Do you remember the dawn of the year 2000? When the numbers on computers were going to roll over from nines to zeroes and the world was going to meet its end?
The chaos of Y2K never manifested itself at the beginning of the millennium, but times were radically changing — the internet involved AOL online and would allow you to print out your MapQuest directions.
Sudbury Indie Cinema wants to take you back to that anticipatory period, when your home viewing experiences were dependent on Blockbuster. During the beginning of 2020, the cinema will be running a retrospective of best film of 2000.
The 20/20 on Y2K Saturday Night Series will be bringing O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Dancer In The Dark, Battle Royale, Best In Show and Requiem For A Dream to cinemas again. As they all turn 20 this year, the cinema thought it was time to re-evaluate the beginning of the millennium in cinema.
Indie Cinema invites you to pop your TLC cassette into the tape deck of your ’97 Honda Civic and head on down to the cinema to see the best films from the year 2000 with a new perspective.
Each event will announce a special guest — notable Sudburians with a leaning towards film — to be interviewed guests at the top of the screening, much in the style of TVO’s Saturday Night At The Movies.
Like Indie’s holiday screening of Love Actually, audience participation will be welcome at the screening, from dressing like characters to reacting en masse to certain scenes or phrases in the film.
Indie Cinema’s director, Beth Mairs recalls a magical moment during the Love Actually screening, "The entire audience leapt out of their seats dancing to the Pointer Sisters along with Hugh Grant playing England’s Prime Minister. It was a joyous moment."
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Saturday, Jan. 4 at 8:15 p.m. (Free to Members of Sudbury Indie Cinema Co-op)
Set in the deep south during the great depression, this unconventional musical is about three escaped convicts on the hunt for a hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them. Based on Homer’s Odyssey, this Coen brothers classic features George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson as the Soggy Bottom Boys.
Dancer In The Dark
Saturday, Jan. 11 at 8 p.m.
From Lars Von Trier, in this winner of 2000 Cannes Palme d’Or, Selma (Björk) is a Czechoslovakian immigrant, a single mother is working in a factory in rural American. Selma harbours a sad secret: she is losing her eyesight and son stands to suffer the same fate if she can’t put enough money away to secure him an operation.
Battle Royal
Saturday, Jan. 18 at 8:15 p.m.
In this film that set off the sub-genre that includes Fort Nite and The Hunger Games, Japanese New Wave director Kinji Fukasaku takes us into the dystopian future. The Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary ‘Battle Royale’ act.
Best In Show
Saturday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.
In this Christopher Guest classic ‘mockumentary’, a colourful array of characters compete at a national dog show. The film has an all-star cast that includes Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara.
Requiem For A Dream
Saturday, Feb. 1 at 9 p.m.
Darren Aronofsky’s intense psychological drama: a film panelling the lives of Sara Goldfab (Ellen Burstyn), a lonely, TV obsessed widow, her son harry (Jared Leto) and his girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly), and his drug dealer friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans). We are witness to the disastrous consequences and the downward spiral their lives take as a result of their addictions.
For listings of films at Sudbury Indie Cinema, visit SudburyIndieCinema.com or drop into 162 Mackenzie St. (laneway entrance) anytime after the first screening of the day to pick up a paper schedule.
