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Anniversary Classics: February Screenings include LA DOLCE VITA in Santa Monica, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? with George Segal in West LA

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We’re celebrating Oscar season with screenings of two Academy Award powerhouses in our continuing Anniversary Classics Series.

La Dolce VitaFirst, we offer a 55th anniversary screening of LA DOLCE VITA, one of the most influential of foreign films, and the recipient of 4 Academy Award nominations in 1961 – Best Director and Original Screenplay for Federico Fellini, Art Direction and Costume Design (an Oscar winner for Piero Gherardi). Fellini’s sardonic take on the decadence of Rome in the 1960s reverberated throughout modern film history, and heavily influenced the 2013 Oscar foreign-language winner THE GREAT BEAUTY. So cruise along the Via Veneto with Marcello Mastroianni, then take a dip in the Trevi Fountain with the voluptuous Anita Ekberg, and see it all at the sleekly elegant, newly re-opened Monica Film Center!

LA DOLCE VITA will screen on Tuesday, February 16 at 7:30 PM at the Monica Film Center in Santa Monica. Tickets on sale now at laemmle.com/ac.

Next, we look back 50 years to celebrate one of the most provocative films in cinema history – WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966). The film adaptation of playwright Edward Albee’s scathing dissection of a marriage was brought to the screen with most of its graphic dialogue intact due to the relaxation of the censorious Production Code in its fading, final gasp. VIRGINIA WOOLF garnered a near-record 13 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for tyro film director Mike Nichols, winning 5 Oscars including Elizabeth Taylor (Best Actress) and Sandy Dennis (Supporting Actress). The rest of the 4 character cast were also nominated: Richard Burton (Best Actor) and our special guest, George Segal (Supporting Actor) who will join us for a Q & A after the screening.

We are also presenting this screening as a tribute to the late Haskell Wexler who died late last year at the age of 93. Wexler won his first Oscar for filming VIRGINIA WOOLF in glorious black and white, an art form endangered by the mid-sixties.

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? with special guest George Segal will screen on Tuesday, February 23 at 7:00 PM at the Royal Theater in West LA. Tickets are on sale now at laemmle.com/ac.

Join the conversation in our Anniversary Classics Facebook Group.

Photo Gallery: The All New Laemmle Monica Film Center

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If you haven’t had a chance to visit our newly opened Monica Film Center, you’re missing out! It looks fantastic and fellow movie nerds have already said it feels like home.

But what’s a movie theater without movies, right? Well, we’re off to a great start on that front as well! The latest Coen brothers film HAIL, CAESAR! opens this Friday. TROUBLEMAKERS: THE STORY OF LAND ART also starts Friday and the film’s director will participate in a Q&A following the 7:20PM show opening night. ANOMALISA, THE LADY IN THE VAN, and THE 2016 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT DOCS will continue through next week. Thursday is the last day to catch the Oscar-nominated foreign films, THEEB and MUSTANG.

We invite you stop by if you’re in the neighborhood, even if you don’t have time to see a movie. Need more convincing? Take a look at these photos!

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L.A. Times Trio of Great Film Critics of Yore on the Trio of Taviani Classics at the Ahrya Fine Arts

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Today begins our one-week mini-retrospective, A Taviani Trio, which features three of the Italian brothers’ best-loved films, Kaos, The Night of the Shooting Stars, and Padre Padrone. Today, the L.A. Times published excerpts from their original, glowing reviews:

“”Padre Padrone” (“My Father, My Master”) is a work of art, a poetically realized piece of social realism that stands in the same relation to conventional movie entertainments as Picasso’s “Guernica” to a war bond poster.” (Charles Champlin, 1978)

“”The Night of the Shooting Stars” is a jagged, amazing film, both breathtaking and satisfying at times…the Tavianis seem to have transcended their own material…to create an extraordinary film, both as harsh as that sunlit battlefield and as fanciful as a child’s imagination.” (Sheila Benson, 1983)

“In “Kaos,” Paolo and Vittorio Taviani make us feel that they have revealed the very soul of Sicily in their superb rendering of several tales by Luigi Pirandello…In collaboration not only with Guerra but also composer Nicola Piovani and cameraman Giuseppe Lanci, who contributed such glorious and stirring images and music, the Tavianis have revived the timeless pleasure of storytelling for its own sake.” (Kevin Thomas, 1986)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8z-iv2URAc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADIph1-og3o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CwMPhx0YcE

A Taviani Trio Opens Friday at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre

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From Variety, Monday, January 25:

