Join us on Friday evenings in February for our annual February Film Festival. This year we'll explore water equity rights, the world of Detroit firefighters, a look back at the Holocaust, and a look forward at the future of nuclear power. Films are shown in the renovated Calf Barn at 7pm.

Schedule of Events

February 3, 2023

Reckonings

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, German and Jewish leaders met in secret to negotiate the unthinkable – compensation for the survivors of the largest mass genocide in history. Survivors were in urgent need of help, but how could reparations be determined for the unprecedented destruction and suffering of a people? Directed by award-winning filmmaker Roberta Grossman, RECKONINGS is the first documentary feature to chronicle the harrowing process of negotiating German reparations for the Jewish people, which resulted in the groundbreaking Luxembourg Agreements of 1952. Filmed in six countries and featuring new interviews with Holocaust survivors, world-renowned scholars and dignitaries and the last surviving member of the negotiating delegations, the film powerfully models how political will and a moral imperative can join forces to bridge an impossible divide. By confronting the past, the German and Jewish leaders charted a better future for a desperate and traumatized people. Their actions led to the first time in history that individual victims of persecution received material compensation from the perpetrators.

February 10, 2023

Manzanar Diverted

An inspired and poetic portrait of a place and its people, MANZANAR, DIVERTED: WHEN WATER BECOMES DUST follows intergenerational women from three communities who defend their land, their history and their culture from the insatiable thirst of Los Angeles. In this fresh retelling of the LA water story, Native Americans, Japanese-American WWII incarcerees and environmentalists form an unexpected alliance to preserve Payahuunadü (Owens Valley), "the land of flowing water." Featuring breathtaking photography and immersive soundscapes, the film recounts more than 150 years of history, showing how this distant valley is inextricably tied to the city of Los Angeles. It reveals the forced removals of the Nüümü (Paiute) and the Newe (Shoshone) who were marched out of the Valley in the 1860s by the US Army, and the Japanese Americans who were brought here from their West Coast homes and incarcerated in a World War II concentration camp. Water lured outsiders in and continues to fuel the greed which has ****** this once lush place dry.

February 17, 2023

Burn X

BURN X is the long-awaited follow-up to the legendary, action-packed firefighting movie BURN. 13 years in the making, BURN X explores stories and introduces characters you've never seen before...and continues the journey for many of the Detroit firefighters from the first film.

But BURN X is more than just a sequel. It dives deeper into themes and answers questions left open from the first film. Why is Detroit still burning? What happens once a firefighter retires? How do they fight fires with less and less support? And what does the future hold if they become catastrophically injured on the job?

From 2009 to 2020, the BURN team filmed thousands of hours of footage as the Detroit Fire Department, its members, and the city they serve went through tremendous highs and lows...from the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history, to the department's first new class of firefighters in years, and then diving headlong into America's grueling COVID pandemic.

February 24, 2023

The New Fire

Nuclear power has been vilified in popular culture and among much of the environmental community. Yet the next-generation reactors currently in development may actually be key to avoiding global catastrophe. The young entrepreneurs heading this energy revolution realize they're up against more than the climate clock – they need to convince all of us that the new nuclear is safe and achievable.

The New Fire is an independent documentary that introduces audiences to young nuclear engineers who are developing next-generation reactors which they hope will provide clean and safe solutions to the world's future energy needs. With unprecedented access to key people, places, and events, Emmy-winning director David Schumacher's film focuses on how the generation facing the most severe impact of climate change is fighting back with ingenuity and hope. The New Fire tells a provocative and startlingly positive story about a planet in crisis and the young heroes who are trying to save it.

Date: February 3, 10, 17 and 24, 2023 (Every Friday)

Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Cost: $0 - $5.00

Location:
Rochester Hills Museum,
1005 Van Hoosen Road,
Rochester Hills, MI 48309.

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