The New Mosaic and
“Standing in the Shadows of Motown” at Real Art Ways

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The New Mosaic and
“Standing in the Shadows of Motown”

This event has sold out.

 

Event Details:

We are converting our parking lot into space for socially distanced gatherings.
“Doors” will open at 5:30. Music will begin at 6:15 followed by the film at 7:30.

Bring your own blanket or chairs. We will have food and drinks for sale inside our cafe. Our galleries will be open with limited capacity.

Seating will be limited according to state guidelines and advance reservations are required to attend.

Reservations:

When making reservations, you will need to reserve one ticket per person in your party.  Seating will be socially distanced in pods, with a maximum of 4 people per pod.

Parties that do not check in ten minutes before the band begins will have their reservations voided.

Since this event has limited capacity, please inform us through email or by phone if you need to cancel your reservation.

Parking:

For this event, the parking entrance is on Orange Street (not Arbor Street). There will be accessible parking spaces available.

Rain Date:

Friday, September 25

Health and Safety:

We have updated our health and safety protocols to welcome you into our space. You can read more about them HERE.

 

 

Music:

The New Mosaic band smiling together

The New Mosaic

Following the 2017 release of her debut solo EP, “Young”, Erica T. Bryan of West End Blend brings her powerhouse vocals to a fresh neo-soul project. Together, with Tom Sullivan (West End Blend), Mike Carabello (The Lost Tribe), and Dwayne Keith (The Dwayne Keith Project, Therabeat) the quartet lays down a collage of R&B, funk, and jazz-inspired by the artistry of Erykah Badu, Chaka Khan, Sade and more. Erica T. Bryan and friends present: The New Mosaic.

The group released their debut single, “Out of Body” on February 11th, 2020, available digitally everywhere.

Erica T. Bryan | Vox

Tom Sullivan | Electric + Synth Bass

Mike Carabello | Keys

Dwayne Keith | Drums

Support of this concert comes from the Evelyn W. Preston Fund

Movie:

Funk Brothers performing on stage

Standing in the Shadows of Motown

91% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

In 1959, Berry Gordy gathered the best musicians from Detroit’s thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company. Over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on “My Girl,” “Bernadette,” “I Was Made to Love Her,” and every other hit from Motown’s Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined – which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers.

Forty-one years after they played their first note on a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the Funk Brothers reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story.

 

Outdoor Music & Movie Night

 

 

This event has sold out.

Real Art Ways will be hosting more outdoor movie nights during the summer and we hope to see you there. To stay in touch, sign up for our weekly Enews letter.

 

Event Overview:

Music with Erica T. Bryan and Tom Sullivan (members of West End Blend and The New Mosaic)

followed by

I Am Not Your Negro (a profound film, based on the words of James Baldwin)

Our first live event since the shutdown!

Outdoors at the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington.

Bring a blanket, chairs, and a picnic to the Hill-Stead Museum West Lawn. Order beverages online through The Wise Old Dog using this link or bring your own. Seating is limited according to state guidelines.

We will sell out.

Tickets: $25 /$20 for Real Art Ways Members (You will need your Member ID number.)

Advance tickets only. No ticket sales at the door.

 

Music:

Two musicians outdoors.

Erica T. Bryan and Tom Sullivan, of West End Blend and The New Mosaic, bring their superb musical skills for an intimate, outdoor experience. They’ve played Real Art Ways several times. They are outstanding!

 

Movie:

James Baldwin's eyes and the text "I Am Not Your Negro"

99% on Rotten Tomatoes

NY Times Critic’s Pick

Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary, 2017

Raoul Peck’s documentary is an important introduction to James Baldwin’s work and an advanced seminar in racial politics.” –A.O. Scott The NYTimes

Synopsis:

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends-Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

At the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only thirty completed pages of his manuscript. Now, in his incendiary documentary, filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words and a flood of rich archival material. I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.

 

John Lewis: Good Trouble

 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH
“JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE”

 

Price: $12 (50% of the proceeds go to Real Art Ways)

How it works:

The film will be available starting Friday, July 3.  After your purchase, you will have 30 days to watch the movie. Once you start the movie you will have 72 hours to finish it.

About the film:

Using interviews and rare archival footage, JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE chronicles Lewis’ 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health-care reform and immigration. Using present-day interviews with Lewis, now 80 years old, Porter explores his childhood experiences, his inspiring family and his fateful meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957. In addition to her interviews with Lewis and his family, Porter’s primarily cinéma verité film also includes interviews with political leaders, Congressional colleagues, and other people who figure prominently in his life.

Immediately following the feature, there will be a pre-recorded discussion between Representative Lewis and Oprah Winfrey, filmed last month and being made available exclusively for virtual cinema and in-theater engagements of the film. This is a wide-ranging, informal, 16-minute conversation that’s a perfect follow-up to the documentary, and could not be more relevant.

