Zoom Salon - Leona (2019) – 95 minutes | Mechanics' Institute

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Zoom Salon - Leona (2019) – 95 minutes
May 2021 CinemaLit: Visions of the Sacred on Film

CinemaLit Film Series

May 2021 – Visions of the Sacred on Film

Inspired by a suggestion from a CinemaLit patron, we're dedicating May to films exploring religion and faith. We've strived for a sweeping representation of small and large scale, Eastern and Western, ancient to contemporary. The films - The Seventh Seal (1957), Whale Rider (2002), Leona (2019), and Legend of the Mountain (1979) - also vary in how religion and faith are presented in their stories. They act as social contract, family unifier, map of the afterlife, conduit for magic and power, intergenerational conflicts, political tool for social control, vehicle for cultural preservation, and repository of myths and legends.

Spanning more than sixty years of filmmaking, they come from all over the globe. They're set and filmed in Sweden (The Seventh Seal), New Zealand (Whale Rider), and Mexico (Leona), with one made through funding and production ties to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea (Legend of the Mountain). Each ask elemental questions of their protagonists, and in turn are asked of each of us. Who are we, and what is our place in our community and the larger world?

May 21 – Leona (2019) – 95 minutes

Leona, an insulated young Syrian Jewish woman in Mexico City, is dating Iván, who's not Jewish. She finds herself under intense disapproval from her family, who proceed to vigorously match make a Jewish alternative.

The family may strike some as overbearing and even cruel in their threats of rejection should Leona marry outside the faith. Autonomy in spouse selection is a tightly held American ideology, but the film reminds us it's not always that simple, and that Leona is not merely a champion of self-determination. To be Syrian and Jewish in Mexico is to be a fragile minority, where strict endogamy preserves social identity. The lines of insider and outsider are explicitly drawn through religion. Could Leona be happy as a single woman, or married to a decent man she doesn't love? Could Leona and Iván's relationship survive her cultural exile? What exactly are her obligations to herself and her community?

Leona could herald the onset of two major careers. It is Isaac Cherem's promising debut as a film director. The screenplay, striking the right chords of realism in dialogue and situation, was co-written by Cherem and Naian Gonzáles Norvind, a newcomer who stars in the title role. Leona is personal for Cherem, who was raised unassimilated in a Jewish enclave in Mexico City. Motivation to make the film "had to do with moving out of my parents' apartment, getting to know people from outside the community, and seeing places that I'd never seen in a city I'd grown up in."

Though it played to acclaim at several international film festivals, Leona has been excluded from the Mexican Jewish Film Festival for two years, "even thought they've screened controversial Jewish films from other parts of the world," says Cherem, adding, "It's hard to look in the mirror." Whatever feelings Leona stirs, the film has been widely praised for its mature and insightful rendering of a fraught and complex modern dilemma.

 

Matthew Kennedy, CinemaLit’s curator, has written biographies of Marie Dressler, Joan Blondell, and Edmund Goulding. His book Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, was the basis of a film series on Turner Classic Movies. 

 

I don't have a favorite film,” Matthew says. "I find that my relationships to films, actors, genres, and directors change as I change over the years. Some don't hold up. Some look more profound, as though I've caught up with their artistry. I feel that way about Garbo, Cary Grant, director John Cassavetes, and others."

Classic films have historical context, something only time can provide,” Matt observes. “They become these great cultural artifacts, so revealing of tastes, attitudes, and assumptions.”

 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR JOINING THE CINEMALIT SALON

First watch the selected film on Kanopy. All you will need is either a Mechanics' Institute library card, or a San Francisco Public Library card, which will give you access to Kanopy and its treasure trove of movies. Make a reservation for our CinemaLit Salon as usual via Eventbrite and watch the film on Kanopy at your leisure. You will receive a link to the Friday night CinemaLit salon on Zoom one day in advance, and then an additional reminder roughly two hours in advance. On the night of the salon click the Zoom link and join us.

If you do not receive a Zoom Link by 4:00 PM on the day of the event, contact Pam Troy at [email protected].

KANOPY INSTRUCTIONS

Mechanics’ Institute members can now sign up for FREE access to Kanopy, a wonderful film streaming service. To sign up:

1. Click on  THIS LINK.

2. Click on the large orange login button that reads, “Log in to milibrary.”

3. Enter the 14-digit bar code from your MI Library card

4. Set up your account following Kanopy’s instructions, including your email and a password.

5. Kanopy will send verification to your email address.

You’ll be able to choose from a wonderful selection of films, including classics, pre-code, foreign films, and documentaries, including the films we’ve scheduled this month for CinemaLit.

If you are not a Mechanics’ Institute member, consider membership and click  HERE  to join online:

Or, you can check with your public library to see if they are Kanopy members. If so, you may use your public library card to set up a Kanopy account.

 

Register with Eventbrite below.

If the green TICKET button is not immediately visible, scroll down on the right in the Eventbrite window until it appears.

 

CinemaLit Films

Admission: 
Members Free
Public Sliding Scale Free to $10
Register now ›
Questions?
Information Desk - 415-393-0102
Register now by using the form below or calling .

Future CinemaLit Films

Mar 29 - 6:00 pm

CinemaLit: Women Talking (2022)
March CinemaLit: Women Screenwriter-Directors on Women’s Lives

Apr 5 - 6:00 pm

CinemaLit: Ida (2013)
April CinemaLit: International Coming of Age Films

Apr 12 - 6:00 pm

CinemaLit: Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
April CinemaLit: International Coming of Age Films

Apr 19 - 6:00 pm

CinemaLit: Girlhood (2014)
April CinemaLit: International Coming of Age Films

Apr 26 - 6:00 pm

CinemaLit: The Way He Looks (2013)
April CinemaLit: International Coming of Age Films