BELLOWS FALLS — Stone Church Center in Bellows Falls is expanding its music and retreat offerings to include a monthly film series.
Stone Church Films, a program of Stone Church Arts, will present films in high definition on a broad range of subjects, including art, classics, dance, music, the planet, society, spirituality, and theater. Films will be screened in the Chapel at Immanuel Episcopal Church, the stone church on the hill, 20 Church St.
Stone Church Film is also a film society with an annual subscription fee of $75. A Facebook discussion group for film society members will soon become available. The $75 annual fee includes two season tickets to all their films, September through May.
Films are scheduled two to four times a month. The schedule opens with two free (donations accepted) films.
• Oct. 26: Vision – From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen, the story of 12th-century Benedictine abbess Hildegard von Bingen - a Christian mystic, author, counselor, naturalist, scientist, philosopher, physician, herbalist, poet, visionary, composer, and polymath.
Directed by New German cinema legend Margarethe von Trotta and starring Barbara Sukowa, this film screening is in preparation for a weekend residential retreat on Hildegard Dec. 14-16.
• Nov. 2: A Celtic Pilgrimage with John O'Donohue, a beautifully-filmed documentary in which O'Donohue explains the importance of landscape in Celtic spirituality.
• Nov. 16: The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan, which follows, over the course of a year, the story of one of the refugees, an 8-year-old boy called Mir, who lives in a cave among the ruins.
It is also the story of the more than 25 years that Afghanistan has been at war. Over two million civilians have been killed during that time. And how, in March 2001, the ruling Taliban destroyed the tallest stone statues in the world, the 'Buddhas of Bamiyan,' Tickets are $10.
• Nov 30: Exhibition on Screen comes to SCF with Degas, A Passion for Perfection. Sometimes frustrated by his own failings, Degas was consumed by obsessive principles and failing eyesight, but his determination to capture everyday life was evident in every mark he made.
Never fully satisfied, Degas kept many of his drawings and sculptures private during his lifetime, but now, through close examination, they can be seen as some of the most beautifully detailed and expressive works in the modern era.
Using written accounts by friends and commentators, and the narration of letters written by Degas himself, this film reveals a more complex truth behind one of the most influential French artists of the late 19th century. Tickets are $10.
Other films coming up in the new year in the Exhibitions on Film series include The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch (Jan. 29) and Young Picasso (Feb. 22).
Seating is limited to 50 patrons. Films will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday evenings, with a possible second showing scheduled if sold out.