Sound Colour Vibration (Music | Art | Film)

From Rialto Pictures / www.rialtopictures.com

May 11 – 24    NEW YORK,  NY    Film Forum
May 18 – 31    LOS ANGELES,  CA    Laemmle’s Royal Theatre
May 18 – 31    PASADENA,  CA    Laemmle’s Playhouse 7
June 1 – 3    SAN FRANCISCO,  CA    Castro Theatre
June 8 – 14    DALLAS,  TX    Angelika Film Center
June 16 – 17    AUSTIN,  TX    Paramount Theatre
July 6 – 12    PORTLAND,  OR    Cinema 21
July 13 – 19    SEATTLE,  WA    Northwest Film Forum
July 27    ST. LOUIS,  MO    Cinema St. Louis

“A MAGNIFICENT RESTORATION WE SHOULD ALL BE GRATEFUL FOR!”
– Martin Scorsese

“IF I HAD ONLY ONE FILM IN THE WORLD TO SAVE, IT WOULD BE GRAND ILLUSION.”
– Orson Welles

(1937) “I beg you, man to man, come back!” WWI, and it’s a POW camp for French man-of-the-people Jean Gabin and aristocratic officer Pierre Fresnay after they’re shot down by equally aristocratic German Erich von Stroheim. But meanwhile there are escapes — one by tunnel — to be planned; fellowship with Jewish moneybags Marcel Dalio, music hall cut-up Carette, and engineer Gaston Modot; a necessarily all-male musical revue, interrupted by a dramatic announcement; and a reunion with Stroheim at an escape-proof castle keep.

Partly inspired by stories of the air ace who had saved Renoir’s life in the war, this was, on the brink of another one, a celebration of the brotherhood of man, across class, across frontiers, as well a kind of elegy for an international aristocracy (Fresnay and Stroheim, going monocle to monocle, speak much of the time in English, a language no one else understands). Internationally acclaimed, GRAND ILLUSION received Best Foreign Film awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and National Board of Review, Best Overall Artistic Contribution from the Venice Film Festival (under Mussolini), and an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture – the first ever for a foreign film. Long acknowledged as one of the world’s great classics, GRAND ILLUSION was at one time thought lost.

Declared “cinema enemy number one” by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, its camera negative was confiscated by the Germans soon after they occupied France in 1940, then sent to Berlin’s Reichsfilmarchiv, which in turn was seized by the Red Army in 1945. Even Renoir didn’t know of its existence and had to assemble a new dupe negative for a1958 reissue. In the mid-60s, the Cinémathèque of Toulouse, France, reached a détente with its Soviet counterpart. The GRAND ILLUSION negative was part of a film exchange, but it sat on a shelf in Toulouse for decades before anyone noticed. In the late 90s, the material was transferred to the French State Film Archive for inventory and, in 1999, the first restoration was undertaken by Canal+ Image (now Studiocanal). In 2011, Studiocanal and the Cinémathèque de Toulouse embarked on a new restoration using the latest digital technology. The nitrate camera negative (which was still in remarkable condition) was digitized in 4K by the Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in Bologna. The sound was given special treatment; the nitrate variable density soundtrack was scanned, allowing a restoration with sharper sound quality. A 35mm record of the restored element will guarantee the film’s preservation for at least a century.

Film Forum will be showing the restoration in 35mm, with newly-revised subtitles by Lenny Borger capturing the wit of the Renoir-Charles Spaak screenplay like never before. One of the legends of the cinema, GRAND ILLUSION now looks and sounds better than ever.

