on the problems that plague this lushly beautiful nation. Colonel ‘Kasongo’, Mamadou, Mama Romance and Hakiza exemplify the unique resilience of a people who have lived and died through the generations due to the cycle of brutality generated by this conflict. Though their paths never physically cross, the ongoing conflict reverberates across all of their lives.
Time: 93 minutes
ITZHAK
Monday, April 16
7:00 PM Theatre Three, Main Street,
Historic Port Jefferson Village
Guest Speaker: Alison Chernick, Director
An impressionist, fly-on-the-wall portrait, ITZHAK examines the life and glorious music of Israeli-born Itzhak Perlman, widely considered the greatest living violinist. For over a year, filmmaker Alison Chernick follows the virtuoso around the world, portraying his huge passion and spirit. Wheelchair-bound from childhood polio, Perlman recounts overcoming obstacles with humor and talent, the devotion of wife Toby always shining through. Archival materials and performance clips, including a breakthrough appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show at age 13, combine with behind-the-scenes moments of the venerated artist in rehearsal, teaching classes, attending award shows, and collaborating with colleagues. Perlman’s musical discipline is contrasted with an intimate view of his home life, as a modern Jewish family embraces its heritage in a changing world.
Time: 82 minutes
LOVE, CECIL
Monday, April 23
7:00pm Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A
Historic Stony Brook Village
Guest Speaker: Lisa Immordino Vreeland, Director
In Lisa Immordino Vreeland’s visually stunning film LOVE, CECIL, the glamorous world of the fashion/celebrity photographer and stage set designer, Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), comes alive. Using archival footage, interviews and readings from his diaries by actor Rupert Everett, we see the world as he transformed it, as he wished it to be. With sparkling wit and often unsparing criticism, the quintessentially British Beaton photographed luminaries of his era such as Great Garbo, Coco Chanel and Audrey Hepburn for Vogue magazine and Vanity Fair. His official pictures of the British royal family are as iconic as the Oscar-winning stage sets and designs for GIGI and MY FAIR LADY. The stylish society that Beaton documented, created and inhabited came crashing down when he scandalized the world of fashion in 1938 by inserting an anti-semitic slur into an illustration in American Vogue. He was fired from the magazine and his reputation was ruined. With many apologies and what looked like penance, he devoted himself to his work as a war photographer, capturing the solemnity and solidarity of Britons on the home front. Many of his photos at this time appeared in LIFE magazine. Postwar, he returned to his first love, photographing celebrities such as Dean Martin and Mick Jagger. However, his most famous work may be what he created for the stage and screen: the unforgettable Ascot race scene from MY FAIR LADY.
Time: 98 minutes
MOLE MAN
Monday, April 30
7:00 PM Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A
Historic Stony Brook Village
Guest Speaker: Guy Fiorita, Director
Directed by Guy Fiorita, MOLE MAN is the story of Outside Architect Ron Heist, a 66-year-old autistic man who built a 50-room structure, consisting solely of scrap materials, on the land behind his parent’s home in Western Pennsylvania. His creation was built without the use of nails or mortar and keeps expanding, as he collects, classifies and displays objects from a deserted cluster of homes in the woods. Recognizing the fragility of Ron’s situation as his parents age, Ron’s friends team up in search of a mystical mansion that Ron insists lays abandoned in the forest. MOLE MAN examines the interplay between autism and creativity. Ron, with idiosyncrasies and an eagerness to talk about them, is an ardent archivist of a work that loved ones and caregivers consider odd and not necessarily important. This is the story of an extraordinary life, a family, and the beauty of thinking differently.
Time: 85 minutes
