A nationwide retrospective tour of new prints will celebrate famed French New Wave director Alain Resnais from September 2009 to March 2010. Featuring thirteen of his best-known movies, including such timeless classics as L'Année Dernière à Marienbad (Last Year in Marienbad) and Mon Oncle d'Amérique (My American Uncle), the retrospective will delight film buffs eager to rediscover one of cinema's most iconic filmmakers. This will be a unique opportunity to do so: many of these films are not distributed in the U.S., and the prints have been fully restored-courtesy of CulturesFrance, the French agency in charge of international cultural exchanges.

The retrospective, which was produced by CulturesFrance under the guidance of Michel Ciment, editor-in-chief of the prestigious film magazine Positif, is supported by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and will tour the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago; the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, CA; the University of Wisconsin Madison; the Wexner Arts Center in Columbus, OH; the Harvard Film Archive and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Cultural institutions interested in screening the retrospective should contact the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. On the occasion of the retrospective, Moving Image Source, the Museum of the Moving Image's magazine, has commissioned several articles about Resnais's work from leading film critics and experts.

Featured Works:

Guernica (with Robert Hessens, 1950); Statues Also Die (Les Statues meurent aussi, with Chris Marker, 1953); Night and Fog (Nuit et Bouillard, 1955); All of the World's Memory (Toute la mémoire du monde, 1956); The Song of the Styrene (Le Chant du Styrène, 1958); Last Year at Marienbad (L'Année Dernière à Marienbad, 1961); Muriel, or The Time of Return (Muriel, ou le temps d'un retour, 1963); Je t'aime Je t'aime (1968); Stavisky... (1974); My American Uncle (Mon Oncle d'Amérique, 1980); Mélo (1986); Same Old Song (On connaît la chanson, 1997); Private Fears in Public Places (Cœurs, 2006, pictured)

Program information:
 

National Gallery of Art

September 5-20, 2009

LACMA

October 2-17, 2009

Gene Siskel Film Center

November 7-December 2, 2009

Pacific Film Archive

November 6- December 15, 2009

University of Wisconsin

December 5-19, 2009

Wexner Arts Center

January 1-February 28, 2010

Harvard Film Archive

January 15-25, 2010

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

March 1-31, 2010

Related Articles:
The Unknown Statue by Jonathan Rosenbaum posted Nov. 06, 2009

Featured Works:

Der Stolz der Firma (Carl Wilhelm, 1914); The Rag Man (Edward F. Cline, 1925); Jewish Prudence (Leo McCarey, 1927); Animal Crackers (Victor Heerman, 1930); Yidl mitn fidl (Joseph Green and Jan Nowina-Przybylski, 1936); Freylikhe kabtsonim (Leon Jeannot and Zygmunt Turkow, 1937); I Want to Be a Boarder (Joseph Seiden, 1937); Americaner Shadchen (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1940); Unzere Kinder (Natan Gross, 1948); Bye Bye Braverman (Sidney Lumet, 1968); The Producers (Mel Brooks, 1968, pictured); Le Cinéma de Papa (Claude Berri, 1970); Next Stop, Greenwich Village (Paul Mazursky, 1976); The Frisco Kid (Robert Aldrich, 1979); Crossing Delancey (Joan Micklin Silver, 1988); Funny Bones (Peter Chelsom, 1995); Deconstructing Harry (Woody Allen, 1997); Keeping the Faith (Edward Norton, 2000); Meet the Fockers (Jay Roach, 2004)

Program information:

Jewish Comedians-Jewish Humor

This exhibition will display the artistic richness and originality of the magic lantern and the evolution and variety of the iconography projected by the lantern since its origins (1659) until its gradual disappearance in the 1920s.

Program information:

The Magic Lantern and Painted Film: 400 Years of Cinema

Focus on the following themes: Harry Piel, Federico Fellini, Max Ophüls, the clown, the trapeze artist, Tod Browning, circus families, Arthur Maria Rabenalt, circus travesties.

Featured Works:

The Show (Tod Browning, 1926); Was ist los im Zirkus Beely? (Harry Piel, 1926); The Circus (Charles Chaplin, 1927); The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927); Salto Mortale (Ewald André Dupont, 1931); Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932); The Bartered Bride (Die verkaufte Braut, Max Ophüls, 1932); Menschen, Tiere, Sensationen (Harry Piel, 1938); Die drei Codonas (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1939); Männer müssen so sein (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1939); You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (George Marshall, 1939); Akrobat Schööön! (Wolfgang Staudte, 1943); Zirkus Renz (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1943); The Mercury Wonder Show (Orson Welles, 1944); Parade (Jacques Tati, 1947); La ronde (Max Ophüls, 1950); The Tiger's Claw (Der Tiger Akbar, Harry Piel, 1951); The Greatest Show on Earth (Cecil B. DeMille, 1952); The Naked Night (Gycklarnas afton, Ingmar Bergman, 1953); La strada (Federico Fellini, 1954, pictured); Lola Montès (Max Ophüls, 1956); Trapeze (Carol Reed, 1956); The Wrestler and the Clown (Borets i kloun, Boris Barnet and Konstantin Judin, 1957); Calder's Circus (Le cirque de Calder, Carlos Vilardebó, 1961); 8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963); Salto mortale (TV, 1969, Michael Braun); I clowns (Federico Fellini, 1970); My Name Is Joker (Mera Naam Joker, Raj Kapoor, 1970); Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (Robert Altman, 1976); The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1996);Murnau's 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film (Janet Bergstrom, 2002); Calimucho (Eugenie Jansen, 2008)  

Program information:

Non plus ultra! Cinema and Circus

Promised Lands profiles cinematic and geopolitical relationships throughout the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, India, Kashmir, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) and across to West Asia and the Middle East (including Afghanistan, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kurdistan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Turkey). In the context of the Asia Pacific Triennial, which seeks to question the cultural and geographical frameworks of the Asia Pacific region, Promised Lands opens up a deeper conversation with West Asia and the Middle East. This discussion underlines the need for a more specific awareness of distinct histories and genealogies within these regions, while also acknowledging interactions and shared influences across borders. Through the process of bringing political geographies and histories into question, the opportunity arises to reflect on how the region's complex and diverse cultures and artistic practices contribute to new and more nuanced understandings of "Asia."

