PLAYING WITH CINEMA It’s February and what always pops into my mind this month is “Black History Month.” Not everyone buys into it being just a month: You can meet Shukree Hassan Tilghman, a 29-year-old African American filmmaker, who is on a cross-country campaign to expand our study of black history in this month’s pick for HoustonPBS’s “Community Cinema” (www.communitycinema.org) series, presented in conjunction with Documentary Alliance (www.documentaryalliance.org). More Than a Month airs 2/22, 7pm, at Rice Cinema (www.film.rice.edu) and Mr. Tilghman will be in attendance. The Landmark River Oaks (www.landmarktheatres.com) has a fine lineup of midnighters – The Theatre Bizarre (2/3-2/4), The Room (2/10) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (2/11) – and be sure to catch their special one-night-only event: the opera film, 3 Superstars in Berlin, on 2/1. Sundance Cinemas Houston (www.sundancecinemas.com) is also hosting special limited presentations this month – their new series of projected shows from the National Theatre of London features a screening of the play Traveling Light (2/13, 7pm and 2/18, 12:30pm).

LOVE and MUSIC My Heart Is an Idiot caught my eye, since it’s the month of l-o-v-e. It’s screening on 2/9, 7:30pm at the River Oaks Theatre and is part of this month’s schedule by the Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org). This romantic documentary captures the road-tripping lifestyle of author, filmmaker, contributor to radio show “This American Life” and editor/publisher of FOUND Magazine Davy Rothbart who looks for love in all places. Prior to the screening, he’ll be presenting a special mini love-themed live performance. (This is the guy who made a “masturbation movie” so who knows what will happen!) It’s also time for APS’s annual “Soul Nite!” films at the El Dorado Ballroom on 2/24, 7pm; curator Peter Lucas will be in attendance and you’ll get to boogie to James Brown, Sam & Dave, Barbara Lynn, Rufus Thomas, Wilson Pickett and many more. Studio Movie Grill (www.studiomoviegrill.com) at City Centre (where the old Town and Country Mall was) has a couple of great art films this month: 3 Superstars in Berlin (2/1, 7pm) and ReGeneration (2/16 and 2/23, 8pm), a documentary with five of the most influential electronic producers/DJs in music today – Mark Ronson, DJ Premier, The Crystal Method, Pretty Lights and Skrillex. Grab your teens for that one!

MUSEUMS, FESTIVALS and AWARDS The Health Museum (www.thehealthmuseum.org) gets up close and personal with humans in Planet You 3D, a collaboration with the Museum of Science, Boston – catch it on the hour, every hour. Down the street, “Surprise Cinema!” is still happening at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org). This month’s “surprise” film will unroll on 2/10 and 2/11. Other films they are unrolling are El Bulli: Cooking in Progress (2/3 and 2/4, 7pm); The Mummy (the1932 film is a perfect complement to the Museum’s King Tut show and it’s unrolling on 2/3 and 2/4 at 9pm) and Le Havre (2/18, 1pm and 7pm and 2/19, 5pm). If you saw Richard Linklater’s 1991 film Slacker, you’ll love Slacker 2011, a stream-of-consciousness chronicle by 24 of Austin’s top filmmakers (2/17, 7pm). Live and Become (2/20, 7pm) is the Menil Collection Director Josef Helfenstein’s choice for “Movies Houstonians Love.” It’s the story of an Ethiopian boy relocated to Israel during Operation Moses. And down yet another nearby street, the 19th annual “Iranian Film Festival” returns to Rice Media Center (www.ricecinema.rice.edu) February 3-5. The Houston Film Critics Society held their annual “Awards Show” at the MFAH last month; among the winners were The Descendants (Best Picture), I Saw the Devil (Best Foreign Film) and Your Highness (Worst Film). Both Mary Lampe, Executive Director of SWAMP (www.swamp.org), and Hunter Todd, Executive Director of Worldfest (www.worldfest.org), were given Outstanding Achievement awards. Congrats to my two friends!

ART FILMS ARE GOOD FOR THE SOUL…TAKE A FRIEND TO ONE.

