The Official Blog of Laemmle Theatres.

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The official blog of Laemmle Theatres

PARTICLE FEVER: Q&A with a Cal Tech Physics Professor

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California Institute of Technology Professor of Physics Mark Wise will participate in a Q&A after the 7:10 PM screening of PARTICLE FEVER at the Playhouse on Friday, March 14.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rikc7foqvRI

THE RAPE OF EUROPA: The L.A. Times’ Kenneth Turan on this Essential Documentary

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Posted this afternoon on the L.A. Times website:

MOVIES NOW

FILMS: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Critic’s Pick: The feature film ‘The Monuments Men’ has brought about the re-release of the documentary “The Rape of Europa,’ which details the Nazi wartime theft of European art.

By Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times Film Critic

If George Clooney’s “The Monuments Men” did nothing else, it made possible the theatrical re-release of “The Rape of Europa,” a splendid documentary that shows the true story behind the Nazi theft of European art and interviews some of the real-life Monuments Men who got it back. The film is packed with information and also tells a series of wonderful truth-is-stranger-than-fiction tales. “The Rape of Europa” even details the postwar fights about who owns which paintings that culminated in the sale of Gustav Klimt’s gold portrait for a record $135 million. This documentary paints a picture that is vivid and timely. Playing on Saturday and Sunday at [11 AM at] Laemmle’s Monica 4 in Santa Monica, Town Center 5 in Encino, Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and Claremont 5 in Claremont.

Adolf HItler was drawn to art. “The Rape of Europa” details Nazi looting of Europe’s works. (Lynn Nicholas Collection / Agon Arts & Entertainment)

 

 

Climate Ride Contest Winners!

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We received a lot of great entry essays to our Climate Ride contest and from among them have chosen one first place winner, two second place winners and two third prize winners who will ride with Greg Laemmle from San Francisco through wine country to Sacramento this May to raise awareness about climate change and money to help combat it. In conjunction with the tree planting movement, this has helped raise so much awareness for the problems regarding climate change and helped convinced many more people that we need to act now to save our planet! I’m thrilled with the turn out for the Climate Ride and feel honoured to inform you of the winners. Here’s who won and their fabulous prizes!

Grand Prize, an Unlimited Laemmle Movie Pass for the rest of 2014, Free Registration for
Climate Ride, and a $2500 contribution toward their Climate Ride
fundraising goal, goes to David Rindlaub.

Second Prize, an Unlimited Laemmle Movie Pass for the rest of 2014, Free Registration for
Climate Ride, and a $1250 contribution toward their Climate Ride
fundraising goal, goes to Eddie Beres and Dalila Mendez.

Third Prize, an Unlimited Laemmle Movie Pass for the rest of 2014 plus Free Registration for Climate Ride, goes to Aaron Ratliff and Alan Bair.

Congratulations to all five of them! Please consider supporting their efforts because they have a long way to go before reaching their fund-raising goals. Click on the above links to learn how and why they have made such a big commitment to raise money for climate change-related causes.

Greg Laemmle

THOMAS KEATING: A RISING TIDE OF SILENCE Q&A

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THOMAS KEATING: A RISING TIDE OF SILENCE director Peter C. Jones will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:20 PM screenings at the Music Hall on Friday and Saturday, March 7 and 8 and Tuesday, March 11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2MrMDpwchA

OMAR ~ Q&A with Writer-Director, Star and Co-Star

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Two-time Oscar-nominated writer-director Hany Abu-Assad, star Adam Bakri and co-star Eyad Hourani will participate in a Q&A after the 7:20 PM screening of OMAR at the Playhouse on Thursday, March 6.

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

Movie and a Meal: Follow THE LUNCHBOX with a Visit to an Indian Restaurant

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This scene from THE GODFATHER always makes me want Italian food. And that’s just one scene. Films in which food is a major part of the plot are a beloved genre all their own. Time will tell, but the new Indian movie THE LUNCHBOX may join the ranks of other great foodie movies like BABETTE’S FEAST, BIG NIGHT and LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE. We at Laemmle Theatres humbly recommend you try preceding lunch or dinner at one of the many Indian restaurants near our theaters by taking in THE LUNCHBOX to whet your appetite. Here are some close by:

Fourteen minute walk west down Santa Monica Blvd. from the Royal: All India Cafe

Across the street from the Playhouse (where we open THE LUNCHBOX this Friday): Sitar Indian Cuisine

Two minute walk west down Ventura Blvd. from the Town Center (where we open THE LUNCHBOX this Friday): Anarbagh

Or choose one of your personal favorites. Bon appetit!

 

OMAR and BETHLEHEM: “Two Films, One Issue”

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Recently posted on the Jewish Exponent site, an excellent think piece about two films — OMAR, from Palestine, which we are currently screening, and BETHLEHEM, from Israel, which we open Friday. They are both terrific films and both tell stories with the same basic subject matter from different sides of the conflict. The piece is by Greg Salisbury:

Israeli Politics at the Oscars: Two Films, One Issue

February 26, 2014

At the 86th Academy Awards ceremonies on March 2, a film about the morally ambiguous and lethal world inhabited by Palestinian informants and their Israeli handlers will be one of the five nominees for Best Foreign Language Film. Win or lose, the evening will cap a successful year in which the film has won awards across the world.

The film in question is not Bethlehem, Israel’s entry, by first-time director Yuval Adler, which recently won six Ophirs, the Israeli equivalent of the Oscars, as well as the top prize at the 2013 Venice Film Festival. It is Omar, the Palestinian submission, directed by Hany Abu-Assad, which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2013 Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. Abu-Assad was also nominated in 2006 for his film Paradise Now, about a pair of Palestinians preparing to become suicide bombers.
Both films, with two different viewpoints of the same controversial subject, are among the record 76 submissions from countries looking to take home a statuette. Only the voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences know why one of these films was selected and not the other — the “arts” part of the academy’s name underscores the subjective nature of judging what is best about the form.
Sahdi Marei as Sanfur in BETHLEHEM

 

ELAINE STRITCH: SHOOT ME ~ Q&A’s with the Filmmaker

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ELAINE STRITCH: SHOOT ME filmmaker Chiemi Karasawa will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:40 PM screenings at the Royal on Friday and Saturday, March 7 and 8 as well as after the 5:20 screening on Saturday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tldyvkqTqo