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Food on Film: JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI

Watch Trailer Director: David Gelb
Cast: Jiro Ono, Masuhiro Yamamoto, Daisuke Nakazama
Language: Japanese

In the basement of a Tokyo office building, 85 year old sushi master Jiro Ono works tirelessly in his world renowned restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro. As his son Yoshikazu faces the pressures of stepping into his father’s shoes and taking over the legendary restaurant, Jiro relentlessly pursues his lifelong quest to create the perfect piece of sushi.

“David Gelb’s thoughtful and wonderful documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, explores the dedication of this humble, bespectacled man, and the Zen-like focus he has for his work – or, as many would claim, for his art.” – Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
“One of the film’s best moments of deliciousness comes with the revelation that Yoshikazu, rather than his father, made the sushi that won the Michelin inspectors over; so much for working humbly in the old man’s shadow.” – Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal
“For all the trite sayings that come to mind, the story feels exceptional thanks to the subject, a self-made perfectionist still pursuing culinary transcendence.” – Stephanie Merry, Washington Post

 

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Running Time: 81 minutes81 MIN
PG Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Parents Weekend: RAISING ARIZONA

Watch Trailer Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Writer(s): Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman

We’re celebrating OU Parents weekend with a showing of RAISING ARIZONA, an early Coen Brothers favorite about a couple (Nic Cage and Holly Hunter) who want to have a child… so they take one.

A surreal, hyperactive farce in which a bumbling petty thief and the lady cop who keeps arresting him fall in love and decide to start a family. When they discover they can’t have babies, they steal one from a furniture mogul who has just sired a set of quintuplets. The joys of parenthood are soon marred, however, by the difficulties of raising an infant on the run. The none-too-bright couple must flee across the southwestern desert in order to elude the villainous biker that has been hired to retrieve the tyke.

“A wacky, happy, daring, darkly comic tale of parenting outside the law.” -Rita Kempley, Washington Post

“Starting from a point of delirious excess, the film leaps into dark and virtually uncharted territory to soar like a comet.” -Geoff Andrew, Time Out

“To their old fascination with Sunbelt pathology, to their side-winding Steadicam and pristine command of screen space, the Coens have added a robust humor, a plot that keeps outwitting expectations and a…dollop of sympathy for their forlorn kidnapers.” -Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine

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Running Time: 94 minutes94 MIN
PG-13 Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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100 Years of Athena: DO THE RIGHT THING

Watch Trailer Director: Spike Lee
Writer(s): Spike Lee
Cast: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee

Director Spike Lee dives head-first into a maelstrom of racial and social ills, using as his springboard the hottest day of the year on one block in Brooklyn, NY. Salvatore “Sal” Fragione (Danny Aiello) is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito), becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria’s Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin’ Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin’ Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

“Comes closer to reflecting the current state of race relations in America than any other movie of our time.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

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Running Time: 120 Minutes120 MIN
R Rated

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No Pryor Knowledge: WATTSTAX

Watch Trailer Director: Mel Stuart
Cast: The Dramatics, The Staple Singers, Kim Weston
Language: English

This is a documentary about the 1972 Watts Summer Festival, which culminated in a day long concert by Stax Records artists at a sold-out Los Angeles Coliseum. The concert was headlined by Issac Hayes and the support acts included Rufus Thomas and his daughter Carla, the Bar Kays and the Staple Singers. The film also features commentary by many African Americans who comment on how things were in Watts since the riots that tore the city apart seven years earlier.

“A candid, colorful and deeply meaningful sociocultural time capsule, one that captured the black community at the height of its political energy and optimism.” – Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post

“Not only documents the soul-titan concert held at L.A. Coliseum seven years after Watts burned, but illuminates the rue and kinesis of a city in full Black Power flower.” – Laura Sinagra, Village Voice

“The film is saved by the raw power of the performances, and especially, Richard Pryor’s bitterly funny observations.” – Michael Scheinfeld, TV Guide Magazine

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Running Time: 103 minutes103 MIN
R Rated

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Sustainability Series: COTTON ROAD

Watch Trailer Director: Laura Kissel
Writer(s): Laura Kissel
Language: English

Americans consume nearly 20 billion new items of clothing each year. Yet few of us know how our clothes are made, much less who produces them. COTTON ROAD follows the commodity of cotton from South Carolina farms to Chinese factories to illuminate the work and industrial processes in a global supply chain.

