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“I hope people are moved by seeing what great moral courage looks like.” The filmmakers on THE RESCUE, opening October 15 at the Monica Film Center, Newhall, Playhouse, and Town Center.

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In the summer of 2018, a short outing after soccer practice became a two-week saga of survival and a story that soon captured the world’s attention. Monsoon rains had trapped twelve boys and their coach in a labyrinthian cave in Northern Thailand, and within days thousands of people had descended on the area to try to help. But were the boys even still alive? Anticipation and anguish hung in the air until they were found, trapped in a pitch-black chamber two kilometers deep into the cave. The next question—immediate, obvious, and confounding—was how to get them out.

THE RESCUE, the latest feature documentary from Academy Award-winning directors and producers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, brings alive one of the most perilous and extraordinary rescues in modern times. With exclusive interviews and a wealth of never-before-seen material, the film takes us into the infamous cave, highlights the efforts of the Royal Thai Navy SEALs and US Special Forces, and details the expert cave divers’ audacious venture to dive the boys to safety.

Credit: National Geographic

THE RESCUE keeps viewers on the edge of their seats as it shines a light on the high-risk world of cave diving, the astounding courage and compassion of the rescuers, and the shared humanity of the international community that united to save the boys. In the tradition of their earlier films FREE SOLO and MERU, Vasarhelyi and Chin document a profoundly daring physical feat, laying bare the details of the seemingly impossible rescue.

Reviews have been rapturous:

“THE RESCUE keeps you on the edge of your seat for every minute, even if you already know the outcome.” ~ Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

“A stunning documentary of bone-deep moral resonance and cinematic mastery that deserves to be experienced on the big screen.” ~ Tomris Laffly, Variety

THE RESCUE “unfolds with stunning precision, letting the people who were there tell the story, and never softening their unique personalities.” ~ Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT

“Our films attempt to examine questions that transcend their subject matter. Our film MERU is about climbing, but really, it’s about friendship and mentorship. Our film FREE SOLO is about free soloing a mountain, but really, it’s about making intentional decisions about what we want to achieve in life and the sacrifices we make. THE RESCUE is about an impossible rescue, but really, it’s about moral responsibility. When we have the skill set to rescue someone, do we bear the burden to do so even if we put ourselves at risk? It’s also a story about the common humanity that brings us together rather than what divides us.

Credit: National Geographic

“All these stories are about overcoming insurmountable odds. They feature unexpected heroes. And they invite the audience into specific worlds in a deep and authentic way. In THE RESCUE, that’s the world of cave diving. Cave diving is very dangerous and very difficult. So why do the cave divers do it? What’s their motivation, experience, inspiration? As a climber, Jimmy knows how vital it is that every last detail be right. Our films are defined by that level of exactitude.

Credit: National Geographic

“We wanted to make this movie for many of the same reasons that the story of the Thai children trapped in the cave captivated the hearts and minds of the world in 2018. It was an against-all-odds story that gave you hope. It brought out the best in people who united from many different nations to help these kids. There’s a line in the film that says, “Generosity is the beginning of everything,” and that’s ultimately what the film is about.

Credit: National Geographic

“But creating THE RESCUE was very challenging. It has all the ingredients of a film you shouldn’t or can’t make: Everything’s pitch black in the cave. It’s underwater and muddy. The main event is over; you can’t shoot footage of it, and the archival sources are scattered all over the world. And, of course, the pandemic hit. We were scheduled to go to Thailand in spring 2020, but as the shoot neared, it became clear that it was too risky to travel internationally. We did interviews by Zoom and focused on building trust and rapport remotely. We were dealing with different cultures, different languages, different time zones; and there were numerous constraints, but ultimately the story is still moving. The children, the cave divers, the Thai Navy SEALs, the US Special Forces and an entire community all showed us what great courage looks like.

Credit: National Geographic

“The story of the rescue is filled with numerous coincidences that could be seen as more than coincidence. There’s a fairy-tale quality to the story. We couldn’t help but be struck by the fact that just as the boys were trapped in place in 2018, the whole world was trapped in place while we were making this movie. And yet, in 2018 the world came together to help the boys. THE RESCUE reminds us that amazing things are possible when people have integrity and a sense of responsibility for each other.”

