Now Showing
[LA 42]
This documentary is a galvanizing sensory trip into the lives of zealous dancers and artists with a restless appetite for fame, all drawn like moths to its flame. When the police’s malicious tactics clash head on with Demetal’s unorthodox views and Natasha’s and Maco’s nihilistic approach, a struggle about expression ensues. In a counterculture fitted to shock and offend the establishment, 42ND STREET is an unrepentant window into a place and time in the Dominican urban landscape that makes you glad to be alive — all on the 600-meter 42nd street. Directed by prolific Dominican filmmaker José María Cabral (PARSLEY, WOODPECKERS), the film had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival. (Note adapted from Antipode.) DIR/SCR/PROD José María Cabral; SCR Miguel Yarull. Dominican Republic, 2025, color, 91 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
[UNA MUJER FANTÁSTICA]
Marina (Daniela Vega), a young waitress and aspiring singer, is happily in love and planning for the future after having newly moved in with her boyfriend, Orlando (Francisco Reyes), who is 20 years her senior and a successful business owner. Tragedy strikes as Orlando suddenly dies, thrusting Daniela into the spotlight under the judgmental eyes of Orlando’s family and everyone in the orbit of his death as they all concoct their own narratives as to why Marina, who is transgender, would have been involved with Orlando. This moving tale won director Sebastián Lelio the award for Best Screenplay at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival, as well as the 2018 Academy Award®️ for Best Foreign Language Film. It also led to actual reform in Chile, as the discussion around the film helped pass laws allowing transgender citizens to change their name and gender on official government records. (Note adapted from Sony Pictures Classics.) DIR/SCR/PROD Sebastián Lelio; SCR/PROD Gonzalo Maza; PROD Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín. Chile/Germany/Spain/U.S., 2017, color, 104 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. RATED R
[CASA EN FLAMES]
Acclaimed comedy director Dani de la Orden (YOU KEEP THE KIDS) returns with a dark family comedy, set in Catalonia’s Costa Brava, that features an all-star cast of Spanish actors, including Emma Vilarasau, Maria Rodríguez Soto, Enric Auquer, Macarena García, Alberto San Juan and Clara Segura. Overbearing matriarch Montse (Vilarasau) gathers her dysfunctional family at her beach house under the guise of prepping it for sale. Daughter Júlia (Soto) brings her own husband and daughters — and their chaotic energy — to the function, while neurotic son David (Auquer) cannot wait to show off his new girlfriend (García). Consumed with their own personal dramas, they have long ignored their doting mother who has sacrificed so much for her children. As tensions boil, and Montse’s ex-husband (San Juan) crashes the gathering with his new girlfriend (Segura) in tow, the family reckons with the past and unearths long-buried secrets. Winner of Best Original Screenplay at the Goya Awards and nominated in eight categories, HOUSE ON FIRE is a delightful film whose merciless takedown of its upper-class cast echoes the work of Spanish iconoclast Luis Buñuel. DIR/PROD Dani de la Orden; SCR Eduard Sola; PROD Alberto Aranda, Toni Carrizosa, Ana Eiras, Kike Maíllo, Bernat Saumell. Spain, 2024, color, 105 min. In Catalan and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
[TARDES DE SOLEDAD]
In his mesmerizing latest film, uncompromising Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra (PACIFICTION, AFI FEST 2022) enters the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza in Seville, Spain, with established contemporary bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey to construct a documentary portrait teeming with confrontations. A primitive, brutal and highly ritualized custom, each corrida de toros will see the violent death of either the bullfighter or the bull. In the van to and from the event — and in extended sequences of the bullfight itself, frequently shot in close-up — brutality is beauty, masculinity is pageantry, fear is respect and tradition is the performance. Contributing another fantastic exaltation of excess, Serra’s tremendously engaging, though patient, documentary treats its audience to an astonishing and visceral experience, wherein preconceived notions of bullfighting are irrelevant when our tormented hero is face-to-face with death. Brimming with intense emotion and exhilaration, AFTERNOONS OF SOLITUDE is an unforgettable examination of a centuries-old conflict between human skill and animal nature. (Note courtesy of AFI FEST.) DIR/SCR/PROD Albert Serra; PROD Montse Triola, Luis Ferrón, Pedro Palacios, Ricard Sales. Spain/France/Portugal, 2024, color, 125 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
In the summer of 1960, five Howard students sat down on the gilded horses of a whites-only carousel. When members of the white community near Glen Echo Amusement Park joined the Black students en masse and set up picket lines, an unprecedented collaboration was born. The pickets attracted Nazis, Congressmen and a press avalanche. Picketing together led to partying together, and union organizers mentored student activists, ultimately producing 10 1961 Freedom Riders, including Stokely Carmichael, and a Supreme Court case. With never-before-seen footage and immersive storytelling from Emmy®-award winning director Ilana Trachtman, this documentary features four living protesters who rescue this untold story, revealing the price — and the power — of heeding the call to activism. AIN’T NO BACK TO A MERRY-GO-ROUND includes voiceover by noted actors Jeffrey Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Bob Balaban, Lee Grant, Peter Gallagher, Dominique Thorne, Alysia Reiner and Tracie Thoms. DIR/PROD Ilana Trachtman. U.S., 2024, color, 89 min. NOT RATED
Having adapted the feminist writings of Swedish author Agnes von Krusenstjerna with her debut film LOVING COUPLES in 1964, Mai Zetterling would return to the source with her last film, AMOROSA, a bold portrait of the author’s turbulent life and controversial work. Born into nobility, Agnes (Stina Ekblad, FANNY AND ALEXANDER) showed great promise as a budding writer but rebelled against her disapproving family when expectations around marriage and children threatened her creative life. Attracted to the scandalous and then-taboo subjects of women's sexuality and erotica, she would meet and later marry older aspiring writer David Sprengel (Erland Josephson), whose Svengali-like partnership encouraged her creative obsessions at great cost to her mental health. With a memorable Venice-set sequence that bookends the film, AMOROSA was filmed in both Italy and Sweden and would earn praise as a return to national prestige cinema. Zetterling, whose own intellectual obsessions mirrored those of von Krusenstjerna, arrives full circle in her final film as a director. (Note adapted from the Toronto International Film Festival.) DIR/SCR Mai Zetterling; PROD Bengt Forslund. Sweden, 1986, color, 117 min. In Swedish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
DCP restoration courtesy of the Swedish Film Institute and Janus Films.
[L'ARMEE DES OMBRES]
Jean-Pierre Melville's adaptation of Joseph Kessel's quasi-autobiographical French Resistance novel was derided by left-leaning critics as being hopelessly reactionary when first released in the politically tumultuous France of 1969. Decades later, critical reappraisal and a long-overdue U.S. release in 2006 by Rialto Pictures have established it as one of the director's greatest films. Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura) manages the Marseille resistance network, in constant danger of detection by the Gestapo and Vichy police forces and their code of strict discipline demanding no mercy when it comes to informers, no matter the circumstance. His work puts him and a new recruit (Jean-Pierre Cassel) in contact with members of the Paris cell, including Simone Signoret and Paul Meurisse, and even takes them on a secret mission across the channel to de Gaulle and the Free French in London. When one of their inner circle is arrested, the members undertake a series of increasingly dangerous missions to free him. DIR/SCR Jean-Pierre Melville, from the novel by Joseph Kessel; PROD Jacques Dorfmann. France/Italy, 1969, color, 145 min. In English, French and German with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Scanned in 4K from the original negative by Image Retrouvée, supervised by Studiocanal’s Sophie Boyer and Jean-Pierre Boiget. With the funding support of CNC.
You know that the iconic track “Bam Bam” has left a mark on music since taking the industry by storm in 1982, but what do you know of the incredible artist who laid her passionate vocals down to give it life? Sister Nancy is one of the most legendary dancehall artists to grace a mic, and yet the understanding of her impact and legacy suffers beyond diehards of the genre. It is time to rectify that. The song that has become a sample darling and star-making vehicle for many artists now brings into focus the trials, tribulations and rousing success of its original songstress. Helmed with a deft touch by Alison Duke, this documentary gives Nancy her flowers by way of industry titans like Janelle Monáe, Young Guru and Pete Rock. As efforts to right wrongs, both personal and professional, take center stage, the film weaves an indelible look at an artist staunch in her authenticity and fueled by the same resilient vigor that allowed her to become the first woman to break out internationally through the dancehall genre years ago. (Note courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival.) DIR/SCR/PROD Alison Duke; PROD Ngardy Conteh George. Canada, 2024, color, 98 min. NOT RATED
Derek Jarman’s final and most daring film premiered at the Venice Film Festival just four months before the artist’s death from AIDS-related complications which had rendered him partially blind. BLUE, whose title and striking monochrome image were inspired by the vivid flashes of blue caused by the lesions in Jarman’s eyes, is a daring cinematic work that finds the iconoclastic artist laying bare his physical and spiritual state as he poignantly narrates his experience with the virus while also reflecting on his life. At moments, the narration is picked up by friends and colleagues — John Quentin, Nigel Terry, Tilda Swinton — while a sonorous soundscape incorporating music by Brian Eno, Erik Satie and Coil pulsates in the background. The result is a deeply personal and elegiac film from an exceptional, multi-talented artist. DIR/SCR Derek Jarman; PROD James Mackay, Takashi Asai. UK/Japan, 1993, color, 79 min. NOT RATED
Tickets are limited to four per reservation and are not a guarantee of admission. You must be seated at least 15 min. prior to showtime. Seating is limited, so please arrive early. Empty seats will be released to standby line guests.
Middle class schoolgirl Bona (Nora Aunor) skips class to hang around the sets of bit actor Gardo (Philip Salvador). When her father attempts to beat some sense into her, Bona moves into Gardo’s shack in the slums, delighted to play house — only to find herself not the wife but the maid. Groundbreaking singer, actor and producer Nora Aunor worked with director Lino Brocka to subvert her stardom at the height of her fame. Brocka, following the success of MANILA IN THE CLAWS OF LIGHT (1975) and INSIANG (1976), took Aunor up on the challenge and set her against the familiar backdrop of Manila’s slums, yet steered clear of making poverty the sole focus of the film. Instead, BONA unfolds as a thrilling drama about blinding adoration and its stranglehold on both the lover and the beloved, set against the bustling industry of the second golden age of Filipino cinema. Restored from the original camera negatives and available for the first time in more than 40 years, BONA embarks on a new life in a stunning, miraculous 4K restoration. (Note adapted from Kani Releasing.) DIR Lino Brocka; SCR Cenen Ramones; PROD Nora Villamayor. Philippines, 1980, color, 88 min. In Filipino and Tagalog with English subtitles. NOT RATED
In 2023, Carlotta Films and Kani Releasing acquired the rights to the film from its producer and actor, National Artist of the Philippines Nora Aunor. BONA has been scanned, restored and color graded in 4K, from its original 35mm camera and sound negative reels, at Cité de Mémoire in Paris, France. The sound restoration was handled by L.E. Diapason.
