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THE HUNTING GROUND “a Must-Watch Work of Cine-Activism” about Rape on U.S. Campuses

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Los Angeles documentarian Kirby Dick makes terrific films that brilliantly explore the most urgent issues of our time, whether child abuse in the Catholic Church (the Oscar-nominated Twist of Faith); sexual assault in the U.S. military (The Invisible War, also Oscar nominated); and the hypocrisy of the MPAA’s rating system (This Film is Not Yet Rated). His latest is THE HUNTING GROUND, a startling exposé of rape crimes on U.S. campuses, institutional cover-ups and the brutal social toll on victims and their families. Weaving together verité footage and first-person testimonies, the film follows survivors as they pursue their education while fighting for justice – despite harsh retaliation, harassment and push-back at every level. Leading film critic Manohla Dargis of the New York Times calls it “a must-watch work of cine-activism, one that should be seen by anyone headed to college and by those already on campus.” Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News calls it “Kirby Dick’s important documentary.” We are very pleased to open THE HUNTING GROUND on Friday, March 13th at our Pasadena theater and one week later at our Claremont location.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBNHGi36nlM

 

It’s Not Too Late to See Oscar Nominees and Enter Our Oscar Contest

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The Academy Awards air this Sunday which means entries for our Umpteenth Annual Oscar Contest are due Sunday morning. The person who most accurately predicts the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s choices wins ten pairs of passes, second place wins eight pairs and third place wins six pairs.

The best way to up your Oscar game is to see the nominees. Watching THE 2015 OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORTS ANIMATED, DOCUMENTARY, and LIVE ACTION will certainly put you ahead of the pack.

Best Foreign Film nominees LEVIATHAN and TIMBUKTU expand to Claremont and NoHo this Friday. IDA is playing in Beverly Hills. Unfortunately, WILD TALES and TANGERINES won’t be released prior to the awards.

Other nominees of note still playing at one or more of our theatres include: SONG OF THE SEA, STILL ALICE, WHIPLASH, CITIZENFOUR, TWO DAYS ONE NIGHT, THE IMITATION GAME, AMERICAN SNIPER, and more.

BONUS TIP: Take the tie-breaker question seriously!

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Shakespeare’s Globe on Screen 2015: Take a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the New Season

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Celebrating its fifth fantastic year, Globe On Screen returns in 2015 to Laemmle’s Culture Vulture series with a brand new season of sell-out performances and captivating theatre from the London home of Shakespeare.

Globe On Screen offers audiences a ticket to the best seat in the house from the comfort of a your nearest Laemmle Theater and the chance to experience the unique magic of the world-famous Globe, all captured in high definition and full surround sound.

The fifth season contains five thrilling new productions, featuring the critically-acclaimed The Duchess of Malfi (March 2 and 3) starring Gemma Arterton, the inaugural production in the new candlelit Jacobean theatre at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Other productions include four shows from the Globe’s Summer 2014 ‘Arms and the Man’ season: Globe Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole’s sold-out envisioning of Roman classic Julius Caesar (May 4 and 5); an iconic struggle between love and duty in Antony & Cleopatra (June 15 and 16); the return of Lucy Bailey’s notoriously bloody Titus Andronicus (March 30 and 31), and the uproariously chaotic The Comedy of Errors June 29 and 30). (And while we’re on the subject of live theater, we’ll also have screenings of the stage musical version of From Here to Eternity on April 13 and 14.)

To whet your appetite for the Globe’s new season, watch this five-minute behind-the-scenes look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itPWynTTL3U

BRASSLANDS Screens this Monday and Tuesday; the MUDBUG BRASS BAND will perform at the Music Hall Monday Night.

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A tiny Serbian village explodes with brass cacophony and riotous celebration as more than half a million music fans descend upon Guča, the world’s largest trumpet competition. Amidst a cast of defending Serbian champions and struggling Roma Gypsies, an unlikely brass band from New York City, Zlatne Uste, voyages to represent the United States only a decade after NATO bombs rocked Belgrade. They will be the first Americans ever to compete at Guča. BRASSLANDS offers an intimate and sometimes unsettling portrait of how the hopes and fears of this diverse group of characters collide in their search for common ground and musical ecstasy.

Laemmle Theatres will be screening BRASSLANDS this Monday, February 9 at 7:30 PM and Tuesday, February 10 at 1 PM as part of its Culture Vulture film series. To celebrate the music profiled in BRASSLANDS, L.A.’s own MUDBUG BRASS BAND will be at the Music Hall Monday night to perform their super-fun New Orleans-style brass-based jazz!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SCf0UbNemw
Mudbug Brass Band in all its glory

Indiewire ~ “GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM: One Film That Could Change the Course of Women’s Rights in Israel”

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An Israeli woman (Ronit Elkabetz) seeking to finalize a divorce (gett) from her estranged husband finds herself effectively put on trial by her country’s religious marriage laws, in GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM, a powerhouse courtroom drama from sibling directors Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz. Laemmle Theatres opens the film at the Royal on February 13, the Playhouse, Town Center 5 and Claremont 5 on February 20 and the NoHo 7 on February 27.

