Feb. events at the Cinema Arts Centre

The Island Now
Samantha Mugatsia and Sheila Munyiva in Rafiki (2018)

Live Music in the Sky Room: Paige Patterson — The Greats (Black History Month)
Friday, Feb. 1 at 8 p.m.
Members $11 | Public $16 | Includes reception
The CAC welcomes back Huntington local singer Paige Patterson to honor African-American artists during Black History Month. Paige will sing classics and favorites from composers and singers who quintessentially represent the American musical landscape, including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, and the late, great Aretha Franklin.

Groundhog Day (on Groundhog’s Day)
Saturday, Feb. 2 at 10 p.m.
Members $5 | Public $7 | In the Cafe
Weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the Groundhog Day festivities. Eager to finish the assignment leave the small town, and the “hicks” who live there, only to awaken the next day to find out it’s once again Groundhog Day, eventually realizing he is trapped in a time loop that no one else is aware of, and that there are no consequences for his actions, he spends the first several loops indulging in binge drinking, one-night stands, and reckless driving. (USA, 1993, 101 Min., PG | Dir. Harold Ramis).

Aretha Franklin (March 25, 1943 — August 16, 2018) Tribute
Tuesday, Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Members $11 | Public $16 | Includes reception
Celebrate the Queen Of Soul and learn of her contributions to black culture. Hear Franklin’s impassioned, spiritual, evangelical performances while viewing rare footage of her performing. Franklin was one of the most beloved and iconic singers in music history. She began performing gospel as a child with her father Rev. C.L. Franklin and her sisters. Her powerful voice and piano playing were a mesmerizing combination for the Christian church. Franklin began a recording career with Columbia Records in the early 1960s, but with no success. But when Atlantic Records offered her a contract in 1967 as a soul singer, it was the perfect blend of soulful ballads, gospel vocals and the Memphis horn section. Her chart-topping hit records included “Think,” “I Never Loved A Man,” “Dr. Feelgood,” “Chain Of Fools,” “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman,” and the Otis Redding-penned “Respect,” the song for which Aretha will be best remembered. Educational Lecture by Shelley Archives Inc. 110 minutes.

“At Eternity’s Gate”
Starring Willem Dafoe as Vincent Van Gogh
Wednesday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Members $7 | Public $12
Julian Schnabel’s “At Eternity’s Gate,” titled after Vincent Van Gogh’s Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity’s Gate) is a journey inside the world and mind of a person who, despite skepticism, ridicule and illness, created some of the world’s most beloved and stunning works of art. Schnabel’s ravishingly tactile and luminous new film takes a fresh look at the last days of van Gogh (played by Willem Dafoe, in a shattering performance) and in the process revivifies our sense of the artist as a living, feeling human being. (UK/France/USA, 2018, 111 Mins., NR, English | Dir. Julian Schnabel)

“Hale County, This Morning, This Evening” during Black History Month
Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Members $7 | Public $12 | With post-film discussion
In “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” director Ramell Ross offers an inspired and intimate portrait of a place and its people. The film presents Daniel Collins and Quincy Bryant, two young African American men from rural Hale County, Alabama, over the course of five years. Collins attends college in search of opportunity while Bryant becomes a father to an energetic son. The film offers viewers an emotive impression of the Historic South  — trumpeting the beauty of life and consequences of the social construction of race, while simultaneously a testament to dreaming — despite the odds. (USA, 2018, 76 min., NR, English | Dir. Ramell Ross)

Retro Picture Show: “Back from the Grave Part 2” (35mm Double Feature)
Friday, Feb. 8 at 10 p.m.
$18 Members | $22 Public
Retro Picture Show presents “The Return of the Living Dead” (1985) and “The Return of the Living Dead Part II” — both screening on 35mm. When Frank and Freddy, employees of the Uneeda Medical Supply company, decide to check out the rumors surrounding the metal cylinders stored in the basement — cylinders reportedly containing the bodies of captured zombies — they’ve no idea of the horror awaiting them. Frank confidently slaps the side of the cylinder, and to both their horror, a putrid green vapor spurts out. The men are overcome by the fumes. Inside the cases, bodies begin to stir. Their hunger for human brains is as urgent as ever. (U.S. | 91 mins | Dir. Dan O’Bannon | 35mm)

“Return of the Living Dead Part II” (1988)
U.S. | 89 mins | Dir. Ken Wiederhorn | 35mm
In “Return of the Living Dead Part II,” grotesque zombies return to terrorize the inhabitants of a small town. The horror begins as mysterious barrels bounce off an Army transport as it passes through a new housing development and land near an abandoned cemetery. Mischievous neighborhood boys discover the barrels and open them, unaware of the evil that lurks within. A sinister green vapor escapes and turns the living into flesh-eating zombies and wrenches the dead up from their graves, transforming them into living, human-preying nightmares. As these hideous creatures hunt down the fresh human brains that they desperately need, man is pitted against man, and the living against the dead. It is a macabre struggle for survival and a race to destroy the gruesome zombies before it is too late!

