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Greg Laemmle: “Now is the time to show that arthouse audiences still want to support the theatrical experience.”

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Michael Ordona’s piece in today’s L.A. Times Calendar section — headlined “Movie theater safety during COVID, the sequel: This time it’s personal” —
and the latest newsletter from the National Association of Theatre Owners got Laemmle Theatres President Greg Laemmle thinking about the state of American arthouse exhibition:

“In addition to #CinemaSafe measures, Laemmle Theatres is providing a one-seat lateral buffer even though this is not required. You never have to share an armrest with someone who isn’t part of your party. And in addition to the distancing benefit, the reduced capacity also likely enhances the ability of the ventilation system to clear the air.

“For those who are vaxxed and boosted, there’s arguably a greater risk to one’s health in driving to the theatre than the likelihood of getting sick from an infection acquired while in the theatre (or other “regular” activity). And that’s not me saying that. See journalist David Leonhardt’s quote in the New York Times daily email for January 25, 2022:

“It’s a remarkable disconnect between perception and reality. A majority of the boosted say they are worried about getting sick from Covid. In truth, riding in a car presents more danger to most of them than the virus does.”

“If people want to wait another week or two to let numbers continue to drop, I can’t argue with that. But with Oscar nominations coming on February 8, and absent a new variant, now is the time to show that arthouse audiences still want to support the theatrical experience. With that show of support, distributors will feel confident that movie theatres are back for all audiences and all types of films. Without that show of support, you can expect a future where going to a movie theatre is just for blockbusters like SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME.”

Learn more about Laemmle Theatres’ health and safety measures to combat the pandemic here.

Author and film critic Stephen Farber on Peter Bogdanovich: “Although he was a lover of old Hollywood, he saw the blemishes as well as the triumphs; he was a most clear-eyed observer.”

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“All film lovers were saddened by the passing of director Peter Bogdanovich last week, but I may have felt it a bit more keenly. Peter joined us for an Anniversary Classics screening of The Last Picture Show in December of 2016 at the Fine Arts Theatre, and he shared incisive memories about the making of the movie and about many of his other encounters with Hollywood legends over the decades. We were all impressed with how well his film held up after 45 years. As many people commented, it didn’t seem dated at all. The evocation of a dying Texas town in the early 1950s remained incisive and poignant.

Author and film critic Stephen Farber on Peter Bogdanovich: "Although he was a lover of old Hollywood, he saw the blemishes as well as the triumphs; he was a most clear-eyed observer."
Peter Bogdanovich & Stephen Farber in 2016. Photo courtesy of Gary Paul Andre.

“That was not my first encounter with Bogdanovich. I first met him when I was a graduate student at UCLA film school in the late 1960s and he taught a class on Howard Hawks, one of his friends and idols. I remember we got into a bit of an argument when I suggested that Hawks’ To Have and Have Not was not quite as original as he claimed but might have owed something to Casablanca, which came out a couple of years earlier and was directed by non-auteur Michael Curtiz. Anyway, Peter cheerfully dismissed my criticisms. Around the same time, I saw his first film, Targets, which impressed me greatly. Its portrayal of a mass shooter was way ahead of its time, and this story was welded skillfully to an inside-Hollywood tale starring the legendary Boris Karloff in one of his last screen performances. After that came The Last Picture Show and two other huge hits, What’s Up, Doc? and Paper Moon. We are hoping to pay tribute to Peter with a 50th Anniversary screening of Doc this year.

“Not all of his later movies were as successful, but he continued working productively, and he also scored successes as an actor and as a film historian. His books of interviews with directors and actors were enormously valuable to all film students and film lovers.

“In the 50 years between that UCLA class and the screening of The Last Picture Show, I encountered Peter on several occasions, and he was always warm and engaging. When I was writing a story about Cher in the 1990s, he shared some incisive memories of directing her in Mask, even though he spoke quite candidly about the tensions between them. Although he was a lover of old Hollywood, he saw the blemishes as well as the triumphs; he was a most clear-eyed observer. Hollywood did not always treat him any better than it treated some of his idols, like his good friend Orson Welles, but he survived to tell the tales, and he never surrendered to bitterness. I feel fortunate to have known him and to have shared a stage with him at that memorable anniversary screening five years ago.”

~ Stephen Farber was president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association from 2012-2016. He is currently a critic for The Hollywood Reporter, a curator of Laemmle’s Anniversary Classics series and co-author of Cinema ’62: The Greatest Year at the Movies.

Oscar shortlists for International and Documentary Feature Films, including “Flee,” “Compartment No. 6,” “A Hero,” “Ascension” and “Faya Dayi.”

