HALSTON

Monday, September 9 @ 7:00 PM

The Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages
1200 NY-25A, Stony Brook, NY 11790

Guest Speaker: Frédéric Tcheng, Director

Moderator: Tom Needham, Host of THE SOUNDS OF FILM on Stony Brook University’s Own Radio Station, WUSB

*Admission to the film includes admission to the exhibit:
GRACEFULLY CHIC: THE FASHIONS OF PHILIP HULITAR from 6:00-6:45pm

Halston, a name synonymous with 1970s fashion and glamour was born in Iowa in 1932. Roy Halston Frowick began his career in fashion as a milliner designing hats for Bergdorf Goodman and rose to prominence in 1961 when he designed his iconic pillbox hat for Jacqueline Kennedy for the presidential inauguration. In 1969 he launched his ready-to- wear line revolutionizing fashion with designs in fabulous ultra suede and soft, graceful fabrics that liberated the body and embraced the look of Grecian goddess silhouettes. His use of fabrics and design were perfect for dancing and came to define the look of the disco era. The luxurious comfort wear was perfect for Studio54, where celebrities like Liza, Liz and Bianca were often seen on his arm and in his clothes.

Directed by Frederic Tcheng, HALSTON provides a treasure trove of archival footage. Famous models of the era like Marisa Berenson, Karen Bjornson, Pat Cleveland, and Iman, were known as “Halstonettes” are seen floating down runways with their dresses billowing around them like clouds. Halston’s relationship with these and other elite models was synergistic—- collections were designed around these women. The unstructured shapes and fluid fabrics were so inviting, and seeing the dresses in motion made every women want to try them on and own one.

As a shrewd marketer with an eye on the future, Halston took a gamble and created a line for JCPenny in the 1980’s, becoming the first high-end designer to create a secondary line with a mass retailer. These collaborations are commonplace today, and while Halston’s move was innovative, it also marked the beginning of the end as corporate greed and clashing personalities came into play, causing the Halston brand to fade out shortly after the end of disco era. This compelling film not only illustrates the rise and fall of a brilliant designer, it touches on themes of globalization, branding, and the ideological shift from the freewheeling 1970s to the cutthroat, business obsessed 1980s.

Time: 105 minutes

CLEAN HANDS

Monday, September 16 @ 7:00 PM

Theatre Three
412 Main Street, Port Jefferson, New York, 11777

Guest Speaker: Michael Dominic, Director

Directed by award winner Michael Dominic, CLEAN HANDS is a heart-breaking, eyeopening, mesmerizing documentary about a Central American family in extreme poverty—describing the hope and innocence of the children, rescue and salvation, and the challenges, which are actually universal. The film was shot over the course of seven years (2011-2018) in Nicaragua, and follows the Lopez family surviving against the backdrop of La Chureca, Central America’s largest garbage dump. The children are ages 6 to 10 and have never been to school.

Hope for the family comes in the form of an American philanthropist, who has heard of their struggle. She comes to their aid, building them a small house in the country which sits on land they can farm. The children attend school for the first time, and the family escapes the desolation and dead-end life of La Chureca.

Time: 98 minutes

THE RAFT

Monday, September 23 @ 7:00 PM

Theatre Three
412 Main Street, Port Jefferson, New York, 11777

Guest Speakers: Mary Gidley (via Skype) and Fé Seymour, subjects in film

In 1973, five men and six women drifted across the Atlantic on a raft as part of a scientific experiment studying the sociology of violence, aggression and sexual attraction in an experiment initiated by Mexican anthropologist Santiago Genoves. The eleven members of the crew were handpicked from around the world with the objective of mixing religion, gender and nationality to maximize friction on board. Nobody expected what ultimately took place. Today, the surviving members reunite in a film studio to tell the hidden story behind what has been described as “one of the strangest group experiments of all time.”

