Town Center 5 Archives – Page 41 Of 74

LAEMMLE LIVE presents: Street Symphony September 15

August 20, 2019 by Lamb Laemmle Leave a Comment

Please join us for a very special event as LAEMMLE LIVE presents the Street Symphony String Quartet, featuring a string quartet written by Director of Community Engagement, Ben Shirley and music by Reena Esmail.

Street Symphony places social justice at the heart of music making by creating authentic, powerful engagements between professional and emerging artists and communities disenfranchised by homelessness and incarceration in Los Angeles County. They believe all people deserve access to a creative and expressive life. Founded in 2011, Street Symphony has presented nearly 400 free, world-class musical engagements for severely disenfranchised communities affected by homelessness and incarceration in Los Angeles County. Comprised of a grassroots community of over 70 world class musicians, Street Symphony ensembles present regular monthly programs at Skid Row shelters and county jails.

Since 2015, Street Symphony has presented a yearly performance of The Messiah Project, a nationally acclaimed community performance of excerpts of Handel’s Messiah at The Midnight Mission in Skid Row, featuring stories and performances from people affected by and recovering from homelessness in LA County. In 2017, supported by a generous grant from the S. Mark Taper Foundation, Street Symphony launched the Daniel Chaney Teaching Artist program, pairing professional artists with members of the homeless community in an effort to amplify the voices and artistry of the Skid Row community.

Street Symphony
Vijay Gupta: Founder and Artistic Director/Violin
Ben Shirley: Director of Community Engagement

RSVP USING EVENTBRITE
This is a Free Event
Sunday, September 15, 2019
11:00 AM
Monica Film Center

Philippe de Broca’s THAT MAN FROM RIO 55th Anniversary Screenings in Glendale, Pasadena, and West LA.

August 8, 2019 by Lamb Laemmle Leave a Comment

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present this month’s installment in our Anniversary Classics Abroad program: one of the most popular and entertaining foreign films of the 1960s, Philippe de Broca’s action romp, THAT MAN FROM RIO.

De Broca, the director of intimate, character-driven films like The Five-Day Lover, shifted gears with this bigger-budget comic thriller. Two top stars of French cinema, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Francoise Dorleac (the sister of Catherine Deneuve who died tragically in an auto accident just three years later), added to the film’s allure.

The action begins when Dorleac is kidnapped as part of a museum heist of a valuable statuette, and Belmondo follows her kidnappers to Brazil to save her life and find the treasure. There he battles international criminals, assassination attempts, and even a hungry crocodile on the Amazon.

The film was designed in part as a spoof of the James Bond movies that were catching fire all around the world. De Broca’s tongue-in-cheek approach to the genre, along with a series of spectacular action set-pieces, led to box office success wherever the film was shown. The film was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. De Broca wrote the script with Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Ariane Mnouchkine, and Daniel Boulanger. Veteran actors Jean Servais and Adolfo Celi co-star.

Along with the wit of the script and the skill of the performers, the film benefited from lush cinematography (by Edmond Sechan) of Paris, Rio, Brasilia, and other South American locations. The New York Times’ Bosley Crowther acknowledged the film’s homage to silent comedy: “Jean-Paul Belmondo is dandy as a fast, fearless modern-day Harold Lloyd.” He added that de Broca “uses the actual locations so vividly and artistically that they generate a kind of excitement that blends superbly with the dazzle of the plot.”

The New Republic’s Stanley Kauffmann also praised de Broca: “he has wit, tenderness, dexterity, a superb eye for composition and color, a prodigious sense of rhythm and movement, a perfect command of the medium.” Time magazine noted that the film was “shrewdly calculated to make the customer laugh out loud at all the lousy movies he has ever seen and at the same time have a wild and wonderful time watching them again.”

Join us for a perfect piece of lighthearted summertime entertainment with two of the most engaging international stars ever to grace the screen. Belmondo remained at the center of French film culture for decades, and de Broca went on to direct one of the most popular of all arthouse movies, King of Hearts.

