| Sort By: |
Date  |
Title |
Series |
Director |
 |
Feb. 29 7:00 PM
Feb. 29 9:00 PM
Mar. 1 7:00 PM
Mar. 1 9:00 PM
|
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts |
|
Spike Lee |
| More |
| Description |
Spike Lee’s Peabody award-winning documentary focuses on the permanent change in New Orleans and its residents after the critical blow delivered by Katrina and the following negligent response. Through news footage and still photos interspersed with interviews of politicians, historians, engineers and the first hand accounts of those who lived it, the film showcases the struggle for New Orleans, its loss and the indomitable spirit of the city and those who call it home. |
Additional
Information |
(USA, 2006, 255 min in 2 parts)
Feb. 29
7:00 pm Act I
9:00 pm Act II
Mar. 1
7:00 pm Act III
9:00 pm Act IV |
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Mar. 10 7:00 PM
|
Le plafond de Verre |
The Tournées Festival of French Film |
Yamina Benguigui |
| More |
| Description |
“The Glass Ceiling” is an American sociological expression referring to the invisible, impalpable barrier that prevents women from reaching the same level as men in their careers. Using this metaphor, Yamina Benguigui examines the integration of immigrants in the workplace. For her, the comparison between immigrants and women is relevant because they face the same challenges: the issue is not necessarily about finding work, but about being hired for positions of responsibility that correspond to their educational backgrounds. The film provides deeply moving testimonies of qualified students who, because of their obviously foreign last names, were not called back for job interviews. Some chose to fight for jobs for which they are qualified, others gave up and accepted positions with less or no responsibilities. |
Additional
Information |
Free with Rice ID or $5 without
All films in French with English subtitles |
|
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Mar. 14 7:00 PM
|
CHATS PERCHÉS The Case of the Grinning Cat |
The Tournées Festival of French Film |
Chris Marker |
| More |
| Description |
In his newest film, French cinema-essayist Chris Marker reflects on art, culture and politics at the start of the new millennium. In November 2001, he became intrigued by the sudden appearance of grinning yellow cat paintings on Paris buildings and public surfaces, and began to document the mysterious materializations of this charming feline. Purportedly looking to solve the mystery of this unknown artist, dubbed M. Chat, the filmmaker uses it instead as a springboard to examine the city's changing social climate -- from the pro-American feelings generated shortly after Sept. 11, to the anti-Bush and Iraq War demonstrations that have become so prevalent. |
Additional
Information |
Free with Rice ID or $5 without
All films in French with English subtitles |
|
 |
Mar. 19 7:00 PM
|
VERS LE SUD Heading South |
The Tournées Festival of French Film |
Laurent Cantet |
| More |
| Description |
In the late 1970's, Ellen, a 55-year-old college teacher of French literature, takes her annual vacation at an out-of-the-way Haitian resort. She is the queen bee among unattached middle-aged women from Europe and North America who come to Haiti to have sex with poor black boys whom they pay with both expensive gifts and money. Without judging the characters, the film, adapted from three stories by Dany Laferrière, explores the intersections of cultural imperialism, sexual tourism and women's liberation in a repressive dictatorship. Much as the proud Haitian hotel workers loathe the rich visitors who exploit them, they desperately welcome their needed dollars. These relationships may be commercial, but they are also tender. Weighing the value of erotic pleasure and the emotional risks involved in its pursuit, the women address questions of sex, love, aging, loneliness and desire in blunt personal monologues. The film is a powerful reminder that individual behavior and attitudes are closely intertwined with global political issues. |
Additional
Information |
Free with Rice ID or $5 without
All films in French with English subtitles |
|
 |
Mar. 26 7:00 PM
|
CACHÉ Hidden |
The Tournées Festival of French Film |
Mickael Haneke |
| More |
| Description |
