Robert Laemmle, former president of Laemmle Theatres, passed away on Thursday, January 9 in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 89. He is survived by his wife Michelle Laemmle and ex-wife Raquel Shantal, their children Yvonne Ascher & Leonard Laub, Michael & Haidee Ascher, David & Tammy Ascher, Greg & Tish Laemmle, Jessica Laemmle, Carri and Charlie Bisbee, Mitch & Debbie Needelman, Maitland Finley, and Robert Finley, and his sister Mimi Reisbaum and nephews Mark & Jay Reisbaum.Bob was a kind, generous, happy person who adored his large family. He was also an entrepreneur and film industry trailblazer who lived a classic American immigrant
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a special screening of one of the best loved movies of the 20th century, Jerry Zucker’s smash hit supernatural fantasy, 'Ghost.' When the movie opened in the summer of 1990, it quickly captivated audiences and eventually became the highest grossing movie of the year, earning $505 million on a budget of just $23 million. When the movie hit home video in 1991, it also became the highest grossing film in the rental market for that year. The movie was nominated for five Oscars in 1990, including Best Picture, and it won awards for Bruce Joel Rubin’s original screenplay and Whoopi Goldberg’s
Since 2022 Laemmle Theatres has been the proud host of veteran film critic Stephen Farber's popular REEL TALK WITH STEPHEN FARBER screening series at the LAEMMLE ROYAL! See a variety of outstanding films from the U.S. and around the world, including many top awards contenders. Then meet the filmmakers for provocative and revealing discussions led by Stephen.Recent guests and titles have included Josh Margolin, writer-director of THELMA; Keith Kupferer, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Tara Mallen, Kelly O’Sullivan & Alex Thompson, stars and filmmakers of GHOSTLIGHT; Eric Bana and Robert Connolly, star and writer-director of FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2
This Friday in Glendale we are pleased to open The Teacher, a drama starring Saleh Bakri and Imogen Poots about colleagues at a West Bank school who try to help a student cope with a tragedy.*Palestinian-British filmmaker Farah Nabulsi was interviewed on the latest episode of Inside the Arthouse. After receiving an Oscar nomination for her short film The Present, Nabulsi spoke about taking audiences on an intense, emotional journey into the Israeli-occupied West Bank through a story based upon the actual experiences of her relatives. The story lifts the curtain on the hardships and difficult choices they have to make.*"Extraordinary...riveting." ~
Next week we'll begin a Claude Lelouch retrospective at the Royal with a week-long engagement of his 1966 double Oscar and Palme d'Or winner A Man and a Woman, newly restored by Rialto Pictures. April 26 through April 30 we'll also screen his films Les Miserables, And Now My Love, Rendezvous, Cat and Mouse, La Bonne Année, and Bolero (Les Uns et les Autres)."A tender, visually stirring film of rejuvenating love between a widow and a widower: Trintignant and Aimée share a candid romance while balancing the demands of career and parenthood. It’s a touching, realistic look at a burgeoning adult romance, with each participant encumbered by a past
Beautifully restored by the Academy Film Archive and UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with the Sundance Institute, Lisa Cholodenko's 1998 lesbian romantic drama High Art is now considered a queer classic, and it is ten times more potent on the big screen. The protagonist is Syd (Radha Mitchell), whose life changes after a chance meeting with her upstairs neighbor, Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy). Lucy, a once-celebrated photographer, lives an enthralling life with her drug-addicted German girlfriend, (Patricia Clarkson), that draws Syd in. Before she can catch her breath, Syd discovers dark truths of life on the edge, is forced to
Our long-running Culture Vulture series continues every Saturday and Sunday morning and Monday evening at our Claremont, Glendale, Newhall, Encino, and Santa Monica theaters.April 5-7: Far Out: Life on and After the Commune ~ In 1968, a group of radical journalists leave the city and politics to live communally as organic farmers. The film examines their lives and return to the political world and how the commune became a community.April 12-14: In Search of Beethoven ~ The makers of In Search of Mozart return with a new feature-length bio-doc about Beethoven. Director Phil Grabsky brings together the world’s leading performers and experts on
Tomorrow we'll be opening Janis Ian: Breaking Silence, the new documentary about the singer-songwriter. Filmmaker Varda Bar-Kar will participate in Q&A's after the 7:00 o'clock shows on Thursday, April 3 at the Laemmle NoHo and April 4 and 5 at the Monica Film Center, as well as after the 1:00 o'clock show at the Laemmle Glendale on April 5. Ms. Ian will join her for the NoHo and Santa Monica screenings. The filmmaker is also featured on the latest episode of Raphael Sbarge and Greg Laemmle's video podcast Inside the Arthouse.Director's Statement: "The pandemic began when I finished my music documentary Fandango at the Wall (HBO/MAX), about a