Our 55th anniversary presentation of THAT MAN FROM RIO screens on Wednesday, August 21st at 7pm in Glendale, Pasadena, and West LA. Click here for tickets.

Format: DCP

Masters of El Prado: A Collection of Documentaries about the Most Renowned Artists from Museo del Prado.

July 23, 2019 by Lamb Laemmle 3 Comments

Take a trip to Spain this summer and see Bosch, Sorolla and Murillo on the big screen as part of our Culture Vulture series at the Claremont, Playhouse, Royal, and Town Center.

MURILLO: THE LAST JOURNEY is more than a documentary about one of the greatest geniuses of fine art. It provides a view at the history of the Spanish empire at its height from the perspective of one of Murillo’s most iconic paintings: The Young Peddler. The painting travels from Seville to Paris as world-renowned specialists flesh out the exquisite aesthetics of the painter’s most sublime masterpieces. We’ll screen this August 5 and 6.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V-q9mv6jig

Murillo's Last Journey (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V-q9mv6jig)

BOSCH: THE GARDEN OF DREAMS, screening August 12 and 13, was produced by LópezLiFilms and the Prado Museum, which this year commemorates the fifth centenary of the painter’s death with a major exhibition entitled “Bosch. The Centenary Exhibition.”

Under the direction of Jose Luis Lopez Linares, the film focuses on the most important work of the painter and one of the most iconic in the world: ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights.’ The feature presents a conversation among artists, writers, philosophers, musicians and scientists, regarding the personal, historical and artistic significance of the picture, bringing back a conversation that was started 500 years ago in the court of the Dukes of Nassau (Brussels), when it is believed that the painting was commissioned to Bosch.

We have very little information about the artist’s identity and biography, something that helps feed the enigma of the hidden meaning in his works. As Falkenburg, narrator of the documentary and debate moderator with all participants says, “At the end of the novel, the writer reveals the mystery. In this case, the author does not want you to solve the mystery. He wants you to stay in it.”

BOSCH: THE GARDEN OF DREAMS is the only film about the author’s most important masterpiece: “The garden of earthly delights” and the only one with full access to the mysteries hidden in it.

https://vimeo.com/161909645

BOSCH | The Garden of Dreams (https://vimeo.com/161909645)

SOROLLA: THE NATURAL EMOTION is the result of the documentary record of the first great anthological exhibition that the Prado Museum dedicated to the great master of the 19th century and the most important held inside and outside of Spain: Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923); it’s a culmination of the itinerancy in Spain of the fourteen panels of the Vision of Spain, commissioned by the Hispanic Society of America, which the Bancaja Foundation brought to Spain in 2007. This spectacular set constitutes the most magnificent decorative project of Sorolla’s fecund career, in addition of the true epilogue and synthesis of all its production.

The representation of the light, the beauty of his pastel brushstrokes, the love of his native land as well as the relationship with his family and many other issues, are explored by experts in the field, creating a production where the figure of of Sorolla is exalted and revealed.

Producer López Linares comments that “it was a great discovery that there were so many photos of Sorolla, suddenly we had an incredible photographic archive, with magnificent photos of him painting, when he was older, on the beach, family photos … It was all very well documented. It’s a pleasant surprise for the documentary to find you with this photographic richness, it’s wonderful.”

https://vimeo.com/346822352

Sorolla: Natural Emotion | Laemmle Cinemas (https://vimeo.com/346822352)

LAEMMLE LIVE presents: McCabe’s Guitar Shop August 4

July 14, 2019 by Lamb Laemmle Leave a Comment

Our summer tradition continues when our good friends from McCabe’s share their musical gifts Sunday, August 4. LAEMMLE LIVE presents McCabe’s Guitar Shop for a free pop-up celebration of all things guitar, vocal and other choice instruments. Come on down to the Monica to sample McCabe’s students and teachers’ wit and wisdom. Hosted by Head of Music School Denny Croy.

