We stand with Ukraine.
Holding Liat
Documentary by BRANDON KRAMER
Discussion to Follow
Playing Sunday, May 17 at 4 pm
Madison Community Arts Center
10 Kings Road, Madison
HOLDING LIAT follows the Israeli-American Beinin family’s urgent fight for the release of their family member, Liat, who was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The intimate film tracks the family’s emotional journey and conflicting perspectives amidst the unfolding crisis.
Named one of the Washington Post's 10 Best Movies of 2025.
The Bengali
Documentary by Kavery Kaul
Discussion to Follow
Playing Sunday, June 6 at 4 pm
Madison Community Arts Center
10 Kings Road, Madison
A writer from Louisiana embarks on a quest to a part of India where no American has ever gone. There she looks for her her grandfather's descendants, the land he claimed to own and the truth behind the stories she grew up with.
The Benjali is particularly relevant for audiences interested in multiculturalism and interfaith history. It challenges the notion of "fixed" identities, arguing instead that we are all products of mixed heritage and shared global migrations.
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Documentary by Eran Riklas
Discussion to Follow
Playing Friday, June 19 at 7:30 pm
Madison Community Arts Center
10 Kings Road, Madison
Azar Nafisi, a former professor at Tehran University, secretly gathers seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. As fundamentalists seize control, the women remove their veils and speak about their intimate hopes, loves, disappointments, femininity, and search for a place in an increasingly oppressive society. By reading Lolita in Tehran, they celebrate the liberating power of literature in revolutionary Iran and form their own future.
Past Screenings at the Film Society of Summit
BONNARD, PIERRE AND MARTHA
DRAMA by Martin provost
Discussion to Follow
COMING SOON
Madison Community Arts Center
10 Kings Road, Madison
The beautiful and transporting new historical drama from multi award-winning director Martin Provost ('Séraphine', 'The Midwife') about the turbulent love story between the famous post-Impressionist painter and his lesser-known - but highly influential - wife. 1893. When aspiring French painter Pierre Bonnard (Macaigne) - a protégé of Claude Monet - meets Marthe de Méligny (de France), he has no idea that this self-proclaimed aristocrat will become the cornerstone of his life and work. From this moment, though she appears in over a third of his work, she's more than just a muse; together over five decades, the couple will explore creative fulfillment, love and jealousies that challenge the standards of the time, as the film interrogates the great mystery around their relationship. A brilliant story of creation and love, of fame and secrets, and the life of the remarkable artist nicknamed “the painter of happiness”. Provost’s vision for this material is clear and concise; what may appear as a traditional account of its subjects soon moves beyond conventions and evolves into something much more resonant and profound.
SING SING DRAMA
directed by Greg Kwedar
Discussion to Follow
Playing in January
Madison Community Arts Center
10 Kings Road, Madison
Divine G (Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group with other incarcerated men. When a wary outsider joins the group, the men decide to stage their first original comedy, in this stirring true story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art, starring an unforgettable ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors. 13 actors — a majority of the cast — are former convicts who had themselves participated in the rehabilitative theater program. Most of the actors thought they would never again return to a correctional facility, let alone wear the green prison-issue uniforms. The film was shot in the summer of 2022 at the now-decommissioned Downstate Correctional Facility in the Hudson Valley. And in a dismaying twist, most of the actors had themselves been detained or processed through Downstate, the very facility that had become their movie set, a haunting reminder of their past selves and an opportunity — a calling, some said — to send a message.
SING SING DRAMA
directed by Greg Kwedar
Discussion to Follow
Playing in January
Madison Community Arts Center
10 Kings Road, Madison
Divine G (Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group with other incarcerated men. When a wary outsider joins the group, the men decide to stage their first original comedy, in this stirring true story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art, starring an unforgettable ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors. 13 actors — a majority of the cast — are former convicts who had themselves participated in the rehabilitative theater program. Most of the actors thought they would never again return to a correctional facility, let alone wear the green prison-issue uniforms. The film was shot in the summer of 2022 at the now-decommissioned Downstate Correctional Facility in the Hudson Valley. And in a dismaying twist, most of the actors had themselves been detained or processed through Downstate, the very facility that had become their movie set, a haunting reminder of their past selves and an opportunity — a calling, some said — to send a message.