Oh my God! Could this be the best film festival of all time? This would be amazing if I could get over there. They’ve got the original 35mm Prints for most of the films as well.
It takes place on September 24-26, 2010 at the Carolina Theatre, Durham, North Carolina. Here is what they say about the Festival.
But you’ve probably seen most of these sights and wonders if you’ve been going to the movies much since they started to talk-and scream- and astonish us in Technicolor, widescreen, and Dolby sound. For these are some of the greatest moments in movie history. Climb back aboard the Porkchop Express, descend into the Hell of Boiling Oil, and freeze your ball-bearings off in the 25th century. We’ll take you back to the worlds of gods and monsters, witches and heroes, legends and mysticism , and tales as old as the memory of man.
Your favorite childhood movie heroes are back: Jack Burton, Buck Rogers, Admiral Kirk, Snake Plissken, Kermit the Frog, Indiana Jones, and so many more. From the imaginations of Steven Spielberg and Jim Henson to the extraordinary animation of Don Bluth and through the amazing designs of some of the greatest special effects wizardry in the movies, Escapism recaptures the magic of your favorite fantasy and adventure movies from the late Seventies and early eighties. The ones you remember watching with your friends on Saturday afternoon matinees during summer vacations. Timeless examples of what movies do best of all–free ranging fantasy adventure, epic in scale, heroic in concept, and imaginative in execution. They’re fun movies. They’re meant to be.
Despite modern advances in digital technology, these films will never look as good on DVD or Blu-Ray as they do when exhibited in their original 35mm formats. Anything other than 35mm is a reproduction of the original. We’ve spent months searching through studio archives to present some of the rarest prints in existence. The black monoliths of the Manhattan skyscrapers in Escape from New York, dark and seemingly lifeless, are much more menacing within the 1000-seat Fletcher Hall auditorium. Khan’s ferocious attack on the Enterprise in Star Trek II is even more breathtaking when watched on a screen that’s more than thirty feet wide. The eye-popping visual effects of Big Trouble in Little China are truy realized in a room whose history pre-dates the invention of color motion pictures. Escapism is proud that all of our films will screen exactly as the filmmakers intended, their visions unaltered, and no DVD or Blu-Ray reproductions.
Below are the main movies they mention, but it gets better. They are also showing classics such as Robocop, Star Trek II, Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Muppet Movie.
John Carpenter’s BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA
(US, PG-13, 1986, 99 min)
Kurt Russell stars as Jack Burton, a tough-talking truck driver whose hum-drum life takes a sudden supernatural tailspin when his best friend’s fiancée is kidnapped. Speeding to the rescue, Jack finds himself deep beneath San Francisco’s Chinatown, in a murky, creature-filled world ruled by Lo Pan, a 2000-year-old magician hell-bent on his own reincarnation.Check out the Live for Films review.
Ultra-rare 35mm presentation!
BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY
(US, PG, 1978, 89 min)
Gil Gerard stars as Captain William “Buck” Rogers, a wisecracking astronaut who’s accidentally time-warped from 1987 to 2491. Colonel Wilma Deering (sexy Erin Gray), Twiki, Dr. Theopolis, and Princes Ardala join him in this campy combination of lightweight adventure and Spandex disco chic. Escapism is proud to screen this rare 35mm print of the theatrical pilot (including one of the greatest theme songs of all time) that spawned the successful TV series.Wolfgang Peterson’s ENEMY MINE
(US, PG-13, 1985, 108 min)
This stunning science-fiction adventure was Wolfgang Peterson’s first big-budget American production. Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr. star as two warriors engaged in a savage, futuristic war. After crash-landing on a desolate, fiery planet, the two stranded pilots gradually realize that the only way for them to survive is to overcome their undying hatred.Check out the Live for Films review.
Ultra-rare 35mm presentation!
John Carpenter’s ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
(US, R, 1981, 99 min)
A thrilling landmark cult classic that jolts along at a breakneck pace with its mind-blowing vision of a lone warrior (Kurt Russell) battling his way out of a post-apocalyptic Manhattan! In a world ravaged by crime, Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison where brutality rules, but when the U.S. President crash-lands inside, only Snake Plissken can bring him back.Ultra-rare 35mm presentation!
THE LAST STARFIGHTER
(US, PG, 1984, 101 min)
After 17 year-old Alex conquers the Starfighter video game; he’s whisked out of his trailer park home for the outer regions of space and thrust into the midst of an intergalactic war. Escapism is proud to present one of the last surviving 35mm prints in existence.Ultra-rare 35mm presentation!
Ridley Scott’s LEGEND
(US, PG-13, 1986, 89 min)
Ridley Scott’s fourth film is a fantasy adventure in which good and evil battle to the death in a mythical forest inhabited by fairies, goblins, unicorns and demons. Tom Cruise stars as Jack, chosen by fate to save a beautiful princess and defeat the demonic Lord of Darkness…or the world will be plunged into a never-ending ice age. Escapism is proud to present one of the last surviving 35mm prints in existence.
Download the Ticket Order Form here.
Let me know if you are going and I am so jealous if you are.
