These events are Aero Theatre Exclusives!

The Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), marking its 30th anniversary, has selected the 30 Most Significant Independent Films™ from around the world produced over the past three decades.

Thursday, December 2 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature: EXPERIMENT IN TERROR, 1962, Sony Repertory, 123 min. Lee Remick is a bank teller whose teenage sister (Stefanie Powers) is kidnapped by creepy, asthmatic Ross Martin (Artemus Gordon on TV’s "The Wild, Wild West"), a sociopathic crook brewing an extortion plot. Glenn Ford is the no-nonsense FBI agent who steps in after a terrified Remick contacts the agency. Director Blake Edwards demonstrates his skill at creating dark atmosphere and nail-biting suspense, honed on "Peter Gunn," the TV show he created. After BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S and THE PINK PANTHER (both Edwards films), composer Henry Mancini graces us with his most memorable (and sinister) score. [35mm]

Friday, December 3 – 7:30 PM

Danish actress Paprika Steen has been hypnotizing audiences over the past couple of decades with her powerful performances, most notably in the films FESTEN, OPEN HEARTS, OKAY and THE IDIOTS. Steen is the first actress since 1949 to have received the awards for Best Actress (for OKAY) and Best Supporting Actress (for OPEN HEARTS) in the same year at the Robert Festival, Denmark’s equivalent of the Oscars.

APPLAUSE (APPLAUS), 2009, World Wide Motion Pictures Corp., 85 min. Dir. Martin Zandvliet. When washed-up actress Thea Barfoed (a magnificent Paprika Steen) finishes her stint in rehab, her first priority becomes regaining custody of and re-forming bonds with her two sons. But this is easier said than done, and as Thea feels herself slowly slipping toward her former demons, she confronts the hardest fight of her life. In Danish with English subtitles. [35mm] Discussion following the film with actress Paprika Steen. Arrive early to enjoy the Montana Holiday Street Fair prior to tonight’s screening! Trailer | Buy Tickets

THE SEVEN SAMURAI (SHICHININ NO SAMURAI), 1954, Janus Films, 207 min. Director Akira Kurosawa’s first attempt at a samurai film yielded this character-driven masterpiece about an aging swordsman (Takashi Shimura) who enlists six other warriors-for-hire (among them Toshiro Mifune) to safeguard a remote village plagued by bandits. After viewing THE SEVEN SAMURAI, filmmaker Federico Fellini called Kurosawa "the greatest living example of all that an author of the cinema should be." In Japanese with English subtitles. [35mm] Trailer | Buy Tickets

Italians in Movies presents, sponsored by Acqua di Parma: SOUTH OF THE BORDER, 2009, Cinema Libre Studio, 78 min. Dir. Oliver Stone. There’s a revolution under way in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Oliver Stone embarks on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America. In casual conversations with the presidents of Brazil, Argentina and Cuba among many others, Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the region. "Feisty, entertaining..." - Time Out London. "...a necessary tilt at US media paranoia..." - Jonathan Romney, The Independent. [35mm] Discussion following with director Oliver Stone and editor Elisa Bonora, moderated by Silvia Bizio. Italians in Movies pays tribute to Bonora, who has edited the documentaries COMANDANTE and NO SUBTITLES NECESSARY: LASZLO AND VILMOS, and lives in Los Angeles. Trailer | Buy Tickets

Thursday, December 9 – 7:30 PM

The Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), marking its 30th anniversary, has selected the 30 Most Significant Independent Films™ from around the world produced over the past three decades.

WHERE THE DAY TAKES YOU, 1992, New Line Cinema, 105 min. Dir. Marc Rocco. A group of teenage runaways (among them Lara Flynn Boyle, Dermot Mulroney, David Arquette, Christian Slater and Will Smith, making his film debut) try to survive on the streets of Los Angeles, daily confronting drugs, prostitution, violence and a criminal justice system dangerously indifferent to their plight. The film plays out in an episodic, increasingly tragic structure, and reveals that sometimes the scariest prospect a young person can contemplate is returning home. [35mm] Discussion following with Dermot Mulroney, Lara Flynn Boyle, Rikki Lake, Baltazhar Getty and Laura San Giacomo. Trailer | Buy Tickets

