Films Now Showing
Fredric March plays Benvenuto Cellini, the Italian Renaissance artist renowned for his sculpture and goldsmithing, as well as his fiery temper and passionate love affairs. In Gregory La Cava's frothy costume drama, Cellini's designs on artist's model Angela (Fay Wray) put him in competition with his benefactor, the Duke of Florence (Frank Morgan, in an Oscar®-nominated performance), who also has his eye on the pretty maiden. Further complicating matters, Cellini is already involved in an affair with the Duke's wife, played by Constance Bennett. "Bawdy and breezy." – Ronald Bergan, "The United Artists Story." DIR Gregory La Cava; SCR Bess Meredyth, from the play "The Firebrand of Florence" by Edwin Justus Mayer; PROD Darryl F. Zanuck. U.S., 1934, b&w, 86 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Neo-Tokyo is about to explode in Katsuhiro Ôtomo's landmark cyberpunk classic. Set in 2019 in the aftermath of World War III, AKIRA isn't just a movie — it's the birth of a genre. After a clash between the Capsules and their rival biker gang the Clowns, Tetsuo's latent psychic powers awaken. This new-found ability attracts the attention of a secret government project directed by the Japan Self-Defense Forces. As Tetsuo's powers grow, his best friend and leader of the Capsules, Kaneda, is determined to put an end to the conflict — even if it means killing Tetsuo. Cult classic AKIRA catapulted anime to popularity in the United States, becoming one of the most lauded and successful works of its kind. DIR/SCR Katsuhiro Ôtomo; SCR Izô Hashimoto; PROD Shunzō Katō, Ryōhei Suzuki. Japan, 1988, color, 124 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
The ancient Chinese board game go has long been considered the holy grail for artificial intelligence. Its simple rules but near-infinite number of outcomes make it exponentially more complex than chess. Mastery of the game by computers was considered by expert players and the AI community alike to be out of reach for at least another decade. Yet in 2016, Google's DeepMind team announced that they would be taking on Lee Sedol, the world's most elite go champion. The match was set for a weeklong tournament in Seoul in early 2016, and there was more at stake than the $1 million prize. Director Greg Kohs' absorbing documentary chronicles Google's DeepMind team as it prepares to test the limits of its rapidly evolving AI technology. The film pits machine against man, and reveals as much about the workings of the human mind as it does the future of AI. (Note courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.) DIR Greg Kohs; PROD Gary Krieg, Kevin Proudfoot, Josh Rosen. U.S., 2017, color, 90 min plus a 20-min intro. NOT RATED
Presented as part of Science on Screen®, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
AFI Member passes accepted.
The first foray into "Capracorn" and Frank Capra's first direct engagement with the Great Depression: bank president Walter Huston insists on lending on "character" collateral, despite a straying wife, an embezzling cashier and a spectacular bank run, with machine-gun dialogue and precision editing. "One of the most beautifully assembled, lighted and photographed pictures of the 1930s... the main décor of the vast bank interior composes an incredible Temple of Babylon." – Elliott Stein, Village Voice. DIR/PROD Frank Capra; SCR Robert Riskin; PROD Harry Cohn. U.S., 1932, b&w, 75 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
The third in a trilogy (following 2006's MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES and 2013's WATERMARK), ANTHROPOCENE: THE HUMAN EPOCH takes viewers on a worldwide tour narrated by Alicia Vikander, from concrete seawalls in China, which now cover 60 percent of the mainland coast, to the biggest terrestrial machines ever built in Germany; potash mines in Russia's Ural Mountains; a heavy metal festival in the closed city of Norilsk, Siberia; the devastated Great Barrier Reef in Australia; and lithium evaporation ponds in South America's Atacama Desert. High-end production values and state-of-the-art camera techniques capture evidence of human planetary domination. At the intersection of art and science, this film bears witness to a critical moment in geological history. DIR/SCR Jennifer Baichwal; DIR Edward Burtynsky; DIR/PROD Nicholas de Pencier. Canada, 2018, color, 87 min. In English, Russian, Italian, German, Mandarin and Cantonese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
Dr. Bernard Adrian (Boris Karloff) is a kindly mad scientist obsessed with curing a young woman's polio after suffering the loss of his beloved daughter. Dr. Adrian develops an experimental cure using a serum that requires human spinal column fluid, but after an escaped circus ape breaks into his lab and destroys his only batch of the miracle cure, the doctor must resort to other, more expedient means to collect the needed spinal fluid and reformulate the serum before his patient's time runs out. DIR William Nigh; SCR Curt Siodmak, Richard Carroll, from the play by Adam Shirk; PROD William T. Lackey. U.S., 1940, b&w, 62 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
"The Dude abides." A case of mistaken identity embroils slacker Jeff "the Dude" Lebowski (a sublimely comic Jeff Bridges) in a kidnapping case and throws him into the role of hapless detective in the Coen brothers' cockeyed homage to Howard Hawks' THE BIG SLEEP. The shaggy-dog shenanigans and pixilated dialogue deliver gut-busting hilarity from start to finish; the stellar cast, all playing with great comic gusto, includes John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Sam Elliott, Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Turturro as badass bowler "The Jesus." DIR/SCR/PROD Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. U.S./UK, 1998, color, 117 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
BIRDERS: THE CENTRAL PARK EFFECT reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds that grace Manhattan's celebrated patch of green, and the equally colorful New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration. Author Jonathan Franzen, an idiosyncratic trombone technician and a septuagenarian bird-tour leader are among the lively cast of characters in this charming, lyrical documentary that transports the viewer to the dazzling, hidden world of America's most famous park. (Note courtesy of Music Box Films.) DIR/SCR/PROD Jeffrey Kimball. U.S., 2012, color, 61 min plus a 20-min intro. NOT RATED
Presented as part of Science on Screen®, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
AFI Member passes accepted.
[PÁJAROS DE VERANO]
2018 Oscar® Selection, Colombia
Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra, the creative team behind 2015's Oscar®-nominated EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT, return with this inspired mob epic for the ages — a completely fresh take on the origins of the Colombian drug trade, as told through the story of an indigenous Wayúu family. In the 1970s, as an American-fueled marijuana boom hits Colombia, farmers quickly turn into seasoned businessmen and, in the Guajira desert, one Wayúu clan takes a leading role. But as greed, passion and honor blend together over the decades, the family's unity, their lives and their ancestral traditions are all put at stake. DIR/PROD Cristina Gallego, Ciro Guerra; SCR Maria Camila Arias, Jacques Toulemonde Vidal; PROD Katrin Pors. Colombia/Denmark/Mexico, 2018, color, 125 min. In English, Spanish and Wayúu with English subtitles. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Don't miss Douglas Fairbanks — the real-life model for THE ARTIST's George Valentin — at his swashbuckling best. Funny, fast-paced and furiously inventive, THE BLACK PIRATE was one of the first films shot in color (two-strip Technicolor). Hoping to avenge the death of his father, the noble-born Fairbanks disguises himself as the Black Pirate to infiltrate a band of buccaneers. Among the film's many iconic stunts and indelible images: Fairbanks sliding down a ship's sail on the point of a knife, Fairbanks singlehandedly fencing a cadre of swordsmen and the surreal attack of an underwater army. DIR Albert Parker; SCR Jack Cunningham; SCR/PROD Douglas Fairbanks. U.S., 1926, color, 84 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Los Angeles, 2019, is a squalid, sprawling metropolis, overdeveloped and overpopulated. Harrison Ford is Rick Deckard, a detective on the "blade runner" unit, charged with hunting down and "retiring" replicants, humanlike androids created to toil on off-world colonies. His latest assignment: six Nexus 6 models who have mutinied and returned to Earth to take action against their creators at the Tyrell Corporation. Ford is superb as the existentially weary Deckard, as is Rutger Hauer as the charismatic leader of the replicants, Daryl Hannah as tempestuous replicant Pris and Sean Young as a Tyrell Corporation secretary who's both more and less than she seems. DIR Ridley Scott; SCR Hampton Fancher, David Webb Peoples, from the story "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick; PROD Michael Deeley. U.S., 1982/2007, color, 117 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
BLADE RUNNER 2049 plays April 15 & 17 as a special engagement; click for info and tickets.
