Real to Reel
By examining the dramatization of history by the film industry, the Lorenzo Cultural Center's Real to Reel program seeks to set the record straight by comparing Hollywood’s sensationalized version with the historically accepted interpretations of events. Join us for our 2023-2024 Real to Reel programming featuring the above films with a discussion by Macomb Community College's faculty.
While Real to Reel events are complimentary, preregistration is required.
Night Crossing
Monday, September 18, 2023 | 12–2pm
In the fall of 1979, one of history's most ingenious and courageous flights to freedom took place when two families fled from Communist East Germany to the West in their own handcrafted hot air balloon.
Professor Gary Flemming will give a short cultural and historical context to the film and at the end there will be time for Q&A.
Runtime 1 hour 47 minutes
Rojo Amanecer (Red Dawn)
Tuesday | October 24, 2023 | 4–6pm
In Spanish with English subtitles Rojo Amanecer is the winner of the 1990 Special Prize of the Jury at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and 11 Ariel Awards including best movie, best director, best leading actress and best leading actor. The film depicts one of the most tragic events of recent Mexican history: The Tlatelolco Massacre of October 2, 1968. What started as a small student revolt days before the Olympic games, turned into a major political turmoil in which the army brutally put down the protesters by killing hundreds of people. A typical middle-class Mexican family is tragically involved in these events when university students and faculty are killed in the square in front of their apartment building. Despite being made with a very small budget, Rojo Amanecer features some of the best acting of Mexican Cinema: Héctor Bonilla, María Rojo, the Bichir Brothers, Eduardo Palomo among others.
Before the screening, Dr. María Ramos will give a short cultural and historical context to the film and at the end there will be time for Q&A.
Runtime 1 hour 39 minutes
Thirteen Days
Tuesday | November 21, 2023 | 1–3:30pm
Thirteen Days dramatizes the events surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis. Thirteen Days is based on the 1997 book, The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow. In October of 1962, for thirteen extraordinary days, the world stood on the brink of an unthinkable catastrophe. Across the globe, people anxiously awaited the outcome of a harrowing political, diplomatic and military confrontation that threatened to end in an apocalyptic nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. Unique to this presentation is a Historical Information Track where subtitles will feature additional information on the crisis.
Before the screening, Professor Elton Weintz will give a short cultural and historical context to the film and at the end there will be time for Q&A.
Runtime 2 hours 25 minutes
