It is hard to breathe when asked to probe deeper. What if I don't understand? Unleash some monster? When all I need is the light already shining there, in the darkness.

The View from Palm Beach Part 3: Cafe Cinematheque

While I've shared several of my favorite places to visit in the Palm Beach area, there is a favorite event taking place several times weekly that I absolutely love: Shelly Isaac's Cafe Cinematheque.

I've always enjoyed foreign language films, but Isaac's weekly selections and presentations at two local movie houses: The Movies of Lake Worth and The Movies of Delray, have so enriched my understanding of the depth and vision of this genre that I've become a foreign language film groupie. Even my husband has become a convert to what he used to think of as "women's films."

One of South Florida's best-known foreign-language film experts, Shelly introduces us to the film by sharing it's history, the director's vision in producing it, and whatever else he believes will enrich our viewing experience (brief sketches of the actors, awards, music, and the like.) After viewing the film, he encourages the audience to share their reactions and ask questions. Most everyone (and the theater is usually packed) stays for these lively discussions. During the past four months he's shown films from South Korea, Italy, Mongolia, France, Bosnia, Spain, Burkina Fasso, and Denmark, films mostly unknown in the US but that have won many prestigious international awards.

Send an E-mail to Shelly (cinematheque1@aol.com) asking to be added to his mailing list and he'll send  weekly updates on the films being shown that week.Several years ago, he launched Cinematheque At Sea, a film appreciation series on cruise ships. This September the 5th such program will take place aboard a Princess Line cruise to Alaska.