Summer Film Series

Larry Soll shares this about the Summer Film Series at SJCT…

Fellow Film Buffs,

The home stretch, only two weeks left to our inaugural season. I am happy to report that the Theatre has agreed to host the Summer Film Series again next year. So please make a point of thanking Bobby Ryan, Mary Blevins, Megan Boe Kilpatrick and the front and back of the house volunteers for making it all possible. I will be sending an email at the end of series to determine which films you enjoyed the most and what else we can do to improve the series in the future.

Single admissions are $8 and $5 for anyone under 25. Our popcorn maven has perfected his recipe and our “bottomless box for only $2” is the bargain of the year. 10% discounts on food at both Vinny’s and The Bluff will apply to those with a ticket or a punch card. Special pre-theatre pricing is also available at Coho restaurant.

Here are descriptions of the last two films:

August 30 Landfill Harmonic (2015) NR (but definitely PG) 84 minutes Subtitled
In Cateura, just outside the Paraguayan capital, 40,000 people live in a desperately poor neighborhood. Music resonates throughout the community from cheap plastic radios, yet for most residents a musical instrument is an unattainable treasure. Favio Chávez, an environmental consultant, and Nicolás “Cola” Gómez, a rubbish picker, began to wonder if they could create instruments from scraps they found on the tip face. “People in Cateura use trash as a resource,” says Chávez. “It was a natural approach in Cateura to look for an answer and resolve the need for instruments using recyclable materials.”

The film itself has played a role in stretching the reality beyond even the wildest dreams of its subjects. The link below was a YouTube sensation and led to the group being invited to play with Megadeth, a heavy metal group. This, in turn, lead to a world tour and this video which was funded through a Kickstarter campaign. I urge everyone to see this happy inspiring documentary and bring the kids.

See the Trailer on You Tube.

September 6 Marguerite (2015) Rated R for brief nudity and scene of drug use. 129 minutes Subtitled

“Marguerite” is the story of a French countess who fancies herself an opera singer, but can’t stay in tune or hit a high note. She is a complete disaster, but she has no idea. To her ears, she sounds like Maria Callas and she is so sweet-natured and so devoted to music that no one will give her the bad news.  This is, of course, the set-up for a comedy, and “Marguerite” can fairly be classified as such — there are, indeed, laughs. But the laughter is complicated. “Marguerite” is just as often painful and at times almost excruciating to watch. And there’s something weirdly transcendent about the film, too, because we’re witnessing someone in pursuit of the sublime, who is devoted to something beyond herself that she can apprehend but cannot reach.

By pure coincidence, this week The Palace is screening “Florence Foster Jenkins”, the latest movie starring Meryl Streep as a New York heiress who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.  I have not yet seen this film but it might be worth seeing both.

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