Author Archive | Alex Kamody

DO NOT RESIST

Director: Craig Atkinson

Starting on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, as the community grapples with the death of Michael Brown, DO NOT RESIST – the directorial debut of DETROPIA cinematographer Craig Atkinson – offers a stunning look at the current state of policing in America and a glimpse into the future.

The Tribeca Film Festival winner for Best Documentary puts viewers in the center of the action – from a ride-along with a South Carolina SWAT team and inside a police training seminar that teaches the importance of “righteous violence” to the floor of a congressional hearing on the proliferation of military equipment in small-town police departments – before exploring where controversial new technologies, including predictive policing algorithms, could lead the field next.

This event is sponsored by Ohio University’s Students For Liberty and Arts for Ohio.

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72 MIN

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Science on Screen: THE SHINING with Dr. Kimberly Rios

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd

A married couple with a small son are employed to look after a resort hotel high in the Colorado mountains. As a result, they are the sole occupants during the long winter. The hotel manager warns them not to accept the job because of a tragedy that occurred during the winter of 1970.

In conjunction with the film there will be a talkback with Ohio University Associate Professor and Director of Experimental Training, Dr. Kimberly Rios. Dr. Rios’ work focuses on people’s responses to threats to their self-concepts, interpersonal relationships, or group identities. Examples of such threats include being uncertain about oneself or one’s attitudes, being socially excluded, and perceiving an outgroup to threaten the ingroup’s power/resources or fundamental values.

Science on Screen℠ is a project of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Coolidge Corner Theater. The Science on Screen program pairs with a short talk with a scientist or technology expert. The free Science on Screen events are fun and engaging and offer dynamic speakers an unexpected jumping point to teach their field of expertise in a way that is accessible to a diverse audience.

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146 MIN

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National Event Day: 1984

Director: Michael Radford
Writer(s): Michael Radford, Jonathan Gems
Cast: John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton

The Athena Cinema in conjunction with the Athens International Film + Video Festival presents “1984” National Screening Day. On April 4, 2017, the Athena along with almost 90 art house movie theaters across the country will be participating collectively in a NATIONAL EVENT DAY screening of the 80’s movie “1984.”

The film follows Winston Smith, a bureaucratic flunky living in a totalitarian state, breaks the law by falling in love with Julia. Attempting to escape, Winston and Julia are tracked down by the Thought Police and “re-educated” into loving the State.

This date was chosen because it’s the day George Orwell’s protagonist Winston Smith begins rebelling against his oppressive government by keeping a forbidden diary. Orwell’s portrait of a government that manufactures their own facts, demands total obedience, and demonizes foreign enemies, has never been timelier. The endeavor encourages theaters to take a stand for our most basic values: freedom of speech, respect for our fellow human beings, and the simple truth that there are no such things as ‘alternative facts.’

Join us at the Athena for this national event!

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113 MIN

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Easter Sunday: HARVEY

Watch Trailer Director: Henry Koster
Writer(s): Mary Chase, Oscar Brodney
Cast: James Stewart, Charles Drake, Cecil Kellaway, Jesse White, William H. Lynn

“Years ago, my mother used to say to me, she’d say ‘In this world, Elwood, you can be oh so so smart, or oh so pleasant.’ Well, for years I was smart… I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.” — James Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey

Celebrate Easter with Jimmy Stewart and Harvey, a 6’ 3 ½” rabbit. Elwood P. Dowd (Stewart) is a friendly and eccentric drunk who spends most of his time at the local bar. He insists upon the existence of his best friend, Harvey. The problem is, no one else can see Harvey. Elwood’s sister is embarrassed and attempts to have him committed to a sanatorium. Hilarity ensues when her plans backfire. A classic sure to please the whole family, Harvey is a sweet meditation on kindness and the power of imagination.

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104 MIN

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Science on Screen: APOLLO 13 with Dean Dennis Irwin, Ph.D

Cast: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon

The Athena Presents: Science on Screen — a Science Movie Mash-Up.

A project of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Coolidge Corner Theater. The Science on Screen program pairs with a short talk with a scientist or technology expert. The free Science on Screen events are fun and engaging and offer dynamic speakers an unexpected jumping point to teach their field of expertise in a way that is accessible to a diverse audience.

Dr. Irwin will talk about the technological, political, and societal context at the time of the Apollo 13 mission. He will also deliver a personal message from one of the Apollo 13 astronauts.

Since 1985, Irwin has worked on inertial precision pointing systems with astronomical applications including the Spacelab Instrument Pointing System and the Hubble Space Telescope. He has also provided test data analysis services for Space Shuttle Main Engine flight readiness and safety decisions.

