The film festival season rolls on, and this week it rolls on north of the Valley, at the Sedona International Film Festival. The 31st annual cinema shindig runs for nine days, from Saturday, February 22 through Sunday, March 2.
The fest lives up to the term “International” in its title. Along with numerous titles from the U.S., many of the more than 150 films on this year’s schedule are from other countries, ranging from Norway and Denmark to France to Macedonia to Canada to China. There’s a heavy focus on documentaries, on an array of subjects from Bob Mackie to Harry Belafonte to Pol Pot. One of the documentary shorts is of local interest: Lisa Dahl: Blessed by Grace, a profile of the Sedona-based restaurateur.
There are live events, too; like filmmaking workshops and special guests. The opening night event, at 8 p.m. Saturday, is Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two-Woman Show. Among other guests are veteran actress Diane Baker, who appears with director Randal Kleiser, to discuss her career in films from The Diary of Anne Frank to Silence of the Lambs.
Individual movie tickets are $15 for SIFF members; $18 for non-members. A variety of packages and festival passes are also available.
If you aren’t able to escape to the Red Rocks this weekend, there’s still a cinematic treat you can enjoy here in the Phoenix area. On Tuesday, February 25, Harkins Theatres features Singin’ in the Rain, probably the greatest and certainly the most fun of all Hollywood musicals, as part of the “Tuesday Night Classics” series at several multiplexes across the Valley.
Set in Hollywood at the beginning of the talkie era, the 1952 film stars Gene Kelly as a matinee idol threatened by the new technology. Also in the cast are Debbie Reynolds as Kelly’s love interest, the marvelous Jean Hagen as his idiotic, conniving screen partner, Donald O’Connor as his funny pal, a very young Rita Moreno, and the awe-inspiring legs of Cyd Charisse. The dance numbers, choregraphed by Kelly and director Stanley Donen to the songs of Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, are about as high-grade a distillation of joy as has ever made it onto film.
If you’ve never seen this treasure, it’s a good one not to miss. Tickets are just $5! Showtimes for the series are at 7 p.m. Tuesdays, with encore shows at 1 p.m. on Wednesdays. Go to harkins.com for theaters and details.
