On Tuesday, May 28: Experience “The Greatest Return,” the FIFTH film of our 6-month Eco Film Series with Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust!

View the trailer for "The Greatest Return"[Click on the gorgeous cheetah to view the film trailer]

Join the Lowell Film Collaborative and Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust for the 5th (and second-to-the-last) film of “Land, Air & Water,” our 6-month Eco Film Series! This month’s theme of “conservation” resonates brilliantly with our screening of The Greatest Return, a 42-minute documentary featuring seven of the world’s leading experts in conservation as they host a public forum to discuss their life’s work. Stunning wildlife photography and archival footage add to director Matt Mays’ cinematic vision!

Lowell National Historical ParkTuesday, May 28 @ 6:30PM  |  Doors @ 6PM
Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center
246 Market Street

(free parking in the VC parking lot at 304 Dutton Street)
Free admission, but donations are gratefully appreciated!

THE GREATEST RETURN (2011)

Not Rated  |  42 mins
Official Selection (Documentary Short) — 20th Annual Heartland Film Festival (2011)

ABOUT THE FILM: Produced and directed by Matt Mays and photographed by Bill Baker, The Greatest Return chronicles the stories of seven of the most renowned and accomplished conservationists in the world as they make a once-in-a-lifetime group appearance to discuss their views on past, present, and future issues that threaten the livelihoods of our planet’s creatures. Mays’ film features five finalists for the 2010 Indianapolis Prize: elephant biologist Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, cheetah conservationist Dr. Laurie Marker, snow leopard expert Dr. Rodney Jackson, ocean ecologist Dr. Carl Safina, and landscape preservationist, Dr. Gerardo Ceballos. Two more passionate activists, conservation biologist Dr. George Schaller and wildlife filmmaker Alan Root, are also showcased. As the talented filmmaker who handled most all of the production for the videos presented at the Indianapolis Prize Galas since 2006, Mays combines footage from the remarkable group discussion among these icons with stunning HD on-location video chronicling their field work in Africa, Nepal, Namibia, Mexico, and across the oceans of the world!

Please note: The FINAL film of our Eco Film Series will take place on Tuesday, June 25th!

> View/download the “Land, Air & Water” Eco Film Series Brochure (PDF)

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Mass Cultural Council
This event is partially supported by a grant from the Lowell Cultural Council, a local agency funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a stage agency. 

 

Acclaimed Danish film “Teddy Bear” is this month’s feature at the Pollard Library’s FREE Indie Film Night – May 9th

Pollard Memorial Library’s Monthly Independent Film Night
Every Second Thursday of the Month – Free admission!
401 Merrimack Street, Lowell – Ground Floor Meeting Room
PollardML.org

Coming Thursday, May 9th:
TEDDY BEAR
Directed by Mads Matthiesen
Denmark  |  2012, 92 min  |  Danish, English & Thai with English Subtitles  |  NR

"Teddy Bear" screens in Lowell, May 9thThirty-eight year-old bodybuilder Dennis would really like to find true love. He’s never had a girlfriend and lives alone with his mother in a suburb of Copenhagen. When his uncle marries a girl from Thailand, Dennis decides to try his own luck on a trip to Pattaya, as it seems that love is easier to find in Thailand. He knows that his mother would never accept another woman in his life, so he lies and tells her that he is going to Germany to enter a body-building competition. The hectic city of Pattaya is a huge culture shock for the soft-hearted body-builder who’s never traveled, and the intrusive Thai girls give big bruises to Dennis’ naive picture of what love should be like. But just when he’s about to lose hope, he unexpectedly meets the Thai woman Toi, and their own story begins.

Based on director Mads Matthiesen’s short film Dennis, this award-winning follow-up is the perfect mix of romantic punch, heartfelt warmth, and indie film beauty. See it right here in Lowell on Thursday, May 9, with free admission, courtesy of the Friends of the Pollard Memorial Library. As always, we give big thanks to Community Planning Librarian Sean Thibodeau and all the great people at the Pollard for bringing more independent film to Lowell!

[Below: Mads Matthiesen's amazing short film Dennis]

Teddy Bear - Awards &  Distinctions

Winner: Director’s Award – Sundance Film Festival
Winner: Best Performance – Transylvania International Film Festival
Official Selection: Los Angeles Film Festival
Official Selection: New Directors/New Films
Official Selection: Sarasota Film Festival
Official Selection: Dallas International Film Festival
Official Selection: Luxembourg Film Festival

Celebrate Lowell Irish Cultural Week with Dinner-and-a-Movie Night featuring “The Quiet Man” – March 12

"The Quiet Man" screens in Lowell, March 12The LFC and the Lowell Irish Cultural Committee come together for another year of “Irish Film Night” in the Private Dining Room at Lowell Beer Works! Join us for a screening of the John Ford classic The Quiet Manstarring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Victor McLaglen and Barry Fitzgerald. This 1952 Irish-American film, notable for its lush photography of the Irish countryside and the long, climactic, semi-comic fist fight between Wayne and McLaglen, won 3 awards at the 1952 Venice Film Festival and was nominated for 7 Academy Awards in that same year (it won for Best Director and Best Cinematography). We suggest you arrive by 6PM, order food and drink off the menu, then settle in and ENJOY!

Tuesday, March 12 @ 7PM (Doors @ 6PM)
Lowell Beer Works, 203 Cabot Street
Suggested Donation: $5.00

THE QUIET MAN (1952)
Rated TV-G  |  129 mins
Directed by John Ford
> View the trailer on TCM

Synopsis via Turner Classic Movies (TCM)  |  After spending most of his unhappy life in America, Sean Thornton arrives in the little Irish village of Inisfree to find the peace and paradise his mother used to talk about. The first thing to catch his eye (after the cottage where he was born) is the beautiful and fiery Mary Kate Danaher. Having bought the homestead from the wealthy Widow Tillane (much to the anger of Mary Kate’s brother Will, who wants the property for his own), he sets about courting the young woman. But her brother will not permit it, so the local priest, the vicar and his wife, and Michaleen (the village matchmaker and bookie) trick Will into believing that if he marries Mary Kate off, he will finally be successful in his pursuit of the widow. At the wedding, however, Will discovers she has no intention of marrying him, even if he does fancy himself “the best man in Inisfree.” He refuses to give Mary Kate her dowry. Sean thinks the furniture and money are unimportant, but Mary Kate insists they belong to her and without them she is not a married woman. She refuses to sleep with Sean and berates him for being a coward who won’t stand up to her brother. But neither she nor anyone else in the village (except the vicar) know that Sean has sworn off fighting after accidentally killing a man in the boxing ring. When Mary Kate attempts to leave her husband, he follows her to the train station five miles away and drags her back to town on foot. Flinging her at Will’s feet, he tells him the marriage is over unless she gets her full dowry. Will begrudgingly throws the money at him. Sean and Mary Kate pick it up and fling it into a furnace. Satisfied at last, she returns to their home while Sean and Will battle it out.   >> Continue reading  ["The Essentials: Pop Culture and The Quiet Man" on TCM]