Iris: Leaving the Athena Thursday, June 11th

Watch Trailer Director: Albert Maysles
Cast: Carl Apfel, Iris Apfel

Iris pairs legendary 87-year-old documentarian Albert Maysles with Iris Apfel, the quick-witted, flamboyantly dressed 93-year-old style maven who has had an outsized presence on the New York fashion scene for decades. More than a fashion film, the documentary is a story about creativity and how a soaring free spirit continues to inspire. IRIS portrays a singular woman whose enthusiasm for fashion, art and people are life’s sustenance and reminds us that dressing, and indeed life, is nothing but an experiment. Despite the abundance of glamour in her current life, she continues to embrace the values and work ethic established during a middle-class Queens upbringing during the Great Depression.

“Intimate, knowing portrait of a fashion icon who knows exactly who and what she is, and is often surrounded by people who don’t.” – John Anderson, Newsday

“There are few better ways right now to spend 80 movie minutes than to see Iris, a delightful eye-opener about life, love, statement eyeglasses, bracelets the size of tricycle tires and the art of making the grandest of entrances.” – Manohla Dargis, New York Times

“The chief virtue of ‘Iris’ is its amiability – it’s a delight to spend time in Apfel’s company, and thanks to Albert Maysles, we can.” – Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle

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Running Time: 83 min83 MIN
PG-13 Rated

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White God: Leaving the Athena Thursday, May 21st

Watch Trailer Director: Kornél Mundruczó
Writer(s): Kornél Mundruczó, Viktória Petrányi, Kata Wéber
Cast: Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér, Lili Horváth
Language: Hungarian

When young Lili is forced to give up her beloved dog Hagen, because it’s mixed-breed heritage is deemed unfit by The State, she and the dog begin a dangerous journey back towards each other. At the same time, all the unwanted, unloved and so-called unfit dogs rise up under a new leader, Hagen, the one-time housepet who has learned all too well from his journey through the streets and animal control centers.

“The hand that feeds – and also brutalizes – is righteously bitten in ‘White God,’ a Hungarian revenge fantasy that’s like nothing you’ve seen on screen before.” – Manohla Dargis, New York Times

“The whole production speaks well for the power of film; it’s a serious stunner.” – Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

“What it all means is open to interpretation. Read it as a parable or as a horror movie. Read it as the story of love between a girl and her dog. Read it however you want. No matter what your take, you won’t be disappointed.” -Billy Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

“It all pays off with an astounding, extended climax that is as rousing and exciting as it is frightening – one of the most surreal experiences I’ve ever had watching a movie.” – Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

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Running Time: 121 min121 MIN
R Rated

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Clouds of Sils Maria: Leaving the Athena Thursday, June 4th

Watch Trailer Director: Olivier Assayas
Writer(s): Olivier Assayas
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Chloë Grace Moretz

At the peak of her international career, Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years ago. But back then she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She departs with her assistant (Kristen Stewart) to rehearse in Sils Maria; a remote region of the Alps. A young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal (Chloë Grace Moretz) is to take on the role of Sigrid, and Maria finds herself on the other side of the mirror, face to face with an ambiguously charming woman who is, in essence, an unsettling reflection of herself.

“It meditates long and hard on questions of age, sincerity, celebrity and love, piling irony on irony. And it features a remarkably natural performance by Kristen Stewart that’s so unastounding it’s astounding.” – Tom Long, Detroit News

“Clouds of Sils Maria is fiendishly wise to the ways of show business, particularly the boxes in which it places women. But the film offers more than that.” – Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News

“The movie, which Olivier Assayas wrote and directed, is a world of wonders, most of them cerebrally twisty and emotionally hallucinogenic.” – Wesley Morris, Grantland

Closed caption devices are available.

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Running Time: 124 min124 MIN
R Rated

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Dior and I: Leaving the Athena Thursday, May 21st

Watch Trailer Director: Frédéric Tcheng
Writer(s): Frédéric Tcheng
Cast: Raf Simons, Marion Cotillard, Anna Wintour

Frédéric Tcheng’s solo directorial debut brings the viewer inside the storied world of the Christian Dior fashion house with a privileged, behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Raf Simons’ first haute couture collection as its new artistic director-a true labor of love created by a dedicated group of collaborators. Melding the everyday, pressure-filled components of fashion with mysterious echoes from the iconic brand’s past, the film is also a colorful homage to the seamstresses who serve Simons’ vision.

“Fascinating, suspenseful, illuminating, and ultimately moving.” – Peter Keough, Boston Globe

“From creating photo files rather than sketching dresses, to fitting them on lithe human pipe cleaners who march them across the catwalk, the film is a serious look at a business containing surprising amounts of tension.” – Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“For all the seductive imagery of billowing apparel and impossibly angled high heels, Tcheng never loses sight of the people overseeing every stitch.” – Keith Uhlich, AV Club

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Running Time: 90 min90 MIN

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Wild Tales: Leaving Thursday, May 14th

Watch Trailer Director: Damián Szifrón
Writer(s): Damián Szifrón
Cast: Darío Grandinetti, María Marull, Mónica Villa
Awards: Nominated - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Language: Spanish

Inequality, injustice and the demands of the world we live in cause stress and depression for many people. Some of them, however, explode. This is a movie about those people. Vulnerable in the face of a reality that shifts and suddenly turns unpredictable, the characters of Wild Tales cross the thin line that divides civilization and barbarism. A lover’s betrayal, a return to the repressed past and the violence woven into everyday encounters drive the characters to madness as they cede to the undeniable pleasure of losing control.

