Below is a partial list of films in the forthcoming spring film series
presented by the Arts & Education Council at the Bijou Theater.  Up to
three additional films are likely to be announced later.

Jan.24 - 30             Roger Dodger
Dark comedy set in the shadows of Manhattan night life by writer/director
Dylan Kidd.  Campbell Scott plays the quintessential misogynist--he hates
women because they hate him. When his boss/lover Isabella Rossellini dumps
him his sweet untarnished nephew comes into the picture wanting his
Lothario uncle to help him lose his virginity. With Scott's poor attitude
towards the opposite sex and his seek-and-destroy method of taming an easy
woman, the nephew is on the road to ruin any goodness within him.

Jan.31 - Feb.6  Bowling for Columbine
Riveting, chilling, hilarious and absolutely incredible documentary by
Michael Moore about the NRA and America's fascination with guns.  Moore's
views are definitely anti-gun, but he tries to show the opposite side also.
  As a card-carrying member of the NRA and former champion marksman, Moore
has a tremendous understanding of why human beings love guns.  He never
loses sight of the fact that owning a gun is seductive, is empowering, and
for lack of a better word, is fun.

Feb.7 - 13              Evelyn
If, after seeing Angela's Ashes, you thought 1950s Ireish life was like
living in hell, Evelyn, which also is about poor people in 1950s Ireland,
is the Hallmark greeting card version.  Authorities declare a family of
children orphans when their mother abandons the family.  The father, Pierce
Brosnan, does drink, but he's not mean, and his kids are angelic.  Based on
a true story about the orphanage gulag (complete with slave labor)
established partly so that church and state could pretend it's possible to
have a functioning country without divorce or abortion.  Director Bruce
Beresford has never met a dramatic situation he couldn't make cozy, whether
it was the Boer War in "Breaker Morant," Southern racial tensions in
"Driving Miss Daisy," or capital punishment in "Last Dance."

Feb.21 - 27             Nicholas Nickleby
Golden Globe nominee in best comedy category.  A treat for Dickens fans,
showing Victorian London with all the contrasts of rich and poor, good and
evil, comfortable and wretched.  Christopher Plummer as the conniving Uncle
Ralph may be in line for an Oscar.

Feb.28 - Mar.6  Standing in the Shadows of Motown
Documentary tribute to the Funk Brothers, house band for Motown Records, a
group of mostly unknown jazz and blues musicians from Detroit who have
played on more Number One hits than Elvis, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and
The Rolling Stones combined.

Mar.14 - 20             All or Nothing
A group of inhabitants of a Southeast London housing estate lead
directionless lives and diminishing expectations until a family crisis
brings them together.  Director Mike Leigh's films focus on poor and down
and out English people. His actors live with their roles for months before
shooting even begins, becoming so deeply involved that they can easily
improvise scenes. All or Nothing illustrates the results. In American
terms, the characters are preposterous sad sacks. But in Leigh's terms,
they're to be taken straight, sympathetically, without condescension or
pity. Their follies and crises are seen with wry detachment, and the drama
that develops finally moves toward reunion and reconciliation.

Mar.28 - Apr.3  Personal Velocity
Written and directed by Rebecca Miller, daughter of playwright Arthur
Miller and wife of Daniel Day-Lewis, Personal Velocity is a triptych of
three women at turning points in their lives.  Delia (Kyra Sedgwick), is a
middle-class housewife with two children seeking escape from an abusive
husband.  Greta (Parker Posey) is a cookbook editor in New York City
married to a man who she is sure will never leave her. Her father (Ron
Leibman) is a powerful lawyer who figuratively towers over both her and her
husband.  Paula (Fairuza Balk) is pregnant and running away from a not very
pleasant life when she picks up a hitchhiker.

Apr.4 - 10              Rabbit Proof Fence
The true story of Molly Craig, one of the "stolen generation" of half-white
Aborigine Australian children abducted and sent to a government camp
intended to train them as domestic workers and integrate them into white
society.  Molly leads her younger sister and cousin in an escape. One step
ahead of the authorities, they follow the 1,500 miles of a fence bisecting
the continent to stop the spread of the rabbit population.

Apr.11 - 17             Ararat
A film within a film, Ararat is a contemporary story of the making of a
historical epic about the 1915-18 Armenian holocaust.  The story line
follows how making the film transforms the life of an 18-year-old man hired
as a driver on the production.  A reminder of why the greatest evil
political leader of all time asked rhetorically in 1939, "Who after all
speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"