Credit: National Geographic

Asked in an interview, “What would you like the audience to take from the film?” they replied:

Jimmy Chin: I hope people are inspired by the humanity of the global community of rescuers, the courage of the divers and Thai Navy Seals and the bravery of the kids. I want people to come out of the theater asking themselves “Could I ever do that? Would I have made the same choices?” I think the divers really exemplified great moral courage. They didn’t have to go back in. I hope people are moved by seeing what great moral courage looks like and how people are able to achieve great things and overcome seemingly insurmountable odds through perseverance and determination.

Credit: National Geographic

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi: I think it’s the absolute morality of Rick. He felt an absolute obligation to figure out how to save the kids. If only we all did what’s fundamentally decent and responsible… that’s interesting. It’s about the common thread we all share — about finding your place in the world. We see the divers evolve emotionally. We see their attention to detail and methodology. We cherish that, love it, want to honor and respect it. Truth is so much stronger than fiction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Kw5kAPSbk

Exclusive clip from GOLDEN VOICES, “an original, unusual, and quite disarming film about the immigrant experience,” opening October 8.

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The Israeli romantic dramedy GOLDEN VOICES, which we open on October 8 at our Encino, West L.A. and Pasadena theaters, follows Raya and Victor who built a shared career as the Soviet Union’s most beloved film dubbers. For decades they worked translating the films of auteurs like Federico Fellini and Stanley Kubrick into Russian. Upon the collapse of the USSR in 1990, the Jewish couple must immigrate to Israel and reinvent their talents to find employment.

Vladimir Friedman and Mariya Belkina.

As they strive to acclimate to their adopted home, opportunities for first-rate vocal performances are few and far between. Raya answers a help wanted ad searching for women with “pleasant voices” and finds herself catering to a lonely Russian community as a phone-sex operator, while Victor falls in with a band of black market film pirates from the VHS underground. A charming comedy about disrupting dynamics, starting anew, and rediscovering yourself in the most unexpected places, GOLDEN VOICES is also a stirring tribute to the redemptive power of cinema.

Here’s an exclusive clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy0LZyfSVOA

Tablet Magazine described GOLDEN VOICES as “a sensitive and heartwarming film about immigration, growing old, love, and new beginnings” and The Australian called “an original, unusual, and quite disarming film about the immigrant experience.”

Director/co-writer Evgeny Ruman says of GOLDEN VOICES, “I came to Israel in 1990 when I was a kid with my family. Going to the cinema was too expensive, so the films I had seen in my first years in Israel were from illegal video libraries for Russian speakers. This is when my love of cinema was born – watching bleak pirate copies that were shot directly from cinema screens and amateurishly dubbed. I was a kid in a strange country and the world of films was the best escape from the harsh reality. Nowadays, being a part of Israeli society and the film industry, I like to look back at the past from a different perspective and turn it into a movie. This film was born from a love of cinema, but while developing the project I discovered it expresses something much bigger than that – the story of grown people that had to reinvent themselves completely in order to start a new life in Israel. The story of my parents.

Evgeny Ruman.

“I see this film as a sad comedy. I believe this story has very touching human moments, as well as very funny and entertaining ones. I want the viewers to experience both fully while watching the film. I certainly would prefer to get the audience to laugh out loud rather than just smile during the most absurd and funniest moments in the film, just as I want them to be deeply engaged in the dramatic storylines and maybe even shed a tear. The story is told in a simple, clean way. Shot in cinemascope wide lenses, the images are rich in details, telling the story visually. In addition to the dialogue and music, we use the point of view of the protagonists – so the audience can have the same experience as Victor and Raya.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oJDT7_osCc

LA PISCINE, the Arthouse Hit of the Reopening, Back by Popular Demand October 8 at the Royal.

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The summer of 2021 is over but not at the movies. Rialto Pictures’ restoration of Jacque Deray 1969 crime-romance has proven irresistible to cinephiles looking for something sexy, decadent, French, and from another time. We’re happy to bring it back for another fling.

