event details posted by: jgeneric begins: May 3, 7:30 pm ends: Jun 28, 9:30 pm location: Wooden Shoe Books (508 s. 5th street philly 19147

Here's the May through June 2008 Movie Schedule for the People's Movie Night at Wooden Shoe Books.

June is AIDS Awareness Month, and also ACT-UP Philadelphia 's 20th Anniversary, one of the most amazing activist groups in the United States with a long history of getting results for people with AIDS across the USA and the world. (For more info on ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) Philadelphia, go to http://www.critpath.org/actup/)

The People's Movie Night's is every Saturday at 7:30PM at Wooden Shoe Books, Philadelphia's 31 year old Anarchist Bookstore collective, and the movies are ALWAYS FREE. Every attendee gets a cup of popcorn, as well!

Wooden Shoe Books
508 s. 5th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-413-0999
sabot@woodenshoebooks.com
www.woodenshoebooks.com

The People's Movie Night May-June Schedule

May

Saturday May 3rd 7:30PM Young, Jewish and Left

A celebration of diversity, Young Jewish and Left weaves queer culture, Jewish Arab history, secular Yiddishkeit, anti-racist analysis, and religious/spiritual traditions into a multi-layered tapestry of Leftist politics.  Personal experiences from many of today's leading Jewish activists reframe the possibilities of Jewish identity. It presents a fresh and constructive take on race, spirituality, Zionism, queerness, resistance, justice, and liberation.
Meet Shira Hassan. After she and her trans-gender partner "were literally laughed out of synagogue," she created a radical Machzor (prayer book) for the high holidays and organized her own queer-positive celebration.
Listen as Loolwa Khazoom, an Iraqi Jew and editor of Flying Camel: Essays on Identity by Women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Heritage, recounts her experience in a U.S. Hebrew School when the Rabbi told her it was a sin to use a Sephardi (non-European) Jewish prayer book.
And follow Micah Bazant as he praises the feminist possibilities within Jewish masculinity.
As these community organizers, playwrights, artists, and rabbis speak of building progressive organizations, new rituals, and more inclusive communities, it is clear that their inspiration is drawn from a proud Jewish past. Inspired by the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Workmen's Circle, and by their own communist & socialist grandparents, these Jewish radicals are creating a more just future by learning from and identifying with a collective, rich Jewish heritage of reform and rebellion. At a time when religious fundamentalists take power in the US and around the world, this documentary is an inspiration. Grab your Bubbe (grandmother) and your habibi (loved one) and check it out.
Young, Jewish, and Left was shot throughout the US and focuses on Jews who came of age after the New Left movements of the 60's and 70's. Activists from the previous generation provide historical context.  Music by Mirah, Nomy Lamm, and the Divahn.

Saturday May 10th 7:30PM Sacco and Vanzetti

SACCO AND VANZETTI is an 80-minute-long documentary that tells the story of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists who were accused of a murder in 1920, and executed in Boston in 1927 after a notoriously prejudiced trial.  It is the first major documentary film about this landmark story.
The ordeal of Sacco and Vanzetti came to symbolize the bigotry and intolerance directed at immigrants and dissenters in America, and millions of people in the U.S. and around the world protested on their behalf.  Nearly eighty years later, the story continues to have great resonance, as America once again grapples with issues of civil liberties and the rights of immigrants.
SACCO AND VANZETTI brings to life the personal, political, and legal aspects of this heartbreaking story. The powerful prison writings of Sacco and Vanzetti are read by actors John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub.  A chorus of passionate commentators propels the narrative, including Howard Zinn, Studs Terkel, Arlo Guthrie, and a number of older people with personal connections to the story.  Artwork, music, poetry, and feature film clips about the case are interwoven into the storytelling.
Through the tragic story of Sacco and Vanzetti, and the inspiring images of those who keep their memories alive, audiences will experience a universal – and very timely – tale of official injustice and human resilience.

Saturday May 17th 7:30PM The Wind That Shakes The Barley

Ireland, 1920. Damien and Teddy are brothers. But while the latter is already the leader of a guerrilla squad fighting for the independence of his motherland, Damien, a medical graduate of University College, would rather further his training at the London hospital where he has found a place. However, shortly before his departure, he happens to witness atrocities committed by the ferocious Black and Tans and finally decides to join the resistance group led by Teddy. The two brothers fight side by side until a truce is signed. But peace is short-lived and when one faction of the freedom-fighters accepts a treaty with the British that is regarded as unfair by the other faction, a civil war ensues, pitting Irishmen against Irishmen, brothers against brothers, Teddy against Damien....

Saturday May 24th 7:30PM Vera Drake

The brilliant writer-director Mike Leigh (Topsy-Turvy, Secrets and Lies, Naked) has crafted an utterly compelling movie about one of the most controversial of topics. An irrepressibly hopeful housecleaner in 1950s London named Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton, Antonia and Jane, Shakespeare in Love) mothers everyone around her, from her own family to helpless shut-ins and lonely men living in tiny, isolated apartments. None of these people know that Vera also helps young women get rid of unwanted pregnancies, until the police appear and tear her world apart. Vera Drakeisn't just an inspired character portrait; through simple and straightforward scenes, the movie weaves a quiet but mesmerizing portrait of how people--both wealthy and poor--cope with adversity. Though wrenching, Vera Drake has too much life to be depressing. Leigh is deservedly famous for his work with actors; every character brims with truth and Staunton's performance deserves every award it could possibly win.

