Saturday, February 4 at 1:00pm

A Conversation With Jeffrey Jacobs

Jeffrey Jacobs, Jacobs Entertainment, is the film buyer for Tropic Cinema.
Join in the conversation as we discuss how Tropic Cinema gets it's films.

Come learn all about the drama, intrigue and mystery surrounding how, when and why we select films for you at Tropic Cinema.

Jeffrey Jacobs of Jacobs Entertainment in New York (along with our own Programing Director Scot Hoard), selects and books films for Tropic Cinema for some dozen independent cinemas across the country including Key West’s Tropic Cinema. 

Tropic members tell us they love our movies at the Tropic -- and our service and concessions and ambiance.  Still, there are those mystifying and maddening questions all our members and customers ask!

Why does it take so long for Tropic Cinema to get new movies?

How come there are so many “Hollywood” movies” at the Tropic?

Why can’t Tropic Cinema get some of the great movies that OTHER cinema gets?

How come movies don’t stay longer at the Tropic?

What’s with all the foreign films at the Tropic?

Why do movies stay so long at the Tropic?

Who picks those movies, anyway?

Jeffery Jacobs is paying a visit to Tropic Cinema to answer all those questions and more for Tropic members and customers.

Members Free, Nonmembers $5

Sponsored by Southernmost Hotel Collection

Monday, February 6 at 7:00pm

Classic Movie Series ~ February - Heart and Soul

DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST (1991)

At the turn of the century, West African slaves were brought to a small island near South Carolina to labor in the indigo trade. Isolated in the swampy atmosphere, the Gullah community was built based on ancient Yoruba traditions. They spoke in a distinct dialect, a combination of English and West African languages. This unique community is explored in Julie Dash's debut feature Daughters of the Dust, a costume drama about the Peazant family, a fictional group of Gullah natives living on Ido Landing. The secluded family experiences conflicts surrounding religion, industrialization, and tradition. The mystical matriarch Nana (Cora Lee Day) holds true to the beliefs of their anscestors, while Haagar (Kaycee Moore) can't wait to move away. Yellow Mary (Barbara O) returns from a life as a prostitute in Cuba with her girlfriend, and gets morally attacked by the reformed Christian Viola (Cheryl Lynn Bruce). Meanwhile, indifferent Eula (Alva Rogers) is pregnant with a baby that may or may not be the result of a rape. While the story doesn't attempt to follow a standard Eurocentric narrative, the plot revolves around a picnic on the shore in honor of the family members who chose to move to the prosperity of the north. The narrator is a spirit called the Unborn Child, who appears sometimes as a rambunctious little girl. A photographer accompanies the group to capture the events on film. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Tickets $9, KWFS Members $7.50
Hosted by Craig Wanous

Thursday, February 9 at 6:00

Visiting Filmmaker Series:

EVANS CHAN
Sorceress of the New Piano: T he Artistry of Margaret Leng Tan

Champagne reception 5:30
Screening at 6:00

A mind-bending lesson in modern musicology and the amazing skills of a unique piano artist. You’ll marvel at Margaret Leng Tan’s evolution from a Julliard-trained classical pianist to a modern virtuoso, playing “clusters” with her forearm, strumming and tweaking the internal strings like a huge harp and even playing a piece on four separate pianos.

And that’s only the beginning. You’ll learn about her collaboration with John Cage to create a “prepared piano” using screws threaded between the strings to create a percussive sound, or drumming on the closed keyboard. You’ll witness her fascination with toy pianos, going so far as to play a major concert where she hand-syncs with Schroeder in the Charles Shultz animated short Play in Again Charlie Brown.

Through it all, the extended interviews with Ms. Tan show her to be a dedicated and formidable artist, and yet a playful and charming personality as she articulates her goals in a refined British Singapore-educated English.

The Tropic is pleased to present this film as part of its Visiting Filmmaker Series. The distinguished Chinese director Evans Chan will be present to introduce it and offer a Q & A session afterward.

“ one of the best films ever made about a musician…. one of the very few films that manage to communicate some real and substantial information about the art of music." Tim Page, Washington Post

“ Evans Chan's exemplary documentary is first and foremost a portrait of the woman, seen talking with remarkable candour and performing with even more remarkable aplomb, but it also encompasses an astute mini-history of avant-garde music in the 20th century.” Tony Rayns, 2005 Time Out Film Guide

“SORCERESS may well be the best documentary ever made about avant-garde music." Gina Marchetti, HKCinemagic.com

Tickets $10.50, Members $7.50

Monday, February 13 at 7:00pm

Classic Movie Series ~ February - Heart and Soul - intro by Craig Wanous

CABIN IN THE SKY (1943)

