Director Ralph Fiennes captures the raw physicality and brilliance of iconic Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, whose escape to the West stunned the world at the height of the Cold War. Inspired by the book “Rudolf Nureyev: The Life” by Julie Kavanaugh, the film charts the iconic dancer’s famed defection from the Soviet Union to the West in 1961, despite KGB efforts to stop him. With his magnetic presence, Nureyev (Oleg Ivenko) emerged as ballet’s most famous star, a wild and beautiful dancer limited by the world of 1950s Leningrad. His flirtation with Western artists and ideas led him into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with the KGB.

“Ralph Fiennes, who discovered Julie Kavanagh’s 2007 Nureyev biography over a decade ago, uses only the first five chapters in his film about the dancer who played near every corner of the globe before dying of complications from AIDS in 1993. Working from a potent script by noted playwright and screenwriter David Hare (The Hours, The Reader), Fiennes gives his period drama a present-tense urgency that draws us into the life of Nureyev in the fascinating act of inventing himself. Playing famed dancer master Alexander Pushkin, Fiennes also directs his film about the early life of ballet great — which has all the sexual swagger required.” (Rolling Stone Magazine)

“It’s a movie full of small pleasures, such as the Polaroid-ish softness of the cinematography, Fiennes’ quietly noble performance as Nureyev’s mentor Pushkin, and the glimpses of the ballet studios…” (Seattle Times)

Sunday, August 4
Doors 5:50 pm | Movie 6:10 *Please arrive on time! Start time subject to change.
Advance tickets $10.50 HERE | $12.50 at the door

*Minors welcome in the balcony! Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
**Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK. Please redeem at the door.

THE WHITE CROW (Ralph Fiennes, 2019 / 127 mins / PG) Young Rudolf Nureyev becomes a top ballet dancer in Russia, but a life-changing visit to Paris soon makes him seek asylum in France.