Bicycle Film Festival: Memphis!!!

Friday, May 21 | 7pm
Friday, May 21 | 9pm
Saturday, May 22 | 1pm

Spanning across 37 cities all over the world, the Bicycle Film Festival is coming to Memphis for round two! Last year’s festival was amazing and memorable as we ushered in guests from all over the south! People from Nashville to New Orleans crashed couches just to see these hand-picked films, and this year’s festival promises to have something for everyone!

Did you know that May is officially National Bike Month? The Brooks, BFF and the Memphis Center City Commission collaborated with the League of American Bicyclists for a National Bike to Work Day weekend program! Starting with routes to take you to work via bicycle, and ending with a ride from downtown to the Brooks, you’ll arrive at the museum just in time for a cash bar and complimentary bicycle valet-oh yea, and the films! But wait, there’s more! After Friday’s films, hop on two wheels and head to Murphy’s for the Bikes Rock Afterparty-free with your BFF ticket stub.

Try to get to bed for some shut-eye because Saturday’s schedule is action packed! Head to the Brooks for another feature at 1pm. After the film, head over to First Congo Church for a family-friendly block party! Enjoy art activities, BMX demos, artist sales and the infamous bicycle polo!

We know this a lot of information, but have no fear, we have laid out links below!

For more information about how Memphis is participating in National Bike to Work Day click here.

For the complete Bicycle Film Festival schedule with names of films and more, click here.

Call 544-6208 or email cort@bicyclefilmfestival.com for more information!

To volunteer for this event or others, contact emily.greenberg@brooksmuseum.org!

Film Highlight:Summer Hours

Thursday, February 4 | 7:30 pm

Directed by Olivier Assayas, and starring Juliette Binoche, Summer Hours (L’heure d’été) gives the viewer a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ insight into the inner workings of a family grieving their mother, as three siblings must decide how to deal with their inheritance–a large art collection and the family home.  As the arrangements for disassembling the valuable collection begin, each sibling encounters various pieces that both remind them of their past in their childhood home and reveal the history their own children will not be able to share.

This film is one of four commissioned by the Musée d’Orsay to help commemorate their 20th anniversary.  The famed Paris museum commissioned four directors to create films that feature both the gallery and actress Binoche. The first of the series was Chinese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s first Western film Flight of the Red Balloon (released in 2008). 

One of the most celebrated films of the year, Summer Hours has been honored as the best foreign language film of 2009 by the New York, LA, and Boston Film Critics’ awards.  It has been listed as the best foreign film in the Village Voice Film Critics’ Poll, Southeastern Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics poll.  It is also a strong contender for the Oscar’s foreign film category (nominations announced February 2).

Commercial Appeal film critic John Beifuss included Summer Hours in his list of “Twenty Touted and/or Significant Films That Never Played in Memphis” (until now at the Brooks).  Read it here.

For tickets and more information, visit www.brooksmuseum.org/films.

FILM: British Television Advertising Awards

Don’t miss out! Three chances to watch this sell-out event!
Thursday, January 28 | 7pm
Friday, January 29 | 7pm
Sunday, January 31 | 2pm

The British Television Advertising Awards began as early as 1976 to recognize commercials and advertsing! In its fifth year at the Brooks, the BTAA will surely be a sell-out!

As one of the few American museums chosen to act as presenter, the Brooks will host three screenings. These shorts are funny and memorable and a great event to bring a date, friends, or family!

Check out a past winner from 2005:

Warm Up to Wine + Film: An Australian Showcase

FILM:Kenny
Thursday, June 11, 6 pm

Join us on the Brushmark terrace as we sample wines and hors d’oeuvres from Australia during our ever-popular Warm up to Wine celebration.  Then, come down to the Brooks auditorium to see the award-winning Aussie film, Kenny, winner of Best Film, Best Script, and Best Sound at the Australian Inside Film Awards. Kenny is a mockumentary comedy about an optimistic man with a laundry list of obstacles; including his job as a portapotty handler and dealing with his ex-wife. Director, producer, and creator of the film, Clayton Jacobson, says that “Kenny represents the humbling nature of common decency”(1). Kenny takes pride in his work and in his family, the latter being surprisingly the one thing Kenny just can’t get right. In the film, Kenny deals with the dirty background of parties an outdoor events unflinched and unappreciated. After travelling to the expo for plumbing supplies in Nashville, TN, Kenny finally earns what he has unconsciuosly been working to achieve.

“Kenny is the funniest film I’ve seen this year. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time.” – Michael Moore, Filmmaker

“Kenny is much more than just a very funny film, it’s a film with a good heart and a sharp eye on the human condition…”-Chris Samuel, Blogger

Call 901-544-6225 or click here to make reservations.