Saturday May 31st 7:30PM KOYAANISQATSI- Life Out Of Balance

Prepare to experience a truly remarkable filma cinematic masterpiece so extraordinary that it regales the senses, stimulates the mind and actually 'redefines the potential of filmmaking (The Hollywood Reporter). Celebrated director Godfrey Reggio, innovative cinematographer Ron Fricke and Golden Globe-winning composer Philip Glass have created a 'spellbinding film so rich in beauty and detail that with each viewing it becomes a new and different film (Leonard Maltin). Unique profound mesmerizing and thought-provoking (Boxoffice), Koyaanisqatsi contrasts the tranquil beauty of nature with the frenzied hum of contemporary urban society. Uniting breathtaking imagery with a hauntingly evocative, award-winning score, it is original and fascinating (People) one of the greatest films of all time.

June
AIDS Awareness Month and the 20th Anniversary of ACT-UP Philadelphia

Saturday June 7th 7:30PM Pandemic: Facing Aids
Rarely have we seen such unique and personal stories of people living with AIDS than in this highly acclaimed film from award-winning filmmaker Rory Kennedy. Narrated by Danny Glover, this theatrical version of the five-part HBO series goes beyond the statistics to tell five remarkable stories from across the globe, revealing the heartaches and triumphs of real people coping with the stigma and effects of this devastating epidemic. From people like Sergei and Lena (Russia), young parents whose previous drug use has left them HIV-positive, to Alex (Brazil), a 27-year-old gay man who is trying to rebuild his health and get back to living a full and productive life, their stories are both heartbreaking and uplifting, providing a window into a world that so many of us have never fully understood. With an intimacy and sensitivity unparalleled by any other account of the AIDS crisis to date, there is no question that PANDEMIC: FACING AIDS is a "must-see" film for all.

Saturday June 14th 7:30PM Pills Profits Protest: Chronicle of the Global Aids Movement

This documentary examines critical junctures in the battle for access to HIV treatment as the poorest and most marginalized individuals confront larger powers, including governments, corporate bodies and a multinational drug industry that is motivated by profit. The fight for AIDS drugs is taking place in tandem with a growing anti-globalization movement; the latter provides a backdrop for examining AIDS through a lens of poverty, socioeconomic injustice and human rights.
At the heart of this documentary is a thorny question: Can the world afford universal HIV treatment? At what cost? What will be the global cost if we fail to treat and save 40 million people now? Pills, Profits and Protest are the three thematic touchstones of the film, each reflecting an important aspect of the current battle. Behind this movement are people, personalities and lives. This film weaves their personal stories with a larger chronicle of history-in-the-making.

Saturday June 21st 7:30PM Voices from the Front (PLUS: ACT-UP Panel)

In New York City, a distraught activist confronts the mayor with a story of a friend who languished on a cot in an emergency room hallway for nine days, only to die 48 hours after leaving the hospital. In 1988, thousands of activists hold the Food and Drug Administration under siege, demanding speedier drug approval. In 1990 AIDS activists converge on the National Institute of Health, calling for a more equitable clinical trial system and expanded research into new drugs and treatment.

Voices From the Front, the first feature-length documentary on AIDS activism in America, makes clear the emotional and political effects of community activism using the voices of those directly engaged. It is a powerful distillation of pictures and words from events organized to change public consciousness, expose the failure of the health care systems, and challenge government inaction and neglect concerning AIDS.

PLUS! A panel of local HIV/AIDS activists involved in ACT UP(AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) will be on hand to discuss current issues affecting people livings with HIV/AIDS, upcoming actions and the 20th anniversary of ACT UP Philly. (for more information on ACT-UP Philly, go to http://www.critpath.org/actup/)

Saturday June 28th 7:30PM Daybreak

The play is a taut, two-character allegory about AIDS that takes place
in one dismal room on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The film has been
"opened-out" into an apocalyptic, romantic action-thriller. New York
City is a 1984-style fascist nightmare steeped in poverty and ridden
with plague. Bands of armed officers under the rubric Operation
Helping Hand roam the streets rounding up Positives, who are tattooed
and quarantined in filthy hellholes. Blue, a poor but pretty young
woman (sweet-faced Moira Kelly), stumbles onto a secret resistance
group that rescue Positives to give them compassionate care. Blue
falls in love with their courageous leader, Torch, powerfully played
by Cuba Gooding Jr.
 
The film focuses on the relationship between these
star-crossed lovers and the film's best moments do the same. Neither
the play nor the film ever mentions AIDS by name, but it is clear that
in both cases AIDS is the plague in question and the theme is the
hysteria that AIDS can generate. The horrible future these dramas
foresaw did not come to pass. Since they were written, great medical
strides have been made that have changed the face of AIDS. But fear
and misinformation about the disease persist. AIDS remains a major
health crisis worldwide and Daybreak is a powerful film that deserves
to be seen.