Oscar Tune-Up Turns 10!

By Brian Hearn, film curator

Waaaay back in early 2003 I was following the Oscar race noting how many nominees either hadn’t come to Oklahoma City at all or came and went too fast. So I invented “Oscar Tune-Up” as a program to enhance one’s enjoyment of the Oscar telecast. It’s always more fun to have seen the nominees in 24 categories, especially the more obscure ones. That year we screened several films that went on to take home a golden guy: Frida, Bowling for Columbine, Spirited Away, Nowhere in Africa, Adaptation, and the live action and animated short films. Audiences clearly loved it so we made it one of the cornerstones of our annual programming. A lot has changed in ten years. For one, Oscar night is one month earlier than it used to be. We’ve also seen a lot of tinkering with Oscar night in an effort to remain relevant in popular culture. While it’s been a mixed bag of experiments, one thing has not changed. It remains the biggest night in the movie business when art trumps commerce for at least a few hours.

One of the enjoyable curatorial challenges of “Oscar Tune-Up” is the unpredictability of it all. Then there is the mad rush to program a month of movies in a matter of days after the nominations are announced. It’s a time when I call in favors, practice the art of polite pleading, and leverage every wisp of influence I can (believe me it’s not much!) with major Hollywood studios to tiny boutique film distributors. This year was no exception. By far the most requested film of the year has been The Artist, so I will quote Meryl Streep at the Golden Globes, “I want to thank God, Harvey Weinstein.” Know that we bent over backwards to get this fantastic film which you can only see here (and some shopping mall ;-D). It will mark our longest running engagement ever and I sincerely hope it becomes our all time top-grossing film.

As always we have an Oklahoma City exclusive engagement of all three short film categories; two Oklahoma premieres of animated feature nominees Chico & Rita and A Cat in Paris, and two gripping feature documentary nominees If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front and Hell and Back Again. Tonight we’ll kick things off with the adrenaline pumping thriller Drive and wrap the month with Woody Allen’s wonderful Midnight in Paris.  Don’t miss our fascinating lecture with Cathy Whitlock who will unlock the secrets of Hollywood production design on February 23. Oh and I’m still looking to squeeze in one of most artistic films of the year, Terrence Malick’s triple nominee The Tree of Life. Thank you for supporting your local art house cinema!

Oscar Tune-Up Schedule 2012

Drive
Thursday, February 2, 7:30pm

The Artist
Friday & Saturday, February 3 – 4, 5:30pm & 8pm
Sunday, February 5, 2pm
Tuesday – Thursday, February 7 – 9, 7:30pm
Friday & Saturday, February 10 – 11, 2pm
Sunday, February 12, 12:30pm
Tuesday – Thursday, February 14 – 16, 7:30pm