Arena Theater Presents First Run Films To Screen at Home
Arena Theater will present three more films to be screened online, with ticket purchases benefitting Arena Theater. While we’d much rather be in those large, comfortable seats inside the theater, these films will help the theater financially and give us some world-class film entertainment. And you can sit back in your most comfortable seat at home. So sit back, get out the popcorn—with butter if you prefer—and stream any of these films right to your home on your computer or tablet, via Chromecast, or through the Kino Now app on Roku, AppleTV. The three September films are each worth seeing. "Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful", "Made in Bangladesh", and "Epicentro".
First up is “Helmut Newton: The Bad And The Beautiful”, a film by Gero von Boehm. One of the great masters of photography, Helmut Newton made a name for himself exploring the female form, and the female form, and his cult status continues long after his tragic death in a Los Angeles car crash in 2004. A global artist, Newton’s unique and striking way of depicting women has always posed the question: did he empower his subjects or treat them as sexual objects? Through candid interviews with Grace Jones, Charlotte Rampling, Isabella Rossellini, Claudia Schiffer, Marianne Faithfull and others, this documentary captures his legacy and seeks to answer questions about the themes at the core of his life's work – creating provocative and subversive images of women. A 2020 film, the running time is 89 minutes. The film is available for screening through September 3.
The second film is “Made in Bangladesh” (2019). As a review in Cinema Scope offered, “With ‘Made in Bangladesh’, director Rubaiyat Hossain has crafted an urgent cry for workers’ rights, and a vision of feminist solidarity in the face of overwhelming opposition.” The plot is straight forward. 23-year-old Shimu works in a clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Faced with difficult conditions at work, she decides to start a union with her co-workers. Despite threats from the management and disapproval of her husband, Shimu is determined to go on. Together the women must fight and find a way. The runtime is 95 minutes and the film is in English & Bengali (with English subtitles). “Made in Bangladesh” is available to screen through September 10.
The month’s final film is “Epicentro”. This 2020 release is an immersive and metaphorical portrait of post-colonial, “utopian” Cuba, where the 1898 explosion of the USS Maine still resonates. This Big Bang ended Spanish colonial dominance in the Americas and ushered in the era of the American Empire. At the same time and place, a powerful tool of conquest was born: cinema as propaganda.
Director Hubert Sauper explores a century of interventionism and myth-making together with the extraordinary people of Havana — who he calls “young prophets” — to interrogate time, imperialism and cinema itself. Screen Daily’s review included this: “[‘Epicentro’] Captures a Cuba that seems frozen in time… a vivid sense of Havana.” The film runs 108 minutes and is available to screen through September 10.
Once you’ve decided on a film (or all three), go to ArenaTheater.org, and click on the ticket price. This will take you to the film distributor’s website where you can purchase your “ticket”. (50% of the ticket price will support Arena Theater.) The theater also provides a detailed page of FAQs to make your streaming event a little more stress-free.
