We’re putting together a little something different this spring. I’ve made a deal with Bill Cooley to use his space again. This year we’re going to show movies a little earlier. February 7, 8 & 9 are the dates. We’ll have the Oscar Nominated Shorts again, both Live Action as well as Animated. So, instead of running for several weeks, we’re going to program several films to show a few times each over those three days.

We’re still negotiating titles (and the terms for those) but hope to have an ad in the paper, a newsletter sent out soon, and a schedule here as soon as possible.

Stay tuned!

We’re all finished with our series this spring. Once again we had a good range of responses to the films and good discussions and thoughts were provoked.

Weather and inertia were not in our favor this spring, but we persevered and all in all, it was good.

Thanks so much to Bill Cooley for sharing his studio with us. What a great space! If you have any photography work you’ve been meaning to take care of, give Bill a call. World class portaiture (is that a word?) right here in Buffalo.

Also thank you to Gordie, Tim, Susi and Heather for all your help and support. And to our committed audience members who shared such terrific eats six Saturdays in a row!

Now…on to the future!

7:00PM Sat, March 31st, 2012
(PG, approx 80 min.)
28 S. Main St., Buffalo, WY
(Bring-n-Share Munchies at 6:00PM)
$36 season tickets or $9.00 at the door

Previews can be found on shorts.tv‘s website. (Possible spoilers, especially if you still don’t know who the winners are.)

A Morning Stroll

UK / 7 MINS
Director(s): Grant Orchard
Producer(s): Sue Goffe

When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we are left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.

Dimanche/Sunday

CANADA / 9 MINS
Director(s): Patrick Doyon
Producer(s): Marc Bertrand

Every Sunday, it’s the same old routine! The train clatters through the village and almost shakes the pictures off the wall. In the church, Dad dreams about his toolbox. And of course later Grandma will get a visit and the animals will meet their fate.

LA LUNA

USA / 7 MINS
Director(s): Enrico Casarosa
Producer(s): Kevin Reher – John Lasseter (Executive Producer)

“La Luna” is the timeless fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family’s most unusual line of work. Should he follow the example of his Papa, or his Grandpa? Will he be able to find his own way in the midst of their conflicting opinions and timeworn traditions?

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

USA / 17 MINS
Director(s): William Joyce & Brandon Oldenburg
Producer(s): Lampton Enochs Jr., Trish Farnsworth-Smith, Alissa M. Kantrow

Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) co-directors William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and MGM Technicolor musicals. Morris Lessmore is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.

Wild Life

CANADA / 14 MINS
Director(s): Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby
Producer(s): Marcy Page, Bonnie Thompson

Calgary, 1909. An Englishman moves to the Canadian frontier, but is singularly unsuited to it. His letters home are much sunnier than the reality. Intertitles compare his fate to that of a comet.

Extra Films

• Skylight
• The Hybrid Union
• Nullarbor
• Amazonia

7:00PM Sat, March 24th, 2012
(PG-13, approx 110 min.)
28 S. Main St., Buffalo, WY
(Bring-n-Share Munchies at 6:00PM)
$36 season tickets or $9.00 at the door

Previews can be found on shorts.tv‘s website. (Possible spoilers, especially if you still don’t know who the winners are.)

Pentecost

IRELAND / 11 MINS
Director(s): Peter McDonald
Producer(s): Eimear O’Kane

When Damian is forced to serve as an altar boy at an important mass in his local parish he faces a difficult choice: conform to the status quo or serve an extended ban from his passion in life, football.

Raju

GERMANY / INDIA / 24 MINS
Director(s): Max Zähle
Producer(s): Stefan Gieren

A German couple adopts in Kolkata an Indian orphan. Their child suddenly disappears and they realize that they are part of the problem.

The Shore

NORTHERN IRELAND / 30 MINS
Director(s): Terry George
Producer(s): Oorlagh George

THE SHORE is the uplifting story of two boyhood best friends – Joe (Ciarán Hinds) and Paddy (Conleth Hill) divided for 25 years by the tumult of “The Troubles”. When Joe returns home to Northern Ireland, his daughter Patricia brings the two men together for a reunion, with unexpected results. What happened all those years ago? Can old wounds be healed? The answer is both hilarious and moving. THE SHORE is about one of the small personal reconciliations that coincide with a national reconciliation.

Time Freak

USA / 11 MINS
Director(s): Andrew Bowler
Producer(s): Gigi Causey

A neurotic inventor creates a time machine, only to get caught up traveling around yesterday.

Tuba Atlantic

NORWAY / 25 MINS
Director(s): Hallvar Witzø
Producer(s): Gudrun Austli

When seventy-year-old Oskar is told that he has only six days left to live, he wants to put things right with his brother who lives in New Jersey. Inger, a public “death angel” is sent out to help Oscar through his remaining days. A huge horn stands at the edge of the sea, built by the brothers when they were kids. Will its sound cross the Atlantic?

