Celebrate Sag Harbor Cinema’s anniversary with a special week of programming that offers something for everyone (including the new Downton Abbey film).
“It’s been an incredible year,” said SHC Artistic Director Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan. “I am so very grateful for the way the audience has embraced our cinema and our love of film’s wildly different incarnations.”
The lineup leading into Memorial Day weekend reflects SHC’s intrepid, adventurous spirit, bringing together airborne blockbusters (“Top Gun: Maverick”) and local shorts; “Popeye” and Vincent van Gogh; racy Hollywood pre-code comedies and Quentin Tarantino’s love letter to blaxploitation’s siren, Pam Grier.
“Programming is also a dialog with the public, and the response has been thrilling,” D’Agnolo Vallan says. “The entire year almost feels like a special program. But birthdays are important — and this is our first one. So we thought we should honor it.”
Airborne blockbusters and local shorts
The festivities will kick off on Thursday, May 26, with early showings of Tom Cruise’s return to the big screen as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, 36 years after the daredevil test pilot first hit the skies. One of the summer’s most anticipated films — fresh from Cinecom and the Cannes Film Festival — “Top Gun: Maverick” is dedicated to Tony Scott, director of the 1986 original.
Also, back by popular demand is “Sound Visions 2,” SHC’s signature showcase of shorts by local filmmakers, curated again by D’Agnolo Vallan. Joining her are Julia Baylis and Sam Guest, the writers/directors of last year’s entry “Wiggle Room.”
‘Popeye’ screenwriter Jules Feiffer drops by
Legendary cartoonist, screenwriter, and author Jules Feiffer will attend the Saturday, May 28 at 4 PM Kids and Families screening of Robert Altman’s beloved “Popeye.” A musical (with songs by Harry Nilsson), it stars Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall. Feiffer, who wrote the film as a tribute to E.C. Segar’s genial comic strip, will join in a post-screening discussion.
The “Feiffer the Sailor Man!” celebration will continue at Julie Keys Gallery, across the street, with the opening of an art exhibit that pays homage to Feiffer’s lifelong love affair with show biz. The selected pieces are his homage to musicals and the extraordinary dancers Hollywood cultivated in the 30s, 40s, and 50s.
A Pre-Code shocker
Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum Repertory Director and Rialto Pictures Founder, returns with a special presentation of “Baby Face” (1933) starring Barbara Stanwyck. It will be screened with a 35mm print courtesy of the Library of Congress in its pre-release, racier version — recently rediscovered and premiered at Film Forum in 2005.
Goldstein will provide a unique introduction to the subversive world of Pre-Code Hollywood, specially designed for SHC.
Schnabel on Vincent van Gogh
“Artists Love Movies” was one of SHC’s most successful series during its pre-opening phase. That artists do love movies is demonstrated by Julian Schnabel’s visionary “At Eternity’s Gate” about Vincent van Gogh’s final years. The 2018 film premiered at Venice Film Festival, winning three awards, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, Willem Dafoe. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for the role.
Schnabel has described it as “a film about painting and a painter and their relationship to infinity.” After the one-time-only May 29, 8 PM screening, he’ll participate in a Q&A with D’Agnolo Vallan.
Tarantino (and Downton Abbey)
Following the success of the Grand Opening screenings of “Pulp Fiction,” SHC will offer more Quentin Tarantino in 35mm, with two screenings of “Jackie Brown.”
And, while it isn’t part of the curated anniversary lineup, SHC is showing “Downton Abbey: A New Era” from the film’s opening day, May 20, through May 29.
Find showtimes and tickets to all these films at sagharborcinema.org.