A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE

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AWARDS & CITATIONS

Academy Awards (1938)
• Nominated, Best Picture (first foreign film to receive Best Picture nomination)

Venice Film Festival (1937)
• Winner, Best Artistic Ensemble

New York Film Critics Circle Awards (1938)
• Winner, Best Foreign Film

National Board of Review Awards (1938)
• Winner, Best Foreign Film

World Film and Fine Arts Festival of Belgium, 1952
• 4th Place, Ten Best Films of All Time, Directors’ Choice (tied with City Lights and Le Million)

Brussels World Fair (1958)
• 5th Place, Twelve Best Films of All Time

Cinémathèque Québecoise (1995)
• 13th Place, 100 Best Films of All Time

French Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences (1978)
• 2nd Best French Film of All Time

Toronto International Film Festival
• Essential 100 Films: #21

Selected by the British film Institute as one of the 350 greatest film classics of all time, 1998

Time Out New York
• Best Foreign Films of All Time: # 22

François Truffaut’s The Films of My Life: #7

The Spectator Magazine’s 50 Essential Films: #14

(feat. “Daisies” and “Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders”!)
Thursday, May 16th – Wednesday, May 23rd

Co-presented by the Czech Film Center & the General Consulate of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles

See what’s new in contemporary Bohemian filmmaking with this series featuring the directorial debut of late playwright/former Czech president Vaclav Havel, award-winning narrative and documentary films, and director Q&As. Plus, in addition to the line-up of brand-new films, we also have archival 35mm screenings of vintage Czech masterpieces!

Films included in the series:
- Walking Too Fast (2010)
- Four Suns (2012)
- Identity Card (2010)
- Matchmaking Mayor (2011)
- Long Live The Family (2011)
- Alois Nebel (2011)
- A Tribute To Vaclev Havel (feat. Leaving & The Garden Party (2011/2010)

PLUS
- Valerie & Her Week Of Wonders (1970)
- Daisies (1968)
- Fruit Of Paradise (1970)
- The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer

For up-to-the-minute info on showtimes, click here!

This presentation of a touring series is organized by The Cinefamily along with the Czech General Consulate in Los Angeles and the Czech Film Center. Curated by Irena Kovarova.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders 5/16 10PM

“Virtually every shot is a knockout.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

As joyful as it is impossible to pin down, Valerie is a haunting, psychoactive period piece which plunges the beautiful heroine Valerie into a phantasmagorical world of thirsty vampires, the dark arts and dreamy free love — all set to one of the great film scores of the era, a cocktail of psych-folk and avant-garde classical by the great Luboš Fišer. The film opens with 13-year-old Valerie’s first menstruation and subsequent sexual awakening, her unsteady discovery of which lets loose a torrent of quixotic, hallucinatory experiences both terrifying and beautiful; amongst a haze of shifting tones and a flurry of role reversals and Gothic nightmares in broad daylight, Valerie floats along, buoyed by the fears and fantasies that come with nascent sexuality and teenage fantasy. This bewitching brew is a must to behold on 35mm — do not miss it.
Dir. Jaromil Jires, 1970, 35mm, 73 min.

Watch excerpts from “Valerie and Her Week of Wonders”!

Animation Breakdown presents:
Studio Ghibli: A Retrospective
Screenings throughout the month of May in Los Angeles with Cinefamily

www.cinefamily.org

Cinefamily super-proudly presents a ten-film, month-long retrospective of Studio Ghibli, the legendary Japanese animation house led by visionary genius director Hayao Miyazaki! Started in the mid-1980s, Studio Ghibli has brought to life some of the most breathtaking and colorful wonders in the history of film. Whether you’re age 9 or age 90 — or even somewhere in-between — you’ll be moved, tickled, and thrilled by these landmark works of animation.

In addition to evening shows, we also have weekend matinees of certain key titles, presented with English-dubbed audio tracks (for the kiddies!)

For up-to-the-minute info on showtimes, click here!

The first film screening is “My Neighbor Totoro” from dir. Hayao Miyazaki on May 4, 2012  / $12 and free for members of Cinefamily.

