Ten Canoes

(Unrated, 90 Min., Australia, Adventure/Comedy)

March 23 & 24 at 7:00

It is the distant past, tribal times. Dayindi (played by Jamie Gulpilil, son of the great David Gulpilil) covets one of the wives of his older brother. To teach him the proper way, he is told a story from the mythical past, a story of wrong love, kidnapping, sorcery, bungling mayhem and revenge gone wrong. In English storytelling (by David Gulpilil) and subtitled Ganalbingu language, this is a film unlike any you have ever seen.

“Australian writer-director Rolf de Heer is an extremely visual filmmaker, and his images stay with you. Ten Canoes’ authenticity is guaranteed by a close collaboration with the Aboriginal community.” – Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

“Gulpilil is the canny, subtle and funny narrator of 10 Canoes, a film of unutterable beauty, hypnotic fascination and universal humanity.” – Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic

“A rare and valuable movie, providing fascinating insight into another culture without pandering or being stuffy. Seek it out — swim if you have to.” – Sam Toy, Empire Magazine

Half Moon
(Unrated, 114 Min., Kurdish, Drama)
March 16 & 17 at 7:00

Mamo, an iconic Kurdish musician in the twilight of his life and in failing health, must lead a dozen of his sons to Iraq for a concert to celebrate the fall of Saddam Hussein and the end of his repression of Kurdish music. Their plan is to drive across the border, but the road will be long and winding and the local wise man has predicted calamity. But first they must pick up Hesho, Mamo’s exiled singer and muse. The “celestial voice” she represents takes on a divine, transformative power, and Mamo is left in a state of grace no one could ever have anticipated.

The Kurds may not yet have a country, but as long as Bahman Ghobadi keeps making movies they have a national cinema. – Ty Burr, Boston Globe

For his poetic fourth feature, Half Moon, Bahman Ghobadi returns to the desolation of the Kurdish borderlands and the enduring optimism of his people. – Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

Death blurs the frontier between reality and dream, though never dimming the pic’s startling beauty, raucous humor or indomitable ethos. – Ronnie Scheib, Variety

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead
(Rated R, 117 Min., USA, Drama/Crime/Thriller)
March 9 & 10 at 7:00

When two brothers organize the robbery of their parents’ jewelery store in Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that sends them, their father and one brother’s wife hurtling towards a shattering climax. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Albert Finney.

An invigorating, refreshing and unusual thing to see one done so expertly. – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is such a superb crime melodrama that I almost want to leave it at that. To just stop writing right now and advise you to go out and see it as soon as you can. – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

At a time when family movies are usurped by fantasies of sentimental feelgood, Lumet’s latest — the mangled-heist melodrama Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead — delivers a swift kick straight to the jewels. – Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

Gypsy Caravan
(Unrated, 110 Min., USA & others, Documentary)
March 2 & 3 at 7:00

An audience favorite at film festivals worldwide, GYPSY CARAVAN is a gorgeous surround-sound celebration of misery and oppression turned into music. GYPSY CARAVAN is a dazzling display of the musical world of the Roma, juxtaposed to the real world they live in. This rich feature documentary celebrates the luscious music of top international Gypsy performers and interweaves stirring real life tales of their home life and social background. Shot by documentary icon Albert Maysles, the film takes place on tour in Europe and in the USA during the Gypsy Caravan concert tour, as well as on location in Spain, Macedonia, Romania and India.

It’s hardly surprising that Gypsy Caravan, a lively and lovely music documentary, is rife with whirling rhythms, wild, soaring melodic lines, the ululations of singers steeped in centuries of Romany tradition. – Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer 

It’s a two-hour movie, and I’m only sorry it isn’t two or three times as long. Let me read your thoughts: You’re not much interested in Gypsy music, and the historical and cultural stuff might be pretty dry. That’s what I thought too: Wrong and wrong. – Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com

An eye-opener, an ear-opener and, most important, a heart-opener. – Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Into The Wild
(Rated R, 140 Min., USA, Drama/Bio)
February 24 & 25 at 7:00

Into The Wild is based on a true story and the bestselling book by Jon Krakauer. After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless (Hirsch) abandons his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.

