DINNER & A MOVIE 2023
The Woods Hole Film Festival Winter/Spring Dinner & A Movie Film Series, January through June, 2023.
The Woods Hole Film Festival is pleased to announce the return of the Winter/Spring Film Series with twice-monthly in-person screenings of the best in independent film from January through June, 2023. The screenings will be held in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Redfield Auditorium, located at 45 Water Street, Woods Hole. The program includes films from the past Woods Hole Film Festival as well as other selections curated specifically for this series.
For more information email info@woodsholefilmfestival.org or call (508) 495-3456.
PAST SCREENINGS & EVENTS
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS?
Saturday, May 20, 2023
Feature documentary by John Scheinfeld, USA, 112 mins., 2023
In 1970, Blood, Sweat and Tears was one of the biggest bands in the world. They had exploded on the scene with both daring and promise, selling millions of records, winning multiple Grammy Awards including Album of the Year (beating out The Beatles’ Abbey Road) and headlining the legendary Woodstock festival. In demand for concert and TV appearances, BS&T was a darling of the mainstream and rock press, icon of the counterculture and inspiration for a generation of horn-based bands. Their future was limitless. And then it all went wrong. Created with the full cooperation of Blood, Sweat and Tears, this feature documentary will overflow with great music, international political intrigue, compelling human moments, humor and fresh insight into this strange never-before-told story of a tangle with the Nixon administration, a controversial tour behind the Iron Curtain that put them in the crossfire of a polarized America and a lost tour documentary that might just explain it all.
A special event evening of film and music presented by the Woods Hole Film Festival and Cotuit Center for the Arts, Tuesday May 23, 2023.
Bonnie Blue: James Cotton’s Life in the Blues, a feature documentary plus a live performance with James Montgomery and Friends
Film Screening: 7 pm
BONNIE BLUE: JAMES COTTON’S LIFE IN THE BLUES, feature documentary film by Bestor Cram, USA, 2022, 86 mins.
Born in 1935 on Bonnie Blue plantation in Tunica, Mississippi, apprenticing with Sonny Boy Williamson II and Howlin’ Wolf, and schooled by Muddy Waters, James ‘Super Harp’ Cotton became a mentor to harp players around the globe as he brought the delta blues into mainstream rock ‘n roll. Orphaned at nine, Cotton’s journey tracks America’s history and his story is one of empowerment during a time when the weight of racial inequity made the journey seem impossible. Bonnie Blue – James Cotton’s Life in the Blues is a unique portrait of an era and its impact today. Cotton’s music made history; his musical voice was unique, and the blues were never the same. https://www.jamescottonfilm.com/
Music 8:45. The James Montgomery Band with special guests Christine Ohlman (the Beehive Queen), Willie J. Laws and Jerry Portnoy
The James Montgomery Blues Band
Christine Ohlman – vocals
Willie J. Laws – guitar
Jerry Portnoy – harmonica
HILMA
Saturday, May 6, 2023
Narrative feature by Lasse Hallström, Sweden, 120 mins., 2022, in English
Lasse Hallström (“Chocolat”, “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”) brings to life the story of a woman who posthumously revolutionized the art world as one of the first abstract artists. In this immersive biopic we follow the artist from her early life through her rising artistic career and spiritual awakening after the loss of her beloved younger sister, Hermina. Hilma explores af Klint’s spiritualism, her unconventional love life, and the impetus behind her work — from the writings of Rudolph Steiner to the strong influence of the Theosophic Movement, and her belief in its mystical philosophy — in a portrait of a woman well ahead of her time. (Sweden, 2022). Starring Lena Olin, Tora Hallström, Catherine Chalk, Lily Cole, and Tom Wlaschiha
EXPOSURE
Saturday, April 29, 2023
Feature documentary by Holly Morris, USA, 88 mins., 2022
Against all odds and polar advice, a Muslim chaplain, a French biologist, a Qatari princess and eight other women from the Arab World and the West attempt to ski across the melting Arctic sea ice to the North Pole. These boundary-breaking adventurers, led by veteran polar explorer Felicity Aston, navigate everything from frostbite and polar bear threats, to sexism and self-doubt in an intimate story of resilience, survival and global citizenry. These audacious women are also, to date, the last ever to ski over the ice to the North Pole.
ROISE AND FRANK
Saturday, March 18, 2023
It is two years since Róise lost the love of her life, her husband Frank. She is now isolated in grief, cut off from family and community. The arrival of a mysterious dog, who seems intent on connecting with Róise, heralds huge change, but is it for the better? The dog loves sport and steaks, has a favorite armchair and an aversion to their neighbor, Donncha. Róise quickly realizes that this dog is her beloved Frank, reincarnated. While her son worries that his mother has lost her mind, the local community seem to embrace the idea of Frank’s return, especially as he coaches a shy local kid to become a star player and ensure success for the school team. Róise is happy once more, but is there a real future for her with a dog-husband?
