A NEW CHRISTMAS filmmakers Travis Hodgkins (writer/producer), Rashaana Shah (producer), Anil Mohin (associate producer) and Heather Maggi (editor) will participate in a Q&A following the 7:50 pm show on Friday, 12/6.
HALA Q&A with Filmmaker Opening Weekend at the Monica Film Center.
HALA Q&A with director Minhal Baig following the 7:20 pm show on Saturday, 11/23.
https://youtu.be/4aS-qGHH6E0
Ahrya Fine Arts Theater News: 25th Anniversary Screening of THE LAST KLEZMER, New Operator, Israel Film Festival,
The propulsive Jewish folk music known as klezmer that was played by itinerant bands throughout Eastern Europe before World War II has earned many sobriquets, among them “Jewish jazz.” The pumping rhythms, modal harmonies and cantorial cry of this European roots music have filtered into countless Broadway musicals. Probably no one did more to perpetuate klezmer traditions, especially in Europe, than Leopold Kozlowski, the subject of Yale Strom’s absorbing 1994 documentary The Last Klezmer. Strom will participate in a Q&A and play his violin following a 1:00 pm screening on Sunday, November 3rd at the Fine Arts in Beverly Hills.
In other Fine Arts news, on November 1 Laemmle Theatres will cease operation of the theater, turning the facility over to Screening Services Group. SSG will return the theater to its longtime name, the Fine Arts Theatre. Laemmle operated the Fine Arts from 1985 to 1994 and again from September 2015 until now. Laemmle Theatres President Greg Laemmle said, “It has been our privilege to show movies at this beautiful single-screen theater and we’re happy that Screening Services Group will continue to maintain it as a destination for Los Angeles cinephiles.”
According to CinemaTreasures.org, the Fine Arts first opened in April 1937 as the Wilshire Regina, with seating for 800.
Longtime Beverly Hill resident Shawn Far purchased the theater in May of 2015. He has a great respect for historical buildings and owns several in the Los Angeles area. The theater was closed from 2010 to 2015 and once Mr. Far purchased it he began renovations using a state-of-the-art Digital Cinema system including a fully equipped 3D system as well as 35mm and 70mm projectors.
Screening Services Group is an excellent screening room operator in the Los Angeles area, operating three screening rooms in Beverly Hills and one in West LA. The Fine Arts Theatre will be operated as a public movie theatre and a special venue for movie premieres and other special events.
The theatre will host Israel Film Festival next month, and tickets will still be available on the Laemmle website once the schedule is finalized. We hope to continue working with SSG on Sing-Along Fiddler on the Roof Christmas Eve screenings (2019 host TBA) and other programs into 2020. Onward!
Fantastic Fungi Opening Weekend Q&A’s with Filmmaker and Special Guests at the Monica Film Center.
FANTASTIC FUNGI Q&A’s after select showtimes.
10/25 – Fri., 5:20pm Director Louie Schwartzberg, Ryan Munevar, Decriminalize CA and Ashley Booth, Aware Project
7:40pm Director Louie Schwartzberg, Ryan Munevar, Decriminalize CA, Ashley Booth, Aware Project, Brad Adams, Los Angeles Medicinal Plant Society, and Tara Rodriquez, PsychedeliciA Integration
10/26 – Sat., 7:40pm Director Louie Schwartzberg Andy Lipkis, Founder of TreePeople
10/27 – Sun, 5:20pm Director Louie Schwartzberg, Andy Lipkis Founder of TreePeople, Michael Martinez, Founder of L.A Compost and Jonathan Palfrey, Executive Director, Climate Resolve
THE NATURAL 35th Anniversary Screening and Q&A with Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel & Screenwriter Roger Towne.
At the climax of baseball season, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a screening of the film regarded as one of the greatest of all baseball movies, Barry Levinson’s THE NATURAL.
Adapted from the acclaimed 1952 novel by Bernard Malamud, the film earned four Academy Award nominations in 1984: Best Supporting Actress Glenn Close, Best Cinematography Caleb Deschanel, Best Musical Score Randy Newman and Best Art Direction.
The beautiful, impeccably designed recreation of an earlier era in American sports history also scored at the box office. Robert Redford plays the title character, and the all-star cast also includes Robert Duvall, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley, Barbara Hershey, Richard Farnsworth, and Joe Don Baker.
Malamud’s story, adapted for the screen by Roger Towne and Phil Dusenberry, tells the story of a young baseball prodigy named Roy Hobbs (Redford) who travels from his bucolic Midwestern home to try out for the Chicago Cubs. On his journey he is assaulted by a mysterious woman, and disappears for some 15 years. When he reappears and tries out for a New York team, the owners and manager are skeptical that a middle-aged man can ever succeed in the majors. But Roy’s skills as a slugger silence the skeptics and encourage the owners to give him a shot. His rise to the top is complicated by his romance with a rather shady woman (Basinger) and by the reappearance of his childhood sweetheart (Close), who has a surprise revelation that disorients Roy.
In addition to the rousing baseball scenes and the poignant personal story, the film captivates as a lush evocation of a more innocent American past. Cinematographer Deschanel, who had made his mark with his work on Carroll Ballard’s ‘The Black Stallion’ and Philip Kaufman’s ‘The Right Stuff,’ made a major contribution in bringing the era to life. Levinson also made an unconventional choice in selecting new composer Randy Newman to create the rousing symphonic score.
Although the filmmakers altered the dark ending of Malamud’s novel, they retained his piercing insights into some of the contradictions of the American character. The film earned mixed reviews at the time, but its reputation has grown. James Berardinelli of ReelViews called THE NATURAL “arguably the best baseball movie ever made,” and ESPN also called it one of the best sports movies of all time. On its original release Gene Siskel declared, “Redford scores in an uplifting celebration of the individual.”
Deschanel has earned six Oscar nominations over the course of his career. In addition to nominations for THE NATURAL and ‘The Right Stuff,’ he was cited for his work on Mel Gibson’s blockbuster, ‘The Passion of the Christ,’ and for ‘The Patriot,’ ‘Fly Away Home,’ and last year’s Oscar nominee for best foreign language film, ‘Never Look Away.’ This year Deschanel shot Disney’s smash-hit live-action version of ‘The Lion King.’
Our 35th anniversary presentation of THE NATURAL (1984) and Q&A with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and screenwriter Roger Towne screens Thursday, October 24, at 7PM at the Royal in West LA. Click here for tickets.
Format: DCP
THE PORTAL Q&A’s with Filmmakers and Special Guests Opening Weekend at the Monica Film Center.
THE PORTAL Q&A’s after select showtimes.
Friday 11/1 5:20pm
Tom Cronin – Producer and Co-Writer
Jacqui Fifer – Director, Producer and Co-Writer
Heather Hennessy – Film Subject
Amandine – Film Subject
Friday 11/1 7:40pm
Tom Cronin – Producer and Co-Writer
Jacqui Fifer – Director, Producer and Co-Writer
Heather Hennessy – Film Subject
Saturday 11/2 5:20pm
Tom Cronin – Producer and Co-Writer
Jacqui Fifer – Director, Producer and Co-Writer
Heather Hennessy – Film Subject
Amandine – Film Subject
Saturday 11/2 7:40pm
Tom Cronin – Producer and Co-Writer
Jacqui Fifer – Director, Producer and Co-Writer
Heather Hennessy – Film Subject
GOING ATTRACTIONS, a Love Letter to Historic Movie Theaters, to Premiere October 24 at Our Historic Ahrya Fine Arts with Director & Expert Q&A’s.
Laemmle Theatres and the Culture Vulture series present GOING ATTRACTIONS: The Definitive Story of the Movie Palace, a tribute to the spectacular monuments created as temples for the enjoyment of movies.
The film’s L.A. run kicks off Thursday, October 24 with the world theatrical premiere at the historic Ahrya Fine Arts, followed by a discussion with filmmaker April Wright and subject Escott O. Norton, executive director of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation. Several of the film’s other subjects will be in attendance as well!
Other countries built palaces for royalty. In the United States, we built them to watch movies.
Following the premiere, GOING ATTRACTIONS will play for a week, from October 25-31, at the Music Hall (showtimes here), and Monday, October 28 & Tuesday, October 29 at four additional Laemmle theatres — the Claremont, Playhouse, Royal and Town Center — as part of the Culture Vulture series (see list of shows and ticketing links below).
GOING ATTRACTIONS captures the splendor and grandeur of the great historic cinemas of the U.S., built when movies were the acme of entertainment and the stories were larger than life, as were the venues designed to show them: Giant screens, thousands of seats, ornate interiors, amazing marquees, in-house organs and orchestras, and air conditioning back when peoples’ homes had none. The film also tracks the eventual decline of the palaces, through to today’s current preservation efforts — with a special focus on Los Angeles, which enjoys two separate historic theater districts (downtown and Hollywood).
“I feel passionately about both the text — these beautiful structures — and the subtext of GOING ATTRACTIONS, how we have changed so much in the past 50 years as a people in how we spend our time, socialize and experience entertainment,” director April Wright said. “Our content is personalized now, at our fingertips — but I fear we are losing something important by not having the local, communal experiences we used to have with our friends, families and fellow movie-going audiences.”
“Awesome and Wonderful!” — TC Kirkham, ECinemaOne

