Upcoming CLUELESS Event at BMFI: A Special “Intern-view”

By Meredith Slifkin, BMFI Intern

Attention lovers of teen comedies, literary adaptations, and anyone who has ever uttered the phrase, “as if!”: Clueless is coming to BMFI for a special one night only screening on Thursday, April 7 at 10:00pm! The cult classic, which takes place at a wealthy Beverly Hills high school and is based on the plot of Jane Austen’s Emma, will be shown in conjunction with the senior thesis project of Bryn Mawr College senior (and former BMFI intern) Ivy Howell.

Ivy has been working hard to organize this screening while also writing her thesis, so as a Haverford College alum and current BMFI intern, I know how important it is that we all come out to support Ivy at this event! I caught up with Ivy over email to ask her a few questions about the screening. Read on to hear more about our conversation (intern-to-intern) about the upcoming event and the Clueless legacy.

See Clueless on Thursday, April 7 at 10:00pm, with introduction by Bryn Mawr College Senior and former BMFI intern Ivy Howell

Can you give us a brief description or abstract of your project?

I'm looking at these films as cultural products of the nineties, a period marked by rapid globalization, changing relationships to consumerism, and closer ties between public and private life due to changing media technologies. Keeping in mind this context, I'm examining relationship between gender, class, and race in these films and the relationship these movies have to the larger romantic comedy genre.

I wanted to do something a little more practical too, and, since I've always had an interest in film programming, I wanted to see what it would be like to organize a screening of my own. I'm really excited that BMFI wanted to collaborate with me on this; it's been a stellar learning experience.

What drew you to the topic of 90s teen romantic comedies? What films do you discuss in addition to Clueless?

I've always been conflicted by the fact that I love these films so much, yet, at the same time, I can't help but take issue with certain assumptions and stereotypes that appear over and over again. For instance, most mainstream teen films from the nineties take place in mostly white, upper middle class suburbs. These films put a lot of emphasis on how characters look and dress; as a matter of fact, all the films I examined - Clueless, She's All That, and Mean Girls (which isn't from the 90s, but I think its interesting to compare a post-9/11 film to earlier ones) - have strong makeover subplots where a girl gets made over. Combine that with the idealized fantasy world that these films live in, and I found myself faced with a really rich body of work, with plenty of questions and contradictions to explore in detail.

Alicia Silverstone earns her cult status as the privileged and popular Cher Horowitz

The teen film genre seems to lend itself particularly well to literary adaptations. Could you discuss this phenomenon?

The romantic comedy genre has been around forever, and there are lots of stories to draw from. The romantic comedy tradition, particularly screwball comedies from the 1930s and 1940s, has always been rooted in adaptation, whether plays or novels. Also, Jane Austen novels or Shakespeare plays have a lot of characters and rely upon a social setting with pretty rigid rules about how people interact with one another, two features that lend themselves to depicting the high school experience.

There are quite a few expressions from Clueless that have entered our lexicon. Do you have a favorite line from the film?

"As if!"

***

Thanks, Ivy! I definitely agree with her answer to the last question, though up there on my list are also “way harsh” and “Ren and Stimpy, they’re way existential.”

All are welcome at this event, where you can come enjoy the film and learn about the teen comedy genre during Ivy’s introduction. It’s a great opportunity to witness the sort of events that are possible when BMFI works together with its community partners to bring truly unique events to the theater.

Hope to see you there! For now, “I’m outtie.”

BMFI's Oscar Party a Winner!

By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Coordinator

Bryn Mawr Film Institute celebrated its third annual Oscar Party in style on Sunday, February 28. Over 240 guests watched a big screen simulcast of the 83rd Academy Awards in the theater and enjoyed a gourmet buffet dinner, La Colombe coffee, a cash bar, and a silent auction. All proceeds benefited Bryn Mawr Film Institute. We met our fundraising goals for the party and had fun doing it! Check out some of our photos below. You can also find more photos online at Bryn Mawr-Gladwyne Patch.

