Race: The Power of an Illusion-
Episode 2, the Story We Tell 
(Documentary Film Series)
Tue, February 16 at 7:30pm- Free
"The Story We Tell" traces the origins of the racial idea to the European conquest of the New World and to the American slave system - the first ever where all the slaves shared similar physical traits and a common ancestry. Historian James Horton points out that the enslavement of Africans was opportunistic, not based on beliefs about inferiority: "[Our forebears] found what they considered an endless labor supply. People who could be readily identified and so when they ran away they couldn't melt into the population like Native Americans could. People who knew how to grow tobacco, people who knew how to grow rice. They found the ideal, from their standpoint, the ideal labor source."
Free

 Race: The Power of an Illusion 
The House We Live In
(Documentary Film Series)
Tue, February 23 at 7:30pm- Free
If race doesn't exist biologically, what is it? And why should it matter? Our final episode, "The House We Live In," is the first film about race to focus not on individual attitudes and behavior but on the ways our institutions and policies advantage some groups at the expense of others. Its subject is the "unmarked" race: white people. We see how benefits quietly and often invisibly accrue to white people, not necessarily because of merit or hard work, but because of the racialized nature of our laws, courts, customs, and perhaps most pertinently, housing.

 

Mine (Documentary Film Series) Tue, March 9 at 7:30pm - $5 sugg. donation In response to Hurricane Katrina, thousands of pets needed to be transported around the country and adopted even when their displaced guardians still desperately wanted them. Meanwhile, many adoptive guardians have forged strong bonds with their new pets. When two families love the same pet, conflicts inevitably arise over who is the rightful "owner" and what is right for the animal.  A tragedy of this scale reveals the worst and brings out the best in humankind and presents an opportunity for us to bring about meaningful social change. MINE is a compelling, character-driven story that challenges us see the way we treat animals in our society as a reflection of how we treat ourselves -- and each other.  (partnership with Humane Society).

Riverviews will show the french language version with english subtitles.

A huge box office success in its native France, writer-director Philippe Lioret has created an absorbing story that speaks not only of the social issues of the day, but of the very nature of the human spirit.

Welcome (Foreign Film Series)
Sat, March 13 at 8pm - $5 sugg. donation

 Bilal, a 17-year-old Kurdish refugee, has spent the last three months of his life traveling across Europe in an attempt to reunite with his girlfriend who recently emigrated to England. But his journey comes to an abrupt end when he is stopped on the French side of the Channel. Having decided to swim across, Bilal goes to the local swimming pool to train. It is here he meets Simon (Vincent Lindon), a middle-aged swimming instructor, who is privately reeling in turmoil as he dreads an imminent divorce from his wife. Despite their differences, the two men discover that they have much in common, and a strong bond emerges between them. Simon decides to take Bilal under his wing, realizing that he too must risk everything to reach the other side of happiness. 

MINE is a compelling, character-driven story that challenges us see the way we treat animals in our society as a reflection of how we treat ourselves -- and each other.  (partnership with Humane Society).

Mine (Documentary Film Series)
Sat, March 13 at 2pm - $5 sugg. donation

In response to Hurricane Katrina, thousands of pets needed to be transported around the country and adopted even when their displaced guardians still desperately wanted them. Meanwhile, many adoptive guardians have forged strong bonds with their new pets.

When two families love the same pet, conflicts inevitably arise over who is the rightful "owner" and what is right for the animal. 

A tragedy of this scale reveals the worst and brings out the best in humankind and presents an opportunity for us to bring about meaningful social change. 

Earthdance: Short Attention Span Environmental Film Festival (Documentary Film Series)
Tue, April 10 at 7:30pm - $5 sugg. donation

This entertaining collection of environmental shorts covers a range of artistic styles, each with something special to offer. Some of the films tell true stories such as Bee Petting, a brief glimpse of someone brave enough to caress this feared insect; Chickens in the City, a depiction of urban farmers who get good eggs and sweet pets; The Great Hopkins Rescue, the re-discovered story of a parachutist who gets stuck on top of Devil’s Tower; Nature’s Blueprints, a trip to the edges of architectural imagination; Tracking the Pacific Fisher, an inspiring tale of Hoopa Valley native Americans working to ensure survival of an endangered forest mammal; and Project Insect, a visual feast - huge, fantastically detailed paintings of insects both astonishingly beautiful and strange.

Some of the films are comedic and playful in nature as in The Lost People of Mountain Village, a hilarious mockumentary on conspicuous over-consumption; Zoltan, the tongue-in-cheek story of a passionate river tuber; Garpenfargle, a look at what really happens when the dog is home alone; and Grocery Store Wars, in which veggie puppets take on the dark side of food production using Star Wars characters and music..

Earthdance: Short Attention Span Environmental Film Festival (Foreign Film Series)
Sat, April 13 at 2pm - $5 sugg. donation

This entertaining collection of environmental shorts covers a range of artistic styles, each with something special to offer. Some of the films tell true stories such as Bee Petting, a brief glimpse of someone brave enough to caress this feared insect; Chickens in the City, a depiction of urban farmers who get good eggs and sweet pets; The Great Hopkins Rescue, the re-discovered story of a parachutist who gets stuck on top of Devil’s Tower; Nature’s Blueprints, a trip to the edges of architectural imagination; Tracking the Pacific Fisher, an inspiring tale of Hoopa Valley native Americans working to ensure survival of an endangered forest mammal; and Project Insect, a visual feast - huge, fantastically detailed paintings of insects both astonishingly beautiful and strange.

Some of the films are comedic and playful in nature as in The Lost People of Mountain Village, a hilarious mockumentary on conspicuous over-consumption; Zoltan, the tongue-in-cheek story of a passionate river tuber; Garpenfargle, a look at what really happens when the dog is home alone; and Grocery Store Wars, in which veggie puppets take on the dark side of food production using Star Wars characters and music..

$5 suggested donation to off-set costs

Open Projector Night! (Film Event)
Tue, May 0 at 7:30pm- Free

Open Projector Night is a quarterly film screening of locally produced short films.  Filmmakers of all levels of experience are encouraged to submit entries for consideration. Local filmmakers are offered a chance to showcase their work and network with other filmmakers, helping to create a forum for them to receive feedback from their peers and the audience

Where the Water Meets the Sky (Documentary Film Series)
Sat, May 11 at 8pm - $5 sugg. donation

Narrated by Morgan Freeman, Where the Water Meets the Sky is the story of a remarkable group of women in a remote region of northern Zambia, who are given a unique opportunity: to learn how to make a film, as a way to speak out about their lives and to challenge the local traditions which have, until now, kept them silent. Many in the group can’t read or write, most are desperately poor, and few have been exposed to film or television. But with the help of two teachers, this class of 23 women learns to shoot a film that portrays a subject of their own choosing. It involves an issue that is traumatic for them all, and rarely spoken about: the plight of young women orphaned by AIDS. Their film recounts the real-life experiences of Penelop, an 18-year-old orphan, and her struggle to provide for herself and her siblings in the wake of her parents’ deaths. What begins as a workshop about filmmaking, and a quest to tell Penelop’s story, becomes a journey in empowerment as the women rise to the challenge of pressing their community to change.

Breast Cancer Diaries (Documentary Film Series)
Tue, October 0 at 7:30pm - $5 sugg. donation

When local news reporter Ann Murray Paige is diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 38, she sets up a diary camera in her bedroom to chronicle this powerful journey..

$5 suggested donation to off-set costs