Summer Sizzles with Spectacular Cinema: Jacob Burns Film Center Unveils Unmissable Lineup

James Baldwin Abroad on Juneteenth, centennial celebration of Safety Last! with live accompaniment, new releases including Barbie, Oppenheimer on 35mm, Asteroid City, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, along with fan favorite series such as Pride, Sounds of Summer, Community Matters, and Life on Stage are among major programs coming this summer.

Pleasantville, NY – May 24, 2023 – The Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC) announced today a variety of unique, one-of-a-kind events, series, and screenings for summer 2023. With refreshed theaters after the completion of our spring renovation project, the JBFC is jam-packed with much awaited new releases, beloved repertory series, special events, and thought-provoking Q&As featuring filmmakers, authors, and more.

Highly Anticipated New Releases Include:

• May 26: You Hurt My Feelings
  From acclaimed filmmaker Nicole Holofcener (Friends With Money, Enough Said) comes a sharply observed comedy about a novelist (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) whose longstanding marriage is suddenly upended when she overhears her husband give his honest reaction to her latest book. A film about trust, lies, and the things we say to the people we love most.
• May 26: Raging Bull—4K Restoration!
  Robert De Niro teams up with director Martin Scorsese to create one of cinema’s eternal masterpieces. Nominated for eight Academy Awards® including Best Picture and Best Director, this contemporary classic is “ambitious, violent, poetic and lyrical” (The New York Times).
• June 2: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
  Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Academy Award®-winning Spider-Verse saga. Tickets to the 11:00 screening on Saturday, June 3 include a free craft activity for kids, presented in partnership with Super Awesome Artland. We are also piloting sensory friendly screenings that cater to the needs of individuals who may find traditional moviegoing overwhelming, starting with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse on Monday, June 5 at 4:00.
• June 23: Asteroid City
  In the newest film from Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch), the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention—organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition—is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events. It features a large ensemble cast that includes Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, and more.
• July 21: Barbie
  To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. After being expelled from Barbieland for being a less than perfect-looking doll, Barbie sets off for the human world to find true happiness. From Academy Award®-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig (Little Women, Lady Bird) comes Barbie, starring Academy Award® nominees Margot Robbie (Bombshell, I, Tonya) and Ryan Gosling (La La Land, Half Nelson) as Barbie and Ken.
• July 21: Oppenheimer (Presented on 35mm)
  The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb. Directed by Academy Award® nominee Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk, Interstellar) and starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, and Robert Downey Jr. The JBFC is one of a select few theaters in the country to project the film on 35mm.

Special Events and Limited Engagements Include:

• July 8 at noon: Centennial Celebration of Safety Last! with live musical accompaniment
  Enjoy a special JBFC Kids event celebrating one of America’s most iconic silent films—Harold Lloyd’s 1923 romantic-comedy Safety Last! This timeless classic will be brought to life with a live musical performance by Ben Model, one of the nation’s leading silent film accompanists. This film is part of JBFC Kids programming—Future JBFC Kids titles include Mary Poppins (1964), The Muppet Movie, Labyrinth, The Witches, and more. JBFC Kids is presented in partnership with the Westchester Library System.
• June 12 at 6:30: The Phantom of the Opera screening followed by live performance and conversation with musical theater star (and Pleasantville local) Ali Ewoldt, moderated by JBFC Board Member/Broadway Producer Dori Berinstein
  The Phantom may have left Broadway after 35 years, but you can experience the power of this smash-hit musical all over again at the Jacob Burns Film Center! This film is part of JBFC Series Life on the Stage: Conversation and Film, which is sponsored by the Rea Charitable Trust and presented in partnership with the Entertainment Community Fund.
• June 19 at 7:00: James Baldwin Abroad: A Program of 3 Films
  This riveting program is comprised of three short documentaries—all recently restored—centered on the iconic writer, thinker, and activist James Baldwin. The program includes James Baldwin: From Another Place (dir. Sedat Pakay, Turkey, 1973), Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris (dir. Terence Dixon, UK, 1971), and Baldwin’s N***** (dir. Horace Ové, UK, 1968) and will be screened as a Juneteenth special event. This program screens as part of JBFC Series REMIX: The Black Experience in Film, Media, and Art, which is presented with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Returning this Summer are the Following Fan Favorite Series:

