'The Mauritanian'

“It’s a little known fact that Jodie and I were actually classmates at Yale together,” said Amb. Charles Rivkin, CEO of the Motion Picture Association, at a virtual screening of The Mauritanian in association with STXFilms followed by a conversation with Jodie Foster – Actress, Director and Producer. “Not only that, but I had the honor of inviting her to speak in front of a very special audience in Paris when I served as US Ambassador to France. She began her professional career as a child model and learned to read at the age of three and she was accidentally grabbed by a real lion on the set of a movie and lived to tell the story. She’s also fluent in French and even has an asteroid named in her honor. Jodie has had powerful roles in more than 55 movies and four as a director, if I’m not mistaken, and she’s won two Oscars and two Golden Globes for Best Actress in The Accused and Silence of The Lambs in addition to receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award.”

About the film: “Directed by Kevin Macdonald and based on the NY Times best-selling memoir Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, this is inspiring the true story of Slahi’s fight for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years. Alone and afraid, Slahi (Tahar Rahim) finds allies in defense attorney Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster) and her associate Teri Duncan (Shailene Woodley) who battle the U.S. government in a fight for justice that tests their commitment to the law and their client at every turn. Their controversial advocacy, along with evidence uncovered by a formidable military prosecutor, Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch (Benedict Cumberbatch), uncovers shocking truths and ultimately proves that the human spirit cannot be locked up.” STXFilms