(1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_(2006_film)

April Film News

Thanks to all those of you who came out to see Soderbergh’s CHE screened in partnership with Indie Memphis.  We had sell-out audiences both nights! 

In film news this month, we’re excited to announce the installation of a brand new Panasonic HD projector.  This will allow us to screen even more ambitious projects in the future, so stay tuned for information on that.  There’s a lot going on this month at the Brooks, so the April film schedule is light, but mighty!  Here’s what’s playing:

Thursday, April 16 at 7pm
The Great Debates
Conservative William F. Buckley Jr. and liberal Gore Vidal met for eight notorious face-to-face debates on ABC News during the Republican and Democratic Conventions of 1968.  The debates have become legendary due to the vitriolic (and nearly physical) exchanges between the commentators.  The Brooks, in partnership with the Honors Committee of LeMoyne-Owen College, will present these debates uncensored and in their entirety for the first time since their original broadcast.   (runtime approx 2 hours)

Here’s one of the most famous moments (though video quality on YouTube is poor):

Thursday, April 30 at 7:30pm
The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema
Acclaimed psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek takes viewers on an exhilarating ride through film history.  Whether untangling the famously baffling films of David Lynch, or rethinking Hitchcock, Zizek illuminates the screen with his passion, intellect, and unfailing sense of humor.  (runtime approx. 150mins)

UPDATE:  You can have your cake and eat it too!  Since Indie Memphis is premiering Craig Brewer’s $5 Cover on this same night, we will run an encore screening of The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema on Saturday, May 2 at 1pm. 

Make it Dinner & a Movie
Don’t forget, the Brushmark is open every Thursday night from 5-9pm serving tapas & wine.  Now that the weather is nice, the terrace is open too! Call 544-6225 for reservations.

For more film info, see the Brooks website, or call me at 544-6208.

Films in February

The Brooks teams up with Indie Memphis for a film series of “Festival Favorites” this month.  “The idea was to bring some of the buzzed-about highlights of last year’s film festival circuit to Memphis for their only public screening, and we’re excited to work with the Brooks to make it happen,” said Indie Memphis Executive Director Erik Jambor.  The lineup is:

Thursday, February 12 at 7:30pm
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
In search of the perfect Valentine’s movie…?  This award-winning feature is a rollicking comedy ride and a tender journey through modern romance on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles.  From the producers of Before Sunset and Dazed and Confused, this film also won the Grand Jury Award at the 2008 Florida Film Festival.

Thursday, February 19 at 7:30pm
Momma’s Man
From the producers of Half Nelson and Maria Full of Grace, this feature film chronicles the increasingly anxious dilemma of a young husband and father who stops off at his parents’ loft during a business trip to New York and finds himself unable to leave.  Momma’s Man was an Official Selection at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Thursday, February 26 at 7:30pm
The Pool
This film won a Special Jury Award at the 2008 Sundance Festival.  It tells the tale of a hotel worker obsessed with a swimming pool in the opulent hills of Goa, India, whose life is turned upside down when he attempts to meet the myseterious family that arrives at the house.  This is the narrative feature debut of filmmaker Chris Smith, whose documentary American Movie was also met with wide acclaim.

Check out Indie Memphis’ website for more information about the films, including comments by film critics.  More info about tickets & events can be found on the Brooks’ website.  

Stay tuned for more information on films in March, including a special screening of Soderbergh’s epic CHE.  In the meantime, you can read what Beifuss has to say on his blog The Bloodshot Eye.

Rockumentary series

Don’t know if any of you got a chance to come to Pete Seeger: The Power of Song yesterday.  It was the first in our Rockumentary film series (to coincide with our Psychedelia rock posters exhibition), and it was incredible.  The whole documentary — and perhaps Seeger’s life in general — is built upon the premise that each of us CAN make a difference.  And music has the power to do so; art has the power to do so.  These are powerful tools that communicate ideas, and unite people around worthy causes.

The next up in the series on Sunday, June 15 is The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan at the Newport Film Festival.  Filmmaker Murray Lerner has crafted a revealing portrait the young Bob Dylan during the crucial period of 1963 – 65, as he grows progressively darker, taking his first steps into rock and roll.

After that, we move on to a film about Clash frontman Joe Strummer in The Future is Unwritten — screening at the Brooks on Sunday, June 22 at 2pm.  The film is full of interviews of friends and collaborators, and plenty of concert footage, set against a backdrop of the 70s punk mentality.  I like this quote about the film I read on Rotten Tomatoes: “[Director Julien] Temple gets at the heart of Strummer’s character, at the unbridled joy that existed within his righteous anger, the satisfaction of knowing he was on the right side of history and hadn’t had to sell any part of himself to get there.”

Hope you get a chance to catch one or both of these…