By Sarah Gish

Yikes! It’s 2012…the year the Mayans and Nostradamus say will end it all. I prefer to shine a positive light – the world ain’t ending, ya’ll – it’s just a new beginning for us! I am knocking on wood and hoping that part of our new world is a strong economy and in my magical crystal ball, I see Houston’s small businesses leading the way down the green brick road. Since I focus on the film faves of notable Houstonians each January, this year I turned to successful small biz retailers.

Thankfully, Denise Welling of Body Mind & Soul sees this year as a spiritually positive one so it’s no surprise that she loves the 1947 film The Bishop’s Wife. “The story is quite simple: a bishop (David Niven) prays for help in building a grand cathedral while trying to satisfy the needs of the demanding patron who is backing the project. An angel by the name of Dudley (Cary Grant) arrives in answer to his prayer, but shows him that what he really wants is not a cathedral, but a deeper relationship with his wife, Julia (Loretta Young). This movie is beautiful to me on so many levels – the most obvious is that you get help from a higher source when you ask for it and that sometimes what you think you want is not what you are truly yearning for.”

Danish woman Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) is darn sure she yearns to leave her womanizing husband in Debbie Scholl’s favorite movie, Out of Africa (and who wouldn’t, when cute Denys Finch-Hatton, played by Robert Redford, is waiting for her?!). The owner of FUNdamentally Toys says, “I’m attracted to the movie because of Blixen’s strength and courage and her diplomacy and her passion, all of which are mixed with a deep love and respect for Finch-Hatton. Filmed in Kenya, the photography is breathtaking and the musical score punctuates the intensity of events as they unfold.”

“One of my favorite films ever is a documentary called Seamless,” says Chloe Dao, fashion designer and owner of Lot 8 boutique. “It’s about well-known designers, including Proenza Schouler and Doo-Ri Chung, who were competing to win the CFDA award in 2005. I love this film because it shows the nitty-gritty part of fashion and the brutal reality. You can have tons of press and celebrities wearing your clothes and still be in debt. The film shows some of the personal and private struggles of very talented designers that I relate to. It lets me know I am not alone. I would recommend this film to all aspiring fashion designers or anyone who is interested in that industry.”

The most surprising film choice I ran across?
Lucy Chambers, book maven and Editorial Director at Bright Sky Press, would put on a boxing mask for Jack Black’s hilarious Nacho Libre. It just goes to show you: you can’t judge a book girl by her cover.

Happy 2012 and may your light shine bright all year long!

SURPRISE ME, BABY

What a fun idea: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) Film and Video Curator Marian Luntz has cleverly scheduled a “surprise” film to unroll 12/16-17 at 7pm and 12/18 at 5pm! Their other films this month take us to France (“Rohmer x 2” series of Eric Rohmer films from 12/9-11) and Taiwan (“Spotlight on World Cinema” series running from 12/2-4). They wrap up the holidays with Being Elmo (12/27-31), a doc on Kevin Clash, creator of the red-topped cutie. Dovetailing nicely with that, Studio Movie Grill (www.studiomoviegrill.com) is screening The Muppets as their special needs film on 12/3, 11am. Also on 12/3, Stitched (www.stitchedfilm.com), the lovely film about quilters, is screening at the Central Library at 2pm. The holidays always feature feel-good movies – and this year’s winner (in my mind anyway) is We Bought a Zoo, based on the book We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo and the 200 Zoo Animals that Changed Their Lives Forever. It’s coming out 12/23 “to a theatre near you.”

BRAINS AND WAR

Bring your brain to this month’s ever-provocative Cinema Bomar (www.cinemabomar.org) screening – it’s on 12/28 at Domy Books and features short films that include hostile stick figures being told that big business is best and an 89-year-old man that has been building a castle in Ohio for 50+ years (Orange Show creator Jeff McKissack’s long lost bro?). Women and war is the subject of Lioness, this month’s pick for HoustonPBS’s “Community Cinema” (www.communitycinema.org) series on 12/14, 7pm at Rice Cinema (www.film.rice.edu). The Landmark River Oaks (www.landmarktheatres.com) will be screening The Skin I Live In; The Descendants; Like Crazy; and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (check with the theatre for showtimes). Their “Midnight Madness” series this month is the classic Home Alone (12/2-3); Rocky Horror Picture Show (12/10 only) and “Santa’s Cool Holiday Film Festival,” featuring Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (12/16-17).14 Pews (www.14pews.org) has two films this month: The Interrupters (12/2) – a film by Hoop Dreams director Steve James about “Violence Interrupters” who work to stop the spread of violence by treating it as an infectious disease – and The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (12/16-18).

