Cinema Club

Events

The Camera Cinema Club events are the most unique cinematic experiences offered in the Bay Area. Special guests and celebrities who have talked with audiences about their films include actors John Malkovich and Peter Mullan, and a host of independent filmmakers who have gone on to celebrated careers. One of the all-time highlights for members was when Jessica Yu, Academy AwardŽ-winning director of "Breathing Lessons: The Life And Works of Mark O'Brien", passed her Oscar around the audience during the Club's inaugural 1997-98 season.

For an overview of Club events from its inaugural season to the present, check out our CLUB HISTORY

Club Screens Two Very Different Family Dramas, The Kids Are All Right and I Am Love

On Sunday, July 18, 2010 The Camera Cinema club screened the Irish independent drama KISSES, the story of two young runaways living in the fringes of Dublin who discover both beauty and danger in the big city. Writer/director Lance Daly addressed and took questions from Club members over the phone from Dublin, Ireland.

KISSES won the 2009 Best Director Award from the Irish Film and Television Academy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpUWjEJSd8c) and opens Friday, August 6 at the Camera 3 Entertainment in downtown San Jose.

See you next month!

Cheers,

Tim
Director Camera Cinema Club
The Place To Talk Film Kisses--SCREEN DAILY REVIEW

19 September, 2008 | By Mike Goodridge

Dir: Lance Daly. 2008. Ireland/Sweden. 76 mins.

A small Irish charmer about two children who run away from their abusive homes and spend an eventful night in Dublin, Lance Daly's Kisses is so slight and whimsical that sometimes it feels more like a fairy tale than a dramatic feature film. Running to a mere 76 minutes, it is one of those fragile films which could be discovered by audiences if it is given the chance to build word-of-mouth like last year's Irish charmer Once. Or it could just as easily fall through the cracks.

Focus Features International picked up international rights recently after it won the Best Irish Feature award at the Galway Film Fleadh and that company's muscle could help it gain distribution deals, although distributors in English-speaking territories might be concerned at the thick Irish accents - many at the recent Toronto International Film Festival screenings complained that they couldn't understand large stretches of dialogue. Subtitling could be an option.

The film starts in black and white as we meet two pre-teen kids - Kylie and Dylan - who live in neighbouring houses on a super-bleak housing estate on the outskirts of Dublin. Dylan lives in constant fear of his alcoholic father who beats up his mother and two years previously drove Dylan's older brother away from home. Kylie lives with her single mother and five siblings but suffers silently from a sexually abusive uncle.

One day in the run up to Christmas Dylan runs away from the house with the help of Kylie after he has intervened in a row between his parents and injured his father. Kylie decides that the two of them must got to Dublin to find Dylan's brother and the two hop on board a dredger on its way into the city, piloted by a friendly Eastern European (David Bendito) who teaches them about Bob Dylan. By this point, colour has started to infuse the picture.

Once in Dublin, in full colour now, the kids spend all their money on new sneakers (on wheels) and clothes, but have no luck in finding Dylan's brother who is clearly homeless and living on the streets. As the night wears on, they encounter increasing danger but they learn to rely on each other for safety and love.

Daly captures the hustle and bustle of a pre-Christmas city centre well and there are some lovely touches - the sight of the kids wheeling around on their sneakers, the notion of kisses being all a penniless person has to offer. The kids - two unknowns from Dublin called Kelly O'Neill, 11 when she shot the film, and Shane Curry, 12 - give the kind of guilelessly natural performances that have the power to enchant audiences (see Kolya, Cinema Paradiso et al).

Ultimately, the film's fanciful elements - the appearance of a Bob Dylan lookalike (an uncredited Stephen Rea), a chase through the streets with Dylan hanging on to a car bumper - are less interesting than the child's eye view of the hardship, poverty and violence that is a familiar part of their lives. Daly's skill in working with the child actors is to illuminate their still-intact innocence in the face of the forces out to corrupt it - in the city and in their homes.

July 18th - KISSES

The Camera Cinema club screened the Irish independent drama Kisses, the story of two young runaways living in the fringes of Dublin who discover both beauty and danger in the big city. Writer/director Lance Daly addressed and took questions from Club members over the phone from Dublin, Ireland.

June 13th - THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT / I AM LOVE

The Camera Cinema Club screened two films -- At Camera 7, The Kids Are All Right, in which same sex couple, Nic and Jules, must deal with their teenage children wanting to bond with their biological father. At Camera 12, the Italian drama I Am Love, in which powerful events threaten to tear apart a carefully controlled upper crust family. Lively discussions led by Club Director Tim Sika followed.

The Camera Cinema Club screened Winter's Bone, Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury prize winner for Best Film of 2010. Deep in the Ozark Mountains, intrepid teenager Ree Dolly set out to find her crystal-meth-making father, who by skipping bail has put her family home on the line. In attendance was ensemble cast member Dale ("My Name Is Earl") Dickey.

The Camera Cinema Club screened the emotional drama Touching Home, based on a true story about a father struggling to make amends with his twin sons as they pursue their dreams of professional baseball. In attendance were the film's ensemble cast members, producers, writers and directors, Logan and Noah Miller.

The Camera Cinema Club screened the 2009 Toronto Film Festival hit The Joneses--a black comedy satire on American consumerism starring David Duchovny and Demi Moore. In attendance was the film's writer/director Derrick Borte (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpSbtxhJJeM).

The Camera Cinema Club screened the Academy Award nominated (Best Documentary Feature 2009) The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, profiling the high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, who in 1971 leaked 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times, making headlines around the world. In attendance was the film's co-writer, producer and director Judith Ehrlich.

The Camera Cinema Club screened The September Issue, an intimate, funny and surprising behind-the-scenes look into the world of fashion, and "Vogue's" legendary editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and her team of larger-than-life editors, as they create the September issue of "Vogue"--the must-have Bible of fashion. Director RJ Cutler discussed the film and took questions from the audience at both screenings.

The Camera Cinema Club screened Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles, exploring the famed filmmaker's theatrical work in the days before he changed movies forever with "Citizen Kane." "High School Musical" star Zack Efron portrays a young New York actor who is offered a role in Welles's soon-to-be-legendary 1937 Mercury Theater production of "Julius Caesar". In attendance was Bay Area film critic ("Box Office Magazine"; San Francisco Chronicle) Pam Grady.

The Camera Cinema Club inaugurated its 14th Season with two screenings of The Messenger, a drama about two Iraq war veterans (Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson), united by the task of informing next of kin that their loved ones have been killed in action. Following the screenings members were treated to a brief interview/greeting from writer/director Oren Moverman and actor Woody Harrelson, followed by a lively discussion.