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Dallas Buyers Club: Playing through Thursday, January 9th

Watch Trailer Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Writer(s): Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto
Awards: Won Desert Palm Achievement Award at the 2014 Palms Springs International Film Festival

A son of Texas, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) is an electrician and rodeo cowboy. In 1985, he is well into an unexamined existence with a devil-may-care lifestyle. Suddenly, Ron is blindsided by being diagnosed as HIV positive and given 30 days to live. Yet he will not, and does not, accept a death sentence.

His crash course of research reveals a lack of approved treatments and medications in the U.S., so Ron crosses the border into Mexico. There, he learns about alternative treatments and begins smuggling them into the U.S., challenging the medical and scientific community including his concerned physician, Dr. Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner).

An outsider to the gay community, Ron finds an unlikely ally in fellow AIDS patient Rayon (Jared Leto), a transsexual who shares Ron’s lust for life. Rayon also shares Ron’s entrepreneurial spirit: seeking to avoid government sanctions against selling non-approved medicines and supplements, they establish a “buyers club,” where HIV positive people pay monthly dues for access to the newly acquired supplies. Deep in the heart of Texas, Ron’s pioneering underground collective beats loud and strong. With a growing community of friends and clients, Ron fights for dignity, education, and acceptance. In the years following his diagnosis, the embattled Lone Star loner lives life to the fullest like never before.

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Running Time: 117 minutes117 MIN
R Rated

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Philomena

Watch Trailer Director: Stephen Frears
Writer(s): Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope and Martin Sixsmith
Cast: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan and Sophie Kennedy Clark
Awards: Won Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival

PHILOMENA is the true story of one mother’s search for her lost son.

Falling pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena was sent to the convent of Roscrea to be looked after as a “fallen woman.” When her baby was only a toddler, he was taken away by the nuns for adoption in America. Philomena spent the next fifty years searching for him in vain.

Then she met Martin Sixsmith, a world-weary political journalist who happened to be intrigued by her story. Together they set off for America on a journey that would not only reveal the extraordinary story of Philomena’s son, but also create an unexpectedly close bond between them.

The film is a compelling narrative of human love and loss and ultimately celebrates life. It is both funny and sad and concerns two very different people, at different stages of their lives, who help each other and show that there is laughter even in the darkest places.

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Running Time: 98 minutes98 MIN
PG-13 Rated

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Kill Your Darlings: Playing at the Athena Now Through December 12th

Watch Trailer Director: John Krokidas
Writer(s): John Krokidas, Austin Bunn
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Ben Foster, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kyra Sedgwick, David Cross, and Michael C. Hall

Daniel Radcliffe stars as Beat Generation icon Allen Ginsberg in this biopic set during the famed poet’s early years at Columbia University, and centering on a murder investigation involving Ginsberg, his handsome classmate Lucien Carr, and fellow Beat author William Burroughs. The year is 1944. Ginsberg (Radcliffe) is a young student at Columbia University when he falls hopelessly under the spell of charismatic classmate Carr (Dane DeHaan). Alongside Carr, Ginsberg manages to strike up friendships with aspiring writers William Burroughs (Ben Foster) and Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) that would cast conformity to the wind, and serve as the foundation of the Beat movement. Meanwhile, an older outsider named David Krammerer falls deeply and madly in love with the impossibly cool Carr. Later, when Krammerer dies under mysterious circumstances, police arrest Kerouac, Burroughs, and Carr as potential suspects, paving the way for an investigation that would have a major impact on the lives of the three emerging artists. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kyra Sedgwick, David Cross, and Michael C. Hall co-star.

“Sex, lies, betrayal and murder set among the gods of the Beat Generation. That’s Kill Your Darlings, a dark beauty of a film that gets inside your head and stays there.”-Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

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Running Time: 100 Minutes100 MIN
R Rated

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Enough Said

Watch Trailer Director: Nicole Holofcener
Writer(s): Nicole Holofcener
Cast: James Gandolfini, Julie Louis-Dreyfus, Catherine Keener, Toni Collette

A divorced and single parent, Eva (Julia Louis Dreyfus) spends her days enjoying work as a masseuse but dreading her daughter’s impending departure for college. She meets Albert (James Gandolfini) – a sweet, funny and like-minded man also facing an empty nest. As their romance quickly blossoms, Eva befriends Marianne (Catherine Keener), her new massage client. Marianne is a beautiful poet who seems “almost perfect” except for one prominent quality: she rags on her ex-husband way too much. Suddenly, Eva finds herself doubting her own relationship with Albert as she learns the truth about Marianne’s Ex. ENOUGH SAID is a sharp, insightful comedy that humorously explores the mess that often comes with getting involved again.

“Feisty, funny, fizzy and deeply wise, “Enough Said” sparkles within and without, just like the rare gem that it is.”-Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

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Running Time: 93 Minutes93 MIN
PG-13 Rated

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All Is Lost: Playing at the Athena Now Through December 12th

Watch Trailer Director: J.C. Chandor
Writer(s): J.C. Chandor
Cast: Robert Redford

Deep into a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, an unnamed man wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a shipping container left floating on the high seas. With his navigation equipment and radio disabled, the man sails unknowingly into the path of a violent storm. Despite his success in patching the breached hull, his mariner’s intuition and a strength that belies his age, the man barely survives the tempest. Using only a sextant and nautical maps to chart his progress, he is forced to rely on ocean currents to carry him into a shipping lane in hopes of hailing a passing vessel. But with the sun unrelenting, sharks circling and his meager supplies dwindling, the ever-resourceful sailor soon finds himself staring his mortality in the face.

