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

Imagination Goes Underwater

With news of the Russians drilling to reach prehistoric Lake Vostok, the current Houston Museum of Natural Science (www.hmns.org) film Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World seems much more achievable. It’s the story of a young woman who imagines traveling from a modern-day aquarium to the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods 200 million years ago when sea was all you saw and dinos were nowhere to be found. • I love Andy Warhol and so does the Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org), thankfully. On Friday, 3/4, they’re collaborating with the Menil Collection (www.menilcollection.org) to present “Warhol on TV,” a curated screening of excerpts of works created by or featuring the artist Andy Warhol. The program will include episodes from the 1980’s TV series, “Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes.” • Speaking of TV, if you’ve never seen “The Territory,” the longest running public television showcase of independent film/video in the country produced by our very own Southwest Alternate Media Project (www.swamp.org), check it out. They’re taking submissions now for Season 34.

Culture for All Reasons and Ages

In a gross misuse of cross-cultural understanding, in 2005 the United States unrolled their controversial “Human Terrain System” – a program in which cultural awareness is used as a key element of our counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rice Cinema (www.ricecinema.rice.edu) and the Rice Ethnographic Student Association present a free screening of Human Terrain on Friday, 3/18, 7pm, which is a film exploring the subject in depth. • Continuing with the war theme, Rice Cinema and HoustonPBS (www.houstonpbs.org) present Pushing the Elephant as this month’s “Community Cinema” series on Wednesday, 3/30, 7pm at Rice. It’s the story of a mother and daughter separated during a Congolese civil war who are reunited in Phoenix, Arizona. • Want to relive the 80s? Check out Repo Man, screening at midnight at the Landmark River Oaks Theatre (www.landmarktheatres.com/market/houston/riveroakstheatre.htm) the weekend of March 4 & 5. Their other midnighters this month include The Room (3/11), Rocky Horror Picture Show (3/12), and Shock Treatment (3/18 & 19). • Kid films opening this month:  Mars Needs Moms 3D starting 3/11 at Rave Motion Pictures (www.ravemotionpictures.com) and Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules.

Film Festivals at Home or Away

The Jewish Community Center (www.jcchouston.org) presents the “Jewish Film Festival” this month from March 9-20, screening mostly in their lovely new theatre. Films include The Human Resources Manager and Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags, a documentary on Manhattan’s garment district. The festival heads outdoors to Discovery Green (www.discoverygreen.com) on Thursday, 3/10, for a free screening (thanks to Snap Kitchen) of Holy Rollers, the story of a young Hasidic man’s struggle with personal faith as his life spirals down while selling drugs. • Since it’s March, it’s time for South by Southwest (sxsw.com) and this year is their 25th anny. Woo hoo! If you don’t want to head to Austin for the film fest (which takes place March 11-19), stay home and check out the new Netflix streaming video service or take advantage of Blockbuster’s “Direct Access Movie and Game Rentals” which gets you over 95,000 films in a jiffy. I don’t usually endorse such commercial enterprises, but taking advantage of those services got me some great art films recently so now I am a believer. I think of them as a complement to seeing art films on the big screen since I’ll never stop supporting arthouses (and you better not either!).

By Sarah Gish

This Cinema is for You

Talk of the rodeo, Valentine’s Day and the February 27 Academy Awards® are all grabbing my attention this month as well as a slate of excellent films to see. HoustonPBS (www.houstonpbs.org) continues their “Community Cinema” series with a screening at Rice Cinema

(www.ricecinema.rice.edu) of Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story (2/23). Cyntoia Brown was an average American teenager whose bad decisions led her to a life sentence. The film explores how factors such as biology and family history can doom some youth from the start. Rice Cinema is also presenting the “Iranian Film Festival” on 2/4 and 2/5. The Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org) is raising funds for their annual kids’ summer filmmaking camp by presenting another “Soul Nite!” (2/4 and 2/5 at El Dorado Ballroom). I went to the first one and it was a treat to see greats like Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin in vintage films. They’re also showing Love is a Many-Splintered Thing (2/13) and a fun “Steers and Beers” program (2/26). AMC Entertainment recently launched their “AMC Independent” program so get ready to see more indies on their screens. Rave Motion Pictures (www.ravemotionpictures.com) have been offering some for awhile, such as this month’s Sanctum in 3D.

