THE UNCONDEMNED

Monday, March 20

7:00pm Theatre Three, Main Street,
Historic Port Jefferson Village

Guest Speaker: Michele Mitchell, Director

Both a real-life courtroom thriller and a moving human drama, THE UNCONDEMNED tells the gripping story of a group of young international lawyers and activists who fought to have rape recognized as a war crime and the Rwandan women who came forward to testify and win justice for the crimes committed against them. Their determination takes the crusaders to a crucial trial at an international court, the results of which changed criminal justice forever. The film focuses on three rape victims who testified in the trial, as well as on the American prosecutors, Pierre-Richard Prosper and Sara Darehshori, who tenaciously built the case against Jean-Paul Akayesu for his knowledge of the rapes and other war crimes during the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. The film won the Brizzolara Family Foundation Award for a Film of Conflict and Resolution and the Victor Rabinowitz and Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Time: 85 minutes
Co-sponsored by the Africana Studies Department at Stony Brook University

ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL

Monday, March 27

7:00pm Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A
Historic Stony Brook Village

Guest Speakers: Julie Goldman, Producer; Sean Lyness Assoc. Prod.; Jill and Vera Sung, bankers

ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL, directed by Steve James and produced by Julie Goldman and Mark Mitten, tells the fascinating story of the government’s decision to prosecute a small, immigrant-owned financial institution, while overlooking far more egregious behavior at much larger institutions. The Sung family, owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York, were accused of mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. Abacus Federal became the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The indictment and subsequent trial forced the Sung family to defend themselves and their bank’s legacy. The Sung family spent over ten million dollars in a five-year battle to save the family business, their honor and to stand up for their community.
Time: 88 minutes

I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO

Monday, April 3

7:00pm Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A
Historic Stony Brook Village

Guest Speaker: Prof. Zebulon Miletsky, African American Studies, SUNY; Author/Prof. Michael Thelwell, U Mass, Amherst

Built around Baldwin’s unfinished 1979 book about the lives and successive assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Director Raoul Peck’s I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO delves into the complex legacy of those three lives and deaths that permanently marked the American social and political landscape. Peck assembles archival footage, photographs and contentious TV clips, adding current camera feeds from demonstrations against police shootings. With a voice-over by Samuel L. Jackson, one hears Baldwin’s words recounting the intimate relationships and mutual respect he had with the three iconic civil rights legends, forming a fiery narrative that makes audiences recalibrate their feelings about race in America. Winner of the Audience Award at the Chicago International Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Hamptons International Film Festival, People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, short-listed for the Academy Awards and countless other accolades, I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO has been called “One of the best movies you are likely to see this year” by the New York Times.
Time: 95 minutes
Co-sponsored by the Africana Studies Department at Stony Brook University

CIRCUS KID

Monday, April 17

7:00pm Theatre Three, Main Street,
Historic Port Jefferson Village

Guest Speaker: Lorenzo Pisoni, Director

The circus, a ring of daring, danger, spirit and lunacy can lead many a young child into a romantic fantasy of running away to join the troupe. But for Lorenzo Pisoni, director of this autobiographical documentary, CIRCUS KID, the reality of growing up as the golden child in his family’s cult classic Pickle Family Circus, his dreams were about running away from it. At age 2, Lorenzo began in the family business by walking into the ring of his parents’ Pickle Family Circus and becoming a star. By age 6, he had signed a contract with his father resulting in an unconventional father/son relationship, with his father as his coach, director, and clown partner. Archival footage of vaudeville-style acts and interviews with Pickle Family participants, including parents Larry and Peggy, daughter Gypsy and Pickle member Bill Irwin, are heartfelt and humorous. The film, however, doesn’t shy away from the dark side of the family’s dynamics. Witnessing serious family dysfunction and losing grasp of his childhood in the process, Lorenzo learns it’s not all fun and games. CIRCUS KID goes deep behind the scenes, exposing both the excitement and abuse, while delving into the complexities of the father-son relationship. Ultimately, it is father Larry who ends up running away while Lorenzo is still quite young. After 20 years, we follow Lorenzo as he tries to reconnect and gain a better understanding of the mysteries of the clown behind the face paint– the father, the man.
Time: 68 minutes

BANG! THE BERT BERNS STORY

Monday, April 24

7:00pm Theatre Three, Main Street,
Historic Port Jefferson Village

Guest Speaker: Brett Berns, Director, son of Bert Berns

Music meets the Mob in this biographical documentary, narrated by Steven Van Zandt, about the life and career of Bert Berns, the most important song-writer and record producer from the sixties that you have never heard of. His hits include “Twist and Shout”, “Tell Him”, ”Hang On Sloopy”, “Here Comes The Night” and “Piece Of My Heart.” He helped launch the careers of Wilson Pickett, Van Morrison and Neil Diamond and produced some of the greatest soul music ever made. Bert’s premature death at 38 cut short a seven year streak of hits. Filmmaker Brett Berns brings his late father’s story to the screen through interviews with those who knew him best and rare performance footage. Included in the film are interviews with Ronald Isley, Ben E. King, Solomon Burke, Van Morrison, Paul McCartney and Keith Richards.
Time: 95 minutes
Co-sponsored by the LONG ISLAND MUSIC HALL OF FAME

OFF THE RAILS

Monday, May 1

7:00pm Theatre Three, Main Street,
Historic Port Jefferson Villagee

Guest Speakers: Adam Irving, Director, by Skype

OFF THE RAILS tells the remarkable true story of Darius McCollum, a man with Asperger’s syndrome whose overwhelming love of transit has landed him in jail 32 times for impersonating New York City bus drivers and subway conductors and driving their routes. As a boy in Queens, NY, Darius found sanctuary from school bullies in the subway. There he befriended transit workers who taught him to drive trains. By age 8, he had memorized the entire subway system. At 15, he drove a packed train 8 stations by himself, making all the stops and announcements. Over the next three decades, Darius commandeered hundreds of trains and buses, staying en route and on schedule. He attended transit worker union meetings, lobbying for better pay and working conditions for a union he didn’t belong to. And he spent 23 years in prison. Winner of Best Documentary at the DocUtah Film Festival, the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Woods Hole Film Festival and the Buffalo International Film Festival, plus scores of other awards, OFF THE RAILS will be a feature film starring Julia Roberts as the attorney who tries to clarify the difference between a crime and a compulsion.
Time: 86 minutes

SOUR GRAPES

Thursday, July 6th

6:00pm The Long Island Museum,
1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook NY, 11790

Guest Speaker: Reuben Atlas, Co-Director

5-6pm, “Meet the Director” Wine & Cheese Reception
6-8pm, Screening of SOUR GRAPES + Q&A
4:30-6pm, Midnight Rum — Long Island & Prohibition Exhibit

Set in the super-fast, super-rich world of LA and New York during the financial boom of the early 2000s, in the lead up to the 2008 financial crash, and featuring the obsessive collectors, outraged wine producers, suspect auction houses, and specialist FBI sleuths, SOUR GRAPES is an “Emperor’s New Clothes” fable for the modern age. The film traces the story of the millions of dollars made from the sale of fake vintage wine, which flooded a susceptible luxury market with counterfeits that still lie undetected in cellars across the world. Winner of Best Documentary at the Key West Film Festival.
Time: 85 minutes

Wine, cheeses and accompaniments provided by: