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Archives for August 2019

This Is Home: A Refugee Story

This Is Home: A Refugee

This Is Home: A Refugee Story

Director: Alexandra Shiva
Runtime: 91 minutes

THIS IS HOME is an intimate portrait of four Syrian refugee families arriving in America and struggling to find their footing. Displaced from their homes and separated from loved ones, they are given eight months of assistance from the International Rescue Committee to become self-sufficient. As they learn to adapt to challenges, including the newly imposed travel ban, their strength and resilience are tested.

After surviving the traumas of war, the families arrive in Baltimore, Maryland and are met with a whole new set of challenges. They attend cultural orientation classes and job training sessions where they must “learn America” – everything from how to take public transportation to negotiating new gender roles.

THIS IS HOME goes beyond the statistics, headlines, and political rhetoric to tell deeply personal stories, putting a human face on the global refugee crisis.


Screening Info

Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 8pm
Venue: The GoggleWorks Boscov Theater
Address: 201 Washington St, Reading
Tickets: $10

Nothing From Something

Nothing from Something

Nothing From Something

Director: Chris Perillo
Runtime: 66 minutes

In the midst of a messy divorce and a nervous breakdown after catching his best friend sleeping with his wife, Luke is out of options. He is forced to move in with his father, who he hasn’t spoken with in four years. Everyone around Luke seems to have things in place; careers, families, money, etc., but things aren’t what they appear to be for everyone. While attempting to piece his life back together and figure out how to move forward, an old friend, Pam, reenters Luke’s life, and they both begin rediscovering who they once were while figuring out how they got to be who they are now.


Screening Info

Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 7pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10

Tarab

Tarab

Tarab

Director: Jennifer Hanley
Runtime: 88 minutes

Mena Isaac is a single, successful Lebanese-American lawyer, married to her career. Sarah, her mother, desperately wants grandchildren and even arranges some “dates” (including, unwittingly, one with a gay Lebanese man). But Mena is getting older and Sarah is losing hope. Although, the Isaacs are a modern Lebanese-American family, their conservative cultural roots are not completely left behind.
Mena has been working so hard on her career that she doesn’t notice that she has lost something. Her natural spark and light have disappeared. But all of that is about to change when she signs up for belly dance classes. Mena finds she is a natural and soon her teacher asks her to perform at a local restaurant/club. Mena has serious misgivings: No one in her family would dance like this in public. Belly dancers are considered one step up from prostitutes, although ironically, they are often hired to dance at family weddings and events. And what if they find out at her conservative law firm? But, Mena is starting to feel something she thought she’d lost forever, reclaiming some piece of herself, and just maybe that is worth the risk?!
Soon, she’s dancing regularly at the restaurant. Her co-workers start to notice something different about her: Does she have a new boyfriend? Extra B12? Mena laughs them off, but how long can she keep up this double life? Inevitably, her secret is revealed in a very public way. Will she lose her job and family’s respect? Will she have to give up the one thing that has reconnected her to herself?!
Tarab will have broad appeal to audiences across many demographics. It touches upon universal themes that transcend age, gender, and cultural differences: Secrets long held, dreams deferred and rediscovered later in life, and the conflict between family obligations vs. personal fulfillment.
Tarab is Arabic for musical ecstasy, bliss, or enchantment; an extreme emotional transformation leading to intense feelings of joy, sorrow, or sadness; a concept with no exact English translation. Its timely themes include the societal and cultural pressure upon women to conform to certain norms, acceptance of homosexuality in Arabic culture, and the difficulties women face in owning their sexuality in today’s climate.


Screening Info

Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 6pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10

From Liberty to Captivity

From Liberty to Captivity

From Liberty to Captivity

Director: Debbie Wright
Runtime: 132 minutes

From Liberty to Captivity examines how one of America’s original 13 states, Pennsylvania, went from a place that represented the fight for freedom historically and now has become a state where modern-day slavery is flourishing – threatening the principle of “liberty and justice for all.” This award-winning film zooms in on Pennsylvania’s lucrative sex trafficking industry, revealing the reality and complexities of sex trafficking crimes and this social justice issue, sharing the personal and inspiring stories of victim survivors and others on the front lines of this war, and presenting the very real hope for victory.


Screening Info

Date: Sunday, November 3, 2019 at 12pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10

Ako

Ako

Ako

Director: Nabi Gholizadeh
Runtime: 82 minutes

Tehran’s Grand Bazaar. Every product has a story and every porter has a secret. Ako does not want anyone to know his secret


Screening Info

Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 4pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10

The Worry Doll

The Worry Doll

The Worry Doll

Director: Brandon C. Lay
Runtime: 110 minutes

After a series of unexplainable night terrors Tess (Syd Stauffer) becomes obsessed with finding her estranged sister, Janie (Karisa Hope). Tess and her best friend Ashlyn (Kate Huges) enlist her sister’s ex girlfriend Tick-Tick (Jenna McBreen) to help search for her in the drug underworld.


Screening Info

Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 4pm
Venue: The GoggleWorks Boscov Theater
Address: 201 Washington St, Reading
Tickets: $10

Power to Heal: Medicare & the Civil Rights Revolution

Power to Heal

Power to Heal: Medicare & the Civil Rights Revolution

Director: Charles Burnett, Daniel Loewenthal
Runtime: 56 minutes

POWER TO HEAL: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution tells a poignant chapter in the historic struggle to secure equal and adequate access to healthcare for all Americans. Central to the story is the tale of how a new national program, Medicare, was used to mount a dramatic, coordinated effort that desegregated thousands of hospitals across the country practically overnight.

