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Movies

Unwrap The Joy Of Film: Jacob Burns Film Center’s Exclusive Holiday Gift Cards and Memberships

November 10, 2023 by The Inside Press

The Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC) is proud to announce a special holiday promotion that will make gift-giving even more meaningful this year.

For those who purchase a gift membership between November 1 and December 31, the JBFC will thank patrons with a free ticket for individual memberships, and two free tickets for dual memberships. Beyond engaging in countless opportunities to experience film with others and receiving a variety of members-only benefits, JBFC members enjoy a sense of pride in participating in the community and helping sustain the organization’s outstanding film programming year-round.

Each year, the JBFC curates an inspiring lineup of 400 films featuring the best of current American and foreign cinema and 15 thoughtfully curated series, including Global Watch; Community Matters; Senior Afternoon Cinema; JBFC Kids, World Stage on Screen; and REMIX: The Black Experience in Film, Media and Art.  The JBFC is joined annually by over 150 special guests for enlightening panel discussions, live performances, book signings, and robust community engagement initiatives.

A pioneer in visual literacy, the JBFC also offers educational experiences for students at their state-of-the-art Media Arts Lab, including curricula for public schools and a residency program for professional filmmakers. The education programs serve as a cornerstone, nurturing learners of all generations to thrive in an interconnected, digital, and global world. Additionally, JBFC’s Residence for Visiting Artists has hosted 76 creatives from 23 countries and 11 states since 2007, including the esteemed Academy Award-winning director Bong Joon-ho.

“As we approach the holiday season, I can’t think of a better way to spread joy than by giving the gift of cinema,” said Mary Jo Ziesel, JBFC Executive Director. “When you purchase a membership or gift card from the Jacob Burns Film Center, you’re not only providing a memorable experience for your loved ones–you’re also supporting our mission to enrich the community through film. Your generosity both enhances their cinematic journey and strengthens our commitment to fostering a deeper appreciation for the art of storytelling on the big screen. It’s a win-win that truly embodies the spirit of the season.”

Members enjoy a $5 ticket discount, 10% off concessions, members-only pre-sales, special invitations, and complimentary ticket offers, as well as free popcorn Wednesdays. At premium levels, they enjoy added benefits including priority access to special events and a greater tax deduction for their support of the nonprofit.

In addition, the JBFC also offers an alternative way to spread joy this holiday season with Gift Cards available for $25 and up. Recipients can use the gift card to attend screenings, classes, events, concessions items, and more, allowing them to tailor their cinematic experience to their tastes. Whether you’re shopping for a cinephile, budding filmmaker, or anyone who appreciates the power of storytelling through film, a JBFC Gift Card is the perfect choice.

When you choose the Jacob Burns Film Center for holiday gifting, supporters give the gift of entertainment and culture while supporting JBFC’s nonprofit mission to educate, inspire, and connect through the power of film.

To purchase gift memberships and gift cards, simply visit the Gift Ideas page on JBFC website. Patrons can also contact Membership at membership@burnsfilmcenter.org or 914.773.7663, ext. 6. for assistance or further details. For more information, visit burnsfilmcenter.org, FB:  @JacobBurnsFilmCenter, X: @JBFC_ny, and Instagram: @JBFC_pville.’

Coming To The Jacob Burns Film Center This Season:

HOLDOVERS_FP_00406_R
Dominic Sessa stars as Angus Tully and Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham in director Alexander Payne’s THE HOLDOVERS, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Courtesy of FOCUS FEATURES / © 2023 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

 

Ramy Youssef and Emma Stone in POOR THINGS. Photo by Yorgos Lanthimos. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.

New Releases

November: The Holdovers
December: *Poor Things * The Color Purple * Ferrari * The Boy and the Heron

Holiday Favorite

December 15 – 21: It’s a Wonderful Life
December 19th: Die Hard screening followed by a class and discussion with NYU Tisch Professor Rob Morton; Come dressed in your “ugliest” Holiday sweater and get a free small popcorn!

Senior Afternoon Cinema

November 29: Wuthering Heights
December 13: Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca

JBFC’s Kids – Family Friendly Weekly Screenings

November – December:  *The Last Unicorn * The NeverEnding Story *Anastasia * Meet Me In St. Louis
January 6th and 7th at 11 a.m.: Frozen Sing-along (the January 7th screening is Sensory Friendly)

Filed Under: Gotta Have Arts Tagged With: films, Holiday Gift Card, Jacob Burns Film Center, Movies, Poor Things, The Holdovers

At the Jacob Burns Film Center: November and December Screenings

October 3, 2019 by The Inside Press

Adapted: Page to Screen

Sometimes a Great Notion

Nov. 13

 

Brokeback Mountain

Dec. 11

 

Caramoor at the Burns: Movies Musicians Love

Presented in partnership with Caramoor

Alexander Nevsky

Nov. 5

 

The Triplets of Belleville

Dec. 3

 

JBFC Kids

The community partner of JBFC Kids is the Westchester Library System

Mary Poppins

Nov. 16

 

Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema

Our annual series returns.