Director Hayao Miyazaki’s most biographical and affectionate creation, My Neighbor Totoro has given rise to the most recognized, reproduced and well-loved monsters in Studio Ghibli’s canon. Evocative and immaculately designed, the sweet compelling quality of this film remains undiminished by exposure. Here, we enter a modern, yet nostalgic world of rice paddies, adorably thrill-thirsty young gals (Satsuki & Mei), and the majestic reverence of nature we have come to recognize from this animation giant. But within this tranquil realm there lies a dormant mythical creature so huge, so powerful and so terrifyingly cute that one can only squeal with glee at the sight of him, jumping instantly onto his big fluffy belly. Unforgettably iconic interactions with fabled floating “soot sprites”, a giant multi-legged cat-bus and the cuddly king of the forest himself, make this classic animation treasure too gorgeous to miss.

Our May 4th presentation of “My Neighbor Totoro” is presented in Japanese with English subtitles.

Dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 1988, 35mm, 86 min.

Films included in the series:

• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984, dir. Hayao Miyazaki) trailer
  
• Castle In The Sky (1986, dir. Hayao Miyazaki) trailer
  
• My Neighbor Totoro (1988, dir. Hayao Miyazaki) trailer
  
• Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989, dir. Hayao Miyazaki) trailer
  
• Porco Rosso (1992, dir. Hayao Miyazaki) trailer
  
• Pom Poko (1994, dir. Isao Takahata) trailer
  
• Princess Mononoke (1997, dir. Hayao Miyazaki) trailer
  
• Spirited Away (2001, dir. Hayao Miyazaki) *winner of the 2002 Oscar for Best Animated Film trailer
  
• Howl’s Moving Castle (2004, dir. Hayao Miyazaki) trailer
  
• Ponyo (2008, dir. Hayao Miyazaki) trailer
  

From Steve Indig of Landmark Theatres / landmarktheatres.com

SURVIVING PROGRESS
Cautionary tale of evolution, inspired by best-seller “A Short History of Progress”
Documentary Executive Produced by Martin Scorsese & Mark Achbar (The Corporation)

Opens April 20, 2012 at Nuart-Los Angeles

First Run Features presents SURVIVING PROGRESS, opening on April 20, 2012, at Landmark’s Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles for a one-week engagement.

Technological advancement, economic development, population increase – are they signs of a thriving society? Or too much of a good thing? Based on Ronald Wright’s best-seller “A Short History of Progress,” this intelligent, provocative documentary by Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks explores the concept of progress in our modern world, guiding us through detailed survey of the major “progress traps” facing our civilization in the arenas of technology, economics, consumption, and the environment. Featuring powerful arguments from such visionaries as Jane Goodall, Margaret Atwood, Stephen Hawking, Craig Venter, Robert Wright, Marina Silva, Michael Hudson, and Ronald Wright himself, this visually spectacular film invites us to contemplate the progress traps that destroyed past civilizations and that lie treacherously embedded in our own.  Leading critics of Wall Street, cognitive psychologists, and ecologists lay bare the consequences of progress-as-usual as the film travels around the world – from a burgeoning China to the disappearing rainforests of Brazil to a chimp research lab in New Iberia, Louisiana – to construct a shocking overview of the way our global economic system is eating away at our planet’s resources and shackling entire populations with poverty.

Director and co-writer Mathieu Roy is a Montreal-based filmmaker.  His first feature documentary, François Girard en Trois Actes, was awarded the 2005 prix Gémeau for best cultural documentary. Mathieu’s latest documentary, Ecclestone’s Formula, is the first project to tell the story of Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.  Co-director and co-writer Harold Crooks is an author and writer/producer whose award-winning documentary film credits include The Corporation; Karsh Is History; Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space; and The World Is Watching.

survivingprogress.com/
firstrunfeatures.com/survivingprogress/

Full info for this special one week screening of Surviving Progress: landmarktheatres.com

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“A cinematic wakeup call so cogent and non-didactic even Tea Partiers would be hard-pressed to shrug it off… does a remarkable job weaving together these and many other big ideas in a crisp, coherent, easy-to-take fashion…a stellar cast of articulate and authoritative interviewees.” – Dennis Harvey, Variety

“A who’s who of great thinkers are riveting as they walk us through the question of whether we will or can survive progress.” – Ernest Hardy, Village Voice

“One of the most thought provoking documentaries I’ve ever seen, and also one of the best looking. Epic in scope….takes Jared Diamond’s Collapse a step farther.” – Ain’t it Cool News

“Koyaanisqatsic meets The Corporation in this thought-provoking, brilliantly crafted film about nothing less than the history of the modern world and the fate of civilization.” – Montreal Hour

Laemmle Theatres and United Television are pleased to present MIS – HUMAN SECRET WEAPON, the new documentary about Japanese-American soldiers who were secretly trained for the Military Intelligence Service during World War II. The exclusive Los Angeles engagement will begin on Friday, April 6th at the NoHo 7 in North Hollywood, California.

