FOLCS’ Film Club is for the cinema lover. We select classic arthouse films for our audience to view. Then, we host a discussion with special guests on these films as works of art and timepieces of cultural history. Conversations on Essential Cinema was initially launched as a public service in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The series has become one of our most popular, and continues to keep at-home audiences entertained. Stay tuned as we make our way through the great film libraries with our special guests!
Casablanca (1942) is of the world’s most beloved films, and widely considered the best screenplay ever produced. The film has been immortalized not merely for its 1943 Best Picture Academy Award win, but for the way this World War II love story, improbably with Morocco as its backdrop, showcases so many memorable lines and startling images – blending both romance and suspense in one smokey cafe. Casablanca uses its characters, including the love triangle at the heart of the story, to expose the many complex political dilemmas of the early 1940s, with the Nazis imposing their will on the world. It also has come to define noir cinema with its sinister and menacing sense of impending danger.