Now in its fifth consecutive year, the Movies Houstonians Love series was designed to bring the public together with notable Houstonians through a shared passion for movies. The experience encourages audiences to see memorable classics in a new light as each presenter introduces a personal favorite. In a new twist, this year’s Movies Houstonians Love: Meals on Reels series focuses on the favorite foodie films of prominent, local chefs and restaurateurs. Presenters will include Marcus Davis (The Breakfast Klub), Irma Galvan (Irma’s), Michael Kramer (Voice), Anita Jaisinghani (Indika), Scott Tycer (Textile), Robert del Grande (RDG, The Grove), Armando Palacios (Armando’s), Charles Clark (Ibiza), and Monica Pope (t’afia).

All films screen at 7 p.m on Mondays, and the season extends from September 21, 2009 through May 10, 2010. Special door prizes will be given out at each screening. A discount season pass is available for purchase at museum ticket desks. The pass sells for $60 (general public) and $55 (MFAH members, senior adults, and students) and provides admission to all nine films.

“This year is the first time that Movies Houstonians Love has been themed, and the film committee couldn’t have picked a timelier subject,” said MFAH film curator Marian Luntz. “As films like Julie & Julia and Food, Inc., reality television series like Top Chef, and bestselling books such as Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma are met with increasing interest and popularity, it would seem that the food industry has captured the collective American imagination. It’s a pleasure that we’ve been able to confirm so many of Houston’s own celebrity chefs as presenters, and it will be a real joy for audiences to hear personal anecdotes about the chefs’ chosen films.”

Screening Schedule
7 p.m. Mon., Sept. 21: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (Marcus Davis)
7 p.m. Mon., Oct. 26: Tortilla Soup (Irma Galvan)
7 p.m. Mon., Nov.30: Big Night (Michael Kramer)
7 p.m. Mon., Jan. 5: Mostly Martha (Anita Jaisinghani)
7 p.m. Mon., Jan. 25: La Grande Bouffe (Scott Tycer)
7 p.m. Mon., Feb. 22: Who’s Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (Robert del Grande)
7 p.m. Mon., March 29: Super Size Me (Armando Palacios)
7 p.m. Mon., April 26: Babette’s Feast (Charles Clark)
7 p.m. Monday, May 10: Food, Inc. (Monica Pope)

Film Descriptions
Marcus Davis’s Favorite Film: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
ONE NIGHT ONLY: Monday, September 21, 7 p.m. Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy play parents whose attitudes towards race are tested when their engaged daughter introduces them to her black fiancé (Sidney Poitier). http://www.thebreakfastklub.com/

Irma Galvan’s Favorite Film: Tortilla Soup
ONE NIGHT ONLY: Monday, October 26, 7 p.m. A Hispanic-American chef (Hector Elizondo) with three grown daughters cooks lovely meals, but has lost his taste for food since his wife’s death. When a widow sets her eyes on the chef, will he be able to regain his lust for life?

Michael Kramer’s Favorite Film: Big Night
ONE NIGHT ONLY: Monday, November 30, 7 p.m. Two Italian brothers immigrate to New Jersey in the mid-1950s and open an authentic Italian restaurant, only to be snubbed by the locals (who prefer Italian food made American style). The brothers host one big banquet to impress their guests. Starring Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, Minnie Driver, and Isabella Rossellini.
http://hotelicon.com/voice-restaurant/

Anita Jaisinghani’s Favorite Film: Mostly Martha (Bella Martha)
ONE NIGHT ONLY: Tuesday, January 5, 7 p.m. A workaholic, German chef, Martha, is shocked when her young niece loses her mother in a car wreck and shows up on her doorstep. The obsessive cook must take a break from her upscale restaurant and devote some time to her willful new ward.
http://www.indikausa.com/

Scott Tycer’s Favorite Film: La Grande Bouffe
ONE NIGHT ONLY: 7 p.m. Monday, January 25. In this decadent and depraved masterpiece, four friends hole up in a Parisian villa to eat themselves to death.
http://www.textilerestaurant.com/index2.html