America’s political climate shifted into a very dark state on December of 1941 after the Japanese military bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Many Japanese-Americans fell under prejudices and ridicule in this time, something that has been documented in high detail through photographic evidence and eye witness accounts. Media, social attitude, loyalty, the playing field was set for the war field leaders of the different leading nations to all clash under each alliance. There has been a lot of mystery into the full story of what happened to the Japanese-American community and their involvement with the military to aid them in understanding the intelligence they were accumulating. The arrival of MIS: Human Secret Weapon from director Junichi Suzuki explains a once top secret story of the Japanese-American involvement in the military and puts into proper perspective, the vital importance of their contributions to this nation. With the value of identity, ancestry and allegiance as a main theme through out MIS: Human Secret Weapon, WWII is examined in a completely new light from the perspective of men who showed their loyalty but never lost their humanity. It is also a comprehensive study guide into the framework of America’s involvement in WWII after Pearl Harbor and all the way through the atomic bomb and the after math and how the MIS soldiers would ultimately play one of the most crucial and vital rolls during this period. The film is seamlessly connected between narration, recent interviews with surviving MIS soldiers who were willing to bring up these deep and raw memories along with archival photos and footage. MIS: Human Secret Weapon unravels a government project kept top secret for almost 70 years and shows the real story of what these Japanese-American MIS soldiers and their families went through. With interview moments drowned in sorrow and some with the lightest and most candid ease, this documentary is beautifully shot and sequenced to really give new perspectives on WWII.

MIS: Human Secret Weapon is an extremely important film in that it pieces together new artifacts and knowledge that have never been included in history books and the overall understanding of WWII. The governments intentions with the MIS were always a question, as the application of intelligence they gathered would fall on their hands. Intelligence gathered on a building manufacturing weapons and amo would lead to mass bombings of entire areas in those region, something the MIS soldiers knew was leading to innocent deaths. What was loyalty in so many faithfully blind ways becomes deep shame, especially in the wake of the atomic bomb droppings.  It is this altered shift in the documentary that reveals an under plot to how these men even became MIS soldiers and the manipulation that the government instilled to achieve their goals in WWII.

The question of race and America’s identity has always been an issue, but not until now did I realize that the Japanese-American people had so much taken away from. Not only did they suffer some of the harshest treatment citizens of America’s have endured, the story of those who helped WWII remained top secret for political reasons. Even the injustice is felt in full when the film speaks of caucasian MIS soldiers who would move up rank as Officers while the others would go to the front lines. The accompaniment of caucasian with the MIS soldiers indicated the governments paranoid that they were really spy’s. From propaganda to the fall out of never being able to return home for many of these MIS soldiers, MIS: Human Secret Weapon is a compelling look into a top secret section of the military the specialized in decoding all intelligence gathered from Japan. The amount of archival footage and photos makes this a must see document for any fan of this incredibly heightened period in the heated contact of all influential nations and how a small group of brave men took it upon themselves to fight for the land they had found a home in and the place where their families lived despite the racism and prejudices that had been inflicted upon them. Touching on many accounts, MIS: Human Secret Weapon will historically will be a new page in all history books considering the over bearing importance the MIS soldiers had in affecting America’s involvement in WWII.

