The renowned IFC Center is the ultimate entertainment space for New Yorkers seeking out the best in independent film. Originally opened in June 2005, following an extensive renovation of the historic Waverly theater, and shows the latest indie film has to offer.
This Friday, IFC Center is showcasing some key new movies like Oh, Canada, The Girl With the Needle, and It’s A Wonderful Life (which is returning for its annual Holiday run).
Oh, Canada
Q&As Friday with director Paul Schrader & Sunday with Schrader and actor Michael Imperioli.
Fiery but feeling his years and his illness, ailing filmmaker Leonard Fife (Richard Gere) wants to tell his life story, unfiltered, before it’s too late. As the director of lauded documentary exposés, he has much to be proud of, but his avoidance of the Vietnam War draft and his past relationships harbor thorny truths. Finally choosing to reveal the truth and lies in his life and career, Leonard sits for an extended filmed interview with his former student Malcolm (Michael Imperioli), charging ahead with candid stories about his younger self (Jacob Elordi) in the fractious 1960s and beyond. At Leonard’s insistence, his wife and indispensable partner, Emma (Uma Thurman), hears it all.
The Girl With the Needle
Based on a chilling true story, THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE presents a masterful gothic vision with profound contemporary resonance. Both eerie and exquisite, writer-director Magnus von Horn’s latest film tracks young factory worker Karoline as she struggles to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen. When she ends up unemployed, abandoned and pregnant, a charismatic older woman takes her in to help run an underground adoption agency for unwanted children. The two women form an unexpected bond, until a sudden revelation changes everything. Denmark’s official entry to the 97th Academy Awards.
It’s A Wonderful Life
Intros by Donna Reed’s daughter, Mary Owen, Mon, Dec 16 – Thu, Dec 19 at 7:00.
Capra’s paean to small-town values and the ordinary guy who does the right thing is a classic story of redemption and second chances, with James Stewart as a man who’s come to the end of his rope one Christmas Eve and Donna Reed as the high-school sweetheart who became his wife. The supporting cast includes Lionel Barrymore, Beulah Bondi, Ward Bond and Gloria Grahame. It’s A Wonderful Life was the first release from Liberty Films, the pioneering independent label founded by Capra and fellow producer-directors William Wyler and George Stevens, and went on to become not just a perennial holiday favorite, but one of the most beloved of all American movies. Engagement runs December 6-25.
Gonna be checking out the new movies at the IFC Center?
