The Ryder Film Series will be showing three films June 9 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater as a part of the “Heroes, Icons, Dissenters: Women in Film” program.
"The Guardians" is a French drama about women on the home front during World War I and will play at 2:00 p.m."Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story," a documentary that tells the story of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr will be shown at 5:00 p.m. "RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg," another documentary, chronicles the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and will screen at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s three films about strong, independent, free-thinking women,” Peter LoPilato, founding director of the Film Series, said.
Tickets for any one of the films cost $8 in advance and $12 on the day of show. All-day passes are also available, at $12 in advance and $18 on the day of show.
According to LoPilato, this event is sponsored by Ferguson Law, Freitag & Martoglio LLC, the Maurer School of Law and the New York Times.
The Ryder Film Series screens recently released films — often independent and sometimes foreign — every weekend of the year, with the possible exceptions of Christmas and New Year’s, LoPilato said.
“Most of the movies that we show, they don’t have car chases, there aren’t bombs exploding, as a rule of thumb," LoPilato said. "But they do have interesting characters and interesting stories to tell.”
The Ryder Film Series is also associated with The Ryder Magazine, which publishes 10 issues annually. They cover the arts, pop culture, and more, and both were founded in 1979. LoPilato said the weekly film series allows for face-to-face engagement with the magazine's readers.
“I’m at the movies most of time," LoPilato said. "So, I talk to people about what they’ve seen, what they saw last week, they ask questions. It’s a nice way to interact.”
Bloomington-based singer and songwriter Tom Roznowski has been a contributing writer for the Ryder Magazine for over 25 years, as well as a regular to the weekly Film Series. He said he plans on going to “Heroes, Icons, Dissenters” on June 9.
“I’m always delighted to find out what he has for the film series,” Roznowski said, speaking of LoPilato.
He recalls one particularly profound experience he had decades ago, when the Ryder Film Series screened a Danish film, "Babette’s Feast."
“It is a transporting film. I was watching this film patiently. The last 15 minutes, it all came together so forcefully that I was kicked back," Roznowski said. "That night, I’ll remember for the rest of my life. How incredibly impacting that moment was, when the film galvanized itself in an instant."
Roznowski said there is an importance to experiencing cinema in a theater.
“From my perspective, being in an enclosed space with a group of people, seeing a film, is a profoundly different experience from seeing it alone on your tablet, phone, whatever," Roznowski said. "There’s something communal, sensory about that process. You hear other people laugh. You are making a discovery together.”
