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‘The Doors: Live At The Bowl ’68 Special Edition’ Screenings November 4th Only at the Claremont, Newhall, NoHo, Playhouse and Royal.

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On July 5th, 1968, The Doors lit up the storied stage of the Hollywood Bowl with a legendary performance that is widely considered to be the band’s finest captured on film. Performing on the back of their 3rd album release “Waiting For The Sun” and the US #1 single “Hello, I Love You,” the quartet had been honing their live performances over the previous two years and were in absolute peak form.

'The Doors: Live At The Bowl ’68 Special Edition' Screenings November 4th Only at the Claremont, Newhall, NoHo, Playhouse and Royal.

Now, on November 4th, 2021, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Doors final studio album L.A. WOMAN (1971), The Doors: Live At The Bowl ’68 Special Edition will transform movie theaters into concert venues, giving Doors fans around the world the closest experience to being there live alongside Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger, who stated, “the magic that has been done to enhance the picture and sound quality of this show will make everyone feel as though they have a front row seat at the Hollywood Bowl.”

'The Doors: Live At The Bowl ’68 Special Edition' Screenings November 4th Only at the Claremont, Newhall, NoHo, Playhouse and Royal.

In celebration of L.A. WOMAN, this special event includes a brand-new musical performance and a conversation with John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Doors Manager, Jeff Jampol, filmed exclusively for the big screen. Here’s  a clip:

 

This theatrical “Special Edition” release creates an in-cinema experience for fans like no other. The film has now been remastered in stunning Dolby ATMOS® (where available) and 5.1 surround sound by Bruce Botnick, the original engineer & mixer for The Doors who recorded the live performance at the Hollywood Bowl in 1968 and co-produced L.A. WOMAN. Here’s another clip:

 

Meticulously restored from original camera negatives and remixed and mastered using original multi-track tapes, The Doors: Live At The Bowl ’68 Special Edition features the concert in its entirety, including “Hello, I Love You”, “The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)”, “Light My Fire” and “The End.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYxbYt8Tp48

Jean Renoir’s FRENCH CANCAN ~ 65th Anniversary Screenings October 13 at the Royal, Playhouse, Glendale, Newhall.

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present FRENCH CANCAN, one of the best late films created by master director Jean Renoir: a rousing tribute to the 19th century world that his celebrated father, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and other Impressionists created in their paintings. Set mainly in Montmartre and the original Moulin Rouge nightclub in the 1890s, the film chronicles the revival of the cancan that electrified Paris. This film marked Renoir’s return to filmmaking in France after a lengthy exile caused by World War II.

Jean Renoir's FRENCH CANCAN ~ 65th Anniversary Screenings October 13 at the Royal, Playhouse, Glendale, Newhall.

Renoir’s main character, a theatrical impresario named Henri Danglard, is portrayed by legendary French actor Jean Gabin, who had worked with Renoir in the 1930s in The Lower Depths, La Bete Humaine, and the director’s antiwar masterpiece, La Grande Illusion. Gabin, for decades the face of French cinema, creates a vivid character in FRENCH CANCAN, a producer who has the restlessness of an artist, always seeking new challenges—and new romances in his personal life. The principal women in his life are portrayed by Francoise Arnoul and Maria Felix, with the legendary singer, Edith Piaf, in a tasty supporting role.

Jean Renoir's FRENCH CANCAN ~ 65th Anniversary Screenings October 13 at the Royal, Playhouse, Glendale, Newhall.

One of the critics who endorsed the film in the 1950s was Francois Truffaut, who was writing criticism before he embarked on his directing career. Truffaut considered FRENCH CANCAN a milestone in the history of color cinema. He observed that one scene of a dance class “reminds us of a Degas sketch,” and he added that Renoir’s direction was “as vigorous and youthful as ever.”

Jean Renoir's FRENCH CANCAN ~ 65th Anniversary Screenings October 13 at the Royal, Playhouse, Glendale, Newhall.

