Watch any past seminars below. Each one is hosted on YouTube. If you would like to participate in a seminar, register for a future event. Click here for upcoming seminars.
Original Date 1/4/2022
Seminar Lead Zardosht Afshari, Temple University
From acclaimed Iranian filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami TASTE OF CHERRY is the story of a middle-aged Tehranian man who drives his truck in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he commits suicide.
Original Date 12/20/2021
Seminar Lead Stephen Chung, Princeton University
Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical spin on the American Dream. Propelled by the optimism of Steven Yeun’s Jacob, A Korean American family leaves its more secure but mundane life in California behind for the challenge of creating their own farm in the mid-west. Family tensions rise, with added complications after the arrival of Jacob’s mother-in-law, portrayed by Youn Yuh-jung in an academy-award winning performance.
Original Date 12/14/2021
Seminar Lead Hannah Jack, Turner Movie Classics
Hannah calls this Hepburn and Tracy romcom one of the best Christmas movies ever. Two extremely strong personalities clash over the computerization of a television network's research department.
Original Date 12/7/2021
Seminar Lead Zardosht Afshari, Temple University
After the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the restriction of women in public life, a pre-teen girl is forced to masquerade as a boy in order to find work to support her mother and grandmother.
Original Date 11/22/2021
Seminar Lead Henning Wrage, Gettysburg College
Set in the alps, this Austrian-German film evokes the Western revenge genre. A stranger rides into a village one day, introducing himself as a photographer. As the village gets snowed in, events take a darker turn.
Original Date 11/15/2021
Seminar Lead Mae Ngai, Columbia University
Director Lulu Wang’s semi-autobiographical portrait of a Chinese-American family navigating an emotional diagnosis. Awkwafina plays Billie, a young adult, whose grandmother, Nai Nai has just been given a terminal diagnosis which her family chooses to keep hidden from Nai Nai. Set mainly in Changchun China, the film sees Billie both embrace and push back against her heritage in this gentle and emotional film.
Original Date 11/9/2021
Seminar Lead Hannah Jack, Turner Movie Classics
THE THIRD MAN, one of the great movies of all time. Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend. Featuring a haunting zither score, amazing b&w cinematography, and some of the best performances of the postwar period. Voted the #1 British Film of the 20th Century by the British Film Institute.
Original Date 11/2/2021
Seminar Lead Zardosht Afshari, Temple University
Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship. Neshat's first feature explores gender issues in the Islamic world.
Original Date 10/25/2021
Seminar Lead Kinohi Nishikawa, Princeton University
These two titles are naturally paired together as the most recent by filmmaker Justin Chon. Gook focuses on two Korean-American brothers running their father’s store and their friendship with a young African-American girl. It just happens to take place on the first day of the 1992 LA uprising. Blue Bayou is about a Korean-American man who was adopted at a young age, grew up in the Louisiana Bayou, and now faces the threat of deportation and losing his family.
Original Date 10/20/2021
Seminar Lead Ian Fleishman, University of Pennsylvania
The team of the Belafonte, inspired by Jean Jacques Cousteau’s adventures, heads out on the high seas for hijinks and capers alike. Written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, Frances Ha, Squid and the Whale) with Bill Murray in mind for the titular character, The Life Aquatic, holds a unique spot in Anderson’s legacy. Considered a financial flop and garnering mixed reviews at the time of release, it has since become a cult classic. Also, who besides Wes Anderson would have a soundtrack of Portuguese David Bowie covers?
Original Date 10/13/2021
Seminar Lead Sam Adams, Slate
Slate critic Sam Adams explores Wes Anderson’s European epic The Grand Budapest Hotel, exploring the director’s love for Europe and setting the stage for his newest The French Dispatch. The film recounts the adventures of a legendary concierge, played by Ralph Fiennes, at a famous European hotel in the 1930’s. It involves the theft of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for a family fortune - all against the backdrop of a suddenly and dramatically changing Continent. It’s a vibrant and imaginative evocation of a bygone era. This is Anderson’s most elaborate, lavish-looking picture, though still made in his distinct style. With an extraordinary supporting cast including Tilda Swinton, Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Tom Wilkinson, and Owen Wilson, among others.
Original Date 10/12/2021
Seminar Lead Hannah Jack, Turner Movie Classics
Hannah’s October pick is a thriller that features a different vibe from the past films titles in the series. In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. Even if it's paid, how could they get away? Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, and Martin Balsam star.
Original Date 10/6/2021
Seminar Lead Julia Mahony, Renew Theaters
Led by the vocal talents of George Clooney and Meryl Streep, this adaptation of a Roald Dahl book is Anderson’s first foray into an animated feature. Mr. Fox is torn between his wild nature and the responsibility that comes with being a family man. After repeatedly stealing from neighboring farmers, he must keep his family and friends out of the dastardly clutches of Boggis, Bunce, and Bean.
Original Date 10/5/2021
Seminar Lead Zardosht Afshari, Temple University
Set in contemporary Iran, A SEPARATION is an internationally recognized, award-winning drama of great emotional power. It’s a carefully observed story about a middle-class Tehran couple’s legal and familial strife. Should the family leave for the West? Or stay for an ailing parent? Or divorce? It’s culturally specific, but universal in its themes. And deeply moving.
Original Date 9/29/2021
Seminar Lead Ian Fleishman, University of Pennsylvania
A quintessential Wes Anderson film, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS circles around Royal and Etheline Tenenbaum as well as their three adult children, previously labeled child prodigies, as they all return to their childhood home on the false pretense of their father’s cancer diagnosis.
Original Date 9/28/2021
Seminar Lead Jeffrey Gabel, Executive Director at the Majestic Theater, Gettysburg
Jimmy Stewart, Charlton Heston, and Betty Hutton star in this big top spectacle by Cecil B. DeMille. The dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer are told against a background of circus spectacle.
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. This fall, we will offer several thematic series, each consisting of four different 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.
A fan of our Film 101 series? Deep Focus is the same great program but rebranded as we expand the scope of the series.
Free for Members
All events are free to members of our theaters (Ambler, County, Princeton Garden, Hiway, and Majestic), who will also be given exclusive access to the archive of recorded events. For more information about membership - how to log in to your Deep Focus Membership account or how to register to be a member - please visit our Deep Focus member site.
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.