TUBE-OFF TOURNAMENT

Finally, YouTube being utilized well on the big screen! The Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org) has turned their annual holiday party (12/15 at the El Dorado Ballroom) into a “Tube-Off Tournament” – the audience picks a theme and two contestants face off to find the most bizarre, funny, festive or heartfelt videos and present them to the audience in a series of fast-paced rounds complete with stopwatches and a huge gong. I’ll be there for sure. And in honor of holiday travel, APS brings us “The Only Way to Fly” with Skip Elsheimer and his A/V Geeks 16 mm educational collection of flying films, appropriately screening at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum on 12/3. If you haven’t been out to that very cool site, I recommend it! It’s on the grounds of the original Hobby Airport and is a great example of well-preserved art deco architecture. As you are reading this, the Sundance Cinema (www.sundancecinemas.net) will have been open for a few weeks. I hope that my fellow moviegoers are adjusting to the reserved seating and the ticket amenity fee while enjoying the gorgeous, woodsy beauty of this new theatre that has been completely redesigned and refurbished just for us. I can’t think of a better holiday present for film lovers in this city!

SUNDANCE IS HERE AND HOME IS AT DIVERSEWORKS

Partnerships in the film community abound this month and we’ve got a couple of film festivals on board. So mark your calendars now and get out there to support our town’s theatres. But first: Big news this month is that the new Sundance Cinemas Houston (www.sundancecinemas.com) in Bayou Place is scheduled to open on November 23, just in time for Thanksgiving films (and they promise a full bar and restaurant, yippee!). We are only the third market for Sundance, after San Francisco and Madison. I can’t wait to enter the doors of that beautiful theatre once again! DiverseWorks keeps rocking it with their “Flickerlounge” series through 12/17; this month they’ll have a series of short films and music videos by filmmaker Braden King. It’s co-presented by the Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org) and the films explore the nostalgic feeling of home. Speaking of the Aurora Picture Show, they’re teaming up with the Houston Cinema Arts Society to present Braden King and his multi-platform motion picture HERE as part of the Cinema Arts Festival Houston from November 10-12. The alternative film and video scene of San Fran is the topic of the “Radical Light Book Tour and Screening Series” sponsored by the Aurora and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) at the MFAH on 11/20, 2pm and 5pm.

FAVE FILMS AND OUTDOOR FUN

Mary Lampe picked one of my fave films, Wim Wender’s Wings of Desire, for this month’s “Movie Houstonians Love” series at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org). Also on at the MFAH will be “Spotlight on World Cinema: Korea”; the revival of The Man Who Fell to Earth with the very excellent alien, David Bowie; and the premiere of One Lucky Elephant. Cinema Bomar (www.cinemabomar.org) heads to trippy, druggy San Francisco with Drugs in the Tenderloin on 11/30 while over at 14 Pews (www.14pews.org), they’ve got lots of happenings, including Semper Fi: Always Faithful (11/4 & 11/5) and “Science on Screen” films (11/21) as well as From My Cold Dead Fingers, a new play by my crazy friend Joel Orr that’s onstage 11/11-11/19. HoustonPBS continues their fab “Community Cinema” (www.communitycinema.org) series on 11/30, 7pm, at Rice Media Center with We Still Live Here, on 11/30, 7pm – it’s the story of linguist Jane Little Doe’s revival of the Wampanoag language more than a century after the last native speaker died. For outdoor film fun, head to Miller Outdoor Theatre (www.milleroutdoortheatre.org) on 11/5, 7:30pm, for their “Sing-A-Long Movies” series with Grease (Rockin’ Rydell Edition) and to Discovery Green (www.discoverygreen.com) for Toy Story 3 (11/3, 7pm) and The Cameraman (11/4, 7:30pm), accompanied by Loreta Kovacic on a Houston Piano Company (www.houstonpianocompany.com) piano.

