Monthly Highlights

Movie group: November 2023–March 2024

Contact: Mary Stewart Burgher (emessbe@yahoo.com)

So many good movies are coming our way that this article lists choices for November–March. They range from the serious to the sweet-hearted and back. Join us for one or all – it will be fun.  We list opening dates here only, so you have an idea of when a film becomes available. Then, interested people jointly choose the date, cinema and time for a showing, though we usually see movies on a weekend. If you want to join us, contact Mary Stewart, so you can help choose a show. Tickets are cheaper if we book morning or afternoon shows and/or go to local (and more hyggelige) cinemas like the Park Bio, Gentofte Kino and Valby Kino. We list the final dates and times chosen for each film on the AWC Denmark Coffeeshop.

November: The Marvels

When: Opens 8/11

With Dune: Part 2 having been pushed into next year, how about another sci-fi movie for November? And one with three women in the leads. Let’s see The Marvels.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence (in Captain Marvel). But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan, Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team-up as The Marvels and learn to work in concert to save the universe.

This movie also features the return of a very dangerous “cat”. Find out more about the movie at kino.dk or Rotten Tomatoes.

December: The Old Oak

When: Opens 7/12

We usually don’t schedule the movie group in December, because everyone is so busy with the holidays. But – if you’re game for it – we could see The Old Oak, a Ken Loach film about the fate of a pub in a village devastated by mine closure that suddenly becomes host to Syrian refugees.

The Movie Group saw the trailer during our recent visit to Valby Kino to see The Miracle Club, and it looks great – as well as addressing a very timely topic.

January 2024: The Color Purple or The Holdovers

When: Open 4/1(The Holdovers) and 18/1 (The Color Purple)

This is a new film, in fact a musical, based on Alice Walker’s famous novel. It has a fine cast and looks like an impressive and inspiring look at the great novel. Find out more about it, including the trailer,  at The Color Purple and on Rotten Tomatoes.

Another possibility for January is The Holdovers, in which a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them – a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) – and with the school's head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da'Vine Joy Randolph). The critics call the movie “Beautifully bittersweet” and “satisfying”. 

March 2024: Dune, Part 2 and Past Lives

Dune, Part 2
When: Opens 13/3

When it finally comes to town, this will be a must-see. The movie group loved the first film, and the premiere of the next has been pushed back four months! But we’ll be patient.

Dune, Part 2 has much the same fine cast (excluding all the characters killed in Part One but including Timothee Chalamet in the lead) plus additions such as Christopher Walken and Florence Pugh.

Dune: Part Two will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the other Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his father. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee. Find out more about the movie on Rotten Tomatoes.

Past Lives
When: Opens 21/3

Critics and audiences are raving about this movie, which tells the story of Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, who are separated after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance. The critics consensus on the movie is that: “A remarkable debut for writer-director Celine Song, Past Lives uses the bonds between its sensitively sketched central characters to support trenchantobservations on the human condition”.

Find out more about it, including the trailer, on Kino.dk and Rotten Tomatoes.

Danish on a Sunday at Cinemateket

Also, you can see classic Danish films with English subtitles on two Sundays per month at 14:15 at Cinemateket (the Danish Film Institute). Tickets can be booked and purchased online. Booked tickets must be picked up no later than 45 minutes before the screening. The movies for November and December are:

• Empire, 5/11
• Apolonia, Apolonia, 19/11
• A War, 3/12
• Tove’s Room, 10/12.

Danish also means Danish pastry! Before each screening, Cinemateket has a special offer on a coffee with Danish pastry (or a piece of cake) at Restaurant SULT at an extra cost of only DKK 40.

Monthly heart-pillow stuffing party

When: the third Tuesday of every month – 21/11, 12/12, 16/1, 20/2, 19/3 at 14:00–16:00
Where: Det Gamle Posthus, Gilleleje Stationsvej 6, Gilleleje (less than 2 minutes’ walk from Gilleleje Station)
Contact: Nancy Friis-Jensen (nfriisjensen@gmail.com)

The Heart Pillow Project is looking for volunteers to stuff pillows with cotton wool and sew them up in Gilleleje. We meet once a month, and offer coffee and cake to speed the work. AWC President Mary Stewart Burgher had lots of fun at the stuffing party in February. Seven people – four stuffers and three finishers – completed over 40 pillows in only two hours. The parties take place on the third Tuesday of each month. If Gilleleje is too far to go, or you’re busy on Tuesdays, consider donating good-quality cloth to make pillow cases or sewing the pillow cases at home.

The Heart Pillow Project was started in 2006 to help ease the pain of breast-cancer patients. The project is financially supported by the Danish Breast Cancer Organization, and hospitals give the pillows to patients free of charge. The pillows are made by 15 volunteer groups (including AWC Denmark since the beginning) throughout Denmark. The project has made about 3,000 pillows per year. See the projected dates for stuffing parties through April 2023 on the AWC events calendar.

Can you sew pillow cases?

Some AWC volunteers are making cases for the heart pillows, and more are much needed. Will you join them, or can you suggest someone else to do so? Contact Mary Stewart Burgher (emessbe@yahoo.com) to get the pattern and instructions.

Café Craft brunch

When: Sat, 18/11 and 9/12 at 10:30
Where: Salonen, 222 Østerbrogade (close to Svanemøllen S-train station and all the buses that go there)
Contact: Mary Stewart Burgher (emessbe@yahoo.com) for further info

Café Craft is for people to meet to chat and craft together on a Saturday, while enjoying a cup of coffee (or tea) and brunch at Salonen. Our only goal is to relax and do our crafts –     –in good company. Any craft project is welcome! Non-crafters also!

Our Secrets Walk: The Stone Zoo in central Copenhagen

When: Mon, 27/11, 10:30
Where: Marmorkirke Metro Station ((lines M3 and M4) at the back of the church
Contact: Mary Stewart Burgher (emessbe@yahoo.com) to sign up
As Copenhagen is such an old city, and has many buildings and features from a variety of different periods, many animals made of stone and metal lurk throughout the city, watching the humans go about their daily business.
This walk, starting at the back of Marmorkirken and concluding close to the main train station, will introduce you to some of the denizens of Copenhagen’s Stone Zoo. Come and meet them, point out any others that you see and then finish up with a hot cup of coffee. Join us!

Winter holiday cookie-packing and shopping party

When: Sat, 9/12, 14:00
Where: home of AWC’s Co-Treasurer, Claude Lawson, Borgermester Jensens Allé 1, st tv, near the intersection of Østerbrogade and Jagtvej, (accessible by Poul Henningsens Plads Metro Station (M3), buses 1A and 23, and Svanemøllen S-train Station)
Cost: free, but we hope you’ll purchase goodies to eat and wear
Contact: Mary Stewart Burgher (emessbe@yahoo.com) for further info
For our holiday party in December, we’ll combine helping a charitable project AND helping you to complete your holiday shopping and to sample some holiday treats.
We plan to package seasonal goodies for donation to the homeless clients of the Missionaries of Charity’s soup kitchen in Nørrebro and for sale to members. You’ll also have the chance to buy seasonal jewellery made by Mary Stewart Burgher – all proceeds from sales will go to AWC charities, as always.
Join us to enjoy good company and holiday treats, while completing your holiday shopping list AND donating to charity – the perfect combination!