In Memoriam: Nora Aunor (1953–2025)
The film that rocked the foundations of the 1980s underground, this postpunk provocation is a DIY fantasia of female rebellion set in America 10 years after a social-democratic cultural revolution. When Adelaide Norris (Jean Satterfield), the Black revolutionary founder of the Woman’s Army, is mysteriously killed, a diverse coalition of women — across all lines of race, class and sexual orientation — emerges to blow the system apart. Filmed guerrilla style on the streets of pre-gentrification New York, BORN IN FLAMES is a Molotov cocktail of feminist futurism that is both an essential document of its time and radically ahead of it. (Note courtesy of Janus Films.) DIR/SCR/PROD Lizzie Borden. U.S., 1983, color, 79 min. NOT RATED
Based on an actual historical incident, this “magisterial critique of the colonial mentality” (in the words of film critic J. Hoberman) received a Special Jury Prize from the Venice Film Festival. In 1944, African infantrymen, back from slugging it out with the Nazis and liberating Paris, relax in a transit camp in Senegal, but they soon realize “transit camp” means “prison” and “war heroes” means “uppity natives.” DIR/SCR Ousmane Sembène, Thierno Faty Sow; PROD Mustafa Ben Jemja, Ouzid Dahmane, Mamadou Mbengue. Senegal, 1988, color, 157 min. In French and Wolof with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with the Tunisian Ministry of Culture and the Senegalese Ministry of Culture and Historical Heritage. Special thanks to Mohammed Challouf. Restoration funded by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
This restoration is part of the African Film Heritage Project, an initiative created by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers and UNESCO — in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna — to help locate, restore and disseminate African cinema.
Directed by Michael Shultz, this deeply felt recollection of adolescent life on Chicago's Near North Side in 1964 deals with a pair of high school seniors preparing for life post-graduation. The chums are "Preach" (Glynn Turman), a poetry and history afficionado who wants to become a Hollywood screenwriter but has the worst grades in the school, and “Cochise” (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), a high school basketball star and suave lady-killer. The two best friends contend with love problems, school problems and law problems in this funny yet heartfelt variation on AMERICAN GRAFFITI that features a soundtrack of Motown hits. Offering ‘70s audiences a unique perspective on the Black experience amidst the height of the blaxploitation craze, COOLEY HIGH is a classic adored by filmmakers like John Singleton and Spike Lee. The film’s legacy was cemented when it was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2021. (Note adapted from Park Circus.) DIR Michael Schultz; SCR Eric Monte; PROD Steve Krantz. U.S., 1975, color, 107 min. RATED PG
Restoration from the 35mm original camera negative, supervised and approved by director Michael Schultz.
Filmed over two eventful concerts atop a rooftop in Havana, this meaningful and vibrant documentary from Australian filmmaker Craig Miller explores the heart and soul of Cuban music. Miller invited many of Cuba’s finest musicians — Teté Caturla, Félix Baloy, Tony Avila, El Yonki, Maria Victoria Rodriguez, Rembert Egües and many more — to share their passion on and off the stage. The concert footage is interwoven with archival material and interviews to examine the islands famed musical heritage. (Note adapted from the filmmaker.) DIR Craig Miller. Australia, 2022, color, 61 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Richard Kelly described his debut feature as "The Catcher in the Rye" told by Philip K. Dick, and the film delivers, combining coming-of-age woes with high-concept science fiction. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as troubled teen Donnie, whose imaginary friend — a six-foot tall rabbit — informs him that the world is about to end. Dealing with time travel, alternate dimensions and mental illness, Donnie must unravel the mystery and possibly save the world. With a supporting cast featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Patrick Swayze and Drew Barrymore, plus an evocative soundtrack of '80s hits, this modern classic is a must-see on the big screen. DIR/SCR Richard Kelly; PROD Adam Fields, Nancy Juvonen, Sean McKittrick. U.S., 2001, color, 113 min. RATED R
New 35mm print courtesy of Arrow Video and the American Genre Film Archive.
Adapted from the controversial one-act play by Amiri Baraka and nominated for the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion, British director Anthony Harvey’s independent feature DUTCHMAN remains as provocative today as it was in 1966. In an empty New York City subway car, a sexually audacious white woman named Lula (Shirley Knight) taunts Clay (Al Freeman Jr.), a mild-mannered Black man, with mocking flirtations and increasingly offensive race-baiting. When Lula pushes him to his breaking point, Clay’s furious response appears to provide cathartic liberation — unless it portends a far more tragic fate. Baraka’s script suffuses DUTCHMAN with combative innuendo and allegorical dream logic, amplified by the tense, cinema-verité style of Harvey, a longtime editor who shot his directorial debut with fearless command, expertly excavating America’s deepest racial taboos. (Note courtesy of Janus Films.) DIR Anthony Harvey; SCR Amiri Baraka, from his play; PROD Eugene Persson. UK, 1966, b&w, 55 min. NOT RATED
4K digital restoration from the original camera negative supervised by the Criterion Collection with Metropolis Post. The original monaural soundtrack was restored from the 1/4" magnetic track.
[EXPLOTANDO EL EDÉN, ÎLE-À-VACHE]
This is the story of Île-à-Vache, a small island in the south of Haiti with less than 20,000 inhabitants which is not even 45 km/17 miles square. Considered by many as one of the last virgin beaches in the Caribbean, it is an unexploited paradise. This is the story of David and Goliath, of a country looking for an economic rebound and of a tourist development project and its consequences. But above all, it is the story of the island’s inhabitants who, seeing themselves threatened and separated from the decision-making, unite to take destiny into their own hands. Tourism is the Caribbean’s main economy and Haiti is seeking to secure its share of the market. However, Haiti is shaped by historical and socioeconomic challenges, causing it to face significant hurdles. The limited resources, competing private interests and ongoing social and economic crises present obstacles to progress. This documentary is the result of a collaborative effort to gain insight into Haiti’s current situation and to amplify the voice of its people. (Note courtesy of Pragda.) DIR/PROD Raquel Gómez-Rosado. Haiti/Spain, 2023, color, 92 min. In Haitian Creole, French and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Martinique-born psychiatrist Frantz Fanon arrives in Algeria in 1953, accompanied by his wife, Josie, having just been appointed as the chief medical officer at the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital. Influenced by the wide-reaching effects and racism of French colonialism that he witnesses, Fanon develops his own innovative treatment methods and attracts the wrath of his colleagues for his humanistic treatment of their Algerian patients. His anti-colonial convictions generate interest from the FLN (Algeria’s National Liberation Front), who offer him a chance to join their ranks. French citizens, Fanon and his wife are quick to be labeled traitors, but, caught in a vortex of violence, they take up the cause for Algerian independence. FANON is a powerful biopic from French filmmaker Jean-Claude Barny, who comes from Guadeloupean and Trinidadian origins. (Note adapted from Celluloid Dreams.) DIR/SCR Jean-Claude Barny; SCR Philippe Bernard; PROD Adrien Chef, Louise Genis-Cosserat, Yanick Létourneau, Sébastien Onomo, Paul Thiltges. France/Luxembourg/Canada, 2024, color, 133 min. In French and Arabic with English subtitles. NOT RATED
A landmark of lesbian representation in mainstream Bollywood, Deepa Mehta’s FIRE tells the story of Radha and Sita (boldly named after two of the most prominent Hindu goddesses) who find themselves stifled in their traditional Indian households by the indifferent attitudes of their husbands. With their longing for genuine passion and intimacy left unfulfilled, their shared frustrations turn into mutual understanding and eventually blossom into clandestine romance. Released to public protest and vandalism of theaters screening the film, FIRE brought public discussion of gay and lesbian rights to the forefront of Indian society. DIR/SCR/PROD Deepa Mehta; PROD Bobby Bedi. India/Canada, 1996, color, 108 min. RATED PG-13
A pioneer in the field of animation, Max Fleischer pushed the boundaries of surreal, rubber-hose artistry and developed groundbreaking techniques such as the Rotoscope, the Stereoptical Process and early synchronized sound animation. Now, thanks to the magic of digital restoration, you can join us on an unforgettable journey through animation history from the legendary Fleischer Studios, featuring iconic characters like Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Popeye, Superman and more — all brought back to life in stunning 4K restorations presented on the big screen!
This shorts block includes:
- THE CARTOON FACTORY (1924) | 8 min.
- BETTY BOOP’S KER-CHOO (1933) | 7 min.
- SHE REMINDS ME OF YOU (1934) | 7 min.
- SMALL FRY (1939) | 8 min.
- I’M IN THE ARMY NOW (1936) | 6 min.
- BIMBO’S INITIATION (1931) | 6 min.
- TERROR ON THE MIDWAY (1942) | 9 min.
- BETTY BOOP AND GRAMPY (1935) | 7 min.
Approx. runtime: 61 min.
A pioneer in the field of animation, Max Fleischer pushed the boundaries of surreal, rubber-hose artistry and developed groundbreaking techniques such as the Rotoscope, the Stereoptical Process and early synchronized sound animation. Now, thanks to the magic of digital restoration, you can join us on an unforgettable journey through animation history from the legendary Fleischer Studios, featuring iconic characters like Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Popeye, Superman and more — all brought back to life in stunning 4K restorations presented on the big screen!
This shorts block includes:
- JUMPING BEANS (1922) | 8 min.
- BETTY BOOP’S CRAZY INVENTIONS (1933) | 7 min.
- DINAH (1933) | 7 min.
- THE ARCTIC GIANT (1942) | 9 min.
- THE KIDS IN THE SHOE (1935) | 7 min.
- POPEYE THE SAILOR MEETS SINDBAD THE SAILOR (1936) | 17 min.
Approx. runtime: 59 min.