Promised Lands includes five programs of film and video that consider local politics and individual lives within a larger context. Each program has an autonomous curatorial framework: responses to civil war in Sri Lanka (The Road to Jaffna) the legacies of partition across the Indian subcontinent (Cinema of Partition); dissent and the affirmation of cultural identity in a climate of political intervention in West Asia, as well as the fraught nexus of religious fundamentalism and national politics (The Tree of Life); the traumatic histories linking Armenia and Turkey (Return of the Poet); and fault lines throughout the Middle East in response to conflict and territorial incursions in Palestine, Lebanon, and Israel (Eating My Heart). Several broad themes appear across these strands, in particular the intersection of daily life with relationships to land, religious affiliations, and cultural histories.

While political and colonial legacies have divided land and communities, Promised Lands points to the aspirations of artists and filmmakers to reframe these struggles and find a path forward. Promised Lands looks to artists and filmmakers who find opportunities to rethink the past and imagine the future. Their work draws on the historical roots of contemporary experience, bringing the past to life in the present to transform our understanding of then and now. The program brings together works that project possibilities for change and explore the hopes of exiled and dispossessed communities to return to, or create, a homeland. The artists and filmmakers featured in Promised Lands provide extraordinary insights into complex contemporary situations, and work in myriad ways to counter the insidious effects of cultural homogenisation. Their individual narratives offer a depth of understanding rarely available in official histories and suggest new possibilities for relationships and understanding. The past and present in the first person take discussions of the future out of the realm of rhetoric and into a shared framework of responsibility.

Featured Works:

Chinnamul (Nemai Ghosh, 1950); Meghe Dhaka Tara (Ritwik Ghatak, 1960); Menq (Artavazd Pelechian, 1960); Komal Gandhar (Ritwik Ghatak, 1961); Subarnarekha (Ritwik Ghatak, 1965); Sayat Nova aka The Colour of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov, 1968); Obibateli (Artavazd Pelechian, 1970); Tarva Yeghanaknere aka Vremena goda (Artavazd Pelechian, 1972); Garm Hava (Ms Sathyu, 1973); Tamas (Govind Nihalani, 1986); Verj (Artavazd Pelechian, 1993-94); Girl from Moush (Gariné Torossian, 1994); Al-Shrit Bikyahr (Akram Zaatari, 1997); A Season Outside (Amar Kanwar, 1997); Pura handa Kaluwara (Prasanna Vithanage, 1997); Earth (Deepa Mehta, 1998); Djomeh (Hassan Yektapanah, 2000); Me mage sandai (Asoka Handagama, 2000); Takh té siah (Samira Makhmalbaf, 2000); Shou Bhabbak (Akram Zaatari, 2001); The Land of Silence (Vimukthi Jayasundara, 2001); Ararat (Atom Egoyan, 2002); Matir Monia (Tareque Masud, 2002); Yadon ilaheyya (Elia Suleiman, 2002); Ira Madiyama (Prasanna Vithanage, 2003); Khamosh Pani (Sabiha Sumar, 2003); Osama (Siddiq Barmak, 2003); Talaye sorkh (Jafa Panahi, 2003); Way Back Home (Supriyo Sen, 2003); Crossing the Lines: Kashmir, Pakistan, India (Pervez Hoodbhoy, 2004); Lakposhtha parvaz mikonand (Bahman Ghobadi, 2004); Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel (Eyal Sivan & Michel Khleifi, 2004); Nekam Achat Mishtey Eynay (Avi Mograbi, 2005); Oyun (Pelin Esmer, 2005); Paradise Now (Hany Abu-Assad, 2005); Sulanga Enu Pinisa (Vimukthi Jayasundara, 2005, pictured); A Declaration (Yael Bartana, 2006); Al-sateh (Kamal Aljafari, 2006); Beş Vakit (Reha Erdem, 2006); Beyond Partition (Lalit Mohan Joshi, 2006); Happy Days (Larissa Sansour, 2006); In Search of a Road (Dharmasena Pathiraja, 2006); Poeti veradardze (Harutyun Khachatryan, 2006); Soup over Bethlehem (Larissa Sansour, 2006); 33 Yaoum (Mai Masri, 2007); A Jihad for Love (Parvez Sharma, 2007); Buda as sharm foru rikht (Hana Makmalbaf, 2007); Ea' Adat Khalk (Mahmoud al Massad, 2007); Jashn-e-Azadi (Sanjay Kak, 2007); Khiam 2000 (Joana Hadjithomas, 2007); Land Confiscation Order 06/24/T (Larissa Sansour, 2007); Min datter terroristen (Beate Arnestad & Morten Daae, 2007); Nights and Days (Lamia Joreige, 2007); Stone Time Touch (Gariné Torossian, 2007); Summer Camp 2007 (Yael Bartana, 2007); The Sky Below (Sarah Singh, 2007); A Space Exodus (Larissa Sansour, 2008); Baddi Chouf (Joana Hadjithomas, 2008); Langue sacrée, langue parlée (Nurith Aviv, 2008); Life after the Fall (Kasim Abid, 2008); Mesopotamia (Fenar Ahmad, 2008); Milh Hadha al-Bahr (Annemarie Jacir, 2008); Tabiaah Samitah (Akram Zaatari, 2008); Tahaan: A Boy with a Grenade (Santosh Sivan, 2008); The Queen and I (Nahid Persson Sarvestani, 2008);  Vals Im Bashir (Ari Folman, 2008); Z32 (Avi Mograbi, 2008); Ahasin Wetei (Vimukthi Jayasundara, 2009); Al Zaman Al Baqi (Elia Suleiman, 2009); Carmel (Amos Gitaï, 2009); Chou am bi sir? (Jocelyne Saab, 2009); Darbareye Elly (Asghar Farhadi, 2009); Güneşi Gördüm (Mahsun Kırmızıgül, 2009); Port of Memory (Kamal Aljafari, 2009); Rachel (Simone Bitton, 2009); Ruzhaye sabz (Hana Makmalbaf, 2009); Sahman (Harutyun Khachatryan, 2009); Sirta la Gal ba (Shahram Alidi, 2009)

Program information:

Promised Lands

The art of animation in Iran today draws on the artistic heritage of textile design, Persian folk tales and literature, calligraphy and miniature painting, as well as the motifs of interior design, ceramics and architecture. Animation is recognised in Iran as a medium which is closely related to drawing, painting and the graphic arts. This landmark program profiles influential senior figures, including Esfandiar Ahmadieh, Abdollah Alimorad, Vadjollah Fard Moghadam, Ali Akbar Sadeghi and Noureddin Zarrinkelk, through to the current generation of talented emerging artists, including Morteza Ahadi, Laleh Khorramian, Omid Khoshnazar, Mashallah Mohammadi, Moin Samadi, Farkhondeh Torabi, and others.

