Picturehouse 441 and ACE are proud to be partnering on a series of live virtual Q&As as part of our mutual efforts to promote film literacy.
Join us for a Q&A with editor Mark Helfrich, ACE, as he discusses his work on the 1995 erotic drama Showgirls. While Picturehouse 441 is normally dedicated to exploring essential cinema, we wanted to take a night to explore one of cinema’s most beloved cult classics: Showgirls. After the smash-hit success of Basic Instinct, legendary director Paul Verhoeven and enfant terrible screenwriter Joe Eszterhas joined forces again for Showgirls. The film’s ambitions couldn’t have been higher: Saved By the Bell’s Elizabeth Berkeley wanted to use the film to break into serious roles, Verhoeven and Eszterhas aimed to satirize the cutthroat, sleazy world of Sin City strippers, and the film would be the most widely-released NC-17-rated film ever. What actually resulted is one of the most notorious films in modern cinema history - a critically-assailed, Razzie-sweeping box office flop that quickly garnered a huge cult following and record-breaking ($100 million+) video sales for MGM. However, SHOWGIRLS did demonstrate that beneath all of the fabulously over-the-top line readings, insane sex scenes, and nonsensical behavior was typically strong technical craft, exemplified by Mark Helfrich, ACE, and Mark Goldblatt, ACE’s electric editing. This one-of-a-kind event will explore the makings of this wildly entertaining phenomenon through the eyes of one of the veteran editors who was tasked with putting it together. This event will be a Zoom Webinar on Thursday, May 30 at 8PM ET/5PM PT. **ACE members, please check your email for free ticket information.**

Join us on Monday, June 3 for a Q&A with editor Jake Roberts, ACE, as he discusses his work on the 2024 dystopian thriller Civil War. Advertised as an action-packed political thriller, Alex Garland’s latest directorial effort, Civil War, is a far more humane though suitably intense work that stands as a testament to war journalists’ bravery in the face of a new American civil war. As cut by Garland’s longtime editor, Oscar-nominee Jake Roberts, ACE, Civil War is a patiently-paced film spotted with scenes of prolonged tension that are effectively interspersed with still images of the conflict being covered by the film’s characters. Elevated by outstanding work from Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, and Stephen McKinley Henderson, Civil War marks another distinctive and vital work from Alex Garland who, through Ex Machina, Annihilation, and Men, has established himself as one of the world’s most exciting writer-director double-threats after a remarkable career as a screenwriter. This event will be a Zoom Webinar on Monday, June 3 at 8PM ET/5PM PT. **ACE members, please check your email for free ticket information.**

Join the British Film Editors for another VGOW, this time exploring the Apple TV series, Manhunt, with guest editors Damien Smith, Karollina Tuovinen and David Berman on the Wednesday, June 5 at 11:30am PT!

Tune in on Wednesday, June 5, to watch a Q&A with supervising sound editor Dody Dorn, ACE; sound designer Blake Leyh; cinematographer Mikael Salomon, ASC as they discuss their work on the special edition of the 1989 science fiction film The Abyss. After two smash hits in a row with The Terminator and Aliens, James Cameron took on The Abyss, a characteristically ambitious underwater thriller that became the first commercial disappointment of his career. A few years after the film's theatrical release, Cameron went back to the deep to both further develop characters and properly realize the film's VFX-filled conclusion. The resulting special edition is a visual and aural groundbreaker with its Oscar-winning special effects, Oscar-nominated cinematography, and Oscar-nominated sound that admirably remains grounded due to its marital drama played out powerfully by Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Expertly edited by Conrad Buff, ACE, Joel Goodman and Howard E. Smith, ACE, 35 years after its release, this once-maligned film stands tall in the master filmmaker's filmography. This event will be a Zoom Webinar on Wednesday, June 5 at 8PM ET/5PM PT. **ACE members, please check your email for free ticket information.**