Film Reviews & Previews
We are thrilled to open the new documentary FOLLOWING THE NINTH: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF BEETHOVEN’S FINAL SYMPHONY this Friday at the Music Hall. The Village Voice described it as “that rarest of films: a documentary as ineffable and transformative in its reach as it sets out to be.” Veteran journalist Bill Moyers recently did a piece about the film, which you can watch right here:
We are thrilled to be showing the controversial Polish film AFTERMATH in several Laemmle venues right now. If you haven’t seen it yet, read Kenneth Turan’s review to find out why.
Join us at The Ojai Film Festival starting November 7 and running through the 14th as we present the fantastic, award-winning Israeli film FILL THE VOID from RAMA BURSHTEIN.
The always-compelling festival situated in the charming, artistic enclave of Ojai, CA features independent narrative features and shorts, documentaries and animation from around the world. There will also be workshops for actors on audition technique; one for make-up artists; another for screenwriters on pitching scripts; and a half-day educational program for high school students.
Laemmle Theatres President GREG LAEMMLE is a long-time fan of the festival. He will be on-hand November 9 to present a special Saturday night, 8pm prime-time screening of FILL THE VOID.
“Ojai is a hidden gem of Southern California,” he says, “and we love what they are doing. I try to find a film that fits the program and where it’s possible to bring in the film’s creative team.”
For full festival line-up and information visit www.ojaifilmfestival.com.
Indiewire just posted the new trailer for master documentarian Frederick Wiseman’s latest, AT BERKELEY. Laemmle Theatres is proud to open the film at the Royal this November 15.
http://vimeo.com/77225450
To mark Laemmle Theatres 75th anniversary as a local, family-owned business, Film Journal International just published a very informative piece about us: our history, philosophy about our place in L.A. County communities, and plans for the future.
Film Journal International reports: “What has remained unchanged from our last report is the “community commitment” of the company. Owned and operated in the second and third generations by Greg and his father, Robert Laemmle, the circuit was established in 1938, when Bob’s father Max and his uncle Kurt Laemmle took over a neighborhood theatre in Highland Park. (In case you are noticing the family resemblance, Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures, was a second cousin to circuit founders Max and Kurt.)”
One of the world’s great film festivals is ongoing in Toronto right now, featuring many films you’ll be able to see on Laemmle screens in the months ahead. We’re looking forward to opening director-actor Ralph Fiennes’ Charles Dickens picture THE INVISIBLE WOMAN on Christmas Day and Roger Michell’s LE WEEK-END, starring Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan, in early 2014. You can see clips from both at the Guardian website.
This Friday we are pleased to open Anne Fontaine’s latest film, ADORE, at our Royal, Playhouse and Town Center theaters. Originally titled TWO MOTHERS and based on a Doris Lessing novella, it’s about two life-long friends (Naomi Watts and Robin Wright) who fall in heated love with each other’s young adult sons. As Watts says more than once in this recent interview, “there’s nothing illegal going on here.”
Dr. Alisa Wolf of Actors for Autism will introduce the 5:10 PM screening of BEST KEPT SECRETat the Playhouse on Saturday, September 7.
The filmmakers will participate in a Q&A after the 5:10 PM screening on Sunday, September 8. The Q&A will be moderated by Leigh Ann Tipton of the SEARCH Family Resource Center.