Part of the Metropolitan Opera Live Series: Extraordinary soprano Asmik Grigorian tackles the demanding role of Cio-Cio-San, the loyal geisha at the heart of Puccini’s devastating tragedy. Tenor Jonathan Tetelman stars as the callous American naval officer Pinkerton, whose betrayal destroys her. Mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong reprises the role of the steadfast maid Suzuki, and baritone Lucas Meachem is the American consul Sharpless. Acclaimed maestro Xian Zhang takes the podium to conduct Anthony Minghella’s vivid production. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe. The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

Sung in Italian with English subtitles. 3h.

Part of the Metropolitan Opera Live Series: Puccini’s bittersweet love story makes a rare Met appearance, with soprano Angel Blue starring as the French courtesan Magda, opposite tenor Jonathan Tetelman in his highly anticipated company debut as Ruggero, an idealistic young man who offers her an alternative to her life of excess. Maestro Speranza Scappucci conducts Nicolas Joël’s Art Deco–inspired staging, which transports audiences from the heart of Parisian nightlife to a dreamy vision of the French Riviera. In their Met debuts, soprano Emily Pogorelc and tenor Bekhzod Davronov complete the sterling cast as Lisette and Prunier. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe. The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

Sung in Italian with English subtitles. 2h 35m.

Part of the Theatre From London Series: Speak of the devil and he appears. A witch hunt is beginning in Salem. Raised to be seen and not heard, a group of young women suddenly find their words have a terrible power. As a climate of fear spreads through the community, private vendettas fuel public accusations and soon the truth itself is on trial.  

Arthur Miller's gripping parable of power and its abuse returns in an urgent staging by director Lyndsey Turner (UNDER MILK WOOD, TOP GIRLS). 

The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

3h.

"The National at its best." – Daily Telegraph

"Really great...digs deep into the play's questions of human longing for justice." – Daily Mail

"Miller's CRUCIBLE burns bright once more." – Evening Standard

Part of the Theatre from London Series: Emilia Clarke (GAME OF THRONES) made her West End debut in this 21st century retelling of Anton Chekhov’s tale of love and loneliness. A young woman is desperate for fame and a way out. A young man is pining after the woman of his dreams. A successful writer longs for a sense of achievement. An actress wants to fight the changing of the times. In an isolated home in the countryside, dreams lie in tatters, hopes are dashed, and hearts broken. With nowhere left to turn, the only option is to turn on each other.

Following his critically acclaimed five-star production of CYRANO DE BERGERAC, Jamie Lloyd brings Anya Reiss' adaptation of Chekhov’s classic play to stage. Filmed live in London’s West End with a cast including Tom Rhys Harries (WHITE LINES), Daniel Monks (THE NORMAL HEART), Sophie Wu (FRESH MEAT) and Indira Varma (GAME OF THRONES).

The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

3 hrs.

"A maverick show that proves how dangerous and daring a revival can be." – Guardian

"Emilia Clarke is irresistible in Jamie Lloyd’s ultra-stripped back take on Chekhov’s masterpiece." – Time Out

"Another revelatory revival from Jamie Lloyd." – Financial Times

Part of the Theatre From London Series: National Theatre Live returns with a new season. See the hilarious, deliciously dirty and award-winning show that inspired the BBC’s hit TV series, filmed live on stage in London’s West End in 2019.

Written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (FLEABAG, KILLING EVE) and directed by Vicky Jones, FLEABAG is a rip-roaring look at some sort of woman living her sort of life. Following a box-office record-breaking run in cinemas in 2019, the one-woman show returns to the big screen this summer. 

Fleabag may seem oversexed, emotionally unfiltered and self-obsessed, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig café struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose.

Presented by DryWrite, Soho Theatre and Annapurna Theatre. The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

1h 20m.

"Funny, vibrant, and blunt as a hammerhead." – New York Magazine

"A triumphant return for Phoebe Waller-Bridge's hilarious, relatable and painful one-woman show." – The Stage

"Filthy, funny, snarky and touching." – Daily Telegraph

"Gloriously disruptive. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a name to reckon with." – New York Times

"A flawless last stand for Fleabag." – Londonist

Part of the Theatre from London Series: Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, KING LEAR sees two ageing fathers – one a king, one his courtier – reject the children who truly love them.  Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery, as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bitter ends.
 
Jonathan Munby directs Ian McKellen in this ‘nuanced and powerful’ (The Times) contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tender, violent, moving, and shocking play.

The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

4 hrs.

