The Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival
Presented by The Jewish Community Center of Washtenaw County

Sunday, May 11 through Thursday, May 15

Established with a generous endowment from Milton Marwil in memory of his wife, Lenore, the film festival (now in its 10th year) provides the community with exclusive cinema selected from the world's best contemporary films on Jewish themes. It is designed to enhance a strong sense of community and inclusion for a broad range of audience members, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Ticket information and full descriptions of the films are available on the festival website.

"Slick, exciting, emotionally trenchant - well done all around." - Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Academy Award Winner: Best Foreign Film. The true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch is the king of counterfeiters. He lives a mischievous life of cards, booze, and women in Berlin during the Nazi-era. Suddenly his luck runs dry when he's arrested by Superintendent Friedrich Herzog and immediately thrown into a concentration camp. Hand-picked for his unique skill, Salomon and a group of professionals are forced to produce fake foreign currency under the program Operation Berhard. Faced with a moral dilemma, Salomon must decide whether his actions, which could prolong the war and risk the lives of fellow prisoners, are ultimately the right ones. Rated R. 98 minutes. German with subtitles.

Official Website      Trailer

"Irresistibly joyous." - John Anderson, Variety

Prepare to be entertained by the inspiring individuals of YOUNG@HEART, a New England senior citizens chorus that has delighted audiences worldwide with their covers of songs by everyone from The Clash to Coldplay. As Stephen Walker's documentary begins, the retirees, led by their strict musical director, are rehearsing their new show, struggling with a discordant Sonic Youth number and giving new meaning to James Brown's "I Feel Good." What ultimately emerges is a funny and unexpectedly moving testament to friendship, creative inspiration, and reaching beyond expectations. Rated PG. 110 minutes.

Official Website      Trailer

The Life Before Her Eyes
Presented by The Ann Arbor Book Festival and the Michigan Theater.

Friday, May 16 at 8:00.

The Ann Arbor Book Festival and the Michigan Theater present a special presentation of THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES, the newly-released film based on the book of the same name by local author Laura Kasischke, who will be present at the screening. Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood star in the film about suburban wife and mother who begins to question her seemingly perfect life and perhaps her sanity on the 15th anniversary of a tragic high school shooting that took the life of her best friend. The event will feature the author in conversation about the book-to-film process. For more information, visit aabookfestival.org.

"Thurman does her best work in years." - Graham Fuller, Vanity Fair

Starring Academy Award-nominee Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood, The Life Before Her Eyes is an intense and visually evocative drama about the loss of youth, investigating how a single moment in time can define an entire life. Based on Laura Kasischke’s visionary novel, the story hinges on a pivotal confrontation: two high school girls held captive by a gunman and forced to make the terrifying choice as to who will live and who will die. Rated R. 90 minutes.

Official Website      Trailer

Dr. James Nissen conducts the Ann Arbor Concert Band in a musical tribute to “The Impossible Dream.” Young Artist Scholarship Competition winner Ashley Harris, an 11th grader at Churchill High School in Livonia, will perform the first movement of Mozart's "Concerto No. 2 in D Major" for flute accompanied by an ensemble of band members. The program also includes “Man of La Mancha,” a selection for band by Frank Erickson, the “Romantic” Third Movement from Symphony No. 2 by Howard Hanson, “Ye Banks and Braes O’Bonnie Doon,” a Scottish folk song by Percy Aldridge Grainger; Aaron Copland’s “An Outdoor Overture,” and the lively “Colossus of Columbia March” by R. Alexander. Sing and whistle along to the “Cheerio” march by Edwin Franko Goldman, drift away, and imagine you’re with on vacation at a seaside resort in Rhode Island as the band plays “Rocky Point Holiday,” by Ron Nelson. Visit aaband.org for more information, or call (734) 434-7876.

Temple Beth Emeth presents Kol Halev & Shir Chadash "Songs of Israel at her 60th" with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. This event is part of the Ann Arbor Jewish Community’s celebration of Israel’s 60th Anniversary.

Journalist Cokie Roberts will discuss her new book, "Ladies of Liberty: Women Who Shaped Our Nation," which continues the story of early America's influential women who helped shape the United States during it’s early stages, and chronicles their various public roles and private responsibilities. Roberts has covered Congress, politics and public policy for the past 15 years at ABC News. In addition to her responsibilities at ABC, Roberts serves as senior news analyst for National Public Radio, where she was the congressional correspondent for more than 10 years. Books will be on sale at the event courtesy of Borders and a booksigning will follow. For additional information, please visit aadl.org.

