FilmScene Co-founder to Share Progress of New Downtown Cinema Effort
The visionary new film from director Terrence Malick will be screened at 8 p.m. on Saturday, February 18 at the Englert Theatre. Nominated for three Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography), "The Tree of Life" will be co-presented by the Englert and FilmScene.
Seating for the film is general admission; tickets are $5 in advance or $8 day of show.
Starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, and Sean Penn, "The Tree of Life" is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father and seeks answers to the origins and meaning of life.
In his review of the film, critic Roger Ebert writes: "'The Tree of Life' is a film of vast ambition and deep humility, attempting no less than to encompass all of existence and view it through the prism of a few infinitesimal lives. The only other film I've seen with this boldness of vision is Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' and it lacked Malick's fierce evocation of human feeling."
FilmScene co-founder Andy Brodie will introduce the film, as well as provide a brief update on FilmScene's recent progress.
Officially founded in the fall of 2011, FilmScene is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the cultural vitality of the Iowa City area through the presentation and discussion of film as an art form. Its primary goal is the operation of a full-time cinema in downtown Iowa City that will showcase the best in American independent and international filmmaking.
"We have been working to lay the foundation for FilmScene and identify potential sites for our cinema," Brodie said. "It's a somewhat slow process, but we've made exciting progress toward our goal of building a first-rate home for film downtown."
