Jamestown Art Center Presents: RIIFF Screening of "Vinyl" and "The World Before Her"

The Jamestown Arts Center will be a venue for the 16th annual Rhode Island International Film Festival on Thursday and Friday evenings, August 9th and 10th, with 8:00pm shows, and a special concert following Thursday’s screening.

Jamestown Arts Center, 18 Valley St., Jamestown, RI
Ticket donation $10 at the door.

Thursday’s feature “Vinyl” (85 minutes) is directed by Sara Sugarman and based on a true story. An aging punk rocker attempts to reunite with his old band only to be told he is too old. He finds a bunch of spotty teenagers to mime to his song which goes straight into the charts. Filmed in the United Kingdom. More info: www.vinyl-themovie.com . The short film “Brute Force” (15 minutes, from the U.S.) directed by Ben Steinbauer, is  a documentary about Apple Records’ notoriously irreverent recording artist Stephen Friedland, aka Brute Force. Following a 1967 record release, Brute Force was on the brink of stardom when George Harrison and the Beatles championed his next single “King of Fuh” to be released on Apple Records. But the record was censored and shelved until 2010 when Sony and Apple reissued Brute Force’s controversial music from the sixties. Musician Stephen Friedland will be in attendance for a Q & A session and performance of his music following the evening’s screening.

Friday’s feature film “The World Before Her” (91 minutes, from India) is directed by Nisha Pahuja, who takes an in-depth look at the growing beauty pageant craze which has swept through India. Pahuja covers the controversies and intensities of beauty “boot camp” and then travels to another part of India to document a different type of boot camp where women have enrolled in a women’s militant fundamentalist movement. The dichotomies of the two movements have moved critics to complement the film as “Riveting” – New York Times, and “a definite must watch” – Huffington Post. More info: www.worldbeforeher.com . The evening’s short film “Nuits Blanches” (Sleepless Nights) (15 minutes) is also culturally revealing, taking a look at the current turmoil in Burkina Faso and the challenges facing ordinary citizens. Director Lionel Jusseret follows a dedicated night watchman as he and his fellow watchmen’s jobs are threatened by the exiting expatriate population. In French with English subtitles.
Ticket donation at the door $10. More info: www.rifilmfest.org