The Coolidge Corner Theatre

"Featuring exceptional people doing extraordinary things, BLINDSIGHT is one of those documentaries with the power to make you re-examine your entire life -- or at least get off the couch." Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times

Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Himalayas, BLINDSIGHT follows the gripping adventure of six Tibetan teenagers who set out to climb the 23,000-foot Lhakpa Ri on the north side of Mount Everest. The dangerous journey soon becomes a seemingly impossible challenge -- made all the more remarkable by the fact that the teenagers are blind.

Believed by many Tibetans to be possessed by demons, the children are shunned by their parents, scorned by their villages and rejected by society. Rescued by Sabriye Tenberken, a blind educator and adventurer who established the first and only school for the blind in Tibet, the students invite the famous blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer to visit their school after learning about his conquest of Everest. Erik arrives in Lhasa and inspires Sabriye and her students Kyila, Sonam Bhumtso, Tashi, Gyenshen, Dachung and Tenzin to let him lead them higher than they have ever been before. The resulting 3-week journey is beyond anything any of them could have predicted.

dir. Lucy Walker, documentary, 1h44m

"Absurdly entertaining while asking age-old questions about identity and homeland, as well as grimly modern questions about life under a religious dictatorship. These are filtered through sardonic feminism and the immediacy of good comic art. The drawing is simple without ever being crude, and Satrapi's line is thick and sure, at times womanly; at other moments, she jabs with the force of punk." - Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Based on Marjane Satrapi's best-selling graphic novel, PERSEPOLIS is a poignant coming-of-age story of a precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl that begins during the Islamic Revolution of the late '70s. Clever and fearless, young Marjane outsmarts the “social guardians” and discovers punk, ABBA and Iron Maiden. As she gets older, Marjane's boldness causes her parents to worry over her continued safety.

And so, at age fourteen, they make the difficult decision to send her to school in Austria. Vulnerable and alone in a strange land, she endures the typical ordeals of a teenager. In addition, Marjane has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism and extremism she fled her country to escape. After high school, weary of the bohemian atmosphere of Europe and terribly homesick, Marjane makes the difficult decision to return Iran to be close to her family.

After a difficult period of adjustment, she enters art school and marries, all the while continuing to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age 24, she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian, she cannot live in Iran. She then makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland for France, optimistic about her future, shaped indelibly by her past.

dir. Vincent Paronnaud, w/ the voices of Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, and Danielle Darrieux, 1h35m

"A heartening and poignant affirmation of the transformative power of music." - Claudia Puig, USA Today

Prepare to be entertained by the inspiring individuals of YOUNG@HEART, a New England senior citizens chorus that has delighted audiences worldwide with their covers of songs by everyone from The Clash to Coldplay. As Stephen Walker's documentary begins, the retirees, led by their strict musical director, are rehearsing their new show, struggling with a discordant Sonic Youth number and giving new meaning to James Brown's "I Feel Good." What ultimately emerges is a funny and unexpectedly moving testament to friendship, creative inspiration, and reaching beyond expectations.

dir. Stephen Walker, documentary, 1h46m

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"There lies a huge, beating heart that leads to a crescendo of joviality so flawlessly accomplished that your mental applause sign may light up before its all over."- Erik Childress, eFilmCritic.com

Off the Couch presentation Tues, May 13 @ 7:30 with Margaret Fogel, PhD

SON OF RAMBOW is a hilariously fresh and visually inventive take on friendship, family, film heroes and the death-defying adventures of growing up in the video age. The story takes place in 1980s Britain, where young Will Proudfoot is raised in isolation among The Brethren, a puritanical religious sect in which music and TV are strictly forbidden. When Will encounters his first movie, a pirated copy of RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD his imagination is blown wide open. Now, Will sets out to join forces with the seemingly diabolical school bully, Lee Carter, to make their own action epic, devising wildly creative, on-the-fly stunts, not to mention equally elaborate schemes for creating a movie of total commitment and non-stop thrills while hiding out from The Brethren. When school popularity finally descends on Will and Lee in the form of, oui, the super-cool French exchange student, their remarkable new friendship and precious film are pushed, quite literally, to the breaking point.

dir. Garth Jennings, w/ Will Poulter, Bill Milner, Jules Sitruk, Jessica Stevenson, Neil Dudgeon, Anna Wing, Ed Westwick, Eric Sykes, 1h36m