“Coming to America”
Saturday, Feb. 9 at 10 p.m.
Members $5 | Public $7 | In the Cafe
Eddie Murphy stars as Akeem Joffer; prince of the wealthy African nation of Zamunda, growing weary of his pampered lifestyle and opposed to the arranged marriage set up by his parents, King Jaffe (James Earl Jones) and Queen Aeoleon (Madge Sinclair), he decides to take action. Seeking an independent woman who loves him for himself and not his social status, Akeem and his best friend/personal aide, Semmi (Arsenio Hall), travel to the New York City in the guise of poor foreign students. (USA, 1988, 117 Min., R | Dir. John Landis)

Sunday Schmooze: “The Learning Tree” (1969) (Black History Month)
Sunday, Feb. 10 Bagels at 10 a.m. | Film at 11 am
$11 Members | $16 Public
Autobiographical drama based on photographer Gordon Parks’s 1963 novel. The Learning Tree covers less than a year in the life of a black teenager, and documents the veritable deluge of events which force him into sudden manhood. The family relationships and enmities, the fears, frustrations, and ambitions of the black teenager in small-town America are explored with a strong statement about human values. (USA, 1969, 107 min., M, English| Dir. Gordon Parks)

“Detour” (1945)
Monday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m.
$11 Members | $16 Public
Film noir fatalism at its rawest, Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour is a mesmerizing pulp hallucination, in which a down-on-his-luck pianist (Tom Neal) flashes back to his time hitchhiking west. Winding up as an accessory to murder on the open road, he becomes ensnared by feral wayfarer Vera (Ann Savage) — one of noir’s most fearsome femme fatales — in a desperate cover-up. Roger Ebert hailed it as “haunting and creepy, an embodiment of the guilty soul of film noir,” and in 1992, the film was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. (USA, 1945, 68 mins., NR, English | Dir. Edgar G. Ulmer)

Swing Dancing In The Sky Room: Co-presented with the Long Island Swing Syndicate
Wednesday, Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Members $11 | Public $16
The Long Island Swing Syndicate returns to the Cinema Arts Centre for a special pre-Valentine’s swing dance session. All are welcome – come with your better half, your friends, or your sweet single self. It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned Lindy hopper, a newbie, have two left feet or even three! We’ll start with an intro lesson in slow swing dance at 7:30 pm and then play romantic swing tunes from 8 o’clock onward, with inspiring dance clips from classic movies playing along in the background.Long Island Swing Syndicate (LISS) aims to grow and enhance the local swing dance community. They offer weekly group classes, private lessons, social dancing, workshops, and crash courses in all the Jazz Age and Big Band Era swing dances, including Lindy Hop, Charleston, Balboa, and vernacular Solo Jazz. Whether you’re new to partner dancing or an experienced Lindy hopper, there’s a LISS class or event for you! For more details, visit LISwingSyndicate.com.

Casablanca (for Valentine’s Day)
Thursday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Members $15 | Public $20 | Includes reception with champagne & chocolate-covered sweets
One of the most beloved American films, this captivating wartime adventure of romance and intrigue from director Michael Curtiz defies standard categorization. Simply put, it is the story of Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a world-weary ex-freedom fighter who runs a nightclub in “Casablanca” during the early part of WWII. Despite pressure from the local authorities, notably the crafty Capt. Renault (Claude Rains), Rick’s café has become a haven for refugees looking to purchase illicit letters of transit which will allow them to escape to America. One day, to Rick’s great surprise, he is approached by the famed rebel Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) and his wife, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), Rick’s true love who deserted him when the Nazis invaded Paris. She still wants Victor to escape to America, but now that she’s renewed her love for Rick, she wants to stay behind in “Casablanca.” “You must do the thinking for both of us,” she says to Rick. He does, and his plan brings the story to its satisfyingly logical, if not entirely happy, conclusion. (USA, 2018, 102 min., PG, English | Dir. Michael Curtiz)

