Landmark Theatres Q&A Podcast

Actor Annette Bening discusses her new film Hope Gap with moderator Scott Mantz.

Recorded at the Landmark in Los Angeles on 3/6/20.

The intimate, intense and loving story of Hope Gap charts the life of Grace (Annette Bening), shocked to learn her husband (Bill Nighy) is leaving her for another after 29 years of marriage, and the ensuing emotional fallout the dissolution has on their only grown son (Josh O’Connor). Unraveled and feeling displaced in her small seaside town, Grace ultimately regains her footing and discovers a new, powerful voice.

Writer/Director Benh Zeitlin speaks to moderator Gregory Ellwood (The Playlist) about his new film WENDY, the seven-years-in-the-making follow-up to his acclaimed 2012 feature BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD. 

This conversation was recorded at the Landmark in Los Angeles on 2/29/20.

The classic story of Peter Pan is wildly reimagined in this ragtag epic from Benh Zeitlin, director of Beasts of the Southern Wild. Lost on a mysterious island where aging and time have come unglued, Wendy (Devin France) must fight to save her family, her freedom, and the joyous spirit of youth from the deadly peril of growing up.

Moderator Jenelle Riley (Variety) speaks with Writer/Director Andrew Heckler and actors Crystal Fox and Austin Hebert about their film BURDEN, which won the Dramatic Audience Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.

This conversation was recorded at the Landmark in Los Angeles on 2/28/20.

When a museum celebrating the Ku Klux Klan opens in a small South Carolina town, the idealistic Reverend Kennedy (Academy Award-winner Forest Whitaker) resolves to do everything in his power to prevent long-simmering racial tensions from boiling over. But the members of Kennedy’s congregation are shocked to discover that his plan includes sheltering Mike Burden (Garrett Hedlund), a Klansman whose relationships with both a single-mother (Andrea Riseborough) and a high-school friend (Usher Raymond) force him to re-examine his long-held beliefs. After Kennedy helps Mike leave behind his violent past, the Baptist preacher finds himself on a collision course with manipulative KKK leader Tom Griffin (Tom Wilkinson). In the face of grave threats to himself and his family, the resolute Kennedy bravely pursues a path toward peace, setting aside his own misgivings in the hopes of healing his wounded community. From Oscar-nominated filmmaker Robbie Brenner (Dallas Buyers Club) and writer/director Andrew Heckler comes this dramatic true story of compassion and grace in the American South.

Writer/Director Michael Winterbottom and Actor Steve Coogan discuss their latest film, GREED, with moderator Scott Mantz.

Recorded at the Landmark in Los Angeles on 2/28/20.

Greed tells the story of self-made British billionaire Sir Richard McCreadie (Steve Coogan, The Trip, Stan & Ollie, Philomena), whose retail empire is in crisis. For 30 years he has ruled the world of retail fashion—bringing the high street to the catwalk and the catwalk to the high street—but after a damaging public inquiry, his image is tarnished. To save his reputation, he decides to bounce back with a highly publicized and extravagant party celebrating his 60th birthday on the Greek island of Mykonos. A satire on the grotesque inequality of wealth in the fashion industry, the film sees McCreadie’s rise and fall through the eyes of his biographer, Nick (David Mitchell). Written and directed by Michael Winterbottom (The Trip, The Wedding Guest, A Mighty Heart, 24 Hour Party People).

Music legend Robbie Robertson of The Band discusses the new documentary ONCE WERE BROTHERS with radio host and music journalist Nic Harcourt (KCSN).

Recorded at the Landmark in Los Angeles on 2/20/20.

Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band is a confessional, cautionary, and occasionally humorous tale of Robertson’s young life and the creation of one of the most enduring groups in the history of popular music, The Band. The film is a moving story of Robertson’s personal journey, overcoming adversity and finding camaraderie alongside the four other men who would become his brothers in music, together making their mark on music history. Once Were Brothers blends rare archival footage, photography, iconic songs and interviews with Robertson’s friends and collaborators including Martin Scorsese, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, and more.

Director Autumn de Wilde and Director of Photography Chris Blauvelt discuss their new film adaptation of Jane Austen's EMMA.  Moderated by filmmaker Gus Van Sant.

Recorded at the Landmark in Los Angeles on 2/22/20.

Jane Austen’s beloved comedy about finding your equal and earning your happy ending is reimagined in this delicious new film adaptation of EMMA. Handsome, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy) is a restless queen bee without rivals in her sleepy little town. In this glittering satire of social class and the pain of growing up, Emma must adventure through misguided matches and romantic missteps to find the love that has been there all along.