Sequences are gorgeously filmed by cinematographer Eric Gautier, and they’re heady with the joy of discovery — they make you want to hit the road into the magnificent landscape we forget is out there. – Ty Burr, Boston Globe

It is we who are made a little more complete for wrestling with, and watching, Penn’s film. – Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

This is one of those movies I can imagine deciding is a masterpiece in a month’s time. And by any measure, “Into the Wild” is a big leap forward for Penn as a director and deserves to be one of the most talked about films of the season. – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

L’Iceberg
(Unrated, 84 Min., Belgium, in French with English Subtitles, Comedy/Drama)
Feb. 17 & 18 at 7:00

Synopsis:
Fiona is the manager of a fast-food restaurant. She lives with her family in the suburbs. In a few words, Fiona is happy. Until one day…Fiona gets accidentally locked into a walk-in fridge while closing up. She gets out in the morning, half frozen and barely alive, only to realize that her husband and two children didn’t even notice she was missing. Little by little, Fiona develops an obsession for everything cold and icy: snow, polar bears, fridges, icebergs… and one day she drops everything, climbs into a frozen goods delivery truck and leaves home. She wants to see a real iceberg.

Who has never dreamt of dropping everything and starting over, of making a wish come true or of just going somewhere else to see what it’s like from there? Fiona takes the plunge, unsettling the lives of those around her as she goes. The three main characters of the film aren’t born adventurers. They are anti-heroes who get inadvertently involved in an adventure. Tripping over their clumsy mistakes, they never give up, always ready to renew the search for happiness and success.

THE ICEBERG is about our day-to-day heroism, our naivety, our fundamental desire for love and accomplishment. It’s about all the obstacles and minor failures that dent our optimism, but never destroy it all together.

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Praise for L’ICEBERG: Continue reading →

This is merely a reminder that we’ll be starting our eclectic series of films this coming Sunday, February 17, 2008 at 7:00.

For those of you who are interested, we’ll be selling memberships at the theater before, during and after the show.

Memberships for the year are $50.00 and tickets for non-members are $5.50.

Our first film will be:
L’Iceberg
(Unrated, 84 Min., Belgium, in French with English Subtitles, Comedy/Drama)
February 17 & 18 at 7:00
Presented at the Buffalo Theater

In our last installment we made a call for Memberships and the response has been inspiring! A few of you have asked for more info about the series itself (The “Other Shoe” dropping, so to speak). We have the info just hammered out and the last title confirmed – the flyers are printing, it’ll be a day or two before they arrive in your mailboxes ready for the fridge door.

Until then, you can see the info on our website (including links and whatnot).

If you’d like to get a jump on us, you could try downloading and printing the (large-ish) pdf of our flyer.

Some of the titles you’ve likely heard of, most are probably not that well known. But I am *very* excited about them. They are all critically acclaimed and we have a wide variety of interesting places and stories in front of us. Looking them over, yet again, I see now that a theme has emerged among several of the titles! Anyone else see it?

One notable difference between this year and years past is the howtimes. We’ll be using Sunday and Monday evenings instead of Sunday afternoon and Monday evening. We’ll be starting the shows at 7:00 both days instead of 1:30 and 6:30, respectively.

I’ll be posting more information about each title as we go along.

We have been quiet. We have made very little noise. Now we are ready to whoop it up! (Until the lights go down and movie starts, of course.)

Once again Bennett Street Films and the Buffalo Theater have been working together to bring you a series of fantastic films that will open windows to parts of our world that we just might not have otherwise seen. This series is truly a world cinema series as it will take us to France, Alaska, Spain, Macedonia, Romania, India, Kurdistan and Australia among other places. We’re ready to start this series on February 17th. That’s in just a couple weeks! Oh my gosh!

This is where we ask you to join our story. Do you have your 2008 Membership yet?

Membership costs the same as it did last year: $50.00. We’ll be sending out a flyer about our Spring Series in the next couple days (and look for them around town) so we’ll put a little form in there you can send in to buy a membership that way. Or you can buy them online at our website. Or you can post a note (and a check) anytime. We receive mail at 157 E. Bennett, Buffalo, WY 82834.

It is Members that make it possible to get this all started. Please come join us on this film journey around the world!