Culture Vulture screenings:
Claremont: |
Oct. 28, 7:30 pm |
Oct. 29, 1 pm |
Playhouse: |
Oct. 28, 7:30 pm |
Oct. 29, 1 pm |
Royal: |
Oct. 28, 7:30 pm |
Oct. 29, 1 pm |
Town Center: |
Oct. 28, 7:30 pm |
Oct. 29, 1 pm |
Speakers after three of the Culture Vulture screenings:
Director of Photography Fan Chao in Person for a Tribute Screening of the Chinese Masterpiece AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL.
On Sunday, October 27 at the Ahrya Fine Arts, we’ll screen one of the finest films of the year, AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL, in honor of its late creator. Set under the gloomy skies of a small town in northern China, the movie follows different protagonists whose lives are intertwined in a furious tale of nihilistic rage. Written, directed and edited by Hu Bo, it’s the novelist-turned-director’s first and only feature. On October 12, 2017, at the age of 29, he killed himself soon after completing the film. Based on a story with the same title from his 2017 novel Huge Crack, it premiered at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Best First Feature (Special Mention) and FIPRESCI prizes, nominations for Best First Feature and the C.I.C.A.E. awards and acclaim from other established directors such as Bela Tarr, Wang Bing, Ang Lee and Gus Van Sant. It went on to screen at prestigious festivals and cinemas around the world.

As a fellow Beijing Film Academy graduate and close friend of Hu Bo, cinematographer Fan Chao was one of his chief collaborators for much of Hu’s too-brief career. Fan worked on several of Hu’s short films and served as DP to AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL, for which Fan received a Best Cinematography nomination at the Golden Horse Awards (the Chinese language Oscars). Fan will be present for a post-screening Q&A.

One of the most talked about films this year, AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL is an intense epic drama sure to be remembered as a masterpiece and a landmark in Chinese cinema.

“Powerfully absorbing…an act of solemn, disciplined and passionate protest.” —A.O. Scott, The New York Times
“Should become an enduring classic…one of the greatest recent films.” —Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“This is a film of extraordinary beauty, invention, and grace.” —Jonathan Romney, Film Comment
Fan Chao’s travel is made possible through the generous support of the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation.
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