Dune is a 1984 American epic science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch and based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. The film stars Kyle MacLachlan (in his film debut) as young nobleman Paul Atreides, and includes an ensemble of well-known American and European actors in supporting roles. It was filmed at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City and included a soundtrack by the rock band Toto, as well as Brian Eno.

Set in the distant future, the film chronicles the conflict between rival noble families as they battle for control of the extremely harsh desert planet Arrakis, also known as "Dune". The planet is the only source of the drug melange—also called "the spice"—which allows prescience and is vital to space travel, making it the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe. Paul Atreides is the scion and heir of a powerful noble family, whose inheritance of control over Arrakis brings them into conflict with its former overlords, House Harkonnen. Paul is also a candidate for the Kwisatz Haderach, a messianic figure in the Bene Gesserit religion. Besides MacLachlan, the film features a large ensemble cast of supporting actors, including Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, Dean Stockwell, Virginia Madsen, José Ferrer, Sting, Linda Hunt, and Max von Sydow, among others.

After the novel's initial success, attempts to adapt Dune as a film began in 1971. A lengthy process of development followed throughout the 1970s, during which Arthur P. Jacobs, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Ridley Scott unsuccessfully tried to bring their visions to the screen. In 1981, executive producer Dino De Laurentiis hired Lynch as director.

Maddy and Briana take a trip down memory lane to discuss all the beautiful books they have read this past season. 

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821.

In the Time of the Butterflies is a 2001 feature film, produced for the Showtime television network, directed by Mariano Barroso and based on Julia Álvarez's book of the same name. The story is a fictionalized account for the lives of the Mirabal sisters, Dominican revolutionary activists, who opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and were assassinated on November 25, 1960.

In the film, Salma Hayek played one of the sisters, Minerva, and Edward James Olmos plays Trujillo. Marc Anthony has a minor role as Minerva's first love, and the impetus for her later revolutionary activities.

Half of a Yellow Sun is a 2013 Anglo-Nigerian drama film directed by Biyi Bandele and based on the novel of the same name by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The film is historical fiction that follows two sisters who are caught up in the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War.

It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandiwe Newton, Onyeka Onwenu, Anika Noni Rose, Joseph Mawle, Genevieve Nnaji, OC Ukeje and John Boyega. The film premiered in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NsELe67UxM&t=328s

Whale Rider is a 2002 New Zealand-German family drama film written and directed by Niki Caro. Based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Witi Ihimaera, the film stars Keisha Castle-Hughes as Kahu Paikea Apirana, a twelve-year-old Māori girl whose ambition is to become the chief of the tribe. Her grandfather Koro Apirana believes that this is a role reserved for males only.

https://events.humanitix.com/chapter-one-take-two-dune-1984

Once is a 2007 Irish romantic musical drama film written and directed by John Carney. The film stars Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová as two struggling musicians in Dublin, Ireland. Hansard and Irglová had previously performed music as the Swell Season, and composed and performed the film's original songs.

Once spent years in development with the Irish Film Board and was made for a budget of €112,000. It was a commercial success, earning substantial per-screen box office averages in the United States, and received acclaim from critics. It received awards including the 2007 Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film. Hansard and Irglová's song "Falling Slowly" won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the soundtrack received a Grammy Award nomination.

Hidden Figures is a 2016 American biographical drama film directed by Theodore Melfi and written by Melfi and Allison Schroeder. It is loosely based on the 2016 non-fiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly about African American female mathematicians who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the Space Race. The film stars Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who calculated flight trajectories for Project Mercury and other missions. The film also features Octavia Spencer as NASA supervisor and mathematician Dorothy Vaughan and Janelle Monáe as NASA engineer Mary Jackson, with Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, and Glen Powell in supporting roles.

https://medium.com/colored-lenses/hidden-figures-and-white-savior-771c49abbcd2

Sense and Sensibility is a 1995 period drama film directed by Ang Lee and based on Jane Austen's 1811 novel of the same name. Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay and stars as Elinor Dashwood, while Kate Winslet plays Elinor's younger sister Marianne. The story follows the Dashwood sisters, members of a wealthy English family of landed gentry, as they must deal with circumstances of sudden destitution. They are forced to seek financial security through marriage. Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman play their respective suitors. The film was released on December 13, 1995, in the United States.

