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GETT Q&A’s this Weekend at the Royal

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GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM follows an Israeli woman (Ronit Elkabetz) seeking to finalize a divorce (gett) from her estranged husband. She finds herself effectively put on trial by her country’s religious marriage laws, in this powerhouse courtroom drama from sibling directors Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz. Israel’s Official Entry for the 87th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and a Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Film.

GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM co-director Shlomi Elkabetz will participate in Q&A’s at the Royal after the 7 PM screenings on Friday and Saturday, February 13 and 14.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a4dJZtCl1Q&feature=youtu.be

WHITE RABBIT Q&A Opening Night at the Music Hall

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WHITE RABBIT follows Harlon Mackey, who has been tormented by visions since his alcoholic father forced him to kill an innocent rabbit while hunting as a boy. Now that Harlon is a bullied high school teen, his undiagnosed mental illness is getting worse. He begins to hear voices, and his imagination encourages him to carry out violent acts. Things begin to look up when Julie, a rebellious young girl, moves to town and befriends Harlon. But when she betrays him, the rabbit along with other imaginary comic book characters taunt him into committing one final act of revenge.

WHITE RABBIT lead actors Nick Krause and Sam Trammell will participate in a Q&A after the 7:30 PM screening at the Music Hall on Friday, February 13.

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

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

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

MAD AS HELL Q&A’s at the Music Hall

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The Young Turks, one of the most popular online news shows in the world, has amassed a YouTube network consisting of millions of subscribers and billions of views. But that wasn’t always the case. MAD AS HELL documents the tumultuous, at times hilarious and altogether astonishing trajectory of Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks’ main host and founder, as he traverses from unknown public access TV host to Internet sensation.

Several Young Turks will participate in Q&A’s on the following schedule:

Saturday, Feb 7th @ 5pm: David Koller (Intro & QA) 
Saturday, Feb 7th @ 9:55pm: David Koller (Intro & QA)  
Sunday, Feb 8th @ 5pm: Kim Horcher (Intro), Steve Oh (QA)
Sunday, Feb 8th @ 9:55pm: David Koller (Intro & Q&A)  
Monday, Feb 9th @ 5pm: Kim Horcher (Intro), John Iadarola (QA)
Monday, Feb 9th @ 9:55pm: Kim Horcher (Intro), David Koller (QA)
Tuesday, Feb 10th @ 5pm: Kim Horcher (Intro), John Iadarola (QA)
Tuesday, Feb 10th @ 9:55pm: Kim Horcher (Intro), David Koller (QA)
Wednesday, Feb 11th @ 5pm: Kim Horcher (Intro), John Iadarola (QA)
Wednesday, Feb 11th @ 9:55pm: Kim Horcher (Intro), David Koller (QA)
Thursday, Feb 12th @ 7:30pm: Kim Horcher (Intro), David Koller (QA)
Thursday, Feb 12th @ 9:55pm: Kim Horcher (Intro), David Koller (QA)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8ctSdgfq0

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
BRASSLANDS Screens this Monday and Tuesday; the MUDBUG BRASS BAND will perform at the Music Hall Monday Night.
Mudbug Brass Band in all its glory

MATT SHEPARD IS A FRIEND OF MINE Opens February 13 at the NoHo 7 with Filmmaker Q&A’s and Live Performances by Randi Driscoll and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles

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MATT SHEPARD IS A FRIEND OF MINE is a powerful feature documentary about Matthew Shepard, the young gay man who was tortured and murdered in one of the most notorious hate crimes in U.S. history. Directed by Michele Josue, a close friend of Shepard’s, the film revisits the shocking case with never-before-seen photos, rare video footage, and new revelations about Shepard’s all-too-brief life.

We will begin screenings of the film at the NoHo 7 on Friday, February 13. Director Michele Josue, producer Liam McNiff and subjects Dennis Shepard and Zeina Barkawi will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:50 PM screenings on Friday and Saturday, February 13 and 14. The Friday screening will feature a live performance by Randi Driscoll and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZj46ewvR6k

 

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
Indiewire ~ "GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM: One Film That Could Change the Course of Women's Rights in Israel"
GETT co-directors Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz.

ABOVE AND BEYOND, Documentary About the Volunteer Fighter Pilots from Abroad Who Helped Save Israel in ’48, Opens February 6

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In 1948, a group of World War II pilots, mostly from the United States, volunteered to fight for Israel in its War of Independence.  As members of “Machal”– volunteers from abroad – this ragtag band of brothers turned the tide of the war, preventing the possible annihilation of Israel at the very moment of its birth.  ABOVE AND BEYOND is their story, told for the first time and we are pleased to open the film Friday, February 6 at the Town Center in Encino and the next day at the Royal in West L.A. ABOVE AND BEYOND producer Nancy Spielberg will participate in Q&A’s after the 10:30 AM screening at the Royal and after the 7:50 PM show at the Town Center on Sunday, February 8.

ABOVE AND BEYOND recounts the harrowing missions of the men who helped repel five Arab armies. The film follows them from the United States – where they met and trained in secret and struggled to stay two steps ahead of the FBI – to Panama, Rome and even behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia, where they flew versions of the very Nazi planes they had tried to shoot down in World War II.

Set against the backdrop of an emerging nation still reeling from the horrors of the Holocaust, ABOVE AND BEYOND uncovers the motivations of these volunteers – Jews and non-Jews, some Zionists, many others not.  It recounts the personal stories of the young pilots, whose experiences in Israel were life altering. And ultimately, the film taps into universal themes of courage, commitment and sacrifice.  At a time when a fledgling nation was under attack, a tiny band of airmen answered the call for help. They risked their citizenship, their futures and even their lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNMJGaptDds&feature=youtu.be
ABOVE AND BEYOND, Documentary About the Volunteer Fighter Pilots from Abroad Who Helped Save Israel in '48, Opens February 6
Volunteer pilots, 1948.