PV Film: Lumiere and Company
7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Doors and Varsity Bar at 6:30
The Varsity has formed a partnership with an SIUC professor to continue its Peripheral Vision Film Series. "Running Time: Exploring the Nature of Shorts and Feature Films" is presented each Wednesday evening for six weeks. Walter Metz will explore the concept of duration in storytelling and will screen a film that illustrates the problems narrative artists encounter when deciding how and why to begin and end their work. After each screening, Metz will lead a discussion of each film.
“Lumière and Company” (1995) In 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the Cinématographe camera and projector, which revolutionized filmmaking into the art form we know today. A century later, this anthology film was commissioned to honor their contribution to the arts. Forty of the world’s best filmmakers, including Spike Lee and David Lynch, created shorts just like the Lumières. The only requirements were that they had to be under a minute, could not have synchronized sound, and cannot be more than three takes.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0aqmD90pE0
Tickets are available in advance at Eventbrite (see link). 7 p.m. Tickets are not available in advance at the venue but can be purchased on the night of each filming when doors and the Varsity Bar open at 6:30.
Friday Flicks: West Side Story
7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Kids 10 and younger admitted free
Doors and Varsity Bar at 6:30
Come see the movie that won 10 Academy Awards and inspired Steven Spielberg to remake the film, set for release next year. The original is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical, which was inspired by William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet.” The tale of a turf war between rival teenage gangs in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen and the two lovers who cross battle lines has captivated audiences for four decades. The Stephen Sondheim/Leonard Bernstein score is just one of the reasons. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris. The film has been deemed “culturally significant” by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected for the National Film Registry in 1997. (1961)
Rated PG-13
The movie will begin at 7. General admission tickets are $7, $5 for students with ID, and kids 10 and younger are admitted free. They are available in advance at Eventbrite. They are not available in advance at the venue, but can be
purchased the night of the show when doors open. Doors and the Varsity Bar open at 6:30.
PV Film: The Swimmer
7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Doors and Bar at 6:30
The Varsity concludes its partnership with an SIUC professor to continue its Peripheral Vision Film Series. Walter Metz will explore the concept of duration in storytelling and will screen a film that illustrates the problems narrative artists encounter when deciding how and why to begin and end their work. After each screening, Metz will lead a discussion of each film.
“The Swimmer” (1968) Adapted from John Cheever’s classic short story, “The Swimmer” follows a man named Ned Merrill, who is invited to a pool party after being away for most of the summer. Realizing how many pools there are in the valley, Ned decides to swim every single pool on his way back to his house. With each pool he swims, his encounters become increasingly surreal as we learn more about his life story.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EgXRCGSabY
Screening begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7 or $5 for students with ID. Advance tickets are available at Eventbrite. Tickets are not available in advance at the venue but can be purchased on the night of each filming when doors and the Varsity Bar open at 6:30.
Friday Flicks: JFK
7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Kids 10 and younger admitted free
Doors and Varsity Bar at 6:30
The Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy shocked the nation and the world. In the story, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is convinced that there are some flaws in the investigation of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman), and he sets out to recreate the events leading up to the assassination. Along the way, he stumbles across evidence that a great many people had reason to want to see the president killed, and he is convinced that some of them worked in concert to frame Oswald as the killer. Among the suspects are Lyndon Baines Johnson (the next president), the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Mafia. Garrison's investigations culminate in his conducting a show trial that he knows he will lose and which he is sure will ruin his career in order to get his evidence into the public record where it can't be buried again. This movie won two of the many Academy Awards for which it was nominated.
Rated R for adult situations, language, violence)
The movie will begin at 7. General admission tickets are $7, $5 for students with ID, and kids 10 and younger are admitted free. They are available in advance at Eventbrite. They are not available in advance at the venue, but can be purchased the night of the show when doors open. Doors and the Varsity Bar open at 6:30.
FF: Nightmare Before Christmas
7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Kids 10 and younger admitted free
Doors and Varsity Bar at 6:30
The stop-motion animated musical and dark fantasy produced and conceived by Tim Burton and was based on a poem Burton wrote while he was working as an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1982. It tells the story of Jack Skellington (aka the Pumpkin King) who, despite recently presided over a very successful Halloween, is bored with his job and feels that life in Halloweenland lacks meaning. Then he stumbles upon Christmastown and promptly decides to make the Yuletide his own. The principal voice cast includes Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara, William Hickey and Paul Reubens. (1993)
Rated PG for some scary images
The movie will begin at 7. General admission tickets are $7, $5 for students with ID, and kids 10 and younger are admitted free. They are available in advance at Eventbrite. They are not available in advance at the venue, but can be purchased the night of the show when doors open. Doors and the Varsity Bar open at 6:30.