Cinema Sundays 2/28, "The Art of the Steal"   Cinema Sundays Winter 2010 Series 47! Sunday February 28, 2010 Cinema Sundays at the Charles continues its 47th series on February 28th, with the Baltimore Premier of The Art of the Steal. Directed by Don Argott. 2010 Non Rated. Running time 101 minutes. Synopsis In 1922, Dr. Albert C. Barnes created The Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion Pennsylvania, five miles outside of Philadelphia. He formed this remarkable collection of Post-Impressionist and early Modern art to serve as an educational institution. Dr. Barnes built his Foundation away from the city and cultural elite who scorned his collection as "horrible, debased art," and set it on the grounds of his own home, an arboretum in the leafy suburbs. Tastes changed, and soon the very people who belittled Barnes wanted access to his collection. When Dr. Barnes died in a car accident in 1951, he left control of his collection to Lincoln University, a small African-American college. His will contained strict instructions, stating the Foundation shall always be an educational institution, and the paintings may never be removed. Such strict limitations made the collection safe from commercial exploitation. But was it really safe? More than fifty years later, a powerful group of moneyed interests have gone to court to take the art - recently valued at more than $25 billion - and bring it to a new museum in Philadelphia. Standing in their way is a group of former students who are trying to block the move. Will the students succeed, or will a man's will be broken and one of America's greatest cultural monuments be destroyed? --© IFC Click on the following for trailer and official site. http://www.ifcfilms.com/films/the-art-of-the-steal Our Speaker for this week is Dr. Gary Vikan, the director of the Walters Art Museum. It’s a pleasure and an honor to welcome him back to Cinema Sundays. Dr. Vikan last spoke at Cinema Sundays for the film The Rape of Europa and his remarks were riveting. This week’s screening is our make up date for missing our screening of the Last Station due to the snowpocalypse. I can’t think of a better way to make things right. Looking forward to seeing you on the 28th for what promises to be a great event. Jonathan Palevsky Jpalevsky@aol.com If you’ve never been to Cinema Sundays before, see below for our stimulating, updated, yet official description. Precisely at 9:45 on a given Sunday morning, while birds chirp in the most musical manner, the doors at the Charles Theatre swing open to reveal a lobby replete with tasty bagels, hot coffee and friendly volunteers ready to serve them to you. All of our volunteers have been pre-tested for a complete lack of morning grouchiness and provide the nicest service…within reason! Guarded carefully by the enormous lobby penguin bagels, coffee and scintillating yet improvised conversation continues until 10:30. At precisely 10:30:07 some brief opening remarks by yours truly will be followed by a few remarks from our guest speaker who will never do either of two things. First he or she will never ever give away the plot of the film and second the speaker will not go on too long…especially if the film is one of those 2.5 h our Soviet era documentaries on the Romance of the Seven Tractor Drivers. Following a brief admonition not to talk during the film and a recommendation to sublet your cell phone to a starving student from the third world the screening will take place. Upon completion of the screening a robust question and answer session featuring our guest speaker will include your fascinating observations upon the recently screened movie. This flowery description barely describes the sublime joy and excitement which is Cinema Sundays. If there is a better way to spend Sunday mornings it simply hasn’t occurred to me….yet! Jonathan Palevsky Host of Cinema Sundays and completely reachable at JPalevsky@aol.com Please feel free to visit us at… Http://www.cinemasundays.com Tickets: $15 at the door. Or buy a mini-membership. 1711 N. Charles St. 410-727-3464 info: karenskicsc@comcast.net To unsu bscribe from The Charles Theatre Mailing List visit: http://www.thecharles.com/mailinglist/ To unsubscribe from The Charles Theatre Mailing List visit: http://www.thecharles.com/mailinglist/