Real Art Ways Science on Screen® season invites you to experience the unique combination of a feature film and a relevant talk from a notable local figure in science.
Film: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
“A deeply informed and fully expressed portrait of a culture most of us know little about.” – Observer
“The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind– feeds our hunger for inspiring tales in these desperate times with a beautifully engineered narrative latticework of hardship, hope, and know-how.” – Los Angeles Times
“As inspiring and morally upright as you’d expect from a film with such rousing source material drawn from real life.” – RogerEbert.com
A 13-year-old boy is thrown out of the school he loves when his family can no longer afford the fees. He sneaks into the library and learns how to build a windmill to save his village from a famine.
Pre-Film Talk | 6:30 PM
Speaker: Dr. Steven Nathan
Dr. Nathan is trained in Paleoceanography, Micropaleontology and Biostratigraphy. His research spans topics ranging from paleoclimate to geothermal energy. Before Eastern, Dr. Nathan taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges, and several community colleges. He holds a B.S. in Biology (Springfield College), a B.S. in Physics, a M.S. in Geology, and a Ph.D. in Geoscience (all at UMass). He was a senior post-doctoral research associate with the Massachusetts Geological Survey.
Science on Screen is an initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.
Real Art Ways Science on Screen® season invites you to experience the unique combination of a feature film and a relevant talk from a notable local figure in science.
Film: The Birds
“Alfred Hitchcock has fashioned a major work of cinematic art.” – Village Voice
“A thriller classic from the master of suspense.” – Empire Magazine
“Unmistakably, one of the master’s [Hitchcock’s] best.” – Austin Chronicle
Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a San Francisco pet store and decides to follow him home. She brings with her the gift of two love birds and they strike up a romance. One day birds start attacking children at Mitch’s sisters party. A huge assault starts on the town by attacking birds.
Pre-Film Talk | 6:30 PM
Dr. Matthew Kamm is a Boston-based wildlife biologist who specializes in ornithology. Matt has studied the natural history of wild birds while working for Mass Audubon and during his Ph.D work at Tufts University, with a focus on understanding songbird migration and the life history of American kestrels. He currently works as the Conservation Outreach Coordinator for Zoo New England.
Science on Screen is an initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.
“One of the cinematic events of the year.” – IndieWire
“Extraordinary emotional force.” – Los Angeles Times
“A remarkable ensemble cast.” – The New York Times
“A powerful, moving tribute to quiet strength – and, unexpectedly, to hope.” – Seattle Times
“An honest, raging, caring experience.” – Time Out
90% on Rotten Tomatoes
Synopsis:
Do nothing. Stay and fight. Or leave. In 2010, the women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith.
Starring Frances McDormand, Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, and Jessie Buckley.
Directed by Sarah Polley
“The year’s best movie…you won’t forget this classic.” – ABC News
“Spielberg’s marvel coming-of-age story and one of his most personal.” – Chicago Reader
“Reckons with the idea that cinema – like any art form – can be powerful and revealing and magical.” – Filmspotting
“Best movie of the year” – The Times
“One of the most impressive, enlightening, vital things [Spielberg’s] ever done.” – Rolling Stone
91% on Rotten Tomatoes
Synopsis:
Young Sammy Fabelman falls in love with movies after his parents take him to see “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Armed with a camera, Sammy starts to make his own films at home, much to the delight of his supportive mother. Part memoir, part ode to the power of the movies, The Fabelmans finds Steven Spielberg digging at the family roots that helped make him a beloved filmmaker — and proves he hasn’t lost his magic touch.
Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Oscar Nominations
Best Picture
Best Director – Steven Spielberg
Actor in a Supporting Role – Judd Hirsch
Actress in a Leading Role – Michelle Williams
Music (Original Score)
Production Design
Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Earnest and engrossing.” – Times (UK)
“An irresistible kaleidoscope of music and good fellowship.” – Seattle Times
“This film offers an inspiring look at creative people from very different walks of life who nonetheless communicate beautifully with one another. They don’t need to speak a common language: Their dazzling music says it all.” – Washington Post
Synopsis:
Filmmaker Morgan Neville profiles cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, an eclectic group of musicians who tour worldwide.
