- Huzzah and congrats are verily deserved, and yay shall I giveth unto those deserving! A quintillion kudos to the Omaha Film Festival (OFF) for its continued prosperity and survival, having wrapped up another successful installment in mid-March. A bucket of right proper props must also go to Aksarben Cinema for graciously hosting the event, a sincere statement of service to Omaha’s cinema scene. Also, it seems like eleventy billion articles and plugs are written in advance of the event, but too few call out the winners. The full list is available at omahafilmfestival.org but I feel obliged to give the fullest of shout outs to the Nebraska champs: Matthew Gomez (Best Nebraska screenplay for Miss Me When I’m Gone), Shawn Gourley and Lauren Abell (Best Nebraska short film for Sugar) and Sai Chillara (Best Nebraska short film honorable mention for Simply Play Cricket). Here’s hoping this is but the first of many shout outs for that group, which clearly has dreamed of this moment (a shout out in Cutting Room) for years and years!
- I like to be “clever” in this column. Whether I achieve is a matter of opinion, and going by social media, the answer is less “hazy, try again later” and more “dude, shut it. (https://www.biolighttechnologies.com/) ” I’m going to do that for this next bit of information, lest my desire for smarminess results in distinctly unintended consequences. Ahem. On Friday, April 12, Alamo Drafthouse Midtown will be holding a “Sluts Only” screening of Slut in a Good Way, which follows a young woman grappling with double standards regarding sexual empowerment. Drafthouse’s “Sluts Only” screenings are not exclusionary based on gender, sexuality, race or age, as they encourage anyone who has felt marginalized by the word “slut” to attend. More information and tickets are available at drafthouse.com/omaha. There! I did it! I mean, I didn’t do “it.” I meant I finished this blurb without embarrassing myself! Nevermind …
- As you read this, CINEsound is underway. My favorite series Film Streams has ever titled, if only because it requires the use of both caps lock and italics, this partnership with Opera Omaha has a few events you can catch by the time you read this, so do not despair. At 3 p.m. Saturday, April 13, you can head to the Ruth Sokolof Theater to watch a medley of experimental short films paired with live performances by members of the International Contemporary Ensemble. This includes The Red Balloon, which is not a spinoff of Steven King’s It. The next night, that’s April 14, at 7 o’clock, you can watch a presentation of short documentaries on the lives and work of post-WWII composers, hosted by ONE Festival’s artist-in-residence Ross Karre. The only other place to discuss WWII and music is when neo-Nazis promote their Soundclouds on Twitter, so this is way more fun. Head to filmstreams.org for more details and tickets.
Cutting Room provides breaking local and national movie news … complete with added sarcasm. Send any relevant information to film@thereader.com. Check out Ryan on KVNO 90.7 on Wednesdays and follow him on Twitter.