Academy/UCLA doc series continues

Oct 26, 2004 by Ian Evans

The Agronomist and Balseros will be screened for the November 17 installment of the Contemporary Documentary Series, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy Foundation and the UCLA Film and Television Archive, at 7:30 p.m., in the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free and open to the public.

Directed by Jonathan Demme, The Agronomist celebrates the legacy of Haitian national hero, journalist and freedom fighter Jean Dominique. Prior to his assassination in 2000, Dominique owned Haiti’s oldest and only free radio station and used it to fight tirelessly against his country’s overwhelming injustice, oppression and poverty. The film was produced by Peter Saraf.

Balseros, which earned an Academy Award nomination last year, presents the stories of seven Cuban refugees who set out to sea in homemade rafts bound for Florida in 1994. Most of the seven were picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard and held at the naval base in Guantanamo. A camera crew followed each of their ordeals as they were relocated to an array of cities from Miami to Albuquerque, then visited them again seven years later. The film was directed by Carlos Bosch.

The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 N. Vine Street, in Hollywood. Parking is available behind the building through the entrance on Homewood Avenue, one block north of Fountain. For more information call (310) 247-3600 or (310) 206-FILM.