Later reviews also endorsed the film, especially after footage cut from the initial release was restored. Leonard Maltin paid tribute to the “brilliantly beautiful restored version” and called the film “an impressive, enjoyable fiction about beginnings of the Moulin Rouge and impresario Gabin’s revival of the cancan.” Roger Ebert called the film “a delicious musical comedy that deserves comparison with the golden age Hollywood musicals of the same period.” In The Guardian Peter Bradshaw wrote, “The glorious final sequence, in which the cancan is finally unveiled to the rowdy audience, is some kind of masterpiece, perhaps the equal of anything Renoir ever achieved: wild, free, turbulent, exhilarating.”

Jean Renoir's FRENCH CANCAN ~ 65th Anniversary Screenings October 13 at the Royal, Playhouse, Glendale, Newhall.

This musical delight will play at 7 PM on Wednesday, October 13, at four Laemmle theatres: the Royal in West L.A., the Playhouse in Pasadena, the Laemmle Glendale, and the Laemmle Newhall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLivSvCNe84

Exclusive clip from GOLDEN VOICES, “an original, unusual, and quite disarming film about the immigrant experience,” opening October 8.

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The Israeli romantic dramedy GOLDEN VOICES, which we open on October 8 at our Encino, West L.A. and Pasadena theaters, follows Raya and Victor who built a shared career as the Soviet Union’s most beloved film dubbers. For decades they worked translating the films of auteurs like Federico Fellini and Stanley Kubrick into Russian. Upon the collapse of the USSR in 1990, the Jewish couple must immigrate to Israel and reinvent their talents to find employment.

Exclusive clip from GOLDEN VOICES, "an original, unusual, and quite disarming film about the immigrant experience," opening October 8.
Vladimir Friedman and Mariya Belkina.

As they strive to acclimate to their adopted home, opportunities for first-rate vocal performances are few and far between. Raya answers a help wanted ad searching for women with “pleasant voices” and finds herself catering to a lonely Russian community as a phone-sex operator, while Victor falls in with a band of black market film pirates from the VHS underground. A charming comedy about disrupting dynamics, starting anew, and rediscovering yourself in the most unexpected places, GOLDEN VOICES is also a stirring tribute to the redemptive power of cinema.

Here’s an exclusive clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy0LZyfSVOA

Tablet Magazine described GOLDEN VOICES as “a sensitive and heartwarming film about immigration, growing old, love, and new beginnings” and The Australian called “an original, unusual, and quite disarming film about the immigrant experience.”

Director/co-writer Evgeny Ruman says of GOLDEN VOICES, “I came to Israel in 1990 when I was a kid with my family. Going to the cinema was too expensive, so the films I had seen in my first years in Israel were from illegal video libraries for Russian speakers. This is when my love of cinema was born – watching bleak pirate copies that were shot directly from cinema screens and amateurishly dubbed. I was a kid in a strange country and the world of films was the best escape from the harsh reality. Nowadays, being a part of Israeli society and the film industry, I like to look back at the past from a different perspective and turn it into a movie. This film was born from a love of cinema, but while developing the project I discovered it expresses something much bigger than that – the story of grown people that had to reinvent themselves completely in order to start a new life in Israel. The story of my parents.

Exclusive clip from GOLDEN VOICES, "an original, unusual, and quite disarming film about the immigrant experience," opening October 8.
Evgeny Ruman.

“I see this film as a sad comedy. I believe this story has very touching human moments, as well as very funny and entertaining ones. I want the viewers to experience both fully while watching the film. I certainly would prefer to get the audience to laugh out loud rather than just smile during the most absurd and funniest moments in the film, just as I want them to be deeply engaged in the dramatic storylines and maybe even shed a tear. The story is told in a simple, clean way. Shot in cinemascope wide lenses, the images are rich in details, telling the story visually. In addition to the dialogue and music, we use the point of view of the protagonists – so the audience can have the same experience as Victor and Raya.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oJDT7_osCc

LA PISCINE, the Arthouse Hit of the Reopening, Back by Popular Demand October 8 at the Royal.

