The following is a guest post by Jenny Paxson of the Packard Campus.
Thursday, February 1 (7:30 p.m.)
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (Columbia, 1967)
In this comedy-drama directed by Stanley Kramer, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy star as an older married couple whose progressiveness is challenged when their daughter (Katharine Houghton, Hepburn’s real-life niece) brings home a new fiancé (Sidney Poitier), a physician who happens to be African American. The plot was novel at the time as anti-miscegenation laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia just six months before the film was released. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? received ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and a posthumous Best Actor nomination for Tracy who passed away just 17 days after filming was completed. The film won for Best Original Screen Play and Best Actress for Hepburn, her second of four wins in this category. It was newly added to the National Film Registry in December, 2017. 108 min.
Friday, February 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Sense and Sensibility (Columbia, 1995)
Emma Thompson won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for this delightful screen production of Jane Austen’s 1811 novel of the same name. The story follows the recently widowed Mrs. Dashwood (Gemma Jones) and her three daughters, poor members of a wealthy English family of landed gentry, as they deal with circumstances of sudden destitution. Thompson also stars as Elinor Dashwood, while Kate Winslet plays Elinor’s younger sister Marianne. Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars and Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon portray their respective suitors. Directed by Ang Lee, the film earned a total of seven Academy Awards nominations including Best Picture. A commercial and critical success, Sense and Sensibility contributed to a resurgence in popularity for Jane Austen’s works. Rated PG. 136 min.
Saturday, February 3 (2 p.m.)
A River Runs Through It (Columbia, 1992)
Robert Redford directed this coming-of age drama about the struggle between temperamentally opposed brothers (Brad Pitt and Craig Sheffer). Set during a period of time between World War I and the early days of the Great Depression, this meditative film focuses on the way the brothers interact through the ritual of fly fishing, a practice handed down to them from their father, a strict Presbyterian minister (Tom Skerritt). Director of Photography Philippe Rousselot won an Oscar for his stunning location cinematography and the film was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original score for Mark Isham. Rated PG. 123 min.
Saturday, February 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Columbia, 1977)
Steven Spielberg wrote and directed this intelligent science fiction drama about multiple UFO sightings that result in human’s first contact with extraterrestrial beings. Richard Dreyfuss and Melinda Dillon star as two civilians who make a pilgrimage to a site where the aliens are expected to converge and government specialists hope to communicate with them. Composer John Williams was nominated for two Best Original Score Academy Awards in 1978–one for Close Encounters and one (winning) for Star Wars. Yet. despite the loss, his “five-tone” motif for this film has become ingrained in popular culture. We will be showing a 35 mm film print of the “Collector’s Edition,” which Spielberg regards as his definitive version of the film. Close Encounters of the Third Kind was added to the National Film Registry in 2007. Rated PG. 138 min.
For more information on our programs, please visit the website at: www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/.