"★★★★★ Ian McKellen reigns supreme in this triumphant production." – Daily Telegraph

"Ian McKellen’s dazzling swan song is weighted with poignancy." – The Guardian

Part of the Theatre From London Series: An encore presentation of one of the National Theatre's biggest hits, Oscar-winner Danny Boyle (TRAINSPOTTING, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE) directs a sensational production starring Benedict Cumberbach (DOCTOR STRANGE, BBC's SHERLOCK) as Victor Frankenstein and Jonny Lee Miller (TRAINSPOTTING) as the Creature. Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the increasingly desperate and vengeful Creature determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal.

Urgent concerns of scientific responsibility, parental neglect, cognitive development, and the nature of good and evil are embedded within this thrilling and deeply disturbing tale, based on the novel by Mary Shelley.

The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

2h 10m.

"A thrill. The most viscerally exciting and stunning show in town." – Daily Telegraph

"A hell of a production." – The Times

"As a piece of staging, it is brilliant. The actors complement each other perfectly rather than provide a contest and Boyle's production is a bravura triumph in which Mark Tildesley's design provides a whole series of visual coups." – The Guardianf

Part of the Metropolitan Opera Live Series: Two singers at the height of their powers – radiant soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor sensation Benjamin Bernheim – come together as the star-crossed lovers in Gounod’s sumptuous Shakespeare adaptation, with Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium to conduct one of the repertoire’s most romantic scores. Bartlett Sher’s towering staging also features baritone Will Liverman and tenor Frederick Ballentine as the archrivals Mercutio and Tybalt, mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey as the mischievous pageboy Stéphano, and bass-baritone Alfred Walker as Frère Laurent. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe. The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more. 

Sung in French with English subtitles. 3h 10m.

Part of the Metropolitan Opera Live Series: Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Verdi’s grand tale of ill-fated love, deadly vendettas, and family strife, with stellar soprano Lise Davidsen as the noble Leonora, one of the repertory’s most tormented—and thrilling—heroines. Director Mariusz Treliński delivers the company’s first new FORZA in nearly 30 years, setting the scene in a contemporary world and making extensive use of the Met’s turntable to represent the unstoppable advance of destiny that drives the opera’s chain of calamitous events. The distinguished cast also features tenor Brian Jagde as Leonora’s forbidden beloved, Don Alvaro; baritone Igor Golovatenko as her vengeful brother, Don Carlo; mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk as the fortune teller Preziosilla; bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi as Fra Melitone; and bass Soloman Howard as both Leonora’s father and Padre Guardiano. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met's award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe. The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

Sung in Italian with English subtitles. 4h 5m.

Written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, this comedy caper follows Jamie, an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.

DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS is led by the hilarious triumvirate of Margaret Qualley (MAID), Geraldine Viswanathan (BLOCKERS), and Beanie Feldstein (BOOKSMART). The supporting cast features Pedro Pascal and Matt Damon, while Ethan Coen directs.

R. 1h, 24m.

Alejandro (Julio Torres) is an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador, struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in New York City. As time on his work visa runs out, a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast (Tilda Swinton, portraying late-stage narcissism in its most maximalist, extravagant form) becomes his only hope to stay in the country and realize his dream. From writer/director Julio Torres comes a surreal adventure through the equally treacherous worlds of New York City and the U.S. Immigration system.

R, 1h 38m.

"PROBLEMISTA is its own animal of comedic high jinks that will undoubtedly send your mind racing and itching out of beautiful perplexity. It's quite possibly A24's weirdest movie yet." – Fresh Fiction

"An imaginative, impressive, not to mention hilarious debut..." – Slate

"The very funny and outlandish film serves as an exciting moment for Torres while also showcasing one of the best performances of Tilda Swinton's career." – Sunshine State Cineplex

"Julio Torres takes a simple story about immigration and human connection, and turned it into a comedic, surrealist fantasy that serves as an epic critique of capitalism." – Deadline Hollywood Daily

Part of the Metropolitan Opera Live Series: Acclaimed English director Carrie Cracknell brings a vital new production of one of opera’s most enduringly powerful works, reinvigorating the classic story with a staging that moves the action to the modern day and finds at the heart of the drama issues that could not be more relevant today: gendered violence, abusive labor structures, and the desire to break through societal boundaries. Dazzling young mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina leads a powerhouse quartet of stars in the complex and volatile title role, alongside tenor Piotr Beczała as Carmen’s troubled lover Don José, soprano Angel Blue as the loyal Micaëla, and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen as the swaggering Escamillo. Daniele Rustioni conducts Bizet’s heart-pounding score. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met's award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe. The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

Sung in French with English subtitles. 3h 25m.

