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Sustainability Series: GHOST ELEPHANTS

Viewing: November 04,2026

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Join us Wednesday, November 4th at 7:00 p.m. for a haunting nature documentary from clebrated filmmaker Werner Herzog!

Admission is FREE – Tickets are required

About the film

For more than 10 years, conservation biologist and National Geographic Explorer Dr. Steve Boyes, has searched the highland plateau and deep forests of Angola for an elusive herd of “Ghost Elephants” — an undiscovered species of African elephant that is said to travel silently through its high-altitude domain, gaining an almost-mythological status among the indigenous peoples of the region.

Written, directed, and narrated by acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man), this haunting and contemplative film  joins Boyes on his epic quest, along with some of the world’s best master trackers, in order to prove the existence of an animal long believed to be only a myth.

 

Check out the rest of our line-up of Sustainability Films

This series is sponsored by

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Running Time: 98 MIN98 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Wednesday 11/047:00
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OHIO Dad’s Weekend ’26: MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL

Viewing: November 06,2026

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Bring your dad. Bring your best British accent. Leave your sense of dignity at the door…

Join us Friday, November 6th and Saturday, November 7th at 7:00 p.m. for a classic British comedy that is sure to get medieval on you and make your “knights” in Athens unforgettable…It’s Monty Python and The Holy Grail!

Two weekend showtimes:

Friday 11/6 at 7:00 p.m.

Saturday 11/7 at 7:00 p.m.

Admission $8

We’ll have special themed cocktails and (maybe) a fire-tossing wizard named Tim.

We encourage you to dress up in a period-correct costume – a gallant knight, a repressed peasant covered in mud, a coconut-clopping squire…even an African swallow. If you’re into that.

About the Film

Poking fun at the revered legend of King Arthur and his Knights of The Round Table, the troupe of Pythons pull out all the comedic stops for a wild (and irreverent) ride through the misty Dark Ages! Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Terry Gilliam are in top form as various characters in some of the most side-splitting material ever put on screen. Bits like “The Knights Who Say Ni!”, “The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch”, “The Trojan Rabbit”, and “The Black Knight” have etched themselves permanently on the landscape of comedy like the ornate letters in an old biblical manuscript!

Maybe your mother isn’t a hamster, and perhaps your father doesn’t smell like elderberries, but one thing’s for sure — watching this film together will give you and your family a (Came)lot of good times to share!

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Running Time: 90 MIN90 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Friday 11/067:00
Saturday 11/077:00
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I SAW THE TV GLOW: Last Day Thursday, June 13th

Watch Trailer Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Cast: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Fred Durst

Back For One Week Only!

From A24 Studios comes a new psychological thriller from filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun. After striking up a friendship, two teen outcasts — Owen (Justice Smith) and Maddy (Bridgette Lundy-Paine) — fake a slumber party at a schoolmate’s house in order to secretly watch an episode of The Pink Opaque, a show for young adults featuring strong mythological and supernatural themes. The two fall in love with the show (and maybe a little with each other). Maddy’s troubled life compels her to run away from home. Owen considers joining her, but he’s forced to remain and take care of his dying mother. Fast-forward 10 years, Maddy mysteriously returns to tell Owen that the substance of The Pink Opaque is, in fact real, and that the two can live there in happiness…if only he can see fit to believe.

With its striking visuals and excellent music soundtrack — in fact, musicians including Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, Phoebe Bridgers, Haley Dahl of Sloppy Jane, and Kristina Esfandiari of Miserable all appear in the film — I Saw the TV Glow is sure to be a hit with fans of Stranger Things and the rest of the A24 catalogue of films.

 

 

 

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Running Time: 100 MIN100 MIN
Closed Captioning is available for this film. Open Captioning is available for this film. Listening Aids are available for this film. Descriptive Aids are available for this film. This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

It reaches inside your imagination and stirs it around, making new connections between familiar concepts. It’s not just great, it’s fascinating and revelatory.

William Babbiani -- The Wrap
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Beat the Heat: WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT

Watch Trailer Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Charles Fleischer, Kathleen Turner, Mel Blanc
Awards: Oscar - Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Special Achievement Award

Eddie Valiant is a down-and-out gumshoe in late-1940’s Hollywood who gets entwined in a case that is sure to test what he’s made of. When a big-shot cartoon producer hires Valiant to dig up some dirt on Jessica, the the seemingly-unfaithful “toon” bombshell spouse of cartoon superstar Roger Rabbit, the private eye travels to “Toontown” to sniff out the goings-on of a rival studio exec (and the guy who happens to run Toontown itself). Valiant goes to see Jessica perform her famously sultry crooning act and seems to catch her in the act of seducing the rival exec; however, the man is murdered the following day and Roger Rabbit becomes Suspect No. 1. Valiant has his doubts about Rabbit’s guilt and ends up helping him get to the bottom of this strange set of circumstances. This puts the two at odds with Judge Doom – the chief justice of Toontown – who might just be the lynchpin of what starts to look more and more like a frame job!

