Events & Activities

Films

Movies at a museum? We may not have popcorn, but we do screen thought-provoking art films and films that relate to special exhibitions or the Museum's collection. Topic experts introduce most screenings and lead a discussion after.

Films are free on a first-come, first-seated basis unless otherwise noted.

	The Gospel According to St. Matthew February 5, 1pm Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote and directed this documentary-style look at the life of Jesus Christ. Presenting Christ as a revolutionary figure, Pasolini, himself an atheist, created one of the most compelling and by many standards accurate depictions of the Christian savior's final years, one that is particularly interesting given the director's separation from the belief. Runtime: 137 min. Tickets to this film are $5, FREE for Museum members. Tickets available here. This film is being run in conjunction with Sacred Word and Image: Five World Religions on view January 4th - March 25th. Presented by ASU’s Center for Film, Media and Popular Culture
	Ab/Ex Film Series: The New York School February 12, 1pm American art came of age with the first important modern movement by a group of New York painters who became known as Abstract Expressionists. In the 1940s and 50s their aggressive action painting challenged the School of Paris. Tenaciously American (though several were born abroad), these painters were not content to imitate European masters and styles. They were struggling to express their own transcendental values that emphasized freedom, impulse, and instinct, and favored large-scale canvases with broad, improvisational brushwork. Harold Rosenberg, author of the phrase "action painting," offers his valuable insights, as does fellow critic Clement Greenberg. Predictably, the two differ in their opinions, keeping alive the issues raised by the paintings themselves. Runtime: 56 minutes. Watch clip here. The New York School is part 1 of a 4 part film series chronicling Abstract Expressionism, the first important American art movement of the 20th century. Films in this series will run Feb - May. The Ab/Ex Film Series is brought to you by Ellen and Howard C. Katz.
	Leonardo Live February 19 - February 25 1pm Experience The National Gallery's sold-out, once-in-a-lifetime exhibition Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan at Phoenix Art Museum! See the paintings revealed in astonishing detail through close-up footage on the big screen. "The show is dazzling, mysterious and disturbing. That there are any paintings to show at all is something of a miracle," -The Guardian "the greatest exhibition of the century," -The Telegraph Crowds in the U.K. have been queuing every day from dawn to snatch the few remaining tickets to the gallery. Tickets have been re-selling for $700 a piece. A first for museum audiences, the big-screen presentation of 'Leonardo Live' gives art lovers the opportunity to share in the excitement of viewing the unprecedented and historic exhibition in their own local museum. The exhibition brings together the largest ever number of Leonardo paintings, including one never-before-seen. 'Leonardo Live' is presented by art historian Tim Marlow and presenter Mariella Frostrup, who explore the exhibition and feature detailed examinations of the paintings and interviews with special guests and experts. Learn more. Watch trailer. FOUR SHOWS TO CHOOSE FROM! ● Sun. Feb. 19th at 2pm ● Wed. Feb. 22nd at 3pm ● Fri. Feb. 24th at 2pm ● Sat. Feb. 25th at 2pm Cost: $15 Museum Members or students with ID; $18 general admission. Presented in high definition and Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Runtime: 105 min. Presented by New York-based alternative content distributors BY Experience andPhilGrabskyFilms.com with the support of Eutelsat. Tickets available online here.
	National Theatre Live: Travelling Light February 26, 2pm In a remote village in Eastern Europe, around 1900, the young Motl Mendl is entranced by the flickering silent images on his father's cinematograph. Bankrolled by Jacob, the ebullient local timber merchant, and inspired by Anna, the girl sent to help him make moving pictures of their village, he stumbles on a revolutionary way of storytelling. Forty years on, Motl – now a famed American film director – looks back on his early life and confronts the cost of fulfilling his dreams. Following Vincent in Brixton and The Reporter, Nicholas Wright's new play is a funny and fascinating tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who became major players in Hollywood's golden age. The award-winning Antony Sher – whose previous work with the National Theatre includes Primo and Stanley – returns to play Jacob. As a part of the National Theatre Live series, Travelling Light will be recorded live in London and simulcast to the Museum. Phoenix Art Museum is the exclusive Phoenix-area venue for this thrilling series of great plays. Cost: $15 Museum Members, Arizona Theatre subscribers and students with ID; $18 general admission. Presented in high definition and Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Runtime: TBD. Purchase multi-show passes for the National Theatre Live series. Purchase individual tickets for Travelling Light. Presented by Arizona Theatre Company
	Kundun March 4, 1pm Directed by Martin Scorsese, Kundun follows the life of Tibet's 14th Dalai Lama as he confronts issues relating to his religious role - which is essentially thrust upon him as a young child - Chinese oppression, and other social obstacles. Scorsese crafts a dazzling and gentle film about this Buddhist leader, taking an outsider's view (Scorsese was raised Catholic) of the Dalai Lama's endeavors and how his faith guided his politics. Runtime: 135 min. Watch trailer here. Presented in full HD and 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. Tickets to this film are $5, FREE for Museum members. Tickets available online soon. This film is being run in conjunction with Sacred Word and Image: Five World Religions on view January 4th - March 25th. Presented by ASU’s Center for Film, Media and Popular Culture