Ancient Babylon comes to life in a classic Met staging of biblical proportions. Baritone George Gagnidze makes his Met role debut as the imperious king Nabucco, alongside soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska reprising her thrilling turn as his vengeful daughter Abigaille. Mezzo-soprano Maria Barakova and tenor SeokJong Baek are Fenena and Ismaele, whose love transcends politics, and bass Dmitry Belosselskiy repeats his celebrated portrayal of the high priest Zaccaria. Daniele Callegari conducts Verdi’s exhilarating early masterpiece, which features the ultimate showcase for the great Met Chorus, the moving Va, pensiero. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met's award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe. The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

Sung in Italian with English subtitles. 2h 55m.

Part of the Metropolitan Opera Live Series: Inspired by the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez, Mexican composer Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera, FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS, tells the enchanting story of a Brazilian opera diva who returns to her homeland to perform at the legendary opera house of Manaus – and to search for her lost lover, who has vanished into the jungle. The December 9 performance stars soprano Ailyn Pérez as Florencia Grimaldi, with Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium to lead a spellbinding new production by Mary Zimmerman that brings the mysterious and magical realm of the Amazon to the Met stage. A distinguished ensemble of artists portray the diva’s fellow travelers on the river boat to Manaus, including soprano Gabriella Reyes as the journalist Rosalba, bass-baritone Greer Grimsley as the ship’s captain, baritone Mattia Olivieri as his enigmatic first mate, tenor Mario Chang as the captain’s nephew Arcadio, and mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera and baritone Michael Chioldi as the feuding couple Paula and Álvaro. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met's award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe. The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

Sung in Spanish with English subtitles. 2h 15m.

Part of the Metropolitan Opera Live Series: Anthony Davis’s groundbreaking and influential opera, which premiered in 1986, arrives at the Met at long last. Theater luminary and Tony-nominated director of SLAVE PLAY Robert O’Hara oversees a potent new staging that imagines Malcolm as an Everyman whose story transcends time and space. An exceptional cast of breakout artists and young Met stars enliven the operatic retelling of the civil rights leader’s life. Baritone Will Liverman, who triumphed in the Met premiere of FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES, sings Malcolm X, alongside soprano Leah Hawkins as his mother, Louise; mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis as his sister Ella; bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as his brother Reginald; and tenor Victor Ryan Robertson as Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. Kazem Abdullah conducts the newly revised score, which provides a layered, jazz-inflected setting for the esteemed writer Thulani Davis’s libretto. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met's award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe. The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

3h 20m.

From acclaimed director Alexander Payne, THE HOLDOVERS follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them – a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) – and with the school's head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da'Vine Joy Randolph).

THE HOLDOVERS is the second collaboration between director Payne and Giamatti after SIDEWAYS (2004). Payne conceived the film's concept after watching a 1930s French film and contacted David Hemingson to write the screenplay, which was originally a writing sample for a television pilot.

R. 2h, 32m.

We are so excited to be hosting the World Premiere Gala of DANCING WITH THE DEAD and hope you will join us on October 27th for this special event. Tickets are $20 and will go on sale on Wednesday, October 11th at 3:30pm. 

Includes Q&A with Ward, a reading by Bill Porter (Red Pine), a surprise guest and mini-posters of the film for all attendees.

Filmmakers Ward Serrill and Rocky Friedman (The Bowmakers) present DANCING WITH THE DEAD, on Port Townsend’s Bill Porter. Porter, who goes by the pen name Red Pine, is a renowned translator of ancient Chinese poetry. He has published over thirty books, including Road to Heaven, his quest to find hermits in the Zhongnan Mountains that reignited a movement in modern China to seek enlightenment through poetry and mountain solitude. Bill is a living gateway to ancient Chinese history and culture. The film follows Bill’s adventures as a child of a bank robber, raised in a gilded household, who turned his back on American devotion to materialism and went off to live in monasteries and mountains in Taiwan. He pursued a fascination with Buddhism and poetry and traveled to remote regions of China to rediscover an  ancient tradition of mountain hermits vital to Chinese culture. 

PG-13, 1h 24m. 

**DANCING WITH THE DEAD will also have an exclusive run at the Rose following the Premiere.

When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a gentle best friend. Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla's long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy, and fame.

R, 1h 50m.

