CAMP Film

The Annual Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival provides a good dose of quality independent films for a five day period in November every year, but it is certainly not enough to satisfy the twelve month appetite of a growing following of film enthusiasts. So how does the Rehoboth Beach Film Society attempt to satisfy cravings in between annual film festivals? Read on...

Eight months during the year, the Film Society sponsors monthly screenings on the fourth Thursday of the month, at 7:00 p.m., in the upstairs Video Screening room at the Movies at Midway. These screenings are free for Film Society members. The monthly meeting consists of a film screening followed by a discussion period. Don’t be surprised to see more than fifty people venture out on a cold winter night to see the Monthly Screening film!

During the winter months, our Monthly Screening schedule is as follows:

American Splendor (2003)
Thursday, February 26, 2004 at 7:00 p.m.
Video Screening Room, Upstairs—Movies at Midway

Harvey Pekar is a file clerk at the local VA hospital. His interactions with his co-workers offer some relief from the monotony, and their discussions encompass everything from music to the decline of American culture to new flavors of jellybeans and life itself. At home, Harvey fills his days with reading, writing and listening to jazz. His apartment is filled with thousands of books and LPs, and he regularly scours Cleveland’s thrift stores and garage sales for more, savoring the rare joy of a 25-cent find. It is at one of these junk sales that Harvey meets Delaware’s Robert Crumb, a greeting card artist and music enthusiast. When, years later, Crumb finds international success for his underground comics, the idea that comic books can be a valid art form for adults inspires Harvey to write his own brand of comic book. An admirer of naturalist writers like Theodore Dreiser, Harvey makes his American Splendor a truthful, unsentimental record of his working-class life, a warts-and-all self portrait. First published in 1976, the comic earns Harvey cult fame throughout the 1980s and eventually leads him to the sardonic Joyce Barber, a partner in a Delaware comic book store who ends up being Harvey’s true soul mate as they experience the bizarre byproducts of Harvey’s cult celebrity stature.

Magdeline Sisters (R)
Thursday, March 25, 2004 at 7:00 p.m.
Video Screening Room, Upstairs—Movies at Midway

Ireland in the sixties: Four women are given into the custody of the Magdalene sisterhood asylum to correct their more or less sinful behavior: Crispina and Rose have given birth to a pre-marriage child, Margaret got raped by her cousin and the orphan Bernadette had been repeatedly caught flirting with the boys.

All have to work in a laundry under the strict supervision of the nuns, who break their wills through sadistic punishments. Some of the inmates develop countermeasures, while others perish under the treatment.

In addition to the Monthly Screenings, the Film Society also co-sponsors the Independent Focus Series with the Movies at Midway. The Film Society recommends quality independent films for Movies at Midway to bring to this area as part of their regular line-up. The Film Society, with the wonderful assistance of the Cape Gazette, Coast Press, Delaware State News, radio station WSCL, and of course Letters from CAMP Rehoboth, publishes information about these films through print articles, radio announcements, and website listings to get the word out. So far in January, the Independent Focus Series has screened Pieces of April, The House of Sand and Fog, and The Station Agent. Stay tuned for upcoming Independent Focus Series films by visiting our website at www.rehobothfilm.com. The more people we can encourage to attend these films, the more the Movies at Midway Management will continue this partnership so please be sure to support the Independent Focus Series.

In preparation for each November festival, we conduct summer film reviews during the months of June, July, and August. On Monday and Tuesday evenings, you will find film critics in the upstairs Video Screening Room at the Movies at Midway. Who are the film critics? You, your friends, and anyone else who wants to attend. Participants are able to view a film that has been submitted to the Festival and critique it for potential as a Festival entry. Each session includes the screening of a short and a documentary or a short and a feature.

You say you need more. We also do special events throughout the year. We hope to do another event with CAMP Rehoboth and are planning some screenings at the newly restored Milton theater.