Italy’s Taviani Brothers On Selected Works And What A Gentleman Ettore Scola Was (EXCLUSIVE)

By Nick Vivarelli, International Correspondent

Italy’s revered filmmaking duo, the Taviani Brothers, Paolo and Vittorio, emerged way before the Coens, the Hugheses and the Wachowskis and are amazingly still active, well in their 80’s. They spoke, in unison, to Variety about their three classics “Padre Padrone,” “Night of the Shooting Stars,” and “Kaos,” which will screen in L.A. as part of a Taviani tribute,  and also about their more recent works “Caesar Must Die,” the 2012 Berlin Golden Bear winner, and “Wondrous Boccaccio” which opened the Beijing fest last year. The Taviani tribute will be presented Jan.29–Feb.4 at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre by Cohen Media Group’s Classics of Cinema Film Collection.

It’s well-known that Rossellini loved “Padre Padrone.” He presided the Cannes Jury that awarded it the Palme d’Or in 1977. It’s also known he was a great inspiration to you when you were both very young. Can you talk to me a little about that?

We were high-school students in Pisa. We walked into a movie theatre called Cinema Italia, which no longer exists, and there was a film playing called ‘Paisà’ that we had never heard of. There were only a few people there, and when we saw these images they really blew our minds. We had experienced the war as kids, and very deeply. But what we were seeing on screen made that reality so much clearer for us. This movie was telling us things about ourselves that we did not know. So we said to ourselves: ‘If cinema has this strength, this power to reveal to ourselves our own truths, then we will make movies!’ We decided to become filmmakers right there, on that day. Years later, when we went to Cannes with “Padre Padrone,” the thought that we had started making movies thanks to Rossellini and that he was awarding us the Palme d’Or was for us like the closure of a splendid luminous circle. It’s an extraordinary memory.

Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. Photo by Umberto Montiroli.
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. Photo by Umberto Montiroli.

The other big contender that year for the Palme was Ettore Scola’s ‘A Special Day’. There was a very heated debate over whether Scola’s film should have won the prize instead of yours. Did you ever talk with Scola about this?

Rossellini believed in a certain type of cinema. When he found films that explored new roads that fascinated him, as was the case with ‘Padre Padrone’, he really wanted to make a statement to support them. Ettore sent us a telegram which read: ‘The best film has won,’ I must still have it somewhere. He was very affectionate and kind. When we talked about it, he said: ‘That’s what Rossellini is like.’ He was very generous about it. What happened is that Scola’s extraordinary film – his greatest – was sacrificed on the altar of the type of cultural statement that Rossellini wanted to make. When we talked about this with Scola, that is what we would always say to each other.

Like “Paisà” “The Night of the Shooting Stars” is about World War Two. But it is also autobiographical and has fablelike and poetic aspects. I know you worked on this film with the great Tonino Guerra, who besides being a screenwriter was a poet.  

We went to Tonino, who we had known for years, with an already written screenplay. He read it, really liked it, and then we started talking. That’s how we worked. He would read our script and say things, some of which were extraordinary and some of which were not, in which case he would say: ‘ok, I take that back.’ It was a marvellous relationship, but not in terms of strict writing. We would always write the screenplays first and then have these dialogues with him that brought us extraordinary poetic ideas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADIph1-og3o

Of course you also worked with Guerra on “Kaos,” which was based on Pirandello.

After “The Night of the Shooting Stars” we went to Tonino and said: ‘Tonino, we have a new idea: we want to do these Pirandello short stories’ He said: hold it! You guys are crazy. After what you’ve achieved with ‘Padre Padrone’ and ’Shooting Stars’ you want to put yourselves under Pirandello’s heel, but he’s going to crush you. I refuse to work on this. It’s a mistake. So we decided we would think about it. A few days later we went back to him and said ‘we’re doing Pirandello’ And he said: ‘great! I was just testing you guys. I wanted to see how determined you were.’ And so we started working.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CwMPhx0YcE

Many years later you made “Caesar Must Die,” which is about high-security inmates acting Shakespeare and won the Golden Bear at the 2012 Berlin fest. How did that come about?

We were invited to see a play at the Rebibbia jail in Rome, and we were shocked and awed. That day an inmate with a life sentence was reading a canto from Dante’s Inferno: He said: ‘I don’t think anybody in this room can understand this verse the way we do. We know what it’s like not be able to love a woman. His passion as he read Dante in Neapolitan dialect was such that we turned to each other and were both crying. And we said: ‘we have to make a film about this!’

