The Old Pasadena Film Festival, a month-long, free movie series, featuring screenings in predominantly outdoor locations returns through July 27th. This annual summer film program celebrates motion picture in all of its forms offering a variety of audience-pleasing movie titles and genres. With twenty-three screenings, the Old Pasadena Film Festival is the largest free open-air film festival in California and draws a broad local and regional audience.
This year the festival pays tribute to vintage horror and science fiction film by offering select screenings in Central Park highlighting three of Vincent Price’s iconic pictures: The Fly, House of Usher, and The Pit and the Pendulum, the last two of which were directed by the legendary Roger Corman. Rounding out this selection are Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, a campy 1970s horror send-up, Them!, an iconic super-size creature feature, and The 7thVoyage of Sinbad, a 1958 special effects extravaganza by the renowned Ray Harryhausen. Arrive early for any of the six Central Park screenings, pick up picnic provisions from one of the many options in Old Pasadena, enjoy select food trucks, ambient music from local DJs, and fun trivia with giveaways.
Additional outdoor screenings are hosted by One Colorado in their open-air courtyard. Their program includes such family-friendly movies as Moonrise Kingdom, and the Marx Brothers in Animal Crackers; original classics The Odd Couple, Lover Come Back, and Suddenly, Last Summer; and contemporary award-winners Life Is Beautiful and Gravity.
We are pleased to include documentary film selections presented by Conscientious Projector, whose aim is to highlight the investigative work of filmmakers probing the social, geopolitical, environmental, and economic undercurrents of our time. Now in its eleventh year, Conscientious Projector offers a free monthly documentary film series sponsored by Sustainable World (a Peace & Justice Ministry of All Saints Church) and screened every second Thursday of the month at the Armory Center for the Arts.
The Armory Center for the Arts joins the schedule this year with four art-themed films including insightful documentaries Who Does She Think She Is?, Guest of Cindy Sherman, and the Les Blank film The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists, as well as episodes from the quirky Japanese children’s seriesGimme Gimme Octopus.
Friday evenings (except July 4), Distant Lands Travel Bookstore offers travel-related movies such as the adventurous travel documentary Go Ganges!, as well as two charming independent films Last Stop for Paul, and The Art of Travel.
The Old Pasadena Film Festival gives attendees the unique experience of enjoying a month-long series of cinema in mostly outdoor spaces, and some unconventional indoor locations. All showings are free and open to the public.
OLD PASADENA FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, JULY 10
Arise (2012) – 78 min
Conscientious Projector at Armory Center for the Arts, 45 N. Raymond Ave. – 7:00PM
On every continent, women are taking the lead to protect and restore the natural world. Acclaimed writer-producer-director Lori Joyce tells the heartening stories of 13 of these trailblazers, who have generated solution-oriented projects that have uplifted their communities, towns and villages. Their vision, charisma and vital efforts offer hopeful examples and new models for healing and respecting the earth and redefining our relationship with the environment. Narrated by Daryl Hannah. Community discussion to follow the screening.
FRIDAY, JULY 11
The Odd Couple (1968) – 105 min
One Colorado, 41 Hugus Alley – 8:30PM
Nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay, this is the film version of Neil Simon’s beloved story about two divorced men who decide to share a New York apartment. The inimitable Jack Lemmon is Felix, fussy and fastidious to a fault, while beloved Walter Matthau’s Oscar is slovenly and careless. An enduring and endearing picture with the intelligence one usually misses in comedies. In 2000, the American Film Institute honored The Odd Couple as the 17th greatest American Comedy.
SATURDAY, JULY 12
House of Usher (1960) – 79 min
Central Park, 275 S. Raymond Ave. – 7:00PM Music+Food; 8:30PM Film
This horror classic starring Vincent Price was the first of eight Roger Corman feature films based on Edgar Allen Poe’s work. When a beautiful young woman's suitor arrives to ask her hand in marriage, the doors of the mysterious house of Usher fling open... and terror begins. It seems the young woman's brother is violently opposed to her planned marriage and resorts to macabre ends to prevent the tainted Usher blood from spreading to future generations. In 2005, the film was listed with the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Gravity (2013) – 91 min
a/k/a Bistro Plaza, 41 Hugus Alley – 8:30PM
The epic science-fiction thriller Gravity won seven Academy Awards, including Best Director for Alfonso Cuarón, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Score. Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone - tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness.
SUNDAY, JULY 13
Them! (1954) – 94 min
Central Park, 275 S. Raymond Ave. – 7:00PM Music+Food; 8:30PM Film
One of the first of the 1950s ‘nuclear monster’ movies, and the first ‘big bug’ film, Them! was nominated for an Oscar for its Special Effects and won a Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing. Starring
James Whitmore, James Arness, and Fess Parker, the film begins as a simple suspense story, with police investigating mysterious disappearances and unexplained deaths; it slowly develops into a horror story about radiation-enlarged giant ants. To build suspense, these giants are only heard on occasion and not seen until nearly a third of the way into the film.