Many animations in The Cypress and the Crow: 50 Years of Iranian Animation feature animal figures-the crow, mouse, fox, goat, and many more-which have literary and symbolic associations, and may be alter-egos for humanity. The crow appears frequently in literature and animation as an animal which exhibits the baser human traits-selfishness, suspicion and greed-but is also crafty and intelligent. The cypress, sacred in Iran, is associated with the tree of life. In the Islamic tradition, the tree of life is found in heaven and harbours brightly coloured birds, representing the souls of the faithful; it may also represent the human body and aspirations to the divine. Infinitely varied in their reworking of cultural forms, animations from Iran express historical lineages and geographical relationships to create extraordinary visual worlds and produce new identities and forms.

Featured Works:

More than 100 films

Program information:

The Cypress and the Crow: 50 Years of Iranian Animation

The 1960s saw two of the most popular stars of Japanese post-WWII cinema grace movie screens.

Like a strange but wonderful hybrid of Charlie Chaplin, Robert Mitchum, Wallace Beery, and Clint Eastwood, Shintaro Katsu started out at Daiei Studios in the mid-1950s and labored pretty much unrecognized in period action movies and the occasional more serious "arthouse" film until 1962. That was the year he starred as a wandering blind masseur tired of being picked on who learns to wield a sword in Tale of Zatoichi (Zatoichi Monogatari) directed by unsung master Kenji Misumi. It was popular enough to warrant a sequel, and Katsu's real-life brother Tomisaburo Wakayama played Zatoichi's estranged brother and nemesis in the action-packed follow-up, The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (Zoku Zatoichi Monogatari). After that, with the box office breaking records, Daiei developed the character into a series of films. Katsu continued to portray the beloved blind swordsman in 26 movies as well as over 100 episodes on television. His last appearance as the humble, wisecracking anti-hero was in 1989 in Zatoichi (a film Katsu also directed). Katsu also starred in several of nouvelle vague director Yasuzo Masumura's most memorable pictures, including Hoodlum Soldier (Heitai Yakuza) and Yakuza Masterpiece (Yakuza Zessho). In the late 1960s, Katsu formed his own production company, going on to produce most of the later Zatoichi films as well as all six of the Lone Wolf and Cub series (once again starring his brother, Tomisaburo Wakayama).

Now imagine Montgomery Clift as an action star, and you get a faint idea of the image of Katsu's Daiei Studios' colleague, Raizo Ichikawa. Descended from a long line of kabuki performers, he started his movie career around the same time as Katsu in the mid-1950s, making period drama and action films as well as more "serious" pictures for directors like Kenji Mizoguchi (New Tales of the Taira Clan) and Kon Ichikawa (Enjo). But his most famous role remains Kyoshiro Nemuri, a misanthropic, half-breed samurai with God and women issues whose lady-in-waiting mother had been raped by a Portuguese missionary during a Black Mass, thus resulting in his birth. The film series featuring the Nemuri character-known in English-speaking countries as Sleepy Eyes of Death/Son of the Black Mass-grew gradually more existential and macabre as the series progressed, and the Nemuri character had his coldblooded side, conflicted within by both benevolent and misanthropic impulses. Ichikawa also appeared in the loosely linked Sword (Ken) trilogy directed by Kenji Misumi-all of them masterpieces: Destiny's Son (Kiru), Sword (Ken), and Sword Devil (Ken Ki). The second-to-last picture starring Ichikawa, Castle Menagerie (Nemuri Kyoshiro Akujo Gari) was his last appearance as Nemuri. Ichikawa died of cancer in July of 1969 at the age of 37, mere days before the completion of his final movie, Gambler's Life (Bakuto Ichidai). Because of his tragic death at a young age as well as his astounding charisma onscreen, Ichikawa continues to enjoy a burgeoning cult status and has often been described as the Japanese James Dean.

Both actors shared a sublime ability to transcend genre stereotypes, creating action heroes who were wounded, soul-searching individuals. Join us for this retrospective tribute honoring two legends of Japanese cinema!

Featured Works:

Samurai Vendetta: A Chronicle of Pale Cherry Blossoms (Hakuoki, Kazuo Mori, 1959); Scar Yosaburo (Kirare Yosaburo, Daisuke Ito, 1960); Destiny's Son (Kiru, Kenji Misumi, 1962, pictured); New Tale of Zatoichi (Shin Zatoichi monogatari, Tokuzo Tanaka, 1963); Zatoichi On the Road: Fighting Journey (Zatoichi kenka-tabi, Kimiyoshi Yasuda, 1963); Zatoichi, the Fugitive (Zatoichi kyojo-tabi, Tokuzo Tanaka, 1963); Nemuri Kyoshiro at Bay: The Sword of Seduction (Nemuri Kyoshiro Joyo Ken, Kazuo Ikehiro, 1964); The Lone Stalker (Hitori Okami, Kazuo Ikehiro, 1968); The Devil's Temple (Oni no Sumu Yakata, Kenji Misumi, 1969)

Program information:

The Double-Edged Sword: The Films of Shintaro Katsu & Raizo Ichikawa

Singapore and Malaysia remain areas which are still too neglected on the major map of Southeast Asia. We got to know the cinematographic secrets of their Korean, Thai, and Filipino neighbors; as for Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, we are witnessing an exciting renaissance in cinema.

Encouraged by the lightness of the new means of shooting, transformed by the talent of a young generation, as prolific as it is united, underlain by a multi-ethnic social context, a dense history, and a complex current policy, this effervescence draws attention to itself by its modernity. It is a matter of urgency that the rhythms and myths of this never-before-seen cinematography are discovered; it is a necessity to delve into its recent past through the heroes and best films of the genre which enriched it and which, for the moment, have never before been seen in Europe.

