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Film Reviews & Previews

‘CicLAvia: The Valley’ is this Sunday! Stop by the NoHo 7!

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CicLAvia will make the San Fernando Valley its home on March 22 when Metro Presents CicLAvia – The Valley takes place from 9 AM to 4 PM. The first CicLAvia of 2015 represents the inaugural visit of L.A.’s renowned open streets event to the storied Valley. Participants will be able to travel between North Hollywood and Studio City on car-free streets, using foot, pedal and non-motorized wheel power.

'CicLAvia: The Valley' is this Sunday! Stop by the NoHo 7!
route map for Sunday

The event runs 5 1/2 miles along Lankershim Boulevard between the North Hollywood Metro Red Line stop at Chandler Boulevard and the Universal Studio Red Line stop, and along Ventura Boulevard between Campo de Cahuenga and Coldwater Canyon. The route will highlight some of the gems of the East Valley including the North Hollywood Arts District, Universal City, the historic Campo de Cahuenga, Studio City Farmers Market and the famed Sportsmen’s Lodge.

The Valley route is made possible with a grant from Metro Los Angeles.

New to CicLAvia? Here are four things you need to know for March 22:

  • It’s FREE!
  • It’s not a race and you don’t need a bike to participate. You can walk or skate to your heart’s content.
  • There’s no beginning or end. You can start anywhere and go as far or as short as you want.
  • The flow of participants goes both ways, just like regular traffic.

We at Laemmle adore CicLAvia and this is the first time one of our theaters will be right on the route so we’re trying something special this time around: See your social media posts on a movie screen! Stop by the Laemmle NoHo 7 during CicLAvia this Sunday to share your CicLAvia photos on the big screen. Simply tag your Instagram and Twitter posts with #LaemmleVia! Sit back with friends, post photos, enjoy some free popcorn, and listen to Valley-related songs. It’s all free from 9 AM – 4 PM!

We’re located at 5240 Lankershim Blvd. between Weddington and Magnolia.
Park your bike at the Valley’s only bike corral right outside the
theater on Lankershim.

Hope to see you there!

Award-Winning MEDEAS Filmmaker Andrea Pallaoro at the Music Hall for a Q&A Opening Night

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MEDEAS is an intimate portrait of a rural family’s inner lives and their relationship to a harsh and shifting landscape. Ennis, a stern, hard-working dairy farmer struggles to maintain control of his family and surrounding environment, while his wife, Christina, retreats into herself, progressively disconnecting from him and their five children. As tensions increase, each character must confront their yearnings and anxieties, culminating in a dangerous conflict between control and freedom, intimacy and alienation. A journey into the unpredictable boundaries of human behavior, MEDEAS explores the desperate lengths people are driven to by love and self-preservation.

The winner of the New Voices/New Visions Grand Jury Prize at the Palm Springs International Film Festival for MEDEAS , filmmaker Andrea Pallaoro also won the award for Best Director at the Marrakech International Film Festival and the Parajanov Prize for Best Visuals and Aesthetics at the Tbilisi International Film Festival. Additionally, Pallaoro won the UK-Italy Creative Industries Award for Best Innovative Budget at the Venice Film Festival.  Mr. Pallaoro will participate in a Q&A after the 7:30 PM screening at the Music Hall this Friday, March 20.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzGhcZTN64w

Actor-Writer-Director Pif on his Feature Film Debut THE MAFIA ONLY KILLS IN SUMMER

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THE MAFIA ONLY KILLS IN SUMMER is a subversive, irreverent Italian film about Arturo, a young boy whose obsession with the Mafia’s casual presence in his city surpasses even his passion for Flora, the beautiful schoolmate who remains his main love interest until adulthood. The filmmaker uses Arturo’s unrequited love story as the vehicle to narrate the most tragic events in Italy’s recent history, starting with the Cosa Nostra’s criminal actions in Sicily in the ’70s, including their notorious murders of judges.

THE MAFIA ONLY KILLS IN SUMMER, which we will open at the Royal, Playhouse and Town Center on March 27, was directed, narrated and co-written by Pierfrancesco Diliberto, known as Pif, who also co-stars. He had this to say about his feature film debut:

“You know that feeling when you come across an old photo from the 1980s with a girl you were madly in love with? No matter how beautiful the girl, your eyes, or mine at least, were always drawn to a peculiar element: her shoulder pads. Girls wore horrible shoulder pads, because they were trendy at the time. And now I wonder: how come shoulder pads were such a big part of my life and I never said anything?

Actor-Writer-Director Pif on his Feature Film Debut THE MAFIA ONLY KILLS IN SUMMER

“So, I asked myself a similar question with regards to Palermo, the city where I was born and where I grew up. One day, I looked back and asked myself: how is it possible that in Palermo, the Mafia was so forcefully present in people’s lives and yet very few spoke out against it?

“Time makes you more lucid and more detached: you understand the absurd compromises you have to make in life. In the end, you pretend that everything is fine. Including wearing shoulder pads. It’s exhausting to try and stand out from the crowd. However bitter this may be, there and then, your life is easier if you put your head down.