This intimate documentary chronicles the last 12 years of the legendary Harry Belafonte’s life, highlighting the artist-activist’s enduring commitment to social justice. Belafonte was fueled by his tremendous sense of urgency to inspire the next generation of entertainers and activists to stand for justice. The film provides a window into both his public endeavors and private moments, capturing his journey from the aftermath of the death of Trayvon Martin, to his engagements in the protests in Ferguson and the 2017 Women’s March (which he co-chaired), to deeply profound conversations in his home. The film ultimately amplifies Belafonte’s belief that “each generation must be responsible for itself.” In his own words: “All I can do is leave behind the crumbs of my experience. I have a trail that you can follow, if you find value in it, pick it up and, if you don’t, bring something better.” (Note courtesy of Film Collaborative.) DIR/PROD Susanne Rostock; PROD Frankie Nasso, Edward Zeng. U.S., 2024, color, 90 min. NOT RATED
[BARA NO SÔRETSU] [薔薇の葬列
Toshio Matsumoto's shattering, kaleidoscopic masterpiece is one of the most subversive and intoxicating films of the late 1960s: a headlong dive into a dazzling Tokyo night-world of drag queen bars and fabulous divas, fueled by booze, drugs, fuzz guitars, performance art and mascara. Stanley Kubrick cited the film as a direct influence on his own dystopian classic A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. An unknown club dancer at the time, transgender actor Peter (RAN) gives an astonishing performance as Eddie, a hostess at Bar Genet — where she's ignited a violent love triangle with reigning drag queen Leda (Osamu Ogasawara) for the attentions of the club's owner. (Note courtesy of Cinelicious Pics.) DIR/SCR Toshio Matsumoto; PROD Mitsuru Kudo, Keiko Machida. Japan, 1969, b&w, 105 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. takes place during the early days of broadcast journalism in 1950s America. It chronicles the real-life conflict between television newsman Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (Government Operations Committee). With a desire to report the facts and enlighten the public, Murrow and his dedicated staff — headed by his producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) and Joe Wershba (Robert Downey Jr.) in the CBS newsroom — defy corporate and sponsorship pressures to examine the lies and scaremongering tactics perpetrated by McCarthy during his communist “witch hunts.” A very public feud develops when the Senator responds by accusing the anchor of being a communist. In this climate of fear and reprisal, the CBS crew carries on regardless, and their tenacity eventually pays off when McCarthy is brought before the Senate and made powerless as his lies and bullying tactics are finally uncovered. (Note courtesy of Participant.) DIR/SCR George Clooney; SCR/PROD Grant Heslov. UK/France/Japan/U.S., 2005, b&w, 93 min. RATED PG
[春光乍洩]
Lovers Lai Yiu-Fai (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and Ho Po-Wing (Leslie Cheung) leave Hong Kong for Buenos Aires to seek a fresh start but instead break up. Lai throws himself into work while Ho throws himself into debauchery. Now roommates, can the former lovers be friends? Were they ever? A landmark film from Wong Kar-wai, who was named Best Director at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, featuring heroic performances from Leung and Cheung, extraordinary camerawork by Christopher Doyle and the dual controversies of the film's frank sexual content and subtly allegorical politics vis-à-vis Hong Kong's 1997 return to China, HAPPY TOGETHER was a box office smash in Hong Kong and the world over. DIR/SCR Wong Kar-wai; PROD Chan Ye-cheng. Hong Kong, 1997, b&w/color, 96 min. In Mandarin, Cantonese and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Hollywood icons Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are onscreen together for the first time in this stylish and suspenseful thriller from director Michael Mann. Seasoned LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Pacino) is obsessed with tracking master thief Neil McCauley (De Niro), who wants to make one last score before retirement. Mann weaves their two stories together, setting the noisy action of pursuit against the quiet humanity of the moment, when detective meets thief face-to-face. Mann's legendary attention to detail is reflected in the film's intensive use of locations, from influential Beverly Hills restaurant Kate Mantilini to the original Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, as well as forays into Koreatown, the Los Angeles Harbor and the grounds of LAX for the film's expressionist conclusion. Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight and Amy Brenneman co-star. DIR/SCR/PROD Michael Mann; PROD Art Linson. U.S., 1995, color, 170 min. RATED R
In Memoriam: Val Kilmer (1959–2025)
Perhaps Howard Hawks' most inspired bit of cinematic alchemy was to remake Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's play "The Front Page" (already a successful film in 1931) with reporter Hildy Johnson recast from male to female, her love-hate relationship with hard-driving editor Walter Burns now complicated by the fact that they were formerly married. Add Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant in career-defining roles, an ensemble of crackerjack character actors in the newsroom and Ralph Bellamy in the Ralph Bellamy role, and you have one of Hollywood's greatest screwball comedies, a dazzling showcase for Hawks' great themes of professional camaraderie and amour fou. DIR/PROD Howard Hawks; SCR Charles Lederer, from the play "The Front Page" by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. U.S., 1940, b&w, 92 min. NOT RATED
In 2018, Beyoncé became the first Black woman to headline Coachella, dating back to the music festival's debut in 1999. After spending eight months preparing, she delivered the pop spectacle of a lifetime, crafting an epic two-hour visual and aural feast which incorporated more than 200 backing musicians and dancers, brought the iconography and traditions of historically Black colleges and universities to the world and enshrined the term "Beychella" into the pop music lexicon. Luckily for anyone who missed this generation-defining moment — and for members of the “Beyhive” wishing to relive its glory — Beyoncé also found time to direct HOMECOMING, an intimate look at the landmark Coachella performance from concept to realization, which nabbed the International Documentary Association's 2019 Award for Best Music Documentary. Featuring both behind-the-scenes excerpts and extended concert footage that demands to be seen (and heard) on the big screen, HOMECOMING confirms Beyoncé as an artist at the height of her powers. "If HOMECOMING doesn't convince you of Beyoncé's greatness, nothing will […] You're in for one of the greatest concert films ever made," wrote Chris Richards in The Washington Post. DIR/SCR Beyoncé Knowles-Carter; DIR Ed Burke; PROD Steve Pamon, Erinn Williams. U.S., 2019, color/b&w, 137 min. NOT RATED
[SOY NEVENKA]
Shortly after completing her degree in economics, 23-year-old Nevenka Fernández (Mireia Oriol) joins the city council of Ponferrada, a small Spanish city, as its financial advisor. The capable young woman relishes the opportunity to make a name for herself while helping the city’s residents — until the popular mayor, accustomed to getting what he wants, sets his lascivious eyes on her. Amidst this harassment, Nevenka takes the unprecedented step of suing the mayor, a decision that upends her life further still as the media and public scrutinize and criticize her every move. Nominated for four Goya Awards, this riveting drama from celebrated Spanish auteur Icíar Bollaín (EVEN THE RAIN, MAIXABEL) is based on the true story of a real woman whose bold, courageous fight in the early 2000s against her abuser became a rallying cry for Spanish women decades before the #MeToo movement exploded across the globe. DIR/SCR Icíar Bollaín; SCR Isa Campo, from the books “Hay algo que no es como me dicen: El caso Nevenka Fernández contra la realidad” by Juan José Millás and “El poder de la verdad” by Nevenka Fernández; PROD Koldo Zuazua, Juan Moreno, Guillermo Sempere. Spain, 2024, color, 112 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
David Lynch's labyrinthine Hollyweird freakout — his last original feature — is his most uncompromising creation: a fugue-state trawl through the darkest realms of the subconscious that pushes his signature straight-from-the-id imagery and sinister dream logic to their extremes. When she accepts a role in a supposedly cursed production, a movie actor on the verge of a comeback (Laura Dern, in a fearless performance) finds herself tumbling down a series of increasingly disturbing rabbit holes (complete with literal rabbits) that lead her from the glittering heights of Tinseltown to the depths of human depravity. In his first feature shot on digital video, Lynch makes visionary use of the medium's smudged textures and murky chiaroscuro to enhance the hallucinatory, nightmarish quality of what may be his magnum opus. Co-starring Justin Theroux, Jeremy Irons, Harry Dean Stanton, Julia Ormond, Diane Ladd and William H. Macy. DIR/SCR/PROD David Lynch; PROD Mary Sweeney. France/Poland/U.S., 2006, color, 180 min. In English and Polish with English subtitles. RATED R
In Memoriam: David Lynch (1946–2025)
In the early 2000s in Toronto, a group of creative young musicians collectively known as Broken Social Scene got together and soon became a worldwide phenomenon. Cinematographer and friend Stephen Chung was there, behind the lens of his camera, capturing it all. Words were not his strong suit, but his camera was. Friendships, relationships, business and art...Stephen lovingly documented the highs and lows of a band who only wanted to create music on their own terms and ended up changing everything. The resulting film is a celebration of the creative process, an homage to art and artists and a love letter to the community and city which allowed them to thrive. With actual footage from an era before everyone had a camera in their pocket, IT’S ALL GONNA BREAK is a time capsule showing how special those moments were, and how they helped form the people we are today. Chung’s documentary portrait features never-before-seen personal archival footage, and recent interviews with Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Feist, Emily Haines, Amy Millan, Charles Spearin, Andrew Whiteman, Justin Peroff, John Crossingham, Evan Cranley, James Shaw, Jeffrey Remedios and David Newfeld. DIR Stephen Chung; SCR Andrea Menzies, Andrew Beach; PROD Ann Shin, Diana Warmé. Canada, 2024, color, 94 min. NOT RATED
[JANE AUSTEN A GÂCHÉ MA VIE]
Agathe (Camille Rutherford) is a hopelessly clumsy yet charming young woman who works in the legendary Shakespeare & Company bookshop in Paris. While she dreams of being a successful writer, and of experiencing romance ripped from the pages of a Jane Austen novel, she finds herself desperately single and plagued by writer's block. When Agathe's best friend (Pablo Pauly) gets her invited to the Jane Austen Writers' Residency in England, she finally has her Jane Austen moment… and is caught in a very unexpected romantic triangle. Agathe must let go of her insecurities to decide what she really wants for herself, and to achieve her romantic and professional dreams. DIR/SCR Laura Piani; PROD Gabrielle Dumon. France, 2024, color, 97 min. In French and English with English subtitles. RATED R
Though it was one of the first 50 films to be selected for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, Charles Burnett’s landmark 1978 film remained an underground sensation for many years until its recent restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and re-release by Milestone Films. Shot in crisp black-and-white on location in LA’s Watts neighborhood and using mostly non-professional actors, the film chronicles the daily tribulations of Stan (Henry G. Sanders), a slaughterhouse worker, whose dissatisfaction with his life and work threaten his happiness at home with his wife (Kaycee Moore) and children. New York Times critic David Kehr called the film “a masterpiece. One of the most insightful and authentic dramas about African-American life on film. One of the finest American films, period.” DIR/SCR/PROD Charles Burnett. U.S., 1978, b&w, 80 min. NOT RATED
Restored to 4K and remastered by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Milestone Films and the Criterion Collection.