Far more than a journey, Singapore, Malaysia: the cinema! is a (plural) encounter of those who build our view and our understanding of the world towards an elsewhere, called tomorrow.

Featured Works:

50 films

Program information:

Singapore, Malaysia: the cinema!

Related Articles:
Telling Stories to Her Nation by Amir Muhammad posted Jan. 29, 2010

Nagisa Oshima, Yoshishige Yoshida, and Masahiro Shinoda all made stunning debuts in 1959 and 1960. They drew much attention as the flag-bearers of Shochiku Nouvelle Vague, and continued to lead Japanese cinema throughout their careers. The consecutive retrospectives will showcase their achievements.  

Program information:

Nagisa Oshima, Yoshishige Yoshida, and Masahiro Shinoda Retrospective

Featured Works:

Katzelmacher (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1969); Liebe ist kälter als der Tod (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1969); Warum läuft Herr R. Amok? (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1969); Der amerikanische Soldat (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1970); Die Niklashauser Fart (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1970); Götter der Pest (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1970); Rio das Mortes (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1970); Whity (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1970); Pioniere in Ingolstadt (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1971); Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1971); Bremer Freiheit (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972); Der Händler der Vier Jahreszeiten (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972); Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972); Wildwechsel (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1973); Angst essen Seele auf (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974); Fontane - Effi Briest (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974); Martha (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974); Angst vor der Angst (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1975); Faustrecht der Freiheit (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1975); Mutter Küsters' Fahrt zum Himmel (Rainer Werener Fassbinder, 1975); Bolwieser (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1976); Chinesisches Roulette (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1976); Ich will doch nur, daß ihr mich liebt (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1976); Satansbraten (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1976); Deutschland im Herbst (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1977); Despair (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1978); In einem Jahr mit 13 Moden (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1978); Die Dritte Generation (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979); Die ehe der Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979); Berlin Alexanderplatz 1-14 (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1980, pictured); Lili Marleen (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981); Lola (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981); Theaer in Trance (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981); Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1982); Querelle (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1982)

Program information:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Although he's best-known for Tokyo Story and other tales of family tensions and troubles, Yasujiro Ozu had a long career which spanned everything from student comedies to gangster movies. We introduce a retrospective of the complete surviving work of one of cinema's greatest masters.

Countless great directors have spoken of the esteem in which they hold Ozu's work. This month eminent Europeans, Americans, and a Taiwanese do the honors in paying tribute to the master.

Featured Works:

Days of Youth (Yasujiro Ozu, 1929); I Flunked, But... (Yasujiro Ozu, 1929); That Night's Wife (Yasujiro Ozu, 1930); Walk Cheerfully (Yasujiro Ozu, 1930); The Lady and the Beard (Yasujiro Ozu, 1931); Tokyo Chorus (Yasujiro Ozu, 1931); I Was Born, But... (Yasujiro Ozu, 1932); Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? (Yasujiro Ozu, 1932); Dragnet Girl (Yasujiro Ozu, 1933); Passing Fancy (Yasujiro Ozu, 1933); Woman of Tokyo (Yasujiro Ozu, 1933); A Mother Should Be Loved (Yasujiro Ozu, 1934); Story of Floating Weeds (Yasujiro Ozu, 1934); An Inn in Tokyo (Yasujiro Ozu, 1935); Kagamijishi (Yasujiro Ozu, 1935); The Only Son (Yasujiro Ozu, 1936); What Did the Lady Forget? (Yasujiro Ozu, 1937); Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (Yasujiro Ozu, 1941); There Was a Father (Yasujiro Ozu, 1942); Record of a Tenement Gentleman (Yasujiro Ozu, 1947); A Hen in the Wind (Yasujiro Ozu, 1948); Late Spring (Yasujiro Ozu, 1949); The Mukekata Sisters (Yasujiro Ozu, 1950); Early Summer (Yasujiro Ozu, 1951); The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice (Yasujiro Ozu, 1952); Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953); Early Spring (Yasujiro Ozu, 1956); Tokyo Twilight (Yasujiro Ozu, 1957, pictured); Equinox Flower (Yasujiro Ozu, 1958); Floating Weeds (Yasujiro Ozu, 1959); Good Morning (Yasujiro Ozu, 1959); Late Autumn (Yasujiro Ozu, 1960); The End of Summer (Yasujiro Ozu, 1961); An Autumn Afternoon (Yasujiro Ozu, 1962); A Portuguese Goodbye (João Botelho, 1985); Tokyo-Ga (Wim Wenders, 1985); Mystery Train (Jim Jarmusch, 1989); A Scene at the Sea (Kitano Takeshi, 1991); Eat Drink Man Woman (Ang Lee, 1994); Drifting Clouds (Aki Kaurismäki, 1996); Café Lumiere (Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 2003); Five (Abbas Kiarostami, 2003); 35 Shots of Rum (Claire Denis, 2008); Still Walking (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2008); Three Monkeys (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2008)

Program information:

Yasujiro Ozu's Films and His Influences

Americans have always had an extremely romantic relationship to outlaws, seeing them as anti-authoritarian, anti-government heroes of the common man, daring to question ruling class prerogatives. The tradition can be traced back to the "no government is the best government" ideology of the Whigs in pre-revolutionary America, but also in the Anglo-Saxon mythology around Robin Hood. Two of the most notorious outlaws of the American West, eulogized in countless "dime novels," were Billy the Kid and Jesse James. Neither was brought to justice in a court of law (both claimed to be falsely accused); rather, each was killed by a representative of the law, but also a close friend. The betrayal makes their stories rich with metaphoric possibilities. As rumors of their exploits became codified in history, each entered the realm of myth.

Not surprisingly, Hollywood has repeatedly turned to Billy the Kid and Jesse James for Western material. Each Western hero has garnered more than 30 films, fictions crafted from the struggle between corporate America and ordinary, working people.

