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UNREST Q&A’s Opening Weekend in Pasadena and Santa Monica.

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UNREST filmmaker-subject Jennifer Brea and her husband Omar Wasow will participate in a Q&A after the 7:10 PM screening at the Monica Film Center on Friday, September 29, moderated by Susan King.

UNREST producer Alysa Nahmias and editor Kim Roberts will participate in a Q&A following the 7:20 PM screening at the Playhouse on Saturday, September 30. Filmmaker Grace Lee will moderate.

On October 2, Ms. Brea will participate in an impact panel with Carol Head (president of SOLVE ME/CFS) and Linda Tannenbaum (president of Open Medicine Foundation).

Ms. Brea will do a Q&A after the 7:10 show at the Monica Film Center on 10/3 moderated by filmmaker Kimberly Pierce (‘Boys Don’t Cry’).

Ms. Brea will do a solo Q&A after the 7:20 show on 10/5 at the Playhouse.

 

45th Anniversary Screenings of Louis Malle’s MURMUR OF THE HEART on Wednesday, August 16th in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the latest installment in our Anniversary Classics Abroad series, Louis Malle’s irreverent and often uproarious comedy, MURMUR OF THE HEART, which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay of 1972.

During the course of his career, Malle proved himself one of the most astonishingly versatile of all international directors. His movies ran the gamut from the influential French noir, Elevator to the Gallows to the sexually daring drama, The Lovers, which was charged with obscenity and eventually cleared by the United States Supreme Court; the dark screwball comedy, Zazie dans le Metro; two piercing World War II dramas, Lacombe Lucien and Au Revoir Les Enfants; and the documentary Calcutta.

In America, Malle made the controversial Pretty Baby, which introduced Brooke Shields; the scintillating two-character talkathon, My Dinner with Andre; and the bittersweet comedy classic, Atlantic City, which earned five Oscar nominations, including one for best picture and another for Malle as best director.

Murmur of the Heart was an autobiographical memoir from Malle, a coming-of-age story told with candor and exuberant wit. Set in 1954, the year that France lost control of its colonies in Indochina, the film focuses on a chaotic bourgeois family headed by a wild, taboo-breaking mother, played to perfection by Italian actress Lea Massari.

The cast also includes Benoit Ferreux as her 14-year-old son, Daniel Gelin as her gynecologist husband, and Michel Lonsdale as a somewhat hypocritical priest.

Pauline Kael called the film an “exhilarating high comedy about French bourgeois life,” and she added, “Massari is superb as Clara, the carelessly sensual mother.”

Leonard Maltin praised the picture as a “fresh, intelligent, affectionately comic tale” that builds to “a thoroughly delightful resolution.”

MURMUR OF THE HEART screens at 7pm on August 16th at the Royal in West L.A., the Town Center in Encino, and the Playhouse in Pasadena. Presented on DVD. Click here for tickets.

500 YEARS director Pamela Yates in person & a chance to see her earlier films

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500 YEARS: LIFE IN RESISTANCE is a brilliant new stand-alone documentary, but it’s also the third part of a trilogy by acclaimed documentarian Pamela Yates beginning with the 1983 film WHEN THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE and continuing with the 2011 follow-up GRANITO: HOW TO NAIL A DICTATOR. We are very excited to present her earlier films in the trilogy as weekend morning screenings July 29th & 30th only at our Monica Film Center and Pasadena Playhouse 7 locations.

Director Pamela Yates and her Producing Partner Paco de Onís will appear in person for Q&As:

following the 7:10 pm showings of 500 YEARS at the Monica Film Center on Friday, 7/28 and Sunday, 7/30

for a joint Q&A following the 10:45 am screening of 500 YEARS, the 11:20 am screening of WHEN THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE, and the 11:00 am screening of GRANITO at the Monica Film Center on Saturday, July 29th only. All 3 films should end at the same time, and the audiences will be escorted into a single auditorium for the Q&A.

following the 7:00 pm show of 500 YEARS at the Playhouse in Pasadena on Saturday, 7/29

for a joint Q&A following the 10:45 am screening of 500 YEARS, the 11:20 screening of WHEN THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE, and the 11:00 am screening of GRANITO at the Pasadena Playhouse on Sunday, July 30th only. All 3 films should end at the same time, and the audiences will be escorted into a single auditorium for the Q&A.

Pamela Yates will briefly introduce each screening which is followed by a Q&A.

 

Pamela Yates in 1982

 

Twofer Tuesday: Robert Mitchum Centennial on August 1st in Beverly Hills, NoHo, and Pasadena

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series celebrate the centennial of Hollywood icon Robert Mitchum (b. August 6, 1917) with two of his best roles, OUT OF THE PAST (1947, 70th anniversary) and CAPE FEAR (1962, 55th anniversary). The two acclaimed film noirs will be shown as a double feature on August 1 as part of the popular Twofer Tuesday (two for the price of one) program at a choice of three locations: the Ahrya Fine Arts, NoHo 7, and Pasadena Playhouse 7. Presented on blu-ray.

