SLFS Newsletter June 2016

JUNE 2016

broadway and tower

newsletter

THE LOBSTER Page 5

Meet Front of House Staffer

J ABUBO Page 2

showcasing the best in american independents, international films, and documentaries

JUNE 2016 E X P L O R E T H E C U LT U R E @ S L F S

J ABUBO

FRONT OF HOUSE STAFFER

How long have you worked for SLFS? For one year, two weeks, and three days.

What made you want to work here?

I was a Screenwriting Fellow for SLFS’s Utah Screenwriter’s Project 2014-15. I’m a Community Engaged Scholar at the U of U. When the USP ended, I wanted to learn more about non-profits as part of my career research. I found it cool to learn how Tori Baker (Executive Director) and Amy Beth Leber (Operations Director) took their expertise from working for the Sundance Film Institute to establish SLFS as an indispensable cultural institution in Salt Lake City. I admire how they created an egalitarian leadership system within SLFS. Tori and Amy Beth founded and host the national Art House Convergence. They taught me it’s an anomaly nationally to have functioning and institutionally stable art house theaters like SLFS. Working here gives me insight into how non-profit leadership works.

Why is film important to you?

Art creates and reinforces culture. Films are time capsules of an idea that can exist long after its filmmakers have died. Similar to life, and like the video rentals at the Tower Theatre, you won’t be open to new ways of seeing the world unless you’re ready to ask the right questions. I like that films are keys to understanding people, our world’s cultures, and can provide cathartic insight whenever we’re ready to learn from them, and choose to seek them off the shelf.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I make independent cinema while attending school.

I created a U student club called Eight Zero One, and we produce an anthropological anthology web series about growing up in Salt Lake City. I also produce a science documentary web series about symbiosis called BIOTA with my friend Sabah UlHasan. She’s a marine biology Ph.D student from

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Photos by: Jeshua De Horta Hair by: Nick Hardy

the University of California at Merced, and we have a team from SLC, Merced, New York, and Khobar, Saudi Arabia. And I’m finishing in post-production A Cautionary Tale, this short film about statutory rape in the Salt Lake gay culture with my co-producer Oscar David Ortiz, a Portland, Oregon based producer and friend that I met as a co-volunteer at Sundance 2013. Social justice is one of my passions.

I like to act, and performed a ‘Vagina Happy Fact’ and ‘I Asked a Six-Year Old Girl’ in the U’s production of the Vagina Monologues last February. And every summer, I like to serve as a co-facilitator for the Inclusion Center for Community & Justice. They’ve been part of my life since intermediate school. I’m also a homebody at heart. I enjoy cooking meals with my partner, Sam Trail, who also works for the Film Society. (He’s a wonder with the espresso machine at the Broadway!) I also like cuddling with my kitty Mochi Mochi “Mr. Worldwide” Abubo (who has been my kitty friend since I was 15 years old). I attempt to cuddle my adopted past-trauma-healing cat Ema, who either bites me when I pet her or gifts me with large insects at my bedroom doorstep each summer. If I’m not studying at home or working at SLFS, I also like catching up on my rentals from the Tower before bed.

What’s your favorite aspect working here?

When Kenny Tadrzynski, a late SLFS co-worker, died suddenly and tragically last year, everyone was really shaken and learned to better check-

All Salt Lake Film Society dates and locations are subject to change.

in and look out for one another. Social bonding typically happens during shifts, especially behind the concessions area at Broadway between showtime rushes or during slow spells of foot traffic at the Tower. I have a bank in my heart and mind of conversations I’ve had with co-workers.

I have a memory with everyone (which I’d gladly gush emphatically to them about if they asked).

To name a few: I enjoy geeking out on the latest apps with Aric Harrison and sharing our insight on phallic architecture and design in our patriarchal culture. I look forward to discussing ennui and watching existential cinema with Elena Rogers between rushes at the Tower. I like laughing with Gui Wheatley over take-out food on our breaks, and learning about Aaron Kramer’s blossoming theater career when he stops by for a coffee before his Broadway box shift. Besides the grind of janitorial duties and food prep while sharing the love of cinema with our patrons, I know that ultimately it’s the in-between, behind-the-scenes conversations that everyone who works here will especially take away from here when we eventually move on. That, and our killer cinema knowledge. It’s also a gift to witness how proactive and creative everyone is.

