Events
Video of Richard Ford
On Sunday, February 10, 2013, Richard Ford, author of Canada, was our featured speaker.
For more information, please visit the event's page.
Documentary Film Screening followed by Q&A with the Filmmaker
Written by Erin S on 10/11/2012
Monday, March 18 at 6:30 p.m. - My Perestroika (2010); Documentary Feature; Not Rated; 87 minutes.
When the USSR broke apart in 1991, a generation of young people faced a new realm of possibilities. An intimate epic about the extraordinary lives of this last Soviet generation, Robin Hessman’s feature documentary debut tells the stories of five Moscow schoolmates who were brought up behind the Iron Curtain, witnessed the joy and confusion of glasnost, and reached adulthood right as the world changed around them. Through candid first person testimony, revealing verité footage, and vintage home movies, Hessman, who spent many years living in Moscow, reveals a Russia rarely ever seen on film, where people are frank about their lives and forthcoming about their country.
"...playful, insightful, hypnotic, and, ultimately, superb." -- Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine
The film will be followed by a Q&A with the Director/Producer/Cinematographer Robin Hessman.
This event is co-sponsored by the Brown Club of Fairfield County.
About the Filmmaker
Robin Hessman graduated from Brown University with a dual degree in Russian and Film. She received her graduate degree in film directing from the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow (with a “red diploma” of honors). She received an Academy Award® in 1994 – with co-director James Longley – for their student film, Portrait of Boy with Dog. During her eight years living in Russia, Robin worked for the Children’s Television Workshop as the on-site producer of Ulitsa Sezam, the original Russian-language Sesame Street.
Robin is also an Associate of Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian Studies and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Since 2006, Robin has served as the Director of documentary programming for Amfest, the American Film Festival in Moscow.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
Wednesday Matinee - "The Kid with a Bike"
Written by Erin S on 10/09/2012
Wednesday, March 20 at 1:30 p.m. - The Kid with a Bike (2011); Starring Thomas Doret, Cécile De France, and Jérémie Renier; Rated PG-13; 87 minutes. In French with English subtitles.
Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in a state-run youth farm. In a random act of kindness, the town hairdresser agrees to foster him on weekends.
“The film should be required viewing for everyone who has lost faith in the power of random acts of kindness.” -- Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"There is not a wasted shot in this stripped down, pared back fable. Yet, it accrues a deep and lasting power. You won't see many better this year." -- Tom Charity, CNN.com
For more information, please view the film's trailer.
Spring Cleaning Series: Organizing Others
Written by Erin S on 10/09/2012
Monday, April 22nd at 7:00 p.m.
Even if you’re the most organized person on the planet, that doesn’t necessarily mean this quality will translate to the ones you hold near and dear. Learn handy ways to inspire even the most disorganized around you to adapt their ways.
Presented by Cara Brook of S.O.S. LLC and Jen Burke of JKB Organizing, both members of the organizing group F.O.C.U.S.
Check out our "Get Organized" LibGuide and join us for the rest of our Spring Cleaning Series:
- Shop and Get Organized, Tuesday May 7 at 7 p.m.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
Meet the Author - Richard Ford
Written by Erin S on 10/08/2012![Richard Ford [credit Laura Wilson]](http://www.darienlibrary.org/sites/darienlibrary.org/files/users/user13438/Richard%20Ford%20please%20credit%20Laura%20Wilson%20%282%29.jpg)
Sunday, February 10 at 5 p.m.
Richard Ford, author of Canada, will be our featured speaker.
Canada, the latest novel from Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ford, is a powerful, suspenseful story of misadventure and malevolence that explores large themes of identity, culpability, and the ineluctable bonds that tie us to the past. Ford’s first book in nearly six years, it is a compulsively-readable, uncompromising tale in which a host of transgressions—including bank robbery, kidnapping, abandonment and murder—shape the life of its protagonist: a fifteen-year-old boy compelled to forge his own way when his insular family implodes. With prose at once spare and luminous, Ford renders the desolate beauty of Montana and Saskatchewan as only a great writer can, providing the perfect backdrop for this spellbinding look at the dark side of the American experience.
Praise for Canada
“Pure vocal grace, quiet humor, precise and calm observation.” — The New Yorker
“Confirms [Ford’s] position as one of the finest stylists and most humane storytellers in America… his most elegiac and profound book…” — Washington Post
About the Author
Richard Ford is the author of the Bascombe novels, which include The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day—the first novel to win the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award—and The Lay of the Land, as well as the short story collections Rock Springs and A Multitude of Sins, which contain many widely anthologized stories. He lives in East Boothbay, Maine, with his wife, Kristina Ford.
Books will be available for purchase at this event. Refreshments will be served.
Richard Ford's appearance is made possible by Barrett Bookstore.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
Meet the Author - David Benioff
Written by Erin S on 10/08/2012
Thursday, April 25 at 7 p.m.
David Benioff, author of City of Thieves, will be our featured speaker.