One thing that I found really interesting about your latest film: “Wondrous Boccaccio,” an adaptation of “The Decameron,” is that it opened the Beijing Film Festival last year. Also I wonder: what was it like going from jail cells to Boccaccio? 

The film was hugely successful in China. In talking to film students there we realized that in China they love historical and fantasy movies. As for why Boccaccio? Actually the two films spring from the same emotions. In jail there is horror and suffering, so Dante or Shakespeare really speak to them and when they act they put all their passion into it. Thanks to Shakespeare they save themselves. It’s like a mass escape. Art saves them, even if only for a moment. In “The Decameron” it’s the same thing. There is the plague, horror, suffering, desire to survive. How do these young people survive? Telling each other stories. For a few days they manage not to think about death, or to think about it only sporadically.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8z-iv2URAc

 

A rare chance to see all five Oscar-nominated foreign language films before the Academy Awards.

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embraceThe Academy Awards are many things: entertaining, infuriating, moving, boring. For foreign films, our bread and butter, the Oscars can be quite effective at bringing attention to worthy movies from abroad. That done, the next challenge for cinephiles in the general public is to find a way to see them as they were meant to be seen: on a big screen with an audience in a movie theater. In a typical year, the five nominees for the Foreign Language Film Oscar include one or two that hit theaters months earlier, one or two that are currently in theaters, and one or two that may come out after the big night. This year, that night is February 28 and as luck would have it all five films have or will have Laemmle engagements between now and the Academy Awards ceremony.

The nominees are:

EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT ~ from Colombia, with its first nomination. We open the film February 26th at the Monica Film Center, Playhouse 7 and Town Center 5 and March 5 as a weekend morning show at the Claremont.

MUSTANG ~ from France, with its 37th nomination, its first since A Prophet in 2009. France hasn’t won this award since Indochine in 1992. Now showing at the Playhouse; opening Friday at the Music Hall and February 5th at the NoHo 7 and Claremont 5.

SON OF SAUL ~ from Hungary, with its ninth nomination in this category. It has won once, in 1981 for Mephisto. It’s now playing at the Playhouse and Town Center and opening January 29th at the Monica Film Center and February 12th at the Claremont 5 and NoHo 7.

THEEB ~ from Jordan, with its first nomination. Opens Friday at the Music Hall with weekend morning shows at the Playhouse and Claremont.

A WAR ~ from Denmark, with its 11th nomination. Denmark has taken this prize three times, including for Babette’s Feast in 1987. We open it February 12th at the Royal, Playhouse and Town Center.

Avail yourself of these terrific films before the Oscar ceremony!

Anniversary Classics – 2015 Wrap-up, John Ford’s YOUNG CASSIDY to Kickoff 2016

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Our Anniversary Classics Series closed out 2015 in grand fashion with a sold out 35th anniversary screening of SOMEWHERE IN TIME at the Royal on 12/15. This romantic fantasy cast its spell once again to an appreciative crowd, many of whom had not seen their favorite on the big screen since its original opening in 1980. Through the years it has developed a cult following and after viewing again last night its easy to see why.

Jane Seymour with Michael McClellan and Stephen Farber at the 35th anniversary screening of SOMEWHERE IN TIME.
Jane Seymour with Michael McClellan and Stephen Farber at the 35th anniversary screening of SOMEWHERE IN TIME.

The film’s co-star Jane Seymour and director Jeannot Szwarc entertained the audience with remembrances about making the film and even a few heretofore unknown secrets. Some fans came dressed in period costumes so altogether it was quite a memorable evening!


We will have many more memorable screenings in 2016, and to start the new year off we feature the 50th anniversary of John Ford’s YOUNG CASSIDY, starring Rod Taylor, Maggie Smith and Julie Christie. Our special guest is the film’s Oscar-winning editor, Anne V. Coates, the recipient this year of a lifetime achievement award by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. This screening takes place on January 6, 2016 at 7:00 pm at the Royal in West LA.

More about this and other Anniversary Classics events for 2016 very soon. For the latest updates visit www.laemmle.com/ac or join our Facebook group! Happy Holidays!

See the Films on the 2016 Oscar Documentary Shortlist at Laemmle and Online

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The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced January 14th but Oscar completionists can get a head start on the Documentary Features category thanks to the Academy’s 15-film shortlist and Laemmle Theaters.

The Academy’s Documentary Branch narrowed the field to 15 from 124 submissions. While we’ve already screened many films, seven will play as morning shows over the next few weeks. Check out the schedule below.

