Fall film festival continues at Magic Lantern
BY SUN STAFF
The Magic Lantern Fall Film Festival will continue through next week with a variety of independent films on both the upstairs screens and the Screening Rooms below. The festival, which started 29 years ago, along with a springtime version, has always brought out even the most analytical of movie fans. It is all as it should be—thought-provoking films, comedies, romance, thrillers and documentaries.
But in the middle of the festival, one of the best-known of the former employees of Magic Lantern Cinemas, Steve Bynum, died. Bynum worked at Magic Lantern beginning at the iconic original venue, an old barn in the middle of Ketchum that was once the Old Fellows Hall.
“We certainly are dedicating this week to him,” said Rick Kessler, owner of Magic Lantern Cinemas, on Monday. “We’re all heartsick at the theatre, as are those who worked with him over the many years he was at Magic Lantern. He was with us for 25 years and was very involved in the film festival. We’re trying to plan a benefit screening event for the family, down the road.”
The new movies will include “Mountain,” an Australian documentary that explores the beauty and mystery of great heights. Narrated by Willem Dafoe, “Mountain” is a “nonstop sequence of mountains on all seven continents: breathtaking ranges and snow-capped peaks are seen from above, below and on their slopes. Additional footage includes climbers, skiers and extreme mountain bikers taking risks that seem beyond outrageous,” writes The New York Times in a review.
An adaption of Nick Hornby’s novel, “Julia, Naked,” is a romantic comedy featuring Rose Byrne and Chris O’Dowd, the latter a prickly teacher of film and television studies who is obsessed with an obscure rocker played by Ethan Hawke. An unreleased demo is discovered, leading to a life-changing encounter with the elusive rocker himself.
The thriller “Searching” follows David Kim (John Cho) as he works to track down his missing daughter where no one has looked yet: his daughter’s laptop.
Imagine finding out there are two other people in the world who are absolutely identical to you. In the documentary “Three Identical Strangers,” three young men, separated at birth and adopted by three different families, find each other. The revelations are heartwarming; the challenges less so. “Three Identical Strangers” was a major hit at its premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
Fred Rogers finally gets his due in “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, an intimate look at America’s favorite neighbor: Mister Rogers. In the documentary, the man who seems so familiar is unmasked. Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Christa McAuliffe, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Robert F. Kennedy and Yo-Yo Ma are among the many famous persons who make appearances.
The Family of Woman Film Festival will present “Tea With the Dames” at 4:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, at the Magic Lantern Cinemas Fall Film Festival.
Brought together for a lively discussion on their longstanding friendships, work and lives are United Kingdom actresses, dames Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith.
“This year, we are very pleased to present the premiere of a film about four older women who will never be marginalized,” said Peggy Goldwyn, Family of Woman Film Festival founder.
Special Thursday presentations such as this will continue to be a feature at Magic Lantern Cinemas, Kessler said.
For movie times, see ad on page 5, or mlcinemas.com.
