Anniversary Series: Film Details
ZAPPA
Date: Sunday, November 15, 2020, 7pm EST (with 48 hours to watch)
Virtual Screening Online
Guest Speaker, pre-recorded for PJDS via Zoom: Alex Winter, Director and Mike J. Nichols, Film Editor, moderated by Tom Needham, Host of The Sounds of Film at WUSB radio.
Directed by Alex Winter
There has yet to be a film about the life and times of the brilliant and genuinely maverick musician, Frank Zappa. Director Alex Winter and his team have crafted a documentary from over a thousand hours of mostly unseen material from Zappa’s personal vault. ZAPPA is an expansive and intimate portrait of an extraordinary artist who was also fully engaged with the turbulent politics of his day. Peter Keough of the Boston Globe writes, “ZAPPA will immerse you in the mind of a genius, and you may never be the same again”.
Running Time: 127 Minutes
COLLECTIVE
Date: Monday, November 16, 2020, 7pm EST (with 48 hours to watch)
Virtual Screening Online
Guest Speaker, pre-recorded for PJDS via Zoom: Alexander Nanau, Director, moderated by Tom Needham, Host of The Sounds of Film at WUSB radio
Directed by Alexander Nanau
On October 30, 2015, a serious fire broke out at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest. It was one of the worst disasters in recent Romanian history, with an initial 27 people killed and 180 injured. Within a few days, fierce protests erupted leading to the resignation of the Social Democratic government. In the aftermath of the disaster, newspaper journalists reported that 37 of the injured with non life-threatening wounds died of bacterial infections in local hospitals and that diluted disinfectants had been used. Director Alexander Nanau follows a crack team of investigators at the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor, and with the aid of
whistleblowers, victims and the newly elected health minister, they uncover a vast health care fraud that has enriched moguls and politicians and that led to the death of innocent citizens.
COLLECTIVE is an uncompromising look at a corrupt health care system in a dysfunctional state and the impact of investigative journalism at its best. The film won the Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2020 Hamptons International Film Festival.
Running Time: 109 Minutes
BELLY OF THE BEAST
Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2020, 7pm EST (with 48 hours to watch)
Virtual Screening Online
Guest Speaker, pre-recorded for PJDS via Zoom: Erika Cohn, Director,
moderated by Tom Needham, Host of The Sounds of Film at WUSB radio.
Directed by Erika Cohn
When a courageous young woman and a radical lawyer discover a pattern of illegal sterilizations in California’s women’s prisons, they wage a near-impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. With a growing team of investigators inside prison working with colleagues on the outside, they uncover a series of statewide crimes – from inadequate health care to sexual assault to coercive sterilizations – primarily targeting women of color. This shocking legal drama captured over 7-years features extraordinary access and intimate accounts from currently and formerly incarcerated people, demanding attention to a shameful and ongoing legacy of eugenics and reproductive injustice in the United States.
Running Time: 82 Minutes