When I first started Eight Zero One, my university student-led web series, those backing the show from the first few episodes were my co-workers/ now friends. Ellen Lewis worked on the show’s production design and developed a story, Israel Lawton (also our assistant manager) wrote another,

Check showtimes at SLFS.org or 801.321.0310.

JUNE 2016 and Kalika Rose (recently graduated from the U’s Actor Training Program) has starred in two episodes.

It was a good learning experience. Right now, everyone’s focus outside of work is on continually consuming film, reading good literature, and writing.

Israel and co-worker Timothy Morrise started Cashiers of Cinema (after the journal Cahiers du Cinéma), which is an art collective currently focused on writing cinema journalism and that is also beginning a creative writing cohort. My co-workers are also voracious readers, and have a community book club that’s been going for about half a year.

We’re reading ‘The Sheltering Sky. We’ve become friends the more we work together, and have created systems in and out of work to empower each other’s creative aspirations and souls.

What are your hopes for the future of SLFS? Personally speaking, I hope to know some of my coworkers for a long time. We’re part of a Facebook Messenger conversation. We share our news and latest memes with each other, joke around, process ideas from movies to music (whatever media we’re obsessed with at the time), and plan play dates with one another. It’s an online extension of our behind-thescenes work conversations. I know it’s unrealistic, but I have this secret fantasy that our online messaging thread will be pinging me for a late-night convo at 3 am until I’m 80. I hope SLFS will grow its reach, building more locally-based theaters. I’d like to see SLFS continue to be an indispensable fixture in our community. I hope the Tower will always be around to inspire 15 year olds like my former high school self to come out to the Tower Summer Late Night Series.

I hope it continues to create awesome communitydriven programs like the Utah Screenwriter’s Project.

Salt Lake is a very creative town, but it needs anchors like SLFS to give us creatives a venue and structure. I believe SLFS will be here for us for decades to come.

What is your favorite movie and why?

My favorite movie recently is ‘Farewell My Concubine’. I checked it out on a whim after a Tower shift. I was caught by surprise after the first fifteen minutes, and ended up on the edge of my couch for three hours as it was playing. It’s a gorgeous film. That film, and Isao Takahata’s ‘Tale of Princess Kaguya’, also a masterpiece; and ‘Koyannisquatsi’. (So. Powerful.)

SLFS – Salt Lake’s Proud Non-profit Art House Cinemas: Broadway and Tower

by Tori Baker, Executive Director

All is fine with our non-profit status We have recently received some questions about our non-profit status and our ZAP funding. The questions stem from an article in the Salt Lake Tribune on April 29 which created some confusion.

Our 501 (c)(3) non-profit status and our annual Zoo Arts & Parks Tier One grant are in good standing. Those important funding streams are at the core of enabling us to do what we do and they are both secure. Our thanks to the voters in Salt Lake County who continue to prioritize the ZAP program.

What was not clearly communicated in the article was this: We asked the County to consider exempting us from paying property tax on our new digital projectors which had raised our assessment dramatically.

In a 5 to 4 decision, the County Council denied our request. We will let their decision stand.

I am always so gratified to rediscover how protective people are of SLFS, and how many of you hold us in your hearts. We appreciate your concern and we are delighted to let you know that there are no issues with our non-profit status or our ZAP funding.

Thank you.

All Salt Lake Film Society dates and locations are subject to change.

Check showtimes at SLFS.org or 801.321.0310.

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JUNE 2016

home of

independent film in SLC

JUNE 2016

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A BIGGER SPLASH

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP

HIGH-RISE

THE LOBSTE

Directed by Luca Guadagnino Italy/France | R | 125 min | Drama/Mystery Starts May 27 @broadway

Directed by Whit Stillman IRE/USA/FRA/NLD | PG | 93 min | Drama Starts May 27 @broadway

Directed by Ben Wheatley UK/Belgium | R | 119 min | Drama Starts May 27 @tower

Directed by Yorgos L IRE/UK/GRC | R | 118 m Starts June 3 @broa

While vacationing on a Sicilian island with her boyfriend, a rock star receives an unexpected visit from an old flame and his seductive daughter.

