Jonesing for indies

Jan. 18, 2013 — For moviegoers, January is either seen as an opportunity to catch up on non-widely released gems that are finally making it to town (such as last summer’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” playing at NCG Cinemas in Eastwood Towne Center) or a dumping ground for meh flicks (“The Last Stand,” anyone?).

As Oscar season heats up, the East Lansing Film Society has taken over one of the six screens at the new Studio C! in Okemos to bring first-run independent and foreign movies to discerning mid-Michigan cinephiles.

From now through Feb. 14, the ELFS will be rotating nine movies that are gathering buzz on the indie film circuit. The group’s founder, Susan Woods, has hand-picked all the movies, which include some awards show darlings such as Denmark’s “A Royal Affair,” up for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars, and “The Intouchables,” a French-language dramedy that has taken the rest of the world by storm but made barely a peep stateside.

The list also includes “Chasing Ice” (a documentary about the melting ice caps), “Rust And Bone” (starring “La Vie en Rose” Oscar winner Marion Cotillard), “Nobody Walks” (from Lena Dunham, creator of HBO’s “Girls”) “The Zen Of Bennett” (which examines the life and career of Tony Bennett), “Starlet” (a young woman finds money hidden in a tchotchke at an old woman’s yard sale) “Any Day Now” (a drag queen fights to gain custody of child with Downs syndrome) and “Brooklyn Castle” ( a doc highlighting some inner city adolescent chess masters).

Showtimes, prices and more information about the films are available on the websites for the East Lansing Film Festival and Studio C!