Glynnis MacNicol wrote a terrific piece for the New York Times last month examining the film’s success, headlined “A Steamy French Thriller Is a ‘Sleeper Smash Hit;’ The 1969 film LA PISCINE was supposed to run for two weeks at New York’s Film Forum, but it’s been extended to the fall.” Here’s an excerpt:

“For the past 14 weeks at Film Forum, a longstanding independent and repertory theater on West Houston Street in Manhattan, the 1969 French film LA PISCINE has been playing — a run that has extended its initial engagement by 12 weeks, and counting.

Romy Schneider, top, and Alain Delon. Rialto Pictures

“Rear Window, 8 ½, La Strada and a popular Humphrey Bogart series that included Casablanca have all come and gone, but LA PISCINE swims on.

“If there is a film of New York’s 2021 summer, this may be it.

“LA PISCINE (which means “The Swimming Pool”) revolves around Jean-Paul (played by Alain Delon) and Marianne (Romy Schneider), who have retreated to a house with a large pool outside St. Tropez.

“Sadly, he only gets one month of vacation. The lovers are unexpectedly joined by Harry (Maurice Ronet), Marianne’s former paramour and Jean-Paul’s former best friend, and his 18-year-old daughter, Penelope (Jane Birkin). Much decadence and extremely French crossover love ensues.”

You can read the rest of the piece here (spoiler alert!) but better yet, come take a dip in LA PISCINE again or, if you haven’t yet gotten wet, come on in, the water’s fine!

“Icily erotic! Seething passion and emotional chaos lie beneath the symbolically placid surface of the villa’s swimming pool, which becomes the site for both seduction and violent revenge.” — Dave Kehr, The New York Times

“Romy Schneider’s crowning cinematic moment, where she delivered her most enchanting onscreen performance.” — Manon Garrigues, Vogue Paris

“Erotic languor turns gradually into fear and then horror in this gripping and superbly controlled thriller…The pool is a primordial swamp of desire, a space in which there is nothing to do but laze around, furtively looking at semi-naked bodies.” — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“Set in a to-die-for villa in the verdant hills overlooking Saint-Tropez, this icily elegant pas de quatre involves four of the most outrageously photogenic actors to ever appear on screen… We sit and revel in the glamour of it all, waiting for those hormonal and homicidal impulses to boil over – as, of course, they do.” — David Melville, Senses of Cinema

“Pretty people behaving poorly in beautiful settings is something we don’t see as much of in cinema as we used to. This is a master class in the subgenre, and one of unusual depth.” (Glenn Kenny, New York Times)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1mdihKkMFY

Bernardo Bertolucci’s THE CONFORMIST ~ 50th Anniversary Screenings.

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We continue our Anniversary Classics series with Bertolucci’s stunner at 7 o’clock on Wednesday, September 29 at our Glendale, Newhall, Pasadena and West L.A. theaters. The film follows Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a member of the secret police in Mussolini’s fascist Italy. He and his new bride, Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli), travel to Paris for their honeymoon, where Marcello also plans to assassinate his former college professor Luca Quadri (Enzo Tarascio), an outspoken anti-fascist living in exile. But when Marcello meets the professor’s young wife, Anna (Dominique Sanda), both his romantic and his political loyalties are tested.

“It’s easy to overlook how stark THE CONFORMIST‘s political and allegorical message is because it’s just so damn beautiful.” (Aja Romano, Vox)

“Bertolucci’s masterpiece—made when he was all of 29—will be the most revelatory experience a fortunate pilgrim will have in a theater this year.” (Michael Atkinson, Village Voice)

“THE CONFORMIST is celebrated for cinematographer Vittorio Storaro’s tumbling autumn leaves, but its emotional impact involves a tumbling soul.” (Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York)

“THE CONFORMIST is a beautiful and provocative film, and its theme could not be more timely.” (John Hofsess, Maclean’s Magazine)

Ninety of His Former Dancers Finally Open Up about the Magic IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM.