Actor Barbara Magnolfi (Olga) speaks about her experience working with Dario Argento in the 1977 horror classic, Suspiria.  

This conversation was recorded prior to a Cine Insomnia midnight screening of the film at Landmark's NuArt Theatre on 2/7/20.

The terrifying first chapter of Dario Argento’s “Three Mothers” Trilogy stars Jessica Harper (The Phantom of the Paradise) as Suzy Banyon, a young American ballet dancer who arrives at a prestigious European dance academy run by the mysterious Madame Blanc (Joan Bennett of TV’s “Dark Shadows”) and Miss Tanner (Alida Valli). But when a series of bizarre incidents and horrific crimes turn the school into a waking nightmare of the damned, Suzy must escape the academy's unspeakable secret of supernatural evil. Here, as in his film Deep Red, writer/director Argento gets a pulse-pounding, thrilling assist from Italian prog musicians Goblin. 

Artist Matthew Barney discusses his latest film work REDOUBT with author Maggie Nelson.

Recorded at Landmark's NuArt Theatre on 1/25/20.

Redoubt loosely adapts the classical myth of Diana, goddess of the hunt and of nature, and Actaeon, a hunter who trespasses on her privacy and is punished. The first new film in several years by internationally acclaimed artist, writer and director Matthew Barney, creator of the CREMASTER Cycle and Drawing Restraint 9, unfolds as a series of hunts in the rugged wilderness of Idaho’s spectacular Sawtooth Mountains. Anette Wachter, a real champion sharpshooter, is cast as Diana, and the director himself plays a grizzled mountain man known as The Engraver. The characters communicate a mythological narrative through dance, letting movement replace language as they pursue each other and their prey. By layering classical myths, cosmological myths, and American myths about humanity’s place in the natural world, the film creates a complex portrait of the American landscape. 

Director Bernard-Henri Lévy discusses his pair of documentaries PESHMERGA and THE BATTLE OF MOSUL, screening together theatrically at select Landmark Theatres, with Mitchell Landsberg (Senior Editor - LA Times).

This conversation was recorded at Landmark's NuArt Theatre on 1/17/20.

Peshmerga: In 2015, Bernard-Henri Lévy travelled to the front lines of ISIS, seeking first-hand understanding of the ongoing conflict. With unprecedented access and disarming immediacy, Lévy and a team of cameramen journey across the 650 miles separating Iraqi Kurdistan from Islamic troupes. In close quarters with the Peshmergas, the Kurdish fighters who show unfailing determination in their harrowing battle against Jihadi fundamentalism, the images captured provide an arresting perspective on a still-unfinished war with immense global implications.

The Battle of Mosul: Picking up where Peshmerga left off, the most recent of Bernard-Henri Lévy’s riveting cinematic dispatches begins on October 17, 2017, the first day of the battle to free Mosul from the Islamic State. The declared capital of ISIS and the burial place of the Prophet Jonah, the city of Mosul holds great significance Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike. Following both the Kurds and the Iraqi Golden Division Special Forces, Lévy and his team once again provide front row access at every step of the strategic battle culminating in the reclamation of the eastern half of the city.

This episode features two Q&As recorded after two sneak preview screenings of PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, the first featuring writer/director Céline Sciamma and actors Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel, moderated by Tracy Gilchrist (Feminism Editor - The Advocate), and the second featuring Sciamma and cinematographer Claire Mathon, moderated by Jenelle Riley (Variety).  

These Q&As were recorded at the Landmark in Los Angeles on 1/7/20 and 1/10/20.

France, 1760. Marianne is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Because she is a reluctant bride-to-be, Marianne arrives under the guise of companionship, observing Héloïse by day and secretly painting her by firelight at night. As the two women orbit one another, intimacy and attraction grow as they share Héloïse’s first moments of freedom. Héloïse's portrait soon becomes a collaborative act of and testament to their love. Winner of a coveted Cannes prize and one of the best reviewed films of the year, Portrait of a Lady on Fire solidifies Céline Sciamma as one of the most exciting filmmakers working in the world today. Noémie and Adèle Haenel turn the subtle act of looking into a dangerous, engrossing thrill, crafting the most breathtaking and elegant performances of the year. To watch Marianne and Héloïse fall in love is to see love itself invented onscreen. With contemporary themes in period dress, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is one of the greatest love stories ever told.