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Please support
the Avon Theatre Film Center!
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Saturday & Sunday,
February 4-5, 11-12, 18-19, 25-26 at 11:00 a.m.
Featuring films from various Oscar® categories including live action, animated and documentary shorts.
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February 4
OSCAR®-NOMINATED FILM FESTIVAL
Beginners
Nominated for: Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Plummer)
Saturday, February 4 – 11:00 am
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ABOUT THE FILM: When it comes to relationships, we’re all beginners.
From writer/director Mike Mills comes Beginners, a comedy/drama about how deeply funny and transformative life can be, even at its most serious moments.
Beginners imaginatively explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver (Golden Globe Award nominee Ewan McGregor). Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna (Mélanie Laurent of Inglourious Basterds) only months after his father Hal Fields (Academy Award nominee Christopher Plummer) has passed away.
This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father, who, following the death of his wife of 45 years, came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life – which included a younger boyfriend, Andy (Goran Visnjic of ER). The upheavals of Hal’s new honesty, by turns funny and moving, brought father and son closer than they’d ever been able to be. Now Oliver endeavors to love Anna with all the bravery, humor, and hope that his father taught him.
At once deeply personal and universal, Beginners was inspired by Mike Mills’ own father and is meant in turn to inspire everyone weighing their chances and choices in life and love.
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February 4
AVON RED CARPET FESTIVAL
RED CARPET GALA
Saturday, February 4
6:30 pm – 11:30 pm
L’escale at the Delamar | Greenwich Harbor
500 Steamboat Road | Greenwich, CT
Gala tickets start at $375.
All Gala guests also receive both a:
- Free pass to the Avon Oscar®-Nominated Film Festival
- Free Ticket to the Oscar®-Night Party on Sunday, February 26.
To purchase tickets, call 203.661.0321
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Avon Award Presented to Susie Baker
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The red carpet Gala features:
- Glamorous Hollywood Attire
- Photos on the Red Carpet
- Cocktails and Lavish Hors D’oeuvres
- Gourmet Seated Dinner
- Music and Dancing to the Bob Hardwick Sound
- Silent Auction / Live Auction with auctioneer Gideon Fountain
- Photos by Stephane Kossmann from Samuel Owen Gallery
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February 5
OSCAR®-NOMINATED FILM FESTIVAL
A Better Life
Nominated for: Best Actor (Demián Bichir)
Sunday, February 5 – 11:00 am
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ABOUT THE FILM: Hardworking single father Carlos Galindo (Demian Bichir) lives life for a single purpose: to provide his teenage son with the opportunity for a better life. Director Chris Weitz (About a Boy) crafts a powerful, emotional and ultimately uplifting look at the heroic struggle of immigrants in their quest for the American dream.
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February 8
Documentary Night
Get Real!
Wise Women Speak
Q&A with the filmmaker Joni Steele Kimberlin
Wednesday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Members: $6 | Students/Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11
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ABOUT THE FILM: Get Real! Wise Women Speak features extraordinary women who speak about their journey to the wise woman years and the inner fire that propels them to use their wisdom and experience to change the world. Women showcased in the feature-length documentary include: Jane Fonda, Della Reese, Marianne Williamson, former Essence Magazine editor Susan L. Taylor, poet Nikki Giovanni, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, Buddhist nun Tenzin Palmo, and Nobel Laureate Jody Williams. Also featured are Indigenous elders Agnes Baker Pilgrim and Floredemayo (both of the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers), author Jean Shinoda Bolen, artist Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Stanford University expert on aging Laura Carstensen, anthropologist Angeles Arrien and peacemaker Vivian Castleberry. The film follows the journey a woman embarks upon as she transitions to the wise woman role and the vibrant and powerful way older women are contributing to society. By providing a counterpoint to the crass, superficial and inauthentic media portrayals of women that bombard us daily, the film hopes to inspire a more expansive concept of the totality and worth of a woman’s life -- at any stage or age. Marianne Williamson explains, “As we get older we shouldn’t be losing our magic. The more you know, the deeper you’ve moved into your own spirit, the more magic you have.” The film, which recently won a My Hero Project Film Festival First Place Award, The Soho International Film Festival Audience Award, The Mission Award at the International Women’s Film and Art Festival, an Accolade Award of Excellence and an Honorable Mention from The L.A Int’l New Wave Film Festival is directed and produced by Joni Steele Kimberlin.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER: Joni Steele Kimberlin has worked in magazine and newspaper publishing as writer, editor, and sales manager and as a video editor. More recently, Joni co-produced and wrote the script for the award-winning PBS documentary Elizabeth Winthrop: All the Days of Her Life. Her latest project, Get Real! Wise Women Speak, is a feature-length documentary about the adventure, meaning and value of women’s lives as they age. She resides with her family in Greenwich, CT where she was awarded the YWCA Spirit of Greenwich Award in 2007 which recognized her philanthropic work for local and national organizations including, Audubon, The Boys and Girls Club, Greenwich Hospital and The Bruce Museum. She has also served on the Greenwich Conservation Commission. She is a founding director of the David Lynch Foundation. She also serves as a national director of the TM Program for Women and Girls. She is a certified SCUBA divemaster. She is married to Kevin Kimberlin, a venture capitalist. Together, they support Yaddo, a prominent artists' colony. They have three children.
