UPCOMING SCREENINGS
Algonquin Theatre, Main Street Huntsville - 7pm for all films
MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2024
BETTER DAYS
In this comedy from writer/director Joan Carr-Wiggin, newly widowed Kate (Sonja Smits) must start over after losing her husband of over 30 years.
Broken by the loss, Kate withdraws into a bottle of vodka—and her husband’s Halloween costumes. Feeling lost and alone, she soon befriends three local teenagers who are fascinated by her enthusiasm for dressing up. But, as she and her new friends bond, Kate’s family become increasingly concerned. Suddenly, Kate doesn’t seem like the woman they once knew and they begin to demand that things go back to ‘normal’, whatever that means.
While her feelings take on many forms, Kate’s struggle to survive her grief is far more than simply trying to cope with the sadness over her husband’s death. Instead, Days is as much about revival as it is about mourning. As she processes the overwhelming nature of her feelings, she starts to figure out what it means to begin again. Because, maybe, there actually are Better Days ahead. (Excerpts from Screenfish)
Writer/Director | Joan Carr-Wiggin
Principal Cast:
Sonja Smits, Alix Sideris, Dean Armstrong
Run time – 1 hr 39 min
(Fun Fact - Filmed in Saulte Ste Marie)
SPONSORED BY:
MONDAY, MAY 13, 2024
THE OLD OAK
Ken Loach’s final feature takes place in and around a pub in a northern English village, where not all of the locals are welcoming to newly arrived refugees from Syria.
The future is uncertain for the Old Oak, the last remaining pub and last remaining social space in a quiet working class town in Northern England. While it was once a thriving mining community, years of neglect have left the town barren with empty homes on every street. These houses are cheap and available, making this town ideal for Syrian refugees. Racism and narrow-minded attitudes towards any newcomers are the standard in the town.
Several scenes focus on stark and uncomfortably real conversations between townsfolk seething about immigrants potentially entering their community. Tensions rise after the racist mob requests to use the back room of the Old Oak as a meeting place to air their grievances, but the owner, TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner), refuses, knowing this will only encourage more hateful speech. Meanwhile, he strikes up a genuine friendship with one of the refugees, a young woman named Yara (Ebla Mari) who is bright, passionate, and interested in creating a life for herself in this new place.
The Old Oak is director Ken Loach’s self-reported final film and is infused with his signature social realism. A hopeful appeal to better natures, this film argues for compassion and solidarity in the face of racism and xenophobia.
“[Loach] could hardly have delivered a more resonant, timely or indeed angry swansong than this feature which takes up arms against the decay of national compassion.” –Jonathan Romney, Screen International
Director: Ken Loach
UK, France, Belgium 2023
Principal Cast: Trevor Fox, Debbie Honeywood, Dave Turner
English, Arabic | 119 minutes
Content advisory: depictions of racism; violence; coarse language
SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE - Contact Rob Saunders here