 

Events:

Wednesday, July 8 Real Art Ways Online Community Conversation (click for more details)

Thursday, July 9 – (From Magnolia) All ticket-buyers are welcome to stream a live panel discussion presented by the Freedom Rides Museum of Montgomery, Alabama, featuring Freedom Riders Dr. Bernard Lafayette and Dr. Rip Patton in conversation with director Dawn Porter. In partnership with the Capri Theater. The live panel begins at 7:30 pm EST / 4:30 pm PST and will also be archived to watch afterward.

Fantastic Fungi

Fantastic Fungi Day has been moved online with a special virtual Q&A conversation with Louie Schwartzberg, Paul Stamets, and Special Guests. Find out more here

Returning for ONE NIGHT on Thursday, March 26!

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

Fantastic Fungi, directed by Louie Schwartzberg, is a consciousness-shifting film that takes us on an immersive journey through time and scale into the magical earth beneath our feet, an underground network that can heal and save our planet. Through the eyes of renowned scientists and mycologists like Paul Stamets, best-selling authors Michael Pollan, Eugenia Bone, Andrew Weil and others, we become aware of the beauty, intelligence and solutions the fungi kingdom offer us in response to some of our most pressing medical, therapeutic, and environmental challenges.

The Cordillera Of Dreams

 

NY TIMES CRITIC PICK

Winner of the Best Documentary award at the Cannes Film Festival, master filmmaker Patricio Guzmán’s The Cordillera of Dreams completes his trilogy (with Nostalgia for the Light and The Pearl Button) investigating the relationship between historical memory, political trauma, and geography in his native country of Chile. It centers on the imposing landscape of the Andes that run the length of the country’s Eastern border. At once protective and isolating, magisterial and indifferent, the Cordillera serves as an enigmatic focal point around which Guzmán contemplates the enduring legacy of the 1973 military coup d’état.

Looking at both the past and future, Guzmán’s work rescues Chile from the threat of historical amnesia. He considers how the neoliberal economic policies introduced under the Pinochet regime have continued to stratify Chilean society along increasingly rigid class lines. The Cordillera may form an omnipresent backdrop to the Chilean landscape, but, like so many parts of the country, much of it is privately owned and inaccessible to the vast majority of the population. Unflinching in its presentation of contemporary Chile, The Cordillera of Dreams moves beyond despair and looks towards the possibilities of political change by linking the ideological struggles of the past with the inequalities of the present.

Cat Video Fest 2020

 

OPENING FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28!

CatVideoFest is a compilation reel of the latest and best cat videos culled from countless hours of unique submissions and sourced animations, music videos, and, of course, classic internet powerhouses.

CatVideoFest is a joyous communal experience, only available in theaters, and raises money for cats in need through partnerships with local cat charities, animal welfare organizations, and shelters to best serve cats in the area.  A percentage of the proceeds from our screenings will go to the Connecticut Cat Connection of Windsor.

 

A poster for the festival which features a photograph of a cat. Images of the same cat are layered in different colors with varying opacity creating an almost 3-D effect. There is white text that states "Cat Video Fest 2020"

2020 Oscar-Nominated Short Films: Documentary

OPENING FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020

Every year Real Art Ways brings the Oscar-Nominated Short Films to its cinema so you can enjoy some of the finest film making of the year. All three categories are offered – Animation, Live Action, and Documentary. This is your annual chance to see all of these nominees before the Academy Awards on Sunday, February 9 at 8 PM.

 

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS (Running Time: 160 minutes)

Life Overtakes Me –John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson, Sweden/USA, 39 min.

Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if You’re a Girl) – Carol Dysinger, UK, 39 min.

In the Absence –Yi Seung-Jun, South Korea, 28 min.

Walk Run Cha-Cha – Laura Nix, USA, 21 min.

St. Louis Superman –Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan, USA, 28 min.

 

Rating guidelines:

Documentary Shorts: R, as usual. The Documentary program deals with global political issues – the refugee crisis, the education of girls and women in Afghanistan, activism in Ferguson MO. Very strong doc program this year.

 

2020 Oscar-Nominated Short Films: Live Action

OPENING FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020 

Every year Real Art Ways brings the Oscar-Nominated Short Films to its cinema so you can enjoy some of the finest film making of the year. All three categories are offered – Animation, Live Action, and Documentary. This is your annual chance to see all of these nominees before the Academy Awards on Sunday, February 9 at 8 PM.

 

LIVE ACTION SHORTS (Running Time: 104 minutes)

A Sister –Delphine Girard, Belgium, 16 min.

Brotherhood –Meryan Joobeur, Tunisia, 25 min.

