THE MAN FROM EARTH film screening

243 Albany Ave,Kingston NY 12401

16 July, 2022

Description

This extraordinary drama — written by renowned science fiction writer Jerome Bixby, celebrated for writing the most acclaimed episodes of STAR TREK and THE TWILIGHT ZONE — answers the question, What would you do if you found out one of your colleagues was 14,000 years old? Not immortal — just very, very old. And never aging. That’s what John Oldman (David Lee Smith), a professor (with an appropriate last name) tells a small group of his university colleagues who’ve decided to have an impromptu get-together at his home to wish him farewell just before he leaves town. Initially reluctant to give the reason for his departure, he admits that he leaves a place every 10 years or so, once people start noticing he hasn’t aged. And then the big reveal: He explains he is actually a prehistoric caveman — more specifically a Cro-Magnon early European modern human who has lived and walked the earth from the Upper Paleolithic Period, or Old Stone Age, 14,000 years ago to now. Taken aback, the professors first ridicule his explanation. They then decide to play along. As they challenge his declaration and ask him for details about what he has experienced over the millennia, they start arguing and counterarguing with each other. And before they realize it, they find themselves discussing subjects as wide-ranging as biology, anthropology, history, geography, psychology and religion. The entire film is set in and around Oldman’s house and is composed almost entirely of dialogue. “Fascinating and intelligent,” writes critic Noel Megahey in The Digital Fix. “[Its] ideas should hold you spellbound for the length of the film and perhaps beyond.” “Brilliantly written, meticulously detailed and intuitively engaging,” writes Aastha Madhur in Flickside. “Keeps you guessing from beginning to end,” writes Anthony Ray Bench in Film Threat. The 2007 film — which runs 83 minutes and is not rated by the Motion Picture Association — earned five critic and festival awards, including Best Feature at California’s Port Hueneme International Film Festival, the Rhode Island International Film Festival and Spain’s “Fancine Málaga” Fantastic Film Festival at the University of Málaga. RIIFF and Fancine Málaga also awarded posthumous Best Screenplay honors to Bixby. Directed by Richard Schenkman, the film offers “a fresh eye on many of the assumptions and beliefs we have today based on our current understanding of science, history and religion,” critic Megahey writes. Adds David Cornelius in eFilmCritic, “It’s that rare film that rewards inquisitiveness.” The film’s trailer can be found on YouTube at tinyurl.com/TheManFromEarth-MoviesWSpirit. The screening will be followed by a facilitated discussion. Refreshments will be served. Attendees over age 12 are asked to contribute $10 a person. Movies With Spirit screenings comply with all federal, state and local health and safety protocols, including those of the screening venues. The monthly Movies With Spirit series, organized by Gerry Harrington of Kingston, seeks to stimulate people’s sense of joy and wonder, inspire love and compassion, evoke a deepened understanding of people’s integral connection with others and with life itself, and support individual cultures, faith paths and beliefs while simultaneously transcending them. The films are screened in diverse places of worship and reverence across Ulster and Dutchess counties at 7 p.m. on the third Saturday of every month. Movies With Spirit has no religious affiliation. For more information about “The Man From Earth” and the rest of the series, contact Harrington at 845-389-9201 or at [email protected].