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February 11
OSCAR®-NOMINATED FILM FESTIVAL
Animated Shorts
Saturday, February 11 – 11:00 a.m.
Tuesday, February 14 – 8:00 p.m.
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10 minutes – English – Patrick Doyon
ABOUT THE FILM: Every Sunday, it's the same old routine! The train clatters through the village and almost shakes the pictures off the wall. In the church, Dad dreams about his toolbox. And of course later Grandma will get a visit and the animals will meet their fate.
15 minutes – No Dialogue – William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
ABOUT THE FILM: Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) award winning author/illustrator William Joyce and co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and MGM Technicolor musicals. Morris Lessmore is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.
7 minutes – English – Enrico Casaroasa
ABOUT THE FILM: A fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family's most unusual line of work.
7 minutes – No Dialogue – Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
ABOUT THE FILM: When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we're left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.
13 minutes – English – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
ABOUT THE FILM: Calgary, 1909: an Englishman moves to the Canadian frontier, but is singularly unsuited to it. His letters home are much sunnier than the reality. Intertitles compare his fate to that of a comet.
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February 12
OSCAR®-NOMINATED FILM FESTIVAL
LIVE ACTION SHORTS
Sunday, February 12 – 11:00 a.m.
Tuesday, February 14 – 6:00 p.m.
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11 minutes – English – Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
ABOUT THE FILM: When Damian is forced to serve as an altar boy at an important mass in his local parish, he faces a difficult choice: conform to the status quo, or serve an extended ban from his life’s passion – football.
24 minutes – English/German – Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
ABOUT THE FILM: Director Max Zaehle, together with his Director of Photography Sin Huh, and wonderful actors Wotan Wilke Möhring and Julia Richter, succeed at making the moral dilemma faced by couples wishing to adopt emotionally palpable.
31 minutes – English/Gaelic – Terry George and Oorlagh George
ABOUT THE FILM: After 25 years in exile, Jim Mahon (Ciaran Hinds) returns to Ireland to show his American daughter Patty (Kerry Condon) his Belfast roots. But things don’t go as planned when she learns of a secret love triangle and a long lost best friend, Paddy (Conleth Hill). Their reconciliation leads to hilarious confusion. Directed by two time Oscar nominee Terry George, The Shore won Best Director and Best Actor at the Rhode Island Film Festival, and is nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award.
11 minutes – English – Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
ABOUT THE FILM: A neurotic inventor creates a time machine, only to get caught up travelling around yesterday.
25 minutes – Norwegian – Hallvar Witzø
ABOUT THE FILM: Everybody is going to die one day. Oskar, 70, is going to die in 6 days. He is now ready to forgive his brother for a disagreement years ago. Will he reach his brother, who he believes live on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, before it’s too late?
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February 16
FRENCH CINEMATHEQUE
Co-promoted by the Alliance Française of Greenwich
The Conquest
Thursday, February 16 – 7:30 pm
Carte Blanche: FREE | Avon & AFG Members: $6 | Students & Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11
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ABOUT THE FILM: The day is May 6, 2007, France’s run-up to the presidential elections. As the French people are getting ready to go to the polls to elect their new president, presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has shut himself away in his home. Though Sarkozy soon learns he has won the election, he is alone, gloomy and despondent. For hours he has been trying to reach his wife, Cécilia, to no avail. The last five years start to unfurl before our eyes, recounting Sarkozy’s unstoppable ascent to power, riddled with in-party backstabbing, media manipulation, riots, sarcastic confrontations and extra-marital affairs.
THE CONQUEST chronicles the volatile right-leaning Sarkozy’s startling rise to become President of France and the emotional and psychological stakes involving the conquest of power. On the day the diminutive Sarkozy conquered his ultimate ambition, his wife – who for twenty years had struggled to pull the man she loved from the shadow into the light – walked out on him for another man.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
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February 18
OSCAR®-NOMINATED FILM FESTIVAL
Rango
Nominated for: Best Animated Feature Film
Saturday, February 18 – 11:00 am
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ABOUT THE FILM: A pet chameleon who has lived his entire life in the confines of a cozy glass terrarium discovers adventure beyond his wildest imagination in this animated Western adventure from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski. When we first meet Rango (voice of Johnny Depp), the sheltered pet chameleon is safe in his terrarium, and embarking on epic adventures through the power of imagination. Then, suddenly, his safe existence is irrevocably upended thanks to a bump in the road that sends him soaring out of a car window and right onto the searing-hot asphalt of a desert highway.
