LUMBERTON — It’s the time of year when blockbusters compete for marquee space at the multiplex, but summer means awards season at the Carolina Civic Center.

The historic theater is gearing up for its third annual Best of the Year film series. This year’s lineup consists of Oscar-nominated movies from 2015 that were not screened in Robeson County theaters.

The series will kick off July 7 with “The Big Short,” a comic drama based on Michael Lewis’ book about the U.S. housing and mortgage bubble. Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt and Christian Bale star as the real-life traders and hedge fund managers who predicted the subprime mortgage collapse and made a fortune betting against the economy.

Directed by Adam McKay, who is best known for broad comedies like “Anchorman” and “Stepbrothers,” the film scooped up five Academy Award nominations. It ultimately took home the trophy for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The series continues July 14 with Steven Spielberg’s historical drama “Bridge of Spies.” Set during the Cold War, the film follows a lawyer who negotiates with the Soviet Union to trade a captured American pilot for a captured KGB spy.

The Soviet spy is played by Mark Rylance, a veteran stage actor who nabbed the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. ”Bridge of Spies” was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

Screening July 21 is “Brooklyn,” a coming-of-age story about a young woman, played by newcomer Saoirse Ronan, who emigrates from Ireland in the early 1950s,

Directed by John Crowley, the film was lauded by critics but came up empty-handed during the Academy Awards. “Brooklyn” was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.

On July 28, the Carolina Civic Center will flip the script for a silver screen-inspired concert. Mark Andersen, an award-winning multi-instrumentalist from Lumberton, will provide musical accompaniment for “Mighty Like a Moose,” a 1926 short staring Charley Chase.

Andersen will play the theater’s recently restored “Mighty” Morton organ. A staple of early movie palaces, the organ gives a single musician the ability to play an array of actual instruments tucked away in traps and chambers.

Alejandro G. Inarritu’s visceral and visually stunning frontier drama, “The Revenant,” will be shown on Aug. 4. The movie earned Leonardo DiCaprio an Academy Award for Best Actor, ending a streak of Oscar losses for the former teen heartthrob.

“The Revenant” collected two other statuettes, including Inarritu’s second consecutive win for Best Director.

Slated for Aug. 11 is “Spotlight,” a pensive biopic about The Boston Globe’s 2001 investigation of the sexual abuse cover-up by the Catholic Church. The film, which stars Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Liev Schreiber as the reporters and editors involved with the Pulitzer Prize-winning series, won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

Next up is “Amy,” a documentary that explores the troubled life of Amy Winehouse. The British pop singer, whose struggles with substance abuse became tabloid fodder in the early 2000s, died of accidental alcohol poisoning in 2011.

A winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary, “Amy” will screen Aug. 18 at the theater.

The series will draw to a close Aug. 25 with “Son of Saul.” Set in a concentration camp during World War II, this Hungarian feature won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Each film starts at 7 p.m. and admission is $5.

The Carolina Civic Center is located at 315 N. Chestnut St. in downtown Lumberton. The historic building served as a vaudeville and silent film theater when it opened in 1928.

For information, visit carolinaciviccenter.com.

LINEUP OF FILMS:

July 7 • “The Big Short”

July 14 • “Bridge of Spies”

July 21 • “Brooklyn”

July 28 • “Mighty Like a Moose”

Aug. 4 • “The Revenant”

Aug. 11 • “Spotlight”

Aug. 18 • “Amy”

Aug. 25 • “Son of Saul”

Jaymie Baxley • The Robesonian • The Carolina Civic Center’s Best of the Year film series consists of Oscar-nominated movies from 2015 that were not screened in Robeson County theaters.
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Oscar.jpgJaymie Baxley • The Robesonian • The Carolina Civic Center’s Best of the Year film series consists of Oscar-nominated movies from 2015 that were not screened in Robeson County theaters.

By Jaymie Baxley • [email protected]

Features editor Jaymie Baxley can be reached at 910-416-5771 or by email at [email protected].