Submitted by the San Juan Community Theatre

The San Juan Community Theatre is hosting a film series this summer. Viewings are free, but donations are accepted. Also, $2 bottomless popcorn is available. Below are two upcoming films.

“Soufra”

At 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 14, watch the 73-minute documentary “Soufra.”

South of Beirut, Lebanon, is a 68-year-old refugee camp housing refugees from Palestine, Syria and Iraq. Many have lived in this camp their entire lives: Mariam AlShaar is one of them. Now, AlShaar has pulled the women of this camp together to do what has never been done before. They started with a small kitchen from a microloan. With nearly insurmountable political odds against them, they look to start the first refugee food truck. Their journey is one of many ups and downs but it is the community that is built, their sense of hope and how they see themselves that makes this a moving, touching film about their journey. We are working with the film’s producer to highlight both the plight and the contributions of refugees.

“Dark Money”

At 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 21, watch the 97-minute documentary “Dark Money.”

“Dark Money” looks at how the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has unraveled nearly a century of relatively clean politicking in Montana, clouding the Big Sky state with an influx of corporate-funded smear campaigns and legislation of dubious pedigree. It’s a case study all too applicable to the nation at large in an era when moneyed interests seem to be trumping citizens’ will and welfare on every front.

In reaction to all this, Montanans strove for a “citizen legislature” of representatives who, while in office, held onto their day jobs — farmer, teacher, Port-a-Potty vendor — and were resistant to lobbyist bribes because the state’s political finance rules were so tight. Then came the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, creating “corporate personhood” and allowing, in the name of “free speech,” unlimited political contributions without donor transparency. It’s a rather harrowing portrait of democracy under threat, even if ultimately there is hope: Not only is there a closing call for citizens to resist such institutionalized corruption, but the film culminates in the downfall of one particularly crooked state official. It is both an account of a rare victory in the battle for true representative government and a call to action.

For more information, visit www.sjctheatre.org.

Contributed image “Dark Money.”