In Theaters At
The Duke
Playing at Pickford Film Center96 minutes, UK, In Japan, English Rated R: Language and brief sexuality AccessibleDirected by: Roger Michell
The Duke is set in 1961 when Kempton Bunton, a 60-year old taxi driver, stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government agreed to provide television for free to the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full story emerge – a startling revelation of how a good man set out to change the world and in so doing saved his son and his marriage.
Refreshment Free screening (MASKS ON THE WHOLE TIME) Tuesday 5/10 @ 12:30 PM & 3:30 PM
Open Captioned Screening 5/8 @ 12:30
All Other Screenings Closed Captioned
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Playing at Pickford Film Center132 minutes, USA, In English, Action Rated R: Some Violence, Sexual Material and Language CCAPAn aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, where she alone can save the world by exploring other universes connecting with the lives she could have led.
Refreshment Free screening (MASKS ON THE WHOLE TIME) Tuesday 5/3 @ 2:45 PM & 5/10 @ 2:45
Open Captioned Screening 5/8 @ 2:30
All Other Showings Are Closed Captioned
The Storyteller’s Seasonal
Playing at Pickford Film Center60 minutes, , In , Rated NR: _ Tickets are $5, no free passes accepted.
The Storyteller’s seasonal is a quarterly event that screens up to an hour with 5 min films submitted from creatives students and DIY filmmakers from the local area. Winner of the audience vote chooses the next quarterly theme and props are chosen at random.
The main focus of this event is to cultivate visual storytelling at all levels and provide a venue where storytellers can share their ideas in low pressure environment.
Downton Abbey: A New Era
Playing at Pickford Film Center124 minutes, UK, USA, In English, Drama, Period Rated PG: for some suggestive references, language and thematic elements Directed by: Simon Curtis
Downton Abbey: A New Era showcases all of the favorite Downton characters as well as fresh new settings. One half of the film is set in Downton itself, where a movie crew and glamorous movie stars descend on the estate to film their movie. The film crew, pressured by the changing times, suddenly find they need to transition from silent film to talkies, and the Downton staff and family are enlisted to help. The other half of Downton Abbey: A New Era is set in the south of France, where the Crawley family is intent on discovering why a wealthy French gentleman has willed his beautiful French villa to the Dowager Countess. What secrets from her past is the Dowager hiding?
Open Captioned Showings:
5/22 @ 11:30 AM & 2:30 PM
All Other Showings Closed Captioned
No Food Showings:
5/24 @ 2:30 PM
Peter Rabbit
Playing at Pickford Film Center95 minutes, USA, In English, Family Friendly, Animation Rated PG: some rude humor and action Directed by: Will Gluck
Peter Rabbit, the mischievous and adventurous hero who has captivated generations of readers, now takes on the starring role of his own cute, contemporary comedy with attitude. In the film, Peter’s feud with Mr. McGregor (Domhnall Gleeson) escalates to greater heights than ever before as they rival for the affections of the warm-hearted animal lover who lives next door (Rose Byrne). James Corden, with playful spirit and wild charm, voices the character of Peter, alongside Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki and Daisy Ridley voicing the roles of the triplets, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail.
Yelling to the Sky (The X Generation)
Playing at Pickford Film Center94 minutes, USA, In English, Drama Rated NR: _ Introduction from Brandon David Wilson via Zoom.
(Dir. Victoria Mahoney, starring Zoe Kravitz, Tim Blake Nelson, Sonequa Martin-Green, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, Jason Clarke, Antonique Smith, Gabourey Sidibe, 2011)
By the time this film was released, the “‘Hood Film” was past its prime, but in the 1990s, this sub-genre reigned. For her feature directorial debut Victoria Mahoney returned to this style of film but made it her own. Utilizing a combination of handheld camerawork and fluid long takes, Mahoney borrows the syntax of ‘Hood films to tell the story of Sweetness O’Hara, a mixed race girl from a troubled family who is drifting into the nihilism of the streets when her home fails to give her the love and security she craves. ~Brandon David Wilson
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Tutankhamun: The Last Exhibition (Great Art on Screen)
Playing at Pickford Film Center90 minutes, Egypt, In English, Documentary Rated NR: _ To mark the centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, Tutankhamun: The Last Exhibition offers audiences an extraordinary opportunity to meet the Pharaoh, with exclusive coverage of how 150 of his treasures were moved to become part of the biggest international exhibition ever dedicated to him. Explore a continuous dialogue of cross-references between the ancient past when the Pharaoh was alive, the more recent times which saw the discovery of his Tomb by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, and the present day with exhibitions and studies dedicated to Ancient Egypt.
