The Community Film Series, an annual tradition created by Ohio Wesleyan University’s Department of English and downtown Delaware’s historic Strand Theatre, kicks off March 7 and continues through April 26.
All films in the 2017 series will be screened at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Strand, 28 E. Winter St., Delaware.
General admission is $7 or $6 with a valid Ohio Wesleyan ID. Films comprising the 2017 Community Film Series are:
March 7-8: “Something Wild” (Demme, 1986). A genre-bending screwball comedy and thriller, “Something Wild” captures the cultural Zeitgeist of the mid-1980s, with its clash between Yuppie suburban life and free-spirited bohemianism. After a classic opening “meet-cute,” Lulu (Melanie Griffith) and Charlie (Jeff Daniels) set off to enjoy a spontaneous romantic weekend, only to be challenged by the reappearance of Lulu’s ex-con ex-husband, Ray (Ray Liotta). (Rated R, 114 mins.)
March 21-22: “Chinatown” (Polanski, 1974). This neo-film noir follows private detective Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson), by turns confused and intrigued as he attempts to solve the mystery of the “California water wars” of 1930s Los Angeles. Along the way, he falls in love with the troubled Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) and has a series of run-ins with her father (John Huston), one of the creepiest villains ever dreamed up by Hollywood. (Rated R, 130 mins.)
March 28-29: “Winter’s Bone” (Granik, 2010). In her breakout role, Jennifer Lawrence plays 17-year-old Ree Dolly, one of the most courageous characters to grace the American movie screen of the 2010s. Amid the hardscrabble rural poverty of the Missouri Ozarks, Ree must locate her missing father in order to save her family’s home. Her crystal meth-addicted uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes) gives her what help he can in ascertaining his brother’s whereabouts. (Rated R, 100 minutes.)
April 4-5: “Nostalgia for the Light” (Chile, Guzmán, 2010). This documentary explores life at 10,000 feet above sea level in the driest place on earth, Chile’s Atacama Desert, where astronomers from all over the world gather to observe the stars. Guzmán’s observing camera makes unexpected, sublime connections between star-gazing and the Andean heights’ secrets: the human remains of Pre-Columbian mummies, 19th century explorers, and political prisoners “disappeared” by the Chilean army after the fascist coup of 1973. (Spanish and English with subtitles, 90 mins.)
April 11-12: “Life, Above All” (South Africa, Schmitz, 2010). In this film based on the award-winning novel “Chanda’s Secrets” by Allan Stratton, 12-year-old Chanda fights the fear and prejudice of her community outside Johannesburg to get help for her mother, who is suffering from a disease that no one will even name: AIDS. She also fights for her best friend, who depends upon prostitution for survival. This film won the Black Film Critics Circle award for Best Foreign film and the François Chalais Award at Cannes. (Southern Sotho with English subtitles, rated PG-13, 100 mins.)
April 18-19: “Like Father, Like Son” (Japan, Koreeda, 2013). A doting father discovers that his 6-year-old son is not his son when the hospital confesses that two babies were switched shortly after birth. He insists that the boys be switched back over his wife’s objections. Critic Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times calls it “meaningful and deeply moving,” and Robbie Collin of The Telegraph calls it “a tender poem about the ebb and flow of paternal love.” It won a Jury Prize at Cannes. (Japanese with English subtitles, not rated, 121 mins.)
April 25-26: “Pride” (U.K., Warchus, 2014). Inspired by a true story, Pride recounts what happens when striking coal miners in a small Welsh village in 1984 receive outspoken support from an unexpected – and perhaps unwelcome? – source: a small but enthusiastic group of gay activists from London. Critic David Denby of The New Yorker called it “brilliantly entertaining,” and it won the Queer Palm at Cannes. Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton star. (Rated R, 119 mins.)