It began in 1958. Furniture designer Gerald McCabe repaired guitars for his folk-singer wife’s musician friends who had no local music store. Gerald and his friend Ed Kahn decided to open a small music shop on Pico Blvd in Santa Monica. They began repairing instruments, selling folk music books and records, carrying Mexican guitars and old banjos. Word spread and local musicians began hanging out, relishing one of the only guitar shops in the Southern California area. One of those young musicians was Bob Riskin. Bob started as an employee in 1960. In the early 60’s lessons and classes were added. In 1969 McCabe’s began presenting live concerts. Bob Riskin became sole owner in 1986. Bob and his wife Espie are still running McCabe’s today! Over the years, musicians from all aspects of the musical spectrum, from gifted amateurs to seasoned professionals, have come to appreciate McCabe’s friendly, knowledgeable sales staff, expert repair shop and world class teaching staff. Join us for memorable music from a local treasure!

EVENT DETAILS
Sunday, August 4, 2019
11:00 AM
Monica Film Center

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This is a Free Event

ART IN THE ARTHOUSE presents: David Palmer: RetroPop at the Royal

July 10, 2019 by Lamb Laemmle Leave a Comment

ART IN THE ARTHOUSE is delighted to welcome artist DAVID PALMER and his mouthwatering new show, RetroPop. The show will run at the Royal till November 2019. Sales benefit the Laemmle Foundation and its support of humanitarian and environmental causes in Los Angeles.

About the Exhibit
As a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the late 80s, pop artist DAVID PALMER drew inspiration from his mentors JOHN ROY and GREGORY GILLESPIE. Between Roy’s analytical rigor and Gillespie’s wildly improvisational methods, Palmer unearthed an exploratory approach to image-making that evokes dreams and memories, literature and film, science, popular culture and art history. His paintings combine the vocabulary of Pop Art with a Renaissance sensibility. Their surfaces are distressed, revealing patches of underlying color, reminiscent of aging frescoes and peeling billboards.

States the artist: “When I start a piece, I don’t know what it’s going to look like when it’s finished. I like to discover the image as I work. I begin with an idea, but at some point the painting takes on a life of its own, and it leads me to a place I couldn’t have predicted. It’s like having a conversation, or taking a walk in a new neighborhood.”

Palmer has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country. He has also created digital effects for over a dozen feature films, including The Polar Express, Spider-Man 3, and the first Harry Potter movie. Palmer’s pieces continually amaze with masterful technique and playful, yet grand imagery. Humor is also a constant presence, especially in his desserts … as they always seem to make me hungry.

– Tish Laemmle, Curator

ART IN THE ARTHOUSE presents: The Pasadena Art Show 2019 June 30

June 19, 2019 by Lamb Laemmle Leave a Comment

Laemmle’s Art in the Arthouse proudly presents THE PASADENA ART SHOW 2019. Please join us as we celebrate our local artists in an intimate theatre setting. Our special event features a slideshow on the big screen, artist talks, and of course refreshments. Meet the artists and stay for the bagels, mimosas and conversation Art in the Arthouse is known for. Sales benefit the Laemmle Foundation and its support of humanitarian and environmental causes in the Los Angeles region.

About the Exhibit
Our annual community exhibit is a powerful collective voice emerging from individual expression – celebrating art-making through a communal creative vibration. This show encourages an engaged visual conversation between artists and moviegoers. In photography, painting and digital imagery, we discover surreal gardens, humans embracing, light and water, the human condition and the nature of space and bloom. These atmospheric elements act as a coalescing force. Many of the nineteen works presented explore themes in a nuanced fashion, creating shadows, tones and an array of dramatic environments. A large scale of song and fury prevails. Art that one creates, must move. While two-dimensional images stand still, stillness moves its viewers. Technical rigor is important, but passion and sensitivity is sought and found. Art patrons often search for messages articulated in specific languages. All of our creatives successfully hit this mark. Thanks to our artists and to producer Lynn Chang for once again transforming our halls into a magnificent gallery.
-Joshua Elias, Curator

Artist Reception:
Laemmle Playhouse 7
Sunday June 30, 11-1pm
Refreshments will be provided

RSVP here
This is a Free Event

MADAM YANKELOVA’S FINE LITERATURE CLUB Q&A with filmmaker Opening Day at the Town Center.