Guests were serenaded by String Variations' Barbara Murray and Gael Abbasi.

Guests were encouraged to wear their red carpet best or come in costumes inspired by one of the nominated films. Joan Shrager (posing here with our Oscar ice sculpture) spent two hours getting her Black Swan makeup just right.

Allyson Gaht and Shannon Leahy-Miller took their costume cue from nominee True Grit, while Debra McKaibben  (center) was ready for the red carpet.

JPM Catering and Events catered our Oscar Party. The menu included braised beef shortribs, lemon chicken, and chilled spinach tortellini.

Oscar Party volunteer committee members Toby Blender and Gus Cileone manned the upstairs bar.

Joel Shoulson chats with event co-chair Phyllis Liebert and event chair Betsy Klausman.  

Our Oscar Party Contest winner Janice Marini (right), who got our vote for "Best Acceptance Speech", posed with friend Lisa Longo. 

Chris Daly and Brian Crawley study the silent auction items. Guests bid on everything from gift certificates to Margaret Kuo's and The Capital Grille to a deluxe vacation in Aruba.  

Lee Cummings posed with her silent auction find: an "Oscar statue" of her very own!

Our committee members posed with BMFI President Juliet Goodfriend (seated) before the event. A big thank you to our volunteers!

We hope that everyone enjoyed themselves. Our sincere thanks go out to all of our guests, members, sponsors, and volunteers! We appreciate your support of BMFI and look forward to seeing you at next year's Oscar Party!

Check out this week's issue of City Suburban News and next week's Main Line Times and Main Line Suburban Life for more photos from our Oscar Party.

Photos by Devin Wachs and Emmy Chotalal for Bryn Mawr Film Institute

Another Winner Will Walk Our Red Carpet on Oscar Night

By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Coordinator

Only nine days until BMFI celebrates the 83rd Academy Awards with its third annual Oscar Party! on Sunday, February 27. Guests will watch a big-screen simulcast of the Oscars and enjoy a gourmet buffet dinner, drinks, cash bar, and silent auction. Tickets are going fast! Have you bought your ticket?

Last week we announced a contest to win two tickets to our Oscar Party! Thirty-one contestants made their cases for the award category that they'd most like to see added to the ceremony. All of the entries were creative and entertaining. But, like the Best Picture Oscar, only one can take home the prize: Lawrence, you've won two tickets to BMFI's Oscar Party! The winning award category: Best Movie We Forgot to Nominate a Decade Ago.

The three runners up were Brenda McFadden (Best Break-Out Role), Miranda (Best Low-Budget Picture), and Rhianna Shaheen (Best Meryl Streep Performance of the Year). Runners up will receive two free passes to BMFI! Read the winning entries below and the rest of the entries in the comments here.

The Winner:
Lawrence for Best Movie We Forgot to Nominate a Decade Ago
What do movies like Metropolis, Scarface, King Kong (1933 version), Modern Times, Sullivan’s Travels, The African Queen, The Searchers, Some Like it Hot, Psycho, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Wild Bunch, The Empire Strikes Back, and Blade Runner all have in common? They would arguably be considered classic and/or great movies that were never recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a nomination for Best Picture. This award has been created to correct such injustices. This award for the “Best Movie We Forgot to Nominate a Decade Ago” goes to the movie that 10 years ago should have been recognized with a Best Picture award nomination (or win) but received neither. This film has stood the test of time, and has continued to receive critical and popular acclaim, and finally deserves to be recognized. Partly to avoid this omission, the Academy has now expanded the number of nominees for Best Picture from five to ten films, so it will be harder to find a winning picture starting in 2019 (although Star Trek stands a chance). The award considers films released 10 years ago, so that the 2010 Academy Award would go to a film released in 2000. My proposed six nominees (I had trouble whittling it down to five) for the 2010 award are: Almost Famous, Billy Elliot, Cast Away, Memento, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and Requiem for a Dream, although we would have to go through the formal nominee selection process (and only have five) to be fair.