“Pavarotti paints a simple picture of a complicated man, but it hits the high notes: the performances, the cheers, the adulation. Consider it a greatest hits.” – Detroit News
“An engaging film, filled with vintage snapshots, interviews with friends and former colleagues, and, most of all, that marvelously distinctive voice, with all of the emotion that it could convey.” – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“There’s a lot to smile at here.” – New York Times
Synopsis:
Featuring never-before-seen footage, concert performances and intimate interviews, filmmaker Ron Howard examines the life and career of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
“The Band’s music has such intrinsic strength and resilience that it can’t help but break through those self-imposed barriers and set itself and the audience free.” – Washington Post
“The greatest rock concert movie ever made – and maybe the best rock movie, period.” – Chicago Tribune
“One of the greatest movie experiences.” – Detroit Free Press
98% on Rotten Tomatoes
Synopsis:
Seventeen years after joining forces as the backing band for rockabilly cult hero Ronnie Hawkins, Canadian roots rockers The Band call it quits with a lavish farewell show at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on Nov. 25, 1976. Filmed by Martin Scorsese, this documentary features standout performances by rock legends such as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell and Muddy Waters, as well as interviews tracing the group’s history and discussing road life.
“A piercingly self-aware portrait of an artist who is not afraid to depict himself and his craft as aloof or insular.” – Observer (UK)
“Has an urgency all of its own.” – London Evening Standard
“The more you think about it, the more layers there seem to be and the more you realize how much this film has to say about lives made small by restrictions that can, and do, result in tragedy.” – The Spectator
Listed on New York Times’ Top 10 Movies of the Year
100% on Rotten Tomatoes
Synopsis:
Jafar Panahi is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly identified with the Iranian New Wave film movement. His films are known for their humanistic perspective on life in Iran, focusing on the hardships of children, the impoverished, and women.
After several years of conflict with the Iranian government over the content of his films, Panahi was arrested in March 2010 and later charged with propaganda against the Iranian government. He served a six year jail sentence and a 20-year ban on making films. His most recent films were smuggled out of Iran and were shown internationally, including at Real Art Ways.
He was again arrested and sentenced to six years in prison in July of 2022 amid an intensifying government crackdown of the film industry. He was among three directors arrested. Panahi was recently released from prison in Iran.
This film bears witness to Panahi’s incisive filmmaking, while urging viewers to examine the complex layers of a deceptively simple story: a man oppressed and suppressed by his country.
In Persian with English subtitles.
“Makes clear that it’s subject’s images still have a lot to show us” – New York Times
100% on Rotten Tomatoes
Synopsis:
Few figures have played such a seminal role in our moving picture history as the revolutionary photographer Eadweard Muybridge. His unprecedented images of running horses instantly transformed the camera into a machine of unmatched powers of perception and persuasion, and set the course for the birth of cinema. Muybridge was a complicated man whose personal story was imbued with ambition, success, loss, and even cold-blooded murder. He directly inspired numerous artists from Francis Bacon to David Hockney to Gary Oldman, whose passionate contribution to this documentary is exceptional.
“Maliciously entertaining.” – Observer (UK)
“Delectably unhinged.” – ABC News
“Bizarre, original, and loaded with revelatory surprises with every turn of the page.” – Observer
“Perfectly executed meal of a movie.” – Financial Times
Synopsis:
A couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.
“A powerful tale of survival.” – The Hollywood Reporter
“A gentle and superbly shot film.” – Guardian
“Equally stunning and devastating.” – San Jose Mercury News
“Meditative and deeply romantic.” – RogerEbert.com
95% on Rotten Tomatoes
Synopsis:
In the arid Bolivian highlands, an elderly Quechua couple has been living a tranquil life for years. While he takes their small herd of llamas out to graze, she keeps house and walks for miles with the other local women to fetch precious water. When an uncommonly long drought threatens everything they know, Virginio and Sisa must decide whether to stay and maintain their traditional way of life or admit defeat and move in with family members in the city. Their dilemma is precipitated by the arrival of their grandson Clever, who comes to visit with news. The three of them must face, each in their own way, the effects of a changing environment, the importance of tradition, and the meaning of life itself. This visually jaw-dropping debut feature by photographer-turned-filmmaker Alejandro Loayza Grisi is lensed by award-winning cinematographer Barbara Alvarez (Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman) and won the Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema Dramatic) at the Sundance Film Festival.
In Quechua and Spanish with English subtitles.
“A blunt, most effective portrait of someone pushed and pulled into a state of permanent imbalance.” – TheWrap
“A powerful cry from the heart.” – Time Out
“A gripping story of dislocation and belonging.” The Hollywood Reporter
Synopsis:
You Resemble Me tells the true story of Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a woman who was falsely accused of being Europe’s first female suicide bomber. Cultural and intergenerational trauma erupt in this story about two sisters on the outskirts of Paris. After the siblings are torn apart, the eldest, Hasna, struggles to find her identity, leading to a choice that shocks the world. Director Dina Amer takes on one of the darkest issues of our time and deconstructs it in an intimate story about family, love, sisterhood, and belonging.
In French with English subtitles.
