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STRAY DOG Q&A’s with Oscar Nominee Debra Granik this Weekend at the Music Hall

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Debra Granik
Debra Granik

Harley-Davidson, leather, tattooed biceps: Ron “Stray Dog” Hall looks like an authentic tough guy. A Vietnam veteran, he runs a trailer park in rural Missouri with his wife, Alicia, who recently immigrated from Mexico. Gradually, a layered image comes into focus of a man struggling to come to terms with his combat experience. When Alicia’s teenage sons arrive, the film reveals a tender portrait of an America outside the mainstream. STRAY DOG is a powerful look at the veteran experience, a surprising love story, and a fresh exploration of what it takes to survive in the hardscrabble heartland.

STRAY DOG director Debra Granik, an Oscar nominee for her Winter’s Bone screenplay, will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:20 PM screenings at the Music Hall on Friday and Saturday, July 24 and 25. Kirsten Schaffer of Women in Film will moderate.

https://vimeo.com/96957663

Robert Redford on FALL TO RISE: “A heart-filling drama about the outstanding dedication of dancers to their art.” Culture Vulture screenings this Monday and Tuesday at all Laemmle venues.

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FALLTORISE.blog The engaging, richly textured drama FALL TO RISE follows a renowned principal dancer whose injury forces her out of her company and uncomfortably into the role of motherhood. She realizes that her identity depends on dance and struggles to return with the help of another former company dancer. With its star turns by Martha Graham Principal Dancer Katherine Crockett (featured in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and the acclaimed actress Daphne Rubin-Vega, this is a timeless tale with a distinctly New York flavor, revealing the conflict between art and life, between marriage and independence.

https://vimeo.com/82422098

OFFICIAL SELECTION of 13 fests and counting including Dance Film Association and Film Society of Lincoln Center’s DANCE ON CAMERA
WINNER “Best Feature” On Location:Memphis International Music and Film Festival
WINNER Director Jayce Bartok “Bulleit Bourbon Frontier Filmmaker Award”
WINNER Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLiFF) Spirit of Independents Award

“FALL TO RISE is a heart filling drama about the outstanding dedication of dancers to their art. Director Jayce Bartok beautifully captured the emotional difficulties of dancers coming to terms with age and identity.” – Robert Redford

“Daphne Rubin-Vega gives a performance that’s raw, real, funny, passionate, and full of aching humanity.”
Michael Musto – OUT/ADVOCATE

“These universal themes and ideas are what makes the film successful on a base level, but the performances are what elevate it. Rubin-Vega’s Sheila is of particular note, as she shows an impressive range throughout.” 3 1/2 STARS – FILM THREAT

“Remarkable, convincing, very physical lead performances by Daphne Rubin-Vega and Martha Graham dancer Katherine Crockett.” John Beifuss – MEMPHIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL

“Novelistic in its depth and breathtaking in its humanity,” Debra Granik’s STRAY DOG Opens at the Music Hall July 24th

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Harley-Davidson, leather, tattooed biceps: Ron “Stray Dog” Hall looks like an authentic tough guy. A Vietnam veteran, he runs a trailer park in rural Missouri with his wife, Alicia, who recently immigrated from Mexico. Gradually, a layered image comes into focus of a man struggling to come to terms with his combat experience. When Alicia’s teenage sons arrive, the film reveals a tender portrait of an America outside the mainstream. STRAY DOG is a powerful look at the veteran experience, a surprising love story, and a fresh exploration of what it takes to survive in the hardscrabble heartland.

https://vimeo.com/96957663

The film is Debra Granik’s third feature and follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Winter’s Bone. Praise has been literally universal (as of this writing, it boasts a 100 fresh rating at rottentomatoes.com). Writing on Vulture.com, Bilge Ebiri called the film “novelistic in its depth and breathtaking in its humanity.” At the New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote, “STRAY DOG is valuable in many ways — as the sympathetic documentation of a family’s perseverance in hard times; as an example of compassionate cinéma vérité; as a chance to spend time with some very interesting people — but perhaps its greatest virtue lies in its powerful, implicit challenge to the lazy habit of looking at American life through polarized red- and blue-tinted lenses.”

GABRIEL Filmmaker Lou Howe in Person for Q&A’s this Weekend at the Music Hall

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GABRIEL (Rory Culkin), a troubled young man, is convinced that reuniting with his first love will bring him the stability and happiness he craves. Against his family’s wishes, he sets out to find her, but as the obstacles mount, his grip on reality begins to slip and his behavior becomes more erratic. In the end, he risks everything in an increasingly obsessive and desperate pursuit.

GABRIEL filmmaker Lou Howe will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:40 PM screenings at the Music Hall on Friday and Saturday, June 26 and 27.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAGQ8CumFYQ

THE STRONGEST MAN Filmmaker and Cast at the Music Hall Saturday Night

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The Strongest Man is a Miami-set comedy about an anxiety-ridden Cuban-American who fancies himself the strongest man in the world. In a quest to recover his most beloved possession, his golden BMX bicycle, he finds and loses so much more.

The Strongest Man filmmaker and co-stars will introduce and participate in a Q&A after the Saturday, June 27 7:30 PM screening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK20g6CNg-k

The Royal Opera’s Production of LA BOHEME Screening July 6 and 7

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Swoon-inducing opera, coming your way: LA BOHEME. The Royal Opera recently posted some fantastic interviews and making-of videos to YouTube. We’ll be screening the production in all six Laemmle venues on Monday, July 6 and 7:30 PM and Tuesday, July 7 at 1 PM.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFEuShFvJzBy-1RQBQYz_VFVYAs1NzqCk

STRAY DOG Filmmaker Debra Granik in Person at the Music Hall

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Harley-Davidson, leather, tattooed biceps: Ron “Stray Dog” Hall looks like an authentic tough guy. A Vietnam veteran, he runs a trailer park in rural Missouri with his wife, Alicia, who recently immigrated from Mexico. Gradually, a layered image comes into focus of a man struggling to come to terms with his combat experience. When Alicia’s teenage sons arrive, the film reveals a tender portrait of an America outside the mainstream. STRAY DOG is a powerful look at the veteran experience, a surprising love story, and a fresh exploration of what it takes to survive in the hardscrabble heartland.

We are pleased to open STRAY DOG at the Music Hall on Friday, July 24. Filmmaker Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone) will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:20 PM screenings on Friday and Saturday, the 24th and 25th.

https://vimeo.com/96957663

IN STEREO Filmmaker in Person at the Music Hall Opening Night

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IN STEREO is about David and Brenda, who are perfect for each other, and everyone knows it except David and Brenda. After they break up, due to mutual immaturity, they voyage through a romantic purgatory that shakes both of them to their core, until they realize what’s apparent, and work out a design for being together that they refuse to call “being together.” A sharply observed, dark comedy about the complexity of modern relationships, IN STEREO is a humorous look into the lives of confused 30-somethings trying to figure it all out.

IN STEREO writer-director Mel Rodriguez III will participate in a Q&A after the 7:20 screening at the Music Hall on Friday, July 3rd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvYDs84hnms