Cinetopiastarts tonight in Ann Arbor with screenings of “1982,” “The Skeleton Twins” & John Sayles’ “Go For Sisters!”
Coming live-in-person to the Cinetopia International Film Festival are acclaimed indie film directors Spike Lee, John Sayles and Tommy Oliver, Academy Award-Winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, actor David Strathairn (currently in "Godzilla" and featured in "Lincoln") and 30 more featured players, directors, screenwriters and producers from around the world.
Opening night in Detroit was a smash! TV, radio and press were there to cover the opening. A gala reception had hundreds of festival supporters and the leadership of many of the area’s largest corporations and foundations were at the Prentis Court of the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The opening film “1982” was enthusiastically received by a large and appreciative crowd in the beautiful DIA Auditorium. After the screening of “1982,” there was a very insightful post screening Q & A session with director Tommy Oliver and DIA film curator Elliot Wilhelm; that also featured some wonderful questions from the genuinely enthusiastic audience.
After the screening and Q & A, director Tommy Oliver and members of the audience and Cinetopia Festival staff had an end of the Festival day celebration at the Majestic Café on Woodward in Detroit. It the festive atmosphere was enhanced by a song set by the top flight singing talent from That Band, a popular Detroit cover band.
The Cinetopia Festival actually began earlier in the day, at the University of Michigan’s John Sayles symposium. The acclaimed filmmaker John Sayles, his life partner and producer Maggie Renzi, the brilliant actor David Straithairn as well as composer Mason Darling and Scrip Supervisor Mary Cybulski are all in town for the symposium, which was held yesterday at the Hathcher Graduate Library.
The screening of 3 of John Sayles films begins tonight at the MLB auditorium, with John Sayles there to introduce the film and do a Q & A after the film. Later during Cinetopia will screen Lone Star and Silver City.
Tickets are available for most films at the door. But passes are still available for salehere:
Opening at the Multiplex
"Edge of Tomorrow" unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world. Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop-forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again...and again. But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt). And, as Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy. "Edge of Tomorrow" opens Friday.
In “The Fault In Our Stars” Hazel and Gus are two extraordinary teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them - and us - on an unforgettable journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous, given that they met and fell in love at a cancer support group. Based upon the number-one bestselling novel by John Green, the film explores the funny, thrilling and tragic business of being alive and in love. “The Fault In Our Stars” opens Friday.
Opening Downtown
In “Fed Up” everything we’ve been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong. “Fed Up” is the film the food industry doesn’t want you to see. From Katie Couric, Laurie David (Oscar winning producer of “An Inconvenient Truth”) and director Stephanie Soechtig, “Fed Up” will change the way you eat forever. “Fed Up” opens Monday at the State Theatre.
Darwin meets Hitchcock in “The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden,” a fascinating documentary portrait of a 1930s murder mystery as strange and alluring as the famous archipelago itself. Fleeing conventional society, a Berlin doctor and his mistress start a new life on an uninhabited island. But after the international press sensationalizes their exploits, others flock there - including a self-styled Swiss Family Robinson and a gun-toting Viennese Baroness and her two lovers. “The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden” opens Monday at the Michigan Theater.
“Citizen Koch” is a searing exposé on the state of democracy in America and the fracturing of the Republican Party. Academy Award®-nominated directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water) follow the money behind the rise of the Tea Party; the film investigates the impact of unlimited, anonymous spending by corporations and billionaires on the electoral process. “Citizen Koch” plays Wednesday and Thursday at the Michigan Theater.
Special Screenings Downtown
From asparagus to zucchini and fabrics to fuels, “Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds” explores the truth that civilization runs on seeds. Over the past 100 years, seeds have steadily shifted from being common heritage to sovereign property. “Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds” plays Tuesday, June 10 at 7 PM at the Michigan Theater.
