Description
Exclusive Advance Screening for Cinema Falls at the Century 14 Theaters courtesy of Focus Features
Won’t You Be My Neighbor – d. Morgan Neville
Date: June 26th, 2018
Time: Check-In Time: 6:30pm – Film Start Time: 7:00pm
TRT: 94 minutes
Rating: PG-13 (for some thematic elements and language)
Genre: Documentary
Film Summary: For over thirty years, Fred Rogers, an unassuming minister, puppeteer, writer and producer was beamed daily into homes across America. In his beloved television program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Fred and his cast of puppets and friends spoke directly to young children about some of life’s weightiest issues, in a simple, direct fashion. There hadn’t been anything like Mr. Rogers on television before and there hasn’t been since.
Though he may be best known today as a soft-spoken, cardigan-wearing children’s television host, in reality, Fred Rogers’ career represents a sustained attempt to present a coherent, beneficent view about how we should best speak to children about important matters and how television could be used as a positive force in our society.
What the critics are saying:
You don’t need a strong nostalgic connection to Rogers’ show to feel genuinely moved by the man’s essential goodness, all the more as Neville contrasts it with today’s public discourse.
— Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The life and philosophy of Fred Rogers, children’s TV pioneer and fundamentally decent human being, is captured in this charming, thoughtful documentary.
— Sean P. Means, Salt Lake Tribune
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? offers us some hope; Rogers’s approach, the film seems to say, can be unexpectedly powerful.
— Sarah Larson, New Yorker