For the uninitiated, some of what is celebrated during the Academy Awards can seem like a whole bunch of hoopla for films no one has ever heard of. But like a day at the flea market, the Oscars are about finding the gems in an otherwise uninspiring landscape, about seeing filmmakers at the top of their craft, films that push the edges of cinematic achievement.

This year, the Indy Film Fest has teamed with the IMA to present three of the diamonds unearthed this year, thanks to the Oscar nominations. A documentary, an animated feature film, and a foreign language film create a line-up of movie-going that would beat any day wandering the booths at an antique mall.

Hell and Back Again

Still from "Hell and Back Again," 2011.

After The Hurt Locker swept the awards season in 2010, the appetite for war films might’ve waned a bit. But this 2011 Sundance Film Festival selection revisits the impact of war on our lives in a more personal, tangible way than maybe any film to date has. The story of one soldier who goes to war and comes home a changed man – physically and mentally – achieves an intimacy that won’t soon leave the viewer.

Chico & Rita

Still from "Chico & Rita," 2010.

Although it’s an animated feature film, this lush, Latin love story is no Pixar playground romp. Having screened at festivals in Toronto, Barcelona and Chicago, the film follows a musician and a singer whose talents bring them together and may ultimately lead them apart. A captivating sight for the eyes and an audio adventure for the ears, Chico & Rita is animation all grown up.

Bullhead

Still from "Bullhead," 2011.

One of five foreign language films competing for Oscar gold, Bullhead is a gritty tale imported from Belgium. It’s not the gun or drug trade at the center of this dark but impressive film, but the cattle industry, where one small farmer struggles to make an honest living. When he’s approached to make an unscrupulous deal, a series of events unfold that will have far-reaching consequences.

Dozens (hundreds!) of films are theatrically released in a calendar year, and the Academy Awards elevate those that are truly an accomplishment in filmmaking. Featuring these nominees in Indianapolis is a chance to experience firsthand the diverse slate of films that are vying for an Oscar with an audience of fellow film lovers.

Tickets are available to each of the three films individually, but we recommend you take advantage of the day and pick up a three-film ticket for just $20. It’s the perfect way to prepare for the big event on Sunday night, which, we humbly suggest, is best enjoyed at the Indy Film Fest’s annual viewing party.

Filed under: Film, Public Programs, The Toby

Diane writes about the film A Matter of Life and Death (1946), screening at the Toby this Friday at 7pm as part of the Winter Nights film series.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946). Eagle-Lion Films Inc./Photofest ©Eagle-Lion Films Inc. Photo by Fred Daniels.

There are some old movies that just grab you—heart and mind—and carry you away before you even realize it.  This is one of those films, a British film made during the final days of World War II, that is still on the favorites list of British filmgoers 60 years later.  It is wonderful, especially on a big screen. Oliver Sacks, Martin Scorsese and Steven Sondheim loved it as teenagers.  Teachers–bring your students. Anyone looking for a great night out will be captivated by the drama, the humor, and love despite great difficulties.  If you would like to know more about the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, you will enjoy visiting The Powell and Pressburger Pages.

And if you want to enjoy the film without any more preconceptions, you can stop reading now.

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Filed under: Film, Public Programs, The Toby

As soon as the first photographs were produced in the 1830s, there was a desire to make an accurate color photograph.  Images were painted, dyed, and colored with various inks for years until James Clerk Maxwell devised a way to make true color images that finally worked in 1861.

The first color photograph, a tartan ribbon, using Maxwell’s method.

Maxwell’s idea was to use standard black and white film and to take three images: the first with a red filter, the second with a green filter, and the third with a blue filter.  It was a clever idea that merged the idea of art’s color wheel with the scientific ideas of light frequency.  Almost all color imaging uses Maxwell’s principles to this day.

When motion pictures were invented in the 1890s, there was once again a desire for color images.  By 1900, the Pathé company in France had designed an elaborate system to hand-color film frames with the use of stencils.  Others developed ways of tinting film to make certain scenes have a different artistic feel.

Still photographers had no trouble using Maxwell’s method of making color images, but it was more difficult for motion picture cameramen.  While the still photographer could simply load a new plate, put up a new color filter, and reshoot, the motion picture cameraman had to take at least 16 images per second!

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Filed under: Film, Public Programs, The Toby

The Eames are everywhere. Design blogs spill over with images of their iconic furniture. They’re stars in LACMA’s Pacific Standard Time exhibition, California Design, 1930-1965: “Living in a Modern Way (as well as others).  Ice Cube professed his admiration for them. But as a new documentary shows, though they may have started with a chair, their real impact lies in the multi-faceted nature of their work and the unfettered creativity they brought to their four decade long career. Like Ice Cube said, “They were doing mash-ups before mash-ups even existed.”

A few months ago, Richard McCoy – the IMA’s Conservator of Objects and Variable Art – and Tricia Gilson conducted a two part interview on Art21′s blog with Daniel Ostroff, a consultant for Herman Miller and producer/editor of EamesDesigns.com, a website rich with information about the Eames and their work. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s a must-read (part one here, part two here).

The IMA will continue the celebration of this dynamic duo tomorrow with a screening of Eames: The Architect and the Painter in the Toby at 7pm. Come and see if it sparks any ideas of your own. As Charles Eames said, “Ideas are cheap. Always be passionate about ideas and communicating those ideas and discoveries to others in the things you make.”

Filed under: Design, Film, Public Programs, The Toby

Recently at The Toby we hosted a talk by an expert on beads named Lois Sherr Dubin. Referencing the Native American art, Nigerian art, and fashion art on display at IMA right now, she led us on a mind-bending trip through time and place, reflecting on these diminutive glass, ceramic or bone doo-dads that humans have endowed with the power to signify social status, connect to the spirits, and more. The earliest known beads, made from seashells, date back to 100,000 BC.

What about the earliest-known drawings? They exist in a cave in France, and are believed to be more than 30,000 years old. The newest film by documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog (of Grizzly Man fame) is a journey into the Chauvet Cave, and a reflection on the profound urge to represent reality—with pigment on a surface.

image courtesy IFC films.

Egged on by Herzog’s rapturous narration, the film’s camera washes over the cave paintings with lavish attention. Beasts of all sizes are depicted. Charcoal brush strokes capture the grace and strength of a horse in motion. Footprints hint at rites of passage and perilous journeys. The film is immersive; the drawings are ghostly, and yet so there. (Read reviews of the film here).

Cave of Forgotten Dreams premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. I saw it at the 2011 South by Southwest film festival and fell in love.

You can see it here at the Indianapolis Museum of Art any of four times between Christmas and New Years. Use it as an excuse to get out of the house and get a fat dose of profundity.

Filed under: Film, Public Programs, The Toby