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Pissarro: Father of Impressionism (Exhibition on Screen)
Playing at Pickford Film Center94 minutes, UK, In English, Documentary Rated NR: _ It was a dramatic path that Pissarro followed, and he wrote extensively to his family. It is through these letters that this gripping film reveals Pissarro’s life and work. Pissarro found his passion in paint as a young man in Paris, and by the age of 43 had corralled a group of enthusiastic artists into a new collective. Their first show was scorned by the critics, but the group had acquired a new name, The Impressionists. For the next 40 years Pissarro was the driving force behind what has today become the world’s favorite artistic movement. The Ashmolean Museum, the UK’s first ever public museum, houses a wonderfully rich collection, including the remarkable Pissarro archive. With exclusive access to most extensive archive of any Impressionist painter, and to the first major Pissarro retrospective in four decades, this film explores and highlights the enthralling and hugely important biography and output of an incredible artist.
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The Mountain Runners
Playing at Pickford Film Center90 minutes, USA, In English, Documentary Rated NR: _ Featuring an in-theatre Q+A with local filmmakers Brian Young & Todd Warger.
The Mountain Runners is the story of America’s first mountain endurance/adventure foot race, which took place in Bellingham. First run in 1911, the grueling 28 to 32 mile race to the glacial summit of Mount Baker and back utilized steam trains and modified model T autos and lasted only three years due to its intrepid dangers. Told in a docudrama style, the film incorporates historic images, archival film, visual effects, and dramatizations starring William B. Davis (X-Files, Smoking man.) The film is narrated by Kevin Tighe (Lost, Emergency, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape) and is supported by a cast of Cascadian historians, descendants of race participants and world-renowned experts in their field.
Welcome to the Dollhouse (Third Eye Cinema)
Playing at Pickford Film Center88 minutes, USA, In English, Drama Rated R: Language Todd Solondz became the most talked-about new director in 1995 with this acclaimed comedy about the suburban condition. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance, Welcome to the Dollhouse follows 11-year-old Dawn “Wienerdog” Wiener (Heather Matarazzo), a junior high geek who just wants to be popular. Teased by her classmates, tormented by the school bully, Dawn develops an improbable plan to seduce the star of a high-school garage band. Bitterly funny and true to life, the film is a “mordantly hilarious suburbancomedy – excruciating funny.” (Janet Maslin, NYT)
Third Eye Cinema is a staff and volunteer-curated film series of all of our favorite flicks — the cult classics, the ones you might have missed, the ones you need to revisit. This month’s movie was chosen by our sponsors at Cute But Crazy Socks, just two blocks from the PFC. Fun socks since 2011!
The Invisible Man (1933) (It’s Alive)
Playing at Pickford Film Center71 minutes, USA, In English, Horror, Sci-Fi Rated NR: _ Directed by: James Whale.
A scientist’s experiments with invisibility turn him into a madman.
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Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Cinema East)
Playing at Pickford Film Center121 minutes, Japan, In Japanese, Drama, Romance Rated NR: _ Directed by: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
An unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.
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La Traviata (Royal Opera House)
Playing at Pickford Film Center200 minutes, UK, In Sung in Italian with English surtitles, Performing Arts Rated NR: _
Kinky Boots (BYE)
Playing at Pickford Film Center103 minutes, USA, In English, Musical Rated PG: _ Direct from the London stage, the ‘freshest, most fabulous, feel-good musical of the decade’ (The Hollywood News) KINKY BOOTS, comes to U.S. cinema screens with this dazzling musical.
With songs by Grammy® and Tony® winning pop icon Cyndi Lauper, direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell (Legally Blonde, Hairspray) and book by Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein (La Cage Aux Folles), this ‘dazzling, fabulously sassy and uplifting’ (Time Out) award-winning musical celebrates a joyous story of Brit grit to high-heeled hit as it takes you from the factory floor of Northampton to the glamorous catwalks of Milan!
