Magic Lantern Films takes its name from the old Magic Lantern Theater, now called the Isla Vista Theater. In the 1970s, the Magic Lantern was an art house that screened classic, independent and foreign films. The new Magic Lantern picks up where the old one left off by screening critically acclaimed films as well as cult classics. The diverse selection of films will appeal to a variety of audience tastes. According to the film distributors Swank and Criterion who specialize in college markets, Magic Lantern Films is the most successful film program of its kind in California. Films screen every Monday night and Thursday night at 8 pm! Check our schedule for the location. Free for UCSB students/$6 for the community.
SPRING 2024 SCHEDULE
FARGO
Theater and Dance West 1701
Thursday April 4
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: JOEL COEN
1996 / 98MIN
Jerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt… but he’s got a plan. He’s going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in a scheme to collect a hefty ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. It’s going to be a snap and nobody’s going to get hurt… until people start dying. Enter Police Chief Marge, a coffee-drinking, parka-wearing – and extremely pregnant – investigator who’ll stop at nothing to get her man. And if you think her small-time investigative skills will give the crooks a run for their ransom… you betcha!
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AMERICAN FICTION
Isla Vista Theater
Monday April 8
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: CORD JEFFERSON
2023 / 117MIN
Thelonious “Monk” Ellison’s writing career has stalled because his work isn’t deemed “Black enough.” Monk, a writer and English professor, writes a satirical novel under a pseudonym, aiming to expose the publishing world’s hypocrisies. The book’s immediate success forces him to get deeper enmeshed in his assumed identity and challenges his closely-held worldviews.
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MOONLIGHT
Isla Vista Theater
Thursday April 11
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: BARRY JENKINS
2016 / 111MIN
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
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FALLEN LEAVES
Theater and Dance West 1701
Monday April 15
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: ARI KAUISMÄKI
2023 / 81MIN
The film tells the story of Ansa, a supermarket shelf-stocker on a zero-hour contract, later a recyclable plastic sorter, and Holappa, a sandblaster, an alcoholic, later an ex-alcoholic, whose paths have accidentally crossed and who, despite adversity and misunderstandings, try to build some kind of relationship on the harsher side of the welfare state.
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ALL OF US STRANGERS
Isla Vista Theater
Thursday April 18
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: ANDREW HAIGH
2023 / 106MIN
One night, screenwriter Adam, in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, has a chance encounter with his mysterious neighbor Harry that punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As Adam and Harry get closer, Adam is pulled back to his childhood home where he discovers that his long-dead parents are both living and look the same age as the day they died over 30 years ago.
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DEAD POETS SOCIETY
Isla Vista Theater
Monday April 22
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: PETER WEIR
1989 / 128MIN
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.
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THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS
Isla Vista Theater
Thursday April 25
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: WES ANDERSON
2001 / 109MIN
Royal Tenenbaum and his wife Etheline had three children and then they separated. All three children are extraordinary — all geniuses. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. Most of this was generally considered to be their father’s fault. “The Royal Tenenbaums” is the story of the family’s sudden, unexpected reunion one recent winter.
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RATATOUILLE
UCSB Lagoon Lawn
Monday April 29
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: BRAD BIRD
2007 / 111MIN
A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family’s wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely - and certainly unwanted - visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy’s passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down.
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CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
Isla Vista Theater
Thursday May 2
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: LUCA GUADAGNINO
2018 / 132MIN
It's the summer of 1983, and precocious 17-year-old Elio Perlman is spending the days with his family at their 17th-century villa in Lombardy, Italy. He soon meets Oliver, a handsome doctoral student who's working as an intern for Elio's father. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of their surroundings, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.
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ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
Campbell Hall
Saturday May 4
10:00pm
DIRECTOR: JIM SHARMAN
1975 / 100MIN
Sweethearts Brad and Janet, stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite scientist. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including a rocking biker and a creepy butler. Through elaborate dances and rock songs, Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation: a muscular man named ‘Rocky’.
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DECISION TO LEAVE
Theater and Dance West 1701
Monday May 6
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: PARK CHAN-WOOK
2022 / 139MIN
Hae-Joon, a seasoned detective, investigates the suspicious death of a man on a mountaintop. Soon, he begins to suspect Seo-rae, the deceased’s wife, while being unsettled by his attraction to her.
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MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI
UCSB Lagoon Lawn
Thursday May 9
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: CLAUDE BARRAS
2016 / 66MIN
After his mother’s death, Zucchini is befriended by a kind police officer, Raymond, who accompanies him to his new foster home filled with other orphans his age. There, with the help of his newfound friends, Zucchini eventually learns to trust and love as he searches for a new family of his own.
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A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT
Isla Vista Theater
Monday May 13
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: ANA LILY AMIRPOUR
2014 / 101MIN
In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.
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DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS
Isla Vista Theater
Thursday May 23
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: ETHAN COEN
2024 / 84MIN
Jamie, an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.
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LOVE LIES BLEEDING
Isla Vista Theater
Thursday May 30
8:00pm
DIRECTOR: ROSE GLASS
2024 / 104MIN
Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
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