Part of  the Metropolitan Opera Live Series: American composer Jake Heggie’s masterpiece, the most widely performed new opera of the last 20 years, has its highly anticipated Met premiere, in a haunting new production by Ivo van Hove. Based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir about her fight for the soul of a condemned murderer, DEAD MAN WALKING matches the high drama of its subject with Heggie’s beautiful and poignant music and a brilliant libretto by Tony and Emmy Award–winner Terrence McNally. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium for this landmark premiere, with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato starring as Sister Helen. The outstanding cast also features bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as the death-row inmate Joseph De Rocher, soprano Latonia Moore as Sister Rose, and legendary mezzo-soprano Susan Graham—who sang Helen Prejean in the opera’s 2000 premiere—as De Rocher’s mother. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met's award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe. The Starlight Room has only 46 seats; advance tickets recommended. The theatre opens at least 30 minutes, and up to 45 minutes in advance. Please arrive early in order to secure your preferred seats, especially for parties of 2 or more.

2h 55m. 

At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight. The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder. The string of brutal crimes – which came to be known as the Reign of Terror – raged on until the FBI, led by a 29-year-old J. Edgar Hoover, stepped in to unravel the mystery.

Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (breakout star Lily Gladstone), KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is an epic western crime saga, where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal. This staggering piece of cinema, based on David Grann’s broadly-lauded bestselling book, also stars Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser, and John Lithgow.

R, 2h 26m.

"This is in part a movie about how the bootstrapping American ethic lends itself to organized crime among the enterprising, and in part an uneasily self-reflective questioning of turning people's real-life trauma into entertainment. It’s magnificent." – Vox

"It’s Gladstone who provides the film's centre of gravity. She gives one of the most extraordinary performances by a woman in any of Scorsese's movies. She is serene but not saintly; a figure of tragedy with a fire in her belly." – Independent (UK)

"KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is to be savoured as elevated cinema, each frame a picture moving towards a goal. Not just in the more bravura camera sweeps, but the very construction of even the most – deceptively – simply-staged scenes." – Screen International

A fascinating companion piece to THE IRISHMAN: another soaringly ambitious, balefully riveting act of American national-historical vivisection, carried out within the framework of one of the signature American genres." – Daily Telegraph (UK)

"A superbly performed descent into a nightmarish chapter in the history of American capitalism." – Film Companion

"KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is vast and vital in its scale, purpose and emotional scope, a Western-thriller and ensemble piece that is every bit a Scorsese crime picture as one can dare to imagine." – TheWrap

Margot, a college student working concessions at an art house theater, meets frequent filmgoer – and rather older local – Robert on the job. Flirtation across the counter evolves into continuous texting. As the two inch toward romance, shifts between them, awkward moments, red flags, and discomforts pile up. Margot feels both attached and reticent, as her gnawing hesitations blossom into vivid daydreams where Robert realizes his most threatening potential. As her distrust and uncertainty mount, an evening, their relationship, and possibly their lives unravel.

Exploring power dynamics, the terrifying nature of some gray areas, and the way young women must balance their relationships to themselves alongside their lovers, CAT PERSON is a provocative portrait of modern dating. Director Susanna Fogel (co-writer of BOOKSMART) brings these questions to the screen with a vibrant tension that packs a serious punch, aided by great performances from Emilia Jones (CODA) and Nicholas Braun (SUCCESSION). Inspired by the most-read piece of fiction ever published in The New Yorker, Kristen Roupenian's short story Cat Person, the film continues a conversation whose urgency is clear, present, and dangerous.

2h.

"A disarmingly creepy film with a disturbing edge that will surely trigger further discussion about contemporary dating and romantic protocols." – Deadline Hollywood Daily

"CAT PERSON is poised to become a lightning rod for discussions surrounding the intricacies of dating and the difficulties of being a woman, a man, or simply someone seeking love." – Rappler

"A fiendishly playful relationship-gone-bad quasi-thriller with a sense of humor about its own unknowability." – The Playlist

"The film excels at presenting both sides of the dating spectrum and tacitly flips the script numerous times, subverting expectations and keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. It's unpredictable." – The Only Critic

Hello friends! The Rose & Starlight Room will be closed for repairs and cleaning through this Thursday, re-opening on Friday 9/29 with A HAUNTING IN VENICE, STOP MAKING SENSE and THE MIRACLE CLUB! Tickets for all three films are on sale now.

Due to the ongoing negotiations between artists in Hollywood and the major film studios, many films scheduled for release in 2023 are being pushed to 2024. Please join our newsletter mailing list for more information - you can sign up HERE. 

The Port Townsend Film Festival features three full days of films, workshops, filmmaker meet and greets, free outdoor movies on Taylor Street, music and other festivities. The Film Fest has been part of the cultural fabric of Port Townsend since 2000. 

