The Friars Club Comedy Film Festival 


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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 16 September 2009 09:53

Written by fftraveler staff

The Friars Club Comedy Film Festival will open its inaugural year on Thursday, September 24th with the U.S. premiere of A Serious Man--the new film from Academy Award-winning writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen. the Coen Brothers’ latest feature will open the festival at the world-famous Ziegfeld Theater in Manhattan; Joel and Ethan Coen and cast members will join Friars in attendance.

The festival's Executive Director Charlie Prince and Director Susannah Gora are both Friars who work in the film and entertainment industry, and are passionate about movies. Comments Prince , “I couldn't be more thrilled; Joel and Ethan Coen are the rare filmmakers who finesse consistently original work that inspires, work which represents exactly the kind of filmmaking we seek to champion here at the Friars Club. A Serious Man is one of their most unique and accomplished movies. It’s ideal to open our festival with, because it goes to the core of what is dark and personal – yet ever-present – in humor.”

The Coen brothers have made some of the most celebrated films of our time, including No Country for Old Men, Fargo, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Burn After Reading, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? Many of their films are characterized by a dark and subversive sense of humor, provoking laughter from audiences--at bleak moments for the Coens’ idiosyncratic characters.

Exploring questions of faith, familial responsibility, delinquent behavior, dental phenomena, academia, mortality, and Judaism-and their many intersections--the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man recently had its World Premiere at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival.

The Focus Features release will subsequently open in select U.S. cities on Friday, October 2nd.

The film kick offs the first-ever four-day festival of movies (running through September 27th), to be presented by the legendary Friars Club--whose membership includes the world’s funniest actors and comedians. Proceeds from the festival will benefit the Friars Foundation.

In announcing the festival, Friars Club Executive Director Michael Gyure said that the events are logical extensions of the club’s comedic history, noting, “Our Friars have starred in many of the world’s best-loved comedy movies; from the Marx Brothers and Frank Sinatra’s ‘Rat Pack,’ to Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg.
“This festival will both showcase classic comedies and give new comedy films an arena to find an audience.”

The festival’s other programs--many soon to be announced--will be presented among the following categories:

New Works: offering new filmmakers a forum to screen their comedy movies, culled from submissions, for an audience

Classics: special screenings at which luminaries from the world of comedy will introduce their favorite classic comedies and host discussions; movies will feature such legendary Friars as W.C. Fields, Jerry Lewis, and Dean Martin.

Panels: Discussions with such filmmakers as Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (Night at the Museum); David Wain (Role Models);  John Hamburg and Paul Rudd (I Love You, Man)

Information regarding purchasing tickets and Festival passes is available at www.friarsclub.com/filmfestival

The Friars Club Comedy Film Festival 

runs from September 24th to the 27th, 2009 will be at the following locations:

The Friars Club
is on 55th St. btw Park and Madison.

By bus: Southbound on 5th Ave, Broadway, & 7th Ave; northbound on Madison Avenue & 6th Ave (Avenue of the Americas).

By subway: E or V to 5th Ave & 53 Street;
N, R, or W to 49 Street and 7th Ave.;
1 to 50th Street and Broadway;
F to 57 Street/6 Avenue:
B, D, F, or V to 47-50 Street/Rockefeller Center.

Paley Center
is on 52nd St. btw 5th && 6th Aves.
By bus: Southbound on 5th Ave, Broadway, && 7th Ave; northbound on Madison Avenue && 6th Ave (Avenue of the Americas).

By subway: E or V to 5th Ave && 53 Street;
N, R, or W to 49 Street and 7th Ave.;
1 to 50th Street and Broadway;
B, D, F, or V to 47-50 Street/Rockefeller Center.

The Ziegfeld Theatre
is on 54nd St. btw 6th & 7th Aves.

By subway: F, V to 5th Ave. 

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