Category Archives: Film

Documentary on LR native Florence Price screened tonight at Mosaic Templars

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Florence-PriceTonight at 6 p.m. Mosaic Templars Cultural Center will play host to the premiere of the new documentary, The Caged Bird. Produced, written and edited by Dr. James Greeson, professor emeritus of music composition at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, The Caged Bird presents an in-depth look at the life and music of Florence Price, the first African American woman to have her music performed by a major symphony.

Born in Little Rock in 1887, Price and her family were the elite of black society or as historian Willard Gatewood referred to them, “Aristocrats of Color.” Through her travels, Price came into contact with some of the most influential African Americans in our nation’s history, including abolitionist Frederick Douglass, writer W.E.B. DuBois,one of the founders of the NAACP, author Langston Hughes and dancer Katherine Dunham. Price became a favorite composer of the great soprano Marian Anderson, whose 1939 concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was a seminal moment in the civil rights movement.

In 1933, the world-famous Chicago Symphony, consisting entirely of white men, premiered Price’s “Symphony in E minor” at the Chicago World’s Fair. Even today this would be a huge achievement for any composer; but during the era of segregation it was a unprecedented feat for a women, in particular an African American woman, to have her music presented on the world stage by a prestigious orchestra. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Dr. Greeson.

The Caged Bird is free and open to the public.

Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is a program of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Little Rock Film Festival comes to end of reel

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LRFF EndThe “Fin” screen has appeared for the Little Rock Film Festival. The mark it has made to boost filmmaking and the artform of cinema will last for years to come!

Statement from the Little Rock Film Festival:

After 9 great years, each one bigger and arguably better than the last, The Little Rock Film Festival is retiring.

We are proud of the Arkansas filmmaking community that we have helped to inspire and promote, and pleased to have brought hundreds of the top independent filmmakers from around the World to Central Arkansas each year to share their work directly with audiences.

Along the way, we were able to show off our beautiful city and state, and provide the kind of cultural entertainment we believe is essential for a city like Little Rock, to attract and retain the young people it needs to prosper and compete.

Thank you to the sponsors, festivalgoers, filmmakers and volunteers who have been a part of this fantastic ride. We love you all.

THE COLOR PURPLE shown and explored tonight as part of Banned Books Week

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cals bbweek purpleThe Arkansas Literary Festival will celebrate Banned Books Week with an interview reenactment, a film, and a writing contest. A program based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award-winning novel, The Color Purple, will be presented on Wednesday, September 30, at 6:30 p.m. at the Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave. After the presentation, the 1985 film will be shown. The event is free and open to the public.

Actresses Verda Davenport Booher and Vivian Norman will reenact part of an interview with Alice Walker. The interview touches on Walker’s inspiration for the book and on the success it has had, as well as the film and the musical.

Written as a series of letters, the 1982 novel been challenged repeatedly because of language, sexuality, and violence. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg and nominated for eleven Academy Awards. A successful musical based upon the book opened on Broadway in 2005, and was nominated for ten Tony awards. Oprah Winfrey, nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress in the film, was one of the producers of the musical. A pared-down revival of the musical is slated to open on Broadway in December, 2015.

Banned Books Week (September 27−October 3, 2015) is an annual event sponsored by the American Library Association celebrating the freedom to read. It highlights the value of free and open access to information and the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship and books that have been targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read.

The Festival’s celebration of Banned Books Week is sponsored by the Fred K. Darragh Foundation. This is the Festival’s fifth annual Banned Books Week presentation. Other titles that have been featured include The Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, The Great Gatsby, A Clockwork Orange, A Doll’s House, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

The Arkansas Literary Festival is a program of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS). For more information about the 2016 Arkansas Literary Festival, visit ArkansasLiteraryFestival.org, or contact Brad Mooy at 918-3098. For information on volunteering at the Festival, contact Angela Delaney at 918-3095.

Happy 50th Birthday to the National Endowment for the Arts & National Endowment for the Humanities

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NEANEH50On September 29, 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed into law the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 at a White House Rose Garden ceremony, attended by scholars, artists, educators, political leaders, and other luminaries.

