Thursday, November 30, 6 p.m.
Figge Art Museum, 225 Second Street, Davenport IA
For the eighth Cinema at the Figge presentation, series programmers at Ford Photography will screen writer/director Chloé Zhao's Songs My Brothers Taught Me in a November 30 Figge Art Museum event, with the award-winning feature preceded by short films, live music, and complimentary beer samples from WAKE Brewing.
Zhao's drama concerns siblings Jashaun and John Winters, who live with their mother Lisa on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The elder of the two, John illegally distributes alcohol to fellow residents to support his family. But just as he is about to graduate from high school and move to Los Angeles with his girlfriend, the siblings' father Carl Winters dies in an accidental house fire. John is consequently torn between leaving his stifling small town and staying to aid his mother, incarcerated brother, and little sister, the latter of whom is forced into seeking employment herself.
Praised by the Hollywood Reporter for its “strong notes of hope and bone-deep identity” and the New York Times for its “panoramic cinematography” and “melancholic portrait of Lakota Indian life,” Songs My Brothers Taught Me was a 2015 inclusion at the Cannes, Sundance, and BFI London Film Festivals, and received the “Best First Feature” prize at the 2015 Jerusalem Film Festival.
The movie's 7 p.m. Figge screening will be preceded b a 5-6 p.m. cocktail hour with food provided by the museum and beverages courtesy of WAKE Brewing, whose craft beers will be named to match the evening's feature film. A short-film presentation will begin at 6 p.m., and the 6:30 p.m. intermission will feature live music alongside additional drinks and hors d'oeuvres.
Donations for the free event are encouraged, and more information on the Cinema at the Figge series is available by visiting FiggeArtMuseum.org or Facebook.com/figgecinema.