Click here for tickets to the 5:10pm OUT OF THE PAST and 7:15 CAPE FEAR
or
Click here for tickets to the 7:15 CAPE FEAR and 9:30 OUT OF THE PAST

Mitchum was a contract player at RKO when he starred in Out of the Past, directed by Jacques Tourneur with a script by Geoffrey Homes (Daniel Mainwaring), adapting his novel, “Build My Gallows High.” Mitchum plays an ex-private eye entangled in a web of double-dealings by former criminal associates (gangster Kirk Douglas and old flame Jane Greer). Mitchum, described in the New York Times review of the day as “magnificently cheeky and self-assured,” entrenched his cynical, antihero image in this film.

Out of the Past, as author Jeremy Arnold notes in TCM’s The Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter, “is the quintessential film noir. It has a tough hero, a supremely alluring femme fatale, hard-boiled dialogue, a commingling of sex and violence, expressionistic lighting…all set in an ominous world where death and double-cross are the norm.” The movie has been added to the National Film Registry.

Cape Fear came at the end of the classical black-and-white film noir period (1942-62), and stars Mitchum in his most memorable villainous role, Max Cady. In this adaptation by James R. Webb of James D. MacDonald’s novel, “The Executioners,” an ex-con plots insidious revenge on the lawyer (Gregory Peck) whose testimony sent him to prison. Director J. Lee Thompson was an admirer of Alfred Hitchcock, and paid homage to the Master of Suspense with camera angles and the use of his frequent collaborator, composer Bernard Herrmann, who provided a superbly menacing score. Mitchum was so convincing in the role that co-star Polly Bergen (as Peck’s wife) said she was genuinely frightened in an improvised scene with him. Leonard Maltin calls Mitchum’s performance “believably creepy,” and the American Film Institute cited his portrayal of Cady as one of the top 30 “All-Time Screen Villains.” Martin Balsam, Lori Martin, Telly Savalas, and Barrie Chase co-star.

Barrie Chase had other memorable roles in films of the 1960s, including Stanley Kramer’s It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Robert Aldrich’s The Flight of the Phoenix. She was a dancer in many hit musical films of the 1950s and co-starred with Fred Astaire in several of his top-rated TV specials.

Actress Barrie Chase will introduce the 7:15 CAPE FEAR at the Ahrya Fine Arts. Film historian Jeremy Arnold will introduce the 9:30 OUT OF THE PAST, only at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills.

Out of the Past screens at 5:15 & 9:30; Cape Fear screens at 7:15, at all three locations.

ART IN THE ARTHOUSE presents: ART ON ART by Robert Cenedella at Claremont 5

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Art in the Arthouse revisits the works of ROBERT CENEDELLA with a new showing of his special edition silk screens entitled ART ON ART. Cenedella’s series, currently on display in Claremont until September 17, is a part of The Laemmle Collection.

About the Exhibit:
Previous works by Robert Cenedella, shown at Laemmle’s Monica Film Center along side the documentary film ART BASTARD,  gave an in-depth example of what is controversial. Our current show, reveals another side of the artist. The numbered editions of silk screens on archival paper, are less political statement, more tailored etchings of clever positioning and whimsical humor. They are signed by the artist and museum framed to ensure preservation with handmade Italian frames from all natural materials.

“I am a product of starting my career circa 1959 just when all the “isms” came to be – Absract Expressionism, Abstract Illusionism, Constructivism, Minimalism, Hypermodernism, etc – and the very kind of work that I was developing under GEORGE GROSZ at the Arts Students League of New York was literally being not just looked down upon, but verbally scorned and ridiculed by art critics, art schools and the public in general. 

Having fought the notion that skills were no longer necessary, in particular drawing, PROTEST, has in some ways become part of my work. This has not been intentional on my part; it just has become a fact of sorts after fifty years of having never fit into the ART ESTABLISHMENT on any level.  To this day, my work continues to be considered controversial one way or another.”

 – Robert Cenedella, Artist

Fourth Annual Tour de Laemmle is Sunday, July 23rd, 2017!

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Don’t be surprised if you see Greg Laemmle and 100+ other cyclists clip-clopping through a theater lobby this Sunday. They’re just rehydrating and taking a well-deserved break in the middle of their epic 135-mile bicycle tour of all eight Laemmle venues!

Our Fourth Annual Tour de Laemmle starts bright and early this Sunday, July 23rd. Participants leave the Monica Film Center in Santa Monica at 7:00AM before making their way to Beverly Hills, Claremont, Pasadena, Glendale, NoHo, Encino, West LA, and back to Santa Monica.

You can follow along from the comfort of your chair by visiting tourdelaemmle.com/share where riders will share their Instagram photos and tweets.