The Color Purple is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. It was later adapted into a film and musical of the same name.

Rebecca is a 2020 British romantic thriller film directed by Ben Wheatley from a screenplay by Jane Goldman, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse. The film is based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. The film stars Lily James, Armie Hammer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Keeley Hawes, Ann Dowd, and Sam Riley.

Rebecca was released in select theatres on 16 October 2020, and digitally on Netflix on 21 October 2020. It received mixed reviews from critics.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a 2018 historical romantic-drama film directed by Mike Newell and written by Don Roos and Tom Bezucha. The screenplay is based on the 2008 novel of the same name, written by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The film stars Lily James, Michiel Huisman, Glen Powell, Jessica Brown Findlay, Katherine Parkinson, Matthew Goode, Tom Courtenay and Penelope Wilton. Set in 1946, the plot follows a London-based writer who exchanges letters with a resident on the island of Guernsey, which had been under German occupation during World War II.

3 Māori cousins.

Mata, introverted, watchful, a seer of spirits, the child of a Māori mother and an abusive Pākehā (white) father. Makareta, raised to be the princess of her tribe, spoilt and educated in both worlds. Missy, cheeky, insecure and often overlooked, the heartbeat of her family.

Stolen from her whānau, placed in an orphanage and watched over by a vengeful guardian, Mata lives out her childhood in fear and bewilderment, saved only by her wonderful imagination. Back on the land, cousin Makareta flees an arranged marriage and Missy takes her place as bride, amalgamating the land and taking on the mantle of kaitiaki (guardian). However the pair never give up hoping that Mata will come home.

Years pass, Makareta becomes a lawyer and Missy works the land, but things don’t go well for Mata. Incapable of physical love, her marriage ends. For a time she takes care of a friend’s child but when he’s taken from her, the voices from the past call and she takes to the streets. While Mata searches for her long dead mother, Makareta searches for Mata. Their paths nearly cross several times but it’s not until both are in their sixties that they find each other. On that night Makareta takes Mata home and encourages her to return to the land with her. Mata refuses but as she’s leaving she hears her mother’s voice. On returning to the house she finds that Makareta has died.

At Makareta’s tangihanga (funeral) Mata’s tears flow for the first time and as spirits of the dead gather she finally sees and is seen by her own mother. Mata and Missy sit one at each side of Makareta’s casket and Mata’s face becomes alive and serene. She is finally home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXxXC30VYuk&ab_channel=HanaTapiata&fbclid=IwAR26q5kFSUtUDXTGql4bRICN4n09-mczYZ37BWW_kqTKgpnBSOqTL1CDPvs

Carol is a 2015 romantic drama period film directed by Todd Haynes. The screenplay by Phyllis Nagy is based on the 1952 romance novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (republished as Carol in 1990). The film stars Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Jake Lacy, and Kyle Chandler. Set in New York City during the early 1950s, Carol tells the story of a forbidden affair between an aspiring female photographer and an older woman going through a difficult divorce.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBL9Kz26Dvs&ab_channel=GirlShipTVhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBL9Kz26Dvs&ab_channel=GirlShipTV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QljnNIBtaI&ab_channel=FilmIndependent

Disobedience is a 2017 romantic drama film directed by Sebastián Lelio and written by Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz, based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Naomi Alderman. The film stars Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola. Set in North London, it tells the story of a woman who returns to the strict Orthodox Jewish community for her father's funeral after living in New York for many years, having been estranged from her father and ostracised by the community for a reason that becomes clearer as the story unfolds. The film was produced by Rachel Weisz, Ed Guiney, and Frida Torresblanco.

https://events.humanitix.com/chapter-one-take-two-live-show

Dragon Rider (German: Drachenreiter) is a 2020 German animated fantasy film based on the novel of the same name by Cornelia Funke. The film was to be released in theatres on August 6, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film release was finally postponed to October 1, 2020.