The novel opens mid-siege as young Lev Beniov, small, smart, but insecure, is one of a handful of young men left in the city in 1942. Too young for service in the army, but old enough to refuse to accompany his mother out of town, he fends for himself. When a dead Nazi paratrooper lands in the middle of the square near his apartment building, he’s the only kid caught for looting the body. Dragged by the police to jail, he’s sure his life is over. The charge for looting is execution. Lev shares a cell with the charismatic, unflappable, and grandiose Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested on desertion charges. Instead of facing the firing squad, Lev and Kolya are given a chance at survival by completing a seemingly unachievable task: securing a dozen eggs for a powerful colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unspeakable deprivation, where the glue in the binding of books serves as a form of nourishment, the pair embarks on a hunt to find the impossible.
About the Author
David Benioff is an author and screenwriter. He adapted his first novel, The 25th Hour, into a feature film directed by Spike Lee, adapted The Kite Runner for the screen, and wrote the screenplay of Wolverine. His most recent screenplay, Brothers, was directed by Jim Sheridan and will be released in October of this year. His short story collection, When the Nines Roll Over, received critical acclaim. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.
Books will be available for purchase at this event. Refreshments will be served.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
Meet the Author - Michael Korda
Written by Erin S on 10/08/2012
Thursday, March 21 at 7 p.m.
Michael Korda, author of Charmed Lives, will be our featured speaker.
With a loving but undeceived eye, Michael Korda recounts the trials and successes that fame brought to the Korda brothers from the Hungarian countryside to the pinnacle of Hollywood society.
Alexander Korda lived a life other men only dream about; having Churchill (who secretly wrote film scripts for him), HG Wells, Lord Beaverbrook and Robert Sherwood as lifelong friends; Olivier, Laughton, Ralph Richardson, Dietrich, Vivien Leigh, and Merle Oberon (whom he married) he brought to stardom. Achieving wealth and fame to become Sir Alexander Korda, one of the most legendary and flamboyant of all film tycoons- his two brothers, often unwillingly and quarrelsomely accepting his dominant role, rose with him. Zoltan, mercurial and eccentric, a director of genius whose The Four Feathers and Cry the Beloved Country are film classics; and Vincent, whom Alex shanghaied from a career as a painter to be the artistic director of his new motion picture empire. Alex, along with an incredible flair for success, had an equally powerful impulse toward destruction. In the end, it was this impulse that prevailed.
Praise for Charmed Lives:
"A rare, intimate portrait...crowded with anecdotes, comedy and drama." - The New York Times
"A rags to riches fairytale...Rich in anecdote...In a word: Charming!" - Newsday
About the Author
Michael Korda was born in London, in 1933, and has lived in the United States since 1958. He was educated at Le Rosey, in Switzerland, did his military service in the Royal Air Force, and then attended Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1956, he drove to Budapest with three friends to deliver medical supplies to the insurgents and took part in the Hungarian Revolution.
After working briefly for CBS-TV in New York City, Mr. Korda joined Simon and Schuster as an assistant editor in 1958, and subsequently became Managing Editor, Executive Editor and Editor in Chief. Over nearly five decades his authors have included presidents Carter, Reagan and Nixon, Charles De Gaulle, Dr. Henry Kissinger, Cher, Kirk Douglas, David McCullough, and Mary Higgins Clark.
His books include the #1 bestseller Power, the bestselling novels Queenie and The Fortune, and most recently Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia, With Wings Like Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain, Ike: An American Hero, Country Matters, Another Life, Horse People, Ulysses S. Grant and Journey to a Revolution. He makes his home on a farm in Dutchess County, New York, with his wife Margaret, with whom he has, co-authored two books, Horse Housekeeping and Cat People.
Books will be available for purchase at this event. Refreshments will be served.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
Family Programs Today: Crafts, Films & More.
Written by Erin S on 10/08/2012
Friday, February 8
9:15 a.m.- Art sheets and paper crafts in the Children's Library
10 a.m.- Craft Stations in the Children's Library (make a snowflake, learn how to draw a penguin)
10 a.m. – The Secret World of Arrietty Starring (running time: 95 minutes) Rated G
In a secret world hidden beneath the floorboards, little people called Borrowers live quietly among us. Tiny Arrietty goes on an extraordinary adventure. Based on the classic children's book The Borrowers.
11 a.m.- Lego Club in the Children's Library for ages 5 and up.
Afternoon programs TBD pending weather conditions.
Friday Night Feature - "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
Written by Erin S on 10/07/2012
Friday, February 15 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. – The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller; Rated PG-13; 103 minutes; Closed captioned for the hearing impaired.
A funny and touching coming-of-age story based on the beloved best-selling novel by Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a modern classic that captures the dizzying highs and crushing lows of growing up. This is a moving tale of love, loss, fear and hope—and the unforgettable friends that help us through life.
"This somewhat disjointed but refreshingly earnest movie ultimately establishes itself as a charmer." -- Jen Chaney, Washington Post
For more information, please watch the film's trailer. Check out the rest of our Friday Night Features in February.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
Friday Night Feature - "The Intouchables"
Written by Erin S on 10/07/2012
Friday, March 8 at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. – The Intouchables (2012) Starring Francois Cluzet, Omar Sy, and Anne Le Ny; Rated R; 112 minutes. In French with English subtitles.
A true story of two men who should never have met — a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.
"It's the classic odd-couple buddy movie setup, only it'll pull at your heartstrings, whether you want it to or not." -- Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
For more information, please watch the film's trailer. Check out the rest of our Friday Night Features in March.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
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