Tag Archives: Arkansas Times

Movies in the Park founders to be honored on June 11

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MitP 10Movies in the Park founders Heather Allmendinger, Ben Beaumont and Blake Rutherford, will be honored for their hard work and vision in creating the ever popular Little Rock Movies in the Park, celebrating its 10th season this year.

The celebration will be on Wednesday, June 11 at 8:30 p.m. at the First Security Amphitheater, just prior to the kickoff of the 2014 season.

Movies in the Park began as an idea by Blake Rutherford. While walking through the River Market one day, he wondered why the city didn’t use the amphitheater for outdoor movies. He did a little research, and found a model for Movies in the Park from the popular Summer Movie Series at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC.

Blake then called friends, Heather and Ben, and reached out to community leaders to get the idea off the ground. The movie series at the Museum of Art in Raleigh was more than 10 years old at the time, and they were very helpful in getting Movies in the Park started in Little Rock.

Comcast was the first anchor sponsor on board with the event, followed by much support from KURB B 98.5 FM, Arkansas Times, Stone Ward, City of Little Rock and more.

“One of our goals from the beginning was to ensure that the movies would be completely free for all in the community to enjoy,” said Blake Rutherford. “We received tremendous support from several organizations to get the event going and we are very happy to see it continue as one of the most popular community events in Little Rock.”

The popular outdoor free movie night, held at the First Security Amphitheater, has been going strong for ten years now. The first movie to be shown was “A River Runs Through It,” which was selected as a nod to Little Rock and the Amphitheater’s location. It drew less than 400 people. Four films were shown the first year in 2004.

Movies in the Park has now grown to a season of eight films per year, on average, reaching audiences of up to 3,000 people. It’s a staple event in Central Arkansas. Communities from across the state, and the country, have reached out for guidance as they have tried to implement similar programs in the own communities.

Since 2008, the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau has been managing Movies in the Park.

To check out more information about the movies being played this year, please visit

http://moviesintheparklr.net.

The 2014 Little Rock Film Festival Award Winners

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LRFF coverHere are the award winners from the 2014 Little Rock Film Festival.

Diamond Award

Governor Mike Beebe

Golden Rock, Best Narrative

Kumiko: The Treasure Hunter, dir. David & Nathan Zellner

Golden Rock, Best Documentary

Virunga, dir. Orlando von Einsiedel

Arkansas Times Audience Award

Korengal, dir. Sebastian Junger

Special Jury Prize for Extraordinary Courage in Filmmaking

Matthew VanDyke, Point and Shoot

Special Jury Prize for Cinematic Nonfiction

Ne Me Quitte Pas, dir. Sabine Lubbe Bakker & Niels van Koevorden

Best Southern Film

Stop the Pounding Heart, dir. Roberto Minervini

Best World Short

King of Size, dir. Peter Dowd

Charles B. Pierce Award, Best Made in Arkansas Film

Sacred Hearts, Holy Souls, dir. Mark Thiedeman

Best Made in Arkansas Director

John Hockaday, Stuck

Best Made in Arkansas Performance

Ed Lowry, Matter of Honor

Youth Filmmaking Award

Connor Leach, Consequences

HAPPILY EVER LAUGHTER with Second City at the Arkansas Rep

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SecondCityDrawing on the classics from The Second City archives as well as scenes ripped from the morning headlines, The Second City’s Happily Ever Laughter tour is your chance to see comedy stars in the making in an evening of smart, cutting edge comedy.

Many of comedy’s brightest stars have hit the road with The Second City Touring Company including Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Amy Poehler, Steve Carell, Bill Murray, Keegan Michael Key and most recently, current Saturday Night Live stars Cecily Strong, Tim Robinson, and Jason Sudeikis.

“From John Belushi to Tina Fey to Stephen Colbert, The Second City alumni define comedy in America,” says Bob Hupp. “You’ll want to be the first to check out the rising new stars on their all-new tour.”

The cast includes Scott Morehead, Adam Peacock, Liz Reuss, Marlena Rodriguez, Sarah Shook, and Ted Tremper.

The performance schedule is:

Thursday, May 1 | 7 p.m. | BREWHAHA sponsored by Sync
Friday, May 2 | 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 3| 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 4 | 7 p.m.

Tuesday, May 6 | 7 p.m. | Night Out with The Point sponsored by The Point 94.1
Wednesday, May 7 | 7 p.m. | Singles Mix and Mingle Night
Thursday, May 8 | 7 p.m. | Cidre Night with Stella Artois sponsored by The Arkansas Times
Friday, May 9 | 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 10 | 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.
The Second City is a $25 add-on for series subscribers; FlexPass holders may use their passes for this show.

Lineup for April’s 11th Annual Arkansas Literary Festival Announced

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1359064160-litfest_logoAs winter drones on, a person’s fancy may turn to thoughts of spring. Or to a good book to read by candlelight to pass the time in winter.

