2006 Spring Series

Presented at the Buffalo Theater

Syriana
(126 min. Rated R, English)

March 12 at 1:30
March 13 at 6:30
Stephen Gaghan, who won an Oscar for Best Screenplay for TRAFFIC, makes his
directorial debut with SYRIANA, an espionage thriller set in the Middle East. George Clooney stars as Bob Barnes, a longtime CIA agent preparing to slow down his life and spend more time with his teenage son. But his last secret mission, getting rid of Prince Nasir, turns out to be more complicated than he imagined, placing him in the middle of a dangerous conspiracy involving government corruption, oil, and international terrorism.

Mrs. Henderson Presents

(103 min. Rated R, English)

March 19 at 1:30
March 20 at 6:30
Based on the true story of London’s Windmill Theater, the film stars Judi Dench as Laura Henderson, a widowed society woman in the 1930s who purchases the abandoned West End venue as a means to help her pass the time. She enlists experienced stage producer Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins, who also produced the film) to aid her in creating Paris-inspired vaudeville revues–which break taboos in the staid English society of the time by featuring artfully posed nude women amidst the musical
shenanigans.
Agata and the Storm

(118 min., unrated, Italian w/English subtitles)
March 26 at 1:30
March 27 at 6:30
A swirl of pop-art color, madcap magic, and the bittersweet call of life and love. Director Soldini pays careful attention to his cast of characters in this ensemble comedy, creating suspense, laughter and tenderness. When Agata, the popular bookshop proprietor and dispenser of sunny wisdom is suddenly wooed by a man almost half her age, her electricity hits high-voltage. Yet it is Agata’s joy and magnetism in the face of life in all its irony that eventually offers the eye of the storm.

Campfire

(96 min., unrated, Hebrew w/English subtitles)
April 2 at 1:30
April 3 at 6:30
The year is 1981. Rachel Gerlik, a 42 year-old widowed mother of two teenage daughters, wants to join the founding group of a new settlement in the West Bank. The settlementfs acceptance
committee won’t approve her unless she demonstrates that she and her daughters can meet the group’s religious and ideologicalstandards. Her youngest daughter is accused of seducing some boys from her youth movement, forcing Rachel to weigh her allegiances. Only Yossi, a lonely bachelor, can show Rachel that living as an outcast is not as bad as it seems.

Electric Shadows

(93 min., unrated, Mandarin w/English sub-titles)
April 9 at 1:30
April 10 at 6:30
Xiao Jiang and her highly entertaining début feature titled Electric Shadows gives us a storyline – divided between Beijing now and Ningxia thirty years ago – about what it takes to heal grievous emotional wounds within a family. But all of her central characters are movie fans, and the key events in their lives are inextricably linked to the movies they saw and loved. Unless you grew up in China, you may not know the movies in question, but you’fll recognize the syndrome.
Ballet Russes

(118 min, unrated, English)
April 23 at 1:30
April 24 at 6:30
Ballets Russes is an intimate portrait of a group of pioneering artists — now in their 70s, 80s and 90s — who gave birth to modern ballet. Unearthing a treasure trove of archival footage, filmmakers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have fashioned a dazzlingly entrancing ode to the revolutionary twentieth-century dance troupe known as the Ballets Russes. What began as a group of Russian refugees who never danced in Russia became not one but two rival dance troupes who fought the infamous “ballet battles” that consumed London society before World War II.
OT:our town

(76 min, unrated, English)

April 30 at 1:30
May 1 at 6:30
Against all odds, the students at Dominguez High School set out to put on the school’s first theatrical production in more than 20 years. But what does Thornton Wilder’s famous play about life in rural Grover’s Corner have to do with Compton, California? OT: our town follows the students on their discovery of the power of art and the human spirit.

2005 Fall Series

The following films played on specific days during October 2005 weekends at the Buffalo Theater.


In addition to the list below, we have a brochure available for download and printing.

Look At Me
  • October 2nd at 1:30
  • October 3rd at 6:30
    A French film that traces the lives of a rebellious young woman, a self-absorbed older man, a disappointed writer, and a self-doubting singing teacher whose personal lives and concerns intersect in surprising and bittersweet ways.
    		•

    The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
  • October 7th at 4:00
  • October 8th & 9th at 1:30
  • October 10th at 6:30
    The true story of a San Francisco street musician and writer–a bohemian St. Francis– and his remarkable and instructive relationship with a flock of wild red-and-green parrots.
    		•

    Travellers & Magicians
  • October 16th at 1:30
  • October 17th at 6:30
    A mystical fable of two restless young men (a university graduate and a farm worker) in the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, deep in the Himalayas, each determined to escape a likely mundane future. As they hitchhike through the wild countryside, their encounters take place in a dream world of seduction, intrigue, and greater self-knowledge.
    		•

    Ladies in Lavender
  • October 23rd at 1:30
  • October 24th at 6:30
    This film stars the British film legends Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith as elderly sisters living in a quiet coastal town in Cornwall. After a violent storm, they find a young man washed ashore and badly injured. Upon taking him in, the sisters gradually discover his true origins, his gifts as a violinist, and they embark on a journey they had never imagined for themselves.
     
    		•

    2005 Summer “Series”

    ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room

    (not rated, 109 minutes, really good!)