The Runners Up:
Rhianna Shaheen for Best Meryl Streep Performance of the Year: 
Obviouslyyy the Academy should give Meryl Streep her own category. How about Best Meryl Streep Performance of the Year…Yes/Yes? Let’s just face it; this woman should just get an award for simply EXISTING! First of all, her perfection on screen can make any so-so movie absolutely fabulous. Mamma Mia anyone? Secondly, what's an Oscar season without Meryl's magic? I mean really it feels a little empty this year. And lastly for having received an astounding total of 16 nominations over the course of her 34 year career the MOST deserving actress in Hollywood has only won TWICE!!! TWICE?? HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN? With her own category all can be forgiven, Academy. No worries! ☺
For your consideration:
Rhianna Shaheen

Miranda for Best Low-Budget Picture:
I’d like to see an award for Best Low-Budget Picture. Maybe use $5 million as a cut-off. A few of my favorites this year were Blue Valentine, Fish Tank, Tiny Furniture & Please Give, none of which cost more than $3 million and Tiny Furniture cost just $45,000! Compare that to the Oscar front runners - The King’s Speech at $15 million, True Grit at $38 million and Social Network at $40 million. Consider that ALL Academy members vote to nominate the ten Best Picture candidates and the production designers, costumers, cinematographers and sound designers probably have a lesser appreciation for low and micro-budget films, which by necessity have more technical limitations.

Brenda McFadden for Best Break-Out Role:
I would like to see a category for Best Break-Out Role--something like the Grammy for Best New Artist, though it would not necessarily have to be a brand new actor--just an actor or actress who has not had a Stand-Out performance in the past. It could be a young, new actor or it could even be a veteran who has always been cast in small roles or bad movies. This award is often stolen by a Best Supporting Actress nominee, sometimes leaving the true BSA without her Oscar. For instance, this year Hailee S. in True Grit would be one of the Break-Out (or Stand-Out or "Best Role") nominees (and in my opinion the Winner). Plus I like the idea of a category that includes male and female actors. Yes, we need to have an Oscar for "Best Role"!

Thanks for competing, everyone!

From Open Screen Monday to Sundance: Local Filmmaker Wins Prize

By Meredith Slifkin, BMFI Intern

Filmmaker Jon Foy has screened a number of his projects at BMFI as part of Open Screen Mondays, and now Foy is the recipient of the Documentary Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival! His film, Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, follows friend and artist Justin Duerr through his fascination with the mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, a collection of tiles that began appearing throughout Philadelphia in the 1980s with the cryptic message, “Toynbee Idea in Movie 2001. Resurrect Dead on Planet Jupiter.” To learn more about Foy, Duerr, and the tiles, check out this article on the film published in this week’s Philadelphia Weekly.

Artist Justin Duerr and one of the notorious Toynbee Tiles

Interested in the future award-winners to come out of Open Screen Mondays? Have a film of your own that you want to screen? Open Screen Mondays screens work by local filmmakers on the first Monday of every month, starting at 9:15pm. This unique platform allows you to see your work on the big screen, share it with friends, family, and everyone else, and get valuable feedback from an audience...for free. All are welcome to submit their short films and anyone can come to the screenings. The next Open Screen Monday is March 7. Who knows? You may be on your way to Sundance next!

Another Chance to Win Two Free Tickets to BMFI's Oscar Party!

By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Coordinator

BMFI is awarding two free tickets to our third annual Oscar Party! on Sunday, February 27 to one lucky contestant! Great movies deserve to be watched on the big screen, and so do the 83rd Academy Awards. Enjoy a silver screen simulcast of Hollywood’s biggest night while you and a friend enjoy a gourmet buffet dinner, drinks, cash bar, and silent auction.

Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors meets to consider new categories. It's been ten years since they added a new award: Best Animated Feature. (Shrek took home the gold.)

