June 2022
Beginning Tuesday, June 7, Andrew Botsford of Quogue will once again introduce our summer films each Tuesday night and discuss them afterward, often with guest commentators, followed by an informal audience discussion.
Most recently a visiting professor and communications consultant for the graduate arts program at Stony Brook Southampton, Andrew was for 20 years the associate editor of The Southampton Press and editor of its Arts & Living section. He has written extensively about film, theatre, and the arts. The host of the annual Hamptons Doc Fest in Sag Harbor, he has been an actor, director and producer with the Hampton Theatre Company in Quogue since 1985.
This is Andrew’s 16th year of hosting the WHBPAC summer film series.
Please note: due to a prior commitment, Andrew will not be leading the discussion on August 23.
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Directed by Sergei Loznitsa
In the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine, mid-2010s: a hybrid war takes place, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies on a mass scale perpetrated by Russian-separatist gangs. In the Donbass, war is called peace, propaganda is uttered as truth, and hatred is declared to be love. Life is suffused with fear and suspicion. What is real and what is fake news? Called “a darkly satirical omnibus of scathing vignettes” by the Washington Post, DONBASS serves as a crucial interpretation of the Russo-Ukrainian war, but the film is not, ultimately, a tale of one region or one conflict. It is about a world lost in post-truth and fake identities. It is about each and every one of us. “There is no other antiwar film quite like DONBASS” (Los Angeles Times).
122 Minutes | Russian, Ukrainian, English | Not Rated
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Decorated for bravery during World War I, British soldier Siegfried Sassoon returns from service and becomes a vocal critic of the government’s continuation of the war. Adored by the aristocracy and the stars of London’s literary and stage world, Sassoon’s experiences inspire him to write poetry about the horrors of battle.
137 minutes | English | PG-13
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In 1821, Lucien de Rubempré (César winner Benjamin Voisin) arrives in Paris as a sensitive, and idealistic young poet determined to write a reputation-making novel. Instead, he finds himself swept into journalism, whose influence and reach is booming with the help of the printing press, widely available of late. Under the mentorship of cynical editor Étienne Lousteau (César winner Vincent Lacoste), Lucien agrees to write rave theater reviews for bribes, achieving material success at the expense of his conscience. With this sweeping adaptation of one of Balzac’s greatest novels, Xavier Giannoli crafts a contemporary tale of corruption amidst an early form of “fake news”.
149 minutes | French | NR
Find Out MoreJuly 2022
Follow a diverse group of young artists on the brink of success or failure as they challenge systems, break barriers, and risk it all with the goal of making it in an industry where all the rules are currently being rewritten.
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The story of Steve Glew, a Midwestern machinist who smuggles rare Pez dispensers from Europe and sells them for thousands, drawing the ire of both U.S. Pez and rival collectors.
87 minutes | English | NR
Find Out MoreAugust 2022
A new feature-length documentary chronicling the legacy of one of the most important and influential children’s television shows of all time, Reading Rainbow. Spanning nearly 40 years from 1981 to the present, the film tells the story of a handful of broadcasters, educators, filmmakers, and one incredible host – LeVar Burton – who believed television could inspire a lifelong love of reading.
87 minutes | English | NR
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First-time feature filmmaker Rebeca “Beba” Huntt undertakes an unflinching exploration of her own identity in the remarkable coming-of-age documentary/cinematic memoir BEBA. Reflecting on her childhood and adolescence in New York City as the daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, Huntt investigates the historical, societal, and generational trauma she’s inherited and ponders how those ancient wounds have shaped her, while simultaneously considering the universal truths that connect us all as humans. Throughout BEBA, Huntt searches for a way to forge her own creative path amid a landscape of intense racial and political unrest. Poetic, powerful and profound, BEBA is a courageous, deeply human self-portrait of an Afro-Latina artist hungry for knowledge and yearning for connection.
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