Last semester, I wrote a blog post about one of my favorite State College gems– the State Theatre. Though the State Theatre has tons of great programming throughout the year (concerts, musical theatre, comedy, even opera,) my enthusiasm for movies draws me towards their Monday Movie Series, where they screen a wide range of movies– classics, foreign films, recent awards contenders, and even silent films. Every Monday is a new movie, shown at 3 and 7pm. The best part is the cheap ticket price: just four dollars with your student ID.

This series is a great way to expose yourself to movies you might not otherwise seek out, and to get a chance to see some of your favorites on the big screen. Some of my favorites from last semester include 20th Century Women, Sing Street, and Frances Ha. This semester, I’ve seen much fewer of the films on the program, but I’m looking forward to the chance to broaden my perspective and see some new movies.

Here’s a rundown of what I’m planning to catch this semester at the State Theatre. If you’re curious, you can find the whole list with dates here.

Loving Vincent premiered in early 2017 to a great deal of buzz– and deservedly so. Telling the story of the life, art, and death of Vincent Van Gogh, this film is the first feature length film animated entirely by oil paintings. Taking the better part of the decade, over 100 trained artists collaborated to produce by hand the 65,000 frames/paintings that would become Loving Vincent. The result is a spectacular (though slightly stilted and bizarre) visual delight, certainly unlike anything I’ve seen before. You can get a taste of it in the trailer. A voice cast of Douglas Booth, Saoirse Ronan and Chris O’Dowd bring the film to life. A consistent complaint I’ve seen from critics following the film’s debut is a plodding and contrived narrative, so beware of those shortcomings if you decide to go see it. I will be going, but certainly not for the plot. I guess in this case, style is substance.

Belle is a movie that’s been on my radar for awhile, but I’ve yet to see. A period drama, Belle is the story of an illegitimate mixed race child raised in an aristocratic family. It is a story of love and discrimination and pain of never fully belonging, no matter where you go. If you follow the dystopic anthology series Black Mirror, you might recognize the film’s lead, Gugu Mbatha-Raw from her role in the season two episode San Junipero. What’s crucial about Belle, is that it is the story of a black woman, written and directed by black women. Nuance and true understanding in these stories of identity are crucial, and I trust that director Amma Asante won’t stumble into the same traps and tropes that her white counterparts might.

Though not technically part of the Monday Movie Series, I’d be remiss if I didn’t plug one of the coolest film-oriented events the State Theatre puts on each year, coming up in February. When we think of the Oscars, best picture, actors, directors, and writing tend to take up the spotlight. We pay much less attention to the documentaries, the foreign films and short films up for awards each year. Rarely have I ever seen more than one of the nominations in each of those categories. The State Theatre remedies this lack of attention (at least for the short films) with a three night event over the course of a weekend leading up to the Academy Awards. Each night, they showcase the short films from one of the three categories: live action, animated and documentary. This year, the screenings take place the 16th, 17th and 18th of February. Be sure to check them out so you can feel smart and cultured when they announce the winners March 4th! (If you want an idea of what you might expect from a short film festival, check out my previous post on some shorts I’ve been loving lately.)