Thirty years after the 2019-set events of the original BLADE RUNNER, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling) stumbles upon a secret with potentially explosive implications. The one man who might be able to help him has been missing for three decades: Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), his predecessor on the force. Denis Villeneuve (ARRIVAL, SICARIO) adds new layers of future shock in extending the saga begun in Ridley Scott's landmark 1982 cyberpunk neo-noir. The visionary cinematography is by Roger Deakins; the sleek production design by Dennis Gassner and the music by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch. Jared Leto, Robin Wright and Dave Bautista round out the cast. DIR Denis Villeneuve; SCR Hampton Fancher, Michael Green; PROD Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, Cynthia Sikes, Bud Yorkin. U.S., 2017, color, 164 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
BLADE RUNNER - THE FINAL CUT (1982) plays March 29-April 4 as part of the series The Future is Now: 2019 on Screen. Click for info and tickets.
In the Gay '90s on New York's most infamous street, home to chancers, drunks and stumblebums — the lowest of the Lower East Side — a friendly rivalry between saloon keeper Wallace Beery and neighborhood daredevil George Raft intensifies into an all-out feud after the two begin vying for the affections of local beauty Fay Wray. Eager to make a name for himself, Raft cooks up a publicity stunt to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge — a boast that Beery intends to see him live up to or die trying. DIR Raoul Walsh; SCR Howard Estabrook, James Gleason, from the novel by Michael L. Simmons and Bessie Roth Solomon; PROD Joseph M. Schenck, Darryl F. Zanuck. U.S., 1933, b&w, 92 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
After D.W. Griffith's project was dismissed by Paramount's Adolph Zukor ("Everybody in it dies. It isn't commercial."), the filmmaker made BROKEN BLOSSOMS on a tight budget and released it through his new independent venture, United Artists, the company's second-ever release during its inaugural year of 1919 (Douglas Fairbanks' HIS MAJESTY, THE AMERICAN was the first). Proving Zukor wrong, the film was a massive hit for Griffith and the fledgling distributor. The film stars Richard Barthelmess as a young Chinese immigrant living in London's squalid Limehouse district who takes in abused local girl Lillian Gish. Gish had been mistreated by her brutish and hate-filled father Donald Crisp, who now trains his ire on his daughter's benefactor. DIR/SCR/PROD D.W. Griffith, from the story collection "Limehouse Nights" by Thomas Burke. U.S., 1919, b&w, 90 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
CatVideoFest returns to the big screen, bigger, brighter and more paw-some than ever. Curated by award-winning Seattle-based filmmaker Will Braden (HENRI, LE CHAT NOIR), CatVideoFest is a compilation reel of the latest and best cat videos culled from countless hours of unique submissions and sourced animations, music videos and, of course, classic internet powerhouses. CatVideoFest is a joyous communal experience, only available in theaters — join us for more than an hour of nonstop cuteness, bond with your fellow feline fanatics and learn more about how to help cats in need in DC and beyond. DIR Various; PROD Will Braden. U.S., 2019, color, 72 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Legendary husband-and-wife designers Charles and Ray Eames made more than 100 films, all donated to the Library of Congress as part of the Charles and Ray Eames Collection. The couple's films spanned a number of genres: educational, documentary, industrial and experimental. They approached the medium like any of their furniture or other design projects: meeting humanity's needs by providing functional — but highly stylized and appealing — works. This program will feature a small portion of the Eames' film output, now preserved by the Library of Congress, including early and rarely-seen works, as well as examples of their large-scale multiscreen exhibits. Total program approx. 90 min.
AFI Member passes accepted.
Tickets $8 for children 12 and under
Chased off the midway by a policeman, Charlie Chaplin's Tramp stumbles into the Big Top, where his act's an immediate hit and he promptly falls for the circus owner's stepdaughter. But when he learns she loves another, it's time for one more noble sacrifice. Featuring perhaps Chaplin's most quietly poignant climax and some of his most hilarious sequences, from the opening chase to his high-wire tightrope act, complicated by frisky escaped monkeys. DIR/SCR/PROD Charles Chaplin. U.S., 1928, b&w, 71 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Husband-and-wife music hall act Claude Rains and Fay Wray have a well-honed mind-reading act, based on a clever code secretly exchanged between the two. But one night, a young woman (Jane Baxter) attends their show, and Rains is surprised to discover a kind of "second sight" comes to him, allowing him to perform the act's mind reading without Wray's assistance. Rains goes on to predict various events, both disastrous and fortunate, but he can only do so when Baxter is beside him. Will the new pair's psychic bond undo the matrimonial one between Rains and Wray? An elegantly eerie tale from the mightily prolific British director Maurice Elvey. DIR Maurice Elvey; SCR Charles Bennett, Bryan Edgar Wallace, from the novel by Ernst Lothar; PROD Michael Balcon. U.S., 1935, b&w, 81 min. NOT RATED
Archival 35mm print courtesy of BFI
AFI Member passes accepted.
Famed cinematographer Karl Freund proves a dab hand directing this Lubitsch-light romantic comedy fantasia starring Fay Wray and Patsy Kelly as bit-part-playing gal pals on the fringes of Vienna's filmmaking world. Jilted by her fiancé and in a funk, Wray blows take after take for her increasingly furious director, before a sudden whim compels her to just drive off the set in the production's luxury automobile, costumed as a wealthy aristocrat. Adopting the title of the "Countess of Monte Cristo" with Kelly as her maid, the two manage to book a suite in a luxury hotel for one final spree before turning themselves in. It's here that Wray meets cat burglar and con man Reginald Owen, nicknamed "The Baron" ("I'm not diabolical. I'm debonair."), who believes he's found a fellow crook; and courtly Paul Lukas, who believes he's found a new love. DIR Karl Freund; SCR Karen DeWolf, from a story by Walter Reisch; PROD Stanley Bergerman. U.S., 1934, b&w, 78 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
THE WOMAN DISPUTED
Silent with live musical accompaniment by Andrew Simpson
Viennese prostitute Norma Talmadge finds herself in a love triangle with geopolitical dimensions during the Great War: in this corner, Austrian officer Gilbert Roland; in the other, Russian Arnold Kent, with the lives of many Austrian prisoners hanging in the balance. Silent-era superstar Talmadge, soon to retire with the coming of sound, dazzles in her final silent film role. Art director William Cameron Menzies thoroughly storyboarded sequences that the directors followed closely, his sets a fantasia of dimly lit back-alleys and balcony-lined boulevards, experimenting for the first time with Expressionist perspectives he admired in recent German films like F.W. Murnau's FAUST and THE LAST LAUGH. DIR Henry King, Sam Taylor; SCR C. Gardner Sullivan, from the play by Denison Clift based on the story "Boule de Suif" by Guy de Maupassant; PROD Joseph M. Schenck, Norma Talmadge. U.S., 1928, b&w, 108 min. NOT RATED
Archival 35mm print courtesy of the Library of Congress
Followed by:
THE GARDEN OF EDEN (1928)
Silent with recorded score by Robert Israel
Toni Lebrun (Corinne Griffith) leaves her job in a Viennese bakery for the cabaret stage in Budapest, but once she discovers that the venue doubles as a brothel, she hightails it for Monte Carlo in the company of kindly seamstress Rosa (Louise Dresser). Comedic hijinks ensue, along with the revelation of secret identities, uncle and nephew rival suitors for Toni's affections and, finally, one of the greatest wedding farces in screen history. Art director William Cameron Menzies concocted many of the clever sight gags, including the famous "flick the lights" bit. DIR/PROD Lewis Milestone; SCR Hanns Kräly, Avery Hopwood, from the play by Rudolf Bernauer and Rudolf Österreicher. U.S., 1928, b&w, 79 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
TIME OUT FOR RHYTHM
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