FILM FESTS

The Cinema Arts Festival Houston (www.cinemartsociety.org) is back for its third terrific year and had a great lineup of films at press time, with more to be procured by creative director Richard Herskowitz. The fest will have screenings at various venues around town and will kick off on 11/9 with the regional premiere of Downtown Express, the story of the colliding worlds of classical and raucous music – the film’s main character, Russian-American violinist Phillipe Quint, will perform while the director, David Grubin, will also be in attendance for a q-and-a. The Festival will close out on 11/13 at 7pm with the premiere of Art Car: The Movie at Miller Outdoor Theatre; filmmakers Ford Gunter and Carlton Ahrens will also be in attendance as will gobs of art cars. Rice Media Center (www.ricecinema.rice.edu) is host to the “Festival of Contemporary Films from India,” (chaocenter.rice.edu/filmfestival.aspx) organized by the Chao Center for Asian Studies, from 11/4-11/6. Directors Moinak Biswas and Shalini Usha Nair will be in attendance and the festival pays tribute to Mani Kaul, avant garde filmmaker from India, who passed away in 2011. His film In Two Minds will be screened on 11/5, 7pm. All films are subtitled in English and admission is free. And it’s time again for the Annual Jewish Book and Arts Fair (http://www.erjcchouston.org/arts/39th-annual-jewish-book-arts-fair/) which runs 10/30-11/13 and features several films including “Grace Paley: Collected Shorts” about the American-Jewish short story writer, activist and poet.

By Sarah Gish

FALL = GHOSTS
Ah, October! Cooler weather and horror films! The Landmark River Oaks (www.landmarktheatres.com) has a full lineup of gross-out films: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (9/30 & 10/1); Human Centipede II, The Full Sequence (10/7 & 10/8 and 10/14 & 10/15); The Nightmare Before Christmas (10/14 & 15); Zombie (10/21 & 10/22); and the tried and true Rocky Horror Picture Show for Halloween weekend (10/28 & 10/29) while Miller Outdoor Theatre (www.milleroutdoortheatre.com) is screening the classic Lon Chaney, Jr. 1941 film, The Wolfman (10/31, 7:30pm). ● 14 Pews (www.14pews.org) is celebrating their one year anniversary on October 15 with a party at the chic Heights home of Board member Leann Mueller. Tickets are $100 and get you lots of entertainment that night (think Puppet Pizzazz and St. Arnold’s beer) as well as entry to two members-only events in November and December. The 14 Pews schedule is full this month: They kick it off on October 1 with a performance by the Angelus Harp Ensemble and then onscreen will be Tony & Janina’s American Wedding (10/7 & 10/8); The Boy Mir (10/8 & 10/9); King Corn (10/14); The Swell Season (10/19-10/23); Buck (10/21 & 10/22); and Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone (10/26-10/28).

GREEN AND WILD
If you can’t handle the late hour of the midnight screening of The Nightmare Before Christmas at the River Oaks, catch it at Discovery Green’s (www.discoverygreen.com) “Scream on the Green” event on 10/29, 6pm, where they’ll have the film, a costume contest, prizes, music and more. They’re also screening Rio (10/28) and Charlie Chaplin shorts with KUHF-FM (10/14), which will be accompanied live by Loreta Kovacic on a piano courtesy Houston Piano Company (www.houstonpianocompany.com). ● “Donald Moffett: The Extravagant Vein” is on view at the Contemporary Arts Museum (www.camh.org) – his paintings of landscapes and political themes incorporate film and video in unique ways. ● Adventure awaits at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (www.hmns.org), which has the IMAX® films Born To Be Wild (the story of love between humans and animals) and Sea Rex (an underwater journey to the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods) and from October 7-9, the Bayou City Inspirational Film Fest (www.bciff.com) is in town.