“There is incredible tension in this ordeal, this effort to survive, to find rescue, and Redford – an icon of the American film experience for more than half a century now – makes that tension deeply palpable.”-Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
“It’s a classic tale of survival that draws on how movies, in the right hands, can make viewers see the world through others’ eyes, and to feel what keeps them grasping as it threatens to slip away.”-Keith Phipps

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Running Time: 106 Minutes106 MIN
PG-13 Rated

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The New Black: Playing Wed & Thurs, November 20th and 21st

Watch Trailer Director: Yoruba Richen
Writer(s): Erin Casper, Yoruba Richen
Awards: Best Documentary at Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

THE NEW BLACK is a documentary that tells the story of how the African-American community is grappling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The film documents activists, families and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar — the black church and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda.

THE NEW BLACK takes viewers into the pews and onto the streets and provides a seat at the kitchen table as it tells the story of the historic fight to win marriage equality in Maryland and charts the evolution of this divisive issue within the black community.

Brought to you by the Athena Cinema, Film Division, Office of Multicultural Student Access and Retention, LGBT Center, Women’s Center, Campus Involvement Center, Multicultural Center, Black Student Cultural Programming Board.

TWO NIGHTS ONLY! THE NEW BLACK will be screened on November 20th and 21st at 7:00. The film will be followed by a discussion. Free Admission, there are a limited number of seats and admission is on a first come, first serve basis.

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Running Time: 80 minutes80 MIN
Not Rated

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How I Live Now

Watch Trailer Director: Kevin Macdonald
Writer(s): Jeremy Brock
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland, George MacKay, Harley Bird

Set in the near-future UK, Ronan plays Daisy, an American teenager sent to stay with relatives in the English countryside. Initially withdrawn and alienated, she begins to warm up to her charming surroundings, and strikes up a romance with the handsome Edmund (George MacKay). But on the fringes of their idyllic summer days are tense news reports of an escalating conflict in Europe. As the UK falls into a violent, chaotic military state, Daisy finds herself hiding and fighting to survive.

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Running Time: 100 Minutes100 MIN
R Rated

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Populaire

Watch Trailer Director: Régis Roinsard
Writer(s): Régis Roinsard, Daniel Presley
Cast: Roman Duris, Déborah François, Bérénice Bejo
Awards: Best Narrative Feature Audience Award San Francisco International Film Festival
Language: French

Spring, 1958: 21-year-old Rose Pamphyle lives with her grouchy widower father who runs the village store. Engaged to the son of the local mechanic, she seems destined for the quiet, drudgery-filled life of a housewife. But that’s not the life Rose longs for. When she travels to Lisieux in Normandy, where charismatic insurance agency boss Louis Echard is advertising for a secretary, the ensuing interview is a disaster. But Rose reveals a special gift – she can type at extraordinary speed. Unwittingly, the young woman awakens the dormant sports fan in Louis. If she wants the job she’ll have to compete in a speed typing competition. Whatever sacrifices Rose must make to reach the top, Louis declares himself her trainer. He’ll turn her into the fastest girl not only in the country, but in the world! But a love of sport doesn’t always mix well with love itself.

“Even when there’s tragedy around the turn, it doesn’t matter. Populaire plays like a musical – you expect anyone, at any time, to break into song.”-Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

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Running Time: 111 Minutes111 MIN
R Rated

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Haute Cuisine

Watch Trailer Director: Christian Vincent
Writer(s): Etienne Comar, Christian Vincent
Cast: Catherine Frot, Arthur Dupont, Jean d'Ormesson
Language: French

Hortense Laborie (Catherine Frot), a renowned chef from Perigord, is astonished when the President of the Republic (Jean d’Ormesson) appoints her his personal cook, responsible for creating all his meals at the Elysée Palace. Despite jealous resentment from the other kitchen staff, Hortense quickly establishes herself, thanks to her indomitable spirit. The authenticity of her cooking soon seduces the President, but the corridors of power are littered with traps…

“Haute Cuisine is an epicurean dream where the dishes conjured up by the characters are as essential to the experience as the characters themselves.”-Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

“Writer-director Christian Vincent and co-writer Étienne Comar, aided by Frot’s quiet intensity, imbue Hortense’s quest to pull off culinary miracles with an urgency that’s almost absurdly compelling, and all the more entertaining for it.”-Chuck Wilson, Village Voice

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Running Time: 95 Minutes95 MIN
PG-13 Rated

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Wadjda

Watch Trailer Director: Haifaa Al Mansour
Writer(s): Haifaa Al Mansour
Cast: Reem Abdullah, Waad Mohammed
Awards: Winner of over 15 International Film Festival Awards including Directors to Watch at Palm Springs
Language: Arabic

WADJDA is a movie of firsts. This first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia is the story of a young girl living in a suburb of Riyadh determined to raise enough money to buy a bike in a society that sees bicycles as dangerous to a girl’s virtue. Even more impressive, WADJDA is the first feature film made by a female Saudi filmmaker. In a country where cinemas are banned and women cannot drive or vote, writer- director Haifaa Al Mansour has broken many barriers with her new film.

“This is not just the first feature by Haifaa Al Mansour but the first feature to be directed by a woman from Saudi Arabia. That is quite a burden, and yet by some miracle the movie bears it with lightness and grace.”-Anthony Lane, New Yorker

“A simple, solid, deeply affecting film, Wadjda is something rare: the work of a female Saudi filmmaker, Haifaa Al Mansour, and a feature from a country that has long outlawed cinemas.”-Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice

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Running Time: 98 Minutes98 MIN
PG Rated

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