LAist Film Calendar 02/24-02/27: The Oscars & 'A Week of Sex' at Laemmle's Sunset

The Academy Awards are finally here, and there are a few lovely locales to share your shock & terror (or glee, depending on how your picks fare). The specialty stalwarts at Cinefamily host their annual awards fundraiser, while The Art Theatre of Long Beach sports red carpet festivities & prizes to benefit The Center.

If you can't afford to be philanthropic, Yankee Doodles hosts the Long Beach Cinematheque's viewing party for $10, while the Downtown Independent has a free-admission Oscar drink-a-long. Play your cards straight and you'll be a stumbling, stammering winner, just like C-C-Colin Firth!

"Unrated: A Week of Sex in Cinema" flies in the face of the Academy, the MPAA & all who claim moral superiority over Hollywood. It's rare for Laemmle to host a themed series, so when they do, they make it count. Curated by Cinema Libre Studio, the series celebrates the local premiere of their erotic drama Now & Later. Angela is a Nicaraguan expatriate whose isolation from her homeland & illegal immigration status lead her to live vibrantly in the "now". Bill is a disgraced international banker so used to taking, hoarding & taking again that he cannot conceive of life beyond an ever-elusive "later". Sparks fly when the two come together, and the thrills keep coming. Filmmaker Philippe Diaz, actress Shari Solanis & actor James Wortham appear for Q&A's following the 7PM shows on Friday & Saturday.

The sexual charge continues with two titans of independent film. Before he tumbled down the Rabbit Hole, writer/director John Cameron Mitchell helmed Shortbus. The film's driving force is a group of uninhibited New Yorkers who embody a refrain from another of Mitchell's works, Hedwig & The Angry Inch: "we are freaks!" Lars Von Trier's art-horror film Antichrist caused quite the hub-bub for its hubba-hubba upon its release two years ago. Without giving too much away, Willem Dafoe & Charlotte Gainsbourg retreat to a forest cabin to repair their marriage. Instead, they find total fracture: physical, mental, psychic & sexual. Chaos reigns!

Betty Blue was nominated for Best Foreign Picture in 1987, and still turns heads today. British newspaper The Guardian celebrated fellow European 9 Songs for its "casualness, its unfinishedness and downbeat messiness". Back in our neck of the woods, Hustler White melds avant-garde edge, sexploitation sizzle & film references galore in its tale of gay hustlers on Sunset Boulevard.

Free sexual expression is wonderful, but what happens when it becomes heavily commercialized? Documentary The Price of Pleasure uses this soapbox to critique American porn culture and industry, imploring for a return to intimate, honest conversation about sex. Another documentary, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, continues exploring the tension between sexuality, violence & puritanical ratings, but takes a less academic approach. Its interview subjects include countercultural comedic directors John Waters, Kevin Smith & Matt Stone, as well as arthouse icons Atom Egoyan, Kimberly Peirce, Allison Anders & Best Director Nominee Darren Aronofsky. This Film Is Not Yet Rated also features an eye-opening, laugh-inducing investigation into MPAA ratings board members - who responded by pirating the film and delivering their dreaded NC-17 rating.

All films screen at Laemmle's Sunset. Now & Later is booked all day for the full week, and the others accompany sporadically. Download a PDF schedule here & check Laemmle's for any updates to the schedule. Full (frontal) list appears below. See you at the movies!

All Week

• Black Swan (2010) (Art Theatre of Long Beach) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
  
• Brotherhood (2010) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
  
• Cedar Rapids (2011) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
  
• The Fighter (2010) (Art Theatre of Long Beach) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
  
• Hustler White (1996) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Unrated: A Week Of Sex In Cinema)
  
• The Illusionist (2010) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
  
• The King's Speech (2010) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
  
• Now & Later (2009) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Unrated: A Week Of Sex In Cinema)
  
• Of Gods and Men (2010) (The Landmark)
  
• The Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
  
• The Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
  
• The Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
  
• The Price of Pleasure (2010) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Unrated: A Week Of Sex In Cinema)
  
• Shortbus (2006) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Unrated: A Week Of Sex In Cinema)
  
• The Social Network (2010) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
  
• This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Unrated: A Week Of Sex In Cinema)
  
• Vanishing on 7th Street (2010) (Nuart Theatre)
  
• We Are What We Are (2010) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)

Thursday 2/24

• Black Swan (2010) (Arclight Hollywood)
  