Highlights of the 2023 season include:

• Finale: Indigo Girls concert, Mon, Sept 25 (tickets SOLD OUT! Updates here.)
• A Gala dinner celebration, Thurs, Sept 21
• Opening night film, Thurs, Sept 21
• The Filmmaker Parade, Fri, 5PM, Sept 22
• Street Party Picnic with Live Music, Fri, 5:30PM, Sept 22
• Free outdoor movies on Taylor Street, Fri, Sat, & Sun nights (a Port Townsend tradition!)
• 50+ film screenings throughout the day, Fri, Sat, Sun 
• Live music and picnicking each afternoon/evening, Fri, Sat, Sun
• A Filmmaker Awards party, Sat night
• Independent films and filmmakers with national and international acclaim
• Multiple film workshops and panels

Love movies? Love Port Townsend? Join us! 

For info, schedule and to buy passes: 
https://www.ptfilmfest.com/port-townsend-film-festival

Set in eerie, post-World War II Venice on All Hallows' Eve, A HAUNTING IN VENICE is a terrifying mystery featuring the return of the celebrated sleuth, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh). Now retired and living in self-imposed exile in the world's most glamorous city, Poirot reluctantly attends a séance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets.

Reuniting many of the filmmakers behind 2017's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS and 2022's DEATH ON THE NILE, the film is directed by Kenneth Branagh with a screenplay by Oscar® nominee Michael Green (LOGAN) based upon Agatha Christie's novel Hallowe'en Party. A brilliant acting ensemble portrays a cast of unforgettable characters, including Branagh, Jamie Dornan (BELFAST), Tina Fey (30 ROCK), and recent Oscar-winning powerhouse Michelle Yeoh (EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE).

PG-13, 1h 43m.

"I hope [Branagh] makes ten more of these." - New York Magazine

"A wonderful international cast and an instantly-involving murder-mystery..." - Chicago Sun Times

"Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice blends mystery with the paranormal for an exhilarating watch and lingering eeriness." - Washington Post

Director Jonathan Demme captures the frantic energy and artsy groove of Talking Heads in this concert movie shot over the course of three nights at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in 1983. The band's frontman, David Byrne, first appears on an empty stage, armed with only an acoustic guitar, and is gradually joined by bassist Tina Weymouth, drummer Chris Frantz, keyboardist Jerry Harrison and a cadre of backup singers as they perform the band's hits, culminating in an iconic performance featuring Byrne in an enormous suit. 

The concert serves as a comprehensive retrospective of the band's history to that time, featuring many of their popular songs from their first hit single, Psycho Killer, through their new album at the time, Speaking in Tongues. In addition, the group performs one song, Genius of Love, by the Tom Tom Club, a side project for two members of the band. The film is also a pioneering example of the use of early digital audio techniques. The band raised the budget of $1.2 million themselves.

Considered by many critics to be one of the greatest concert films of all time, STOP MAKING SENSE was selected in 2021 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

NR, 1h 28m.

"[T]he peak moments come through Byrne's simple physical presence. He jogs in place with his sidemen; he runs around the stage; he seems so happy to be alive and making music. Like Springsteen and Prince, he serves as a reminder of how sour and weary and strung-out many rock bands have become. Starting with Mick Jagger, rock concerts have become, for the performers, as much sporting events as musical and theatrical performances. STOP MAKING SENSE understands that with great exuberance." – Roger Ebert

"Talking Heads made for great material, with its revolutionary mash-up of punk, funk, art, avant-garde and other sounds. But what sets STOP apart is the intimate look at that brilliant talking head, lead singer David Byrne." – Los Angeles Times

"STOP MAKING SENSE is a concert film with a narrative, bursting at the seams with bits of invention and passion." – Slant Magazine

"A rock orgy of volcanic power, and the greatest concert film ever made." – Film Frenzy

Set in 1967, THE MIRACLE CLUB follows the story of three generations of close friends, Lily (Maggie Smith), Eileen (Kathy Bates), and Dolly (Agnes O'Casey) of Ballygar, a hard-knocks community outside Dublin, who have one tantalizing dream: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes, that place of miracles that draws millions of visitors each year. Just before their trip, their old friend Chrissie (Laura Linney) arrives in Ballygar for her mother's funeral, dampening their good mood and well-laid plans. The women set out on the journey that they hope will change their lives, with Chrissie, a skeptical traveler, joining in place of her mother. The glamor and sophistication of Chrissie, who has just returned from a nearly 40-year exile in the United States, are not her only distancing traits: Old wounds are reopened along the way, forcing the women to confront their pasts even as they travel in search of a miracle. Their shared traumas can only be healed by the curative power of love and friendship.