Our involvement with cycling events such as CicLAvia and Climate Ride stems not just from our love of the sport, but as a way to encourage alternative transportation and inspire creative thinking about our traffic and environmental challenges. In 2014, we stepped up to the plate by creating our own event.

As an avid cyclist and sustainability advocate, Greg Laemmle had always dreamed of traveling to each of his venues by bike in a single day. After researching the route, he soon recognized the cultural and historical import of many of the roads, pathways, and landmarks he discovered along the way. Realizing the potential value extended far beyond his original vision, he opened up the ride and invited the community to join him “on a 2-wheeled tour of L.A.’s richly diverse neighborhoods.” Find out more at tourdelaemmle.com!

25th Anniversary Screenings of INDOCHINE on Wednesday, July 19th in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA

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For this month’s screening in our Anniversary Classics Abroad program, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 25th anniversary screening of the Oscar-winning French film, INDOCHINE.

This sweeping epic about France’s troubled history in Southeast Asia was named best foreign language film of 1992, and Catherine Deneuve received an Oscar nomination (her only one) for her portrayal of a wealthy landowner who adopts a Vietnamese orphan.

TIME Magazine’s Richard Corliss wrote, “INDOCHINE sprawls and enthralls. It has the breadth and intelligence of the David Lean epics,” and he added, “In Catherine Deneuve, INDOCHINE has a star of epic glamour and gravity.”

The film spans 30 years from 1930 through the war of independence in the 1950s. Director Regis Wargnier brought impressive visual flair to the evocation of this society in transition.

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film “awesomely gorgeous, both in its landscapes and in its period-perfect settings and costumes.”

Wargnier filmed on location in Vietnam and Malaysia. The cast includes Vincent Perez, Jean Yanne, Dominique Blanc, and newcomer Linh Dan Pham.

INDOCHINE screens at 7pm on July 19th at the Royal in West L.A., the Town Center in Encino, and the Playhouse in Pasadena. Presented on DVD. Click here for tickets.

This screening is the latest installment of our Anniversary Classics Abroad series, presented the third Wednesday of each month. Louis Malle’s MURMUR OF THE HEART is coming up on August 16th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxMoREEix6Q

Q&A’s with the TYRUS Filmmaker July 17-19 at the Ahrya Fine Arts, NoHo, and Playhouse.

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TYRUS director Pamela Tom will participate in Q&A’s after all three Laemmle screenings: July 17 at the Fine Arts, July 18 at the Playhouse, and July 19 at the NoHo. Click here for tickets.

TYRUS is a tour-de-force documentary about the Guangzhou-born, L.A.-based visual artist Tyrus Wong, his breathtaking scope of work across multiple artistic mediums, and his personal journey navigating racial bigotry in 20th century America.

The film takes the audience on a remarkable journey – from his birthplace of Guangzhou, China in 1910 to the boarding houses of LA’s old Chinatown and the studios of the Golden Age of Hollywood. The film explores his formative years as a young WPA artist and the influence of Sung Dynasty art on his work.

Mr. Wong passed away in December at 106 years old but we see him in the documentary still vibrant, flying his magnificent creations high above the Pacific Ocean – the same waters he crossed as a young boy over 95 years ago.

The film includes original interviews of Tyrus Wong, guest interviews, archival footage & photos, clips and concept art from early Hollywood movies and over 80 years of Tyrus Wong artwork – much of it rare and never before seen. TYRUS captures the richness and texture of Tyrus’s career while also revealing the inner life and character of this rare individual.

Interviewees include Tyrus Wong, best selling writer Lisa See, animation artists and writers Don Hahn, Charles Solomon, Eric Goldberg, John Canemaker, Paul Felix, Milton Quon, art curators Sonia Mak, Bill Stern, Ellen Harrington, Mark Johnson, California watercolor expert Gordon McLelland and Hollywood film historian Joe Musso.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTpq1iy0phM

TYRUS premiered at the 42nd Telluride Film Festival and has garnered awards at the San Diego Asian Film Festival (Audience), Hawaii Int’l Film Festival (Audience), Newport Beach Film Festival (Audience), DisOrient Film Festival (Best Feature Documentary), Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (Special Jury Prize), Cintopia Film Festival (Best Director), Boston Asian American Film Festival (Audience) and Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (Best Feature Documentary).

Pamela Tom is a writer, director and producer whose work includes documentary and narrative film and television. Tom served as a production executive at KCET and was the post-production producer on the BBC/PBS national series WW2: Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, The Nazis, and the West and the network producer on Wired Science, a PBS national primetime series produced in partnership with Wired magazine. She was also the field producer on the PBS pilot, Becoming the Buddha in Los Angeles.

Tom’s award-winning narrative short film Two Lies, about a divorced Chinese woman who has plastic surgery to make her eyes rounder, screened at hundreds of film festivals including the Sundance Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, the Smithsonian Institution, and aired on numerous PBS stations, including KCET, WNET and WGBH.