fiona's theatre

For our first film screening of 2022, we are happy to present "Sankofa". “Sankofa” is an expression of the Akan people which means “to go back and get it.”  It is often associated with the Adinkra image of a bird, standing feet forward but whose head is turned backwards. Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima’s 1993 film, "Sankofa" calls all present-day children of the Diaspora to a deeper appreciation of the ordeals their ancestors endured in the Americas; particularly those of us who seem to have forgotten or are simply unaware of our origins. The film tells the story of an African American model named Mona played by Oyafunmike Ogunlano, who is in Ghana on the Gold Coast doing a photoshoot.  Her shoot starts on the beach but takes her to Cape Coast Castle, one of forty forts in West Africa where captives were held before enduring the Middle Passage and being sold and made to slave on cotton, sugar and tobacco plantations in the Americas. Mona seems disrespectfully oblivious to this fact, but not for long. Something extraordinary happens and she is transported through time, becoming one such slave. “I am not African, I am American!” she screams as white slavers hold her down, strip her clothes off and brand her. What happens next is an unvarnished depiction of life on a Louisiana sugar plantation. Gerima seeks to engulf the senses in this film, through evocative shots and a hypnotic score. The result is a cinematic poem about the will to survive and remain human in the face of genocidal violence. Please join us on Thursday, January 27th @ Fiona’s Theatre at 6:30 pm for this special screening. This and all screenings are free and open to the public. Space is limited. Proof of vaccination is required and COVID-19 protocols will be strictly enforced.

For our first film screening of 2022, we are happy to present "Sankofa". “Sankofa” is an expression of the Akan people which means “to go back and get it.”  It is often associated with the Adinkra image of a bird, standing feet forward but whose head is turned backwards. Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima’s 1993 film, "Sankofa" calls all present-day children of the Diaspora to a deeper appreciation of the ordeals their ancestors endured in the Americas; particularly those of us who seem to have forgotten or are simply unaware of our origins. The film tells the story of an African American model named Mona played by Oyafunmike Ogunlano, who is in Ghana on the Gold Coast doing a photoshoot.  Her shoot starts on the beach but takes her to Cape Coast Castle, one of forty forts in West Africa where captives were held before enduring the Middle Passage and being sold and made to slave on cotton, sugar and tobacco plantations in the Americas. Mona seems disrespectfully oblivious to this fact, but not for long. Something extraordinary happens and she is transported through time, becoming one such slave. “I am not African, I am American!” she screams as white slavers hold her down, strip her clothes off and brand her. What happens next is an unvarnished depiction of life on a Louisiana sugar plantation. Gerima seeks to engulf the senses in this film, through evocative shots and a hypnotic score. The result is a cinematic poem about the will to survive and remain human in the face of genocidal violence. Please join us on Thursday, January 27th @ Fiona’s Theatre at 6:30 pm for this special screening. This and all screenings are free and open to the public. Space is limited. Proof of vaccination is required and COVID-19 protocols will be strictly enforced.

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? This short poem by Harlem Renaissance giant Langston Hughes, “Montage of a Dream Deferred” serves as the inspirational launching point for a classic work of American theater and film, “A Raisin in the Sun”. Lorraine Hansberry penned this play, inspired by her own family’s fight against racism and segregated housing in Chicago. Our own beloved Sidney Poitier starred in the groundbreaking Broadway play and then assumed the role of Walter Lee Younger in the 1961 movie version, directed by Daniel Petrie. Poitier’s performance stands as one of his finest over an illustrious fifty-year career. Walter Lee’s anguish, tortured love, anger and frustrated ambition are powerfully realized in a film about the struggle to be black and matter in America. Interestingly, in 1963 Lorraine Hansberry had an enraged reaction to a photo from Birmingham Alabama in which a white police kneeled on a black woman’s neck. ‘Just how much has changed?’ we can rightly ask. Please join us on Thursday, February 24th @ Fiona’s Theatre at 6:30 pm for this special screening in celebration of the life and work of Sidney Poitier. This and all screenings are free and open to the public. Space is limited. Proof of vaccination is required and COVID-19 protocols will be strictly enforced.

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? This short poem by Harlem Renaissance giant Langston Hughes, “Montage of a Dream Deferred” serves as the inspirational launching point for a classic work of American theater and film, “A Raisin in the Sun”. Lorraine Hansberry penned this play, inspired by her own family’s fight against racism and segregated housing in Chicago. Our own beloved Sidney Poitier starred in the groundbreaking Broadway play and then assumed the role of Walter Lee Younger in the 1961 movie version, directed by Daniel Petrie. Poitier’s performance stands as one of his finest over an illustrious fifty-year career. Walter Lee’s anguish, tortured love, anger and frustrated ambition are powerfully realized in a film about the struggle to be black and matter in America. Interestingly, in 1963 Lorraine Hansberry had an enraged reaction to a photo from Birmingham Alabama in which a white police kneeled on a black woman’s neck. ‘Just how much has changed?’ we can rightly ask. Please join us on Thursday, February 24th @ Fiona’s Theatre at 6:30 pm for this special screening in celebration of the life and work of Sidney Poitier. This and all screenings are free and open to the public. Space is limited. Proof of vaccination is required and COVID-19 protocols will be strictly enforced.