June 18, 2019 by Lamb Laemmle Leave a Comment

MADAM YANKELOVA’S FINE LITERATURE CLUB director director Guilhad Emilio Schenker will participate in a Q&A following the 5:30 pm show on Friday, 6/21.

https://vimeo.com/310991989

Marcel Pagnol’s Classic French Comedy THE BAKER’S WIFE, Restored and Back in Theaters April 26-May 2.

April 17, 2019 by Lamb Laemmle 9 Comments

The warmth and wit of celebrated playwright turned auteur Marcel Pagnol (The Marseille Trilogy) shines through in the enchanting slice-of-life comedy The Baker’s Wife (1938). Returning once again to the Provençal countryside he knew intimately, Pagnol draws a vivid portrait of a close-knit village where the marital woes of a sweetly deluded baker (the inimitable Raimu, heralded by no less than Orson Welles as “the greatest actor who ever lived”) snowball into a scandal that engulfs the entire town. Marrying the director’s abiding concern for the experiences of ordinary people with an understated but superbly judged visual style, The Baker’s Wife is at once wonderfully droll and piercingly perceptive in its nuanced treatment of the complexities of human relationships.

https://vimeo.com/303765477

THE BAKERS WIFE -TRAILER (https://vimeo.com/303765477)

Here’s are some fun facts about the movie:

—The story is taken from the novel Blue Boy (Jean le bleu) by Jean Giono. It was Marcel Pagnol’s fourth and final Giono adaptation, after Jofroi (1934), Angèle (1934), and Harvest (1937).

—Pagnol’s initial choice for the role of the baker was Marcel Maupi, whose frail constitution was more in keeping with Giono’s physical description of the character in Blue Boy. But the part eventually went to the burly Raimu. (Maupi plays Barnabé in the film.)

Marcel Pagnol's Classic French Comedy THE BAKER'S WIFE, Restored and Back in Theaters April 26-May 2. — Criterion art catalog

—Pagnol wrote the part of Aurélie for Joan Crawford, using minimal dialogue since she didn’t speak French. After she declined, Raimu convinced Pagnol to cast Ginette Leclerc, who would go on to star in such films as Le Corbeau (1943) and Tropic of Cancer (1970).

—Raimu refused to play his dialogue scenes outdoors. Therefore, much of the film was shot in a studio, giving many scenes a look that’s a combination of location and studio photography.

—The film’s exteriors were shot in the medieval village of Le Castellet, roughly thirty miles southeast of Marseille. Today, the area is famous for its wine production and Formula 1 racetrack.

—The film was a major critical and box office hit in France when it was released in 1938. In 1940, the film also had a successful run in the U.S., where it won best foreign film honors from both the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle.

—In the mid-forties, after the war, Orson Welles visited Pagnol and told him that he had seen The Baker’s Wife and would like to meet its star, Raimu, whose acting Welles revered. Pagnol informed Welles that Raimu had recently passed away, and Welles burst into tears.

—Pagnol adapted his script for The Baker’s Wife into a theatrical production but only staged one performance. In 1976, a musical adaptation of the same name, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Joseph Stein, embarked on a six-month tour of small venues in the U.S., undergoing major retooling along the way. The musical finally premiered in the West End in 1989. Although the reviews and audience reaction were positive, the show lasted here for only fifty-six performances. It has not been produced on Broadway.

—In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, despite his own distaste for movies, mentions that his younger sister, Phoebe, likes them and knows the difference between good and bad films. He says that he took her to see The Baker’s Wife and she found it hysterical.

We will screen The Baker’s Wife daily at the Ahrya Fine Arts April 26-28 and April 29 at the Laemmle Glendale, April 30 at the Playhouse 7, May 1 at the Town Center and Claremont, and May 2 at the Royal.