'La La Land' opens 25th Philadelphia Film Festival

The critically acclaimed "La La Land" will open the 25th Philadelphia Film Festival this year

The Philadelphia Film Society is proud to announce the full film line-up of the 25^th Philadelphia Film Festival, spanning from October 20 – October 30 on four theater screens throughout the Greater Philadelphia area.

Opening on Oct. 20 with Damien Chazelle’s "La La Land" and closing on Oct. 30 with "Arrival", the 11-day Festival will showcase over 110 feature length and short films, curated by our programming committee who chooses each selection from multiple international festivals throughout the year.

“We are thrilled to celebrate a milestone year for the Philadelphia Film Festival and to have the opportunity to showcase some of the best films of the year right here in Philly.” said Executive Director, J. Andrew Greenblatt.  “From our Opening Night screening, "La La Land", which was the talk of the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals, to the Closing Night screening of "Arrival", this year’s prodigious line-up fully embodies what the Philadelphia Film Festival truly is: a community filled with film lovers brought together to experience today’s most thought-provoking and innovative films!”

“As we celebrate 25 years of Philadelphia Film Festival, we are extremely proud to announce that it’s once our best lineups. With over 110 works from world renowned directors, including tons of surprises, our lineup includes something for everyone to enjoy,” said Michael Lerman, Artistic Director.  “We’ve had pretty incredible success rate. Four out of the last 5 Best Picture winners made their Philadelphia debut at our Festival, so this is the chance to see it first!”

The Philadelphia Film Society is honored to have Damien Chazelle, recipient of the Academy Award nomination for best adapted screenplay for "Whiplash"¸ and director of the Opening Night film, "La La Land" join us for the #PFF25 opening night.

The full Festival schedule and digital Festival Program Guide is available now on www.filmadelphia.org/festival. 

Screenings for the 25^th Philadelphia Film Festival will take place at the Ritz East (125 S. 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106), Ritz Five (214 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19106), PFS Roxy Theater (2023 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103), and Prince Theater (1412 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19102). Tickets will go on-sale for Philadelphia Film Society members on Friday, September 30, and to the general public beginning Friday, October 6.  Tickets may be purchased through the Festival website, www.filmadelphia.org/festival, or in-person at the Main Box Office at the Prince Theater (open Monday – Saturday from 12 noon to 5:00 pm).

25^th Philadelphia Film Festival Full Line-up

Opening Night Film

·         La La Land, Director Damien Chazelle. 2016, USA.

Closing Night Film

·         Arrival, Director Denis Villeneuve. 2016, USA.

Centerpiece Screenings

·         Jackie, Director Pablo Larraín. 2016, USA, France, Chile.

·         Lion, Director Garth Davis. 2016, Australia, USA, UK.

·         Manchester by the Sea, Director Kenneth Lonergan 2016, USA.

·         Moonlight, Director Barry Jenkins. 2016, USA.

·         Toni Erdmann, Director Maren Ade, 2016, Germany

From the Vaults: Film history comes alive as it was meant to be seen - on the big screen. Come see old favorites bigger than life once again.

·         Dekalog, Director Krzysztof Kieślowski. 1988, USA.

·         Night on Earth, Director Jim Jarmusch. 1991, USA.

·         Wonder Boys, Director Curtis Hanson. 2000, USA.

Spotlights, Presented by Philly Style: Highly–anticipated movies from some of the biggest names in the industry, these films shine a spotlight on top talent from around the world.

·         Christine, Director Antonio Campos. 2016, USA.

·         King Cobra, Director Justin Kelly. 2016, USA.

·         Wolves, Director Bart Freundlich. 2016, USA.

Inside Out ready to come to Upper Darby

William Trost Richards' "Newport Coast" is one of 10 replicas from the Philadelphia Museum of Art on display during the Inside Out exhibition in Upper Darby starting next month.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has announced what pieces of art will be displayed throughout Upper Darby as part of its outdoor art gallery exhibit program called Inside Out.

Replicas of ten pieces from the museum’s collection will be on display from August to November in areas including the 69th Street shopping corridor to the communities of Drexel Hill and Westbrook Park.

These are the pieces and locations selected for the latest cycle of Inside Out:
69th Street Transportation Center- “Estate” (Robert Raushcenberg); Beverly Hills Middle School- “The Disks of Newtown” (Frantizek Kupka); Dermond Circle, “The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day” (Canaletto);

Garrettford Elementary School- “Dog Barking at the Moon” (Joan Miro); IHOP on 69th St.- “Two Dragons” (Kano Hogai);

Upper Darby Free Library Municipal Branch- “The Libraries are Appreciated” (Jacob Lawrence); Upper Darby High School- “Krishna and Radha” (Unknown); Upper Darby School District Administration Building- “Newport Coast” (William Trost Richards);

Upper Darby Township Municipal Building- “Grand Canyon of the Colorado River” (Thomas Moran); and Westbrook Park Elementary School- “Noah’s Ark” (Edward Hicks).

Installation of the art is slated for Aug. 9.

A strong focus on education was the driving point of bringing Inside Out to Upper Darby, with officials from the Upper Darby School District and the township worked in tandem with the art museum on the plans.

