It's almost time for our Fall Foreign Film Series...our last film series in this building. It is certainly bittersweet. We are so comfy and used to our present room, but...BUT(!) the auditorium in the new building is so great, I am practically swooning. Pardon me for a moment while I fan myself.

I am very pleased to announce the line up for this year's Foreign Film Series. All movies are on Fridays. They all begin at 7:30 p.m. Doors will open at 7...and, as most of you know (and anticipate), refreshments will be served. Just a reminder...admission is free.

October 10  

The Band's Visit

Israel (2007) Rated PG-13

In Arabic, English, and Hebrew with English subtitles

87 minutes

When an Egyptian police orchestra gets lost on its way to a performance in Israel, the band and their stoic leader wind up far from home in an obscure Israeli village. Lightly approaching the political issues that surround the band’s visit, this charming, heartfelt comedy shows how people of all cultures share the trials of friendship and romance.

October 17    

Persepolis

France (2007) Rated PG-13

In French, English, Persian, and German with English subtitles

95 minutes

Persepolis brings to life the poignant story of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Based on the stirring graphic novel memoirs of Marjane Satrapi this witty, yet deeply affecting animated masterpiece has captured the imaginations of audiences and critics worldwide. The issues of love, family, and freedom that fill the adolescent life of a young girl are reflected in the revolutionary struggles that surround her in 1970s Iran.

October 24

The Counterfeiters

Austria (2007) Rated R

In German, Russian, English, and Hebrew with English subtitles

98 minutes

Winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, this is the true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, counterfeiter extraordinaire, bohemian, and Russian Jew who was captured by the Nazis in 1944. He agrees to help them in an organized counterfeiting operation set up to finance the war effort. It was the biggest counterfeit-money scam of all time. Over 130 million pounds sterling were printed under conditions that couldn’t have been more tragic or spectacular.

October 31

The Flight of the Red Balloon

France (2007) Not rated

In French with English subtitles

113 minutes

 The details of everyday life are turned to poetry in this tribute to Lamorisse’s 1956 classic short The Red Balloon. Juliette Binoche stars as a single Parisian mother who, overwhelmed by the complications of modern daily life, employs a Taiwanese film student as her son’s babysitter. As the babysitter and the young child explore the streets and cafes of the city, they begin to share an imaginary world where a mysterious red balloon affectionately follows them wherever they go.

November 7

No film tonight

Book sale: November 8 - 12

The Grocer's Son

In French with English subtitles

96 minutes

It is summer, and 30-year-old Antoine is forced to leave the city to return to his family in Provence. His father is sick, so he must assume the lifestyle he thought he had shed—driving the family grocery cart from hamlet to hamlet, delivering supplies to the few remaining inhabitants. Accompanied by Claire, a friend from Paris whom he has a secret crush on, Antoine gradually warms up to his experience in the country and his encounters with the villagers. This surprise French box-office hit is about the coming-of-age of a man rediscovering life and love in the countryside.

In Japanese with English subtitles

120 minutes

 It is 1965 and in Japan, the country has started to shift from coal to oil. One by one, the old mining towns begin their slow decline, but for one small town way up north, its leaders and the local mining company aim to build Japan’s first Hawaiian Village as a way to save the town. Hula Girls is a heartwarming comedy about coal miners’ daughters who took a once-in-a-lifetime chance to escape their monotonous lives, only to become unwitting heroes to their depressed mining town. Based on a true story.

Brad, Bulbs, and Starre. What do they have in common?

They're all on the Events Calendar here at the Library during September. We promised you that we'd continue to present fabulous programs even as we prepare to move to the new building, and we're keeping our word!

Bestselling author Brad Meltzer will be here on Sunday, September 21st at 5:30 p.m. (Very cool!)

Starre Vartan, the Eco Chick will be here on Wednesday, September 17th at 7 p.m. (Very green!)

Master Gardener Sue Kelley presents "Fall is for Planting—Perennials and Bulbs" on September 16th at 7pm.  (Very green thumb!)

By the evidence of the size of our collective carbon footprint(s), Starre Vartan, author or The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to Be Fabulously Green, may be arriving just in time. Proving that we don't have to sacrifice style, fun, or fashion to lead an eco-friendly life, we get the opportunity to follow in her very cool, very chic, and very green (and fabulous) footsteps. Starre will be here on Wednesday, September 17th at 7 p.m. to talk about her new book which hits shelves later this month. A book signing will follow the presentation and books will be available for purchase. We'll also have refreshments.

Eco Chick has been featured on national broadcast networks, the Wall Street Journal, Shape magazine, Glamour, The Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, Grist, Treehugger.com, and numerous green blogs. She's apparently all over the place and all over the map, but she's also our neighbor. This native Australian lives (fabulously) right next door in Norwalk and we can't wait to meet her. Join us!

Journalist Lily Koppel found buried treasure right outside her front door in a NYC dumpster. The treasure was in the form of a little red book; the five-year diary of a young girl -- Florence Wolfson. The years? 1929-1934. The place? Manhattan's Upper West Side. Wow. This is not the NYC I know! And I wanted to know more.

Luckily, Lily did a great job with this story. She tracked down Florence, who now lives in Connecticut (and Florida), and is in her 90s. Florence's still-sharp memory fills in the blanks of the short daily entries in the diary which, despite the crumbling pages, sparkle with intelligence, culture, curiosity, sophistication, and intimacy. What's resulted is a fascinating memoir -- The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal.

The diary is quite revealing and we can find out even more when Lily comes to the Library on Thursday, October 2nd at 7 p.m. to talk about the book and this adventure! There will be a book signing following the presentation. Books will be available for purchase and refreshments will be served. Please join us!