Love Goes to the Dogs

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) is showing the animated “sometimes love’s a bitch”-marketed film, My Dog Tulip (2/13, 2/14 and 2/20), a bittersweet account of author J. R. Ackerley´s sixteen-year relationship with his German shepherd, Tulip, the love of his life. The MFAH is also showing Texas Legends, Before They Were Legends (2/4) and “2010 Academy Award-Nominated Short Films” (2/11-12 and 2/18-20). DiverseWorks (www.diverseworks.org) and the Aurora Picture Show present “Flickerlounge” at DW which features three videos that parody art, media and religion: Embrace of the Irrational by Jonn Herschend; Frog Jesus by Ben Peters and The Art of Painting #3 by Lily Sparks. The 50th anniversary of the deaths of the 1960 U.S. Figure Skating team and their parents, coaches and judges in a plane crash is being memorialized with the film Rise, presented by Fathom Events (www.fathomevents.com) live at several theatres around town on 2/17. Race to Nowhere is onscreen again on 2/6, 3pm at the Glassell School of Art. Interested in more screenings? Contact shar@sharonengelstein.com.

Traveling Fools

Get out of town virtually with three films this month – the Houston Museum of Natural Science (www.hmns.org) presents Galapagos 3D, an exciting retracing of the groundbreaking footsteps of Charles Darwin and his explorations of the biological diversity and history of Ecuador’s famous islands; Our Image Film and Arts Organization (www.ourimagefest.com) takes us to Africa with Motherland, a sweeping look at Africa’s past and its Pan-African future (2/25 at Taft Street Coffee House); and the Brazilian Arts Foundation (www.brazilianarts.org) presents a Brazilian film (2/18) during their usual screening on the third Friday of each month. 14 Pews (www.14pews.org) is screening Visual Acoustics (2/5); William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe (2/12); Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2/19); and Louder Than A Bomb (2/26). Still not sure what the heck is going on at the Angelika Film Center downtown, which recently posted (and then removed) a sign that stated “New theater coming soon to Bayou Place.” We certainly need more film venues so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!  Maybe Alamo Drafthouse West Oaks (www.alamodrafthouse.com) will take over?!  By the way, they’re celebrating five years at their Mason Park location this month on 2/5 with special fun tbd.

By Sarah Gish

I love Houston so much that I’ve gotten involved with a fundraiser for nonprofit Houston Greeters (www.houstongreeters.org), “Hats Off to Houston.” Houston celebs, including Mayor Annise Parker, Yao Ming and Lyle Lovett, have donated hats that will be auctioned off on eBay until their fundraiser celebration on February 5, 2011, at Winter Street Studios. What does this have to do with films, you cry? I asked several of the hat donors for their fave films for my annual roundup…

I first went to Catherine Anspon, who has recently published a bee-you-tee-ful book, Texas Artists Today. She digs Jane Fonda’s gunslinging alongside Lee Marvin’s slaphappy drunkenness in spoofy western Cat Ballou. “I like the romance and characters of Casablanca, but my all-time favorite is Cat Ballou. It was the first western I saw that had a woman as a hero and I quickly became addicted to it!” Busy, award-winning chef and t’afia restaurant owner Monica Pope told me Rainman was her choice, but didn’t have time to tell me why. My guess based on what I know of Monica? The tender relationship that blossomed between Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise’s characters. Danny Clark is the fab photographer to the stars and for Houston Greeters and his favorite film is National Lampoon’s Vacation. Says Danny: “This film is number one in my book. I personally have aspired to be the “Greatest American Dad” and this movie is my guide. When it came out, it was basically a mirror of the ridiculous events that my family would go through to get to some far-off destination. A movie is special when it reminds you of your own life.”

Artist Sandi Seltzer Bryant is the co-chair of “Hats Off to Houston” and was eager to tell me she goes for

The Way We Were (coincidentally a fave film last year). She told me: I first saw it many,many, many years ago and instantly I was hooked into the Barbra Streisand character. Her strength, independence and insecurities reeled me in – and I also liked her hair transitions. Robert Redford is not bad to look at either! Whenever I have a chance to see the movie or to hear the theme song, I am in a moment of time when all memories are mine.” (Don’t tell Sandi, but I think she looks a little like Babs…in a good way, of course!) Hollywood Frame Gallery owner and classic movie buff Kathleen Connaughton has watched It’s a Wonderful Life dozens of times. “It makes me cry every time.”  Awww….