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February 18
The Avon Theatre & The Unitarian Universalist Society in Stamford Present
A SEPARATION
THE BEST REVIEWED FILM OF THE YEAR OPENS AT THE AVON ON FEBRUARY 17TH
2012 Academy Award Nominee – Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Screenplay
2012 Golden Globe Winner – Best Foreign Language Film
Named Best Foreign Language Film by
the NY Film Critics Circle, National Society of Film Critics,
National Board of Review, & the London Critics Circle
Special post-film Q&A/panel discussion with
Ardeshir & Eleanor Ommani,
co-founders of the American Iranian Friendship Committee
Saturday, February 18 – 7:00 pm
Carte Blanche – FREE / Members - $6 / Nonmembers - $11
Advance tickets are on sale at the box office during showtimes,
or by calling 203-967-3660.
You can call our administrative office during daytime business hours at 203-661-0321 .
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ABOUT THE FILM: Set in contemporary Iran, A Separation is a compelling drama about the dissolution of a marriage. Simin wants to leave Iran with her husband Nader and daughter Termeh. Simin sues for divorce when Nader refuses to leave behind his Alzheimer-suffering father. Her request having failed, Simin returns to her parents' home, but Termeh decides to stay with Nader.
When Nader hires a young woman to assist with his father in his wife's absence, he hopes that his life will return to a normal state. However, when he discovers that the new maid has been lying to him, he realizes that there is more on the line than just his marriage.
ABOUT THE GUEST SPEAKERS: Ardeshir Ommani is an Iranian-born writer, political economist, and president of the American Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC). He co-founded AIFC in 2004 for the purpose of promoting trust, mutual understanding and peace between Americans and Iranians living in Iran and abroad. The AIFC supports dialogue that makes friendship possible between the people of the two nations.
Eleanor Ommani, a dual citizen (American/Iranian), is a retired New York City public school teacher and co-founder of AIFC. The Ommanis live in Westchester County.
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February 19
OSCAR®-NOMINATED FILM FESTIVAL
Documentary Shorts
Sunday, February 19 – 11:00 a.m.
Tuesday, February 21 – 7:30 p.m.
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THE BARBER of BIRMINGHAM: FOOT SOLDIER of the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
25 minutes – USA – Gail Dolgin and Robin Fryday
ABOUT THE FILM: Mr. James Armstrong is a barber, a “foot soldier” and a dreamer whose barbershop in Birmingham, Alabama has been a hub for haircuts and civil rights since 1955. “The dream” of a promised land, where dignity and the right to vote belongs to everyone is documented in photos, headlines and clippings that cram every inch of wall space (and between the mirrors). 85-years-young, jauntily wearing a bowtie and suspenders, Mr. Armstrong will cut your hair while recounting his experiences as a “foot soldier”, citing the pictures on his wall as he does. In March 1965, civil rights activists began a march from Selma to Montgomery calling for voting rights. Mr. Armstrong, an Army Veteran, was the proud bearer of the American flag in that march, and it’s said that even as state troopers tear-gassed the crowd and beat marchers with billy clubs, he held the flag high. On the annual commemoration of Bloody Sunday he carries that flag. He used his barber chair to educate: “If you want a voice, you have to vote; you can’t complain about nothing if you don’t vote.” Despite threats to his life and home, his two sons were the first to integrate an all white elementary school. “Dying isn’t the worst thing a man can do. The worst thing a man can do is nothing.” No one can accuse Mr. Armstrong of doing nothing; and on the eve of the election of the first African-American president, THE BARBER OF BIRMINGHAM sees his unimaginable dream come true.
GOD IS THE BIGGER ELVIS
Rebecca Cammisa & Julie Anderson
This film will not be screened in the documentary shorts program due to licensing rights issues.
INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD
25 minutes – USA – James Spione
ABOUT THE FILM: One of the most notorious incidents of the Iraq War - the July 2007 slayings of two Reuters journalists and a number of other unarmed civilians by US attack helicopters - is recounted in the powerful testimony of an American infantryman whose life was profoundly changed by his experiences on the scene. US Army Specialist Ethan McCord bore witness to the devastating carnage, found and rescued two children caught in the crossfire, and soon turned against the war that he had enthusiastically joined only months before. Denied psychological treatment in Iraq for his PTSD, McCord returned home, struggling for years with anger, confusion, and guilt over the war. When WikiLeaks released the stunning cockpit video of the incident, McCord was finally spurred into action, and began traveling the country, speaking out for the rights of PTSD sufferers against the American wars in the Middle East.
SAVING FACE
40 minutes – Pakistan/USA – Daniel Junge, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
ABOUT THE FILM: Every year hundreds of people -- mostly women -- are attacked with acid in Pakistan. The HBO Documentary SAVING FACE, which premiers March 8 at 8:30 PM PT, follows several of these survivors, their fight for justice, and a Pakistani plastic surgeon who has returned to his homeland to help them restore their faces and their lives.
THE TSUNAMI AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOM
39 minutes – Japan/USA – Lucy Walker
ABOUT THE FILM: Survivors in the areas hardest hit by Japan's recent tsunami find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins.
