Furman Film Series Screens Margin Call And The Descendants

Furman Film Series announces a special screening of all-star Sundance film Margin Call and announcement of preview screening of Toronto Film Festival hit, The Descendants starring George Clooney.

October 19th brings a preview of Margin Call, an all-star Sundance Film Festival favorite! (Our only Wednesday screening!)

Set in the high-stakes world of the financial industry, Margin Call is an entangling thriller involving the key players at an investment firm during the first 24-hours of the 2008 financial crisis. When an entry-level analyst unlocks information that could prove to be the downfall of the firm, a roller-coaster ride ensues as decisions both financial and moral catapult the lives of all involved to the brink of disaster. Writer/director J.C. Chandor's enthralling first feature is a stark and bravely authentic portrayal of the financial industry and its denizens as they confront the decisions that shape our global future.

In the wake of the crisis that rocked the world's financial markets in 2008, a lot of people asked that same question of the engineers of the disaster. How does a man confront the fact of failure, a failure that might not only cost him his job, but cost millions of people their entire livelihoods? J.C. Chandor's riveting and deeply-felt thriller Margin Call takes us where no film has taken us before: inside the heart of one of Wall Street's too-big-to-fail financial titans, a sharply-etched snapshot of a world and a group of people on the brink of collapse.

Unfolding over the course of roughly 24 hours, Margin Call takes us from the moment of dawning suspicion that something is terribly wrong, to the full recognition of the scope of the disaster, to the sifting through the wreckage-both personal and financial-when the final bell rings and the "bloodbath" of trading comes to a close. From junior analysts to CEO titans, every member of the corporate hierarchy must come to grips with the nightmare-come-true, and their own roles in creating it. Rising to the task of bringing this story to life is an all-star ensemble that includes Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, and Stanley Tucci.

Margin Call will be released October 21st.

November 3 brings acclaimed documentary 77 Steps, with director Ibitsam Salh Mara'ana in attendance to discuss the film and her life. In association with our friends at THE OTHER ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL, 77 Steps details the personal journey of the director who leaves her Arab-Muslim village and moves to Tel-Aviv. There she meets Jonathan, a Canadian Jew. They fall in love but the relationship is not accepted by their families. A roller coaster ride ensues.

November 17 brings our new addition The Descendants from Alexander Payne (Sideways), starring George Clooney. This Toronto Film Festival hit is a comedy-drama based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings about a Hawaiian land baron who tries to re-connect with his two daughters after his wife falls into a coma.

December 1 brings Hot Coffee, the stunning Sundance Film Festival and HBO documentary by Susan Saladoff about how one infamous lawsuit allowed corporations across the United States to brew a concoction of manipulation intended to protect corporate interests and keep regular citizens out of the courts. Hot Coffee is a special presentation of a grass roots film hoping to make a difference by getting the word out.

Films begin at 7:30pm. Entry is 7:00pm for subscribers, 7:15 for ticket holders. Each screening has a Q&A with a notable personality after the film.

Tickets to the Gold Coast Furman Film Series are $15 ($20 at the door. $10 for students.) For more information call 516.829.2570 or go to www.greatneckarts.org/Film.htm. The series is held at Clearview Cinemas Great Neck Squire Theater at 115 Middle Neck Road in the heart of Great Neck.