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This week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced shortlists in 10 categories for next year’s Oscars (the ceremony is March 27), including Documentary Feature and International Feature Film. We have a number of these films in or soon to be in theaters, including the double nominee, animated documentary/drama “Flee;” “Compartment No. 6,” the Finnish romantic drama set on a train travelling above the Arctic Circle; Asghar Farhadi’s latest, “A Hero;” the melancholy Japanese masterpiece “Drive My Car;” and the Norwegian romantic comedy “The Worst Person in the World.” We also have a couple of the shortlisted films available on Laemmle Virtual Cinema, the stunning portrait of Chinese society “Ascension” and Ethiopian-Mexican filmmaker Jessica Beshir’s mesmerising “Faya Dayi.” From the Academy:

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Fifteen films will advance to the next round of voting in the International Feature Film category for the 94th Academy Awards.  Films from 92 countries were eligible in the category.Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote.The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:Austria, “Great Freedom”
Belgium, “Playground”
Bhutan, “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”
Denmark, “Flee”
Finland, “Compartment No. 6”
Germany, “I’m Your Man”
Iceland, “Lamb”
Iran, “A Hero”
Italy, “The Hand of God”
Japan, “Drive My Car”
Kosovo, “Hive”
Mexico, “Prayers for the Stolen”
Norway, “The Worst Person in the World”
Panama, “Plaza Catedral”
Spain, “The Good Boss”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Feature category for the 94th Academy Awards.  One hundred thirty-eight films were eligible in the category.  Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

PRESIDENT, Camilla Nielsson‘s Sundance 2021 Award-Winning and Critically-Acclaimed Documentary on the Fight for Democracy in Zimbabwe, Opens Dec. 17 at the Monica Film Center.

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When dictator Robert Mugabe was removed from power in a military coup, the generals promised they would not seize control for themselves but would ensure democracy in a national election. Against a backdrop of economic crisis, food shortages, and political violence, the stakes could not be higher.

Working to defeat the ruling party, which has controlled Zimbabwe since independence, is the young and charismatic Nelson Chamisa, who draws comparisons to a young Nelson Mandela in expressing the country’s utmost desire to be “governed” and not “ruled.” After decades of a corrupt elite clinging to power using any tool available—legal or not—can a free, fair, and credible election be truly possible?

As the follow-up to her widely acclaimed 2014 documentary DEMOCRATS, Camilla Nielsson brings viewers into the heart of the struggle for power with stunningly close access and unhesitating courage, in a nation closely monitored by the entire world. PRESIDENT is a riveting and epic reminder that, while individuals and their specific ideals may differ, the fight for democracy is never-ending and of profound significance everywhere.

“The way this film confronts the fragility of democracy and the ever-looming possibility of violence hit home for this American viewer in a way that was both harrowing and humbling.” ~ A.O. Scott, New York Times

“Riveting. Nielsson’s galvanizing, epic-scale docu-thriller…rather like Frederick Wiseman, Nielsson has a knack for excavating savage drama from administrative process and politesse…filmed with astonishing in-the-moment access.” ~ Guy Lodge, Variety

“A thrilling, enraging film, and its intimate access…is extraordinary.” ~ Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

DIRECTOR’S NOTES: It was not in the cards for me to make the film PRESIDENT. My previous film DEMOCRATS (2014) had been banned by Zimbabwe’s Censorship Board with the curt assessment ‘Banned and prohibited in Zimbabwe. Not suitable for showing to the public.’ Ironically, the ban was in direct contravention with the country’s new democratic constitution, which DEMOCRATS had followed the making of for more than three years.

PRESIDENT, Camilla Nielsson‘s Sundance 2021 Award-Winning and Critically-Acclaimed Documentary on the Fight for Democracy in Zimbabwe, Opens Dec. 17 at the Monica Film Center.
Filmmaker Camilla Nielsson

In the process of filming DEMOCRATS, I had met some of Zimbabwe’s finest lawyers. They suggested that the ban should be challenged on the basis that it violated the constitutionally protected freedom of expression, and the public’s right to information. Together we began the legal challenge to have the ban lifted, and without knowing, this process became the starting point for this new film PRESIDENT.

In February 2018, following a three-year legal battle in the Zimbabwean courts, a High Court judge finally ruled that the ban be lifted, and people were free to watch the film in the country where it matters most. It was during a dinner in Harare in celebration of the court ruling that one of the protagonists from the first film suggested to me to make the sequel. President Mugabe had fallen in a military coup just months before, and the democratic space seemed to have opened, and there was a new sense of freedom in the country. With the fall of dictator Robert Mugabe, a new constitutional democracy was on the horizon, and it seemed that now was the time for the people of Zimbabwe to make a push for democracy that would overcome the tragic and unhappy events that were portrayed in the first film.

