Sunday, May 31, 6:00 p.m. | Best known for THE BLACK STALLION, director Carroll Ballard displays a wildly undervalued talent for making serious family pictures that achieve a DAYS OF HEAVEN level of grace. FLY AWAY HOME is based on the real-life story of sculptor Bill Lishman, who taught orphaned geese to learn migration patterns by training them to follow him in an ultralight aircraft. The fictionalized adaptation of Lishman’s autobiography stars Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels as a reunited daughter and father whose relationship is repaired by guiding a flock of geese from Ontario to North Carolina. Sixty geese were raised and trained on the set of this deeply moving and often breathtaking portrait of humans attempting to do right by nature. FLY AWAY HOME amazed kids and adults alike, including the Chicago Reader's Jonathan Rosenbaum, who wrote: "At a time when so few American movies believe in anything, it’s cheering and satisfying to see one that believes in geese." (Chicago Film Society)
Preceded by: BIRDS OF CHICAGO (1939, 10 min, USA, 16mm). 16mm and 35mm prints from the Chicago Film Society collection
WHAT IS CFS?
Founded by projectionists in 2011, the Chicago Film Society promotes the exhibition and preservation of film in context. CFS screenings provide access to the restoration efforts of archives, studios, and private collectors, the work of artists exploring the film medium today, and the experience of seeing film projected live in a theater, with an audience. As physical artifacts, the film prints we show hold the stories told by films—but also the stories of the industries that produced them, the labs that printed them, the places where they were exhibited, and the people who watched them. Through screenings, writing, film preservation projects, and workshops, CFS works to make all of this context visible and accessible to the public. Learn more about Chicago Film Society at chicagofilmsociety.org.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu