Winter Film Series at E.H. Library
When the East Hampton Library’s new addition opened last June, it included the Baldwin Family Lecture Room, a versatile space for children’s programs, film screenings, poetry readings, lectures on local history, and author and book events.
The new space has supplanted the Bendheim Room as the locus of the library’s film programs and enabled its annual winter film series, previously held across the street at Guild Hall, to come home. While the Bendheim Room could seat only 30 people, the Baldwin Room accommodates 80 and boasts a state-of-the-art audiovisual system.
Steven Spataro, head of the library’s reference department, programs the winter film series, which has so far presented “Ilo Ilo,” a drama set in Singapore, and “Key of Life,” a Japanese comedy. Saturday’s 2 p.m. screening will feature “2 Autumns, 3 Winters,” a French romantic comedy “in the vein of Francois Truffaut,” according to Mr. Spataro.
Each year he views 12 films from Film Movement, a distributor of independent cinema from around the world. Of these, he selects six that he considers the best for the winter film series. “Sometimes I’ve picked films people didn’t think were that good,” he admitted with a rueful smile.
He became interested in film at an early age. “When I was 12 my mother worked in a library, and I’d sit in the reference area with Roger Ebert’s book, looking for films that seemed appealing. My friends were mystified when I’d ask them if they’d seen ‘Day for Night,’ the Truffaut film.”
He majored in English and minored in film at Stony Brook. “Film has always been in the forefront for me,” he said. “My wife and I have a large collection of DVDs, and I also collect posters and lobby cards. I just purchased a lobby card for ‘The Train Robbers,’ which starred John Wayne, Ann-Margaret, and Rod Taylor. It’s signed by Taylor, who died just last week. I won it on eBay for 20 bucks.”
Upcoming films in the winter series are “Grigris,” a French-Canadian film about a 25-year-old with a paralyzed leg who dreams of becoming a dancer but is forced into smuggling to pay his stepfather’s hospital bills (Feb. 8); “Salvo,” an Italian film about a hit man for the Sicilian Mafia (Feb. 15), and “Lines of Wellington,” an epic set during the Napoleonic Wars of 1810, starring John Malkovich, Catherine Deneuve, and Isabelle Huppert (Feb. 15). Super Bowl weekend is a bye week for the series.
While the winter series is limited to January and February, the library presents a variety of films throughout the year. “Viva Las Vegas,” the 1964 film starring Elvis Presley, will screen today at 5:30 p.m., while next Thursday the library will present “Love Is Strange,” in which John Lithgow and Alfred Molina play a newly married couple forced to live in separate apartments after they lose their home. “Get On Up,” the James Brown biopic, will be shown on Feb. 7.
The projection system is 3-D equipped, and the library screened “March of the Wooden Soldiers” in 3-D in November. All film programs are free. Those wishing to sign up for a particular program can do so at the adult reference desk or by calling the library at 324-0222.