August 1, 1966 was the day our innocence was shattered. A sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the iconic University of Texas Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes in what was a previously unimaginable event. TOWER combines archival footage with animated reenactments of the dramatic day, based entirely on first person testimony from witnesses, heroes and survivors in a seamless and suspenseful retelling of the tragedy.
SHIN GODZILLA Stomps Its Way to NoHo, Pasadena, and West LA with Special Screenings October 11th – 18th!
Due to overwhelming demand, we’ve added even more screenings of Toho’s latest installment of Godzilla!
SHIN GODZILLA, also known as Godzilla Resurgence, reimagines the origins of the classic kaiju in modern-day Tokyo. Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Shinji Higuchi (Attack on Titan) co-direct!
SHIN GODZILLA screens once daily October 11th – 13th, 15th, 16th, and 18th at the NoHo 7, Playhouse 7, and Royal!
Click here for showtimes and tickets.
“The Original Gangsta Lizard gets a largely satisfying reboot in SHIN GODZILLA, a surprisingly clever monster mash best described as the BATMAN BEGINS of Zilla Thrillers.” – Joe Leydon, Variety
“Shin Godzilla provides a new origin for the legendary kaiju, establishing its own unique style while taking inspiration from the classics in all the right ways.” – Mike Rougeau, IGN
South by Southwest Grand Jury Prize-Winning Documentary TOWER Opens October 14 at the Royal and Playhouse.
On August 1st, 1966, a sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes. When the gunshots were finally silenced, the toll included 16 dead, three dozen wounded, and a shaken nation left trying to understand. Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation in a dynamic, never-before-seen way, TOWER reveals the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.
TOWER explores this untold history through the first-person stories of seven specific characters: two students who were shot that day, the two police officers who ended the siege, two civilians who inserted themselves into the story to provide aid to victims and police, and the radio reporter who broadcast live from the scene for more than an hour and a half, and whose broadcast was picked up nationally, bringing the events in Austin to listeners around the nation.
Director’s Statement:
“It’s impossible to separate the University of Texas tower shootings, America’s first mass school shooting, from the current spate of school shootings that seem to happen now with increasing regularity. With the 50th anniversary of America’s first school shooting approaching, I realized that the time to explore this untold history was now – and that through a creative approach, aimed at young audiences we could aim to explore themes of mental health, guns, public policy and media response to public tragedies all through the nuanced and personal lens of first hand accounts.
“Growing up in Texas, I’ve had curiosity about the Tower shootings since my 7th grade Texas history teacher recounted her experiences as a student on campus that terrible day. Her firsthand visceral account stuck with me for over 35 years and it is still the direct inspiration for my approach. I realized that through the visually exciting medium of rotoscopic animation, there was a dynamic opportunity to turn this history on its head. By focusing solely on witness accounts, we could seamlessly weave re-created animated memories of those who were there with the ample archival footage from the day to create an action-packed telling that was both immediate and emotionally charged.
“Our approach is unique for a documentary, as is the structure of TOWER. The first hour of the film is set entirely in 1966, the action performed by a cast of young actors, based on the actual interviews of living survivors – these actions and interviews are then animated. It is late in the telling when one by one, the actual survivors are revealed in vibrant moments that expose the breadth of their humanity through the 50-year window of history. It’s a creative opportunity that keeps the audience guessing about who survived and who did not. Through this approach, we can engage millennials in in this relevant, untold history, at a time when active shooters on school campuses and other public places has become almost commonplace. Working with the survivors of this terrible day and reframing this history has been my greatest professional privilege.”
TOWER director-producer-editor Keith Maitland is the Emmy-nominated Director of THE EYES OF ME, a year-in-the-life of four blind teens, which broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens and received a Barbara Jordan Media Award. Director of documentary features, commercials, and TV series, his credits also include seven seasons with NBC’s LAW & ORDER as an AD. Keith is currently developing narrative and documentary projects, and leading filmmaking workshops for incarcerated teens. He is a graduate of The University of Texas.
Celebrate Art House Theater Day Saturday, September 24th with Discounted Tickets to Select Art House Films!
Saturday, September 24th is Art House Theater Day! It’s a day to recognize the contributions of film and filmmakers, staff and projectionists, and fellow brick and mortar theaters dedicated to providing access to the best cinematic experience.
Most importantly, it’s a day to thank our patrons for their year-round support. As a thank you, we’re offering a ticket discount to select art house films! If you have a friend that’s never been to an art house, this is the perfect day to bring them along for a unique movie-going adventure.