Georges, the television host of a literary magazine, and his wife Anne are living a perfect life of modern comfort and security. One day, their world is disrupted when they receive a videotape from an anonymous source. On it, they discover that their house had been filmed by a hidden camera. As more tapes arrive wrapped in drawings that are disturbingly violent and personal, the walls of security that Georges and Anne have felt around them begin to crumble. Georges launches his own investigation and secrets from his past are revealed. As a young child, Georges was confronted by his parents’ wishes to adopt Majid, the son of their Algerian farm workers who disappeared in Paris during the police brutality that followed the October 17, 1961 demonstration. Georges made up a lie about Majid who was put into foster care. As this memory resurfaces, Georges is faced with the fact that Majid’s life could have turned out differently if he had stayed with his family. He could have received an education but instead endured a life of poverty. A psychological thriller that masterfully brings the viewer into the story, Caché is as much a searing commentary on France’s bourgeoisie and its colonial heritage as it is about father-son relationships. |
Additional
Information |
Free with Rice ID or $5 without
All films in French with English subtitles |
|
 |
Mar. 28 7:00 PM
|
Hell of a Note |
Eagle Pennell Film Series-Wood Burning Cinema |
Eagle Pennell |
| More |
| Description |
Two manual laborers lose their jobs tarring roofs and retreat to the bar to nurse their wounded pride. |
Additional
Information |
(USA, 1977, 28 min)
$6/$5 admission
A panel discussion will be held after the screenings. Panelists include the film’s actors, Lou Perryman and Sonny Davis as well as Mark Rance who restored the films, Edward Hugetz, Eagle’s executive producer and current Vice-Provost at the University of Houston and Kim Henkel, who in addtion to writing Texas Chainsaw Massacre wrote and co-produced with Eagle. |
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Mar. 28 7:00 PM
|
King of Texas |
Eagle Pennell Film Series-Wood Burning Cinema |
Mark Rance and Chuck Pinnell |
| More |
| Description |
A lively portrait of the life and work of Eagle Pennell. It features interviews with cast and crew from several of Eagle’s films, as well as Austin legends Willie Nelson, Ray Benson, Rick Linkletter, Bud Schrake and Louis Black. |
Additional
Information |
(England, 2007)
A panel discussion will be held after the screenings. Panelists include the film’s actors, Lou Perryman and Sonny Davis as well as Mark Rance who restored the films, Edward Hugetz, Eagle’s executive producer and current Vice-Provost at the University of Houston and Kim Henkel, who in addtion to writing Texas Chainsaw Massacre wrote and co-produced with Eagle. |
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| |
Mar. 29 1:00 PM
|
Master's Class with Lou Perryman and Sonny Davis |
|
|
| More |
| Description |
Lou Perryman and Sonny Davis will join our film faculty to lead
discussions on filmmaking.
Texas-born character actor, playwright, and filmmaker Lou Perryman
has appeared in films such as The Blues Brothers, Poltergeist, and
Boys Don't Cry. His stage acting credits include The Time of Your
Life, Fool for Love and In the West.
Sonny Davis began his film career from an earlier stint on the music
scene in Austin in the 1970s. His film career began when he was cast
as on of the two lead characters in Eagle Pennell's film, The Whole
Shootin' Match. |
|
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Mar. 29 7:00 PM
|
The Whole Shootin’ Match |
Eagle Pennell Film Series-Wood Burning Cinema |
Eagle Pennell |
| More |
| Description |
Made for just $20,000, Robert Redford credits this film as his inspiration for creating the Sundance Institute. An affectionate and often funny look at two Texas buddies, losers who refuse to give up on their dreams of striking it rich. The dreamers spend their days going from bar to bar and one get-rich-quick scheme to another…but maybe not getting there is the most fun… |
Additional
Information |
A panel discussion will be held after the screening. Panelists will include Lou Perryman, Sonny Davis, Mark Rance and Kim Henkel |
|
| |
Mar. 31 7:00 PM
|
Les Invasions Barbares |
The Tournees Festival of French Film |
|
| |
 |
Apr. 4 7:30 PM
|
The Cassidy Kids |
|
Jacob Vaughan |
| More |
| Description |
25 years ago, five suburban kids stumbled on a murder in their
sleepy hometown and led police to the killer. Two years later, "The Cassidy Kids Mysteries," a Saturday morning TV show based on their
story, made its premiere. A terrifying real-life story became a
brightly-lit colorful world of adventure. A bloodless kidnapping
> replaced the murder. The kids' personalities were reduced to ridiculous stereotypes. And the show was a huge hit. It ran for
four years and spawned lunch boxes, a line of children's underwear
and a set of action figures still in demand today.