In any way, a certain harbinger of warmer weather will be the presence in April of the 11th annual Arkansas Literary Festival.

Prestigious award-winners, big names, writers for television shows, journalists, and artists are among the diverse roster of presenters who will be providing sessions at the eleventh annual Arkansas Literary Festival, April 24-27, 2014. The Central Arkansas Library System‘s Main Library campus and many other Little Rock venues are the sites for a stimulating mix of sessions, panels, special events, performances, workshops, presentations, opportunities to meet authors, book sales, and book signings. Most events are free and open to the public.

The Arkansas Literary Festival, the premier gathering of readers and writers in Arkansas, will include more than 80 presenters including featured authors Catherine Coulter, who has more than seventy million books in print; Congressman John Lewis, one of the key figures in the civil rights movement; best-selling authors Mary Roach, ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Curtis Sittenfeld, and artist/illustrator Kadir Nelson; musician Rhett Miller; and education expert David L. Kirp.

This year’s Festival authors have won an impressive number and variety of distinguished awards, including ten Emmy awards, multiple National Endowment for the Arts fellowships and grants, two Pulitzer Prizes, the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (the Genius Grant), the National Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Caldecott Honor, an NAACP Image Award, an Eisner Award, a Ford Foundation Fellowship, the American Book Award, the O. Henry Prize, recognition as one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35, and much more.

Their works have been included in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Bon Appétit, Glamour, Playboy, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Slate, Mother Jones, and the Washington Post, among others.

Special events for adults during the Festival include a cocktail reception with the authors, a writing workshop with Catherine Coulter, a concert by Rhett Miller, and a presentation by an art historian which includes an Artists Buffet. Panels and sessions include genres and topics such as chocolate, lucid dreaming, graphic novels, the war in Iraq, short stories, Arkansas food, murder mysteries, football, dinosaurs, and gangsters.

Children’s special events include a storytime on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion, a treasure hunt, a play based on The Little Engine That Could, and a Lego exhibit. Festival sessions for children will take place at both the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library and Learning Center, 4800 10th Street, and the Youth Services Department at the Main Library, 100 Rock Street.

At Level 4, the Main Library’s teen center, special events for teens include a robotics demonstration and a panel on comic book conventions.

Through the Writers In The Schools (WITS) initiative, the Festival will provide presentations by several authors for Pulaski county elementary, middle, and senior high schools and area colleges.

Support for the Literary Festival is provided by sponsors including Central Arkansas Library System; Friends of Central Arkansas Libraries (FOCAL); Arkansas Humanities Council; Department of Arkansas Heritage; Fred K. Darragh Jr. Foundation; Mosaic Templars Cultural Center; ProSmart Printing; KUAR FM 89.1; Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau; Arkansas Democrat Gazette; Sync; Arkansas Life; William J. Clinton Presidential Center; Oxford American; Landers FIAT of Benton; MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History; Arkansas Times; Wright, Lindsey & Jennings LLP; University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service; Historic Arkansas Museum ; Christ Church, Little Rock’s Downtown Episcopal Church; Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center; Arkansas Library Association; Goss Management Company, LLC; Henderson State University; Hendrix College Project Pericles Program; Pulaski Technical College; Arkansas Arts Center; River’s Edge Media; Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre; Rockefeller Elementary School; Gibbs Elementary School; Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center; Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow; Arkansas Governor’s Mansion; Hendrix College Creative Writing; University of Arkansas at Little Rock English Department; University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Rhetoric and Writing; Pyramid Art, Books & Custom Framing/Hearne Fine Art; Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack; Literacy Action of Central Arkansas; National Park Service Central High School National Historic Site; Tales from the South; and Power 92 Jams. The Arkansas Literary Festival is supported in part by funds from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Author! Author!, a cocktail reception with the authors, will be Friday, April 25, at 8 p.m.; tickets are $25 in advance, and $40 at the door, and go on sale at ArkansasLiteraryFestival.org beginning Tuesday, April 1. Author! Author! tickets will also be available for purchase at the Main Library and River Market Books & Gifts, 120 River Market Avenue.

The Arkansas Literary Festival is a project of the Central Arkansas Library System. The Festival’s mission is to encourage the development of a more literate populace. A group of dedicated volunteers assists Festival Coordinator Brad Mooy with planning the Festival. Jay Jennings is the 2014 Festival Chair. Other committee chairs include Katherine Whitworth, Talent Committee; Lisa Donovan, Youth Programs; and Amy Bradley-Hole, Moderators.

For more information about the 2014 Arkansas Literary Festival, visit ArkansasLiteraryFestival.org, or contact Brad Mooy at bmooy@cals.org or 501-918-3098. For information on volunteering at the Festival, contact Angela Delaney atadelaney@cals.org or 501-918-3095.