Enter the promo code ARTHOUSEDAY when you buy tickets to Saturday screenings of the films listed below! Discounts are available on laemmle.com only.
Tickets for showtimes before 6PM are $6 for Adults and Seniors and $4 for Laemmle Premiere Card Holders. General admission is normally $9.
Shows after 6PM are $10 for Adults, $6 for Seniors, and $8 for Premiere Card Holders. General admission is normally $12.
Eligible Films:
THE LOVERS AND THE DESPOT is a stranger-than-fiction documentary about South Korean filmmaker Shin Sang-ok and actress Choi Eun-hee, who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to produce 17 films. Playing at the Playhouse 7, NoHo 7, and Royal Theatre. Click here for tickets.
A rivalry between two brothers reaches a fever pitch during a charity swim competition in the romantic comedy, MY BLIND BROTHER. Jenny Slate, Zoe Kazan, Adam Scott, and Nick Kroll star. Playing at the Monica Film Center, Playhouse 7, Town Center. Click here for tickets.
TANNA is set in the South Pacific where a young girl from one of the last traditional tribes falls in love with her chief’s grandson. When an intertribal war escalates, she is unknowingly betrothed as part of a peace deal. Playing at the Playhouse 7 and Royal Theatre. Click here for tickets.
Australian revenge comedy-drama THE DRESSMAKER stars Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Hugo Weaving, and Liam Hemsworth. Playing at the Playhouse 7 and Town Center. Click here for tickets.
View the trailers for all four films:
For more about Art House Theater Day, visit: http://www.arthousetheaterday.org
Begin October Immersed in Chabrol 5 x 5, Coming Soon to the Royal
Beginning September 30th at the Royal we are pleased to feature Chabrol 5 x 5, a series five of Claude Chabrol‘s (1930-2010) best: Betty, The Swindle, Torment, Color of Lies and Night Cap. A founding father of French New Wave cinema, Chabrol’s fascination with genre films, and the detective drama in particular, fueled a lengthy and celebrated string of thrillers, which explored the human heart under extreme emotional duress. Chabrol began as a contributor to the celebrated film magazine Cahiers du Cinema alongside such legends as Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard before launching his directorial career in 1957. He quickly established himself as a versatile filmmaker whose innate understanding of genre tropes informed the complex triangular relationships at the center of many of his films, which frequently served as a prism through which commentary on class conflict could be obliquely addressed. The talent he displayed in depicting these dark deeds, as well as his status among the pantheon of French New Wave cinema, underscored his significance as one of his native country’s most prolific and wickedly gifted craftsmen.
Showtimes change daily. Click on the date for that day’s schedule: 9/30, 10/1, 10/2, 10/3, 10/4, 10/5, 10/6.
Fantastic Female-Centric Films from All Over the World this Fall at Laemmle Theatres: FATIMA, CAMERAPERSON, AS I OPEN MY EYES, SAND STORM, THE EAGLE HUNTRESS.
Two months from today we Americans might, finally, elect our very first female President, so it’s appropriate in the weeks leading up to that day we will be screening a series of excellent movies by and about girls and women filmed and set in places as diverse as the Negev Desert in Israel, Lyon, France, Mongolia, Tunisia and the USA.
First up is FATIMA, which we open September 16 at the Royal. The title character lives in Lyon with two daughters: fifteen-year-old Souad, a teenager in revolt, and 18-year-old Nesrine, who is starting medical school. Fatima speaks French poorly and is constantly frustrated by her daily interactions with her daughters. Her pride and joy, they are also a source of worry. While recovering from a fall, Fatima begins to write to her daughters in Arabic thoughts she has never been able to express in French. Writing in the New York Times, Stephen Holden called it “a small miracle of a film.” In the Hollywood Reporter, Leslie Felperin wrote that “FATIMA offers a gentle, affecting celebration of the fortitude and intelligence of an Algerian cleaning lady struggling to raise her two daughters in contemporary France.” The film won the Cesars Awards for Best Film and Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for Best Actress this year.
