The Documentary Film Group will be trying another format this year. We will be gathering for dinner at Tobacco Road in Chapel Hill to discuss a documentary film each month.
Check out the menu at www.tobaccoroadsportscafe.com
The documentaries are all available on Netflix unless noted otherwise and participants should watch the documentary selection before coming to the meeting where we will discuss the film over dinner.
The October film is: Fire at Sea
"Fire at Sea’ Is Not the Documentary You’d Expect About the Migrant Crisis. It’s Better."---NY Times
In 2016 this Italian documentary directed by Gianfranco Rosi won the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. It was nominated for an Academy Award for the best Documentary feature. Fire at Sea takes place in Lampedusa, a remote Mediterranean island that has become a major entry point for refugees into Europe. The film sets the migrants’ dangerous sea crossing against a background of the ordinary life of the islanders. The main characters are a 12-year old boy from a local fishing family and a doctor who treats the migrants on their arrival.
"Winner of the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival 2016, Gianfranco Rosi's incisive, poignant and deeply moving portrait of the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa--and the humanitarian crisis occurring in the seas around it--is both a masterly work of documentary filmmaking and a timely call for urgent action. Situated 150 miles south of Sicily, Lampedusa has hit headlines as the first port of call for hundreds of thousands of African and Middle Eastern refugees hoping to make a new life in Europe. After spending months living on the island and engaging with its inhabitants, Rosi accumulated an incredible array of footage, portraying the history, culture and daily lives of the islanders. Focusing on 12-year-old Samuele, as he explores the land and attempts to gain mastery of the sea, the film slowly builds a breathtakingly naturalistic portrait of the Lampedusan people and the events that surround them. The result is a lyrical, poetic and searingly powerful documentary that casts neither judgement nor aspersions, but simply shows the world to the viewer--to utterly devastating effect."---Rotten Tomatoes
Questions: Contact Jan Wilson at wilsonrj@slu.edu or at 314-610-6795.
If you would like to nominate a documentary film for discussion, please send your suggestions to normagindes@gmail.com.