Film Descriptions
Download the May calendar (1.3 Mb).
May 9 thru 18 at Harris Theater and
May 10 thru 18 at Regent Square and
May 11 thru 18 at Melwood Screening Room:
Silk Screen Festival
Shining a light on the intricacy and variety of Asian cultures, with more than 20 feature films and musical events. Showcasing films and filmmakers with
origins in India, Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Iran, and more, including films made by Asian Americans.
This festival is again partnering with Pittsburgh Filmmakers, for its third great year. For the full schedule, visit the festival website or visit our showtimes page closer to the fest.
Shown at left are images from (top to bottom): Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's Ploy, Ramin Bahrani's Chop Shop, Bahman Ghobadi's Half Moon.
May 19 – 22 at Harris Theater
The Life of Reilly
"Rippingly entertaining" – Toronto Star
Charles Nelson Reilly, who died a year ago, is best remembered as one of the flamboyant regulars on tv’s "Match Game," but too few know that he was also
a successful stage actor (How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), director and teacher. In this delightful performance documentary he stars in his one-man show called Save it for the Stage: the Life of Reilly. A natural raconteur and frequent "Tonight Show" guest, he holds his live audience spellbound as he reveals stories about his life. He vividly recalls growing up gay in the Depression-era Bronx with a lobotomized father and a racist mother who encouraged him in a theatrical career. The unfailingly witty, shamelessly bitchy Reilly gets to set the record straight. (Barry Poltermann and Frank Anderson; USA; 2007; 82 min)
May 19 – 22 at Regent Square Theater
Let's Get Lost – new 35mm print!
“The nature of Cool.” – Village Voice
Unseen for 14 years, this haunting portrait of legendary jazz crooner and trumpeter Chet Baker weaves performance footage from the 1950s, interviews from
friends and lovers, and clips from Baker’s last years. The new 35mm print shows off the moody black and white photography of director Weber, known only as a
fashion photographer before this film. “Weber’s visual intuitions are as lyrical and right as Baker’s melodic instincts.” – Pauline Kael. (Bruce Weber; USA;
1988; 120 min)
May 22 at Melwood Screening Room
Biennial Screening: Orgone
Kaleidokodascopic: An Orgone Inventory (1918–1977) & films from The Orgone Archive (Pittsburgh 13). Reception 7:30, screening at 8:00pm. Admission: $5 or BI-PASS.
Opens May 23 at Regent Square Theater
Love Songs
"Beguiling and bittersweet" – LATimes
A modern-day musical, Love Songs is an intoxicating, idiosyncratic story in three chapters, each borrowing a title from the three parts of The Umbrellas
of Cherbourg (departure, absence, and return). It begins with the stalled relationship of Ismael and Julie, who enter a playful ménage à
trois with Alice. When tragedy strikes, these young Parisians are forced to deal with the fragility of life and love. Featuring 13 original songs sung entirely
by the cast, this romance has overjoyed audiences at both Cannes and Toronto film fests and earned four French Cesar nominations. Subtitled.
(Christophe Honore; France; 2008; 95 min)
Opens May 23 at Harris Theater
Girls Rock!
"Incisively depicts the inner lives of complicated young females." – Chicago Reader
This exhilarating film has audiences cheering all over America. While it focuses on a one-week summer experience – Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Oregon – it has grown into a full-fledged phenomenon. More than a retreat for preteens, it’s an incredible feminist project that reclaims the concept of girl power. Young women (aged 8 to 18) learn to love girlhood in all its awkwardness, as they play power chords with their amps cranked up to 11. They get to express their angst and their joy through the redemptive power of punk rock. We learn the back-stories of four girls who step up to the creative challenges while undergoing tough personal transformations. As they come together to form a band we witness a finale that is truly extraordinary. (Shane King and Arne Johnson; USA; 2007; 90 min)
May 25, 8pm at Regent Square
Planet of the Apes – new 35mm print!
"In stature and screen presence, Heston is heroic and he is noble; you've got to admit it. He's right for this role, however preposterous it really may be,
and he carries the film effortlessly." – Roger Ebert, writing in 1968
The late, great Charlton Heston is fabulous as over-the-top Colonel ("Get your stinkin paws off of me, you damned dirty ape!") Taylor – an astronaut who crash-lands on an unfamiliar planet. Though there’s lots of inadvertent humor, the film's smart script and effective conclusion (with no big-budget special effects to augment its impact) remain both potent and relevant. With Roddy McDowall. (Franklin J. Schaffner; USA; 1968; 112 min)
May 28 at Melwood Screening Room
Sideways plus wine tasting
The charming 2004 hit, from Election director Alexander Payne, stars Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church. We’ll screen, and sample wine varieties from, the Academy-Award-winning film. From local oenophile group Grapenuts, Jack Brice and John Mahood will be on hand to satisfy your thirst for wine knowledge. The first pour begins at 6:30pm. Tickets are $30 and include wine, bites and the movie; regular price for just the film. Go to grapenuts.org for more information and to reserve your space.
