GN actress to speak arts center preview

The Island Now

Great Neck actress Nikki Blonsky will discuss her latest film, “The English Teacher,” with the audience following its preview as part of The Great Neck Arts Center’s Furman Film Series on Thursday, May 16.

The discussion will follow the showing of the comedy-drama at the Clearview Squire Cinemas on Middle Neck Road, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The picture recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. 

Portions of the movie were filmed in Port Washington, including scenes of the Landmark theater and Main Street.

The movie stars Julianne Moore as small-town Pennsylvania schoolteacher Linda Sinclair, who balances her staid home life with an incredible passion for her subject. Her life is disrupted when a former star pupil re-enters her life after failing as a playwright in New York. Seeing in the student’s script the inspiration she has always longed to instill in her students, she enlists the help of a long-suffering drama teacher, played with scene-stealing gusto by Nathan Lane, to mount the work as the high school’s next and riskiest production.

Rounding out an all-star cast are Greg Kinnear (“Little Miss Sunshine”), Michael Angarano (“Ceremony”), and Lily Collins (“Mirror Mirror”).

The English Teacher is a terrific film with beautiful touches of intelligence, craft, soul, and careful storytelling,” said reviewer Steve Pulaski. “The relationship between a teacher and former student is touchingly portrayed, and the characters seen throughout the film are the kind you regard as friends and colleagues. This is a remarkable picture…”

The Furman Film Series brings a wide variety of movies to Great Neck before their general release, followed by an audience discussion with someone who starred in the picture, was involved in its production, or is an expert on the topic being discussed.

Tickets are priced at $15 for adults and $10 for students when purchased in advance. They are $20 at the door. For reservations, ticket details, and further information about the film series, call The Great Neck Arts Center at 829-2570 or visit their Web site, www.greatneckarts.org.

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