Spring 2022 Season

The Port Jefferson Documentary Series is sponsored by:

Brightview Senior Living
Covati and Janhsen, CPAS PC
see information below…

For a Season Pass or Individual Film Tickets
Click Here

1. FIDDLER’S JOURNEY TO THE BIG SCREEN

Monday, February 28, 2022 @ 7:00 PM

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

Guest Speaker via live Zoom: Daniel Raim, Director
Q&A moderated by Tom Needham, Host of The Sounds of Film at WUSB radio.

Directed by Daniel Raim
Based on the stories by Sholom Aleichem, Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Jerome Robbins, made its debut on Broadway in 1964, earning nine Tony Awards. Director Norman Jewison’s film adaption of Fiddler on the Roof became the highest grossing film in 1971, winning three Oscars. This fall marked 50 years since the film was made, and the Port Jefferson Documentary Series is excited to share a “sneak preview” of the riveting and joyous film, FIDDLER’S JOURNEY TO THE BIG SCREEN before its theatrical run.

Director, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim, captures the humor and drama of Norman Jewison’s brilliant vision to recreate on film the lost world of Jewish life in Tsarist Russia, while telling a universal story about the importance of family and the fragility of tradition. Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, FIDDLER’S JOURNEY TO THE BIG SCREEN not only puts us in the director’s chair but into Jewison’s heart and mind, drawing on behind-the-scenes footage and never-before-seen stills, capturing how the experience of making Fiddler on the Roof deepens him as an artist and revives his soul. Over twenty years of interviews conducted by Daniel Raim including: Jewison, Topol, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, composer Jerry Bock and many more, illustrate the nuts and bolts of movie making and how this beloved musical made its triumphant, hazardous journey to the big screen and its unparalleled impact as a as a cultural force.
Running Time: 88 minutes

2. YOUTH v. GOV

Monday, March 7, 2022 @ 7:00 PM

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

Guest Speaker via live Zoom: Christi Cooper, Director
Q&A moderated by Tom Needham, Host of The Sounds of Film at WUSB radio.

Directed by Christi Cooper
YOUTH v. GOV is the story of 21 young people, ages 13-19, from all over the nation and all walks of life who collectively sue the United States government for violating their constitutional rights by threatening their futures with the effects of climate change.

Award-winning cinematographer, scientist and recipient of the Cleveland International Film Festival Award for Excellence in Direction by a Woman, Director Christi Cooper has created a notable human connection to the issue of climate with this film. She gives climate change a face and makes the issue very tangible by empowering these young and determined voices as they take on a force far greater than themselves. From the droughts of the Southwest to the chills of Alaska, YOUTH v. GOV is a close and personal account of how these young lives are challenged and the urgency for change.

The film, which originally debuted at Doc NYC has since received multiple awards which include Wild Screen’s Panda Award for Best Campaign Film, Best Environmental Film from the Back Country Film Festival, Best Youth Film from Colorado Environmental Film Festival, and Best Made in Montana from the International Wildlife Film Festivals.
Running Time: 110 minutes

3. REFUGE

Monday, March 14, 2022 @ 7:00 PM

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

Guest Speakers via live Zoom: Din Blankenship and Erin Bernhardt, Directors and Chris Buckley and Heval Kelli, Subjects in Film.
Q&A moderated by Tom Needham, Host of The Sounds of Film at WUSB radio.

Directed by Din Blankenship and Erin Bernhardt
REFUGE is a story about fear and love in the American South. A leader in a white nationalist hate group finds healing from the people he once hated — a Muslim heart doctor and his town of refugees. Chris is a husband and father, a veteran, and until recently, a leader in the KKK. He started hating Muslims when the planes hit the Twin Towers on 9/11, but is forced to confront his hate when he receives a text from Muslim refugee, Heval. REFUGE illustrates the false promises of hate and reveals where real and lasting refuge is found. Where there is love, there is refuge. The film is set in the most diverse square mile in America, Clarkston, Georgia, and follows a Syrian Kurd, a former Klansman, and a town of refugees who seek belonging in a country that blames them for its problems. Swimming against the current of an increasingly polarized and isolated America, each must decide whether they will risk knowing and being known by those who oppose them. Ultimately, REFUGE uncovers what is possible when we leave the security of our tribes and what is at stake for our country if we don’t.
Running Time: 75 minutes

4. THE AUTOMAT

Monday, April 11, 2022 @ 7:00 PM

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

Guest Speaker: Lisa Hurwitz, Director
Q&A moderated by Tom Needham, Host of The Sounds of Film at WUSB radio.

