Oscar-nominated films screened at AMFA this weekend in Little Rock

The Arkansas Cinema Society’s ‘For Your Consideration’ continues this weekend in Little Rock.

“For Your Consideration” is a new program started by the ACS in which they screen Oscar-nominated films at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.

The Zone of Interest, The Boy and the Heron, and others have already played. This weekend is special because an Oscar-nominated documentary about a Little Rock man, Arlo Washington, is being featured.

The Barber of Little Rock, nominated for

Best Short Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, will be shown Sunday. The film explores the racial gap in Little Rock through the story of Washington, a local barber, who founded the nonprofit community bank People Trust, which provides business loans and loans of other forms to people who aren’t able to receive them from traditional banks. The Barber of Little Rock is an insightful documentary about a place just 20 minutes away and an inspiring piece about what can happen when a community invests in itself.

The documentary was produced by John Hoffman, Christine Turner, and Christina Avalos. After the film, Mayor Frank Scott of Little Rock will host a Q and A with Washington.

Doors open for the documentary at 3:30 p.m. and the show starts at 4 p.m. Tickets are free but registration is required through the ACS website.

Also on Sunday, before

The Barber of Little Rock, the ACS will screen

Best Picture nominee

Anatomy of a Fall, one of my personal favorites films of the year.

The story begins in the Swiss Alps when the lead character, Sandra, a novelist, played by Sandra Huller, who received an Oscar nod for Best Actress for this masterpiece of a performance, is being interviewed by a student. Unfortunately, to Sandra’s dismay, it’s impossible to have the interview, as her husband repeatedly plays the instrumental of P.I.M.P. by 50 Cent at max volume from the upstairs of their house.

Eventually, the student and Sandra agreed to finish their discussion another time. Meanwhile, Sandra’s blind son, Daniel, takes his dog out for a walk. When they return, the dead body of his father is found lying on the ground outside of the house. His mother is accused of her husband’s murder and the film becomes a courtroom drama, one of the best in years.

The son is the lone witness to the incident, putting him in an intense situation that becomes a dillema. The picture was written and directed by French filmmaker Justine Triet.

Doors for Anatomy of a Fall open at noon and the show starts at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and $10 for seniors.