From Daniel Tures, Adult Librarian at Edendale Library:

Join us on Wednesday, May 4th at 6 p.m. on Zoom for a special Edendale film discussion co-presented by our longtime neighbor and BFF, the Echo Park Film Center!  Since 2002 they have been a crucial part of the city’s cultural scene, tirelessly supporting underground cinema, community screenings and film education.  Although their storefront theater and archive around the corner from us on Alvarado recently closed after 20 amazing years, the EPFC mission lives on with screenings and workshops all over Los Angeles and beyond.

We’ll be discussing a film chosen by Lisa and Paolo from the Echo Park Film Center that honors the great nation of Ukraine — Alexander Dovzhenko’s 1930 masterpiece Earth.  This impressionistic silent film follows a group of poor farmers on a collective who come into conflict with wealthier ‘kulak’ landowners.  The mantle of leadership is passed to Vasili when his grandfather dies, and he organizes the farmers to buy a tractor, a triumph that soon turns to tragedy.  Despite all tribulations the farmers press on, sustained by their deep connection to the land.

Here is the Zoom link to attend –

https://lapl.zoom.us/j/86166628128?pwd=V3NEdjdCNGVkY1ZnWnM1MXRKRlJ6Zz09

Meeting ID: 861 6662 8128

Passcode: 383096

To watch Earth on Kanopy, use your Los Angeles Public Library card (or any other library system or school that you’re a member of that offers Kanopy).  You can walk into any of our 75 LAPL branches and sign up for a card immediately, or sign up for an e-card at lapl.org and access e-resources including Kanopy from home.  Use your library card number to create a Kanopy account, which allows you to log in and stream 9 movies a month from their incredible online collection for free.  Watch the film on your own on Kanopy before we meet, and then join us at 6 p.m. on Wednesday May 4th to discuss it.