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IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM, which we’ll open September 24 at the Playhouse, Royal, and Town Center, takes us back to the glory years of Balanchine’s New York City Ballet through the remembrances of his former dancers and their quest to fulfill the vision of a genius. Opening the door to his studio, Balanchine’s private laboratory, they reveal new facets of the groundbreaking choreographer: taskmaster, mad scientist, and spiritual teacher. Today, as his former dancers teach a new generation, questions arise: what was the secret of his teaching? Can it be replicated?

Filled with never before seen archival footage of Balanchine at work during rehearsals, classes, and in preparation for his most seminal works, along with interviews with many of his adored and adoring dancers and those who try to carry on his legacy today, this is Balanchine as you have never seen him, and a film for anyone who loves ballet and the creative process.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT by Connie Hochman:

IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM grew out of my lifelong interest in the work of the groundbreaking choreographer George Balanchine. As a child in the 1960s, I trained at his School of American Ballet and danced alongside the New York City Ballet, with Balanchine at the helm. During these years, I witnessed a profound bond between Balanchine and his dancer-disciples, which continued to inspire and fascinate me.

In the 1970s, as a dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet, I experienced the thrill and exhilaration of dancing many of Balanchine’s greatest ballets. Still, I wanted to know more about Balanchine, the teacher. I remembered that friends of mine who joined New York City Ballet had the opportunity each morning to take company class with him. But whenever I asked about it, they froze. No one would discuss Balanchine’s classroom.

Something told me that what transpired in that room – off limits to anyone outside New York City Ballet – was important. My curiosity only grew. Why did Balanchine teach and not just choreograph? How did his class relate to his ballets? What was it that he sought from his already proficient dancers? Why wouldn’t they talk about it?

Decades later, my childhood memories of Balanchine, fueled by my desire to solve the mystery of his classroom, impelled me to seek answers. I proposed a series of interviews with former Balanchine dancers. To my delight, many said yes – 90 in all. One by one, they opened up about the phenomenon of Balanchine’s teaching. His unorthodox methods. The extremes. The charged atmosphere. His unrelenting presence.

As each dancer travels back in time to the creative whirlwind of the Balanchine era, they relive the lessons he teaches about dance and beyond: those “a-ha” moments when resistance gives way to surrender and a super-intelligence takes over. Balanchine’s class is more than just a metaphor for life. It is Life itself – short, fleeting, intense, with rewards in proportion to one’s engagement and dedication. The dancers’ words, at last, began to quench my thirst for understanding and IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM was conceived.

In addition to the dancer testimonials, which form the basis for the film, I launched an extensive search for visuals to bring the story to life. In the process, I discovered a trove of never-before-seen archival footage of Balanchine in America. With special permission from The George Balanchine Trust, I traveled across the country and to Europe to film Balanchine’s former dancers staging his ballets, teaching classes, and faithfully passing on their unique knowledge to the next generation. As I witnessed this painstaking process of transference, new questions arose which ultimately drive the final film: What happens when a master is gone? What was the secret of his teaching? Can it be replicated?

My fervent wish is to share with others the story of this extraordinary teacher and his extraordinary disciples. It is, in essence, the artist’s journey, a subject rarely tackled in film. The magic of Balanchine’s classroom was like nothing on earth. By opening the door, I invite you in to see for yourself.

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY: Connie Hochman was a professional ballet dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet where she performed many Balanchine masterworks. In 2007, Connie began a series of interviews with former Balanchine dancers – ninety in all – to explore the phenomenon of Balanchine’s classroom. Why did he teach and not just choreograph? What did he teach? How did he teach? How did his daily class relate to his ballets? Their remembrances of his unorthodox methods and transformative teaching form the basis of IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM.

Filmmaker Connie Hochman.

In addition to the oral histories, Connie launched an extensive and painstaking search for visuals that would bring the story to life. Over years, she discovered a trove of never- before-seen archival footage of Balanchine in America. With approval from The George Balanchine Trust, Connie traveled around the country and to Europe to film Balanchine’s former dancers staging his ballets, teaching class, and passing on their knowledge to today’s generation.