• Cedar Rapids (2011) (Arclight Hollywood) (Arclight Beach Cities) (21+ screening)
  
• Certified Copy (2010) (free event) (Melnitz Movies)
  
• Encore Screenings of Transgender Short Films from the TG Film Fest (w/ filmmakers) (Echo Park Film Center)
  
• Happy (2010) (w/ discussion) (Downtown Independent)
  
• Holidays in Seoul (1956) (Korean Cultural Center) (1950s-60s Classic Films)
  
• Just Go With It (2011) (Arclight Beach Cities) (21+ screening)
  
• Me Facing Life (2011) (Warner Grand Theatre)
  
• The Mirror (1975) / Ivan's Childhood (1962) (New Beverly Cinema)
  
• The Mother and the Whore (1973) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (Vive l'amour)
  
• Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) (Aero Theatre) (Once Upon A Time: The Films of Sergio Leone)
  
• Playtime (1967) (Egyptian Theatre) (70MM)

Friday 2/25

• The African Queen (1951) / The Desperate Hours (1955) (New Beverly Cinema)
  
• Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010) (Birdemic Fest Anniversary Screening w/ director James Nguyen and stars Whitney Moore & Alan Bagh) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre)
  
• Brotherhood (2010) (w/ director Will Canon & cast members at 7:20pm show) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
  
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) (Regency Academy) (Insomniac Cinema Midnight Movie)
  
• Forbidden Planet (1956) (Egyptian Theatre) ("The Olivier of Spoofs": A Tribute to Leslie Nielsen)
  
• Gone With the Pope (1975) (midnight show) (New Beverly Cinema) (Grindhouse Film Festival)
  
• In the Company of Men (1997) / One False Move (1992) (w/ Bill Paxton) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (When Indies Rocked)
  
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) (Nuart Theatre) (Cine-Insomnia Midnight Movie)
  
• Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Egyptian Theatre)
  
• Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts (Egyptian Theatre)
  
• Once Upon a Time in America (1984) (Aero Theatre) (Once Upon A Time: The Films of Sergio Leone)
  
• Personal Ethnographies (w/ special guests) (Echo Park Film Center)
  
• Sorceress (1982) (w/ prizes & improv comedy from The Omelettes) (Horrible Movie Night) (The Complex: Ruby Theater)
  
• The Haunted (1965) / The Unknown (1964) (w/ special guests) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Archive Treasures)

Saturday 2/26

• The African Queen (1951) / The Desperate Hours (1955) (New Beverly Cinema)
  
• Brotherhood (2010) (w/ director Will Canon & cast members at 7:20pm show) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
  
• Channel 101 (Downtown Independent)
  
• Demolition Man (1993) (New Beverly Cinema) (New Beverly Midnights)
  
• Inside Job (2010) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
  
• Instereo (2010) (@ EPFC Annex) (Echo Park Film Center)
  
• A Man for All Seasons (1966) (Aero Theatre)
  
• On Golden Pond (1981) / Julia (1977) (LACMA) (Bright Star: Jane Fonda on Film)
  
• Queen of the Lot (2010) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
  
• Rat Scratch Fever (2010) (world premiere w/ director Jeff Leroy & cast members) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (HFS: 2010)
  
• Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Sins O' The Flesh Midnight Show) (Nuart Theatre)
  
• Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Midnight Insanity Midnight Show) (South Coast Village Regency Theaters)
  
• War Don Don (2010) (free event w/ director Rebecca Richman Cohen) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Archive Documentary Spotlight)
  
• Waste Land (2010) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)

Sunday 2/27

• The Academy Awards Drinkalong (free event) (Downtown Independent)
  
• Airplane! (1980) / The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988) (w/ director David Zucker) (Egyptian Theatre) ("The Olivier of Spoofs": A Tribute to Leslie Nielsen)
  
• Children of Men (2006) (Autry National Center) (Crossing Borders Film Series)
  
• Cinefamily Awards-Watching Party & Fundraiser (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre)
  
• East of Eden (1955) (The Bay Theatre)
  
• Gesher (2010) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema)
  
• Inside Job (2010) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
  
• El Mariachi (1992) (Autry National Center) (Crossing Borders Film Series)
  
• Oscar Party (w/ prizes & special food & drink menu) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
  
• Philip Glass Festival: Koyaanisqatsi (1982) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
  
• Queen of the Lot (2010) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
  
• Red Carpet Award Show Viewing Party (w/ prizes) (Long Bthe each Cinematheque) (Yankee Doodles)