In the Chanzy neighborhood of Pointe-à-Pitre, the economic capital of Guadeloupe, bulldozers are pulling down condemned residential blocks. L’HOMME-VERTIGE: TALES OF A CITY, the debut feature film by Guadeloupean artist Malaury Eloi Paisley, follows wanderers through the city’s empty streets. In her empathetic conversations and relationships with a former freedom fighter, a drug addict, a fish scaler and others, Paisley fashions a moving portrait of an endangered community and its survivors. (Note courtesy of BAM.) Official Selection, 2024 Berlin International Film Festival. DIR/SCR Malaury Eloi Paisley; PROD Sophie Salbot. France, 2024, color, 93 min. In French and Guadeloupean Creole with English subtitles. NOT RATED
[KOUTÉ VWA]
Melrick, an unruly 13-year-old boy living in Stains, France, spends his summers at his grandmother’s house in French Guiana. He loves drumming — in no small part because his uncle Lucas, who tragically died 11 years prior, was also a drummer. As Melrick’s awareness of his family’s devastating past grows, he searches for ways to pay tribute to his history, culture and heritage. Through a blend of intimate invented scenarios and carefully observed documentary footage, director Maxime Jean-Baptiste deftly crafts a heart-wrenching, deeply human portrait of a family and a community that are committed to the anti-colonial struggle while trying to reconcile their grief with an impulse for revenge. LISTEN TO THE VOICES is urgent, beautiful and filled with humanity. (Note courtesy of the Chicago Film Festival.) Official Selection, 2025 New Directors/New Films; Winner, Yellow Robin Award, 2025 Curaçao International Film Festival. DIR/SCR Maxime Jean-Baptiste; SCR Audrey Jean-Baptiste; PROD Rosa Spaliviero, Olivier Marboeuf. Belgium/France/French Guiana, 2024, color, 77 min. In French and Guianese Creole with English subtitles. NOT RATED
When saxophonist Fred (Bill Pullman) finds a videotape on his front doorstep that depicts him standing over the murdered body of his wife (Patricia Arquette), he is utterly confused and has no recollection of the events. Eventually jailed for the crime, Fred suffers an intense headache and wakes the next morning as a young auto mechanic named Pete (Balthazar Getty). Then things really start to get strange... DIR/SCR David Lynch; SCR Barry Gifford; PROD Deepak Nayar, Tom Sternberg, Mary Sweeney. U.S./France, 1997, color, 135 min. RATED R
In Memoriam: David Lynch (1946–2025)
[ÄLSKANDE PAR]
The title of Mai Zetterling’s boldly iconoclastic debut feature — adapted from a cycle of seven novels by the provocative feminist writer Agnes von Krusenstjerna — drips with irony. In 1915, three pregnant women from varying social backgrounds (Harriet Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom and Gio Petré) enter a maternity ward. Cue a swirl of perspective-shifting flashbacks, with searing psychological insight, illuminate the divergent yet interconnected experiences that brought them there — and that came to a head during one lavish, debauched Midsommar celebration. Wildly subversive in its treatment of sexuality, gender, class, religion, marriage and motherhood, LOVING COUPLES is as electrifying a first feature as any in cinema history, announcing the arrival of an uncompromising artist in pursuit of raw emotional truth. (Note courtesy of Janus Films.) DIR/SCR Mai Zetterling; SCR David Hughes, from the novel by Agnes von Krusenstjerna; PROD Göran Lindgren, Gösta Petersson, Rune Waldekranz. Sweden, 1964, b&w, 118 min. In Swedish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Co-presented with the Embassy of Sweden.
Also part of WorldPride on Screen.
The spectacular sculptures and paintings of Michelangelo seem so familiar to us, but what do we really know about this Renaissance giant? Michelangelo’s genius is evident in everything he touched. Beautiful and diverse works such as the towering statue of David, the moving Pietà in the Papal Basilica of St. Peter and his tour-de-force, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, still leave us breathless today. Spanning the artist’s 88 years, MICHELANGELO: LOVE AND DEATH takes a cinematic journey through the print and drawing rooms of Europe and through the great chapels and museums of Florence, Rome and the Vatican to seek out a deeper understanding of this legendary figure’s tempestuous life, his relationship with his contemporaries and his incredible legacy. Through expert commentary, stunning visuals and Michelangelo’s own words, this film takes a fresh look at a master artist whose life and genius are celebrated in every mark he made. The film returns to cinemas in 2025 to celebrate the 550th anniversary of this iconic artist’s birth. DIR David Bickerstaff; PROD Phil Grabsky. UK, 2017, color, 91 min. NOT RATED
[MONEY LAND]
For centuries, the Maroons in Suriname’s rainforest have kept capitalist society at bay. Descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped Dutch plantations, they have thrived by preserving their ancestral traditions. In recent years, however, economic interests have encroached upon their land. MONIKONDEE (MONEY LAND) follows Boogie, a boatman who delivers essential cargo to remote Maroon and Indigenous communities along the border river separating Suriname and French Guiana. While the communities continue to grow their own food, they are becoming increasingly dependent on boatmen like Boogie to bring in vital supplies, as floods and droughts destroy their crops and gold mining poisons their water. When Boogie is summoned by his clan leaders to attend his nephew’s trial, the demands of his money-driven work begin to conflict with his traditional duties. During a winding journey deep upstream, the currents become increasingly unpredictable. (Note courtesy of vriza.) DIR Tolin Alexander, Siebren de Haan; DIR/PROD Lonnie van Brummelen. Suriname/Netherlands, 2025, color, 103 min. In Haitian-Creole, Ndyuka, Dutch, Kalina, Sranan, French, Chinese, Pamaka, Aluku and Wayana with English subtitles. NOT RATED
After surviving a murder attempt and a car crash with no memory of who tried to kill her (or why), an amnesiac actress (Laura Harring) wanders into an apartment where she discovers Hollywood hopeful Betty Elms (Naomi Watts). Playing detective, the two eventually uncover some shady doings in the movie biz, a volcanic attraction to one another and the idea that they may just be two characters in someone else's dream. In many ways the culmination of Lynch's oeuvre, masterfully revisiting his signature themes of identity, desire and dream logic, this surrealistic film noir's subject is nothing less than the allure and danger of Hollywood itself. The supporting cast includes Justin Theroux, Ann Miller and Robert Forster. DIR/SCR David Lynch; PROD Neal Edelstein, Tony Krantz, Michael Polaire, Alain Sarde, Mary Sweeney. France/U.S., 2001, color, 147 min. RATED R
In Memoriam: David Lynch (1946–2025)
[NATTLEK]
Outrageous and explosively controversial (the Venice Film Festival refused to screen it publicly, while John Waters has called it his favorite film), Mai Zetterling’s second feature is a blazing psychosexual odyssey with heaving Freudian flourishes. On the eve of his marriage to his fiancée (Lena Brundin), Jan (Keve Hjelm) returns to his childhood home — a sprawling estate stuffed with antiques — where he relives his memories of his beautiful, decadent, mercurial mother (Ingrid Thulin) and finds himself forced to confront his unresolved Oedipal longings. Seamlessly interweaving past and present, carnivalesque camp and potent symbolism, NIGHT GAMES functions as both a feverishly perverse family portrait and a serious statement on the tormented soul of a modern Europe reckoning with the demons of its past. (Note courtesy of Janus Films.) DIR/SCR Mai Zetterling; SCR David Hughes; PROD Göran Lindgren. Sweden, 1966, b&w, 105 min. In Swedish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Isaach de Bankolé and Alex Descas star in the under-seen second feature by celebrated director Claire Denis, an unflinching portrait of two Black immigrant men from Benin and the French Antilles, scraping out a living through illegal cockfights in a restaurant basement on the outskirts of Paris. As their restaurateur partner, portrayed by French New Wave legend Jean-Claude Brialy, demands more violence and blood, bonds fray and tensions escalate out of control — all set to a slow-burning score by South African jazz great Abdullah Ibrahim. Inspired by the writings of postcolonial philosopher Frantz Fanon, NO FEAR, NO DIE viscerally evokes the psychic trauma experienced by outsiders in a majority-white society. (Note courtesy of BAM.) DIR/SCR Claire Denis; SCR Jean-Pol Fargeau; PROD Francis Boespflug, Philippe Carcassonne. France/West Germany, 1990, color, 90 min. In French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Restored in 4K by The Film Desk/Pathé.
Norman, a doting father raising four daughters with his loving wife in New Jersey, carries an unresolved pain — as a child, he witnessed the brutal murder of his mother. Now, 30 years later, Norman travels to Jamaica to confront the murderer: his own father. Weaving together intimate verité footage with probing interviews, co-directors Gabrielle Blackwood and Charles Warburton follow one man’s journey to piece together the truth behind the tragic crime that shaped him. Insightful, moving and empathetic, NORMAN/NORMAN offers a complex exploration of guilt, reconciliation and the transformative power of forgiveness. (Note courtesy of the Hamptons International Film Festival.) DIR Gabrielle Blackwood; DIR/PROD Charles Warburton. U.S./Jamaica, 2024, color, 82 min. In English and Jamaican Patois with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Long underappreciated in the wake of the French New Wave that soon followed, Jacqueline Audry’s adaptation of Dorothy Bussy’s semi-autobiographical novel “Olivia” tells the tale of sapphic desire and its awakening in the halls of a boarding school on the outskirts of Paris. Used to the strict confines of her prior British schooling, Olivia finds herself transformed by her newfound freedom in the French school as she quickly becomes enamored of her teacher Julie, one of the two teachers who the student body are split between worshipping as either “Julists” or “Carists” for those favoring the sickly Cara instead. Unfolding like a Gothic fairytale reminiscent of Hitchcock’s REBECCA and Leontine Sagan’s 1931 MÄDCHEN IN UNIFORM, OLIVIA maps the troubled shores of the heart in teenage longing. DIR/PROD Jacqueline Audry; SCR Pierre Laroch, Colette Audry, from the novel by Dorothy Bussy; PROD Jean Paris. France, 1951, b&w, 96 min. In French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the 2023 Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival, PANAZZ: THE STORY chronicles the formation, impact and legacy of Panazz — one of the most influential and genre-defying steel-pan ensembles to emerge from Trinidad and Tobago. Through intimate interviews, archival performances and breathtaking visuals of the Trinidad and Tobago landscape, this film invites audiences into a powerful celebration of innovation, resilience and cultural pride. Blending original compositions and steel-pan arrangements from Panazz’s five re-released albums with emotionally resonant storytelling, the documentary explores how a small Caribbean band defied social expectations and changed the global perception of what steel-pan music and performance could be. (Note courtesy of the filmmakers.) DIR/PROD Adam Bartholomew, Barry Bartholomew. Trinidad and Tobago, 2023, color, 79 min. NOT RATED
Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia and transphobia, racism, AIDS and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens and transgender women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey and Venus Xtravaganza — PARIS IS BURNING brings it, celebrating the joy of movement, the force of eloquence and the draw of community. (Note courtesy of Janus Films.) DIR/PROD Jennie Livingston. U.S., 1990, color, 76 min. RATED R
Digitally remastered by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with the Sundance Institute and Outfest UCLA Legacy Project. Preservation funded by the Sundance Institute, Outfest and the Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation.
For the past 17 years, Marie Losier has captured the dynamic and provocative essence of Peaches, the trailblazing feminist queer icon. This intimate portrait offers a deep dive into the life of an inspiring, taboo-shattering artist. Discover Peaches’ electrifying concerts, her close bond with her sister and how her boundless energy and fearless exploration both on and off the stage have transformed every phase of her life into a captivating work of art. (Note courtesy of Film Movement.) DIR Marie Losier; PROD Sébastien Andres, Carole Chassaing, Alice Lemaire. France/Belgium, 2024, color, 73 min. NOT RATED
This landmark film, startling and provocative in its ideas, stands out as the pinnacle of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman's career. Nurse Alma’s (Bibi Andersson) cheery efforts to communicate with actress Elisabet Volger (Liv Ullmann), mute and semi-catatonic after an onstage nervous breakdown, give way to deeply personal confessions. Andersson's riveting monologue of a long-ago sexual encounter ("one of the rare, truly erotic sequences in movie history," according to film critic Pauline Kael) leads to an even more intense transaction between her and the watchful actress as the exact nature of their ambiguous relationship comes into question. Though the queer subtext of Bergman’s masterpiece has long been the subject of debate, for writer and queer activist Sarah Schulman “the first important lesbian images in cinema for me were: Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson in Ingmar Bergman’s PERSONA, particularly the moment where their intensity of feeling burned up the celluloid.” DIR/SCR/PROD Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1966, b&w, 83 min. In Swedish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Co-presented with the Embassy of Sweden.
