A FINE `RESTAURANT' ON OUR PLATE; CLASSICALLY INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL PUTS DRAMA ABOUT HOBOKEN EATERY IN SPOTLIGHT.Byline: Marla Matzer Staff Writer Corporate sponsorship and independent film can make for strange bedfellows. The sponsorship by Levi's Dockers
Dockers is a brand of Levi Strauss & Co. Levi Strauss & Co. Khakis brand of the second annual Classically Independent Film Festival, coming to the Writer's Guild Theatre in Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. on Friday, means that the general public can only buy advance tickets on the Dockers Web site (www.dockers.com) or at the Dockers section of Macy's in the Beverly Center The Beverly Center is a shopping center in Los Angeles, California, United States. Description The Beverly Center is a monolithic eight-story structure located at the edge of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, California, between La Cienega and San Vicente boulevards. . But it just may be worth doing that - or getting to the theater early to buy tickets at the door - for the chance to see ``Restaurant,'' the second feature by director Eric Bross. Its screening on Friday evening is followed throughout the weekend by other new films, as well as such indie classics as ``My Dinner With Andre'' and ``One False Move.'' ``Restaurant'' is a drama that deals with work, race, class and romance in a suprisingly frank and entertaining way. It's a breath of fresh air in a summer full of dull, juvenile movies. Its setting is a restaurant in Hoboken, N.J., populated by employees who are trying to move on to greater things. Adrien Brody Adrien Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He received widespread recognition when he was cast as the lead in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002). The role won him an Academy Award for Best Actor, the youngest actor ever to win the award. , who stars in the upcoming Spike Lee Noun 1. Spike Lee - United States filmmaker whose works explore the richness of black culture in America (born in 1957) Lee, Shelton Jackson Lee film, ``Summer of Sam,'' stars as an aspiring playwright who becomes romantically involved with a co-worker. What's the catch? He's white, she's African-American. Others in the ensemble cast An ensemble cast is a cast in which the principal performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows for flexibility for writers to focus on different include former ``Cosby Show'' actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, pop Warner, Pop orig. Glenn Scobey Warner (born April 5, 1871, Springfield, N.Y., U.S.—died Sept. 7, 1954, Palo Alto, Calif.) U.S. college football coach. At the Carlisle (Pa. star Lauryn Hill and Jesse Martin For the American actor, see Jesse L. Martin. For the American politician, see Jesse M. Martin. Jesse Martin (born August 26, 1981, Dachau, Germany) is an Australian sailor who in 1999 became the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo, non-stop, and unassisted. , who's been seen on such hit TV shows as ``Ally McBeal'' and ``The X-Files.'' The film first screened at the 1998 Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Independent Film Festival and has played to acclaim at several other festivals since then. It is expected to receive limited theatrical distribution in October. The film is semiautobiographical sem·i·au·to·bi·o·graph·i·cal adj. Of, relating to, or being a work that falls between fiction and autobiography: a semiautobiographical novel. Adj. 1. for Bross, 30, and screenwriter Tom C. Cudworth, who met while working at a restaurant in Montclair, N.J. ``We'd both been waiters there, and I kept saying we should make something set in a restaurant,'' Bross said. ``I suggested Hoboken for its feeling of being sort of limbo-ish ... it's so close to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and everything it represents, yet you can feel trapped there,'' said Bross. He added that Cudworth, who is white, had a longstanding relationship with an African-American woman, out of which comes some of the issues the main characters deal with in ``Restaurant.'' If the soul of a restaurant is the kitchen, Martin's character - Quincy, the chef - is its heart. ``Eric said to me when I auditioned, `I like to think of Quincy as the heart of this restaurant, and therefore the heart of this movie,'' Martin said in an interview from his home in New York. ``Restaurant'' was Martin's first film role; he's serving as a spokesman for the Classically