Tag Archives: Free

Discover Your Family History: an Introduction to Genealogy

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Presented by Claudia Breland

Sunday, June 9, 2 p.m., Mercer Island Library

Interested in tracing your family history but don’t know where to start? Claudia Breland, a professional genealogist with over 35 years of experience, will walk you through the early steps of this exciting pastime. Learn how to start filling out pedigree charts and interviewing relatives before you sit down at the computer and discover free resources available online and at the library. For beginners.

Registration opens May 17th. To register, go to http://www.kcls.org/calendar/detail.cfm?view=event&lib=26.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Mercer Island Library

Dining at Downton Abbey: A Trial by Fork

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Presented by Tames Alan.

Saturday, May 4, 1pm

Mercer Island Library

Explore a time of forgotten elegance, when one changed into dinner clothes and chose jewelry to reflect candlelight; a time where setting the table was an art and serving a meal was a well-choreographed dance. Food historian Tames Alan will demystify the manners, menu, and accoutrements of a formal 12-course dinner as would have been eaten upstairs at Downton Abbey before the outbreak of World War One.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Mercer Island Library

 

Feast Your Eyes: Movies About Food

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Saturdays in February, March and April 2013

Each screening will include an educational lecture
and Q&A led by film historian Lance Rhoades.
Sponsored by the Mercer Island Friends of the Library.

Saturday, March 16, 1 p.m.: MONDOVINO

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mondovino
Directed by Jonathan Nossiter
Produced by Jonathan Nossiter
Emmanuel Giraud
Written by Jonathan Nossiter
Distributed by ThinkFilm
Release date(s) 14 May 2004
Running time 135 minutes
Country United States
Language English, French

Mondovino (Italian: World of Wine) is a 2004 documentary film on the impact of globalization on the world’s different wine regions written and directed by American film maker Jonathan Nossiter. It was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival[1] and a César Award.

The film explores the impact of globalization on the various wine-producing regions, and the influence of critics like Robert Parker and consultants like Michel Rolland in defining an international style. It pits the ambitions of large, multinational wine producers, in particular Robert Mondavi, against the small, single estate wineries who have traditionally boasted wines with individual character driven by their terroir.

Mondovino was originally intended to be a two-month affair as a break between feature projects upon the completion of Nossiter’s film Signs & Wonders (2000). The film gave Nossiter a chance to utilize his knowledge as a trained sommelier from his time working at Balthazar in New York as well as an opportunity to visit some of the great wine regions of the world.

 

Feast Your Eyes: Movies About Food

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Saturdays in February, March and April 2013
Each screening will include an educational lecture
and Q&A led by film historian Lance Rhoades.
Sponsored by the Mercer Island Friends of the Library.

Saturday, February 23, 1pm
Big Night
Two brothers, one a talented and uncompromising chef,
the other an eager-to-please aspiring entrepreneur,
gamble everything on the chance that their Italian
restaurant can be saved with one big night.

Big_night

Directed by Campbell Scott
Stanley Tucci
Produced by David Kirkpatrick
Jonathan Filley
Written by Joseph Tropiano
Stanley Tucci
Starring Minnie Driver
Ian Holm
Isabella Rossellini
Tony Shalhoub
Stanley Tucci
Allison Janney
Music by Gary DeMichele
Louis Prima
Editing by Suzy Elmiger
Distributed by The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Release date(s) January 24, 1996 (Sundance Film Festival)
September 20, 1996
Running time 107 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $4.1 million [1]
Box office $12,008,376

Opera Previews: La Boheme

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Wednesday, February 20, 7pm
Presented by Norm Hollingshead.
Giacomo Puccini is the most popular opera composer of our time. Almost all of his operas end sadly, but that seems to attract rather than repel

opera audiences around the world. His 4th opera, La Boheme, is the saddest of all. In this opera the deadly villain is not another human,

but rather poverty and disease. Puccini’s genius at finding just the right melody to depict the happiness and heartache

of the doomed couple, Mimi and Rodolfo,draws sell-out crowds wherever it is performed.

Sponsored by the Mercer Island Friends of the Library.

La Boheme

South Korean Film “Treeless Mountain” to be Shown at Mercer Island Library, Saturday, April 23rd

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Treeless Mountain (Namueopneun San) (Kim, South Korea, 2008)

Date and Time: Saturday, April 23, 1 p.m.

Location: Mercer Island Library, 4400 88th Avenue SE, Mercer Island, Washington

Two sisters aged six and three, must fend for themselves when their mother leaves them with a neglectful aunt.

University of Washington film historian Lance Rhoades will introduce the film and lead a discussion afterward.

This screening is sponsored by the Friends of the Mercer Island Library.

“Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi” To Be Screened the Mercer Island Library, Saturday, April 9th

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Movie Poster for "Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi"

Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi (Lage Raho Munna Bhai) (Hirani, India, 2006)

Date and Time: Saturday, April 9th, 1 p.m.

Location: Mercer Island Library, 4400 88th Avenue SE, Mercer Island, Washington

A crime boss learns the ways of Mahatma Gandhi in order to win the heart of a radio talk show host. An entertaining Bollywood musical romantic-comedy.

University of Washington film historian Lance Rhoades will introduce the film and lead a discussion afterward.

This screening is sponsored by the Friends of the Mercer Island Library.

“Smoke Signals” To Be Shown at Mercer Island Library, March 12th

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Smoke Signals (Eyre, USA, 1998)

Date and Time: Saturday, March 12, 1 p.m.

Location: Mercer Island Library, 4400 88th Avenue SE, Mercer Island, Washington

Cost: Free

Victor, an ill-tempered jock, and Thomas, a storytelling nerd learn how much they really have in common while traveling from their Coeur d’Alene Reservation home to Arizona. An odd couple road movie based on Sherman Alexie‘s short story “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.”

University of Washington film historian Lance Rhoades will introduce the film and lead a discussion afterward.

This screening is sponsored by the Friends of the Mercer Island Library.

“The Gods Must Be Crazy II” Screening at the Mercer Island Library Saturday, February 26

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The Gods Must Be Crazy, Part II (Uys, Botswana, 1989)

Date and Time: Saturday, February 26, 1 p.m.

Location: Mercer Island Library, 4400 88th Avenue SE, Mercer Island, Washington

Cost: Free

Kalahari bushman Xi once again encounters an array of eccentric characters in bizarre situations as he attempts to rescue his children accidentally taken away by elephant poachers.

University of Washington film historian Lance Rhoades will introduce the film and lead a discussion afterward.

This screening is sponsored by the Friends of the Mercer Island Library.

“The Cranes Are Flying” Screening at the Mercer Island Library Saturday, February 12

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The Cranes Are Flying (Letyat zhuravli) (Kalatozov, USSR, 1957)

Date and Time: Saturday, February 12, 1 p.m.

Location: Mercer Island Library, 4400 88th Avenue SE, Mercer Island, Washington

Cost: Free

The Friends of the Mercer Island Library are proud to sponsor the free screening of “The Cranes Are Flying,” a stunning visual poem set in Moscow during World War II about a woman clinging to the idea of love after her boyfriend does away to fight.

University of Washington film historian Lance Rhoades will introduce the film and lead a discussion afterward.