Cinematheque Spring Series 2008 ~ February - May
Cinematheque Spring Series 2008 ~ February - May
 |
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
1987 – USA – 2 hr 34 min - d. Steven Spielberg Bryn Mawr: February 27 Wed 7:00
Steven Spielberg’s powerful film is the story of an aristocratic British youth whose life is thrown into chaos by the Japanese invasion of Shanghai during WWII. Starring Christian Bale. Presented in association with the Free Library’s One Film! program, the film will be introduced by Professor Ruth Perlmutter.
|
 |
ANGEL-A
2005 – France – 1 hr 31 min – d. Luc Besson - w/subtitles Ambler: February 28 Thu 7:00
County: March 3 Mon 7:00 A morality tale that is alternately comic and brooding, ANGEL-A tells the story of a former con artist whose past catches up with him. Shot in lush black and white and set in Paris, this very stylish film plays like a hipster update of It’s a Wonderful Life. Superbly directed by Luc Besson.
|
 |
ISRAELI FILM FESTIVAL SCREENING:
BEAUFORT 2006 – Israel – 2 hr 12 min – 35mm - d. Joseph Sedar – with subtitles Bryn Mawr: March 2 Sun 7:00
BEAUFORT is the story of a group of Israeli soldiers stationed at a 12th-century castle that serves as a military outpost in Southern Lebanon. Set in 2000, the film tells the story of the hopes and fears of the soldiers in the days leading up to their withdrawal from Lebanon following an 18-year occupation. The film will be introduced and discussed by Dr. Ami Amatai, Professor of Film and Hebrew at Bryn Mawr College and Temple University. Screened as part of the Israeli Film Festival. Tickets are $10 general admission, $8 for seniors and BMFI members, and free for students with valid ID. |
 |
FILMMAKERS DAVID KESSLER AND THE BIG PICTURE ALLIANCE
if you break the skin you must come in 2007 – USA – 1 hr 30 min – d. David Kessler Ambler: March 6 Thu 7:00 FREE FOR MEMBERS!
County: March 17 Mon 7:00 The Big Picture Alliance is a Philadelphia based partnership of filmmakers and educators who work with teens in urban areas to create their own films. IF YOU BREAK THE SKIN is a BPA-sponsored documentary about Zoe Strauss, a local photographer who has exhibited at the Whitney and Philadelphia’s ICA. The Ambler screening will be introduced and discussed by Jared Martin, Co-founder and Creative Director of the Big Picture Alliance. The County screening will be introduced and discussed by the filmmakers and subject Zoe Strauss.
|
 |
INTO GREAT SILENCE
2005 – France – 2 hr 42 min – digital - d. Philip Groning Bryn Mawr: March 5 Wed 7:00
This meditative documentary chronicles filmmaker Philip Groning’s six-month stay at the Grande Chartreuse, a famous monastery in the French Alps. The poetic film’s quiet pleasures carry the viewer into the monks’ own unhurried sense of time. Shot only with natural light, SILENCE has no soundtrack or voiceover. A distinctive cinematic experience.
|
 |
SCREENING WITH SIR BEN KINGSLEY
Bryn Mawr: March 8 Sat TBA
Join us for an afternoon of films and discussion with the Guest of Honor for our 2008 Silver Screen Gala, Sir Ben Kingsley. Kingsley won an Oscar for Best Actor for his title role in Gandhi. Other screen credits include Betrayal, Death and the Maiden, Sexy Beast, and the upcoming The Wackness. Visit BrynMawrFilm.org for additional information.
|
 |
LIGHTS IN THE DUSK
2006 – Finland – 1 hr 18 min - d. Aki Kaurismaki – w/subtitles County: March 10 Mon 7:00
Ambler: March 13 Thu 7:00 This Helsinki-set film from the inimitable Aki Kaurismaki is about a friendless nightwatchman who gets lured into an illegal scheme by a sultry femme fatale. The cinematography, editing and acting are all superb in this pared-down, minimalist little gem. Not much happens, except love, crime, betrayal and all of life. (And some great music, too).
|
 |
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED ANIMATED SHORTS
2008 – 1 hr 37 min – digital Bryn Mawr: March 19 Wed 7:00
Come see the Academy Award nominated animated films from this year’s Oscars! The program includes Josh Raskin’s I Met the Walrus, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s Madame Tutli-Putli, Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse’s Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis, Alexander Petrov’s My Love, and Suzie Templeman and Hugh Welchman’s Peter and the Wolf.
