Special Events
Usama Alshaibi in person!
NICE BOMBS
2006, Usama Alshaibi, USA, 76 min.
“NICE BOMBS is valuable viewing. . . Western audiences see Iraqis not as crazed Middle Easterners shouting and shooting (and dying) en masse, but as individuals going about their daily lives.”--Novid Parsi, Time Out Chicago
After an absence of 24 years, Chicago-based director Alshaibi, now a U.S. citizen, returns to his native Iraq with his father and his wife to make a film. American-occupied Baghdad is in part a time warp (his childhood slide is still in the yard), but the daily fear of bombs and random gunfire casts a chill over the family reunion. This remarkable inside story movingly explicates the confusion, anger, and stoicism of ordinary Iraqi citizens caught in a living hell as hope for freedom from fear rapidly wanes. DigiBeta video. (BS)
Director Usama Alshaibi will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
Wednesday, July 11, 8:30 pm
Monday, July 16, 8:15 pm
Phil Grabsky in person!
IN SEARCH OF MOZART
2006, Phil Grabsky, Britain, 128 min.
“A far more accurate, complete and endearingly human portrait of Mozart than any documentary has ever painted.”--John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune
Director Phil Grabsky appears in person at this special return performance of our all-time box-office champ. Narration (by Juliet Stevenson), illustrations, present-day locales, excerpts from letters, and commentary from a host of historians (but no reenactments!) fluidly illuminate every aspect of Mozart’s life, including his stormy relationship with his father, his ardent marriage, his financial worries, his political infighting, and much more. At the same time, the biography is seamlessly interwoven with the music, brought to life through a constant flow of selections from over 70 works performed by distinguished orchestras, ensembles, and opera companies. DigiBeta video. (MR)
Director Phil Grabsky will be present for audience discussion.