Firedrake is a young silver dragon, who has had enough of constantly having to hide in a wooded valley. He wants to show the older generations of dragons that he is a real dragon. When humans are about to destroy his family's very last refuge, Firedrake secretly sets off on an adventurous journey with forest brownie, Sorrel. He wants to find the "Rim of Heaven", the dragons' mysterious haven. On their quest Firedrake and Sorrel encounter Ben, an orphan and stray, who claims to be a dragon rider. While Ben and Firedrake make friends quickly, Sorrel becomes increasingly distrustful and tries her best to get rid of the orphan at every opportunity. But the unlikely trio have to learn to pull together, because they are being hunted by Nettlebrand, an evil, dragon-eating monster which was created by an alchemist with the aim of tracking down and destroying every dragon on Earth.

How Stella Got Her Groove Back is a 1998 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan, adapted from Terry McMillan's best-selling 1996 novel of the same title. The film stars Angela Bassett, Taye Diggs (in his film debut), Whoopi Goldberg, and Regina King. The original music score was composed by Michel Colombier.

Race-baiting, queer-baiting, colorism, featurism, and performative diversity | Khadija Mbowe - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYPB5nJV3h8&ab_channel=KhadijaMbowe

Links for support - https://nzfvc.org.nz/links

https://rpe.co.nz/find-your-local-support-service/

Trigger Warning - this episode discusses sensitive topics such as domestic violence and rape.

The Dry is the 2016 debut novel by Australian author Jane Harper. The book has won numerous international awards and has sold more than 1 million copies worldwide. A film adaptation was released on 1 January 202 with great success, placing it as one of the highest-grossing Australian film opening weekends ever.

The Dry is a 2020 Australian mystery drama thriller film directed by Robert Connolly, from a screenplay by Connolly and Harry Cripps, and starring Eric Bana, Genevieve O'Reilly, Keir O'Donnell and John Polson. The film is based on the book of the same name by Jane Harper. 

Roald Dahl's The Witches is a 2020 Mexican-American dark fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis, Kenya Barris, and Guillermo del Toro. It is based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl and is the second feature-length adaptation of the novel, after the 1990 film of the same name directed by Nicolas Roeg. The film stars Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, and Stanley Tucci, and is narrated by Chris Rock.

The Witches is a 1990 dark fantasy comedy film directed by Nicolas Roeg, produced by Jim Henson and starring Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling, Rowan Atkinson, and Jasen Fisher in his feature film debut. It is based on the 1983 book of the same name by Roald Dahl. As in the original novel, the story features evil witches who masquerade as ordinary women and kill children, and a boy and his grandmother must find a way to foil their plans.

The film was produced by Jim Henson Productions for Lorimar Film Entertainment as the last theatrical film to be produced by Lorimar before the company shut down in 1993. The film was very well received by critics, but performed poorly at the box office; however, it has retained a cult following over the years.

Juliet, Naked is a novel by the British author Nick Hornby published in 2009. It tells the story of Annie, the long-suffering girlfriend of obsessed music fan Duncan, and the object of his obsession, singer-songwriter Tucker Crowe. The plot revolves around the release of Juliet, Naked, the first new Tucker Crowe release in over two decades.

Juliet, Naked is a 2018 romantic comedy film directed by Jesse Peretz based on Nick Hornby's novel of the same name. It centers on the story of Annie (Rose Byrne), and her unlikely romance with singer-songwriter Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke), who is also the subject of her boyfriend's (Chris O'Dowd) long-time music obsession. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2018.

Please note a trigger warning for this episode, we discuss abortions as part of the review. 

http://ex-press.com/2018/08/31/juliet-naked-strips-romance-down-to-nagging-self-doubt/?fbclid=IwAR0sZh_DYuF3keCfgN7jR7g3r552TJc0sHL5-4Yll8IZbEIQeRW5YOs_3R4