The Official Blog of Laemmle Theatres.

blog.laemmle.com

The official blog of Laemmle Theatres

THE PLAYBACK SINGER Q&A’s at the Music Hall

by

THE PLAYBACK SINGER tells the story of an aimless, would-be jungle-gym architect who finds his existence disrupted – and his marriage upended – when his prickly, Indian, B-movie playback singer father-in-law comes to visit and overstays his welcome. An original feature written by director Suju Vijayan, THE PLAYBACK SINGER is an award-winning family drama liberally spiked with comedy, which gets to the heart of relationships and the challenges of finding our place in this world.

THE PLAYBACK SINGER writer-director Suju Vijayan and producer Mike Blum will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:30 PM screenings and introduce the 9:55 PM screenings Friday-Sunday, November 14-16.

http://vimeo.com/39248218

 

This Weekend at REDCAT: Elevator Repair Service and “Arguendo”

by

As John Oliver recently satirized on HBO by casting nine dog actors as the United States Supreme Court Justices, one cannot see any Supreme Court proceedings (they don’t allow video cameras in their courtroom) unless you go to Washington and get in line early. Or can see artists’ renderings and listen to audio. Perhaps best of all is the brilliant theater troupe Elevator Repair Service’s take on the 1991 case in which the Court heard arguments in a case about nude dancing and its implications for the First Amendment. From REDCAT:

“Wittily inventive… A cool, obsessive genius animates the ever more fevered proceedings of Arguendo.” – The New York Times

“Full of Supremely Naughty Charm.” – The Village Voice

Thursday, November 6, 2014 to Sunday, November 9, 201f4: Elevator Repair Service: Arguendo

New York’s brilliant and provocative ensemble Elevator Repair Service, who famously turned The Great Gatsby into the stage epic Gatz at REDCAT, now brings the U.S. legal system to the stage in pure absurdist fashion. ERS portrays the Justices, lawyers and exotic dancers as they depict verbatim the U.S. Supreme Court case Barnes v. Glen Theatre, a 1991 case brought by a group of go-go dancers who claimed a First Amendment right to dance totally nude. Meanings are nuanced as the Justices attempt to define dance, ponder nudity from opera houses to strip-clubs, and ultimately answer if dancing naked is artistic expression or immoral conduct.

Tickets: $30-40 [$25-35 student/member]

For more information:
Location:
REDCAT | 631 West 2nd St. Los Angeles, CA 90012

Funded in part by the generous support of the Maurer Family Foundation and the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Q&A with 21 YEARS: RICHARD LINKLATER Co-Director Tara Wood Opening Night at the NoHo

by

It’s been said that the first 21 years defines the career of an artist. Few directors have single-handedly shaken up the film establishment like the godfather of indie, Richard Linklater. From the groundbreaking SLACKER to his innovative BOYHOOD, Linklater has reached the 21-year mark and has unapologetically carved his signature into American pop culture. 21 YEARS: RICHARD LINKLATER offers a raw and honest perspective on Richard through candid conversations with his collaborators.

Tara Wood, co-director of the new documentary 21 YEARS: RICHARD LINKLATER, will participate in a Q&A after the 7:40 screening at the NoHo on Friday, November 7.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duW5VFPNRhw

 

 

THE WAY HE LOOKS Cast and Crew Q&A at the Playhouse this Saturday

by

Set to the music of Belle and Sebastian, Daniel Ribeiro’s coming-of-age tale THE WAY HE LOOKS is a fun and tender story about friendship and the complications of young love. Leo is a blind teenager who’s fed up with his overprotective mother and the bullies at school. Looking to assert his independence, he decides to study abroad, to the dismay of his best friend, Giovana. When Gabriel, the new kid in town, teams with Leo on a school project, new feelings blossom in him that make him reconsider his plans.

THE WAY HE LOOKS writer-director Daniel Ribeiro, producer Diana Almeida and actors Ghilherme Lobo, Fabio Audi and Tess Amorim will participate in a Q&A after the 3:10 screening at the Playhouse on Saturday afternoon, November 8th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcb0VnB2vnQ

 

THE WAY HE LOOKS director Daniel Ribeiro

Q&A with the Cast and Crew of THE LOOKALIKE Saturday Night at the Music Hall

by

THE LOOKALIKE director Richard Gray, screenwriter Michele Davis-Gray and actors Steven Bauer and Scottie Thompson will participate in a Q&A after the 5 PM screening at the Music Hall on Saturday, November 8.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh2RPh1LXAM

SEX ED Q&A at the Music Hall Sunday, November 9th

by

When Eddie (Haley Joel Osment) lands his first teaching gig at an inner city middle school, he quickly finds that his highly pubescent pupils are receiving no form of sexual education.  Eddie isn’t exactly equipped to teach them – he’s a virgin.  And he’s falling in love with Pilar (Lorenza Izzo), the older sister of one of his students.  But Eddie goes off lesson plan anyway, delving into the world of menstrual cycles and sexually transmitted infections, and in doing so, incurring the wrath of the local Reverend (Chris Williams).

The SEX ED filmmakers will participate in a Q&A after the 7:30 PM screening on Sunday, November 9th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxNuD46Cuek

PELICAN DREAMS in Newsweek: “Stuck with the Bill.”

by

What’s it like to try to get to know a flying dinosaur? In PELICAN DREAMS, Sundance and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Judy Irving (“The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”) follows a wayward California brown pelican from her “arrest” on the Golden Gate Bridge into care at a wildlife rehabilitation facility, and from there explores pelicans’ nesting grounds, Pacific coast migration, and survival challenges.

Newsweek Magazine just published this piece about the film. It begins, “‘A friend of mine was in this traffic jam,’ Judy Irving recalls. ‘She said, ‘You’ll never guess why I was held up on the bridge.” It’s not unusual for traffic to come to a stop on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge: There’s the ever-more-L.A.-like traffic, the occasional protest or suicide jumper. But in this case it was a pelican that stopped the show and Irving knew she had her next movie.”

http://vimeo.com/102655510
Judy Irving (filmmaker) & Gigi (pelican) in the aviary at International Bird Rescue.

THROUGH A LENS DARKLY: BLACK PHOTOGRAPHERS AND THE EMERGENCE OF A PEOPLE Q&A’s at the Playhouse

by

The first documentary to explore the role of photography in shaping the identity, aspirations and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present, THROUGH A LENS DARKLY probes the recesses of American history by discovering images that have been suppressed, forgotten and lost. Bringing to light the hidden and unknown photos shot by both professional and vernacular African American photographers, the film opens a window into lives, experiences and perspectives of black families that is absent from the traditional historical canon.

THROUGH A LENS DARKLY director Thomas Allen Harris will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:45 PM screenings at the Playhouse Friday through Tuesday, November 14-18.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4Kd1GfkfW4
Thomas Allen Harris, director of THROUGH A LENS DARKLY. Photo by Russell Frederick from Chimpanzee Productions, Inc.