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Welcome Week Movie

Welcome to Athens, Bobcats! Did you know there is a historic art house movie theater right on Court St…? The Athena Cinema has been a fixture of Uptown Athens for more than a century. We not only show an excellent selection of contemporary independent films, classic movies, and timely documentaries, we’re also the home of the annual Athens International Film and Video Festival – one of the oldest film fests in the country!

Stop in and pay us a visit at 20 S. Court St! Sign up for our email list and get a free small popcorn – we proudly use kernels from Athens’ own Shagbark Seed & Mill. We’d love you to come by and check out the movies we’re playing, get a limited edition student loyalty card, become a member, and have a look at the classy lobby of our 109-year-old cinema!

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FIRST REFORMED

Watch Trailer Director: Paul Schrader
Writer(s): Paul Schrader
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric the Entertainer

Reverend Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke) is a solitary, middle-aged parish pastor at a small Dutch Reform church in upstate New York on the cusp of celebrating its 250th anniversary. Once a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church is now a tourist attraction catering to a dwindling congregation, eclipsed by its nearby parent church, Abundant Life, with its state-of-the-art facilities and 5,000-strong flock. When a pregnant parishioner (Amanda Seyfried) asks Reverend Toller to counsel her husband, a radical environmentalist, the clergyman finds himself plunged into his own tormented past, and equally despairing future, until he finds redemption in an act of grandiose violence. From writer-director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver; American Gigolo; Affliction) comes a gripping thriller about a crisis of faith that is at once personal, political, and planetary.

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Running Time: 108 minutes108 MIN
R Rated
Closed Captioning is available for this film. Open Captioning is available for this film. This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

Ethan Hawke is better than ever in Paul Schrader’s tense eco-thriller

Eric Kohn
indieWIRE
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THE SEAGULL

Watch Trailer Director: Michael Mayer
Cast: ANNETTE BENING, SAOIRSE RONAN, COREY STOLL, ELISABETH MOSS, MARE WINNINGHAM, JON TENNEY, GLENN FLESHLER MICHAEL ZEGEN, BILLY HOWLE, BRIAN DENNEHY

One summer at a lakeside Russian estate, friends and family gather for a weekend in the countryside. While everyone is caught up in passionately loving someone who loves somebody else, a tragicomedy unfolds about art, fame, human folly, and the eternal desire to live a purposeful life.

The estate is owned by Sorin (Brian Dennehy), a retired government employee, and his sister Irina (Annette Bening), a legendary actress of the Moscow stage. Irina is imperious, narcissistic and selfish, and anxious about holding on to her star status and the affections of her younger lover, Boris Trigorin (Corey Stoll), a successful writer of short stories. Irina constantly belittles her aspiring writer son Konstantin (Billy Howle), perhaps because his existence as a grown man reminds her that age is catching up with her. While he adores his mother despite her cruelty, Konstantin acts out his insecurity and anger by rejecting both her style of theatre and Boris’s writing, declaring them old-fashioned and banal. A dreamer, Konstantin declares he will create bold and superior new forms of theatre and literature.

Konstantin, who grew up on the estate, is head over heels in love with Nina (Saoirse Ronan), a beautiful and naïve local girl who dreams of being an actress. Nina is flattered when Konstantin gives her the starring role in his newly written play, but soon after encountering Boris, she rejects Konstantin, and pursues the handsome and famous writer instead.

Masha (Elisabeth Moss), the forlorn, black-clad, self-medicating daughter of Sorin’s estate manager Shamrayev (Glenn Fleshler) and his wife Polina (Mare Winningham), suffers an unrequited love for Konstantin, who insensitively spurns her. She scorns the insipid schoolteacher Medvedenko (Michael Zegen), who refuses to be discouraged by her rejection and accepts any crumbs of attention she drops him. Polina aches for the charismatic country doctor Dorn (Jon Tenney), who, pays her some attention, but still relishes the connection with Irina with whom he had an affair years ago. The elderly Sorin, long past any hope of romance, lives in a languid state of regret over roads not taken.