Narcissistic nightclub singer Rosemary Lane nearly succeeds in breaking up the successful talent agency of Rudy Vallee and Richard Lane, who eventually reteam to promote their hot new discovery as the headliner in a new variety show: Rosemary's former maid, tap-dancing prodigy Ann Miller. This eager-to-please Columbia Studios B musical features a bevy of musical numbers by Vallee, Joan Merrill, Six Hits and a Miss, Glen Gray and His Casa Loma Orchestra and Eduardo Durant's Rhumba Band, plus Miller's dynamite dancing and scene-stealing comedy bits by The Three Stooges! DIR Sidney Salkow; SCR Edmund L. Hartmann, Bert Lawrence; PROD Irving Starr. U.S., 1941, b&w, 75 min. NOT RATED
Followed by:
ROCKIN' IN THE ROCKIES
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
See The Three Stooges like you've never seen them before in their first feature-length film, filled with music and comedy. Shorty Williams (Moe Howard) is a con man looking to get back into prospecting. Into his life come two vagrants (Larry Fine and Curly Howard) who have come into some money, as well as two singers (Mary Beth Hughes and Gladys Blake) and four musicians (The Hoosier Hotshots). Suddenly, Shorty has a prospecting crew! But the plan changes when a Broadway producer arrives in town on vacation, and suddenly everyone has dreams of making it to the Great White Way. (Note courtesy of Sony Pictures.) DIR Vernon Keays; SCR J. Benton Cheney, John Grey; PROD Colbert Clark. U.S., 1945, b&w, 63 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
FEEL MY PULSE
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
Bebe Daniels shines in this romantic comedy directed by Gregory La Cava. Daniels, a rich heiress whose overprotective upbringing has instilled her with extreme hypochondria, journeys to an island sanitarium she has recently inherited. Unbeknownst to her, the sanitarium's "patients" are really members of a gang of rumrunners who have taken over the location as their hideout. Further, one of the "patients," Richard Arlen, is neither a patient nor a bootlegger, but rather an undercover reporter looking for a scoop. Concerned for Daniels' safety — and newly smitten with the young beauty – Arlen gets caught snitching about the gang's secret front, making him a marked man. But Daniels, invigorated by the healthful surroundings and her newfound love, finds herself roused to action against Arlen's attackers, discovering reserves of courage and fortitude she didn't know she had. DIR/PROD Gregory La Cava; SCR Nicholas T. Barrows, Keene Thompson; PROD Jesse L. Lasky, Adolph Zukor. U.S., 1928, b&w, 63 min. NOT RATED
Followed by:
BARE KNEES
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
Billie (Virginia Lee Corbin, HANDS UP!), the liberated big-city girl, visits her married, conservative sister Jane (Jane Winton, THE PATSY, SUNRISE) in small-town Virginia — a village so sleepy that Billie decides to wake it up by ordering thigh-baring uniforms for the girls' softball team. The eclectic Erle C. Kenton (ISLAND OF LOST SOULS) directs this engaging discovery, full of flaming youth and saucy intertitles ("Our mother didn't leave us much...but she sure left it in the right places!"). (Note adapted from the Museum of Modern Art.) DIR Erle C. Kenton; SCR/PROD Harold Shumate, from a story by Adele Buffington; PROD Samuel Sax. U.S., 1928, b&w, 61 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
NIGHT NURSE (1931)
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
In one of her best early roles, sassy Barbara Stanwyck and wisecracking Joan Blondell play a pair of private nurses who discover a fiendish plot afoot in their wealthy employer's home: the brutish chauffeur (a young, not yet mustachioed Clark Gable) plans to murder the children, marry their wanton mother and make off with the kids' trust funds! DIR William Wellman; SCR Oliver H.P. Garrett, from the novel by Grace Perkins. U.S., 1931, b&w, 72 min. NOT RATED
Followed by:
BIG BUSINESS GIRL
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
Loretta Young was all of 18 years old when she starred in this zesty pre-Code farce directed by comedy stalwart William A. Seiter. Recently graduated and newly married, Young insists that husband/jazz band leader Frank Albertson takes a promising job in Paris while she pursues a business career in New York. The separation strains their marriage, much to the delight of Young's boss Ricardo Cortez, who has his own designs on his lovely protégé. Will Young's ambition get the better of her? Or will she get the better of the men in her life? Featuring Joan Blondell in a scene-stealing supporting role. DIR/PROD William A. Seiter; SCR Robert Lord, from the story by Patricia Reilly. U.S., 1931, b&w, 75 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
NOTHING BUT A MAN
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
Set against the stirrings of the Civil Rights Movement and a rising wave of burgeoning black pride, NOTHING BUT A MAN tells the story of Duff (Ivan Dixon, who went on to direct 1973's THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR), a railroad section hand who is forced to confront racial prejudice and self-denial when he falls in love with Josie (Abbey Lincoln), an educated preacher's daughter. Called "one of the most sensitive films about black life ever made in this country" (The Washington Post), the film explores the painful nuances of life in the 1960s South, and themes of fatherhood and sacrifice. (Note adapted from Cinema Conservancy.) DIR/SCR/PROD Michael Roemer; SCR/PROD Robert M. Young; PROD Robert Rubin. U.S., 1964, b&w, 95 min. NOT RATED
Followed by:
THE COOL WORLD
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
"It gives the shattering details of an excellent newspaper exposé and binds it with the conviction of staggering imagery." – The New York Times. Produced by famed documentarian Frederick Wiseman and propelled by the sounds of Dizzy Gillespie, this fictional snapshot of teenagers surrounded by pimps, prostitutes and corrupt cops in turbulent 1960s Harlem packs a punch still undiminished five decades later. The enigmatic Duke is a wannabe gangster who dreams of procuring guns so he can walk tall with the thugs he idolizes. DIR/SCR Shirley Clarke, from the novel by Warren Miller and the play by Robert Rossen; PROD Frederick Wiseman. U.S., 1963, b&w, 125 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
On the run after a poker game ends in a gunfight, the Llano Kid (Gary Cooper) falls in with shady lawyer Thacker (Oscar Apfel), who sells him on a scheme to hoodwink a wealthy widow down in Mexico who's pining for her lost son Enrique. With the Kid made up to passably resemble Enrique, the grift is on, but the Kid has a change of heart after being taken in and treated kindly by Señora Doña Marguerita Ibarra (Emma Dunn), not to mention being charmed by her young niece, Consuelo (Fay Wray). "Miss Wray has never been more captivating than she is as Consuelo." – Mordaunt Hall, The New York Times. DIR John Cromwell; SCR Oliver H.P. Garrett, Daniel Nathan Rubin, from the story "The Double-Dyed Deceiver" by O. Henry; PROD Hector Turnbull. U.S., 1930, b&w, 79 min. NOT RATED
Followed by:
THE BORDER LEGION (1930)
| 35mm print
The third of five film adaptations of Zane Grey's 1916 novel, the pre-Code 1930 version stars Jack Holt as bandit king Jack Kells, commander of a small army of outlaws who raid and plunder ruthlessly across the Idaho territory. Richard Arlen is out-of-work cowpoke Jim Cleve, who's about to get strung up for a crime he didn't commit until Kells cuts him loose, with Cleve gratefully joining Kells' gang afterward. But Cleve's heart isn't in outlawry; he soon finds it beats for the gang's beautiful new captive, Joan Randall (Fay Wray), whom Kells also covets, precipitating a standoff between Cleve and the man who saved his life. DIR Otto Brower, Edwin H. Knopf; SCR Percy Heath, Edward E. Paramore, Jr., from the novel by Zane Grey. U.S., 1930, b&w, 68 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
[TODOS LO SABEN]
Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Ricardo Darín and Bárbara Lennie star in Oscar®-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's (THE SALESMAN, A SEPARATION) acclaimed thriller set in Spain. When Laura (Cruz) travels from her home in Buenos Aires with her family to her hometown in Spain for her sister's (Lennie) wedding, a startling crime and some long-buried secrets alter the course of their lives. A visually rich and thrilling emotional rollercoaster, EVERYBODY KNOWS is bursting at the seams with star power and peerless performances.
