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The official blog of Laemmle Theatres

Viva La Raza: A Celebration of Latino Culture on the Big Screen Every Throwback Thursday in May

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Join Laemmle and Eat|See|Hear for Viva La Raza, a month-long celebration of Latino culture on the big screen every Throwback Thursday (#TBT) in May at the NoHo 7 in North Hollywood! Many of these films did not receive the attention they deserved when first released. We’re excited to have the opportunity to shine a light on these movies and the culture they represent.

Acompaña a Laemmle y a Eat|See|Hear para Viva La Raza, una celebración de La Cultura Latina en la pantalla grande cada Jueves del mes de Mayo que es parte del programa Throwback Thursday (#TBT) en el cine NoHo 7 en North Hollywood! Muchas de estas películas no recibieron la atención merecida cuando primero estrenaron. Estamos emocionados de tener la oportunidad de enfocar y celebrar la cultura que estás películas representan.

selenaMay 5: SELENA

Viva La Raza kicks off with SELENA! This biopic concentrates on Selena’s relationship with her family and her rise to fame, dealing only briefly with her tragic death. Selena Quintanilla was a major figure in Tejano music, a Grammy-winning recording artist, a beloved star in the American Southwest and Mexico, and seemed poised to cross over into mainstream popularity on the U.S. pop charts when she was murdered on March 31, 1995 by the president of her fan club. SELENA was produced with the participation of the Quintanilla Family (Abraham was executive producer), and Selena’s own recordings were used on the soundtrack. Click here to buy tickets. And don’t forget to dress to impress!

¡Viva La Raza se inicia con Selena! Esta película biográfica se centra en la relación entre Selena y su familia y en su esencia a la fama, tratándose sólo brevemente en la trágica muerte de la artista. Selena Quintanilla fue una figura importante en la música Tejana, artista ganadora del Premio Grammy, querida en el Suroeste de los Estados Unidos y en México, la artista apunto de cruzar su carrera a las listas de éxitos en los Estados Unidos fue asesinada en 31 de Marzo de 1995 por su propia presidente de club de fans. SELENA fue producida con la participación de la familia Quintanilla (Abraham fue productor ejecutivo), y las grabaciones originales de Selena fueron utilizadas en la banda sonora. Pulsa aquí para comprar tus boletos. ¡Y no se te olvide vestirte para impresionar!

bornineastlaMay 12: BORN IN EAST L.A.

When accidentally caught up in an Immigration Department raid, an American-born Hispanic is “returned” to Mexico. Speaking virtually no Spanish, he is reduced to working a variety of jobs for a crooked saloon owner to make the money to pay for his “illegal immigration” back into the United States. BORN IN EAST L.A. was written and directed by Cheech Marin. In addition to Marin, the film also stars Daniel Stern, Jan-Michael Vincent, Kamala Lopez, and Paul Rodriguez. Click here to buy tickets.

Detenido (o Capturado) por el Departamento de Inmigración, un Hispano nacido en Estados Unidos es accidentalmente “devuelto” a México. Prácticamente sin poder hablar nada de Español tiene que hacer una variedad de puestos de trabajos para el propietario torcido de un salón para poder ganar dinero y pagar por su viaje de regreso “ilegal” a los Estados Unidos. Born in east L.A. fue escrita y dirigida por Cheech Marin. Además de Marin, la película también protagonizada por Daniel Stern, Jan-Michael Vincent, Kamala Lopez, y Paul Rodriguez. Pulsa aquí para comprar boletos.

mifamiliaMay 19: MI FAMILIA

Featuring Jennifer Lopez in her first major big-screen role, Gregory Nava’s MI FAMILIA traces three generations of the Sanchez’s, a Mexican-American family living in East Los Angeles. Beginning in the 1930s, the film outlines the struggles faced by a recently immigrated married couple raising a family. Focus shifts to their son as he starts his own family in the 1960s. While Lopez’ role was uncredited, she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her performance. Mi Familia has also been released under the titles My Family, Mi Familia, Cafe con Leche, and East L.A. Click here to buy tickets.

Presentando la película que puso a Jennifer López en la pantalla grande por primera vez, MI FAMILA por Gregory Nava, tres generaciones de la familia Sánchez, una familia Mexicana-Americana quien vive en el Este de Los Ángeles. Empezamos en los 1930s, la película nos enseña los esfuerzos de la pareja recién emigrada quienes tratan de crear una familia. El enfoque cambia a su hijo quien empieza su propia familia en los 1960s. Aunque el papel de López fue sin acreditar ella fue nominada por un premio Independent Spirit por su actuación. Mi Familia también ha sido publicada bajo los títulos My Family, Mi Familia, Café con Leche y East L.A. Pulsa aquí para comprar boletos.

americanmeMay 26: AMERICAN ME

Edward J. Olmos made his directorial bow with the powerhouse crime saga AMERICAN ME. Olmos stars as street-gang leader Santana, who during his 18 years in the infamous Folsom Prison rules over all the drug-and-murder activities behind bars. Upon his release, Santana goes back to his old neighborhood, intending to lead a peaceful, crime-free life. But his old gang buddies force him back into his old habits. Olmos shot the Folsom sequences on location, using actual prisoners as extras and bit players. Click here to buy tickets.

