Maps to the Stars

Watch Trailer Director: David Cronenberg
Writer(s): Bruce Wagner
Cast: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson

Meet the Weiss family, who are making their way in Hollywood rife with money, fame, envy, and relentless hauntings. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) is a famed TV self-help therapist with an A-list celebrity clientele. Meanwhile, Cristina Weiss (Olivia Williams) has her work cut out managing the career of their disaffected child-star son, Benjie (Evan Bird), a fresh graduate of rehab at age 13. Yet unbeknownst to them, another member of the Weiss family has arrived in town – mysteriously scarred and tormented Agatha (Mia Wasikowska), just released from a psych ward and ready to start again. She soon works her way into a friendship with a limo driver (Robert Pattinson) and becomes personal assistant to unraveling actress Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore), who is beset by the ghost of her legendary mother, Clarice (Sarah Gadon). But Agatha is on a quest for redemption – and even in this realm of the artificial, and the unearthly, she’s determined to find it, no matter what it takes.

“So crisply directed, furiously paced and gleefully performed that you go along for the ride.” -Jon Frosch, The Atlantic

“Hollywood has been disemboweling itself since… Sunset Boulevard and The Bad and the Beautiful, but those movies seem like Cream of Wheat compared to Cronenberg’s wicked vision.” -J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader

“Moore delivers something remarkable here: a completely ego-free portrait of a woman who knows only ego.” -Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News

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Running Time: 111 min111 MIN
R Rated

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Free Universal Premiere: TRAINWRECK

Watch Trailer Director: Judd Apatow
Writer(s): Amy Schumer
Cast: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson

Since she was a little girl, it’s been drilled into Amy’s (Schumer) head by her rascal of a dad (Colin Quinn) that monogamy isn’t realistic. Now a magazine writer, Amy lives by that credo-enjoying what she feels is an uninhibited life free from stifling, boring romantic commitment-but in actuality, she’s kind of in a rut. When she finds herself starting to fall for the subject of the new article she’s writing, a charming and successful sports doctor named Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), Amy starts to wonder if other grown-ups, including this guy who really seems to like her, might be on to something.

Free preview screening. Tickets are first come first serve.

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Running Time: 122122 MIN
R Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival SNEAK PEEK! Stray Dogs

Watch Trailer Director: Ming-liang Tsai
Writer(s): Peng Fei Song, Ming-liang Tsai, Chen Yu Tung
Cast: Shiang-chyi Chen, Kang-sheng Lee, Yi Cheng Lee
Awards: Winner of "Best Actor" at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival
Language: Mandarin

For the first time ever, the Athena Cinema will be revealing exclusive SNEAK PEEKS of feature films programmed for the 42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival, which takes place during April 3rd-9th.

An alcoholic man and his two young children barely survive in Taipei. They cross path with a lonely grocery clerk who might help them make a better life.

“Tsai’s Stray Dogs is a masterpiece of social-realism, a distinctive and beguiling study of society’s displaced and marginalised that plays to the beat of its own drum and refuses to conform to cinema’s own commodification.” — Patrick Gamble, CineVue

“Every shot of Stray Dogs has been built with utter formal mastery; every sequence exerts an almost telepathic grip.” — Robbie Collin, The Telegraph

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Running Time: 138 minutes138 MIN

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42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival SNEAK PEEK! Appropriate Behavior

Watch Trailer Director: Desiree Akhavan
Writer(s): Desiree Akhavan
Cast: Desiree Akhavan, Rebecca Henderson, Scott Adsit

For the first time ever, the Athena Cinema will be revealing exclusive SNEAK PEEKS of feature films programmed for the 42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival, which takes place during April 3rd-9th.

For Shirin (Desiree Akhavan), being part of a perfect Persian family isn’t easy. Acceptance eludes her from all sides: her family doesn’t know she’s bisexual, and her ex-girlfriend, Maxine, can’t understand why she doesn’t tell them. Even the six-year-old boys in her moviemaking class are too ADD to focus on her for more than a second. Following a family announcement of her brother’s betrothal to a parentally approved Iranian prize catch, Shirin embarks on a private rebellion involving a series of pansexual escapades, while trying to decipher what went wrong with Maxine.

“Akhavan’s most effective resource as a storyteller is her own face, a sometimes Chaplinesque blend of farce and pathos. She is a big talent to watch.” -Tom Keogh, Seattle Times

“Akhavan’s confidently off-kilter approach to basic human interaction makes for an authentically ironic, adorably wistful, smartly observed ride.” -Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

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Running Time: 90 min90 MIN

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42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival SNEAK PEEK! Class Enemy

Watch Trailer Director: Rok Bicek
Writer(s): Nejc Gazvoda, Rok Bicek, Janez Lapajne
Cast: Igor Samobor, Natasa Barbara Gracner, Tjasa Zeleznik
Language: Italian, German

For the first time ever, the Athena Cinema will be revealing exclusive SNEAK PEEKS of feature films programmed for the 42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival, which takes place during April 3rd-9th.

Relations between the students and the new teacher of German are extremely tense. When one female student commits suicide, her schoolmates blame the teacher for her death. An awareness that things are not quite so black and white comes too late. Based on true events.

“Bicek capitalizes on the differences in energy among the teens (carefully cast and rehearsed non-pros) and the adults (portrayed by professional thesps), to persuasive effect.” -Alissa Simon, Variety

“A Venice Critics’ Week premiere, the solidly acted Class Enemy has what it takes to worm its way into not only new filmmaker showcases but also general festival slates and possibly a few foreign theaters.” -Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter

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Running Time: 112 min112 MIN
R Rated

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42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival SNEAK PEEK! Girlhood

Watch Trailer Director: Céline Sciamma
Writer(s): Céline Sciamma
Cast: Karidja Touré, Assa Sylla and Lindsay Karamoh
Language: French

For the first time ever, the Athena Cinema will be revealing exclusive SNEAK PEEKS of feature films programmed for the 42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival, which takes place during April 3rd-9th.