Before Medicare, disparities in access to hospital care were dramatic. Less than half the nation’s hospitals served black and white patients equally, and in the South, 1/3 of hospitals would not admit African-Americans even for emergencies.

Using the carrot of Medicare dollars, the federal government virtually ended the practice of racially segregating patients, doctors, medical staffs, blood supplies and linens. POWER TO HEAL illustrates how Movement leaders and grass-roots volunteers pressed and worked with the federal government to achieve justice and fairness for African-Americans.


Screening Info

Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 2pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10

Inspiration – Special Block

A Day in the Life of Kik Pool

A Day in the Life of Kik Pool

Director: Danny Kim
Runtime: 33 minutes

Beginning in the quiet, pre-dawn hours, a public pool provides a place for the community to gather: to stay in shape, to learn an important skill, and to simply have fun. But as the day progresses, it becomes clear that a public pool is much more than that — it is almost a living thing: shifting and changing with the different people who use it, nurturing the community and strengthening friendships and family bonds. In some ways, the pool symbolizes life itself.

Eworth

Eworth

Director: Christopher Romano
Runtime: 16:11 minutes

Fly fishing and tour guiding is a way of life for most Belizeans. Somehow, Eworth Garbutt has figured out how to be the best at it. This film shows why.

Camp ALEC

Camp ALEC

Director: Christopher Stoudt
Runtime: 18 minutes

Nestled in the woods outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Camp ALEC is a sleepaway camp for kids who are non-speaking. Despite being smart, capable individuals in every sense, disabilities like autism, cerebral palsy, and verbal apraxia have made it impossible for these campers — along with 1.3% of the US population — to vocalize speech. To express themselves, they use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices that translate their composed messages into audible speech.

The Day I Became Alive

Director: Derek Dienner
Runtime: 12:23 minutes

At 31, Derek Dienner was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. Faced with his own mortality, Derek learned how to turn tragedy into a motivator for change. As Derek reflected on his journey, he realized August 24th, 2017 was not the day he was diagnosed with cancer, but the day he became alive.


Screening Info

Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 2pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10

Gender Issues – Shorts Block

Film block sponsored by

Fairmont Behavioral Health System
Unsolicited

UNSOLICTED

Director: Meg Cook
Runtime: 1 minute

A woman’s initial excitement at getting a message quickly turns sour. Based on the all too common experience of receiving an unsolicited ‘dick pic’.

CRADLE OF SILENCE

Director: Mostafa Mehraban
Runtime: 10 minutes

Rasoul has to deliver a cradle to his martyr friend’s widow. With Rasoul returning from the southern warzone to the northern part of the country, his wife Laya plans on going back to the warzone with him. The cradle becomes an excuse for Rasoul to reject his wife’s request.

A Period Piece

A Period Piece

Director: Sylvia Ray
Runtime: 5:12 minutes

Cheered on by her best friend, a teen confronts her greatest fear – tampons.

This One's For You Alice

This One’s for You, Alice

Director: Patrick Hanser
Runtime: 11 minutes

When Joaquim, a frustrated writer living in the 70s, finds out his recently wed wife is cheating on him, he starts writing a suicide letter along with preparing a surprise for his wife to find when she gets home from her lover’s arms.

A Visible Truth

A Visible Truth

Director: Ash Warren
Runtime: 13:24 minutes

Ami, an introverted transgender person, lives an unfulfilled, closeted life until a tragic event motivates Ami to reexamine their own feelings on identity.

The Snail

Director: Mohammad Torivarian
Runtime: 10:44 minutes

Three young Iranian boys along with a smuggler are clandestinely smuggling across the Iran-Turkey border. The smuggler only passes masculines through the border. In the middle of the way, he suddenly realizes that one of the passengers is hermaphrodite.

A Piece of Chocolate

A Piece of Chocolate

Director: Mohammad Ali Wahaj
Runtime: 5:51 minutes

A woman who is raped by her husband each month due to her husband’s debt

Generations

Generations

Director: Kourosh Ahari
Runtime: 24 minutes

When a tragedy at work provokes him to uncover family secrets at home, Dr. Bill O’Connell discovers the truth about himself and his lineage.

Zoe In Review

Zoe In Review

Director: Stacey Larkins
Runtime: 15 minutes

An emotionally fractured woman examines her past in search of answers for her present entanglement.

Parvaz Mahiha

Parvaz Mahiha

Director: Mohammad Towrivarian
Runtime: 14:38 minutes

The new teacher in the village understood that one of his student who is the only girl in the class don’t talk and a cigarette burn is visible in her hand.


Screening Info

Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 1pm
Venue: The GoggleWorks Boscov Theater
Address: 201 Washington St, Reading
Tickets: $10

Capturing the Flag

Capturing the Flag

Capturing the Flag

Director: Anne de Mare
Runtime: 76 minutes

In 2013, in Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court invalidates the part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act requiring certain states to submit changes in voting laws to the Justice Department for approval. Almost immediately, certain states take voter suppression measures such as enacting voter ID laws, redrawing district boundaries, and repealing same-day registration.

Three months before the 2016 election, a group of volunteers across the country mobilizes to work on voter protection – to observe elections and to assure that all those who wish to vote are legally allowed to do so. Laverne Berry, Steven Miller, and Claire Wright head to North Carolina. What they find at the polls serves as both a warning and a call to action for anyone interested in protecting the “One Man, One Vote” fundamental of our democracy.


Screening Info

Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 12pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10

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