-Erik Otis

SCREENING SCHEDULE 2012 (DETAILS/INFO)

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When the US Army realized its deficiencies in intelligence operations against Japan during World War II, Japanese-American soldiers were secretly trained for the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). Mostly composed of Nisei, second generation Japanese-American military men the soldiers pledged absolute allegiance to the United States at a time when most Japanese-Americans were facing social and political inequalities. Braving the many prejudices brought against them, Nisei soldiers of MIS had to fight against Japan, their parents’ homeland, and prove their patriotism to the country that had caged their families in the internment camps.

日本との戦争が近づきつつあることを感じたアメリカ陸軍は、対日本諜報活動の必要に駆られ、密かに日本語能力に長け、日本文化や習慣をい理解する日系人二世たちを中心に秘

­密情報部「MIS」を組織した。この映画は親の祖国である日本と戦うことを選び、アメリカへの愛国心を忠誠を誓い戦った日系兵士たちの物語である。

MIS Interpreting Signals / National Archive

Occupation of Japan, Tec/3 Oshita of Salt Lake City interpreting for war crime trials. / National Japanese American Historical Society

MIS Translating Documents / National Archive

Laemmle Theatres and the Cinema Guild are proud to present ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA, winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes 2011. The exclusive Los Angeles engagements begins on Friday, April 6th at the Music Hall in Beverly Hills, Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and Town Center 5 in Encino.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, is a film that has won numerous international awards, including the grand prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Nuri Bilge Ceylan is primarily an exquisite director that has proved his reputation in international independent cinema strongly and irreversibly. This film follows a convoy of official cars drive by night through the barren countryside with two suspects in custody and is ineffectively seeking the spot where they claim to have buried the third. The movie is not as much about the murder as it is about this search.

This existential drama had developed quite slowly, allowing the audience to absorb and understand the beautiful countryside and vignettes that wonderfully shed light on the different characters. What seems to be a simple task grows more and more complex; everything in the movie turns out to be more complicated than it first seems. Everyone seems to be guilty of something, so the film becomes a question not only of, will the body be found, but who is guilty of what? One could say that the film is too slow, but just as the team grows more and more tired, so are we as the viewers, participating in the fatigue of the team, drawn into the feelings of the characters.

Ceylan, did absolute wonders in creating a perfect ambiance for a night in rural sides of Turkey. Each character in the movie had something to say, had something to do in that search. It is very commendable the way different perspectives of different men from different fields are shown.

By its unique narrative structure, still camera, minimal dialogues and picture perfect images, Ceylan has his own style of cinematic narrative, that many on a commercial diet may not be able to digest; but he has this thorough knowledge of cinema as a medium. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia exhaustively connects with and lingers on with the audience long after the credits roll. This impeccably beautiful representation of the everyday, requires quite a lot patience and attention to details from its viewers, you will be rewarded at the end with a multi-layered, multi-nuanced narrative that raises some disturbing and provocative questions about the nature of “truth,” and why and how we go about finding and achieving it.

-Aaron Shapiro

Full details from Laemmle Theatres about this special one week screening for Once Upon A Time In Anatolia from director Nuri Bilge Ceylan

157 minutes * unrated * in Turkish with English subtitles * Turkey/Bosnia and Herzegovina * 2011

Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills
Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena
Town Center 5, 17200 Ventura Blvd., Encino
(310) 478-3836
www.laemmle.com

Film maker Ismaël Ferroukhi has decided to break the boundaries of film and politics with his new full length feature, Free Men. The film is about the true story of a Muslim man, Younes (played by ground-breaking French-Algerian actor Tahar Rahim), and his journey from black market salesman to nomadic peace-monger/freedom fighter. The idea of Muslims and Jewish people getting along is somewhat of a fantasy for some and for others a bleak reality check. Free Men has a marvelous script, which was also written by Ferroukhi, that integrates the beauty and passion of music into a everyday real world problems. Younes has been part of the black market for some time now and he is caught by police and agrees to become a spy of the Parisian mosque. It is there at the mosque, Younes witnesses a musical and vocal performance by Salim, a Jewish street performer. The power of music is especially strong in this story, as it mends the tension that is built between the character of Younes and Salim. The power of music also helps Younes ultimately realize that he is fighting against the cause with this government-installed spy job, and he soon stops collaborating with police in order to fight for what he truly believes in. Freedom.

