Our Broadway Thursdays: Segerstrom Center at The Frida kicks off with the greatest love story ever told…the original 1991 Beauty and the Beast!
When the bright and bookish Belle takes her father’s place as the prisoner of a mysterious Beast, she discovers that the fearsome creature and his enchanted household are hiding a heartbreaking secret. As Belle and the Beast slowly learn to look beyond appearances, an unlikely friendship blossoms into one of Disney’s most enduring love stories.
A landmark in animation storytelling, Beauty and the Beast remains every bit as magical as it was upon its original release. Featuring unforgettable songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman and breathtaking hand-drawn animation, it’s a timeless reminder that some fairy tales are simply meant to be experienced together in a movie theater.
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Virgilio Villoresi’s hand-crafted and entrancing take on the myth of Orpheus, Orfeo is our new release pick for Art House Theater Day 2026!
Since he was a child, Orpheus has imagined stories about an abandoned villa across the street from his house. A solitary and visionary pianist, during an evening at the Polypus, the club where he plays, he meets Eura’s gaze. An unconditional love blossoms between them, but she’s concealing a secret. Then she disappears. One evening, Orpheus sees her enter a small door on Via Saterna, in front of the villa. He follows her. Before the threshold, he encounters the Green Man, an enigmatic figure who seems to know the mysteries of that passageway. Once through the door, Orpheus enters a visionary afterlife…
Art House Theater Day (AHTD) is an annual program of AHC that brings audiences together to celebrate all that art house theaters, and independent film, contribute to our cultural landscape: ambitious and innovative art that provokes, challenges, entertains, and inspires.
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In remembrance of filmmaker and artist Marjane Satrapi, we’re bringing you a one-week run of her 2007 animated masterpiece Persepolis.
Growing up in revolutionary Iran, young Marjane is outspoken, curious, and determined to chart her own path in a world growing increasingly restrictive. Sent abroad by her family for safety, she navigates adolescence, exile, love, and loss while struggling to reconcile the person she has become with the homeland she left behind. Through it all, Marjane searches for a place to belong.
Rendered in striking black-and-white animation, Persepolis captures both the upheaval of political change and the intimate joys and heartbreaks of growing up. It stands as a testament to Satrapi’s singular voice: a filmmaker who turned memory into art and invited audiences around the world to see history through the eyes of one unforgettable life.
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One life. One hundred years.
Jinsei, the new anime masterpiece from first-time director Ryuya Suzuki, is coming to The Frida Cinema!
Our hero (voiced by rapper ACE COOL), called by a different name in each chapter of his life, becomes a J-pop idol, an outcast, a leader, and an oracle in this hundred-year chronicle spanning the past, present, and future. Through a chance encounter with a transfer student, he trains to become an idol, starting his search for self-identity and a journey toward greatness beyond superstardom.
Written, directed, edited and entirely hand-drawn by newcomer Ryuya Suzuki over eighteen months, Jinsei (meaning “life” in Japanese) is an anime tour-de-force that announces Suzuki to the world as a bold new talent in independent animation.
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To save the future, they must uncover her past.
GKIDS presents Another World, a dark fairytale that explores forgiveness and reconciliation in the face of hatred and despair.
Gudo is a Soul Keeper, a spirit who guides human souls into their next life. When he befriends a young girl named Yuri, he discovers that her untimely death has left her cursed with unresolved rage and regret. As Yuri’s soul teeters on the edge of annihilation, Gudo embarks on a dangerous journey to stop her from unleashing horrible destruction on both the human world and the spirit realm.
The directorial debut from Tommy Ng Kai Chung, the movie brings together the finest young talent from Hong Kong to create a poignant fantasy that boasts awe-inspiring action and captivating visuals.
This film will be presented in Cantonese with English subtitles.
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You’ve been asking for it, so we’re doing it! The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act is coming to The Frida Cinema! The viral internet sensation is reaching its long-awaited conclusion in a feature-length theatrical release! This “Last Act” combines episode 8 with the all new, hour long episode 9!
With Caine gone and the circus dark, the cast are left with only the mistakes and traumas of their pasts to keep them company. As the prospect of eternity closes in around them, they discover the truth about the Digital Circus and its history. Will they come to terms with what they uncover, or will they make…the other choice? Also, presumably at some point someone says something funny, because this ending can’t be THAT depressing, can it?
Watch the finale of the viral internet phenomenon the best way possible: on the big screen!
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The Fabulous Baron Munchausen is up next in our Art House for Families series!
Director Karel Zeman conjures a story that follows the adventures of the legendary, boastful baron, whose whirlwind exploits take him from the moon to eighteenth-century Turkey to the belly of a whale and beyond.
A rainbow-esque marvel that blends live action with techniques including stop-motion, cutout collage, puppetry, painted backdrops, and antique tinting, Zeman’s film is an exhilarating visual delight and a warmhearted whirl through a bygone age too entrancing to have existed.
This film is presented in its original Czech language, with English subtitles.
Our Art House for Families series celebrates the magic of moviegoing across generations all summer long. From silent comedy and international classics to science fiction and fantasy adventures, the series invites longtime cinephiles and first-time art house audiences of all ages to discover some of cinema’s most enduring films together on the big screen. This event is sponsored in part by the City of Santa Ana.
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FanMail Cinema Club is back at The Frida Cinema to present a themed screening event of the 2004 star-studded underwater animated movie Shark Tale! Come dressed up for a themed-photo-op, a cosplay contest, and karaoke in the theater!
Oscar is a small fish whose big aspirations often get him into trouble. Meanwhile, Lenny is a great white shark with a surprising secret that no sea creature would guess: He’s a vegetarian. When a lie turns Oscar into an improbable hero and Lenny becomes an outcast, the two form an unlikely friendship.
Starring Will Smith, Renee Zellweger, Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Ziggy Marley, Martin Scorsese, and Robert De Niro, Shark Tale is a fun time capsule of mid-2000s comedy that Gen Z has a lot of nostalgia and fond memories of, ironic or not!
Themed-Vending starts @ 5:00PM
Karaoke Hour is from 5:30PM-6:30PM
Cosplay Contest is @ 6:45PM
Film starts at 7:00PM shark…errrm we mean sharp!
Tickets to this event are $20. Frida Cinema Member discounts and comp passes do not apply!
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Our friends at GKIDS are presenting a brand new 4K restoration of the fantastic Italian sendup of Fantastia, Allegro Non Troppo!
An enterprising producer believes he has hit upon a winning concept: a program of original animated shorts set to classical music. Undeterred by warnings that this has already been done by an American named ‘Prisney,’ he rallies an orchestra of geriatric women, a bullish conductor, and an animator that he keeps locked in the dungeon. What could go wrong?
From evolution gone haywire to a lonely cat navigating a decaying world, Allegro Non Troppo swings between absurd comedy and quiet melancholy, all wrapped in inventive, boundary-pushing animation.
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Hidden by darkness. Guarded by witches. Discovered by a boy. Stolen by a king. Whoever owns it will rule the world. Or destroy it!
We’ve added an encore of Disney’s rarely-screened gem The Black Cauldron!
Taran is an assistant pigkeeper with boyish dreams of becoming a great warrior. However, he has to put the daydreaming aside when his charge, an oracular pig named Hen Wen, is kidnapped by an evil lord known as the Horned King. The villain hopes Hen will show him the way to The Black Cauldron, which has the power to create a giant army of unstoppable soldiers.
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