Chloe
Catherine (Julianne Moore) is a respected doctor and has been married to husband David (Liam Neeson), a dedicated music professor, for years, but their passion is fading. When David misses his flight home and is unable to make it to the elaborate party his wife has organized to celebrate his return, Catherine finds a suspicious text message on his phone that leads her to believe that he is sleeping with a female student. As weeks follow, the suspense only rises, and Catherine hires gorgeous blonde escort Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) to test her husband's fidelity. After reports are given back and weeks pass, the motivations of Chloe are questionable and Catherine is left in wonderment as things spiral out of control. Showing in April. Also showing: A Prophet and The Secret in Their Eyes.

UICA
41 Sheldon Blvd SE, Grand Rapids
uica.org, (616) 454-7000

Red Riding Trilogy
Yorkshire of 1974 starts the beginning of the hunt. Child abductions are on the minds of police officers, reporters and civilians as the search for the Yorkshire Ripper is at a standstill. Rookie journalist Eddie Dunford (Andrew Garfield) is in search for the truth as lies and deceit are all that is in the media. Red Riding: 1974 is the first of the thrilling trilogy from events of Northern England to be released. With the ripper still on the loose, the films from 1980 and 1983 follow with the challenge of uncovering the mystery and stopping the killer once and for all. See all three Red Riding movies for the price of $12 or tickets range from $4-$7. Opening April 16. Also showing is Citizen Architect opening April 9, and Art of the Steal opening April 30.

The focus will be on independent, foreign and documentary films at the upcoming Central Michigan International Film Festival, but moviegoers will also have the chance to catch a little bit of Hollywood.

That's because four of the 20 films scheduled to screen during the eighth annual festival have been nominated for Academy Awards® for either best film or best feature-length documentary. To Stephanie Mathson, one of the event's planners, that's a bonus.

"The film festival arose out of a need that concerned faculty at CMU had that a lot of great films never come our way in Mt. Pleasant," said Mathson, a member of the CMIFF executive board. "The festival is a way to bring in a lot of independent, foreign and documentary films that haven't been released in this area.

"We are pleased to be showing films that are receiving critical as well as popular attention from audiences. It's great to bring in films that have been nominated for Oscars."

Mathson said the executive board tries to have a broad range of films. It works closely with distributors, such as Human Rights Watch and California Newsreel, to identify timely documentaries.

Festival highlights include:
• Burma VJ, an Oscar-nominated documentary about the suppression of the media in 2007 in Burma when foreign news crews were banned, the Internet was shut down and the government sought to close off the country from the rest of the world.

• Bliss, a drama from Turkey and adaptation of a best-selling novel that tells the story of a woman who is condemned to death by her village after being raped and the bond that develops with the man who is tasked to carry out the sentence.

•Afghan Star, a film about an American Idol type show held in Afghanistan that deals with controversies of women's dress, performing onstage and other social issues.

• The Headless Woman, an Argentinian drama about a woman who thinks she may have killed someone while driving, and then goes back and pieces together what may - or may not - have happened.

"We think the festival is an important community and university partnership," Mathson said. "It's an opportunity to get people on campus, as one of the venues is in the Park Library. It's also great to have a venue like Celebration Cinema, which is one of our corporate sponsors, as well as a wonderful venue like the historic Broadway Theatre."

Tickets go on sale March 1 and are $5 per film, or $30 for a book of 10 tickets. Seating is on a first-come basis. Sponsors for the event are Celebration Cinema, CMU Charles V. Park Library, CMU College of Communication and Fine Arts, CMU Office for Institutional Diversity, and Pleasant Graphics.

Other Film Events

UICA
41 Sheldon Blvd SE, Grand Rapids
UICA.org, (616) 454-7000

For the biologically minded, the UICA will premiere Dirt! The Movie on March 2. The documentary will take a closer look at the world's complex relationship with dirt, a vital resource, and how industrial farming, mining, and urban development have led us towards disaster. The best part - admission is free for the premiere. Also showing is Police, Adjective, which opens on March 5. The film focuses on Christi, a young undercover cop who's pressured to arrest a teenager for dealing pot. Not wanting to ruin the life of a young man, Christi must decide whether to burden his conscience or face censure from his superior. Language: Romanian. Opens March 5

Celebration Cinema
Grand Rapids North, Rivertown, Lansing, Mount Pleasant, Muskegon, Benton Harbor

On March 27, Celebration Cinema will present MET Opera: Hamlet at all its locations. An operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, the prince of Denmark who just cannot make up his mind. Running time: 255 minutes. Also playing: Boondock Saints 10th Anniversary Event March 11.

Riviera Theatre
50 N. Main Street, Three Rivers
trriviera.com, (269) 278-8068

In honor of the Academy Awards, the Riviera is dedicating its March lineup to winners and nominees. On March 5, Oscar Shorts: Live Action will show at 6 p.m. with Oscar Shorts: Animated playing shortly after at 8 p.m. In honor of the 2010 Academy Awards, The Riviera will feature nominees The Messenger (March 2, 4, 7, and 9-11 ), and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (March 9-11, 13, 16, and 18). For an oldie but goodie, stop by the Gone With the Wind, which was an Oscar winner in 1939. It's playing on March 14.

Hangar42 Studios is officially open for business.

At nearly 500,000 square feet, the new Hangar42 is the largest film production facility in the state and could be a boom for the state's film industry.   Owned by a group of Michigan investors, who invested $45 million to buy and renovate the former Lear Corp auto plant in NW Grand Rapids, Hangar42 will house the world's largest sound stage, production studios, office space and post-production studios.   Over the next three years, the new studio expects to create more than 1000 jobs in the film and production industry.

While the studio officially opens today, the studio has been used already, including filming of "The Gun" starring Val Kilmer and rapper 50 Cent.   That film shoot employed about 200 people, including many locals.   The studio's owners are in talks with several major film studios and producers about future projects.

The owners have hired a San Francisco-based Studio O + A to design the interior space with the goal of creating more than 50,000-square-feet of production offices.   The SF firm also designed unique office spaces for companies like Facebook, eBay, PayPal, Williams Sonoma and Levi Strauss & Co.

The studio is the first to take advantage of the infrastructure tax credit Michigan Film Credit, which will give the studio an estimated $10 million tax credit, according to a studio spokesperson.  Since the state passed the film tax credit in 2008, more than 80 major productions have been filmed around the Mitten State.