Festival History: Films from Previous Festivals
2017
Thursday, Feb. 9
7 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Special Event: Alexandra Hidalgo lecture
The Leonard Oakland Film Festival is pleased to welcome Alexandra Hidalgo, assistant professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures at Michigan State. Hidalgo will host this pre-festival event with a reading and lecture on film and video production, film studies, gender, race, immigration and memoirs.
Friday, Feb. 10
7 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Film No. 1: Vanishing Borders (2014)
Hidalgo’s most recent feature documentary tells the story of four immigrant women living in New York City who are transforming their communities through their work, activism, and the way their cultural hybridity influences their interactions with others.
A Q&A with filmmaker Alexandra Hidalgo will follow the viewing.
Saturday, Feb. 11
7 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Film No. 2: Inherent Vice (2014)
Including a faculty panel of experts on Paul Thomas Anderson and Thomas Pynchon, including English professors Casey Andrews and Fred Johnson.
In 1970, drug-fueled Los Angeles private investigator Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend.
Sunday, Feb. 12
3 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Film No. 3: Son of Saul (2015)
Hosted by Whitworth Professor of English Laurie Lamon, an expert in holocaust-themed poetry of witness.
In the horror of 1944 Auschwitz, a prisoner forced to burn the corpses of his own people finds moral survival in trying to salvage from the flames the body of a boy he takes for his son.
Thursday, April 20
7 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Special Event: Lincoln (2012) viewing and Ron White introduction
The university and the LAOFF welcome Ronald White, a former Whitworth professor and university chaplain, writer for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times, and best-selling author of A. Lincoln: A Biography (2009). White currently serves as a fellow at the Huntington Library, in San Marino, Calif.
As the Civil War rages, America’s 16th president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield and disagrees fiercely with many of his own cabinet members about the decision to emancipate the slaves.
2016
Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016
7 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Alumni filmmakers Ryan Graves, '11, and Kelly McCrillis, '09, will join us to show their new feature-length film, EMILY.
Film No. 1: EMILY (2015)
Nathan and Emily are a young married couple in Portland, Ore. Their daily struggles are typical for twenty-somethings: career anxieties, finding time for friends, being there for family. As a couple, they've done well to help each other out. When Nathan suffers a devastating crisis of faith, his and Emily's once-contented marriage collapses. He struggles desperately to find himself and to remain the husband Emily married, cared for, and loved. Meanwhile, Emily's own faith is challenged as she's forced to question what it means to stay true to her husband. They both know that the marriage must change. But into what?
Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016
7 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Film No. 2: Ida (2013)
Anna, a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland, is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a dark family secret dating back to the years of the Nazi occupation.
Monday, Feb. 22, 2016
7 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Matthew Rindge, Ph.D., professor of religious studies at Gonzaga University, will be discussing his second book, Profane Parables: Film and the American Dream, due out in April, and introducing the final film, Fight Club, which is featured in the book. At GU, Rindge teaches Bible and Film, Bible and Ethics, and Life and Teachings of Jesus.
Film No. 3: Fight Club (1999)
An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses paths with a devil-may-care soapmaker, forming an underground fight club that evolves into much, much more.
2015
Saturday, Feb. 7
7 p.m.: The Bing Crosby Theater in partnership with the Spokane International Film Festival
Film No. 1: Wildlike (2014)
Mackenzie, troubled but daring teenage girl, is sent by her struggling mother to live with her uncle in Juneau, Alaska. After being forced to run, Mackenzie finds herself lost and with no one else to turn to, so she shadows a backpacking loner. Together, they cross the wilderness and discover sanctuary in the last frontier.
10 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Late-Night Film No. 1: Unforgiven (1992)
Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job with the help of his old partner and a young man.
Saturday, Feb. 21
7 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Film No. 2: Forgiveness: A Time to Love & A Time to Hate (2011)
There will be no late-night film; this allows for a full Q&A session with Helen Whitney following the conclusion of her documentary. Whitney's documentary, the first 90 minutes of a four-hour series developed for PBS, provides an intimate look into the spontaneous outpouring of forgiveness.
Saturday, March 7
7 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Film No. 3: Calvary (2014)
After he's threatened during a confession, a good-natured priest must battle the dark forces that are closing in around him.
