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BOONE DOCS and Cinema Classics Return to App Theatre Screenings set for “Casablanca” and “My Name is Pauli Murray”

Humphrey Bogart (1899 – 1957) and Ingrid Bergman (1915 – 1982) star in the Warner Brothers film ‘Casablanca’, 1942. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Continuing their philosophy of presenting classic cinema with fresh, bold, and original documentary film, the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country is offering two screenings in February for movie enthusiasts young and old. Bogart and Bergman return to the historic movie screen on King Street for the first time in 75 years, along with the regional premiere of a brand new documentary about an early Civil Rights pioneer.

At 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 27, the Appalachian Theatre will host an in person screening of “Casablanca,” where audiences will hear Humphrey Bogart say the iconic line, “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” Academy Award winners Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman light up the screen in one of the most enduring romances in movie history.

Set during World War II in Vichy-controlled Casablanca, nightclub owner Rick Blaine must choose between a life with the woman he loves and becoming the hero that both she and the world need. This 1942 American romantic drama film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. It focuses on an American expatriate (Bogart) who must choose between his love for a woman (Bergman) or helping her and her husband (Henreid), a Czech resistance leader, escape from the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Germans. The supporting cast features Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Dooley Wilson.

Casablanca went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Its reputation has gradually grown, to the point that its lead characters, memorable lines, and pervasive theme song have all become iconic, and it consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest films in history. In 1989, the United States Library of Congress selected the film as one of the first for preservation in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Tickets to the in person screening of “Casablanca” are $12 for adults and $6 for children ages 12 and under and are available online as part of the theatre’s touchless ticketing program online. Seating capacity in the theatre is reduced with reserved seating. Everyone, regardless of age, must have a ticket.

My Name is Pauli Murray

At 4 p.m. on Sunday, February 20, an online screening of the documentary film, “My Name is Pauli Murray” is available free of charge as part of the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers. Told largely in Pauli’s own words, the film is a candid recounting of that unique and extraordinary journey. Fifteen years before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat, a full decade before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned separate-but-equal legislation, Pauli Murray was already knee-deep fighting for social justice. A pioneering attorney, activist and dedicated memoirist, Murray shaped landmark litigation and consciousness around race and gender equity.

As an African American youth raised in the segregated South, while also wrestling with broader notions of gender identity, Pauli understood, intrinsically, what it was to exist beyond previously accepted categories and cultural norms. Both Pauli’s personal path and tireless advocacy foreshadowed some of the most politically consequential issues of our time.

“My Name is Pauli Murray” is presented online and tickets to the screening includes a conversation with the filmmakers following the screening. Tickets are free and available at www.apptheatre.org. This event is part of the Appalachian Theatre’s BOONE DOCS series and made possible through the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers, a South Arts program. Since its inception in 1975, Southern Circuit has brought some of best independent filmmakers and their films from around the country to communities throughout the South. The program is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The App Theatre is committed to the safety and well-being of its community and will continue to follow the guidance of health and governmental officials in the development and implementation of COVID related policies is presented online and tickets to the screening includes a conversation with the filmmakers following the screening. Tickets are free and available at www.apptheatre.org. This event is part of the Appalachian Theatre’s BOONE DOCS series and made possible through the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers, a South Arts program. Since its inception in 1975, Southern Circuit has brought some of best independent filmmakers and their films from around the country to communities throughout the South. The program is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

To read about current guidelines in effect, or to join the theatre’s eblast list, get tickets, or purchase memberships, please visit the website at https://www.apptheatre.org/