Within six months of their grand opening in the new Chauncey Building, FilmScene closed its doors in response to the pandemic. But after more than 14 months of private screenings, virtual screenings and Friday night concession pick-ups — and, last month, the debut of their outdoor cinema — the Iowa City nonprofit theater is ready […]
FilmScene
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FilmScene kicks off new outdoor movie series on April 24 with ‘Minari’
A new free outdoor movie series will add another opportunity for people to gather for a safer, arts-filled summer this year. FilmScene, in partnership with the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department, will present FilmScene in the Park, screening in Chauncey Swan Park. The park, located at Washington and Gilbert streets, has recently undergone a […]
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Brave old world: ‘Coded Bias’ explores the dangers of AI tech and how prejudice defines the future
“The more that humans share with me, the more I learn.” This is the somewhat ominous voiceover, sourced from the Microsoft AI robot Tay, that opens Shalini Kantayya’s equally ominous documentary, Coded Bias. This line is ostensibly supposed to reassure us that robots rely on human inputs in order to function and only through increased […]
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FilmScene’s Halloweek is giving fright film fans a chance to create their own FilmScream-like marathon
‘Twas the night before Halloween, when all through the city Not a theater was open, not even FilmScene But what to my wondering eyes should appear, Five horrifically fun movies to stream virtually — with a beer. The spooky tradition of FilmScream is just one of the dozens of FilmScene’s programming initiatives that has been […]
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Quirky, tender ‘The Mole Agent’ marks virtual return of Vino Vérité series
Today, Oct. 23, marks the FilmScene debut of The Mole Agent, a film that serves as the first ever Virtual Vino Vérité (“online wine and cinematic realism,” essentially, for all those who just mind-mumbled right over that). Co-sponsored by Bread Garden Market and Little Village, Vino Vérité traditionally involves a catered reception with a filmmaker […]
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FilmScene launches new app-based program to watch curated films at home
To many Iowans, fall is movie season. From Halloween slashers to the Oscar contenders released just before the holidays, a dark movie theater offers respite from the oncoming cold and a momentary trip to another (perhaps warmer) world. Given 2020’s constant apocalyptic newsfeed and a life-or-death election on the near horizon, there has never been […]
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Downtown Iowa City Arts Showcase: The artists behind FilmScene’s promotional trailers
When you sit down for a show at FilmScene, you see more than local commercials and dancing concession stand treats before the movie. FilmScene Marketing Manager Stacia Rain and Projection and Programming Assistant Dominick Shults combine their artistic skills to create specialized trailers, programs, stickers and more for the nonprofit’s film series — including, and […]
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FilmScene builds community online amid COVID-19 closures
As local businesses, restaurants and schools have closed their physical doors for COVID-19, the question of how to continue operations has been a big one. FilmScene, whose doors have been closed for just over a month now, turned to a virtual setting as a solution. In the past weeks, FilmScene has transitioned to virtual movie […]
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Fact and fiction intersect to find truth in ‘Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets’
Vino Vérité returns for 2020 this weekend with Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets. Directors Bill and Turner Ross will be in attendance for a Q&A following the screening. The series, presented by FilmScene, Bread Garden Market and Little Village, presents films in the vérité tradition paired with hors d’oeuvres, wine and desserts. Tickets are $20 for […]
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‘The Assistant’: A snapshot of our current conversation around sexual misconduct (the image isn’t pretty)
Kitty Green’s The Assistant is currently playing at FilmScene on the Ped Mall for the next two weeks. Papercuts are not the only wounds that sear in Green’s masterful and mesmerizing feature film The Assistant (2020). Some hurts are untraceable, undetectable on the surface of one’s skin. While the industrial revolution altered the domestic sphere’s […]
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‘Cats’ is back out of the bag as FilmScene hosts four special screenings
“You will believe,” promised the first trailer for Tom Hooper’s Cats, the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage musical, itself adapted from T.S. Eliot’s collection of poems Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. There was something ominous, perhaps even mildly threatening about this tagline. What will we believe? That the strangest Broadway hit of all time would make a good movie?
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Only connect: FilmScene’s Filmmaker Spotlight showcases ‘Last Chance Tango’
On Monday, Feb. 17 at 6 p.m., FilmScene at the Ped Mall will screen Sonja Strathearn’s feature film Last Chance Tango (2019) as part of their Filmmaker Spotlight series. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Strathearn. More information about the film and her work can be found at her website. A photograph. […]