Friday, December 10 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature: 20th Anniversary! GOODFELLAS, 1990, Warner Bros., 145 min. Irwin Winkler produced this quintessential mob epic directed by Martin Scorsese and based on Nicholas Pileggi’s Wiseguy. Ray Liotta stars as Henry Hill, a real life mobster, whose captivating narration rivals that of previous Scorsese antihero Travis Bickle. Joe Pesci won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as charismatic sociopath Tommy DeVito, and Robert De Niro shines as the brutal Jimmy Conway. Filled with memorable characters, a wealth of atmosphere, beautiful tracking shots by cinematographer Michael Bauhaus and, as always in Scorsese films, an amazing soundtrack. The all-star cast also includes Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino, Frank Vincent and even a young Michael Imperioli ("The Sopranos") in the small but memorable role of Spider. [35mm] Trailer

MEAN STREETS, 1973, Warner Bros., 110 min. Director Martin Scorsese’s shattering, insider’s look at small-time hoods in Little Italy stars Harvey Keitel as a guilt-obsessed Catholic trying to make good, and Robert De Niro as Keitel’s terminal screw-up of a cousin, Johnny Boy. Most of MEAN STREETS was shot - believe it or not - in Los Angeles (only exteriors were filmed in New York). It quickly became Scorsese’s calling card as a director, and a stunning prequel to the awesome TAXI DRIVER. [35mm] Trailer | Buy Tickets

Sunday, December 12 – 3:00 PM

After an amazing run at the Egyptian Theatre, Olivier Assayas’ critically lauded epic is back! 5.5 hours will never fly by so breathlessly as with… CARLOS, 2010, IFC Films, 330 min. Director Olivier Assayas' epic, searing and relentlessly thrilling portrait of the Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramirez Sanchez has been praised by the Los Angeles Times as "THE BOURNE IDENTITY with more substance, or MUNICH with more of a pulse," and received much well-deserved buzz at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Sanchez (played by Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez) is a fascinating real-life figure with an explosive rise and fall - he managed to found a worldwide terrorist organization and raid the OPEC headquarters before being caught by the French police in 1975. Tracing the arc of Carlos’ criminal activities across two decades and several nations, the film features a dynamic cast of international talent and was shot in numerous countries, including Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Lebanon and Morocco. In multiple languages with English subtitles. [Blu Ray] Trailer | Buy Tickets

Friday, December 17 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature: DAYS OF HEAVEN, 1978, Paramount, 95 min. Director Terrence Malick’s lyrical tone poem set at the turn of the 20th century tracks impoverished Chicago couple Richard Gere and Brooke Adams as they migrate to the Texas Panhandle and masquerade as brother and sister to find farm work. When their smitten, terminally ill boss (Sam Shepard) proposes to Adams, the couple see a way out of their poverty. But after the marriage, Shepard seemingly recovers, and tragic complications gradually unfold. Gorgeous, thoughtful and at times achingly romantic, this ambitious working class epic set the standard for Malick’s future films - passionate, moody and serene meditations on the human condition set in a tragic dimension. Nestor Almendros won the Oscar for Best Cinematography. Co-starring Linda Manz. [35mm] Trailer

MCCABE & MRS. MILLER, 1971, Warner Bros., 120 min. Director Robert Altman spins fresh variations on archetypal themes and characters in a film that set the mood for 1970s revisionist Westerns. Memorable opening images of an unlikely hero riding toward town, accompanied by the music of Leonard Cohen, introduce this opium dream of a Western, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, with superb cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond. [35mm] Trailer | Buy Tickets

Saturday, December 18 – 7:30 PM

70 mm Print! LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, 1962, Sony Repertory, 216 min. This sweeping epic of Arab infighting and British colonialism is as timely as ever, and as beautiful. In his first feature, Peter O'Toole stars in director David Lean's masterpiece, lensed to perfection by Freddie Young, set to Maurice Jarre's majestic score. The amazing cast includes Omar Sharif (in his first major English-speaking role), Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains and Alec Guinness. Made to be seen on the big screen! [70mm] Trailer | Buy Tickets