Our long-running Culture Vulture series continues every Saturday and Sunday morning and Monday evening at our Claremont, Glendale, Newhall, Encino, and Santa Monica theaters.
April 5-7: Far Out: Life on and After the Commune ~ In 1968, a group of radical journalists leave the city and politics to live communally as organic farmers. The film examines their lives and return to the political world and how the commune became a community.
April 12-14: In Search of Beethoven ~ The makers of In Search of Mozart return with a new feature-length bio-doc about Beethoven. Director Phil Grabsky brings together the world’s leading performers and experts on Beethoven to reveal new insights into the legendary composer.
April 19-21: Art for Everybody ~ Thomas Kinkade’s pastoral landscapes made him the most collected painter of all time — and the most despised. Following his shocking death, his family discovers a vault of never-before-seen paintings that upend his entire image, revealing a complex, multifaceted American artist.
April 26-28: Escape to Life: The Erika and Klaus Mann Story ~ Narrated by Corin Redgrave and Vanessa Redgrave as the voices of Klaus Mann and Erika Mann, Escape to Life: The Erika and Klaus Mann Story is the result of a remarkable pairing between fiction and nonfiction filmmakers Wieland Speck and Andrea Weiss. It depicts another remarkable relationship, that of Erika and Klaus Mann, the brilliant eldest children of German author Thomas Mann.
May 3-5: Vanya ~ Andrew Scott (Sherlock, Fleabag) brings multiple characters to life in Simon Stephens’ radical new version of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Hopes, dreams, and regrets are thrust into sharp focus in this one-man adaptation which explores the complexities of human emotions, directed by Sam Yates. Filmed live during its sold-out run in London’s West End.
May 10-12: Marcella ~ Marcella Hazan didn’t just teach Italian cooking—she changed the way America eats. Fearless, passionate, and exacting, she introduced authentic recipes to millions. Julia Child called Marcella “my mentor in all things Italian.” Featuring Jacques Pépin, Danny Meyer, April Bloomfield, and Lidia Bastianich, this intimate portrait reveals the bold woman who forever shaped home kitchens.
May 17-19: ADA: My Mother the Architect ~ Ada Karmi-Melamede is one of the most accomplished architects in the world, yet her work remains largely unrecognized beyond architectural circles. In the 1970s, she moved to New York from Israel, following her husband’s rising career, and spent the next 15 years balancing academia, large-scale public projects, and motherhood. In the early ’80s, after being denied tenure at Columbia, Ada left New York and her family for Israel where she designed landmarks such as the Supreme Court Building, the Open University, the Israel Institute for Democracy, and Ben Gurion University, among many others.
May 31-June 2: Michelangelo: Love and Death ~ Spanning his 89 years, Michelangelo: Love and Death takes a cinematic journey from the print and drawing rooms of Europe, through the great chapels and museums of Florence, Rome and the Vatican to explore the tempestuous life of Michelangelo. We go in search of a greater understanding of this most charismatic figure, his relationship with his contemporaries and his valuable artistic legacy.
June 7-9: A Streetcar Named Desire ~ Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, The Crown), Vanessa Kirby (The Crown), and Ben Foster (Lone Survivor) lead the cast in Tennessee Williams’ timeless masterpiece, returning to cinemas. As Blanche’s fragile world crumbles, she turns to her sister Stella for solace – but her downward spiral brings her face to face with the brutal, unforgiving Stanley Kowalski. From visionary director Benedict Andrews, this acclaimed production was filmed live during a sold-out run at the Young Vic Theatre in 2014.
June 14-16: A Photographic Memory ~ How well can we know someone through the things they leave behind? Director Rachel Elizabeth Seed was only 18 months old when her mother, the world-travelling journalist Sheila Turner-Seed, died suddenly. Thirty years later, after she discovers more than 50 hours of audio interviews conducted by her mother, Seed hears her mother’s voice for the first time. Through a wealth of audio recordings, photographs and films, the filmmaker sets out to connect with her late mother while at the same time unveiling an invaluable archive of conversations with some of the most renowned photographers of the 20th century.
We’re still finalizing the Culture Vulture schedule beyond that, but we do have two other terrific titles locked in for July and September:
July 5-7: Heartworn Highways ~ In the mid 1970s, filmmaker James Szalapski documented the then-nascent country music movement that would become known as “outlaw country.” Inspired, in part, by newly long-haired Willie Nelson’s embrace of hippie attitudes and audiences, a younger generation of artists including Townes Van Zandt, David Allan Coe, Steve Earle and Guy Clark popularized and developed the outlaw sound. It borrowed from rock, folk and bluegrass, with an edge that was missing from mainstream Nashville country. This newly restored documentary includes rarely captured performances of these musicians as they perfected this then-new style and helped change the course of country music history.
September 27-29: Inter Alia ~ Oscar-nominated Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, Saltburn) is Jessica in the much-anticipated next play from the team behind Prima Facie. Jessica Parks is a smart Crown Court Judge at the top of her career. Behind the robe, she is a karaoke fiend, a loving wife and a supportive parent. When an event threatens to throw her life completely off balance, can she hold her family upright? Writer Suzie Miller and director Justin Martin reunite following their global phenomenon Prima Facie, with this searing examination of modern motherhood and masculinity.