Film
French Animation Showcase
Copresented by
L'Alliance Française d'Oklahoma
| Thursday, March 25, 7:30pm Azur & Asmar This poetic, fairy tale adventure weaves together themes of family, race, and culture within a visual landscape of incomparable beauty. Blonde, blue-eyed, Azur and black haired, brown-eyed Asmar are raised as brothers by Asmar’s gentle mother who tells them stories of her faraway homeland. Years later, Azur remains haunted by memories of the sunny land of his nanny and sets sail across the high seas to find the country of his dreams. Meanwhile, Asmar has grown into a dashing horseman. Reunited, but now as adversaries, the two brothers set off on a dangerous quest to find and free the Fairy of the Djinns. In French and Arabic with English subtitles. Director: Michel Ocelot 2006 France/Belgium/Spain/Italy 99min. PG 35mm Watch the trailer |
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Friday & Saturday, March 26 - 27, 5:30pm Mia and the Migoo Created from an astonishing 500,000 hand-painted frames of animation, the gorgeous second feature from Jacques-Rémy Girerd is a breathtaking work of art. Figures are outlined in pencil and then bathed in rustic watercolors, with backgrounds that burst at the seams with painterly detail. The story is a thrilling eco-adventure that pits a plucky, wild haired young heroine Mia against profit-hungry developers with the future of life on earth in the balance. In French with English subtitles. Director: Jacques-Rémy Girerd 2008 France/Italy 92min. NR 35mm Watch the trailer |
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Friday & Saturday, March 26 - 27, 8pm |
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6th Film Preservation Festival:
Kurosawa Centennial Celebration
Born March 23, 1910 in Tokyo, Akira Kurosawa is arguably Japan's most influential filmmaker of the postwar period. Kurosawa has left an extraordinary legacy of thirty feature films over his fifty year career. The films in this program represent Kurosawa's adept storytelling ability in multiple Japanese and American film genres. Jidai-geki is akin to historical period drama, exemplified by Kurosawa's international breakthough film Rashamon in 1950 and later his seminal masterpiece Seven Samurai. The shomin-geki genre focuses on working class characters as in the quietly affecting Ikiru. Kurosawa boldly embraced literary adaptation in Throne of Blood from Shakespeare's Macbeth. In the gendai-geki or contemporary dramas, Stray Dog and High and Low, Kurosawa explores film noir in the form of the now ubiquitous police procedural. His films reveal a technical mastery of the medium, a deep humanistic streak, and a fascination with ethics and heroism that transcend cultures. On the occasion of the centennial of his birth, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, in collaboration with University of Central Oklahoma Film Studies, presents this celebration of Kurosawa's rich contribution to world cinema.
Film prints courtesy of Janus Films.
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Thursday, April 1, 7:30pm Rashômon Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, Rashômon is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife. Toshiro Mifune gives another commanding performance in the eloquent masterwork that revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema to the world. Director: Akira Kurosawa 1950 Japan 83min. NR 35mm |
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Friday, April 2, 5:30pm Throne of Blood One of the most celebrated screen adaptations of Shakespeare into film, Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood reimagines Macbeth in feudal Japan. Starring Kurosawa’s longtime collaborator Toshiro Mifune and the legendary Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless wife, the film tells of a valiant warrior’s savage rise to power and his ignominious fall. With Throne of Blood, Kurosawa fuses one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies with the formal elements of Japanese Noh theater to make a Macbeth that is all his own—a classic tale of ambition and duplicity set against a ghostly landscape of fog and inescapable doom. Director: Akira Kurosawa 1957 Japan 109min. NR 35mm |
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Friday, April 2, 8pm |
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Saturday, April 3, 5:30pm |
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Saturday, April 3, 8pm |
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Sunday, April 4, 2pm Seven Samurai One of the most beloved movie epics of all time, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride—featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura—seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope. Director: Akira Kurosawa 1954 Japan 207 min. NR 35mm |
Opera in HD from Barcelona
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Thursday, April 8, 7pm Il Trovatore Verdi’s Il Trovatore, or “the troubadour,” is the story of star crossed lovers, mixed-up infants, and acts of vengeance. Founded in 1847, the Gran Teatre del Liceu has retained its role as a culture and arts centre throughout its history. A symbol of the vitality and energy of Barcelona, the Gran Teatre del Liceu has always been a powerful stimulus to artistic creativity in Spain. It aims to innovate with ideas that stimulate the identification of opera with a creative, living art form that is open to new audiences. The Liceu’s production features some of the world’s greatest names such as conductor Marco Armiliato, and singers Fiorenza Cedolins, Marco Berti, and Roberto Frontali, Sung in Italian with English subtitles. Running time 2hrs. 45min. including one intermission SPECIAL PRICE: $20 Adults/ $18 Members, Students, Seniors. Call 405-278-8237, Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Or purchase online |