Hollywood Westerns as a genre are subject to timeless conventions, involving stereotypical characters (a man, a horse, a schoolmarm), and standardized plots (cattle ranchers vs. sheepherders, corrupt politician vs. townspeople). But Westerns are also oblique reflections of contemporary attitudes and mores. Reworking the myths of Billy the Kid and the James Gang, filmmakers reveal varied attitudes towards authority and American society. Three directorial debuts are among the selections, a fact worth pondering.

Featured Works:

Billy the Kid (King Vidor, 1930); Jesse James at Bay (Joseph Kane, 1941); Billy the Kid Trapped (Sherman Scott, 1942); I Shot Jesse James (Samuel Fuller, 1949); The True Story of Jesse James (Nicholas Ray, 1957); The Left-Handed Gun (Arthur Penn, 1958); The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid (Philip Kaufman, 1972); Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah, 1973); The Long Riders (Walter Hill, 1980); The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007, pictured)

Program information:

Two Western Myths: Billy the Kid & Jesse James

Over the years, interest in Frank Capra's work, and his critical reputation, have ebbed and flowed, usually due to changing sociopolitical currents in the United States and their effect on public perception of his work. What is now known as "Capraesque" filmmaking is generally, and reductively, regarded as a form of sentimental populism, but Capra's work in fact encompasses a far wider range of emotion, social criticism, and genre experimentation than is usually recognized. Because of our current economic collapse, with its many disturbing echoes of the Great Depression, Capra (1897-1991) seems timely all over again, as the first film in this series, American Madness (1932, about a run on a bank), demonstrates with startling immediacy.

Much of Capra's early work-the films the Sicilian immigrant made before the Capraesque label was applied in his heyday during the New Deal-has largely been inaccessible to most filmgoers, preventing a deeper understanding of his legacy. Many of the films he directed between 1927, when he came to Columbia Pictures, and 1934, when he made his Oscar-winning and career-changing It Happened One Night, have not been available on home video. Now Sony Pictures, which owns the 25 films Capra made for Columbia, has painstakingly worked with both vault material and foreign prints preserved by collectors to reassemble and restore his rich and diverse early period. This series showcases many of these little-known gems, showing Capra's explorations of various genres before he found his familiar niche. The programs also include rare short films Capra directed in the San Francisco Bay Area; two short comedies he cowrote as a Hollywood gag man; and his first feature as director, The Strong Man (1926), starring Harry Langdon.

Featured Works:

The Visit of the Italian Cruiser Libia to San Francisco, Calif., November 6-29, 1921 (Frank Capra, 1921); Fulta Fisher's Boarding House (Frank Capra, 1922); Pop Tuttle the Fire Chief (Robert Eddy, 1922); The Strong Man (Frank Capra, 1926); So This Is Love (Frank Capra, 1928); Submarine (Frank Capra, 1928); The Matinee Idol (Frank Capra, 1928); The Way of the Strong (Frank Capra, 1928); The Younger Generation (Frank Capra, 1929); Ladies of Leisure (Frank Capra, 1930); Rain or Shine (Frank Capra, 1930); Platinum Blonde (Frank Capra, 1931); The Miracle Woman (Frank Capra, 1931); American Madness (Frank Capra, 1932); Forbidden (Frank Capra, 1932); The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Frank Capra, 1933); It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934, pictured)  

Program information:

Before "Capraesque": Early Frank Capra

For more than four decades, Wiseman has used a lightweight 16mm camera and portable sound equipment to study human behavior in all its contradictory and unpredictable manifestations, particularly in institutional or regimented situations where authority creates an imbalance of power, or where democracy is at work. Like the great novelists of the 19th century, Wiseman combines epic narrative with intimate portraiture. His films comprise a grand panorama of American life (and more recently, the cultural life of Paris)-a kind of modern-day comédie humaine that, quite astonishingly, never loses its vitality or its currency. And though Wiseman approaches his subjects-doctors, ballet dancers, soldiers, students, welfare recipients, factory workers, fashion models, zookeepers, victims of domestic violence, Benedictine monks, the terminally ill-with a minimum of intrusion or influence, he brings a sensitive but trustworthy eye, a lawyer's penetrating skepticism, and the dramatic impulses of a storyteller to arrive at what Eugène Ionesco, one of his favorite playwrights, called an "imaginative truth." All films are directed, edited, and produced by Wiseman and from the U.S.

Featured Works:

To celebrate the recent acquisition of newly struck prints of 36 films by Frederick Wiseman (b. 1930, Boston), the Museum of Modern Art presents a comprehensive retrospective of the director's work. Featuring three to four films each month, this yearlong survey opens with Basic Training (1971, pictured), followed by a conversation with Wiseman and curator Josh Siegel, and spans his entire career, from Titicut Follies (1967) to his two most recent projects, La Danse-The Paris Opera Ballet (2009) and Boxing Gym (2010).  

Program information:

Frederick Wiseman

Rarely do we praise the producer. But in Val Lewton's case the praise should be profuse for a cluster of creepy cheapies he produced in the early '40s, notable for heavily shadowed psychic landscapes, arousing unease through an excess of archaic suggestion. Originally a scriptwriter, Lewton went from anonymous labors at MGM to the head of the horror unit at RKO in 1942. Once the esteemed studio that had produced classics like King Kong and Citizen Kane, by the time of Lewton's involvement RKO had opted for "entertainment not genius." Little did they know that their enfant terror would transform formulaic ideas and impoverished means into a well-crafted surplus of psychological enthrallment. Beginning with Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie, Lewton overwhelmed a poverty-stricken mandate-to make 75-minute features for $150,000, using titles supplied by the studio-by assembling a remarkable coven of collaborators who could conjure his eerie vision: directors Jacques Tourneur, Mark Robson, and Robert Wise; writers Ardel Wray and DeWitt Bodeen; and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca. Where most low-budget Bs felt obliged to actually illustrate the lurking horror, RKO K.O.s such as The Leopard Man, Isle of the Dead, and The Body Snatcher left instead inky insinuations that beckoned primeval folklore, reptilian instinct, and emotional monstrosities. This series sheds some much-deserved light on producer Val Lewton-he's been in the shadows too long.