The next week, also at the Royal, we’ll open the gorgeous documentary CAMERAPERSON. Look through the lens of master American documentary cinematographer Kirsten Johnson (“Darfur Now,” ‘The Invisible War,” “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “Citizenfour”) at a Brooklyn boxing match; life in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina; the daily routine of a Nigerian midwife; an intimate family moment at home: these scenes and others are woven into the film, creating a tapestry of footage collected over Johnson’s 25-year career. Through a series of juxtapositions, she explores the relationships between image makers and their subjects, the tension between the objectivity and intervention of the camera, and the interaction of reality and crafted narrative. “Cinematographer Kirsten Johnson delivers a uniquely insightful memoir-cum-critical-treatise on the nature and ethics of her craft.” (Nick Schager, Variety) “Surprisingly emotional and heartfelt … CAMERAPERSON is a stunning achievement…makes a strong argument to assert the person behind the camera – who they are, how they live, and how they interact with others as a crucial focal point in the process of filmmaking.” (Katie Walsh, The Playlist)
On October 7th we’ll open AS I OPEN MY EYES at the Royal and Playhouse. The film depicts the clash between culture and family as seen through the eyes of a young Tunisian woman balancing the traditional expectations of her family with her creative life as the singer in a politically charged rock band. Director Leyla Bouzid’s musical feature debut offers a nuanced portrait of the individual implications of the incipient Arab Spring. “Like so many of the finest portraits of real life political events, the director has cleverly kept the story small, while hinting at a much bigger picture…Bouzid has joined the ranks Arab female filmmakers worth keeping tabs on.” (Kaleem Aftab, indieWIRE) “Leyla Bouzid displays considerable talent for dramatizing how young people eroticize peril and risk due to a lack of experience.” (Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine)
Also on October 7 at the Royal and Playhouse we’ll begin screening SAND STORM. Set in a Bedouin village in Israel, the movie follows a mother and daughter trapped by their community’s social norms. As Jalila, a 42-year-old Bedouin woman, must host her husband’s marriage to a second, younger woman, she uncovers her daughter’s affair with a boy from her university — a liaison that’s both forbidden and could shame the family. A moving film about two generations of Arab woman negotiating their identities and desires, SAND STORM is at its core a powerful story of resistance and female empowerment. “Filmmaker Elite Zexer…quickly immers[es] us in her Bedouin village setting and deftly manipulating our emotions so that our sympathies are torn and turned on a dime. Building on her award-winning short “Tasnim” – whose character here is minor but, in keeping with the film’s complexity, hints at more than one possible future – Zexer’s first feature deservedly took home the World Cinema Dramatic prize at Sundance earlier this year.” (Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film) “One of the most-admired films at this year’s Sundance…a lovely, deeply affecting film.” (Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine)
And, ending the year on a high note, a film you can bring young daughters, granddaughters and nieces (and their male counterparts) to, THE EAGLE HUNTRESS. The film follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the first female in twelve generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter, and rises to the pinnacle of a tradition that has been handed down from father to son for centuries. Set against the breathtaking expanse of the Mongolian steppe, the film features some of the most awe-inspiring cinematography ever captured in a documentary, giving this tale of a young girl’s quest the force of an epic narrative film. Narrated by Daisy Ridley, who played the heroine in “Star Wars: the Force Awakens”) “Aisholpan offers a real-life, profoundly inspiring testament to disregard age-old societal constraints and forge ahead with your passion.” (Jordan Raup, The Film Stage)
Rosamond Purcell: An Art That Nature Makes – Photo Exhibit + Doc
It’s the majesty of the weird … the contemplation of the ordinary.
– Director Erroll Morris
An Art in the Arthouse exclusive! We are currently exhibiting the acclaimed work of master photographer ROSAMOND PURCELL. Recently called “our greatest living 17th Century photographer” by the New York Times, Purcell’s photos are on display upstairs at the Monica Film Center’s mezzanine lounge. They can be viewed in conjunction with the documentary film about the artist: AN ART THAT NATURE MAKES. Don’t miss out on this rare chance to view the film and the art at the same time. All works are for sale. Proceeds benefit the Laemmle Foundation.
About the Exhibit:
As a fledgling photographer, Rosamond Purcell wasn’t quite satisfied with capturing people; she shifted her lens early on to uncover the secret lives of the objects that surround us.
Many of the photographs featured in the recently released documentary by Molly Bernstein, An Art That Nature Makes, are currently included in an exhibit at the Monica Film Center. Her stunning images draw from Purcell’s interest in natural history collections. Works like “Peter’s Teeth” from the book Finders, Keepers and “Snowy Egret” from Egg & Nest explore the essence of organic material, telling its story through its decay.
The often morbid nature of Purcell’s subject matter is pair by the striking beauty of her images. This duality with in her work is encapsulating to view in person.
