Downtown Huntsville Library
Warriors and Peacemakers - An International Film Series
Monday, December 28, 2026 5:30 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
Leon Morin, Priest (France, 1961)
In an Axis-occupied French town, a young, recently-widowed mother makes a fake confession to a local priest as an impulsive prank; when he responds with understanding and compassion, she begins a friendship with him as the final days of the war unfold.
Leon Morin, Priest was directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, one of the greatest French filmmakers and a former fighter in the French Resistance during WWII, and stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Emmanuelle Riva, two of France’s most iconic and beloved actors.
Warriors and Peacemakers – An International Film Series
This film series explores people seeking peace in times of war and violence (or vice versa): a thematically-linked pair of films deconstructing the Japanese concept of Bushido (the way of the warrior) in both the ostensible peacetime of the early 1600s and in a Japanese POW camp in Java during WWII, and a pair of French films set during each of the two World Wars – following soldiers from enemy armies forging a self-made Christmas truce in WWI and civilians and clergy enduring German-occupied France in WWII.
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December 7: Harakiri (Japan, 1963)
December 14: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Japan/UK, 1983)
December 21: Joyeux Noel (France, 2005)
December 28: Leon Morin, Priest (France, 1961)
2nd Floor Events Room -- Downtown Huntsville Public Library
Questions: askus@hmcpl.org