Weekend morning shows:

WE COME AS FRIENDS – 12/12, 12/13, 12/19, 12/20, 12/26, 12/27 at the Royal.

BEST OF ENEMIES – 12/12, 12/13 at the Royal and Playhouse.

THE HUNTING GROUND – 12/19, 12/20 at the Royal and Playhouse.

HEART OF A DOG – 12/26, 12/27 at the Royal and Playhouse.

MERU – 1/2, 1/3 at the Royal and Playhouse.

LISTEN TO ME MARLON – 1/2, 1/3 at the Royal and Playhouse.

THE LOOK OF SILENCE – 1/2, 1/3 at the Royal and Playhouse.

Coming Soon:

Michael Moore’s WHERE TO INVADE NEXT is scheduled to open 2/12/16 in Claremont and NoHo.

Where to see the rest:

AMY – Amazon

CARTEL LAND – Amazon

GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF – Amazon

HE NAMED ME MALALA – Amazon

3 1/2 MINUTES, 10 BULLETS – ???

WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE? – Netflix

WINTER ON FIRE: UKRAINE’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM – Netflix

Watch all 15 trailers:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-lqVRCBIDPnuegC8n3YLWRVmyQYHemG7

Wonder of Wonders – It’s Fiddler Sing-a-Long Time Again!

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*** FIDDLER UPDATES  (skip to main article)
We’re pleased to announce an all-star line-up of Fiddler Hosts for 2015!
Also, as in year’s past, we’ll have food trucks out at select locations. Here’s the per-location rundown of what’s shaking in the shtetl:

Ahrya Fine Arts
Dr. Ron Wolfson – author, professor – BUY TIX
BONUS! – Dr. Wolfson will be signing a copies of his new book, The Best Boy in the United States of America: A Memoir of Blessings and Kisses.

Claremont 5
Cantor Paul Buch – BUY TIX

NoHo 7
Craig Taubman – entertainer, community organizer – BUY TIX
FOOD TRUCK – The Deli Doctor (truck food welcome inside the theater)

Playhouse
Gary Wexler – blogger, public speaker – BUY TIX
FOOD TRUCK – Hungry Nomad (truck food welcome inside the theater)

Royal
Naomi Ackerman – actress, social activist – BUY TIX
BONUS! – Naomi will be joined by BARBARA ISENBERG who will be signing copies of her book TRADITION!: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World’s Most Beloved Musical.
FOOD TRUCK – The Hurricane Kitchen (truck food welcome inside the theater)

Town Center 5
Cantors Herschel Fox & Phil Baron – BUY TIX

See below to find out more about our hosts.

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Wonder_of_Wonders_edit_2Will the matchmaker make you “the perfect match?” There’s only one way to find out … join us this year for our 8th annual FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Christmas Eve SING-A-LONG!

(Scroll down to watch the event trailer.  For tickets, visit Laemmle.com/Fiddler).

This year, the popular Fiddler program has been extended to more venues to accommodate demand including, for the first time, the recently reopened AHRYA FINE ARTS in Beverly Hills.

In addition to exuberant movie and song, the evening will feature TRIVIA with PRIZES being awarded to Fiddler buffs with the quickest recall.  Dressing in COSTUME is not required, but highly encouraged!  Will the best costume will garner a prize?  That will be up to the emcee.

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CRAIG TAUBMAN will be hosting at the NoHo 7
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RON WOLFSON will be hosting at the Fine Arts

Speaking of which, we’re very excited to announce two new, dynamic hosts for this year.  Acclaimed Jewish singer-songwriter and founder of the Pico Union Project CRAIG TAUBMAN will be bringing his signature blend of charisma and high-powered energy to the NOHO 7.  Over in the city side, professor, author, and community mensch Dr. RON WOLFSON will be headlining at the stunning AHYRA FINE ARTS in Beverly Hills. Wolfson is most recently the author of The Best Boy in the United States of America: A Memoir of Blessings and Kisses offered by Jewish Light Publishing. You can’t go wrong with either of these incredible gentlemen!

Our own Greg Laemmle is enthusiastic as ever about the Fiddler experience, declaring that “Christmas Eve isn’t just Chinese food anymore!”  Furthermore, “we welcome all those in the community who are looking for an alternative Christmas Eve experience.”

He continues, “This is your once-a-year chance to be the star of the shtetl. Join voices with friends and neighbors and sing your heart out alongside Fiddler’s screen legends. And it’s okay if you haven’t memorized all the songs. We provide the lyrics.”

