When sharing our story, many tend to focus squarely on a handful of big events happening within the city of Grand Rapids but miss one series of events that is harder to verbalize.
This miss is excusable when you consider that this opportunity to experience it unspools in darkened rooms all over our city in places like Wealthy Theatre and the UICA but also in non-traditional venues like Downtown Grand Rapids Inc's and Creston's Riverside Park pop-up cinema programs as well as bars and basement clubs. Through the years, from film festivals to feature debuts made here, Grand Rapids has slowly become a place where a growing thirst for counter-culture independent films is propelling a community to create new art – and create new film aficionados out of the fans.
On Thursday night you have a chance to witness another film making its Michigan debut at UICA – plus, attendees of HairBrained will have a chance to listen to three of the movie’s filmmakers who will be in the audience for this one-night-only screening.
HairBrained, an award-winning feature at the Brooklyn Film Festival, shines a light on the very dark and comic world of competitive college quiz tournaments. The film stars Alex Wolff (The Naked Brothers Band, In Treatment) as Eli Pettifog, a 14-year-old genius freshman stinging from a Harvard rejection, and Brendan Fraser (The Mummy series; Extraordinary Measures) as Leo, his 41-year-old classmate and unlikely friend.
Also appearing in this new film is one of my personal favorite actors, Parker Posey (Louis; Best in Show) who turns in a note-perfect performance (albeit smallish compared to other films) as Eli’s overtaxed mother. Julia Garner (The Perks of Being a Wallflower; Martha Marcy May Marlene) appears as Shauna, Eli’s friend—and maybe more.
For those wanting to go behind the scenes, Screenwriter Adam Wierzbianski, Director Billy Kent, and Executive Producer Sarah Bird will participate in a panel discussion and Q & A session moderated by Christian Gaines, Executive Director of ArtPrize. Gaines is the previous Director of AFI Fest Los Angeles, the Hawaii International Film Festival, and also worked at IMDb.com and the Sundance Film Festival before coming to Grand Rapids.
Admission: $10 ($8 for UICA members)
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