Directed by Lisa Hurwitz
Chock-full of rich archival footage of old Philadelphia and NYC, this everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-automats film is a lighthearted trip through the history of Horn & Hardart’s iconic and innovative eateries. Led by the irrepressible Mel Brooks, the film also features an impressive roster of celebrities (Colin Powell, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Carl Reiner, to name a few) waxing nostalgic on their experiences at the nickel-driven restaurants and their dreamy lemon meringue pie. Automats fed millions throughout the Depression and two World Wars, serving all comers in palaces of marble, silver, and steel. Good food served cheap, and the enduring thrill of the automat machines themselves wins the Automat a place in our culture and hearts alike. More than just entertainment, THE AUTOMAT is a parable of how we once dined happily together before turning to the isolated and unhappy experience offered by fast food, a bad deal that no amount of advertising can disguise.
Running Time: 79 minutes

5. A-HA: THE MOVIE

Monday, April 18, 2022 – 80’s Concert @ 6:00 PM and Film @ 7:00 PM

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

Guest Speaker via Live Zoom: Thomas Robsahm, Director
Q&A moderated by Tom Needham, Host of The Sounds of Film at WUSB radio.
Your ticket for A-HA: THE MOVIE includes a wonderful pre-screening concert beginning at 6pm. Scroll down for more info.*

Directed by Thomas Robsahm
The music of Queen and the Velvet Underground instilled a sense of destiny in three teenagers living in a small town in 1970s Norway. That dream led to A-ha: the synth-pop trio featuring keyboardist Magne Furuholmen, vocalist Morten Harket, and guitarist Pål Waktaar-Savoy. No Norwegian act had broken through internationally quite like they did when they burst onto the international scene with 1985’s “Take on Me,” buoyed by an iconic sketch-animation video by Irish-British director Steve Barron. The band became global sensations and heartthrobs overnight, but it remained to be seen how they would adapt to their newfound fame. How would they follow their original dream: to make music? Featuring new interviews with the band and previously unreleased behind-the-scenes footage, Thomas Robsahm’s A-HA, THE MOVIE delves into this very question. By following the band’s ups and downs—sojourns to post-punk-era England, their James Bond theme song for The Living Daylights thriller, and slow-simmering interpersonal rifts—Robsahm captures a band that constantly strove to challenge itself, never content to simply repeat earlier successes. The result is a moving story of creative intuition and invention.
Running Time: 109 minutes

*Long Island singer-songwriter Bryan Gallo will perform a curated set of Rock, Pop and New Wave Classics from the 1980’s.
Click to read Bryan’s full bio.

6. ZERO GRAVITY

Monday, May 2, 2022 @ 7:00 PM

Screening at John F. Kennedy Middle School
200 Jayne Blvd., Port Jefferson Station, New York, 11776

Guest Speaker via live Zoom: Thomas Verrette, Director
Q&A moderated by Tom Needham, Host of The Sounds of Film at WUSB radio.

Directed by Thomas Verrette
ZERO GRAVITY follows a diverse group of middle-school students from San Jose, CA, who compete in a nationwide tournament to code satellites aboard the International Space Station. Seen through the wondrous eyes of three young students and their first-time coach, they each take an intimate and personal journey to space as their team grows from amateur coders to representing California in the ISS Finals Tournament — the culmination of a summer-long adventure that sees their incredible accomplishment performed by astronauts in orbit. The competition in ZERO GRAVITY is called Zero Robotics and is run by the MIT Space Systems Laboratory in collaboration with NASA and CASIS, and their goal is to utilize the International Space Station for student experiments in zero gravity in support of real-world problems facing space scientists today. The mission in the film is to create a GPS system around Mars for future exploration of the red planet.
Running Time: 74 minutes

7. FIRE OF LOVE

Monday, May 23, 2022 @ 7:00 PM

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

Guest Speaker: TBA
Q&A moderated by Tom Needham, Host of The Sounds of Film at WUSB radio.

Directed by Sara Dosa
FIRE OF LOVE tells the story of two French lovers, Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died in a volcanic explosion doing the very thing that brought them together: unraveling the mysteries of our planet, while simultaneously capturing the most explosive volcano imagery ever recorded. Along the way, they changed our understanding of the natural world, and saved tens of thousands of lives. Previously unseen hours of pristine 16-millimeter film and thousands of photographs reveal the birth of modern volcanology through an unlikely lens — the love of its two pioneers. The film premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival as the opening night film for the US Documentary Competition, where it won the jury’s Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award. And we are honored to be presenting it as our closing night film!
Running Time: 93 minutes

For Individual Film Tickets
Click Here

The Port Jefferson Documentary Series is sponsored by:

Brightview Senior Living
1175 Route 112, Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776
631-802-5021

Covati & Janhsen CPAS PC
12 Walnut Street
Port Jefferson, NY 11777
631-928-6300
https://covatiandjanhsen.com/