Book of Dust (National Theatre)
Playing at Pickford Film Center180 minutes, UK, In English, Performing Arts Rated NR: _ Set twelve years before his epic His Dark Materials trilogy, this gripping adaptation revisits Phillip Pullman’s fantastical world in which waters are rising and storms are brewing.
Two young people and their dæmons, with everything at stake, find themselves at the centre of a terrifying manhunt. In their care is a tiny child called Lyra Belacqua, and in that child lies the fate of the future. And as the waters rise around them, powerful adversaries conspire for mastery of Dust: salvation to some, the source of infinite corruption to others.
Eighteen years after his ground breaking production of His Dark Materials at the National Theatre, director Nicholas Hytner returns to Pullman’s parallel universe. Broadcast live from London’s Bridge Theatre.
Tickets are $16 for Pickford Members, $20 General Admission, $10 for Students.
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Memoria
Playing at Pickford Film Center136 minutes, Colombia,Thailand, France, Germany, Mexico, Qatar, United Kingdom, China, Switzerland, In English, Spanish, Drama, Sci Fi Rated PG: for some thematic elements and brief language From the extraordinary mind of Palme D’or winning director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and starring Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton, comes a bewildering drama about a Scottish woman, who, after hearing a loud ‘bang’ at daybreak, begins experiencing a mysterious sensory syndrome while traversing the jungles of Colombia.
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DOUBLE FEATURE Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon & Kung Fu Hustle
Playing at Pickford Film Center240 minutes, , In , Rated : Made in Hong Kong series, curated & introduced by Sean Gilman:
“Hong Kong cinema blossomed in the 1960s and 70s with bright colorful musicals & astoundingly acrobatic martial arts spectacles. It reached international prominence in the 80s & early 90s with audacious & anarchic experiments in genre film form: lush romances, hyper-kinetic thrillers, mind-bending comedies. But by 1997, when the former British colony was handed over to Mainland Chinese control, many of Hong Kong’s brightest stars & directors had left for Hollywood. This is a series about what happened after they left, about the filmmakers who stayed behind & how they navigated their new world in-between East and West.
In Kung Fu Hustle, Stephen Chow unites the traditions of 1970s comedy & kung fu with modern special effects while in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee adapts the epic wuxias of King Hu into a stately international box office smash.”
Tickets: Choose a la carte; double feature discount; or series pass
FULL SERIES Hong Kong Summer
Playing at Pickford Film Center480 minutes, , In , Rated : Series description by curator, Sean Gilman:
“Hong Kong cinema blossomed in the 1960s and 70s with bright colorful musicals and astoundingly acrobatic martial arts spectacles. It reached international prominence in the 80s and early 90s with audacious and anarchic experiments in genre film form: lush romances, hyper-kinetic thrillers, mind-bending comedies. But by 1997, when the former British colony was handed over to Mainland Chinese control, many of Hong Kong’s brightest stars and directors had left for Hollywood. This is a series about what happened after they left, about the filmmakers who stayed behind and how they navigated their new world in-between East and West.”
Films in the series:
June 13: Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
July 11: Election; Election 2 (Johnnie To)
August 8: Made in Hong Kong (Fruit Chan)
The ticketing link below is for a pass to all the films in the series. (Individual film tickets available elsewhere.)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Playing at Pickford Film Center120 minutes, Hong Kong, In Chinese, English, Mandarin, Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance Rated PG-13: for martial arts violence and some sexuality Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
“Still the highest-grossing non-English language film in American box office history, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is Taiwanese director Ang Lee lush reimagining of the classic wuxia films of King Hu (Dragon Gate Inn, A Touch of Zen). Gathering a cast from across the Chinese-speaking world (Hong Kong’s Chow Yun-fat and Cheng Pei-pei; Malaysia’s Michelle Yeoh; Taiwan’s Chang Chen; and the Mainland’s Zhang Ziyi), Lee adapts a story of martial chivalry set in the Qing Dynasty, where the free-spirited daughter of an official steals a powerful sword from two aging heroes of the jianghu, the borderlands outside normal society that is the home of warriors and bandits governed not by laws or desires, but by a strict code of duty and honor. With dazzling choreography by the legendary Yeun Woo-ping (The Matrix, Drunken Master) and a propulsive score by Tan Dun, Crouching Tiger remains a landmark of prestige martial arts cinema.” ~Sean Gilman
Kung Fu Hustle
Playing at Pickford Film Center99 minutes, Hong Kong, In Cantonese, Mandarin, Action, Comedy Rated R: for sequences of strong stylized action and violence Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow, 2004)
Stephen Chow was Hong Kong’s biggest star in the 1990s, with a series of box office smash comedies that mixed complex verbal wordplay with farcical slapstick and martial arts action. In the 2000s, now directing his own films, he began making increasingly sophisticated works, while at the same time integrating computer-generated effects. In Kung Fu Hustle, Chow plays a wanna-be hoodlum who gets involved in a war between a vicious gang and the residents of a housing complex who have a surprising amount of martial arts skill. Freely grabbing from old martial arts serials, post-war Cantonese comedies, and Looney Tunes cartoons, Kung Fu Hustle is one of Chow’s most accomplished works, and was by far his biggest hit in the US.
Swan Lake (Royal Opera House)
Playing at Pickford Film Center200 minutes, UK, In English, Performing Arts Rated NR: _ The Royal Ballet’s sumptuous production of Swan Lake returns to the Royal Opera House stage after its 2020 revival was interrupted by the pandemic’s closure of theatres. The reimagining of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov’s towering masterpiece by Liam Scarlett is testament to the late choreographer’s abiding love of classicism and innate musicality which shine through the production.
With its sublime score by Tchaikovsky and glittering designs by John Macfarlane, an irresistible mix of spectacle, mystery and passion infuses this audience favourite, one of the best-loved works in the 19th-century classical ballet canon.
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The Black Cat (1934) (It’s Alive)
Playing at Pickford Film Center65 minutes, USA, In English, Latin, Hungarian, Adventure, Crime, Horror, Romance, Thriller Rated NR: _ Driected by: Edgar G. Ulmer
American honeymooners in Hungary become trapped in the home of a Satan-worshiping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident.
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Pompeii: Sin City (Great Art on Screen)
Playing at Pickford Film Center90 minutes, Italy, In English, Documentary Rated NR: _ An exploration of Pompeii, a city cloaked in mystery and depicted through images and words by the great artists and writers who experienced and imagined it over the course of history: from Pliny the Younger to Picasso, from Emily Dickinson to Jean Cocteau. Famously known for the catastrophic volcanic eruption which buried Pompeii along with its inhabitants over 2000 years ago, Pompeii: Sin City hosted by Isabella Rossellini offers audiences an extraordinary snapshot of Roman life, frozen at the moment of burial, showing how its citizens lived their lives, spent their free time, experienced pleasure, passion, religion and ultimately, their fate.
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Hex (National Theatre)
Playing at Pickford Film Center180 minutes, UK, In English, Performing Arts Rated NR: _ A vividly original retelling of Sleeping Beauty, a mythic, big-hearted new musical that goes beyond the waking kiss.
Deep in the wood, a lonely fairy longs for someone to bless. When she is summoned to the palace to help the princess sleep, her dream turns into a nightmare and her blessing becomes a curse. Soon, she is plunged into a frantic, hundred-year quest to somehow make everything right.
Rufus Norris directs Rosalie Craig (The Ferryman, Company) in this new musical filmed live on stage at the National Theatre, with music by Jim Fortune, book by Tanya Ronder.
DOUBLE FEATURE Election & Election 2
Playing at Pickford Film Center240 minutes, , In , Rated : Made in Hong Kong summer series, curated & introduced by Sean Gilman:
“Hong Kong cinema blossomed in the 1960s and 70s with bright colorful musicals and astoundingly acrobatic martial arts spectacles. It reached international prominence in the 80s and early 90s with audacious and anarchic experiments in genre film form: lush romances, hyper-kinetic thrillers, mind-bending comedies. But by 1997, when the former British colony was handed over to Mainland Chinese control, many of Hong Kong’s brightest stars and directors had left for Hollywood. This is a series about what happened after they left, about the filmmakers who stayed behind and how they navigated their new world in-between East and West.
In the second set of features in this series, with in Election and Election 2, Johnnie To charts the arcane rituals of the criminal underworld, and their manipulations by a ruling elite.”