“Thus, it’s sometimes better and easier to just be a child. Because children mimic their role models: the adults. And if adults don’t have any problems, neither do children. Problems start coming when, one day, children realize that the Mafia doesn’t kill only in summer.”

http://vimeo.com/109514848

THE HUNTING GROUND Q&A at the Claremont 5 Saturday Night

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From the team behind The Invisible War, comes THE HUNTING GROUND, a startling exposé of rape crimes on U.S. campuses, institutional cover-ups and the brutal social toll on victims and their families. Weaving together verité footage and first-person testimonies, the film follows survivors as they pursue their education while fighting for justice – despite harsh retaliation, harassment and push-back at every level.

Kamilah Willingham and Occidental College professor and activist Caroline Heldman are two of the subjects of THE HUNTING GROUND and both will be participating in a Q&A after the 7:10 PM screening at the Claremont 5 on Saturday, March 21.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBNHGi36nlM

Lankershim closed Sunday, 3-22-15 for CicLAvia; Use these alternate routes

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CICLAVIA is coming to The Valley on Sunday, March 22 and Lankershim Blvd. in front of our theater will be closed until 4pm.

NOTE: To learn more about CicLAvia and how we’re participating, click here.

There are two alternate ways to enter our parking structure.

  1. From Vineland, head West on Weddington St., or
  2. From Magnolia, head North on Blakeslee, then go West on Weddington St.
Lankershim closed Sunday, 3-22-15 for CicLAvia; Use these alternate routes
Lankershim closed Sunday, 3-22-15 for CicLAvia; Use these alternate routes

We’ve Partnered with CineLife, the Art House/Indie-Focused Mobile App

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We've Partnered with CineLife, the Art House/Indie-Focused Mobile AppCineLife is a free mobile app that puts art house theaters and independent film first. We are pleased to be official CineLife Launch Partners!

Designed for the film enthusiast, CineLife provides up-to-date information wherever you are. You can easily see what movies are playing, watch trailers, check reviews, find show times, and purchase tickets all in one place. You can even use your Laemmle Premiere Card!

You’ll never miss out on news, promotions, and special events like Q&As at your favorite Laemmle Theatres. CineLife also provides the latest indie film news from respected leaders and blogs in the art house community.

Download the CineLife app for your iPhone today and favorite your local Laemmle Theatre… or all Laemmle Theatres!
Download CineLife

Celebrate Joan Crawford’s Birthday at the NoHo 7 by Seeing “Possessed” & “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” on the Big Screen!

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Celebrate Joan Crawford’s Birthday at the NoHo 7 by Seeing “Possessed” & “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” on the Big Screen!Laemmle Theatres and FilmNoirBlonde.com are pleased to present a double feature on Monday, March 23, at Laemmle’s NoHo 7, to mark the birthday of a star from Hollywood’s Golden Age, Joan Crawford.

A gifted actress and the ultimate movie star, Joan Crawford found that by the mid-1940s, her career had stalled. She restarted it with the help of film noir, namely 1945’s “Mildred Pierce,” by director Michael Curtiz, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar. Whether she played a tough broad or a lady in distress, Crawford was especially well suited for the genre’s expressionistic intensity and she starred in many film-noir titles between 1945 and 1962.

On Monday, March 23, Laemmle’s NoHo 7 will pay tribute to her legacy with a special double bill from Warner Bros.: “Possessed” (1947, Curtis Bernhardt) and “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962, Robert Aldrich).

The program will start at 7:30 p.m, with “Possessed” and “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”  at 9:55. Tickets are $11 each, $15 for the double feature. There will be a special birthday cake for Ms. Crawford’s fans and Warner Archive will provide select prizes.

Click here to purchase tickets for the double feature (cake included).
Click here to purchase tickets for POSSESSED only.
Click here to purchase tickets for WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE only.

Joining the party will be Jacqueline Fitzgerald, founder and editor of FilmNoirBlonde.com. Fitzgerald will introduce the movies.

In “Possessed” (also starring Van Heflin and Raymond Massey) Crawford gives a memorable performance as a woman who can’t get over a bad relationship. In “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” she is Blanche Hudson, a once-glamorous Hollywood actress who lives with her demented sister (Bette Davis), a former child star.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qFYjkFCxiE

LOVE HUNTER Q&A’s this Weekend at the Music Hall

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In the 1990’s, singer-songwriter Milan Mumin, the lead singer of the hugely influential Serbian rock band Love Hunters, electrified and gave voice to a generation of Serbians fighting an oppressive regime. Now, after ten years, we find Milan in New York City, driving a taxi (long shifts and loopy fares), cobbling together funds for a recording session of his dream album—to be recorded and released in America. When his bass guitar player suddenly quits, he finds a talented but prickly replacement, and a romantic spark, in a free-spirited guitarist named Kim. Just as rehearsals start picking up steam, Milan’s longtime Serbian girlfriend Lela arrives with very different plans for their future—she wants him to come home to Serbia where his reputation will let him be anything he wants—but Milan is determined to make his recording in America, at any cost.

We are pleased to open LOVE HUNTER, which the New York Times recently called “one of the most refreshing New York independent features since Ramin Bahrani’s ‘Man Push Cart,” this Friday at the Music Hall Theater. Filmmakers Nemanja Bala and Brane Bala, along with actress Jelena Stupljanin, will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:30 PM screenings Friday through Sunday, March 13, 14 and 15.

http://vimeo.com/111320885