10 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
Late-Night Film No. 2: The Princess Bride (1987)
A classic fairy tale, as read by a kindly grandfather, with swordplay, giants, an evil prince, a beautiful princess, and, yes, some kissing.
2014
Saturday, Feb. 8
Film No. 1: Mud (2012) | Director: Jeff Nichols
Two young boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and to reunite him with his true love. Set in the Arkansas delta, the young boys learn about the unspoken rules and risks of love and the reality of heartbreak.
Late-Night Film No. 1: Vision Quest (1985) | Director: Harold Becker
In this coming-of-age movie, a high school wrestler decides to become something more than a high school athlete and sets his sights on a prize many don't believe he can win. He sets out to reach his goal alone, until a drifter moves in and changes his life.
Saturday, Feb. 15
The program opens with A Portrait of Leonard Oakland, produced by Whitworth alumna Andrea Palpant Dilley, '00.
Film No. 2: 20 Feet from Stardom (2013) | Director: Morgan Neville
Millions know their voices, but no one knows their names. Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight, and this is the untold true story of the singers behind some of the greatest musical legends of the 21st century. Triumphant and heartbreaking in equal measure, the film is both a tribute to the unsung voices who brought shape and style to popular music and a reflection on the conflicts, sacrifices and rewards of a career spent harmonizing with others.
Late-Night Film No. 2: The Basket (1999) | Director: Rich Cowan, 1999
A new teacher introduces the game of basketball to his students, using its lessons to teach about teamwork and life. When the team is entered into a game against an established adult squad, the community must pull together and realize that understanding and acceptance ultimately triumphs over hate.
Saturday, Feb. 22
This program opened with Don Quixote, a short film featuring puppets that is the second installment in alumnus Steven Ritz-Barr's "Classics in Miniature." It is the story of an aging Spanish gentleman who reads so many books about chivalry that he imagines himself to be a knight. Accompanied by his faithful squire Sancho Panza, he embarks on a series of absurdly fantastic adventures across 16th century Spain. Steven Ritz-Barr, '78, was available for a Q&A following the showing.
Film No. 3: The Band's Visit (2007) | Director: Eran Kolirin
A band comprising members of an Egyptian police force head to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, only to find themselves lost in the wrong town.
Late-Night Film No. 3: Benny & Joon (1993) | Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
After losing a bet, a mechanic who cares for his mentally ill sister takes in the unusual cousin of a friend. This is the story of how two eccentric individuals find each other and fall in love.
2013
Thursday, Feb. 21
Film No. 1: Footnote (2011) | Director: Joseph Cedar
An Israeli professor and his son enter into a heated competition when their roles are reversed. The son has relied on recognition to fuel his sense of self-worth, while his father has shunned the spotlight. But a prestigious honor reveals the father's vanity, and the son's intense jealousy drives him to consider the unthinkable.
Friday, Feb. 22
Film No. 2: Get Low (2009) | Director: Aaron Schneider, Rated PG-13
A recluse (Robert Duvall) emerges from the Tennessee woods after 40 years; he is the topic of much town gossip – including rumors that he's a cold-hearted killer. He walks into a funeral parlor, announces plans to throw himself an epic party before his impending death, and surprises everyone at the much-anticipated gathering by revealing why he shunned society for life in the woods.
Late Night Movie No. 1: Jackie Brown (1997) | Director: Quentin Tarantino, Rated R
A flight attendant gets caught smuggling gun money and has to choose whether to rat out her murderous boss or keep quiet and do time. She meets a burned-out older guy whose marriage has fallen apart, and he becomes instrumental in both her life and her plan to stay out of jail and cop a million-dollar payoff.
Saturday, Feb. 23
Film No. 3: 4 Little Girls (2001) | Director: Spike Lee, not rated
In 1963, four girls, ages 11-14, were killed in an infamous church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. This movie, Lee's first feature-length documentary, examines not only the crime, its aftermath, and its pivotal place in civil-rights history, but the lives of the four girls as their family and friends remember them.