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The summer of 2021 is over but not at the movies. Rialto Pictures’ restoration of Jacque Deray 1969 crime-romance has proven irresistible to cinephiles looking for something sexy, decadent, French, and from another time. We’re happy to bring it back for another fling.

Glynnis MacNicol wrote a terrific piece for the New York Times last month examining the film’s success, headlined “A Steamy French Thriller Is a ‘Sleeper Smash Hit;’ The 1969 film LA PISCINE was supposed to run for two weeks at New York’s Film Forum, but it’s been extended to the fall.” Here’s an excerpt:

“For the past 14 weeks at Film Forum, a longstanding independent and repertory theater on West Houston Street in Manhattan, the 1969 French film LA PISCINE has been playing — a run that has extended its initial engagement by 12 weeks, and counting.

LA PISCINE, the Arthouse Hit of the Reopening, Back by Popular Demand October 8 at the Royal.
Romy Schneider, top, and Alain Delon. Rialto Pictures

“Rear Window, 8 ½, La Strada and a popular Humphrey Bogart series that included Casablanca have all come and gone, but LA PISCINE swims on.

“If there is a film of New York’s 2021 summer, this may be it.

“LA PISCINE (which means “The Swimming Pool”) revolves around Jean-Paul (played by Alain Delon) and Marianne (Romy Schneider), who have retreated to a house with a large pool outside St. Tropez.

“Sadly, he only gets one month of vacation. The lovers are unexpectedly joined by Harry (Maurice Ronet), Marianne’s former paramour and Jean-Paul’s former best friend, and his 18-year-old daughter, Penelope (Jane Birkin). Much decadence and extremely French crossover love ensues.”

You can read the rest of the piece here (spoiler alert!) but better yet, come take a dip in LA PISCINE again or, if you haven’t yet gotten wet, come on in, the water’s fine!

“Icily erotic! Seething passion and emotional chaos lie beneath the symbolically placid surface of the villa’s swimming pool, which becomes the site for both seduction and violent revenge.” — Dave Kehr, The New York Times

“Romy Schneider’s crowning cinematic moment, where she delivered her most enchanting onscreen performance.” — Manon Garrigues, Vogue Paris

“Erotic languor turns gradually into fear and then horror in this gripping and superbly controlled thriller…The pool is a primordial swamp of desire, a space in which there is nothing to do but laze around, furtively looking at semi-naked bodies.” — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“Set in a to-die-for villa in the verdant hills overlooking Saint-Tropez, this icily elegant pas de quatre involves four of the most outrageously photogenic actors to ever appear on screen… We sit and revel in the glamour of it all, waiting for those hormonal and homicidal impulses to boil over – as, of course, they do.” — David Melville, Senses of Cinema

“Pretty people behaving poorly in beautiful settings is something we don’t see as much of in cinema as we used to. This is a master class in the subgenre, and one of unusual depth.” (Glenn Kenny, New York Times)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1mdihKkMFY

Bernardo Bertolucci’s THE CONFORMIST ~ 50th Anniversary Screenings.

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We continue our Anniversary Classics series with Bertolucci’s stunner at 7 o’clock on Wednesday, September 29 at our Glendale, Newhall, Pasadena and West L.A. theaters. The film follows Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a member of the secret police in Mussolini’s fascist Italy. He and his new bride, Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli), travel to Paris for their honeymoon, where Marcello also plans to assassinate his former college professor Luca Quadri (Enzo Tarascio), an outspoken anti-fascist living in exile. But when Marcello meets the professor’s young wife, Anna (Dominique Sanda), both his romantic and his political loyalties are tested.

Bernardo Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST ~ 50th Anniversary Screenings.

