We invite you to join us for our Spring series, "Movies That Inspire." This is always FREE and OPEN to the public! Located at the United Church of Christ in New Smyrna Beach. For more information contact Dana at (386) 846-3932. Come watch great movies and participate in intelligent discussion on important social issues. Bring a Friend!
April 13th Mad Hot Ballroom (2005 Documentary-105 mins)
Eleven-year-old New York City public school kids journey into the world of ballroom dancing and reveal pieces of themselves and their world along the way. Told from their candid, sometimes hilarious perspectives, these kids are transformed, from reluctant participants to determined competitors, from typical urban kids to "ladies and gentlemen," on their way to try to compete in the final citywide competition. Providing unique insight into the incredible cultural diversity that is New York City, this film profiles several kids from three schools (out of 60) at this dynamic age, when becoming that "cool" teenager vies for position with familiar innocence, while they learn the merengue, rumba, tango, the foxtrot and swing. Makes you stand up and cheer out loud!
April 27th Freedom Writers (2007 Drama- 123 minutes)
Based on actual diary accounts of several teenagers following the L.A. riots, this is the story of an idealistic teacher’s attempts to make a difference in the lives of her at-risk students. Located in gang-ravaged Long Beach, California, Woodrow Wilson High is a hotbed of violence due to a voluntary integration program which brings Black, Latino, Asian, and White students together. Rather than having the desired effect of creating healthy diversity, this program breeds constant war between all parties involved, the result being daily gun shots, constant racial slurs, and gang violence. Despite being up against unthinkable violence, devoted first-time teacher Erin Gruwell never gives up, slowly bonding with her class of at-first unreachable pupils, breaking down their tough exteriors and getting at the real people beneath through requiring the students keep daily journals.
April 20th Earth Day Movie & Program- The China Syndrome (1979 Drama-122 mins)
While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, an opportunistic reporter Kimberly Wells witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to publicize the incident but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret.
May 11th Casa de los Babys (2003 Drama-96 mins)
A group of six women from the United States, each of whom wants to adopt a baby, are checked into a hotel in South America waiting for the paperwork to go through. As their wait stretches on for weeks, they each get to know each other, sharing their hopes and fears. Meanwhile, the film explores every layer of people who are effected by the industry--from the teenage girls who give their babies up for adoption to the nurses that care for them as they're being assigned to new mothers. The local homeless boys sniffing paint in the street clearly don't receive the parenting they deserve, and yet the hotel staff dealing with the wealthy U.S. mothers-to-be sees a different side of the story--these women may not make for competent moms.
