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Join our tradition: SING-ALONG FIDDLER ON THE ROOF tickets are going fast!

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So few movies stand the test of time and can delight wildly different audiences even decades after their release. Fifty-one years later, Fiddler on the Roof is one of those few. All of which is to say that tickets for our Christmas Eve Sing-Along Fiddler on the Roof screenings at six of our seven theaters are going fast. There is still room for those who want to come out and celebrate, but act soon. Bring your Hanukkah menorah (and candles) to the theatre and help celebrate the miracles in our lives, not least of which is the “Wonder of Wonders” that Laemmle Theatres is still open after a year of closure and two years of halting recovery.  Are brighter days ahead? Who knows. But I’m betting on yes. So buy a ticket, and I’ll feel as “If I Were a Rich Man” because there are still people who value the “Tradition” of seeing a movie in a movie theatre! ~ Greg Laemmle
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The 80th Golden Globes Award nominees at Laemmle.

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If you’re not yet caught up with some of the standout art films of 2022, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced its nominations for the 80th Golden Globe awards, they’re a handy to do list. The Banshees of Inisherin (now playing at the NoHo with a return engagement starting Friday at the Monica Film Center and Town Center) received the most nods, with eight, including Best Film (Musical or Comedy), Best Director and Screenplay for Martin McDonagh, and acting nominations for Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan.

Triangle of Sadness (now playing at the Monicas with a return engagement in Glendale slated for December 23) earned Best Film (Musical or Comedy) and Best Supporting Actress for Dolly De Leon. Todd Field and Cate Blanchett were honored for TÁR with Best Film (Drama), Screenplay and Actress (Drama) nominations. We’re currently playing TÁR in Santa Monica. Now in its eighth week at the Laemmle Glendale, Decision to Leave (South Korea) got a Best non-English language film nomination. Now in its fourth week, we have The Menu (Best Actor and Actress – Musical or Comedy nods for Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy) Claremont, Glendale and Santa Monica. We open Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light this Friday at the NoHo, Newhall, Claremont, Town Center, Glendale and Monica Film Center. Olivia Colman got a Best Actress (Drama) nomination for her role.

Finally, we have films by three of the five nominees for Best Actor (Drama) coming soon: Brendan Fraser in The Whale (starts December 21 at the NoHo and January 20 at the Claremont, Newhall and Town Center; Hugh Jackman in The Son (starts January 20 at the Claremont, Newhall, NoHo, Glendale, Town Center and Royal; and Bill Nighy in Living (December 23 at the Royal and January 13 at the Newhall, Claremont, Glendale, and Town Center.

 

“A gem of the Iranian new wave,” THE RUNNER opens Friday at the Royal & Town Center.

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Featuring one of the finest cinematic performances by a child actor (Madjid Niroumand) and a peer to classics like Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief and Luis Buñuel’s Los Olvidados, Amir Naderi’s The Runner (1984) has been beautifully restored by Rialto Pictures. We are proud to open the film this Friday, December 16 at the Royal and Town Center.
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“A gem of the Iranian new wave…crisply restored with improved subtitles…admirably lean and remarkably well-constructed…the light is often dazzling; the array of bottles floating in the harbor is bewitching… has a subtle fairy tale quality.” — J. Hoberman, The New York Times
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“To say that the 1984 movie doesn’t seem at all dated is almost an understatement. I can’t think of any 2022 film that radiates so much joy in the act of filmmaking, or that can serve as such an electrifying inspiration to younger artists.” ~ Godfrey Cheshire, RogerEbert.com
 
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“Niroumand gives a remarkable performance, thoroughly uninhibited and completely engrossing.” ~ John Anderson, Newsday
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“A work of astonishing power and simplicity, reminiscent of the finest Italian neo-realist films.” ~ Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
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“One of the best films in town right now.” ~ Derek Malcolm, Guardian
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“The film uses stylization and photographic compositions of remarkable beauty (the director of photography was Firooz Malekzadeh) without ever compromising the tough reality of the lives of these undaunted young outcasts.” ~ David Robinson, Times (UK)
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“[Amiro’s] unguarded exuberance hits you with unexpected force. It stays with you.” ~ Hal Hinson, Washington Post
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“Like Bunuel, Naderi shows a keen understanding of children’s camaraderie and determination.” ~ Ted Shen, Chicago Reader
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“If The Runner is tentatively optimistic, it is also drenched in a mood of yearning lyricism.” ~ Stephen Holden, New York Times
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“Young Nirumand gives a performance to make Rossellini weep, and the soundtrack is a joy.” ~ Pierre Hodgson, Time Out
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FIDDLER is back! Sing along with Tevye and his family this Christmas Eve at our Sing-Along screenings of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

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LAEMMLE THEATRES ANNOUNCES ITS 14TH ANNIVERSARY “FIDDLER ON THE ROOF” SING-ALONG SCREENINGS

When: Saturday, December 24, 2022, 7 pm (Christmas Eve)

What: Screening of classic musical film “Fiddler on the Roof.” It’s our program’s 14th anniversary.

