This week the Loft Cinema and Grand Cinemas are partnering with IRC to screen films which tie in with our global mission of helping refugees transition from Harm to Home. Join the IRC at the movies and support these powerful independent films.
Le Havre (trailer)
Wednesday, November 16th at 7pm
The Loft Cinema
3233 E. Speedway Blvd
Admission: $10
Film co-sponsor: International Rescue Committee in Tucson
Synopsis: In his wry and warm-hearted portrait of the French harbor city that gives the film its name, legendary Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki (THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST, THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL) pays tribute to the Gallic cinema he loves with a film that exists somewhere between the reality of contemporary France and the classic cinema of Jean-Pierre Melville and Michel Carné. Winner of the FIPRESCI Critics’ prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Kaurismäki’s 16th feature concerns a young African refugee (newcomer Blondin Miguel) who is thrown by fate into the path of Marcel Marx (André Wilms), a well-read bohemian who works as a shoe-shiner. With innate optimism and the unwavering solidarity of his community, Marcel stands up to officials doggedly pursuing the boy for deportation. This is a film unlike anything in the Kaurismäki canon, that still feels like it couldn’t have been made by anyone else.
A Small Act (trailer)
Thursday, November 17th at 7pm
Grand Cinemas Crossroads 6
4811 East Grant Road (Grant and Swan)
Admission: $10
Post-Film debrief: Ismail Abdi, IRC Case Manager
Synopsis: When Hilde Back sponsored a young, rural Kenyan student, she thought nothing of it. She certainly never expected to hear from him, but years later she does. Now a Harvard graduate and a Human Rights Lawyer for the United Nations, Chris Mburu decides to find the stranger that changed his life. Inspired by her generosity, he starts a scholarship program of his own and names it for his former benefactor. The top students in Mukubu primary school are in the exact same situation as Chris once was. They are bright, but can’t afford to pay school fees. With the creation of Chris’ fund, these students have new hope. But the program is small; how many will qualify for a scholarship? Using a strong narrative, the film interweaves seemingly separate lives into a cohesive whole. With clarity and grace, A SMALL ACT, bears witness to the ripple effect a single action can create.
