Sunday: Documentary Doubleheader To Screen
A documentary film that explores the timeless themes of love and marital commitment, and a second documentary about ordinary citizens who uncover an illegal FBI domestic spying programme, will screen at the Weekend Film Series, sponsored by Gosling’s, on Sunday March 15.
Screening at 3 p.m., 112 Weddings has screened at top festivals including Hot Docs. For the past two decades, acclaimed documentary filmmaker Doug Block [51Birch Street, The Kids Grow Up] has helped support himself by shooting weddings.
Hired for his intimate documentary style, he found himself emotionally bonding with his wedding couples on their big day, only to send off their videos and never see them again.
Many years and 112 weddings later, having long wondered what’s become of their marriages, Block begins to track down some of his favourite couples. Juxtaposing rapturous wedding day flashbacks with remarkably candid present-day interviews, 112 Weddings explores timeless themes of love and marital commitment.
112 Weddings Trailer
Screening at 5.15 p.m., 1971 lifts the lid on one of the most audacious heists in American history. After staying quiet for more than 40 years, members of the Citizen’s Commission to Investigate the FBI tell of their daring raid on an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania in March, 1971.
The eight ordinary citizens involved in the raid took hundreds of secret files and sent them to newsrooms around the United States. The documents proved that the FBI was deliberately working to intimidate civil rights activists and Americans non-violently protesting against the Vietnam War.
1971 Trailer
The most significant revelation was an illegal programme overseen by lifelong FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover known as COINTELPRO – the Counter Intelligence Programme.
Despite searching for the people behind the heist in one of the largest investigations ever conducted, the FBI never solved the mystery of the break-in. Now, for the first time, the members of the Citizen’s Commission to Investigate the FBI have decided to come forward and speak out about their actions. 1971 is their story.
“Viewed against the backdrop of more recent revelations about the scope of surveillance activities by the American government, this story is as relevant now as it was then,” says Weekend Film Series programmer Duncan Hall.
“The film has won awards from the International Documentary Association, and the Cinema Eye Honours, and has screened at more than 30 festivals around the world. Michael Moore invited the film to his festival in Traverse City, Michigan and calls it ‘one of the best documentaries I’ve seen this year’.”
Tickets are on sale now at the Oceans Gift Shop, BUEI, or by calling 294-0204. The ‘Weekend Film Series’, sponsored by Gosling’s, is a joint production of Bermuda Documentary Film Festival director Duncan Hall and the BUEI.
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