Where: 

– Glendale, 207 Maryland Ave., Glendale, CA 91206

– Town Center, 17200 Ventura Blvd., Encino, CA 91316

– Claremont, 450 W Second St., Claremont, CA 91711

– NoHo 7, 5240 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601

– Newhall, 22500 Lyons Ave., Santa Clarita, CA 91321

– Royal, 11523 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025

Tickets: Purchase at Laemmle.com/Fiddler. Prices this year start at $18 for General Admission, $15 for seniors and children, and $15 for Premiere Card Holders, $12 for Premiere Card seniors.

A tradition we began in 2008, Christmas Eve sing-along FIDDLER ON THE ROOF screenings have been a hit that has inspired similar screenings in other parts of the country. We’re showing Norman Jewison’s beloved 1971 Oscar-winning musical at four of our theaters, so you don’t even have to venture too far from your shtetl. Song lyrics on screen, in case you don’t know ’em by heart.

Song highlights include the iconic “TRADITION”, “IF I WERE A RICH MAN”,  “TO LIFE”, “MATCHMAKER”, “SUNRISE SUNSET”, “DO YOU LOVE ME?” and “ANATEVKA”, among many others.

Jewison’s 1971 screen adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical is a treasured movie classic. It stars Israeli actor TOPOL in the unforgettable role of TEVYE the milkman, a character besieged not just by a bevy of five daughters but by modernity itself. Co-stars include NORMA CRANE as GOLDE, Yiddish theater legend MOLLY PICON as YENTE, and LEONARD FRAY as MOTEL. The film won three OSCARS in 1972 for Best Sound, Best Music, and Best Cinematography, and was nominated for five more, including Best Director and Best Picture.

The “deeply felt and tenderly funny family drama” MEMORIES OF MY FATHER opens Friday at the Royal and Town Center.

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Colombia’s official selection for the 93rd Academy Awards and an official selection at Cannes 2022, Memories of My Father follows the life of Héctor Abad Gómez, one of Colombia’s most beloved national figures. Beautifully dramatized by Fernando Trueba, the director of Academy Award winning Belle Epoque, we open the film this Friday at the Royal in West L.A. and the Town Center in Encino.

 

Almodóvar regular Javier Cámara plays Gómez, in this adaptation of his son’s Héctor Abad Faciolince richly evocative memoir. It recounts life in the turbulent South American country in the 1970s and 1980s, charting how the city of Medellín’s descent into corruption transformed the halcyon days of Héctor’s youth as his father became an increasingly outspoken critic of the government. Shifting between the stark black and white images of the 1980s and warmer color tones that define life the 1970s, Fernando Trueba’s film balances a nuanced portrait of family life with the harsher realities of a rapidly changing world. Cámara, who drew worldwide acclaim as the nurse in Talk to Her, movingly captures Gómez as both caring father and activist whose politics were based less on ideology and more on the human rights of everyday people in being able to access the necessities of life: Food, water and adequate shelter.

“This is a wonderfully sympathetic, deeply felt and tenderly funny family drama with a novelistic attention to details and episodes.” ~ Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“A bracingly affectionate biopic that compels despite (and because) of its unapologetic sentimentality, Fernando Trueba’s Memories of My Father pays loving tribute to someone who took comfort in the knowledge that he would be forgotten.” ~ David Ehrlich, indieWire
“Those seeking a pleasantly expansive, somewhat old-school dose of laughter and tears — one not so distant from the director’s Oscar-winning “Belle Epoque” three decades ago — will enjoy this handsomely produced tale.” ~ Dennis Harvey
Variety

“Wild, boldly expressionistic” EO advance screening with the filmmaker in person Nov. 28; regular engagement begins December 2.

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     With his first film in seven years, legendary director Jerzy Skolimowski (Deep End, Moonlighting) directs one of his most free and visually inventive films yet, following the travels of a nomadic gray donkey named EO. After being removed from the traveling circus, which is the only life he’s ever known, EO begins a trek across the Polish and Italian countryside, experiencing cruelty and kindness in equal measure, all the while observing the follies and triumphs of humankind. During his travels, EO is both helped and hindered by a cast of characters that includes a young Italian priest (Lorenzo Zurzolo), a Countess (Isabelle Huppert), and a rowdy Polish soccer team. Loosely inspired by Robert Bresson’s Au hazard Balthazar, and featuring immersive, stunning cinematography by Michal Dymek coupled by Pawel Mykietyn’s resonant score, Skolimowski’s film puts the viewer in the perspective of its four-legged protagonist. EO’s journey speaks to the world around us, an equine hero boldly pointing out societal ills, and serving as warning to the dangers of neglect and inaction, all while on a quest for freedom.
     We are screening EO on Monday, November 28 at the Monica Film Center as part of the Reel Talk with Stephen Farber series. Mr. Skolimowski will attend for a Q&A. The regular engagements begin December 2 at the Royal and December 9 at our Glendale theater.
     “EO is an astonishment and so too is this wild, boldly expressionistic movie that conveys the life of its largely silent protagonist with a bare minimum of dialogue.” ~ Manohla Dargis, New York Times
     “EO may be one of the greatest movies ever made about the spirit of animals, as much as we can know it.” ~ Stephanie Zacharek, Time Magazine
     “EO’s personality shines thanks to Skolimowski’s daringly imaginative depictions, both visual and emotional, of the donkey’s point of view.” ~ Richard Brody, New Yorker