Now, in preparation for the show's DVD release, a documentary team
has invited all five of the "real" Cassidy Kids back home to talk
about how it all began. But as this reunion unfolds, the mystery
they thought they solved begins to unravel.
The Cassidy Kids was produced by Burnt Orange Productions. |
Additional
Information |
Starring: Kadeem Hardison, Anne Ramsay, Jonathon Lewis, Rusty Kelley, Judah Friedlander and introducing Tiger Darrow
Q & A with producer Bryan Poyser following the screening |
|
| |
Apr. 16 7:00 PM
|
Cinematheque |
Cinematheque Series |
|
| More |
| Description |
The Cinematheque series is a return to the principles that gave birth
to film societies; people meeting to share their ideas, opinions and
passion for film. Sponsored by VADA, and hosted by Margarita De la
Vega-Hurtado, these sessions experience and encounter movies thru
exhibition and discussion. In this session, Cinematheque explores
watching movies, then and now. What started as a collective and
public experience has become predominatly personal and individual in
the 21st Century. The implied unity of time and space can now be
easily altered by watching film individually in different places and
at different times. |
|
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Apr. 24 8:05 PM
|
Flicks |
Rice Student Film Show |
|
| More |
| Description |
Annual Rice University student film show. This screening features Rice University student film projects expressed in a broad range of cinematic genres. |
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| |
May. 3 3:00 PM
|
Lovers, Liars and Lunatics |
|
Amber Benson |
| More |
| Description |
"Lovers, Liars and Lunatics" is a dark, screwball comedy about a
neurotic suburban family that gets held hostage in their home by
two inept burglars. Only as the night progresses do we realize that
the Machiavellian machinations of the family are actually drawing
the burglars further and further into their nefarious familial
schemes, until reality blurs, and we no longer know who we should
be rooting for: the family, or the burglars. --Amber Benson
(www.loversliarsandlunatics.com)
Actress/filmmaker Amber Benson's second feature "Lovers, Liars and
Lunatics" is something of a marvel, a really tight, consistently
entertaining and inventive little film that is impressive
technically and artistically. --Screenwriter/Director David
Greenberg (indietalk.com)
For more information and to purchase tickets online, go to
www.swamp.org/exhibition. |
|
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May. 16 7:00 PM
|
Ya Ana Ya Haifa and Shadow of Absence |
Palestinian Film Festival |
Shady Srour |
| More |
| Description |
Best Dramatic Short in the Al Awda Festival, Ramallah.
Nabeel, a Palestinian journalist, is leading an impossible romantic relationship with Sama’a, a Palestinian refugee living in Denmark. She tries to bring him out of Haifa, so they can live as a normal couple far from political pressures. |
|
 |
May. 17 7:00 PM
|
Iraqi and Palestinian Shorts |
Palestinian Film Festival |
Multiple |
| More |
| Description |
Be Quiet (Sameh Zoabi, 19 minutes)
Land Confiscation Order (Larissa Sansour, 10 minutes)
Ya ana…Ya Haifa (Shady Srour, 15 minutes)
The Shooter (Ihab Jadallah, 7 minutes)
A day in Palestine (Mary Ellen Davis, 5 minutes)
A Candle For Shabandar Café (Emad Ali, 23 minutes) |
|
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May. 18 7:00 PM
|
The Shooter and Driving to Zigzagland |
Palestinian Film Festival |
Nicole Ballivian |
| More |
| Description |
Winner of Best Film Award at Amal Film Festival, Spain
Winner of Best Actor Award at Amal Film Festival, Spain
Winner of Audience Award at Arabian Sights Film Festival
A chronicle of a day in the life of a Palestinian cab driver in Los Angeles, Driving to Zigzigland portrays the social struggleof the arab immigrant in post 9/11 America. Shot in Los Angeles and Palestine, based on true stories. |
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