|
 |
BLACK MARIA FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL
Ambler: March 20 Thu 7:00
County: March 31 Mon 7:00 We are delighted to welcome back the Black Maria Film and Video Festival, an awardwinning festival committed to the exhibition of cutting edge independent films. Each evening will showcase a different program of new and highly creative films—documentary, narrative, animation, experimental, and more. The Ambler screening will be introduced and discussed by Festival Director John Columbus; the County presentation will be announced.
|
 |
ISRAELI FILM FESTIVAL SCREENING:
SWEET MUD 2006 – Israel/Germany – 1 hr 40 min – 35mm - d. Dror Shaul Bryn Mawr: March 23 Sun 7:00
This lush coming-of-age film spotlights a 12-year-old boy caught between his emotionally unstable mother and the rigid socialistic values of their kibbutz in the 1970’s. SWEET MUD is being screened as part of the Israeli Film Festival, and tickets are $10 general admission, $8 for seniors and BMFI members, and free for students with valid ID.
|
 |
PIERROT LE FOU
1965 – France – 1 hr 50 min – 35mm - d. Jean-Luc Godard County: March 24 Mon 7:00
Bryn Mawr: March 26 Wed 7:30 Ambler: March 27 Thu 7:00 Jean-Paul Belmondo stars in this dazzling New Wave film as a bored husband who casts aside his bourgeois existence to take to the open road with a former love. An existential road trip as well as a meditation on moviemaking, Pierot will be screened with a newly struck 35mm print from Janus Films. Professor Maurizio Giammarco will introduce the screening at Bryn Mawr.
|
 |
FILM PRESERVATIONIST LOU DiCRESCENZO
CLASSIC COMEDY SHORTS Ambler: April 3 Thu 7:00
The Ambler Theater welcomes back film preservationist Lou DiCrescenzo for a fun-filled evening of comedy shorts. Most of these films are over fifty years old, many of which have not been shown on the silver screen in quite some time. Come see Stan, Ollie, W.C. and Groucho—as well as other lesser know comics! Program length approximately two hours.
|
 |
IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON
2007 - Great Britain – 1 hr 36 min – 35mm - d. David Sington
County: April 7 Mon 7:00
Ambler: April 10 Thu 7:00 The excitement, majesty, and extraordinary human accomplishment of America’s Apollo flights to the moon are rousingly captured in this marvelous film. Deftly mixing archival footage with commentaries of astronauts from the moonshots, this rousing film produces a visual and audio vibrancy that brings the stirring story alive. One last chance to see this impressive film on the big screen.
|
 |
THE 17TH ANNUAL
PHILADELPHIA FILM FESTIVAL AT BMFI! Bryn Mawr:
April 7 Mon 7:00 -- April 8 Tue 7:00 -- April 9 Wed 7:00 -- April 10 Thu 7:00 Entering into its second year as the only suburban venue for the Philadelphia Film Festival, BMFI is thrilled to be partnering once again with one of the most dynamic film festivals in the country, featuring hundreds of works on film and video from nearly 50 countries. Join us in the BMFI Multimedia Room on Thursday, March 27 for our free Evening with the Curators event, a program in which the festival programmers will give audiences a sneak preview of what to expect. Specific films and ticketing information will be available at PhillyFests.com and BrynMawrFilm.org, as well as at the theater.
|
|
|
 |
SHAKESPEARE IN CONTEMPORARY CINEMA |
 |
SHAKESPEARE FILM FORUM
County: April 14 Mon 7:00
Bryn Mawr: April 16 Wed 7:00 Ambler: April 17 Thu 7:00 Join us for two separate lectures on the exciting recent film adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays. The lectures at County and Ambler will be given by Renew Theaters’ Programming Coordinator Alice Bullitt, and the lecture at Bryn Mawr will be given by Professor Katherine Rowe, Chair of the English Department at Bryn Mawr College. Both presentations will be highlighted by film clips from many Shakespeare movies. Program length approximately two hours. |
 |
RICHARD III
1995 – UK – 1 hr 44 min – 35mm - d. Richard Loncraine County: April 21 Mon 7:00
Bryn Mawr: April 23 Wed 7:00 Ian McKellen delivers a deliciously diabolical performance playing the charismatic and scheming Richard—only this film unfolds in a setting of 1930’s fascist England and includes cinematic references to Citizen Kane and Sunset Blvd. The superb cast includes both American actors (Annette Bening and Robert Downey, Jr.), as well as British (Jim Broadbent and Maggie Smith).
