Films this week 01/17/2025 to 01/23/2025
by Gary Palmucci | 17th January 2025 | Gary's Corner, Uncategorized
Over this holiday weekend on which the nation witnesses an ongoing, unprecedented natural disaster on one coast and awaits, with near-equal measures of eager anticipation and dread, a presidential inauguration on the other, New Plaza Cinema’s programs offer a diversity of snapshots of history both present and past, at home and abroad.
While we await the (tentative) January 23 Oscar nominations announcement, we’ll be offering reprises of both surefire nominees — Conclave, Soundtrack for a Coup d’etat, Flow– and two short-list contenders new to our lineup.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, filmed surreptitiously in his home country by Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof (his 2017 A Man of Integrity was a highlight at our W 86 St cinema) portrays a father inexorably caught up in the miasma of his nation’s dark justice system. The filmmaker has repeatedly put himself in jeopardy with his unflinching portraits; after completing this film just in time for last year’s Cannes Film Festival, he was compelled to flee to Europe.
From Ground Zero arrives here this weekend at an uncannily ripped-from-the-headlines moment. As the NY Times’ Alissa Wilkinson wrote, it is
“a collection of 22 shorts by Palestinian filmmakers, which is shortlisted for an Academy Award in the international feature film category. The vignettes, personal essays and brief documentaries share accounts of civilian life and death in the Gaza Strip that might otherwise be drowned out, or simply ignored, in depictions of the Israel-Hamas war. Rather than directing ire at Israel’s retaliatory attacks on the Gaza Strip, which have led to accusations of genocide, the films underline Gazans’ steadfast survival and the role of art in sustaining their spirit (to a point).”
Also holding over, the kinetic, epic new French retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo.
We’ll have speakers galore this weekend, as follows:
- Obsessed With Light – the documentary portrait of early 20th century dance pioneer Loie Fuller is back, this time with director Sabine Krayenbuhl and choreographer/ dancer Jody Sperling; tickets are going fast for this one.
- Flow – for this gorgeous (and family-friendly) animated gem, J. Rebekka Bonner of Christ Church NYC will lead a discussion of the film’s themes relating to the planet and animals, in Room 204 adjacent to our rest rooms.
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig – an after-talk hosted by Mark Metzger from the civil advocacy group Better Angels.
And, our special MLK Day screening, the 1970 Oscar-nominated doc King: A Filmed Record…Montgomery to Memphis will include an after-discussion with myself and ‘Following Harry’ filmmaker Susanne Rostock. This is a film which I’ve seen multiple times over the past four decades, and it never fails to deeply move me, telling in speeches, marches and tumult the arc of Dr King’s momentous life: all the great oratory is there- the complete ‘I Have a Dream’ speech (“Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain in Georgia…”) , ‘How long? Not long,’ ‘I’ve been to the mountaintop,’ and so much more.
It ‘s also a documentary that from today’s vantage point has some unconventional aspects – a number of Hollywood’s then-biggest stars, including Paul Newman, Burt Lancaster, Harry Belafonte and Ruby Dee, periodically appear in a studio reading from Dr. King’s writings on nonviolence and social justice.
A contemporary doc would probably do things very differently, and would benefit from an infinitely greater knowledge of mid-60s American political history-with its many injustices- than was widely realized a half-century ago.
Susanne and I will explore the complex context of that -perhaps with some special guests – in what we believe will be an afternoon of timely inspiration and power.
PS – Special screenings next weekend: Bob Dylan Dont Look Back and Julia Mintz’ Four Winters on Sunday Jan 26; NYC Short Filmmakers Showcase on Jan 24. Tickets now on sale for the latter two shows.