PELHAM, NY — The Picture House Regional Film Center (TPH) will show a special screening of the new film Cairo Time followed by a discussion and Q&A with the star of the film, Oscar-nominated actress Patricia Clarkson.
Clarkson received rave reviews for her starring role in Ruba Nadda’s Cairo Time, which won the Best Canadian Feature award at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2009. The film tells the story of New Yorker Juliette (Clarkson) who with some time off from her job as a magazine editor, decides to share a holiday with her husband, who works for the United Nations. Upon arriving in Cairo, however, she finds he’s stuck in Gaza, and he sends his former bodyguard, Tareq (Alexander Siddig) — now relocated back in Cairo to work at his family business — to act as her guide around the city. Soon Juliette finds herself captivated by both the city and her companion. One of Clarkson’s favorite films, she has chosen it to bring to The Picture House She’ll discuss the film and her career with critic-in-residence Marshall Fine and the TPH audience after the film.
Widely regarded as one of today’s most respected actresses, Clarkson’s continuous innovative work in independent film earned her the Independent Award for Acting Excellence at the 2009 ShoWest Awards. In 2003, her performance in Peter Hedges’ Pieces of April brought her nominations for Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Independent Spirit, and Academy Awards. The National Board of Review and the National Society of Film Critics cited her as that year’s Best Supporting Actress for her work in both Pieces of April and Thomas McCarthy’s The Station Agent. Her work in the two films, along with her portrayal in David Gordon Green’s All the Real Girls, additionally earned her the 2003 Sundance Film Festival’s Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance.
Clarkson’s other film credits include: Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island; Woody Allen’s Whatever Works and Vicky Cristina Barcelona; Blind Date, opposite director Stanley Tucci; Isabel Coixet’s Elegy; All the King’s Men; Lars and the Real Girl; George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck, for which she and the cast received both Screen Actors Guild and Gotham Award nominations for Best Ensemble; Todd Haynes’ Far from Heaven, which won her the New York Film Critics Circle and National Society of Film Critics awards for Best Supporting Actress; Rose Troche’s The Safety of Objects, for which she won the Deauville Festival of American Cinema’s award for Best Female Performance; Sean Penn’s The Pledge; Frank Darabont’s The Green Mile, for which she and a cast that included Tom Hanks and James Cromwell received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Ensemble; Lisa Cholodenko’s High Art, for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress; Joe Johnston’s Jumanji; Daniel Petrie’s Rocket Gibraltar; and Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables.
On television, Clarkson guest-starred in the celebrated series Six Feet Under, for which she won an Emmy Award in 2002 and again in 2006. Ms. Clarkson’s other notable TV credits include a multi-episode stint on Frasier; a regular role on Murder One; and, on Saturday Night Live, the memorable “Motherlover” music video.