In the 18th century, the seductive and manipulative Lady Susan uses devious tactics to win the heart of the eligible Reginald De Courcy.

A doctor moves into a London skyscraper where rising tensions and class warfare lead to anarchy.

In a dystopian near futu according to the laws o to The Hotel, where the a romantic partner in fo transformed into beasts Woods.

MAGGIE’S PLAN

ALMOST HOLY

DARK HORSE

GENIUS

Directed by Rebecca Miller USA | R | 98 min | Comedy Starts June 10 @broadway

Directed by Steve Hoover USA/Ukraine | R | 100 min | Documentary Starts June 10 @tower

Directed by Louise Osmond UK | PG | 85 min | Documentary Starts June 17 @broadway

Directed by Michael UK/USA | PG-13 | 104 m Starts June 17 @bro

Maggie’s plan to have a baby on her own is derailed when she falls in love with John, a married man, destroying his volatile marriage to the brilliant Georgette.

Gennadiy calls himself “Pastor Crocodile.”

He’s known throughout Ukraine for his years working to rehabilitate drug-addicted kids.

But he’s also a vigilante who uses any force necessary to carry out his moral vision.

A barmaid in a poor Welsh mining village convinces some of her fellow residents to pool their resources to compete in the “sport of kings” with a racehorse they would breed and raise.

Renowned editor Maxw a friendship with autho working on the writer’s

All Salt Lake Film Society dates and locations are subject to change.

Check showtimes at SLFS.org or 801.321.0310.

Whose eyes are these? The first right answer on our Facebook page wins a pair of tickets.

ER

ME BEFORE YOU

Lanthimos

Directed by Thea Sharrock USA | PG-13 | 110 min | Drama Starts June 3 @broadway

min | Comedy/Drama

adway

ure, single people, of The City, are taken ey are obliged to find orty-five days or are s and sent off into The

l Grandage

min | Drama

oadway

well Perkins develops r Thomas Wolfe while manuscripts.

Louisa Clark moves from one job to the next to help her family make ends meet. Her cheerful attitude is put to the test when she becomes a caregiver for Will Traynor, a wealthy young banker left paralyzed from an accident two years earlier.

BELLADONNA OF SADNESS

DHEEPAN

Directed by Eiichi Yamamoto Japan | NR | 93 min | Animation/Drama Starts June 3 @tower

Directed by Jacques Audiard France | R | 115 min | Drama Starts June 10 @broadway

An innocent young woman, Jeanne, is violently raped by the local lord on her wedding night. To take revenge, she makes a pact with the Devil himself who appears as an erotic sprite and transforms her into a black-robed vision of madness and desire.

Three Sri Lankan refugees pretend to be a family as they try to make better lives for themselves in a Parisian housing project.

RAIDERS!: THE STORY OF THE

COMING SOON @SLFS

THE GREATEST FAN FILM EVER MADE Directed by Jeremy Coon & Tim Skousen USA | NR | 95 min | Documentary Starts June 17 @tower

OUR KIND OF TRAITOR Coming July 1

Directed by Susanna White UK | NR | 107 min | Thriller STARRING: Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgård, Damien Lewis, and Naomie Harris Childhood friends Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala and Jayson Lamb reunite 25 years later to shoot the final scene of their shot-for-shot remake of Steven Spielberg’s classic film “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

A couple find themselves lured into a Russian oligarch’s plans to defect are soon positioned between the Russian Mafia and the British Secret Service, neither of whom they can trust.

All Salt Lake Film Society dates and locations are subject to change.

Check showtimes at SLFS.org or 801.321.0310.

THE INNOCENTS Coming July 22 Directed by Anne Fontaine France/Poland | PG-13 | 115 min | Drama STARRING: Lou de Laâge, Agata Buzek, and Agata Kulesza In 1945 Poland, a young French Red Cross doctor who is sent to assist the survivors of the German camps discovers several nuns in advanced states of pregnancy during a visit to a nearby convent.

