Film previews are coming back to Great Neck this summer as The Great Neck Arts Center begins another edition of its Furman Film Series, bringing major motion pictures and choice independent films to the community before their general release. The presentations are followed by an audience discussion featuring someone who starred in the film, was involved in its production, or is an expert on the topic being discussed.
A grand jury winning selection at the Bahamas Film Festival and an official selection at a number of other noted film festivals, including the Hamptons, Woodstock, and Atlanta International Film Festival, “Between Us,” will open in Great Neck on July 11. It stars Golden Globe nominees Melissa George and Julia Stiles and Taye Diggs of TV’s “Private Practice” in a dark comedic drama about a newly married New York couple who visit their old friends in their huge Midwestern home.
Despite their wealth, the hosts are in a violently destructive marriage. Two years later, the couples reunite in New York, but now the tables are turned as the young couple struggles with their marriage, parenthood and financial woes, only to discover that their old friends are even more successful and much happier than they were before.
On July 25 the presentation will be “Shun Li and The Poet,” a touching, well told, and well acted story of an unlikely friendship taking place in a remote Italian fishing village. Shun Li works in a textile factory near Rome, slowly paying off the broker that brought her from China to Italy, while saving money so she can bring her young son to join her. She is suddenly transferred to work as a bartender at a pub in a small town along the Venetian Lagoon. The pub is the hangout of the local fishermen, including a handsome old Slav immigrant nicknamed “The Poet.” A tender, delicate friendship grows between them. But gossip soon threatens their innocent relationship, a bond that had once transcended two very different cultures. The film has won major awards at a number of international film festivals.
The winner of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival Best Documentary Award and the Golden Gate Award from the San Francisco International Film Festival, “The Kill Team,” to be shown on Aug. 8, is a riveting film telling the story about a young soldier in Afghanistan who attempted to alert the military to horrific atrocities being committed by U.S. soldiers, and who then himself became a target of one of the largest war crimes investigations in U.S. history.
With extraordinary access to the soldiers who were convicted and the evidence used against them, the film goes inside a story that was largely impenetrable to the media. Through the eyewitness testimony of the soldiers involved, director Dan Krauss gives the viewer an unforgettable look at the madness of war. Director Dan Krauss will discuss the film with the audience via Skype.
On Aug. 22 the presentation will be “Haute Cuisine,” based on the incredible true story of French President François Mitterrand’s private chef. Cesar award-winning actress Catherine Frot plays Hortense Laborie, a talented chef who is suddenly plucked from her beloved farm in the French countryside and placed in the whirlwind of the Elysée Palace.
Taking on the new role of personal cook to the president of the French Republic, Hortense suddenly sees how politics find its way to the palace’s kitchen. Driven by her infectious love of French food, she develops a rich bond with the elusive president, but this unheard of friendship only stirs the political pot even more. The film was an Official Selection of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and was chosen as the Opening Night Film of the 2013 Alliance Française French Film Festival.
Presentations are scheduled for Thursdays, July 11 and 25, and Aug. 8 and 22, at Great Neck’s Clearview Squire Cinemas. For ticket information call The Great Neck Arts Center at 829-2570 or visit their Web site, www.greatneckarts.org.
Tickets are available for the series, or are sold individually at the door, if available. The Great Neck Arts Center accepts all major charges, as well as cash and checks. The screenings begin at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m. for series subscribers.
