Scroll down to see our list of Movie Matinees

Of Bohemians and Bovines: Florence Griswold Museum and “The Art of the New England Farm”

Thursday, July 19 @ 6:30 pm 

David D.J. Rau, Director of Education & Outreach at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, CT will give a presentation highlighting the current exhibition on display at the museum. Drawing on the agricultural heritage of Florence Griswold’s family estate and of the Lyme region and beyond, the exhibition examines the history and character of New England’s farms in works by artists from the 19th to the 21st century. Paintings, drawings, and photographs from public and private collections trace the challenges of farming in New England, with its rocky soil, and the pastoral landscapes crafted through intense labor. Landscapes by George Henry Durrie receive special attention as influential representations that translated the New England farmstead into an American icon in the mid-nineteenth century. Works by Ivan Olinsky, Thomas Nason, Martin Lewis, and Walker Evans map the transformation and decline of the New England farm into the 20th century with the pressures of urbanization and suburbanization. The more recent revival of farming, with the enthusiasm for organic produce and farm-to-table cooking, round out the exhibition.

Mr. Rau’s presentation will also give a panoramic view of the Florence Griswold Museum, its mission and the broad array of educational programming. David Rau has been the Director of Education & Outreach at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme since 1998. Most recently, Rau played a key role in the reinterpretation of the Griswold House as a boardinghouse for the Lyme Art Colony as well as the Museum’s new triad of on-line learning resources. Since his arrival at the Florence Griswold Museum, Rau has initiated a broad array of new educational programming at the Museum, including the Wee Faerie Village, Scarecrows at the Museum, Of Feathers and Fairy Tales:Enchanted Birdhouses, and is currently working on Lettersburg  Junction: Faerie Homesteads from A-Z and 1,2, 3, another creative outdoor event for the fall of 2018. Rau holds a Master’s degree in the History of Art and a Certificate in Museum Practice from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Rau has held positions at Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan; and The Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire. He also currently teaches in the Museum Studies program at Connecticut College.

Simon Winchester Book Talk and Signing- The
Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World. 

Thursday, August 2nd @ 6 pm 

Mr. Winchester traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement – precision – in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.

Machines have forever altered the way we operate and interact in society. The application of these precise tools have allowed us to innovate and mass produce throughout history. Mr. Winchester explores fundamental questions. Why is precision important? What are the different tools we use to measure it? Who has invented and perfected it? Has the pursuit of the ultra-precise in so many facets of human life blinded us to other things of equal value, such as an appreciation for the age-old traditions of craftsmanship, art, and high culture? Are we missing something that reflects the world as it is, rather than the world as we think we would wish it to be? And can the precise and the natural co-exist in society? Join us as Simon journeys through time and introduces the minds, methods and landmark
inventions that have changed the modern world. In The Perfectionists, Winchester argues that precision is the component most crucial to the advancement of history.

Simon Winchester is the acclaimed author of many books, including The Professor and The Madman, The Men Who United the States, The Map That Changed the World, The Man Who Loved China, A Crack in the Edge of the World, and Krakatoa, all of which were New York Times bestsellers and appeared on numerous best and notable lists. In 2006, Winchester was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen. He resides in western Massachusetts. Visit simonwinchester.com

Books will be available for sale and signing at the event, courtesy of Hickory Stick Bookstore.

Lake Waramaug Task Force: How we Got the Lake from Green to Clean 

Thursday, August 9 @ 6:30 pm 

Lake Waramaug is known near and far as a jewel in this area. Sean Hayden, Lake Waramaug Task Force Executive Director, will deliver a visual presentation entitled How we Got the Lake from Green to Clean.
Mr. Hayden will highlight all the Task Force has done, is doing and planning to do to protect and improve the water quality of the lake. Much of what the Task Force does happens with little fanfare and is often out of sight of many who enjoy the lake. Participants will gain a better understanding of lake science, but also an understanding of what is needed to keep the lake clean and beautiful. The main topics of discussions will include: The In-Lake Layer Aeration System, Water Quality Sampling, the Zooplankton Farm on Arrow Point, Trout Stocking and its effect on the health of the lake, Construction Inspections, Site Plan Reviews, Agricultural Land Management Assistance, Environmental Education and Outreach, the Aquatic Invasive Weed Eradication Program and so much more. Be sure to bring your questions as veteran Lake Waramaug Task Force Board Members who have worked on lake water quality issues for decades will also be in attendance. For more information visit lakewaramaug.org

Sean Hayden, a Connecticut Certified Soil Scientist, received a BS degree in Renewable Natural Resource Management and Engineering from the University of Connecticut. Previous to the Lake
Waramaug Task Force he served as the Executive Director of the Northwest Conservation District where he assisted the 34 towns of Northwest CT with their environmental management goals for over 18 years. He is a well-known environmental professional throughout the region, focused on sharing what he has learned to cultivate effective environmental conservation practices.