Starring Oscar nominee Steve Coogan, The Penguin Lessons is a poignant dramedy inspired by a true story, set against the backdrop of Argentina’s political turmoil in 1976. Tom (Coogan), a disillusioned Englishman, arrives in Buenos Aires to teach at a prestigious boarding school, expecting an easy experience. But as the city spirals into crisis, and his students remain unteachable, Tom’s life takes an unexpected turn when he rescues an oil-slicked penguin from a nearby beach. The bird’s surprising loyalty and unique presence forces Tom to confront his own repressed past and awaken to the responsibilities of both personal and political change
Born in 1994, Louise Courvoisier grew up in the Jura region of France before studying cinema at the Cinéfabrique in Lyon. Her graduation short, Mano a Mano, won first prize at the Cinéfondation at Cannes in 2019. Vingt dieux (Holy Cow) is her first feature film, a sentimental cheese epic set in the village of her childhood. It follows 18-year-old Totone. After the tragic death of his father, he's thrust into the unexpected and very adult role of looking after his younger sister and their failing family farm. He assumes even more responsibility when he enters a cash competition for the best Comté cheese made in this western part of the French Alps
Alan Rudolph’s 'Choose Me' Special 4K Restoration Screening Tribute to Bob Laemmle with costars Keith Carradine, Lesley Ann Warren, and producer David Blocker in person April 3.Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a special 4K restoration screening of writer-director Alan Rudolph’s 1984 comedy-drama fable 'Choose Me' as a tribute to the late Bob Laemmle, owner of Laemmle Theatres, who died in January. The film screens Thursday, April 3 at the historic Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles at 7:00 P.M. Costars Keith Carradine and Lesley Ann Warren will appear in person for a Q&A, joined by producer David Blocker. Bob Laemmle was
From Bilge Eberi's recent New York Magazine piece about the new restoration of Jean-Luc Godard's A Woman is A Woman:“I don’t know whether it’s a comedy or a tragedy,” Jean-Luc Godard said about his film A Woman Is a Woman in 1961, not long before it opened. “At any rate, it’s a masterpiece.” The director, who at the time had released just one feature, was being characteristically cheeky. Later in that same interview, he admitted that the movie was an uneasy mix of influences. Shot in CinemaScope and color, it was meant to be a spectacle, “a set designer’s film,” that he had deliberately improvised and rushed. Though A Woman Is a Woman (now on the
Perhaps no other sport lends itself as well to cinema as baseball, and there have been some memorable ones over the years. The Natural, Moneyball, 42, Field of Dreams and Bull Durham spring to mind. Well, we have a funny, soul-soothing treat for you this week at our Glendale and Santa Monica theaters. "Modest and moving, it’s a new sports-movie classic, as sneakily effective as the pitch which gives it its title." ~ Nick Schager, The Daily BeastThe filmmakers will participate in Q&A's in Glendale after the 7:10 PM screenings on 3/13 with writer-director Carson Lund and actor Keith William Richards and moderator Amber A'Lee Frost (Chapo Trap House)
The 2025 Oscars are in the history books. It was a good night, with a funny, skilled host in Conan O'Brien and a fairly equitable distribution of statuettes for some terrific movies. It was also a good night for theatrical exhibition, better known as good, old-fashioned moviegoing. As he did during his speech accepting the Palme d'Or last year in Cannes, Anora filmmaker Sean Baker gave a passionate, trenchant speech in favor of seeing movies as filmmakers have always intended them to be seen, in theaters. After accepting the Oscar for Best Director from filmmaker (and movie theater owner) Quentin Tarantino, Baker said the following to almost 20
If you still haven't seen some of the films honored at the Academy Awards on Sunday, you can still see all of the following this week: Anora (winner for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Editing, and Actress), The Brutalist (Best Actor, Score, and Cinematography), Flow (Best Animated Feature), I'm Still Here (Best International Film), and No Other Land (Best Feature Documentary). All are fantastic and, as one social media user posted after listening to Sean Baker's speech extolling the virtues of seeing movies in movie theaters, "movies just hit different at the cinema."And if you've already seen these films, check out The Fishing Place
Forty years after starring in Martin Scorsese's After Hours, Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette are back, their days of all-night Manhattan romantic misadventures given way to the sober realities of late middle age. Writer-director Noah Pritzker's dramedy Ex-Husbands beautifully captures the low-key new milieu, in which Dunne plays a father whose faltering marriage coincides with his adult sons' romantic troubles. (Both Pritzker and Dunne speak about the film in a recent episode of Inside the Arthouse.) Richard Benjamin, James Norton, and Miles Heizer, all terrific, costar. We open Ex-Husbands this Friday at the Monica Film Center in Santa Monica