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February 23
Cult Classics
Dr. No
James Bond, 007 in his big screen debut
Thursday, February 23 at 9:00 p.m.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Members: $6 | Students/Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11
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ABOUT THE FILM: British Secret Service Agent 007 James Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and his secretary. Upon his arrival, Bond experiences attempts on his life through an automobile crash, by means of a tarantula, and by seduction by Miss Taro. Bond, aided by the American CIA agent Felix Leiter, links the murders to Dr. No, a mad scientist operating from Crab Key; and despite the natives' fear of the key because of the legend of a fire-breathing dragon, he persuades Quarrel, a black man, to transport him there and assist him in the investigation. Landing, they encounter Honey, a blonde, bikini-clad, shell-hunter; and after they are spotted by Dr. No's patrol boat, Bond persuades Honey to join them. Trying frantically to escape, they are cornered by a flamethrowing tank (the dragon of the legend), which kills Quarrel. Bond and Honey are captured and imprisoned in Dr. No's secret base, where they learn of his experiments to divert the course of rockets fired from Cape Canaveral. Bond escapes from his cell by means of a ventilator shaft and intercepts Dr. No just as he is ready to deflect another rocket. In a death struggle, Dr. No is killed, and Bond flicks every switch in the laboratory; but before the final explosion, he rescues Honey and they escape in a motor launch. –-tcm.com
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February 25
OSCAR®-NOMINATED FILM FESTIVAL
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Nominated for:
Best Actor (Gary Oldman),
Best Adapted Screenplay, & Best Music (Original Score)
Saturday, February 25 – 11:00 am
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ABOUT THE FILM: Set in the 1970s, TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY finds George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a recently retired MI6 agent, doing his best to adjust to a life outside the secret service. However, when a disgraced agent reappears with information concerning a mole at the heart of the Circus, Smiley is drawn back into the murky field of espionage. Tasked with investigating which of his trusted former colleagues has chosen to betray him and their
country, Smiley narrows his search to four suspects - all experienced, urbane, successful agents - but past histories, rivalries and friendships make it far from easy to pinpoint the man who is eating away at the heart of the British establishment.
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February 26
OSCAR®-NOMINATED FILM FESTIVAL
My Week With Marilyn
Nominated for:
Best Actress (Michelle Williams),
Best Supporting Actor (Kenneth Branagh)
Saturday, February 26 – 11:00 am
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ABOUT THE FILM: In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark, just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of 'The Prince and the Showgirl'. The film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. Nearly 40 years on, his diary account The Prince, the Showgirl and Me was published, but one week was missing, published some years later as My Week with Marilyn. When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Colin to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work.
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February 26
AVON RED CARPET FESTIVAL
OSCAR®-NIGHT LIVE
Hosted by Billy Crystal
Sunday, February 26 at 7:00 p.m.
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM: Join The Avon Theatre as we celebrate the 84th annual Academy Awards with a live Oscar® telecast on The Avon’s big screen direct from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The evening will feature photographs on the red carpet, sumptuous food and drinks, a live Oscar® telecast, Oscar® ballots and prizes and festive Hollywood attire. The Avon Award will be presented to Terry & Diana Betteridge. To purchase tickets, call 203.661.0321.
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March 1
Shelley Archives Presents
Legends of Rock Live
Neil Young
Rare Clips (1967-1985)
Hosted by Music Archivist Bill Shelley
Thursday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Members: $6 | Students/Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11 |
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ABOUT THE FILM: From such popular songs like “For What It’s Worth” and “Mr. Soul” (with Buffalo Springfield) to such hits as “My, My, Hey, Hey” “Heart of Gold” “Old Man” “Like a Hurricane” and “Cinnamon Girl” Neil Young has repeatedly proven why his musical talent is so popular with so many people. His instrumental, composing, and performing talents make compelling arguments as to why this compilation of performance clips of Young is a “must-see.” This show will include footage from 1970’s concerts, television appearances, and rare performance clips from Crosby Stills, Nash and Young. Don’t miss out!
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ABOUT BILL SHELLEY: As a filmmaker, Bill Shelley has been shooting professionally since the 1970s when he captured on film and video bands such as Twisted Sister, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts playing in small bars before they became famous. Shelley later associated with rap group Public Enemy (PE), going on to direct a number of their videos and become an honorary member of PE’s African American Media Network cable television studio. Shelley Archives was started in 1985. After working with Readers Digest Entertainment in 1990, the company’s end product was nominated for an Emmy in 1993 for the three-part series “Legends of Comedy.” The program was broadcast on the Disney cable network and home video sales exceeded a record-breaking 1 million copies sold. Today the company has over 100,000 reels of original 35mm and 16mm films in its archives and over 10,000 hours of rare concerts, television shows, promos, interviews, out-takes and home movies from a wide-ranging variety of subjects. The company has licensed them to numerous documentary projects throughout the world. Preservation of films and music clips is a main focus of the organization, as well as the desire to compensate the artists.
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March 6
SNEAK PREVIEW
ALL IN: THE POKER MOVIE
Featuring a Q&A with filmmakers,
Douglas Tirola, Susan Bedusa & Danielle Rosen following the screening!
Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Avon Members: $6 | Students & Seniors: $8 | Non-Members: $11
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ABOUT THE FILM: ALL IN: THE POKER MOVIE tells the story of the worldwide poker boom that started in the underground clubs of New York City and went on to be played at homes and casinos all around the globe, as well as becoming a fixture on TV. The film takes us up through early 2012, including the front-page story of how the US Government seized the three largest poker websites in the world. This controversial action cut off the ability for millions to play and for many to make a living. The film features interviews with many well-known social commentators and poker luminaries such as Matt Damon, Ira Glass (NPR), Doris Kearns Goodwin (Pulitzer Prize Winner) and Kenny Rogers. It also features most of the world’s most famous professional poker players, including Chris Moneymaker, Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS:
Doug Tirola, Director: As President of 4th Row Films Douglas Tirola has produced six documentary films in the past four years, two of which he directed. These include HBO's An Omar Broadway Film (Tribeca Film Festival) and Kati with an I (NY Times Critic's Pick and Gotham Award Nominee). Making the Boys (NY Times Critic's Pick) premiered at Berlin International Film Festival. Fake It So Real (Critics Pick New Yorker and New York Magazine). All In – The Poker Movie premiered at Cinevegas where it won Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary. Doug has worked as a screenwriter for Paramount, Universal, Fox, Warner Brothers, Sony, and New Line. He also created a division of 4th Row Films, which utilizes independent filmmakers to create branding films for Fortune 500 companies such as American Express, Pepsi, Diageo, and Ford. Doug's first job on a movie was as a production assistant on When Harry Met Sally.
Susan Bedusa, Producer: Susan is Vice President of Development at 4th Row Films, where she develops and produces feature films, documentaries and television. In the past four years, Susan has produced six feature docs: An Omar Broadway Film (HBO Documentary Films), Owning the Weather (IFC International), Making the Boys (First Run Features, NY Times Critic's Pick), Kati With an I (NY Times Critic's Pick), All In – The Poker Movie, and Fake It So Real. In television, Susan produced the MTV show The X-Effect, which ran on the channel for 3 seasons.
Danielle Rosen, Co-Producer: Danielle is Creative Executive at 4th Row Films. In the past five years she has served as associate producer on a number of feature length documentary films including HBO's An Omar Broadway Film, Making the Boys (First Run Features, NY Times Critic's Pick), Kati with an I (Gotham Award Nominee, NY Times Critic's Pick), and Fake It So Real (New Yorker and NY Magazine Critic's Picks).
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March 8
FRENCH CINEMATHEQUE
Co-promoted by the Alliance Française of Greenwich
A Selection of Award Winning
French Language Short Films
from Around the Globe
In celebration of the International Day of La Francophonie
Thursday, March 8
Reception - 6:30 pm
Film Screening - 7:30 pm
Panel discussion to follow.
Stay tuned for film selections and panelists.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Avon & AFG Members: $6 Students & Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM: The Alliance Francaise of Greenwich, CT, in partnership with The Avon Theatre in Stamford, CT, will celebrate La Francophonie with a selection of recent award winning French language short films from around the globe. There will be a post-film panel discussion with representatives from francophone countries. Ambassador Herman Portocarero, consul general of Belgium in New York will present the Belgian shorts. Selections include entries from France, Belgium, Canada and francophone Africa.
KIN (Belgium, 2011) Kin is an animated short film in Kinshasa that combines a series of characters around the theme of resourcefulness and recycling.
FUGUE (Belgium, 2011) Fugue is an animated film about a little guy who looks after a young plant by putting it in the sun. In a net, he captures a cloud to water the plant, but it escapes through the mesh.
SUNDAYS DIMANCHES (Belgium, 2011) A man tries to find ways to pass the time on a lazy Sunday.
SLEIGHT OF HAND TOUR DE PASSE PASSE (Cameroon, 2011) Three friends buy a pair of new shoes for very little money but when they open the package they discover a pair of old sandals.
LIGHTS IN THE NIGHT LUMIERE DANS LA NUIT (Canada, 2010) Filmed over night, it is about a period of two weeks shared between two friends.
TROTTEUR (Canada, 2011) A young outcast pits himself in a race against a raging locomotive.
MOKHTAR (Canada-Morrocco, 2011) The tale of a young boy who lives with his family of goatherds in a remote Morroccan village.
THE PIANO LE PIANO (New Caledonia, 2011) A bitter and lonely old man seems to love nothing except his piano.
GOOD BYE MANDIMA AU REVOIR MANDIMA (Zaire, 2010) Looking at an old photograph taken on the day of his family's departure from Zaire (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the early 1980s, a narrator is flooded with memories of a long-forgotten childhood in Africa.
ABOUT LA FRANCOPHONIE: Always celebrated during the month of March, French language and cultural festivities are held annually worldwide to commemorate the founding of La Francophonie (the French-speaking world) and to coincide with the International Day of La Francophonie on March 20.
We would like to thank Lucie Chabrol for curating this program and making it possible.