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Running Time: 72 minutes72 MIN
Not Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Sustainability Series: OPEN SESAME

Watch Trailer Director: M. Sean Kaminsky
Cast: Bill McDorman, Vandana Shiva, Jeffrey Smith
Language: English

One of the world’s most precious resources is at risk. This timely and emotionally moving documentary illuminates what is at stake and what can be done to protect the source of nearly all our food: SEEDS. Seeds provide the basis for everything from fabric, to food to fuels. Seeds are as essential to life as the air we breathe or water we drink… but given far less attention.

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Running Time: 82 minutes82 MIN
Not Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Digging for Fire: Leaving Thursday, September 24th

Watch Trailer Director: Joe Swanberg
Writer(s): Joe Swanberg, Jake Johnson
Cast: Jake Johnson, Rosemarie DeWitt, Orlando Bloom

Tim and Lee are married with a young child. The chance to stay at a fancy home in the Hollywood Hills is complicated by Tim’s discovery of a bone and a rusty old gun in the yard. Tim is excited by the idea of a mystery, but Lee doesn’t want him to dig any further, preferring that he focus on the family taxes, which he promised to do weeks ago. This disagreement sends them on separate and unexpected adventures over the course of a weekend, as Tim and his friends seek clues to the mystery while Lee searches for answers to the bigger questions of marriage and parenthood.

“Equal parts film noir, relationship drama, dark comedy and mood piece, Digging for Fire is a movie made by someone who clearly loves the art of movies.” -Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

“…an attractively shot, gracefully edited and, finally, emotionally satisfying mystery about the nature of marriage itself.” -Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

“The film has an appealing honesty and an enjoyably low-key comic style.” -A.O. Scott, New York Times

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Running Time: 85 min85 MIN
R Rated

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Grandma: Leaving the Athena Thursday, October 1st

Watch Trailer Director: Paul Weitz
Writer(s): Paul Weitz
Cast: Lily Tomlin, Julia Garner, Marcia Gay Harden

Elle Reid (Lily Tomlin) has just gotten through breaking up with her girlfriend when Elle’s granddaughter Sage unexpectedly shows up needing $600 bucks before sundown. Temporarily broke, Grandma Elle and Sage spend the day trying to get their hands on the cash as their unannounced visits to old friends and flames end up rattling skeletons and digging up secrets.

“A sublime match of performer and role.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“It gives a national treasure who never asked to become one, Lily Tomlin, a showcase to display everything she’s got as a performer, especially the offhand courage to not play at being likable.” – Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News

*Closed Caption and Visual Impairment devices are available for this film.

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Running Time: 79 min79 MIN
R Rated

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Sustainability Series: BLACK ICE

Watch Trailer Director: Maarten van Rouveroy
Language: English

When a Greenpeace ship was seized at gunpoint by Russian special forces, the “Arctic 30” were thrust into headlines all over the world, facing up to 15 years in prison and finding themselves at the center of a bitter international dispute. Russia charged the crew, from 18 different countries, with piracy and hooliganism. But their resolve to try and stop oil drilling in the Arctic was never broken.

*Free admission provided by Environmental Studies Program at the Voinovich School for Leadership and Public Affairs, Alden Library, Athena Cinema, the College of Arts & Sciences Sustainability Studies and Food Studies Themes and Office of Sustainability at Ohio University.*

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Running Time: 53 minutes53 MIN
Not Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Sustainability Series: JUST EAT IT

Watch Trailer Director: Grant Baldwin
Writer(s): Jenny Rustemeyer, Grant Baldwin
Cast: Grant Baldwin, Jenny Rustemeyer, Dana Gunders
Language: English

Jen and Grant dive into the issue of food waste from farm, through retail. After catching a glimpse of the billions of dollars of good food that is tossed each year, they pledge to survive only on foods that would otherwise be thrown away. But as Grant’s addictive personality turns full tilt towards food rescue, the ‘thrill of the find’ has unexpected consequences.

 

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Running Time: 75 minutes75 MIN
Not Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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