May 29 at Melwood Screening Room
Biennial Screening: Maxson
Video program of original work and curated favorites by Eileen Maxson. Reception 7:30, screening at 8:00pm Admission: $5 or BI-PASS.
Opens May 30 at Regent Square
Contempt – new 35mm print!
What is the price of selling out? Brigitte Bardot plays Camille, a bourgeois housewife(!), whose playwright husband Paul has been hired by a crass Hollywood producer (Jack Palance) to rewrite the screenplay for a Fritz Lang (who plays himself) epic. Bardot at her bold and brazen best, in Cinemascope and Technicolor. Watch a vintage trailer. (Jean-Luc Godard; France; 1963; 102 min)
May 31 at Melwood Screening Room
Respect Yourself: the Stax Records Story
The rise and fall of Memphis-based Stax Records remains one of the more compelling sagas in American popular music history. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, renamed in 1961 by blending the surnames of brother-sister co-founders Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, Stax was Motown's funky Deep South counterpart. Giants including Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas and daughter Carla, Booker T and the MGs, Sam & Dave, and Isaac Hayes all hailed from this converted movie theater. While celebrating Stax, its triumphs and the genius of its artists and musicians, this documentary doesn’t shy away from the label's woes and final collapse. The redemption comes by detailing Stax's legacy into the 21st century. Features performances, interviews and rare footage from the Stax vaults. (Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville; USA; 2007; 114 min)
Followed by reception with live bands. Co-presented by 91.3 WYEP-FM.
Opening June 6 at Regent Square Theater
Standard Operating Procedure
"
...
this is not a political film ... it is driven simply, powerfully, by the desire to understand those photographs." – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Oscar-winning director Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, Fog of War) has always challenged his viewers to think about what's outside the frame.
In his new documentary he challenges the charges of abuse by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison, and he also challenges the very medium of photography.
What did we not see in those infamous photos? As always, Morris uses re-creations suggesting what might have happened. With dramatic angles and layers
of music (by Danny Elfman) it turns into a striking visual, even corporeal experience. (Errol Morris; USA; 2008; 117 min)
Inteviews with the director: in print at Columbia Journalism Review, and on
video for The New Yorker. A lengthy essay about the
film, by Errol Morris for The New
Yorker.
June 11 at Harris Theater
Land of Confusion
In March 2004, Jeremy Zerechak – a Pittsburgher and Penn State film student – was activated with his National Guard unit and deployed to Iraq.
During the next 12 months Zerechak shot 60 hours of footage tracking his platoon on their politically-charged mission: searching for WMDs. The infamous search
would take them from the heart of Baghdad to rural Iraqi farms.
The film captures never-seen-before footage of the secretive Iraq Survey Group searching the
countryside, and offers an extraordinary perspective from soldiers on the ground in Iraq. Candid moments with US soldiers and Iraqi civilians combine with
beautifully edited images to create a riveting portrait of this increasingly unpopular war. Already a hit on the indie film festival circuit, this is the
Pittsburgh premiere of Land of Confusion. (Jeremy Zerechak; USA; 2008; 91 min)
Zerechak will appear in person with his film for a Q+A. Tickets for this one-night show can be purchased online.
June 20 & 21 at Harris Theater
Biennial performance: Testify
Spoken word and visual artist Vanessa German's one-person performance, Testify, focuses on the prevalence of violence in the African American community in Pittsburgh. Friday show – 7:00; 8:30 reception. Sat shows – 2:00, 7:00, 9:00pm. Admission: $5 or BI-PASS.
Vanessa German is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Pittsburgh, born in Wisconsin, raised in Los Angeles and Loveland, Ohio. A poet, actress, sculptor,
designer, educator and photographer, she believes in the seamlessness of creative process and purpose. Her performance training is from the Los Angeles
Conservatory of the Performing Arts, Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, South West College, University of Cincinnati, and the Los Angeles Theater
Academy. In 2007 German collaborated with a group of artists to create Rise, which she directed, produced and starred in for the Pittsburgh
International First Voice Festival. The award-winning actress has performed in many regional productions including Fire, Relativity, Loud, Seven Guitars,
The Piano Lesson and The Vagina Monologues. As a playwright her Pieces won Best Play in the Black and White Theater festival. She is
also a nationally recognized performance poet, and an award winning mixed-media sculptor and photographer.
June 20–26 at Regent Square Theater
Alexandra
"...speaks to the heart like a symphony" – Film Journal International
The great Russian auteur Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark, Mother and Son) has created another powerful masterpiece with poetic intensity. The tale
begins when 81-year-old Alexandra (played by Russian opera legend Galina Vishnevskaya) visits her grandson, a young army officer stationed at a desolate
military outpost. She's escorted to the base in a tank. Weary and indomitable, she has no sense of her own incongruity – she, of course, is Mother
Russia, and these are her children. This compelling anti-war film with exquisite cinematography also features an original score reminiscent of the great
Russian composers. With subtitles. (Alexander Sokurov; Russia; 2008; 92 min)