At the crossroads of experimental cinema and queer representation is this underground erotica from James Bidgood, shot over seven years on 8mm, which follows a brooding young male prostitute’s (Bobby Kendall) kaleidoscopic journey through a phantasmagoric dreamscape. In a series of sequences, he envisions himself as a Roman slave, a triumphant matador, an innocent wood nymph and a delicate harem boy — striking images suffused with saturated lighting from Bidgood, who also handcrafted the sets. Shot entirely in Bidgood’s Hell’s Kitchen apartment, save for the climactic scene, PINK NARCISSUS is a queer masterpiece from a visionary artist — who was for decades left uncredited after he removed his own name from the film in protest over creative differences with his producers. In the mid-90s, writer Bruce Benderson sought out the truth and tracked down Bidgood, verifying the true mastermind behind this sumptuously subversive erotic film. DIR/SCR/PROD James Bidgood. U.S., 1971, color, 68 min. NOT RATED
Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by Snapdragon Capital Partners.
Director Frank Perry (DAVID AND LISA, DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE) delivered many edgy psychological classics, and none is more deserving of rediscovery than this rarely screened adaptation of Joan Didion's bestselling novel, with a screenplay by Didion and her late husband, John Gregory Dunne. A scathing portrait of Hollywood in the early 1970s, PLAY IT AS IT LAYS stars Tuesday Weld as the fiercely intelligent Maria, an ex-model on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In-the-closet producer B.Z. Mendenhall (Anthony Perkins) is her only friend; Adam Roarke plays her estranged director-husband trying to jumpstart his career out of the biker-film ghetto. (Note adapted from the American Cinematheque.) DIR/PROD Frank Perry; SCR John Gregory Dunne, Joan Didion, from her novel; PROD Dominick Dunne. U.S., 1972, color, 99 min. RATED R
[PORTRAIT DE LA JEUNE FILLE EN FEU]
Director Céline Sciamma (GIRLHOOD, TOMBOY) won the Queer Palm and Best Screenplay awards at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival for this sweeping, brooding romance set in rugged, 18th-century Brittany. When budding painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant, PAPER FLAGS, HEAVEN WILL WAIT) is commissioned by an Italian Comtesse (Valeria Golino) to paint a portrait of her soon-to-be-wed daughter Héloïse (Adèle Haenel, DEERSKIN, THE UNKNOWN GIRL), the assignment is complicated by the fact that Marianne must not disclose to Héloïse the reason for her visit to the remote coastal abode. Masquerading as a hired companion, Marianne must closely observe her subject by day, etching her likeness into memory in order to paint in secret by night. When the ruse is revealed, however, the women allow themselves to form a much closer bond, igniting a fire that will lead to self-discovery and the liaison of a lifetime. DIR/SCR Céline Sciamma; PROD Bénédicte Couvreur. France, 2019, color, 121 min. In French and Italian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Punk activist collective Positive Force DC emerged in 1985, rising from the creative, politically charged ferment of DC punk's Revolution Summer. Born in a dynamic local scene, a handful of young activists drew inspiration from UK anarcho-punks Crass and the original Positive Force band 7 Seconds to become one of the longest-lasting and most influential exponents of punk politics. This feature-length film by Robin Bell skillfully mixes rare archival footage (including electrifying live performances from Fugazi, Bikini Kill, Rites of Spring, Nation of Ulysses, Anti-Flag and more) with new interviews with key Positive Force activists, including co-founder Mark Andersen (co-author of “Dance of Days”) and Jenny Toomey (Simple Machines, Tsunami), as well as supporters such as Ian MacKaye; Jello Biafra; Dave Grohl; Ted Leo; Riot Grrrl co-founders Allison Wolfe and Kathleen Hanna; and many more. Covering a span of 30 years, MORE THAN A WITNESS documents Positive Force’s Reagan-era origins, the creation of its communal house, FBI harassment and the rise of a vibrant underground that burst into the mainstream amid controversy over both the means and the ends of the movement. Through it all, Positive Force has persisted, remaining deeply rooted in its hometown, regularly bringing punk protest to the front doors of the powers-that-be. (Note courtesy Robin Bell.) DIR Robin Bell; PROD Rachell Cain, Meagan Coleman, Brian Duss, Hunter Harris. U.S., 2014, color, 69 min. NOT RATED
When punk rock exploded in Washington, DC, in the late 1970s, it was a mighty intergenerational convergence of powerful music, close friendships and clear minds. Featuring breathtaking Super-8 footage filmed at some of the earliest punk shows in DC, PUNK THE CAPITAL takes us through that transformative period (1976–1983), situating DC punk and DC harDCore within the larger narratives of the music industry at that time. The film boasts electrifying performances by legendary bands like Bad Brains and Minor Threat, as well as others integral to the era like The Slickee Boys and Black Market Baby. An array of interviewees like H.R. and Darryl Jenifer of Bad Brains; Henry Rollins and Cynthia Connolly of Dischord Records; and Ian and Alec MacKaye, among others, make for a kaleidoscopic and lyrical documentary which immerses the audience in the sounds and ideas of this celebrated music scene. Against the odds (or perhaps understandably), punk rock took hold in Washington, DC, and grew into a movement that became a model for DIY culture around the world. A film by Paul Bishow, James June Schneider and Sam Lavine. U.S., 2019, color, 88 min. NOT RATED
Bursting with the colorful street style and music of Nairobi’s vibrant youth culture, RAFIKI is a tender love story between two young women in a country that still criminalizes homosexuality. Kena and Ziki have long been told that “good Kenyan girls become good Kenyan wives” — but they yearn for something more. Despite the political rivalry between their families, the girls encourage each other to pursue their dreams in a conservative society. When love blossoms between them, Kena and Ziki must choose between happiness and safety. Initially banned in Kenya for its positive portrayal of queer romance, RAFIKI won a landmark supreme court case, chipping away at Kenyan anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Featuring remarkable performances by newcomers Samantha Mugatsia and Sheila Munyiva, RAFIKI is a hip tale of first love that Screen Daily calls “reminiscent of the early work of Spike Lee,” and Variety hails as “impossible not to celebrate.” (Note courtesy of Film Movement.) DIR/SCR Wanuri Kahiu; SCR Jenna Cato Bass, from the short story “Jambula Tree” by Monica Arac de Nyeko; PROD Steven Markovitz. Kenya, 2018, color, 83 min. In Swahili and English with English subtitles. NOT RATED
In her directorial debut, renowned Spanish actress Paz Vega (SEX AND LUCÍA) mines her own Andalusian childhood to tell the story of a young girl awakening to the dangers inside her own home. It is the summer of 1984 in Seville, the Spanish football team has advanced to the quarter finals of the European Championship and seven-year-old Rita (Sofía Allepuz) dreams of visiting the beach and escaping the scorching heat with her beloved younger brother Lolo (Alejandro Escamilla). But as her father’s (Roberto Álamo) verbal abuse toward their mother (Vega) flares and veers towards the physical, the siblings soon learn that this will be the last innocent summer of their lives. Set just four years after divorce was legalized in Spain’s nascent post-Franco democracy, this is an assured and sensitive portrayal of domestic violence as seen through the perspective of a child — quite literally, as Vega positions her camera at Rita’s eye level throughout the film. DIR/SCR Paz Vega; PROD Marta Velasco, Gonzalo Bendala. Spain, 2024, color, 94 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Love, courage and a touch of Shakespeare — Jamaican style! Sixteen-year-old Dean struggles to balance his responsibilities: He runs a backyard cook shop to support his sick mother, while at the same time he battles bullies at Haile Selassie High in Kingston’s rough Payneland neighborhood. A lone bright spot is his neighbor Erica, for whom he harbors an unrequited love. When their English class dives into Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet” for a weekend assignment, Dean envisions himself as Romeo, with Erica as his rebel Juliet, sparking newfound courage. Will Dean’s Romeo win the heart of his Juliet? Or will fate have other plans? Inspired by filmmaker Paul Bucknor’s (BETTER MUS’ COME) work on a reality series about Jamaican teens staging Shakespeare, this heartwarming tale injects island vibes into the greatest love story ever told. (Note adapted from the filmmaker.) DIR/SCR/PROD Paul Bucknor; SCR from the play “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare. Jamaica, 2024, color, 77 min. NOT RATED
SALAD DAYS: A DECADE OF PUNK IN WASHINGTON, DC (1980-1990)
Scott Crawford's rousing documentary examines the early DIY punk scene in the nation's capital between 1980 and 1990. It was a decade when seminal bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Government Issue, Scream, Void, the Faith, Rites of Spring, Marginal Man, Fugazi and others released their own records and booked their own shows — without major record label constraints or mainstream media scrutiny. Contextually, it was a cultural watershed that predated the alternative music explosion of the 1990s (and the industry’s subsequent implosion). Forty years later, DC's original DIY punk spirit serves as a reminder of the hopefulness of youth, the power of community and the strength of conviction. DIR/SCR/PROD Scott Crawford; PROD Jim Saah. US, 2014, color, 103 min. NOT RATED
Something of a companion to Alan Clarke’s youth-in-revolt bombshell SCUM (both were written by playwright Roy Minton), SCRUBBERS is a viscerally gritty immersion into the harrowing world of a reform school for girls, directed with delirious intensity by Mai Zetterling, shot on location at a Surrey mental institution and informed by her visits to youth prisons and her conversations with inmates. Confined to a brutal borstal, Annetta (Chrissie Cotterill) longs to escape in order to reconnect with her infant daughter, while Carol (Amanda York) is determined to find a way to be transferred to the same prison as her girlfriend. The girls are from different walks of life but learn to survive together, fighting the system and often one another. The supporting cast includes UK comedian Kathy Burke (ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, SID AND NANCY, recently seen in BLITZ) in her screen debut. (Note adapted from the Criterion Collection.) DIR/SCR Mai Zetterling; SCR Roy Minton, Jeremy Watt; PROD Don Boyd. UK, 1982, color, 93 min. RATED R
In 2003, eight young Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment in a hidden space inside the Providence Place Mall and lived in it for four years, filming everything along the way. They snuck in furniture, tapped into the mall’s electricity and even secretly constructed a brick wall with a locking door, smuggling in over two tons of cinderblock. Far more than just a wild prank, the secret apartment became a deeply meaningful place for all its inhabitants — a personal expression of defiance against local gentrification, a boundary-pushing work of public/private art and a 750-square-foot space that sticks it to the man. Featuring never-before-seen footage of the space and revealing the identities of all the participants for the first time, SECRET MALL APARTMENT is more than just a bonkers true story. Director Jeremy Workman (LILY TOPPLES THE WORLD) and executive producer Jesse Eisenberg deliver a poignant exploration of a group of artists who discovered their purpose within the most commercial and improbable places. DIR/PROD Jeremy Workman. U.S., 2024, color, 91 min. NOT RATED
[Тіні забутих предків]
Widely considered the most important film in the history of Ukrainian cinema, Sergei Parajanov’s masterwork boldly combines folkloric pageantry, fairy tale mysticism and frenetic, hallucinatory cinematography. Adapted from Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky’s novel, SHADOWS tells the story of Ivan (Ivan Mykolaichuk), a young Hutsul peasant who witnesses his father’s murder by the local miser. Years later, Ivan falls in love with the miser’s daughter, Marichka (Larisa Kadochnikova), but her shocking death leaves him wallowing in grief until he meets Palahna (Tatyana Bestayeva), a beautiful woman who seems to restore his faith in life and his hope for the future. When the ghost of Marichka begins to haunt Ivan, however, Palahna is driven into the arms of the local sorcerer (Spartak Bagashvili), with tragic results. SHADOWS is steeped in the earthy atmosphere of the Carpathian Mountains; filmed by Parajanov and cinematographer Yuri Ilyenko with an eye for constantly innovative camera movements and vivid color; and suffused by Hutsul culture in the form of composer Myroslav Skoryk’s collage-like score, which brings together Ukrainian folk melodies with modernist, experimental orchestration. It is one of cinema’s singular productions, capturing the spiritual majesty of the past by creatively forging the medium’s future. (Note courtesy of Janus Films.) DIR/SCR Sergei Parajanov; SCR Ivan Chendej, from the novel by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky. Soviet Union, 1965, color, 97 min. In Ukrainian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Restored in 4K by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre and in association with the Dovzhenko Film Studio. Special thanks to Daniel Bird and Łukasz Ceranka. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
[FUCKING ÅMÅL]
Awkward teenager Agnes (Rebecka Liljeberg) has recently moved with her family to the small rural town of Åmål and has a secret: she’s head over heels in love with one of the popular girls at school, the impulsive and restless Elin (Alexandra Dahlström). When a doomed birthday party leads to a chance encounter between the pair, an unexpected romance blossoms which might be the most exciting thing to happen in Åmål in years. An instant smash hit upon its 1998 release that was acclaimed by no less than Ingmar Bergman as “a young master’s first masterpiece,” Lukas Moodysson’s SHOW ME LOVE (also known as FUCKING ÅMÅL) is a touchstone of new queer cinema and one of the most authentic portrayals of youthful relationships on film. (Note courtesy of AGFA.) DIR/SCR Lukas Moodysson; PROD Lars Jönsson. Sweden, 1998, color, 89 min. In Swedish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Co-presented with the Embassy of Sweden.
From Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Ryan Coogler — director of BLACK PANTHER and CREED — comes a new vision of fear starring Michael B. Jordan. Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. Jordan is joined by a supporting cast that includes Oscar® nominee Hailee Steinfeld (BUMBLEBEE, TRUE GRIT), Jack O’Connell (FERRARI), Wunmi Mosaku (PASSENGER), Jayme Lawson (THE WOMAN KING), Omar Benson Miller (TRUE LIES) and Delroy Lindo (DA 5 BLOODS). Coogler’s behind-the-camera artisans include his BLACK PANTHER franchise collaborators: director of photography and AFI Alum Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Cinematography, AFI Class of 2009); Oscar®-winning production designer Hannah Beachler; editor Michael P. Shawver; Oscar®-winning composer Ludwig Göransson; and Oscar®-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter. DIR/SCR/PROD Ryan Coogler; PROD Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian. U.S., 2025, color, 137 min. RATED R
Filmmaker William Friedkin followed THE EXORCIST with this gripping thriller based on the same source novel that inspired the French classic THE WAGES OF FEAR (also playing this week in a new 4K restoration). Friedkin ratchets up the tension in this story about four stateless outlaws (Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal and Amidou) hauling explosives over 200 miles of dangerous South American road in the hopes of gaining citizenship and a cool $10,000. Released on the heels of STAR WARS’ landmark debut (to which it lost the Academy Award® for Sound, its sole nomination), with a title that made audiences expect a supernatural film, SORCERER proved to be an utter disaster both critically and commercially. Over the subsequent decades, the film was critically reappraised for its gritty, suspenseful atmosphere and is now considered one of Friedkin’s finest outings and a masterpiece of the New Hollywood. Among its most celebrated aspects is the synth-laden score by pioneering electronic/krautrock outfit Tangerine Dream, who became prolific soundtrack composers in the subsequent decades. DIR/PROD William Friedkin; SCR Walon Green, from the novel “The Wages of Fear” by Georges Arnaud. U.S., 1977, color, 121 min. RATED PG
SPX Presents: NO STRAIGHT LINES: THE RISE OF QUEER COMICS
The road for queer comics from the margins of the underground comics scene to mainstream acceptance was fraught with challenges. The restrictive Comics Code of 1954 censored same-sex images from mainstream comics, and even the comix underground that emerged in the 1960s, supposedly embracing “free love,” initially excluded queerness. NO STRAIGHT LINES chronicles the journeys of five scrappy LGBTQ artists — Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, Mary Wings, Rupert Kinnard and Jennifer Camper — from their early DIY work to the international stage, offering a fascinating window into everything from the AIDS crisis to the search for love and a good haircut. (Note courtesy of The Film Collaborative.) DIR/PROD Vivian Kleiman; PROD Justin Hall. U.S., 2021, color, 78 min. NOT RATED
Presented in partnership with the Small Press Expo
The Small Press Expo (SPX) is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit created in 1994 to promote artists and publishers who produce independent comics. SPX hosts an annual festival that provides a forum for artists, writers and publishers of comic art in its various forms to present to the public comic art not accessible through normal commercial channels. For more info, visit smallpressexpo.com.
[FRESA Y CHOCOLATE]
Set in contemporary Havana, this tale follows the evolving relationship between David (Vladimir Cruz), an avid but naïve Castro supporter, and Diego (Jorge Perugorría), an outgoing, anti-establishment gay artist who is immediately interested in David upon meeting him at a café. David is encouraged to spy on Diego while Diego teaches him about art and literature and the repression of gay people by the government David supports. As their friendship deepens, the social and governmental forces beyond their control begin to close in around them. STRAWBERRY AND CHOCOLATE was the first, and to date only, Cuban film to receive an Academy Award® nomination for Best International Feature Film. (Note courtesy of Cohen Film Collection.) DIR Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Juan Carlos Tabío; SCR Senel Paz, from his short story “The Wolf, The Forest and the New Man”; PROD Camilo Vives, Frank Cabrera and Gerogina Balzaretti. Cuba/Mexico/Spain, 1993, color, 110 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. RATED R
[СТАЧКА] [STACHKA]
Trouble is brewing at a large factory in Tsar-era Russia: laborers are overworked and underpaid, and when a man falsely accused of theft kills himself, his comrades will not stand for it anymore. Sergei Eisenstein — then an up-and-coming theater director, later an eccentric genius whose name would become synonymous with Soviet filmmaking — was only 26 when he directed STRIKE. His startling feature film debut broke every convention of the time to create a revolutionary cinema for the new country. DIR/SCR Sergei Eisenstein; SCR Grigoriy Aleksandrov, Ilya Kravchunovsky, Valerian Pletnev. USSR, 1925, b&w, 89 min. Silent with English intertitles. NOT RATED
About Andrew Earle Simpson
Andrew Earle Simpson is an acclaimed composer of opera, silent film, orchestral, chamber, choral, dance and vocal music, based in Washington, DC. His musical works make multi-faceted, intimate connections with literature, visual art and film, reflecting his own interest in linking music with the wider world, an approach which he calls "humanistic music." One of America’s foremost silent film musicians, he has performed across the United States, Europe and South America. In addition to composing and performing, Simpson is a professor and head of the division of Theory and Composition at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Visit andrewesimpson.com for more information.
[SAMÂ WÔZU] [サマーウォーズ]
Kenji is a shy, part-time moderator for OZ, the virtual reality world that powers everyday life, until pretty and popular Natsuki recruits him to be her fake boyfriend. While posing as an affluent suitor to Natsuki’s family, Kenji finds that a rogue AI program has stolen his online identity; Kenji is accused of hacking OZ and causing real-world catastrophes. As the destruction in OZ throws Natsuki’s family into disarray, Kenji must unite his newfound connections to overcome an impending cyber apocalypse. Set against a backdrop of stunning countryside vistas and virtual spaces bursting with color, SUMMER WARS is a timeless epic from Academy Award®-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda that explores life in the digital age. (Note courtesy of GKids.) DIR Mamoru Hosoda; SCR Satoko Okudera; PROD Takuya Itô, Yûichirô Saitô, Nozomu Takahashi, Takashi Watanabe. Japan, 2009, color, 114 min. In Japanese with English subtitles*. RATED PG
*Subtitled Japanese version July 27 & 29; English dubbed version July 28.
An actress and new mother (played by Zita Hanrot) is haunted by voices as she begins to inhabit the role of surrealist Martiniquais writer Suzanne Roussi-Césaire. In the sleepy palm groves of the tropics, a small group of filmmakers and actors confront the history of writer Suzanne Roussi-Césaire in her youth and then stage scenes from her life, challenging the “paradise” of historical memory. Moving between narrative filmmaking and abstraction — a night at a 1940s cafe and the garden where a film’s cast and crew discuss and bring to life the missing pieces of the writer’s legacy — this is a film that leaves room for the unknown. Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich’s first feature stars César -award-winning actress Zita Hanrot and actor Motell Foster, and features a soundtrack by singer Sabine McCalla. (Note courtesy of Cinema Guild.) DIR/SCR Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich; SCR Marina Magloire, from the essay “Surrealist Refugees in the Tropics” by Terese Svoboda; PROD Sophie Luo, Mike S. Ryan. U.S., 2024, color, 75 min. In English and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
[BIRUMA NO TATEGOTO] [ビルマの竪琴]
In the last days of World War II, a Japanese platoon sustains morale through the Burma campaign by singing traditional songs, accompanied by the delicate harp-playing of Private Mizushima (Shoji Yasui). After the unit surrenders to British forces, Mizushima is tasked with convincing a holdout of cave-dwelling Japanese soldiers to lay down their arms; when his mission fails, he is counted among the dead. Mizushima survives, however, and becomes a monk who dedicates his life to providing proper burials for his fallen comrades. Meanwhile, his former platoon attempts to track him down by using music to express a shared sense of separation and longing for home. Adapted from Michio Takeyama’s classic novel, and renowned for legendary composer Akira Ifukube’s haunting score, Kon Ichikawa’s THE BURMESE HARP is an epic humanist masterpiece — a profound contemplation of suffering, redemption and spiritual fortitude during the darkest periods of violence. (Note courtesy of Janus Films.) DIR Kon Ichikawa; SCR Natto Wada, from the novel by Michio Takeyama; PROD Masayuki Takagi. Japan, 1956, b&w, 116 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
This 4K digital restoration, made possible by Nikkatsu and the Japan Foundation, was supervised by Kon Pro Inc. and Chizuko Osada at Imagica Entertainment Media Services, Inc.
