Grateful Dead, American Beauty (1970)
From the nine months before I was born until now, this album and every
other album by The Grateful Dead has been playing in my life. The
free-spirit sound and attitude of this band is a huge part of who I am
today. This would be a band that has changed the way I’ve thought about
more life situations than religion. The smooth feeling of folk with a
blend of psychedelic sound waves on this album speaks to me in ways
little music does.
Another month, another flood of special-engagement films coming to a theater near you, but not necessarily the ones you expect. You'll be pleased if you're into shorts, documentaries and/or things that are free. Let’s get to ’em!
In chronological order, we have ...
The Dome of Heaven
6 p.m. April 5
University of Central Oklahoma’s Center for Transformative Learning
100 University Drive, Edmond
free
UCO alum Diane Glancy returns to campus tonight to show her new film, The Dome of Heaven, a chronicle of a dysfunctional family’s struggle for stability. The free screening concludes with a Q-and-A with the director, who’s also a well-known, award-winning novelist, poet and playwright.
Red Carpet Film Festival
7 p.m. April 7
Sam Noble Museum of Natural History
2401 Chautauqua, Norman
$5
Six short films will be screened at the fourth annual Red Carpet Film Festival on Saturday. What makes them special is that they are produced by students of the Moore Norman Technology Center’s digital video production and graphic design classes, with scores provided by music students at ACM@UCO. Clocking in at 10 minutes each, the shorts are “Restless,” “My Eyes Are Bigger Than Yours,” “Vengeance,” “The Chill,” “The Guardian” and “Bring Me to Life.” Get tickets — only $5 — and more info at redcarpetfilmfest.webs.com.
Introduction to Documentary Film
2:30-4:30 p.m. April 12
Oklahoma City Museum of Art
415 Couch
$35
Here’s a nifty idea: Take a class for the fun of it, especially when said sessions explore documentaries. That’s the intent behind a two-hour class for six Thursdays, beginning April 12, as part of the University of Oklahoma’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Kathryn Jenson White, an Oklahoma Gazette film critic and associate professor at OU, will lead the classes at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. On the syllabus are such acclaimed, accessible, influential and even revolutionary works as Nanook of the North, The Thin Blue Line, Roger & Me, Grizzly Man, Shut Up and Sing and Taxi to the Dark Side. To register, call 325-3488 or visit olliatou.org.
Blue Like Jazz
April 13
AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, Cinemark Tinseltown, Moore Warren
Having earned $345,000 in 30 days, Blue Like Jazz is the most-funded film in Kickstarter history, and it opens in three metro theaters on April 13. With a cast of unknowns and based on Donald Miller’s best-selling 2003 nonfiction book, the comedy is about a young man who flees his Bible Belt upbringing to attend college at “the most godless campus in America,” and struggles with keeping his faith. I suppose this is counterprogramming to Cabin in the Woods?
Children of War
April 15
Fambul Tok
April 22
Oklahoma City University’s Meinders School of Business
2501 N. Blackwelder
free
OCU’s ongoing, free documentary series continues with Children of War, about former child soldiers in Uganda, on April 15 and Fambul Tok, about forgiveness following Sierra Leone’s brutal war, on April 22. Both are free. For more information, call 208-5472 or visit okcu.edu/film-lit.
Grateful Dead Second Annual Meet-Up at the Movies 2012
7 p.m. April 19
AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, Cinemark Tinseltown, Hollywood Spotlight 14 in Norman
You know how Deadheads follow the Grateful Dead from concert to concert? I wonder if that holds true when the concert is a film. I guess you could find out April 19, when three area theaters host a never-before-seen summer 1989 gig from the Alpine Valley Music Theatre. A slideshow of band photos will precede the feature, as will a previously unreleased live track from 1974. Grab info and tickets at fathomevents.com, man!
Switch
6 p.m. April 24
Oklahoma City University’s Meinders School of Business
2501 N. Blackwelder
free
Screening on the OCU campus for free is the documentary Switch, about trends and the future of the energy industry, with an aim to encourage a balanced national understanding on the topic and its utter importance. Interested? Reserve your complimentary tickets at switchenergyproject.com. —Rod Lott
Attention, Grateful Dead fans! Yes, you, with the VW van and the closet full of bootleg tapes!
Just a few hours from now — 7 p.m. to be exact — Jerry Garcia’s would-be 70th birthday will be recognized at two local theaters with a rare screening of the 1977 concert film The Grateful Dead Movie. This one-night-only event will be shown at Cinemark Tinseltown, 6001 N. Martin Luther King, and the Hollywood Spotlight 14, 1100 N. Interstate Drive in Norman.
Being a presentation of Fathom Events, there’s more to it than just the flick of the classic rock band at work. Bob Weir and other surprise guests join for a “special birthday commemoration” for Garcia, who died in 1995.
For more information, visit fathomevents.com. —Rod Lott