Independent Film Festival and is preparing to join the cast of ``Law & Order'' in the fall. He says he looks forward to doing a mix of roles on film, television and his first love, the stage (he played Tom Collins in the New York and London productions of ``Rent''). Martin also put in time as a restaurant employee, working his way through New York University New York University, mainly in New York City; coeducational; chartered 1831, opened 1832 as the Univ. of the City of New York, renamed 1896. It comprises 13 schools and colleges, maintaining 4 main centers (including the Medical Center) in the city, as well as the . ``I was almost everything BUT a chef,'' recalled Martin with a laugh. ``I waited, I bused tables, I bartended.'' A bit of controversy surrounded Martin's recent turn as a love interest for Ally on ``Ally McBeal'': Some protested that the interracial in·ter·ra·cial adj. Relating to, involving, or representing different races: interracial fellowship; an interracial neighborhood. aspect of the relationship was never mentioned. By contrast, ``Restaurant'' deals head-on with race. Does Martin think it's an issue that needs to be raised? ``I think it depends on the story being told,'' Martin said. ``In real life, yes, it's always going to be an issue you have to deal with. But on TV, I don't there's an obligation to deal with it. There's such a thing as dramatic license.'' Lauryn Hill, the pop diva who was the big winner at this year's Grammy Awards Grammy Awards Annual awards given by the Recording Academy (officially the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences). The first Grammies (the name is a dimunitive of “gramophone”) were given in 1958. , was originally cast as Jeanine, the leading lady who falls in love with the white playwright, Chris. But when she became pregnant, she bowed out and opted instead for the cameo role of Leslie, the old flame old flame Noun Informal, old-fashioned a person with whom one once had a romantic relationship who still haunts Chris. Her pregnancy was written into that role, providing a much different confrontation between the two characters near the film's end. Bross concedes the production has been lucky in terms of timing. Since being cast, Hill has gone on to become the toast of the recording industry, Brody has acted in the highly anticipated ``Summer of Sam,'' and Martin has gone on to TV stardom. Bross has already completed his third independently made film, ``Stranger Than Fiction,'' which he describes as a dark comic thriller. But he says he doesn't rule out working on a studio film soon. ``I wouldn't necessarily try to make `Restaurant' for a studio. Studios tend to stay away from those kinds of issues,'' admitted Bross. ``But there are other kinds of stories that you can tell that are both entertaining and powerful. It would be nice to get work in the studio system, as long as it's on interesting films.'' THE FACTS The event: The Classically Independent Film Festival. Where: The Writers Guild Theatre, 135 S. Doheny Drive Doheny Drive is a major north/south thoroughfare for Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. It starts a few blocks south of Pico Boulevard and travels north past Sunset Boulevard. Doheny encounters few traffic lights, making it a relatively quick trip north/south. , Beverly Hills. When: Friday through Monday. What: Screenings of 10 movies, plus a panel discussion at 1 p.m. Saturday. ``Restaurant,'' which runs one hour, 48 minutes, screens at 9:30 p.m. Friday. Other screenings: Friday: 6:30 p.m., ``Choose Me.'' Saturday: 3:30 p.m., ``Five Corners''; 6:30 p.m., ``One False Move''; 9:30 p.m., ``Broken Vessels.'' Sunday: 1 p.m., ``My Dinner With Andre''; 4 p.m., ``Paris Is Burning''; 6:30 p.m., ``The Unbelievable Truth,'' 9 p.m., ``Drylongso.'' Monday: 7:30 p.m., ``On the Ropes.'' Tickets: Tickets are $8 per screening, or $35 for a festival pass. Tickets and screening information are available at the theater box office during the festival, or at www.dockers.com. on the Web. CAPTION(S): 3 Photos PHOTO (1) ``My Dinner With Andre,'' starring Wallace Shawn, left, and Andre Gregory, screens 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Classically Independent Film Festival at the Writers Guild Theatre. (2) Jesse Martin, known for his work on ``Ally McBeal'' and ``The X-Files,'' plays the chef in ``Restaurant.'' (3) The pre-``Sling Blade'' Billy Bob Thornton can be seen in ``One False Move,'' a 1991 release. |
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