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past series
  

Each series, we select a theme and then screen films that fit the theme. Think of it as an extended conversation, with each film adding a new voice. Quirky, controversial, heart-wrenching, or hilarious, our goal is to entertain and educate. And you can’t beat the price. Admission is free!
 
2005 Fall Film Series
 
Theme: Good Eats: Food & Film
 
The films in this series demonstrate the enormous impact food has on so many aspects of our lives. The films are a feast for the eyes, the soul, and the appetite!

Mostly Martha
  
In a German restaurant, Chef Martha Klein is the undisputed supreme ruler of the kitchen staff and woe to any customer who would dare criticize her cooking. All that changes when her sister dies in a car accident, leaving behind her headstrong eight year old daughter, Lina. As Martha struggles to care for Lina, an unorthodox new chef named Mario challenges her authority.

2002  109 minutes   Director: Sandra Nettlebeck

Kitchen Stories
 
Scientists at the Home Research Institute in Sweden send Folke Nilsson to rural Norway to study the kitchen routines of Isak, a bachelor farmer. From a high, custom-made observation chair in the kitchen, few activities escape the Folke’s gaze. But under no circumstances must Folke be spoken to or included in kitchen activities. Despite these rules, a grand friendship is forged between Folke and Isak.
  
2003  95 minutes    Director: Bent Hamer
Tampopo
 
Billed as the first Japanese “Noodle Western,” Goro and Gun are truck drivers passing through town when they meet Tampopo who runs a small noodle shop called Lai Lai. Business is grim, so Goro recruits a group of specialists to help devise the perfect bowl of noodles and make her shop the leading Ramen den in town.
 
1985  114 min.  Director: Juzo Itami
What's Cooking?
  
British director Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) explores the cultural, familial, and social traditions of four very different families, each celebrating Thanksgiving in Los Angeles. The families - one African-American, one Latino, one Jewish, and one Vietnamese - differ in the ways that they interact, the ways that they celebrate, and, of course, in what's cooking on the stove.
  
2000  109 minutes    Director:  Gurinder Chadha
Big Night
 
A provocative tale of two immigrant brothers, Primo and Secundo, fighting to save their struggling restaurant. A friend offers to call famous jazz musician Louis Prima to play a special benefit at their restaurant. Primo begins to prepare his masterpiece, a feast of a lifetime, for the brothers' big night. Awarded the 1996 Sundance Award for Screenwriting. Stars Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, Minnie Driver, Isabella Rosselini, and Ian Holm.

1996 107 min. Director: Campbell Scott & Stanley Tucci