Pretend that we’re on the Board. Make a case in for the award category that you’d most like to see added to the ceremony by commenting below. The person who submits the most creative and convincing entry, as judged by BMFI staff, will win two tickets to our Oscar Party! Perhaps you’d like to bring back awards long since eliminated (eg. Best Dance Direction, Best Assistant Director), or maybe you’re part of the campaign to recognize the work of stunt coordinators. Post your entry by Monday, February 14 at 5pm. We'll announce the winner next week.

And remember to buy your tickets before it's too late!

Please note: When posting your comment, you will be asked to select a log-in from a list. If you do not have a Google account, etc., please select either 1) "Name/URL", which requires that you have a valid website address of your own, or 2) "Anonymous". If you select the latter, please be sure to sign your name in the post. Thanks!

Producer Beth Rasin Keeps Her Eye on Ball

By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Coordinator

Last Thursday evening 280 squash fans enjoyed the Philadelphia premiere screening of the new documentary Keep Eye on Ball: The Hashim Khan Story, followed by a Q&A with producer Beth Rasin. As if that wasn’t enough, there was also a book signing with Trinity College squash coach Paul Assaiante and James Zug, the author of Run to the Roar: Coaching to Overcome Fear, at a reception sponsored by Trinity's alumni club before the film.

Keep Eye on Ball producer Beth Rasin and Run to the Roar author James Zug pose together before the screening. 

I had the chance to chat with Beth while the film played. A master of many trades, Beth has worked for organizations including Women’s World Cup Soccer and the US Olympic Committee. She is the Associate Director of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, the largest professional squash event in North America, and she managed the US Women’s National Squash Team for ten years. Currently, Beth is the Executive Director of PowerPlay NYC, Inc., a non-profit providing sports and life skills training for girls in underserved communities.

Here are some highlights from our conversation and the Q&A:

How did you get involved with the film?

I met Josh [Easdon, the director] in 2005. I was the Associate Director of the Tournament of Champions, which is like a who’s who in the international squash world. I helped him set up three days of interviews with the great players in the sport… Josh said that he didn’t know how to do fundraising, and I said, “I’ve done a lot, let’s talk.” We had coffee and I shared some ideas. He asked me if I wanted to be the producer. It was supposed to be a year-and-a-half long project. Six years later…

How did the project get started?

Josh is a squash-teaching pro who developed an interest in filmmaking fifteen years ago and got a Masters in Media Studies from the New School. He initially wanted to do a documentary about the history of squash, but Josh soon realized if he captured Hashim’s story, he would also capture the history of squash.

Hashim’s father was a butler at the British Officer’s club in Peshawar. He went to the club with his dad as a child. Later he became a ball boy there and developed an affinity for the game. In 1951 he was invited to play in the British Open, four years after the partition of India and Pakistan. No one had ever heard of Pakistan before. He gave Pakistan an identity around the world. He really was their first national hero! Even more impressive, he was already 37 at the time of his first British Open—long after most athletes are past their prime—and he won the next six years.

Squash champion Hashim Khan (right) shakes hands with M.A. Karim after winning his first British Open in 1951.

In the course of filming the documentary, you travelled to Pakistan with Hashim, then 92 years old. How were you received? What did you learn?

Most people expressed gratitude to us for making this film about their hero. The Department of State had issued travel warnings about Pakistan, so we weren’t sure what we’d run into, but we never encountered any anti-American sentiment.

I consider myself an educated person, but after we arrived in Pakistan, I realized that I didn’t know very much about the culture of that part of the world. I also didn’t know anything about Islam. As we progressed in making the film, the ability to explore these things was really interesting. Hashim’s story is quite compelling, and by telling it, I hope that we shed some light, beyond most of our current media sound bites, about that part of the world and also about what it means to be a Muslim; it’s not really that different from Christianity or Judaism.

The Pakistani people, and especially the Pashtuns (the tribe from which Hashim is descended), have an incredibly strong tradition of hospitality; they feel duty bound to provide hospitality and protection as long as you show them respect. Pakistan is one of the “poorer” countries I’ve travelled to, but they have this great sense of community and contentment in their lives. It was an eye-opening, life-changing journey. It reinforced for me that all of us have more in common as human beings than anything that divides us.

