The Arkansas Cinema Society screens two award-winning/award-potential films — "Empire of Light," from Academy Award-winner Sam Mendes, and "Nanny," the 2022 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Grand Jury Award winner — in a special Filmland Festival 5 sneak preview night, Wednesday at the Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave., Little Rock.
The preview night kicks off the festival's fifth anniversary lineup of drama, romance, horror and hope, along with workshops from industry professionals, at the theater, Thursday-Sunday.
Screening at 6 p.m., "Empire of Light," set in a coastal town in Southern England against the social turmoil of the early 1980s, brings together a woman (Olivia Colman) with a difficult past and an uneasy present and a new worker at an old seafront cinema; the two find an unlikely attraction and discover the healing power of movies, music and community.
"The Nanny" is one of two films to screen on a special preview night for Filmland 5, Wednesday at Little Rock's Ron Robinson Theater. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Courtesy of Prime Video © 2022 Mouth of a Shark, LLC)
In Nikyatu Jusu's film "Nanny," onscreen at 8:30, an undocumented nanny working for a New York privileged couple, as she prepares for the arrival of the son she left behind in Senegal, finds her American dream threatened by a violent supernatural presence.
Both films were special presentations at the Toronto Film Festival; "Empire of Light" screens courtesy of Searchlight Pictures; "Nanny" is courtesy of Blumhouse and Amazon Prime Video. Tickets to each screening are $15.
The festival's regular lineup includes A24's release "The Inspection"; Neil LaBute's "House of Darkness," shot on location in Northwest Arkansas; the Farrelly Brothers' 1998 comedy "There's Something About Mary"; Pixar's "Turning Red"; and the documentary "God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines."
A complete schedule and ticket information is available at Filmland.org.