The Malibu Film Society and Preserve Malibu on Saturday will screen “The Milagro Beanfield War,” a film about preserving a community’s way of life.
By McKenzie Jackson / Special to The Malibu Times
This Saturday, film lovers will be able to watch a movie that correlates with an issue that is on the minds of many Malibu residents.
The Malibu Film Society is screening “The Milagro Beanfield War” at the Malibu Screening Room in the Malibu Jewish Center complex at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The award-winning 1988 film is about one man’s fight to defend his small beanfield and community from large business and state political interests. MFS is screening the movie in conjunction with Preserve Malibu, an organization of Malibu residents that hopes to preserve the city’s natural resources and business.
Scott Tallal, MFS’s Executive Director, said MFS tries to involve other community organizations with its film screenings, especially when the organization’s mission links into the theme of the film.
“Milagro Beanfield War is about a small community fighting to preserve its way of life, which at its core is what Preserve Malibu is all about,” Tallal wrote in an email. “We very much support their efforts to help save local businesses.”
Actress Julie Carmen Hoffman, who played the character “Nancy Mondragon” in the movie, will be at the screening to answer questions about the 117-minute drama. Hoffman, a Malibu resident since 1994, will be joined at the question-and-answer session by actor Chick Vennera, who played Hoffman’s character’s husband.
Hoffman said in an email that the theme of “Milagro Beanfield War” involves a community of people standing up against the destruction of their rural way of life and opposing over-development. She wrote that Preserve Malibu is made up of Malibu citizens who are deeply concerned with the major development projects in the pipeline for construction in Malibu.
The screening of the film is MFS’s 15th movie screening this year. The three-year-old organization has screened iconic and noteworthy films such as “Breaking Away,” “Like Crazy,” “North by Northwest,” “The First Grader,” “The Way” and “Why Be Good” this year.
“Milagro Beanfield War” is the movie adaption of the John Nicholas novel of the same name. The film won an Oscar in the “Best Music” category. The movie was directed by former Malibu resident Robert Redford. The cast also included Sonia Braga, Melanie Griffith, Daniel Stern and Christopher Walken. Tallal said Stern could possibly make an appearance at the screening.
Hoffman, who is a marriage and family therapist, said her character Nancy Mondragon “stands up for what she believes is right.
“Robert Redford’s direction about Nancy is that he said she drinks beer instead of milk. That simple statement gave me a lot of information to build on,” she said.
Hoffman said she is not sure what type of questions to expect from viewers.
“It’s hard to predict what the audience will be curious about, past anecdotes or current events,” she said. “There are a lot of funny stories from the 16 weeks of shooting the film.”
Hoffman, who has been working in therapy since the early 1980s, has also had roles in movies, television movies and television shows such as John Cassavetes’ “Gloria,” Michael Mann’s “Drug Wars Part Two,” Gore Vidal’s “Billy the Kid,” and she played Angelina Jolie’s mom in the Hallmark miniseries “True Women.” Vennera, the owner of a theater and acting school in Hollywood, has had roles in films and shows such as “JAG,” “LA Heat,” “Kidnapped” and “Hail to the Chief.”
Tallal said this will be MFS’s final film screening of the season. The next season starts in September.
“One of the main reasons we created the film society was to help foster a greater sense of community, by providing a venue where local film lovers could gather to watch critically acclaimed/overlooked movies, restored classics and other noteworthy movies which would not otherwise be seen on the big screen in Malibu,” he said.
Tickets to the MFS screening and Q&A are $10 at door, and $5 if reservations are made before Saturday. For more information, visit malibufilmsociety.org.