DIR/SCR Asghar Farhadi; PROD Álvaro Longoria, Alexandre Mallet-Guy. Spain/France/Italy, 2018, color, 132 min. In English, Spanish and Catalan with English subtitles. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
Most notable for mischievously riding the edge of the Production Code, FASHIONS OF 1934 features a lot of naughtiness and a trio of lovably unethical lead characters. William Powell plays Sherwood Nash, a charming rascal who ropes Bette Davis' amateur dress designer into a scheme for bootlegging top Parisian fashions for high prices. In fact, the Busby Berkeley dance number comes as somewhat of a surprise, but when it does appear as an elaborate cog in Nash's complex ostrich-feather racket, "Spin a Little Web of Dreams" twists into delectable Berkeley decadence, with dancers wearing feather fans, playing living harps and sailing atop an undulating, glistening faux sea. His most astonishing flourish: overhead shots of the plumed dancers forming a beautiful, feathery flower, which opens and closes as if photographed in time-lapse. (Note adapted from Harvard Film Archive.) DIR William Dieterle; SCR F. Hugh Herbert, Carl Erickson; PROD Henry Blanke. U.S., 1934, b&w, 80 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
The scandalous goings-on in an upper-crust private school for young women is the setting for this pre-Code — and pre-ST. TRINIAN'S — school-girl dramedy, co-directed by screenwriter Wanda Tuchock (THE CHAMP, HALLELUJAH!, LITTLE WOMEN, SHOW PEOPLE). When socialite Virginia Radcliff (Frances Dee) arrives at Crockett Hall, she's ready to follow the institution's stringent code of ladylike conduct. But her worldly new roommate, Pony Ferris (Ginger Rogers), has other ideas. Before Virginia knows it, Pony is leading her along a perilous path toward smoking, drinking, boys and nights out in New York. Tuchock was only the second woman, together with Dorothy Arzner, to be credited as a director on a Hollywood movie in the 1930s. DIR George Nichols, Jr.; DIR/SCR Wanda Tuchock; SCR Laird Doyle; PROD Merian C. Cooper. U.S., 1934, b&w, 73 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
On the heels of their six-time Academy Award®-winning smash, LA LA LAND, Oscar®-winning director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling reteam for FIRST MAN, the riveting story behind the first manned mission to the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong (Gosling) and the decade leading to the historic Apollo 11 flight. A visceral and intimate account told from Armstrong's perspective, based on the book by James R. Hansen, the film explores the triumphs and the toll — on Armstrong, his family, his colleagues and the nation itself — of one of the most dangerous missions in history. Written by Academy Award® winner Josh Singer (THE POST, SPOTLIGHT), this epic drama of leading under the pressure of grace and tragedy is produced by Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen (the TWILIGHT saga, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS), alongside Isaac Klausner (LOVE, SIMON) and Chazelle. (Note adapted from Universal Pictures.) DIR/PROD Damien Chazelle; SCR Josh Singer, from the book by James R. Hansen; PROD Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen, Isaac Klausner. U.S., 2018, color, 141 min. RATED PG-13
AFI Member passes accepted.
Revolutionary landscape designer Piet Oudolf is known for designing public works — such as New York City's popular High Line and the Lurie Garden in Chicago's Millennium Park — that redefine our conception of gardens as works of art in themselves. This gorgeous, meditative documentary immerses viewers in Oudolf's work, taking us inside his creative process. From his aesthetic theories to his strikingly abstract sketches and the ecological implications of his ideas, the film poetically reveals how Oudolf upends conventional notions of nature, public space and, ultimately, beauty itself. (Note courtesy of Argot Pictures.) DIR/PROD/SCR Thomas Piper. U.S., 2018, color, 75 min plus a 20-min intro. In English and Dutch with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Presented as part of Science on Screen®, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
AFI Member passes accepted.
Gloria (Julianne Moore) is a free-spirited divorcée who spends her days at a straight-laced office job and her nights on the dance floor, joyfully letting loose at clubs around Los Angeles. After meeting Arnold (John Turturro) on a night out, she finds herself thrust into an unexpected new romance, filled with both the joys of budding love and the complications of dating, identity and family. From Academy Award®-winning director Sebastián Lelio (DISOBEDIENCE, A FANTASTIC WOMAN, GLORIA) comes a sophisticated romantic comedy that shows love can strike at any time, relationships are never simple and nothing can get you down as long as you keep dancing. With Michael Cera, Brad Garrett, Sean Astin, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Rita Wilson and Barbara Sukowa.
DIR/SCR/PROD Sebastián Lelio; SCR Alice Johnson Boher; PROD Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín. U.S., 2018, color, 102 min. RATED R
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Tickets $8 for children 12 and under
The Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) tries his luck as a prospector in wintry Alaska, striking a rich vein of comedic gold (if little of the real stuff) in this dazzling silent classic. "Whether staving off hunger by cooking his boot or doing a dainty dance with a pair of dinner rolls, Chaplin confronts the moral implications of every delicious, meticulously realized gag. As the poor man of refinement, the overlooked wanderer despairing of romance, the survivalist imp of defiant pride, Chaplin is the apotheosis of the world's despised and downtrodden, and also their hope." – Richard Brody, The New Yorker. DIR/SCR/PROD Charles Chaplin. U.S., 1925, b&w, 69 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
Following the parallel stories of an early Christian ascetic and a modern minister, with most actors in dual roles, HYPOCRITES is an amazingly complex film in both narrative and technique. Gabriel (Courtenay Foote) is a medieval monk who devotes himself to completing a statue of "Truth," only to be murdered by a mob when his work turns out to be an image of a naked woman. The contemporary Gabriel is the pastor of a large urban congregation for whom religion is a matter of appearances, not beliefs. The hypocrisy of the congregation is exposed by a series of vignettes in which the Naked Truth, literally portrayed by a nude woman, reveals their appetites for money, sex and power. As one of the most important and prolific American directors of the silent era, Lois Weber was able to get the film released after months of delay to widespread acclaim, propelling her stature among the ranks of her contemporaries. (Note adapted from Kino Lorber.) DIR/SCR/PROD Lois Weber; PROD Phillips Smalley. U.S., 1915, b&w, 54 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
When hard-drinking New York theater critic Larry MacArthur (Pat O'Brien) falls in love with Mexican dancer Rita Gómez (Dolores del Río) while vacationing, he's unaware she's the same performer he once scathingly reviewed. Filmed at the Mexican resort of Agua Caliente — Hollywood's favorite vacation destination at the time — this breezy musical comedy is a typical product of the south-of-the-border craze initiated with the success of the 1929 film RIO RITA. The popularity of movie musicals with Latin settings held steady throughout the 1930s and really took off when Carmen Miranda burst onto the scene in DOWN ARGENTINE WAY (1940). The musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley include the memorable "The Lady in Red." (Note adapted from the Library of Congress.) DIR Lloyd Bacon; SCR Jerry Wald, Julius J. Epstein; PROD Edward Chodorov. U.S., 1935, b&w, 84 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Presented as part of the 2019 National Week of Science on Screen®.
In Christopher Nolan's (DUNKIRK, INCEPTION) visually stunning sci-fi epic, a team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival. In Earth's future, a global crop blight and second Dust Bowl are rendering the planet uninhabitable. Professor Brand (Michael Caine), a brilliant NASA physicist, is working on plans to save mankind by transporting Earth's population to a new home via a wormhole. But first, Brand must send former NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and a team of researchers through the wormhole and across the galaxy to find out which of three planets could be mankind's new home. With Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Matt Damon, Wes Bentley and Casey Affleck. (Note adapted from Paramount Pictures.) DIR/SCR/PROD Christopher Nolan; SCR Jonathan Nolan; PROD Lynda Obst, Emma Thomas. U.S., 2014, color, 169 min plus a 20-min intro. RATED PG-13
Presented as part of Science on Screen®, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
AFI Member passes accepted.