BIKERS MIX WITH FASHION
Studio Movie Grill (www.studiomoviegrill.com) is hosting a free special needs screening of Dolphin Tale (10/1, 11am) and their SMG $1 movie classic this month is, appropriately, Evil Dead (10/20, 7:30pm). ● The Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org) folks are taking a teeny break of sorts by putting a hold on screenings to host their “11th Annual Aurora Award Dinner” on 10/27, 6:30pm. It’s chaired by John Guess, Jr. at the home of Jim McAlister; the award this year will go to pioneer video and performance artist Joan Jonas. Shady Tavern Ice House is hosting the Rockers vs. Mods (http://rockers-vs-mods.com/) for screenings the last Wednesday of each month; this month they’ve chosen On Any Sunday (10/26). ● The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) has been selling out screenings on a regular basis – this is great news, so be sure to get there early! This month they are kicking off their seventh season of “Movies Houstonians Love” with fashion designer Alexandra Knight’s favorite flick, Bill Cunningham New York, screening one time only on 10/24, 7pm. They’re getting into the ghoulish season with two Halloween-inspired films, Kuroneko (10/28-30) and The Strange Case of Angelica (10/29-30). ● Rice Media Center (www.ricecinema.rice.edu) has Being There (10/1); Throne of Death (10/5), which is part of the “Festival of Contemporary Indian Cinema”; and Deaf Jam (10/19), which is part of HoustonPBS’s “Community Cinema” series and the “Our Image Fall Film and Arts Celebration” (www.ourimagefest.com) on 10/21. ● And finally, Rob Arcos, former owner of MOVIES! The Store, has been selected as the Theatre Manager for the new Sundance Cinemas at Bayou Place, scheduled to open next month. I can’t wait to see where Rob will take us!

By Sarah Gish

GOD’S BUSINESS

God is a young, ambitious theology entrepreneur trying to solicit his first client, a hard-headed man by the name of Abraham. So opens This is Sodom, the second installment in the three-part “Summer Israeli Film Series,” presented by the Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest and the Jewish Community Center of Houston (www.jcchouston.org). As the film unrolls, we get a peek into the imagined last week of history’s most infamous “City of Sin”! This is Sodom is onscreen at the JCC on 7/20, 7:30pm. · The not-yet-built Houston Museum of African American Culture (www.hmaac.org) and Our Image Film and Arts (www.ourimagefest.com) present “The 2011 HMAAC Film Series” which features screenings on the last Thursday of the month through 10/27/11. All screenings are scheduled for 7pm and are free and open to the public. This month’s installment is The Trials of Darryl Hunt on 7/28, 7pm, at S.H.A.P.E. Community Center, 3815 Live Oak Street.

SPACEY FUN

If you’ve been hankering for old biker movies, Rockers vs. Mods (rockers-vs-mods.com/) has got you covered: the last Wednesday of each month, you can sidle up to the bar at Shady Tavern Ice House in the Heights and get Lone Star Specials and an outdoor screening. This month’s pick: I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle on 7/27 at 7:30pm. · Switching gears, Landmark Theatres (www.landmarktheatres.com) is opening its 19th-century Chinese drama, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan on 7/22; Miller Outdoor Theatre (www.milleroutdoortheatre.com) is screening 2001: A Space Odyssey on 7/1, 8:30pm; and Rave Motion Pictures (www.ravemotionpictures.com) is scheduled to open Devil’s Double on 7/29. · The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) turns its lens on Bill Cunningham, “photographer and Schwinn-riding cultural anthropologist,” and his films on 7/8, 7/15 and 7/22, as well as on life in the 1840s with Meek’s Cutoff, screening 5 nights this month. For the lowdown on kids’ summer film fun, check out www.thesummerbook.com/gishpicks/gishpicks_060111.htm#summer.