7:00PM Sat, March 17th, 2012
(PG, 2011, USA, English, 93 Mins.)
28 S. Main St., Buffalo, WY
(Bring-n-Share Drinks & Snacks at 6:00PM)
$36 Season Tix or $9.00 at the door

“Earthwork” takes an unexpected swerve but one that adds layers of meaning and emotion to a film that is as beautiful and wrenching as it is unassuming. – May 19, 2011, Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Click Here for a gallery of some of Stan Herd’s Work.

SYNOPSIS

EARTHWORK is the true story of real-life crop artist Stan Herd. In 1994, Stan traveled from Kansas to New York City to create a massive environmental artwork on land owned by Donald Trump. The multi-acre piece was made from soil, rock, plants and vegetation near an underground railway tunnel. Stan recruited a number of homeless individuals living in the tunnel as his crew. Over the months it took to complete the earthwork, Stan dealt with the difficulties of bringing his unique, rural art form to an urban canvas and the many costs exacted upon his life. In an effort to show his unique perspective to a larger audience, Stan unexpectedly encountered the true meaning of his art and it’s ultimate, lasting rewards.

7:00PM Sat, March 10th, 2012
(2010, Romantic Comedy, French w/Eng Subtitles, 84 Mins.)
28 S. Main St., Buffalo, WY
(Bring-n-Share Drinks & Snacks at 6:00PM)
$36 Season Tix or $9.00 at the door

“An endearingly goofy spin on looking-for-love-in-the-big-city comedies” – Dennis Harvey, Variety

SYNOPSIS
Thirty-something Adele is devastated following a painful breakup. With no close friends or family, her distant cousin, Rachel, reluctantly takes her in and graciously attempts to salvage Adele’s professional and love lives. Rachel finds her a job and suggests that Adele sleep with other men to get over her heartbreak. Adele bounces from one lover to the next in search of her perfect companion but can’t escape the visage of her ex. Finally, she meets a man who may just hold the answer to her broken heart.

7:00PM Sat, March 3rd, 2012
(R, 135 min., English)
28 S. Main St., Buffalo, WY (Cooley Images Studio)
(Bring-n-Share Drinks & Snacks at 6:00 PM)
$36/season tix or $9.00/show at the door

“Melancholia” is emphatically not what anyone would call a feel-good movie, and yet it nonetheless leaves behind a glow of aesthetic satisfaction.” -A.O. Scott, New York Times

SYNOPSIS

In this beautiful movie about the end of the world, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgård) are celebrating their marriage at a sumptuous party in the home of her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and brother-in-law John (Kiefer Sutherland). Despite Claire’s best efforts, the wedding is a fiasco, with family tensions mounting and relationships fraying. Meanwhile, a planet called Melancholia is heading directly towards earth… MELANCHOLIA is a psychological disaster film from director Lars von Trier.

In this land there are only two gods: love and water.

7:00PM Sat, Feb 25th, 2012
28 S. Main St., Buffalo, WY
(Bring-n-Share Appetizers at 6:00PM)
$9.00 at the door

“I read the description … and wasn’t much interested; it sounded like ethnography without impact. Yet not often have I been more deeply touched.” –Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, Dec. 7, 2011

SYNOPSIS:

(Russian, English Subtitles, 2010, 75 Min.) When Miron’s beloved wife Tanya passes away, he asks his best friend Aist to help him say goodbye to her according to the rituals of the Merja culture, an ancient Finno-Ugric tribe from Lake Nero, a picturesque region in West-Central Russia. Although the Merja people assimilated into Russians in the 17th century, their myths and traditions live on in their descendants’ modern life.

The two men set out on a road trip thousands of miles across the boundless land, with them, two small birds in a cage. Along the way, as is custom for the Merjans, Miron shares intimate memories of his conjugal life. But as they reach the banks of the sacred lake where they will forever part with the body, he realizes he wasn’t the only one in love with Tanya…

We’re going ahead with a series of films over six Saturdays this Spring(-ish). We’ll start February 25 and end March 31.

The list of titles and other info has been posted on our website along with our Spring Pricing Info, and we’ll have synopses and links to other info as we move along.

We’re going to do the same thing we did in 2010 with potluck, bring-n-share, or whatever. Bring your own beverage to share (or not). In 2010 we used 7 North Main (former Bison Theater) but this year Bill Cooley is going to share his studio space with all of us. Right here in beautiful downtown Buffalo! 28 S. Main Street.

We can easily and comfortably seat 9 to 13 people and we have chairs for up to 25 but if you have a chair you like to sit in and want to bring it along for the night, feel free to do so.

Read on for the list of films: Continue reading →