Film Screenings
Ghost World
Girlhood and Cinema SeriesThe Library launches a new film series showcasing the diverse roles of girls in cinematic storytelling with the dark, deadpan, strikingly original portrait of teen alienation Ghost World (2001; R), starring Thora Birch and Scarlett Johannsen.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Erin Hamer-Beck and the Library’s director of readers’ services, Kaite Stover, lead a subsequent discussion.
The Girlhood and Cinema series explores how adolescent girls use media to tell their stories and how social and other influences help frame the girls’ perception and narrative. Hamer-Beck is a communications studies instructor at UMKC, lecturer in the Liberal Arts Department at the Kansas City Art Institute, and an English instructor at Metropolitan Community College-Longview.
Sweet Country (2017, R)
Monday Matinee
The Central Library's monthly series of Monday Matinee is an ongoing showcase of hit movies old and new. Ranging from recent blockbusters to enduring classics and the cult favorites in between, each month is guaranteed to be a fun-filled excursion into the world of popular film!
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Teen Movie Night
Teens are invited to our movie night provided by Choose Your Passion KC! Great movies, delicious food, and a safe place to hang out.
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
5:00 pm to 7:30 pm
Dolores Claiborne (1995, R)
Central Cinema NightsSome call it a drama, others a psychological thriller. Roger Ebert called it a horror movie. Suspicion surrounds housekeeper Dolores Claiborne after she is accused of killing her employer, little old lady Vera Donovan. During the investigation, dark secrets emerge about the death of Dolores’ husband 18 years earlier. What really happened in both deaths? Who is to blame?
Central Cinema Nights is a movie screening series in the Central Library’s Durwood Film Vault that takes place Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. Join us as we watch and discuss documentaries and feature films in a socially conscious setting, chosen to fit a monthly theme. This month's theme: Stephen King! Not only is the feature film It Chapter Two and the novel The Institute being released, but it is also the 25th anniversary of The Shawshank Redemption. Come along with us as we take a look back as some of the greatest film adaptations of Mr. King’s work!
Everyone is welcome! Movie screenings at the Central Library are always FREE and open to the public.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Encore FridayA classic John Wayne and James Stewart western from 1962. Stewart plays a bungling lawyer out of his milieu in a small western town who gets entangled with an infamous gunslinger, Liberty Valance, played by Lee Marvin. John Wayne tries to keep the showdown from happening. Directed by John Ford, this western ranks right up with the best. Color
Friday, September 20, 2019
12:00 pm to 12:30 pm
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
2019 Off-the-Wall Film Series: Well (Multi)versedDoors open: 8 p.m. • Program: 8:45 p.m.
This animated arachnopalooza spins a web of multidimensional adventure. Young Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) gets the radioactive spider bite that renders him Spider-Man in his world. He joins Spider-folk from alternate realities (including Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, John Mulaney, and Nicolas Cage) to stop the villainous Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) from destroying the fabric of the entire universe.
2019 Off the Wall Films:
May 17: Spaceballs (1987, PG, 1h 36 min)
June 21: Coneheads (1993, PG, 1h 28 min)
July 19: Galaxy Quest (1999, PG, 1h 42 min)
August 16: Mars Attacks (1996, PG-13, 1h 50 min)
September 20: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018, PG, 1h 57 min)
Co-presented by the Young Friends of the Library. Enjoy complimentary popcorn provided by Velvet Creme. Sample some local brews courtesy of KC Bier Co.
This series is part of the Library's 2019 Summer Reading Program: Dare to Discover.
Some tips and notes about how best to enjoy an evening of downtown KC skyline cinema on the Central Library's Rooftop Terrace:
- Bring your own blankets and folding chairs for seating.
- You may bring outside food and non-alcoholic beverages (no glass containers, please!)
- Doors open at 8 p.m. (Note: The Central Library closes at 5 p.m. on Fridays, but the doors reopen at 8 p.m. for Off-the-Wall audiences.)
- All movies begin at dusk (approximately 8:45 p.m.)
- In case of bad weather, screenings are moved indoors.
- Complimentary parking is available in the Library District parking garage at 10th and Baltimore. Bring your parking ticket for validation.
- Transit options: take KC Streetcar to the Library stop at 9th / Main or Ride KC buses to 10th / Main transit plaza.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Fresh Flicks Film SeriesThe Library gives the big-screen treatment to four notable films recently released to video, ranging from the live-action remakes of two animated classics to an unlikely rom-com pairing of Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen and the slam-bang finale to Marvel's epic Infinity Saga.
SATURDAYS AT 1:30 P.M.
Stanley H. Durwood Film Vault
Central Library, 14 W. 10th
| September 7 | Aladdin (2019; PG) |
| September 14 | Long Shot (2019; R) |
| September 21 | Avengers: Endgame (2019; PG-13) |
| September 28 | Dumbo (2019; PG) |
Saturday, September 21, 2019
1:30 pm
The Boondock Saints (1999, R)
Monday Matinee
The Central Library's monthly series of Monday Matinee is an ongoing showcase of hit movies old and new. Ranging from recent blockbusters to enduring classics and the cult favorites in between, each month is guaranteed to be a fun-filled excursion into the world of popular film!
Movie: Suffragette
Join us on National Voter Registration Day and celebrate your right to vote! We will be showing Suffragette (2015; PG 13). A critically acclaimed and powerful drama, Suffragette is inspired by true events about the women willing to loose everything in their fight for equality in early-20th century Britain.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
11:00 am to 1:00 pm