A music video maverick, Tarsem Singh (THE FALL) made his feature film debut with this visually sumptuous, serial killer thriller starring Jennifer Lopez at the peak of her pop-stardom. Continuing to build her reputation as an impressive actor, Lopez is Dr. Catherine Deane, a child psychologist experimenting with a new technology that allows her to enter the unconscious mind of her patients. But when the FBI task her with entering the mind of a comatose serial killer, she will have to find the location of his latest victim before it is too late. Taking inspiration from religious iconography, Salvador Dali, H.R. Giger and everything in between, Tarsem’s over-the-top imagery earned the film a deserved nomination for Best Makeup at the 2001 Academy Awards®. The film’s incredible supporting cast includes Vince Vaughn, Vincent D’Onofrio and AFI DWW Alum Marianne Jean-Baptiste. DIR Tarsem Singh; SCR Mark Protosevich; PROD Julio Caro, Eric McLeod. U.S./Germany, 2000, color, 107 min. RATED R
In 1972, Trinidadian author Harold Sonny Ladoo published his first novel, “No Pain Like This Body,” a poetic yet devastating depiction of life during Indian indentureship in Trinidad, now recognized as a classic of Caribbean literature. Ladoo’s second novel, “Yesterdays,” one of the queerest works of Caribbean fiction, was published in 1974 — the same year his battered body was found by a roadside in Trinidad; he was 28. In this new documentary, director Richard Fung draws on a 20-year-old video archive of interviews with Ladoo’s family, friends and literary contemporaries in an attempt to piece together the puzzle of his complex life. (Note courtesy of BAM.) DIR Richard Fung. Trinidad and Tobago/Canada, 2024, color, 84 min. NOT RATED
[LOS TORTUGA]
Pablo Larraín regular Antonia Zegers (THE CLUB, A FANTASTIC WOMAN, EL CONDE) stars in a touching two-hander about a mother and daughter reeling from a grievous loss and financial hardship. Delia (Zegers), a Chilean immigrant, drives a taxi across Barcelona to support herself and her college-bound daughter, Anabel (newcomer Elvira Lara), after the sudden death of Julián, her Spanish husband. Though mother and daughter love each other, they process their grief differently: Anabel wishes to honor her father’s passing while Delia withdraws and wants to move on. When they receive an eviction notice, the two women must decide whether to sell Julián’s beloved olive grove in Andalusia. Filmmaker Bélen Funes, whose 2019 debut A THIEF’S DAUGHTER won her the Goya Award for Best New Director, has crafted a poignant exploration of grief rooted in a stark yet sincere realism and anchored by two stellar performances from Zegers and Lara. DIR/SCR Belén Funes; SCR Marçal Cebrian; PROD Antonio Chavarrías, Olmo Figueredo González-Quevedo, Giancarlo Nasi, Alba Bosch-Duran, Sara Gómez, Carlos Rosado Sibón. Spain/Chile, 2024, color, 110 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
[TOKI O KAKERU SHÔJO] [時をかける少女]
Makoto is a typical teenage girl who spends most of her days slacking off with friends. One day while rushing to meet her aunt, she nearly gets hit by a train, but at the last second, finds herself jumping backwards in time to before the accident. She immediately makes use of her newfound ability to re-do every minor inconvenience– from poor exam results to awkward confessions of love. However, when faced with the consequences of tampering with time, Makoto must do everything she can to avoid a dire future that can't be reversed. THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME is a beloved early film from Mamoru Hosoda, the Academy Award-nominated director behind BELLE, WOLF CHILDREN, SUMMER WARS, and more. Hosoda weaves together the timeless, breathtaking visuals he is known for with a tender-hearted story of a girl navigating first love, time travel, and the perilous choices that come with both. (Note courtesy of GKids.) DIR Mamoru Hosoda; SCR Satoko Okudera, from the novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui; PROD Shin'ichirô Inoue, Jungo Maruta. Japan, 2006, color, 98 min. In Japanese with English subtitles*. NOT RATED
*Subtitled Japanese version Sept. 29; English dubbed version Sept. 28 & 30.
[FLICKORNA]
Mai Zetterling's cinema reached new heights of exuberant experimentation and fierce political engagement with this pointed and playful touchstone of 1960s feminist cinema. As they tour Sweden in a theatrical production of “Lysistrata,” performing to often uncomprehending audiences, three women (national cinema icons Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson and Gunnel Lindblom) find their own lives and marriages mirrored in the complex, combative gender relations at the heart of Aristophanes' play. Onstage drama, offstage reality and a torrent of surrealist fantasies and daydreams collide in THE GIRLS, a slashing, sardonic reflection on the myriad challenges confronting women on their path to liberation, and on the struggles of the female artist fighting to make her voice heard over the patriarchal din. (Note courtesy of Janus Films.) DIR/SCR Mai Zetterling; SCR David Hughes, from the play “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes; PROD Göran Lindgren. Sweden, 1968, b&w, 100 min. In Swedish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
"Goonies never say die!" Facing the loss of their homes to the encroachment of greedy country clubbers, an intrepid gang of kids in the Goon Docks area of Astoria, Oregon, sets off in search of the treasure of legendary pirate One-Eyed Willy, the original "Goonie." Directed by Richard Donner (SUPERMAN) from a screenplay by Chris Columbus (the first two HARRY POTTERs, HOME ALONE, MRS. DOUBTFIRE) and produced by Steven Spielberg, 1985's THE GOONIES is representative of that era's intense focus on youth entertainment, with top filmmaking talent cranking out a kind of tween-age RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. The outstanding young cast includes Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, Jeff Cohen and Ke Huy Quan as the treasure hunting friends, with older teens Josh Brolin, Kerri Green and Martha Plimpton tagging along. DIR/PROD Richard Donner; SCR Chris Columbus, from a story by Steven Spielberg; PROD Harvey Bernhard. U.S., 1985, color, 114 min. RATED PG
[MÅNEN ÄR EN GRÖN OST]
An outlier, even in her broad and varied body of work, Mai Zetterling's only children's film was inspired by Goethe's theory of color. As a family holidays in the Stockholm Archipelago, their two young daughters fantasize about being adults representing different colors (red, yellow, blue, green, violet, black and indigo). The result is a visually lush, surrealist fever dream more akin to the experimental and psychedelic cinema of the era than to traditional family fare. A rarity that earned equal amounts of acclaim and distaste from contemporary viewers, the film was screened only twice before falling into obscurity. Zetterling's psychedelic curiosity is now being revived to its rightful place as a cult classic thanks to a new restoration by the Swedish Film Institute. DIR/SCR Mai Zetterling; PROD Lisbet Gabrielsson. Sweden, 1977, color, 72 min. In Swedish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
DCP restoration courtesy of the Swedish Film Institute.
After being pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival immediately after its midnight madness premiere due to an “angry letter” from a “media conglomerate” in 2022, Vera Drew’s transgressive take on DC Comics’ Joker character triumphantly returned from the ashes two years later to have the last laugh. With comedy criminalized in Gotham City, the late-night sketch show UCB LIVE serves as the only outlet for aspiring Jokers and Harlequins, including Vera (played by Drew herself), a trans woman from Smallville, Kansas. Unfortunately, the show’s gatekeeping practices are maddening, and Vera decides to mount her own comic revolution in response. THE PEOPLE’S JOKER is an inventive take on the superhero genre, torching all preconceived notions audiences — and publishers — have about Batman’s rogues gallery, reinterpreting it to tell a funny yet poignant queer coming-of-age tale, co-starring alt-comedy legends Maria Bamford, Tim Heidecker, Scott Aukerman and Bob Odenkirk. DIR/SCR Vera Drew; SCR Bri LeRose; PROD Joey Lyons. U.S., 2022, color, 92 min. NOT RATED
Also part of WorldPride on Screen.
A dark tale of espionage following a strained father-daughter relationship within a family business. Starring: Benicio del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda, one of the richest men in Europe; Mia Threapleton as Liesl, his daughter/a nun; Michael Cera as Bjorn, their tutor. With: Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend and Hope Davis. DIR/SCR/PROD Wes Anderson, from a story by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola; PROD Jeremy Dawson, John Peet, Steven Rales. U.S., Germany, 2025, color, 101 min. RATED PG-13
[OFFRET]
The final film by Andrei Tarkovsky, shot in Sweden by Sven Nykvist, Ingmar Bergman’s longtime collaborator, is a haunting vision of a world threatened with nuclear annihilation. As a wealthy Swedish family celebrates the birthday of their patriarch Alexander (Erland Josephson, CRIES AND WHISPERS), news of the outbreak of World War III reaches their remote Baltic island — and the happy mood turns to horror. The family descends into a state of psychological devastation, brilliantly evoked by Tarkovsky's arresting palette of luminous greys washing over the bleak landscape around their home. For Alexander, a philosopher troubled about man's lack of spirituality, the prospect of certain extinction compels the ultimate sacrifice, and he enters into a Faustian bargain with God to save his loved ones from the fear which grips them. Made as he was dying of cancer, THE SACRIFICE is Tarkvosky’s personal statement, a profoundly moving, redemptive tragedy steeped in unforgettable imagery and heart-wrenching emotion. (Note courtesy of Kino Lorber.) DIR/SCR Andrei Tarkovsky; PROD Anna-Lena Wibom. Sweden, 1986, color/b&w, 145 min. In Swedish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Restored by the Swedish Film Institute.
While this film is the most straightforward of David Lynch’s oeuvre, it is nevertheless stamped with the filmmaker’s visual flair and quirky humor. Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) takes off on a 240-
mile journey on his trusty John Deere lawnmower to visit his estranged brother Lyle (Harry Dean
Stanton), who has suffered a stroke. Farnsworth was nominated for an Academy Award® for his gentle, dignified performance. DIR David Lynch; SCR John Roach; SCR/PROD Mary Sweeney; PROD Neal Edelstein. France/UK/U.S., 1999, color, 112 min. RATED G
In Memoriam: David Lynch (1946–2025)
[LE SALAIRE DE LA PEUR]
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s existential action masterpiece was an international hit in its day, even in the truncated cut, significantly shorter than the restored version available today. Stuck in a remote South American outpost, four European oil riggers sign up for a dangerous job: drive two trucks laden with nitroglycerin across rough mountain roads to the site of a raging oil rig fire and snuff out the blaze. A star-making performance for chanteur-turned-tough guy Yves Montand; Charles Vanel was named Best Actor at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, and the film nabbed the top prizes in both Cannes and Berlin that year. Film critic Pauline Kael called it, “the most original and shocking French melodrama of the ’50s.” DIR/SCR/PROD Henri-Georges Clouzot; SCR Jérôme Géronimi, from the novel by Georges Arnaud; PROD Louis Wipf. France/Italy, 1953, b&w, 153 min. In English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Russian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
The film was restored by TF1 Studio, in collaboration with the Cinémathèque française, with the
support of the CNC, the Archives audiovisuelles de Monaco, Kodak and CGR Cinémas. The 4K
restoration was created from a nitrate image negative and a sound duplicate made by Hiventy.