• Pride: A Celebration Of Queer Stories
  June 1–26, 2023
  Discover the Black Queer origins of rock n’ roll in Little Richard: I Am Everything, which is bookended between the annual JBFC Pride Parking Lot Party and a post-screening Q&A with director Lisa Cortés. Celebrate trans lives with a special Community Matters preview screening of Sundance award-winning Mutt followed by a special Q&A with director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, or enjoy the feel-good true story of British LGBT activists Pride, which screens with short film Incomplete, and will be followed by a Q&A with Incomplete filmmaker Sasha Korbut. Plus, relive iconic moments from queer cinema history with The Watermelon Woman and Funeral Parade of Roses, the latter of which will feature a Q&A with writer Kyle Turner, author of The Queer Film Guide: 100 Great Movies that Tell LGBTQIA+ Stories. The JBFC Pride Party is sponsored by Human Rights Campaign and presented in partnership with WFUV. This series is presented in partnership with The LOFT LGBTQ+ Community Center.
• Senior Afternoon Cinema: The Lubitsch Touch & Carousing with Cary
  June 8–September 12
  Films Include: Classic Cary Grant pairings with Audrey Hepburn in Charade (June 8) and Jimmy Stewart and Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story (June 27), followed by a series of notable pre-Code greats by German-American Director Ernst Lubitsch: Trouble in Paradise (July 6), To Be or Not to Be (Aug. 10), and Heaven Can Wait (Sept. 12). All titles through August will be presented on 35mm, with encore screenings at 7:00. Senior Afternoon Cinema is sponsored by The Knolls—A Bethel Community and ArtsWestchester.
• World Stage on Screen
  June 15–September 7
  Programs Include: Othello (June 15), David Tennant in GOOD (July 13), Zachary Quinto in Best of Enemies (Aug. 17), and Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag (Sept. 7).
  This series brings the best of international theater and fine arts programming to the silver screen for matinee and evening screenings. World Stage on Screen is sponsored by The Knolls—A Bethel Community.
• Sounds of Summer
  July 10–August 30
  The beloved JBFC series returns this year, starting with a Prince trifecta: his concert film Sign ‘O’ the Times, his acting debut in Purple Rain, and directorial debut in the 1986 romantic comedy Under the Cherry Moon. The series will celebrate fifty years of hip hop with Rhyme & Reason, a hundred years of Tito Puente with a 35mm screening of The Mambo Kings, and explore the world of doo-wop in Heart & Soul with a filmmaker Q&A, live music, and reception. Other featured artists include Bob Dylan, Carole King, David Crosby, Selena, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Sounds of Summer is sponsored by The Lucille and Paul Maslin Foundation and WFUV is the exclusive media partner.
• Movie Milestones
  May 31–Aug 23
  A series of anniversary screenings highlighting iconic and influential classics from around the globe.
  Programs Include: 75^th Anniversary of The Red Shoes (May 31), 30^th Anniversary screening of Linklater classic Dazed and Confused (June 21), 50^th Anniversary screening of Touki Bouki (July 27), and 60^th Anniversary screening of Kurasawa feature High and Low (Aug. 23).
• After Hours: All Dolled Up
  July 7–29
  This July, brace yourself for a riveting journey into the macabre world of dolls, starting with Bride of Chucky, where the iconic killer doll Chucky and his soulmate Tiffany terrorize unsuspecting victims while navigating the challenges of their relationship, followed by a dep dive into the seedy underbelly of Hollywood in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Next up is a subversive twist on the family film genre in Small Soldiers as a teenager discovers that his Commando Elite action figures have been programmed with deadly military technology and lastly, explore the unsettling phenomenon of robotic caretaking in M3GAN.
  After Hours is a part of our Late Night programming serving up cult classics every Friday & Saturday night running through the end of October.