Mortally shot at a crap game, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson gets a six-month Heavenly reprieve thanks to prayers from wife and True Believer Ethel Waters, but Rex Ingram's "Lucifer Jr." has a secret weapon in the ensuing battle for Anderson's soul: Lena Horne's sultry Sweet Georgia Brown. But Ethel proves to have "everything you've got and whole lot more." Minnelli's first major movie musical features some of the top African American talent of the day, including John Bubbles, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. But it's above all a showcase for top-billed Waters' enormous singing, dancing, comedy, and acting talents. -- (C) Film Forum

Tickets $9, KWFS Members $7.50
Hosted by Craig Wanous

February 17

DCI GALA

A Celebration of the Install of the Industry Standard Digital Compliance Projectors

Tropic Cinema Begins a New Era in Film Presentation

Thanks to the Support of The Rodel Foundation and The Monroe County Tourist Development Council

Tropic Cinema Presents

Digital Cinema Initiative Projection of

BEST PICTURE -- National Board of Review
Nominated for BEST PICTURE -- Golden Globes and Oscar

Tickets $14, KWFS Members $7.50

Champagne Reception 5:00 PM

Screening 6:00 PM

Monday, February 20 at 7:00pm

Classic Movie Series ~ February - Heart and Soul - intro by Craig Wanous

A PATCH OF BLUE (1965)

Shelley Winters won an Academy Award for her searing performance as Rose-Ann d'Arcy in A Patch of Blue. The star, however, is not Winters but Elizabeth Hartman, cast as d'Arcy's blind, sensitive daughter, Selina. A venomous prostitute, Rose-Ann treats both Selina and grandfather Ole Pa (Wallace Ford) like dirt. Fortunately, Selina finds a way out via the kindly Gordon Ralfe (Sidney Poitier), who befriends Hartman and tries to open up doors for her previously closed by her selfish mother. Despite the objections of the bigoted Rose-Ann and of Gordon's brother Mark (Ivan Dixon), a bond stronger than physical love is forged between Gordon and Selina. Brilliantly avoiding gooey sentiment throughout, A Patch of Blue was adapted for the screen by director Guy Green, from the novel Be Ready with Bells and Drums by Elizabeth Kata. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Tickets $9, KWFS Members $7.50
Hosted by Craig Wanous

Tuesday, February 21 at 7:00pm
Tuesday, February 28 at 2:00pm

Il Trittico from the Royal Opera

Tickets

• VIP Tropic members $50
• VIP General Admission $65
• Telecast and concert only Tropic members $15
• Telecast and concert only General Admission $20

Monday, February 27 at 7:00pm

Classic Movie Series ~ February - Heart and Soul - intro by Craig Wanous

ISLAND IN THE SUN (1957)

Political intrigue and romantic gamesmanship send an already torrid Caribbean community to the boiling point in this drama. Maxwell Fleury (James Mason) and David Boyeur (Harry Belafonte) are two men running for political office in a British-controlled island in the West Indies. Maxwell is the son of a wealthy and socially prominent white family, while David is a black labor leader with a groundswell of popular support but little money. A scandal erupts in the press alleging that Maxwell is of mixed racial ancestry, but Maxwell is actually pleased about the news, thinking that it may endear him to black voters. Maxwell is not pleased, however, when he hears that his wife Sylvia (Patricia Owens) has been having an affair with the urbane but rootless Carson (Michael Rennie), taking the matter seriously enough to murder Carson himself. Maxwell's younger sister Jocelyn (Joan Collins) is also in hot water, romantically speaking; she has set her sights on Eun Templeton (Stephen Boyd), the son of the Island's governor, and she hopes to snare him into marriage by allowing him to get her pregnant. Elsewhere on the island, David is secretly having an affair with a white woman, Mavis Norman (Joan Fontaine), while David's former girlfriend, Margot Seaton (Dorothy Dandridge), has become involved with a white man, Denis Archer (John Justin). Based on the novel by Alex Waugh, Island in the Sun also features songs from Harry Belafonte, including "Lead Man Holler" and the title tune. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Tickets $9, KWFS Members $7.50
Hosted by Craig Wanous

Tuesday, February 28 at 2:00pm

Il Trittico from the Royal Opera

March Classic Movie Series

March - Wild about Wilder

3/5/12 Some Like it Hot 1:50

3/12/12 Stalag 17 2:00

3/19/12 Sabrina 1:53

3/26/12 Sunset Boulevard 1:50

March 3

Annual Membership Meeting

details to follow...

April Classic Movie Series

April - Cult Colors

4/2/12 Pink Flamingoes 1:33

4/9/12 Purple Rose of Cairo 1:22

4/16/12 Grey Gardens (1975) 1:40

4/23/12 Blue Velvet 2:00

4/30/12 Yellow Submarine

REVIEW A MOVIE

Your comments are welcome! From our homepage,
click on the Tropic blog from the navigation bar on the left.
Click on the movie title on the right and then click on
"post a comment."

To check it out now Click here