It is difficult to describe precisely the impact Audrey Hepburn has on a movie audience; it’s just something you immediately feel when she appears before your eyes. She was the epitome of big-screen class and feminine charm, yet she maintained a childlike vulnerability that served her well as an ingénue but somehow never clashed with her more adult roles. Hepburn also had generally good taste when choosing her projects, and most of her movies are still fun to watch today. This is why the Dryden will be presenting excellent 35mm prints of her best-loved vehicles over seven consecutive Wednesdays, beginning July 18 with Billy Wilder’s contemporary fairy tale, Sabrina. Hepburn teamed with Wilder one more time for the delightful Love in the Afternoon (July 25), but it was her only collaboration with director Blake Edwards, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (August 1), that provided Hepburn with the role she’s still most identified with today, hipster Holly Golightly. Cast opposite equally charismatic leading men like Cary Grant in Charade (August 8 ) and Peter O’Toole in How to Steal a Million (August 15), Hepburn used her familiar persona to make smashing entertainments out of two light European-set capers. However, in the decidedly more sinister Wait Until Dark (August 22), she revealed another side of her talent as a blind woman terrorized in her New York apartment by a sadistic hood (Alan Arkin). The series concludes on August 29 with Stanley Donen’s Two for the Road, a romantic comedy co-starring Albert Finney that provided Hepburn with the definitive transitional role as it follows a married couple over ten years. Like all the other selections in this lineup, it’s the perfect date movie.

Community partners for Audrey Hepburn Wednesdays film series

Experience fabulous “Audrey” specials and discounts at area businesses

Simply mention the Audrey Hepburn series — running at 8 p.m. every Wednesday from July 18 through Aug. 29 at the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House — and receive fabulous specials and discounts. In addition to our community partners, we wish to thank our media sponsor, WHAM 1180AM.

Sabrina (July 18)
Community Partner: Waterlily Spa and Cosmetics Boutique, 2383 Monroe Ave., Brighton (442-5140)
Offer: A “Sabrina Moment.” A 1-hour mini-makeover and make-up lesson ($60 value). Please call spa to reserve sitting. Offer through Aug. 31, 2007.

Love in the Afternoon (July 25)
Community Partner: Wine Sense, 749 Park Ave., Rochester (271-0590)
Offer: 10% off all French wine and cheeses through Aug. 31, 2007

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Aug. 1)
Community Partner: Jine’s Restaurant, 658 Park Ave., Rochester (461-1280)
Offer: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” Coffee and Croissant Special for $3.95, offered every weekday (Monday through Friday) July 18 through Aug. 31.

Community Partner: L’Avant Garbe, 19 State St., Pittsford (248-0440)
Offer: 20% off any garment through Aug. 31, 2007 (including “little black dresses”) and free makeup tips on how-to create the “Audrey eye.”

Charade (Aug. 8 )
Community Partner: Fred Astaire Studios, 3450 Winton Place, Rochester (292-1240)
Offer: One complimentary dance lesson; offer valid through Aug. 31, 2007

How to Steal a Million (Aug. 15)
Community Partner: Artisan Works, 565 Blossom Road, Rochester (288-7170)
Offer: $2 discount on regular admission (Admission with discount is $10 for adults and $6 for students/seniors) through Aug. 31, 2007

Wait Until Dark (Aug. 22)
Community Partner: Parkleigh, 215 Park Ave., Rochester (244-4842)
Offer: 20% off any Dark Chocolate Truffles from Godiva, Joseph Schmidt of San Francisco, or Neuhaus from Belgium. Offer Aug. 22 through Sept. 22, 2007.

Two for the Road (Aug. 29)
Community Partner: Eastman House Café (George Eastman House), 900 East. Ave., Rochester
Offer: Two-fer cookie deal (buy one cookie, get one free every Wednesday during the run of the film series, July 19 through Aug. 29). Café is open on Wednesdays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

A veteran of seven decades of film history, stage and screen star Farley Granger will appear in person in the Dryden on July 13 at 7 p.m. to present what is perhaps his best-known movie, Alfred Hitchcock’s magnificent thriller, Strangers on a Train.