Edward J. Olmos hizo su arco a director con fuerza motriz con la saga de crimen AMERICAN ME. Olmos protagonista como Santana, líder de una pandilla callejera quien durante sus 18 años en la prisión de Folsom gobierna sobre todas las actividades de drogas y asesinatos en la prisión. Ya liberado, Santana regresa a su viejo barrio, con la intención de vivir una vida tranquila, libre del crimen. Pero sus viejos amigos pandilleros le obligan regresar a sus hábitos pasados. Olmos filmo escenas en Folsom usando prisioneros como extras y también como actores secundarios. Pulsa aquí para comprar boletos.

OUR LAST TANGO opens Friday in Santa Monica and Pasadena! Enter to win the Soundtrack on CD!

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OUR LAST TANGO is a story of love between the two most famous dancers in tango’s history. And the story of their tremendous love of tango. María Nieves Rego (81) and Juan Carlos Copes (84) met when they were 14 and 17, and they danced together for nearly fifty years.

In OUR LAST TANGO Juan and María tell their story to a group of young tango dancers and choreographers from Buenos Aires, who transform the most beautiful, moving and dramatic moments of Juan and Maria’s lives into incredible tango-choreographies.

OUR LAST TANGO opens Friday, April 22nd at the Monica Film Center in Santa Monica and the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena.

Enter to Win the Soundtrack

The film’s soundtrack features original music by Luis Borda, Sexteto Mayor and Gerd Baumann. We’re giving away three soundtrack CDs! Enter to win using the form below!

OUR LAST TANGO CD Soundtrack Giveaway

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmnY22lNr6M

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S 55th Anniversary Screening ~ A Tribute to Audrey Hepburn and Henry Mancini

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Laemmle’s Anniversary Classics presents one of the most iconic romances in movie history, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (1961), with a 55th anniversary screening as a birthday celebration for its beloved star, Audrey Hepburn, and a tribute to her unique collaboration with the legendary composer Henry Mancini. Besides the image of Hepburn in that famous black Givenchy dress, the most enduring legacy of the movie is the song “Moon River,” composed by Mancini for Hepburn, and a “melody of a lifetime.” Henry Mancini’s widow, Ginny Mancini, and daughter, singer Monica Mancini, will participate in a Q&A before the screening, moderated by LAFCA President Stephen Farber. Want to refresh your memory of this iconic film ahead of the Q&A event? You can find BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S on DVD, Blu-Ray, and on a wide range of streaming services that you can access via your streaming box. Streaming services are an excellent way to enjoy classic films in remastered quality and high definition.

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S was adapted from a popular Truman Capote novella and brought to the screen by director Blake Edwards and writer George Axelrod, with considerable alterations to the story about a flighty call girl from the country aspiring to the high life in New York City. Capote had envisioned Marilyn Monroe in the role, but it was Audrey Hepburn who immortalized Holly Golightly for the screen. Henry Mancini, who had a smash hit with his music for Edwards’ television series, Peter Gunn, provided the Oscar and Grammy-winning soundtrack that accompanied her romantic adventures. TIFFANY’S was a box office hit, and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Hepburn as best actress and best screenplay. Mancini wrote one of the most popular songs of the twentieth century, “Moon River,” with frequent partner lyricist Johnny Mercer, and the pair won an Oscar (double-winner Mancini also won for his score). Hepburn had inspired Mancini for his most famous melody, and TIFFANY’S was the first of four collaborations for them, with CHARADE, TWO FOR THE ROAD, and WAIT UNTIL DARK to follow in the 60s; they remained lifelong friends.

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, also starring George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Mickey Rooney, and Buddy Ebsen, will screen on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at the Ahyra Fine Arts theater in Beverly Hills. So join us as we celebrate Audrey Hepburn’s birthday and the creative bond she shared with her “huckleberry friend,” Henry Mancini. Tickets are on sale now.