“It’s easy to overlook how stark THE CONFORMIST‘s political and allegorical message is because it’s just so damn beautiful.” (Aja Romano, Vox)

Bernardo Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST ~ 50th Anniversary Screenings.

“Bertolucci’s masterpiece—made when he was all of 29—will be the most revelatory experience a fortunate pilgrim will have in a theater this year.” (Michael Atkinson, Village Voice)

Bernardo Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST ~ 50th Anniversary Screenings.

“THE CONFORMIST is celebrated for cinematographer Vittorio Storaro’s tumbling autumn leaves, but its emotional impact involves a tumbling soul.” (Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York)

Bernardo Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST ~ 50th Anniversary Screenings.

“THE CONFORMIST is a beautiful and provocative film, and its theme could not be more timely.” (John Hofsess, Maclean’s Magazine)

Ninety of His Former Dancers Finally Open Up about the Magic IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM.

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IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM, which we’ll open September 24 at the Playhouse, Royal, and Town Center, takes us back to the glory years of Balanchine’s New York City Ballet through the remembrances of his former dancers and their quest to fulfill the vision of a genius. Opening the door to his studio, Balanchine’s private laboratory, they reveal new facets of the groundbreaking choreographer: taskmaster, mad scientist, and spiritual teacher. Today, as his former dancers teach a new generation, questions arise: what was the secret of his teaching? Can it be replicated?

Filled with never before seen archival footage of Balanchine at work during rehearsals, classes, and in preparation for his most seminal works, along with interviews with many of his adored and adoring dancers and those who try to carry on his legacy today, this is Balanchine as you have never seen him, and a film for anyone who loves ballet and the creative process.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT by Connie Hochman:

IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM grew out of my lifelong interest in the work of the groundbreaking choreographer George Balanchine. As a child in the 1960s, I trained at his School of American Ballet and danced alongside the New York City Ballet, with Balanchine at the helm. During these years, I witnessed a profound bond between Balanchine and his dancer-disciples, which continued to inspire and fascinate me.

In the 1970s, as a dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet, I experienced the thrill and exhilaration of dancing many of Balanchine’s greatest ballets. Still, I wanted to know more about Balanchine, the teacher. I remembered that friends of mine who joined New York City Ballet had the opportunity each morning to take company class with him. But whenever I asked about it, they froze. No one would discuss Balanchine’s classroom.

Ninety of His Former Dancers Finally Open Up about the Magic IN BALANCHINE'S CLASSROOM.

Something told me that what transpired in that room – off limits to anyone outside New York City Ballet – was important. My curiosity only grew. Why did Balanchine teach and not just choreograph? How did his class relate to his ballets? What was it that he sought from his already proficient dancers? Why wouldn’t they talk about it?

Ninety of His Former Dancers Finally Open Up about the Magic IN BALANCHINE'S CLASSROOM.

Decades later, my childhood memories of Balanchine, fueled by my desire to solve the mystery of his classroom, impelled me to seek answers. I proposed a series of interviews with former Balanchine dancers. To my delight, many said yes – 90 in all. One by one, they opened up about the phenomenon of Balanchine’s teaching. His unorthodox methods. The extremes. The charged atmosphere. His unrelenting presence.

Ninety of His Former Dancers Finally Open Up about the Magic IN BALANCHINE'S CLASSROOM.

As each dancer travels back in time to the creative whirlwind of the Balanchine era, they relive the lessons he teaches about dance and beyond: those “a-ha” moments when resistance gives way to surrender and a super-intelligence takes over. Balanchine’s class is more than just a metaphor for life. It is Life itself – short, fleeting, intense, with rewards in proportion to one’s engagement and dedication. The dancers’ words, at last, began to quench my thirst for understanding and IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM was conceived.

Ninety of His Former Dancers Finally Open Up about the Magic IN BALANCHINE'S CLASSROOM.

