Deaf Film Series opens with free screening
By Holly Yasui October 31, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Opening Ceremony
Tue, Nov 4, 4pm
Café Santa Ana

Film Series
Johnny Belinda
Tue, Nov 4, 5pm 
Teatro Santa Ana
Free

The Miracle Worker
Thu, Nov 6, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos (series: 300 pesos)

The teachers and students of the IREE and the Bernard Weisman Foundation invite the public to the opening ceremony of the Deaf Film Series, followed by a free screening of the first film, Johnny Belinda. Tickets for the entire series, Tuesdays and Thursdays through December 9, are 300 pesos and the eight admissions can be used by the ticket-holder and one guest.

The inauguration includes a photo-collage illustrating the school’s 16-year history; a display of posters, “What My School Means to Me” made by the students; and a video spot about IREE produced pro bono by local filmmakers Sam Oliver and Emilie Davies. The event is tri-lingual: Spanish, English and American Sign Language (ASL).

Johnny Belinda Jane Wyman won an Academy Award for her poignant portrayal in 1948 of Belinda McDonald, a deaf-mute woman who is called “the dummy” by her family and the townspeople of the small Canadian fishing village where she lives with her father and aunt, played by Charles Bickford and Agnes Moorehead.

Their roles also hold up, after 60 years, as believable characters hardened by poverty and toil. Lew Ayres plays the doctor who teaches Belinda sign language and lip-reading. 

Black-and-white cinematography gives a Hollywood glow to Belinda’s radiant (though often smudged) face, but also effectively depicts the desolate hardscrabble life. The subtle direction of Jean Negulesco let his excellent actors carry the show. Wyman, without speaking a word, is sweet without being cloying, hauntingly moving without being excessively melodramatic.

Johnny Belinda leads off the series because it depicts not only the deplorable results of abandonment but also the redemptive power of kindness and generosity.

The Miracle Worker

The story of Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan, is a classic. Both Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft won well-deserved Oscars in 1962 for the roles they had perfected on Broadway in the William Gibson play based on Keller’s autobiography.

When Annie first arrives at the Keller home, Helen is headstrong and terribly spoiled by her wealthy, genteel Southern parents who indulge her every whim, including grabbing food off their plates and stuffing it into her mouth with her hands. Her family’s pity prevents them from disciplining her or treating her like the bright child she is, instead of a beloved if poorly behaved pet. Annie herself is a fighter—a Northerner and a poor Irish girl. Nearly blind as a child, she had been consigned to an almshouse with her younger brother who died there. Determined to get an education, she escaped by dint of will and attended the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston. There, doctors partially restored her eyesight after numerous surgeries.

Helen’s tantrums and Annie’s feisty resistance crackle with energy. The struggle comes to a head in the famous dining room scene. Annie tells Helen’s mother, “She ate from her own plate. She ate with a spoon…and she folded her napkin...the room is a wreck, but her napkin is folded.”

Thus Annie begins to teach Helen discipline, but that is not her final goal. She wants to educate the girl, to teach her language, to communicate, which is the basis of all other learning. When she sends Helen to the pump to fill a pitcher she has angrily spilled, the girl suddenly recognizes that the word “water” as spelled in sign language means the actual substance that she feels on her skin. It is an epiphany—the opening of an inquiring mind into the world.

That The Miracle Worker is a true story is inspiring; and even more so, knowing that Keller became the first deaf-blind person to graduate from college (Radcliffe) and, with Sullivan as her lifelong companion, an outspoken activist for women’s rights and socialism. Their story is a tribute to what can be accomplished by a dedicated teacher, in spite of a student’s physical challenges. The film teaches us that given a chance, the most unlikely seed can grow, even in darkness and silence; that where there is a will, and support from others, there is a way.


Instituto de Rehabilitación y Enseñanza Especial

This film series, followed by the IREE students’ pastorela (Christmas play) on December 11 and a fundraiser, “Final Breakthrough: A Sunday Afternoon Tea” on December 14, organized pro bono by Deb Connor Events, represent IREE’s last chance to survive. For 16 years, the nonprofit school was supported by grants from foundations, contributions from other nonprofits and volunteers, and donations from individuals. But this year, their sustaining grant from the Purple Crayon Foundation, which covered most of the US$3,000 monthly operating costs, ended in June. 

Thanks to an emergency grant of US$11,500 by the Bernard Weisman Foundation in July, IREE has been able to guarantee that its doors will stay open until December. However, those doors will not reopen in January 2009, unless the San Miguel community comes to the rescue of this school which provides unique services for the area.

During the film series and other events, supporters can meet and talk with IREE teachers and students, make pledges and form a Friends of IREE organization. All contributions are US-tax deductible though the San Miguel Community Foundation. For more information: iree@unisono.net.mx  or hollyyasui@yahoo.com. 