	National Theatre Live: Comedy of Errors March 18, 2pm The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare Shakespeare's furiously paced comedy will be staged in a contemporary world into which walk three prohibited foreigners who see everything for the first time As a part of the National Theatre Live series, The Comedy of Errors will be recorded live and simulcast to the Museum. Phoenix Art Museum is the exclusive Phoenix-area venue for this thrilling series of great plays. Cost: $15 Museum Members, Arizona Theatre subscribers and students with ID; $18 general admission. Presented in high definition and Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Runtime: TBD. Purchase multi-show passes for the National Theatre Live series. Purchase individual tickets for The Comedy of Errors. Presented by Arizona Theatre Company
	Ab/Ex Film Series: Robert Motherwell: The Summer of 1971 March 25, 1pm At work on his Elegies and Windows series, Motherwell examines his place in the Abstract Expressionist movement, which he calls the first original American movement in the "mainstream," and its practitioners "the last romantics." He distinguishes between his large paintings and his intimate papier collée. Motherwell recollects the state of American art in the 1940s and the impact of European emigré painters on the younger generation of emerging artists. He discusses the significance of collage, or papier collée, as an artist's medium and explains how he first became involved with this process. Motherwell offers his interpretations of earlier directions in art and his response to the object oriented painting that emerged in America in the 1960s. A unique document of one of the founding members of the New York School. Robert died in 1991. Runtime: 45 min. Robert Motherwell: The Summer of 1971 is part 2 of a 4 part film series chronicling Abstract Expressionism, the first important American art movement of the 20th century. Films in this series run Feb - May. The Ab/Ex Film Series is brought to you by Ellen and Howard C. Katz.
	Gattaca April 1, 1pm Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman team up for a futuristic thriller centering around a genetically altered society of have and have-nots. The action turns on one man's struggle to overcome the way he has been created in a world that ranks people by their genetic make. Featured among the ensemble are Alan Arkin, Jude Loren Dean, and novelist Gore Vidal. "This is one of the smartest and most provocative of science fiction films, a thriller with ideas." - CHICAGO SUN-TIMES "A handsome and fully imagined work. An impressively fine-tuned first feature from Andrew Niccol. Uma Thurman grows more bewitching with each role." - THE NEW YORK TIMES Runtime 108 min. Watch trailer here. Presented in full HD and 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. Tickets to this film are $5, FREE for Museum members. Tickets available online soon. This film is being presented in conjunction with Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century on view Dec 18 - Apr 29.
	National Theatre Live: She Stoops To Conquer April 22, 2pm Hardcastle, a man of substance, looks forward to acquainting his daughter with his old pal's son with a view to marriage. But thanks to playboy Lumpkin, his prospective son-in-law Marlow mistakes him for an innkeeper, his daughter for the local barmaid. The good news is, while Marlow can barely speak to a woman of quality he's a charmer with those of a different stamp. And so, as Hardcastle's indignation intensifies, Miss Hardcastle's appreciation for her misguided suitor soars. Misdemeanors multiply, love blossoms, mayhem ensues. One of the great, generous-hearted and ingenious comedies of the English language, Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer offers a celebration of chaos, courtship and the dysfunctional family. As a part of the National Theatre Live series, She Stoops To Conquer will be recorded live in London and simulcast to the Museum. Phoenix Art Museum is the exclusive Phoenix-area venue for this thrilling series of great plays. Cost: $15 Museum Members, Arizona Theatre subscribers and students with ID; $18 general admission. Presented in high definition and Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Runtime: TBD. Purchase multi-show passes for the National Theatre Live series. Purchase tickets for She Stoops To Conquer. Presented by Arizona Theatre Company
	Ab/Ex Film Series: Rothko's Rooms May 20, 1pm In the late 1940s and '50s, Mark Rothko (1903-70) was one of the leading American artists who created wall-scale abstract paintings that filled the viewer's field of vision and became a form of environment. Rothko spoke of wanting the spectator to feel inside the pictorial space, enveloped in his canvases' luminous colour and apparitional surfaces. Together with painters such as Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still, he wanted to express a sense of the sublime, an idea associated with religious awe, vastness and natural magnificence. Rothko's Rooms in part chronicles the long journey his so-called Seagram murals made from New York to the Tate Modern in London. Runtime: 60 min. Watch trailer here. Rothko's Rooms is part 4 of a 4 part film series chronicling Abstract Expressionism, the first important American art movement of the 20th century. Films in this series will run Feb - May. The Ab/Ex Film Series is brought to you by Ellen and Howard C. Katz.