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Beat the Heat: PONYO

Watch Trailer Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writer(s): Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Noah Cyrus, Tina Fey

Help us welcome summer and dive into our Beat the Heat summer movie series with our first film of the summer, Ponyo! A fanciful movie from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki, Ponyo is about a five-year-old boy who develops a relationship with Ponyo, a young goldfish princess who longs to become a human after falling in love with him.

Athena Cinema of Ohio University’s College of Fine Arts will partner with Ohio University, Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, Athens County Children Services,  Athens Public Libraries and Ohio University Credit Union to present the Athena Cinema 7th Annual Beat the Heat $2 Days Film Series and Fundraiser for Southeast Ohio Youth Mentoring! 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, fun prizes, and free books at every showing!

To benefit Southeast Ohio Youth Mentoring (formerly 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: 101 min101 MIN
G Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Beat the Heat: ERNEST AND CELESTINE

Watch Trailer Director: Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner, Stéphane Aubier
Writer(s): Daniel Pennac
Awards: Oscar Nominated for Best Animated Film

Grab all your friends and get ready for the second film in our summer series Beat the Heat, Ernest and Celestine! Deep below snowy, cobblestone streets, tucked away in networks of winding subterranean tunnels, lives a civilization of hardworking mice, terrified of the bears who live above ground. Unlike her fellow mice, Celestine is an artist and a dreamer – and when she nearly ends up as breakfast for ursine troubadour Ernest, the two form an unlikely bond. A tale of unlikely friendship that’s sure to warm even the grumpiest bear’s heart!

Athena Cinema of Ohio University’s College of Fine Arts will partner with Ohio University, Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, Athens County Children Services,  Athens Public Libraries and Ohio University Credit Union to present the Athena Cinema 7th Annual Beat the Heat $2 Days Film Series and Fundraiser for Southeast Ohio Youth Mentoring! 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, fun prizes, and free books at every showing!

To benefit Southeast Ohio Youth Mentoring (formerly Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Athens County), the price of admission to these screenings is a suggested minimum donation of $2 per ticket.

July 13th: ERNEST & CELESTINE: Athens County Fair and Ohio State Fair Passes

On July 13th, the Athena will be raffling off two prizes!

The first prize is 7 admissions to the Athens County Fair! The fair takes place August 2nd-10th(regular admission is $10.00). The seven admissions include rides and can be used on any day so you can go for free for 7 days in a row or treat your family or friends to a day together! The Demolition Derby on Thursday is a local favorite!

Our second prize is 4 tickets to the Ohio State Fair. The State Fair takes place on July 24-August 4th this year. And don’t forget to mark your calendar for our Beat the Heat Fair Week Movie: CHARLOTTE’S WEB, on August 10th at 3:00!

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Running Time: 80 min80 MIN
PG Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Sustainability Series: THE RIVER AND THE WALL

Watch Trailer Director: Ben Masters
Cast: Ben Masters, Jay Kleberg, Filipe DeAndrade

The River and the Wall follows five friends on an immersive adventure through the unknown wilds of the Texas borderlands as they travel 1200 miles from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico on horses, mountain bikes, and canoes. They set out to document the borderlands and explore the potential impacts of a border wall on the natural environment, but as the wilderness gives way to the more populated and heavily trafficked Lower Rio Grande Valley, they come face-to-face with the human side of the immigration debate and enter uncharted emotional waters.

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Running Time: 109 MIN109 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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THE DEAD DON’T DIE: Last Day Thursday, July 25th

Watch Trailer Director: Jim Jarmusch
Writer(s): Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Selena Gomez

In the sleepy small town of Centerville, something is not quite right. The moon hangs large and low in the sky, the hours of daylight are becoming unpredictable, and animals are beginning to exhibit unusual behaviors. No one quite knows why. News reports are scary and scientists are concerned. But no one foresees the strangest and most dangerous repercussion that will soon start plaguing Centerville: The Dead Don’t Die — they rise from their graves and savagely attack and feast on the living, and the citizens of the town must battle for their survival.

From writer-director Jim Jarmusch (Paterson, Gimme Danger) comes a star-studded horror comedy featuring an ensemble cast of Jarmusch regulars (Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Iggy Pop, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits) and newcomers to the fold (Selena Gomez, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Carol Kane) in a raucous, rueful and satirical glimpse at American habits and desires at the end of the world — a comically terrifying state of the nation addressed in a true cinematic original.

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Running Time: 103 Min103 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

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One Night Only: PARIS IS BURNING

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Sponsored by Ohio University’s LGBT Center and the University Programming Council (UPC), Paris is Burning explores the historical roots of drag culture and performance.

This 1990 documentary, directed by Jennie Livingston, is an intimate and colorful portrait of Harlem drag ball culture in 1980s New York City. In weekly competitions between drag “houses,” young people of color perform elaborate routines according to fashion-inspired categories of “realness,” disappearing into a fantastical world that celebrates their flamboyant expressions of gender and sexuality. Paris is Burning is a moving meditation on the meanings of community, family, and desire against an urban backdrop of poverty, racism, transphobia, homophobia, violence, and the looming HIV/AIDS crisis.

Dr. Jan Huebenthal, Assistant Director of the LGBT Center, will introduce the film and moderate a brief discussion after the screening.

Free admission!