In addition to the dancer testimonials, which form the basis for the film, I launched an extensive search for visuals to bring the story to life. In the process, I discovered a trove of never-before-seen archival footage of Balanchine in America. With special permission from The George Balanchine Trust, I traveled across the country and to Europe to film Balanchine’s former dancers staging his ballets, teaching classes, and faithfully passing on their unique knowledge to the next generation. As I witnessed this painstaking process of transference, new questions arose which ultimately drive the final film: What happens when a master is gone? What was the secret of his teaching? Can it be replicated?

Ninety of His Former Dancers Finally Open Up about the Magic IN BALANCHINE'S CLASSROOM.

My fervent wish is to share with others the story of this extraordinary teacher and his extraordinary disciples. It is, in essence, the artist’s journey, a subject rarely tackled in film. The magic of Balanchine’s classroom was like nothing on earth. By opening the door, I invite you in to see for yourself.

Ninety of His Former Dancers Finally Open Up about the Magic IN BALANCHINE'S CLASSROOM.

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY: Connie Hochman was a professional ballet dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet where she performed many Balanchine masterworks. In 2007, Connie began a series of interviews with former Balanchine dancers – ninety in all – to explore the phenomenon of Balanchine’s classroom. Why did he teach and not just choreograph? What did he teach? How did he teach? How did his daily class relate to his ballets? Their remembrances of his unorthodox methods and transformative teaching form the basis of IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM.

Ninety of His Former Dancers Finally Open Up about the Magic IN BALANCHINE'S CLASSROOM.
Filmmaker Connie Hochman.

In addition to the oral histories, Connie launched an extensive and painstaking search for visuals that would bring the story to life. Over years, she discovered a trove of never- before-seen archival footage of Balanchine in America. With approval from The George Balanchine Trust, Connie traveled around the country and to Europe to film Balanchine’s former dancers staging his ballets, teaching class, and passing on their knowledge to today’s generation.

As a first-time filmmaker, Connie consulted with Louis Psihoyos (The Cove, Chasing Extinction), and Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine (Ballets Russes, The Galapagos Affair), each of whom offered guidance and helped her form the creative team behind IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM.

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

Culture Vulture Returns! Tickets Now on Sale.

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Nature is healing and Culture Vulture is back! We will restart the weekly series this month with Monday evening (7:30 PM) and Tuesday matinee (1:00 PM) screenings at our Claremont, Glendale, Newhall, Playhouse and Royal venues. We have something for everyone, including fine art, musical theatre, legitimate theatre, ballet and much more. The schedule, starting with something from London’s West End:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LcGGBrqhS4

09/20 & 09/21 – SKYLIGHT – On a bitterly cold London evening, schoolteacher (Carey Mulligan) receives an unexpected visit from her former lover (Bill Nighy), a successful and charismatic restaurateur whose wife has recently died. David Hare’s highly-anticipated production, directed by Stephen Daldry (The Audience), was recorded live on the West End by National Theatre Live.

https://vimeo.com/580755653/5679f08d86

09/27 & 09/22 – LIVE AT MR. KELLY’S – A look back at the legendary Chicago club Mister Kelly’s, which launched talent like Barbra Streisand, Woody Allen, Bette Midler, and Richard Pryor. Its visionary owners George and Oscar Marienthal smashed color and gender barriers to put fresh, irreverent voices in the spotlight and transform entertainment in the 50s, 60s, and ’70s.

https://vimeo.com/583451750

10/04 & 10/11 – ALGREN – A journey through the gritty world, brilliant mind, and noble heart of Nelson Algren, the writer who defined post-war American urban fiction. Featuring John Sayles, William Friedkin, Philip Kaufman, Billy Corgan and more, the film paints an intimate, witty portrait.

https://vimeo.com/thefaithful/trailer

10/11 & 10/12 – THE FAITHFUL – This documentary powerfully explores fandom, memorabilia and the magnetic appeal of three of the most influential cultural icons of our time: Elvis Presley, Princess Diana, and Pope John Paul II.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwnUJmFBhs4

