The following is a guest post by Jenny Paxson of the Packard Campus.
Thursday, May 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Hotel Rwanda (United Artists, 2004)
Shown in observance of the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, which occurred during the spring of 1994, Hotel Rwanda stars Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo as hotelier Paul Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana, and documents their acts to save the lives of his family and more than a thousand other refugees by providing them with shelter in the besieged Hôtel des Mille Collines. The film was nominated for multiple awards, including Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay and it was on a number of film critics’ top 10 best films lists for 2004. In the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle wrote that the film was a “harrowing experience,” and that “it documents for a mass audience what it was like. It’s useful, in that it shows how it can happen. It’s even hopeful, in that it shows that it’s possible – not guaranteed, but possible – for people to maintain their humanity in the face of unhinged barbarism.” Digital presentation. Rated PG-13. 121 min.
Friday, May 17 (7:30 p.m.)
Marking Time: Voyage to Vietnam
Al and Lee Beltrone, co-founders of the Vietnam Graffiti Project, and other special guests will present a multimedia story about the men who were transported to Vietnam aboard the P2 General Nelson M. Walker, leaving behind musings and folk-art style drawing on their berthing canvases. The graffiti, discovered by Al Beltrone in 1997 while he was touring the ship to study its construction for a film set, tells a unique story about the war and those who fought it. Research of the names on the canvases led to finding the veterans who originally created the graffiti, and audio interviews were conducted to preserve their voyage stories. The VGP is a registered non-profit organization working “…to collect, preserve, and make available for display to the public artifacts from various troop transport ships used during conflicts in which the United States is currently engaged, was engaged in the past, or will be engaged in the future.” An exhibit of historic items from the Graffiti Project will be on display in the theater lobby.
Saturday, May 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Oliver! (Columbia, 1968)
Sir Carol Reed directed this exuberant adaptation of Lionel Bart’s long-running stage musical, which was based on Charles Dickens classic novel, Oliver Twist. Mark Lester stars as the titular orphan who escapes the workhouse and is taken under the wing of wily pickpocket Fagin (Ron Moody) and his sidekick, The Artful Dodger (Jack Wild). Musical numbers as “Consider Yourself,” “As Long as He Needs Me,” “Oliver!,” “Where Is Love?,” “I’d Do Anything,” “Be Back Soon” and “Who Will Buy?” A box office and critical success, Oliver! was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture (the last G-rated film to receive the honor), Best Director for Reed, and an Honorary Award for choreographer Onna White. Film critic Roger Ebert called it “as well-made as a film can be.” Rated G. 35mm archival film print, 153 min.
For more information on our programs, please visit the website at: //www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/