First 2nd Friday Art Night of 2014

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2nd Friday Art NightThe first 2nd Friday Art Night of 2014 takes place tonight.  Among the participating locations are Historic Arkansas Museum, the Central Arkansas Library System and Old State House Museum.

Historic Arkansas Museum will feature live music by Phil G. and Lori Marie from 5pm to 8pm.  It will also host the opening reception for Chasing the Light: Photography by Brian Chilson, in the Second Floor Gallery through March 10.  Arkansas Times photographer Brian Chilson has had a front row seat to some of the most exciting, entertaining, eventful and sometimes poignant events in Arkansas, as well as those smaller moments of everyday life. This collection of photographs taken over the past decade, from 2003 to 2013, serves as a sort of retrospective of life in Arkansas in the arenas of fashion, sports, politics and human interest.

At the Central Arkansas Library’s Butler Center a new exhibit will open.  Unusual Portraits: New Works by Michael Warrick and David O’Brien features explorations in portraiture by two accomplished Little Rock artists. Featured musician for the evening is Das Loop, a Little Rock duo that creates instrumental compositions using live loops and “layers of poly-rhythmic bliss.” The featured artist is Jacquelyn Kaucher, a painter who works with watercolor and acrylics, and she is a long-time teacher of watercolor and experimental watercolor painting in Little Rock.

The Old State House will host Second Friday Cinema: “Broncho Billy Anderson: Arkansas’s First Movie Star” at 6:00 pm. Born Max Aronson in Little Rock, Ark., Gilbert M. Anderson was a motion picture pioneer, who appeared in the groundbreaking film The Great Train Robbery in 1903. Anderson partnered with George Spoor to form the Essanay (S and A) Studios, where he wrote, directed, and starred in hundreds of one-reel westerns and comedies, the most popular featuring a character Anderson created for himself, Broncho Billy. “Broncho Billy” Anderson became Hollywood’s first western star, and Essanay one of the most successful studios of the early motion picture era.

The screening will include three short movies featuring Gilbert M. “Broncho Billy” Anderson:   The Great Train Robbery (1903) Broncho Billy’s Fatal Joke (1914) The Son-of-a-Gun (1919).  Ben Fry, General Manager of KLRE/KUAR and coordinator of the film minor at UALR, will introduce the films and lead a discussion.

Arkansas Sounds First Night Tonight – Smittles, Tav Falco and Dan Hicks

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arkansas_sounds_2013The second annual Arkansas Sounds Music Festival kicks off tonight at the River Market Pavilions.  There have been several activities throughout the month, but they have all been leading up to this weekend.

Arkansas Sounds Music Festival is a FREE event open to the public. Donations can be made to help support the festival.  Though it is free, and no tickets are issued, there are space limitations, so attendance is on a first come, first serve basis.

Friday, September 27 at the River Market Pavilions

At 6pm, The Smittle Band will play its own brand of “jazzy Americana.”  The Arkansas Times has described them as: “Regulars in jazz bars around the state, The Smittle Band offers gorgeous, fluid lounge sounds with a trickling undercurrent of classy Americana. Fronted by Stephanie Smittle, the band balances her hushed, smoky vocals with sharp guitar work from co-writer Wythe Walker, tasteful, smart keys from Jim McGehee and brushing percussion courtesy of Ray Wittenberg.”

At 7:15, Tav Falco’s Panther Burns will take the stage.  They are best known for having been part of a set of bands emerging in the late 1970s and early 1980s who helped nationally popularize the blending of southern gothic with alternative and punk music.  From its beginnings in the Mississippi Delta, this band continues to play all around the world.  According to the band, the earliest description it gave itself on a concert poster read simply: “Rock’n’Roll”. Media confusion in categorizing led the band to eventually invent its own self-descriptive terms, such as “panther music” and “backwoods ballroom”, also at times calling its tumultuous performance style “art damage”.

The final act of the night is Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks at 8:30.  Beginning as a drummer in the seminal 60’s San Francisco rock band The Charlatans, and continuing with his unique and legendary Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, Dan Hicks is widely acknowledged as one of the defining figures in American roots music. Having earned a reputation as a true original with his signature eclecticism and humor, Hicks continues to carve his way through a number of genres from proto-psychedelia to western swing and jazz, from tin pan alley to country blues — all the while cultivating his own unique sound.

LR Film Fest: Heifer Social Impact and World Shorts Awards

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TheseBirdsWalkA new award was presented at the 2013 Little Rock Film Festival Arkansas Times Awards Gala.  The Heifer Social Impact Award recognized a film that best promotes awareness and advocacy of global problems and solutions.  The funding for the award came from the National Park Service through the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.

The award was actually presented first on Saturday night at an event sponsored by Heifer and presented again at the Sunday evening gala.  The award went to These Birds Walk which was directed by Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq.

The World Shorts Award went to Amy Seimetz’s “When We Lived in Miami.” It was shown in the “Sore Times” block of films.

miami