PG-13, 1h 31m.

"Filled with heart and humanity. It is a story of faith and forgiveness, heartbreak and healing, regret and redemption. This magnificent ensemble cast never misses a beat. Four generations of spectacular female performances. Laura Linney is at her best, holding audiences in her hand with effortless poise. Kathy Bates skillfully unveils a bitter sadness. It's a remarkable turn. Agnes O'Casey's heart pours off the screen. The legendary Dame Maggie Smith treats each moment with care and discovery. She is an absolute joy to watch. THE MIRACLE CLUB is a quietly feminist film that honors the invisible labor of women, the complexities of motherhood, and the belief that change is possible, with or without a miracle." – Reel News Daily

"A celebration of friendship and forgiveness served up with warmth and gentle humour." – Screen Daily

"The transcendent performances of this dream cast are alternately hilarious and heartbreaking. We get to see Kathy Bates crooning 'He’s So Fine' in a church talent show, with 88-year-old Maggie Smith shimmying behind her as a backup singer. That alone, dear reader, is worth the price of admission, and then some." – Saturday Evening Post

"A perfect antidote to all the blazing big budget extravaganzas." – The Movie Minute

JULES follows Milton (Ben Kingsley) who lives a quiet life of routine in a small western Pennsylvania town, but finds his day upended when a UFO and its extra-terrestrial passenger crash land in his backyard. Before long, Milton develops a close relationship with the extra-terrestrial he calls "Jules." Things become complicated when two neighbors (Harriet Sansom Harris and Jane Curtin) discover Jules and the government quickly closes in. What follows is a funny, wildly inventive ride as the three neighbors find meaning and connection later in life – thanks to this unlikely stranger.

PG-13, 1h 27m.

"The cast is a delight, especially Kingsley, whose befuddled glances make your heart swell to the bursting point once you start to realize this is but a sci-fi-laced parable on the alienation that so many mature adults experience in today's society." – San Jose Mercury News 

"JULES is an endearing and unconventional film that delves into the poignant aspects of aging while illuminating the transformative power of discovering one's purpose." – Awards Daily

"This engaging, even quirky little film is a crowd-pleaser that presents Kingsley with a role that fits like a glove, and one we haven't seen him often do." – Deadline Hollywood Daily

"Heartfelt to the end, JULES has no ambitions to ascend the alien-encounter movie canon, but by toying with the E.T. formula, it makes clear a gentle point well taken: Before life ends, the need for childlike wonder comes back around." – Willamette Week

It is the most sacred place on earth, the birthplace of the Lakota that has shaped thought, identity and philosophy for the Očéti Šakówiŋ since time immemorial – the life-giving land known as the Black Hills. Yet with the arrival of the first Europeans in 1492, the sacred land has been the site of conflict between the people it has nurtured and the settler state seeking to exploit and redefine it in its own image. Beginning with the Indian Wars of the 1800s, which saw the U.S. Army continually on the losing-end against Sioux and Arapaho warriors, and leading to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 – one of many broken treaties separating the Oyate from their land – the Black Hills have witnessed a greed-driven gold rush, the systematic erasure of its original inhabitants, and the creation of a most ironic shrine to white supremacy, Mount Rushmore. 

Written and narrated by acclaimed Oglala poet Layli Long Soldier and co-directed by Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli, this powerful new documentary is a searing testament to the strength of the Oyate and a visually stunning rejoinder to the distorted image of a people long-shaped by Hollywood. Using a treasure trove of rich archival material, electrifying on-the-ground footage and intimate interviews with veteran activists and young leaders such as NDN Collective founder Krystal Two Bulls and activist Candi Brings Plenty, LAKOTA NATION VS. UNITED STATES is a lyrical and provocative testament to a land and a people who have survived removal, exploitation and genocide – and whose best days are yet to come. 

PG-13, 1h 58m.

(Summary excerpted from Cedar Sherbert, writer/director originally from the Santa Ysabel Indian Reservation.)