“A potent emotional charge, very contemporary eco-consciousness, and film-making that at its best fairly sizzles in its strangeness mark out EO as an animal film that stands defiantly on its own hooves.” ~ Jonathan Romney, Screen International

     “EO is a damning polemic on our relationship to other intelligent species — as free labor, food and companions — as seen through the dewy, wide eyes of a donkey whom we come to adore.” ~ Peter Debruge, Variety
     “Think of Skolimowki at this stage of his career and life as a filmmaker happily grazing, indulging in an animal need for cinema.” ~ Mark Asch, Little White Lies
     “In Bresson’s version, it’s the humans around the donkey who are the true center of the story. Not so in EO. This is Donkeyvision, and we’re better off for it.” ~ Adam Solomons, indieWire

Greg Laemmle on ONLY IN THEATERS: The filmmaker “ended up with a front row seat for two of the more tumultuous years in the history of our three-generation family business.”

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From Greg Laemmle:
     February, 2019.  We had recently hosted a screening of L.A. Foodways at the Fine Arts.  This documentary, about the history of agriculture in Los Angeles, and the current situation with food deserts in certain neighborhoods – where people were unable to easily access fresh fruits and vegetables – delved into a social issue that had interested me for many years.  And I was especially happy to see a favorite local charity, Food Forward, as one of the charity beneficiaries of the screening.
Filmmaker Raphael Sbarge
     I was not surprised that the filmmaker, Raphael Sbarge, had found this a worthy subject for a documentary.  His previous film, A Concrete River: Reviving the Waters of Los Angeles has also turned a lens on something of local interest, and it also was able to see the natural land underneath the asphalt and buildings, and express a desire to see the city embrace this topography and hydrology so that L.A. could become a more sustainable and equitable place for its residents.  It didn’t hurt that my wife and I appeared as interviewees in A Concrete River. But beyond that, I truly felt that Raphael and I shared a similar hope for the City of Angels.
     So when Raphael called me in February, 2019, I was happy to make time to meet with him.
Greg Laemmle
     At that meeting, he basically said that he wanted to make Laemmle Theatres the subject of his next documentary.  And given his previous films, I thought it was a natural fit. We may not be an environmental organization, but over 80+ years, we have become part of the fabric of the city, and I always hoped that we could grow and adapt, finding ways as a business where we could address some of the challenges confronting our home.
     Now over the years, many filmmakers have said that someone “should” make a movie about Laemmle Theatres. But Raphael was the first of them to say that he was going to do it. And within weeks, on March 21 and 22 of 2019, we were sitting in the auditorium at the Fine Arts having the first on-camera interviews. Little did we know how things would change over the course of the next two years.
Robert Laemmle
     Without revealing too much, let’s just say that Raphael ended up with a front row seat for two of the more tumultuous years in the history of our three-generation family business. Do we sell? Do we not sell? And then beyond that, how do we survive being closed for 13 months during the coronavirus outbreak?
     The film ends on April 9, 2021. The day of the reopening of our theatres. It was a day of hopefulness, but also a day of reckoning. Clearly, and for a variety of reasons, it was going to take some time to reconnect with the audience, and get our business back on track.
Nancy Laemmle
     As I write this now, with the finished film, Only in Theaters, about to open a theatrical run, how am I feeling? About the film, I feel very honored.  I won’t say proud, since beyond sitting for the interviews, I had nothing to do with the production or editing of the film. I trusted Raphael to make the film as he saw fit, and to be honest with his storytelling. But yes, honored.
     The reaction to the film at festival screenings across the country has been terrific, and while I know that festival enthusiasm does not always translate to the competitive realities of theatrical exhibition, I am confident that people who do see the film will emerge with a greater appreciation for the moviegoing experience, and by extension, the people who make that experience possible.
     The film is not what I thought it would be when I agreed to let Raphael make the movie. But it is honest and true, and that’s what’s important. And as hard as it is for me to watch some portions of the film, I will be forever grateful that it exists.
    Only in Theaters opens this Friday, with a full engagement at the Royal, and limited engagements at Claremont, Glendale, Newhall, NoHo and the Town Center. The filmmaker and I will be appearing at all the venues at some point over the first five days of the run for Q&A. Check here for details on which shows will have a Q&A. Whether you can make one of those screenings or not, I hope you’ll take the time to see the film. According to Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi,” we are destined to only find appreciation for things after they are gone. But really, it doesn’t need to be that way. We can appreciate the things that are unique, and that bring beauty and wonder into our lives. And we can support and nurture those things so that they will always be there for us and those that come after us. And you can start doing that this weekend.

ETERNAL SPRING Q&As at the Royal.

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Eternal Spring director Jason Loftus and subject-animator Daxiong will participate in Q&As at the Royal following the 7:10 PM screening on Saturday, November 19 and the 1:20 screening on Sunday, November 20. Matt Carey will moderate.