“A completely unbelievable but wholly captivating flight into fancy composed of unequal dollops of comedy, romance, poignancy, funny colloquialisms and Manhattan’s swankiest East Side areas captured in the loveliest of colors.” (A.H. Weiler, New York Times)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THXpUvMrY14&feature=youtu.be

Just in time for Passover, STREIT’S: MATZO AND THE AMERICAN DREAM Opens at the Music Hall and Town Center on April 20

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In the heart of New York’s rapidly gentrifying Lower East Side stand four tenement buildings that have housed the Streit’s Matzo factory since 1925. An iconic New York institution and a fifth generation family business, the Streit’s factory and the Streit family itself have long held firmly to tradition, churning flour and water into matzos through ovens as old as the factory itself.

Though the factory seems a century removed from the world around it, even Streit’s is not immune to the forces that challenge manufacturing and family businesses everywhere. Streit’s: Matzo and the American Dream is a story of tradition, of resistance and resilience, and a celebration of a family whose commitment to their heritage and to their employees is inspiring proof that the family that bakes together, stays together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2yhF01g_bg&feature=youtu.be

Awards: Best Documentary – Rockland International Jewish Film Festival 2015

REDCAT International Children’s Film Festival 2016

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The 11th annual REDCAT International Children’s Film Festival features three weekends of exhilarating short-film programs to mesmerize moviegoers of all ages. Magical, adventurous works made by acclaimed filmmakers and up-and-coming auteurs showcase work from around the globe—including Colombia, France, Russia, Taiwan, Argentina, Korea, Iran, and Mexico— to inspire the whole family. Festival highlights include the latest in both live action and animated shorts.

Saturday, April 23
12:00 pm     Explore Galore
1:30pm        Magic Potion
3:00 pm       Adventurama

Sunday, April 24
12:00 pm     Cuddly Critters
1:30 pm       Imagine That
3:00 pm       Adventurama

Saturday, April 30
12:00 pm     Cuddly Critters
1:30 pm       Magic Potion
3:00 pm       Where the Giants Tread

Sunday, May 1
12:00 pm     Explore Galore
1:30pm        Imagine That
3:00 pm       Show Me a Story

Saturday, May 7
12:00 pm     Cuddly Critters
1:30pm        Imagine That
3:00 pm       Explore Galore

Help make the 2016 REDCAT International Children’s Film Festival possible by joining the RICFF Producers Circle. 

 the giant

Curated by Elizabeth Shepherd

DOUGH director John Goldschmidt: “The best way to challenge prejudice is through comedy.” Plus a video message to audiences from Pauline Collins, the Oscar-nominated female lead of DOUGH.

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In the comedy DOUGH, which we’ll open April 29 at our West L.A., Pasadena and Encino theaters and May 6 in Claremont, curmudgeonly widower Nat Dayan (Jonathan Pryce) obstinately clings to his way of life and his livelihood as a Kosher bakery shop owner in London’s East End. With a dwindling clientele and the pressures of encroaching big box stores, Nat reluctantly enlists the help of teenager Ayyash, who has a secret side gig selling marijuana to help his struggling immigrant mother make ends meet. When Ayyash accidentally drops his stash into the mixing dough, the challah starts flying off the shelves and an unlikely friendship forms between the old Jewish baker and his young Muslim apprentice. DOUGH is a warmhearted and gently humorous story about overcoming prejudice and finding redemption in unexpected places.

Dough (7)
Pauline Collins, Jerome Holder and Jonathan Pryce. Photo courtesy of Menemsha Films.

Director John Goldschmidt said this about his film: “Some of the most innovative and successful independent films have been comedies with contemporary social themes. I was looking for such a story when I met the screenwriter Jez Freedman. He pitched DOUGH, a story about the unlikely friendship of an old Jewish baker and a young Muslim cannabis dealer. What I liked was the ‘buddy movie’ concept. Two guys as different as can be, divided by race, religion, and age. Both prejudiced about the other, but needing each other to survive. This is a universal story, which will be understood everywhere. Tensions between Muslims and Jews are increasing worldwide and the best way to challenge prejudice is through comedy.

Dough (10)
Pauline Collins and Jonathan Pryce. Photo courtesy of Menemsha Films.

“The story is set in a multi-cultural part of London and is a film of contrasts. From the ethnic High Street shops, to the corporate environment of a big supermarket chain. From middle class suburbia, to a grotty housing estate. From the staid adult community to the vibrant youth culture.
“But it’s the humanity of the film that connects with people everywhere. The characters touch and move the audience and the casting of the leading roles was paramount. Legendary theatre actor Jonathan Pryce as the old Jewish baker became a real father figure to first-time black actor Jerome Holder, who played the Muslim cannabis dealer. And I like to think that everyone, young and old, will leave the cinema with a smile on their face, and the word will spread about their enjoyment of DOUGH.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPAcqo7ZzlU

Bonus: Pauline Collins is DOUGH‘s female lead and she created this greeting to audiences:

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

Spanish Director Alex de la Iglesia in Person for Q&A’s after EL CRIMEN PERFECTO and MI GRAN NOCHE

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iglesiaFilmmaker Alex de la Iglesia will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:30 PM screening of A PERFECT CRIME at Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills on 4/13 and after the 4:30 PM screening of his new release MY BIG NIGHT at the Music Hall 3 in Beverly Hills on 4/16.

