Category: 2012/2013 Films

Surfing for Life Directed by David L. Brown,  68 minutes, Documentary, 1999 March 20, 2013/ 7:30 pm / Cases by the Sea, Coral Bay Ten legendary surfers weave a remarkable history of surfing in California and Hawaii.  Not just about surfing, Surfing for Life reads like a metaphor of  how to live and encourages the viewer to pursue whatever hopes and dreams that inspire passion.  Critics call it “wise and refreshing, told with artistry and a celebratory spirit” (Newsweek) and “A treasure, perhaps the most intelligent treatment of surfing ever captured on film” (San Francisco Chronicle). Join St. John Film Society at Cases by the Sea in Coral Bay — bring your own chair or sit at the picnic tables and enjoy Owen & Hannah’s drink specials, and local food from Reggie’s BBQ! St. John Film Society is partially funded by the NEA, VICA, and YOU!  Your $5.00 suggested donation is always appreciated! Find out more about the film Surfing for Life here. Thanks to Elaine Ione Sprauve Public Library, home to the St. John Film Society film collection. Special thanks to Cases by the Sea, an official partner of St. John Film Society!  

Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story Directed by Ron Berger & Dan Klores,  87 minutes, Documentary, 2005 February 20, 2013/ 7:30 pm / Cases by the Sea, Coral Bay Join St. John Film Society at Cases by the Sea in Coral Bay!  Bring your own chair or sit at the picnic tables and enjoy local food at Reggie’s.  Documentary filmmakers Dan Klores and Ron Berger look at a dark moment in American sports history — March 24, 1962 — when St. Thomas’s Emile Griffith fought Cuba’s Benny “Kid” Paret for the welterweight boxing championship. At the weigh-in, Paret taunted the gentle giant with an anti-gay slur. Later, Griffith pummeled Paret into a fatal coma as a nationwide TV audience watched. Decades later, six-time welterweight champion Griffith spoke of the fateful night that haunts him.  The film includes compelling boxing footage and interviews with Griffith and family, historians, and sports journalists.  Ring of Fire was a 2005 Sundance featured film and called “extraordinary” by The New York Times. St. John Film Society is partially funded by the NEA, VICA, and YOU!  Your $5.00 suggested donation is always appreciated! Find out more about Virgin Islander Emile Griffith here. Thanks to Elaine Ione Sprauve Public Library, home to the St. John Film Society film collection.  

jflkasdfjasdofijsdlfkjasdflkjsdf Films from the 4th TRAVELLING CARIBBEAN SHOWCASE OF FILMS  Spotlight on CUBA February 5, 2013/ 7:30 pm / St. John School of the Arts, Cruz Bay Join us for an insightful look into contemporary Cuba.  Three filmmakers capture the stories of teachers, cigar-factory workers, and taxi-drivers from urban Havana to rural Baracoa – inspiring, controversial, and uniquely Cuba!    ADOLPHO : 45–min , fiction, directed by Sofie Delaage 2006 Poor Adolpho yearns for life beyond his broken-down taxi and plots a journey across the sea in this contemporary Cuban comedy of errors.   CON EL TOQUE DE LA CHAVETA:  28-min, documentary, directed by Pamela Sporn In the cigar factories of Cuba, a unique tradition persists: ‘la lectura de tabaqueria’ . Every day, specially employed workers read out loud to the two or three-hundred tabaqueros as they sit rolling the country’s famous cigars. From classic novels to national politics and local baseball results, for centuries this daily tradition has been an education for the workers, or chavetas. But after years of listening, they are now knowledgeable and demanding, and the readers must be at their very best if they are to keep their discerning audience interested. MAESTRA (THE TEACHER):  33-min, documentary, directed by Catherine Murphy, 2011 In 1961 Cuba 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. 100,000 of the teachers were under 18 years old, over half were women.  The  Bay of Pigs invasion took place in Cuba impacting the both the women and the literacy campaign.  The young women who went out to teach literacy in the rural communities across the island found themselves deeply transformed in the process. This documentary includes present day interviews with women who volunteered to teach their country to read in 1961 along with archival footage and still photos from the 60’s.   Catherine Murphy has begun the recording of an oral history of one of contemporary Cuba’s greatest achievements. Thanks to Elaine Ione Sprauve Public Library, home to the St. John Film Society film collection.