The Plaza which opened in 1939 is finally celebrating its 70th birthday in style with screenings of classic films from 1939, including 35mm prints of the Fleischers’ Gulliver’s Travels and Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, plus Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz and Planet Outlaws (the 1953 feature version of the 1939 Buck Rogers serial). The event kicks off on Friday evening, January 15th, at 7:00 p.m., with a gala party featuring Turner Classic Movie host Robert Osbourne followed by a screening of the Capra film at 8:45; the next two feature screenings of Gulliver and Mr.Smith; other screenings and events will be held the following two weekends. Check here for further details and to buy advance tickets.

ASIFA-Atlanta will be hosting a special screening of Adam Elliot’s stop-motion feature Mary and Max at the Plaza Theatre, Wednesday Monday, November 16th, at 8:00pm. This is the much-anticipated followup to Elliot’s Oscar-winning short, Harvie Krumpet and has not yet been given a theatrical booking in the Atlanta area. The film was made available through the courtesy of IFC Films. Admission is $5 for ASIFA-Atlanta members and $10 for everyone else.

This Tuesday, October 20th, at 7:30 pm,  in conjunction with ASIFA-Atlanta, C. Martin Croker returns to the Plaza Theatre, in Atlanta with the second of his Bizarro Sat Morn! shows this season, featuring a program of cartoons on 16mm, which has been described as "An oddball mash-up of nostalgia and bits of o’ weird-o coolness," featuring films from the 20s through the 90s. This Halloween show will feature films by Ub Iwerks, Paul Julian, Bill Justice, Max Fleischer, Hal Seeger , Jack Davis and others.

While you’re at it, check the theater’s website on how to make a tax-free donation to help restore "Atlanta’s oldest continuously operating cinema," which dates from 1939.

Meanwhile, if you’re the Los Angeles area, on Monday, October 26th, the CalArts Downtown Center for Innovative, Performing and Media Arts, at 8:30 pm, will present the world premiere of Christine Panushka and Beto Araiza, Mosca and the Meaning of Life. 

It is described as

a groundbreaking multimedia piece in which animated characters leap off the screen and join up with a live performance crafted by award-winning filmmaker and animator Christine Panushka and theater and spoken word artist Beto Araiza.

Mosca and the Meaning of Life questions our belief systems, customs, and social values, the truths and lies with which we live out our lives, motivated as much by misinformation and desperation as by hope. The program also includes The Sum of Them, Singing Sticks and other films by Panushka, as well as an excerpt of Biting the Pillow, a performance by Araiza.

Christine Panushka is a valued colleague, whose is not only a leading independent animator and educator, but an unsung pioneer of Internet animation with her groundbreaking (and much missed) Absolut Panushka website.