Featured Works:

Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942); I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943); The Ghost Ship (Mark Robson, 1943); The Leopard Man (Jacques Tourneur, 1943); The Seventh Victim (Mark Robson, 1943); The Curse of the Cat People (Gunther V. Fritsch and Robert Wise, 1944, pictured); Youth Runs Wild (Mark Robson, 1944); Isle of the Dead (Mark Robson, 1945); The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise, 1945); Bedlam (Mark Robson, 1946)  

Program information:

Complicated Shadows: The Films of Val Lewton

Aiming for, as our subtitle suggests, an "alternative view" to other end-of-decade polls, we surveyed a deluxe panel of over sixty film curators, historians, archivists, and programmers largely from international institutions akin to TIFF Cinematheque, professionals who see hundreds of films a year, attend many international festivals, sit on juries, curate cinema in a historical context, write books, essays, and polemics on cinema, and generally spend much of their time thinking, writing, reading, and arguing about film. Contrary to one participant who worried that the survey would be limited only to films commercially released in North America-the bane of many film polls, seemingly designed to perpetuate parochialism-we placed no restrictions on selections, only that no historical re-releases or restorations be included. (Otherwise, my list would have been all American cinema from the fifties!) Any length or genre qualified, and we even stretched the decade to include some late releases from 1999 which had limited screenings at one or two festivals and were not distributed until the following year, and thus would otherwise have fallen into a limbo between this survey and our last. It might seem like self-regard to note that almost every director on the list, and most of the films, has been featured in retrospectives or limited runs at our cinematheque. Despite the generous regulations, many of the participants variously declared the survey cruel, difficult, trying, ridiculous. Some old hands from last time begged off. Two specialists offered all-Asian lists. Another went the radical route of proffering an all-Old Masters list, "feeling with some confidence that the Jias and Reygadases and Tsais and Apichatpongs of the world will find themselves comfortably positioned in the final balance" (which proved to be true). Many attached thoughtful, passionate commentaries on specific films, the decade, or the state of cinema. (Look for some of these here on our website.) Agony seemed to attend many decisions, largely because participants did not want to exclude beloved films. Which says a lot for the aughts!

Featured Works:

Beau travail (Claire Denis, 1999); The Wind Will Cary Us (Abbas Kiarostami, 1999); In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000); In Vanda's Room (Pedro Costa, 2000); Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (Agnès Varda, 2000); Platform (Jia Zhang-ke, 2000); Songs from the Second Floor (Roy Andersson, 2000); The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, 2000); Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, 2000); Yi yi (Edward Yang, 2000); Éloge de l'amour (Jean-Luc Godard, 2001); Millenium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2001); Mullholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001); Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001); Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2002); Le fils (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, 2002); Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov, 2002); Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002); Distant (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2003); Elephant (Gus Van Sant, 2003); Gerry (Gus Van Sant, 2003, pictured); Saraband (Ingmar Bergman, 2003); Café Lumière (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2004); Rois et reine (Arnaud Desplechin, 2004); The World (Jia Zhang-ke, 2004); Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004); A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005); Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005); L'enfant (Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, 2005); L'intrus (Claire Denis, 2005); The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, 2005); Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2005); Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa, 2006); I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-liang, 2006); Longing (Valeska Grisebach, 2006); Still Life (Jia Zhang-ke, 2006); Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006); The New World (Terrence Malick, 2006); 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007); My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007); Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas, 2007)

Program information:

The Best of the Decade: An Alternative View

The films of Rithy Panh center on life in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia and the struggle to reconcile the country's traumatic history with contemporary urban and rural experiences. Panh and his family experienced the mass evacuation of Phnom Penh in 1975, witnessing family members die from exhaustion and starvation in a remote Cambodian labour camp before fleeing to a refugee camp in Thailand. Working across documentary and dramatic features, Panh's filmmaking practice explores individual and collective stories that give an emotional and material texture to the history and experiences of the Cambodian people. Panh migrated to France and in his early 20s and studied filmmaking at the prestigious Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies) in Paris. He returned to Cambodia in 1990 and established Bophana: Audio Visual Resource Centre in Phnom Penh, which aims to preserve and develop Cambodia's film, photography, and audio heritage.

Featured Works:

Site 2 aux abords des frontières (Rithy Panh, 1989); Neak Sre (Rithy Panh, 1994); Bophana: une tragédie cambodgienne (Rithy Panh, 1996); Un soir après la guerre (Rithy Panh, 1998); La Terre des âmes errantes (Rithy Panh, 1999); Les Gens d'Angkor (Rithy Panh, 2003); S-21, la machine de mort Khmère rouge (Rithy Panh, 2003); Les Artistes du Théâtre Brûlé (Rithy Panh, 2005); Le papier ne peut pas envelopper la braise (Rithy Panh, 2007); Un barrage contre le Pacifique (Rithy Panh, 2008, pictured)  

Program information:

Rithy Panh

Gene Siskel Film Center offer a series of 14 programs entitled Inside Hollywood, with weekly lecture/discussions by Virginia Wright Wexman, Professor Emerita of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of numerous writings on cinema including A History of Film. This film/lecture series will look at the history of the Hollywood studio system from all angles, uncovering the forces that shape movies from behind the scenes, including cutthroat business practices, financial desperation, technological upheaval, labor strife, sex and censorship, political pressure, and more recent factors such as digital technology, marketing blitzes, and globalization.

Featured Works:

Queen Kelly (Erich von Stroheim, 1929); American Madness (Frank Capra, 1932); 42^nd St. (Lloyd Bacon, 1933); Baby Face (Alfred E. Green, 1933); A Star Is Born (William A. Wellman, 1937); Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950); Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952); On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954); River of No Return (Otto Preminger, 1954); Nickelodeon (Peter Bogdanovich, 1976, pictured); The Player (Robert Altman, 1992); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000); Timecode (Mike Figgis, 2000) 

Program information: 

Inside Hollywood

Karen Cooper became the director of Film Forum in 1972, two years after its founding as an alternative space for independent cinema on Manhattan's Upper West Side. For the past twenty years, Film Forum has inhabited a three-screen movie house in the West Village, where it continues to present an array of international films that confront diverse social, political, historical, and cultural realities.

To celebrate Film Forum's 40th anniversary and the crucial role Cooper has played in keeping it a vital part of New York's film culture, MoMA's Department of Film invited her to curate an exhibition of nonfiction films that premiered at Film Forum. While many of the films are drawn from MoMA's own collection, some have been loaned by distributors and filmmakers, to whom we are very grateful. Just a glance at the titles she chose gives a sense of the diversity and richness of Film Forum's offerings through the years. Cooper supplements several of the screenings with complementary short films, a staple of Film Forum's cutting-edge programming.