"[A] stunning film..." – New York Times

"Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli's vital LAKOTA NATION VS. UNITED STATES doesn't waste any of its 121 minutes, but it also boasts a number of moments that effectively squeeze the film's entire perspective into a single unforgettable image." – indieWire

"A re-energized debate about stolen land and inequity, spurred by young people invigorated by the history they were never taught, and gaining traction with non-Natives to boot." – Los Angeles Times

"A powerful documentation about a beautiful struggle. You'll be astounded. It's like taking a grad course in Native American studies and loving the professor." – DwightBrownInk.com

A joyful comedy bubbling with hope, SCRAPPER is the incredible debut feature from Charlotte Regan. It's said that it takes a village to raise a child, but 12-year-old Georgie (Lola Campbell) has other ideas. Living alone since her beloved mum died, Georgie fills the flat they shared with her own special magic. But when her absent father Jason (Harris Dickinson) turns up out of the blue, she's forced to confront reality. A dreamy, witty, and unmissable tale of family and fresh starts, SCRAPPER is a film that believes life's not so much about chasing rainbows but snatching fistfuls in both hands.

Winner of a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, SCRAPPER is full of spirit, humor, and formal inventiveness that sets it apart from much of British working-class cinema. Dickinson and remarkable newcomer Campbell imbue irresistible charm into this moving and frequently hilarious story of two emotionally tangled people. 

NR, 1h 24m.

"A masterclass in playful, imaginative storytelling." – WeLoveCinema

"SCRAPPER, which seeks to parse through the fears felt in grief, change, and maturation, is full of rare heart, a spunky embrace of ambitious empathy." – RogerEbert.com

"Watching these two mutually suspicious strangers stumble toward forming a family makes SCRAPPER an invigorating treat, like finding wild flowers bursting out of broken pavement." – Wall Street Journal

"SCRAPPER is just one of those sweet, funny films that takes pleasure in the wonder of youth, with really tight, honest writing that is unexpected and fun." – Chicago Reader

"A singular portrait of a girl full of verve and personality. An astonishing feature debut from Charlotte Regan, with a film as cheeky and imaginative, as pleasantly messy and chaotic, as its heroine." – Flick Filosopher

It wasn’t until he died, in 2016, that the celebrated Italian author and philosopher Umberto Eco went properly viral. Resurfaced as a listicle of sorts, his 1995 essay delineating the salient features of fascism seemed newly timely then, not just as so-called shareable content, but also as tribute to Eco’s deep consideration of how words mean what they mean, and why it matters. Even more widely shared, however, was something wholly wordless: a video of Eco striding through his enormous personal library, which gradually reveals itself as preposterously vast. With the camera tracking his every turn down new book-lined corridors, a sort of sublime rapture sets in; it’s a bit like Danny Torrance Big-Wheeling through the Overlook Hotel in THE SHINING, except what’s spine-tingling here isn’t creepy twin-girl ghosts but the simultaneous magnificence and precariousness of all human knowledge.

A documentary immersion into all things Eco, Davide Ferrario’s UMBERTO ECO: A LIBRARY OF THE WORLD takes us on a tour of Eco’s private library, guided by the author himself. Combining new footage with material he shot with Eco in 2015 for a video installation for the Venice Biennale, Ferrario documents this incredible collection and the man who amassed it. As Eco leads us among the more than 50,000 volumes and his family reflects on his legacy, we also gain insight into the library of the mind of this vastly prolific and original thinker.

In the words of Eco's family, "Supporting and being part of Davide's documentary was motivated by the desire to bear witness to the existence of Umberto's and [wife] Renate's home-library-studio, built by them through the years, where we, as a family, lived for such a long time. There are many books, yes. They fill up the shelves, they overflow on the tables, they occupy boxes and drawers and sometimes they just lie in piles on the floor: they are the vegetal memory, in which Umberto's soul lives on."

In Italian with English subtitles. NR, 1h 20m.

(Summary partially excerpted from Screen Slate.)

"The film becomes a timely epistemological rumination on the difference between knowledge and information, the relationship between memory and technology." – Slant Magazine

"As we wander through the labyrinth we are drawn further and further into its trap, made ever more keenly aware of our own hunger for knowledge, for understanding." – Eye for Film

"Exploring fictional worlds with Eco for a guide remains a diverting and often enlightening pursuit." – New York Times

"The contemporary Italian philosopher, medievalist, critic, commentator and reluctant novelist comes to buoyant, engaging life in this look back at the man and his books, through the eyes of family and friends, and in the author’s own words." – Original Cin

An epic journey of friendship and self-discovery set in the breathtaking Italian Alps, THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS follows over four decades the profound, complex relationship between Pietro (Luca Marinelli) from Turin, and Bruno (Alessandro Borghi), who grew up in an isolated mountainside village. Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, this patient and profound film reaches breathtaking peaks in its careful observance of an intimate friendship. 

In Italian with English subtitles. NR, 2h 27m.

