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Ida - Lenten Film for Friday, March 24

Last night the 3rd Lenten film in this year's series was a joint Polish-French production which was mostly in Polish with a 90% Polish cast. It had 10 award nominations and won 3 major awards including the French César Award for best film and best director of 2016. The movie was very well received by the regular Lenten Film series buffs.

This coming week (March 24) we'll be mining for gold in the same vein. The movie will be Ida which had 83 award nominations and 67 wins. Mostly notably, Ida won the Oscar for the Best Foreign film of 2015. Continuing in the vein of this week, Ida is the story of a young nun in a Polish convent, and this time both the entire cast and the entire production crew are Polish, and of course language of the film is Polish.

This film was shown to Monday Lunch Group in 2015, which is the only reason that I have been hesitant to schedule it for this Lenten season. But the film makes such a natural followup to the one viewed last night that I can't resist revising the schedule and inserting it as the film for March 17. The folks in Monday Lunch Group loved the movie and several have expressed an interest in seeing it again. I invite you to join us on March 17 ...

  • Ida
  • 7 PM, Friday, March 24
  • Fellowship Hall
  • Popcorn and other snacks provided, feel free to bring snacks to share if you like

Release Date: 25 October 2013 (Poland)
Color: Black and White
Runtime: 82 min

Storyline (from IMDB): Poland, 1962. Anna, an orphan brought up by nuns in the convent, is a novice. She has to see Wanda, the only living relative, before she takes her vows. Wanda tells Anna about her Jewish roots. Both women start a journey not only to find their family's tragic story, but to see who they really are and where they belong.

Footnote: A year or so ago I saw this film with Karen Withem, our resident film expert. Karen had a good bit to say about the cinematic techniques used in this film, and I'll try to get Karen to come to this showing and comment on these after the film. The two still shots below from the movie illustrate these techniques. Each scene comes with a question. If we can get Karen to the movie, Karen can answer those questions.

In this scene with Ida kneeling and her aunt standing by the car,
why is the camera aiming at the sky rather than at the subjects?
This scene features a band playing in a nightclub.
Why are we viewing them from beyond an archway?