The Film that Changed My Life with Director Steve James!

Music Box Theatre

This Sunday we’re thrilled to host Oscar-Nominated documentary filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams) as he presents The Film That Changed His Life: HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A. Steve James will participate in an interview and Q&A session following the screening. Purchase tickets here!

He will also stick around to introduce his newest film THE INTERRUPTERS. Purchase your tickets here!

Speaking of Oscar Nominees – Academy-Award Nominated animator Don Hertzfeldt will be here on February 29! Click here for all the details!

See you at the movies!

Harlan County USA

Filmmaker Steve James and author Robert K. Elder in person!

Filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams) will host a screening of the Oscar-winning documentary Harlan County U.S.A. (Barbara Kopple, 1976) and his film, The Interrupters, for the third installment of “The Film That Changed My Life” series, based on Robert K. Elder’s book of the same name. James will appear live for a post-film discussion with Elder.

Harlan County U.S.A., a documentary about a coal mine strike that turned deadly, James says: “I just remember being really struck by this gritty quality that it had—the raw honesty of it.” Also…special screening of “The Interrupters” Barbara Koppel’s Academy Award–winning Harlan County U.S.A. unflinchingly documents a grueling coal miners’ strike in a small Kentucky town. With unprecedented access, Barbara Kopple and her crew captured the miners’ sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs.

Featuring a haunting soundtrack—with legendary country and bluegrass artists Hazel Dickens, Merle Travis, Sarah Gunning, and Florence Reece—the film is a heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line.

Pricing

$9.99 in advance

$12.00 day of

$26.00 including Rob Elder’s book

Double Feature tickets available Additional books for sale at the door

Sun, Feb 19

1:30pm

The Interrupters

Every City Needs Its Heroes

The Interrupters tells the moving and surprising stories of three Violence Interrupters who try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once employed.

From acclaimed director Steve James and bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz, this film is an unusually intimate journey into the stubborn persistence of violence in our cities.

Shot over the course of a year out of Kartemquin Films, The Interrupters captures a period in Chicago when it became a national symbol for the violence in our cities. During that period, the city was besieged by high-profile incidents, most notably the brutal beating of Derrion Albert, a Chicago high school student, whose death was caught on videotape.

Sun, Feb 19

5:00pm

A Separation

“Rivetingly told. Grips you like a great thriller.”
–Vogue

Lies may lead to truth.

Set in contemporary Iran, A Separation is a compelling drama about the dissolution of a marriage. Simin wants to leave Iran with her husband Nader and their daughter but when he refuses to leave his ailing father she sues for divorce. Her request denied, Simin returns to her parents’ home and Nader hires a young woman to assist with his father’s care. However, when he discovers that the new maid has been lying to him, he realizes that there is more on the line than just his marriage.

Thu, Feb 16	7:00pm · 9:35pm
Fri, Feb 17	1:59pm · 4:30pm · 7:00pm · 9:35pm
Sat, Feb 18	2:00pm · 4:30pm · 7:00pm · 9:35pm
Sun, Feb 19	11:30am · 4:29pm · 7:00pm · 9:35pm
Mon, Feb 20	4:30pm · 7:00pm · 9:35pm
Tue, Feb 21	4:30pm · 7:00pm · 9:35pm
Wed, Feb 22	4:30pm · 7:00pm · 9:35pm
Thu, Feb 23	4:30pm · 7:00pm · 9:35pm

Declaration of War

“A JOY TO WATCH. Few viewers will fail to be moved and charmed… plays like something Jacques Demy and Francois Truffaut might have cooked up together.”
–Screen International

This exuberant and deeply moving film follows a couple that must face the ultimate test when they discover their newborn child is very ill. Director Donzelli infuses the story with unexpected verve using a host of cinematic techniques, music and heartbreaking performances that results in a film about a contemporary couple who surprises even themselves with their ability to fight not only for the life of their child but for each other.

Fri, Feb 17	2:15pm · 4:45pm · 7:40pm · 9:50pm
Sat, Feb 18	2:15pm · 4:45pm · 7:40pm · 9:50pm
Sun, Feb 19	2:15pm · 7:40pm · 9:50pm
Mon, Feb 20	4:45pm · 7:40pm · 9:50pm
Tue, Feb 21	4:45pm · 7:40pm · 9:50pm
Wed, Feb 22	4:45pm · 7:40pm · 9:50pm
Thu, Feb 23	4:45pm · 7:40pm · 9:50pm

Dog Day Afternoon

Based on an actual event, Al Pacino plays Sonny, a man desperate to get money for his gay lover’s sex-change operation He teams up with Sal (John Cazale in an exquisite performance) to rob a New York bank on a scorching-hot summer day. The stickup goes awry when the press gets wind of the circus sideshow story.

Sat, Feb 18	11:30am

2012 Academy Award Documentary Short Subject Program

See four of the 2012 contenders for the Academy Award for best Documentary Short Subject film. Films Include:

• The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – 39 minutes – Japan/USA – Lucy Walker
  Survivors in the areas hardest hit by Japan’s recent tsunami find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins.
• Incident in New Baghdad – 25 minutes – USA – James Spione
  One of the most notorious incidents of the Iraq War – the July 2007 slayings of two Reuters journalists and a number of other unarmed civilians by US attack helicopters
• Saving Face – 40 minutes – Pakistan/USA – Daniel Junge, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
  Every year hundreds of people — mostly women — are attacked with acid in Pakistan.
• The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement – 25 minutes – USA – Gail Dolgin and Robin Fryday
  Mr. James Armstrong is a barber, a “foot soldier” and a dreamer whose barbershop in Birmingham, Alabama has been a hub for haircuts and civil rights since 1955. 

Sat, Feb 18

11:30am

The Room

“Must be seen to be disbelieved.”
–The Chicagoist

“THE ROOM has inspired Rocky Horror-like audience participation, but the film's own campy, amateur charm is a riot in itself.”
–Flavorpill

This “electrifying American black comedy about love, passion, betrayal and lies” stars (and was directed, written and produced by) the mysterious Tommy Wiseau, and has been a cult favorite in LA for almost 6 years. “Enter The Room and leave forever changed!”

Fri, Feb 17	midnight
Fri, Mar 23	10:30pm
Sat, Mar 24	10:30pm

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Join us as we do the Time Warp again! Midnight Madness will join us to make sure that what’s happening in the audience is just as entertaining as what is on screen.

Sat, Feb 18	midnight