Presented as part of the 2019 National Week of Science on Screen®.
INVENTING TOMORROW follows six young scientists from Indonesia, Hawaii, India and Mexico as they tackle some of the most complex environmental issues facing humanity today — right in their own backyards. Each student is preparing original scientific research that he or she will defend at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair — the Olympics of high school science fairs. Framed against the backdrop of the severe environmental threats we now face, this powerful documentary immerses the audience in a global view of the planetary crisis, through the eyes of the generation that will be affected by it most. (Note adapted from Fishbowl Films.) DIR/PROD Laura Nix; PROD Diane Becker, Melanie Miller. U.S., 2018, color, 87 min plus a 20-min intro. NOT RATED
Presented as part of Science on Screen®, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
AFI Member passes accepted.
The first film to sweep the major Oscars® — Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress — remains one of the Frank Capra-Robert Riskin team's brightest achievements. Rebellious heiress Claudette Colbert, seeking to escape her domineering father, jumps ship in Miami and boards a long-haul bus to NYC. But down-on-his-luck reporter Clark Gable spots the runaway debutante, and, knowing a scoop when he sees it, brokers an exclusive story in exchange for not turning her in. Shared motel rooms, traded barbs and the famous thumb vs. leg hitchhiking scene ensue, en route to rollicking romance. DIR/PROD Frank Capra; SCR Robert Riskin, from the story "Night Bus" by Samuel Hopkins Adams. U.S., 1934, b&w, 105 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
JIMI HENDRIX: ELECTRIC CHURCH presents the legendary guitarist in full flight at the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival before the largest U.S. audience of his career — and just two months before his untimely death. This critically acclaimed film combines color, 16mm multi-camera footage of Hendrix's unforgettable July 4, 1970 concert in its original performance sequence together with a new documentary that traces his journey to the festival amidst the dark shadow of civil rights unrest, the unrelenting toll of the Vietnam War and a burgeoning festival culture that drew together young people across the country who were inspired by Woodstock. ELECTRIC CHURCH features interviews with Hendrix's Experience band mates Billy Cox and the late Mitch Mitchell, as well as Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Rich Robinson, Kirk Hammett, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi and many others. Despite the overwhelming attendance (estimated to be 300,000-400,000), the festival, and Hendrix's performance in particular, has not received its due in terms of historic impact until now.
Originally debuting in 2015, JIMI HENDRIX: ELECTRIC CHURCH is finally making its theatrical debut and is set to make an historic run of limited engagements at select theaters worldwide.
DIR/PROD John McDermott; PROD Janie Hendrix. U.S., 2015, color, 89 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
A blockbuster sensation upon release in 1933, KING KONG is still the greatest monster movie of them all, boasting groundbreaking special effects, a multi-layered and compelling story and Fay Wray's most iconic role, originating the screen persona of "scream queen." Explorer Robert Armstrong and his crew journey to Skull Island in search of the biggest of game, the legendary giant ape Kong. Willis O'Brien's stop-motion animation of Kong and the other creatures of Skull Island still amazes today. #43 on AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies; #24 on AFI's 100 Years…100 Passions. DIR/PROD Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack; SCR James Ashmore Creelman, Ruth Rose, from a story by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. U.S., 1933, b&w, 100 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Gambler Dave the Dude (Warren William) and his motley band of guys and dolls and street characters turn May Robson's down-and-out street peddler into a society grand dame for the visit of her convent-raised daughter. Adapted from Damon Runyon's Depression-era fable, the pre-Code comedy-drama earned four Oscar® nominations, including Frank Capra's first for Best Director and Robert Riskin's first for Best Screenplay. DIR Frank Capra; SCR Robert Riskin, from the story by Damon Runyon; PROD Harry Cohn. U.S., 1933, b&w, 96 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Author Angie Thomas' acclaimed debut novel "The Hate U Give" was published in early 2017 and spent nearly a year on The New York Times Young Adult best-seller list. The feature film adaptation of the book, directed by George Tillman, Jr., and starring Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, K.J. Apa, Common and Anthony Mackie, premiered in fall of 2018. The story centers on Starr Carter (Stenberg), a 16-year-old high school student growing up in the impoverished, mostly black neighborhood of Garden Heights, who attends the elite, mostly white private school of Williamson Prep. After Starr loses a lifelong friend to a police shooting, an event she witnesses firsthand, she must not only overcome the trauma, but also navigate challenges at home and school in order to stand up for justice.
Thomas will discuss the translation of her book to the screen, as well as the very real events that inspired her novel. This event will be followed by a Q&A with the audience. Total program approx. 90 minutes.
Co-presented by The PEN/Faulkner Foundation's Literary Conversations series
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Tickets $8 for children 12 and under
Mary Pickford plays a "tomboy of the tenements" in this comedy drama, which she also wrote. Filmed over ten weeks, LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY was shot entirely on a set created by art director John DuCasse Schulze at the Pickford Fairbanks Studio. Co-starring William Haines and a wide-ranging, multi-ethnic cast, LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY met with huge critical and commercial success upon its original release, proving fans and critics alike wanted the then-33-year-old Pickford to stay a child forever. Created from the original tinted nitrate print in Pickford's personal collection at the Library of Congress, LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY was preserved photochemically by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Archive. A new 35mm preservation master was then scanned at 4K high definition so that the Mary Pickford Foundation, in cooperation with AMPAS, could create a digital version to perfectly match the original nitrate tints and tones. The Mary Pickford Foundation commissioned Andy Gladbach to compose a new original soundtrack, performed by a 12-piece orchestra including three percussionists. (Note courtesy of Flicker Alley.) DIR William Beaudine; SCR/PROD Mary Pickford; SCR Hope Loring, Louis D. Lighton. U.S., 1925, b&w, 114 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
New 4K DCP restoration from an original nitrate print courtesy of the Mary Pickford Foundation
Oslo, 1987. Seventeen-year-old Euronymous (Rory Culkin, SCREAM 4, SIGNS) is determined to escape his traditional upbringing, and becomes fixated on creating "true Norwegian black metal" with his band Mayhem. He mounts shocking publicity stunts to put the band's name on the map, but the lines between show and reality begin to blur. Arson, violence and a vicious murder shock the nation that is under siege by these lords of chaos. Based on a true story; co-starring Emory Cohen, Jack Kilmer, Sky Ferreira and Valter Skarsgård. "A pitch-perfect black-metal dramedy about real-life head-bangers who lost their minds." – Variety. DIR/SCR Jonas Åkerlund; SCR Dennis Magnusson, from the book by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind; PROD Jack Arbuthnott, Jim Czarnecki, Kwesi Dickson, Danny Gabai, Erik Gordon, Kai-Lu Hsiung, Ko Mori, Fredrik Zander. UK/Sweden, 2018, color, 118 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Diplomat Ronald Colman and his motley crew of fellow air travelers, skyjacked high above the Himalayas, stumble upon a lost city hidden in a mountain valley. This ambitious adaptation of James Hilton's bestselling novel was a sharp departure for apostles of Americana Capra, and a gamble for Harry Cohn and Columbia, with the film's $2.6M budget quadrupling their previous high. This 2014 restored version recovers footage missing from the 1985 reconstruction, coming the closest yet to the film's premiere cut. Seven Oscar® nominations, with wins for Best Editing and Art Direction. DIR/PROD Frank Capra; SCR Robert Riskin, from the novel by James Hilton. U.S., 1937, b&w, 132 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
