ONLINE SALES will close at 3:00 on 5/29, but remaining tickets will be available at the door starting at 7:30.
This film made by Jonathan Demme in 1992 may be primarily about his cousin Robert Castle, an Episcopalian priest who served in a Harlem church, but it is also a family reunion and his most personal film. While profiling Cousin Bobby and his mission to help the poor and dispossessed, it provides interesting insights into Jonathan Demme’s family, his childhood, and the origins of the social values that are the hallmarks of every “film by Jonathan Demme.” Last year we presented “Unseen Demme.” Come back this year to remember our neighbor at “Seldom Seen Demme.” 1992, USA, 70 minutes
Discussion after the film with Janet Maslin, film and literary critic for the New York Times, Rev. Dr. Mary Foulke, from Robert Castle’s St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, and producer Ed Saxon, a long-time producer of films by Jonathan Demme.
“A home movie of sorts, in which the social involvement of Cousin Bobby is set against a backdrop of faded photographs, old family memories and reunions, and the wonderment we all feel when we meet someone we were friends with long ago, and see what has become of them.”—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“Something special was at work here: a true meeting of the minds, which the film captures effortlessly.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“fascinating and highly moving” – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
“If the film’s loose structure means it occasionally lacks focus, Demme’s relaxed, open narrative style allows him to paint a wide-ranging portrait of America.” – TimeOut
“Jonathan Demme has here made a documentary that quietly makes its points with a razor-sharp scalpel.” – Empire
