Nicole Kidman, center, stars as Lucille Ball in ‘Being the Ricardos,’ a film that looks at the couple behind the popular ‘I Love Lucy’ sitcom. ‘Being the Ricardos’ will be part of the opening night gala at the Dietrich Theater.
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‘Belfast,’ ‘The Power of the Dog,’ ‘Licorice Pizza’ among offerings
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‘Belfast’ is director Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical look at growing up during a time of turmoil in Ireland. It will be shown on opening night of the Dietrich Theater’s Winter Fest and several other times during the festival.
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Set in California’s San Fernando Valley during the 1970s, the coming-of-age film ‘Licorice Pizza’ has received an Academy Award nomination for best picture. It will be shown during the Dietrich Theater’s Winter Fest.
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The psychological drama ‘The Power of the Dog,’ starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a charismatic rancher who torments his brother’s new family, is one of several films in the Dietrich Theater’s Winter Fest that have received an Academy Award nomination for best picture.
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“The one that seems to be on everyone’s radar is ‘Belfast’,” film booker Ronnie Harvey said last week, shortly after attending Preview Day at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock.
Preview Day gave local film buffs a chance to watch the trailers for all 21 movies that will be screened during the Dietrich’s Winter Fest film festival, which runs Feb. 18 through March 10.
Based on audience reaction, Harvey could tell Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical story of growing up during a time of turmoil in Ireland was generating excitement.
“People were talking about family members who were from Ireland, and visits they made there, and how they want to come back and see the film,” said Harvey, who serves as general manager at the Dietrich, in addition to booking the films.
“Belfast” is one of three Academy Award best picture nominees that will be part of Winter Fest (the others are the coming-of-age story “Licorice Pizza” and the psychological drama “The Power of the Dog”).
The Branagh film will be screened on opening night of the festival, along with “Being the Ricardos,” which offers a behind-the-scenes look at comedian Lucille Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz.
In the festival schedule you’ll also find films that focus on choreographer George Balanchine, Beach Boys musician Brian Wilson, artist Pablo Picasso, celebrity chef Julia Child and author Kurt Vonnegut.
While not every movie is about someone famous, Harvey noted several are devoted to books and journalism. That includes the Vonnegut documentary, the humorous road trip depicted in “Book Sellers,” the fictionalized newspaper of “The French Dispatch” and the poignant “Writing With Fire,” which takes a real-life look at a group of Dalit women, members of India’s lowest caste, who start their own newspaper.
“These movies really speak to the importance of literature and journalism,” he said.
Foreign films, art films, light-hearted comedies and thought-provoking dramas all are part of the festival, Harvey said, and several feature “women and their complex relationships with society and its expectations of them.”
During the festival’s opening night gala on Feb. 18, film-goers will be treated to light snacks, beer and wine before the first film and popcorn and dessert between the films. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. For reservations, call 570-836-1022 x3.
Tickets to Winter Fest films, excluding opening night, are $8.50, and can be purchased in advance at DietrichTheater.com, at the Dietrich’s ticket booth, or by calling the theater during office hours.
Harvey will lead a post-festival discussion 1 p.m. March 11 at the theater, and all are welcome.
Winter Fest films are:
Being the Ricardos
Feb. 18 opening night; Feb. 20 at 7 p.m.; Feb. 23 at 4:30 p.m.; Feb. 25 at noon; Feb. 28 at 4:30 p.m.; March 4 at noon; March 7 at 2:30 p.m.; March 9 at 4:30 p.m. R, 131 minutes. Starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem. A look at complex romantic and professional relationship of the couple behind the wildly popular sitcom “I Love Lucy.”
Belfast
Feb. 18 opening night; Feb. 20 at 4:30 p.m.; Feb. 22 at 2:30 p.m.; Feb. 26 at 5:00 p.m.; March 2 at 7; March 5 at 4:30 p.m.; March 7 at noon; March 10 at 7 p.m. PG-13, 98 minutes. Starring Jamie Dornan and Dame Judi Dench, this is director Kenneth Branagh’s story of his 9-year-old self.
Best Sellers
Feb. 21 at noon; Feb. 25 at 5 p.m.; March 3 at 7:15 p.m.; March 7 at noon, March 8 at 7 p.m. Not rated, 102 minutes. In a last-ditch effort to save the publishing house she has inherited, a woman embarks on a book tour from hell with the cantankerous author who long ago put the company on the map.
Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road
Feb. 25 at 9:30 p.m.; March 1 at 2 p.m.; March 8 at 5 p.m. Not rated, 93 minutes. The Beach Boys musician reminisces about his legendary career with Rolling Stone editor and longtime friend Jason Fine.
C’mon C’mon
Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.; Feb. 25 at noon; Feb. 27 at 4:30 p.m.; March 2 at noon; March 4 at 7 p.m.; March 10 at 4:30 p.m. R, 109 minutes. Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) and his young nephew forge a transformational relationship when they are thrown together.
Exhibition on Screen: Young Picasso
Feb. 22 at 2:30 p.m.; Feb. 28 at noon; March 4 at 2:30 p.m.; March 9 at noon. Not rated, 90 minutes. A look at the early years of artist Pablo Picasso.
