Mike Marchak says he thinks the essence of film boils down to the relationships on screen, regardless of the language, culture, or geographical location of the story. As president of the Kalamazoo Film Society, Marchak's main task has been to help select which films to bring to west Michigan each month. His tenure will be ending in December, and Dhera Strauss, a documentary filmmaker and professor emerita of Kalamazoo College, will become the Society's president. For her, the essence of film is story.
To illustrate, Strauss and Marchak talk about the four films presented by the KFS in October. They are the documentary For Sama, featuring the personal footage of a Syrian filmaker as she grappled with documenting war in Aleppo and her own pregnancy; the Milwaukee-set comedy of misfits Give Me Liberty, helmed by a self-referencing Russian-American director; the comedy Tel Aviv on Fire, a cross-border story of an Israeli man who finds himself working on the set of a Palestinian soap opera; and Monos (opens Oct 18), a thriller in which a child guerilla group armed with maching guns abducts an American tourist.
The Kalamazoo Film Society and Crossroads Cinema Celebration in Portage partner to present at least one showing a day. For tickets and more information, visit the Kalamazoo Film Society websiteor the theater's website.
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