QFEST IS HERE

I’m thrilled to announce that QFest (www.q-fest.org), Houston’s GLBTQ Festival is celebrating its “Queerceañera” (15th anniversary!) from 7/28 – 8/1 with a showcase of shorts and features from around the world and screenings at Rice Media Center (film.rice.edu/Events.aspx) and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org), as well as an outdoor screening at Discovery Green (www.discoverygreen.com) on 7/30 of the Olivia Newton-John/Gene Kelly/ELO musical, Xanadu. The short schedule is packed with two special presentations including a 20th-anniversary screening of acclaimed director Todd Haynes’ audacious feature debut, Poison, and tributes to both legendary filmmaker Kenneth Anger (co-sponsored by the Aurora Picture Show, the MFAH and SWAMP) and legendary leading lady Elizabeth Taylor. On August 1, festival director Kristian Salinas has organized a special tribute to the Festival’s founders (which includes yours truly) and the closing night screening of fun new comedy, Violet Tendencies. Congrats, QFest! · Catch “Stan Vanderbeek: The Culture Intercom” at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (www.camh.org) before it is whisked away on 7/10. Vanderbeek is known for his pioneering efforts in animation art, video collage, multiscreen projections, multimedia happenings and computer art. And on 7/14, 6:30pm, check out their “Video Jam,” co-presented by the Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org).

· Lastly, I have a correction: I apologize for listing the Mitchell Center for the Arts’ website incorrectly in last month’s column; it’s actually www.mitchellcenterforarts.org. Now you have no excuse!

By Sarah Gish

RELIEF FROM THE HEAT

It’s June and Houston sidewalks are heating up so step into an air-conditioned movie theatre for some relief. HoustonPBS’s monthly “Community Cinema” (communitycinema.org) installment is in honor of Gay Pride Month. Two Spirits sounds like an extremely moving film about Fred Martinez, who was brutally murdered at 16, one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history. It’s screening Wednesday, 6/18, 7pm at Rice Cinema (www.ricecinema.rice.edu). · Speaking of gay pride, check out www.pridehouston.org for a listing of local fabu events which culminate in a daytime Festival and nighttime Parade on Saturday, June 25. · The managers at Studio Movie Grill (www.studiomoviegrill.com) are excited to host screenings of a special recorded performance of Stephen Sondheim’s Tony award-winning musical, “Company of 15,” on 6/15, 6/16 and 6/21 at 7:30pm and 6/19 at 2pm. Switching gears, they’re also hosting a “$1 SMG Classic” screening of Fight Club on 6/16 at 7:30pm.

LAUGHTER AND LOVE

The combination of Owen Wilson and Woody Allen should spark some laughs in Allen’s newest film, Midnight in Paris, scheduled to open 6/3 at the Landmark River Oaks Theatre (www.landmarktheatres.com). · Also onscreen at the historic theatre this month: The Tree of Life (6/10) and Beginners (6/17). · 14 Pews (www.14pews.org) has been busy: they are working with new curators, they have a new artist-in-residence (Emily Sloan), and they are screening Flow, a film about the world water crisis, on 6/14 at 7pm. Their admission is now “pay what you can” so go check them out. · It’s time for the “Annual Summer Israeli Film Series” presented by the Jewish Community Center (www.jcchouston.org) and the Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest. Kicking off the Fest is The Matchmaker on 6/29 at 7:30pm at the JCC and it continues with installments on 7/20 and 8/17 (stay tuned here for details). · The Matchmaker is set in the 1960s and addresses the desire for love at its core. · Cinemark (www.cinemark.com) has made a commitment to screening art films in theatres across the country including the Cinemark Market Square in The Woodlands, so check out their schedule if you’re in that ’hood.

QUILTS, POETRY & FILM APPRECIATION

After traveling across the country for screenings, Chron-writer-turned-indie-filmmaker Jena Moreno is finally bringing her first film, Stitched (www.stitchedfilm.com), to Houston audiences on 6/1 and 6/2 at 7pm in a presentation co-sponsored by The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (where it will be screened) and the Houston Cinema Arts Society. Stitched is a fun-filled documentary following three quilters as they race to complete their entries for the International Quilt Festival, the largest quilt show in the nation held annually in Houston. · The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) is also screening South Korean film Poetry (Shi) one weekend only, 6/24 & 6/25 at 7pm and 6/26 at 5pm and 7:30pm. It’s a touching film about a woman in her 60s who moves through life with elegance and a dash of eccentricity. On a whim, she enrolls in a poetry class and begins a personal quest to find the perfect words to describe her feelings – but she’s plagued by the onset of Alzheimer’s.  · The Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org) is bringing films to Discovery Green (6/3, 7pm), Boheme Café and Wine Bar (6/9, 5pm) and Molly Gochman’s Studio (6/17, 8pm & 6/18, 3pm and 5pm followed by a 6:30pm picnic); check their website for details. Want to raise kids who are cinephiles? Sign them up for “Cine-Kids: Film Appreciation 101” at events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=gw77jtbab&oeidk=a07e3m4z15pbb05a607. · Speaking of kids, if you have the attention span of a 5-year-old boy, check out the Golden Trailer Awards (www.goldentrailer.com) held annually in June in Los Angeles (and available online after the ceremony).