In Strangers, Granger plays tennis pro Guy Haines, who, traveling by train, meets the charming but psychopathic Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker). Before you can say “Criss Cross,” Guy’s made a Faustian deal with Bruno that leads to murder. Filled with witty, dark humor and two marvelous lead performances, Strangers on a Train builds to one of the most suspenseful conclusions in all of Hitchcock.

In addition to Hitchcock, with whom he made one more film (Rope), Mr. Granger has also worked with other legendary directors, like Nicholas Ray (They Live By Night), Lewis Milestone (The Purple Heart), Anthony Mann (Side Street), Richard Fleischer (The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing), and, perhaps most notably, Luchino Visconti (Senso). On August 7, you’ll also be able to see him in Vincente Minnelli’s The Story of Three Loves, opposite Leslie Caron.

Farley Granger will introduce Strangers on a Train and answer questions following the screening in a session moderated by film historian Foster Hirsch. After the discussion, he will sign copies of his new memoir, Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway, written with Robert Calhoun. Books will be available for purchase in the Eastman House Store. Tickets $10; $8 members and students. Advance tickets are available at http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org, (585) 271-3361 ext. 295, the admissions desk, or Dryden Theatre box office (before June 28 and day of event only). No Take-10 tickets or passes.

Bring-your-own film event taking place 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; event is free and open to the public

You are invited to celebrate home movies at George Eastman House, during the fifth annual International Home Movie Day Saturday, Aug. 11. International Home Movie Day takes place simultaneously in cities across the country and the world, dedicated to the viewing and preservation of home movies shot on film. At George Eastman House, International Home Movie Day is being celebrated with afternoon screenings of submitted home movies from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Dryden Theatre, complete with popcorn. Simply bring your 16 mm, 8mm, or Super 8 home movies with you to the event.

You may drop off your films beginning at 10 a.m., with films inspected on-site through 3 p.m. (all films will undergo inspection to determine if they are in good physical condition for projection). Participants will be encouraged to provide commentary about their films with the audience. Your home movies might be a lot more interesting than you remember! “We encourage those attending to participate as much they’d like on Home Movie Day by narrating their home movies, bringing a favorite song to accompany a movie, or asking questions following a screening,” said Pat Doyen of the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department, who is this year’s event organizer.

Though video and digital recording now dominate the home-movie market, it is argued that these formats do not have the same quality as the old films you may have in your closet, attic, or basement. Home Movie Day events provide an opportunity for individuals and families to learn more about their own family movies, how to care for films, and how home movies have helped capture 20th century history. International Home Movie Day is coordinated under the auspices of the Center for Home Movies and grew out of the concerns held by film archivists for the fate of all the home movies shot on film during the 20th century. More than 50 cities take part in International Home Movie Day, in the United States, Canada, Italy, England, and Japan.

Here’s what Martin Scorsese has to say about International Home Movie Day:

Saving our film heritage should not be limited only to commercially produced films. Home Movie Day is a celebration of these films and the people who shot them. This is a truly special way of celebrating this often over-looked area of our film history, and I congratulate George Eastman House for supporting this important initiative.

Admission and participation is free but donations will be accepted. For more information please call (585) 271-3361 ext. 240; email event organizer Pat Doyen at pdoyen@geh.org; or visit homemovie.com. For sale at the event will be the DVD “Living Room Cinema: Films from Home Movie Day, Volume 1 (120 min./$25, includes shipping) which features George Eastman’s Kodacolor Party of 1928 — the event where he dramatically introduced color home movies to the world — narrated by Eastman House’s Ed Stratmann, associate curator of motion pictures.

Thursday, May 3, 8 p.m.
Friday, May 4, 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 5, 4 p.m. & 8 p.m.

Admission is free, but donations are accepted.

The Rochester International Film Festival, the world’s oldest continuously-held short film festival, has been presented each year since 1959 by Movies on a Shoestring, Inc. Each festival includes a wide variety of narrative films, documentaries, and animations submitted by independent filmmakers from all parts of the world.

For more information, please visit http://www.rochesterfilmfest.org/

The Dryden Theatre will be closed from Wednesday, June 27 until Thursday, July 12 for technical upgrades to the projection booth. For details on the upgrades, please refer to this article.