Spring Film Series continues with ‘Crash’

Produced, directed and co-written by Paul Haggis, “Crash” deals with racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. A self-described “passion piece” for Haggis, Crash was inspired by a real-life incident, in which his Porsche was carjacked in 1991 outside a video store on Wilshire Boulevard.

This is the second movie in this year’s movie Spring Film Series presented by the Churchill Arts Center and will be shown Friday.

The Oats Park Arts Center box office, Art Bar and galleries open at 6 p.m. with the movie beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7, members and $10 nonmembers. Tickets are available at the box office on the night of screening or call CAC at 775-423-1440.

The film features an ensemble cast including Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Thandie Newton, Michael Peña and Ryan Phillippe. Dillon received Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. Additionally, the cast won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

“Crash” first premiered at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 10, 2004 before it was released in theaters on May 6, 2005, by Lionsgate Films. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised the directing, screenplay and performances (particularly from Dillon), but it earned polarized responses for its depiction and portrayal of race relations.

Movie critic Roger Ebert gave the film 4 of 4 stars and described it as “a movie of intense fascination,” listing it as the best film of 2005. The film also ranks at No. 460 in Empire’s 2008 poll of the “500 Greatest Films of All Time.”

The film received six Academy Award nominations, and won three for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing at the 78th Academy Awards. It was also nominated for nine BAFTA awards, and won two, for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Thandie Newton.