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calsfoundation@cals.org
calsfoundation@cals.org
Wes Fest
Five movies. Two days. One author. Everything Wes Anderson. Grab your tracksuit and vintage camera, we’re going to the Ron Robinson Theater.
(Brought to you free by the Six Bridges Book Festival)
Sponsored by the Central Arkansas Library System and the Arkansas Cinema Society.
About Wes Anderson
Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. His films are known for their eccentricity, unique visual and narrative styles, and frequent use of ensemble casts. They often contain themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families.
He gained acclaim for his early films Bottle Rocket (1996) and Rushmore (1998). He often collaborated with brothers Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson during that time and founded his production company American Empirical Pictures, which he runs. He then received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). His next films included The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), and his first stop-motion film, Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), for which he received an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature nomination, and then Moonrise Kingdom (2012), earning his second Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination.
For his film The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), he received his first Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Picture, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay. Later works include his second stop-motion film, Isle of Dogs (2018), earning him the Silver Bear for Best Director, followed by The French Dispatch (2021) and Asteroid City (2023).
November 17 @ 6:30 pm
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Wes Fest presents Rushmore (Film Screening)
Rushmore (2007)
Equal parts coming-of-age story, French New Wave homage, and screwball comedy. Tenth grader Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is Rushmore Academy’s most extracurricular student—and its least scholarly. He faces expulsion, and enters into unlikely friendships with both a lovely first-grade teacher (Olivia Williams) and a melancholy self-made millionaire (Bill Murray,
November 17 @ 8:15 pm
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Wes Fest presents Kristi McKim, author of Rushmore (BFI Film Classics) & Reception
Following the 6:30PM screening of Rushmore, Kristi McKim will discuss her new book, Rushmore (BFI Film Classics, 2023). Program begins at 8:15PM in the Ron Robinson Theater.
Rushmore (BFI Film Classics, 2023)
Kristi McKim’s compelling study of the film argues that despite the film’s titular call for haste and excess (rush/more),
November 18 @ 12:00 pm
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Wes Fest presents Fantastic Mr. Fox (Film Screening)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
This animated new classic is “the story of a clever, quick, nimble, and exceptionally well-dressed wild animal. A compulsive chicken thief turned newspaper reporter, Mr. Fox settles down with his family in a new foxhole in a beautiful tree—directly adjacent to three enormous poultry farms owned by three ferociously vicious farmers: Boggis,
November 18 @ 1:45 pm
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Wes Fest presents The Darjeeling Limited (Film Screening)
The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
This comic Indian road-movie, set on a train, follows three brothers on a road-to-nowhere as they try to bond with one another after the death of their father. Trying to rekindle their sibling affections, Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody), and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) Whitman travel across India to meet up with their mother (Anjelica Huston),
November 18 @ 3:45 pm
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Wes Fest presents The Royal Tenenbaums (Film Screening)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and his wife, Etheline (Anjelica Huston) had three children—Chas, Margot, and Richie—and then they separated. Chas (Ben Stiller) started buying real estate in his early teens and seemed to have an almost preternatural understanding of international finance. Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a playwright and received a Braverman Grant of $50,000 in the ninth grade.
November 18 @ 6:30 pm
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Wes Fest presents The Grand Budapest Hotel (Film Screening)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
At the opulent Grand Budapest Hotel, the concierge M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) and his young protégé Zero (Tony Revolori) forge a steadfast bond as they are swept up in a scheme involving the theft of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune—while around them,