This event is brought to you by

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Running Time: 78 min78 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

One emerges from this film not only with a new vocabulary and a fresh way of viewing the straight world but with a bracing object lesson in understanding what society "role models" are all about.

Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
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PAVAROTTI: Last Day Thursday, July 11th

Watch Trailer Director: Ron Howard

From the filmmaking team behind the highly-acclaimed documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years, PAVAROTTI is a riveting film that lifts the curtain on the icon who brought opera to the people. Academy Award (R) winner Ron Howard puts audiences front row center for an exploration of The Voice…The Man…The Legend. Luciano Pavarotti gave his life to the music and a voice to the world. This cinematic event features history-making performances and intimate interviews, including never-before-seen footage and cutting-edge Dolby Atmos technology.

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Running Time: 114 min114 MIN
PG-13 Rated
Closed Captioning is available for this film. Open Captioning is available for this film. Descriptive Aids are available for this film. This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

Pavarotti's larger-than-life personality shines in almost every scene. The singer's optimism is contagious, and his schoolboy-like wonder is jubilant. There's a lot to smile at here.

Ken Jaworowski
New York Times
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One Night Only: DESTINATION PLANET NEGRO

Watch Trailer Director: Kevin Willmott
Writer(s): Kevin Willmott
Cast: Trey Byers, Kevin Willmott, Tosin Morohunfola

It’s 1939 and black leaders W.E.B. DuBois and George Washington Carver decide that segregated America is no place for African Americans, so they devise a secret plot to solve the “Negro Problem” by way of a rocket ship to Mars. Carrying an improbable crew of three, the spacecraft vaults into a time warp, landing its brave scientist-astronauts in modern day Kansas City. And, though the astonished explorers discover developments like young men with drooping pants and the election of a black president, DESTINATION: PLANET NEGRO! reveals that things may not have changed as much as we think they have.

Written and directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Willmott  (BlacKkKlansman) featuring Trey Byers (Empire), Kevin Willmott, Tosin Morohunfola (The Chi), Wes Studi (The Last of the Mohicans), Keith Loneker (Lakeview Terrace), former NBA/Cleveland Cavaliers player Scot Pollard, and Sean Delijuan as Reverend Jones.

Admission $6.50. Featuring actor Sean Delijuan in-house!

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Running Time: 98 min98 MIN
Not Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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LATE NIGHT: Last Day Thursday, July 11th

Watch Trailer Director: Nisha Ganatra
Writer(s): Mindy Kaling
Cast: Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling

Legendary late-night talk show host’s world is turned upside down when she hires her only female staff writer. Originally intended to smooth over diversity concerns, her decision has unexpectedly hilarious consequences as the two women separated by culture and generation are united by their love of a biting punchline.

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Running Time: 102 MIN102 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

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TRIAL BY JURY: THE CASE OF THE N-WORD

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From its inception, The N-word has both empowered and demoralized, as if it is a core basis for assessing one’s character or root identification. Initially, its etymology conferred uniform contempt for black people. But soon, The N-word became a linguistic lightning rod, separating friend from foe and defining respective politics and ideals.

More than ever, common opinions about The N-word now span a wide spectrum of perspectives, including pro, con, and those that employ the judicial analysis of free speech – it all depends on the time, place, and manner. The range of opinions and attitudes are often influenced by cultural, generational, and psychographic factors, and qualifying distinctions are frequently made on the basis of pronunciation or ethnic eligibility to even speak the word.

What quantifiable impact can be measured by the infliction or mere utterance of The N-word?

How does it strengthen a bond or pierce the fragile membrane of civility?

What would happen if the N-word were put on trial?

Join us for an interactive deliberation on Black Alumni Reunion Weekend, presented by Res Ipsa Media and producer/OU alum Kyle Bowser. Free admission!

Sponsored by the Center for Law, Justice, and Culture and the Scripps Diversity Committee.

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ECHO IN THE CANYON: Last Day Thursday, August 8th

Watch Trailer Director: Andrew Slater (XI)

Echo In The Canyon celebrates the explosion of popular music that came out of LA’s Laurel Canyon in the mid-60s as folk went electric and The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield and The Mamas and the Papas gave birth to the California Sound. It was a moment (1965 to 1967) when bands came to LA to emulate The Beatles and Laurel Canyon emerged as a hotbed of creativity and collaboration for a new generation of musicians who would soon put an indelible stamp on the history of American popular music. Featuring Jakob Dylan, the film explores the beginnings of the Laurel Canyon music scene. Dylan uncovers never-before-heard personal details behind the bands and their songs and how that music continues to inspire today. Echo in the Canyon contains candid conversations and performances with Brian Wilson, Ringo Starr, Michelle Phillips, Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Roger McGuinn and Jackson Browne as well as contemporary musicians they influenced such as Tom Petty (in his very last film interview), Beck, Fiona Apple, Cat Power, Regina Spektor and Norah Jones.

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Running Time: 82 min82 MIN
PG-13 Rated
Closed Captioning is available for this film. This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

A film like this is catnip for the analytical hemisphere of my brain, as it details precisely how The Beatles led to The Byrds, and then in turn how The Beach Boys' landmark album, 'Pet Sounds,' inspired 'Sgt. Pepper.'

Matt Fagerholm
RogerEbert.com
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