Films this week 2/10 – 2/12/2023
by Gary Palmucci | 10th February 2023 | Gary's Corner
In the new Israeli film Cinema Sabaya – winner of five “Israeli Oscars” and the country’s submission this year for our own Academy Awards – a young filmmaker teaching in a community center puts cameras into the hands of eight women, both Arab and Jewish, and invites them to document their lives. As they share their footage, barriers are broken down, beliefs challenged, and the women learn more about each other, and themselves.
We’ll be joining the US theatrical premiere of Cinema Sabaya this weekend, and director Orit Fouks Rotem and her star Dana Ivgy, an esteemed Israeli actress, will visit us for a Q&A following Sunday’s 12:15 pm show.
Last weekend at New Plaza Cinema was a classic example of how extraordinary publicity can elevate the fortunes of independent film in our always-crowded marketplace. Following Andrea Riseborough’s surprise Best Actress Oscar nomination for the barely-released drama To Leslie – a triumph of pure “grass roots” effort by her manager and many admiring actor-colleagues – we programmed the film for a single afternoon show last Saturday, to see what the reaction might be.
I returned from an off-Broadway matinee to find, to my amazement, the theatre completely sold out and a warm round of applause greeting the film’s closing credits. So, To Leslie will return for two more screenings this weekend. My own colleagues Shawn Moore and Abbe Harris deserve the credit for believing in this movie and its mercurial leading lady.
We also revived, based on its stellar reviews, the Iranian drama No Bears whose director (and star) Jafar Panahi had been imprisoned for many months in his native country. We could hardly have predicted that, after we went to press, Panahi would declare himself on a hunger strike against his confinement, and subsequently over the weekend be released from prison! As a result there was a major “spike” in attendance between our first and second screenings, and we’ll be reprising this film over the upcoming President’s Day weekend.
Finally, in response to our continuing sold-out screenings of Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb, we’ve added another prime time show this Sunday afternoon. As always, we urge you to buy your tickets – both for this and our ongoing run of Bill Nighy in Living – online and early.
Gary Palmucci, Film Curator
New Plaza Cinema