american cinematheque Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Eighty years ago this Saturday, audiences heard something that most of them had never heard in a movie before: sound. Yes, Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer premiered on Oct. 6, 1927, the first feature-length film to use pre-recorded dialogue. (A few shorts had done it before, and a few features had used music and sound effects but no talking.) And thus the "talkie" was born! Movies have hardly shut up since then.

To celebrate the anniversary, American Cinematheque in Los Angeles is presenting "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet: A Tribute to Al Jolson," a series of Jolson tributes and screenings, all in honor of the man who at one point was known as the World's Greatest Entertainer. (Who has that title now? I can't really think of anyone who qualifies, can you?)

A full run-down of the schedule is here, but these are the major points:

• Oct. 5: A screening of The Jazz Singer, from a newly restored and digitally projected print.

• Oct. 6: Richard Halpern performs a live musical revue of Jolson's songs; plus a screening of a 1926 talking short starring Jolson, entitled A Plantation Act; plus a screening of 1946's The Jolson Story, a singing-and-dancing biopic starring Larry Parks as Jolson. There will also be a panel discussion.

• Oct. 7: A Jolson double feature of Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933) and Big Boy (1930).

Al Jolson was a hugely popular live entertainer, and seeing his act is like seeing a slice of history. The Jazz Singer isn't even a particularly great movie, and it only has a few scenes of dialogue and singing (the rest is a regular ol' silent film). It's certainly jarring to see him in blackface, at a time when that was an acceptable thing to do. But anyone interested in film history ought to see it -- and on the big screen, with a newly restored print...! If you're in L.A., you definitely ought to take advantage of the opportunity.

Welcome to The (Mostly) Indie Film Calendar. Each week, we'll give you a round-up of what's going on in indie film (and sometimes just cool film news and screenings) in cities near you. If you know of cool stuff happening that's related to film -- a local fest, a series of classic restored films, lectures, workshops, open calls for casting of an indie film -- send your tips to me at kim(at)cinematical(dot)com and we'll add them to the calendar.

Here are this week's happenings in film from New York to LA and points in between, right after the jump ...

Julia Roberts will be feted at this year's annual benefit gala for American Cinematheque on Friday, October 12, 2007. The actress will be awarded the 22nd American Cinematheque award at the benefit, formerly called the Moving Pictures Ball, which raises funds to support the not-for-profit org's programs (and let me add here, they show a pretty impressive array of film's at their two venues, the historic Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard and the Aero Theater in Santa Monica) throughout the year.

Roberts, whose onscreen career started with Mystic Pizza way back in 1988 (lordy, do I feel old now), catapulted to fame two years later with her role in Pretty Woman opposite Richard Gere. Since then, Roberts went on to earn her cred as more than just a pretty face with roles by winning the Oscar for her role in Erin Brockovich. She recently voiced the beloved spider, Charlotte, in the remake of Charlotte's Web, and her latest film, Charlie Wilson's War, opposite Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, will open in December.


The first American Cinematheque Award went to Eddie Murphy in 1986. Other previous honorees are: Bette Midler (1987); Robin Williams (1988); Steven Spielberg (1989); Ron Howard (1990); Martin Scorsese (1991); Sean Connery (1992); Michael Douglas (1993); Rob Reiner (1994); Mel Gibson (1995); Tom Cruise (1996); John Travolta (1997); Arnold Schwarzenegger (1998); Jodie Foster (1999); Bruce Willis (2000); Nicolas Cage (2001); Denzel Washington (2002); Nicole Kidman (2003), Steve Martin (2004); Al Pacino (2005) and George Clooney (2007). That's quite a lofty list Roberts is joining.

If you want to hobnob with the expected 1,000 or so "entertainment industry notables" at the event -- a black-tie dinner followed by a multi-media award show -- it'll set you back a bit; tix for the benefit start at a spendy $550. If you're not up for spending quite that much dough to see Roberts awarded in person, never fear: for the fifth year, the event will be broadcast on AMC in December.

August in Los Angeles is hotter than ... well, it's hot there, and who wants to be hanging outdoors getting all sweaty and sticky? Not me, and probably not you, either, my fellow cinema fans. But no worries, American Cinematheque has you covered: August 2-26, they'll be running the 7th Annual Festival of Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction! That's right, kids -- the whole steamy month of August you can be inside a nice, cool movie theater, chilling out with all the werewolves, vampires and freaky mad scientists your geeky little hearts desire. Here's all the scoop:

From August 2-26 at The Egyptian, and August 9-12 at The Aero, you'll be able to check out all kinds of scary stuff, including rarely seen films not even available on DVD. The fest will feature tributes to the work of late author Kurt Vonnegut and director Curtis Harrington (who both passed away earlier this year), with Memorial Tribute screenings. Vonnegut fans will get a real treat -- a double feature of adaptations of his works Slaughterhouse-Five, directed by George Roy Hill, and Happy Birthday, Wanda Jane, directed by Mark Robson. Harrington's 1967 film Games, which stars James Caan, will screen as well.

Actor/director George Clooney was "toasted by a host of fellow stars" at a lavish benefit held last Friday for American Cinematheque, a not-for-profit organization in Los Angeles that, since 1981, has supported film -- the kind of film not always available to a wide audience. American Cinematheque brings audiences a truly impressive array of film from a wide variety of cinematic niches, nooks and crannies. A peek at their calendar reveals such delectable and diverse events as "New Argentine Cinema," "Russian Fantastique Cinema, "Cinema Italian Style," "An Evening with Christopher Nolan," a screening of Al Jolson's 1936 film The Singing Kid, and a Halloween screening of a 70mm print of Ghostbusters! And that's just in October.

Since 1986, American Cinematheque has held a fundraiser at which it honors "an extraordinary artist (actor, director or writer) in the entertainment industry, who is fully engaged in his or her work and is committed to making a significant contribution to the art of the motion picture." The first honoree was Eddie Murphy; subsequent artists honored by American Cinematheque are: Bette Midler (1987); Robin Williams (1988); Steven Spielberg (1989); Ron Howard (1990); Martin Scorsese (1991); Sean Connery (1992); Michael Douglas (1993); Rob Reiner (1994); Mel Gibson (1995); Tom Cruise (1996); John Travolta (1997); Arnold Schwarzenegger (1998); Jodie Foster (1999); Bruce Willis (2000); Nicolas Cage (2001); Denzel Washington (2002); Nicole Kidman (2003), Steve Martin (2004) and Al Pacino (2005).

Benefit co-chairs included Matt Damon, Ethan and Joel Coen, Sydney Pollack, Steven Spielberg and the Weinsteins (although I kinda doubt that in this case the co-chairs were spiking the fruit punch and scotch-taping crepe paper streamers to the rafters of the high school gym, which is the visual that phrases like "benefit co-chairs" bring to my mind), and ticket prices ran $550 a pop. With 1,200 or so stars expected to be in attendance at the time of the press release, the event is American Cinematheque's primary fundraiser, supporting maintenance of the org's two theaters, The Egyptian and The Aero, as well as funding programming throughout the year.

It's great to see the stars come out to support the kinds of films most people will only get to see if they attend film school or go to a lot of film festivals; American Cinematheque, like Film Forum in New York City and Northwest Film Forum here in Seattle, makes it possible for the average cinephile to have access to some amazing films, both new and old. Cinematical recently brought on board two LA-based writers, so look for us to start covering American Cinematheque events along with our Film Forum and Northwest Film Forum coverage, fellow film buffs.