Flee
Feb. 20 at noon; Feb. 24 at 4:30 p.m.; March 1 at noon; March 7 at 2:30 p.m. PG-13, 90 minutes. In Danish, English, Dari, Russian and Swedish with English subtitles. Recounted mostly through animation, Amin Nawabi tells of his journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan and his grappling with a painful secret that threatens to derail the life he has built for himself and his soon-to-be husband.
The French Dispatch
Feb. 19 at 9:30 p.m.; Feb. 22 at noon; Feb. 24 at 7p.m.; Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.; March 3 at noon; March 5 at 9:15 p.m.; March 6 at 2:30 p.m.; March 10 at noon. R, 107 minutes. In English and French with English subtitles. Directed by Wes Anderson, this love letter to journalists is set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional French city.
Hive
Feb. 21 at 5 p.m.; Feb. 27 at noon; March 3 at 2:15 p.m.; March 5 at noon. Not rated, 84 minutes. In Albanian with English subtitles. Against the backdrop of civil unrest and lingering misogyny, Eastern European widows launch a business selling food.
I’m Your Man
Feb. 19 at 2 p.m.; Feb. 24 at 2:15 p.m.; Feb. 28 at noon; March 1 at 7 p.m. March 6 at 5 p.m. March 10 at noon. R, 108 minutes. In German with English subtitles. A playful romance about a woman who participates in a research study, living for three weeks with a humanoid robot designed to be her perfect life partner.
In Balanchine’s Classroom
Feb. 19 at noon; Feb. 23 at noon; Feb. 27 at 2:30 p.m.; March 4 at noon; March 10 at 2:15 p.m. Not rated, 89 minutes. A trip back to the glory years of the New York City Ballet and famed choreographer George Balanchine.
Julia
Feb. 19 at 4 p.m; Feb. 24 at noon; Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.; March 1 at 4:30 p.m.; March 5 at 2:30 p.m.; March 9 at 2:15 p.m. PG-13, 95 minutes. With archival footage, personal photos, first-person narratives, and mouth-watering food cinematography, the film traces Julia Child’s surprising path.
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time
Feb. 21 at 2:30 p.m.; Feb. 28 at 2 p.m.; March 3 at noon; March 8 at 2:30 p.m. Not rated, 127 minutes. A dazzling tribute to the upbringing and creative output of Kurt Vonnegut, author of the antiwar novel “Slaughterhouse-Five.”
Licorice Pizza
Feb. 19 at 7 p.m.;Feb. 24 at 2:30 p.m.; Feb. 26 at noon; Feb. 28 at 2:30 p.m.; March 4 at 9:15 p.m.; March 7 at 4:30 p.m.; March 9 at 7 p.m. R, 133 minutes. Teenagers fall in love and come of age in California’s San Fernando Valley in the 1970s.
The Lost Daughter
Feb. 21 at 7 p.m.; Feb. 25 at 7:15 p.m.; Feb. 26 at 2:30 p.m.; March 2 at 2:15 p.m.; March 4 at 2:30 p.m. R, 121 minutes. Consumed with a young mother and daughter she watches on a beach, a woman is overwhelmed by her memories of the confusion and intensity of early motherhood and the unconventional choices she made.
Parallel Mothers
Feb. 22 at 4:30 p.m.; Feb. 26 at 9:30 p.m.; March 2 at 4:30 p.m.; March 6 at noon; March 10 at 2:30 p.m. R, 123 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles. Two women, each of them single, pregnant by accident and about to give birth, meet in a hospital room. One is exultant; the other, traumatized.
The Power of the Dog
Feb. 21 at noon; Feb. 25 at 2:30 p.m.; March 3 at 4:30 p.m.; March 8 at noon. R, 126 minutes. When his brother brings home a new wife and son, a charismatic rancher (Benedict Cumberbatch) torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.
The Rescue
Feb. 20 at 2 p.m.; Feb. 24 at noon; Feb. 28 at 7 p.m.; March 5 at 7 p.m.; March 8 at noon. PG, 107 minutes. The against-all-odds story of the daring 2018 rescue of 12 boys and their coach from deep inside a flooded cave in Northern Thailand.
Spencer
Feb. 21 at 2:30 p.m.; Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.; Feb. 25 at 2:30 p.m.; March 1 at noon; March 3 at 2:30 p.m.; March 8 at 2:30 p.m. R, 117 minutes. An imagining of what might have happened during a Christmas holiday weekend in the life of Princess Diana, long after her marriage to Prince Charles had grown cold.
The Velvet Queen
Feb. 23 at 2:30 p.m.; March 4 at 4:30 p.m.; March 6 at 7:15 p.m. Not rated, 92 minutes. In French with English subtitles. A visually stunning documentary about the search for an elusive snow leopard, high in the Tibetan plateau.
Writing with Fire
Feb. 22 at noon; March 1 at 2:30 p.m.; March 7 at 7:15 p.m. Not rated, 92 minutes. In Hindi with English subtitles. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. A documentary about the power of journalism in the face of resistance, focusing on the only newspaper in India run by Dalit women.