Films

A sense of communal identity is often a casualty during hard economic times, and that makes it increasingly difficult for communities everywhere to revitalize. The restoration of this shared identity is the solution, and the healing power of collective art is the best pathway to a renewed sense of place.

The documentary, Firebird: Built to Burn, produced and directed by Colleen Brady and Charlie Hudson, follows a group of volunteers in resurgent Phoenixville, PA, as they orchestrate their town’s most treasured collective art event: the building and burning of a giant wooden phoenix. Starting in 2024, this now two-decades old tradition, Firebird Festival, annually spreads a message of rebuilding community through artmaking.

The film has received widespread recognition in 2024, including Best Director and Cinematography at the Northeast Pennsylvania Film Festival, Director’s Circle at the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival, and winner for Best Director at the Atlanta Docufest, in addition to a nomination for Best Editing at the DocUtah International Film Festival.

American Graffiti is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas and produced by Francis Ford Coppola.

Set in Modesto, California, in 1962, the film is a study of the cruising and early rock ‘n’ roll cultures popular among Lucas’s age group at that time. Through a series of vignettes, it tells the story of a group of teenagers and their adventures throughout a single night.

While Lucas was working on his first film, THX 1138, Coppola asked him to write a coming-of-age film. The genesis of American Graffiti took place in Modesto in the early 1960s, during Lucas’s teenage years. He was unsuccessful in pitching the concept to financiers and distributors but found favor at Universal Pictures after every other major film studio turned him down. Filming began in San Rafael, California, but the production crew was denied permission to shoot beyond a second day. As a result, production was moved to Petaluma, California.

The film is the first movie to be produced by his Lucasfilm production banner.

Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 American dance drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man who spends his weekends dancing and drinking at a local discothèque while dealing with social tensions and disillusionment in his working class ethnic neighborhood in Brooklyn. The story is based on “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night”, a mostly fictional 1976 article by music writer Nik Cohn.

A major critical and commercial success, Saturday Night Fever had a tremendous impact on the popular culture of the late 1970s. It helped popularize disco around the world and initiated a series of collaborations between film studios and record labels. The film showcases aspects of the music, dancing, and subculture surrounding the disco era, including symphony-orchestrated melodies, haute couture styles of clothing, pre-AIDS sexual promiscuity, and graceful choreography.

The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, featuring songs by the Bee Gees, is one of the best-selling soundtrack albums worldwide.