The Hillsborough Classic Film Society is a group that is showing classic, foreign and independent films once a month in Orange County Public Library, 137 W. Margaret Lane, Hillsborough.
At each film there is an expert speaker who sets the background for the film.
There’s also free popcorn. You can bring a folding chair, which you might find to be more comfortable than the library chairs.
The films are from the Criterion Collection, which means that they are cleaned up and remastered, and the image on the screen is even better than image the original audiences saw.
It’s free to join the Hillsborough Classic Film Society, and members take part in deciding what films will be shown.
Upcoming Screenings With Hillsborough Classic Film Society
All screenings except the Chaplin event start at 3 p.m.
January 12th, 2020
Black Orpheus (1959) Speaker: Gustavo Furtado, Duke. A modern version of the Orpheus/Euridice tale set in Brazil at Carnival, it introduced bossa nova to American audiences with music by Luiz Bonfá (“Manhã de Carnaval”) and Antonio Carlos Jobim (“Girl from Ipanema”).
Black Orpheus (1959) Speaker: Gustavo Furtado, Duke. A modern version of the Orpheus/Euridice tale set in Brazil at Carnival, it introduced bossa nova to American audiences with music by Luiz Bonfá (“Manhã de Carnaval”) and Antonio Carlos Jobim (“Girl from Ipanema”).
It is a controversial film. For its colorful and explosive depiction of Carnaval in the favelas of Rio, for the excitement of its dancing, and for the music of Luis Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim, it was acclaimed outside Brazil and won the highest international awards—Palme d’Or at Cannes, Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, and the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film. At home in Brazil it was not at all well received: it was seen by many as a French film that exploited the poorer residents of Brazil, treating them as simple children with nothing more to worry about than music and dance.
Come watch this classic film with us and stay after for the discussion with Gustavo Furtado, a Duke scholar, himself from Brazil, who has thought and written a great deal about the social function of filmmaking in Brazil.
February 9th, 2020
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) Speaker: Max Owre, UNC Public Humanities. A classic silent film by the great Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer (1889-1968). Roger Ebert said, “You cannot know the history of silent film unless you know the face of Renee Maria Falconetti [who played Joan]. In a medium without words, where the filmmakers believed that the camera captured the essence of characters through their faces, to see Falconetti . . . is to look into eyes that will never leave you.”
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) Speaker: Max Owre, UNC Public Humanities. A classic silent film by the great Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer (1889-1968). Roger Ebert said, “You cannot know the history of silent film unless you know the face of Renee Maria Falconetti [who played Joan]. In a medium without words, where the filmmakers believed that the camera captured the essence of characters through their faces, to see Falconetti . . . is to look into eyes that will never leave you.”
March 8th, 2020
High Noon (1952), Ken Wetherington, Duke. One of the greatest and most elegant of the mythic westerns. “High Noon centered on a protagonist—Marshall Will Kane—who behaved more like a human everyman than a traditional, all-powerful Western icon. … Here was Gary Cooper playing a decidedly anti-Gary Cooper character, [a] frightened town marshal, ostracized authority figure, humiliated husband. Something was happening here. Something about the Western was about to change forever.” Directed by Fred Zinneman (“A Man for All Seasons,” “From Here to Eternity”).
High Noon (1952), Ken Wetherington, Duke. One of the greatest and most elegant of the mythic westerns. “High Noon centered on a protagonist—Marshall Will Kane—who behaved more like a human everyman than a traditional, all-powerful Western icon. … Here was Gary Cooper playing a decidedly anti-Gary Cooper character, [a] frightened town marshal, ostracized authority figure, humiliated husband. Something was happening here. Something about the Western was about to change forever.” Directed by Fred Zinneman (“A Man for All Seasons,” “From Here to Eternity”).
April 5th, 2020
Pather Panchali (1955) Speaker: Tom Wallis, UNC Systems Office. The film “is like a prayer, affirming that this is what the cinema can be, no matter how far in our cynicism we may stray.”—Ebert. “Beautiful, sometimes funny, and full of love, it brought a new vision of India to the screen.”–Kael.
Pather Panchali (1955) Speaker: Tom Wallis, UNC Systems Office. The film “is like a prayer, affirming that this is what the cinema can be, no matter how far in our cynicism we may stray.”—Ebert. “Beautiful, sometimes funny, and full of love, it brought a new vision of India to the screen.”–Kael.
May 10th, 2020
Nights of Cabiria (1957) Speaker: Paolo Tosini, Duke. “… a film that owes as much to City Lights as it does to The Bicycle Thief. … Nights of Cabiria shifts so effortlessly between heartbreaking and comic it’s easy to forget how badly the movie could have gone. It’s about that most sentimental of stock characters: the hooker with the heart of gold. It’s easy to imagine a lighthearted version in which Cabiria is lifted from her sordid surroundings (and that version is called Pretty Woman). Or the movie could have gone the other way and been a turgid “gritty” drama about life on the Roman streets. … But Cabiria is so fully realized and human that she defies stereotypes. Credit for this goes entirely to Gulietta Masina, who captures Cabiria’s loneliness and pride in every frame.”—Matt Dessem.
Nights of Cabiria (1957) Speaker: Paolo Tosini, Duke. “… a film that owes as much to City Lights as it does to The Bicycle Thief. … Nights of Cabiria shifts so effortlessly between heartbreaking and comic it’s easy to forget how badly the movie could have gone. It’s about that most sentimental of stock characters: the hooker with the heart of gold. It’s easy to imagine a lighthearted version in which Cabiria is lifted from her sordid surroundings (and that version is called Pretty Woman). Or the movie could have gone the other way and been a turgid “gritty” drama about life on the Roman streets. … But Cabiria is so fully realized and human that she defies stereotypes. Credit for this goes entirely to Gulietta Masina, who captures Cabiria’s loneliness and pride in every frame.”—Matt Dessem.
You might also be interested in:
More upcoming free events in the Triangle
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Friday, January 24, 2020
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Monday, January 27, 2020
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Friday, January 31, 2020
Saturday, February 1, 2020
Sunday, February 2, 2020
Monday, February 3, 2020
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Friday, February 7, 2020
Saturday, February 8, 2020
Sunday, February 9, 2020
Monday, February 10, 2020
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Friday, February 14, 2020
When
February 9, 2020 @ 3:00 pm
What
Hillsborough Classic Film Society: Passion of Joan of Arc
Where
Orange County Public Library Main Library, Hillsborough
Cost
FREE
Add to Calendar: Google Outlook/iCal
When
March 8, 2020 @ 3:00 pm
What
Hillsborough Classic Film Society: High Noon
Where
Orange County Public Library Main Library, Hillsborough
Cost
FREE
Add to Calendar: Google Outlook/iCal
When
April 5, 2020 @ 3:00 pm
What
Hillsborough Classic Film Society: Pather Panchali
Where
Orange County Public Library Main Library, Hillsborough
Cost
FREE
Add to Calendar: Google Outlook/iCal
When
May 10, 2020 @ 3:00 pm
What
Hillsborough Classic Film Society: Nights of Cabiria
Where
Orange County Public Library Main Library, Hillsborough
Cost
FREE
Add to Calendar: Google Outlook/iCal
Orange County Public Library Main Library, Hillsborough
137 W. Margaret Lane
Hillsborough, NC
