The Pickford Cinema

What Remains of Us? (Now Showing)

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:09:15 GMT

Kalsang Dolma, a young Tibetan refugee in Quebec, crosses the Himalayas. Into the largest prison in the world, she carries a video message recorded by the Dalai Lama. Since 1950, Tibetans inside the country have been hoping that China will allow him to return. Families gather around the tiny screen, transfixed, and for the first time, the voices of this fragile people under the yoke of suffering reach us from across the distance.

Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts (Starts Sunday)

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:44 GMT

SCREENING CANCELLED.

Brave New West (Starts Sunday)

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:19:38 GMT

DOCTOBER08: "They began to arrive in the early 1970s, wide-eyed idealists from the East, inspired and angry. The small cult of Ed Abbey followers descended on the American Southwest, most with a worn copy of Desert Solitaire in their backpack, many with dreams of preserving it's natural beauty via any means, a la The Monkey Wrench Gang. Jim Stiles was one of them."

The Corporal's Diary (Starts Wednesday)

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:42:55 GMT

DOCTOBER 08: Twenty-two year old Corporal Jonathan Santos had documented his 37 days of military service in Iraq in a personal dairy before a roadside bomb took his life and the lives of several of his friends and servicemen on October 15, 2004. Jonathan's mother, Doris, wasn't aware that her son had kept a diary until his Tuff BoxT - a soldier's chest filled with their most valuable items - was sent to her after his death. Upon opening the box, she discovered his "little green book" and a stack of videocassettes on which he had recorded daily life in Iraq.

Elegy (Now Showing)

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:14:27 GMT

In place of etchings, Professor David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley), the aging lothario at the center of "Elegy," brings nubile female students home to see a letter Kafka wrote mounted on a wall. David has been practicing serial tomcatting for decades and knows that flattering a woman's intellect goes far.

Consuela Castillo (Penélope Cruz), who comes to class late, dressed in a more sophisticated way than other students, is his latest acquisition. He wins her over by comparing her eyes to a Goya painting.

At this point you might be wondering: Do we really need another movie about a May-December romance? In the case of "Elegy," the answer is yes. Absolutely. Letting such a richly textured and compelling film slip by in the summer rush would be a loss.

I Married a Monster from Outer Space (Saturday, Oct 18 Only!)

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:14:21 GMT

“Neglected masterpiece that was frequently featured on the same bill with THE BLOB in the fifties, this is now considered much the better film even though critics ignore it in droves. One of several films about outer–space aliens invading the bodies of humans, the twist here is that Gloria Talbott finds out that Tom Tryon is “different” only after they are married. Tryon, who would later go on to be a best–selling author, is fine as the zombie, and Talbott, an accomplished B–movie heroine, is superb as the fifties housewife whose marriage has left a lot to be desired. With Ken Lynch, John Eldredge.”

American Carver (Saturday, Oct 18 Only!)

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:23:15 GMT

As compelling as any fictional drama, this film follows Jewell Praying Wolf James and 17 others from Washington State to the Pentagon, wrestling with inner and outer demons in an attempt to carve and transport a 10-ton totem pole as a memorial to 9/11.

The Exiles (Starts Sunday, Oct 19)

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:46:27 GMT

DOCTOBER08

Sherman Alexie will present the film in–person.

“The restoration and long–delayed commercial release of ‘THE EXILES,’ a 1961 film about a largely forgotten corner of that deceptively bright city, is nothing less than a welcome act of defiant remembrance… A beautifully photographed slice of down–and–almost–out life, a near–heavenly vision of a near–hell that Mr. Mackenzie situated at the juncture of nonfiction and fiction. He tapped into the despair of this obscured world while also making room for the poetry and derelict beauty of its dilapidated buildings, neon signs, peeling walls and downcast faces.”

—MANOHLA DARGIS, NEW YORK TIMES

Ghostbusters (Starts Thursday, Oct 23)

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:36:47 GMT

Recently ranked the funniest film of the last 25 years by IGN.com, Ghostbusters is coming to the Pickford courtesy of everyone's favorite source for downtown video rentals, Film is Truth. Get yourself in the mood for Halloween with this hilarious and high voltage comedy starring Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis and hundreds of feet of delicious, angry marshmallow. This blockbuster hit stands the test of time, and now you can see it as it was meant to be on the big screen for the first time in years. Don't miss the first in a series of great movies brought to the Pickford by Film is Truth.

