Films this week 8/11 to 8/13/2023
by Gary Palmucci | 11th August 2023 | Gary's Corner
Many of you have heard, in my introductions to The Miracle Club, now in its fourth robust week, the story of how that movie abruptly came onto New Plaza’s schedule due to a certain local multiplex’s urgent need for more ‘Barbenheimer’ screens. A film that experienced a similar scenario, and is a sure Oscar contender this year along with those two July mega-busters, joins our program this weekend.
Past Lives seems to me a shoo-in for a Best Picture nod, along with writing and directing nominations for its creator Celine Song, and a perfect film to revisit, or see for the first time, in the bittersweet-romantic month of August.
Aurora’s Sunrise, one of our more unusual NY premieres, uses a mix of vivid animation, interviews and archival film and photos to recount the true story of Aurora Mardiganian, who fled Armenia in 1919 as a teenager after losing her family in that country’s genocide. Incredibly, she landed in New York where her story became a media sensation and she starred as herself in a silent film, Auction of Souls, based on her published memoir. Aurora became the face of one of the largest charity campaigns in American history, and a lifelong advocate (she lived into the mid-1990s) for survivors of the Armenian genocide.
At press time we are expecting both the film’s director Inna Sahakyan and NYU history professor Paul Boghosian for Q&As on Friday and Saturday, but recommend that you check either our website, FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram or Friday’s NYT directory ad for confirmation.
After last weekend’s sell-out performances of Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, we’ve scheduled an encore screening at 12:15 on Sunday afternoon, followed by some discussion with Max Alvarez and I.
And later that afternoon, we’ll again be joined by – to paraphrase James Brown – ‘the hardest working indie filmmakers in show biz,’ director Brian Vincent and producer Heather Spore for a Q&A on their deep-dive documentary, Make Me Famous.
Also reprising this weekend, Umberto Eco- A Library of the World, Return to Dust from China, and the aforementioned Miracle Club.
Next weekend – more late summer classics, Fellini’s immortal 8 1 / 2 and Jean Eustache’s intimate epic The Mother and the Whore, along with the beloved Juliette Binoche’s latest, Between Two Worlds.
Gary Palmucci, Film Curator
New Plaza Cinema