Song highlights include the iconic “TRADITION”, “IF I WERE A RICH MAN”,  “TO LIFE”, “SUNRISE SUNSET”, “DO YOU LOVE ME?” and “ANATEVKA”, among many, many more.

Don’t miss the buggy! Those who wish to attend the program are advised to purchase tickets in advance as the program has traditionally sold to capacity.

See you in the shtetl…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnuyNaOEBt4&feature=youtu.be

Fiddler Hosts – 2015

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Dr. Ron Wolfson at the Ahrya Fine Arts (Beverly Hills)
Renowned educator and author DR. RON WOLFSON will be our host at the Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. Wolfson is a Fingerhut Professor of Education at the American Jewish University and, most recently, author of The Best Boy in the United States of America: A Memoir of Blessings and Kisses offered by Jewish Lights Publishing. A pioneer in the field of Jewish family education, Dr. Wolfson is a frequent scholar-in-residence for synagogues and communities and a co-founder of Synagogue 3000. He is also the author of the well-known Art of Jewish Living book series.

Craig_pix_01_edit_lr_crop_4_pCraig Taubman at the NoHo 7 (North Hollywood)
Beloved Jewish singer/songwriter and community builder CRAIG TAUBMAN will be our host at the NoHo 7 venue in North Hollywood. Taubman is renowned for original compositions and live performances that speak to the Jewish American experience. He is the originator of events such as Friday Night Live, The Big Jewish Tent, and A Sacred Noise, among others. Most recently, he founded the Pico Union Project, an interfaith community center near L.A.’s downtown that celebrates diversity and unity within the framework of art, music, and worship.

Herschel Fox_prCantor Herschel Fox
at the Town Center 5 (Encino)
For over three decades, HERSCHEL FOX (top) has shared his knowledge, talent, and Yiddishkeit with Temple Valley Beth Shalom (Encino) and the greater L.A Jewish community. Born in Europe and raised in Winnipeg, Canada, among Holocaust survivors, he became a cantor at the age of 13.  In his early career, he performed in Yiddish theater, opening for Molly Picon, Fiddler’s “Yente the Matchmaker” for many years. Fox teaches classes in Yiddish language, culture and song, prayer and the art of the cantor.

Phil Baron_prCantor Phil Baron
at the Town Center 5 (Encino)
Also of VBS (Valley Beth Shalom), cantor PHIL BARON (left) is the son of a violinist and the grandson of a Vilna rabbi. Before becoming a cantor, he took a successful detour into children’s entertainment, where he had over 300 original songs recorded – nearly 200 of these by the Walt Disney Co. He co-created two television series for Jewish children, Bubbe’s Boarding House, and the multiple award-winning series Alef…Bet…Blast-off! As a vocalist he has been featured with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra and the New Orleans Philharmonic.

Gary Wexler_prGary Wexler at the Playhouse 7 (Pasadena)
GARY WEXLER is a USC Adjunct Professor in the Masters program at the Annenberg School of Communication, teaching both Nonprofit Marketing, as well as Advertising and Copywriting. Wexler’s first career was as a Clio-winning copywriter for ad agencies such as Chiat-Day, DDB-Needham and others with clients ranging from Apple to Coca Cola. He since made the switch to the non-profit world, working with over 1000 nonprofits, including the foundations of Steven Spielberg, the Ford Foundation, United Ways and Jewish Federations. Today, he is an active blogger, consultant, seminar leader, and public speaker.

Naomi Ackerman_prNaomi Ackerman at the Royal (West L.A.)
An actress, social activist, and special education teacher, NAOMI ACKERMAN’s credits include theater, musicals, films, television as well as being an accomplished street performer and professional clown. She was a founding member of View Points an Arab Jewish dialogue theater produced by the Shimon Peres Center for Peace. In addition, she wrote, directed and performed the acclaimed one woman show Flowers Aren’t Enough. In 2011 she founded The Advot Project, transforming the lives of incarcerated girls in the L.A. probations system through drama instruction. This garnered her KCET’s Local Hero Award in 2014.

Paul Buch_prCantor Paul Buch at the Claremont 5 (Claremont)
Cantor PAUL BUCH has served Temple Beth Israel in Claremont since 2003. He came to the cantorate after a 25 year career in TV and film production in Los Angeles, New York, and Portland. In addition to his cantorial duties, Buch is President of the Claremont Interfaith Council and serves on the Faith-Based Roundtable of the Pomona Unified School District. He is also Chair of the City of Claremont’s Human Relations Committee and serves on an advisory committee at the Claremont School of Theology. This will be his third consecutive year as our Fiddler host in Claremont!