I won’t spoil the plot here, but I hope that PRESIDENT will make the audiences think about the universal importance of having independent democratic institutions, and proper checks and balances on presidential powers. It is a film about the dire consequences that happens if these democratic principles are not observed and not in place. – Camilla Nielsson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPO9FAlYSaE

The power of the film: Jane Campion’s ‘The Power of the Dog’ is one of the year’s best movies.

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Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, her eighth feature and first since 2009’s Bright Star, is “a complex and probing adaptation of the late Thomas Savage’s superb 1967 novel about two very different Montana rancher brothers caught in a twisted emotional bind.” (Todd McCarthy, Deadline Hollywood Daily) “It pains me to say it,” Greg Laemmle said this week, “but Netflix may have produced the best film of the year. Certainly one of the best I’ve seen so far. It is a film that needs to be seen on the big screen.” Critics agree.
“Jane Campion makes a thrilling return with The Power of the Dog, a work as boldly idiosyncratic, unpredictable and alive with psychological complexity as anything in the revered director’s output.” ~ David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
“It’s an epic about the way the male id can crush everyone it touches, anchored by a brilliant masquerade of a performance by Cumberbatch, his best yet.” ~ Esther Zuckerman, Thrillist
The power of the film: Jane Campion's 'The Power of the Dog' is one of the year's best movies.
“The Power of the Dog sticks its teeth into you so fast and furtively that you may not feel the sting on your skin until after the credits roll, but the delayed bite of the film’s ending doesn’t stop it from leaving behind a well-earned scar.” ~ David Ehrlich, Indiewire
“The film’s secrets are revealed while new ones bloom into being.” ~ Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair
The power of the film: Jane Campion's 'The Power of the Dog' is one of the year's best movies.
“Campion understands the genre she’s working in, setting the roiling emotions of her characters against the striking landscapes; Cumberbatch’s performance is as immense as the peaks and valleys around him.” ~ David Sims, The Atlantic
“The Power of the Dog divulges its secrets in deliberate, measured fashion, growing richer with each new reveal.” ~ Katie Rife, AV Club

The power of the film: Jane Campion's 'The Power of the Dog' is one of the year's best movies.

“A beautifully crafted movie with some individual scenes that are some of the tensest I’ve experienced in some time.” ~ Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com
“Through it all, Campion remains in masterful control of the film’s obscurely menacing mood, and of every aspect of its craft.” ~ Dana Stevens, Slate
“A film that initially seems too schematic gains in complexity as the characters add dimension and Campion uncorks one gripping set piece after another.” ~ Scott Tobias, The Reveal
Now playing at the Playhouse and Newhall; opening Friday at the Monica Film Center and Town Center and December 3 at the Glendale and Claremont.

THE FIRST WAVE Director in Person for Q&As in Santa Monica.

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THE FIRST WAVE director Matt Heineman will participate in Q&As at the Monica Film Center after the 7:30 PM screening on Saturday, November 20 and after the 4:40 screening on Sunday, November 21. Joining him will be Covid survivor Ahmed Ellis and his wife Alexis, Dr. Nathalie Dougė, and physical therapist Karl Arabian.

See IDA Documentary Awards Nominees at Laemmle: ‘Faya Dayi,’ ‘Writing with Fire,’ ‘Not Going Quietly,’ and more.

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The International Documentary Association just announced the nominees for its 37th annual awards, and we’re screening or soon to screen almost a dozen from this cinematic treasure trove:

FAYA DAYI is a triple nominee for Best Feature, Director and Cinematography and is available on Laemmle Virtual Cinema.

NOT GOING QUIETLY also garnered three nominations: Best Feature, Director and Writing. It, too, is on LVC.

We open the animated FLEE (Best Feature and Director) in January.

We have Best Feature nominee WOJNAROWICZ: F**K YOU F*GGOT F**KER  now on Laemmle Virtual Cinema.

We open Best Feature nominee WRITING WITH FIRE on November 26 at the Royal.

Pare Lorentz Award Winner and Best Cinematography nominee THE FIRST WAVE opens this Friday at the Monica Film Center. The filmmaker will attend for Q&A’s after the 7:30 PM screening on Saturday, November 20 and after the 4:40 screening on Sunday, November 21.

Best Cinematography nominee ASCENSION is available now on LVC.

Best Music Documentary Nominee LYDIA LUNCH is now on LVC.

We open Best Editing Nominee PROCESSION this Friday at our Glendale theater.

Finally, we open ABC News VideoSource Award Nominee LIKE A ROLLING STONE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BEN FONG-TORRES November 26 at the Monica Film Center.

See IDA Documentary Awards Nominees at Laemmle: 'Faya Dayi,' 'Writing with Fire,' 'Not Going Quietly,' and more.