The White Crow

Hollywood A-Lister, Ralph Fiennes, captures Rudolf Nureyev’s daring escape in The White Crow, the new Sony Picture starring real-life ballet dancer Oleg Ivenko. Monmouth University professor Dr. Fred McKitrick will talk about how seeing Nureyev dance inspired him to quit his plans to become a lawyer and study dance instead.

About the Film - A young man of just 22, dressed in a black beret and a dark narrow suit, is on an airplane flying from St Petersburg to Paris. It is 1961 and Rudolf Nureyev, not yet the imperious figure of legend, is a member of the world-renowned Kirov Ballet Company, traveling for the first time outside the Soviet Union. 

Parisian life delights Nureyev and the young dancer is eager to consume all the culture, art and music the dazzling city has to offer. But the KGB officers who watch his every move become increasingly suspicious of his behavior and his friendship with the young Parisian Clara Saint. When they finally confront Nureyev with a shocking demand, he is forced to make a heart-breaking decision, one that may change the course of his life forever and put his family and friends in terrible danger. 

From Nureyev’s poverty-stricken childhood in the Soviet city of Ufa, to his blossoming as a student dancer in Leningrad, to his arrival at the epicenter of western culture in Paris in the early 1960s and a nail-biting stand-off at the Le Bourget airport, The White Crow is the true story of an incredible journey by a unique artist who transformed the world of ballet forever.

View Trailer 

EVENT DETAILS: 

Special Presentation by Dr. Fred McKitrick and Social Hour on Sunday, March 24th at 7:00 PM, Atlantic Highlands Arts Council, 54 1st Ave, Atlantic Highlands with light refreshments. 

The movie screening begins at 8:30 pm at Atlantic Cinemas, 82 1st Ave.  

The movie is rated R and runs 2 hours and 7 minutes.

About the Speaker - Dr. McKitrick was a student at Columbia University when he first saw Nureyev perform in 1972 with the Royal Ballet of Britain. “It was my first exposure to dance and his performance was so electrifying, I dropped my plans to go to law school and began to study dance.” He studied and danced with May O’Donnell, a student of Martha Graham, from 1972 to 1982, before returning to academia. 

TICKETS: $20; $10 for students under 18 (bring student ID). Purchase tickets below or at the door. Proceeds benefit FilmOneFest’s mission to provide free access to the arts.

Food donations are encouraged at this event. 

FilmOneFest and its fundraisers are volunteer-produced; proceeds support the Atlantic Highlands Arts Council (AHAC) and AACC Food Pantry.

FilmOneFest is a project of AHAC, a registered 501 (c) (3) organization. Its mission is to strengthen community through the arts. 

For information, visit www.aharts.org.

FilmOneFest thanks its dedicated sponsors including Media Sponsors: Whole Foods, Pepsico, Janet Peterson, Blue Bay Inn, Alice Kupper PE, JBL Trinity Group and Atlantic Cinemas. FilmOneFest also thanks Kevin Smith for his generous support.

This program is made possible in part by Monmouth Arts through funding from the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders and The New Jersey State Council on the Arts. 

FilmOneFest is grateful for the continued support of Tom Bernard and Sony Pictures Classics. 

To hear more about Sony Pictures Classics Movies https://secure.sonypictures.com/registration/