The unjolly Santa is this tale was inspired by from the Finnish version: a “pagan figure, named Joulupukki known for wearing goatskins and horns. But instead of giving presents, he demanded them in return for not causing trouble!” (BBC)

The film, from Finnish director Jalmari Helander, is a prequel of sorts to his celebrated Rare Export shorts. The film is in Finnish with subtitles and runs 84 minutes–and remember: it’s rated R. We’ll screen it and then discuss it starting at 7 PM in the Community Room of the Oswego Public Library. It’s free and all are welcome.

The 2011 documentary traces the separate journeys of two men, nutritional scientist T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., professor emeritus at Cornell University, and surgeon Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic. Their work leads both men to focus on a plant-based diet as key to health, warding off—and dealing more effectively with—many of the diseases that afflict us. In an interview in The New York Times, Campbell noted, “We should not be relying on the idea that genes are determinants of our health. We should not be relying on the idea that nutrient supplementation is the way to get nutrition, because it’s not. I’m talking about whole, plant-based foods. The effect it produces is broad for treatment and prevention of a wide variety of ailments, from cancer to heart disease to diabetes.”  In addition to giving the perspective of medical and health professionals, the film tells the stories of patients who are using whole food diets to help treat their chronic conditions. The film, written and directed by Lee Fulkerson, is rated PG and runs 90 minutes. The movie’s website is www.forksoverknives.com.

The free screening (open to the public) will be Wednesday, November 2 at 7 PM in the Community Room at the Oswego Public Libary (120 East Second Street). A discussion will follow the film.

At the Oswego Public Library:

Akeelah and the Bee, American Blackout, Bride & Prejudice, The Cove, Crazy Heart, Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room, The Forest for the Trees, He Died With a Felafel in His Hand, An Inconvenient Truth, Inside Job, Munich, Syriana, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Who’s Camus Anyway?, Winter’s Bone

At other libraries in the North Country Library System:

Aurora Borealis, Becoming Jane, Black Swan, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Class, The Constant Gardener, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Doubt, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Familia, Fast Food Nation, The Fighter, Food, Inc., Frozen River, Gran Torino, Hotel Rwanda, I’m Not There, The Informant!, The King’s Speech, The Kite Runner, The Last King of Scotland, León, the Professional, Letters from Iwo Jima, Let the Right One In, Man on Wire, Monster Thursday, The Narrow Margin, Of Gods and Men, Persepolis, A Prairie Home Companion, The Producers (2006), Proof, The Reader, Running With Scissors, The Savages, Shopgirl, Slumdog Millionaire, Sugar, Super Troopers, Thank You for Smoking, Top Hat, Transamerica, The Upside of Anger, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, The World’s Fastest Indian   

OFG continues its Best of the Festivals series with the 2010 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize winner for Best Film, Of Gods and Men. The film will be shown at 6:45 PM in the Community Room of the Oswego Public Library (120 East Second Street) Wednesday, October 12. A question and answer session and discussion will follow the screening (which is free and open to the public).

The film was inspired by real events in the 1990s.

Lambert Wilson plays Christian, the head of a Cistercian monastery in Algeria: a spartan order devoted to contemplation and prayer. Their community has developed a happy relationship with the local Muslim villagers, based partly on the free outpatient clinic they provide. They have a quiet, supportive respect for each other’s traditions. But dark forces are gathering: intolerant jihadist forces have already murdered Croatian construction workers, and are rumoured to have the Catholic monks in their sights as the ultimate prize…. The monks must now decide: should they stay or should they go? Is going cowardice? Is staying arrogance? Is martyrdom their destiny? (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, December 2, 2010)

The film was directed by Xavier Beauvois. Of Gods and Men, in French and Arabic, runs 120 minutes and is rated PG-13. The film’s website is www.sonyclassics.com/ofgodsandmen/.

Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s and the guy who assembles the team, who has an epiphany: all of baseball’s conventional wisdom is wrong. Forced to reinvent his team on a tight budget, Beane will have to outsmart the richer clubs. The onetime jock teams with Ivy League grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) in an unlikely partnership, recruiting bargain players that the scouts call flawed, but all of whom have an ability to get on base, score runs, and win games. It’s more than baseball, it’s a revolution – one that challenges old school traditions and puts Beane in the crosshairs of those who say he’s tearing out the heart and soul of the game. — (C) Sony Pictures

Moneyball movie website

After the screening, we’ll gather in the upstairs lobby of the theater and discuss the film. We’ll be joined by SUNY Oswego professor Ranjit Dighe. Currently teaching a course on the economics of baseball at the college, Ranjit will bring his perspective on the business and art of baseball to our discussion.

All are welcome! Please join us.

Tuesday, September 20 @ 7 PM
What’s ‘Organic’ About Organic w/ Director Shelley Rogers
This film dives into the challenges that arise when a grassroots agricultural movement evolves into a booming international market. Though the stories of farmers who steward land from Harlem to the foothills of the Rockies, from upstate New York to Florida, the film offers audiences a deeper understanding of the complexities involved in creating a more sustainable food system.

What\’s Organic website

Tuesday, October 25 @ 7 PM
Beatboxing-The Fifth Element of Hip Hop w/ Producer Angela Viscido
In the late 70’s, a youth culture evolved in the poorer parts of New York that combined several disciplines under the name of hip hop. Apart from the four classic elements of graffiti, DJing, breakdancing, and rapping, the musical side of this culture was enhanced by a fifth element called ‘beatboxing’. From the hardship of poverty and the lack of instruments, a pioneer was inspired to imitate drum rhythms with his mouth – his brilliance creating the term ‘human beatbox’. Beatboxing features artists from New York, California, Florida, Spain, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Austria and Germany, who demonstrate their amazing techniques.

Beatboxing documentary website

Tuesday, November 15 @ 7 PM
Out in the Silence w/ Directors Dean Hamer & Joe Wilson
When a popular 16-year-old jock is brutally attacked for coming out at his small town high school, his mother reaches out for help to the only person she feels she can trust, an openly gay man who lives 300 miles away–native son and filmmaker Joe Wilson. Returning home with camera in hand, Wilson documents the harrowing but ultimately successful battle waged by the teen and his mom against recalcitrant school authorities, the efforts of a lesbian couple to restore an historic theater in the face of vitriolic anti-gay attacks, and his own unexpected friendship with an Evangelical preacher. As walls are torn down and bridges built, Out in the Silence offers a fascinating and moving commentary on America’s culture war.

Out in the Silence website

OFG is pleased to be a partner with the groups bringing this series to Oswego.

The true story of what King Leopold did in the Congo, which was forgotten by the world for over 50 years. Leopold turned the Congo into his own private colony from 1885 to 1908. Under his control, the Congo became a gulag labor camp of shocking brutality. Leopold assumed the role of protector of Africans fleeing Arab slave traders, but, in reality, he exploited them as he amassed a personal fortune in this country rich in rubber. If the men failed to produce enough wild rubber, their families were held hostage and starved to death. Children’s hands were chopped off for late deliveries. It is agreed today, that the first Human Rights movement was spurred by what happened in the Congo. (Rotten Tomatoes website)

On Thursday, September 8 at 7 PM, there will be a free screening for the community of the documentary Race to Nowhere in the Ralph M. Faust Auditorium, Oswego High School.

Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people across the country who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills they need, and parents who are trying to do what’s best for their kids, Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace, students have become disengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired. (from the film’s website: www.racetonowhere.com)

Presented by SUNY Oswego, ARTSwego, and the Oswego City School District, the film will be followed by a panel discussion and a reception at 9 PM in the auditorium lobby.

DrydenTheatre.HMPL.7/8/11

The next night at the Dryden, Jeff will be back to host a special evening, The Wonderful World of Jeff Krulik and Friends.

DrydenTheatre.WonderfulWorldofJeffKrulikandFriends.7/9/11

John Heyn and Jeff Krulik, the guys who made "Heavy Metal Parking Lot"

and links to the film and some where-are-they-now material. Enjoy.

NPR Music Blog — Heavy Metal Parking Lot: Waste 16 Minutes…

And speaking of where-are-they-now material, here’s a look at one HMPL character’s trip from heavy metal to Hasidim.

TBD Arts: From \’Heavy Metal Parking Lot\’ to Hasidism

Slate\’s Hollywood Career-O-Matic