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March 13
Critic's Choice
Featuring The Metro Area’s Favorite Film Critics
BROADCAST NEWS
25TH Anniversary Screening
Starring William Hurt, Albert Brooks & Holly Hunter
Nominated for 7 Academy Awards
Hosted by film critic Nick Schager (Slant, Time Out New York)
Tuesday, March 13 - 7:30 p.m.
Carte Blanche – FREE / Members - $6 / Students & Seniors - $8 / Nonmembers - $11
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ABOUT THE FILM: Since the 1970s, the name James L. Brooks has been synonymous with intelligent television comedy—his shows are insightful about work and love and always plugged in to the zeitgeist. He is also a master storyteller of the big screen, and none of his films was more quintessentially Brooks than Broadcast News. This caustic look inside the Washington news media stars Holly Hunter, in her breakout role, as a feisty television producer torn between an ambitious yet dim anchorman (William Hurt) and her closest confidant, a cynical veteran reporter (Albert Brooks). Brooks’s witty, gently prophetic film is a captivating transmission from an era in which ideas on relationships and the media were rapidly changing.
ABOUT THE CRITIC: Nick Schager is a film critic for Slant magazine and Time Out New York as well as a columnist and features writer for the Independent Film Channel. His work has also appeared in, among other publications, The Village Voice, indieWire, Cinematical, The Independent, The Screengrab, PLANET magazine and SOMA magazine. A former magazine editor and 2004 graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, he has been a featured speaker at Columbia University as well as a guest on A&E's Biography and G4TV's Attack of the Show. He resides in Stamford, CT with his two daughters. |
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March 15
FRENCH CINEMATHEQUE
Co-promoted by the Alliance Française of Greenwich
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life (2008)
Thursday, March 15 - 7:30 pm
Carte Blanche: FREE | Avon & AFG Members: $6 | Students & Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11
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ABOUT THE FILM: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life portrays the life of a middle-class French family one character at a time, focusing on five pivotal moments that changed their lives and that of the family as a whole, starting with the day their son Albert (newcomer Pio Marmaï) moves out to live on his own. As events unfold for Marie-Jeanne, Robert and their three children, the film shows the consequences on the other members of the family and the way they relate to each other. Respectively playing daughter Fleur and son Raphaël, Déborah François and Marc-André Grondin were awarded a 2009 César for Most Promising Actress/Actor.
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March 28
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS:
DECONSTRUCTING THE BEATLES’ REVOLVER
Wednesday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m.
A multimedia journey through the recording studio with The Beatles.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Avon Members: $6 | Students & Seniors: $8 | Non-Members: $11
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“I found Scott Freiman’s Beatles presentation seamless and compelling…never ponderous or pedantic. His ability to integrate the visuals and the music made this prose writer jealous as hell.”
-- Jonathan Gould, author, Can't Buy Me Love
ABOUT THE PROGRAM: The Beatles’ Revolver is a groundbreaking album that routinely tops “Best Album” lists. In “Tomorrow Never Knows: Deconstructing The Beatles’ Revolver”, composer/producer and Beatles expert Scott Freiman takes music fans young and old on a journey through this remarkable album. The 1966 album launched a period of studio experimentation for the Beatles that coincided with the end of their concert performances. With memorable songs, such as “Eleanor Rigby”, “Yellow Submarine”, and “Tomorrow Never Knows”, the Beatles pushed popular music to a place it had never been. “As a composer and producer, I have always been fascinated by the Beatles innovations in songwriting and recording,” said Freiman. “It is truly exciting to listen to songs we know so well evolve from a home demo to a finished recording. There’s a reason why the Beatles’ music continues to strike a chord with new generations of fans, 40 years after their last recording.” Using rare audio and video clips, as well as anecdotes about the creation of the songs, “Tomorrow Never Knows: Deconstructing The Beatles’ Revolver”, explores the groundbreaking production techniques that went into producing this landmark piece of music history. In addition to many of the tracks from Revolver, Mr. Freiman will also explore the creation of two other songs recorded during the same time period, “Paperback Writer” and “Rain”.
ABOUT SCOTT FREIMAN: Scott Freiman combines his knowledge of The Beatles with a career as a composer, producer and educator. His original music has been featured in award-winning films and performed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Scott is the owner of Second Act Studio, a state-of-the-art music and video studio for composition, recording and production. Learn more about Beatles Lectures at www.beatleslectures.com. |
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March 29
Cult Classics
William Friedkin’s
The French Connection
There are no rules and no holds barred when Popeye Doyle cuts loose.
Thursday, March 29 at 9:00 p.m.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Members: $6 | Students/Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11
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ABOUT THE FILM: The French Connection (1971) is director William Friedkin's brilliant, fast-paced, brutally-realistic police/crime film - his commercial break-through film. The true-to-life film about the largest narcotics seizure of all time in 1962 - with an innovative semi-documentary-style technique that conveys the story with very few words, was produced by Phillip D'Antoni who had made the exciting police film Bullitt (1968).
The police thriller features an unsympathetic protagonist - the vulgar, brutal, tireless, unlikable, maniacal and sadistic Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) as the main undercover New York City narcotics cop, who toes the thin line between fighting crime and committing crimes himself. He passionately and obsessively pursues drug pushers with his partner Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Roy Scheider).
