Two films, “My Sailor, My Love” and “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink,” open at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center Dec. 1.
“My Sailor, My Love” is a story about Howard (James Cosmo) who is a widowed sailor living alone on the coast of Ireland and struggling to care for himself. His daughter, Grace (Catherine Walker), hires Annie (Bríd Brennan) to help out around the house. Though Howard initially rejects this imposition, Annie’s charm and gentle care win him over, and the two fall in love. Annie’s large and loving family welcomes Howard into their lives, but these new relationships only serve to illuminate the depth of pain and hurt between Howard and Grace, who is facing challenges of her own. Grace’s resentment tears at Howard and Annie’s otherwise idyllic seaside love story. This windswept drama deftly balances a universal family saga with a tender and timeless romance.
“My Sailor, My Love” is not rated and is showing through Dec. 7.
“Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink” is an examination of the state of investigative reporting, the changing landscape of newspaper ownership, and the writers standing up to protect local journalism.
Director Rick Goldsmith will join the audience for a Q&A following the 7:30 p.m. screening of the film on Dec. 1.
In 2011, a Wall Street hedge fund, Alden Global Capital, started buying up chains of newspapers nationwide. Alden found a way to profit from distressed industries, but the effects on the newspapers’ journalism were disastrous. In 2015, reporter Julie Reynolds began investigating this hedge fund that had bought her own small-town daily along with more than 100 other newspapers nationwide. She exposed how these self-described “vulture capitalists” would strip the newspapers of their real estate, gut their newsrooms and run away with the profits. Reynolds’ reporting reached the Denver Post’s Chuck Plunkett, whose subsequent editorial criticizing Alden would trigger the “Denver Rebellion.”
“Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink” interweaves three tales: One, a nuts-and-bolts portrayal of investigative reporting, as Reynolds peels back layers of Alden’s deception and heartless profiteering; two, the damage that newspaper ownership by hedge funds — with no experience nor interest in journalism — inflicts on hundreds of communities nationwide; and three, the David-and Goliath battle waged by a handful of journalists — in Colorado, California, Chicago and elsewhere — to prevent the destruction of their newspapers, to educate the public about what is at stake, and to create new vehicles to preserve, and improve, the vitality of local journalism.
“Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink” is not rated and is showing through Dec. 7.
Learn more about the films, including show times and ticket availability.