FREE MEN opens Friday, March 23, 2012 at Landmark’s Nuart Theatre, showing through Thursday, March 29, 2012 for an exclusive one-week engagement. Showtimes (coming soon). Landmark’s Nuart Theatre is at 11272 Santa Monica Boulevard, just west of the 405 Freeway, in West Los Angeles. Program information: 310-281-8223; www.landmarktheatres.com

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Younes (Tahar Rahim)

Younes (Tahir Rahim) and Salim (Mahmoud Shalaby)

Younes (Tahar Rahim) and Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit (Michael Londsdale)

Leila (Lubna Azabal)

Younes (Tahar Rahim)

From Culver Center of the Arts (Film)

Metropolis

Director: Fritz Lang
Film Screening, February 24 & 25, 7:00 PM
Germany | 153 minutes | PG-13

Fritz Lang’s classic silent-film Metropolis presents a futuristic mega-city in which the elite live above the clouds in endless luxury and the working class toil and labor underground. The early sci-fi feature, notable for its innovations in camera technique and special effects, ultimately tells a love story in the wake of class struggle and technological oppression.

“For fans and scholars of the silent-film era, the search for a copy of the original version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis has become a sort of holy grail. One of the most celebrated movies in cinema history, the film had not been viewed at its full length-roughly two and a half hours-since shortly after its premiere in Berlin in 1927. The newly found footage adds 25 minutes. Now for the first time, Lang’s vision of a technologically advanced, socially stratified urban dystopia, which has influenced contemporary films like Blade Runner and Star Wars, seems complete and comprehensible.” – Larry Rohter / New York Times

One of the Top 100 Films in Cinematic History
Legacy of Cinema Restoration Award, Los Angeles Film Critics, 2010

For more information, and to purchase tickets, please visit: www.culvercenter.ucr.edu/film/

From The Cinefamily

ANIMATION BREAKDOWN: Harry Smith’s “Heaven And Earth Magic” (w/ live score by Flying Lotus!)

Tuesday, February 28th | 10:00pm (screening w/ original score at 7:45pm)

Cinefamily brings you two screenings of Harry Smith’s classic triumph of experimental animation: one with its original soundtrack, and another re-scored live by Flying Lotus (Warp Records)!

Reprising an unforgettable show commissioned for the Ann Arbor Film Festival, L.A.’s own Flying Lotus joins Animation Breakdown for a unique screening of animator/folk music archivist/string figure enthusiast/culture hound extraordinaire Harry Smith’s 66-minute animated collage film Heaven and Earth Magic. The marriage of Smith’s ‘50s folk art mindset and Flying Lotus’ genre-defying 21st century sound may seem at odds, but they are both equally brilliant alchemical cut-and-paste samplers of world culture — and as kindred as spirits can get. Heaven and Earth Magic is a testament to the ability of animators to act as magicians, breathing life into even the most static, eyeworn 19th-century imagery — and as Flying Lotus contributes audio from disparate yet familiar sources (drum machine, turntable, laptop, synthesizer), two giants of sampling unite across time, and Smith’s playful experiments are imbued with a new, positively cosmic energy. This is one-of-a-kind live pairing you are not likely to see again!

Heaven and Earth Magic Dir. Harry Smith, 1957-1962, 16mm, 66 min.

Tickets:
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– $12/free for members (live score show)
– $10/free for members (original soundtrack show)

Buy Tickets Tuesday, Feb 28th, 10:00pm (w/ live score by Flying Lotus!)

Buy Tickets Tuesday, Feb 28th, 7:45 (w/ original soundtrack)

Flying Lotus and Strangeloop perform a live score to “Heaven & Earth Magic” (Michigan Theater, 3/26/10)

Stony Island from director Andrew Davis

When it comes to reissue and rarity labels, there are few who enter the arena of integrity and strength of constant gem after gem being unearthed as Numero Group. Their expansion into the art and preservation of vintage film releases is now in full frution and the Los Angeles based Non profit Cinefamily is taking part with Numero Group for a very special film screening in this phase of Numero’s legacy. All of the following details are below, this is a film you have to see.

