WildLike

This Sunday, August 9 the North County Film Club will be presenting the film Wildlike. This film directed by Frank Hall Green is about Mackenzie, a troubled but daring teenage girl, sent by her struggling mother to live with her uncle in Juneau, Alaska. Although her Uncle seems like a supportive caretaker and friend, the relationship turns and Mackenzie is forced to run. Trying to make her way back to Seattle alone to find her absent mother, Mackenzie only winds up deeper in the Alaskan interior.

Lost and with no one else to turn to, she befriends a loner backpacker, Bartlett. The relationship between the two is what makes this film so appealing.

Please come and enjoy this wonderful independent film. 

The film will show at 3 pm. It is recommended that you arrive by 2:30 to find a good seat.

The Quirky French Real Estate Laws

After seeing My Old Lady at our last film showing, I was really baffled about the real estate law (en viager) featured in the film. So, as usual, I did my research and found this site that explains all about it. Now I think I understand, but it still seems like a very weird way to sell a house. Read about it here:

http://parispropertygroup.com/blog/2013/occupied-paris-property-forthcoming-movie-my-lady-puts-spotlight-french-real-estate-law/

In Memoriam

Goodbye, Omar Sharif. We will miss you.

The Immigration Paradox

This next film is an absolute must see. For the first time in the NCFC history, the filmmaker will be in attendance. How exciting is that?

Lourdes Lee Vasquez

THE IMMIGRATION PARADOX takes a critical and in depth look at one of the most divisive issues in human global history–immigration. After encountering an immigrant crossing the Arizona desert, Emmy Award Winner and Filmmaker Lourdes Lee Vasquez set out to understand why people would risk their lives to come to the U.S.. Her quest takes a shocking twist when she musters enough courage to cross the line at a protest and has an encounter with a supposed enemy.

From there her journey spanned 7 years searching for answers and solutions to this complex social issue. It takes her and the audience to places never before considered in the immigration debate. THE IMMIGRATION PARADOX is a feature length documentary that exposes the missing information to the immigration issue by interviewing an array of people from various backgrounds, which include economics, sociology, philosophy, history, policy, and activism. This documentary will move you beyond the villain or victim scenario, the heated rhetoric and sensationalism to reveal the bigger picture.

No matter what your viewpoints or beliefs are regarding this deeply emotional issue; the information exposed in THE IMMIGRATION PARADOX will surely leave you shocked.

Ms. Vasquez will be available for a Q and A after the film. The film will be shown July 12 at 3:00, Carmike Theater, Mission and College, Oceanside.

Sunday is going to be a busy day - it's highly recommended that you purchase your new passes at the box office before the 12th.  

There's an app for that

After watching our last film,  Fanie Fourie's Lobola, I decided to research this custom further and found out some really surprising facts.

Did you know that you can order an app that will help you calculate how much your bride is worth?
The app calculates how many bovine a groom's family should pay for a traditional South African dowry. In South Africa the average lobola is 12 cows.

The developer of the app said it provides a guideline for men looking to marry. But it caused a fury when women discovered that the app also asks for a woman's measurements as well as her marital history!

The app is not intended to replace "true cultural protocols" like the ones we saw in the movie.

Here's another interesting fact: According to one report,  Nelson Mandela followed the African tradition of paying a marriage lobola of 60 cows to his wife,  Machel's family.

Hope to see you all next Sunday for The Immigration Paradox.





 

In Memoriam - Millie Gordon

We've lost one of our favorite film club members. I'm sure you'll all remember Millie Gordon. She was the board member who sat at the table before the films - she either hugged you or gave you a compliment on what you were wearing. You might have been on her phone list and were lucky to receive a cheery phone call from her reminding you of the next film.

Millie lived in Oceanside at the time of her death, but she's actually traveled all over the world. Did you know she was a doctor? She received her credentials at the University of Guadalajara and was very proud to display her diploma on the wall of her apartment. Being a general practitioner made her a very popular resident of a small rural village in Mexico where she delivered babies, set broken legs and save many lives.

Her son, Brendan visited the village about 5 years ago and said people came out in droves to shake his hand and tell him stories about his mother.

One of Millie's friends, Ian Strashoon met her while in Sichuan, China. They became lifelong friends. Millie helped Ian with a book he was writing and he dedicated this poem to her from the book:

Gone,

Go fast, be safe, keep eyes peeled,

Eyes watch, winds blow, mirages reel,

Tomorrow dawns, as a maybe chance,

Eyes wait, eyes watch, life reels,

Winds blow dust rises, life is a mirage of tomorrow

Gone,

Dry dusts of Africa settle to wait, pensive,

Tomorrow’s chances, in a crimson sunset,

Gone!

Millie is survived by a brother and three sons, Morlan, Romel and Brendan. 

Besides being on the board of our film club for several years, Millie also volunteered at the Oceanside Museum of Art.

She loved everyone she met, and believed hugs had to last 10 seconds to be valid.

Millie would have loved the next film we will be showing:

Fanie Fourie's Lobola

This film will be shown Sunday, June 14 at 3:00. It's the story of the complications that ensue when an Afrikaans man and Zulu girl fall in love, especially when the traditional custom of "lobola", or dowry, makes things very complicated for them. Sounds fascinating. 

Hope to see you all there.