Did you run into any issues travelling as the only woman on the filmmaking team?

We went to a lunch honoring Hashim and I was the only woman in the room. Everyone who got up to spoke acknowledged my presence by starting off, “Gentlemen and lady…” I got an understanding of a different part of the world, but there was a lot of mutual respect.

Also, as a woman, I was the only one from the film who could meet Hashim’s eldest daughter and her eldest daughters. They follow a very conservative tradition and won’t meet men outside of the family.

What attracts you to sports?

Sports offers the opportunity to transcend the artificial boundaries that separate us: language, nationalities. And sports can also inspire us – when we watch athletes dig deep to perform at their very best we can be inspired to do that in our own lives.

I also just love being physically active. I’ve played a lot of sports—almost every sport under the sun—and nothing compares to squash. It is such a great combination of the physical and the mental—you have to do a lot of running and at the same time, a lot of thinking, because there are so many angles and different shots to hit. Even though squash is played in more countries around the world than any other sport, except soccer, the squash community is also very connected—as evidenced by the huge turnout for the film.

Would you produce another film?

Absolutely. After I’ve gotten a little sleep.

Thank you, Beth!
 
If you missed this screening of Keep Eye on Ball or would like to watch it again, you can order a DVD here.

The nominations are in... and we have a winner!

By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Coordinator

It's official. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the contenders for the most coveted prize in Hollywood, Oscar gold. The King's Speech snagged the most Oscar nominations--a whopping twelve--and Black Swan has a chance to take home five prizes. But who will take home a statue? Who will give an acceptance speech? Who will become a part of Hollywood history?

Last week, we encouraged you to write your own Oscar acceptance speech for a chance to win two tickets to our Oscar Party! on February 27, which will feature a big screen simulcast of the Academy Awards, gourmet food, delicious drinks, a cash bar, and a silent auction. We received a number of wonderful (and very creative) entries, but it was Colin Firth and the cookies that put us over the top. Congratulations, Janice Marini, you've won!

Here's her winning entry:

Colin Firth reads the card. "And the Academy Award for Best Screenplay Adaptation goes to... JANICE MARINI for Salmon and Name Tags: My Life in Special Events, based on her novel of the same name..." I slink to the stage in red Prada. Somehow my hair stays perfect, and my mascara isn't running even though tears are slowly running down my face. Colin hands me the statuette and kisses me like it's the end of Bridget Jones's Diary. When I catch my breath, I look out toward the audience and camera and jokingly send a message to Ardmore: "Eat your heart out, Rosemary." Then I thank the studio, my agents, my publisher, my publicist, and the incredible cast, especially Keira Knightley, for bringing the main character to life. I thank my incredible director Ken Loach for his stunning work--since a slapsticky American comedy was a bit of a departure for him... I thank my former boss by name (which I won't do here!) for the endless supply of material and daily humiliations that beame the backbone of Salmon and Name Tags. I thank Archway Dutch Cocoa cookies for fueling the effort to write the screenplay. I acknowledge my family by name, all my friends in Philadelphia, and end by thanking my wonderful husband Joe. I couldn't have done it without his endless reserves of good humor, encouragement and love.

You can read all of the entries here (scroll down to the comments). And remember to buy your tickets before it's too late!

Win Tickets to BMFI's Oscar Party!

By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Coordinator

It's that time of year. Time for red carpet, champagne, and glitzy dresses. Time for the movie stars to truly shine. Time for BMFI's Oscar Party!

Join us on February 27 for BMFI's third annual Oscar Party! Celebrate Hollywood's hottest night in style. Enjoy a gourmet buffet dinner, drinks, a cash bar, and a silent auction, and watch the Oscars simulcast live on our big screen. Tickets are available at the Box Office and online here.

Want to be a winner yourself? Imagine that you're in the Kodak Theater and your name is called. Did you hear right? Yes, you won! You can hardly believe it, you've been dreaming of this day since you were a kid.

