Summer Screenings at Olympia Film Society

By NOAH SHACHAR

Summertime is coming around, and Olympia Film Society (OFS) welcomes warm weather with a new set of extraordinary films including Olivier Assayas’s philosophical romp Non-Fiction and Eric Becker’s documentary Return to Mount Kennedy. We spoke with programming director Rob Patrick about the screenings.

As for Assayas, Patrick said, “The French director’s acclaimed catalog is both unique and compelling.” Non-Fiction follows controversial writer Leonard Spiegel (played by Vincent Macaigne of The Innocents) within the Parisian publishing world as he writes his next book.

The problem: Spiegel uses his real-life affair with actress Selena (Juliette Binoche, The English Patient), who’s married to Spiegel’s editor, Alain Danielson (Guillaume Canet, Love Me If You Dare), as a basis for his novel.

“Olympia Film Society is always thrilled to create conversation,” Patrick continued, “around both established and emerging filmmakers, and so we’re excited to hear the community’s thoughts on Assayas’s latest offering.”

The film discusses the connections between art, economics and technology through a jovial, yet darkly comic, story. Patrick explained, “Pangs of isolation are always perforated by warm dialogue.”

As for Return to Mount Kennedy, Patrick said it “retraces the steps of Robert Kennedy and Jim Whitaker’s ascent to the summit of an untouched Yukon mountain in 1965.”

Featuring original compositions by Eddie Vedder, Mount Kennedy follows Christopher Kennedy and Bob Whitaker — son of REI leader Jim Whitaker — as they surmount the namesake peak in the present day. Their story blends environmentalism, family and politics for a wholesome adventure.

Mount Kennedy had a screening adventure of its own, making waves at festivals all over the country, and Patrick said OFS is excited to “bring this limited engagement to Olympia.”

The heat’s settling in. OFS is ready with silver-screen gems that’ll glow during the warm summer nights to come.

Above: Non-Fiction by Olivier Assayas.
Article feature photo: Return to Mount Kennedy by Eric Becker.

WHAT

Olympia Film Society

WHEN

Non-Fiction 4 p.m. Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday, July 6-11; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, July 7; 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 10;

Return to Mount Kennedy 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 6; 5 p.m. Sunday, July 7; 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 21

WHERE

Capitol Theater,

206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia

HOW MUCH

$6-$9

LEARN MORE

olympiafilmsociety.org

360-754-6670

1 thought on “Summer Screenings at Olympia Film Society”

  1. FYI, Jim Whitaker was a huge contributor to REI during his decades leading it, but he was not a founder. It was founded in the late 1930s (when Jim was still a kid) by a group of Seattle-area climbers who couldn’t find good European climbing gear locally, so they formed a cooperative to import ropes, boots, rock climbing hardware, etc. Lloyd Anderson was the principal sparkplug in the group, and he was Jim Whitaker’s predecessor, himself general manager for several decades.

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