Venue returns to pre-pandemic programming levels
Returning to a high level of programming that greeted audience members when it reopened in 2019, the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country (ATHC) proudly announced three new film events for which tickets go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 8. Screenings include a diverse films ranging from adventure to comedy and crime to music in both feature length movie and documentary formats.
“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” is the next film on the ATHC Cinema Classics Series, generously sponsored by Nancy and Neil Schaffel, and will be screened at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 25. Loosely based on Homer’s “Odyssey,” the story follows the quirky adventures of Ulysses Everett McGill and his companions Delmar and Pete in 1930s Mississippi. Sprung from a chain gang and pursued by a relentless lawman, they search for the buried loot of a bank heist while they are confronted by a series of strange characters; among them are sirens, a cyclops, bank robber George “Baby Face” Nelson, a campaigning governor and his opponent, a KKK lynch mob, and a blind prophet who warns the trio that “the treasure you seek shall not be the treasure you find.”
The film’s soundtrack became an unlikely blockbuster, sold five million copies by early 2001 and spawned a documentary film, three follow-up albums, two concert tours, and won Country Music Awards for Album of the Year and Single of the Year for “Man of Constant Sorrow” sung by Dan Tyminski. Tickets are $12.
The BOONE DOCS Documentary Film Series has two offerings in the coming weeks. “Los Hermanos/The Brothers” is a free, in-person screening at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 27 and is followed by a post-show Q&A with the filmmakers. Virtuoso Afro-Cuban-born brothers — violinist Ilmar and pianist Aldo — live on opposite sides of a geopolitical chasm a half-century wide. Tracking their parallel lives in New York and Havana, their poignant reunion, and their momentous first performances together, “Los Hermanos/ The Brothers offers a nuanced, often startling view of estranged nations through the lens of music and family.
The film features an electrifying, genre-bending score, composed by Cuban Aldo López-Gavilán, performed with his American brother, Ilmar, and with guest appearances by maestro Joshua Bell and the Harlem Quartet.
“Lily Topples the World” is also free, in-person screening on the BOONE DOCS Series at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 3 and is followed by a post-show Q&A with the filmmakers. It follows 20-year-old sensation Lily Hevesh, the world’s most acclaimed domino toppler and the only girl in her field, as she rises as an artist, role model, and young woman. Filmed for over three years across countless cities and featuring appearances by Jimmy Fallon, Katy Perry, Will Smith, YouTuber Casey Neistat, and a steady stream of Gen-Z creators, “Lily Topples the World” is a coming-of-age story cloaked within a unique portrait of an artist, a story of how passion and artistry can make dreams come true, and an unlikely American tale of a quiet Chinese adoptee who transforms into a global artistic force with over one billion YouTube views.
According to Slash/Film, a critical review compendium, “Lily Topples the World” is “An undeniable crowd pleaser! It’s just the kind of unbridled optimism one might seek out after a year marred by despair, delivered by a startling bright ball of sunshine.”
Tickets are required for all events, regardless of age. For more information on these events and COVID policies, or to join the theatre’s eblast list, get tickets, or purchase memberships, please visit the ATHC website at www.apptheatre.org.
Courtesy of Appalachian Theatre
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