One Read Film Events in September
Daniel Boone Regional Library is sponsoring various films this month in conjunction with the One Read program. This year’s book is “The Tiger’s Wife” by Téa Obreht, which is rich in themes of personal myth-making, the Balkan wars, and death rituals.
Enjoy a free screening of “Welcome to Sarajevo” directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring Woody Harrelson. Set during the Third Balkan War (1992-93), the conflict alluded to in “The Tiger’s Wife,” this film uses actual footage from the war to help tell this true story of a news crew that helps orphaned children escape the war. (The film is rated R for violence due to the war footage.)
Dr. Greg Smith, associate professor of English at Williams Woods University, will show Steven Spielberg’s recent film “War Horse,” which deals with situational and thematic issues similar to those in “The Tiger’s Wife.” Young Albert enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry. Albert’s inspiring journey takes him out of England and across Europe as the war rages on.
This month, in conjunction with One Read, Center Aisle Cinema will show “A Family Undertaking,” directed by Elizabeth Westrate. This documentary explores the growing home funeral movement by closely following several families as they reclaim the end of life, forgoing a typical mortuary funeral to care for their loved ones at home. Through their stories we see that “hands-on” care for the dead by family members, including children, can aid in grieving, bring a sense of fulfillment and help loved ones grasp the reality of a death. Their home funerals are remarkable documents of death made intimate, meaningful, and even joyful. (60 min.)
Get a glimpse at the real lives of refugees from the war alluded to in “The Tiger’s Wife” at this film presented by Ragtag Cinema in association with the Stephens College Department of Film Studies. Directed by locals Kerri Yost and Beth Pike, the film focuses on the Selimovic family, Bosnian Muslim refugees who have been relocated to Columbia, MO. Fatima Selimovic lost her husband and father in the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, in which ethnic Serbs attempted to eliminate the Bosnian Muslim population and make Bosnia part of a Greater Serbia. This very personal film traces the paths of Fatima and her three teenage children in their lives in Columbia and also follows Fatima back to Bosnia for a memorial for her father. Q & A to follow the film with the filmmakers Kerri Yost, Beth Pike and Stephen Hudnell and possibly members of the Selimovic family.