| Friday & Saturday, April 9 – 10, 5:30pm & 8pm Sunday, April 11, 2pm The Secret of Kells Magic, fantasy and Celtic mythology come together in a sweeping story about the power of imagination and faith to carry humanity through dark times. Young Brendan lives in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids. But a new life of adventure beckons when a celebrated master illuminator arrives from foreign lands carrying an ancient but unfinished book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers. To help complete the magical book, Brendan has to overcome his deepest fears on a dangerous quest that takes him into the enchanted forest where mythical creatures hide. It is here that he meets the fairy Aisling, a mysterious young wolf-girl, who helps him along the way. But with the barbarians closing in, will Brendan's determination and artistic vision illuminate the darkness and show that enlightenment is the best fortification against evil? Director: Tomm Moore 2009 Ireland/France/Belgium 75min. NR 35mm Official Website |
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Thursday, April 15, 7:30pm |
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Thursday, April 22, 7:30pm |
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New Jewish Cinema
Copresented by the
Jewish Federation of Oklahoma City
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Thursday, April 29, 7:30pm; Friday, April 30 & Saturday, May 1, 8pm Ajami Set on the streets of Jaffa’s Ajami neighborhood – a melting pot of cultures and conflicting views among Jews, Muslims and Christians – this powerful drama is told through the eyes of a cross section of the city’s inhabitants: a young Israeli fighting a criminal vendetta against his family, a Palestinian refugee working illegally to finance a life-saving surgery, a Jewish police detective obsessed with finding his missing brother, and an affluent Palestinian dreaming of a future with his Jewish girlfriend. As their stories intersect we witness a dramatic collision of different worlds and the consequences of enemies living as neighbors. In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles. Official Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. Directors: Scandar Copti & Yaron Shani 2009 Germany/Israel 120min. NR 35mm. Official website |
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Friday, April 30 & Saturday, May 1, 5:30pm |
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Sunday, May 2, 2pm Four Seasons Lodge From the darkness of Hitler’s Europe to the lush mountains of New York’s Catskills, Four Seasons Lodge follows a community of Holocaust survivors who come together each summer at their beloved bungalow colony to dance, cook, fight, flirt and celebrate their survival. This remarkable tribe of lodgers, many of whom are fast disappearing, come together for one final summer as the fate of their colony hangs in the balance. What emerges is a film about the passion for living, tightly bonded friendships, and the quest for peace in spite of haunting memories. In English, Yiddish and Polish. Director: Andrew Jacobs 2008 USA 97min. NR digital HD. Official website |
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| Friday & Saturday, May 7 - 8, 5:30pm & 8pm Sunday, May 9, 2pm Mid-August Lunch This charming tale of good food, feisty ladies and unlikely friendships takes place during a very Roman holiday. Broke, and armed with only a glass of wine and a wry sense of humor, middle-aged Gianni resides with his 93-year-old mother in their ancient apartment. The condo debts are mounting, but if Gianni looks after the building manager’s mother during the Pranzo di Ferragosto (Italy’s biggest summer holiday, and the Feast of the Assumption), all will be forgiven. Then the manager also shows up with an auntie, and then a doctor friend appears with his mother in tow... Can Gianni keep four such lively mamas well fed and happy in these cramped quarters? Mid-August Lunch is both warmly vibrant family drama and delicately balanced comedy of manners. In Italian with English subtitles. Director: Gianni Di Gregorio 2008 Italy 75min. NR digital HD. Official website |
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| Friday & Saturday, May 14 - 15, 5:30pm & 8pm Sunday, May 16, 2pm The Art of the Steal Don Argott’s gripping documentary The Art of the Steal chronicles the long and dramatic struggle for control of the Barnes Foundation, a private collection of art valued at more than $25 billion. In 1922, Dr. Albert C. Barnes formed a remarkable educational institution around his priceless collection of art, located just five miles outside of Philadelphia. Now, more than 50 years after Barnes’ death, a powerful group of moneyed interests have gone to court for control of the art, and intend to bring it to a new museum in Philadelphia. Standing in their way is a group of Barnes’ former students and his will, which contains strict instructions stating the Foundation should always be an educational institution, and that the paintings may never be removed. Will they succeed, or will a man’s will be broken and one of America’s greatest cultural monuments be destroyed? Director: Don Argott 2009 USA 101min. NR 35mm. Official Website |
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