Perhaps you’ve heard that The Crossing is a sponsor of the True/False Film Festival again this year. In fact, we have actually agreed to a three-year contract with True/False for us to be the sole sponsor of what’s called the True Life film, which is a documentary that usually focuses on an issue of social justice of some kind. In this, The Crossing and True/False have found that we have a lot of common ground.
Now this year’s True Life film is Enemies of the People. Keep in mind that all films shown at True/False are brand spank’n new documentaries that have yet to be distributed by a film distributor. They may have been shown only a handful of times at other very recent film festivals, such as Sundance or Toronto, but very often True/False is one of a documentary’s earliest showings. And that’s the case with Enemies of the People.
Of course, being the sole sponsor of Enemies of the People is good advertising for The Crossing on many levels. But I like the fact that it lets Columbia know something about what we stand for, what we believe are important issues and causes, and it allows us a place to participate with others in the overall welfare of our community. Even beyond the advertising values, it allows us to make the most of an important film like Enemies of the People in order to further the right kinds of conversations and interactions with others who see it. This film will move people to confront and consider their own beliefs about justice, good and evil, forgiveness, etc. After seeing this film, perhaps you may want to discuss some key questions that this film naturally raises.
Here are just a few examples:
- What does this film say about the human condition?
- What does it say about what it means to be human?
- What does it say about the reality of good and evil (in other words, are good and evil merely socially constructed morals, or are they real and do they transcend mere human construction)?
- What does it say about forgiveness (both the need for it and the need to give it)?
- Is the idea of redemption a universal human need and pursuit, or just a Christian doctrine?
Tickets to screenings of Enemies of the People will be on sale in the foyer at The Crossing this Sunday and next Sunday. Tickets are $7 each and are available for two screenings: Sat, 2/27 at 12:30 pm at Missouri Theatre and Sun, 2/28 at 12:30 pm at Windsor Cinema. (Only tickets to the 2/28 screening will be available next Sunday.) Again, The Crossing will host a post-screening discussion on Sat, 2/27 from 2:30-4:30 pm at The Rome Restaurant, 114 S. 9th St. (FYI: We will only be able to accept cash and checks at the ticket table. Checks should be made out to True/False.)