“How To Train Your Dragon” (Cinema For Kids — free for kids under 12)
Saturday, Feb. 16 at 11 a.m.
Members $7 | Public $12 | Free for kids under 12
Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is a Norse teenager from the island of Berk, where fighting dragons is a way of life. His progressive views and weird sense of humor make him a misfit, despite the fact that his father (Gerard Butler) is chief of the clan. Tossed into dragon-fighting school, he endeavors to prove himself as a true Viking, but when he befriends an injured dragon he names Toothless, he has the chance to plot a new course for his people’s future. (USA, 2010, 98 min., PG, English | Dir. Dean DeBlois/Chris Sanders)

“Fatal Attraction” (for Anti-Valentine’s Day)
Saturday, Feb. 16 at 10 p.m.
Members $5 | Public $7 | In the Cafe
The intense psychological thriller that shocked the nation. Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) is a successful, happily married Manhattan lawyer who has what he thinks will be a one night stand with editor, Alex Forrest (Glenn Close), but she becomes obsessed and begins to stalk him and his family, getting more and more persistent and violent over time. (USA, 1987, 119 Min., R | Dir. Adrian Lyne)

Sky Room Talk: Japanese Monsters
Monday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Members $11 | Public $16
Giant reptiles, moths, robots, mushroom-people and other odd behemoths have caused worldwide havoc in many Japanese Monster films from the 1950’s and 1960’s. American film critics at the time sneered at these wild, unusual films. A second look at these highly entertaining movies prove these are well crafted works of monster-movie art. While on the surface, these are action-packed monster movies, they also tell the story of Post-War Japan rebuilding itself. Come to the Cinema as film historian/film maker Glenn Andreiev tells the back-story of these films that has worldwide admirers such as Quentin Tarantino, and Steven Spielberg.

Buster Keaton in “Sherlock Jr.” and “The Goat”
Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
$11 Members | $16 Public
“Sherlock Jr.,” Buster Keaton’s sublime comedy about reality and illusion, in which projectionist Buster literally dreams himself into the detective movie he’s screening is considered one of his finest works. Buster stars as a movie projectionist/janitor who dreams of being a detective, and impressing the girl he loves. When Buster dreams himself into the film he’s showing, he is propelled into a visual wonderland where real life and fantasy come crashing together. “Sherlock Jr.” was Keaton’s 3rd feature-length film as an independent after switching to the longer format following a series of brilliant 2-reelers in the early 1920s. The film was innovative in its technical mastery, its surreal explosion cinematic space, and its wonderfully pure zaniness. (USA, 1924, 49 min., NR, Silent with English intertitles| Dir. Buster Keaton). In “The Goat,” Buster goes from Forgotten Man to Most Wanted when his photograph is mistakenly circulated as that of an escaped criminal in one of his funniest and wildest short films. (USA, 1921, 21 min.| Dir. Buster Keaton

Royal Opera: Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades
Thursday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m.
$20 Members | $25 Public
Tchaikovsky’s most ambitious opera contains some of his greatest music and is a powerful study of destructive obsession. In Tchaikovsky’s intense opera of obsession and the supernatural, Gherman, a penniless solider, is caught between the woman he loves and a destructive fixation. The Queen of Spades is based on a short story by Pushkin, and comes to the Royal Opera House in a new production that has already garnered five-star reviews in Amsterdam. The production is set in 1890, the year of the opera’s premiere. In his study, Tchaikovsky imagines the opera into life as his own story, its characters giving voice to his unfulfilled desires. The Queen of Spades is one of Tchaikovsky’s most impressive and varied scores, containing grand choruses, intimate arias and duets, a masquerade paying tribute to Mozart and a terrifying supernatural episode. Stefan Herheim’s spectacular production places Tchaikovsky himself at the heart of the action, and asks searching questions about the nature of creativity and the parallels between life and art. This is an engrossing portrayal of a tortured creative artist and a gripping piece of gothic storytelling. 210 mins.

The Folk Music Society of Huntington presents Hard Luck Café starring Bryan Gallo and Anne O’Rourke
Thursday, Feb. 21 at 8:30 p.m. (open mic at 7:30 p.m.)
$10 Members | $15 Public
Two top young singer-songwriters play for the Folk Music Society. A 7:30 open mic precedes the 8:30 feature performances. (Sign up at 7:00) Tickets for this event are available at the Cinema Arts Centre on the day of the performance.

Stand-up Comedy in the Cafe: Dina Hashem
Friday, Feb. 22 at 9:30 p.m.
$13 Members | $17 Public
Dina Hashem first tried stand-up by auditioning for the 2010 New Jersey Comedy Festival at Rutgers University. After winning 1st place, she continued to pursue comedy and has been performing regularly in New York City. Dina’s style involves a subdued delivery with dark observations about her life and Islamic upbringing. She was a competitor on Comedy Central’s Roast Battle, and recently made her late-night debut on CONAN on TBS. Her writing has been featured on Comedy Central.