NEW LIFE

This is a great month: not only do I get to celebrate Mother’s Day and the Art Car Parade but now we can all do the victory dance because indie-film-happy Sundance Cinemas (www.sundancecinemas.net) has chosen Houston, specifically the former Angelika Film Center’s site, as the home for their third theatre in the U.S. Plans include extensive physical plant improvements (estimated at $2.2 mil) and a November 1 opening, just in time for the holidays and the annual Cinema Arts Festival. • I’ve marked my calendar for May 3, 8pm, because I plan on belting out “Eye of the Tiger” at the Aurora Picture Show’s (www.aurorapictureshow.org) “Power Ballads Sing-a-Long,” presented in conjunction with “Rock of Ages” onstage with Theatre Under The Stars (www.tuts.org) from May 31-June 12. • See glimpses of Houston, Brad Pitt and Sean Penn in Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life which finally opens this month (5/27) at Rave Motion Pictures (www.ravemotionpictures.com) and theatres around town. • The Houston Art Car Parade is May 22 so look for my newest creation, “Hubba Hubba Art Car,” and a snippet of Art Car: The Movie (www.artcarthemovie.com).

TEXAS, PALESTINE and CIVIL RIGHTS

Happy 175th, Texas! The Houston Museum of Natural Science (www.hmns.org) is celebrating our state’s 1836 birth with Texas: The Big Picture, a panoramic view of the diverse people and land that make Texas great. Speaking of 175th birthdays, our darlin’ city is also blowing out candles for theirs and in honor of this, musician Leah White is releasing a new album this summer focused entirely on historic Houston landmarks, “Houston: Our Roots Are Strong” (www.ourrootsarestrong.com) which will be accompanied by a short film of the sites by Jamie Adams of Barking Bear Productions. Check out the website, especially if you want to help with funding! • HoustonPBS’s (www.houstonpbs.org) monthly “Community Cinema” installment is Welcome to Shelbyville, a film about a town grappling with the difficulties of racial integration, onscreen 5/18, 7pm, at Rice Cinema (www.ricecinema.rice.edu). Rice is also dimming the lights on 5/13 & 5/14 at 7pm for the Houston Palestine Film Festival (www.hpff.org), which is celebrating its fifth anniversary (HPFF is also at the MFAH on 5/20 & 5/21). • Freedom Now (www.freedomnow.org) is screening civil rights films every Saturday in May at 3pm at the African American Library at the Gregory School. • And several organizations around town screen films each month but don’t always have their schedules in time for my column, so check them out: 14 Pews (www.14pews.org); Brazilian Arts Foundation (www.brazilianartsfoundation.org);  Alliance Française (www.afdehou.org); Domy Books (www.domybooks.com); Documentary Alliance (www.documentaryalliance.org); SWAMP (www.swamp.org);  Houston Film Commission (www.houstonfilmcommission.com/firstthursdays/);   Alamo Drafthouse (www.drafthouse.com) and Bohemeo’s (www.bohemeos.com). Enjoy!

FLOATING FILMS and FARMING ANTS

“Tex Hex: Pop Up Cinema” combines two of my fave things: Buffalo Bayou and art films. “Tex Hex” is a Simparch (www.simparch.org) floating cinema boat presented by the Mitchell Center (www.mitchellcenterforarts.org) and Buffalo Bayou Partnership (www.buffalobayoupartnership.org) on 5/21, 8pm (for the best viewing spots, pick up a handy-dandy trail map from BBP). • If you keep missing screenings of Laura Harrison and Elizabeth Federici’s film Space, Land and Time: Underground Adventures with Ant Farm, you now have no excuse: you can watch it for free at Discovery Green (www.discoverygreen.org) on 5/22 or from 5/24-5/27 at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org). • The worlds of France, Italy and Iran collide at the MFAH in Certified Copy (Copie conforme), a Juliette Binoche romantic drama onscreen the weekends of May 6 and May 13. • I’ll close by telling you about a fun film app called “Run Pee” (www.runpee.com) – it’ll tell you the best time to visit the loo during a film and what you missed when you were gone. Download it and I promise you’ll stop squirming in your seats.