I'll attach the photos I took at the memorial.  She is survived by her only brother, her three sons, probably her ex husbands, and one daughter-in-law.  I know she was very close to one grandson, and I think she had a few more grand kids around.

The Other Son - Sunday, May 17

The Other Son

Come and see what happens when an Israeli and a Palestinian are switched at birth.  That's the theme of the amazing film we will be seeing on May 17. The film brings up the nurture or nature question. Is your genetic makeup more important, or the influence of your environment? This film by French director, Lorraine Levy points out that despite everything else, people are just people. 

The film shows at 3:00 pm, Carmike Theater (formerly Digiplex), Oceanside (Mission at College).

Magic Money from the Riviera

I found this little bit of information while doing some further reading about Magic in the Moonlight. After I saw this Woody Allen film, I was wondering where it was filmed. I was pretty sure that it was the south of France. But the scenes looked too gorgeous to be true. Could it have been special effects that made those scenes so beautiful or was it really filmed on the Cote d'Azur? Well, it turns out that The Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur invested 200,000 euros in the production. They were hoping to showcase the region to filmgoers around the world.  Christine Mirauchaux, vice president of the Regional Council for Culture, said that the region is "extremely proud of the collaboration."

I hope they got their investment back. But even if they didn't, I'm sure that the film produced a lot of would be travelers to the region. Didn't you just want to get on a plane immediately and jet there after seeing the film? I know I did. The scenery was the best part of the movie.

Our Next Season

The board is working diligently on the film selections for next season. Hopefully the films with the most votes will all be available. Thanks to all of you who nominated films and then voted. We'll be announcing the new schedule as soon as it's tied down. Stay tuned.

In Memoriam

It wasn't a movie star that we lost April 30th. But it was someone who certainly contributed to our film history. I'm talking about Ben E. King who gave us the iconic song "Stand by Me". We will miss that wonderful voice, but thankfully through film and recordings we will have it forever. Check out this video - a couple minutes into it you'll see River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton bopping away with Ben. It's too cute. Reminds me how much I miss River Phoenix also.

  I

Love is Strange - Film for April 12 - North County Film Club

Our next film is Love is Strange starring John Lithgow as Ben and Alfred Molina, George. After four years together they finally decide to get married. But then George loses his job and they have to sell their apartment. Not being able to find another apartment in New York they have to live apart. George moves in with two cops and Ben lives with his nephew. This situation weighs heavily on all involved.

This film will be shown Sunday, April 12 at 3:00. A discussion group will follow after the film.

The Carlsbad Library and Soroptimist Club of Carlsbad will be presenting a film festival featuring films by, for and about Women. Here's the link with information about this interesting event:


http://www.sioceansidecarlsbad.org/lunafest



I was surfing around the web and accidentally came across a site that piqued my interest. It was about the 10 most accurately historical films. What do you think? Any additions to this list?

Downfall
Lincoln
Milk
12 Years a Slave
Master & Commander: Far Side of the World
Saving Private Ryan
Das Boot
Band of Brothers
A Night to Remember (about the Titantic)
Lion in Winter

The Lunchbox - Showing March 29th

 

A middle class housewife in Mumbai is trying to add some spice to her marriage through her cooking.  She prepares special lunchboxes to be delivered to her husband at work, but, unbeknownst to her, they are mistakenly delivered to another office worker, a lonely man on the verge of retirement. She puts little notes in the lunchboxes which begins a series of communication and an unexpected friendship.

The Lunchbox will be showing this Sunday, March 29 at the Carmike theater, Oceanside (College and Mission) at 3:00pm. 

You might want to read up on the lunchbox delivery system in India. It's really fascinating.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabbawala

If you enjoyed Stories We Tell and want to know more, here's an interview which was done with filmmaker Sarah Polley:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jun/23/sarah-polley-stories-we-tell-interview


In Memoriam

Albert Maysles (with camera) died March 5, 2015. He was 88. He and his brother, David were award-winning documentarians. They made intensely talked-about films, including Grey Gardens and Gimme Shelter, with their American version of cinéma vérité.

Mr. Maysles departed from documentary conventions by not interviewing his films’ subjects. As he explained in an interview with The New York Times in 1994, “Making a film isn’t finding the answer to a question; it’s trying to capture life as it is.”

TCM played four of the Maysles films this week including Grey Gardens, Salesman, Gimme Shelter and an interview with Marlon Brando. What a treat to see these interesting documentaries.

Stories We Tell - March 15

Next Sunday, March 15, we'll be seeing the acclaimed documentary, Stories We Tell.

Sarah Polley received an Oscar® nomination for this documentary where she acted as both filmmaker and detective. She questions family and friends about family secrets and discovers that the truth depends on who's telling it. Each tells their version of the family history leaving lots of unanswered questions. She finds that the story of the family can be complicated, messy and yet loving. This is a very personal film, a funny and poignant version of the larger human story.


The Zong Slave Ship
A lot of you may want to read more about the Zong that was featured in the film Belle that we saw on March 1st. What an interesting film about an incident in history that I've never heard of and probably some of you hadn't either. So I'm listing a couple of links in case you want to read more about it:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-2030135/Massacre-slaves-did-die-vain-THE-ZONG-BY-JAMES-WALVIN.html 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cUQi6RSiZQ
 

William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield

So interesting, and so sad. What a terrible time in history.

And here's an interesting article about Belle:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/02/27/insideout_abolition_special_feature.shtml

See you on the 15th.