Shrewsbury – The Friends of the Shrewsbury Public Library has announced the schedule for its seventh annual February Foreign Film Festival. Movies will be shown every Sunday in February at 2 p.m. at the library, 214 Lake St. The festival is open and free to all. Popcorn is provided; bring your own beverage. The following films will be shown:
Feb. 7 – “East is East” Rated R – Britain – 1999. George Khan, proud Pakistani and chip shop owner, rules his family with a rod of iron. He thinks he’s raising his seven children to be respectable Pakistanis. But this is England, in 1971. Much as George’s English wife, Ella, loves and tries to honor her husband, she also wants her kids to be happy. The children, caught between bellbottoms and arranged marriages, simply want to be citizens of the modern world. In English. 95 min.
Feb. 14 – “Italian for Beginners” R– Denmark – 2000. Romantic comedy. Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner’s course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. In Danish with English subtitles. 112 min.
Feb. 21 – “Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker” R– China – 1994. In pre-revolutionary China, a local lord owns a fireworks factory that he leaves to his daughter, Chun Zhi, having no male heir. Chun Zhi takes control of the factory at only 19 years old, but she commands the respect of her workers. Unfortunately, Zhi inherited the factory under the stipulation that she never marry, a condition that becomes problematic when she falls for a traveling artist. A handsome wandering painter and the factory foreman battle for Zhi’s hand using their skill with fireworks. In Chinese with English subtitles. 111 min.
Feb. 28 – “Into the West” PG – Ireland– 1992. Enchanting and magical modern-day fairy tale for adults. Impoverished in Dublin, two young boys live with their widowed father, who drowns his grief in drink. Their grim existence is uplifted by the arrival of their itinerant grandfather who has brought with him a magical horse from legend -Tir na nOg. Crooked cops discover the prized animal and commandeer it, intending to sell it as a racing horse. Furious, the boys resolve to rescue the mythical creature. In English. 97 min.
For more information, visit https://shrewsburyma.gov/344/Library.
