This year, nominees were shown on Valley screens

Austintown Movies 3 is showing only Oscar-nominated films these days.
By DEBORA SHAULIS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
It's been an unusually good year for local film lovers who like to judge Oscar races for themselves.
As expected, moviegoers have had plenty of opportunities to see big-studio fare, including Best Picture favorite "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" as well as high-profile flicks "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," "Seabiscuit" and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World."
Art-house and independent film fare has been just as plentiful. "Lost in Translation," which is nominated for three awards, has been playing for 16 weeks at Austintown Movies 3. "Whale Rider," the film starring best actress nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes of New Zealand, also played in Austintown for six weeks last summer.
Another best actress nominee, Charlize Theron, stars as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in "Monster," which is playing now at Cinema South in Boardman and Boulevard Centre in Niles.
Vindicator files show that, of all the Academy Award-nominated films in eight major categories, only one hasn't been shown here -- "The Barbarian Invasions," which is up for best original screenplay.
Even one best documentary nominee, "Capturing the Friedmans," opened in August at Austintown Movies 3.
Audiences seem to be partaking of the array of films. "We're busier than we were last Oscar season," says Lisa Craig, director of marketing for Cleveland Cinemas, which operates Austintown Movies 3.
The reason for such abundance is the competition between Cleveland Cinemas and the Regal Cinemas chain.
History of theater
The Cleveland Cinemas era at Austintown Movies 3, which is in the Austintown Plaza, began in November 2001. At first, it was a discount movie house that showed a combination of blockbusters, family films and some independent and foreign fare.
Then, management decided to make Austintown Movies 3 more like the small chain's flagship theater, Cedar-Lee in Cleveland Heights.
"We officially switched in September 2002, when we dedicated ourselves to being art house," Craig said.
Though such films generally are made with smaller budgets and have limited releases, industry voters remember the more prestigious or courageous ones at awards time.
Tonight's lineup represents a number of firsts at Austintown Movies 3 under current management. It's the first time six films have shared the three screens, Craig said.
It's the first time the schedule has consisted of all Oscar-nominated films: "Lost in Translation" (four nominations); "The Cooler" (one nomination); "21 Grams" (two nominations); "The Triplets of Belleville" (two nominations); "In America" (three nominations); and "Girl With A Pearl Earring" (three nominations).
Beginning Friday, Austintown Movies 3 will swap "Triplets of Belleville" and "The Cooler" with "House of Sand and Fog" (three nominations) and the re-release of "City of God" (four nominations).
In addition, "Lost in Translation" has set a new record for longest booking at Austintown, Craig noted.
Jonathan R. Forman, president of Cleveland Cinemas, says he's pleased by steady increases in attendance at Austintown Movies 3.
The competition
The competition seems to be paying attention, too.
"We tend to notice that once Austintown Movies started playing art house movie selections, Regal stood up and took notice, and that's when they started to go after the same bookings," Craig said.
Marketing and communications personnel at Regal's Knoxville, Tenn., headquarters didn't respond in time for this story, but Regal's interest in art-house fare has been noted.
The area's only presentations of "Monster" have been at Regal's local theaters. Cinema South was first to show "House of Sand and Fog," starring best actor nominee Ben Kingsley and best supporting actress contender Shohreh Aghdashloo.
"Lost in Translation" was shown at Cinema South after Oscar nominations were announced, as was "The Triplets of Belleville," a French film that's nominated for best animated feature against "Finding Nemo."
shaulis@vindy.com