The Chattanooga Film Society and the Mise En Scenesters this week launched their presentation of the POV Summer Film Series, which began June 11 with one screening per month through September. The award-winning documentary films put a human face on contemporary social issues. Says series programmer Chris Dortch, “My background as a programmer with Nashville’s Documentary Channel gives me a spider sense when it comes to great documentary films, and each of the four films we’ve chosen for this series gives me that tingle I associate with the best docs.”
The first film in the series, “Guilty Pleasures,” was shown at the downtown Chattanooga YMCA. The film takes an amusing and touching look at the global phenomenon of romance novel sales. (Every four seconds, a book published by Harlequin or its British counterpart, Mills & Boon, is sold somewhere in the world.) Ironies abound in the contrasts between the everyday lives of the books’ readers and the fantasy worlds that offer them escape. “Guilty Pleasures” portrays five romance devotees who must ultimately find their dreams in the real world. Admission to the screening is free to anyone.
The series continues on July 16 with “I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad and the Beautiful.” What begins as a historical documentary about Hurricane Katrina morphs into a vibrant character study of Carolyn Parker. The film documents the courage and resiliency of this fearless matriarch and civil rights activist.
“Reel Old School” will screen on August 13. Made by local Chattanooga college students, the film explores the correlation between the democratization of recording technology and the fall of the music industry.
The series winds down Sept. 10 with “Reportero.” The film follows a veteran reporter and his colleagues at Zeta, a Tijuana-based independent newsweekly, as they stubbornly ply their trade in one of the deadliest places in the world for members of the media.
The Chattanooga Film Society is a non-profit organization that supports independent filmmaking locally and promotes professional film and television production across the region. It is currently working on the launch of a major film festival in downtown Chattanooga. For more information on becoming a member or sponsor, visit www.chattanoogafilmsociety.org.
Mise en Scenesters is a film club with the goal of providing more opportunities for people to see great films that aren’t likely to play in a multiplex. Through the exhibition of film, the publishing of film related writings and podcasts, creating films of their own and fostering an inclusive society of fellow film nerds with whom they regularly geek out, Mise en Scenesters spreads the gospel of strange and wonderful cinema as far as they can. Check out their site at porkandmeadmag.com/film.
Source: Chattanooga Film Society