ArtFlix  ( Diane Woolever)

This movie group meets to discuss films of interest not currently in local theaters.  We met in members’ homes of via Zoom to discuss the movie.  The group meets on the second Thursday at 6:30.

September 11    Sing Sing  (Cindy Hesemann)

A 2023 American prison drama film directed by Greg Kwedar and written by Clint Bentley and Kwedar. Based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison, the film centers on a group of incarcerated men involved in the creation of theatrical stage shows through the program. It stars professional actors Colman Domingo, Sean San José and Paul Raci, alongside many real-life formerly incarcerated men who were themselves alumni of the program during their incarceration, including Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin and Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez.

October 9  American Fiction (Joyce Hicks)

2023,/drama. Monk is a frustrated novelist, who is fed up with the establishment that profits from black entertainment that relies on tired and offensive trucks. To prove his point, he uses a pen name to write an outlandish black book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to distain. An academy award for best writing adapted screenplay.

November 13  One Day (Carla Banks)

The 2011 film One Day is a romance that stars Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess and follows their characters, Emma and Dexter, for two decades as they reunite on the same day each year after graduating from college on July 15, 1988,. Based on David Nicholls‘ 2009 novel of the same name, the film explores their evolving relationship, friendship, and professional lives. The story is a bittersweet look at love, life, and friendship.

December 11  Wine Country (Judith Hurdle)

2019 comedy/drama. Co- produced and directed by Amy Poehler (in her feature directorial debut) follows a group of longtime friends who take a vacation to Napa Valley as a birthday getaway the film, stars Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dracht, Ana Gasteyer,, Emily Spivey, Jason  Schwartzman, and Tina Fey

January 8  Men Up (Renee Caprile)

2023 – a Welsh movie based on a true story about one of the first trials of Viagra in 1994. It follows the relationship of a group of friends who participate in the study and is a very heartwarming story that also looks at some social issues.

February 12  Ida (MaryAnn Thompson)

2013 drama set in Poland in 1962, it follows a young woman on the verge of taking vows as a catholic nun. Orphaned as an infant during the German occupation of World War II, she must meet her aunt, a former communist, state prosecutor, and only surviving relative who tells her that her parents were Jewish. The two women embark on a trip into the Polish countryside to learn the fate of their relatives. Held out as a combat masterpiece And an eerily beautiful

March 12 Rustin (Kathy Evans)

2023 documentary/drama, Bayard Rustin, advisor to Martin Luther King Jr., dedicate his life to the quest for racial equality, human rights, and worldwide democracy. However, as an openly, gay black man, he has already raced from the civil rights movement he had helped build. The powerful true story of Bayard Ruston is finally getting the spotlight.

April 9  Boyhood (Karen Hug)

2014 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, and Ethan Hawke. Filmed from 2002 to 2013, Boyhood depicts the childhood and adolescence of Mason Evans Jr. (Coltrane) from ages six to eighteen as he grows up in Texas with divorced parents (Arquette and Hawke). Richard Linklater’s daughter Lorelei plays Mason’s sister,

May 14  Art Spieglemann:  Disaster is My Name (Diane Woolever)

2024 documentary. Insightful documentary delves into the life and works of art Spigelman, the Queen’s raised artist who revolutionized comics by exploring, dark complex, thieves shaped by his Holocaust survivor parents and inspired by mad magazine, irreverence, his most famous work, mouse is a poignant, holocaust fashion narrative that redefined the medium. The film showcases his resistance to fascism, from the Nazis to Trump and features rich illustrations from his comics, highlighting, his significant impact as an artist and a cultural icon. PBS American Masters.

June 11  Becoming Kathryn Graham (Anita Quinlan)

2025 documentary: The film examines the evolution of Katherine Graham from a painfully shy woman and a self proclaimed doormat, wife and her accidental rise to power and how it changed history into one of the most powerful newspaper publishers in the 20th century

July 9  Daughters (Clare Pokorny)

2024 documentary for young girls prepared for a special daddy/daughter dance with their incarcerated father as a part of a unique fatherhood program in Washington DC jail. The documentary reunite four girls with their fathers through dance. Natalie Ray and Angela Patton are behind the extraordinary film. Patton has been working with young people for more than two decades as CEO of Girls for a Change, a nonprofit that empowers black girls in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia by addressing their unique needs while making sure to reserve space for innocence and play. . The film won the audience award at the 2024 Sundance film festival.

August 13  Inside Out 2 (Sandy Holt)

Animated:  2024 coming of age film sequel to Inside Out from 2015, the highest grossing film of 2024, The film earned many award nominations.  Joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust have been running a successful operation by all accounts, but when anxiety shows up, they aren’t sure how to feel.