The law created the National Endowment for the Humanities as an independent federal agency, the first grand public investment in American culture. It identified the need for a national cultural agency that would preserve America’s rich history and cultural heritage, and encourage and support scholarship and innovation in history, archeology, philosophy, literature, and other humanities disciplines.

On this occasion, President Johnson said: “Art is a nation’s most precious heritage. For it is in our works of art that we reveal ourselves, and to others, the inner vision which guides us as a nation. And where there is no vision, the people perish.”

This new law was the fruit of two presidents, several senators and representatives, and four previous pieces of legislation. Separate bills had been introduced, in previous years, into the House by Representative Frank Thompson (D-NJ), and into the Senate by Senators Hubert Humphrey (D-MN) and Jacob Javits (R-NY). Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI) had overseen hearings on some of this preliminary legislation, beginning in October 1963, before the death of President John F. Kennedy.

Over the years, the NEA and NEH have awarded millions of dollars to Little Rock based institutions, organizations and individuals through direct appropriations.  They have also impacted Little Rock cultural life through funding of the Mid-America Arts Alliance, Arkansas Arts Council, Department of Arkansas Heritage, Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism, and U.S. Conference of Mayors among others. These groups have either re-granted the dollars to Little Rock entities or undertaken projects which have directly impacted and improved life in Little Rock.

 

ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW tonight at the Ron Robinson Theater

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RRT Rocky HorrorDo the Time Warp tonight at the Ron Robinson Theater when The Rocky Horror Picture Show is screened.

Doors open at 7pm, movie starts at 8pm.

A mixture of fantastical rock opera and horror movie spoof. A couple of ordinary kids – Brad and (Dammit) Janet (I love you) – have car trouble one dark and rainy night and knock on the door of a looming gothic mansion. They are stunned to learn that they have stumbled into an ongoing convention of kinky characters, hosted by Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a mad scientist who is a sweet transvestite from Transylvania.

The movie stars Tony nominee Tim Curry, Tony winner Barry Bostwick and Oscar winner Susan Sarandon along with appearances by Meat Loaf, and Richard O’Brien (who wrote the stage show and co-wrote the movie).

Originally a flop, it became one of the first cult-classic movies which ended up running for years in various cities.  Now is the chance to again see it on the big screen.

Admission is $7. Concessions are available for purchase.

Documentary THE HUNTING GROUND tonight at the Ron Robinson Theater

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the-hunting-ground-poster-e1428605428217Tonight there is an exclusive screening of a documentary about campus sexual assault presented by the Arkansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault at the Ron Robinson Theater at 7pm.

Free event. Donations will be accepted to support the Arkansas Sexual Assault Crisis Response Hotline.

Doors open at 6:30pm.

Panel discussion will follow event.

From the Academy Award-nominated filmmaking team behind The Invisible War, comes a startling exposé of sexual assault on U.S. campuses, institutional cover-ups and the brutal social toll on victims and their families.  Weaving together verité footage and first-person testimonies, the film follows the lives of several undergraduate assault survivors as they attempt to pursue – despite incredible push back, harassment, and traumatic aftermath – both their education and justice.

WHEN
Tuesday, September 22, 2015 from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
WHERE
CALS Ron Robinson Theater – 100 River Market Avenue, Little Rock

Free movie tonight at MacArthur Museum of Ark. Military History – Latino Americans: War and Peace

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MacMuseMovHispSeptember 15 to October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month.  In partnership with AETN, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will host a screening of the Latino Americans: War and Peace (1942-1954). The screening starts at 6:30pm tonight at the museum in MacArthur Park.

Free admission. Free popcorn and beverages provided.

 

The documentary tells the story of Latino Americans serving during WWII and their struggle for equality in the military and at home after the war.  

After the war, Army Staff Sgt. Macario Garcia became the first Mexican National to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor for his exploits fighting in Europe.  He was later refused service in a Texas diner.  The experience during the war pushed Latinos to fight for civil rights back home.

The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History is a program of the City of Little Rock’s Parks and Recreation Department.