“An astonishment…wild, boldly expressionistic.” – The New York Times
“Hypnotic. Bold in a way few contemporary films truly are.” – Sight and Sound
98% on Rotten Tomatoes
Synopsis:
The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. EO, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss. But not even for a moment does he lose his innocence.
In Polish with English subtitles.
2023 Oscar Nominee for Best International Film
“The sweet, solemn music of George Harrison…has rarely sounded more majestic than in the sweeping performances of the enlarged star-studded band that gathered in London at the Royal Albert Hall on November 29.” – The New York Times
Synopsis:
On November 29, 2002, one year after the passing of George Harrison, Olivia Harrison and longtime friend Eric Clapton organized a performance tribute in his honor. Held at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the momentous evening featured George’s songs, and music that he loved, performed by a lineup that included Clapton, Joe Brown, Dhani Harrison, Jools Holland, Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, Monty Python, Tom Petty, Billy Preston, Ravi and Anoushka Shankar, Ringo Starr, and many more.
One night only showing.
“Simply perfect.” – The Times
“Cinematic and visually ravishing.” – The Playlist
“One of the best movies of the year.” – ABC News
“Visually stunning and consistently witty…It is proper art.” – Times
Synopsis
Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, The Banshees of Inisherin follows lifelong friends Pádraic and Colm, who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship. A stunned Pádraic, aided by his sister Siobhán and troubled young islander Dominic, endeavours to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer. But Pádraic’s repeated efforts only strengthen his former friend’s resolve and when Colm delivers a desperate ultimatum, events swiftly escalate, with shocking consequences.
97% on Rotten Tomatoes
“An epic documentary about Nan Goldin and her activism against the Sackler family.” – The Guardian
“Ferociously powerful. A reminder of what can be achieved by those who take pain and turn it into truth.” – Financial Times
“Profound and incendiary. Goldin is an inspiring artist of activism.” – Variety
“Sublime. An intimate look at grassroots political action and a devastating story about family.” – The Hollywood Reporter
94% on Rotten Tomatoes
Synopsis:
Directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is an epic, emotional and interconnected story about internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.
Real Art Ways has presented multiple works by Nan Goldin over the years, including a group show in 1988 called The Ballad of Sexual Dependency and 15 Years of RAW in 1990.
“A genre work of superior, silken craftsmanship.” – The Daily Beast
“Sumptuous, wrong, and fun” – FilmWeek
“A stunning achievement that ends by deliberately raising more questions than it answers.” – Salon.com
Synopsis
From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae. But as he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire.
94% on Rotten Tomatoes
“Hello, Bookstore is a salute to the sacramental qualities of art that are threaded through everyday life.” – Variety
“Soul-affirming” – TheWrap
“A beautiful thing to behold.” – New York Times
Synopsis:
In the shadow of the pandemic, a small town rallies to protect a beloved local bookstore. A landmark in Lenox, Massachusetts, The Bookstore is a magical, beatnik gem thanks to its owner, Matt Tannenbaum, whose passion for stories runs deep. This intimate portrait of The Bookstore and the family at its heart offers a journey through good times, hard times, and the stories hidden on the shelves.
“Radical, radiant, and riveting.” – Mashable
“Sweeping entertainment. A story of unwavering resistance.” – The New York Times
“Majestic. Monumental.” – The Washington Post
Synopsis
The Woman King is the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen. Inspired by true events, The Woman King follows the emotionally epic journey of General Nanisca (Oscar®-winner Viola Davis) as she trains the next generation of recruits and readies them for battle against an enemy determined to destroy their way of life
95% on Rotten Tomatoes, 99% Audience Score
“A gripping act of historical detective work, an exercise in granular film analysis, and a sobering philosophical meditation on cinema as an imperfect window into the past.” Digital Trends
“A narrative of discovery, an exploration of memory, a meditation of loss and cinema, all in a lengthening of three minutes.” – NPR
“An investigative drama, a meditation on the ethics of moving images and a ghost story about people who might be forgotten should we take those images for granted.” The New York Times
Synopsis
Three Minutes – A Lengthening presents a home movie shot by David Kurtz in 1938 in a Jewish town in Poland and tries to postpone its ending. As long as we are watching, history is not over yet. The three minutes of footage, mostly in color, are the only moving images left of the Jewish inhabitants of Nasielsk before the Holocaust. The existing three minutes are examined to unravel the human stories hidden in the celluloid. The footage is imaginatively edited to create a film that lasts more than an hour. Different voices enhance the images. Glenn Kurtz, grandson of David Kurtz, provides his knowledge of the footage. Maurice Chandler, who appears in the film as a boy, shares his memories. Actress Helena Bonham Carter narrates the film essay.
100% on Rotten Tomatoes