The Art of the College Essay

Thursday, August 23 @ 6:30 pm 

Attention parents and soon-to-be seniors! Need help tackling college essays? Come to the Gunn Library for some savvy tips from one of Manhattan’s most respected tutors! On Thursday, August 23, 2016 at 6:30 pm, we welcome back Lisa Cornelio, a 25-year veteran tutor and college adviser as she leads a meaty discussion on the best way to craft a winning college essay.

In this sixty minute presentation, Cornelio will share her signature approach –Snap Crackle and Pop: Writing Essays that Sizzle including:

• Brainstorm for the bull’s eye: Shake loose your best ideas
• Jump off the desk: Write the lede of your life
• Beyond your achievements: What really matters to you

She’ll also look at essays that worked and answer your questions if time allows. Don’t miss this opportunity to get fired up and writing before school begins in September!

A native of Torrington, CT and a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Princeton University, Lisa Cornelio helps teens and young adults access their inner resources so they can better achieve their academic, athletic and personal goals. A two-time Ironman and cancer survivor, Lisa speaks at schools and colleges across the country about how to develop grit and resilience. She also ghost/co-writes and edits non-fiction books, including several on careers, parenting and learning differences. For many years, she was a performing songwriter .Learn more about her at www.lisacornelio.com

Please register for this event.

Foreign Film Festival

Monday, July 16 @ 1 pm – A Fantastic Woman

Winner of Best Foreign Language Film

Marina is a young woman who leads a double life as a waitress and a nightclub singer. She’s dating Oscar, a man 30 years her senior. Marina’s life is thrown into turmoil when Oscar falls ill and dies. It’s revealed that Marina is also a transgender woman, and both her identity and her relationship with Oscar are treated as both perverse and suspicious. Marina comes into her own as she struggles with being shunned by Oscar’s family.

(Chile) R / 1hr 40min

Monday, July 23 @ 1 pm – The Wedding Plan

Michal is an Orthodox Jew who has been planning her wedding for basically her whole life. As the big day approaches, her fiance bows out and is no longer going to be the groom. Michal refuses to cancel the wedding, instead relying upon her faith to supply her with a husband. The wedding is only one month away, and there is no groom. She tries her hardest to find a husband who will meet the family’s expectations and satisfy her needs for a healthy personal and social life, all while trying to maintain her beliefs and uphold her religious standards.

(Israel) PG / 1hr 50min

Monday, July 30 @ 1 pm – Amelie

A Frenchromantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, it is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set inMontmartre. It tells the story of a shy waitress, played by Audrey Tautou, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation.

(France) R / 2hr 1min

Monday Matinees

Chappaquiddick

Monday, August 6th @ 1 pm 

-In the riveting suspense drama, CHAPPAQUIDDICK, the scandal and mysterious events surrounding the tragic drowning of a young woman, as Ted Kennedy drove his car off the infamous bridge, are revealed in the new movie starring Jason Clarke as Ted Kennedy and Kate Mara as Mary Jo Kopechne. Not only did this event take the life of an aspiring political strategist and Kennedy insider, but it ultimately changed the course of presidential history forever. Through true accounts, documented in the inquest from the investigation in 1969, director John Curran and writers Andrew Logan and Taylor Allen, intimately expose the broad reach of political power, the influence of America’s most celebrated family; and the vulnerability of Ted Kennedy, the youngest son, in the shadow of his family legacy.

PG -13 / 1hr 46min

The Leisure Seeker

Monday, August 13th @ 1 pm 

The film stars Academy Award-winner (R) Helen Mirren and two-time Golden Globe-winner (R) Donald Sutherland as a runaway couple going on an unforgettable journey in the faithful old RV they call The Leisure Seeker, travelling from Boston to The Ernest Hemingway Home in Key West. They recapture their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end.

R / 1h 52min

Final Portrait

Monday, August 20th @ 1 pm 

–FINAL PORTRAIT is the story of the touching and offbeat friendship between American writer and art-lover James Lord and Alberto Giacometti, as seen through Lord’s eyes and revealing unique insight into the beauty, frustration, profundity and sometimes the chaos of the artistic process. Set in 1964, while on a short trip to Paris, Lord is asked by his friend, Giacometti, to sit for a portrait. The process, promises Giacometti, will take only a few days and so Lord agrees -ultimately wondering “how much longer can it go on like this?”

R / 1hr 30min

Tully

Monday, August 27th @ 1 pm 

–A comedy from Academy Award (R)-nominated director Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”) and Academy Award (R)-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (“Juno”). Marlo (Academy Award (R) winner Charlize Theron), a mother of three including a newborn, is gifted a night nanny by her brother (Mark Duplass). Hesitant to the extravagance at first, Marlo comes to form a unique bond with the thoughtful, surprising, and sometimes challenging young nanny named Tully (Mackenzie Davis).

R / 1hr 35min

All programs are free and open to the public, but registration is requested.
Please call 860-868-7586 for further information or visit www.gunnlibrary.org
The Gunn Memorial Library is located at
5 Wykeham Road at Route 47 on the Green, in Washington, CT.