The Foreign Film Series provides the Cedarville community an opportunity to view interesting and challenging films from around the world. The series allows viewers to peer into often unfamiliar cultures through the eyes of the cultures themselves.
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One Life
Drama/United Kingdom
Date and location: 6 p.m. on August 28, SCC Theater
Description: One Life presents the true story of Nicholas Winton, who organized the rescue of hundreds of predominantly Jewish children from the Nazis on the verge of World War II. Half a century later, he is haunted by the memory of those he could not save.
Director: James Hawes
Performers: Anthony Hopkins, Lena Olin, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Flynn
Reviews:
“One Life” is a slow burn, slowly establishing Winton’s modest character as a younger and older man, but when it cracks open, it is a deeply moving portrait of true human goodness. –Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
As we continue to grapple with today’s issues of war, refugee crisis and growing antisemitism, the film’s relevance is so troubling that you cannot fail to be moved by it. –Rex Reed, Observer
One Life . . . tells a story worth hearing. And it allows an indisputable great one more chance to show us what he can do. –Donald Clarke, Irish Times
Larger-than-life characters save the most vulnerable. The actors who portray them do so with great dignity: Hopkins, John Flynn, Lena Olin, Helena Bonham Carter, Jonathan Pryce. You’re pulled into the protagonists’ feverish plans. –Dwight Brown, DwightBrownInk.com
Serves as an urgent reminder of the importance of individual action at a time when the world refugee crisis is at a scale not seen since the Second World War. –Alissa Simon, Variety
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Surprised by Oxford
Drama/Romance/United Kingdom
Date and location: 6 p.m. on September 11, SCC Theater
Description: Based on the award-winning memoir, Surprised by Oxford presents the true story Caro Drake, a young headstrong American who lands a coveted scholarship to the University of Oxford for her graduate studies. Burdened with trust issues and intellectually hostile toward the abstract, Caro begins her time in Oxford with the singular goal of attaining her PhD. But through a tempestuous friendship with a charming young man and the wise counsel of the college’s first female provost, Caro begins to open herself up to mystery, vulnerability, and the possibility of love.
Director: Ryan Whitaker
Performers: Rose Reid, Ruairi O’Connor, Phyllis Logan
Reviews:
Surprised by Oxford prioritizes things often neglected in faith-based entertainment: stylistic beauty, smart story, good acting, and a goal of entertaining the audience more than preaching to them. –Brett McCracken, The Gospel Coalition
A sublime example of how faith-inspired cinema should be done. –Richard Propes, TheIndependentCritic.com
For those who have only a mild familiarity or hold an aversion for faith-based movies, Surprised by [Oxford] is a cut above. –Tynan Yanaga, Film Inquiry
Almost every shot of the film is filled with [Oxford’s] grandeur, dignity, splendor, and traditions. –Nell Minow, RogerEbert.com
Surprised by Oxford will pleasantly surprise the viewer, regardless of your religious leanings. –Bradley Gibson, Film Threat
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Flow
Adventure/Latvia
Date and location: 6 p.m. on October 23, SCC Theater
Description: A thrilling tale of friendship and survival that took indie animation to ecstatic new heights of ambition and imagination, this Academy Award–winning international sensation follows a courageous cat after its home is devastated by a great flood. As the cat teams up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, the crew must rely on trust, courage, and their wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet. Working with a small team using open-source software, visionary DIY animator Gints Zilbalodis conjures a sublime sensory odyssey and a profound meditation on the fragility of the environment and the spirit of community.
Director: Gints Zilbalodis
Reviews:
Flow oozes with charm and playfulness, a delightful multi-generational film that captures a quiet grace missing from so many modern animated features obsessed with manic edits, flashing colours and cacophonous sound design. –Wenlei Ma, The Nightly
A survival epic full of mysteries and magic, it’s an animated epic worthy of Ghibli. –Philip De Semlyen, Time Out
The fluidity of life runs through Flow, a marvelous animated movie from Latvia. –John Powers, NPR
It is dreamy, epic, perilous and very beautiful. –Ty Burr, Washington Post
In the subtle subtext of having a solitary creature like a cat find companionship in a boat full of animals who have lost their pack, their flock, or their herd, we will find a tender story about knowing where we are meant to be. –Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle