Friday Night Films are open to the public and free of charge, but donations are gratefully accepted.  The Thomaston Academy Building is handicapped accessible from the rear entrance, and light refreshments will be served. 

2015  NOVEMBER  SHOWING: Russian Films

NOVEMBER 6  -  RUSSIAN ARK - 2002 NR - 96 minutes
A visually hypnotizing cinematic feat, Russian Ark is Alexsandr Sokurov's spellbinding ode to St. Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum. Shot in one take on digital video, the film shows the museum from a first-person point of view. As the photography floats through the lavish corridors of the museum, a cast of 867 actors and 1,000 extras supply the action -- including The Marquis (Sergey Dreyden), an aged European who acts as the film's charismatic guide. 

NOVEMBER 13   -  BURNT BY THE SUN - 1994 R -  134 minutes              
Winner of the Academy Award for best foreign language film, Burnt by the Sun, is unforgettable of the story of a Soviet hero who is suddenly targeted by Stalin’s secret police. Nikita Mikhalkov directs and stars as Col. Sergei Kotov, a hero of the revolution. A lyrical film filled with beauty and warmth. Burnt by the Sun is an unforgettable account of a man dedicated to family and fatherland, cruelly destroyed by political paranoia. 

NOVEMBER 20 – THE THIEF – 1997 NR – 93 minutes
The Thief is the Oscar-nominated haunting tale of passion, betrayal, and innocence lost, as seen through the eyes of an impressionable young boy. Fatherless and homeless, six-year-old Sanya, and his mother, Katja, endure the harsh existence of post-World War II Russia. When a handsome soldier enters their lives, mother and son fall under his spell. Only after mother and child are hopelessly devoted to him, does he reveal his true intentions and identity. A profoundly moving, heartbreaking, human drama. 

NOVEMBER 27 – BALLAD OF A SOLDIER – 1959 NR –  88 minutes
Ballad of a Soldier,  an award-winning drama set during World War II, is a simple and moving tale about a young soldier whose courageous action disabling a tank is rewarded with a ten-day leave to visit his mother. He travels for several days with a young woman he meets in an empty railway car. They fall in love and vow to meet when the war is over. Ballad of a Soldier is a movie of rare compassion and delicacy, an original, beautiful, humorous and sentimental journey through war-churned Russia.

For more information call the library at 354-2453.