OTIS, 2008, Warner Bros., 100 min. Dir. Tony Krantz ("24," SUBLIME) A story of suburban America gone haywire. In the midst of a serial abductor/killer’s rampage, a beautiful young teen, Riley Lawson (Ashley Johnson), goes missing. When her desperate parents, Will and Kate (Daniel Stern and Illeana Douglas), are contacted by her kidnapper, an insufferable FBI special agent (Jere Burns) takes charge of the case. But from deep within the psychopathic subterranean world created by Otis (Bostin Christopher), Riley turns the tables on her tormentor, manages to escape and to contact her parents. Fed up with the tragicomic inability of the FBI to find their girl, Will, Kate and Riley’s brother, Reed (Jared Kusnitz), decide to take matters -- and justice -- into their own hands. But when Otis’ brother, Elmo (Kevin Pollak), shows up unexpectedly, the Lawsons find themselves mired in one of the more unusual and macabre consequences of vigilantism. The backed-into-a-corner Lawsons will further complicate their already deadly predicament with a surprising, unfortunate and frankly hilarious final choice. This provocative black comedy, which chronicles an all-American family’s collision with the dark world of a serial killer, has been a film festival favorite and will be released on DVD June 10. Discussion following with director Tony Krantz and various cast members.

HELVETICA, 2007, Swiss Dots, 80 min. First-time director Gary Hustwit’s feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type. HELVETICA encompasses the worlds of design, advertising, psychology and communication, and invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day. The film was shot in high-definition on location in the United States, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium. Interviewees include some of the most illustrious and innovative names in the design world: Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Neville Brody, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Paula Scher, Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones, Experimental Jetset, Michael C. Place, Norm, Alfred Hoffmann, Mike Parker, Bruno Steinert, Otmar Hoefer, Leslie Savan, Rick Poynor, Lars Müller and many more.

Thursday, June 19 – 7:30 PM

Producer Walter Mirisch In-Person Booksigning:

THE APARTMENT, 1960, MGM Repertory, 125 min. Dir. Billy Wilder. Jack Lemmon ingratiates himself with his corporate colleagues by lending out his apartment for their extra-marital affairs - but his promotion plans backfire when he falls head-over-heels for boss Fred MacMurray’s new gal-pal Shirley MacLaine. Oscar-winner for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay (Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond). "By the time he made THE APARTMENT, Wilder had become a master at a kind of sardonic, satiric comedy that had sadness at its center…the summation of what Wilder had done to date, and the key transition in Lemmon's career…The valuable element in Wilder is his adult sensibility; his characters can't take flight with formula plots, because they are weighted down with the trials and responsibilities of working for a living. In many movies, the characters hardly even seem to have jobs, but in THE APARTMENT they have to be reminded that they have anything else." – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times