The Neighbors’ Window –Marshall Curry, USA, 20 min.

Saria –Bryan Buckley, USA, 23 min.

Nefta Football Club –Yves Piat, Tunisia/France, 17 min.

 

Rating guidelines:

Live Action Shorts: R, as usual. Thankfully a lot lighter than last year’s Live-Action program! But it still deals with adult themes and issues and is not for children.

 

The Tobacconist

 

Seventeen-year-old Franz journeys to Vienna to apprentice at a tobacco shop. There he meets Sigmund Freud, a regular customer, and over time the two very different men form a singular friendship. When Franz falls desperately in love with the music-hall dancer Anezka, he seeks advice from the renowned psychoanalyst, who admits that the female sex is as big a mystery to him as it is to Franz. As political and social conditions in Austria dramatically worsen with the Nazis’ arrival in Vienna, Franz, Freud, and Anezka are swept into the maelstrom of events. Each has a big decision to make: to stay or to flee?

 

Earth (Erde)

NY TIMES CRITIC PICK

We walk all over it every day of our lives. We plow it, we dig it and we drill it; we cover it up with concrete. We map it and we measure it; we draw our borders onto it, and we imagine that it belongs to us. We live by what it produces and we bury our dead in it. We take its existence for granted; it seems invincible, indestructible. If we consider our planet to be an organism, its crust – just 40 kilometers thick – is its most delicate organ by far.

 

What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael

In a field that has historically embraced few women film critics, Kael was charismatic, controversial, witty, and discerning. Her decades-long berth at The New Yorker energized her fans (“Paulettes”) and infuriated her detractors on a weekly basis. Her turbo-charged prose famously championed the New Hollywood Cinema of the late 1960s and ‘70s (BONNIE AND CLYDE, NASHVILLE, CARRIE, TAXI DRIVER) and the work of major European directors (François Truffaut, Bernardo Bertolucci), while mercilessly panning some of the biggest studio hits (THE SOUND OF MUSIC, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, DIRTY HARRY).

The Song of Names

As Europe erupts into World War II, 9-year-old Martin comes to love his new brother Dovidl, a highly gifted violin prodigy of the same age and recent Polish-Jewish refugee to London. But hours before Dovidl’s debut concert performance at the age of 21, he vanishes without a trace, causing shame and ruin for their family. A lifetime later, a young violinist shows a 56-year-old Martin a stylistic flourish that could only have been taught by Dovidl. This triggers Martin’s odyssey overseas in search of his lost brother, one that will lead to surprising revelations for both men and for Helen, the woman who stood between them.

A panoramic image of a young boy playing the violin. In the background in soft focus, you can see adults watching.

2020 Oscar-Nominated Short Films: Animation

OPENING FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020 

Every year Real Art Ways brings the Oscar-Nominated Short Films to its cinema so you can enjoy some of the finest film making of the year. All three categories are offered – Animation, Live Action, and Documentary. This is your annual chance to see all of these nominees before the Academy Awards on Sunday, February 9 at 8 PM.

 

ANIMATED SHORTS (Running Time: 83 minutes)

Hair Love –Matthew A. Cherry, USA, 7 min.

Dcera (Daughter) –Daria Kashcheeva, Czech Republic, 15 min.

Memorable –Bruno Collet, France, 12 min.

Sister –Siqi Song, China/USA, 8 min.

Kitbull – Rosana Sullivan, USA, 9 min.

PLUS A SELECTION OF ADDITIONAL ANIMATED SHORTS:

Henrietta Bulkowski –USA, 16 min. (featuring the voices of Chris Cooper and Ann Dowd!)

The Bird and the Whale –Ireland, 6 min.

Hors Piste –France, 5 min.

 

Ratings guidelines:

Animated Shorts: PG-13. The themes tackled in this year’s Animated program are quite heavy – the death of a parent, Alzheimer’s, China’s one-child policy, and more. The program overall is rather melancholy, and while there’s nothing especially objectionable within, most of these shorts will not appeal to children under 12, at all. The films are all very good, but adult audiences will appreciate them much more than kids.

 

Human Nature
Online Film and Discussion

 

This new documentary explores a scientific discovery called CRISPR that gives people the power to change what it means to be human.

“Every ‘Oh wow’ in ‘Human Nature’ is matched by an ‘Oh no’ somewhere down the line. Together, these two competing emotions – excitement and unease – make for one pretty fascinating documentary.” – Ken Jaworowski, NY Times

Watch the film online anytime and join us for:

Online Q&A | Wednesday, October 14 | 7 PM“Reality Check – Science to Science Fiction!” 

 Led by Dr. Michael V. Wiles, Senior Director of Tech Evaluation and Development at The Jackson Laboratory.

