The best true stories are the ones that feel too unlikely to be true but too honest to be made up. There is a moment in The Big Sick, the newest film from director Michael Showalter (Hello, My Name is Doris, The Baxter) and producer Judd Apatow (Girls, Bridesmaids), when the film morphs into something unexpected.
FilmScene
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Interview: Filmmaker David Byars discusses the Patriot movement ahead of Vino Vérité’s screening of ‘No Man’s Land’
This Sunday, July 9, documentarian David Byars is bringing his incendiary new film, No Man’s Land, to FilmScene as part of the Vino Vérité series, presented by FilmScene, ‘Little Village’ and Bread Garden Market. Tickets are $20 for FilmScene members, $25 for the general public. The film begins at 7:15 p.m., with hors d’oeuvres & wine tasting preceding at 6:30 p.m. A wine and dessert reception with the filmmaker begins at 8:45 p.m.
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FilmScene brings the breathtaking cinematography of ‘The Beguiled’ to Iowa City, starting Friday
This Friday, June 30, Sofia Coppola’s latest film, The Beguiled, premieres at Film Scene. Tickets are $6.50-9. Though The Beguiled is set nearly a century after Coppola’s gorgeous period piece Marie Antoinette the two films share quite a bit of connective tissue: lush cinematography, stellar performances by Kirsten Dunst and a peaceful, privileged setting nestled in the midst of great social unrest.
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FilmScene brings the wizardly world of Harry Potter back to the big screen this summer
Starting this week with ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,’ FilmScene will be showing the eight movies in the Potter chronology in succession every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. throughout the summer, as part of The Picture Show family and children’s series.
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That gum you like: FilmScene celebrates the 25th anniversary of ‘Fire Walk With Me’ with rooftop showing
“I’ll see you again in 25 years,” promises Laura Palmer in the closing moments of cult classic TV series Twin Peaks. This year, creator David Lynch made good on that promise with a limited series on Showtime. And this weekend, FilmScene does their part with a rooftop showing of the prequel, 1992’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, which premiered at Cannes just over 25 years ago. The fun kicks off at 8 p.m.; screening starts at dusk. Tickets are $15.
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Features
Talking Movies: Late shift at the Grindhouse, curated by FilmScene projectionist Ross Meyer, celebrates three years
In the last few years B movies have stepped out of the cinematic shadows and into the limelight as legitimate, critically valid films. From John Wick to Green Room and, recently, Get Out, cinematic fare once considered schlock is now being taken seriously. Hollywood has been turning out low-budget commercial fare since its Golden Age — though there are many terrible B movies, there are also plenty of cinematic gems in the genre. Ross Meyer is the local cinephile who uncovers and curates these lost treasures for a weekly movie celebration known as Late Shift at the Grindhouse, coming up on its third anniversary this month. The Wednesday night series is the culmination of Meyer’s lifelong passion for film.
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Tight, entertaining ‘Colossal’ makes its own rules
Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo’s latest film, Colossal, is at once an intimate substance abuse drama and a kaiju-style creature feature. Much like his previous feature films, including Timecrimes (2007) and Extraterrestrial (2011), Vigalondo is able to strike this seemingly-odd balance with surprising grace simply by setting a very real, very interior story against a distant backdrop of intense science fiction.
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A week of activities dedicated to Iowa expat musician Arthur Russell
Arthur Russell Week various venues — Tuesday, April 25 through Friday, April 28 When Arthur Russell was a teenager, he ran away from his home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. A pioneer in cross-genre composition during the 1970s and ’80s, Russell released just one solo album during his lifetime: World of Echo in 1986. He collaborated with […]
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FilmScene to participate in a nationwide screening of ‘1984’
1984 FilmScene — Tuesday, April 4 at 6 p.m. FilmScene, located in the Pedestrian Mall at 118 E. College, will join more than 90 independent film theaters across the country who are screening 1984 on April 4 (the date that protagonist Winston Smith begins his diary entry) as a way of articulating protests against the […]
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Fair trade flair: How you can help lighten the dark side of cheap fashion
Discover the devastating environmental and human cost of cheap fashion, discuss solutions with a panel of experts and take immediate action by adding fair trade flair to your closet this Saturday.
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The metafictional ‘Neruda’ opens this weekend at FilmScene
The bio-drama ‘Neruda’ will be opening at FilmScene on March 24 for a special one-week engagement in Iowa City. ‘Neruda’ is a metafictional tale directed by Chilean-born filmmaker Pablo Lorraín, who recently filmed ‘Jackie’ (2016), based on Jacqueline Kennedy and the aftermath of her husband John F. Kennedy’s assassination. ‘Neruda’ stars Gael García Bernal (‘The Motorcycle Diaries,’ Fidel’) as police detective Óscar Peluchonneau, who attempts to arrest revolutionary poet and politician Pablo Neruda (Luis Gnecco) as he goes underground in his native Chile during the late 1940s.
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‘The Red Turtle’ trades speech for an external, visual language
The Red Turtle FilmScene — opens Feb. 24 I have a bone to pick with movies like Cast Away (2000): why does Tom Hanks feel the urge to talk to himself and inanimate objects? Perhaps there’s something intrinsic, something with anthropological substance, through which humans are compelled to fill dead space, whether in the real […]
