Silver Images Film Festival

Silver Images Film Festival

Presented by the Chicago-based documentary production and distribution company Terra Nova Films, the Silver Images Film Festival runs Sunday, April 18, through Wednesday, May 5, at AARP Information Center, 222 N. LaSalle; Atlas Senior Center, 1767 E. 79th St.; Catholic Health Partners/Saint Anthony’s Hospital, 2875 W. 19th St.; College of Lake County Southlake Educational Center, 1120 S. Milwaukee, Vernon Hills; Community Education, 2121 S. Goebbert, Arlington Heights; Highland Park Senior Center, 54 Laurel, Highland Park; Nash Community Center, 1833 E. 71st St.; Old Orchard Theatres, 9400 Skokie Blvd., Skokie; Presbyterian Homes, 3200 Grant, Evanston; Roosevelt Branch Library, 1101 W. Taylor; and Saint Xavier Univ. McGuire Hall, 3700 W. 103rd St. Unless otherwise noted, admission is free and films will be shown on video. For more information call 773-881-8491.

SUNDAY, APRIL 18

The Firehouse Women

A half-hour 1998 film by Ellen Walters about a North Carolina firehouse that’s been converted into a restaurant and the women who sing gospel music there. (Atlas Senior Center, 1:00)

Spider and Rose

On his last day of work a young ambulance driver is assigned to take a 70-year-old woman on a six-hour drive to her birthday party. Australian filmmaker Bill Bennett (Kiss or Kill) directed this 1994 feature; with Simon Bossell and Ruth Cracknell. To be shown by video projection. (Saint Xavier Univ. McGuire Hall, 7:00)

MONDAY, APRIL 19

Spider and Rose

See listing for Sunday, April 18. To be shown by video projection. (Saint Xavier Univ. McGuire Hall, 2:00)

The Winter Guest

Two older women make their way to an out-of-town funeral, a teenage girl engineers a meeting with a boy she’s attracted to, his mother and grandmother (real-life daughter and mother Emma Thompson and Phyllida Law) go for a walk, and two young boys play hooky in this deeply atmospheric poem set in a seaside town in Scotland on a single day. The aural and visual segues between scenes involving different groups of characters subordinate dramatic considerations to thematic connections; whether or not the mother and grandmother will return to the house where the teenagers have gone to be alone carries only a hint of suspense. This 1997 movie gently dwells on contradictions in the characters’ behavior to expose the nature of some familial and social bonds, defining them in emotional and physical terms so palpable that moments consistently pierce you with their bittersweet beauty. Director Alan Rickman wrote the screenplay with Sharman MacDonald, based on her play. (LA) To be shown by video projection; on the same program, Lee McIntyre and Cathy Loewen’s Amazing Grays: A Celebration of the Crone (1998). (Saint Xavier Univ. McGuire Hall, 7:00)

TUESDAY, APRIL 20

Raising Grandkids: A Love Story

Lori Mass Vidlak directed this hour-long 1997 documentary about children being raised by grandparents. On the same program, Why?, Old Woman Poem, and Living Forever, an animated short by Peter Reynolds and Gary Goldberger Tickets are $5. (College of Lake County Southlake Educational Center, 9:30 am)

Fire on the Mountain

The strength of this 1995 documentary by Beth and George Gage, a couple based in Telluride, about members of the remarkable World War II Tenth Mountain Division is the presence of the men themselves–not only as expert skiers and mountain climbers over the past half century, but as courageous soldiers and gifted, humane storytellers. The film mixes archival footage with present-day interviews and imparts a great deal of information about the historical importance of these individuals, who virtually invented snowmobiles, motorized toboggans, and Vibram-soled hiking boots while training on Mount Rainier. (JR) On the same program, Living Forever. (Community Education, 10:00 am)

Dance: The Heartbeat of Community

Margie Strosser’s 1998 profile of Ione Nash, a 74-year-old African-American who teaches dance in Philadelphia. (Nash Community Center, 10:30 am)

The Firehouse Women

See listing for Sunday, April 18. (Atlas Senior Center, 12:30)

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21

Centenarians Tell It Like It Is

Ron Small directed this 1998 film in which centenarians comment on the past century and the forthcoming one. On the same program, Ira R. Abrams’s Dolores Dulces (1995), Pamela Coffey and Paul Estabrook’s Leaving (1998), and Katey and David Grusovin’s The Christmas Cake (1996). (Catholic Health Partners/Saint Anthony’s Hospital, 9:45 am)

The Mountains Will Remember

A 1998 documentary in which elderly residents of an Appalachian mining town recall life during the Depression. Amy Chenoweth directed. (Atlas Senior Center, 10:30 am)

The Kidnapping

A retired police officer who’s also a grandmother searches for her kidnapped grandson in this 1998 feature directed by Richard Gale. To be shown by video projection. (AARP Information Center, noon)

Claude Pepper: Eyewitness to a Century

James Forsher directed this 1998 profile of the octogenarian Florida congressman. (Atlas Senior Center, 12:30)

Short films

Five shorts: Mark Hallar-Wade’s Flowers for Charlie (1996), Gina Guerrieri’s Make Room for Mario (1995), Parker Cross’s Dance Hall Daze (1994), Swimming With Thelma, and Life Is a Dance: The Inspiration of Eva Desca Garnet. (Presbyterian Homes, 7:15)

THURSDAY, APRIL 22

Dance: The Heartbeat of Community

See listing for Tuesday, April 20. (Atlas Senior Center, 10:30 am)

Pop

Joel Meyerowitz directed this heartfelt valentine to his 87-year-old father, Hy, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. The director’s son serves as cameraman, and the two of them take the old man on a road trip from his south Florida retirement community to the Bronx, where he was born and later raised his family. Though frail in body and mind, “Pop” retains his warmth, toughness, and crusty sense of humor as he, his son, and his grandson try to reclaim the past. His halting recollections are intercut with home-movie footage from more vigorous days, heightening our regret for the passage of time, yet Meyerowitz avoids mawkishness, letting Pop do much of the talking and proving that it’s never too late to honor thy father. (TS) On the same program, You Are the Miracle, an hour-long film about elderly artists. (Highland Park Senior Center, 1:00)

The Joyriders

Martin Landau stars as Gordon Trout, a suicidal old man who’s kidnapped by three homeless teenagers. Directed by Bradley Battersby; with Kris Kristofferson and Shawn Wayne Hatosy. Tickets for this Chicago premiere are $10; a 35-millimeter print will be shown, and Landau and producer Cindy Bond will attend the screening. (Old Orchard Theatres, 7:30)

Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): The Joyriders.