Late Night Movie No. 2: Bill Cosby: Himself
10 p.m., Robinson Teaching Theatre
In this concert movie from the zenith of Cosby's on-stage comedic career, the Cos holds court on subjects ranging from childbirth to substance abuse. While his subjects can be serious, his perspectives are usually hilarious and always entertaining.
2012
Thursday, Feb. 16
What Poor Child is This? (2011) | Director: T.N. Mohan
The first night of the fourth annual LAO Festival opened with the premier of this 90-minute documentary about the plight of the poor in America. Produced by Whitworth President Beck A. Taylor, the film features insights from an array of national authorities, as well as suggestions for improving the future of America's poor.
Midnight Movie No. 1: Young Frankenstein (1974) | Director: Mel Brooks
A young neurosurgeon inherits the castle of his grandfather, the famous Dr. Victor von Frankenstein, in this classic comedy.
Friday, Feb. 17
Breaking Away (1979) | Director: Peter Yates
This movie is a perfectly calibrated blend of sports thrills, you-can-do-it inspiration, coming-of-age sensitivity, and smart, cusp-of-the-'80s humor. The four buddies at the heart of the story, high school grads who are working-class townies surrounded by the gownies who attend the big university in their Indiana town, don't know what to do next with their lives. Their options feel stunted, but one, at least, has a dream.
Midnight Movie No. 2: Bad News Bears (1976) | Director: Michael Ritchie
An unflinching and hilarious look at the underbelly of Little League baseball in southern California.
Saturday, Feb. 18
The Baader-Meinhoff Komplex (2008) | Director: Uli Edel
A look at Germany's terrorist group, The Red Army Faction (RAF), which organized bombings, robberies, kidnappings and assassinations in the late 1960s and '70s.
Midnight Movie No. 3 at 11 p.m.: Harold & Maude (1971) | Director: Hal Ashby
A young man with a death wish and a 79-year-old woman high on life find love in Hal Ashby's cult black comedy.
2011
Feb. 17, 2011
Movie No. 1: Favela Rising
The first night of this third annual festival opens with the short film Five Feet High and Rising. The film, directed by Peter Sollett, is about a 12-year-old boy growing up on New York City's Lower East Side.
Feb. 18, 2011
Movie No. 2: I've Loved You So Long
The evening opens with the short film Tackle Box. Directed and produced by Matthew Mebane, the film, based on a poem by Patti White, is about an elderly couple who fished the Low Country waters for decades and what happens after one of them dies.
Feb. 19, 2011
Movie No. 3: Norman
Filmed in Spokane, and directed by Jonathan Segal, Norman is the story of a troubled high-school kid who pretends to be dying of cancer as he confronts problems with his new girlfriend and terminally ill father and struggles with his daily existence. This is the movie's regional premiere, and the filmmakers will be on hand for a post-viewing discussion. The program opens with winners of Whitworth's second annual student-made short-film contest.
2010
Feb. 18, 2010
Movie No. 1: Waltz with Bashir
The event opened with a short film, Saving Lives in World War II, produced by Whitworth alumnus Doug Bocaz-Larson, '93, and his wife, Kim, who received a recent Emmy Award in the Southwest /Rocky Mountain region for their work on this historical documentary.
Feb. 19, 2010
Movie No. 2: Sita Sings the Blues
The event opened with the documentary, A Portrait of Leonard Oakland, produced by Whitworth alumna Andrea Palpant Dilley, '00.
Feb. 20, 2010
Movie No. 3: The Visitor
The event opened with the announcement of winners of a student-made short-film contest and a showing of their films.
2009
Feb. 20, 2009
Movie No. 1: Soul Searching: A Movie about Teenagers and God
The film is a documentary by Whitworth alumni and former Oakland students Tim Eaton, '74, and Mike Eaton, '87. The viewing was followed by a Q&A session with the filmmakers.
Feb. 21, 2009
Movie No. 2: Bull Durham
Director Ron Shelton introduced his film, which was nominated for an Academy Award for best original screenplay in 1989. The movie served as Oakland's on-set crash course in contemporary filmmaking.
Feb. 22, 2009
Movie No. 3: Persepolis
An international film directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi, this is a poignant coming-of-age story of a precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl; the film begins during the Islamic Revolution. Oakland and the KPBX-FM Movies 101 team presented a post-film discussion.