Adapted by Tony-winning playwright Stephen Karam (“The Humans”) from Anton Chekhov’s classic play and directed by Tony-winner Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening”), THE SEAGULL explores, with comedy and melancholy, the obsessive nature of love, the tangled relationships between parents and children, and the transcendent value and psychic toll of art.

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Running Time: 98 minutes98 MIN
PG-13 Rated
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

When [Saoirse] Ronan's face appears for the first time it is a glowing orb that fills the screen. She seems to emit sunshine from inside her white dress.

Josephine Livingstone
Slate
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THE RIDER

Watch Trailer Director: Chloé Zhao
Cast: Brady Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau

Based on his a true story, THE RIDER stars breakout Brady Jandreau as a once rising star of the rodeo circuit warned that his competition days are over after a tragic riding accident. Back home, Brady finds himself wondering what he has to live for when he can no longer do what gives him a sense of purpose: to ride and compete. In an attempt to regain control of his fate, Brady undertakes a search for new identity and tries to redefine his idea of what it means to be a man in the heartland of America.

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Running Time: 104 minutes104 MIN
R Rated
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

"The Rider" comes as close to a spiritual experience as anything I've encountered in a movie theater this year.

Justin Chang
Los Angeles Times
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LET THE SUNSHINE IN: Last Day Thursday, June 14th

Watch Trailer Director: Claire Denis
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Gerard Depardieu, Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Katerine, Josiane Balasko

Juliette Binoche delivers a luminous performance in the deliciously witty, sensuously romantic new film from acclaimed director Claire Denis (White Material). Isabelle (Binoche) is a divorced Parisian painter searching for another shot at love, but refusing to settle for the parade of all-too-flawed men who drift in and out of her life. There’s a caddish banker (Xavier Beauvois) who, like many of her lovers, happens to be married; a handsome actor (Nicolas Duvauchelle) who’s working through his own hang-ups; and a sensitive fellow artist (Alex Descas) who’s skittish about commitment. What reads like a standard romantic comedy premise is transformed, in the hands of master filmmaker Denis, into something altogether deeper, more poignant, and perceptive about the profound mysteries of love.

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Running Time: 96 minutes96 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

Denis's foray into the often-goofy world of the rom-com is at once a cold bath of realism and a bewitching portrait of the power of love.

David Sims
The Atlantic
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SWEET COUNTRY: Last Day Thursday, May 31st

Watch Trailer Director: Warwick Thornton
Cast: Bryan Brown, Matt Day, Tremayne Doolan

Sam, a middle-aged Aboriginal man, works for a preacher in the outback of Australia’s Northern Territory. When Harry, a bitter war veteran, moves into a neighbouring outpost, the preacher sends Sam and his family to help Harry renovate his cattle yards. But Sam’s relationship with the cruel and ill-tempered Harry quickly deteriorates, culminating in a violent shootout in which Sam kills Harry in self-defence. As a result, Sam becomes a wanted criminal for the murder of a white man, and is forced to flee with his wife across the deadly outback, through glorious but harsh desert country. A hunting party led by the local lawman Sergeant Fletcher is formed to track Sam down. But as the true details of the killing start to surface, the community begins to question whether justice is really being served.

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Running Time: 113 minutes113 MIN
R Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

Spare, deliberately paced, and almost Biblical in its search for moral justice in a harsh and lawless landscape.

Chris Nashawaty
Entertainment Weekly
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ISLE OF DOGS: Last Day Thursday, June 7th

Watch Trailer Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton

When, by executive decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, 12-year-old Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.

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Running Time: 101 min101 MIN
PG-13 Rated
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

The unique charm of Isle of Dogs is its bottomless vault of curios, its sly humor, playful graphic inserts and dexterous narrative detours.

David Rooney
Hollywood Reporter
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GEEK WEEK

In an effort to raise money for the arts and celebrate local Geekdom, ARTS/West has partnered with the Athena Cinema to bring a unique film series to the Athens community. The series will allow the community to experience these films on the big screen as they were meant to be seen, certain screenings will feature trivia, prizes, costumes, and promotion of local businesses. Bring friends, come in costume, and celebrate being a geek!