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Click here to see the rest of the Beat the Heat summer line-up

This series is made possible thanks to support from the following sponsors: Athens County Children Services, Southeastern Ohio Treatment Foster Care Network, Ohio University Credit Union, and Athens Area Chamber of Commerce

 

 

 

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Running Time: 104 MIN104 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Beat the Heat: THE RUGRATS MOVIE

Watch Trailer Director: Norton Virgien, Igor Kovalyov

Little Tommy Pickles’ new baby brother gets born early…so early, in fact, that Tommy hasn’t had the chance to figure out how he’ll deal with no longer being the apple of his parents’ eyes. Making matters worse is the fact that the new tyke is kind of a pain to have at home. So, Tommy and his friends hatch a plan to take the baby back to the hospital; however, the plan goes awry and the gang lose the babe in the woods. It’s now up to Tommy to find his kid brother and get him back home where he actually belongs, having hijinks and adventures along the way!

Click here to see the rest of the Beat the Heat summer line-up

This series is made possible thanks to support from the following sponsors: Athens County Children Services, Southeastern Ohio Treatment Foster Care Network, Ohio University Credit Union, and Athens Area Chamber of Commerce

 

 

 

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Running Time: 79 MIN79 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Beat the Heat: ERNEST & CELESTINE

Watch Trailer Director: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner
Writer(s): Daniel Pennac
Awards: Oscar - Best Animated Feature (nom)

In the orphanage underground where she lives, Celestine, a young mouse, has been taught that bears are nasty and evil…not the kind of folks one should associate with. As she prepares to follow the typical rodent trajectory of becoming a dentist, Celestine (who’d much rather be an artist) is tasked with stealthily venturing to the outside world where she must collect the lost baby teeth of bear cubs and bring them back for study. On one such outing, she is discovered by a family of bears and chased into the outside world. She spends a tense night of fear in a trash can and meets Ernest, a unique bear who might just change her ideas about how well mice and bears can get along.

Click here to see the rest of the Beat the Heat summer line-up

This series is made possible thanks to support from the following sponsors: Athens County Children Services, Southeastern Ohio Treatment Foster Care Network, Ohio University Credit Union, and Athens Area Chamber of Commerce

 

 

 

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Running Time: 80 MIN80 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Beat the Heat: SONG OF THE SEA

Watch Trailer Director: Tomm Moore
Awards: Osacr - Best Animated Feature (nom)

Song of the Sea, the second film in Tomm Moore’s “Irish Folklore” trilogy, is the story of a young Irish boy named Ben who learns that his mute sister Saoirse is actually a “selkie” — a mythological creature that can shapeshift from human form to that of a seal. The two children are the son and daughter of a lighthouse keeper’s wife who disappeared after giving birth to the girl and is presumed to have died. Ben has always believed that Saoirse was at fault for their mother’s death and is resentful; however, when the duo run away from their Granny’s house to return to their lighthouse home, they have an adventure beyond their wildest imaginations: Saoirse is tasked with using her magical power of song to save all the world’s mythological beings from the evil witch Macha, and, in the process, restore the wholeness of her family’s broken home.

Click here to see the rest of the Beat the Heat summer line-up

This series is made possible thanks to support from the following sponsors: Athens County Children Services, Southeastern Ohio Treatment Foster Care Network, Ohio University Credit Union, and Athens Area Chamber of Commerce

 

 

 

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Running Time: 93 MIN93 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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From the Hills and Hollers: THIS IS PIKE COUNTY with Laura Paglin

Viewing: November 12,2026

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Join us Thursday, November 12th at 7:00 p.m. as our Appalachian Stories Series continues with a haunting and unforgettable documentary about coming of age in a landscape that has been left behind!

Admission is FREE – Tickets are required

About the film

This powerful, intimate, and multi-faceted documentary from filmmaker Laura Paglin delves into the day-to-day lives of the local residents of Piketon and Pike County, Ohio. As the story moves from person to person, an image emerges of a close-knit community struggling to keep its identity while factors like poverty, drug addiction, lack of opportunity, a constantly-shifting cultural landscape, the construction of a nuclear waste storage facility, and an unsolved murder all threaten to erase the values and quality of life that took generations to build. Though the future often looks bleak for Pike County, this film beautifully relates the struggle between the temptation to give up and the urge to hold on.

About the speaker

Laura Paglinis a documentary filmmaker whose more recent films have dealts pecifically with struggles of marginalized communities. No Umbrella–Election Day in the City, which brings us a street level view of election day chaos as it played out in one inner city poling location, premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and aired on HBO. Facing Forward: A Student’s Story, which follows a charismatic but troubled teenager at a strict new inner city charter school, aired nationally on PBS. Paglin’s Unseen tells the complex and horrific story of the Anthony Sowell serial murders that were discovered in Cleveland, Ohio in 2009. Distributed by Filmrise, Unseen has become one of the more popular documentaries on Amazon Prime, having made it to many “best of” lists.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT: As a long-time Ohio resident, I hadn’t known about Pike County until a 2016 mass murder brought it into the national spotlight. Curious, I visited in 2017, expecting to explore the tragedy’s aftermath but found myself more drawn to the people, the landscape and stories unrelated to the crime. To gain deeper access into the lives of the these individuals, I lived at the budget motel featured in the film. Over time, a larger story of generational struggles emerged—from drug abuse to environmental degradation, to the murders themselves rooted in a child custody dispute. I realized a traditional narrative wouldn’t capture Pike County’s complexity, so I adopted a thematic approach, allowing each story to stand alone while contributing to the community’s portrait. This method let me juxtapose the community’s pain with its caring, joy, and resilience.

