Noir-Vember Begins Sunday: Detour, Gilda, and What's Next for the Cognitive Film Society
Live jazz this Sunday. Rita Hayworth in December. And the Metropolitan Opera coming to the Five Towns
Ten Months and Nearly 1,000 Strong
Ten months ago, Yelena Fradlis, Jeff Hsi and I launched the Cognitive Film Society believing that cinema’s power to bring people together transcends any algorithm. As we prepare for Sunday’s screening of Detour with live jazz, we’re moved by how this belief continues to resonate.
We’ve nearly reached 1,000 Substack subscribers—from local high school students to international film scholars, from our Hewlett-Woodmere neighbors to cinephiles worldwide.
Our Ghost in the Shell screening in August brought together generations who rarely share the same room, let alone the same enthusiasm for philosophical anime about consciousness and identity.
But what’s most exciting isn’t the numbers. It’s what they represent: communities still hunger for cinema that challenges, for performances that matter, for cultural experiences that reward attention rather than merely occupy time.
This Sunday: Detour and the Jazz of Despair
On Sunday, November 2nd at 2:00 PM, we return to the Gold Theater at the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library to screen Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour (1945)—68 minutes of perfect noir made with minimal resources but maximum artistry.
Before the film, two talented George W. Hewlett High School seniors—Aleksy Fradlis (saxophone) and Victoria Brodsky (vocals)—will perform era-appropriate jazz standards, transporting us directly into the smoky 1940s clubs where the film’s protagonist Al Roberts once played piano for tips and dreams.
Joining us for a virtual introduction is filmmaker and NYU professor
, whose Substack Underexposed champions overlooked films with the same passion that drives our community.
As Alex recently wrote about Detour: “In the annals of noir, Detour is a scrappy outlier—a 68-minute shadow play shot on a shoestring in a matter of days... its shaggy edges and stark fatalism still cast a potent spell.”
This screening launches Noir-Vember—our month-long exploration of cinema’s darkest and most beautiful corner.
Beyond this event, expect deep-dive essays in Cognitive Frames, curated Letterboxd lists, and continued examination of why noir remains cinema’s most essential genre for understanding American dreams and nightmares.
Sunday, November 2 at 2:00 PM
Free admission
Gold Theater, Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library - 1125 Broadway, Hewlett, NY*
*Please note the library’s parking is under construction. Please park next door in municipal lot, and use the front entrance
December 10: Gilda - Our First Annual Gala
Six weeks from now—Tuesday, December 10th—the Cognitive Film Society presents our first annual gala screening: Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946) at Regal Cinemas Lynbrook.
It’s a celebration of everything we’ve built together in our first year—proving that communities want challenging cinema, that physical spaces matter, that gathering to experience art beats infinite streaming options.
Gilda represents everything we love about classical Hollywood: glamour, moral complexity, sexual tension the Production Code could barely contain, and Rita Hayworth at the absolute peak of her powers. “Put the blame on Mame” has never looked—or sounded—better than on a big screen.
This is also a fundraiser. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we rely on community support to bring quality cinema to the Five Towns. Tickets, sponsorship opportunities, and full details coming soon. Mark your calendars now.
Tuesday, December 10 at 6:30pm
Regal Cinemas Lynbrook
321 Merrick Road, Lynbrook, NY
Community Partnerships: Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools + OOMPAH
We’re thrilled to announce that the Cognitive Film Society is partnering with Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools to bring film and opera programming directly to students. We’re in early discussions with the district about presenting screenings at George W. Hewlett High School’s newly renovated auditorium beginning in 2026.
Working alongside Dr. Andrew Fund (the district’s Director of Art and Music) and OOMPAH (the Organization of Music Parents and Alumni at Hewlett-Woodmere), we’re exploring how these screenings would integrate with curriculum—English, French, History departments—while providing students with community service opportunities, publication platforms in Cognitive Frames, and professional mentorship in cultural programming.
Beyond the schools, we’re finding partners across the Five Towns who share our belief that culture builds community.
Community Partnerships: Chabad of Hewlett Presents Jewish Life Through Cinema
We’re also proud to partner with Chabad of Hewlett to present a new series at their beautiful new Center for Jewish Life exploring a century of Jewish experience in New York—from the Lower East Side to the Upper West Side, from immigrant arrival to contemporary life.
Chabad of Hewlett, under the leadership of Rabbi Nochem and Rebbetzin Rivkie Tenenboim, has just opened their stunning new facility and welcomed us to bring Jewish cinema to their community. While rooted in Chabad’s mission of celebrating Jewish culture and tradition, these screenings are open to everyone in the Five Towns and beyond. The series creates space for intergenerational dialogue, community gathering, and discovering how film captures who we are and where we’ve traveled.
The four films—Crossing Delancey, Hester Street, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Funny Girl—trace Jewish New York from 1890s immigrant struggles through Depression-era resilience to Broadway triumph and contemporary romance. Together, they tell the complete story of adaptation, success, and the eternal question of staying connected to roots.
Screenings begin in late fall or early winter pending final logistics, with more details coming soon.
Looking Ahead to Spring
On March 1st at 1:00 PM, we’ll present Annie Hall (1977) at the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library in tribute to Diane Keaton, who passed away on October 11th. Her Oscar-winning performance redefined what a leading lady could be—making vulnerability revolutionary, awkwardness beautiful. We’ll celebrate an artist who proved that being authentically yourself matters most of all.
Also this Spring we’re working toward our goal of bringing the Metropolitan Opera to the Five Towns as part of
weekend. We’ve secured licensing from the Met to screen recent productions at minimal cost, with free admission for students and community—pending district approval of specific screenings.
The selection is still being finalized, but the idea is clear: opera shouldn’t require Manhattan commutes and expensive tickets. It should be accessible to everyone who wants to experience it.
This partnership builds on the district’s commitment to opera education—chorus students recently attended a dress rehearsal of La Fille du Regiment at the Met—and extends it to the broader community.
The Bigger Picture
What began as three friends wanting to watch great films with their neighbors has become proof that grassroots cultural organizing works. We’re not competing with streaming services—we’re offering what they can’t: shared experience, challenging curation, community conversation, and the irreplaceable feeling of watching cinema together in the dark.
Our partnerships with schools, libraries, OOMPAH, Chabad of Hewlett and the Metropolitan Opera aren’t empire-building. They’re creating sustainable ways for communities to access culture beyond corporate gatekeeping.
Every screening that draws dozens of neighbors proves the point. Every student who writes for Cognitive Frames proves the point. Every partnership that works proves the point.
The argument is simple: Cinema still matters. Community still matters. Bringing them together matters most of all.
See You Sunday!
Four more days until Aleksy and Victoria perform, until
helps us understand why Detour haunts us, until 68 minutes of perfect noir reminds us why we gather in dark rooms to share stories.
This is just the beginning of Noir-vember. This is just the beginning of what we’re building together.
Thank you for being part of it.
—The Cognitive Film Society