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LAist Film Calendar 05/05-05/08: Vanishing Honey Bees & Villainous Queen Bs
The Do Something Reel Festival closes out at the Laemmles this weekend (see our previous coverage) with a film sure to create buzz: Vanishing of the Bees. Ellen Page narrates the documentary, which details the disturbing decimation of bee colonies. If you think this won't affect you because you eat plain Cheerios instead of honey nut, think again.
Veteran documentarians George Langworthy & Maryam Henein filmed Vanishing of the Bees over many years and several continents. Interviews with Michael Pollan and professional & amateur bee keepers reveal the integral role bees play in agriculture. Far beyond honey production, pollination from bees covers countless plant species and accounts for 1 in 3 items on your plate right now. Scientists paint horror stories of honeycomb Roanokes, huge colonies disappearing without reason or rhyme in a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder. Corpses pile up, and other bees avoid these ghost towns like the plague.
But is it a plague, pollution or pesticide? As of yet, no one knows for sure. But like its winged subjects, Vanishing of the Bees ultimately busies itself more with sweet ends than scary stingers. It offers low-effort, high-impact solutions, ranging from beekeeping (probably not for apartment dwellers) to home gardening, natural pesticide & organic choices. To get involved beyond the screening, check out Langworthy & Henein's Kickstarter project crowdsourcing funds to develop a 30-minute version & full classroom materials. For more on beekeeping, pollination & honey's general excellence, Holley Bishop's book Robbing the Bees makes a sweet supplement.
For a different type of b-movie, both the Art Theatre of Long Beach & the Egyptian Theatre pay tribute to the ultimate Queen Bee with Mommie Dearest. The over-the-top, only-in-Hollywood biopic (a personal favorite of John Waters) stars Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford, who adopts an alcoholic, abusive attitude against her daughter Christina. Friday, The Art Theatre presents a midnight screening in MuVChat, an interactive format in which the audience's own bitchy barbs are displayed on-screen via text message. Sunday, the Egyptian goes all-out for a 30th anniversary screening on Mother's Day. For a friendlier, hanger-free-holiday, they also have activities in the courtyard from 2PM on, including tea, puppet shows & a screening of inspirational Burning Man / Hurricane Katrina relief film Burn on the Bayou.
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Speaking of John Waters, the New Beverly has a midnight screening of his 1994 film Serial Mom. The true-crime spoof & celebrity satire stars Kathleen Turner as a murderous matriarch who will do anything to protect her brood. Sam Waterston, Ricki Lake & Matthew Lillard play the rest of the family, with cameos from Joan Rivers, Suzanne Somers, Patty Hearst & Traci Lords!
Full list appears below. See you at the movies!
All Week
Beautiful Darling (2010) (Downtown Independent)
The Beaver (2011) (The Landmark)
Daydream Nation (2010) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Forks Over Knives (2010) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Jane Eyre (2011) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
Last Night (2010) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
Lost Journey (2010) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
Mia and the Magoo (2008) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Poetry (2010) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Royal Theatre)
Potiche (2010) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
The Robber (2010) (Nuart Theatre)
Something Borrowed (2011) (The Landmark) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
Thursday 05/05
Bill Cunningham New York (2010) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
The Commitments (1991) / Still Crazy (1998) (w/ writer-producers Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais) (Aero Theatre)
Hanna (2011) (Arclight Beach Cities) (21+ screening)
Lessons of the Blood (2010) (w/ filmmaker James T. Hong) (Echo Park Film Center)
Midnight Movie: Killer Cut (2008) (Bigfoot Crest)
A Place in the Sun (1951) / Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) (Egyptian Theatre) (Lovely Tumult: A Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor)
Water for Elephants (2011) (Arclight Sherman Oaks) (21+ screening)
Friday 05/06
CalArts Film/Video Showcase (REDCAT - Roy & Edna Disney/Calarts Theater)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) / The Taming of the Shrew (1957) (Egyptian Theatre) (Lovely Tumult: A Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor)
The Dolly Sisters (1945) (Old Town Music Hall)
Hadewijch (2009) (LACMA)
Mommie Dearest (1981) (Art Theatre of Long Beach) (Mondo Fridays)
Much Ado About Nothing (1993) / A Midwinter's Tale (1995) (Aero Theatre) (Resurrecting the Bard: An In-Person Tribute to Kenneth Branagh)
The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) (Nuart Theatre) (Cine-Insomnia Midnight Movie)
Office Space (1999) (Regency Academy) (Insomniac Cinema Midnight Movie)
The Pinochet Case (2001) / Salvador Allende (2004) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Patricio Guzmán: The Watchful Eye)
Welcome to Shelbyville (2009) (Warner Grand Theatre)
The Wooden Lightbox: A Secret Art of Seeing (w/ filmmaker Alex MacKenzie) (Echo Park Film Center)
Saturday 05/07
Blaze Foley: Duct tape Messiah (2011) (w/ filmmaker Kevin Triplett) (Echo Park Film Center)
CalArts Film/Video Showcase (REDCAT - Roy & Edna Disney/Calarts Theater)
Cleopatra (1963) (Egyptian Theatre) (Lovely Tumult: A Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor)
Dead Again (1991) / Henry V (1989) (Aero Theatre) (Resurrecting the Bard: An In-Person Tribute to Kenneth Branagh)
Dealership Season One Finale / The Thing (1982) (Downtown Independent)
The Dolly Sisters (1945) (Old Town Music Hall)
Raga: A Film Journey into the Soul of India (1971) / The Extraordinary Lesson (2010) (free event) (Skirball Cultural Center)
Gaucho Serenade (1940) / The Big Sombrero (1949) (Autry National Center) (Saturday Matinee Double Feature)
Hadewijch (2009) (LACMA)
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)
The Southern Cross (1992) / A Village Fading Away (1995) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Patricio Guzmán: The Watchful Eye)
The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004) (Bigfoot Crest)
Vanishing of the Bees (2009) (Laemmle's Claremont 5) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
Sunday 05/08
Burn on the Bayou (2011) (w/ director Matt Leonard and editor Zachary Cole) (Egyptian Theatre)
The Case of Mr. Lin (1955) / The Liberace Show: Tribute to Mothers (1955) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (The Legacy Project Screening Series)
Hamlet (1996) (w/ Kenneth Branaugh) (Aero Theatre) (Resurrecting the Bard: An In-Person Tribute to Kenneth Branagh)
Mommie Dearest (1981) (w/ Mother's Day activities in the courtyard) (Egyptian Theatre)
These Amazing Shadows (2011) (w/ filmmaker) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
Vanishing of the Bees (2009) (Laemmle's Claremont 5) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
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That's all for this week. The only thing that would've made it better is a Cinco de Mayo Santo marathon.
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