As a first-time filmmaker, Connie consulted with Louis Psihoyos (The Cove, Chasing Extinction), and Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine (Ballets Russes, The Galapagos Affair), each of whom offered guidance and helped her form the creative team behind IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpiLckkMYCU

THE LOST LEONARDO, the Whole Story of the Most Talked About Painting of the Century.

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THE LOST LEONARDO is the inside story behind the Salvator Mundi, the most expensive painting ever sold at $450 million. From the moment the painting is bought for $1175 at a shady New Orleans auction house, and the restorer discovers masterful Renaissance brush strokes under the heavy varnish of its cheap restoration, the Salvator Mundi’s fate is determined by an insatiable quest for fame, money and power. As its price soars, so do questions about its authenticity: is this painting really by Leonardo da Vinci?

Unravelling the hidden agendas of the richest men and most powerful art institutions in the world, THE LOST LEONARDO reveals how vested interests in the Salvator Mundi are of such tremendous power that truth becomes secondary.

Now playing at our Encino and Pasadena theaters, this Friday we are expanding this fabulous documentary to our Claremont, Glendale, Santa Monica, Newhall, and North Hollywood venues as well.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES by Andreas Koefoed:

This is a film about the incredible journey of a painting, the Salvator Mundi, the Saviour of the World, possibly by Leonardo da Vinci. It is a true story, yet a fairytale worthy of H.C. Andersen: A damaged painting, neglected for centuries, is fortuitously rediscovered and soon after praised as a long-lost masterpiece of divine beauty. At its peak in the spotlight, it is decried as a fake, but what is revealed most of all is that the world around it is fake, driven by cynical powers and money.

The story lays bare the mechanisms of the human psyche, our longing for the divine, and our post-factual capitalist societies in which money and power override the truth. The painting becomes a prism through which we can understand ourselves and the world we live in. To this day there is no conclusive proof that the painting is – or is not – a da Vinci and as long as there is a doubt, people, institutions, and states can use it for the purpose that serves them the most.

Making this film has been a huge team effort. The producers, writers, editor, and DOP have worked side-by-side and devoted so much of themselves to the project. For that I am deeply grateful. It has been a fantastic voyage into secret worlds that are otherwise entirely inaccessible. Worlds in which anything can be bought and sold, where prestige, power, and money play out beneath the beautiful surface of the art world.

The main character is the painting. Brooding over it is its restorer, Dianne Modestini, who began working on it just after losing her husband, Mario, a world-famous restorer himself. For Modestini the restoration becomes a symbiotic process of mourning in which the painting and Mario at times become one. After she lets go of the painting, it is locked away in a freeport somewhere, leaving Dianne feeling alone, and criticized for her work. Did her restoration go as far as to transform a damaged painting into a Leonardo? She is forced to defend herself and her integrity, and seek closure on the painting and her grief.

What fascinates — and disillusions — me is that art is being used for economic speculation and as a token in political games. Art is a beautiful manifestation of human feelings and expressions throughout history. In my view, art belongs to humanity. Instead of being publicly accessible, it is hidden away in freeports and used for cynical and speculative purposes.

None of the prominent institutions involved in the story – The National Gallery, Christie’s, the Louvre, or states of France and Saudi Arabia – wanted to talk, perhaps unsurprisingly. The supposedly independent scientific and scholarly approach to the painting is under enormous political pressure. In the end, not only the painting is lost, but also the truth itself. The painting, a product of the very Renaissance that valued freedom of science and art, ultimately becomes a victim of vested interests and power games. As Jerry Saltz says in the film, the story is “a telling fable of our time.”

I hope the film will engage, surprise and intrigue the viewers who themselves become detectives in the story, leaving them with a question: What do I believe to be the truth?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS4NJgdPITk

FAUCI, a Never-Before-Seen Look at the Man in the Lab Coat, Opens Friday, September 10 at the Royal.

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With his signature blend of scientific acumen, candor and integrity, Dr. Anthony Fauci has become America’s most unlikely cultural icon during the COVID-19 pandemic. A world-renowned infectious disease specialist and the longest-serving public health leader in Washington, D.C., he has overseen the U.S. response to 40 years’ worth of outbreaks, including HIV/AIDS, SARS and Ebola. Crafted around unprecedented access to Dr. Fauci, National Geographic Documentary Films’ FAUCI is a revealing portrait of one of our most dedicated public servants.