Ford Gunter loves art cars so much that he and best friend Carlton Ahrens decided to make a film, Art Car: The Movie, coming out sometime this year (stay tuned for details). When he’s not editing his film, he likes to watch compelling movies such as Network (“It pretty much predicted the absurd rise and even-more-absurd dominance of the 24-hour news cycle to a tee.). But Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb gets his love. It was made in 1964 but its relevance today is striking. Rockin’ and award-winning family recording artist Leah White also liked Jane Fonda and Robert Redford, but together in Barefoot in the Park. “It completely reminds me of my husband and me starting out and living on the 3rd floor of an apartment building. Robert Redford is a conservative young attorney and Jane Fonda is a vivacious woman. I crack up every time someone has to truck it up to the top floor in their apartment out of breath and exhausted!” Hmm, Leah married an attorney and she’s vivacious – perhaps art imitated life?!

Happy 2011!

Now get your butt off the couch and go rent some of your personal favorites!

By Sarah Gish | Photography by Danny Clark

FILM NEWS:  closings, openings and anniversaries

I have to start off my column with a R.I.P. for the Angelika Film Center. I was the city manager for Landmark Theatres (www.landmarktheatres.com) when the Angelika came on the scene thirteen years ago. We were all excited and nervous about the newcomer from NYC but quickly appreciated the elegance of the space and the fact that the company was able to expand arthouse offerings in Houston. We invited them to join our newly founded “Gay and Lesbian Film Festival” (now “Q-Fest”), and I went to movies there whenever I could. The good news is that the exit of the Angelika may be only temporary: Their landlord, Bayou Place Limited Partnership, terminated their lease agreement, spurring a dispute that has been referred by the Harris County State Court to arbitration. Rumors are swirling about what will happen to that space and to the space still standing empty at the Alabama Theatre site. I’ve heard that Sundance Cinemas is hankering to come to Houston…as well as Alamo Drafthouse…once I know anything, I’ll let you know.

MFAH and THE AURORA PICTURE SHOW

Anniversaries are in the air – Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa would be 100 years old in 2010 and so the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) is screening a slew of his films through 12/12 (check online for the complete schedule). Their “Movies Houstonians Love” screening will be Chef Bryan Caswell’s favorite film, “The Big Lebowski,” on Monday, 10/25, at 7pm. And continuing the foodie theme, they are premiering “Kings of Pastry” the weekend of 10/29. The new documentary captures four intense days of mixing, piping, sculpting food with 16 French pastry chefs vying for the prestigious Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition. The Aurora Picture

Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org) hosts two events this month: “Indie Documentary Filmmaking: A Conversation” with filmmaker Marcy Garriott

on Sunday, 10/3, at 1pm at the Aurora Video Library, 1524 Sul Ross, and “Times II,” a showcase on 10/8, 7pm, at Barnvelder Movement Complex. This is the second screening of work by UH School of Art students and alumni and it’s curated by faculty member Stephan Hillerbrand. The program will examine the expanded definition of what we see as time-based work and includes single channel video, sound works, performance, live cinema and VJ-ing from alumni and current undergraduate and graduate School of Art students.

14 PEWS and other screens

The former APS space at 800 Aurora Street has been bought by former Los Angeleno Cressandra Thibodeaux, who has freshened up interior space, kitchen area and patio and has added a small stage and made the pews moveable. Just as Andrea Grover took the former 1924 church space and turned it into a special community gathering spot, Cressandra seems to be taking it one step further and creating a space for all kinds of events and the new organization she has founded to support it, 14 Pews (www.14pews.org). Screening there on Friday, October 1, will be Chico Colvard’s “Family Affair,” a film about incest. Chico will be in attendance at the screening and there’s a possible panel discussion in the works. Other venues screening films this month: HoustonPBS’ “Community Cinema 2” (www.houstonpbs.org) is screening “Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian” by Canadian filmmaker Neil Diamond on Wednesday, 10/20, 7pm at Rice Cinema; “Flickerlounge” at DiverseWorks (www.diverseworks.org) features two short documentaries that take an intimate look at people and communities affected by Katrina, through 10/17; and “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” opens 10/8 (theatre tbd). Support the organization that supports artists and filmmakers: Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts (www.tala.org) is holding their annual fundraiser on Saturday, 10/2, 7:30pm with the theme “The Roaring 20s.”

