Film Festival presents award-winning new films at its Mary D. Fisher Theatre
Sedona AZ (December 24, 2012) – The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present the Northern Arizona premieres of the Academy Award shortlisted film for best documentary “The Central Park Five” and the award-winning “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel” at its Mary D. Fisher Theatre. Both films will show Jan. 2-4 at the festival’s arthouse theatre venue in West Sedona.
THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE
“The Central Park Five” has just been shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film for the upcoming Oscars. Award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns returns to the big screen in what is sure to go down in the history books as one of the most important films of his career.
In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of brutally beating and raping a white woman in New York City’s Central Park. New York Mayor Ed Koch called it the “crime of the century” and it remains to date one of the biggest media stories of our time. The five each spent between six and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, resulting in their convictions being overturned.
Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, “The Central Park Five” tells the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories, an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice.
Ken Burns has been making documentary films for more than 30 years. Since the Academy Award-nominated “Brooklyn Bridge” in 1981, he has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made. “The Central Park Five” was co-directed, co-written and co-produced by David McMahon and Ken’s daughter Sarah Burns, who wrote the book that the film is based on.
DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL
“Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel” is an intimate portrait and a vibrant celebration of one of the most influential women of the 20th century, an enduring icon whose influence changed the face of fashion, beauty, art, publishing and culture itself forever.
During Diana Vreeland’s fifty year reign as the “Empress of Fashion,” she launched Twiggy, advised Jackie Onassis, and established countless trends that have withstood the test of time. She was the fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar where she worked for twenty-five years before becoming editor-in-chief of Vogue, followed by a remarkable stint at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, where she helped popularize its historical collections.
The story of Vreeland illustrates the evolution of women into roles of power and prominence throughout the 20th century, and travels through some of the century’s greatest historical and cultural eras, including Paris’ Belle Epoque, New York in the roaring twenties, and London in the swinging sixties. It also spans such historical events as the great wars, the flights of Lindbergh, the romance of Wallis and Windsor, the Kennedy inauguration, and the freewheeling spirit of the 1960’s youthquake, and the advent of countless fashion revolutions from the bikini to the blue jean.
Vreeland was the 20th Century’s greatest arbiter of style, an exotic and vibrant character who dazzled the world with her unique vision of style high and low.
Both films will be shown at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre Jan. 2-4. Showtimes for “The Central Park Five” will be 4 p.m. on Wednesday and 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel” will show at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and 4 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.
Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members. For tickets and more information, please call 928-282-1177. Both the theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. Hwy. 89A, in West Sedona. For more information, visit: www.SedonaFilmFestival.com.