SUMMER-FALL 2024 DAVIDSON FILM CLUB SCREENINGS
JULY 20: THE SWEET HEREAFTER
Directed by Atom Egoyan (Canada, in English, 1997, 1h52)
A small community is torn apart by a tragic accident which kills most of the town’s children. A lawyer visits the victims’ parents in order to profit from the tragedy by stirring up their anger and launching a class action suit against anyone they can blame. The community is paralyzed by its anger and cannot let go. All but one young girl, left in a wheelchair after the accident, who finds the courage to lead the way toward healing.
Discussion leader: Dr. Carole Kruger, Prof. of French and Francophone Studies at Davidson College specializing in Canadian literature and culture.
AUGUST 17: PERFECT DAYS
Directed by Wim Wenders (Japan, in Japanese w/English subtitles, 2023, 2h04)
Hirayama seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past. A deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around us.
Discussion leader: Lawrence Toppman, former award-winning film, theater, and music critic for the Charlotte Observer.
SEPTEMBER 14: LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
Directed by Roberto Benigni (Italy, in Italian w/English subtitles, 1997, 1h56)
In 1930s Italy, a carefree Jewish waiter-turned-bookseller named Guido starts a fairy tale life by courting and marrying a lovely woman named Dora. Guido and Dora have a son named Joshua and live happily together until the forced deportation of the town’s Jewish population in cattle cars. Dora, while not required to be deported, volunteers to leave with her family, and they are all forced to live in a concentration camp. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a concentration camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank.
Discussion leader: Dr. Scott Denham, Charles A. Dana Professor of German Studies at Davidson College and Holocaust specialist.
OCTOBER 19: THE FAREWELL
Directed by Lulu Wang (China, in Chinese w/English subtitles, 2019, 1h40)
After learning that her family’s beloved matriarch, Nai Nai, has been given mere weeks to live, Chinese-born, U.S.-raised Billi returns to Changchun to find that her family has decided to keep the news from Nai Nai. While the family gathers under the joyful guise of an expedited wedding, Billi rediscovers the country she left as a child, and is forever changed by her grandmother’s wondrous spirit.
Discussion leader: Dr. Yongyue Chen, born and raised in China, a U.S resident since 1998. Currently a psychiatrist at Behavioral Health Davidson.
NOVEMBER 23: YUNÍ
Directed by Kamila Andini (Indonesia, in Indonesian w/English subtitles, 2021, 1h35)
Having rejected a marriage proposal and now facing limited options after graduation, Indonesian high-school student Yuni finds herself having to define her desires within a society attempting to prescribe her fate. Navigating her burgeoning sexuality and educational prospects while coming to terms with the rigid gender politics with which they collide, Yuni observes her peers and the women around her as they reject or give in to the expectations made of them and the consequences their decisions carry.
Discussion leader: Anna Hyland, Davidson Film Club member and cinephile who enjoys good art in general, including movies, paintings, and glass art .