Featured Works:

Colette (Yannick Bellon, 1951); Under the Brooklyn Bridge (Rudy Burckhardt, 1955); L'opéra-mouffe (Agnès Varda, 1968); 1970 (Scott Bartlett, 1972); Asylum (Peter Robinson, 1972); Frank Film (Caroline Mouris and Frank Mouris, 1973); Karl May (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, 1974); Homage to Magritte (Anita Thacher, 1975); Take the 5:10 to Dreamland (Bruce Conner, 1976); The Battle of Chile, Part 2: The Coup d'État (Patricio Guzmán, 1976); The Life and Death of Frida Kahlo as Told to David and Karen Crommie (David Crommie and Karen Crommie, 1976); Viewmaster (George Griffin, 1976); Soufrière (Werner Herzog, 1977); Solzhenitsyn's Children Are Making a Lot of Noise in Paris (Michael Rubbo, 1979); La The Atomic Café (Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty and Pierce Rafferty, 1982); Terrorists in Retirement (Mosco Boucault, 1984); Reichsautobahn (Hartmut Bitomsky, 1985); The Liberation of Auschwitz (Begt von zur Mühlen and Irmgard von zur Mühlen, 1986); Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh (Paul Cox, 1987); Let's Get Lost (Bruce Weber, 1988, pictured); The Architecture of Doom (Peter Cohen, 1989); Paris Is Burning (Jennie Livingston, 1990); Lessons of Darkness (Werner Herzog, 1992); The War Room (Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker, 1993); Crumb (Terry Zwigoff, 1994); The Smell of Burning Ants (Jay Rosenblatt, 1994); Abductees (Paul Vester, 1995); Arguing the World (Joseph Dorman, 1997); Concert of Wills: Making the Getty Center (Bob Eisenhardt, Susan Froemke and Albert Maysles, 1997); The Underground Orchestra (Heddy Honigmann, 1998); The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000); Domestic Violence (Frederick Wiseman, 2001); My Architect (Nathaniel Kahn, 2003); John and Karen (Matthew Walker, 2007)

Program information:

Karen Cooper Carte Blanche: 40 Years of Documentary Premieres at Film Forum

The French Cultural Mission in Beirut and the Metropolis Association are proud to present an integral retrospective of the films of renowned French filmmaker Robert Bresson, in the presence of Jean-Michel Frodon, critic and editor of Cahiers du cinéma from 2003 to 2009.  

Program information:

Robert Bresson: la Pellicule Ensorcelée

In February, The Directorspective, Barbican's regular strand exploring the work of the greatest film directors of all time, presents the challenging work of theater director and filmmaker Peter Brook.

Featured Works:

The Beggar's Opera (1953); Lord of the Flies (1963); Marat/Sade (1967); Seven Days...Seven Nights (Moderato Cantabile, 1967, pictured); Tell Me Lies-A Film About London (1968)

Program information:

The Directorspective: Peter Brook

The towering figure of John Ford (1894-1973) casts a long and irrefutable shadow across the history of the American cinema. Yet the breadth and measure of Ford's major contributions to the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema, and to film language in general, remains somewhat difficult to discern-obscured both by the sheer magnitude of his incredibly prolific 60-year career and by the persistent image of Ford, fixed late in his career, as an anachronous and often cantankerous artist clinging stubbornly to the Western genre. Rarely recognized in full are Ford's great achievements as a consummate visual stylist and master storyteller. Crafted in close collaboration with many of the greatest cinematographers of the studio era-William Clothier, Bert Glennon, and Gregg Toland among them-and channeling European and especially American painterly traditions, Ford's cinema is aesthetically sophisticated and varied. Beginning with the moody Expressionism of his late silent and '30s films, Ford's oeuvre underwent a series of rich stylistic transformations, giving way to the expressive realism of his '40s work that, in turn, gradually shifted to the stark classicism of his late films in the 1950s and 1960s. Echoing the notable stylistic diversity of Ford's cinema is the equally impressive range of genres in which he successfully worked, over and beyond the Westerns for which he is still best known. Between the extraordinarily prolific years of 1926 to 1945, it must be noted, Ford actually directed only one Western, Stagecoach (1939). Ford's career is, in fact, distinguished by his singular, often quite idiosyncratic, approaches to popular genres-the brisk adventure narratives of The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936) and Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), the leisurely paced small-town comedies Steamboat Round the Bend (1933) and The Sun Shines Bright (1953), the erotically charged safari-romance Mogambo (1953), the deeply melancholy films of war, like The Long Voyage Home (1940) and Rio Grande (1950)-more concerned with the ritualized quotidian spaces between the battles than the fighting itself. Ford's interpretative approach to genre filmmaking informs his eventual return to his earliest roots as a director of Westerns and the series of ruminative and increasingly mournful Westerns that began with My Darling Clementine (1946) and led to his dark masterpiece, The Searchers (1956).

Ford's incredibly unflagging talents and rare ability to harness the complex studio apparatus to make genuine works of art eventually drew the attention of critics, historians and critics-turned-filmmakers Lindsay Anderson and Peter Bogdanovich. Ford was, in fact, among the very first Hollywood directors to be recognized as an auteur whose films shared a vivid personal signature and concern for certain dominant themes. One of the most important overriding themes of Ford's cinema is American history and, more specifically, the shaping forces and strong-willed individuals who have defined the U.S. as a nation and an idea. Ford's lifelong fascination with such legendary figures from American history as Wyatt Earp and Abraham Lincoln drew his films frequently back into the distant past to explore the myths and legends firmly rooted in both the popular imagination and official history. Intermingled with Ford's concern for the myths of history-or perhaps, one could say, the history of myths-is his deep and abiding love of the West as the cradle of American civilization and as a potent quintessence of the American psyche. Ford's cinema offers one of the most important and sustained mediations on the West in American popular culture. In such works as My Darling Clementine, Wagon Master, Fort Apache and The Searchers, the distinct landscapes and culture of the late 19th century West-including the Native Americans who figure increasingly prominently in Ford's late work-are given such vivid shape that they remain among the most influential and lasting representations of this absolutely formative period in our nation's history.

