Local film historian and author of New Mexico Filmmaking (recently published by Arcadia Press) Jeff Berg will be at the Corrales Library (84 W. La Entrada) this Thursday, Feb. 18. Berg will be presenting “Made on Rte. 66” a collection of classic Hollywood film clips produced on or near Route 66. The clips will be accompanied by live narration, sharing history and anecdotes about the film industry in the American Southwest. The event will begin at 6pm and is free to the public.
Reel World: Now That’s Italian! Now That’s Italian!
The 9th annual Italian Film & Culture Festival continues this weekend with some great foreign cinema. On Friday, for example, the fest will screen its highest award-winning film, Pierfrancesco Diliberto’s 2013 black comedy La Mafia Uccide Solo D’Estate (The Mafia Only Kills in Summer). Saturday brings Eugenio Cappuccio’s 2006 medical drama Uno Su Due (One Out of Two) and Maria Sole Tognazzi’s 2013 romantic drama Viaggio Sola (A Five-Star Life). The event closes out on Sunday with its “Festa Finale.” The showcase film, Roberto Ando’s political dramedy Viva La Liberta (Long Live Freedom), will be screened at Guild Cinema (3405 Central NE) starting at 3:30pm, followed by an authentic Italian cena (or “supper”) featuring wine and music across the street at Scalo Northern Italian Grill (3500 Central SE). Tickets for individual films are $10. Tickets for the big Festa Finale run $50. Get them before they sell out! As always the festival is a benefit for UNM Children’s Hospital. For more info go to italianfilmfest.org.
Reel World: Book ’Em Book ’Em
KiMo Theatre and the Albuquerque-Bernalillo Public Library are bringing back their “Books to Film” series. This time around the series will feature three glam-filled films based on the novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Things start rolling on Thursday, Feb. 18 with the 1954 film The Last Time I Saw Paris starring Elizabeth Taylor and Van Johnson. It’s based on Fitzgerald’s story Babylon Revisited. On Friday, Feb. 19, you can catch the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. The lit-inspired series closes out on Saturday, Feb. 20, with the 1976 adaptation of The Last Tycoon featuring Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis and Robert Mitchum. Admission to the screenings is free, but it is recommended you reserve a ticket online in order to guarantee your seat. You can do that by going to kimotickets.com. The KiMo is located a 423 Central NW.
Reel World: Shufflin’ Through The Texas Sand Shufflin’ Through The Texas Sand
Cult crime and horror author Joe R. Lansdale is returning to the Jean Cocteau Cinema on Tuesday, Feb. 23, for a special screening of the new Sundance TV series “Hap and Leonard.” The series stars James Purefoy (“Rome”), Michael Kenneth Williams (“The Wire”) and Christina Hendricks (“Mad Men”) and is based on Lansdale’s popular “swamp noir” series of crime novels. “Hap and Leonard” is scheduled to premiere on Sundance on Wednesday, March 2, as part of a 6-hour “event series.” But you can sneak preview the premiere episode—with the author himself in attendance—next Tuesday. How can you pass that up? The event is free, starting at 7pm. Lansdale will host a Q&A after the film. Copies of his books will be available for purchase. The Jean Cocteau Cinema is located at 418 Montezuma in Santa Fe.
