Martha's Vineyard Film Center
Film Archives
World Oceans Day: PLANET OCEAN
International | | 90 mins | Not Rated | DocumentaryYann-Arthus Bertrand and Michael Pitiot
PLANET OCEAN, a global view of compelling, splendorous ocean life filmed across the world in both stunning underwater and aerial footage. Documenting the extent of ocean damages, the film equally if not primarily presents ocean miracles: from plankton to whales to sea vegetable farming, and the necessity of our more carefully stewarding our…
Chimpanzee Movie – In collaboration with Featherstone Center for Arts — Miss Lani’s Roots & Shoots Youth Group
USA | 2012 | 78 min. | Rated G | DocumentaryIn collaboration with Featherstone Center for Arts — Miss Lani’s Roots & Shoots Youth Group From Disneynature, the studio that brought you Earth, Oceans and African Cats, comes Chimpanzee – a remarkable story of individual triumph and family bonds. Journey deep into the African rainforest and meet Oscar, an adorable young chimp…
Cabin in the Sky, Pre-show at 7 pm with The Spirituals Choir!
USA | 1943 | 98 min. | Rated PG | MusicalA Film by Vincente Minnelli
Presented with pre-show at 7 pm, The Spirituals Choir! Mortally shot at a crap game, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson gets a six-month Heavenly reprieve thanks to prayers from wife and True Believer Ethel Waters, but Rex Ingram’s “Lucifer Jr.” has a secret weapon in the ensuing battle for Anderson’s soul: Lena Horne’s sultry…
Kon-Tiki
Norway | 2013 | 118 min. | Rated PG-13 | DramaA Film by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg
Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific ocean in a balsa wood raft in 1947, together with five men, to prove that South Americans already back in pre-Columbian times could have crossed the sea and settle on Polynesian islands. After gathering financing for the trip with loans and donations, they set off…
Frances Ha – Last Showing!
USA | 2013 | 86 min. | Rated R | Comedy, DramaA Film by Noah Baumbach
Frances (Greta Gerwig) lives in New York, but she doesn’t really have an apartment. Frances is an apprentice for a dance company, but shes not really a dancer. Frances has a best friend named Sophie, but they aren’t really speaking anymore. Frances throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as their possible…
AKA Doc Pomus with Sharyn Felder (daughter of Doc Pomus)
USA | 2012 | 98 mins | Not Rated | MusicalPeter Miller and Will Hechter
Discussion with Sharyn Felder, Doc’s daughter after the screening. Paralyzed with polio as a child, Brooklyn-born Jerome Felder reinvented himself first as a blues singer, renaming himself Doc Pomus, then emerged as a one of the most brilliant songwriters of the early rock and roll era, writing “Save the Last Dance for…
“This is Gary McFarland” with introduction by Dave Kish – mvyradio’s “All That Jazz”
USA | 2006 | Not Rated | MusicalKristian St. Clair
Featuring candid interviews with some of the world’s hippest musicians, This is Gary McFarland explores the life and times of self-taught musician, composer, and producer Gary McFarland, who despite contributions and affilations with such notables as Gerry Mulligan, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Clark Terry, Gabor Szabo, and Cal Tjader,…
Crossfire Hurricane, discussion with Producer Victoria Pearman
UK | 2012 | 111 min. | Not Rated | DocumentaryBrett Morgen
Discussion with Producer Victoria Pearman afterwards. Directed by Brett Morgen, the film features historical footage, much of it widely unseen, and commentary from Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood and former Stones Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor, as well as rare interviews with Brian Jones. Period interviews, extensive live performance…
PICNIC (1955)
USA | 1955 | 115 mins | Rated PG | Drama, RomanceOne of the biggest box-office attractions of the 1950s, Picnic was adapted by Daniel Taradash from the Pulitzer Prize-winning William Inge play. William Holden plays Hal Carter, a handsome drifter who ambles into a small Kansas town during the Labor Day celebration to look up old college chum Alan (Cliff Robertson, in…
Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation
2012 | 121 min.DocumentaryA Film by Laura Archibald
Q&A afterwards with filmmaker Laura Archibald GREENWICH VILLAGE: MUSIC THAT DEFINED A GENERATION is a feature-length documentary about the Greenwich Village music scene and how it sparked everlasting political, social and cultural changes. For the first time, the greatest singer-songwriters, authors and performers from Greenwich Village reflect on how they collectively became…