Dr. Wiles will talk about his take and answer questions on what genetic engineering may mean to humankind – what is possible now, things to come (or not), and its power and limitations.

Register for the event HERE

 

Science on Screen:

Real Art Ways brings the world of science alive, pairing critically acclaimed films with discussions led by area scientists.

Science on Screen is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Sleepwalk With Me

6:30 | Lively discussion led by Dr. Adrian Salmon, Director of the Sleep Center at UConn Health

7:00 | Sleepwalk With Me

“I’m going to tell you a story, and it’s true…I always have to tell people that.” So asserts comedian-turned-playwright-turned-filmmaker, Mike Birbiglia, directly to the viewer at the outset of his autobiographically inspired, fictional feature debut.
We are thrust into the tale of a burgeoning stand-up comedian struggling with the stress of a stalled career, a stale relationship threatening to race out of his control, and the wild spurts of severe sleepwalking he is desperate to ignore. Based on the successful one-man show, Sleepwalk With Me engages in the kind of passionate and personal storytelling that transfigures intimate anguish into comic art.

 

Science on Screen® is a film series that features “creative pairings of classic, cult, and documentary films with lively introductions by notable figures from the world of science, technology, and medicine.”

Science on Screen is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

 

 

Oliver Sacks: His Own Life

Filmed in 2015 just after receiving his fatal diagnosis, Oliver Sacks opens up about his six decades of thinking and writing about the brain, his life, his work, and his abiding sense of wonder of the world.

“A portrait of the poetic neurologist of ‘Awakenings,’ shot at the end of his life, takes a tender and thrilling look at the sacred demons that drove him.” – Variety

Watch Now button

 

 

 

Oliver Sacks writing at a desk

Online Discussion: “The Power of Diet In Brain Health” 
Dr. Paola Sacchetti | Wednesday, September 30 | 7 PM

Dr. Sacchetti, Director of M.S. Neurosciences at the University of Hartford, has studied neuron development in relation to Parkinson’s Disease, and the effects of dietary regimens on cognitive function. She will give an overview of Alzheimer’s disease, talk about the impact of a ketogenic diet, and probiotics on brain health and open it up to discussion.

Register HERE.

About Science on Screen:

Real Art Ways brings the world of science alive, pairing critically acclaimed films with discussions led by area scientists.

Science on Screen is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

 

Harriet

Based on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, HARRIET tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman’s escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes. Her courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.

The Good Liar
Ian McKellen as Roy Courtnay and Helen Mirren as Betty McLeish in New Line Cinema’s suspense thriller “The Good Liar.” Both actors are seated at a table looking each other inquisitively.

Ian McKellen as Roy Courtnay and Helen Mirren as Betty McLeish in New Line Cinema’s suspense thriller “The Good Liar.”(Chiabella James/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Career con artist Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellen) can hardly believe his luck when he meets well-to-do widow Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) online. As Betty opens her home and life to him, Roy is surprised to find himself caring about her, turning what should be a cut-and-dry swindle into the most treacherous tightrope walk of his life.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
An image of Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers. He is wearing a red sweater and throwing a shoe in the air.

Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Opening Friday 12/20

Tom Hanks portrays Mister Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism, based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. After a jaded magazine writer (Emmy winner Matthew Rhys) is assigned a profile of Fred Rogers, he overcomes his skepticism, learning about kindness, love and forgiveness from America’s most beloved neighbor.

The Woman Who Loves Giraffes
Anne, Bolex camera and giraffes. 2017. Anne Innis Dagg with a 16 mm film camera, and a giraffe in the background (vertical image).

Anne, Bolex camera and giraffes. 2017. Anne Innis Dagg with a 16 mm film camera, and a giraffe in the background.

In 1956, four years before Jane Goodall ventured into the world of chimpanzees and seven years before Dian Fossey left to work with mountain gorillas – in fact, before anyone, man or woman had made such a trip – 23-year-old Canadian biologist, Anne Innis Dagg, made an unprecedented solo journey to South Africa to become the first person in the world to study animal behaviour in the wild on that continent. When she returned home a year later armed with ground-breaking research, the insurmountable barriers she faced as a female scientist proved much harder to overcome. This was the catalyst that transformed Anne into a feminist activist.

In The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, an older (now 85), wiser Anne takes us on her first expedition back to Africa to retrace where her trail-blazing journey began more than half a century ago. By retracing her original steps, and with letters and stunning, original 16mm film footage, Anne offers an intimate window into her life as a young woman, juxtaposed with a first hand look at the devastating reality that giraffes are facing today.

Both the world’s first ‘giraffologist’, whose research findings ultimately became the foundation for many scientists following in her footsteps, and the species she loves have each experienced triumphs as well as nasty battle scars. The Woman Who Loves Giraffes gives us a moving perspective on both.