New Stranger Than Fiction Screenings

Thom Powers just announced the new line-up for the next 10 week installment of his Stranger Than Fiction series at the IFC Center.

The opener on January 8 (all events are on Tuesday evenings at 8:00 p.m.) is A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman with a Q&A with Dorfman and director, Peter Raymont following the screening.  The evening is co-sponsored by the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

Here's the rest of the line-up; click here for more info on programs and tickets.

January 15:  Well-Founded Fear, Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini's new doc about the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service).

January 22:  A fave among doc lovers, Please Vote For Me, a jury prize winner at Silverdocs, follows a third-grade class in China as it experiments with democracy by electing class monitors.  Like the Dorfman film above, it's shortlisted for an Oscar for this year's best feature doc.

January 29:  Q&A with Cinema 16's Jack Goelman.  The program's called "Film as a Subversive Art: Amos Vogel & Cinema 16."  Director Paul Cronin explores the world of film curator Vogel, who was a pioneer of art house film exhibition with Cinema 16 and the New York Film Festival.

February 5:  Sweet Dreams, a new doc by first-time director, Eric Latek, about an Italian-American boxer leading a union movement.  (Also, on this day, 97 years ago, my Granny Rose was born.)

February 12:  This session brings to New York one of my favorite peeps, Brent Hoff (and special guests) of Wholphin.  He's coming to present a celebration of his outstanding quarterly DVD anthology of short films published by McSweeney's.

February 19:  Curator Dan Streible brings the "Best of Orphans Film Symposium."  Every other year, archivists from around the country gather to present films of unknown origins dubbed "orphans" and Streible will be bringing the best of what he's found.

February 26:  For All Mankind, nominated for an Academy Award in 1990.  The film presents NASA footage of the Apollo missions interspersed with astronaut interviews accompanied by a gorgeous Brian Eno score.  Director Al Reinert and producer David W. Leitner will appear for a Q&A.

March 4 and 11:  TBD--however, I'm sure these evenings will bring something great to see and talk about.