AV CLUB at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club

AV CLUB is an ongoing program of curated 16mm short film screenings designed to provoke discussion, create awareness of unique library resources held by the Special Collections Division of the Miami-Dade Public Library System and generate enthusiasm for learning and research.

We will watch:

SAILING WITH WHALES, 1985; 25 MIN.

A three-masted schooner follows whales from the Arctic to the Caribbean. Scientists, tourists, students, and photographers observe as many as 5,000 humpback whales around a Caribbean reef. From the Wildlife on One series, narrated by David Attenborough.

CREATION, 1981; 9 MIN.

From noted Claymation animator Will Vinton.

James Weldon Johnson’s famous spiritual poem is read by James Earl Jones and illustrated with a unique form of clay animation. Johnson was a writer, lawyer, and civil rights activist who was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1871. He wrote the lyrics for “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which later became known as the Black National Anthem. The music was written by his brother J. Rosamond Johnson.

TREASURES FROM EL PRADO: BOSCH TREASURES, 1970; 12 MIN.

The Flemish painter Heironyus Bosch (1450-1515) remains one of the most puzzling and enigmatic artists of all time. In this film, we see two of his major triptychs, 'The Haywain' and 'The Garden of Earthly Delights', in detail, which only adds to the Bosch mystery. From an eight-part series that displays select paintings found in the El Prado museum in Madrid. The paintings were filmed in 35mm with unusual magnification and clarity, revealing the smallest brushstroke.

THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS, 1981; 3 MIN.

Directed by Stan Brakhage.

A collage made entirely of mountain zone vegetation. As the title suggests it is an homage to (but also an argument with) Hieronymus Bosch. Brakhage took pieces of plants he encountered in everyday life and arranged them between two pieces of film and optically printed the results.

COCONUT GROVE, 1974; 28 MIN.

Produced by the Junior League of Miami, this history of Coconut Grove uses still photographs, interspersed with live action shots of present-day Coconut Grove. Documenting the earliest settlers as the Pent and Frow families, and after the Homestead Act of 1862, the Beasley, Peacock, and Munroe families, its growth is seen with the development of Black communities and both civic and social structures such as the Housekeeper’s Club and the Library. Incorporated as a city in 1919 and annexed by Miami in 1925, the area remains as a unique residential and recreational community on the bay.

Food and drinks will be available for purchase at the bar.

Film screening will take place indoors.

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Host or Publisher Miami-Dade Public Library System