The Alternative Press

Scotch Plains Public Library will show documentaries and feature films this autumn, and host film discussions. The public is cordially invited to attend and participate. A plan to screen a new documentary about the Indian-American community has led Scotch Plains Public Library to schedule an entire series of films dealing with the immigrant experience in this country. After viewing YouTube videos on Maplewood-based director Teju Prasad and his latest film, Not a Feather, But a Dot, the library was fortunate to schedule a screening on the one-hour film followed by a question and answer session with Prasad, on Thursday, October 18 at 7:00 PM.  Not a Feather, but a Dot examines the history, perceptions and evolution of the Indian-American community. More information and a trailer can be seen on the film's website, www.notafeather.com, and a profile of the film maker by New Filmmakers New York can be viewd at  http://youtu.be/K88c-AN3AwA.

In tandem with this documentary, the library has slated a series of feature films, including Hollywood blockbusters, about different immigrant experiences. This series, “Immigration and Assimilation Through the Movies’ Lens,” will be shown on Friday afternoons at one’clock. Films in the series include:

• The Molly Maguires on September 28. Immigrant Irish coalminers in 19^th century Pennsylvania fight against the cruelty of the mining company.
• Hester Street on October 5. Russian Jewish immigrants face a bewildering adjustment to a new life  in turn-of-the-century Manhattan. Can this marriage be saved?
• Golden Door on October 12. A Sicilian family’s ocean voyage and Ellis Island experience captured in this prize-winning flick.
• The Namesake on October 19. Adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri’s bestseller, this is the story of two generations of a transplanted family; Americanized children and Indian-born parents.
• Sankofa on October 26. A Black American model visiting Africa is spiritually transported back to a plantation in the West Indies, where she experiences the horrors of slavery.
• El Norte on November 2. A realistic picture of the the Guatemalan gvernment’s oppression of the Quiche Indians and the hardscrabble life of illegal immigrants in the United States.

On Monday, October 29 at 7:00 PM, Scotch Plains Public Library will host a screening and discussion of a second documentary,  Rescuing the River. Rescuing the River is explores  the history of industrial activity, political activism, and legal action surrounding the cleanup of contaminated sites along New Jersey’s Raritan River, raising questions of legal and moral culpability. A post-screening discussion based on the historical, cultural, and ethical themes and issues raised by the film will follow, facilitated by Neil Maher, Associate Professor, Federated Department of History at NJIT-Rutgers.

As a participant in Face to Face: Community Conversations, a program of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities (NJCH), a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Scotch Plains Public Library will be able to offer this event at no cost to participants. 

Reservations are not required for these programs. More information can be found on the library web site, http://www.scotlib.org or by calling (908 322-5007, ext 204. The Scotch Plains Library is located at 1927 Bartle Avenue, one block from Park Avenue in the center of town.