Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm presents Films in February on Friday Nights from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Friday, February 1
In Whose Honor? American Indian Mascots in Sports
The Cleveland Indians. Washington Redskins. Atlanta Braves. What’s wrong with American Indian sports mascots? This moving, award-winning film is the first to address this subject. In Whose Honor? takes a critical look at the long-running practice of “honoring” American Indians as mascots and nicknames in sports. It follows the story of Native American mother Charlene Teters, and her transformation into the leader some are calling the “Rosa Parks of American Indians” as she struggles to protect her cultural symbols and identity. In Whose Honor? looks at the issues of racism, stereotypes, minority representation and the powerful effects of mass-media imagery, and the extent to which one university will go to defend and justify its mascot.
Friday, February 8
Fifty Lakes One Island
In 2011, Chicago filmmaker George Desort spent eighty nights on Isle Royale, a wilderness island on Lake Superior. Traveling alone with his camera equipment and as much food as he could fit into his kayak, Desort explored the rugged terrain of the island, filming himself each difficult step of the way. Desort’s breathtaking footage pared with his personal, unvarnished story-telling, result in a film that will spur viewers to visit the outdoors as soon as the snow melts.
Friday, February 15
Tapestry: A Musician’s Journey of Adoption and Redemption
Filmed over the course of two years by Michael Strubler and David Jouppi, this is the story of a (retired) Detroit Symphony Orchestra Violinist, Ann Strubler, and her decision to seek her birth parents. Adopted at birth, Ann began to show musical talent at a very early age – piano lessons at age three and violin at age five led her to a life of classical music. Throughout her life, she was immensely grateful for her adoptive family and rarely thought about where her musical genes originated. MThis film is about why she decided to seek out her birth family, how she found them and where these events led her. We hope that you will join Ann and Dave Strubler to hear this amazing story and original musical compositions.
Friday, February 22
At Home in Utopia
They wanted to change the American dream … In the mid-1920s, thousands of Jewish immigrant garment workers managed to catapult themselves out of urban slums and ghettos by pooling their resources and building four cooperatively owned and run apartment complexes in the Bronx.
At Home in Utopia focuses on the United Workers Cooperative Colony – the Coops – also known to local policemen as Little Moscow because this community of 2,000 people was dominated by Communists. An epic tale of the struggle for equity and justice across two generations, the film tracks the rise and fall of one community from the 1920s into the 1950s, paying close attention to the passions that bound them together and those that tore them apart.