Fed up with her abusive family situation, lack of school prospects and the “boys’ law” in the neighborhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of three free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her style, drops out of school and starts stealing to be accepted into the gang. When her home situation becomes unbearable, Marieme seeks solace in an older man who promises her money and protection. Realizing this sort of lifestyle will never result in the freedom and independence she truly desires, she finally decides to take matters into her own hands.

“Beautifully observed, precisely directed and acted with wonderful conviction, it pulls us into the life of its protagonist in a deeply involving way.” — Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

“Where many filmmakers would have underlined the bleaker, harsher aspects, Girlhood presents the characters’ grim reality without surrendering its lightness of touch, its compassion or its hope.” — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

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Running Time: 113 minutes113 MIN

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42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival SNEAK PEEK! The Foxy Merkins

Watch Trailer Director: Madeleine Olnek
Writer(s): Lisa Haas, Jackie Monahan, Madeleine Olnek
Cast: Gian Maria Annovi, Frances Bodomo, Diane Ciesla

For the first time ever, the Athena Cinema will be revealing exclusive SNEAK PEEKS of feature films programmed for the 42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival, which takes place during April 3rd-9th.

Margaret (Lisa Haas) is a down-on-her-luck lesbian hooker in training. She meets Jo (Jackie Monahan), a beautiful, self-assured grifter from a wealthy family and an expert on picking up women, even as she considers herself a card-carrying heterosexual. The duo hit the streets where they encounter bargain-hunting housewives, double-dealing conservative women, husky-voiced seductresses, mumbling erotic accessory salesmen and shopaholic swingers. Navigating the bizarre fetishes and sexual needs of their “dates” brings into focus the hilarious and pathetic disparity between the two hookers, as fellow travelers who will share the road together but only for a while.

“Merkins sends up both male-hustler movies (Midnight Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho in particular) and the upscale, conservative daughters of Gomorrah with unerring goofiness.” -Melissa Anderson, Artforum

“This spritely low-budget sex comedy is essentially a parody of Midnight Cowboy, but the humor is cleverly absurd and self-aware.” -Drew Hunt, Chicago Reader

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Running Time: 81 min81 MIN

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Science on Screen: AMERICAN HUSTLE with Dr. Faizul Huq

Watch Trailer Director: David O. Russell
Writer(s): Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
Cast: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence
Awards: Nominated for 10 Academy Awards; Winner of Golden Globes for Best Comedy/Musical, Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical (Amy Adams), and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Lawrence)

A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock our nation, American Hustle tells the story of con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that’s as dangerous as it is enchanting. Caught between the con-artists and Feds is Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator, but it’s Irving’s unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) who could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down.

“Ambitious even as it studies, exploits and explodes ambition, American Hustle is as good as any American film (in 2013.) It’s also a lot of fun. Don’t miss it.” -Tom Long, Detroit News

“American Hustle is a movie built on that cornerstone of the American Dream, reinvention. If you’re not happy with who you are, or who people think you are, then go ahead and become somebody else. Anything to survive – and thrive.” -Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

“American Hustle may have taken its inspiration from the art of the steal, but it has a heart of pure, if slightly tarnished, gold.” -Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

 

Featuring a presentation and talk-back with the Ohio University College of Business’s Dr. Faizul Huq.

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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Running Time: 129 min129 MIN
R Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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The Athena Will Close Thursday, March 5th Due to Severe Weather

We are sorry for the inconvenience. The showtimes for Friday, March 6th thru March 12th are as follows:

STILL ALICE
Featuring Academy Award Winning Best Actress Julianne Moore
Playing daily at 5:15, 7:15 and 9:15 with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3:15
MR. TURNER
From Acclaimed Director Mike Leigh, A Biopic on One of Britain’s Best Artists
Playing daily at 4:15, 6:40 and 8:50
MOMMY

Winner of Cannes Jury Prize
Playing daily at 4:10 and 9:25 with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 1:40
TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT
A woman has to convince her colleagues to give up bonuses so she keeps her job.
Playing daily at 7:00* with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:15
*No 7:00 show on Wednesday, March 11th

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What We Do in the Shadows

Watch Trailer Director: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Writer(s): Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Cast: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh

Follow the lives of Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), and Vladislav (Flight of the Corcords’ Jemaine Clement) – three flatmates who are just trying to get by and overcome life’s obstacles-like being immortal vampires who must feast on human blood. Hundreds of years old, the vampires are finding that beyond sunlight catastrophes, hitting the main artery, and not being able to get a sense of their wardrobe without a reflection, modern society has them struggling with the mundane like paying rent, keeping up with the chore wheel, trying to get into nightclubs, and overcoming flatmate conflicts.

“You’ve got to love a thing to skewer it as thoroughly as Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement do in their delightfully silly vampire mockumentary ‘What We Do in the Shadows.'” -Michael O’Sullivan, Washington Post

“There is so much love and understanding of all the genres the film is skewering that ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ transcends its lowbrow inspirations. It’s a real treat.” -Billy Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

“It’s a cheerfully horrific affair, a sanguine comedy that feels more than a bit like a Christopher Guest farce or an elaborate Monty Python sketch, imprinted with the Kiwi comic sensibilities of co-directors Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.” -Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

 

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Running Time: 86 min86 MIN
Rating: Unrated

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