Tickets: Choose a la carte; double feature discount; or series pass
Election
Playing at Pickford Film Center101 minutes, Hong Kong, In Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Crime, Drama, Thriller Rated NR: _ Election (Johnnie To, 2005)
In the mid-1990s, Johnnie To, who had been a successful, if rather anonymous, director of popular films for the past decade, founded his own studio and began churning out a remarkable series of genre films, almost experimental in their visual and narrative approach to the traditional Hong Kong crime film. This worked reached its peak of popularity with Election, a film about a succession struggle within an organized crime Triad gang that plays out entirely without firearms. The shadowy dealings and betrayals form a none-too-subtly pessimistic commentary on the future of democracy in the former colony.
Election 2
Playing at Pickford Film Center95 minutes, Hong Kong, In Mandarin, Cantonese, Crime, Drama, Thriller Rated NR: _ Election 2 (Johnnie To, 2006)
To’s follow-up continues the story of gangster Jimmy (Louis Koo) as he struggles for control of the Triad. Further complicating the intra-gang rivalries are the interventions and manipulations of powerful outside forces, who have a vested interest in seeing one side or another in charge of Hong Kong’s criminal activity. Packed with top-notch suspense and action sequences and a deep sense of paranoia, the Election films remain To’s definitive statement on the relationship between Hong Kong and China in the years after the Handover.
Botticelli, Florence and the Medici (Great Art on Screen)
Playing at Pickford Film Center90 minutes, Italy, In English, Documentary Rated NR: _ Florence in the era of the powerhouse Italian statesman, politician and patron Lorenzo de’ Medici, was the heart of Renaissance art and culture. One artist, above all others, was able to evoke the lights and shadows of this unforgettable era: Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510). Through Botticelli: Florence and the Medici, we re-live Florence and all its art workshops through Botticelli’s life, his collaborations, his challenges and successes. From the outset of Botticelli’s career under the wing of the Medici family, he established himself as the inventor of an ideal beauty, seen in works such as The Allegory of Spring and the Birth of Venus. The death of Lorenzo de Medici marked the downward spiral of the Florentine master, who was destined to be forgotten for over three centuries, but the rediscovery of Botticelli by the Pre-Raphaelites reignited a genuine fascination with the artist and sparked a Botticelli-mania which continues to this day.
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Dracula (Spanish Language Version) (It’s Alive)
Playing at Pickford Film Center104 minutes, USA, In Spanish with English subtitles, Horror Rated NR: _ Directed by: George Melford.
Drácula was made as part of Hollywood studios’ attempts to make films for foreign-language audiences. By 1930, Universal had focused primarily on developing Spanish-language films for the foreign market. Filming began on October 10, 1930 where it was shot on the same sets as Tod Browning
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Made in Hong Kong
Playing at Pickford Film Center109 minutes, Hong Kong, In Cantonese, Drama Rated NR: _ Final film in the Made in Hong Kong series, curated by Sean Gilman:
Made in Hong Kong, the film (Fruit Chan, 1997)
“Shot on a shoestring budget with non-professional actors, Fruit Chan’s acclaimed breakthrough was one of the first great post-Handover films. Recapturing the spirit of the Hong Kong New Wave, Chan follows a trio of teenaged misfits as they try to navigate a world of crime, poverty, abuse, and inadequate health care, haunted as much by the ghost of a mysterious girl as they are the lost ideals of Hong Kong and its cinema. Made in Hong Kong set a new model for independent production in Hong Kong, filmmaking outside the constraints of the old studios or Mainland censors.” ~Sean Gilman
Venice, Infinitely Avant-garde (Great Art on Screen)
Playing at Pickford Film Center90 minutes, Italy, In English, Documentary Rated NR: _ A tour of the magical city, Venice: Infinitely Avant Garde showcases masterpieces by Tiepolo, Canaletto, Rosalba Carriera and the intellectuals who fell in love with Venice: from Canova to Goethe, Lord Byron to Walter Scott, down to the great Hollywood stars drawn to its yearly Film Festival. 1600 years after its legendary foundation, Venice continues to be unique for its urban landscape and for its rich history, but above all, the city is unique for its identity, which combines the charm of decadence with the excitement of being on the cutting edge.
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