Downloaded
USA | 2013 | 106 min. | Not Rated | DocumentaryA Film by Alex Winter
DOWNLOADED focuses on the advent of digital media sharing, including the rise of game-changing company Napster and controversial pioneers Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. The digital revolution ultimately created a technology paradigm shift and upended the music industry. Audiences will hear insight from well known music artists and figures within the music…
Sound City
USA | 2013 | 108 min. | Not Rated | DocumentaryA Film by Dave Grohl
Deep in the San Fernando Valley, amidst rows of dilapidated warehouses, was rock n’ roll’s best kept secret: Sound City. America’s greatest unsung recording studio housed a one-of-a-kind console, and as its legend grew, seminal bands and artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Rick Springfield, Tom Petty, Metallica and Nirvana all…
Good Ol’ Freda with introduction by Ray Whitaker, mvyradio’s “Just Four Guys”
UK | 2013 | 86 min. | Not Rated | Documentary, MusicalDirected by Ryan White
Special introduction by Ray Whitaker, mvyradio’s “Just Four Guys”. ‘Good Ol’ Freda’ tells the story of Freda Kelly, a shy Liverpudlian teenager asked to work for a young local band hoping to make it big: the Beatles. As the Beatles’ fame multiplies, Freda bears witness to music and cultural history but never exploits…
“The Mighty Uke” and a performance by the Featherstone Uke Jam
USA | 2010 | 76 min. | Not Rated | DocumentaryPre-show performance by the Featherstone Uke Jam The ukulele is often regarded as a punch line more than a musical instrument; the diminutive four-stringed relative of the guitar rose to popularity when Hawaiian music became a fad in the early 20th Century, but it fell out of popularity with the rise of rock…
John Belushi: Dancing on the Edge
| Not Rated | DocumentaryA Benefit for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services Film followed by discussion with Judy Belushi Pisano & friends. Catered event. For more information please contact: ncoogan@mvcommunityservices.com John Belushi: Dancing on the Edge Sweet and wild…raw and explosive… John Belushi didn’t just act, he set off sparks. On his thirtieth birthday, he was…
FILM+MUSIC – Exploring music and culture through film
FILM+MUSIC – Exploring music and culture through film The MV Film Society will be presenting a weekend of documentaries features that celebrate the convergence of music, culture, and film. In collaboration with MVY Radio. Music and film flow naturally together. Our first-ever Film + Music Festival will bring you closer…
2ND ANNUAL “BRAVE WOMEN, BRAVE MEN” BENEFIT CONCERT
USA | | Not Rated | Music ConcertRock Musician Jonathan Auerbach Produces and Performs a Musical Tribute Marking Memorial Day on Martha’s Vineyard to Salute America’s Troops In honor of Memorial Day and the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation, local Massachusetts Veterans, from WWII to Afghanistan, will attend a benefit…
MUD – encore audience favorite
USA | 2013 | 130 mins | Rated PG-13 | DramaJeff Nichols
Mud is an adventure about two boys, Ellis and his friend Neckbone, who find a man named Mud hiding out on an island in the Mississippi. Mud describes fantastic scenarios-he killed a man in Texas and vengeful bounty hunters are coming to get him. He says he is planning to meet and…
WAGNER & ME
UK | 2010 | 89 mins | Not Rated | DocumentaryCLASSIC MUSIC AT THE FILM CENTER The newest addition to the popular new Martha’s Vineyard Film Society theater in Vineyard Haven, a dazzling white grand piano, will be put to the test on Friday, May 24, when MVCMS Artistic Director, pianist Delores Stevens, and violist Lila Brown will present a 30 minute…
GOOD MORNING
Japan | 1959 | 93 mins | Not Rated | ComedyYasujirô Ozu
Ozu’s hilarious Technicolor reworking of his silent I Was Born, But . . . , Good Morning (Ohayô) is the story of two young boys in suburban Tokyo who take a vow of silence after their parents refuse to buy them a television set. Shot from the perspective of the petulant brothers,…
IN THE HOUSE
France | 2013 | 105 mins | Rated R | Drama, Mystery/SuspenseFrançois Ozon
A sixteen-year-old boy insinuates himself into the house of a fellow student from his literature class and writes about it in essays for his French teacher. Faced with this gifted and unusual pupil, the teacher rediscovers his enthusiasm for his work, but the boy’s intrusion will unleash a series of uncontrollable events.
