Second Friday Cinema is back with a series of more recent movies with Arkansas connections. KUAR and the Old State House will present a screening of War Eagle, Arkansas (2007) on Friday, Sept. 11, at the Old State House Museum.
ABOUT THE FILM
In 2007, Little Rock businessman and community leader Vincent Insalaco was able to bring his dream of making a movie to reality. War Eagle, Arkansas (originally titled simply War Eagle) is based on the lives of Insalaco's son, Vincent III, and his friend Tim Ballany, whose cerebral palsy keeps him in a wheelchair. Insalaco hired Arkansan Graham Gordy to write the script and gave several other young filmmakers a chance to work on the film. The result was a movie that won several awards at film festivals and is one of the finest films shot in Arkansas in the past decade.
The movie follows the story of Enoch (Luke Grimes), a talented high school baseball player with a speech impediment, and Wheels (Dan McCabe), his mouthy friend who doesn't let his wheelchair stop him from expressing his sometimes profane opinion. The two must manage their difficult high school years, with - and against - each other.
The movie includes performances by well-known character actors Brian Dennehy, Mary Kay Place and Mare Winningham. First-time director Robert Milazzo went on to start his own film school with locations in New York and Los Angeles, and cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi would later serve as director of photography on Liam Neeson's The Grey, the award-winning Silver Linings Playbook, and the forthcoming Black Mass, starring Johnny Depp. Writer Gordy found success as a writer with the AMC series Rectify and is currently developing a series for Cinemax, Quarry, which will premiere in February 2016.
EVENT DETAILS
The screening will be from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Old State House Museum, 300 W. Markham. Reception starts at 5 p.m. Free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Old State House Museum at (501) 324-9685 or info@oldstatehouse.org.
WHAT IS SECOND FRIDAY CINEMA?
Second Friday Cinema is a collaboration between KUAR and the Old State House Museum to screen a series of Arkansas-related movies on Second Friday Art Nights. KUAR General Manager Ben Fry, who also teaches courses in film history and criticism at UALR, introduces the movies and leads a discussion after each screening. Second Friday Cinema is presented in celebration with the Old State House's exhibit "Lights! Camera! Arkansas!" The screenings take place on the second Friday of the month at the Old State House Museum.
