"Musical Blasts from the Past"

The Kamloops Film Society is proud to announce its first Mid-Winter Musical Film Celebration.  For this season, the KFS is focusing on musical films from the past drama, comedy, romance and documentary.  Over a three-day period from February 1st through February 3rd, four films will be screened.

Wednesday, February 1st at 7 pm (Paramount Theatre)  Moulin Rouge  

Based loosely on the Jacques Offenbach operetta "Orpheus in the Underworld," this 2001 film depicts Christian (Ewan McGregor) as a young would-be writer who leaves his bourgeois family background in late 19th Century Paris to enter the bohemian world of Montmartre and its endless buffet of sex, drugs, music, theatre and scandal.  He soon falls in love with the courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman) and their doomed romance becomes the subject of the play he's writing.  While fully immersed in the world of la belle epoque of the 1890s, the film cleverly includes rock music by Madonna, Queen, the Beatles and Nirvana from a century later.  Winner of two Academy Awards for art direction and costume design, Moulin Rouge has been described as "vibrant, luxurious, full of razzle-dazzle fantasy and a delicious visual feast".

Thursday February 2nd at 7pm (Paramount Theatre) The Last Waltz.

Directed by Martin Scorsese, this 1978 rock music documentary depicts the final concert of The Band in San Francisco in 1976.  Featuring performances by Robbie Robertson and The Band, the film includes interview segments with band members reflecting on their 15 year time together, and an all-star line-up of guest performers including Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris and Eric Clapton.  The Last Waltz has been called "the greatest rock concert movie ever made", and many critics see the concert depicted in this documentary as a fitting tribute to a whole generation of 1960s and 1970s American music.

Friday, February 3rd the Kamloops Film Society's Mid-Winter Film Festival switches to the Clocktower Theatre on the Thompson Rivers University(click for map) campus with a double feature.

Friday, February 3rd at 7pm (Clocktower Theatre at TRU):  Pink Floyd- The Wall. 

Directed by Alan Parker, this film tells the story of Pink (Bob Geldof), a depressed rock musician whose psychological isolation is figuratively represented by "the wall." Against the backdrop of music from Pink Floyd's album of the same name, this film portrays the descent into personal and creative madness with a shamelessly and richly indulgent melange of live action, animation and dream sequences. In the words of one critic, the film is "visually stunning and disturbing."

Friday, February 3rd at 9 pm (Clocktower Theatre at TRU), The Rocky Horror Picture Show,

A satirical low-budget musical comedy that has been entertaining two generations of moviegoers with its madcap send-up of the mad scientist / horror film genre. Starring the incomparable Tim Curry as the transvestite Dr. Frank N. Furter, Jim Sharman's film features Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick as a suburban couple who stumble into a weirdly costumed collection of partygoers in a Gothic castle setting. Richard O'Brien's upbeat songs and the out-of-this-world dance sequences highlight what has been called "the consummate cult classic."

Tickets for each film are $8 and will be available on January 16th at Moviemart (5th and Seymour) or at the door.  A $2 annual Kamloops Film Society membership is required for admission.  Please note:  only 200 tickets are available for each of the Friday night screenings at TRU.

The Friday double-feature is co-sponsored by TRU's School of Tourism.