This multi-part retrospective begins with an expanded selection of Ford's most enduring works, including a number of lesser known major films-Mogambo, Prisoner of Shark Island, Wagon Master-and featuring visits from distinguished experts on Ford's cinema Tom Doherty and Tom Conley.

Featured Works:

The Iron Horse (John Ford, 1924); Air Mail (John Ford, 1932); Steamboat Round the Bend (John Ford, 1935); The Informer (John Ford, 1935);  The Prisoner of Shark Island (John Ford, 1936); Drums Along the Mohawk (John Ford, 1939); Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939, pictured); Young Mr. Lincoln (John Ford; 1939); The Long Voyage Home (John Ford, 1940); The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940); How Green Was My Valley (John Ford, 1941); My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946); The Fugitive (John Ford, 1947); Fort Apache (John ford, 1948); 3 Godfathers (John Ford, 1949); She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949); Rio Grande (John Ford, 1950); Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950);  The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952); Mogambo (John Ford, 1953); The Sun Shines Bright (John Ford, 1953);  The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)

Program information:

Classic Ford: A John Ford Retrospective, Part I

This year's Japan Foundation annual touring film program looks at contemporary Japanese cinema made for, about, and by women. Women have continuously been at the center of Japanese cinema, with notable examples being films by Kenji Mizoguchi and Mikio Naruse, and even the animation works of Hayao Miyazaki. This year's Japanese season reflects the marked increase in the number of women working in the Japanese film industry. The mix of films included may also allow audiences to compare and contrast the views of female directors to their male counterparts.

Featured Works:

Kamome Diner (Naoko Ogigami, 2006); Asyle (Izuru Kumasaka, 2007); Fourteen (Hiromasa Hirosue, 2007, pictured); German Plus Rain (Satoko Yokohama, 2007); How to Become Myself (Jun Ichikawa, 2007); Non-Ko (Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, 2008)

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Girls on Film: Females in Contemporary Japanese Cinema

Beginning in the early 1930s and continuing for a quarter-century, Mexico was home to one of the world's most colorful and diverse film cultures: not many other countries could claim a comparable range of production, diversity of genres and number of master filmmakers. The excellence of Mexican cinema was founded on its commercial strength-Mexico supplied all of the Spanish-speaking markets in Central and South America, and delivered several box-office successes in the United States as well. During the '30s, the country also became an important refuge for European exiles. Numerous filmmakers and craftsmen had their own (usually semi-secret) Mexican Period, and German-born Alfredo B. Crevenna became Mexico's most prolific director. In the 1940s, few other film cultures were quite as potent. Today, the riches of this Golden Age have been nearly forgotten: in Europe, one is more likely to find DVDs of Mexican wrestling films than the masterpieces of Emilio Fernández or Fernando de Fuentes. Milestones such as Vámonos con Pancho Villa (1935, De Fuentes) or Rio Escondido (1948, Fernández) are completely unknown.

Featured Works:

The Film Museum retrospective offers a rare glimpse at the singular beauty of this film culture and the genius of its masters-such as the enigmatic Emilio ‘El Indio‘ Fernández who is represented by five films. The retrospective also traces the Mexican footsteps of two seminal foreign artists: Sergei Eisenstein and Luis Buñuel-the former a key influence in the development of a national film idiom, the latter a maverick on the margins of the film industry whose works often undermined and contradicted mainstream themes and approaches.

Program information:

The Golden Age: Mexican Cinema, 1930-1954 

The cycle examines the character of the father in film, sometimes a role-model and a protector, sometimes a violent, quiet, absent, or destructive person. With the ongoing radical transformations of the traditional image of the family, fatherhood is undergoing serious changes, inseparable from the redefinition of manhood.

Featured Works:

Various themes: the patriarch, the evil father, how to become a father.

Program information:

Cycle: Fatherhood

In 1960, a film was screened in the Berlin International Film Festival's Competition that defied all filmic conventions and dumbfounded the critics. A bout de souffle (Breathless, France 1959/60) not only marks young Godard's international breakthrough but in retrospect also the arrival of the Nouvelle Vague, one of the most extraordinary turning points in the festival's history. On an excursion through the 60 years of the Berlinale, the Retrospective Play It Again...! will bring discoveries of the past back to the big screen and spotlight a number of films exemplary for the festival's development: From the first decades, that were overshadowed by the Cold War, and the festival's opening up to films from socialist countries to the end of Europe's political division. In retrospect it can be said that, some 20 years ago, it released the festival from its balancing act between cultural openness and political pressures. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Berlinale successfully established itself as a platform for Eastern European and Asian cinema. On top of that, in more recent years, it more and more succeeded in placing German films on equal footing with international productions.

Featured Works:

The Retrospective's program, which was put together by the renowned British film critic David Thomson, will showcase the festival's diversity with some 40 films from the Competition, Forum, Panorama, and Generation sections, thus taking its audience through an exciting journey through 60 years of film history. His selection both features controversial films of the past that have become classics and films that, to this day, manage to surprise and provoke their respective audiences. The program will be accompanied by panel discussions and talks featuring renowned guests.

Program information:

Play It Again...!

Michael Ballhaus got his start in Munich in the 1970s, as Rainer Werner Fassbinder's director of photography, before being invited to Hollywood to work with Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols, and Francis Ford Coppola.

Featured Works:

27 films

Program information:

Michael Ballhaus

Anthology is overjoyed to collaborate with the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB) and the Spanish State Society for Cultural Action Abroad (SEACEX) on this ambitious and truly exciting survey of Spanish experimental cinema, a sweeping selection encompassing work from the late 1950s to the present day. Each show features an aesthetically diverse selection of works that provide a deeper insight into the incredible, inimitable development of film art in Spain over the last half century. From Ecstasy to Rapture promises to unveil a hitherto little-known chapter in the history of avant-garde cinema.

Featured Works:

Featuring numerous films that are rarely shown even in Spain-many of them screening in newly created 35mm prints-the series features six revelatory programs organized according to theme and method rather than chronology.

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From Ecstasy to Rapture: 50 Years of the Other Spanish Cinema