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Film Movement Series

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Film List

FILM MOVEMENT SERIES
Award-winning independent films find a home in the Stryker Theater.
Showtime are select Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.
$3.00/person

Learn more about Film Movement.

Advance purchase of tickets for fee-based events can be made in person at the Museum or by phone with a credit/debit card.
Call 269/373-7990 or 800/772-3370. No refunds will be made on advance tickets

August the First (USA, 2007)
September 18, 2008
81 minutes
It is the morning of Tunde's graduation party and things have already begun to unravel. Tunde has managed to alienate his sister, Simisola. His older brother, Ade, persistently plagues him with criticism, and their mother has started drinking again. Unbeknownst to most, Tunde has orchestrated the return of his long estranged father, resurrecting unresolved family anguish against the backdrop of Tunde's celebration. As the day turns to night, old wounds are re-opened and bad habits are revived. Layer by layer, deception and half-truths are peeled away as secrets are uncovered in what will be become the most unforgettable day the family has ever experienced.

Grocer’s Son (France,2007)English Subtitles
October 16, 2008
96 minutes
It is summer, and thirty-year-old Antoine is forced to leave the city to return to his family in Provence.  His father is sick, so he must assume the lifestyle he thought he had shed—driving the family grocery cart from hamlet to hamlet, delivering supplies to the few remaining inhabitants.  Accompanied by Claire, a friend from Paris whom he has a secret crush on, Antoine gradually warms up to his experience in the country and his encounters with the villagers, who initially seem stubborn and gruff, but ultimately prove to be funny and endearing.  Ultimately, this surprise French box-office hit is about the coming-of-age of a man re-discovering life and love in the countryside.

October 30 – Noise (Australia, 2007), 109 min
This is a story about the wrong person in the right place at the wrong time. Two heinous crimes have left a suburban town reeling. Police quickly connect them but are desperate for witnesses as the local community enfolds itself in a shroud of secrecy, borne from fear and an untrammeled mistrust of authority.
A young police constable, Graham McGahan, suffers from a chronic hearing problem and applies for worker's compensation. To his chagrin, he is stationed at a police caravan near the crime scene. Living on the periphery of the investigation, McGahan crosses paths with the various people affected by the tragedies and uncovers an unraveling nightmare of guilt and suspicion.

November 20 – Days and Clouds (Italy, 2007)English Subtitles, 115 min
Well-to-do, sophisticated couple, Elsa and Michele, have a 20 year-old daughter, Alice, and enough money for Elsa to leave her job and fulfill an old dream of studying art history. After she graduates, however, their lives change. Michele confesses he hasn't worked in two months and was fired by the company he founded years ago. Elsa overcomes her initial shock by pouring extra energy into facing the crisis while Michele, exhausted by an unsuccessful job hunt, lets himself go, alternating between vivacity and apathy. The growing distance between them eventually leads to a break-up. Only when they apart will they realize that they risk losing their most precious possession: the love that binds them.

January 15 – Ben X (Belgium, 2007) English Subtitles, 93 min
Ben is different. His life is a universe all to itself, where he avidly plays his favorite on-line computer game in an attempt to train for and block out the reality of his daily experiences.  Ben has Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism that prevents normal communication and makes him ideal fodder for all the school bullies.  As the bullies' relentless attacks push him over the edge and out of control, his on-line dream girl, Scarlite, appears to him and helps him devise a perfect plan to confront the bullies and make them pay for their torment. Director Nic Balthazar's dazzling debut blends fantasy and harsh social realism, based on a true story, to bring us an utterly original and important film.