A Man Named Pearl (Starts Friday)

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:20:44 GMT

Assembled without frills or fuss, "A Man Named Pearl" is as much a portrait of a small Southern town as of an unassuming black folk artist. Aided by Fred Story's jazzy score, the directors, Scott Galloway and Brent Pierson, keep things moving with appreciative comments from the financial and spiritual beneficiaries of Mr. Fryar's talents (and from the female admirers who find his lithe, 68-year-old body every bit as interesting as his foliage). Those white families who, decades ago, rejected him as a neighbor because "black people don't keep up their yards" must be weeping into their seed catalogs.

Dhamma Brothers (Starts Wednesday, Oct 22)

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:57:09 GMT

DOCTOBER08

"As someone with a strong constitutional allergy to New Age-flavored self-actualization rhetoric (a residue of my 1970s childhood in Berkeley, Calif.), I approached "The Dhamma Brothers" with considerable skepticism. Any real Buddhist would say that's as it should be. But listen: Whether this movie is channeling Siddhartha Gautama himself or just a potent form of the placebo effect, it takes you on a thrilling and hopeful voyage through a very dark place. Furthermore, it does not require the suspension of disbelief in anything specific, beyond, I guess, the possibility of seeing oneself clearly. Mind you, that's no small thing to believe in..."

Life.Support.Music (Starts Friday, Oct 24)

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:07:42 GMT

DOCTOBER08

Eric Daniel Metzgar comes to Bellingham to present the Washington premiere of Life.Support.Music.

Singer-songwriter Jason Crigler is on the brink of breaking big-he plays with luminaries like Norah Jones, Teddy Thompson, and John Cale-when on August 4, 2004, he starts acting erratic. Stumbling offstage to his pregnant wife, he declares that he feels strange and unwell. And then: brain hemorrhage. Intensive care. Near death. "Vegetative state" is no longer an abstract E.R. subplot-they are words that doctors and rehabilitation experts whisper. His family-divorced parents, close sister, loving wife-rally, and instead of placing him in a nursing home to live out his days, spend 24/7 stimulating his mind, muscles and heart. Filmmaker Eric Daniel Metzgar (director, producer, cinematographer, editor and narrator) follows his haunting and poetic portrait of turtle conservationist Richard Ogust (The Chances of the World Changing, screened at MIFF 2006) with an equally lyrical,

The Chances of the World Changing (Starts Saturday, Oct 25)

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:11:50 GMT

DOCTOBER08

Eric Daniel Metzgar will present his first film for the first time Bellingham as part of Doctober 08.

Filmmaker Eric Metzgar found himself captivated by one of those TV news human-interest segments about a quirky guy who had let turtles take over his New York City apartment. Was there more to this story? After two years of immersive journalism, Metzgar produced this startlingly accomplished film, telling the story of a driven man, Richard Ogust, who is dedicated to saving the world's endangered turtle populations. Ogust is, in effect, building an ark, and as he races against time, the palpable tension mounts. A bracing parable about our own fragile foothold on the planet.

The Greening of Southie (Starts Sunday, Oct 26)

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:19:07 GMT

DOCTOBER08

This inspiring film argues for widespread adoption of green building practices while still presenting the contradictions and quandaries this new frontier presents. Estimates suggest that buildings and their construction account for 40 to 50% of the greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumed annually. Through design, architects could cut that number in half. Example: The Macallen Boston building saves 600,000 gallons of water, uses 30% less energy, and employs earth-saving building materials like highly compressed straw. The film achieves natural tension by following the struggle to achieve LEED gold status, and revels in the greening of southern Boston's construction workers--born skeptics who rise to the occasion.

Trouble the Water (Starts Friday, Oct 24)

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:03:14 GMT

DOCTOBER08
""Trouble the Water," a stirring documentary on Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, is more than a keenly dramatic look at how this country treats the poor and dispossessed. It's also a film that was hijacked by its subjects. They saw an opportunity, they took it, and the grand jury prize at Sundance was the result."

Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes (Starts Saturday, Nov 1)

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:16:16 GMT

DOCTOBER08

Director Peter Rosen will be present for Q&A

A wonderfully loose and empathic biography of the man behind A Prairie Home Companion, we are bringing director Peter Rosen from New York to Bellingham to share this portrait of the man who last month sold out the PAC and had a lot of fun with the Chuckanut Radio Hour. Who is he? How does he work? "He speaks for his people-everyday Americans who raise children, build homes, and simply try to keep their daily lives together. No airs, no celebrity, just life."

Paperback Dreams (Starts Thursday, Nov 6)

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:34:00 GMT

PAPERBACK DREAMS is the story of two landmark independent bookstores and their struggle to survive. The film follows Andy Ross, owner of Cody's Books, and Clark Kepler, owner of Kepler's Books, over the course of two tumultuous years in the book business.