Film Screening: Foreign Letters

Foreign Letters, (2012) G, Run Time: 1h 39 m
Part of the NEA Big Read Immigration Themed Film & Discussion Series

Location: Hopewell Valley Central High School
259 Pennington Titusville Rd, Pennington, NJ 08534

COVID-19 Policy: Masking and Social Distancing Required

Registration Required: https://www.eventbrite.com/preview?eid=261490403837/

FILM SUMMARY

A bittersweet coming-of-age film, Foreign Letters is itself a love letter to the unshakeable bond between friends. Set in the pre-email era of the 1980s, young Ellie, newly arrived to the US from Israel, anxiously waits for letters from her best friend back home. Suffering from homesickness, language difficulties and rejection at school, life brightens when she meets Thuy, a Vietnamese refugee her age. As the two bond and become inseparable, they eventually hurt each other, and Ellie must find a way to restore their trust. Based on director Ela Thier’s personal immigration experience, Foreign Letters is a film about poverty, prejudice, shame, and the healing power of friendship.

ABOUT POST FILM DISCUSSION LEADERS KATIE CONNOLLY, JULIE ABERGER AND KIM T. HA

Pennington residents Katie and Julie have been friends and neighbors for almost 40 years, and for the past several years have watched movies together weekly. Besides the movie, they enjoy wine, food, talk and laughter. Oh, and did we mention wine? The women turned to the huge selection of movies, foreign and domestic, from the Mercer County and Pennington Libraries. While watching, they eat. And sometimes drink. Katie cooks vegan while Julie orders pizza. After the movie, the two discuss and often disagree about what they have seen, sometimes vociferously.

PPL Director Kim is excited to join Katie and Julie, having been a longtime fan of storytelling in all the forms in which it takes. Kim especially relates to the main characters in Foreign Letters, Ellie and Thuy, as they remind her of her own relationship as a first generation Vietnamese-American with her Jewish-American best friend at that impressionable grade school age.

Julie’s faves: Nordic noir (e.g., “As It Is In Heaven”) and German (as in “The Lives of Others”), and other dark narratives that reflect foreign culture and flawed protagonists.

Katie’s faves: French film maker Francis Veber and his slapstick movies such as “The Closet” and “The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe”, as well as the often surreal movies of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar.

Kim’s faves: The list is endless, but Kim has discovered that she happens to love many movies that released in 1999: “Fight Club”, “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, and “The Sixth Sense.” Other favorites include: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Inception,” and “Vertigo.” In summary: psychological and thought provoking.

This program is part of the 2022 NEA Big Read, which encourages the Pennington community to read the same book and participate in a wide variety of events. The Best We Could Do is an intimate and poignant graphic novel portraying one family’s journey from war-torn Vietnam. NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. Please visit PenningtonLibrary.org/2022BigRead for a full calendar of events and more information.

NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.