It has been impossible to avoid the nuclear media frenzy that’s exploded around the country with several upcoming movies. The recent release of the latest Mission Impossible movie was followed by Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” being released on the same day.
With apparently inexhaustible marketing budgets, star-studded casts, directors of enormous popularity, and what many feel has been a fairly lackluster few months of big-screen movies, it is no surprise that many were eagerly looking forward to Friday with two of the biggest releases of the year.
If you’re happy to wait until slightly later on in the month to watch Cillian Murphy as “the father of the atomic bomb”, however, one of Chicago’s most unique cinemas—Music Box Theatre—is offering an extra special viewing.
On Saturday, July 29, the independent two-screen cinema in Wrigleyville, which first opened back in 1929, will host a 70mm screening of Oppenheimer followed by a talkback panel and Q&A with leading nuclear experts.
The special event has been organized in collaboration with The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Japanese Arts Foundation, and the DePaul Humanities Center.
According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists website, the panel will discuss “the history of harm imposed by nuclear weapons, the policies that drive their purpose, and the implications of their existence.” It will include Sara Kutchesfahani, director of programs at the Ploughshares Fund; Yuki Miyamoto, peace ambassador to Hiroshima and director of DePaul Humanities Center; and Stephen I. Schwartz, nonresident senior fellow at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Saira Chambers, the executive director of the Japanese Arts Foundation and director of the Japanese Culture Center, will moderate the panel and Q&A “with welcoming remarks from Bulletin President and CEO Rachel Bronson.”
The special screening will take place on Saturday, July 29, at 2:00 pm. Tickets are available via the Music Box Theater website and can currently be purchased with a 10% discount using the code “Manhattan”.
[Featured image courtesy of Music Box Theatre]