[EL LLANTO]
Like any other college student, Andrea (Ester Expósito, ELITE) is inseparable from her cell phone. But while video chatting with her long-distance boyfriend, she discovers a terrifying presence in her apartment, one that is only visible through the camera’s lens. A frantic search through her camera roll reveals this haunting has been going on for a long time. Consumed by fear and a determination to find the origins of her curse, Andrea starts to lose her grasp on reality. With his debut film, from a script co-written by Isabel Peña (THE BEASTS), Pedro Martín-Calero goes down the rabbit hole of generational trauma, crafting a spine-chilling, decade-hopping horror film in the vein of IT FOLLOWS. The film won Best Director at the 2024 San Sebastían International Film Festival and was nominated for Best New Director at the 2025 Goya Awards. DIR/SCR Pedro Martín-Calero; SCR Isabel Peña; PROD Pablo Bossi, Nacho Lavilla, Juan Pablo Miller, Jérôme Vidal, Eduardo Villanueva, Cristina Zumárraga. Spain/Argentina/France, 2024, color, 107 min. In Spanish and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Winner of the Teddy Award for films with LGBTQ+ themes at the 1996 Berlinale and a landmark work of New Queer Cinema, THE WATERMELON WOMAN is the story of Cheryl (director Cheryl Dunye), a 20-something Black lesbian struggling to make a documentary about Fae Richards, a beautiful and elusive 1930s Black film actress popularly known as "The Watermelon Woman." While uncovering the meaning of Fae Richards' life, Cheryl experiences a total upheaval in her personal life. Her love affair with Diana (Guinevere Turner, AMERICAN PSYCHO, GO FISH), a beautiful white woman, and her interactions with the gay and Black communities are subject to the comic yet biting criticism of her best friend Tamara (Valarie Walker). Meanwhile, each answer Cheryl discovers about "The Watermelon Woman" evokes a flurry of new questions about herself and her future. (Note adapted from First Run Features.) DIR/SCR Cheryl Dunye; PROD Alexandra Juhasz, Barry Swimar. U.S., 1996, color, 90 min. NOT RATED
This Motown-produced adaptation of the hit all-Black Broadway rendition of L. Frank Baum’s beloved “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” features the incomparable Diana Ross as Dorothy alongside a star-studded cast that includes Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow, Lena Horne as Glinda the Good Witch and Richard Pryor as the Wiz himself. Directed by Sidney Lumet, then known for his dramatic work, and scripted by Joel Schumacher, with a groovy score produced by the inimitable Quincy Jones, THE WIZ is a rousing big-screen cult classic. DIR Sidney Lumet; SCR Joel Schumacher, from the musical by Charlie Smalls and William F. Brown, based on the novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum; PROD Rob Cohen. U.S., 1978, color, 133 min. RATED G
[POLVO SERÁN]
A daring, romantic and frank musical about life and death, THEY WILL BE DUST finds septuagenarian Claudia (Ángela Molina, THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE, BROKEN EMBRACES) facing a terminal illness diagnosis head-on. Refusing to relinquish control over her own life, she makes the unimaginable choice to end her time on this planet. Her devoted husband of 40 years, Flavio (Pablo Larraín regular Alfredo Castro), cannot fathom a life without her, so he makes plans for them to visit a clinic in Switzerland together. Under the guise of a vow renewal ceremony, the couple plan one last big celebration to say goodbye to their children and closest friends. But not everyone will understand their fateful choice. Directed with stylish verve by Carlos Marques-Marcet (10,000 KM), THEY WILL BE DUST features pulse-pounding songs and breathtaking choreography that burst across the screen, allowing the characters to express deep feelings they would never dare speak aloud. Molina and Castro shine in career-best performances as the complex central couple. Molina’s powerful portrayal earned her Best Actress at the 2024 Rome Film Festival, while the film won the Platform Award at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. DIR/SCR Carlos Marques-Marcet; SCR Clara Roquet, Coral Cruz; PROD Ariadna Dot, David Epiney, Tono Folguera, Eugenia Mumenthaler, Giovanni Pompili. Spain/Switzerland/Italy, 2024, color, 106 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Three Short Films by Mai Zetterling: THE WAR GAME (1963), WE HAVE MANY NAMES (1976) and OF SEALS AND MEN (1981)
THE WAR GAME (1963)
Mai Zetterling's first narrative film offers up an indictment of how young children (especially boys) are indoctrinated into a worldview that accepts and valorizes violence. In it, two boys rampage through an urban landscape fighting to possess a real gun, consistently ignored and unacknowledged by the few adults they encounter. A substantial success (it won Best Short Film at Venice in 1963), the film launched Zetterling’s directorial career. (Note courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival.) DIR/SCR/PROD Mai Zetterling; SCR David Hughes. UK, 1963, b&w, 15 min. NOT RATED
WE HAVE MANY NAMES (1976) [VI HAR MÅNGA NAMN]
In the mid-length drama WE HAVE MANY NAMES, Mai Zetterling not only stars and directs but also draws from personal history, including the heartbreak and dissolution of her marriage to creative partner David Hughes, seamlessly braiding narrative flashback and fantasy sequences in this intimate portrait as definitions of mother, wife and woman are blurred and broken. Originally commissioned by the BBC and conceived during a 1975 symposium (declared International Women's Year by the UN), WE HAVE MANY NAMES counts among the finest examples of Zetterling's television works. (Note adapted from the Toronto International Film Festival.) DIR/SCR Mai Zetterling; PROD Bo Jonsson. Sweden, 1976, color, 51 min. In Swedish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
OF SEALS AND MEN (1981)
Shot with a small crew on location in remote Eastern Greenland as contract work for Denmark's Royal Greenland Trade Department, Mai Zetterling's short TV documentary was made with an explicit mandate to show the merits of traditional Greenlandic seal hunting practices at a time of intense global media scrutiny and as Greenland was approaching partial independence from Denmark. In "A Cinema of Obsession: The Life and Work of Mai Zetterling," film professor Mariah Larsson observed, "On one hand, it aligns itself neatly within a tradition of using documentary films as colonial propaganda in its production context and funding. On the other hand, it seems to more or less subtly undermine its own messages: less subtly in the case of the seal hunt, more subtly — practically unnoticeable unless you read the production notes — in how the order of events is reversed: the party that ends the film seems to be a celebration of the successful seal hunt. However, these festivities mark the beginning of Home Rule on May 1, 1979, when Greenland received partial independence from Denmark.” DIR/SCR Mai Zetterling. Sweden, 1981, color, 29 min. In English, Greenlandic and Danish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
DCP restorations courtesy of the Swedish Film Institute.
Approx. runtime: 95 min.
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Director Ken Russell, at the peak of his eccentric excess in the mid-1970s, was the perfect choice to bring the Who’s rock opera to the screen. The Who’s own Roger Daltrey stars as Tommy, the “deaf, dumb and blind kid,” who, after witnessing his father’s murder as a child, retreats into his own interior world. Desperate for a cure, his mother (Ann-Margret) and stepfather (Oliver Reed) take him to, in turn, the Seeker (Eric Clapton), the Acid Queen (Tina Turner) and an experimental doctor, the Specialist (Jack Nicholson). But it is only when Tommy competes against and bests the Pinball Wizard (Elton John) that he makes progress — so much so, in fact, that he is declared a messiah and becomes the leader of a religious sect. DIR/SCR/PROD Ken Russell; SCR from the album “Tommy” by the Who; PROD Robert Stigwood. UK, 1975, color, 111 min. RATED PG
[L’OUBLI TUE DEUX FOIS]
In 1937, more than 20,000 Haitian people living in the Dominican Republic were systematically murdered by order of the state. A theater troupe brings together actors from both sides of this genocide to reckon with this horrific event, recreating the past in order to process it and heal. This provocative and honest film is a collaborative effort that radically and playfully changes the documentary format. (Note courtesy of DOC NYC.) DIR Pierre Michel Jean; PROD Lysa Heurtier Manzanares, Maud Martin. France/Haiti/Dominican Republic, 2024, color, 100 min. In English, French, Haitian Creole and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
[LA INFILTRADA]
Fresh out of the police academy, Mónica Marín (Carolina Yuste, JOKES & CIGARETTES) gets the assignment of a lifetime when she is asked to go undercover to infiltrate the Basque separatist group ETA. Forced to cut ties with her friends and even her family, she moves to San Sebastían under the name Arantxa, with her boss and fixer Ángel (Luis Tosar, CELL 211, EVEN THE RAIN) as her only contact to the outside world. As the years pass, she slowly earns the trust of the ETA until they finally come calling; she will have to hide and house two of their high-ranking officials in her apartment. But can she control the all-encompassing fear of her true identity being revealed? Winner of Best Film and Best Lead Actress at the 2025 Goya Awards, this edge-of-your-seat thriller was based on a true story and is the highest grossing Spanish film of all time directed by a woman. DIR/SCR Arantxa Echevarría; SCR Amèlia Mora, from an idea by María Luisa Gutiérrez; PROD Álvaro Ariza, Mercedes Gamero, María Luisa Gutiérrez, Pablo Nogueroles. Spain, 2024, color, 100 min. In Spanish and Euskera with English subtitles. NOT RATED
In the unfathomable depths of a coal mine, laborers Nam (Pham Thanh Hai) and Viet (Dao Duy Bao Dinh) have found a boundless love. Wrapped in darkness, their bodies intertwine, soaking up their last moments together before they are drawn apart. Dreaming of a better life outside the mine, Nam readies himself for a dangerous journey: to be smuggled in a shipping container to Europe. But before he leaves, he must accompany his mother to find the remains of his father who never returned from the Vietnam War. Banned in its home country for its deadlocked and negative view of Vietnam, the film was nevertheless a highlight of 2024’s Cannes Film Festival. Filmmaker Truong Minh Quy’s languid romance mines Vietnam’s past and present to craft a boldly erotic vision shot in mesmerizing 16mm. DIR/SCR Truong Minh Quy; PROD Bianca Balbuena, Bradley Liew. Vietnam, 2024, color, 129 min. In Vietnamese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
(tHISiSNOTaFUGAZIdOCUMENTARY.)
To commemorate the more than 20 years that have passed since DC-based post-hardcore band Fugazi's last live appearance (November 4, 2002, at The Forum in London), filmmakers Joe Gross, Joseph Pattisall and Jeff Krulik curated this one-of-a-kind bonanza of crowd-sourced, fan-recorded live shows and rare archival footage to pay tribute to Fugazi's prowess as a live act — for old fans to remember and for a new generation to discover what they missed. Explicitly billed as a nondocumentary (tHISiSNOTaFUGAZIdOCUMENTARY.), this unique archival assemblage celebrates the fans and their cameras as much as the band itself — a collision/collusion of the ephemeral moments on stage and the moments captured on camera. Program curated by Joe Gross, Joseph Pattisall and Jeff Krulik. 96 min. NOT RATED