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140 MIN

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Spring Sustainability Series: THE MESSENGER

Watch Trailer Director: Su Rynard

Su Rynard’s wide-ranging and contemplative documentary The Messenger explores our deep-seated connection to birds and warns that the uncertain fate of songbirds might mirror our own. Moving from the northern reaches of the Boreal Forest to the base of Mount Ararat in Turkey to the streets of New York, The Messenger brings us face-to-face with a remarkable variety of human-made perils that have devastated thrushes, warblers, orioles, tanagers, grosbeaks and many other airborne music-makers.

“Their findings unequivocally caution on the necessity of averting the birds’ extinction because they are an integral part of the ecological system… The slow-motion close-ups alone should convince you these magnificent creatures are well worth the effort.” – Martin Tsai, The Los Angeles Times

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89 MIN

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4/20: REEFER MADNESS

Watch Trailer Director: Louis J. Gasnier
Writer(s): Lawrence Meade, Arthur Hoerl, Paul Franklin
Cast: Dorothy Short, Kenneth Craig, Lillian Miles

MARIHUANA IS THAT DRUG—A VIOLENT NARCOTIC—AN UNSPEAKABLE SCOURGE—THE REAL PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE!

Enjoy the cult classic, “granddaddy of all so-bad-it’s-good” films. A high-school principal accounts a story illustrating the dangerous consequences of marijuana use.

One of the most absurdly earnest exercises in paranoia you’ll ever have the good fortune to see. — Time Out

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68 MIN

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UNAPOLOGETICALLY SPOKEN: Premieres Friday, April 21st

Unapologetically Spoken examines how performance art allows individuals to explore and express the many facets of their identity. A Trew Story Production, this student made documentary follows 3 poets as they prepare for a performance art show and highlights what it takes to give a performance and the affects those performances have on the audience.

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SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN – Nelsonville Music Festival Screening Party

Director: Malik Bendjelloul
Writer(s): Malik Bendjelloul
Awards: Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature

The Athena Cinema and Nelsonville Music Festival present a one night only screening of the Academy Award winning film: Searching for Sugar Man.

Searching for Sugar Man tells the incredible true story of Rodriguez, the greatest ’70s rock icon who never was. Discovered in a Detroit bar in the late ’60s by two celebrated producers struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics, they recorded an album which they believed would secure his reputation as the greatest recording artist of his generation. In fact, the album bombed and the singer disappeared into obscurity amid rumors of a gruesome on-stage suicide. But a bootleg recording found its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, he became a phenomenon. The film follows the story of two South African fans who set out to find out what really happened to their hero. Their investigation leads them to a story more extraordinary than any of the existing myths about the artist known as Rodriguez.

The legendary Rodriguez will play Nelsonville Music Festival this year on Friday, June 2nd! It seemed only fitting to screen the acclaimed documentary that led to the discovery of his amazing music by a whole new generation. This event is FREE! We will also have discounted tickets available for NMF and much more!

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86 MIN

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ARTS/West presents a Ratha Con special screening of: THE ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE and OCCUPANTS

The Athena Cinema is proud to be a sponsor of the 2017 annual, Ratha Con. Ratha Con is Athens, Ohio’s only pop culture convention and it encourages community members to geek out and connect with other fans like them. In conjunction with ARTS/West the Athena will be showing two special film screenings by award winning director Russell Emanuel.

Occupants

Running Time: 81 minutes
Director: Russell Emanuel
Writer: Julia Camara
Cast: Robert Picardo, Briana White, Michael Pugliese

Occupants is a film about Annie, an award-winning documentarian and her husband Neil. Annie and Neil embark on a “30 Days of Clean Living” documentary, setting up cameras all over their house to document their new eating habits. By doing so, half of their cameras capture a parallel version of themselves – a version that isn’t what they expected, with horrific results.

“Occupants” is a tense and very eerie thriller that Emanuel and writer Julia Camara crafts in to an entertaining and absolutely compelling film — Felix Vasquez, Cinema Crazed

The Assassin’s Apprentice

Running Time: 12 minutes
Director: Russell Emanuel
Writer: Paul Hickman
Cast: Marina Sirtis, Robert Picardo, Tarah Paige

A master assassin (Robert Picardo) sends his rebellious apprentice (Tarah Paige) on her first solo hit – but things don’t go according to plan.

A talkback with director Russell Emanuel will follow the screenings.

Originally from San Francisco, Russ Emanuel grew up in both Japan and the United States, garnering an international viewpoint of the world throughout his childhood. After graduating from the University of Southern California to study Cinema-Television, International Relations and Japanese (and gaining more production experience at the UCLA Extension Program), he founded Russem Productions in 2002, in order to promote his short films including Her Knight (2003), the award-winning Girl With Gun (2005), and the documentary Restoration of Paradise (2014).

Sponsors for this event: