CINESTUDIO IS OPEN AND WE’D LIKE TO SHARE OUR GUIDELINES/RESTRICTIONS.

Vaccination Policy:  Cinestudio believes in the importance of community-wide vaccination to create a safe environment for all of our patrons, volunteers, and staff. We strongly encourage all, who are able, to get vaccinated.

Hand Sanitizer is available throughout the building.

These policies were updated on 3/7/23 and are based on current Trinity College policies in place and are subject to change. Thanks for your support, we look forward to seeing you again at the movies!

From an Academy-Award winning writer and producer of Green Book to a casting director for The Dark Knight Rises, Trinity Film Festival is bringing an all-star lineup of judges to Cinestudio in Hartford, CT this Saturday, May 5. The TFF 2019 Judging Panel will review this season’s 24 undergraduate shorts along with the audience, and then deliberate immediately following the screenings. Over $4,000 in cash prizes, sponsored by Xfinity, will be awarded by the panel.

Brian Hayes Currie

Nancy Mosser

Nancy Mosser has been working as a casting director for over 25 years. Before specializing in casting, she worked in TV and Film production in Boston and Pittsburgh on projects such as Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Her casting credits include The Dark Knight Rises, Adventureland, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Out of the Furnace, and the ABC TV series, Downward Dog. She recently won the Casting Society of America’s Artios Award for Best Casting of an Independent Feature for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, which won the Grand Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.   Nancy enjoys working with and supporting emerging talent in the film business and is thrilled to be a part of Trinity Film Festival.

On the Set of Green Book

by John Michael Mason

There are many tales out there of movie productions falling apart because of disagreements on set, or lauded films with behind the scenes horror stories from cast and crew. And then there are films where everyone involved is having the time of their life, and that energy translates to the big screen. Green Book is one of those rare films. From the magical run that started with the surprise win at the Toronto Film Festival to the Academy Award for Best Picture last weekend (and all the festivals and awards it won in between) audiences are responding enthusiastically to Green Book in ways that have surprised many critics. Dismissed by some as a straightforward buddy flick, Green Book’s success may largely lie in that is isn’t afraid to leave audiences feeling good about the experience of following two characters as they navigate complex cultural issues in 1962 America. It is a halcyon slice of Hollywood cinema, executed with smart writing and truly great acting. It is, put simply, a very complete and enjoyable movie, guiding audiences to a positive place as they leave the theater. That positive mindset started on set, and has carried its energy through to theatergoers around the globe!

I have had the good fortune of a unique vantage point for the cinderella Green Book run. One of my closest relatives (and mentors and friends), Brian Hayes Currie, won two Academy Awards on Sunday for writing and producing Green Book. I heard about the story when Brian was first delivering what is called a “soft pitch” to his friend Peter Farrelly. The pitch worked, as Pete signed on to direct the film and joined Brian and Nick Vallelonga on a long ride that eventually, with many a bump in the rode, brought this story to the screen. It was a labor of love, and when making the film last winter in New Orleans, I joined Brian on set for an important week of shooting. The biggest takeaway, which both Brian and Pete have since related to me again and again, is that everyone seemed to be truly enjoying the experience of making Green Book. The local crew in New Orleans, almost across the board, said, of all the projects they’ve worked on, this was the best for them. The chemistry between Viggo Mortenson and Mahershala Ali was amazing, and the two quickly became sincere friends. Pete, directing his first project without brother Bobby Farrelly, set the tone early on that he wanted everyone to feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, that good ideas can come from anywhere, and that he made no claim to always know what is best. This cultivated a collaborative atmosphere and was relaxed enough to leave people room to do their jobs well. It was a supportive group and, put simply, they had fun. When the film was complete, they were all proud of what they had accomplished, from the Director to the 2nd AC, and they earnestly hoped audiences would go see the film.

Well, it seems that hope has been realized, and for what it’s worth, having seen it in action, it gives me hope that when you pour your heart into something, that heart shows on the other end.

Green Book is playing at Cinestudio Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 pm, as well as 2:30 pm on Saturday. Get tickets here 

Cinestudio Board Chairman John Michael Mason will lead a talk back about the film after the Saturday evening screening. His cousin, Brian Hayes Currie, has been a judge at Trinity Film Festival and a Friend of Cinestudio.

The Science of Cinema

Tonight, Cinestudio is screening visionary director Christopher Nolan’s cosmological adventure Interstellar in Super Panavision 70mm real film. Nolan is passionate about keeping analog film relevant in an increasingly digital age and wanted this film to be seen in 70mm because of his belief in its superior cinematic presentation. Cinestudio has long prided itself on the ability to present film at the highest technical standard and the most inviting atmosphere possible, which is why the theater maintains two state of the art 70mm projectors. To Cinestudio, presentation matters, and in modern cinema Christopher Nolan appreciates that vision more than anyone.

A film as complex in both story and logistical execution as Interstellar deserves the absolute best viewing experience possible. Filmmaking is a beautiful combination of science and art, and no film better illustrates this than Nolan’s Interstellar. Beyond highliting the science of cinema, the film also happens to be about the science of space and time. Interstellar puts science front and center on the movie screen – it is a well researched crash course in theoretical physics!

After Friday night’s screening, viewers will have an exclusive opportunity for discussion with UConn Professor Emeritus Ronald Mallett. A physicist who specializes in graviation, relativity, black holes, and time travel, Professor Mallett invites all to stay in the theater after the film to talk about the science in Interstellar:

“If the fate of the human race depends on it, will we ever be able to find another home planet amongst the stars? This question is imaginatively addressed in the film “Interstellar.” Along the way we are introduced to intriguing concepts such as wormholes, black holes, and time travel. “Interstellar” is one of those rare sci-fi movies that is extremely entertaining as well as accurate in its description of many of the scientific concepts with which it grapples. This should come as no surprise when one realizes the technical consultant for the film is one of the outstanding physicists of our time, Kip Thorne, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the California Institute of technology (Caltech). Prof. Thorne has made major contributions to the theory of wormholes, black holes, and time travel. Indeed, he studied under physicist John A. Wheeler, who coined the term “black hole.”  More recently, Thorne was one of the recipients of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for his detection of gravitational waves, the ripples in spacetime predicted by Albert Einstein over 100 years ago. With Thorne’s help, director Christopher Nolan confronts these mind-boggling scientific ideas with impressive grace, but it is the intensely emotional human interactions underlying the story that make it so engaging. “Interstellar” is an outstanding film that deserves to be seen again and again and seriously discussed on many different levels. “

**Don’t miss your chance to see this! SHOWTIMES & TICKET LINK (tickets will also be available at the door)**

Ronald L Mallett, PhD is a research professor of physics at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. Prof. Mallett has published numerous papers on black holes and cosmology in professional journals. His breakthrough research on time travel has been featured extensively in the media around the world and he has appeared in a feature-length documentary “How to Build a Time Machine” which won Best Documentary at the 2017 New York City Sci-Fi Film. Mallett’s published memoir “Time Traveler: A Scientist’s Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality” has been translated into Korean, Chinese, and Japanese.