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April 5
Shelley Archives Presents
Legends of Rock Live
Queen In Concert
(1970s-1990s)
Hosted by Music Archivist Bill Shelley
Thursday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Members: $6 | Students/Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11 |
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ABOUT THE FILM: Come celebrate Queen and Freddie Mercury in rare concert clips, promo films, and television appearances. Songs include “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Are the Champions,” “Somebody to Love,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “You‟re My Best Friend,” and more! The dynamic ‟70‟s group Queen started out as a prog rock act, and with their contemporaries (Yes, ELP, Uriah Heap and Genesis). Queen paved their way to success with such great classics as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” and “Killer Queen.” Brian May and Freddie Mercury gave Queen a complex sound that often combined rock with the sounds of classical, gospel, funk, and jazz music. Queen‟s style of over the top costumes, high falsetto voices and special effects became part of their trademark. For more than twenty years, the group never slowed down. They recorded hit songs, including a collaboration with David Bowie on “Under Pressure” and albums, such as “A Night at the Opera” (1975) and “A Day at the Races” (1976). They also played huge arena stadiums all across the world, sold more than 300 million albums and had eighteen #1 singles. Queen was voted the Best Rock act of the ‟70‟s by Billboard Magazine.
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ABOUT BILL SHELLEY: As a filmmaker, Bill Shelley has been shooting professionally since the 1970s when he captured on film and video bands such as Twisted Sister, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts playing in small bars before they became famous. Shelley later associated with rap group Public Enemy (PE), going on to direct a number of their videos and become an honorary member of PE’s African American Media Network cable television studio. Shelley Archives was started in 1985. After working with Readers Digest Entertainment in 1990, the company’s end product was nominated for an Emmy in 1993 for the three-part series “Legends of Comedy.” The program was broadcast on the Disney cable network and home video sales exceeded a record-breaking 1 million copies sold. Today the company has over 100,000 reels of original 35mm and 16mm films in its archives and over 10,000 hours of rare concerts, television shows, promos, interviews, out-takes and home movies from a wide-ranging variety of subjects. The company has licensed them to numerous documentary projects throughout the world. Preservation of films and music clips is a main focus of the organization, as well as the desire to compensate the artists.
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April 11
Documentary Night
Carol Channing:
Larger Than Life
Post-film Q&A with Director/Writer/Producer
Dori Berinstein
Wednesday, April 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Members: $6 | Students/Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM: The story of legendary performer Carol Channing's life is as colorful as the lipstick on her big, bright smile. In CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE, director Dori Berinstein (ShowBusiness, Gotta Dance), with co-writer Adam Zucker, captures the magic and vivacity of the 90-year-old icon – both onstage and off...past and present.
The film is both an intimate love story and a rarefied journey inside Broadway's most glamorous era. It is, above all, a look at an inspiring, incomparable and always entertaining American legend.
ABOUT THE FILMAKER: Dori is a three-time Tony-winning Broadway producer and an award-winning director and producer of film and television. As an award-winning documentary filmmaker, Dori’s films include: Carol Channing: Larger Than Life; Gotta Dance, chronicling the debut of the first-ever, senior citizen hip-hop dance team for the NJ Nets; ShowBusiness: The Road To Broadway capturing a Broadway season behind-the-curtain and Some Assembly Required, following kids nationwide at a Toy Invention Competition. Her 11 Broadway productions include: Legally Blonde: The Musical (Olivier Award – Best Musical – London, Touring Broadway Award – Best Musical), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award), The Crucible (Tony Nomination), One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Tony Award), Fool Moon (Tony Award), Flower Drum Song (Tony Nomination), Enchanted April (Tony Nomination) and Golden Child (Tony Nomination). Dori is the 2009 recipient of Broadway’s Robert Whitehead Award for ‘outstanding achievement in commercial theatre producing’.
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April 19
FRENCH CINEMATHEQUE
Co-promoted by the Alliance Française of Greenwich
Tomboy
Thursday, April 19 – 7:30 pm
Carte Blanche: FREE | Avon & AFG Members: $6 | Students & Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11
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ABOUT THE FILM: There is definitely something boyish about ten-year-old Laure. She has recently moved to a new area with her parents and her little sister, Jeanne. It’s summertime and all the other neighborhood children are playing outside. Only Laure is alone, because she doesn’t know anyone her own age.
One day, she meets Lisa, who is ten also. Laure allows her new acquaintance to believe that she is a boy. Laure becomes Mikaël. As soon as she has transformed herself, she begins playing with all the other neighborhood children. As time passes, Laure’s relationship to Lisa becomes increasingly close, making the ambiguity of her situation ever more complicated.
