2009 Lenten Series: The Films of Macky Alson
Thursdays in Lent at 7:00pm
At FPCG, the Lenten season has traditionally been marked by a provocative series intended to stretch participants understanding of the Christian faith in our lives and culture.
This year we will be screening the films of Macky Alston as the foundation of our discussion series.
We invite you to join us this Thursday, March 5th at 7:00pm for our first film.
Family Name (March 5): In this documentary Macky Alston delves into his own family history after discovering that the Alstons were one of the largest slave owning families in antebellum North Carolina. The film, shown as part of the PBS series P.O.V. (Point of View), chronicles the surprising twists and turns of his search for the descendants of the slaves and slave owners who lived on the plantations once owned by his family.
Click here to read more about the other films we will be screening and discussing throughout lent
Hard Road Home (March 12): This film documents the story of Julio Medina, a drug dealing gang leader when he entered prison. Twelve years later, he left prison a changed man and became the founder of the Exodus Transitional Community (a program in Harlem dedicated to breaking the cycle of incarceration).
Questioning Faith (March 19): From the Oklahoma City bombing to the rash of schoolyard massacres, life's seemingly random devastations are delivered to the doorstep with each morning's headlines. And at home, what we hope will never happen to those we love happens. How can anyone believe in God, any god, after experiencing life at its most devastating? And what is it about human nature that leads one person to find religion in the midst of such chaos and another to lose it? In Questioning Faith, Macky Alston turns his camera on religion at the dawn of the new millennium. He pursues everyone from Buddhists to born again Christians, atheists to Orthodox Jews, to discover how people find meaning in life when absolutely nothing seems to make sense.
The Killer Within (March 26): In this film, Alston introduces Dr. Bob Bechtel, a devoted husband and father, a respected psychology professor and an active member of his community. But he has a terrible secret. Fifty years before the tragic events at Columbine High School, Bechtel shot and killed a fellow student at Swarthmore College and plotted single handedly to kill all the students in his dormitory. THE KILLER WITHIN explores this powerful story and its relevance to violence in our schools today. Was Bechtel a cold, calculating killer, or was he pushed beyond his limits by the taunting and bullying he claimed to have endured as a young man? From the Bechtel family to the victim's family and Swarthmore alumni, the documentary explores this tragic incident and its ongoing consequences from all perspectives.
Macky Alston attended Union Seminary in New York and is the son of a Presbyterian minister. His award winning documentaries have been seen on PBS and are poignant explorations of the complex connections between faith and life circumstances. You can find fuller descriptions of the documentaries on the website: www.mackyalston.com