Dates and titles TBD

 

Remix: The Black Experience in Film, Media, and Art

Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts

The Learning Tree

Nov. 14

Retro Revival

Sponsored by Wine Enthusiast

My Little Chickadee

Nov. 20

 

Senior Afternoon Cinema

Defending Your Life

Nov. 5

 

They Came to Play

Dec. 10

 

World Stage on Screen

Sponsored by The Knolls—A Bethel Community

NT Live: Hansard

Nov. 7—Live Broadcast

 

NT Live: Present Laughter

Dec. 5

Filed Under: Gotta Have Arts Tagged With: Jacob Burns Film Center, Movie Night, Movies, Pleasantville

New IPic Theater in Dobbs Ferry Aims to “Redefine the Movie-Going Experience”

April 30, 2017 by Inside Press

By Nancy Huehnergarth and Grace Bennett

Dobbs Ferry, NY, April 29— Couples who are looking for an extraordinary night out at the movies may wish to consider the premium plus seating at the new iPic theater, which will open in Dobbs Ferry on May 5th. The words plush, luxurious and romantic barely do justice to this innovative, dine-in movie theater that offers intimate two-person pod seating with reclining chaise lounge chairs, blankets, pillows and exotic cocktails and delicious food ordered at the touch of a button.

Fully reclining premium chairs (personally designed by IPic’s CEO Hamid Hashemi) in the two seat ‘pods’ each come with a cushy blanket, and a box of popcorn awaits you too. IPic describes how it wishes to give theater goers as comfortable an experience watching movies out as they would have staying home. “No more sticky floors or crying babies or wondering if you will have a seat,” said one IPic representative. It was indeed a very comfy, pleasurable and delicious theater going experience for two Inside Press visitors.

iPic’s “Dining in the Dark” menu (which requires little or no cutlery) has been created by a James Beard award winning chef, Sherry Yard, and the cocktails by one of the country’s top mixologists, Adam Seger. CEO Hamid Hashemi, Yard and Serge were all on hand to answer questions to press who were invited to experience IPic and share news about the opening and offer a sense of the experience with our readers. The American/International menu includes vegetarian and gluten-free items too plus a carry in option: just leave enough time before the show.

IPic, headquartered in Boca Raton, has 16 million members already in their 15 locations in the country.  In this 16th venture into Westchester, IPic’ staff say they are continuing the company’s mission to eliminate all the reasons people have stopped going to the movies, “whether it’s the sticky floors or crying babies. We want to present an experience like no other.”

Seats should be reserved in advance and if you join one of iPic’s membership programs, you’ll get first dibs at tickets to upcoming blockbuster movies as well as discounts. While you’ll pay a steeper price for your iPic seats, the sumptuous surroundings and staff pampering are well worth it. Just make sure you don’t get too cozy in your pod seating. It’s so comfortable and relaxing, you may doze off and miss half of the feature film!  Visit IPictheatres.com for membership and price information.

 

 PHOTOS BY Grace Bennett

Master Mixologist Adam Seger uses hefty amounts of Ginger, made from scratch, in several of the cocktails.


Ready to dine as you enjoy the movies? ‘Ninja’ wait staff are just a button call away. “They will speak softly and take your order.”
Had dinner already? IPic offers an innovative cocktail menu if you simply want to enjoy a drink with your popcorn. P.S. A box of popcorn is included with premium plus seats too.

Filed Under: Westchester Tagged With: Dobbs Ferry, IPic, Movie Experience, Movies

Hollywood in Chappaqua?

May 27, 2014 by The Inside Press

Mark on set with Director Matt Reeves.
Mark on set with Director Matt Reeves.
David James Photo

by Mark Bomback

In the summer of 2004, my wife and I made the riskiest move imaginable. We moved to Chappaqua.

Some context. I grew up in New Rochelle, studied film at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, then moved out to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue a career as a screenwriter. In L.A. I met my wife, Tema (a fellow transplant, but from Chicago), and three years later we were married. Our son Miles was born in 2000, followed by Caroline in 2003; by 2004, Tema and I were talking about having another child–a conversation that forced us to acknowledge that we would soon outgrow our Santa Monica townhouse.

