What: Bama Art House Film Series When: 8:00 pm June 8 Where: Bama Theatre How Much: Season packages: $30 for students $40 for general admission
The Bama Art House Film Series will kick off its summer lineup at 8 p.m. June 8 at the Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa. Opening night will feature the film “Greenberg,” directed by Academy Award nominee Noah Baumbach and starring Ben Stiller as a 40-year-old New Yorker trying to make sense of his life while house sitting for his brother in Los Angeles.
Bama Theatre Manager David Allgood said the idea for a film series of this kind came up two years ago as a way to bring indie, foreign and otherwise non-blockbuster films to Tuscaloosa. This summer marks the beginning of the third season.
“We decided to give it a chance last winter,” Allgood said. “Now it’s sort of getting to be a meeting place for people.”
With sometimes more than 300 moviegoers per night at the winter film series and well over a thousand members joining the series’ Facebook group, hopes that the summer season will attract plenty of guests.
Tickets are available in season packages for $40 for regular adults and $30 for students, and can be purchased online at brownpapertickets.com. Individual tickets will be available prior to screenings for $7/general admission, $6/student and $5/senior or Arts Council members.
“You really can’t beat those prices, compared to around $8.50 at the big theaters,” Allgood said. “And our popcorn is better.”
The bar and lounge area of the Bama Theatre will open at 7:00 p.m. each Tuesday before the movies and will correlate drink specials with each film.
“Last time we had a Swedish film, so we did vodka drink specials,” Allgood said. “Or British or Japanese and so on. It adds a little extra atmosphere to the night.”
A small committee including Allgood and UA professor Andy Grace were responsible for choosing the 2010 summer lineup, and Allgood said he is very excited about all of the films.
“We think they’re really high quality films,” he said. “They’re all very recent.”
The films were chosen because of their excellent reception at festivals such as Cannes and Sundance, or reviews in publications such as The New Yorker. Some Tuscaloosa residents also put in their two cents by making suggestions to Allgood and his committee.
“Greenberg was suggested to us by a few people, and it was on a list we had made,” Allgood said. Other films suggested or recommended to the committee that made it into the series include “The Secret of the Kells” (June 15), “The Ghost Writer” (June 22) and “The White Ribbon” (June 29).
Each movie will be projected in 35mm film at the Bama Theatre, which boasts a newly-updated sound system and Dolby Digital reader. This combination of old analog technology and new digital systems will give the summer series the best of both worlds.
“I’m especially interested in seeing ‘The Secret of the Kells’,” Allgood said. “It’s the only animated film we’re showing, and it’s the classic, old-school animation.”
Other films screening this summer include “A Prophet,” “Please Give,” “No One Knows About Persian Cats” and Oscar-winning Best Foreign Film “The Secret in Their Eyes.” Films will only screen once during the season.
For the complete schedule, movie trailers and more information, visit www.bamaarthouse.com.