10/18 & 10/19 – RAPHAEL REVEALED – Marking the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death, the greatest exhibition ever held of his works took place in Rome. This film provides beautifully-filmed access to this once-in-a-lifetime show featuring over two hundred masterpieces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st6F5QZWJSY

10/25 & 10/25 – FOLLIES – New York, 1971. There’s a party on the stage of the Weismann Theatre. Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves. After a sold-out run in 2017, the winner of the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival returned for a strictly limited season in 2019. Stephen Sondheim’s legendary musical includes such classic songs as Broadway Baby, I’m Still Here and Losing My Mind.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/putinswitnes/585517424

11/01 & 11/02 – PUTIN’S WITNESSES serves as a fascinating look at Putin in the earliest days of his presidency, when the seeds of his authoritarianism were already being sown, filmed by a former friend and colleague, now living in exile, who had intimate access.

https://vimeo.com/582143536

11/08 & 11/09 – PRISM – Filmmakers Eléonore Yameogo of Burkina Faso, An van. Dienderen of Belgium, and Rosine Mbakam of Cameroon examine biases and racism in the cinematic technology, deconstructing the camera’s objectivity, exposing its inherent power imbalance. At the same time, they work together collaboratively to construct and reconstruct. Like a chain letter, PRISM brings interviews, monologues, and images on the racism of cinematic technology into emotional, aesthetic, and intellectual dialogue.

https://vimeo.com/545187506

11/15 & 11/16 – DELPHINE’S PRAYERS – A portrait of a Cameroonian immigrant to Belgium. Quick-witted, engaging, passionate, and intense, she shares her incredible survival story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6I-r4oLHIY

11/22 & 11/23 – M.C. ESCHER: JOURNEY TO INFINITY – Equal parts history, psychology, and psychedelia, Robin Lutz’s entertaining, eye-opening portrait gives us the famous Dutch graphic artist through his own words and images: diary musings, excerpts from lectures, correspondence and more are voiced by British actor Stephen Fry, while Escher’s woodcuts, lithographs, and other print works appear in both original and playfully altered form.

Culture Vulture Returns! Tickets Now on Sale.11/29 & 11/30 – SPARTACUS – Huge in scale and spectacular in effect, SPARTACUS is a true tour de force of a ballet, set to Aram Khachaturian’s superb score. With an incredible display of might from the four leading dancers to the entire corps de ballet and its passionate pas de deux, it is the ultimate spectacle of virtuosity and lyricism born at the Bolshoi Theatre.

Culture Vulture Returns! Tickets Now on Sale.

12/06 & 12/07 – THE DANISH COLLECTOR: DELACROIX TO GAUGUIN – Denmark’s Ordrupgaard Collection is a treasure trove featuring some of the finest Impressionist works ever painted. Includes Realist paintings by Corot, Delacroix and Courbet; landscapes of Monet, Pissarro, Cézanne and Sisley; and beautifully observed portraits by Degas, Manet, Morisot, and Gonzalès.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJdet3cdKro&feature=emb_title

12/13 & 12/14 – LOUIS VAN BEETHOVEN – This lavish historical drama illuminates the story of the world-famous composer from different perspectives.

FAUCI, a Never-Before-Seen Look at the Man in the Lab Coat, Opens Friday, September 10 at the Royal.

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With his signature blend of scientific acumen, candor and integrity, Dr. Anthony Fauci has become America’s most unlikely cultural icon during the COVID-19 pandemic. A world-renowned infectious disease specialist and the longest-serving public health leader in Washington, D.C., he has overseen the U.S. response to 40 years’ worth of outbreaks, including HIV/AIDS, SARS and Ebola. Crafted around unprecedented access to Dr. Fauci, National Geographic Documentary Films’ FAUCI is a revealing portrait of one of our most dedicated public servants.

