Norwich Community Cinema

Four Lions
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Donald L. Oat Theater, Norwich
Suggested donation $7
Doors: 7:00 pm
Movie: 7:30 pm

A whip-smart British slapstick comedy, Four Lions takes aim at Jihadi suicide bombers and illuminates the war on terror through satire and farce. The film has been lauded by liberals, conservatives, Muslims, Christians, servicemen and national security experts alike as ‘laugh-out-loud funny.’ While hugely entertaining, it draws from real life and demonstrates that home grown extremists have many shortcomings but are also human.

Following its sell-out success as the buzz hit of the Sundance Film Festival, Four Lions packed the coveted closing night slot of South by Southwest, won the Independent Camera Award at Karlovy Vary and was voted Best Narrative Feature by audiences at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

For Once In My Life
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Frank Center at NFA, Norwich
Free of charge
Doors: 6:00 pm
Movie: 6:30 pm

For Once in My Life is a documentary about a unique band of singers and musicians, and their journey to show the world the greatness – and killer soundtrack – within each of them. The 28 band members have a wide range of mental and physical disabilities, as well as musical abilities that extend into ranges of pure genius. In a cinema vérite style, the film explores the struggles and triumphs, and the healing power of music, as the band members’ unique talents are nurtured to challenge the world’s perceptions.

Last Train Home
Friday, January 28, 2011
Frank Center at NFA, Norwich
Free of charge
Doors: 7:00 pm
Movie: 7:30 pm

Every spring, China’s cities are plunged into chaos, as all at once, a tidal wave of humanity attempts to return home by train. It is the Chinese New Year. The wave is made up of millions of migrant factory workers. The homes they seek are the rural villages and families they left behind to seek work in the booming coastal cities. It is an epic spectacle that tells us much about China, a country discarding traditional ways as it hurtles towards modernity and global economic dominance.

Last Train Home, an emotionally engaging and visually beautiful debut film from Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan, draws us into the fractured lives of a single migrant family caught up in this desperate annual migration. Sixteen years ago, the Zhangs abandoned their young children to find work in the city, consoled by the hope that their wages would lift their children into a better life. But in a bitter irony, the Zhangs’ hopes for the future are undone by their very absence. Qin, the child they left behind, has grown into adolescence crippled by a sense of abandonment. In an act of teenage rebellion, she drops out of school. She too will become a migrant worker. The decision is a heartbreaking blow for the parents.

In classic cinema verite style, Last Train Home follows the Zhangs’ attempts to change their daughter’s course and repair their ruptured family. Intimate and candid, the film paints a human portrait of the dramatic changes sweeping China. We identify with the Zhangs as they navigate through the stark and difficult choices of a society caught between old ways and new realities. Can they get ahead and still undo some of the damage that has been done to their family?