“The cinema is always as perfect as it can be”

There will be a screening of part two of local filmmaker Chris Ivey’s East of Liberty: A Story of Good Intentions (?) on Monday, April 28 at 6:30pm at The Union Project. For more information, check out this website.

Tomorrow morning I depart on a trip to Japan. Mirror/Stage will be on hiatus at least until I return on Sunday, May 4, and probably just a bit longer–I think I’ll take a few days to update the calendar (Filmmakers just added a bunch of stuff to their “Coming Soon” list, by the way), pick a few pictures for a future post about my adventures, and then resume blogging with dispatches from the Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival.

For the curious: I’ll be traveling to Tokyo, Sakata, Kyoto, Nara, and possibly Kamakura (we’ll see: I don’t have time to both try Pierre Hermé’s pastries and visit Yasujiro Ozu’s grave). Drop me a line if you want to chat about these places!

For the first time in quite awhile, there’s some interesting stuff going on at the Oaks Theater in Oakmont. First, monthly screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) will resume on Friday, May 30 at midnight. I went to a couple Rocky Horror screenings at the Oaks as an undergraduate and had a good time, so I welcome this news. Unfortunately, the Riff Raff jacket I used to wear is long gone. . . .

For more info, check out this website. The Oaks’ “Moonlit Matinees” series will also return soon, on May 31. It’s nice to see this beautiful theater showing signs of life again!

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Are you a local filmmaker? Do you like cash? Get thee to Pittsburgh Filmmakers’ “Calls for Artists” page to read about the first annual Marcus Ruscitto Emerging Filmmaker Awards and the 6th annual Film Kitchen contest (they want photo-romans this time).

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8-ticket passes are now available for the Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival. I got mine!

The Oaks Theater will host a special screening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) on Thursday, May 29 at 7pm with an introduction and a post-screening discussion provided by James Rollins, author of the novelization of the film. For more info, including a number to call for advance reservations, check out The Oaks’ website.

At Pittsburgh Filmmakers:

Blindsight (2006) (Harris)

Everywhere else:

Baby Mama (2008) (Forward, South Side, Waterfront)
Deception (2008) (Forward, Waterfront)
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) (Forward, South Side, Waterfront)
The Visitor (2007) (Manor)
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006) (Manor)

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If I weren’t leaving town on Friday, I’d be all about making Baby Mama and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay a stupid comedy double feature at the Waterfront. I’ve also heard good things about The Visitor. But, alas, I’ll be in Japan all next week, so this batch will have to wait.

Via the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s website, a schedule for their Reel to Reel Documentary Film Series:

Thursday, May 15: OT: Our Town (2002)
Thursday, June 19: King Corn (2007)
Thursday, July 17: Her Name is Sabine (2007)
Thursday, August 21: The American Ruling Class (2005)

All screenings start at 7pm and take place in Classroom A of the Center for Museum Education. For more info, see the Carnegie’s website.

Via the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s website, a schedule for their “Double Dose Film Series” (”Featuring a classic and a current movie in a different genre each month”):

Saturday, May 10: Musicals: An American in Paris (1951) and Dreamgirls 92006)

Saturday, June 4: Science Fiction: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and I Am Legend. (2007)

Saturday, July 12: Westerns: The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Saturday, August 9: Olympics: Chariots of Fire (1981) and Miracle (2004)

All screenings start at 1pm and take place in the Center for Museum Education’s Classroom A. For more info, see the Carnegie’s website.

Via the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s website, a schedule for an event called International Cinema Sunday:

Sunday, May 4: Shall We Dance? (1996)
Sunday, June 1: Il Postino (1994)
Sunday, July 6: City of God (2002)
Sunday, August 3: Everybody’s Famous (2000)

All screenings start at 2pm at take place in Classroom A of the Center for Museum Education. For more info, see the Carnegie’s website.

There will be a screening of the film The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo (2005) at the Carnegie Library’s Downtown & Business branch on Tuesday, April 29 at 12:15pm. Via the Carnegie’s website:

Tuesday, April 29, 2008
12:15 PM
Frida Kahlo is framed in relation to the full spectrum of the historical and cultural influences that created her. The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo explores the 20th-century icon that became an international sensation in the worlds of modern art and radical politics.

Via the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s website:

Saturday, April 26, 2008
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Whether you live, work or play in Oakland, there always seem to be new places to go and new faces to meet. What is it that makes Oakland so special? Find out in Rick Sebak’s “Something About Oakland.” Rick Sebak will be there to answer your questions and to talk about what makes Oakland — and Pittsburgh — a great place to be. Afterwards, enjoy a neighborhood open house with light refreshments.