Kevin Smokler, author of Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to ’80s Teen Movies and the Places They Happened, is touring across America screening the 1985 John Hughes classic The Breakfast Club and talking about his book. He’ll be stopping by Albuquerque’s Guild Cinema (3405 Central NE) on Wednesday, Feb. 8, for the 6 and 8:30pm screenings. Smokler’s book takes readers on a virtual tour of the actual places where classic ’80s films were shot—from the seaside docks in Goonies to Kellerman’s Catskill Resort in Dirty Dancing . Interviews with actors, writers and directors of the era shed light on teenage favorites like Back to the Future, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty in Pink and Dead Poet’s Society . While you’re at the Guild, be sure and pick up a copy of Smokler’s book, published late last year by Rare Bird Books, and get it signed by the author. Seating is limited, but advanced tickets are on sale now ($8, not including service fee) at bratpackamerica.brownpapertickets.com.
Reel World: Parrot Heads Parrot Heads
Filmmaker Ilana Lapid will be stopping by the Guild Cinema on Thursday, Feb. 9, for the 6 and 8pm showings of her recently completed film Yochi. This special presentation by Defenders of Wildlife is free to the general public. Seating is limited and is available on a first come, first served basis. The film focuses on Yochi, a 9-year-old selectively mute Mayan boy, who guards a wild bird nest in the pine savanna of Belize. When his beloved older brother returns from the city, Yochi discovers that he’s in debt and has turned to poaching—setting the brothers on a collision course. The film opened the Belize International Film Festival in November. Lapid will lead a post-film discussion about the making of the drama, the conservation of yellow-headed parrots in South America and the illegal wildlife trafficking industry as a whole. Lapid, an assistant professor at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, financed the film’s post-production though social media. For more information go to yochifilm.com.
Reel World: Book Vs. Movie Book Vs. Movie
The historic KiMo Theatre and the Albuquerque-Bernalillo Public Libraries are joining forces for another “Books to the Big Screen” film series. This three-night event turns the silver screen over to political thrillers. Sounds timely. On Thursday, Feb. 2, it’s the 1974 film The Parallax View , with Warren Beatty as a reporter running from killers after witnessing the assassination of a prominent US senator. On Friday, Feb. 3, it’s the fact-based 1976 drama All The President’s Men . Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman star as the real-life Washington Post writers Woodward and Bernstein, who uncovered Nixon’s Watergate Scandal in the early ’70s. The series wraps up on Saturday, Feb. 4, with the 1973 thriller The Day of the Jackal. Edward Fox and Michael Lonsdale star in this Anglo-Franco adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel about a professional assassin hired to kill French President Charles de Gaulle. All films start at 7pm. Admission is free.
