6 MONTH RULE filmmaker Blayne Weaver will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:20 PM screenings at the Monicas on Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9.
Q&A’s with director of INVENTING OUR LIFE in Beverly Hills this weekend
INVENTING OUR LIFE director Toby Perl Freilich will participate in Q&A’s at the Music Hall 3 on the following schedule:
Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9, following the 7:20 screenings; after the 2:50 screening on Sunday, June 10; and after the 7:20 screening on Tuesday, June 12.
Q&A’s with WISH ME AWAY co-directors Friday (6-15) in Beverly Hills
WISH ME AWAY co-directors Bobbie Birleffi and Beverly Kopf will participate in Q&A’s following the 5PM the 7:20PM screenings at the Music Hall 3 on Friday, June 15.
Iconic Royal Theatre marquee to be demolished this summer as part of three-screen conversion
One of the most iconic signs of West Los Angeles has for more than 40 years heralded the best in art and foreign cinema to the continuous flow of traffic along Santa Monica Boulevard. But Laemmle Theaters’ Royal marquee, with its distinctive 17-foot-wide panels, will soon dim forever. It is slated for removal late this summer when we will temporarily close the theater for an expansion project. The new three-screen complex will feature a more modern marquee.
Since the Laemmles took over the theater in 1972, the marquee has advertised such art-house hits as RAN, HOWARD’S END, SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT, THE QUEEN and WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. Said Laemmle Theatres President Greg Laemmle: “Financially, it is just too difficult to make a go of it with a single screen theatre. But in addition to this, having three screens instead of just one will give us more flexibility in opening and extending runs on the more “artistic” films which Los Angeles audiences have come to expect at the Royal. As for the marquee, the old marquee is great, and we’re proud to see it graced with Paul Davis’ GRAND ILLUSION images. But the cost of creating custom marquee panels is prohibitive, especially for some of the small, independent distributors whose films we regularly show here. Distributors often end up spending more on the marquee panels than they do on display advertising. That just doesn’t make sense. And from an architectural standpoint, we have photos of the theatre from the 40’s (and before) which show the theatre (then named the Tivoli) with a smaller, square marquee with a vertical blade sign. We believe that something like this will be more in keeping with the theatre’s original Neo-Classic architecture.”
![The Royal Theatre (then the Tivoli) in 1944](https://90bb70.p3cdn2.secureserver.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/royal-tivoli.jpg)
For the theater’s current attraction, a new restoration of Jean Renoir’s masterpiece, GRAND ILLUSION, distributor Rialto Pictures wanted to give the marquee a farewell gift; a full-color broadside created by acclaimed artist Paul Davis, who gave Joe Papp’s Public Theater its signature art and ad look, as well as creating numerous other theater and film posters. Among Davis’s most famous works on Papp’s posters for Three Penny Opera and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. He recently created the poster for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s special presentation of Abel Gance’s Napoleon.
Q&A with reps from the Breast Cancer Action Network on Friday in Santa Monica
Representatives from the Breast Cancer Action Network will participate in a Q&A after the 7:20 PM screening of PINK RIBBONS, INC. at the Monicas on Friday, June 1.
Q&A’s with Jesse Baget and Olga Segura of CELLMATES Friday at NoHo
BILL W. Q&A’s May 27th – May 30th
In 1999, Bill Wilson was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Heroes and Icons of the 20th Century for his role as co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. Through interviews, recreations, and rare archival material, BILL W. traces Wilson’s life through his 17 years of devastating alcoholism, the crucial years of A.A.’s founding and growth, his battle with depression, his experimentation with LSD, and his struggle with celebrity status in an anonymous society.
BILL W. co-director Dan Carracino will participate in Q&A’s on the following schedule:
- Sunday, May 27th at the Music Hall 3 after 2:50 PM screening.
- Sunday, May 27th and Wednesday, May 30th at the Playhouse 7 after 7:40 PM screenings.
- Monday, May 28th at the Monicas after 11:10 AM screening.
Q&A’s with FIRST POSITION filmmaker Bess Kargman
FIRST POSITION director Bess Kargman will participate in Q&A’s after the 5:10 and 7:40 screenings on Saturday, May 26 and after the 2:40 screening on Memorial Day at the Music Hall 3 and after the 1:40 and 4:20 screenings at the Monicas on Sunday, May 27.