"The first time a city exists on the screen." – film critic Pierre Rissient. Joseph Losey stylishly reinterprets Fritz Lang's disturbing 1931 masterpiece about a child killer whose crimes forge an unlikely alliance between the underworld and police. Although Lang and von Harbou's script remains largely untouched, the shadowy claustrophobia of the first film's German city is replaced by the sun-bleached sidewalks, faded Victorian buildings (including the oft-filmed Bradbury) and underground garages of post-war Los Angeles — the final location being where the murderer (David Wayne) faces the blunt force of a vigilante mob. Ironically, members of the film's left-leaning production team were themselves the target of anti-Communist protests, with the film picketed and even banned in many cities. Despite this backlash, critics admired the film's realistic locations, with The Hollywood Reporter praising "the unidentified but hugely effective backgrounds of Los Angeles." DIR Joseph Losey; SCR Norman Reilly Raine, Leo Katcher; PROD Seymour Nebenzal. U.S., 1951, b&w, 88 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
NYC pollster James Stewart discovers the "mathematical miracle" of Grandview, an all-American town so perfectly typical that all of his polling there accurately reflects the national averages. Stewart and his associates Ned Sparks and Donald Meek go undercover as insurance salesmen in order to surreptitiously conduct their surveys. But when Stewart gets wind of local newspaperwoman Jane Wyman's proposal to build a new civic center and expanded infrastructure for the town, he fears it will ruin the town's "averageness," and his access to trusty data. So Stewart campaigns against Wyman's progressivism, hoping to keep the town just as it is. As Stewart and Wyman match wits, they are soon falling in love in Robert Riskin and William A. Wellman's effervescent political fable. DIR/PROD William A. Wellman; SCR/PROD Robert Riskin, from a story by Joseph Krumgold. U.S., 1947, b&w, 103 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
This documentary spotlights the eccentric, indigenous living legend Maj-Doris Rimpi, born in 1943. Twenty years ago, she had another kind of life, traveling the world and promoting the cultural legacy of the Sámi people. Presently, Maj-Doris lives alone on a farm above the Arctic Circle in Sweden. She keeps reindeer, but she's also a sought-after artist, painter and actress (best known for her role in 2016's SAMI BLOOD). Last winter was filled with hard work, and she almost gave up. This winter, Maj-Doris gets help from an unexpected source, but does she have the energy to continue like this? Jon Blåhed's sensual and beautifully-paced film is a portrait of a fascinating life. DIR/SCR Jon Blåhed; PROD Göran Hedemalm. Sweden, 2018, color, 73 min. In Swedish and Sami with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
A decidedly dark allegory from director Frank Capra: soon-to-be-downsized journalist Barbara Stanwyck publishes a fake letter, a desperate cri de coeur from the Common Man that threatens a Christmas Eve leap from the roof of City Hall to protest the ills of the world, signed "John Doe." When the letter causes a grassroots phenomenon, her newspaper hires her back to keep the story alive, including casting former baseball player/current tramp Gary Cooper to play the role of John Doe. As manipulative political forces seek to hijack the movement, Stanwyck faces the crisis of falling in love with the man she's in danger of destroying. DIR/PROD Frank Capra; SCR/PROD Robert Riskin, from a story by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell, Sr. U.S., 1941, b&w, 122 min. NOT RATED
Archival 35mm print courtesy of the Library of Congress
AFI Member passes accepted.
Treasury Department agent Burt Lancaster gets handed an unusual case: find the counterfeiter who despite printing poor copies of the $1 bill with the name "Washington" misspelled, has eluded the authorities for a decade. Investigating a recent incident where U.N. translator Dorothy McGuire was passed a few fake bucks, Lancaster gets his man: elderly gentleman (and McGuire neighbor) Edmund Gwenn, who swears he only makes enough "funny money" to support himself. Based on a true story, Robert Riskin's final produced screenplay is a quirky charmer. DIR Edmund Goulding; SCR Robert Riskin, from "Annals of Crime" articles in The New Yorker by St. Clair McKelway; PROD Julian Blaustein. U.S., 1950, b&w, 90 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Spawning a hit musical, plush killer bunnies and a generation of comedy nerds, this irreverent cult classic is the Pythons' unique take on the legend of King Arthur. After recruiting the Knights of the Round Table to join him in Camelot (turns out it's a silly place), Arthur and his coconut-clopping crew set out on a noble quest to find the Holy Grail. Featuring limbless knights, a Trojan rabbit and wisecracking Frenchmen, the troupe's first original feature mixes absurd set pieces with Terry Gilliam's trademark animation, in the only Python film he directed. DIR/SCR Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones; SCR Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin; PROD Mark Forstater, Michael White. UK, 1975, color, 91 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Monty Python delivers a scathing, anarchic satire of both religion and Hollywood's depiction of all things biblical in this hilarious epic. The setting is Judea 33 AD, a time of poverty and chaos. At the center of it all is Brian Cohen (Graham Chapman), a reluctant would-be messiah who rises to prominence as the result of a series of absurd circumstances (and a bit of mistaken identity with that better-known prophet). The Pythons, each playing multiple roles, nail the topical humor of the day: ex-lepers, Pontius Pilate, the art of haggling, the Romans ("What have they ever done for us?") and crucifixion. DIR/SCR Terry Jones; SCR Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin; PROD John Goldstone. UK, 1979, color, 94 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
"There are two kinds of people in the world: those who hunt and those who are hunted." When his luxury yacht sinks off the western coast of South America, author and big game hunter Joel McCrea washes up on the private island of a mysterious, exiled Russian count (Leslie Banks) where he meets several fellow castaways, including siblings Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray. When it becomes clear that the Count's outward hospitality masks the most sinister of pastimes, McCrea must use his wits and skills to fight for his life, lest he and the others become the prey of a madman. Filmed on the same set as 1933's KING KONG and on an overlapping schedule, actress Wray worked as many as 22 hours in a single day, shuttling between the two productions. DIR Irving Pichel; DIR/PROD Ernest B. Schoedsack; SCR James Ashmore Creelman, from the story by Richard Connell; PROD David O. Selznick, Merian C. Cooper. U.S., 1932, b&w, 63 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
To help unidentified films regain their identity, the Library of Congress holds an annual identification workshop called "Mostly Lost," where archived but unidentified films (their labels either missing, misattributed or only partially accurate) are screened for an audience made up of both archive professionals and film buffs, who then call out anything they recognize on screen (actors, locations, what time period the film appears to be from) that might help to identify the mystery film, simultaneously consulting the Internet's specialist film databases for further clues and confirmation. For lovers of silent cinema, this is a wildly entertaining and hugely educational event, and one which consistently succeeds in making a number of new identifications for these unlabeled and unknown films — occasionally, even finding a film previously thought to be lost. This program will present a sampling of the "Mostly Lost" experience, including a screening of several films recently identified at the workshop; a sampling of a film identification session; and an encore screening of a popular presentation from the 2018 edition of Jim Kerkhoff's 90 YEARS LOST IN THE DESERT, about the filming locations for the 1927 Laurel and Hardy comedy FLYING ELEPHANTS. Total program approx. 120 min.
AFI Member passes accepted.
Gary Cooper is Longfellow Deeds, an unassuming man-child in Mandrake Falls, Vermont, who finds himself at the center of a media storm when he inherits a fortune. Whisked off to New York City, he's beset by scheming lawyers and scandal-mongering journalists — including Jean Arthur as broadsheet columnist Babe Bennett, undercover as meek Mary Dawson to get close to Deeds and dig up some dirt. Shaken by the city slickers' mean spirits, greed and duplicity, Deeds' decency, horse sense and homespun homilies carry the day. The second of Frank Capra's three Best Director Oscars®. DIR/PROD Frank Capra; SCR Robert Riskin, from the story by Clarence Budington Kelland. U.S., 1936, b&w, 115 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress
Sat, Apr 6, 7:30 p.m.