MY BIG NIGHT [Mi Gran Noche] is an audaciously inventive ensemble comedy brimming with showbiz satire that received four GOYA nominations. It opens April 15th at the Music Hall 3 in Beverly Hills and the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. Click here for tickets.

THE PERFECT CRIME [El Crimen Perfecto or Crimen Ferpecto] is De la Iglesia’s 2004 black comedy set in an upscale department store in Madrid. It screens at 7:30PM on April 13th at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills, NoHo 7 in North Hollywood, and Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. Click here for tickets.

AFERIM! Return Engagement at the Fine Arts Starts Friday with Special Screenings at the NoHo, Playhouse, Monica Film Center and Claremont 5 April 11-14

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Eastern Europe, 1835. Two riders cross a barren landscape in the middle of Wallachia. They are the gendarme Costandin and his son. Together they are searching for a gypsy slave who has run away from his nobleman master and is suspected of having an affair with the noble’s wife. While the unflappable Costandin comments on every situation with a cheery aphorism, his son takes a more contemplative view of the world.

Radu Jude’s brilliant third feature AFERIM! has been aptly compared to films as diverse as THE SEARCHERS, THE LAST DETAIL and PULP FICTION (the latter for its rambling, coarse and endlessly entertaining dialogue), but the film is ultimately a moving parable about late-feudal Europe developed from historical documents and songs: its power structures and hierarchies, people’s ideas of themselves and others, interaction with minorities and the resulting conflicts. A Balkan Western in black-and-white that brings the cacophony of the times strikingly to life and explores the thematic arcs that stretch into the present.

Cineuropa interviewed Mr. Jude on the occasion of his film’s inclusion at the Berlin Film Festival:

Cineuropa: These days, filmmakers prefer to shoot their films digitally; what persuaded you to return to film and black and white?


Radu Jude: DoP Marius Panduru and I decided that the film should be shot in black and white out of a wish to highlight the historical re-enactment artifice: we wanted to make the audience understand from the very beginning that what they are seeing is a subjective re-enactment, one carefully played out, but still only a re-enactment. We therefore tested different methods: a digital camera, one colour film and two types of black-and-white film. Comparing them, we concluded that the black-and-white film (namely, Kodak Double-X) was the most expressive and the one best suited for our project.

Information about Gypsy slavery was removed from the historical accounts published during the Romanian communist regime. What difficulties did you encounter in documenting the year 1835 and this particular topic?


It’s not really a subject lacking in documentation. There are several Rroma histories, studies and archives that also depict their slavery. Besides, our main historical consultant, Constanţa Vintilă-Ghiţulescu, helped us immensely by suggesting more titles of interest. I cannot say we faced major hurdles, but the past is obviously lost, and we can access only limited information. Starting from there, all one can do is try to create a sufficiently accurate image of the past.

Naturally, the biggest risk – and we have warned the audience of this risk through the way the film is made – is to forget that we are always involved in a process of interpretation. We interpret everything, starting from the reality around us that we access through our senses and brain, so of course we pass our historical reality through the same process. In this respect, I recommend the video installation created by Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan, Pacta sunt servanda (http://www.arnoldestefan.ro/art-projects/-pacta-sunt-servanda/). The installation shows how the same historical event, the Trianon peace treaty, is presented differently in history books from Hungary and Romania. This goes to show that when we speak of the past, we in fact speak of our perspective of the past. I hope this view is obvious in my film and that the vigilant cinemagoer will take note of it.

The events in the film take place 180 years ago, but many of the characters’ remarks are relevant to the present day. Is your film a satire of the present?


I truly believe what Johan Huizinga said: “We analyse every age for the sake of the promises it contains for the next age.” My film is about the relationship between the past and the present – or, even better rephrased, about the relationship of the present with the past.

The film’s conversations are peppered with sayings and aphorisms taken from the works of a number of Romanian and foreign authors from those times, whom you list in the closing credits. Why pay so much attention to the folkloric culture of the era?


I started by reading works from the 19th century in order to familiarise myself with the language and mentalities of those times (which, I think, are the true theme of the film). At one point, I found in Iordache Golescu’s works some beautiful sayings that were perfectly appropriate for one of the sequences in Aferim!. I used them in the screenplay, which I wrote together with Florin Lăzărescu, and then we found others that we used, gradually “stuffing” the story with quotes from the literature of those times. This was also a declaration of love for the Romanian language and a way to stress the “artificial construct” characteristic of the film.

https://vimeo.com/135831249