FIRST REFORMED Opening at the Cinema Art Theater

 

Starting on June 29th, the Rehoboth Beach Film Society’s Cinema Art Theater will present FIRST REFORMED, an astoundingly powerful drama about a crisis of faith in the life of a pastor and its real-world reverberations.

 

Reverend Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke) is a solitary, middle-aged parish pastor at a small Dutch Reform church in upstate New York on the cusp of celebrating its 250th anniversary. Once a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church is now a tourist attraction catering to a dwindling congregation, eclipsed by its nearby parent church, Abundant Life, with its state-of-the-art facilities and 5,000-strong flock. When a pregnant parishioner (Amanda Seyfried) asks Reverend Toller to counsel her husband, a radical environmentalist, the clergyman finds himself plunged into his own tormented past, and equally despairing future, until he finds redemption in an act of grandiose violence. From writer-director Paul Schrader (TAXI DRIVER; AMERICAN GIGOLO; AFFLICTION) comes a gripping thriller about a crisis of faith that is at once personal, political, and planetary. [2018, US, Runtime: 108 minutes, Rated: R].

 

“Utterly transporting,” writes Lindsey Bahr of “The Associated Press,” “the kind of film that will stay with you long after the credits.” Colin Covert calls the film, “a miracle.”

 

Screening times are 4:00 pm on Friday (June 29), 7:00 pm on Saturday (June 30), 4:00 pm on Sunday (July 1), 1:00 pm on Monday (July 2), 4:00 pm on Wednesday (July 4) and 7:00 pm on Thursday (July 5). Admission for CAT: THIS WEEK films is $8 for members and $11 for future members. Customers are encouraged to purchase tickets online. If seats are available, tickets can be purchased at the theater, starting 30 minutes prior to each screening.