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 20th anniversary screening of one of the most acclaimed movies of the 21st century: Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning 'Sideways.' The March 20 screening at the Monica Film Center is held in conjunction with the publication of the new book, 'Sideways Uncorked: The Perfect Pairing of Film and Wine,' written by critic and journalist Kirk Honeycutt and his wife, Mira Advani Honeycutt. Mira comes to the project with 25 years of experience as a wine journalist. They will be joined by the Oscar-nominated producer of 'Sideways,' Michael London.'Sideways,' based on a novel by Rex Pickett, was
The Way, My Way, which we open March 7 at our Claremont, Santa Monica, and Encino theaters, is the charming and captivating true story of a stubborn, self-centered Australian man who decides to walk the 800 kilometer-long Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route through Spain. He doesn’t know why he’s doing it… but one step at a time, it will change him and his outlook on life forever. Based on Bill Bennett’s best-selling memoir of the same name.Bennett penned the following about The Way, My Way:"I really didn't want to make this film. I didn't want to make a film about myself; about my failings and vulnerabilities, and hardships which took me right to
Before The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness, The Mosquito Coast, Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show, and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Peter Weir's estimable career took off with his eerie, languorous 1975 drama Picnic at Hanging Rock. A milestone for the Australian film industry, it has stood the test of time, and we are thrilled to open a week of screenings this Friday at the Royal. The keepers of world cinema at Janus Films have released a new 4K restoration of Weir's 1998 director's cut. Here's film critic J. Hoberman in the New York Times:"Once upon a time in Australia: Three schoolgirls and their teacher vanish in
Laemmle Theatres and Cinema Parallel are proud to present the U.S. theatrical release of Rob Tregenza’s latest feature film, The Fishing Place. The film had its North American theatrical premiere at MoMA in New York City on February 6 and will open at the Monica Film Center on March 7.*In this formally inventive historical drama, acclaimed American filmmaker Rob Tregenza explores the moral complexities of World War II and the permutations of history and its representation. Set in occupied Norway, the drama follows Anna (Ellen Dorrit Petersen), a housekeeper who arrives to work for a German priest in rural Telemark. As the priest grapples with his
The Oscar nominations are out and it was another excellent cinematic year. As always, some categories will be more unpredictable than others. Last year, most contestants 59.5% thought Lily Gladstone would win Best Actress for Killers of the Flower Moon, while only 29.7% correctly divined that Emma Stone would win for Poor Things. This year, Best Picture may be the most challenging category; there are at least six real possibilities. That's where you come in because it’s time for our Umpteenth Annual Laemmle Oscar Contest! If you, dear cinephile, can accurately predict how the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will vote in
For those who don't like Valentine's Day, join us for an "anti-romantic" evening with Lina Wertmuller's Swept Away. Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 50th anniversary screening of the odd-couple arthouse sensation Swept Away. Lina Wertmüller’s provocative, fable-like two-hander brings together Mariangela Melato and Giancarlo Giannini for an oft-ugly battle of the sexes (and classes) cage match with the sparkling Mediterranean for a beautiful backdrop. Not long after setting off on a yachting expedition, Milanese millionairess Raffaella (Melato) finds herself stranded on an obscure island with the boat’s deckhand
The news of David Lynch's death hit like David Bowie's. Here were two sui generis, irreplaceable artists so original their names became adjectives, and they were gone. There will never be another David Lynch movie, but we can watch Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, Lost Highway and the extravagantly violent and sexy romantic comedy Wild at Heart -- February 19 at the NoHo -- on the big screen as the auteur intended. The 1990 Palme d'Or winner stars Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage as Lula and Sailor, roadtripping lovers plagued by Lula's crazed mother (Diane Ladd, Oscar nominated for this performance). Willem Dafoe's frightening
To honor our one-of-a-kind city and its amazing communities, we're giving you the gift of FREE MOVIES! Thanks to our amazing friends at NEON, catch any film at the Monica Film Center and Royal tonight and tomorrow absolutely free. Come take a much-deserved break and experience the joy of an arthouse film. The offer only applies in-person at the theater box offices. Take the money you would have spent on tickets and donate it to fire relief.
When is a documentary about hummingbirds more than just another educational nature documentary? In the case of Sally Aitken’s new movie Every Little Thing, we discover that small things are very big things— and you will be more than a little surprised. Hummingbirds’ wings beat fifty times per second, and with astounding high speed photography, they float like gossamer on the screen, captured like tiny, magical sprites. Terry Masear, the film's subject, runs a hummingbird rescue and she, too, is magical and surprising. These remarkable birds, no bigger than your little finger, become bigger than life as we discover Terry’s care, attention, wisdom