The Identity and Self Film Series, featuring documentary films that explore the process of discovering one’s core sense of identity in our every-changing global society, will be shown during July and August at Princeton Public Library. The films will be shown on Mondays at 7 p.m. the Community Room and include the following:
Monday, July 6, 7 p.m. “To Be Takei.”
This film traces the life of actor, gay-rights activist and pop culture icon George Takei. Sent with his family to a Japanese internment camp during World War II, Takei went on to become an actor, playing the groundbreaking Sulu in the “Star Trek” television series and films. At 78, Takei is now an Internet sensation with 5 million Facebook fans and more than 1.5 million Twitter followers. 1 hour, 34 minutes.
Monday, July 13, 7 p.m. “Point and Shoot.”
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, this film traces the journey of 27-year-old Matthew VanDyke from Baltimore who embarks on a 35,000-mile road trip through Northern Africa and the Middle East. This film is being shown in advance of its Aug. 31 PBS broadcast. 1 hour, 23 minutes. This screening is a collaboration between the library and POV, the award-winning independent non-fiction film series on PBS.
Monday, July 20, 7 p.m. “Meet the Patels.”
This funny and poignant film, co-directed by Ravi Patel and his sister Geeta Patel, began as a family vacation video by Geeta. It is the story of how 29-year-old Ravi, a first-generation Indian-American man looking for a wife, is caught between his modern views and his family’s more traditional and cultural ways of thinking. 1 hour, 28 minutes.
Monday, July 27, 7 p.m. “Little White Lie.”
Filmmaker Lacey Schwartz grew up believing her family’s explanation that her appearance was inherited from her dark-skinned Sicilian grandfather. At 18, she learned the truth that her biological father was African-American. In this film, Lacey strives to reconcile her newfound heritage with her Jewish upbringing and discovers that in order to define herself, she must first come to terms with her parents’ choices and how much she is willing to let their past affect her future. Schwartz will attend and participate in a post-screening Q&A session. 1 hour, 24 minutes.
Monday, Aug. 3, 7 p.m.“Rich Hill.”
The lives of three boys growing up in impoverished Rich Hill, Missouri, are examined in this 2014 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize-winning film. 1 hour, 31 minutes.
Monday, Aug. 10, 7 p.m. “Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth.”
This PBS documentary tells the life story of writer and activist Alice Walker, the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (for her novel “The Color Purple”). It charts her inspiring journey from her birth into a family of sharecroppers in Georgia to the present, revealing the inspiration for many of her works and how she overcame adversity to achieve international recognition as one of the most influential — and controversial — writers of the 20th century. 1 hour, 24 minutes.
Monday, Aug. 17, 7 p.m. “Blood Brother.”
Winner of the 2013 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, this is the story of Rocky Braat, a young man from a fractured family whose life was changed when he met a group of HIV-positive children living in an orphanage in India. 1 hour, 32 minutes.
Monday, Aug. 24, 7 p.m. “Keep On Keepin’ On.”
The friendship between 23-year-old blind piano-prodigy Justin Kauflin and music legend and teacher Clark Terry is explored in this film that was shot over the course of five years. Part of the Summer Documentary series. 1 hour, 26 minutes.
The Identity and Self series is presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The library is in the Sands Library Building at 65 Witherspoon St. in Princeton. For more information about library programs and services, call (609) 924-9529 or visit princetonlibrary.org.