From The Cinefamily:

For the first time in 30 years, this classic slice of ‘70s Chicago storytelling comes to the big screen in 35mm, with director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) in person! Featuring a legion of legendary Chicago players (Gene Barge, Phil Upchurch, Larry Ball, Richie Davis, Tennyson Stephens, Ronnie Barron and a young Susanna Hoffs) alongside Dennis Franz and Rae Dawn Chong, Stony Island tells the story of a group of multiracial R&B performers, and how they’re affected by the death of a veteran musician from their circle. This super-rare film gives you a priceless look back at Chicago’s South Side neighborhood, at a time when very few films were made in within the city at all — and also contains a Medium Cool-inspired sequence filmed at Mayor Richard J. Daley’s funeral. Soon to be released this Spring 2012 on DVD/download for the first time, Stony Island is an incredible time capsule, and provides a sweetly funky soundtrack to boot. Andrew Davis will be here at the Cinefamily for a Q&A — and Numero Group DJs will be here to spin tunes both before and after the film!

Stony Island by director Andrew Davis
(first 35mm screening in 30 years, director Andrew Davis in person!)
Friday, February 10th | 10:30pm

Presented by The Numero Group. Co-presented by Cinespia. / 1978, 35mm, 97 min.

Tickets- $10/free for members

Buy Tickets

Watch a vintage TV commercial spot for “Stony Island”!

The Cinefamily is a member-supported 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Our mission: to foster a spirit of community and a sense of discovery, while reinvigorating the movie-going experience.

King of Devil's Island from director Marius Holst

The new year is upon us and the many highlights recent film festivals are seeing further exposure with screenings all over various theaters in the world. At Sound Colour Vibration, we centralize much of our promotional pieces for film screenings of this nature in California. Laemmle Theatres is one of the most cutting edge and inventive theaters out there and whenever we get promotional materials from Jordan Moore of the Lammle family, we are always blown away by the contents. This week was one of those times when they sent us press news for a film we had really wanted to get our hands on for awhile since we first got news of it. This film is Marious Holst’s psychological thriller King of Devil’s Island. Released in 2010, this film has seen rave reviews from many prestigious and underground outlets and is the latest directed release in the canon of Holst. Set in a correctional style facility for teen boys almost a century ago, the raw realities presented to these kids and the implications of morality that it reflected to its time and the human condition of the world at the time is emotionally startling. Lammle Theatres does a phenomenal job with their curation / production and they will be doing a special screening of King of Devil’s Island that starts on the 3rd of February. This film will screen multiple times a day for at least a week! Everyone I know who has seen this already tells me it is a must see film in theaters.

-Erik Otis

The following press statement was sent to Sound Colour Vibration from Jordan Moore of Lammle Theatres:

Laemmle Theatres and Film Movement are pleased to present the  Norwegian Academy award winner for Best Picture—KING OF DEVIL’S ISLAND.  This edge-of-your seat thriller from Norwegian filmmaker Marius Holst is based on the real-life story of a notorious reform school uprising in 1915 that forever altered the way juvenile delinquents are thought of and treated in Scandinavia. An official selection at the Rotterdam, Seattle and Edinburgh International Film Festivals, where it won a Best Breakthrough Performance Award for its young lead actor, KING OF DEVIL’S ISLAND stars Berlin Silver Bear award winner for Best Actor Stellan Skarsgård (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Good Will Hunting). KING OF DEVIL’S ISLAND will open at the Music Hall in Beverly Hills on Friday, February 3rd, 2012.