Dr. Anthony Fauci and Christine Grady sit at their kitchen table in December 2020. (National Geographic for Disney+)

Directed by Emmy® winners John Hoffman (“Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman,” “The Weight of the Nation,” “Sleepless in America”) and Janet Tobias (“No Place on Earth,” “Unseen Enemy”), the film is produced by Alexandra Moss (“Not Done: Women Remaking America”), and executive produced by Academy Award® winner Dan Cogan (“Icarus”) and two-time Academy Award nominee Liz Garbus (“What Happened, Miss Simone?,” “The Farm: Angola, USA”).

Jenny Fauci, daughter of Christine Grady and Dr. Anthony Fauci, in seated interview. (National Geographic for Disney+)

Directors’ Statement:

Dr. Anthony Fauci’s life is bound by the two great pandemics of our time. The dark early years of HIV/AIDS forged his character, while COVID-19 tested it. Confronting HIV/AIDS — and welcoming public scrutiny — allowed him to approach COVID-19 with an incredible body of experience and knowledge about infectious diseases, politics, human nature and what it takes to get things done.

Dr. Anthony Fauci during an interview at the NIH in Bethesda, MD. (National Geographic for Disney+/Visko Hatfield)

Our film is a portrait of a focused doctor, scientist and leader hurrying to save lives in 2020 and 2021. In the process, this veteran of five previous administrations contended with a president who publicly and consistently contradicted his public health advice. Still, Dr. Fauci never wavered from the truth that science would be critical in ending this global health crisis. He combines heart and mind in a singular way, thinking about the wellbeing of America — and the world — the same way he would when caring for any individual patient.

FAUCI Director Janet Tobias. (National Geographic/Visko Hatfield)

At the same time that Dr. Fauci was sometimes under attack from the government that employed him, so were many other public servants. We wanted to explore what public service means in a very divisive nation, when the goal of fighting a common enemy requires people on all sides to come together. Dr. Fauci has worked at the National Institutes of Health for 50-plus years, providing an unparalleled contribution to the health and welfare of America. In a world of hardworking people, he is likely the hardest working person we’ve ever had the privilege to observe, well known for working 12-hour days, six to seven days a week, over the course of decades. As directors, we were inspired to elevate the career path of public service by shining a spotlight on perhaps the greatest public servant of our time.

Director, John Hoffman. (Credit: National Geographic/Visko Hatfield)

FAUCI also offers a never-before-seen look at the man within the lab coat. Audiences will come to see him as so much more than who he is behind the press conference podium or testifying before Congress: the feistiness imbued by his Brooklyn upbringing, the loyalty he’s displayed over the years to friends — and former adversaries — and even get a taste of how funny (and loving) he is as a dad. Our hope is that those who’ve questioned Dr. Fauci will watch the documentary, too. Perhaps even Fauci critics will discover that he is as multidimensional as they are and worthy of their time and understanding.

— John Hoffman and Janet Tobias

Please note that all FAUCI filmgoers age 12 and older must provide proof of complete vaccination: photo ID + proof of vaccination with matching name. Proof can be the actual card, a photo of the card, or similar digital (QR code, etc.) proof. (Those who have a protected reason for not being vaccinated (medical or religious) may still attend provided they exhibit proof of a negative Covid test taken within 48 hours of show-time.)

FOR ALL OTHER FILMS:
No vaccination proof required at this time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBEau86jZjI

UNAPOLOGETIC Follows Black Abolitionist Organizers as they Challenge a Complicit Chicago Administration After Two Police Killings.

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The new documentary UNAPOLOGETIC, opening September 3 at the Monica Film Center and on the Laemmle Virtual Platform, captures a tense and polarizing moment in Chicago’s fight for the livelihood of its Black residents. The film follows Janaé and Bella, two young abolitionist organizers, as they work within the Movement for Black Lives to seek justice for Rekia Boyd and Laquan McDonald, two young Black people killed by Chicago police. They aim to elevate a progressive platform for criminal justice to a police board led by Lori Lightfoot and a complicit city administration, while also elevating leadership by women and femmes. Laemmle Theatres opens UNAPOLOGETIC Friday, September 3 at the Monica Film Center and on the Laemmle Virtual platform.

