June8: Special Screening Of "The Eleventh Hour"

Usually, we have screenings every two weeks. But for this Sunday, upon request from our members and in conjunction with World Environment Day on June 5th, we're squeezing in an eco-documentary called The 11th Hour.



Narrated by actor Leonardo DiCaprio (start the "Titanic" jokes please), the documentary is about the widespread damage that humans have done to the environment in the rush for development and money. The consequences to the human race is severe... and this film also explains possible disaster scenarios such as global warming, that will occur because of this environmental mismanagement.

Aside from the dire warning, the documentary interviews a myriad of foreign leaders, scientists, and activists for their suggestions to this problem. Stopping and reversing the consequences of environmental destruction will involve the people and governments; from reasonable pro-conservation policies to the use of technology to develop cleaner sources of energy and industry.


Time: 8 PM , June 8th

Location: 62 Weld Quay

June 1: "Screening Of Taxi To The Dark Side"

On the last screening, we didn't really get to show Taxi To The Dark Side as originally planned. Most of the audience who turned up wanted another film instead, and everyone else was pretty ok by it.

So, we will be screening it again today... at 62 Weld Quay, 3rd floor. Time is 8PM, and admission is free.

Ongoing French Film Festival At Gurney Plaza

This week, there'll be a screening of eight French films at Gurney Plaza GSC. We aren't affiliated with the organizers, but I'm sure folks will be interested.

The movies are:

- Breathless (A Bout De Souffle)
- If You Love Me Follow Me (Qui M’aime Me Suive)
- I’m Not Here To Be Loved (Je Ne Suis Pas La Pour Etre Aime)
- Love is In The Air (Ma Vie En L’Air)
- Paris, Je T’Aime
- Read My Lips (Sur Mes Levres)
- The Story Of My Life (Mensonges Et Trahisons)
- Tell No One (Ne L Dis A Personne)

Info for the films can be found here.

And showtimes here.

New Screening (May 18) : Taxi To The Dark Side

We have moved to a new place: 62 Weld Quay. It is just one door away from our previous premises. Its the building with the lottery shop on the ground floor. Our screening theatre is on the 3rd floor of the building. This place is nicer than the previous one...




Part of the Why Democracy? series, this weekend's movie by Alex Gibney tells the true story of Dilawar, a taxi driver who died from torture in the custody of the US Military in Afghanistan. Mr. Dilawar had been driving his passengers past a US army base that had been attacked earlier, and was stopped at a checkpoint by pro-Alliance Afghan militia. The militiamen had framed Dilawar and his passengers, and turned them over to the US military for interrogation.

This Academy Award winning documentary also examines the United States and its intelligence organizations' policies & research on torture for information extraction, and the views from opponents and supporters of torture practices.


Runtime: ~105 minutes

More info here (Needs Flash)

* * * * * *

The screening time has been moved to 8PM due to requests from many members. Aside from being more convenient, it would be dark by then and we wouldn't have the setting sun interfering with the projection.


Place: 62 Weld Quay, 3rd Floor

Time: 8 PM

Admission: FREE

New Movie, May 4th: Half-Moon (Niwe Mang)

Iranian-Kurdish film director Bahman Ghobadi ("Turtles Can Fly", "A Time For Drunken Horses") takes us on a road-trip from Iran to post-Saddam Iraq on a minibus. And just like the previous two movies we screened, "Goodbye Boys" and "Ten Canoes", the director uses non-professional actors and actresses to play the characters in his film.

Besides the driver, the passengers are an old Kurdish musician called Mamo, and his "children" -- actually his ex-students. The famous Mamo wishes to travel with his band to Kurdish-Iraq for a concert, his first in Iraq in 30-plus years. Saddam Hussein had repressed Kurdish culture in Iraq during his rule. The situation is better in Iran, but by not much... women are prohibited from performing.


The trip to Iraq would be risky, and a village elder predicts that serious danger would befall the old musician. Still he presses on with his dream to play in Kurdish Iraq.

Along the way he searches for his singing partner, a woman named Hesho, to join his group. Old Mamo also faces obstacles from the overzealous Iranian police, ever on the lookout for religious transgressions... such as female singers.



More info here

Location: 4th floor, 60 Weld Quay

Time: 7PM (Sunday), 4th May

Admission: Free

April20: Bernard Chauly's "Goodbye Boys" (2006)

The year 1990. Ipoh. A former mining town now surrounded by a moonscape of abandoned mining machinery & quarries. Eight Boy Scouts (Kinta Troop No.2) from St. Michael's High School embark on a camping expedition to earn their Scout badges. For the trip to be successful, they must cover 100 kilometers of ground around Ipoh on foot. No "help" from any other transport (pedal-powered, animal-powered, or motorized) is allowed. Some aim to complete the expedition fairly, some plan to cheat...

Bernard Chauly's low-budget film takes us through the minds & antics of the eight as they trek through Perak's Kinta Valley; their friendships, the childish pranks they play upon each other, pimples, family relationships, the upcoming school prom, the impending final exams, ... and their future after graduation...


At the end of the expedition, which nearly turned tragic, the eight schoolboys have changed... each of them now with an entirely new outlook on life, and new post-highschool ambitions...

The movie is in a mixture of Malay, mostly English, and some Chinese. But subtitles are provided. From what I've read, most of the actors are first-timers.


http://www.redfilms.com.my/goodbyeboys.htm


Location: 4th floor, 60 Weld Quay

Time: 7PM (Sunday), 20 April

Admission: Free

We Will Be Moving Soon

"Ten Canoes" was screened to an audience of 10 people yesterday night. Although the Australian-Aboriginal dialogue in the film wasn't subtitled, the voiceover of the narrator and the visuals provided the clues for the audience to figure out what the characters were talking about.

The movie also provided us a glimpse into ancient Aboriginal practices (laws, culture, music, hunting activities, etc.) and storytelling. One wonders if a similar film could be made featuring one or some of the many indigenous Orang Asli tribes of Malaysia...?


As our lease on our current premises at 60 Weld Quay is expiring, the Penang Film Club will have to move. We have a new place in mind, very close to where we are now. We'll let you know soon... once all the paperwork has been finalized.

But our next film, "Goodbye Boys", will still be screened at 60 Weld Quay. It will most likely be our last film to be shown at this place, however.