"There are eight million stories in the Naked City," as narrator Mark Hellinger (also the film's producer) immortally states at the close of this breathtakingly vivid film — and this is one of them. Master film noir craftsman Jules Dassin and Hellinger's dazzling police procedural was shot entirely on location in New York City. As influenced by Italian neorealism as American crime fiction, this double Academy Award® winner remains a benchmark for naturalism in noir, living and breathing in the promises and perils of the Big Apple, from its lowest depths to its highest skyscrapers. (Note courtesy of The Criterion Collection.) DIR Jules Dassin; SCR Albert Maltz, Malvin Wald, from his story; PROD Mark Hellinger. U.S., 1948, b&w, 96 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
A tale of Old Spain: a villainous duke (Montagu Love) spies a beautiful gypsy girl (Laska Winter) on her wedding day, and decides to exercise his droit de seigneur or "right of the first night." He takes her back to his castle to bed her before planning to return her to her groom (Ronald Colman). But the girl takes her own life rather than be defiled by the Duke, leading Colman to vow revenge. With the Duke's own nuptials coming up, Colman kidnaps his betrothed, the Princess Marie (Vilma Bánky). George Fitzmaurice's handsome production features strong performances from the star pairing of Colman and Bánky and the fine supporting cast. It was also subject to censorship and moral condemnation in some quarters (Photoplay called it "salacious and entirely too intimate for presentation to young people.") DIR George Fitzmaurice; SCR Lenore J. Coffee, from the play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca; PROD Samuel Goldwyn. U.S., 1927, b&w, 80 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Archival 35mm print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Packard Humanities Institute
Having lost their parents to the plague and with the French Revolution raging throughout the country, provincial sisters Henriette (Lillian Gish) and Louise (Dorothy Gish) travel to Paris, seeking treatment for Louise's blindness. But the chaos and depravity of the city under siege separates them, with Henriette kidnapped by a lascivious marquis and Louise forced into a gang of thieves who force her to beg on the street. As the French Revolution rages around them, the sisters must navigate perils on both sides of the conflict, helped by sympathetic Chevalier Joseph Schildkraut (in his American screen debut) and people's hero Danton (Monte Blue) himself. "A marvelous, expensively produced mixture of melodrama and sentimentality, with duels, kidnappings, the storming of the Bastille and Lillian Gish being saved from the guillotine." – Pauline Kael. DIR/SCR/PROD D.W. Griffith, from the play "Les Deux Orphelines" by Adolphe d'Ennery and Eugène Cormon. U.S., 1921, b&w, 150 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
35mm print
The sequel to 2014's PADDINGTON finds the beloved bear (voiced by Ben Whishaw) now very much a part of the Brown family in Windsor Gardens, and a popular member of the local community. But when he's framed for the theft of a beautiful old pop-up book from Mr. Gruber's (Jim Broadbent) antique shop, Paddington and the Browns must work extra hard to clear the bear's good name. Hugh Grant, in a BAFTA-nominated performance, headlines the newcomers to the wonderful cast, including Brendan Gleeson, Joanna Lumley, Eileen Atkins, Noah Taylor and Tom Conti, joining Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Peter Capaldi and Imelda Staunton from the original film. DIR/SCR Paul King; SCR Simon Farnaby, from the books by Michael Bond; PROD David Heyman. UK, 2017, color, 103 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Tickets $5
Beginning in 1942 and continuing through to the end of World War II, Hollywood screenwriter Robert Riskin joined the Office of War Information to head up the Overseas Motion Picture Branch, overseeing production of a series of short films called "Projections of America." The series ultimately yielded 26 titles, each a masterpiece of artful short-form documentary in the service of wartime propaganda, publicly screened for the local European populations recently liberated (in some cases, as recently as a few days before) from occupying Nazi forces. The films offered portraits of both everyday Americans — cowboys, farmers, skyscraper window washers, school children — and celebrity ambassadors for the American way of life, like Swedish immigrant Ingrid Bergman and Italian expat Arturo Toscanini. Among Riskin's talented collaborators included Hollywood figures like director Josef von Sternberg, producer John Houseman and writers Philip Dunne, Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich and Garson Kanin, alongside veteran documentarians like Alexander Hammid (a regular collaborator with experimental filmmaker Maya Deren), Irving Lerner and Roger Barlow. Peter Miller's feature documentary illuminates this little-known chapter in the life and work of one of Hollywood's greatest screenwriters. Narrated by John Lithgow. DIR/SCR/PROD Peter Miller; PROD Antje Boehmert, Christian J. Popp. U.S., 2014, color and b&w, 52 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
AFI Member passes accepted.
Preserved by the Library of Congress
The 1928 film adaptation of Helen Hunt Jackson's enormously popular 1884 novel "Ramona" was long thought to be lost, but a print was rediscovered in the Czech National Film Archive in 2010 and restored by the Library of Congress in 2014. The story of a mixed-race Irish and Native American orphan girl growing up in southern California in the 1850s, shortly after the Mexican–American War, RAMONA was produced and directed by Edwin Carewe and written by his brother Finis Fox, both of whom were members of the Chickasaw Nation on their mother's side. The film starred Carewe's great discovery, the Mexican actress Dolores del Río, as Ramona, and Warner Baxter as her Native American paramour Alessandro. The story chronicles the young couple's efforts to homestead on the fertile California land, but again and again they are driven out by the incoming white American settlers. Filmed on location in Utah's Zion National Park, the film blends romance and pictorialism with a stark depiction, and strong condemnation, of institutional racism. DIR/PROD Edwin Carewe; SCR Finis Fox, from the novel by Helen Hunt Jackson. U.S., 1928, b&w, 80 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Also part of the United Artists Centennial Retrospective
The murder of a man and the rape of his wife in a forest grove are seen from several different perspectives. Akira Kurosawa's meditation on the nature of truth transformed narrative cinema as we know it, and birthed the term "Rashômon effect." Starring Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô and Masayuki Mori; winner of the Golden Lion, 1951 Venice Film Festival and an Honorary Oscar® as Best Foreign Language Film at the 1952 Academy Awards®. DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa; SCR Shinobu Hashimoto, from a story by Ryûnosuke Akutagawa; PROD Minoru Jingo. Japan, 1950, b&w, 88 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Post-screening panel discussion on April 28 with:
Andrea Finuccio, Staff Attorney at MCASA's Sexual Assault Legal Institute (SALI)
Evan Glass, Montgomery County Council Member and former CNN Journalist
Michele Mason, Author, Associate Professor of Modern Japanese Cultural Studies and Department Head of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Maryland
Shane'a Thomas, LICSW, M.Ed., Behavioral Health/Youth Services, Whitman-Walker Health
Moderator: Tonya J. Turner, Assistant District Attorney, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia
Co-presented with Aha! Moment, DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC), LadyDocs, Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MCASA), Montgomery Women and Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC)
The uncut version!
35mm print restored by the Library of Congress in association with UCLA Film & Television Archive, Universal Studios, and The Film Foundation. Restoration funding provided by The Film Foundation and the Library of Congress.