As we started house-hunting, it occurred to us that we should consider living in New York instead. We were both becoming increasingly uneasy with the notion that raising our kids in L.A. meant having no family within driving distance. My three brothers were all living in the New York area, and the prospect of raising our children near their uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents was feeling like more and more of a priority.

However, my burgeoning screenwriting career was at a critical juncture. My first produced credit–a half-baked cloning thriller called Godsend–hadn’t exactly set any box office records. I’d managed to get myself hired by 20th Century Fox to write a fourth “Die Hard” film, however there was no guarantee the studio would actually make it. I certainly was in no position to uproot our lives and move 3,000 miles from the undisputed epicenter of my chosen profession.

Tema and I decided we’d give ourselves a year to think about it. Yet on a trip to New York that May, an exploratory outing with a Chappaqua-based realtor ended with us making an offer on a house.

Caesar (Andy Serkis) ponders his next move as he faces a threat posed by a colony of humans.WETA Photo
Caesar (Andy Serkis) ponders his next move as he faces a threat posed by a colony of humans.
WETA Photo

When we returned to L.A. and announced we were moving to Chappaqua, the nearly universal reaction from both friends and colleagues was “Why?!”

We tried impressing them with photos of our very-East-Coast-looking new house as we explained our reasons. Most of our friends understood, however some of them questioned our wisdom. And more than a few have subsequently admitted to me that they were all but sure the move would mean the end of my writing career.

When you write movies for a living, there’s a tendency to view your life through the prism of a narrative–to see yourself as a character in a story. And I admit, during the first year of our living in Chappaqua, I was constantly asking myself if this abrupt shift in the plot that was my life felt natural.What was I doing on the sidelines of an AYSO game only 20 miles from where I’d grown up? Had I botched the story? Tema, a city girl born and bred, was still coping with an acute case of suburban culture shock, so I hesitated to add to her reservations with any of my own. True, we did see a whole lot more of our extended family. We just didn’t expect to miss our old lives in L.A. quite as much as we did.

In time, however, we made new, and soon, very close friends. Equally important, we learned how best to stay in touch with our old ones, and gained an assurance that we hadn’t lost them in the move. Of course there were (still are!) winter days when Tema pined for El Matador Beach, but a morning spent sledding at Gedney has its own undeniable charms, and the small town we’d impulsively decided to call home has turned out to be an even more wonderful community than we’d anticipated.

Malcolm (Jason Clarke) tries to make peace with Caesar (Andy Serkis), Koba (Toby Kebbell) and Maurice (Karin Konoval).WETA Photo
Malcolm (Jason Clarke) tries to make peace with Caesar (Andy Serkis), Koba (Toby Kebbell) and Maurice (Karin Konoval).
WETA Photo

Less expected, but even more rewarding, is what Chappaqua has come to mean to me as a father. Before I had children, it never occurred to me to put down roots in Westchester–after all, I was going to be a happening screenwriter! So I hadn’t really considered what it would be like to raise my children in an environment that was in some ways markedly similar to that of my own childhood. For example, we sent our three daughters (we wound up having two more children since moving here) to the same day camp I attended.

My son and I devour buffalo wings at the Candlelight Inn, where I don’t think they’ve changed so much as a lightbulb since I was a kid. And the mere smell of the grass at those AYSO games brings me right back to the New Rochelle soccer fields that I played on when I was their age (with far less skill than my offspring). In short, there is a very unique pleasure to be had in watching my kids forge memories in settings that feel just a little familiar, although I get as much joy from seeing how our experiences diverge as I do from recognizing where they intersect.

 “When you write movies for a living, there’s a tendency to view your life through the prism of a narrative…”

Working from home in Chappaqua also means that I see my kids a lot more than I might have if we’d stayed in L.A., where meetings, lunches and dinners are always welcome opportunities to procrastinate. Of course I do have to travel to L.A. quite a bit, but when I’m home I’m home. As for my career, thankfully things broke the right way for me, and I would attribute at least part of my success to living here, as the distance from L.A. requires me to stay even more focused than I might have otherwise, and to maximize every opportunity that comes along.

There’s a screenwriting adage that I always do my best to adhere to: the ending of a story should feel at once surprising and inevitable. I never thought I’d live in a town like Chappaqua until that fateful summer when Tema and I decided to just take a chance and go for it. Now, as we approach the 10-year anniversary of our big move, it feels like it was always meant to be.

Mark Bomback is a screenwriter whose credits include Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (opens July 11), The Wolverine, Unstoppable, Live Free or Die Hard and Race to Witch Mountain, among others. A TV series, Legends, co-developed with Howard Gordon (Homeland) is scheduled to premiere August 20th on TNT.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: Chappaqua, Movies, Screenwriter

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