Chicago premiere!
THE PRICE OF SUGAR
2007, Bill Haney, USA, 90 min.
Narrated by Paul Newman
“Uplifting and enraging in equal measures. . . a powerful issue-driven documentary that also happens to have one of the most compelling heroes of any movie this year.”--Jim Hemphill, Reel.com
“Like many absolutists, Father Christopher can be a pain in the ass, which is just what’s needed for the padded rear ends of these slave owners--and for those of us who gorge on the results.”--Ella Taylor, Village Voice
A sweet deal with U.S. legislators lured by a veritable dessert menu of campaign contributions provides sugar producers in the Dominican Republic near-exclusive access to the American market at double world-market prices while their sparkling white commodity remains the bitter product of slave labor. Father Christopher Hartley, a Catholic priest and disciple of Mother Theresa, enters the fray in 1997, venturing into “forbidden” areas of his new parish to discover the squalid colonies of starving, disenfranchised Haitian workers who have been smuggled across the border by their corporate employers to work 14 hours a day under armed guard. A battle for justice ensues, and it’s a royal one. In English, Spanish, and Creole with English subtitles. HD video. (BS)
Reduced admission!
Chicago Fair Trade members and Chicago Green City Market members admitted for $7 to any THE PRICE OF SUGAR screening.
January 4--10
Fri. and Mon.-Thu. at 6:15 pm and 8:00 pm;
Sat. at 3:00 pm, 4:45 pm, 6:30 pm, and 8:15 pm;
Sun. at 3:15 pm and 5:00 pm
Chicago premiere!
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR: BOB DYLAN LIVE AT THE NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL, 1963-1965
2007, Murray Lerner, USA, 83 min.
“With all due respect to I’M NOT THERE, Todd Haynes’ imaginative and often dazzling meditation on the pop-culture mythology of Bob Dylan, there ain’t nothing like the real thing.”--Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
“A canny, revelatory documentary about how the artist seized the day. . . conveys the inner truth of the historic moment.”--Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Bob Dylan’s public evolution from the folk scene’s hayseed crown prince to electrified superstar is the stuff of legend, but only clips of the notorious performances have previously surfaced. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR is substantially comprised of never-before-seen footage of Dylan’s complete Newport performances in workshops and night concerts over three festivals. It’s wall-to-wall Dylan, seen in a revealing and powerfully nuanced progression from the awkward youth of “North Country Blues” to the scorned idol of “Maggie’s Farm.” Nineteen songs include “Only a Pawn in Their Game,” “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Chimes of Freedom,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” DigiBeta video. (BS)
January 11--17
Fri. and Mon.-Thu. at 6:15 pm and 8:00 pm;
Sat. at 3:00 pm, 4:45 pm, 6:30 pm, and 8:15 pm;
Sun. at 3:15 pm and 5:00 pm
Chicago premiere!
NOTE BY NOTE: THE MAKING OF STEINWAY L1037
2007, Ben Niles, USA, 80 min.
“A slimy log dumped into frigid Alaskan waters emerges as the hand-selected Steinway for a world-class performance. . . the story of a family, a neighborhood and a machine with a heart.”--Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics.com
“Niles and cinematographer Ben Wolf scrutinize each step as if it were RIFIFI’s climactic heist, offering moments of fixated strangeness and wonder.”--Jim Ridley, Village Voice
The unlikely subject of the building of a piano becomes a gripping and even soaring story of craftsmanship and artistry taken to an obsessive level of perfection that is oddly moving in this age of computer-generated everything. The filmmakers spend a year in Steinway’s Queens, New York, factory, following the wondrous process of creating the glossy, black, 9-foot-long concert-grand that will come alive under the hands of Hèléne Grimaud. Testimony to the unique personality of each handmade instrument is demonstrated with attitudes ranging from persnickety consternation to crazy joy when artists as diverse as Pierre Laurent Aimard, Harry Connick Jr., Lang Lang, and Hank Jones audition prospective pianos. DigiBeta video. (BS)
Reduced admission!
Chicago Sinfonietta subscribers, Chicago Symphony Orchestra subscribers, and WFMT-FM members admitted for $7 to any NOTE BY NOTE screening.
See Steinway L1037!
Opening concert featuring 6-year-old prodigy Emily Bear (www.emilybear.com) following the 7:45 screening on Friday. Mini-concerts by various artists will be performed on Steinway L1037 throughout the week in our gallery/cafe.
January 18--24
Fri. and Mon.-Thu. at 6:00 pm and 7:45 pm;
Sat. at 3:00 pm, 4:45 pm, 6:30 pm, and 8:15 pm;
Sun. at 3:00 pm and 4:45 pm
FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO
2007, Daniel Karslake, USA, 97 min.
“Confronts with whimsy and hellfire, the clash between religion and homosexuality.”--Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine
“Will surprise even the most liberal-minded.”--Ken Fox, TV Guide
“A shrewd, detailed, eye-opening look at how speciously selective and ahistorical the church condemnation of gays really is.”--Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
This is a compassionate and very open look at how five ordinary American Christian families, including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, have come to terms with the coming-out of a son or daughter. Central to director Karslake’s frank look at the issues through encounters with mothers and fathers who have struggled with the perceived gap between the tenets of their faith and love of a child is the question of what that much-quoted “abomination” line in Leviticus really means. 35mm. (BS)