FILMMAKER FAVOURITES
A New Series of "Films That Inspire Those Who Make Them"
Hosted by Filmmaker, Geordie Sabbagh
Select Dates - 7pm - Algonquin Theatre Huntsville
CINEMA PARADISO
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 7pm
Filmmaker’s Intro — Why Geordie Selected It
"Cinema Paradiso is an ode to why we fall in love with movies in the first place. It understands that cinema isn’t just what happens on a screen — it’s where we saw it, who we saw it with, and the memories that become attached to those films.
Giuseppe Tornatore’s film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and became one of the films that helped bring Italian cinema back to international audiences. But more than the awards, it’s the emotion that lasts. And then there’s that ending — widely regarded as one of the most beautiful and unforgettable endings in cinema history. For a series about the movies that make us want to make movies, I can’t think of a better place to begin."
Successful filmmaker Salvatore returns to his Sicilian hometown after learning of the death of Alfredo, the projectionist who first introduced him to the magic of movies. Through his memories, Cinema Paradiso becomes a funny, bittersweet and deeply affectionate story about friendship, first love, growing up and the communal experience of going to the movies.
1988 | Italy/France | 124 min. | Italian with English subtitles
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Featuring: Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, Jacques Perrin Distributor: Miramax
Content Advisory: Mature themes, some sexual content/references, brief nudity and scenes of peril
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
Monday, November 30, 2026 - 7pm
Filmmaker’s Intro — Why Geordie Selected It
"This is one of the greatest films of the 21st century — and there’s a good chance you may never have seen it. Since its release, In the Mood for Love has influenced an entire generation of filmmakers. Its fingerprints can be seen in films as different as Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight, and the work of the Daniels. Its use of colour, music, framing and editing — and its ability to communicate enormous emotion through what its characters don’t say — helped shape the visual language of modern cinema. Janus Films describes it as a major stylistic influence on the past 25 years of filmmaking.
And remarkably, its reputation has only grown. In the 2022 Sight and Sound critics’ poll, it was voted the fifth greatest film ever made — and the highest-ranked film of the 21st century. An independent analysis of the published ballots found that among women critics it ranked #2, ahead of films including Vertigo and Citizen Kane.
For me, this series is about sharing the films that inspire filmmakers, and few films have influenced the look and feeling of modern cinema quite like this one."
Hong Kong, 1962. Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen move into neighbouring apartments on the same day. When they discover that their spouses are having an affair, their shared loneliness creates an increasingly intimate bond.
Wong Kar Wai transforms that simple premise into an exquisitely photographed meditation on love, memory, missed opportunities and all the things left unsaid.
2000 | Hong Kong | 98 min. | Cantonese, Shanghainese with English subtitles
Written & Directed by: Wong Kar Wai
Featuring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung Man-yuk
Cinematography by: Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping-bin
Distributor: Janus Films
Content Advisory: Mature themes, infidelity, smoking and mild sexual references
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
Wednesday, February 17, 2027 - 7pm
Filmmaker’s Intro — Why Geordie Selected It
"This one is personal: When Harry Met Sally… is my wife’s favourite movie of all time.
But it’s also one of those rare films that has become part of our culture while remaining every bit as funny, smart and charming as when it was released. Nora Ephron’s writing, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan’s chemistry, and Rob Reiner’s wonderfully unobtrusive direction make something incredibly difficult look effortless.
With Rob Reiner’s passing, this also feels like the perfect opportunity to celebrate a filmmaker who understood that great comedy begins with great characters.
And because one Valentine’s Day is never enough, we’re calling this our Valentine’s Day Do-Over."
Harry Burns and Sally Albright meet while sharing a drive from Chicago to New York and immediately disagree about whether men and women can ever truly be friends. Over the years, chance encounters turn into friendship, friendship becomes something more complicated, and Rob Reiner and screenwriter Nora Ephron create one of the defining romantic comedies of modern cinema.
At its heart, When Harry Met Sally… isn’t really about whether men and women can be friends. It’s about the much more complicated question of what happens when the person who knows you best might also be the person you love.
1989 | USA | 95 min. | English
Directed by: Rob Reiner | Written by: Nora Ephron
Featuring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby
Content Advisory: Sexual references and language |
Original Distributor: Columbia Pictures
THE TOWERING INFERNO
Wednesday, March 31, 2027 - 7pm
Filmmaker’s Intro — Why Geordie Selected It
"Sometimes you select a film because it changed cinema. Sometimes you select it because you get Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, William Holden and Fred Astaire in the same movie. The Towering Inferno gives you both.
It helped establish the template for the modern event movie: an enormous all-star cast, huge stakes, spectacular practical effects and the kind of filmmaking that demands to be seen on a big screen with an audience.
It was one of the biggest films of 1974, received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won three. But underneath all the spectacle is something surprisingly serious: a story about what can happen when shortcuts, cost-cutting and bad decisions collide with public safety. The panic it inspired actually changed building codes. And as a firefighter, there was absolutely no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to put this one back on the big screen."
On the night a spectacular new San Francisco skyscraper officially opens, an electrical fire breaks out and begins spreading through the building. With hundreds of guests trapped high above the blaze, architect Doug Roberts and Fire Chief Michael O’Hallorhan must find a way to get them out.
Produced on an enormous scale, The Towering Inferno remains one of the defining disaster movies of the 1970s — combining extraordinary Hollywood star power, ambitious practical effects and white-knuckle suspense with a cautionary story about engineering, responsibility and public safety.
1974 | USA | 165 min. | English
Directed by John Guillermin | Produced by Irwin Allen
Featuring Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaughn and Robert Wagner Content Advisory: Disaster peril, fire sequences, moderate violence and some scenes of injury
Original Distributor: 20th Century-Fox
