Dancing In Jaffa - November 22

The following is a trailer for Dancing in Jaffa which will be the last film of the season, Sunday, Nov. 22.

Renowned ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulaine, returns to his hometown of Jaffa, Israel, nostalgic for the streets of his youth but nervous and dismayed by the strong current of racial animosity that now serves as the norm. Fueled by his belief in dancing's power to build self-esteem and social awareness, Dulaine brings his popular Dancing Classrooms program to three Jaffa-based schools where he teaches ballroom dancing to the ethnically mixed population of children. Dulaine selects the most focused dancers to train for a citywide competition, pairing Palestinians with Jews, putting many of the children's and, more pointedly, their families' beliefs to the test.

As a followup to Tangerines, I tried to make sense of the Georgia/Russia war and what it was all about. I was going to write a simplified version of the conflict but it's such a complicated subject. Instead I'm posting a link that I found online and in case you're interested it might help to unravel the situation:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/13/world/europe/2008-georgia-russia-conflict/

Coming to a theater near you, The 33. I'm really excited to see this movie because I just finished the book Deep Dark Down about the Chilean coal miners. The film stars Antonio Banderas. Can't wait.

Hope to see you all next Sunday for Dancing in Jaffa.

Tangerines - Film Club Selection for 11/8

This Sunday's film, Tangerines, comes to us from Apkhazeti, Georgia. It's about the war in this region in 1990. An Estonian man Ivo has stayed behind to harvest his crop of tangerines along with his friend Marcus. In a bloody conflict at his door, a wounded man is left behind, and Ivo is forced to take him in. This is a wonderful film with an anti-war theme.

This film was nominated for an Academy Award, 2014 for Best Foreign Film. It lost to Ida, the film we viewed in September.


Wild Tales Followup

A follow up to our last film, the Argentinian film, Wild Tales in which we saw 6 different vignettes mostly dealing with the unfair laws and the frustrations of living in Buenos Aires. You can imagine the frustration when you have to live with this unfair law in Argentina:

In Argentina, there is a law that states that Argentine nightclubs must play the same amount of tango music as all other forms of music combined!!


In Memoriam

Last week we lost a member of the North County Film Club and my very good friend, Jane Gorman. Jane was an avid film goer and was so happy to be a member of our club. Jane was a physical education teacher most of her adult life and was also an assistant principal. She loved to play golf, travel, read, watch films and most of all have fun. She leaves her husband Jeff and three sons, Jason, Justin and Jeremy and two grandchildren that she adored. I've known Jane since we were in the fourth grade in Pomona, California and we've remained friends all these years. She will be dearly missed.


Also leaving us last week, Maureen O'Hara. I think Jane would have liked sharing her memoriam with Maureen.

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Hope to see you all Sunday, the 8th for Tangerines.