In Israel, there is neither civil marriage nor civil divorce; only Orthodox rabbis can legalize a union or its dissolution, which is only possible with the husband’s full consent. Women can’t contact an LA divorce lawyer, for example, to end the marriage it has to be the husband who makes the decision. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Viviane Amsalem has been applying for a divorce for three years but her religiously devout husband Elisha, continually refuses. His cold intransigence, Viviane’s determination to fight for her freedom, and the ambiguous role of the rabbinical judges shape a procedure where tragedy vies with absurdity and everything is brought out into the open for judgment.

What’s more, as reported by Indiewire, the film is having real-world effects in Israel, prompting religious authorities to reevaluate their positions on divorce. Check out this short interview with the filmmakers reacting to the news:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kL1aL3LFIM#t=110
GETT co-directors Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz.

The 2015 Oscar-Nominated Documentary Shorts Open January 30

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Here at Laemmle Theatres we take a lot of pride and pleasure in showing many feature documentaries, but it’s extra sweet every February when we can feature the focussed, concise brilliance of the Oscar-nominated short documentaries. We open the program of five films on Friday, January 30 at the Music Hall and February 7 and the Playhouse 7 and Claremont 5. The nominees are:

JOANNA (Aneta Kopacz) – 40 minutes/Poland/Polish. With great visual poetry, JOANNA portrays the simple and meaningful moments in the life of her family. Diagnosed with an untreatable illness, Joanna promises her son that she will do her best to live for as long as possible. It is a story of close relationships, tenderness, love and thoughtfulness.

CRISIS HOTLINE: VETERANS PRESS 1 (Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry) – 39 minutes/USA/English. The timely documentary CRISIS HOTLINE: VETERANS PRESS 1 spotlights the traumas endured by America’s veterans, as seen through the work of the hotline’s trained responders, who provide immediate intervention and support in hopes of saving the lives of service members.

OUR CURSE (Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki) – 27 minutes/Poland/Polish. OUR CURSE is a personal statement of the director and his wife, who have to deal with a very rare and incurable disease of their newborn child – the Ondine’s Curse (also known as CCHS, congenital central hypoventilation syndrome). People affected with this disease stop breathing during sleep and require lifetime mechanical ventilation on a ventilator.

WHITE EARTH (J. Christian Jensen) – 20 minutes/USA/English and Spanish. Thousands of souls flock to America’s Northern Plains seeking work in the oil fields. WHITE EARTH is the tale of an oil boom seen through unexpected eyes. Three children and an immigrant mother brave a cruel winter and explore themes of innocence, home and the American Dream.

THE REAPER (La Parka) (Gabriel Serra Arguello) – 29 minutes/Mexico/Spanish. THE REAPER: Efrain, known as the Reaper, has worked at a slaughterhouse for 25 years. We will discover his deep relationship with death and his struggle to live.

Still from JOANNA

AMERICAN BEAR Filmmaker-Adventurers at Both Laemmle Screenings for Q&A’s

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As seen in the documentary AMERICAN BEAR, Sarah and Greg set out to critically explore American culture, compassion, and fear by relying on the kindness of strangers for a home each night. Traveling through 30 states in 60 days, they spend every day in a new town, learning why people may or may not be willing to open their homes. Sarah and Greg spend time getting to know their hosts – each uniquely, culturally American – while the film raises questions about how we define American identities.

AMERICAN BEAR co-directors Gregory Grano and Sarah Sellman will participate in Q&A’s after both the January 28 screening at the NoHo 7 and the January 29 screening at the Claremont 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5yJtP4IFhU

Ride with Greg Laemmle and Win a 2015 Movie Pass

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It’s time for our 3rd Annual Ride with Greg Laemmle Climate Ride Contest!  Don’t miss your chance to participate in this life-altering event.  Last year our team was 14 strong and we’re expecting to surpass that number for 2015.  Join us and become part of our amazing group!

What’s more, tell us why you want to ride with Greg and you could win an Unlimited Laemmle Movie Pass for the remainder of 2015, free registration for Climate Ride California, and a $2500 contribution toward your Climate Ride fundraising goal from the Laemmle Charitable Foundation.  See the second and third prize packages, eligibility requirements, and all contest details over on the contest entry page.

An outside panel of judges will select the winners based on the quality of their entry statement so take the time to craft something that’ll really knock their cycling socks off! But don’t wait too long, the deadline for entry is Monday, February 16!

Climate Ride California 2015 is a fully-supported, five-day group ride covering approx. 300 miles of stellar Northern California scenery starting with the awe-inspiring Redwood State Park,  down miles of spectacular coastline, through California wine growing country, and culminating with a jaunt over the Golden Gate Bridge and into the City By the Bay.  Bike fitness is recommended, but the ride caters to all levels of ability.

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