Around the World

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) and the Fundación PROA (Buenos Aires) present “Latin Wave: New Films from Latin America,” onscreen April 28-May 1. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru are all represented. An interesting program also at the MFAH is the “Zeitgeist Films Trio” featuring films from the longtime indie film distributor’s collection: Lixin Fan’s Last Train Home (4/8-9, 7pm); Richard Press’s Bill Cunningham New York (4/10 & 4/15, 7pm); and Margarethe von Trotta’s Vision:From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (Vision: Aus dem Leben der Hildegard von Bingen) on 4/16 at 7pm and 4/17, 5pm. • Rice Cinema (www.ricecinema.rice.edu) and HoustonPBS (www.houstonpbs.org) are turning their lens on the fascinating story of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto with their screening of Bhutto (4/27, 7pm). Rice Cinema also features their annual “Student Film Screenings” program on 4/6, 7pm.

Native American and Brazilian Films

DiverseWorks (www.diverseworks.org) is hosting “Personal Boundary” in their flickerlounge through 4/16 with films by Artadia winners Michelle Handelman and Carol Saft. “This is Displacement: Native Artists Consider the Relationship Between Land and Identity,” opens at DW on 4/28. The exhibit features the work of 43 contemporary Native American artists from 19 tribal nations across the United States;  ten films are included in this extensive

survey. • The Brazilian Arts Foundation (www.brazilianarts.org) is hosting their free monthly movie night on 4/15, 7:30pm, featuring Trair e Coçar É Só Começar (Cheating in Chains). The Houston Symphony (www.houstonsymphony.org) pays homage to Star Wars and E.T. in a family concert on 4/2, 11:30am at Jones Hall. • And the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts (www.mitchellcenterforarts.org) is hosting a talk with artist and filmmaker Deborah Stratman on 4/29, 7pm at UH Central Campus Dudley Recital Hall (across from the Blaffer Art Museum).

• This year’s 44th Annual “WorldFest–Houston International Film Festival” (www.worldfest.org) is running 4/8-4/17 at the AMC Studio 30; the Festival will present 56 new American independent and foreign films, plus 88 shorts.

Graffiti, Dogs and Shrimp

The Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org) is kicking it up a notch with a much-anticipated screening of local filmmaker Alex Luster’s pic on Houston graffiti artists, Stick ’Em Up!, on 4/7, 7:30pm at the lovely River Oaks Theatre (filmmaker in attendance). I’ve seen a sneak and it’s a fascinating, anonymous world that will make you re-think your boring-ass day job! The Aurora is also hosting two free film programs this month: “Feathers and Fur” with the Humane Society and Market Square Park (4/16, 4pm, Market Square Park) and “Veins in the Gulf” with the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts and Shrimp Boat Projects at the Aurora Picture Show Backyard, 1524 Sul Ross (4/27, 7:30pm). • Rave Motion Pictures (www.ravemotionpictures.com) weighs in with their indie flick this month, Water for Elephants, opening April 22. • The Alamo Drafthouse (www.drafthouse.com) has chosen Back to the Future for their “Rolling Roadshow” on 4/29, 8pm at Market Square Park and they’re also screening the always cool “Banff Mountain Film Festival” at their West Oaks location on 4/5. A West Oaks Mall rep recently said, “We truly value our partnership with Alamo,” so I’m not sure why they made the decision to ink a deal with Edwards Cinemas last month. The practice of theatre booking zones will make double-booking an impossibility, but the new neighbor will certainly affect the Alamo nonetheless. I’m still waiting to hear when the Alamo plans to land inside the Loop and will keep you posted as soon as I know.

By Sarah Gish