Tell us what you would say or do in your acceptance speech. Post it in the comments here. A jury of your peers will choose a winner to receive two tickets to our Oscar Party! Entries must be posted by Monday, January 24 at noon. We'll announce the winners next week.

Please note: When posting your comment, you will be asked to select a log-in from a list. If you do not have a Google account, etc., please select either 1) "Name/URL", which requires that you have a valid website address of your own, or 2) "Anonymous". If you select the latter, please be sure to sign your name in the post. Thanks!

Exclusive Interview with MY DOG TULIP Filmmakers Paul and Sandra Fierlinger

By Meredith Slifkin

The holidays may be over, but there’s no reason to get the winter blues when there are such great events at BMFI! On Wednesday, January 19 at 7:30pm, there will be a special screening of My Dog Tulip followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers, Paul and Sandra Fierlinger. The Fierlingers will also teach a FREE Master Class at 2:00pm about animation in the digital world.

My Dog Tulip is the story of a man, his dog, and the extraordinary nature of canine-human friendship. This animated adaptation of the memoir by J.R. Ackerley has already earned widespread praise for filmmakers Paul and Sandra, who reside on the Main Line.

Paul and Sandra Fierlinger will teach a free Master Class at 2:00pm and
answer questions after the 7:30pm screening of My Dog Tulip on January 19.

Paul began working in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s, where he became the state’s first independent producer of animated films. In 1968 he escaped the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, seeking solace in Holland and eventually the United States, where he continued to create animated films for television and the big screen. Paul was awarded the PEW Fellowship in the Arts in 1997 for his body of work.

Sandra is a native of Wayne, Pennsylvania, and graduated with highest honors from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She has collaborated with her husband, Paul, on many projects, including short and feature films for Sesame Street and PBS.

I caught up with Paul and Sandra via email. Keep reading for their take on My Dog Tulip, animation, and their exciting new project!

My Dog Tulip features the voices of Christopher Plummer, Isabella Rossellini, and the late Lynn Redgrave.

Q: What drew you both to My Dog Tulip? Has it been a “pet” project of yours for awhile, or did you come across the Ackerley material recently?

Paul: The book has been with us since it first came out in the New York Review of Books Classics series. Soon after reading it I began to make notes which I stuck between the pages with a possible theatrical film in mind. After a few weeks we got busy with other projects and the whole idea just vanished from our thoughts and conversations. When the two producers who became the actual film’s producers first called us—this happened years later—I had no recollection of ever thinking of Tulip as a movie and was immensely surprised when I discovered my notes between the yellowing pages. Mind you, the producers called us to make Tom Sawyer, not Tulip, but as we talked about all sorts of other ideas, the four of us on that conference call agreed that My Dog Tulip was a good one.

Q: The animation in My Dog Tulip has such a distinct look to it. Would you tell us about the method of hand-drawn computer animation used? Will this technique play a prominent role in the future of the animation art form?

Paul: The computer software we used is called TVPaint (made in Metz, France) and it has been our primary production tool since its inception, twenty years ago. We have been their beta-testers for about fifteen of those years now. It has gone through a slow recognition process mainly because the world wide market for such an application is incredibly miniscule, and these five Frenchies, who are still together after twenty years, had both zero marketing skills and money. TVP is now a household name in any 2-D animator’s family, and all the prominent animation schools around the world; this happened by word of mouth only. The software has grown in those twenty years, too, of course, and has finally reached the well-deserved status of the best there is for handmade (or computer assisted; take your pick) independent productions of art films. Hand-drawn films are coming back in a big way.

The Fierlingers created My Dog Tulip using hand-drawn computer animation. 

Q: Was your style of animation at all influenced by the Czech cartoonists and animation artists from the golden age of Kratky Film?

