What is Deep Focus? Deep Focus is an online educational program including full film courses and monthly seminars. Join us online to discuss great movies and to increase your appreciation of film. DEEP FOCUS is designed for a general audience – from the casual film lover to the hardcore cineaste. There is something for everyone.
More infoWhile South Korean cinema has flourished across many eras, we are living through its modern renaissance. Created in collaboration with Princeton University Professor Steven Chung, this month-long virtual cinema studies course will explore this rich cinematic tradition through four different contemporary South Korean films, each by a different director: Mother, House of Hummingbird, Decision to Leave, and Burning. Weekly discussions will be enriched by supplementary reading and suggestions for further viewing.
Registration for the virtual film course includes admission to Mother at your preferred nonprofit theater. Learn more and register below!
An unnamed widow lives alone with her mentally disabled adult son, Do-joon, in a small town in South Korea, getting by on her medicinal herb business and unlicensed acupuncture treatments. When a local girl is killed, Do-joon is accused and arrested on murder charges, as he was known to be close to the scene of the crime. Mother will stop at nothing to prove her son’s innocence. This snaking thriller displays just how frighteningly powerful a mother’s love can be.
Watch at Home hoopla, Amazon Video, Apple TV
Reading Pak Wan-Suh, “Withered Flower” (short story)
Supplemental Viewing Barking Dogs Never Bite (free on Roku Channel, Tubi, and Kanopy, Rent on Amazon Video and Apple TV)
House of Hummingbird is the debut feature from writer director Kim Bora. Set in Seoul in 1994, the year the Seongsu Bridge collapsed, this coming of age character study follows the lonely 14 year old Eun-hee. In turns ignored and abused by her family, she traverses the city, seeking human connection, flitting along like a humming-bird searching for succor.
Watch at Home Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, Roku Channel, Apple TV, Google Play, Amazon Video
Reading Hyun Seon Park, “Through the Lens of Cine-Feminism” (academic article)
Supplemental Viewing Free on Criterion Channel, Rent on Amazon Video and Apple TV)
Detective Hae-joon is investigating the case of a man who plunged to his death off of the top of a mountain. He soon begins to suspect the man’s wife, Song Seo-rae, all while growing enamored with her. The layers of deception and longing multiply as the plot advances, and this police procedural morphs into a twisted, neo-noir romance with a Hitchockian tinge.
Watch at Home MUBI, Amazon Video, Apple TV
Reading Sara Ahmed, excerpt from Strange Encounters (academic book)
Supplemental Viewing The Yellow Sea (rent on Amazon Video or Apple TV)
Inspired by a Haruki Murakami short story, this haunting film is a tense study of modern class conflict and a slow burning thriller. When an aspiring writer is reacquainted with a childhood friend, he agrees to cat-sit for her; but when she returns from Africa with a wealthy and enigmatic man she met there, he begins to question the motives of her new acquaintance. Driven by an unsettling performance from Steven Yeun, this film is as disturbing as it is revelatory.
Watch at Home Netflix, Peacock, Mubi, Tubi, Roku Channel, Amazon Video, Apple TV
Reading Haruki Murakami, “Barn Burning” (short story)
Supplemental Viewing Episodes of the TV show Beef (stream on Netflix)
TCM writer Hannah Jack leads our Classic Hollywood monthly seminars, aiming to build on the success of the conversations she has already brought to our community. While all of the talks in this category will be about movies considered “classics”, they will range from those extremely widely known and well-received to hidden gems whose critical reputation has changed over time.
While our monthly Deep Focus seminars are free for anyone, we recommend a small donation from non-members to your local theater to support the series. You can donate to the County, Ambler, Garden, or Hiway.
Set in New Orleans during the Great Depression, CINCINNATI KID stars Steve McQueen as Eric “The Kid” Stoner, who is an up-and-comer on the local poker scene. When he gets wind that Lancey “The Man” Howard, a renowned poker player, is back in town, The Kid wants to prove himself as the new master of five-card-stud. Director Norman Jewison took over production four days into the shooting of this modern western, where men duel with cards rather than guns.
Watch at Home Apple TV, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play
Bart Tare, who has had a lifelong fixation with guns, returns to his hometown after a stint in reform school and another in the army. He soon meets sharpshooter Laurie, who shares his infatuation with firearms, and the two quickly fall for eachother. They end up resorting to bank robbing as a source of income, but while Bart would never use the weapon to kill anybody, Laurie doesn’t share his qualms. This heated film noir was co-written by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo.
Watch at Home Apple TV, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play
Set in 1851, this film centers on Roy Whitman, who wants to reverse the dwindling of his California ranch community. He decides to rectify the situation by organizing a caravan of more than one hundred mail-order brides to travel from Chicago to the west. Led by the skeptical but trail hardened Buck Wyatt, these women head out on a harrowing journey across the frontier. Based on a story by Frank Capra, this film inspired a village in Spain to organize a “caravan of women” to revitalize its population.
Watch at Home Apple TV, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play
Ambitious radio reporter Marcia Jeffries comes across the charismatic folk singer Larry 'Lonesome' Rhodes in the Pickett County Jail and gives him the exposure that will send him on the rise from TV star to political rabble-rouser. Andy Griffith stars as the manipulative and egotistical Rhodes in his on-screen debut. Directed by Elia Kazan, this film proves prescient when it comes to the dark side of the relationship between media and politics. In his review for Cahiers du Cinéma François Truffaut called it 'a great and beautiful work whose importance transcends the dimensions of a cinema review.'
Watch at Home Apple TV, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play
All About Deep FocusSeries offered under the Deep Focus umbrella will use different lenses to examine a variety of film genres while also creating opportunities for sustained conversations built around certain topics and themes. We generally offer different series, each consisting of events led by expert speakers, ranging from professors, to film critics, to members of the industry. While the format will vary slightly depending on the speaker, audience members will always be invited to ask questions and share their opinions. Events will be run in an online format, allowing us to partner with other local independent art house cinemas and to reach an even broader audience. Deep Focus is the successor to our Film 101 series. It has same great programming but is rebranded as we expand the scope of the series.
Deep Focus is a seminar only series. The films discussed are not included in the scheduled seminars. Be sure to watch the films ahead of time. You can catch some titles at screenings in person at our theaters – for that, you’ll have to check your local theater to see if and when it is showing the film. We’ll also provide guidance as to where you can stream the films online. See below in each film description under the heading "Where to Watch."
Registration. While our monthly Deep Focus seminars are free for anyone, we recommend a small donation from non-members to your local theater to support the series. You can donate to the County, Ambler, Garden, or Hiway. Our courses require a modest registration fee to help sustain the program and compensate our speakers. Enrollment in our cinema studies courses is discounted for members.
Archive of past seminars. Our monthly seminars are recorded and will be available on YouTube at a later date.
Renew Theaters operates four Pennsylvania/New Jersey movie theaters: the County Theater in Doylestown, PA, the Ambler Theater in Ambler, PA, the Hiway Theater in Jenkintown, PA, and the Princeton Garden Theatre in Princeton, NJ. Renew manages each theater according to each individual mission to: Exhibit art, independent and world films that offer the community an opportunity to experience a broad range of artistic and alternative expressions; Educate the community about the film and media arts through a diverse program of educational activities that seek to develop a lifelong involvement with the arts; Serve as a community and charitable resource for the arts, and to promote and effect access to the arts for all members of the community; and
Preserve the theaters as cultural resources.
Deep Focus is supported by a generous grant from the Vesta Fund. We offer free monthly online seminars as well as more formal cinema studies courses.