“Both the township and the school district have a deep appreciation for the arts and wanted to use this partnership opportunity with the art museum to generate conversation in the community about different works of art,” said Upper Darby  School District spokesperson Dana Spino.

Upper Darby follows up to neighboring Lansdowne’s turn at the exhibit that wrapped up this month. Media and Wayne participated in the program during the initial launch in the Philadelphia area last year.

Drexel Hill Basketball Court Focus of New Book

From a serial killer in Philadelphia to the shit of Vietnam, Tom Faustman’s first two books in his self-

published Misadventures of Dylan series were on the darker side.

With the recent release of the third book in the series, and the first chronologically, “Dylan’s Chase” moves to a more nostalgic place of time: the basketball court of Drexel Hill Elementary School.

What Faustman deemed a “hotbed” of activity in the 1960’s at Shadeland Avenue and State Road when he was growing up, it encouraged him to write a story about the budding competitive nature of basketball and the stories of the people who played there.

“It was a really magical time in my life and the lives playing at this basketball court and the friendships that developed out of it,” Faustman said, who currently resides in Connecticut. “It was such a fun period of our lives and I wanted to tell the story of the fun part of it, but young men are more sensitive to the difficult lives of the people around them. It’s kind of the real world.”

Interboro alum nominated for two CMT Music Awards

Steve Condon (center), and his wife Danielle Porter-Condon with country group Old Dominion. The Condons directed
and produced Old Dominion's video for their first major single "Break up with Him" which is up for two CMT Music Awards.

A few Delco natives are making their way to the CMT (Country Music Television) Music Awards on June 8 after earning a pair of nominations for a music video they directed and produced.

Interboro High School alumni Steve Condon, Danielle Porter-Condon and Steve Molineux are nominated for breakthrough video of the year and group/duo video of the year for Old Dominion’s first major single “Break up With Him,” a video produced through their Nashville-based production company The 10:10 Creative.

“It’s incredible,” said Steve Condon, regularly known as Director Steve, about his first major nomination for his music video work. “This is the band’s first major video, it’s pretty great to know that this is just (Old Dominion and I’s) first shot and it’s up for two.”

Condon and Old Dominion’s love for the 80’s comedy/sci-fi blockbuster “Back to the Future” was the inspiration for the video. Old Dominion lead singer Matthew Ramsey serenades his love interest as she is stuck dancing with a Biff-like character at a dance reminiscent of the film's iconic enchantment under the sea high school gala (renamed entanglement above the heart dance for the video). Ramsey eventually gets his girl as, err, "drive" off to a life of happiness, and in a DeLorean, no less.

'Symphony at the Movies' not a box office smash

There's nothing like hearing memorable film scores being performed live by a full orchestra.

The sweeping sounds of the strings cradle you up in a blanket of happiness as they usher you away from your seat to memories of your favorite stories and characters. Pounding of drums remind us of epics, like Judah Ben-Hur rowing in the gallies in "Ben-Hur" as the drumming ceases to slow. The low, deep moans of the double basses send chills like we're in an old haunted house.

Great music and great moments.

"Gone With the Wind," "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Psycho" are in the top five in a list of the greatest film scores published by the American Film Institute, yet none of these scores, nor anything from their respective composers, filled the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center at a recent performance.

Media Film Festival brings great films, nostalgia back to borough

Photo Courtesy of Media Arts Council

Beloved film critic Roger Ebert had a great saying about the length of a film: “No good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough."

That was the statement I thought about before the start of the ninth Media Film Festival.

The way Ebert’s wonderful quote applies to the films shown at this year’s festival went like this: can a short film be too long, or not long enough?

Comprised of over 40 short films ranging in length from two minutes to 30, could it be possible that even at such a minute length compared to a feature, do some stories overstay their welcome, and others not stay long enough?

It turns out, yes.

That’s not to say that the artists, from Media to India, did not show off their good craftsmanship, but even on a small canvas, some work cannot fill the entirety of their space with enough substance to keep you intrigued.

Picking and choosing race wars in Hollywood

John Krasinski and academy president Cheryl Boone-Isaacs announce the 2015 white best actor nominees Courtesy of Indiewire

“The ‘struggle for civil rights’ crossed the finish line and lost its moral power when demands switched from equal rights to equal results." - Larry Elder

Everyone has the equal right to get nominated for an Academy Award. It doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed a nomination.

For the second year in a row, the oh-so-powerful and PC barometer known as social media continued its e-march against the clearly racist voting body of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after their list of acting nominees including not one non-Caucasian in four categories.

Of course, this called about continued strides to be made in the academy to have their nominees better reflect the varied persons of all nationalities who make up the population of the United States.

At face value, diversity is a great thing. On the other, I don’t think it’s responsible for a non-profit organization known for preserving the art and science of film to change its already democratic and fair practices by succumbing to peer pressure because people think it’s faulty for some lack of diversity.

While the four acting categories, out of 24 total categories, have come under scrutiny, people have neglected the great accomplishments of two men who aren’t white, but because they aren’t black people don’t care.