    August 6 & 7 at 1:30; August 8 at 6:30



    Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, a multidimensional study of one of the biggest business scandals in American history. The chronicle takes a look at one of the greatest corporate disasters in history, in which top executives from the 7th largest company in this country walked away with over one billion dollars, leaving investors and employees with nothing (timeline). The film features insider accounts and rare corporate audio and video tapes that reveal colossal personal excesses of the Enron hierarchy and the utter moral vacuum that posed as corporate philosophy. The human drama that unfolds within Enron’s walls resembles a Greek tragedy and produces a domino effect that could shape the face of our economy and ethical code for years to come.

    Turtles Can Fly Poster[NOTE: We also showed Turtles Can Fly in August of 2005, although it never got the web treatment these other titles received. It should have. It certainly should have and I regret that it didn’t. It did, however get half of a flyer we made for these two August shows. It is available in a PDF. -Greg]

    2005 Spring Series


    KINSEY Feb 13 at 1:30 & Feb 14 at 6:30
    http://www.foxsearchlight.com
    On IMDb.com
    118 Minutes
    Rated R
    (FOX Searchlight)
     

    GOODBYE, DRAGON INN Feb 20 at 1:30 & Feb 21 at 6:30
    http://www.wellspring.com/movies/movie.html?movie_id=47
    On IMDb.com
    82 Minutes
    Not Rated
    (Wellspring)
     

    A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT Feb 27 at 1:30 & Feb 28 at 6:30
    http://wip.warnerbros.com/avle/
    On IMDb.com
    134 Minutes
    Rated R
    (Warner Bros.)
     

    THE AGRONOMIST March 6 at 1:30 & March 7 at 6:30
    http://www.theagronomist.com
    On IMDb.com
    90 Minutes
    Rated PG-13
    (THINKFilm)
     

    POSTMEN IN THE MOUNTAINS March 13 at 1:30 & March 14 at 6:30
    http://www.prcmovie.com/postmen/
    On IMDb.com
    93 Minutes
    Not Rated
    (Shadow Distribution)
     

    THE SEA INSIDE March 20 at 1:30 & March 21 at 6:30
    http://www.theseainside.com/
    On IMDb.com
    125 Minutes
    Rated PG-13
    (Fine Line Features)
     

    LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE March 27 at 1:30 & March 28 at 6:30
    http://www.sonyclassics.com/lightninginabottle/poster.html
    On IMDb.com
    103 Minutes
    Rated PG-13
    (Sony Classics)
     

    BORN INTO BROTHELS April 3 at 1:30 & April 4 at 6:30
    http://www.thinkfilmcompany.com/brothels/
    On IMDb.com
    121 Minutes
    Rated R
    (THINKFilm)
    Info about Kids With Cameras
     

    HOTEL RWANDA April 10 at 1:30 & April 11 at 6:30
    http://www.hotelrwanda.com/intro.html
    On IMDb.com
    121 Minutes
    Rated PG-13
    (MGM)
     

    2004 Spring Series (our first!)

    NOSEY PARKER
    2003, USA, 103 Minutes –     April 3 & 4 (Sat & Sun) at 1:30 PM
    Sick of suburbia, Natalie and Richard Newman leave Connecticut for rural Vermont, where they expect the unspoiled setting to rejuvenate their marriage. But shortly after moving into their dream house, Natalie realizes she is lonely and bored. Then she meets George, a colorful and kind farmer. Their flirtatious relationship matures into a friendship, full of humor, insight and trust. More Info
    GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
    2003, UK, R, 109 Minutes –     April 10 & 11 (Sat & Sun) at 1:30 PM
    Beauty inspires obsession. Griet is a peasant girl who is forced to work as a maid in the home of the painter Johannes Vermeer. She eventually becomes the model for what becomes one of his most famous works. Based on the best-selling novel by Tracy Chevalier. Official Website
    CITY OF GOD
    2002, Brazil, R, 130 Minutes –     April 17 & 18 (Sat & Sun) at 1:30 PM
    Fight and you’ll never survive….. Run and you’ll never escape. Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer. Official Website
    THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE
    2003, France, Animated, 80 Minutes –     Sunday, April 25 at 1:30 and Monday, April 26 at 6:30
    When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters –an aged song-and-dance unit from the days of Fred Astaire — to rescue him. Official British Site
    THE FOG OF WAR
    2003, USA, PG13, 95 Minutes –     Sunday, May 2 at 1:30 and Monday, May 3 at 6:30
    Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations discusses some of the tragedies and glories of the 20th Century. The film features interviews, archival footage, documents, and an original score by Philip Glass. Official Webite
    STEP INTO LIQUID
    2003, USA, PG, 88 Minutes –     Sunday, May 9 at 1:30 and Monday, May 10 at 6:30
    No special effects.
    No stuntmen.
    No stereotypes.
    No other feeling comes close. Surfers and secret spots from around the world are profiled in this documentary.
    Official Website(warning: utilizes pop-up windows)
    OSAMA
    2003, Afghanistan, PG13, 82 Minutes – *REBOOKED*     Sunday, May 16 at 1:30 and Monday, May 17 at 6:30
    Fearing the Taliban and feeling that she has no other choice, an Afghan mother disguises her daughter as a boy. The girl embarks on a terrifying and confusing journey as she tries to maintain her disguise. Inspired by a true story, Osama is the first entirely Afghan film shot since the rise and fall of the Taliban. More Info
    THE BUTTERFLY
    2002, France, 85 Minutes –     Sunday, May 23 at 1:30 and Monday, May 24 at 6:30
    An ornery old entomologist, with a lavish butterfly collection in his apartment, begrudgingly allows eight-year-old Elsa to tag along with him on his expedition to the Alps in search of a rare and beautiful butterfly after she hides herself in his car. During the trip she learns many things about the natural and the human world. More Info