On Saturday, Nov. 2 at the Chauncey, FilmScene will award renowned director and screenwriter Charles Burnett with the prestigious Iowa City 2019 Cinema Savant award. The event will be followed by a reception honoring Burnett and his oeuvre. […]
Articles by Hannah Bonner
FilmScene organizers are ‘kids in the candy store’ ahead of The Chauncey’s debut
On Sept. 20-22, Iowa City residents will have the opportunity to attend the grand opening weekend of FilmScene’s new location in the recently raised Chauncey building. The Chauncey is FilmScene’s second space, located off of Gilbert Street in downtown Iowa City; FilmScene will keep their original Ped Mall cinema open as well. The Chauncey
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The evils of white supremacy are on stark display in ‘The Nightingale,’ a grim rape-revenge drama set in colonial Tasmania
On Friday, Aug. 23, FilmScene opened Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale for a limited run. Art house audiences know Kent from her critically lauded horror film The Babadook (2014), which chronicles the mental deterioration of single mother, Amelia, reeling from her husband’s death and desperately struggling to parent her young son. The Nightingale also features a […]
It’s a great day to be a Hawkeye: ‘Ironmen’ local casting call at FilmScene
On Saturday, June 22 from 9-11 a.m., FilmScene will be hosting open casting calls for the roles of Elizabeth Catlett and Grant Wood for the upcoming Hollywood production of Ironmen, an adaptation of the book Nile by Tom Lidd produced by Iowa City native Joseph Grandy Heath. […]
I learned it at the movies: Scenesters Selects Series kicks off at FilmScene
“Media arts education is a vital part of what FilmScene does year-round,” says FilmScene’s programming director Rebecca Fons. “Our inaugural year of Scenesters has been an important addition to our education initiatives — and so much fun.” […]
Eyes wide open: Eagerly awaiting ICDOCS
ICDOCS 2019 Various venues (schedule below) — Thursday, April 18-Saturday, April 20 Jonas Mekas, a quintessential and oft-cited experimental filmmaker, once wrote that American independent cinema exhibitions are “movies which you can’t see anywhere.” Mekas’s sentiment is equally true of the electrifying and eclectic documentary shorts being screened this week for the annual Iowa City […]
Celebrating Women’s March with ‘Rafiki’ for FilmScene’s Pride Series
The second film in the Vanguard Series, ‘Rafiki,’ directed by Wanuri Kahiu, will play at FilmScene on Monday, March 11 at 6 p.m. as part of their monthly Pride series. ‘Rafiki’ is a Kenyan coming-of-age story that chronicles the budding romance between Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) and Ziki (Sheila Munyiva). […]
What the Living Do: Mike Gibisser’s ‘World of Facts’
Filmmaker Mike Gibisser’s ‘World of Facts’ (2018), filmed in Iowa City, is not a meditation on grief so much as a metabolizing of it. “I like that word,” Gibisser says. “Maybe because it suggests how the waiting becomes part of you, part of your routine.” […]
Not a one-handed read: Anticipating ‘Bat Pussy’ (1973) on Valentine’s Day
Not only will attendees be able to get a free Bijou condom or dental dam at the ‘Bat Pussy’ screening, but Bijou will also partner with the Emma Goldman Clinic to provide information about healthy, consensual sex. […]