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2023
OMAR SOSA’S 88 WELL TUNED DRUMS by Soren Sorensen, USA, 90 mins, 2022
About the film:
Multiple Grammy-nominee Omar Sosa is one of the most versatile jazz artists on the scene today. He fuses a wide range of jazz, world music, and electronic elements with his native Afro-Cuban roots to create a fresh and original sound—with a Latin jazz heart. The film traces Sosa’s artistic origins beginning with his birth and childhood in Camagüey, Cuba. In his 25+ years as a solo artist, Omar Sosa has released over 30 albums and received four Grammy nominations and three Latin Grammy nominations. Often performing as many as 100 concerts across six continents annually, Sosa is known for a rhythmic style and musical influences and collaborators as diverse as his travel itinerary. Filmmaker Soren Sorensen will attend the screening and participate in a post-screening Q&A.
Saturday, February 25, 2023 through Friday, March 3, 2023 presents a free virtual screening of the award-winning film MR. SOUL!
MR. SOUL! a feature documentary by Melissa Haizlip, USA, 2018, 90 mins.
About the film:
Before Oprah, Before Arsenio, there was Mr. Soul! MR. SOUL! tells the story of SOUL! the variety show devoted to the African American experience, and of Ellis Haizlip, the producer whose broad vision helped to define it.
Haizlip was the host and executive producer of SOUL!, the first “black Tonight Show.” In 1968, SOUL! was launched as a local, New York broadcast. In 1969 the series rolled out nationwide on PBS, on WNET Channel 13. By 1973, Haizlip had produced over 130 hour-long shows featuring a dazzling array of A-list guests: Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, James Baldwin, Stevie Wonder, Maya Angelou, Ashford and Simpson, Nikki Giovanni, Al Green and Muhammad Ali — even a sixteen-year-old Arsenio Hall doing magic tricks.
Who was this innovator, determined to fight for liberation and acceptance through cultural expression? Why did this Emmy Award-winning show lose funding at the height of the Black Arts Movement? How is SOUL! relevant today, when diversity in media remains a paramount issue?
The series was among the first to provide expanded images of African Americans on television, shifting the gaze from inner-city poverty and violence to the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement. With participants’ recollections and illuminating archival clips, Mr. SOUL! captures a critical moment in culture whose impact continues to resonate.
Mr. SOUL! invites us behind-the-scenes of this groundbreaking phenomenon, from its initial conception to its final broadcast, including the very public battle to keep it on the air despite a shifting political landscape. The film starts a new dialogue about this critical moment in American broadcast history while offering a nuanced and fascinating portrait of the soul behind SOUL!, Ellis Haizlip and his personal fight for social equality.
Emmy Nominee, Peabody Award Winner Best Documentary 2022
SPONSORED IN PART BY A GRANT FROM THE FALMOUTH CULTURAL COUNCIL.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2023
LOWNDES COUNTY AND THE ROAD TO BLACK POWER by Sam Pollard and Geeta Gandbhir, USA, 90 mins., 2022.
The Woods Hole Film Festival, together with the Woods Hole Diversity Advisory Committee presented a special collaborative screening during Black History Month. The screening was supported in part by a grant from the Falmouth Cultural Council.
About the film:
Passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 represented not the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement, but the beginning of a crucial, new chapter. Nowhere was this next battle better epitomized than in Lowndes County, Alabama, an impoverished rural county with a history of racist terrorism. In the county that was 80 percent Black with no Black voters, laws were just paper without power. This film isn’t a story of hope, but of action. Through first person accounts and searing archival footage, LOWNDES COUNTY AND THE ROAD TO BLACK POWER tells the story of the local movement and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers who fought not just for voting rights, but for Black Power in Lowndes County, Alabama.
SCRUM, SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2023
SCRUM, feature documentary by Thomas Morgan, USA, 2021, 75 mins.
About the film:
Frank McKinney is the first (and only) Black college rugby coach in the U.S. When Frank is hired to build a new rugby team at a predominantly white Southern university, his dream was of bringing diversity to the game that he loved was suddenly within reach. Character and good grades required. Rugby skills? Optional.
WINTER SHORTS SATURDAY JANUARY 14, 2023
WINTER SHORTS, 92 mins, a selection of short films from the 31st Woods Hole Film Festival