"A funny and touching story." - Rex Reed, New York Observer

Adapted from Elinor Lipman's novel of the same name, Helen Hunt makes her feature directing debut with this touching story of schoolteacher April Epner (Hunt) and her very unlikely path towards personal fulfillment. Following the separation from her husband (Matthew Broderick) and the death of her adopted mother, April is contacted by her apparent birth mother (Bette Midler), who turns out to be local talk show host Bernice Graves. As Bernice tries to become the mother to April that she was never able to be, April seems to find solace in the arms of the parent of one of her students (Colin Firth), only to find that the mystery to life's questions cannot be solved by a simple revelation. Rated R. 100 minutes.

Official Website      Trailer

Field of Dreams

Part of the Memorial Day Baseball Doubleheader.
Presented as part of our 80th Anniversary celebration

Monday, May 26 at 1:30. Veterans and enlisted military personnel admitted FREE!
Cracker Jacks, popcorn and baseball-themed organ concerts!

Kevin Costner plays a former Sixties idealist who runs a farm in Iowa with his wife and young daughter. After hearing a mysterious, heavenly voice one day, Costner turns one of his cornfields into a baseball diamond. Of course, everyone thinks he's crazy, but in time "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and other ghostly outcasts, who had previously languished in a sort of baseball purgatory, show up to play the game they still love. Soon men from all over the country join them at this baseball shrine, some just to play with the greats, others to mend the broken relationships they had with their fathers -- But all are trying to get back in touch with simpler times through the purity of America's grandest game. James Earl Jones also stars. 1989. Rated PG. 106 minutes. Advance tickets available at ticketweb.com.

It Happens Every Spring

Part of the Memorial Day Baseball Doubleheader.
Presented as part of our 80th Anniversary celebration

Monday, May 26 at 4:00. Veterans and enlisted military personnel admitted FREE!
Cracker Jacks, popcorn and baseball-themed organ concerts!

It Happens Every Spring premiered at the Michigan Theater in 1949 as a "First Ever Authors Premiere." The writer and screenwriter was Valentine Davies, a University of Michigan graduate, who was the head of the Screenwriters Guild for many years and also served as the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

A chemistry professor's boyhood dream comes true when he invents a substance that repels wood. When Vernon Simpson applies his magic formula to a baseball, no batter stands a chance of hitting it! With his new discovery, he tries out for the major leagues, and ends up as the St. Louis Cardinals' winning pitcher in the World Series. But Vernon also learns that an athlete's life is not all it's cracked up to be. Ray Milland, Paul Douglas and Ed Begley. 1949. Rated NR. 87 minutes. Advance tickets available at ticketweb.com.

"Bright and witty." - Robert Koehler, Variety

A runaway audience smash at the Sundance Film Festival! A hilariously fresh and visually inventive take on friendship, family, film heroes and the death-defying adventures of growing up in the video age. It all begins in 1980s Britain, when young Will Proudfoot, raised in isolation among The Brethren, a puritanical religious sect in which music and TV are strictly forbidden, encounters something beyond his wildest fantasies: a pirated copy of Rambo: First Blood. His virgin viewing of the iconic thriller blows his mind – and rapidly expanding imagination – wide open. Rated PG-13. 96 minutes.

Official Website      Trailer

John Sebastian & Roger McGuinn
Presented by The Ark

Part of the Legends of Rock and Roll Series

Friday, August 8 at 8:00

John Sebastian and Roger McGuinn, best known for the influential bands they played with in the 1960s, will perform together as part of our Legends of Rock & Roll series. John Sebastian has had a varied career as a singer, songwriter, and musician. As the leader of the folk-rock band the Lovin' Spoonful, he was responsible for a string of Top Ten hits in 1965-1967 that included the chart-toppers "Daydream" and "Summer in the City," and he returned to number one in 1976 as a solo artist with "Welcome Back." The Lovin' Spoonful was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. As the frontman of the Byrds, Roger McGuinn and his trademark 12-string Rickenbacker guitar pioneered folk-rock and, by extension, country-rock, influencing everyone from contemporaries like the Beatles to acolytes like Tom Petty and R.E.M. in the process. With a career that includes hits like “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Turn, Turn, Turn,” and “Eight Miles High,” it's easy to see why the Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

Bill Maher
Presented by Live Nation

Friday, August 15 at 8:00

Best known as the host of the late-night television talk show Politically Incorrect and the current host of Real Time with Bill Maher, Bill Maher is one of the most politically astute comedians in America today. Real Time with Bill Maher has received multiple Emmy nominations as well as nominations from the Writers’ Guild of America and Producers’ Guild of America. Some of the outstanding guests who have appeared on his show include George Clooney, Howard Dean, Michael Moore, Robin Williams, Dan Rather, Rev. Jesse Jackson, John Edwards and George Carlin. Maher's unflinching honesty and commitment to never pulling a punch have garnered him the respect and admiration of millions of fans.