Buddha’s Birthday Bash – Two Films, Poetry, Music, and Birthday Cake
USA | 2012 | Not Rated | DocumentaryTo celebrate Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha birthday this year on May 17th, the Film Center is collaborating with a number of individuals and organizations to present two films that deal with the teachings of Buddhism in the West. Our program will begin at 4:00 pm with the screening of CRAZY WISDOM: Crazy Wisdom…
El Ángel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel) (1962)
Mexico | 1962 | 95 mins | Not Rated | Comedy, DramaLuis Buñuel
The great screen surrealist Luis Buñuel co-wrote and directed this dark, bitterly witty satire. A group of people in formal dress arrives at an elegantly appointed home for a dinner party. However, once dinner is over and the guests retire to the drawing room, they discover that the servants have gone away,…
RENOIR
France | 2012 | 111 mins | Rated R | Drama, RomanceGilles Bourdos
Set on the French Riviera in the summer of 1915, Gilles Bourdos’ lushly atmospheric drama RENOIR tells the story of celebrated Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, in declining health at age 74, and his middle son Jean, who returns home to convalesce after being wounded in World War I. The elder Renoir is…
THE SAPPHIRES
Australia | 2012 | 99 mins | Rated PG-13 | Comedy, MusicalFilmmaker Wayne Blair
Inspired by a true story, THE SAPPHIRES follows four vivacious, young and talented Australian Aboriginal girls from a remote mission as they learn about love, friendship and war when their all girl group The Sapphires entertains the U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1968. Cynthia (Tapsell), Gail (Mailman), Julie (Mauboy) and Kay (Sebbens)…
HIGH AND LOW (1963)
Japan | 1962 | 143 mins | Not Rated | DramaAkira Kurosawa
Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in High and Low(Tengoku to jigoku), the highly influential domestic drama and police procedural from director Akira Kurosawa. Adapting Ed McBain’s detective novel King’s Ransom, Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to…
Classic Film Wednesday: CHILDREN OF PARADISE (1945)
France | 1945 | Rated PG | DramaMarcel Carné
Even in 1945, Marcel Carné Children of Paradise was regarded as an old-fashioned film. Set in the Parisian theatrical world of the 1840s, Jacques Pravert’s screenplay concerns four men in love with the mysterious Garance (Arletty). Each loves Garance in his own fashion, but only the intentions of sensitive mime-actor Deburau (Jean-Louis…
Classic Film Wednesday Night, The Mikado (1939)
UK, USA | 1939 | 90 Minutes | Not Rated | Comedy, Musical, RomanceFilmmaker Victor Schertzinger
Though it boasts an American director and star, this Technicolor cinemadaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operetta The Mikado is a faithful record of what it must have been like to attend a performance of Britain’s D’Oyly Carte opera company. Radio tenor Kenny Baker stars as Nanki-Poo, the wand’ring minstrel who wanders…
FROM UP ON POPPY HILL
Japan | 2013 | 91 mins | Rated PG | AnimationWritten by legendary studio founder Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Goro Miyazaki
The setting is Yokohama in 1963, and the filmmakers masterfully bring to life the bustling seaside town, with its salty air, sun-drenched gardens, and some of the most mouthwatering Japanese home-cooking set to film (plan on ramen and pork katsu after the movie). The story centers on an innocent romance beginning to…
The Quartet
UK | 2013 | 97 minutes | Rated PG-13 | Comedy, DramaFilmmaker Dustin Hoffman
Filmmaker Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman’s affectionate direction and the talented cast’s amiable charm make Quartet too difficult to resist.