Lords of Chaos
Saturday, Feb. 23 at 10 p.m.
Members $5 | Public $7
The Insane-but-true story of Norwegian black metal bands Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone and Emperor, based on the book by the same name. In the late 80s in Oslo, Euronymous (Rory Culkin) starts Mayhem the first black metal band, whose singer Dead (Jack Kilmer) exhibits self-destructive behavior on stage cutting himself, bleeding on the audience, etc. The black metal scene begins to flourish and starts a chain reaction of crimes including church burnings and murder. ( UK/Sweden, 2019, 112 Min., R | Dir. Jonas Åkerlund)

People’s Republic of Desire
Monday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
$11 Members | $16 Public
With Skype interview with Director Hao Wu. Yes, Black Mirror is already here. SXSW Grand Jury Award winner, People’s Republic of Desire explores the phenomenon of China’s live-streaming showrooms, where ordinary people can find legions of fans and financial rewards. Hao Wu profiles two unlikely stars of this online world as they seek fame, fortune and human connection only to find the same promises and perils online as in their real lives. As an entire generation in China has come of age on social media, virtual relationships are slowly replacing real-life human connections. People’s Republic of Desire provides a vérité journey into the Chinese digital universe, where performers earn as much as $150,000 a month to share their lives online with interactive audiences of tens of thousands ranging from the super rich to the dirt poor, all searching for a way to feel connected. The film follows three young people: a singer, a comedian, and a migrant worker, as they search for fame, fortune and emotional contact in live streaming. We also meet their families, those managing the online talents, as well as the wealthy men who control the fate of these talents behind the scenes, much like the Wizard of Oz. The story culminates in the bizarre annual online idol competition, in which the rich can buy unlimited amount of votes for their favorite performers. Filmmaker Hao Wu offers an eye-opening look at the on and offline reality of life in this supposedly Communist country, where money alone pulls the strings, and human connection and personal happiness remain as illusive online as – perhaps even more so than – in our real and broken world. (China, 2018, 95 min., NR, Chinese with English subtitles | Dir. Hao Wu)

Going My Way – Bing Crosby: Swinging On A Star, The War Years 1940-1946 (Featuring a lecture and the film, “Going My Way”)
Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Members $11 | Public $16 | Includes reception and discussion with Gary Giddins. For Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star, The War Years 1940-1946 Gary Giddins tells the story of the most popular performer of his time, an artist who transcended differences in age, gender, ethnicity, religion, and politics. It depicts the home front at a time when entertainment was “no mere diversion but a necessity.” Much of the world huddled around his recordings (including “White Christmas,” still the best-selling disc of all time, his Academy Award-winning performances as Father O’Malley in Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary’s, his irreverent forays on the Road with Bob Hope, and his weekly radio staple, Kraft Music Hall.
Giddins will speak about Crosby and his book, and introduce his most honored film, Going My Way. Father Charles O’Malley (Bing Crosby) is an easy-going, golf-playing young priest whose entry into a tough neighborhood parish in midtown Manhattan is viewed with skepticism from all quarters, especially the aging Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald). While dealing with some unfinished business from his former life in the form of an old flame who now sings at the Metropolitan Opera (Rise Stevens), Father O’Malley inspires the youth of his parish by forming a boys choir. (USA, 1944, 126 min., NR, English| Dir. Leo McCarey)

Rafiki (Out at the Movies series for Black History Month)
Thursday, Feb. 28 at 7:30  p.m.
Members $11 | Public $16 | Includes Reception
Swahili for “friend,” Rafiki chronicles a story of two girls in love, challenging deep rooted cynicism about same sex relationships. Rafiki was also banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board “due to its homosexual theme and clear intent to promote lesbianism in Kenya contrary to the law,” which dictates gay sex is punishable by 14 years in jail. Nonetheless, Rafiki made history as the first Kenyan film to be in competition at Cannes Film Festival. Director Wanuri Kahiu sued Kenya’s government, to allow the film to be screened and eligible for submission as the Academy’s Best Foreign Language Film. On Sept. 21, 2018, the Kenyan High Court lifted the ban, allowing it to be screened for seven days, shown to sold-out shows in Nairobi. (Kenya, 1944, 83 min., NR, Swahili with English subtitles | Dir. Wanuri Kahiu)

 

 

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