BFS offers scholastic slate of documentaries
While large gatherings are still on hold, Bozeman Film Society has partnered with movie distributors to virtually stream independent titles new and classic. Watch safely at home with new films added weekly. Streaming sales directly support BFS. Here’s a look at a few early fall options.
Explosive documentary Coup 53 is available through September 3rd. While making a documentary about the CIA/MI6 coup in Iran in 1953, Iranian director Taghi Amirani and editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, The English Patient) discover never seen before archive material hidden for decades. The 16mm footage and documents not only allow the filmmakers to tell the story of the overthrow of the Iranian government in unprecedented detail, but it also leads to explosive revelations about dark secrets buried for 67 years.
Working with Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Schindler’s List, The English Patient) to help bring the lost material to life, what began as a historical documentary about four days in August 1953 turned into a live investigation, taking the filmmakers into uncharted cinematic waters. The roots of Iran’s volatile relationship with America and Britain has never been so forensically and dramatically exposed. Screening includes an exclusive Q&A with Fiennes, Murch and Amirani. Coup 53 is Not Rated with a runtime of 120 minutes.
Another title available through Sept. 3rd, Desert One takes viewers to the skies above revolutionary Iran. It has been called “the most audacious, difficult, complicated, rescue mission ever attempted.” Desert One uniquely blends emotion and bravado to tell the incredible tale of America’s secret mission to free the hostages of the 1979 Iranian revolution. Two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple discovers a wealth of unearthed archival sources and receives unprecedented access, engaging in intimate conversations with many of the soldiers closest to the story, some for the first time, as well as President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Walter Mondale and TV newsman Ted Koppel. Evocative new animation brings audiences closer than anyone has ever gotten to being on the inside for this history-making operation. Desert One is Not Rated with a runtime of 107 minutes.
Music-based documentary Jazz on a Summer’s Day is available through September 10th. Filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island and directed by world-renowned photographer, Bert Stern, the film features intimate performances by an all-star lineup of musical legends including Louis Armstrong, Thelonius Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Anita O’Day, Chuck Berry, Dinah Washington, and closes with a beautiful rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer” by Mahalia Jackson at midnight to usher in Sunday morning. Not Rated, Jazz on a Summer’s Day runs 85 minutes and is presented in 4K restoration.
Another doc, Our Time Machine, will be available September 11th–25th. Shaken by the news of his father’s dementia, artist Maleonn creates “Papa’s Time Machine,” a wondrous time-travel adventure performed on stage with life-size mechanical puppets. Through the play’s production, he confronts his own mortality. Maleonn finds grace and unexpected joy in this moving meditation on art, the agonies of love and loss, and the circle of life. Directed by Yang Sun and S. Leo Chiang, Our Time Machine is Not Rated with a runtime of 86 minutes.
Cost and rental period vary per title. Public film screenings at the Ellen will resume when large gatherings can be safely scheduled. Stay tuned for details.
Bozeman Film Society seeks out and presents independent films which engage, entertain, and foster an understanding of the world community around us. Visit www.bozemanfilmsociety.org for film previews and further information – and “Keep ‘Em Flickering!” •