All tickets only $5

Film Schedule:
The Iron Giant – Sunday, May 6th 1pm
Aliens – Monday, May 7th 7pm
Princess Mononoke (dubbed) – Tuesday, May 8th 7pm
Fellowship of the Ring – Wednesday, May 9th 7pm
The Dark Knight – Thursday, May 10th 7pm
Mad Max: Fury Road – Friday, May 11th 7pm

The film series is Geekdom for a good cause. All proceeds from the event go to Arts/West, a community based arts facility which is part of the city of Athens Parks & Recreation department and home to PRISM: LCBTQ After school Program, Athens Girls Rock Camp, Ohio Valley Summer Theater Camp, as well as other public performances, classes and workshops.

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Beat the Heat: THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH

Watch Trailer Director: Chuck Jones, Dave Monahan, Abe Levitow, Jones Levitow
Cast: Butch Patrick, Hans Conried, Mel Blanc

Come experience the magic of fantasy and the wonder of childhood at the Athena! Based on Norton Juster’s 1961 children’s book, The Phantom Tollbooth, tells the fantastical story of Milo and his dog Tock. Young Milo is bored of his day-to-day life until he finds a tollbooth in his room and decides to drive his toy car through it. Soon after, Milo is transported to the mysterious fantasy land of Dictionopolis, a city fixated on words. While in Dictionopolis, Milo learns vital lessons and embarks on an unforgettable adventure. 

Athena Cinema of Ohio University’s College of Fine Arts will partner with the Department of Real Estate Management, Community Engagement and Economic Development to present the Athena Cinema 6th Annual Beat the Heat $2 Days Film Series and Fundraiser for Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Athens County! Every year, the summer series showcases children’s and family-friendly films at a discounted admission. Get out of the heat and come enjoy the cool air conditioning, delicious concessions, and movies that every child should see on the big screen!

To benefit Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Athens County, the price of admission to these screenings is a suggested minimum donation of $2 per ticket.

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Running Time: 90 minutes90 MIN
G Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

This fine adaptation of the children's book by Norton Juster was Chuck Jones's and MGM's first animated feature.

TV Guide
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Sponsored by Ohio University, Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, Athens County Children Services, Athens County Public Libraries, Athens Prosecutor’s Office, Ohio University Credit Union

Science on Screen® Presents MOON CHILD with George Eberts & Tom O’Grady

Watch Trailer Director: Agustí Villaronga
Cast: Maribel Martín, Lisa Gerrard, Enrique Saldana

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Our Human Experience of the Sky

George Eberts and Tom O’Grady, instructors in Ohio University’s Physics & Astronomy Department, specialize in the human experience and view of the sky, including, the moon, eclipses, comets, and meteor showers. Following a lecture, they lead an exploration into the sky just a few days before the Summer Solstice.

About the film

In partnership with Cult Epics, AGFA presents a mystical fantasy film for adults, a unique gift to cinema and music fans alike boasting an unreleased soundtrack by Australian goth pioneers Dead Can Dance. Inspired by famed occultist Aleister Crowley’s novel, and spun from the mind of Agusti Villagronga, Moon Child (El Niño de la Luna) was considered revelatory at Cannes in 1989. Today, it is remastered for its first-ever theatrical release in the US.

After being adopted by a treacherous semi-scientific cult where extraordinary mental powers are common, extraordinary 12-year-old David begins an archetypal journey across two continents to find his destiny as Child of the Moon.

About the speakers

The film will be preceded by a lecture from the OU Physics & Astronomy Department’s George Eberts and Tom O’Grady. Eberts and O’Grady specialize in the human experience and view of the sky, including, the moon, eclipses, comets and meteor showers.

 

Return

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Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Science on Screen program pairs films with a short talk with a scientist or technology expert. The free Science on Screen events are fun and engaging, offering dynamic speakers an unexpected jumping point to teach their field of expertise in a way that is accessible to a diverse audience.

 

Free admission to this event is provided by Arts for OHIO.

 

 

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Running Time: 118 min118 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

A spectacular film which mixes ice and fire, and which takes us where movies rarely go today: to a dream, to magic.

Le Monde
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