The Coolidge Corner Theatre

A Fish Story
With Q&A featuring Madeleine Hall-Arber, Center for Marine and Social Sciences, MIT

A FISH STORY is the tale of two women who lead their communities in a battle for control of the ocean. Angela Sanfilippo of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Shareen Davis of Chatham, Massachusetts were born into fishing families and married men who continue to make a living from the sea. Fishing defines who they are and has sustained their communities for generations. But their way of life is threatened when a powerful coalition of national environmental groups file a lawsuit that could put hundreds of fishermen out of business. Three hundred years of fishing tradition and the health of the ocean hangs in the balance.

In the 1970s, enormous international fishing fleets decimated the waters off New England leaving local fishermen struggling to survive in the wake of this environmental disaster. Decades later, New England fishermen and environmentalist remain locked in an intense battle over the current health and future management of the ocean. And with the success of a broad sweeping lawsuit filed in 2000, environmentalists are demanding radical new conservation measures that could spell disaster for New England fishermen and their communities. Angela and Shareen find themselves at the center of this political storm as they struggle to save both fish and fishermen. Delving into the behind-the-scenes world of politicians, environmentalists, journalists, and fishermen, A FISH STORY confronts the hard choices faced when human needs and those of the environment collide.

dirs. Courtney Hayes and Tim Gallagher, 54m

Ticket Price: $6.75 All

Time and Tide
TIME AND TIDE is a poetic and absorbing documentary about a land and its people as they head toward irreversible tragedy. The story is told through the eyes of a group of expatriates from the island nation of Tuvalu. When they return to their home island after being away for many years, they find a place vastly different from the one they remember - the forces of globalization and global warming are severely reshaping the land and people they once knew so well. The film takes an unflinching look at the tragic fate of this remote island country, walking the line between hope and unimaginable loss. Within an artfully woven tapestry that confronts these profound global issues, the film paints an honest and poignant portrait of a homeland on the brink of extinction.

dir. Julie Bayer, 1hr, In English and Tuvaluan w/ English Subtitles

Ticket Price: $6.75 All

"The Sounds of Science"
Introduced by Fabian Cousteau, explorer, filmmaker and grandson of Jacques Cousteau
Live performance by Yo La Tengo with the projected undersea films of French filmmaker Jean Painlevé, 1hr30m

Before David Attenborough and Jacques Cousteau - there was Jean Painlevé. Poetic pioneer of science films, Painlevé explored a twilight realm of vampire bats, seahorses, octopi, and liquid crystals. He made more than 200 science and nature films and was an early champion of the genre. Possessing a remarkable eye for life's eerie curiosities, Painlevé's art pivots on the premise that 'science is fiction'. He created a landscape of bug-eyed wonderment marked by a playful sense of nature's hidden poetry and scandalized the scientific world with films designed to entertain as well as edify.

In 2001, American artrockers Yo La Tengo were selected by the San Francisco International Film Festival committee to compose new music for the films of Jean Painlevé. Their alternately sombre and joyously moody music seemed like a natural fit for Painlevé's dramatic underwater studies. The score is available on CD and has just been released on a DVD entitled Science is Fiction, this evening is a rare opportunity to hear the material played live by the band and accompanied by the films.

Ticket Price: $25.00