“Argentina’s nominee for the foreign-film Oscar is a farce about revenge that is feral, ferocious and gut-bustingly funny. You’ll laugh till it hurts.” -Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“A wickedly delightful compendium of six standalone shorts united by a theme of vengeance — the kind that explodes in spectacular bursts after a put-upon soul is screwed over too many times.” -Jay Weissberg, Variety

“Entertaining, over-the-top and more than a little anxiety-inducing.” -John Anderson, Newsday

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Running Time: 122 min122 MIN
R Rated

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Film Division Thesis Show: Jorge Blaires Samson’s “Forn”

Director: Jorge Eduardo Blaires Samson

Howard tries to sell his inherited land to start a new life somewhere else and leave his past behind, but as soon as he puts the house on the market, uncanny things begin to occur and a mysterious ghost collector presents himself as the only one that can help him.

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Running Time: 20 Minutes20 MIN

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Ex Machina: Leaving Thursday, May 14th

Watch Trailer Director: Alex Garland
Writer(s): Alex Garland
Cast: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac

Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a programmer at an internet-search giant, wins a competition to spend a week at the private mountain estate of the company’s brilliant and reclusive CEO, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac). Upon his arrival, Caleb learns that Nathan has chosen him to be the human component in a Turing Test—charging him with evaluating the capabilities, and ultimately the consciousness, of Nathan’s latest experiment in artificial intelligence. That experiment is Ava (Alicia Vikander), a breathtaking A.I. whose emotional intelligence proves more sophisticated, seductive––and more deceptive––than the two men could have imagined.

“Shrewdly imagined and persuasively made, ‘Ex Machina’ is a spooky piece of speculative fiction that’s completely plausible, capable of both thinking big thoughts and providing pulp thrills.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

“I know, I know. You’ve seen all this A.I. stuff before. But never like this. Garland is hot for ethical shop talk on what defines humanity or lack of same.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“‘Ex Machina’ shows there’s still life left in tales of artificial intelligence.” – Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News

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Running Time: 108 min108 MIN
R Rated

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International Week Event: Elizabeth Becker Presentation and Q&A with a Special One-Time-Only Screening of “The Missing Picture”

Watch Trailer Director: Rithy Panh
Writer(s): Rithy Panh

April 17, 2015 is the 40th Anniversary of the End of the Cambodian War.

Elizabeth Becker will be speaking at 2:30 p.m. at the Athena Cinema.

Following Becker’s presentation will be a showing of the Academy Award nominated film, “The Missing Picture” at 4:45. The event is free and open to the public.

The event is sponsored by the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, the Global Leadership Center and International Student Union. The event is part of Ohio University’s International Week. More information available at ohio.edu/internationalweek.

THE MISSING PICTURE SYNOPSIS:

For many years, I have been looking for the missing picture: a photograph taken between 1975 and 1979 by the Khmer Rouge when they ruled over Cambodia…On its own, of course, an image cannot prove mass murder, but it gives us cause for thought, prompts us to meditate, to record History. I searched for it vainly in the archives, in old papers, in the country villages of Cambodia. Today I know: this image must be missing. I was not really looking for it; would it not be obscene and insignificant? So I created it. What I give you today is neither the picture nor the search for a unique image, but the picture of a quest: the quest that cinema allows.

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Running Time: 96 Minutes96 MIN

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It Follows: Leaving Thursday, May 7th

Watch Trailer Director: David Robert Mitchell
Writer(s): David Robert Mitchell
Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist and Olivia Luccardi

For 19-year-old Jay (Maika Monroe), fall should be about school, boys and weekends out at the lake. But after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, she finds herself plagued by strange visions and the inescapable sense that someone, or something, is following her. Faced with this burden, Jay and her teenage friends must find a way to escape the horrors that seem to be only a few steps behind.

It Follows is the creepiest movie in years.” – Tom Long, Detroit News

It Follows manages to bend the rules of fateful juvenile sexuality, and does so in a manner that genuinely tingles the spine and disturbs the mind.” – Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Closed captioning devices available.

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Running Time: 107 minutes107 MIN
R Rated

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AMERICAN UMPIRE: One Night Only – Wednesday, April 20th

Director: James Shelley
Writer(s): Elizabeth Cobbs
Cast: Elizabeth Cobbs, Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice

 

 

 

American Umpire facilitates a civil, nonpartisan, public debate about the future of American foreign policy. The film features interviews with three former secretaries of state, two American generals, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, a Pulitzer-Prize winning historian, and ten other top experts on American foreign relations all trying to answer the question of what America’s “grand strategy” should be for the remainder of the twenty-first century.

Screening followed by a discussion with the author/producer, Prof. Elizabeth Cobbs (The Melbern Glasscock Chair at Texas A&M University, award-winning historian and author). 

FREE ADMISSION. Sponsored by Ohio University War and Peace Studies.

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Running Time: 58 minutes58 MIN

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