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JUNE 2016 N AT I O N A L T H E AT R E L I V E @ B R O A D W AY

SATURDAY, JUNE 18 Noon ADMISSION: General - $20 SLFS Members - $15 Students - $10

KUE D7 presents

Support SLFS when you shop at

More Drama on KUED Dancing on the Edge

Sign up now at

slfs.org/join-us/community-partnerships

Endeavour

Sunday Nights

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All Salt Lake Film Society dates and locations are subject to change.

Check showtimes at SLFS.org or 801.321.0310.

The Tunnel

JUNE 2016

SEE THESE WHILE YOU STILL CAN

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY

Directed by Liza Johnson UK | PG-13 | 108 min | Biography/Drama

Starring: Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons, and Stephen Fry

PELE: BIRTH OF A LEGEND

Directed by Tom Tyker USA | PG | 107 min | Biography/Drama

Starring: Kevin de Paula, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Colm Meaney

THE MEDDLER Directed by Richard Linklater USA | PG-13 | 100 min | Comedy/Drama

Starring: Susan Sarandon, Rose Byrne, and J.K. Simmons

All Salt Lake Film Society dates and locations are subject to change.

Check showtimes at SLFS.org or 801.321.0310.

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Support your home for independent film by joining SLFS Red Carpet Club

$125 Per Month or $1500 Per Year

Lindsey Ferrari

Partner, Wilkinson Ferrari & Co.

“SLFS is the heart and soul of our film community. I invest in SLFS because I want to preserve the only local cinema that brings people together to share an authentic and pure experience of what going to the movie can be.”

Whose eyes are these? The first right answer on our Facebook page wins a pair of tickets.

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT FILM INVEST IN SLFS

JUNE 2016 801.321.0310 | www.slfs.org

YOU LIKE MOVIES?

TOWER THEATRE & VIDEO 876 East 900 South Video Rentals: 801.359.5158

We have so much in common.

BROADWAY CENTRE CINEMAS 111 East 300 South Lost & Found: 801.746.0288

facebook.com/SaltLakeFilmSociety @SaltLakeFilmSoc

T H A N K YO U t o o u r s p o n s o r s a n d g r a n t o r s GRANTORS

George Q. Morris FOUNDATION

ON-SCREEN UNDERWRITERS

MEDIA SPONSORS

$50 Per Month Or $600 Per Year

IN-KIND SPONSORS

Sheryl Gillilan

Executive Director, Art Access

“The Broadway and The Tower theaters are the only places I see films. I invest in Salt Lake Film Society because I know if I hear about a great movie, SLFS is going to show it. This is where the good movies are!”

INTERNET SERVICES DONATED BY XMISSION

SLFS b oa r d o f d i r e c to r s GOVERNANCE BOARD Kevin Hanson - Chair Robert Brown Prescott Muir - Vice Chair Phil Cooper Gavin Payne - Treasurer David Emmitt Lisa Bickmore - Secretary Richard Q. Perry Tori A. Baker Tamra Rieper Leigh Ann Bernal Brian Rivette Hal Widlansky

FOUNDER BOARD Peter Kelson Kris Liacopoulos Paul Liacopoulos

ADVISORY BOARD

$12.50 Per Month Or $150 Per Year

Claudia Benitez

Cultural Attaché, Consulate of Mexico

“I invest in Salt Lake Film Society because it changes the beat of our town. It deepens and enriches our sense of culture and makes Salt Lake City feel more cosmopolitan.”

Learn more about Red Carpet Club at slfs.org/join-us/become-a-supporter

Salt Lake Community Leaders Bill Allred Jackie Biskupski Jeffrey Breglio Michael W. Christopherson Lori Feld Donna Lifsey Foster Rachel Hodson Thomas Francis Jakab Seth Jarvis Chris Lippard Justina Parsons-Bernstein George Pence Dan Purjes Miles Romney Thomas Sobchack Jonathon Tichy Scott Ulbrich

Film Professionals Barbara Boyle, Producer Trevor Groth, Sundance Senior Programmer David Cummins, Post Production Stephen Katz, Cinematographer Chapin Cutler, Digital Media Guru Kelly Loosli, BYU Animation Lance Williams, Producer/Actor Sarah Sinwell, U of U Film & Media Arts Film Directors Richard Dutcher Keith Gordon Trent Harris Jared Hess Jerusha Hess Tyler Measom