Hayao Miyazaki’s dazzling 1997 animated film Princess Mononoke, is a stirring, unforgettable tale that explores the troubling relationship between humanity and the natural world. The noble warrior-prince, Ashitaka gets drawn into a struggle to the death between the animals/spirits of the forest and ambitious/greedy humans who know no restraint in their exploitation of the earth. Ashitaka finds himself caught between two fearless and unyielding women, Lady Eboshi, and Princess Mononoke, each determined to kill the other. The characters are not one dimensional and this makes the story all the more compelling. At the heart of this perfectly paced and richly imagined fantasy adventure, is the question of whether humanity is doomed to destroy the very planet it depends on for existence. Please join us on Thursday, March 31st at 7:30 pm for this film screening at Fiona’s Theatre. This, and all screenings, are free and open to the public. Space is limited. Proof of vaccination is required and COVID-19 protocols will be strictly enforced.

Hayao Miyazaki’s dazzling 1997 animated film Princess Mononoke, is a stirring, unforgettable tale that explores the troubling relationship between humanity and the natural world. The noble warrior-prince, Ashitaka gets drawn into a struggle to the death between the animals/spirits of the forest and ambitious/greedy humans who know no restraint in their exploitation of the earth. Ashitaka finds himself caught between two fearless and unyielding women, Lady Eboshi, and Princess Mononoke, each determined to kill the other. The characters are not one dimensional and this makes the story all the more compelling. At the heart of this perfectly paced and richly imagined fantasy adventure, is the question of whether humanity is doomed to destroy the very planet it depends on for existence. Please join us on Thursday, March 31st at 7:30 pm for this film screening at Fiona’s Theatre. This, and all screenings, are free and open to the public. Space is limited. Proof of vaccination is required and COVID-19 protocols will be strictly enforced.

Italian filmmaking giant Federico Fellini’s groundbreaking 1963 film, 8 1/2, is a story of art imitating life imitating art. Fellini’s film is highly autobiographical and follows the moods and meanderings of Fellini’s avatar, an Italian filmmaker named Guido Anselmi, as he faces a creative brick wall. Pressured by the studio and tortured by his marital troubles, Guido moves through his life half in a dream. The lines are blurred between reality and imagination and the plot as a thing the viewer depends on recedes altogether, replaced with Guido’s thoughts, his passions, his grief, and his ambivalence. Memories of his childhood and fantastical manifestations of his uneasy state of mind make this an experience to remember. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and was ranked 10th on the British Film Institute’s list of the Greatest Films of All Time. Please join us on Friday, April 29th at 7:30 pm in Fiona’s Theatre at your favourite museum to enjoy this film with a complimentary glass of wine. All NAGB Film Series screenings are free and open to the public. Space is limited, and proof of vaccination is required. COVID-19 social distancing protocols will be in effect.

Italian filmmaking giant Federico Fellini’s groundbreaking 1963 film, 8 1/2, is a story of art imitating life imitating art. Fellini’s film is highly autobiographical and follows the moods and meanderings of Fellini’s avatar, an Italian filmmaker named Guido Anselmi, as he faces a creative brick wall. Pressured by the studio and tortured by his marital troubles, Guido moves through his life half in a dream. The lines are blurred between reality and imagination and the plot as a thing the viewer depends on recedes altogether, replaced with Guido’s thoughts, his passions, his grief, and his ambivalence. Memories of his childhood and fantastical manifestations of his uneasy state of mind make this an experience to remember. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and was ranked 10th on the British Film Institute’s list of the Greatest Films of All Time. Please join us on Friday, April 29th at 7:30 pm in Fiona’s Theatre at your favourite museum to enjoy this film with a complimentary glass of wine. All NAGB Film Series screenings are free and open to the public. Space is limited, and proof of vaccination is required. COVID-19 social distancing protocols will be in effect.

Traveling to accept an honorary degree, Professor Isak Borg—masterfully played by the veteran filmmaker and actor Victor Sjöström—is forced to face his past, come to terms with his faults, and make peace with the inevitability of his approaching death. Through flashbacks and fantasies, dreams and nightmares, Wild Strawberries dramatizes one man’s remarkable voyage of self-discovery. This richly humane masterpiece, full of iconic imagery, is one of Ingmar Bergman’s most widely acclaimed and influential films. Please join us on Thursday, May 26th at 7:30 pm in Fiona’s Theatre at your favourite museum to enjoy this film with a complimentary glass of wine. All NAGB Film Series screenings are free and open to the public. Space is limited, and proof of vaccination is required. COVID-19 social distancing protocols will be in effect.

Traveling to accept an honorary degree, Professor Isak Borg—masterfully played by the veteran filmmaker and actor Victor Sjöström—is forced to face his past, come to terms with his faults, and make peace with the inevitability of his approaching death. Through flashbacks and fantasies, dreams and nightmares, Wild Strawberries dramatizes one man’s remarkable voyage of self-discovery. This richly humane masterpiece, full of iconic imagery, is one of Ingmar Bergman’s most widely acclaimed and influential films. Please join us on Thursday, May 26th at 7:30 pm in Fiona’s Theatre at your favourite museum to enjoy this film with a complimentary glass of wine. All NAGB Film Series screenings are free and open to the public. Space is limited, and proof of vaccination is required. COVID-19 social distancing protocols will be in effect.