Bråthen (Kristoffer Joner)

This true story of the infamous Bastøy Boys Home correctional facility in Norway begins with the arrival of seventeen-year-old Erling (Benjamin Helstad), a rumored murderer.  He immediately clashes with the island facility’s governor (Stellan Skarsgård), who believes manual labor, rigid discipline, and harsh punishment are the only methods that can turn the boys into honorable members of society. Refusing to accept the constant abuse, Erling slowly rouses the rest of the boys out of their resigned existence, and encourages them to fight to lift up their spirits. When tragedy finally falls at the hand of the sadistic dorm master, Erling leads his comrades in a courageous and vicious rebellion that will bring them head to head with no less than the Norwegian Army.

This is a story that had been germinating in Marius Holst’s mind for a long time. He was inspired to film KING OF DEVIL’S ISLAND after speaking to a man who had been one of the boys on the island during the uprising.  From first learning of the tale, in his words, Holst “felt this was a story that begged to be made into film….[one that was] an epic and thrilling European drama, with both the tough, physical action of the story and its intimate portraits of the group of boys.” KING OF DEVIL’S ISLAND is both a personal film about a group of children changing their fate, as well as a universal story of the dangers of authoritarian regimes, isolated and unchecked by society at large.

Lammle Theatres opening screening on February 3, 2012 / Screening Details
Purchase the film from Film Movement

“Haunting! Skarsgård is excellent as always and moody atmospherics enchance the conventional structure.”
– Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

“Excellent! Marius Holst gives the proceedings a fresh look, thanks to his sturdy acting, direction and cinematography.”
– V.A. Musetto, New York Post

“Conceptually ambitious…[KING OF DEVIL'S ISLAND] evokes a blood-chilling climate of eternal winter.”
– Stephen Holden, The New York Times

King of Devil’s Island official trailer.

From Alive Mind Cinema and Laemmle Theatres:

In 1993, artist Anselm Kiefer left Buchen, Germany for La Ribaute, a derelict silk factory near Barjac, a town in the south of France. Sophie Fiennes’ film sheds insight into the years that Kiefer spent there, engaged in a fervent process of artistic creation, in order to shape the estate according to his vision.

Laemmle Theatres and Kino Lorber Films are pleased to present “Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow”. A mesmerizing portrait of the artist Anselm Kiefer by acclaimed documentarian Sophie Fiennes (The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema), “Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow” is part tribute and part deconstruction; aided by beautiful widescreen cinematography, Fiennes captures the majesty of Kiefer’s architectonic installations alongside observational footage of his work process. The exclusive Los Angeles engagements begin January 6 at the Playhouse/Pasadena, the Monica 4/Santa Monica and the Blvd. Cinema/Lancaster.

Critical Acclaim

“Fiennes…has created something difficult and distinctive in “Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow” – a work of art that itself acts as a pathway into another artist’s work. [...] “A mesmerizing spectacle [...] a trip you’ll never forget” – Andrew O’Hehir, Salon

“A dreamlike visual statement…” – Steve Dollar, The Wall Street Journal

“Quite unlike anything we’ve ever seen before” – Christopher Bell, The Playlist

“…this film is probably the best way to visit [Kiefer's] vision” – Nora Lee Mandel, Film-forward.com

“A major accomplishment, the rare non-fiction film that pulls off the feat of revealing the complexity of its subject.” – Tom Hall, IndieWIRE

“A film of austere beauty” – Maggie Lee, The Hollywood Reporter

“Four stars! A deeply serious meditation on artistic practice and expression.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian (UK)

Photo from Kino Lorber, Inc

Photo from Kino Lorber, Inc

Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow
Directed by Sophie Fiennes
Produced by Emilie Blezat, Kees Kasander, Sophie Fiennes
An Alive Mind Cinema Release

105 minutes * unrated * in German with English subtitles * Germany/France * 2010

Playhouse 7
673 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena
(626) 844-6500

Monica 4
1332 Second St.
Santa Monica
(310) 478-3836

Blvd. Cinema
742 W. Lancaster Blvd.
Lancaster
(661) 726-1537

Official Trailer

laemmle.com
laemmlelancaster.com

Anselm Kiefer and Sophie Fiennes - La Ribeaute photo by Anton Corbijn. Photo courtesy of Kino Lorber, Inc