WHBPAC Announces 2022 Fall Film Program Slate

The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center‘s popular fall film program returns on Friday, September 30 and will continue with weekend screenings of excellent movies through the end of October.

This year’s 2022 slate of films includes a cutting-edge documentary starring Alan Cumming (My Old School), a workplace satire with a charismatic performance from Javier Bardem (The Good Boss), and a seminal film with never-before-seen footage of legendary jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong (Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues).

WHBPAC Fall Film Series

My Old School

Friday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 1 at 4 p.m.
Saturday, October 1 at 7:30 p.m.

In 1993, 16-year-old Brandon Lee enrolled at Bearsden Academy, a secondary school in a well-to-do suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. What followed over the next two years would become the stuff of legend. Brandon had been privately tutored in Canada while he accompanied his mother, an opera diva, on tour before her tragic death.

The preternaturally bright student surprised teachers by blazing toward his goal of entering medical school, displaying a wealth of knowledge beyond his years. Brandon found friends despite his initial awkwardness, taking bullied students under his wing, introducing classmates to seminal retro bands, and even starring in the school’s production of South Pacific. But then his unbelievable secret was revealed.

Filmmaker Jono McLeod returns to his old school for a nostalgic look at the strange but true story of his former classmate, Brandon Lee. Utilizing playful, period-specific animation, a pitch-perfect soundtrack, the memories of students and teachers, and the talents of Alan Cumming to bring the tale to life, My Old School offers more than one surprise along the way.

English | 1 hour 44 minutes | NR

“It’s a fascinating story that starts as an affable, strange-but-true tall tale but ends in a decidedly minor key.” – Observer (UK)

“Animated segments cleverly and visually ape MTV’s contemporaneous Daria, and add another lively dimension to this pleasingly calibrated ruse.” – Irish Times

“Ordinarily, a documentary whose subject refused to appear on camera would be at a serious disadvantage. In the case of My Old School, that refusal is the making of it.” – Daily Telegraph (UK)

The Good Boss

Friday, October 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 15 at 4 p.m.
Saturday, October 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Básculas Blanco, a Spanish company producing industrial scales in a provincial Spanish town, awaits the imminent visit from a committee which holds its fate in their hands as to whether they merit a local Business Excellence award. Everything has to be perfect when the time comes. Working against the clock, the company’s proprietor, Blanco (Javier Bardem) pulls out all the stops to address and resolve issues with his employees, crossing every imaginable line in the process.

Spanish | 2 hours | NR

“Wickedly warped.” – Chicago Sun-Times

“Bardem’s mischievous turn anchors the slickly executed action…” – Los Angeles Times

“In the end, Fernando León de Aranoa’s film suggests that there may not be a lot of daylight between a good boss and a true villain.” – Slant Magazine

Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues

Friday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 29 at 4 p.m.
Saturday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m.

Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues offers an intimate and revealing look at the world-changing musician, presented through a lens of archival footage and never-before-heard home recordings and personal conversations. This definitive documentary, directed by Sacha Jenkins, honors Armstrong’s legacy as a founding father of jazz, one of the first internationally known and beloved stars, and a cultural ambassador of the United States. The film shows how Armstrong’s own life spans the shift from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement, and how he became a lightning rod figure in that turbulent era.

English | 1 hour 44 minutes | R

“A doc that will make you appreciate Armstrong, the man. Someone far too complex to reduce to any one thing.” – IndieWire

“With this tuneful, tender documentary, director Sacha Jenkins convincingly makes the case that there was no more significant music figure in the entire 20th century than Louis Armstrong.” – Movies for the Rest of Us

For more info, visit whbpac.org