 

Check out the rest of our Hills & Hollers Series Line-Up

This series is sponsored by University Libraries, College of Health Sciences and Professions, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Honors Tutorial College, OU School of Film, and The Office of Signature Academic Experiences.

 

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Running Time: 78 MIN78 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Thursday 11/127:00
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The Met: Live in HD: TWENTY YEARS OF THE MET IN CINEMAS: AN ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Viewing: November 14,2026

Twenty Years of the Met in Cinemas is a celebration of the Met’s two decades of onstage glory as experienced in movie theaters, featuring highlights from the company’s collection of more than 185 extraordinary onscreen performances.

Hosted by star soprano Renée Fleming, this special presentation will showcase unforgettable moments from some of opera’s greatest stars, culled from the series’ vast archive of transmissions, featuring such remarkable artists as Lise Davidsen, Natalie Dessay, Joyce DiDonato, Elīna Garanča, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Jonas Kaufmann, Peter Mattei, Matthew Polenzani, Sondra Radvanovsky, Nadine Sierra, and, of course, Fleming herself, among others.

The screening will begin at 12:55 p.m. and will conclude at approximately 3:30 p.m.

Admission $20 (Senior $18, Children $8)

OHIO Students Free with valid ID*

*Thanks to support from Arts for OHIO, we are able to offer a limited number of FREE student tickets available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Must have valid student I.D.

Click here to view the rest of the Met: Live in HD schedule

Special thanks to George Weckman and the following supporters:

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Running Time: 150 MIN150 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Saturday 11/1412:55
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CERAMICS AT THE CINEMA

The Ceramics at the Cinema series is a monthly ceramics series that allows participants the opportunity to glaze a bisqueware ceramic project at The Athena Cinema on a weekend afternoon.

The art of crafting things out of ceramics has been a part of human civilization for tens-of-thousands of years. The remnants of pottery from all of history’s greatest cultures have revealed how the artisans who molded these artifacts out of simple materials also imbued them with soulful artistic flair.

We’re thrilled to bring this ancient tradition into the modern day (and add our own little movie-themed twist) with our new series of events – Ceramics at the Cinema!

Much like our Paint & Sip Party events where we walk you through the creation of a movie-themed painting that is paired with a movie screening, participants for these Ceramics at the Cinema events will be provided with a bisqueware ceramic object – a piece of pottery that has been fired once and hardened – that relates to a film we’ll be screening. You’ll then be instructed how to customize your object with a decorative glaze. Lastly, we’ll collect the glazed ceramics and have them fired a final time to seal the glazing. The finished pieces will then be available for pick up during the week after the event. The end result will be a unique, tangible, and useful cinematic-ceramic souvenir from your time spent with us. Plus, we offer package deals that include a ticket for the related film with your registration fee!

We have three ticket options:

– Ceramics at the Cinema Basic – $30: includes admission to the class with all materials for your ceramic piece

– Ceramics at the Cinema Deluxe Single – $50: includes admission to the class with all the materials for your ceramic piece, 1 ticket to the Movie on the Rooftop, and 2 drinks of your choice

– Ceramics at the Cinema Deluxe Couple – $100: includes admission to the class for 2 with all the materials for your ceramic pieces, 2 tickets to the Movie on the Rooftop, and 4 drinks of your choice

Be advised that open slots to attend the glazing tutorials will be limited to 30 people. These events often sell out fast, so don’t wait to claim your spot.

Schedule:

Class arrival: 12:30-1 p.m.

Class session: 1-2 p.m.

Click the link below to visit our Movies on the Rooftop hubpage for more details about the films associated with the Ceramics at Cinema events:

Movies on the Rooftop

 

The classes will be led by Emily Beveridge and are suitable for beginner-level participants. Finished pieces will be ready for pick up at the cinema one week after the event.

Emily Beveridge has lived her entire adult life in Athens, Ohio, first coming to the city to study Painting at Ohio University in 2002. She is committed to public service, consistently serving as an Election Judge from 2002-2020, and as an Americorps VISTA for The Federal Valley Resource Center from 2006-2008. She served as the Program Specialist for Arts West, The City of Athens operated municipal arts center from 2017-2023. Beveridge currently serves as a Board Member for The Athens County Independent News, and The Athens Artist Memorial Project.

Emily holds a BFA and an MFA in Painting from Ohio University. She has instructed and organized arts education opportunities for youth since 2006. Over the past 22 years, she has helped create and promote countless cultural events for her community. She is a visual artist, curator, grant writer, graphic designer, gardener, and professional DJ handler. She is currently creating a series of paintings which will focus on themes of the medieval, the apocalypse and women’s rights.

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