Dept. of Old Dog, New Tricks. Programming for online streaming versus for the Rose and Starlight is definitely a different creature. The internet brings the world to our fingertips with unlimited choices, but I prefer to be as selective with streaming content as I am with on screen content. And I receive new streaming options from distributors almost every day, most geared toward adults. So I am delighted that beginning this Friday we'll be streaming selections from the NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FILM FESTIVAL. The NYICFF has been presenting the best new animation, live action, documentary and experimental film from across the globe since 1997. It is an Oscar qualifying event. As such, award-winning films at their festival are eligible for Academy consideration. There are two programs beginning Friday - for ages 3+ and 8+ - both priced at $6.99.
Romy Schneider. Our friends at Film Movement have put together a series of three newly restored films featuring French actress Romy Schneider. The series begins this Friday, May 8th. You can watch one film per week over the next three weeks, at $10 per movie, or purchase all three for $20, and watch them within the first week.
Another series begins next Friday, May 15th called MAGNOLIA PICTURES: A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE DOCS. The distributor has put together a 4-film, 4-week program of some of their most popular documentaries. Live Q&As with each director will take place on the Wednesday following each Friday opening.Ten percent of ticket sales will be donated to a charity of the filmmaker's choice. Each film will cost $5 and will include access to the livestream. You can submit questions in advance to the filmmakers at submityourquestions@magpictures.com.The series includes RBG with directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen; LIFE ITSELF with Chaz Ebert and Steve James (a wonderful film about Roger Ebert); BLACKFISH with director Gabriela Cowperthwaite; and HAIL SATAN? with director Penny Lane. You'll find the dates below for each film under COMING SOON.
PTFF Hit & SXSW Film Festival Grand Jury Award. Streaming next Friday (5/15) will be ALICE, a beautifully made first feature from French writer-director Josephine Mackerras. In her first lead role in a feature, Emilie Piponnier stars as Alice, a young wife and mother whose world comes crashing in with the revelation of her husband's secret. "One of the year's must-see films, ALICE is a revelation for audiences, telling us that it's ok to choose the paths we take, despite what society tells us." -AwardsCircuit.com
Brian Dennehy, An Appreciation. Brian Dennehy, who stars in DRIVEWAYS, and passed away April 15th at age 81, is remembered as an actor who found tragic grandeur in ordinary lives.
Writing in The New York Times, Ben Brantley vividly remembers one such towering performance. "On a November night, 22 years ago, fresh off a plane from New York, I walked into the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and straight into the depths of depression. I felt privileged to be there. Because my guide that evening into the state of paralyzing unhappiness was Brian Dennehy, who was making one man's inner darkness uncannily visible as the title character in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman."
Mr. Brantley saw Brian Dennehy's performance in Salesman four times. "The agony that Mr. Dennehy exuded should have been unbearable. But when darkness is rendered in such glowing detail by an actor of such strength, it becomes a triumph over the night."
Below you will see an image for Jefferson County MARINE RESOURCES COMMITTEE. I welcome them as our first newsletter sponsor. MRC members are citizen volunteers committed to protecting and restoring marine habitats in our ecologically rich corner of the world.They also serve as an advisory group to the Board of County Commissioners.
--Rocky