Cinemateca, November 3–9, 2008

José Luis Pick’n’tip

The Life of Others This fascinating foreign film has surprises and twists galore in its story of a playwright who is wiretapped by the Stasi in 1984 East Germany. It’s received numerous European film awards and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

 Sebastian Koch is attractive and appealing in the lead role as the writer who is being bugged. Martina Gedeck plays the mistress, a very famous actress, who’s a Meryl Streep of the East German stage. This is a stand out if you like foreign films with lots of intrigue about what it was like for creative people to be blacklisted. It’s very well acted, sexy and political. It will make you dread what can happen if your privacy and rights are violated. Everyone is suspect in this surveillance society of the Stasis and lives and careers are jeopardized on a whim.


The Tip Important: In order to provide the best viewing experience, the show times for some movies may be adjusted to accommodate their length. Be sure to check the schedule carefully. I also want to remind you of our new ticket price: 50 pesos and discount cards buy 12 shows for 450 pesos. Starting Monday, after 11am, buy your tickets in advance for any movie or show of the week. If you have a discount card, collect your pass to secure a seat; don’t take the risk of being locked out. Would you like to receive this info by email? Write to José Luis at alephamour@hotmail.com.  Thank you.



The Movies


Video Opera and Ballet season opens with
Ballet Spartacus 
Monday, November 3 at 2pm
Ballet Special, English, 136 minutes
Cast: Vladimir Vasiliev, Natalia Bessmertnova, Marius Liepa

In his greatest role, acclaimed Russian dancer Vladimir Vasiliev stars as Spartacus, the heroic slave who led a revolt against the Romans in this magnificent adaptation from the Bolshoi Ballet. The result is “one of the best dance films ever made,” according to The New York Times. Featuring choreography by Yuri Grigorovich and a score by Aram Khachaturian, the production co-stars Natalia Bessmertnova.

Next week: Monday, November 10: Das Rheingold 



Winner of Best Documentary in the Boston Film Festival 
Lost and Found in Mexico
Monday, November 3 at 5 pm
Documentary, English, 53 minutes
Writer/director/producer: Caren Cross

Lost and Found in Mexico explores the question: What lies on the other side of the American dream? This quirky documentary explores the lives of Americans who chose to leave their hard-working, successful and fast-paced lives to live in San Miguel, where leisurely conversations take place in the main square, burros walk the streets and people find their hearts engaged in living once again. While many Mexicans are leaving families behind and risking their lives to cross the border to a better life, this film focuses on the Americans who have decided to cross in the other direction—for a simpler life. Questions and Answers with the filmmaker follow the show. Proceeds benefit the Mexican kids’ scholarships.

Special Movie Series to support the school for the deaf, IREE Johnny Belinda (1948)  Only show Tuesday, November 4 at 5pm Classic drama, English with Spanish subtitles, 102 minutes Director: Jean Negulesco Cast: Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford, Agnes Moorehead, Stephen McNally

A Nova Scotia fishing village serves as the backdrop for this well-crafted weeper about Belinda McDonald (Jane Wyman, who won an Oscar for her performance). When kindly doctor Robert Richardson (Lew Ayres) takes a professional interest in Belinda and teaches her to communicate, a wonderful new world unfolds for her. But things turn ugly after the town bully (Stephen McNally) rapes Belinda and she ends up pregnant.

The Miracle Worker (1962)  Only show, Thursday, November 6 at 5pm Biography-drama, English, 106 minutes Director: Arthur Penn Cast: Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory, Inga Swenson

Unable to see, hear or speak since early childhood, young Helen Keller (Patty Duke) lives in an isolated world of shadowy silence until determined teacher Anne Sullivan (Anne Bancroft) enters her life, determined to draw the girl out of her lonely darkness. Victor Jory co-stars in this moving true tale of courage and spirit, based on the play by William Gibson.

Musical Special Imagine: John Lennon Wednesday, October 5 at 6pm Rockumentary, English with Spanish subtitles, 100 minutes Director: Andrew Solt Cast: John Lennon, the Beatles, Yoko Ono, David Bowie, Cynthia, Julian and Sean Lennon

John Lennon’s remarkable life is celebrated in this sweeping biography from David L. Wolper and Andrew Solt. Drawing on the musician’s never-before-seen personal archives of films, writings and photos, the film incorporates Lennon’s own voice as narrative. A 36-song soundtrack pays tribute to the ex-Beatle who remains an icon of world peace 25 years after his untimely death. Abundant extras include a rare acoustic performance of “Imagine.”



The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen, 2007)
Thursday, November 6 at 7:30pm
Friday, November 7 at 6:30pm
Foreign drama, German with English subtitles, 138 minutes
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Cast: Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Mühe, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme, Hans-

Set in eighties East Berlin, the director’s debut feature (which earned an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film) provides an exquisitely nuanced portrait of life under the watchful eye of the state police as a high-profile couple is bugged. When a successful playwright and his actress companion become subjects of the Stasi’s secret surveillance program, their friends, family and even those doing the watching find their lives changed, too.


Kids Movies: Cartoons
Saturday, November 8 at noon