UNAPOLOGETIC subject Bella Bahhs and director Ashley O’Shay will participate in Q&As at the Monica Film Center after the 7:40 screening on Friday, September 3 and after the 1 and 7:40 PM screenings on Saturday, September 4.

What follows is Ms. O’Shay’s artistic statement:

“In the winter of 2012, Rekia Boyd was just getting started in life. Her friends describe her as someone prone to smiles and laughter. She dotted her i’s with hearts, was a big Drake fan, and expressed herself freely on Facebook while trying to figure out her relationship status. In the winter of 2012, I was also just getting started. I was in my first year at Northwestern University’s film program and was one of less than ten Black people in my class. A slew of racist campus events caused me to feel further isolated and pushed me to begin speaking out about how racism affected my everyday. Slowly but surely, I began integrating these realizations into my art.

“If we don’t get it, shut it down!” Janae takes command at a downtown rally credit: Christine Irvine. 

“In March of that same year, Rekia was hanging out with her friends near her home when she was killed by a stray bullet. It took three years for the police officer who shot her to be brought to court, and after years of waiting for justice, it was deemed a mistrial. It seemed that he would walk away without being held accountable.

“Three years later, people of all ages from neighborhoods throughout Chicago came together to organize around their frustration. With nothing but a borrowed camera and monopod in hand, I joined the hundreds descending upon Chicago Police Headquarters to demand justice. The energy was electrifying. Black women on bullhorns stood in front of crowds leading the space. For the first time, I experienced a different narrative unfolding in the enduring struggle for Black freedom – one led by Black feminist voices. I couldn’t help but see myself in them.

Janae fights to be heard at Chicago Police Board meeting. Credit: Ashley O’Shay

“Shortly after, I began to document two of these voices: Janaé Bonsu, a 24-year-old pursuing her PhD in social work while also rising the ranks of a national activist organization; and Bella Bahhs, a 22-year-old “rap-tivist” from the Westside of Chicago whose artistry and activism seek to heal women harmed by intergenerational effects of incarceration – women like herself. Over the course of two and a half years, we watch as these women grapple not only with what it means to lead a mass movement, but also to enter early adulthood as Black, queer women.

Comrades get in formation to shut down a Chicago highway. Credit: Ashley O’Shay

“I have been a filmmaker for nine years now; Unapologetic is my feature film directorial debut. Five years after beginning production, we have completed the film. While this documentation was certainly important at the time of filming, it proves even more essential now, especially in light of the recent killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020. As Lori Lightfoot has become the first Black, openly-queer mayor of Chicago, mainstream media has championed her as a symbol of progressive growth. However, the current reality in the city counters that. After years of intentional work, organizers are working to educate the community around abolishing and divesting from policing, despite a new mayor bolstered by representative politics. Unapologetic intentionally centers the narratives of the Black queer feminist organizers who brought forth the progressive platform that set the stage for Chicago’s historic shift in leadership.

Janae’s mom speaks her truth. Credit: Ashley O’Shay

“I have always known and felt the presence of Black resistance in my life. However, the strong feminine leadership in the Chicago movement caused me to question where my history had been placed. How might my world have been different if I saw a young PhD student or a rapper that looked like me organizing a mass movement? Unapologetic has given me an opportunity to discover more about myself through this legacy of resistance, and take a more active role in it.

Bella and her auntie hit a Chicago step at the Black Soul Nation picnic. Credit: Ashley O’Shay

“What does one usually require of a Black movement leader? Certainly not femme. Certainly not queer. Certainly not flawed, or quick to anger, or overly opinionated. By focusing on this refreshing counter narrative within the Movement for Black Lives, I wanted to recognize this heroic and thankless work, catalyzing empathy, understanding, and hope in all viewers at such a critical time for Black lives.” — Ashley O’Shay

UNAPOLOGETIC director Ashley O’Shay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUPVLvL9Rsk