Paul: That yes, and by the way I grew up in the United States during WWII, and by the dreaded boarding school in which I had to spend my first four years in Czechoslovakia, by my father’s insistence that I drop the idea of becoming an animator, by the fact that no one had ever thought possible that one person alone could draw films, by my first and second divorces, the dogs I had owned, the despair I had fallen into that I will be forever locked within the barbed wire borders of that horrible place ruled by a tyrannical Soviet system, by my escape back to the West, by every advertising agency I had ever done work for, by my third and final marriage on a boat off Ordinary Point on the Chesapeake Bay, and by my 41 years of life on or close to the Main Line.

Q: Sandra, when did you become interested in animation? How do your skills as a painter influence your work with computer animation?

Sandra: Animation was never in my vocabulary as an artist growing up on the Main Line. Then Paul hired me as a colorist, married me, and what else am I supposed to do? The garden is so small.

Q: Are you working on any new projects?

Paul: The film we are working on now is being done in a way no one else has ever done before us, unless you count Charles Dickens, but he was not an animator. Sandra and I have embarked upon the serialization of an animated graphic novel to be released in installments on an e-magazine website, yet to be determined. This work in progress will be screened as the core of our Master Class earlier in the afternoon. We will also be discussing the explosion of hand drawn animated illustrations and tiny art films made by tiny cameras all over the pages of internet e-readers, a new publishing phenomenon which already is beginning to happen.

Exclusive image from Paul and Sandra's new project, Slocum at Sea with Himself.
Excerpts will be featured in the free Master Class taught by the Fierlingers.


Thanks, Paul and Sandra! 

If you have questions of your own for the Fierlingers, join us at BMFI's Master Class or the My Dog Tulip screening.

The Master Class is free and open to everyone, but there are only a few spaces left! To register, email VTemple@BrynMawrFilm.org or call 610-527-4008 x109.

You can purchase tickets to the My Dog Tulip screening and Q&A by clicking here or visiting the Box Office.

And the Award Goes to... BMFI's Oscar Party 2011!

By Meredith Slifkin

“There’s no other way to describe it, it’s the moment of a lifetime.” Kathryn Bigelow uttered these heartfelt words at the 2010 Academy Awards after winning Best Director for The Hurt Locker, but she could easily have been referring to last year’s Oscar Party at BMFI!

The anticipation is mounting as Hollywood prepares to celebrate its best and brightest, and you can experience Oscar magic larger than life at BMFI’s third annual Oscar Party. The 83rd Academy Awards will be simulcast live from Hollywood on BMFI’s big screen on Sunday, February 27 at 7:00pm.

"Hello Gorgeous"

There’s no better way to experience Hollywood’s party of the year than right here where we’ll have all the glitz and glamour of the real thing, but with a better view. At the Kodak Theatre you’d be stuck in the nosebleeds, but you’ll be able to see every glorious pore on George Clooney’s face on the big screen at BMFI. You may not walk home with a gold statue, but there will be good food, good company, plentiful spirits, and a silent auction! Back for its third year by popular demand, this year’s Oscar Party will offer a gourmet buffet dinner prepared by JPM Catering, and a myriad of social-lubricating cocktails at the cash bar.

"You like me, you really like me!"

There will also be a silent auction featuring gift certificates to some of the Main Line’s best restaurants and businesses including Mediterranean Grill, LeBus, and Margaret Kuo’s. All proceeds will benefit Bryn Mawr Film Institute so really it’s a win-win—you'll get to enjoy dinner at a delicious restaurant, while helping to ensure that your favorite non-profit movie theatre can keep on keeping on.

Don’t forget to come in your red-carpet best—evening gowns, dapper suits—or costumes inspired by the films. I expect to see at least one Black Swan-inspired outfit, and maybe a few Western hats to channel True Grit, or Harvard sweatshirts from The Social Network. (But please, don’t go so far as to pull a James Franco in 127 Hours…) However you show up, this party will be an amazing event full of fun, food, and film, all leading up to that exciting final moment—Best Picture!

"I'm the king of the world!"

Tickets for the Oscar Party are $55 for BMFI members and $65 general admission, and are available now for purchase online or at the box office.