Robert del Grande’s Favorite Film: Who’s Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?
ONE NIGHT ONLY: 7 p.m. Monday, February 22. A serial killer is on the loose, targeting the great European chefs. A top American cook, however, may be next in line—unless she can stop the killer with the help of her ex-husband.
http://www.rdgbarannie.com/

Armando Palacios’s Favorite Film: Super Size Me
ONE NIGHT ONLY: Monday, March 29, 7 p.m. Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock uses himself as a guinea pig, subsisting on a fast-food diet and examining the impact on his health.
http://www.armandosrestaurant.com/

Charles Clark’s Favorite Film: Babette’s Feast
ONE NIGHT ONLY: 7 p.m. Monday, April 26. An Academy Award-winner for Best Foreign Language Film, this art house hit is set in Denmark and features two spinster sisters who hire a war refugee, Babette, to work for them in a Calvinist settlement. When Babette cooks up a decadent feast for the local elders, will the effects of the meal liberate the sisters?
http://ibizafoodandwinebar.com/

Monica Pope’s Favorite Film: Food, Inc.
ONE NIGHT ONLY: 7 p.m. Monday, May 10. Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto), Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here. Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer.
http://www.tafia.com/

Brown Auditorium Theater Box Office
Unless otherwise noted, general admission is $7. MFAH members, senior adults, and students with ID receive a $1 discount. Unless otherwise indicated, Film Buffs members are admitted free. Children 5 and under are admitted free. The MFAH Films box office can accept payment by cash, check, and credit cards. Tickets may be purchased in advance. Advance sales are available at the box office, online at www.mfah.org, or at Membership or Visitor Services desks in the Law and Beck Buildings during museum hours. The box office opens one hour before the show time. Additionally, advance film tickets may be purchased in the lobbies during museum hours and on www.mfah.org/film.

MFAH Parking
The museum’s parking garage is in the MFAH Visitors Center, located at 5600 Fannin Street at Binz Street (entrance on Binz). Free parking is available in two lots on Main Street, at Bissonnet and at Oakdale.

Cafe Express at the MFAH
Cafe Express, located on the lower level of the Audrey Jones Beck Building, is now serving dinner and lighter fare for evening moviegoers. Each MFAH Film theater ticket purchased at the Brown Auditorium Box Office includes a discount coupon for the cafe. Cafe Express hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday, and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Cafe Express is closed on Monday. New breakfast hours are 9-10:30 a.m. Tuesday-Sunday.

Film Buffs and MFAH Films Sponsorship
Movie lovers can join the MFAH Film Buffs and receive free admission to MFAH films, plus invitations to sneak previews, special events with visiting filmmakers, and lectures by film scholars. For more information, please call 713-639-7531.

The MFAH Film Department receives generous funding from Petrobras America, Inc.; Tenaris; Ternium; Consul General of Brazil; The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Consul General of France; Ilex Foundation; Symbol Cars, Inc.; The Interfin Companies L.P.; Istituto Italiano Di Cultura; James R.; Crane Foundation; Ms. Melanie Gray and Mr. Mark Wawro; Italian Trade Commission; Ms. Regina J. Rogers; and Mr. and Mrs. Oscar S. Wyatt, Jr.

MFAH Films
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s film program is the largest of its kind in the southwestern United States. MFAH first began screening films in the 1930s, and the Brown Auditorium, located in the Caroline Wiess Law Building and designed by Bauhaus architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, opened in 1973. The auditorium immediately distinguished itself by having stadium seating 20 years before such design became the standard for American movie theaters, and because the Caroline Wiess Law Building is one of only two museums designed by this major twentieth-century architect. Marian Luntz, the film program director and curator of film and video at MFAH since 1990, continues the program’s tradition of showcasing a broad range of classic and contemporary Hollywood films, foreign language films, and premieres of independent films—many by local artists. Often, critics, scholars, and filmmakers come to the showings as visiting speakers to give audiences a deeper understanding of movies and moviemaking. In 2005 and 2006, MFAH Films was named “The Best Place to See Vintage Flicks” by the Houston Press. In 2008, the Houston Film Critics Society honored the department with an award for “Outstanding Achievement in Film Programming.”