Director Céline Sciamma is part of a new generation of filmmakers in France. In an interview with “Cineuropa” in August 2007, she comments, “I became a cinephile as a result of young French cinema of the 90s: Desplechin, Lvovsky, Rochant. But I like Gus Van Sant and Larry Clark a lot, too, for their work on adolescence, not to forget David Lynch.”—BERLINALE
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April 24
Critic's Choice
Hosted by the metro area's favorite film critics
THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
Hosted by film critic John Anderson
Tuesday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Avon & AFG Members: $6 | Students & Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11 |
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ABOUT THE FILM: At the start of World War I, German imperial troops burn down Reverend Samuel Sayer’s mission in Africa. He is overtaken with disappointment and passes away. Shortly after his well-educated, snooty sister Rose Sayer (Hepburn) buries her brother, she must leave on the only available transport, a tired river steamboat The African Queen manned by the ill-mannered bachelor, Charlie Allnut (Bogart). Together they embark on a long, difficult journey, without any comfort. Rose grows determined to assist in the British war effort and presses Charlie until he finally agrees and together they steam up the Ulana encountering an enemy fort, raging rapids, bloodthirsty parasites and an endlessly branching stream which always seems to lead them to what appear to be impenetrable swamps. Despite opposing personalities, the two grow closer to each other and ultimately carry out their plan to take out a German warship.
ABOUT JOHN ANDERSON: John Anderson is a regular film critic for Variety, the Washington Post, and Newsday. His work appears regularly in the New York Times, and he has contributed to the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Film Comment, Artforum, the Village Voice, and Schizophrenia Digest. He is a past member of the selection committee of the New York Film Festival and the author of "Sundancing" (Avon), “Edward Yang” (University of Illinois) and, with Laura Kim, “I Wake Up Screening” (Billboard Books). With David Sterritt, he edited “The B List,” the most recent book by the National Society of Film Critics. He is a member and two-time past chair of the New York Film Critics Circle, and a member of the National Society of Film Critics.
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April 26
Cult Classics
Brian De Palma’s
Scarface (1983)
He loved the American Dream. With a Vengeance.
Thursday, April 26 at 9:00 p.m.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Members: $6 | Students/Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11
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ABOUT THE FILM: When Castro opened the port at Mariel Harbor, thousands of Cubans fled to the United States. One is a young tough named Antonio (Tony) Montana, who, with his friend Manny Ray, starts in with Miami's cocaine trade. He survives attack by chainsaw after a deal goes bad, and several other attempts by other dealers to eliminate him. Eventually the grandiose Montana becomes head of a cocaine cartel. But his enemies start coming after him, and his paranoia threatens to drive Montana's empire into the ground. –Derek O’Cain
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May 3
Shelley Archives Presents
Legends of Rock Live
Frank Sinatra
Hosted by Music Archivist Bill Shelley
Thursday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Members: $6 | Students/Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11 |
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM: Frank Sinatra, The Chairman of the Board, returns in a rare film clip retrospective celebrating his musical legacy in the recording industry, live concert venues, television, and motion pictures. This program will focus upon his work from the 1940’s until the 1980’s. Some of the featured work will include the following songs: “Young at Heart,” “Strangers in the Night,” “My Way,” “New York, New York,” “It Was a Very Good Year,” “That’s Life,” “High Hopes,” “Lady Is a Tramp,” and many more. There will be concert, television and movie excerpts, including songs from Pal Joey, Hole in the Head, Young at Heart, On the Town, Robin and the 7 Hoods, and High Society. These performances show Sinatra on his own and with the following artists: Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, Harry James and His Orchestra, and even with Elvis. This event is a treat for all ages, with talent, good music, and escape from the cares of the day.
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ABOUT BILL SHELLEY: As a filmmaker, Bill Shelley has been shooting professionally since the 1970s when he captured on film and video bands such as Twisted Sister, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts playing in small bars before they became famous. Shelley later associated with rap group Public Enemy (PE), going on to direct a number of their videos and become an honorary member of PE’s African American Media Network cable television studio. Shelley Archives was started in 1985. After working with Readers Digest Entertainment in 1990, the company’s end product was nominated for an Emmy in 1993 for the three-part series “Legends of Comedy.” The program was broadcast on the Disney cable network and home video sales exceeded a record-breaking 1 million copies sold. Today the company has over 100,000 reels of original 35mm and 16mm films in its archives and over 10,000 hours of rare concerts, television shows, promos, interviews, out-takes and home movies from a wide-ranging variety of subjects. The company has licensed them to numerous documentary projects throughout the world. Preservation of films and music clips is a main focus of the organization, as well as the desire to compensate the artists.
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May 31
Cult Classics
Jim Henson’s
Labyrinth
Where everything seems possible and nothing is what it seems.
Thursday, May 31 at 9:00 p.m.
Carte Blanche: FREE | Members: $6 | Students/Seniors: $8 | Nonmembers: $11
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ABOUT THE FILM: Labyrinth is a 1986 British-American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson, produced by George Lucas, and based off concept designs by Brian Froud. The film stars David Bowie as Jareth and Jennifer Connelly as Sarah. The plot revolves around Sarah's quest to reach the center of an enormous otherworldly maze to rescue her infant brother Toby, who has been kidnapped by Jareth, the Goblin King. With the exception of Bowie and Connelly, most of the significant characters in the film are played by puppets produced by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
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