In conjunction with the exhibit, CDS is screening five films that reflect certain aspects of the times and cultural context in which William Gedney lived and worked. The films will be screened on the last Thursday of each month beginning in April and ending in July, with a final, special screening to close the show in early August. All screenings will begin at 7 p.m.  
 
April 26

High Lonesome Sound
(1963, 30 mins.) This film, made by John Cohen around the time that William Gedney first went to eastern Kentucky, features the traditional music of the mountain people of the area: an unemployed worker, coal miners, church congregations, and members of a miner's family. 		 

May 31

Shadows
(1959, 87 mins.) One of the landmarks of independent American cinema, John Cassavetes' first film features two brothers and a sister who move jerkily through their lives as Cassavetes' free-wheeling camera, naturalistic dialogue, and jump cuts capture their arguments, sexual encounters, and parties. With Lelia Goldoni, Ben Carruthers, and Hugh Hurd.

 

  

June 28

After Stonewall
(1999, 88 mins.) Continuing the chronicle of gay life begun in Before Stonewall, this sequel charts the community's history from the time of the Stonewall riots to near the end of the century, focusing on how AIDS changed the direction of the movement and, despite initial fears and conflicts, resulted in wider acceptance of homosexuals in America and the world. Singer Melissa Etheridge narrates.

 

   July 26

Intrepid Traveller and His Merry Band of Pranksters Look for a Kool Place
(56 mins.) It was 1964. Mercury sold a convertible. The Beatles wanted to hold your hand. Barry Goldwater was running for president. A group of people were getting together in California. One of them, Ken Kesey, had just written Sometimes a Great Notion. The publication party was to be in Manhattan in the middle of June. The whole group decided to go. They bought a bus, painted it, outfitted it with a sound system, bought movie cameras and tape recorders. Their plan: to film and record everything along the way.

  August 3

Deadline at Dawn
(1946, 91 mins.) William Gedney quoted dialogue from this film in one of his many notebooks. The plot: Bill Williams is a sailor in deep trouble. Lola Lane slips him a "mickey" one night. When he's out cold, she gets murdered. With only seven hours of leave left, he seeks a solution with the help of Susan Hayward and Paul Lukas. Great film noir, based on a screenplay by Clifford Odets, based, in turn, on a novel by Cornell Woolrich.