Time: 97 minutes

COLD CASE HAMMARSKJÖLD

Monday, October 7 @ 7:00 PM

Theatre Three
412 Main Street, Port Jefferson, New York, 11777

Guest Speaker: Göran Björkdahl, Researcher/Cinematographer and Subject in Film (via Skype)

Directed by the Danish filmmaker Mads Brügger, the film starts out as an offbeat journalistic inquiry into the 1961 plane-crash death of Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Brügger (The Red Chapel, The Ambassador), Swedish Aid worker/Investigator Göran Bjorkdahl and a host of coconspirators leads us down an investigative rabbit hole to unearth the truth. Reviving old claims that have dogged the case but have never been proved, the film suggests that the crash was, in fact, engineered — that Hammarskjöld was murdered. It’s a scary, bracing notion that gets its hooks in you. It makes you think: Could it possibly be true? And, if so, who could have been behind such an act, and why?

In his signature agitprop style, Brügger becomes both filmmaker and subject, challenging the very nature of truth by “performing” the role of truth seeker. As Brügger uncovers a critical secret that could send shockwaves around the world, we realize that sometimes absurdity and irony are the emboldening ingredients needed to confront what’s truly sinister.

Time: 128 minutes

KIFARU

Monday, October 14 @ 7:00 PM

Theatre Three
412 Main Street, Port Jefferson, New York, 11777

Guest Speaker: David Hambridge, Director (via Skype)

Unable to roam freely because of the rampant poaching that has reduced their subspecies from thousands to a few, Sudan, the world’s only remaining male northern white rhino, his daughter Najin, and his granddaughter Fatu are under armed guard 24/7. Even at the brink of extinction, hope remains, thanks to three incredible caretakers and a host of others bent on both preventing and recovering loss. In this visually and emotionally beautiful film, director David Hambridge gives witness to the humane and loving care taking of Jacob, James, and JoJo, rangers at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Jacob runs and plays with Najin and Fatu. JoJo sits vigil when Sudan begins to ail. And through the gentle ministrations of a mud bath and the faint singing and words of comfort James provides Sudan, we see hope in the collective power of community, care, and understanding.

Time: 79 minutes

GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH

Monday, October 21 @ 7:00 PM

Theatre Three
412 Main Street, Port Jefferson, New York, 11777

Guest Speaker: Bradley Meek, President of the Board of the Long Island Gay Men’s Chorus

Special performance by the Long Island Gay Men’s Chorus

To confront a resurgence of faith-based anti-LGBTQ laws, Conductor Tim Seelig leads 300 singers from the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus on a bus tour of the deep south, showcasing fine music, confronting political and religious intolerance and challenging his own troubled past with the church. Joined by the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, these intrepid singers bring a message of music, love, and acceptance to communities that are often on the front lines against intolerance. The road trip forces Seelig, and a handful of other Chorus members who fled the south, to confront their own fears, pain, and prejudices on a journey towards reconciliation. In a time of great divide in this country, director David Charles reveals a timely, relevant, and musical exploration of LGBT issues that both challenges and reinforces notions surrounding the South.

Time: 100 minutes

MIKE WALLACE IS HERE

Monday, October 28 @ 7:00 PM

Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook University
100 Nicolls Rd, Stony Brook, NY 11794

Guest Speaker: Peggy Drexler, Ph.D., Producer

Moderator: Charles Haddad, Associate Dean School of Journalism, SBU

For over 50 years, 60 Minutes’ fearsome newsman Mike Wallace went head-to-head with 20th century’s most notable figures. MIKE WALLACE IS HERE, directed by Avi Belkin, portrays a feared and influential newsman, known for his aggressive, hard-hitting, groundbreaking, tough questions. Through archival footage, the film shows him butting heads with iconic figures such as Malcolm X, Donald Trump, Bill O’Reilly, Oprah Winfrey, Vladimir Putin, Johnny Carson, Barbara Streisand and many others.

The film also portrays a darker, vulnerable and tragic side of Mike Wallace. His troubled personal life (married four times and the death of his son) was plagued with insecurities and depression, and, well into his success on 60 Minutes, he attempted suicide. Perhaps it was his personal pain that blinded him to the pain he inflicted on his subjects. But what becomes clear in MIKE WALLACE IS HERE is that in 2019, broadcast journalism could use a bit of the “dinosaur,” as Bill O’Reilly derogatorily called him, more than ever.

Time: 94 minutes

Co-sponsored by the Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism