The Academy Award nominee “Ernest & Celestine” and the documentary “Finding Vivian Maier” open May 2 at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. Also continuing for a second week are “Particle Fever” and “The Lunchbox.”
All four films play through May 8. “Particle Fever” and “Finding Vivian Maier” are not rated; “The Lunchbox” and “Ernest & Celestine” are rated PG.
Nominated for Best Animated Film, “Ernest & Celestine” is based in an underground civilization of hardworking mice, terrified of the bears that live above ground.
Unlike her fellow mice, Celestine is an artist and a dreamer — and when she nearly ends up as breakfast for ursine troubadour Ernest, the two form an unlikely bond. But their friendship is put on trial by their respective bear-fearing and mice-eating communities.
“Ernest & Celestine” is based on a classic book series by Gabrielle Vincent. The film is winner of the Cesar Award for Best Animated Feature and other festival prizes.
Evening screenings of “Ernest & Celestine” will be shown in the original French with English subtitles. Weekend matinee screenings will be shown in English.
“Finding Vivian Maier” explores the life of a woman who is considered one of the 20th century’s greatest street photographers. Maier was a mysterious nanny who secretly took more than 100,000 photographs that went unseen during her lifetime. The photos were discovered by chance during an auction.
Through the documentary, Maier’s strange and riveting life and art are revealed through never-before-seen photographs, films, and interviews with dozens who thought they knew her.
“Particle Fever” follows six scientists during the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, marking the beginning of the biggest and most expensive science experiment in the history of mankind. The project includes 10,000 scientists from more than 100 countries joining forces in pursuit to potentially explain the origin of all matter by recreating the conditions that existed moments after the Big Bang and discovering the Higgs boson.
The documentary is directed by Mark Levinson, a physicist turned filmmaker, and edited by Walter Murch (“Apocalypse Now,” “The English Patient”).
In “The Lunchbox,” a mistake in a Mumbai’s famously efficient lunch delivery system results in a connection between a young housewife and an old man. The two build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox. As the lunchbox goes back and forth between the housewife and man, the fantasy becomes so elaborate that it threatens to overwhelm their reality.
For more information, including showtimes, go to http://www.theross.org or call 402-472-5353.