As a pioneer of the lost and forgotten, she breathes new life into objects, immortalizing their history and transcending their place in time.
Purcell has a way of elevating the mundane into the extraordinary. Her unique compositions and tone – echo master still life painters of 1600’s Northern Europe such as Jan Fyt and Pieter Claesz, taking photography to a level of fine art that is rarely experienced.
The New York Times recently stated that Purcell is “our greatest living 17th century photographer.” After examining her ever-growing oeuvre, one might be tempted to make the case for the 21st century as well.
Take this wonderful opportunity to see the film at the Monica Film Center and view her art in person. They’re not to be missed!
– Lili Abdel-Ghany, Curator
Modern classics returning to big screens: Merchant Ivory’s HOWARDS END, Antonioni’s BLOW-UP and LA NOTTE and a Chabrol retrospective.
Some of the production company Merchant Ivory’s greatest triumphs are adaptations of E.M. Forster novels. There are three of them: A Room with a View (1985), Maurice (1987) and Howards End (1992), which is one of their undisputed masterpieces. Based on Forster’s 1910 novel, Howards End is a saga of class relations and changing times in Edwardian England. Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson, who won the Best Actress Oscar for this performance) and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) become involved with two couples: a wealthy, conservative industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife (Vanessa Redgrave), and a working-class man (Samuel West) and his mistress (Niccola Duffet). The interwoven fates and misfortunes of these three families and the diverging trajectories of the two sisters’ lives are connected to the ownership of Howards End, a beloved country home. A compelling, brilliantly acted study of one woman’s struggle to maintain her ideals and integrity in the face of Edwardian society’s moribund conformity. We played Howards End to packed, rapt houses in 1992 and are thrilled to open this fully restored digital version September 2nd at the Royal, Playhouse, Town Center and Claremont.
We’ll also soon screen two by Michelangelo Antonioni: Blow-Up (1966) and La Notte (1961). The latter, just restored by our friends at Rialto Pictures and opening at the Royal and Playhouse on September 16, takes place during a day and a night in the life of a troubled marriage, set against Milan’s gleaming modern buildings, its gone-to-seed older quarters, and a sleek modern estate, all shot in razor-sharp B&W crispness by the great Gianni di Venanzo. With Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau starring, Antonioni creates his most compassionate examination of the emptiness of the rich and the difficulties of modern relationships. Writing in his book Devotional Cinema, Nathaniel Dorsky said of La Notte, “the real beauty of the film, the real depth of its intelligence, continues to lie in the clarity of the montage — the way the world is revealed to us moment by moment. The camera’s delicate interactive grace, participating with the fluidity of the characters’ changing points of view, is profound in itself.”
Blow-Up, Antonioni’s first English-language production, is widely considered one of the seminal films of the 1960s. Thomas (David Hemmings) is a nihilistic, wealthy fashion photographer in mod swinging London. Filled with ennui, bored with his “fab” but oddly desultory life of casual sex and drugs, Thomas comes alive when he wanders through a park, stops to take pictures of a couple embracing, and upon developing the images believes that he has photographed a murder. Vanessa Redgrave and Sarah Miles co-star. In his review at the time, Bosley Crowther of the New York Times recognized just the film’s prescience, calling it “a fascinating picture, which has something real to say about the matter of personal involvement and emotional commitment in a jazzed-up, media-hooked-in world so cluttered with synthetic stimulations that natural feelings are overwhelmed.” Blow-Up came out 50 years ago, so we are celebrating it on September 13th at the Monica Film Center as part of our Anniversary Classics series with film critic Stephen Farber.
Beginning September 30th at the Royal we are pleased to screen Chabrol 5 x 5, a series featuring five of Claude Chabrol’s best, all fully restored and digitally remastered: Betty, The Swindle, Torment, Color of Lies and Night Cap. A founding father of French New Wave cinema, Chabrol’s fascination with genre films, and the detective drama in particular, fueled a lengthy and celebrated string of thrillers, which explored the human heart under extreme emotional duress. Chabrol began as a contributor to the celebrated film magazine Cahiers du Cinema alongside such film legends as Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard before launching his directorial career in 1957. He quickly established himself as a versatile filmmaker whose innate understanding of genre tropes informed the complex triangular relationships at the center of many of his films, which frequently served as a prism through which commentary on class conflict could be obliquely addressed. The talent he displayed in depicting these dark deeds, as well as his status among the pantheon of French New Wave cinema, underscored his significance as one of his native country’s most prolific and wickedly gifted craftsmen.
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