|
 |
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
1993– UK/USA – 1 hr 51 min – 35mm - d. Kenneth Branagh Ambler: April 24 Thu 7:00
County: April 28 Mon 7:00 Bryn Mawr: April 30 Wed 7:00 No one in recent movie history has done more to rejuvenate the popularity of Shakespeare on film than Kenneth Branagh. His 1989 Henry V started a whole new wave. MUCH ADO follows up with a delightful and breezy version of Shakespeare’s amusing comedy. Starring Branagh and Emma Thompson, as well as Kate Beckinsale, Denzel
Washington, and Keanu Reeves. Gloriously filmed in the Tuscan countryside. |
 |
TITUS
1999 – UK – 2 hr 42 min – 35mm - d. Julie Taymor Ambler: May 1 Thu 7:00
Bryn Mawr: May 7 Wed 7:00 Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare’s first play, has sometimes been regarded as a minor work. But iconoclastic stage director Julie Taymor (Broadway’s The Lion King) came along and brought the play to gloriously over-the-top life. TITUS is set in an anachronistic fantasy world that uses locations, costumes and imagery from several historical periods, including Ancient Rome and Mussolini’s Italy. The acting is transcendent, but be warned, the action is bloody. Starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. |
 |
ROMEO + JULIET
1996 – USA – 2 hr – 35mm – d. Baz Luhrmann County: May 12 Mon 7:00
Ambler: May 15 Thu 7:00 While Romeo and Juliet has often been transposed to a modern-day setting, nothing prepared audiences for Baz Luhrmann’s daring rendition of the classic tale of star-crossed lovers. Taking place in fictional Verona Beach, the Capulet and Montague “gang members” drive slick cars, carry guns, and listen to rock music. Despite these stylistic flourishes, the play’s language is still carefully presented. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. |
 |
KING CORN
2007 – USA – 1 hr 28 min – d. Aaron Woolf Bryn Mawr: April 29 Tue 7:00
KING CORN is a feature documentary about two friends who move to the Midwest, where they plant and grow a bumper crop of corn with the help of friendly neighbors and geneticallymodified seeds. This film is fun and entertaining but also educational, imparting a good lesson on the benefits of ecologically sound food and energy production. This screening is co-sponsored by Slow Food Philly, a local organization devoted to education about the stewardship of our land and natural resources.
|
 |
FILMMAKER PAUL LOVELACE:
BOUND TO LOSE: THE HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS 2006 – USA – 1 hr 27 min – d. Sam Wainwright Douglas and Paul Lovelace County: May 5 Mon 7:00
Ambler: May 8 Thu 7:00 * Please Note: The Filmmaker is unable to attend the Ambler screening. Sorry for any inconvenience. * From the Greenwich Village folk music scene of the early 1960’s, to the tumultuous and drug-hazed years of touring, to the present day, this highly entertaining documentary charts the success and struggles of the Holy Modal Rounders, a music group whose songs appeared on the soundtrack of Easy Rider. Featuring interviews with Dennis Hopper and Sam Shepherd (who was the band’s drummer for a few years), the film humorously chronicles the lives of band mates Steve Weber and Peter Stampfel, eloquently ruminating on the line that divides (or connects) genius and madness.
|
 |
THE BEST OF THE DIAMOND SCREEN FILM FESTIVAL
SHOWCASE OF TEMPLE UNIVERSITY STUDENT FILMS County: May 19 Mon 7:00
Bryn Mawr: May 21 Wed 7:00 Ambler: May 22 Thu 7:00 Join us for three different evenings of the most creative and outstanding student work from Temple University’s Film School, including documentary, narrative, experimental, and animated films and videos. Each evening will feature a different selection of Senior and Graduate works. Presented by the filmmakers and Temple University’s Department of Film and Media Studies. |
 |
OPEN SCREEN MONDAY AT THE BRYN MAWR
Bryn Mawr: First Monday of Each Month 9:00-11:00pm
The Bryn Mawr Film Institute invites area filmmakers to screen their films at our theater – just bring your film in DVD or VHS format, and we’ll run it on the BIG SCREEN! Admission, as well as praise (or criticism) from your peers, will all be offered FREE of charge. This is an exciting forum for Philadelphia area filmmakers. You don’t have to be a filmmaker — come if you just want to see interesting local work. |