The Refocus Film Festival awarded its Audience Choice Award to She’s the He, the debut feature from director Siobhan McCarthy. In it, high school best friends Ethan and Alex find themselves tangled up in a queer coming-of-age. Alex (Nico Carney), desperate to impress his dream girl, insists that they pretend to be trans women in […]
FilmScene
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Film critic and frequent ‘Filmspotting’ podcast guest Michael Phillips talks adaptations, Trump fatigue and the Refocus film that feels most pertinent
Michael Phillips, former film critic at the Chicago Tribune, is coming back to Iowa City for the Refocus Film Festival. There, he will join UI Professor and Filmspotting co-host Adam Kempenaar for a live taping of the podcast Friday, October 10. Little Village met with Phillips to chat about the festival and reflect on his long career in a fickle field.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Refocus returns on Thursday! Here’s a guide to 18 films on the festival lineup
FilmScene’s Refocus Film Festival returns to Iowa City Oct. 9-12 with a full platter of cinematic goodness. We asked our resident film scribes Ariana Martinez and Benji McElroy to share the shows they’re most excited to see. We also broke down the lineup by mood, with only a little fighting about what fit where. Click […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Date set for sheriff’s auction of The Chauncey and three other foreclosed Iowa City properties
The date for some of Iowa City’s best-known downtown buildings to be sold at a sheriff’s auction has been set. In April, GreenState Credit Union foreclosed on four properties owned by real estate developer Marc Moen and business associates. The properties — The Chauncey (404 E College St), Plaza Towers (221 E College St), Park@201 […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Des Moines welcomes back a now-classic, Kurosawa arrives in Iowa City (in 4K), PTA’s first action flick drops and more screenings this month
Hey folks, welcome back to Little Big Screen: On the Big, Big Screen, where film columnist Benjamin McElroy recommends five screenings happening at Iowa’s independent movie theaters. Keep scrolling for the full list of this month’s big screenings.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Newman’s cold one of choice, Jamiroquai’s ‘Canned Heat’ and all the films you need to see in local theaters this month
Hey folks, welcome back to Little Big Screen: On the Big, Big Screen, where film columnist Benjamin McElroy recommends five screenings happening at Iowa’s independent movie theaters. Keep scrolling for the full list of this month’s big screenings.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Tattooed baddies, British daddies and all the films you need to see in local theaters this month
Hey folks, welcome back to Little Big Screen: On the Big, Big Screen, where film columnist Benjamin McElroy recommends five screenings happening at Iowa’s independent movie theaters. And keep scrolling for the full list of this month’s big, big screenings.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Ever dreamed of hiding in a store overnight? Documentary ‘Secret Mall Apartment’ makes space for the anarchist in all of us
I can’t speak for everyone, but if teenage me found out that there was a secret Playstation clubhouse in my local mall, with an access panel hidden over a toilet, I would have gone through the looking glass in a heartbeat. This is a proposition that 2024 documentary Secret Mall Apartment presents, with Providence, Rhode […]
Posted inStatewide
‘The arts are being systematically attacked’: Iowa arts orgs lose federal funding as Trump administration terminates NEA grants
After making massive cuts at the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and rescinding grants awarded by those agencies, the Trump administration brought its sweeping and arbitrary DOGE-style cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) last week. The NEA sent out emails on Friday to […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Stick-and-pokes, baseball ghosts and the top five movies you’ve gotta see on the big, big screen this May
Hey folks, welcome back to Little Big Screen: On the Big, Big Screen, where film columnist Benjamin McElroy recommends five screenings happening at Iowa’s independent movie theaters. This month, the rotten word from Washington D.C. can’t be ducked. FilmScene and Varsity Cinema were both notified on May 2 that their National Endowment for the Arts […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Behind the ultimate rock-umentary — and its 20th anniversary re-release, ‘Dig! XX’ — is a sister-brother duo with an eye for mad genius
Multi-award-winning filmmaker Ondi Timoner has amassed a wide-ranging body of work about people she calls “impossible visionaries.” Her documentary subjects tend to stray from social convention and take the path less traveled, which can sometimes put hers in impossible situations. I imagine that nothing was more difficult than making Last Flight Home, a 2022 film […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
From Swayze’s mullet to Bowie’s bulge, catch these five iconic films in local theaters this April
Hey folks, welcome back to “On the Big, Big Screen.” From courtside seats to seaside heists, film columnist Benjamin McElroy recommends five screenings happening this month at Iowa’s independent movie theaters. Then, keep on scrolling for a round-up of other special screenings, events and movies of note.
