From: Anne Belanger-Presque Isle District Library <annebelanger@pidl.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2018 4:52 PM
To: 'michlib-1@mcls.org' <michlib-1@mcls.org>
Cc: Amber Alexander - PIDL <director@pidl.org>
Subject: Featured Events at PIDL Owned Rogers City Theater

Since the Presque Isle District Library took ownership of the historic Rogers City Theater in 2016, we have been very active in showcasing a diversity of talent and special featured events putting northeast Michigan on the map with arts and cultural events.  Coming up, The MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival will be screened at the Rogers City Theater on Friday, September 28 through Sunday, September 30^th starting at 7:30 pm each night.  Audience members will be able to cast their vote for Best Picture and Best Actor/Actress.  Nine outstanding short films were chosen as finalists.  Filmgoers in Rogers City will unite with audiences in over 300 cities spanning six continents to view and judge the work of the next generation of filmmakers from around the world. 

The nine MANHATTAN SHORT film finalists are from eight countries with films from Austria, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Kosovo, New Zealand, USA and the United Kingdom.  All nine films are eligible for an Academy Award nomination, an Oscar-contender.  A complete list of screenings can be found at www.pidl.org. 

The following week, the library hosts the first TEDx PresqueIsleDistrictLIbrary event at the Rogers City Theater on Friday, October 5^th at 7:30 pm featuring LIVE speakers, John Dempsey and John O’Shea.  TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxPresqueIsleDistrictLibrary, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDx PresqueIsleDistrictLIbrary event, TED Talk videos and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.

John Dempsey, an internationally acclaimed artist who is featured in the Norman Rockwell Museum  touring exhibit, “Re-imagining the Four Freedoms” will address the perspective of an “artist communicating the meaning behind his work”. John’s art work was selected for inclusion in this major traveling exhibition organized by Norman Rockwell Museum.   His work, “Sunday Night/Monday Morning” is on a national tour as part of the Enduring Ideals:  Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms.  John will talk about what the four freedoms mean to him and the meaning behind his work.  Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear; as those were President Roosevelt’s four freedoms.  John is a resident of Presque Isle County and is an acclaimed artist whose work is exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. 

John O’Shea, Curator of Great Lakes Archaeology at University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology whose focus is on prehistoric cultures and 19^th century shipwrecks in the Great Lakes.  John will present a new historical perspective of Paleo Indians from 9,900 years ago using new research and technology advancements.  John was the key person who upon examining new underwater topographical maps of Lake Huron discovered a continuous underwater ridge stretching 112 miles from northeastern Michigan to southern Ontario known as the Amberley Ridge.  He realized that around the last Ice Age, 9,900 years ago it was a land bridge known as the Alpena-Amberley Ridge.  He is working with a team using technology upgrades that have yielded Ice Age landscapes of campsites from Paleo Indians, stone circles, remnants of a fire hearth and much more.  For over a decade, O’Shea’s team discovered archaeological sites intact all through the Amberley Ridge. His three-person submersible was used in summer 2018 to investigate the bottom of a 500 foot deep cliff that has never been explored.  This Ice Age landscape once sustained caribou and its hunters for two millennia. It disappeared under the waves of Lake Huron some 8,000 years ago.

Then on Saturday, October 6^th at 7:30 pm, the talents of the internationally acclaimed musical artist, Sofia Talvik will perform live at the Rogers City Theater.  Unmistakably Nordic in flavor, Sofia Talvik somehow still conforms to American interpretations of her own original music, a North Sea siren blending sparkle and melancholy. A veteran performer with 6 full length albums as well as numerous EPs, singles and tours behind her.  Complete bios and detailed information about all of the above events can be found on the library’s website at www.pidl.org  Tickets can be purchased at the Rogers City Theater box office.  Doors open at 6:30 pm.