Category Archives: Film

Oscar winner Geena Davis at the Clinton School

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Academy Award-winning actor Geena Davis founded is speaking tonight in Little Rock.  She is being hosted by the University of Arkansas Clinton School for Public Service and the William J. Clinton Foundation.

She founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2004. The institute is the only research-based organization working within the media and entertainment industry to engage, educate and influence the need for gender balance, reducing stereotyping and creating a wide variety of female characters in entertainment. Davis won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “The Accidental Tourist” in 1988.

The lecture is being held in the Wally Allen Ballroom of the Statehouse Convention Center at 6:00 pm.  Seating is limited and reservations are required.  To make a reservation, email publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or call 501-683-5239.

Clinton School next week features filmmaker, Rep play

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The University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service speaker series brings a wide variety of engaging speakers to Little Rock throughout the year.  For example, next week features an Ambassador and a World Food Prize Laureate.

Two of the programs next week have a cultural bent.

On Monday, January 23 at 6:00pm, Louie Psihoyos will discuss “The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Construction.  He is director of the 2009 Oscar winning film for best documentary, “The Cove,” which uncovers how a small seaside village in Japan serves as a microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide.

At the Clinton School, Psihoyos will discuss the importance of using art to inspire activism and show clips from his next eco-thriller about the sixth mass extinction on Earth. The new film will feature Scientist Roger Payne, who declares that in the near future all the famines and world wars experienced by humanity will be a footnote compared to the destruction humanity is creating on the planet.
Fittingly, the Clinton School will host the Academy Award winner the night before this year’s Oscar nominations are announced.  The day after the Oscar nominations come out, the Clinton School will feature a program about a stage adaptation of an Oscar winning film.
The Arkansas Repertory Theatre is producing the stage version of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird (which won Oscars when it was made into a film).  On Wednesday, January 25 at 12 noon, Arkansas Repertory Theatre producing artistic director Bob Hupp will host the cast of The Rep’s upcoming production of the play for a panel discussion.
Hupp and the cast will discuss the history of the famous novel, its compelling themes of compassion, justice, integrity and courage and their work to bring the story to The Rep stage. As it is told through the eyes of Scout, the tomboyish young daughter of small-town lawyer Atticus Finch, it becomes clear that To Kill a Mockingbird is a love story: a father’s love for his children, their love for him and a love for the South.
Both programs will take place at Sturgis Hall.   Reservations can be made by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or calling 501-683-5239.

Friday the 13 is LUCKY for art lovers

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It is time again for 2nd Friday Art Night.  Though it may be Friday the 13th, attendees will be lucky because they’ll still have time to catch Tessaract Dancing (the art of Brett Anderson and Emily Galusha) at Historic Arkansas Museum.

Opening tonight at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) Women to Watch series. The exhibition includes the work of artists who were selected for consideration for the NMWA’s Body of Work exhibit as part of its biennial Women to Watch series. This series features emerging or under-represented artists from the states and countries in which the museum has outreach committees.

Continuing at the Butler Center through February 25 is ARK. In the Dark: An Exhibition of Vintage Movie Posters about Arkansas. The Butler Center and Ron Robinson are co-hosting an exhibition of vintage Arkansas-related movie posters to be shown in Concordia Hall of the Arkansas Studies Institute. The show features 35 posters from films covering the years 1926 to 2009.

On the second Friday of each month, the Butler Center Galleries participate in 2nd Friday Art Night, when galleries, museums, and businesses in downtown Little Rock are open from 5 to 8 p.m. for an after-hours gallery walk.

Arts & Humanities Month: Little Rock Film Festival’s Argenta Film Series – MARATHON BOY

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The Little Rock Film Festival has launched the Argenta Film Series in conjunction with the Argenta Arts Foundation and the Mitchell Williams Law Firm.  Tonight’s entry is Marathon Boy, which will be shown at the Argenta Community Theatre.

A TRIBECA Film Festival official section from HBO Documentary Films, Marathon Boy tells the story of a four-year old boy from the slums of India who is trained to become India’s greatest runner.  Along the way, the story becomes rife with greed and disillusionment. 

Director Gemma Atwal from London will be present for the screening and participate in a question and answer session following the screening. A reception will begin at 6:30 pm and the film will begin at 7:00 pm.

The film will air on HBO later this year. For more information on the movie, visit the official website: http://www.marathonboymovie.com/.

The Argenta Film Series is a new year-round film series, emphasizing in-depth discussions on the craft of filmmaking, and will showcase indoor and outdoor screenings of local, national and international films.

The Little Rock Film Festival is one of the premiere film advocacy organizations in the American South, promoting the film industry in the state of Arkansas and bringing filmmakers from around the world each June to its flagship event in Little Rock. Current LRFF year round programs include, the 48 hour film project, the Reel Civil Rights Film Festival, and the Argenta Film Series.

Later this month, the Little Rock Film Festival will show Drag Me to Hell on October 28.