"This combined restraint builds to a devastating torrent of feeling, like tears held back and back and back and then no more; an ode to loves taken for granted in life, it makes a case for renewing and reviving our oldest alliances." – Film of the Week

"The love story that is THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS expresses this ineffable relationship between those who know us best and the places in which we find ourselves with a rough-hewn grace and profound knowingness." – Tribune News Services 

"This film has mystery and passion, it climbs mountainous heights and rewards you with the opposite of vertigo: a sort of exaltation." – Guardian

"It is one of the few films I've ever seen that's about male friendship without buddy-buddy backslapping, and that's quite meaningful." – FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

As summer rolls around again, kids are gathering from all over to attend AdirondACTS, a scrappy theater camp in upstate New York that’s a haven for budding performers. After its indomitable founder Joan (Amy Sedaris) falls into a coma, her clueless "crypto-bro" son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) is tasked with keeping the thespian paradise running. With financial ruin looming, Troy must join forces with Amos (Tony Award winner Ben Platt), Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon), and their band of eccentric teachers to come up with a solution before the curtain rises on opening night.

First-time feature directorial duo Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman authentically celebrate the brilliant and slightly unhinged educators and magical spaces that allow kids to be themselves and find their confidence, nailing the details after experiencing decades of camp life. With a winning comedic ensemble cast and boundless creativity, THEATER CAMP wears its cult-following potential squarely on its sequined shoulders, gifting us with instantly quotable lines and zany, lovable characters in the kind of hilarious mockumentary that deserves rapturous applause.

PG-13, 1h 34m.

"The screenwriters... find ways to turn potential cliches into something fresh and funny. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, jeez, you might even sing." – indieWire

"There is not a minute that went by where I was not laughing hard at a situation, a line reading, an expression by an actor or something going on in the background. A true laugh-a-minute crowd-pleaser that culminates in something unexpectedly beautiful." – Movie Madness Podcast

"THEATER CAMP is part nostalgia, part satire, and the combination of those two themes works wondrously." – AwardsWatch

"The cast of amazingly talented kids are fab. [Noah] Galvin is particularly hilarious as the stage manager/go-to guy. The film is a zany celebration of anyone who has ever felt different, including (and especially) queer kids." – Edge Media Network

"THEATER CAMP is a cult classic waiting to happen, thanks to four friends deciding to make a movie together." – Solzy At the Movies

Wes Anderson brings his signature style to 1955, the set of a Junior Stargazer/ Space Cadet convention in a fictional American desert town. Visually stunning and rife with quirky subplots, ASTEROID CITY is a retrofuturistic sci-fi comedy featuring a trove of Andersenian suspects: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Steve Carell, Margot Robbie, Tilda Swinton, Adrian Brody, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Defoe and, fresh from her Oscar-nominated role in THE WHALE, Hong Chau.

PG-13, 1h 45m.

"ASTEROID CITY's eccentricity, its elegance, its gaiety, and its sheer profusion of detail within the tableau frame make it such a pleasure. So, too, does its dapper styling of classic American pop culture." – Guardian

"A film that sneaks up on you – that fools you into thinking it's just a scattershot collection of discrete little details and gags... But the deeper this movie disappears into itself, the more its play-like rhythms begin to create their own rhymes." – indieWire

"Wes Anderson returns with one of his most dazzling, rich and playfully self-reflexive films to date, brought to eye-popping life by an all-timer ensemble." – Little White Lies

"ASTEROID CITY reminds you that Anderson remains what he's always been, despite what the AI bros might have you believe: completely inimitable." – Daily Telegraph (UK)

Our final film for Summer of Ghibli Fest 2023: From the legendary Studio Ghibli comes TALES FROM EARTHSEA (2006), an animated fantasy epic based on the classic book series by Ursula K. Le Guin.

As crops dwindle and dragons reappear, mankind stands on the verge of total chaos. Lord Archmage Sparrowhawk, a powerful wizard, and Arren, a troubled young prince, search for the force behind this mysterious imbalance that threatens to destroy the land of Earthsea, in a tale of redemption and self-discovery that will take your breath away. Featuring the voices of Timothy Dalton, Willem Dafoe, Cheech Marin, and Mariska Hargitay.

PG-13, 1h 55m. Dubbed in English.

"The set pieces make this well worth watching while director Goro Miyazaki shows he's truly his father's son." – Empire Magazine

"Visual splendour." – London Evening Standard

"The sights and sounds are splendid." – New York Post

"A worthy addition to the singular Ghibli canon." – Time Out