By Sarah Gish

SCREEN DANCING

I’ve been fascinated by the life of former Houston Ballet dancer Li Cunxin ever since I heard him speak when touting his bestselling autobiography, Mao’s Last Dancer, a few years back. Lucky for us, that book inspired a movie of the same title, opening August 20 at Landmark River Oaks Theatre (www.landmarktheatres.com). It’s the American dream with a Chinese socialist spin and a little Baryshnikov thrown in: Li is plucked from poverty to attend Madame Mao’s Beijing Dance Academy after which he is discovered by former Houston Ballet Artistic Director Ben Stevenson. Li dances with our ballet troupe for 16 years and, upon marrying an American dancer, enters into a struggle with Chinese authorities who wanted to force him to return to China. The dancer and his family are allowed to stay, thanks to Houston immigration attorney Charles C.  Foster (played by Kyle MacLachlan). Meet Li in person at the Junior League of Houston on Sunday, August 1, 4pm for a special book signing event.  Speaking of dancing, the Contemporary Arts Museum (www.camh.org) has a new exhibition dedicated to dance and film, “Dance with Camera,” on view August 7 through October 17.  The show features film, video and still photography and explores the work of a group of artists and dancers who make choreography for the camera.

SCIENCE FILMS & MORE

The Houston Museum of Natural Science (www.hmns.org) continues their program of interesting science films with Hubble 3D; Dolphins & Whales 3D; and Wild Ocean 3D. The Hubble film was created by the award-winning IMAX® Space Team and captures the troubled yet amazing and groundbreaking voyage of the Hubble Telescope. Nature is seen up close in the other films: Dolphins & Whales takes viewers from the dazzling coral reefs of the Bahamas to the warm depths of the waters of the exotic Kingdom of Tonga for a close encounter with the surviving tribes of the ocean while Wild Oceans 3D is an adventure to the Kwazulu-Natal Coast in the oceans of South Africa. On other screens, the “Summer Israeli Film Series” wraps up this month with Five Hours from Paris (8/18, 7:30pm) at the JCC Houston (www.jcchouston.org), and the Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org) helps you relive your awkward teens with Skip Elsheimer and his “Prom Date with the A/V Geeks” program, which promises a trip down memory lane with 16mm film (8/28, 7pm, Eldorado Ballroom). The following day, APS is hosting a video salon on 16mm film with Skip and fellow collector/artist Luke Savisky at 1pm, also at the Ballroom. The discussion will focus on techniques for presenting and archiving 16mm films. Elsheimer is the founder of A/V Geeks and the owner of a “pool of about 18,000 of the strangest films known to man.”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S EVEN MORE…

The Angelika Film Center (www.angelikafilmcenter.com) is opening The Concert and Disappearance of Alice Creed (8/6); The Dry Land; Eat Pray Love; Farewell; and Princess Kaiulani (8/13); Cairo Time and Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (8/20); and Life During Wartime (8/27). DiverseWorks (www.diverseworks.org) is host to the Aurora Picture Show program, “Fragments” (8/13, 7pm) and they are encouraging you to have your cell phones on during the screening!  Filmmaker Darrin Martin will be in attendance; he’s a Bay Area artist whose work loosely examines how technologies are used in an attempt to measure and augment our daily perceptions. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) continues their family summer matinees with Waking Sleeping Beauty (8/4, 11am & 2pm) and Mary Poppins (8/11, 11am & 2pm) and will have a special screening of the Japanese film House/Hausu (8/27 & 8/28, 7pm and 8/29, 5pm). The film has been described as “a hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt’s house only to come face to face with evil spirits, bloodthirsty pianos and a demonic housecat.” Coupled with The Last Exorcism, opening 8/27, these horror films will be sure to cool your blood! Coming to Rave Yorktown  (www.ravemotionpictures.com) this month is Step Up 3-D (8/6); The Expendables; Scott Pilgrim vs. the World; and Eat Pray Love (8/13); The Switch; Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (8/20); and Takers (8/27).

By Sarah Gish