CITY Screen, York, is collaborating with The Retreat, in Lamel Hill, to pay tribute to actor Robin Williams with a 6.15pm screening of Dead Poets Society (PG) on Monday .
Williams died in tragic circumstances on August 11, in the eye of the storm of depression, the onset of Parkinson's Disease and alleged financial worries.
To mark a life of diverse roles on screen and stage, City Screen and The Retreat, the York facility for people in need of specialistmental health care, has selected Peter Weir's1989 film, in which Williams plays John Keating, an unconventional English teacher whose arrival shakes up an elite American boarding school in 1959.
Welton Academy is a staid prep school where learning is a rather dull affair. Several students, however, experience a life-changing influence when Keating tears up textbooks and tells his pupils to climb on their desks to see the world from a new angle.
When he introduces the class to poetry, his free-thinking attitude has a profound effect on some of the boys, especially Todd (Ethan Hawke), who has aspirations to be a writer; Neil (Robert Sean Leonard), who dreams of being an actor; and Knox (Josh Charles), a hopeless romantic.
Williams's Keating urges the students to seize the day and live their lives boldly, but when his unorthodox philosophy leads to a sudden and unexpected tragedy, both his spirit and that of his class are put to the test.
"The final scene in which his students recite 'O Captain! My Captain!', in homage to Walt Whitman's poem, is an on-screen moment that honours Williams as a fictional teacher and a metaphorical one to the young actors in the movie, as Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles stand on top of their desks to make a poignant display of taking Keating's side," says Dave Taylor, City Screen's marketing manager.
He has asked David Smith, director of development at The Retreat, to introduce the film. "David will tell us more about the organisation, which started in York more than 200 years ago to become a world-leader in handling people who are experiencing mental distress," says Dave.
Tickets are on sale on 0871 902 5726 or at picturehouses.co.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here