Two of the Island’s most popular summer film series get underway this July 4th week. The Hebrew Center’s Summer Institute Film Series starts its six-film schedule on Sunday, July 5, with the heartwarming French family drama “Belle and Sebastian.” The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival (TMVFF), long based at the Chilmark Community Center, has expanded its locales to include Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs, and West Tisbury. After opening their season on July 1 with “Most Likely to Succeed,” TMVFF will screen “Prophet’s Prey,” a compelling documentary about Warren Jeffs, leader of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints, on Wednesday, July 8, in Chilmark.
“Belle and Sebastian,” which played at the Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival last fall, has earned a well-deserved return engagement on-Island. The Summer Institute Film Series, which originally ran films selected from the Boston Jewish Film Festival, and now relies on a Hebrew Center selection committee, chooses films with themes of particular interest to a Jewish audience. They are screened at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center in Vineyard Haven.
In the case of “Belle and Sebastian,” the film takes place in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Sebastian is a 6-year-old boy who lives with his adopted grandfather, César, in the French Alps. After a highly dramatic rescue of an abandoned fawn — it is not appropriate viewing for young children — the movie focuses on the feral mountain dog Sebastien adopts and names Belle. The locals suspect Belle has been killing their sheep, but Sebastian is convinced otherwise. German soldiers, who are hunting for Resistance fighters helping Jews escape to Switzerland, prove far more of a threat. “Belle and Sebastian” is a film adults and older children alike will enjoy for its breathtaking cinematography and engaging narrative. Information on ticket purchase and about the entire Summer Institute Film Series is available at mvsummerinstitute.com.
TMVFF’s documentary “Prophet’s Prey” is part of its summer dinner-and-a-movie series, and will be followed by a discussion with the film’s director, Amy Berg, and its executive producer, Geralyn Dreyfous. The film’s subject, Warren Jeffs, served as president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a splinter group that broke off from the Mormon Church when it abandoned polygamy, until his pursuit by law enforcement agencies on child abuse charges. Warren Jeffs was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list before his arrest, and now is serving life plus 20 years in Texas for child sexual assault.
As President and Prophet of FLDS, Warren Jeffs held the exclusive right to perform marriage ceremonies for church members. The story of his increasingly obsessive and twisted manipulation of the membership, his molestation of children, and his marriages to increasingly younger girls, relate his shocking abuses of religious power. Many of Warren Jeff’s 90-plus wives are said to be living in Mexico without passports or the resources to depart.
Director Berg relies on extensive interviews with Jon Krakauer, author of “Under the Banner of Heaven,” a 2003 examination of the Mormon Church; and Sam Brower, author of “Prophet’s Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints” (2011). Mr. Brower was one of the children molested by Warren Jeffs. Ms. Berg’s film treats this lurid tale with the thoroughness and lack of sensationalism that it deserves.
For details and a complete listing of the 13 TMVFF films, see tmvff.org.