MONDAY, JULY 14
Money & Life (2013) – 86 min
Conscientious Projector at Scott Pavilion on Raymond
Pasadena Senior Center, 85 E. Holly Ave. – 7:00PM
This captivating documentary film examines the meaning, purpose and influence of money in our lives, how it relates to the economic and climatic challenges we presently face, and the ways in which it has diminished our connection with the natural world. Filmmaker Katie Teague asks us to consider that our seemingly insurmountable problems might inherently provide the opportunity for a transformational shift to a more sustainable and equitable economy centered on meeting human needs and valuing the gifts of nature. Community discussion to follow the screening
FRIDAY, JULY 18
The Marx Brothers in Animal Crackers (1930) – 97 min
One Colorado, 41 Hugus Alley – 8:30PM
Filled with comedy sketches, musical numbers and plenty of gags, Animal Crackers is often regarded as the Marx Brothers’ most quoted film for its witty and unforgettable dialogue. Groucho stars as Captain Spaulding, a famed African explorer who is being honored at a high society party at the estate of Mrs. Rittenhouse. Mayhem and chaos ensue after a valuable painting disappears and Spaulding, along with the Professor (Harpo), Signore Emanuel Ravelli (Chico) and Horatio (Zeppo) “help” search for it. Highlighted by musical performances, this classic comedy earned a place on the AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes list.
SATURDAY, JULY 19
The Fly (1958) – 94 min
Central Park, 275 S. Raymond Ave. – 7:00PM Music+Food; 8:30PM Film
With its 'science-gone-bad' storyline, and box office as well as critical success, The Fly is one of the seminal horror films of the 1950s and one that established Vincent Price as a horror icon. When a scientist attempts to transfer matter through space, things go horrifically wrong and two grotesque man-fly hybrids are created. Now, with the head of a fly and a wing in place of one of his arms, the scientist desperately hopes that he, his wife, and his brother (Vincent Price) can capture the other mutant and reverse the experiment.
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) – 114 min
a/k/a Plaza, 41 Hugus Alley – 8:30PM
The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable (Katherine Hepburn) dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine (Elizabeth Taylor). What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane. Now Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth, and attempts to bribe Dr. Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift) into doing just that. Written by Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal, this high-drama tour de force offers plenty of opportunity for Hepburn and Taylor to shine. Both performances were nominated for Best Actress Academy Awards, and Taylor won that year’s Golden Globe for the same.
THURSDAY, JULY 24
Bidder 70 (2012) – 73 min
Conscientious Projector at Scott Pavilion on Raymond
Pasadena Senior Center, 85 E. Holly Ave. – 7:00PM
The reality of climate change is brought to light in the story of Tim DeChristopher, a young economics student who served 21 months in prison for a principled act of civil disobedience. In 2008, Tim posed as a bidder in a U.S. Bureau of Land Management auction of lease rights to pristine Utah wilderness earmarked for oil and gas development. Despite that the sale was ruled invalid prior to Tim’s trial, he was convicted on felony charges for disrupting the proceedings, but in the end became a spokesperson and hero in the climate change movement. Community discussion to follow the screening.
FRIDAY, JULY 25
Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella) (1997) – 113 min
a/k/a Bistro Plaza, 41 Hugus Alley – 8:30PM
This beautiful Italian comedy-drama was directed by and starred Roberto Benigni. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian book shop owner, who must employ his fertile imagination to shield his son from the horrors of internment in a Nazi concentration camp. The film won Academy Awards for Benigni as Best Actor, as well as for Best Original Dramatic Score, and Best Foreign Language Film.
SATURDAY, JULY 26
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) – 80 min
Central Park, 274 S. Raymond Ave. – 7:00PM Music+Food; 8:30PM Film
Second of the eight Roger Corman feature films based on Edgar Allen Poe’s work, The Pit and The Pendulum is a classic horror-thriller, a real ‘nail-biter’. Stephen King has described one of the film’s major shocks as one of the most significant horror sequences of the decade. Set in post-Inquisition Spain, the film stars John Kerr as a young Englishman who travels to the seaside castle of his brother-in-law (Vincent Price) to uncover the circumstances behind the death of his sister. He is not prepared for what he discovers.
Lover Come Back (1961) – 107 min
a/k/a Bistro Plaza, 41 Hugus Alley – 8:30PM
Jerry Webster (Rock Hudson) and Carol Templeton (Doris Day) are both in the advertising business, but for different agencies. A series of misunderstandings leaves Jerry with a campaign for a product which has not been invented yet. When Carol tries to get the account, she mistakes Jerry for the product’s inventor and he takes full advantage of the situation to try to win her over. Also starring Tony Randall and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, Lover Come Back is perhaps the best of the Rock Hudson/Doris Day romantic farces… classic romance and timeless fun.
SUNDAY, JULY 27
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) – 88 min
Central Park, 275 S. Raymond Ave. – 7:00PM Music+Food; 8:30PM Film
This fantasy film features the stunning visual effects mastery of the legendary Ray Harryhausen, who used a special stop-motion technique calledDynamation. Before wedding the Princess Parisa, Sinbad must battle an awesome collection of mythical monsters, the man-eating Cyclops, a saber-wielding skeleton, a ferocious two-headed bird called the Roc, and a fire-breathing dragon. In 2008, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
General Public: All screenings are free and open to the public. For more information including a complete schedule, visit www.oldpasadena.org.