FAUCI, a Never-Before-Seen Look at the Man in the Lab Coat, Opens Friday, September 10 at the Royal.
Dr. Anthony Fauci and Christine Grady sit at their kitchen table in December 2020. (National Geographic for Disney+)

Directed by Emmy® winners John Hoffman (“Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman,” “The Weight of the Nation,” “Sleepless in America”) and Janet Tobias (“No Place on Earth,” “Unseen Enemy”), the film is produced by Alexandra Moss (“Not Done: Women Remaking America”), and executive produced by Academy Award® winner Dan Cogan (“Icarus”) and two-time Academy Award nominee Liz Garbus (“What Happened, Miss Simone?,” “The Farm: Angola, USA”).

FAUCI, a Never-Before-Seen Look at the Man in the Lab Coat, Opens Friday, September 10 at the Royal.
Jenny Fauci, daughter of Christine Grady and Dr. Anthony Fauci, in seated interview. (National Geographic for Disney+)

Directors’ Statement:

Dr. Anthony Fauci’s life is bound by the two great pandemics of our time. The dark early years of HIV/AIDS forged his character, while COVID-19 tested it. Confronting HIV/AIDS — and welcoming public scrutiny — allowed him to approach COVID-19 with an incredible body of experience and knowledge about infectious diseases, politics, human nature and what it takes to get things done.

FAUCI, a Never-Before-Seen Look at the Man in the Lab Coat, Opens Friday, September 10 at the Royal.
Dr. Anthony Fauci during an interview at the NIH in Bethesda, MD. (National Geographic for Disney+/Visko Hatfield)

Our film is a portrait of a focused doctor, scientist and leader hurrying to save lives in 2020 and 2021. In the process, this veteran of five previous administrations contended with a president who publicly and consistently contradicted his public health advice. Still, Dr. Fauci never wavered from the truth that science would be critical in ending this global health crisis. He combines heart and mind in a singular way, thinking about the wellbeing of America — and the world — the same way he would when caring for any individual patient.

FAUCI, a Never-Before-Seen Look at the Man in the Lab Coat, Opens Friday, September 10 at the Royal.
FAUCI Director Janet Tobias. (National Geographic/Visko Hatfield)

At the same time that Dr. Fauci was sometimes under attack from the government that employed him, so were many other public servants. We wanted to explore what public service means in a very divisive nation, when the goal of fighting a common enemy requires people on all sides to come together. Dr. Fauci has worked at the National Institutes of Health for 50-plus years, providing an unparalleled contribution to the health and welfare of America. In a world of hardworking people, he is likely the hardest working person we’ve ever had the privilege to observe, well known for working 12-hour days, six to seven days a week, over the course of decades. As directors, we were inspired to elevate the career path of public service by shining a spotlight on perhaps the greatest public servant of our time.

FAUCI, a Never-Before-Seen Look at the Man in the Lab Coat, Opens Friday, September 10 at the Royal.
Director, John Hoffman. (Credit: National Geographic/Visko Hatfield)

FAUCI also offers a never-before-seen look at the man within the lab coat. Audiences will come to see him as so much more than who he is behind the press conference podium or testifying before Congress: the feistiness imbued by his Brooklyn upbringing, the loyalty he’s displayed over the years to friends — and former adversaries — and even get a taste of how funny (and loving) he is as a dad. Our hope is that those who’ve questioned Dr. Fauci will watch the documentary, too. Perhaps even Fauci critics will discover that he is as multidimensional as they are and worthy of their time and understanding.

— John Hoffman and Janet Tobias

Please note that all FAUCI filmgoers age 12 and older must provide proof of complete vaccination: photo ID + proof of vaccination with matching name. Proof can be the actual card, a photo of the card, or similar digital (QR code, etc.) proof. (Those who have a protected reason for not being vaccinated (medical or religious) may still attend provided they exhibit proof of a negative Covid test taken within 48 hours of show-time.)

FOR ALL OTHER FILMS:
No vaccination proof required at this time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBEau86jZjI