From Hal to Helena: The Pioneer's Starstruck Week

I am always excited to direct your attention to one of Manhattan's finest screening venues: The Pioneer Theater, which this week bolsters its profile with a pair of terrific programs featuring uncommon star power:

--Wednesday night (i.e. tomorrow, May 9), supermodel and actress Helena Christensen will drop by to discuss her role in Christopher Boe's acclaimed mindtrip Allegro. The film stars Christensen as a woman alienated by the memory-scrubbing exploits of a Copenhagen concert pianist (Ulrich Thomsen). Boe's follow up to the Cannes Camera D'Or-winning Reconstruction took the better part of two years to reach New York, but now that it's here, it's crashing town in inimitable style. That said, please keep your hands to yourself, and absolutely no Wicked Game questions allowed.

--Meanwhile, on Sunday, May 13, the Reeler Screening Series returns with an exclusive double feature of Henry Fool and its forthcoming sequel Fay Grim. Filmmaker Hal Hartley, Thomas Jay Ryan, Richard Sylvarnes and others will join us between films to chat about the, ahem, franchise and answer your questions about everything from globetrotting cinema to Woodside, Queens, to where the story goes from here. It should be a great event, and I really hope you can make it. And for those of you preparing your Mother's Day excuses, Fay Grim is about a mother. So bring Ma along. Seriously. (Many thanks to Pioneer programmer Ray Privett, Sony Classics' Tom Prassis and Magnolia's Jeff Reichert for their work in planning this event.)

Tickets for both events are available on the Pioneer's Web site; I expect strong turnouts for each, so shop early and shop often.

Posted at May 8, 2007 12:08 PM