Showtime:
Monday Oct 6 - 7:00pm

Ten Canoes

Arena Theater Film Club presents Ten Canoes on Monday, October 6, at 7 pm. This is the first major Australian feature film with the dialog in an indigenous Aboriginal language (the story's narration is in English). Ten Canoes won a special jury prize at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was Australia's official entry into the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 2007 Academy Awards.
      
Writer/director Rolf de Heer creates a story within a story, one taking place 1,000 years ago, long before Aboriginal contact with the outside world, and the other in mythological antiquity, the source of tribal beliefs, customs, laws, and rituals. De Heer has been highly praised by the Aboriginal community for evoking its culture and traditions with such authenticity, respect, and grace.

Ten men from differing tribes gather to make canoes for goose-egg hunting in a vast swamp. The expedition is led by an older man (Peter Minygululu), accompanied for the first time by his much younger brother (Jamie Gulpilil, son of David Gulpilil, one of Australia's most renowned actors and this film's narrator). Aware that his brother covets the youngest of his three wives, Minygululu decides to distract him with a rambling tale that teaches valor, bravery, adherence to law, and patience.
The sequences set a thousand years ago are in black and white, emulating 1930s photographs taken by anthropologist Donald Thomson that inspired the film. The scenes from antiquity are in color. This technique enables the viewer to know which time period is on the screen, which is helpful since Jamie Gulpilil and several other actors appear in both. The film masterfully evokes the blurring of natural and supernatural in ancient Aboriginal experience. As the egghunt proceeds, the mythological story unfolds with twists and turns that include a disappearance, sorcery, revenge, and the consequences of mistaken assumptions.

The leisurely pace of Ten Canoes includes just enough surprises to keep the viewer fully engrossed, but also allows time to ponder how universal desires and frustrations collide with the power of custom -- in this instance the Aboriginal practice of older men taking multiple wives, depriving younger men of any mate at all. The moral of the story is timeless and just as applicable today as it has been for eons, but the process of getting there is an intertwined and intriguing film experience.

Australia, 2006; unrated. Running time: 90 minutes. In Ganalbingu and other Aboriginal dialects with English subtitles.

Showtime:
Monday Oct 20 - 7:00pm

Beyond the Call
Guest Speaker by Videoconference: Writer/Director/Producer Adrian Belic

In this documentary, three middle-aged men -- former soldiers and modern-day knights -- travel the world delivering life-saving humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians and doctors in some of the most dangerous places on earth: the front lines of war. This inspiring film is also exciting, heart-wrenching, and sometimes hilarious, and it has screened at more than 75 film festivals on five continents. Scheduled guest speaker (via teleconference): writer/director/producer Adrian Belic.

Showtime:
Monday Oct 27 - 7:00pm

First Do No Harm
Guest Speakers: Screenwriter, Annie Beckett, and Director, Jim Abrahams

Starring Meryl Streep, this film is the true story of Lori Reimuller, who initially trusts the judgment of her young son's doctors when she learns that he has epilepsy. As the boy's health slides radically downhill, she plunges into her own research in frustration and desperation and learns about an alternative treatment called the Ketogenic Diet, devised long ago by a doctor from Johns Hopkins. The narrow-minded resistance she experiences from her son's doctor includes a threat to take legal action to prevent him from being removed from the hospital. The eventual success of this struggle has changed epilepsy treatment around the world, and several minor characters are portrayed by people who have been cured by the Ketogenic diet. Running time: 94 minutes; 1997. Guest speakers (in person): Screenwriter Annie Beckett and director Jim Abrahams.

Showtime:
Monday Nov 3 - 7:00pm

Phil Donahue's 'Body of War'

"Before the next President swaggers to the cameras challenging the enemy to "Bring it on," before the next Congress votes another War Resolution, my hope is that all these heavy breathing, lap top bombers take a moment to meet the First Cavalry's Honorably Discharged United States Army Specialist - Tomas Young." Phil Donahue, New York City, May 2007

Body of War is an intimate and transformational feature documentary about the true face of war today. Meet Tomas Young, 25 years old, paralyzed from a bullet to his spine - wounded after serving in Iraq for less than a week.

Body of War is Tomas' coming home story as he evolves into a new person, coming to terms with his disability and finding his own unique and passionate voice against the war. The film is produced and directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, and features two original songs by Eddie Vedder. Body of War is a naked and honest portrayal of what it's like inside the body, heart and soul of this extraordinary and heroic young man.

Body of War unfolds on two parallel tracks. On the one hand, we see Tomas evolving into a powerful voice against the war as he struggles to deal with the complexities of a paralyzed body. And on the other, we see the historic debate unfolding in the Congress about going to war in Iraq.

The film opens as Tomas and his fiance Brie prepare for their wedding. However, because of his disability, we see how the simple everyday activities for Tomas are involved and challenging. War is personal and the film takes us into the skin and bones of what it means to have no control over basic bodily functions. In many remarkable scenes, we directly experience how vulnerable and open Tomas is as he interacts with his wife, family, and friends.

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