Spring 2014 Season
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LINSANITY
Monday, May 5
7:30pm, Theatre Three, Main Street
Historic Port Jefferson Village
Guest Speaker:
Director, Evan Jackson Leong
In February 2012, the world of basketball unexpectedly went “Linsane.” Stuck in the mire of a disappointing season, the New York Knicks did what no other NBA team had thought about doing–they gave an undrafted, third-string point guard from Harvard named Jeremy Lin an opportunity to prove himself. He took full advantage, scoring more points in his first five NBA starts than any other player in the modern era, and created a legitimate public frenzy in the process. Prior to this now legendary run, Lin had faced adversity in his career at every turn. Despite leading Palo Alto High to a California State prep title, he received no scholarship offers from any major university, nor was he drafted by any NBA team after a standout collegiate career at Harvard.
Director Evan Jackson Leong began his chronicle of Lin long before that fateful February when the subject of his film became a full-blown media sensation. Gaining access with Lin and his guardedly private family, Leong follows the future star as he struggles to find his place in a league where Asian American players are so rare, the league itself had little or no records about the subject. More than just a film for basketball addicts, LINSANITY serves as an insightful study of the way race is perceived in America and details the birth of a pop culture phenomenon in the modern technological age of instant, rapid fire opinion.
Run Time: 89 minutes
2012, English
BETTIE PAGE
Monday, April 28 – Passed
7pm, Theatre Three, Main Street, Historic Port Jefferson Village
Speaker: Director, Mark Mori
Through narrating her own life story, Bettie Page recounts how her unabashed sexual expression and sexually provocative poses set the stage for the 1960s sexual revolution and ushered in a modern era in fashion and pop culture. At a time when women were second-class citizens, Bettie Page was continually knocked down throughout her life. With her strength of character, she always picked herself back up and become the world’s greatest pin-up model and international sex icon. Make way for the most photographed pinup model of the 20th century. Her exuberant sensuality fired men’s deepest desires while singeing camera lenses. The attitude Bettie dished out in her photos was so incendiary that she was targeted by a 1955 Senate investigative committee as a source of teenage-induced depravity. How would that committee feel if they knew her body of photos would be credited with helping to inspire the Sexual and Feminist Revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s? From countless magazine covers, to religious crusading, to incarceration for mental illness, this is the enthralling true tale of Eisenhower presidential-era model. It transcends the wildest of fictionalized notions. Her life experiences ranged from idyllic legends to nightmarish realities. All the while, Bettie hid her private life from fans — until Bettie Page Reveals All.
Bettie Page’s previously unknown personal life is as dramatic as her modeling career is iconic. Bettie Page Reveals All compellingly captures the story of an aspiring teacher turned model who unintentionally affected contemporary pop culture. That surprise role ultimately evolved into Bettie being viewed as our greatest and most controversial model. As the first and only authorized Bettie Page film biography, the “Queen of Curves” emerges from 40 years of enigmatic seclusion to tell her story in her own words.
Run time: 101 minutes. English, October 2013
Adult content and nudity. No one under 17 will be admitted.
THE TRIALS OF MUHAMMAD ALI
Monday, April 21 – Passed
7pm, Theatre Three, Main Street,
Historic Port Jefferson Village
Speaker: Director, Bill Siegel
It has been more than 30 years since Muhammad Ali last stepped into a boxing ring and yet he remains one of the most recognized and admired people throughout the world, even to those who would otherwise have no knowledge or interest in the sport.
Director Bill Siegel introduces Ali not as an icon but as a man willing to courageously stand his ground for his convictions in the face of unimaginable pressures. Ali was much more than a great boxer. He was one of the most compelling figures of his time, a leader in the civil rights movement, a fiercely principled man who nearly traded in his career rather than violate his religious beliefs, and a figure of remarkable charm and charisma in a sport hardly known for producing articulate men.
Run time: 90 minutes. English
THE PRIME MINISTERS: THE PIONEERS
Monday, March 31 – PASSED
Speakers:
Dina Goldberg, Deputy Eastern Director,
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Based on the best-selling book, by Ambassador Yehuda Avner,The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers documentary takes the audience inside the offices of Israel’s early Prime Ministers. Yehuda Avner, who narrates the film and served as chief aid, English language note-taker and speechwriter to Israel’s Prime Ministers, focuses on Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, and then US Ambassador, Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin. As an eyewitness to history, Avner’s vivid recollections reveal details about historic events including the triumphant Six Days War and the near-disastrous Yom Kippur War.
Director: Academy- Award winners, Richard Trank and Rabbi Marvin Hier
Producer: Moriah Films, a division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Run time: 115 minutes English, September 2013
THE SHORT GAME
Monday, March 24-PASSED
7pm, Threatre Three, Main Street
Historic Port Jefferson Village
Speakers:
Sharon McQuillan & PGA Junior golfers: Caroline Hodge (age 12),
Alice Hodge (age 10)
The Short Game follows the lives of eight of the 7 year-old golfers as they train for and compete in the World Championships of Junior Golf. The annual tournament held at golf mecca Pinehurst, North Carolina, brings 1500 young golfers from 54 different countries and determines who will be crowned golf’s next phenomenon. The tournament is the breeding ground for the PGA, and the stakes are HUGE!
Awards:
South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival Award, 2013, Maui Film Festival Audience Award, 2013
Run time: 1 hours, 40 minutes English, September 2013
THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF DORIS PAYNE
– A Tale of Carats & Cons
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
Monday, March 17 – PASSED
7pm, Theatre Three, Main Street
Historic Port Jefferson Village
Speaker: Director/Producer Mathew Pond
How does a poor, single, African-American mother from segregated 1950s America wind up as one of the world’s most notorious jewel thieves?
A glamorous 81-year-old, Doris Payne is as unapologetic today about the nearly $2 million in jewels she’s stolen over a 60-year career as she was the day she stole her first carat. With Payne now on trial for the theft of a department store diamond ring, filmmakers Kirk Marcolina and Matthew Pond probe beneath her consummate smile to uncover the secrets of her trade and what drove her to a life of crime.
Audience Award for the Best Documentary Feature at the 2013 Antenna Documentary Festival
Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival.
Best Documentary at the Ojai Film Festival, 2013
Run time: 74 minutes, English
Before The Revolution
Monday, March 10 – PASSED
7pm, Theatre Three
Historic Port Jefferson Village
Guest Speaker: Director, Dan Shadur
Before the Revolution is a documentary-thriller describing the last days of the Israeli community in Tehran, on the eve of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Director Dan Shadur, whose family was in Tehran at the time, uses rare archive materials to illustrate how thousands of Israelis, who enjoyed unusual affinity with the Shah’s regime, wake up one morning to find that their Persian paradise had vanished in the midst of an upheaval that turned their lives into an absolute hell.
During the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran and Israel were close allies, a far cry from the sworn enemies they have since become. Eager to establish himself as a Middle East power broker, the Shah opened Iran’s doors to Israeli advisors, businessmen and their families. The Iranian economy flourished while the Jewish transplants lived a disco-era dolce vita of unbelievable wealth and prosperity. But there was a dark side to all of this. The Shah’s corrupt regime kept millions living in poverty and under the thumb of the feared secret police, the SAVAK.
Run time: 60 minutes. Hebrew with English subtitles
