ENGLISH SURGEON COMES TO STF

• by Thom Powers, April 02, 2009

STF’s spring season kicks off with THE ENGLISH SURGEON. Posing after the Q&A: Thom Powers in his best English tweed (by way of a Vietnamese tailor); director Geoffrey Smith; and Henry Marsh, the surgeon who describes himself as a narcissist but comes off as an altruist - proving they’re not incompatible.

Read a full report of the film on the Britical blog, excerpted here:

After the film, Marsh gets up on stage for a brief Q & A. I want to ask him why, of all people, we see him in the film riding his bike without a helmet - but I decide this is a bit cheeky. Later, I chat with him in the bar, and, discovering that he trained the surgeon who treated my Mother, forget to enquire. I head home on the subway and remember something: he had admitted, unprompted, that surgeons are by necessity risk-takers, and, he laughed, “narcissists”. Maybe that’s the clue to the helmet thing. More importantly, though, his honest acknowledgement indicates a duality possessed by very few: the professional All Powerful God-in-a-white-coat half we know all too well. But in Henry Marsh we witness also that which is rare: a thing comprised of humility, empathy, responsibility. He clearly feels it is his duty as both a doctor and a human being to look an absolutely horrifying situation right in the face and not turn away. And after that, to just “get on with it”, to do whatever you can, however small, and however imperfectly, to make it better.

After the screening, the crowd packed into 99 Below for drinks late into the night. Among the revelers were Josh Levin of Gallant Films; Hilla Medalia, director of TO DIE IN JERUSALEM and the forthcoming AFTER THE STORM; and filmmaker RUTH SOMALO, whose doc about singer James Blunt TIL YOU’RE TOLD TO STOP will soon be hitting the festival circuit.

  Director Geoffrey Smith with Simon Kilmurry, the head of POV where THE ENGLISH SURGEON will eventually be shown on PBS.

 

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STF SWINGS

• by Thom Powers, March 20, 2009

Written by Hugo Perez

What Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion and Andy Warhol’s Factory were to the international jet-set of the 1960s, Larry Levinson’s infamous sex-club Plato’s Hideaway was to working class New York in the late seventies and early eighties. Jon Hart and Matthew Kauffman’s documentary AMERICAN SWING captures the rise and fall of this truly unique New York establishment and the equally compelling story of Larry Levinson, the self-proclaimed King of Swing who founded Plato’s Hideaway as a place where middle class husbands and wives could let their hair down and swing. 

Photo L to R: STF guest host Hugo Perez, American Swing subjects Adam and Captain John and producer Matthew Kauffman

ARGUING THE WORLD

• by Thom Powers, March 12, 2009

Written by Hugo Perez

A brief surf of cable news shows and their speaking-points, sound-byte oriented talking-head experts might lead one to ask where public intellectual discourse has gone in our media saturated 21st century world.  This week’s STF presentation ARGUING THE WORLD is a swansong to the golden age of New York public intellectual life through a portrait of several of its most influential participants: Daniel Bell, Nathan Glazer, Irving Howe, and neo-con godfather Irving Kristol.  New York doc veterans Director Joseph Dorman and Editor Jonathan Oppenheim joined the STF audience for a discussion of the circumstances that made the City College of the 1930s the cradle of public intellectual discourse for the remainder of the 20th Century, and how the changing nature of our society and media-scape perhaps no longer allow for public intellectuals to have the prominence and influence that they once did.  As is traditional, the conversation continued at STF hangout 99 Below where Dorman and Oppenheim were joined by a slew of familiar faces from the New York documentary scene: Jean Tsien, Jenni Livingston, Pola Rapaport, Martina Radwan, and others.  Several hours later, fueled by good conversation and perhaps the special pear schnapps STF drink special, one left thinking that perhaps the prognosis for intellectual discourse was not as bleak as one thought.

SPECIAL STF DISCOUNT TO CINEMA EYE HONORS

• by Thom Powers, March 06, 2009

There are a limited number of discounted tickets being made available to the STF community for the March 29 presentation of the Cinema Eye Honors. Last year, the first Cinema Eye Honors was one of the my favorite documentary events of 2008. This year’s edition promises to be even better, moving to the gorgeous Times Center in the New York Times building.

Top documentary makers and film industry leaders will gather to celebrate excellence and innovation in the nonfiction films of 2008. Awards
presenters include Laurie Anderson, Albert Maysles, D.A. Pennebaker and Morgan Spurlock. The diverse array of nominated films include MAN ON WIRE, WALTZ WITH BASHIR, and MY WINNIPEG. More than a typical awards show, the night will feature music DJ-ed by composer and musician Ion Furjanic (composer of MANDA BALA and JESUS CAMP) and other surprises.

The ticket price includes a post-ceremony reception with hors d’oevres and an open bar at the nearby venue, ARENA (135 West 41st St).

Tickets are normally priced at $75, but if you enter the access code “STF”, you’ll pay only $50. CLICK HERE TO ORDER TICKETS

Girl power at STF

• by Raphaela Neihausen, March 06, 2009

Text taken from Brooklyn Socialite’s blog:

GIRLS LIKE US. This is a great film from the late 90’s that I saw at Stranger than Fiction last night. Oh, how I love STF, I finally found a club that would have me as its member (this is a Marx Brothers reference, if you don’t get it, you can’t join the club!). The documentary made by a lovely lady couple, tracks 4 teenagers from the time they are 13-14 until they are 17-18. The girls, who all live in South Philly, speak candidly about sex, childbirth, their relationships with their family and friends and their goals in life. This film won Sundance back in the day and it’s easy to understand why. Like Trouble the Water it sort of magically captures those tragedies and joys of life, which are often rendered mundane, as people avert their eyes to experiences of “othered” social groups.  The 4 girls, 2 white, 1 black and one South Asian all seemed to struggle to define themselves independently of their relationships with men. While, their parents and guardians strove to keep them on a track towards college and career. 3 of the women, now pushing 30, joined us at the IFC center after for a Q&A. They all seem to have turned out quite well and consider their experience being in the film to have been enriching and not exploitative.

British filmmakers and recent Sundance prize winners Havana Marking (AFGHAN STAR) and Kim Longinotto (ROUGH AUNTIES) stop by Stranger Than Fiction on their way back from the True/False Film Festival.

GIRLS LIKE US filmmakers Jane Wagner and Tina DiFeliciantonio.

“My girls” (assortment of high-school and college friends) - immigration consultant Daria Campion, journalist Elizabeth Mendez Berry and director of programming for The Cordoba Initiative Courtney Erwin.

Filmmakers Howard Weinberg and Robin Hessman.

Publisher Colin Robinson, director of Women Make Movies Debra Zimmerman and filmmaker Kim Longinotto.

Dear friends Cydcharise Goler and Julie Asher.  More girls like me!

Visiting filmmaker Maria Yatskova (director of MISS GULAG, all the way from Baku, Azerbaijan!) with her husband Emin and Thom.

Filmmakers Jessi Epstein and Robin Hessman (visiting us from Boston).

Related Film/Screening:
GIRLS LIKE US by Jane C. Wagner and Tina DiFeliciantonio

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