Intro by Mike Mashon, Head of the Moving Image Section, Library of Congress
"The Road Back" was the sequel to Erich Maria Remarque's famous novel "All Quiet on the Western Front," and director James Whale, himself a WWI veteran, intended his film to equal the success of the earlier novel's celebrated 1930 film adaptation, directed by Lewis Milestone and produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr. for Universal. But before he could produce Whale's film, Laemmle, Jr. was forced out of Universal in 1936; this 1937 release was severely altered by the new studio regime under Charles R. Rogers, bowing to pressure from the German market to remove "anti-German" material (the Nazis had banned Remarque's novel) and padding out the comedic content. The Library of Congress has restored the uncut version that represents Whale's original vision, a powerful film of German soldiers returning home from the Great War to a shattered country, and their struggles to re-adjust to society. Starring John King, Richard Cromwell, Slim Summerville and Andy Devine. DIR James Whale; SCR Charles Kenyon, R.C. Sherriff, from the novel by Erich Maria Remarque; PROD Edmund Grainger. U.S., 1937, b&w, 100 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Following worldwide economic collapse, the United States in 2019 is a totalitarian police state. The opiate of the masses is government-sanctioned TV game shows where prisoners fight for their lives as millions cheer. At the time of its release in 1987, the film was seen as a misstep for rising star Arnold Schwarzenegger — but who's laughing now? Based on the novel by Stephen King, this dire vision of the future is a campy and compelling dystopian tale. The fun cast includes Richard Dawson as the sleazy game show host, Jesse Ventura and Jim Brown as "stalkers" of the contestants, musicians Mick Fleetwood and Dweezil Zappa as rebel insurgents, plus María Conchita Alonso and Yaphet Kotto. DIR Paul Michael Glaser; SCR Steven E. de Souza, from the novel by Stephen King; PROD George Linder, Tim Zinnemann. U.S., 1987, color, 101 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
San Francisco prostitute Sadie Thompson (Gloria Swanson, Oscar®-nominated in the award's inaugural year) leaves the City by the Bay to start a new life on an island in the South Pacific. Independent and high-spirited, Sadie unapologetically enjoys the company of men, including "entertaining" a Marine detachment stationed nearby, eventually falling in love with Sgt. Tim O'Hara (director Raoul Walsh, in his final acting performance). But sanctimonious missionary worker Alfred Davidson (Lionel Barrymore) can't abide Sadie's unrepentant hedonism, and under the threat of exposure to the law, coerces her conversion. But Davidson's no saint himself. Adapted from W. Somerset Maugham's short story "Miss Sadie Thompson," scandalously and successfully adapted on Broadway as "Rain," also the title of the 1932 sound version starring Joan Crawford. DIR/SCR/PROD Raoul Walsh; SCR C. Gardner Sullivan, from "Rain" by John Colton and Clemence Randolph and "Miss Sadie Thompson" by W. Somerset Maugham; PROD Gloria Swanson. U.S., 1928, b&w, 97 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
35mm print
Local TV legend Count Gore De Vol (Dick Dyszel) returns to present another horror classic with interactive games, prizes and more! SON OF FRANKENSTEIN was the third of Universal's Frankenstein films, and the final one to feature Boris Karloff as the Monster. This time around, Basil Rathbone plays Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, son of Colin Clive's infamous doctor, and Bela Lugosi plays Ygor, who "pretty much steals the movie in his last really juicy role" – J. Hoberman, The Village Voice. The Baron's return to the family castle soon reveals all of the old secrets, and a few new twists as well. DIR/PROD Rowland V. Lee; SCR Wyllis Cooper, inspired by characters in "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. U.S., 1939, b&w, 99 min. NOT RATED
Tickets $8 for children 12 and under
"Literally a magic carpet ride of effects and stunts. It's so imaginative and extraordinary." –Kevin Brownlow. Douglas Fairbanks' magnum opus! As a wily thief in the bazaar, Fairbanks contents himself with taking what he wants, but after infiltrating the palace and meeting the Princess, he's inspired to earn her hand and his happiness, and compete with her other princely suitors in a fantastic scavenger hunt. The extravagant art nouveau sets were designed by William Cameron Menzies, making a legendary screen debut. The special effects still amaze — memorable set pieces include the magic rope, flying carpet, caverns of fire, a menagerie of monsters and a flying horse. Anna May Wong steals her scenes as a slave girl sent to spy by Mongol prince Sojin Kamiyama. "On the one hand, THIEF is the movie you want to see as a kid, when its wonderful special effects can work their best magic. On the other hand, its magnificent design, its sophisticated sense of Arabian Nights fantasies and its tongue-in-cheek star may be best appreciated by adults. In other words, it's a film for all ages and for all decades." – Jeanine Basinger. DIR/SCR/PROD Raoul Walsh; SCR Achmed Abdullah, Lotta Woods, from "One Thousand and One Nights." U.S., 1924, tinted and toned b&w, 155 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[TOMKA DHE SHOKËT E TIJ]
35mm print preserved by the library of Congress in coordination with the Albanian National Film Archive and the Albanian Cinema Project
The shorts and features of Xhanfize Keko, all of which center on children's themes and preoccupations, occupy a pivotal yet controversial place in Albanian cinema. These films were among the most popular of Albania's Communist era and remain widely loved. But this affection is now tempered with ambivalence about their association with an era many Albanians would prefer to forget. Keko was the only female Albanian feature film director in the Kinostudio era, which ended in 1996. When she died in 2007, she left behind a remarkable legacy of nearly a dozen features virtually unknown to outside audiences. The Albania Cinema Project's English-subtitled restoration of TOMKA AND HIS FRIENDS is a rare chance to look at moving images from a society that was closed off from the rest of the world for decades. It tells a compelling story of a group of young boys working to defend their homeland from the occupying German army in the town of Berat around 1943. (Note courtesy of George Eastman Museum.) DIR Xhanfize Keko; SCR Nasho Jorgaqi; PROD Nikollaq Taja. Albania, 1977, b&w, 80 min. In Albanian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Winner of the first (and only) Oscar® for Best Comedy Direction at the inaugural Academy Awards® in 1929, Lewis Milestone's quirky buddy caper chronicles the adventures of captured American soldiers Private W. Daingerfield Phelps III (William Boyd) and Sergeant Peter O'Gaffney (Louis Wolheim, later directed by Milestone in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT) during World War I. Initially at odds, the two prisoners of war bond and plot an escape. After many failed attempts, the pair finally succeed in slipping out in Arab disguise and sneaking onto a cargo ship bound for Arabia, where they both fall for soon-to-be-married beauty Mirza (Mary Astor). DIR/PROD Lewis Milestone; SCR Donald McGibney, Wallace Smith, Cyril Gardner; PROD John W. Considine, Jr., Howard Hughes. U.S., 1927, b&w, 82 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Preserved by the Academy Film Archive
Following the success of 1925's THE MERRY WIDOW, filmmaker Erich von Stroheim went wildly over budget on his ambitious follow-up, THE WEDDING MARCH (1928), with Paramount ultimately taking the project away from him and handing editing duties to director Josef von Sternberg. But the surviving film nonetheless bears von Stroheim's distinctive stamp, featuring elaborate sets that recreate pre-WWI Vienna, from palatial courts and cathedrals to butcher shops and bawdy houses, and, most distinctively, von Stroheim's sardonic wit and taste for sadomasochistic situations. Von Stroheim gives a charismatic lead performance as Prince Nicki, alongside co-stars ZaSu Pitts as his betrothed, Cecelia, and a 19-year-old Fay Wray as his true love, Mitzi. Wray claimed THE WEDDING MARCH was her personal favorite among her 100+ screen credits. DIR/SCR/PROD Erich von Stroheim; SCR Harry Carr; PROD Pat Powers. U.S., 1928, b&w, 113 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Edward G. Robinson does double duty as "Jonesy" Jones, a mild-mannered clerk, and "Killer" Mannion, a gangster recently escaped from prison with whom Jonesy unfortunately shares a remarkable resemblance. It was a breakthrough film for Jean Arthur, who plays the wisecracking coworker for whom Jonesy secretly pines, establishing the screen persona that would make her a star. Director John Ford shows off his chops with this energetic urban comedy, working from a clever script by ace screenwriters Robert Riskin (IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT) and Jo Swerling (PLATINUM BLONDE). DIR/PROD John Ford; SCR Robert Riskin, Jo Swerling; PROD Lester Cowan. U.S., 1935, b&w, 93 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Eastern engineer Willard Holmes (Ronald Colman) goes West with his banker stepfather (E.J. Ratcliffe) to work on a dam and irrigation project for settlers in the California desert, including Jefferson Worth (Charles Lane) and his pretty adopted daughter Barbara (Vilma Bánky), with whom Holmes soon becomes smitten. But local boy Abe Lee (Gary Cooper) also takes an interest in Barbara. When Holmes' stepfather proves to be a liar and a cheat, he throws his lot in with the locals, but can he ever do enough to regain the trust — and the heart — of Barbara? Henry King's epic Western romance is a triumph of silent-era filmmaking, boasting beautiful vistas — with cinematography by one of the early greats, George Barnes, assisted by a 22-year-old Gregg Toland — and a top-notch cast, including young Cooper in one of his first big breaks. "Gary Cooper is a youth who will be heard of on screen and possibly blossom out as an ace lead." – Variety. DIR Henry King; SCR Frances Marion, from the novel by Harold Bell Wright; PROD Samuel Goldwyn. U.S., 1926, b&w, 89 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Archival 35mm print courtesy of The Library Trust under the Samuel Goldwyn Jr. Family Trust at the Academy Film Archive.
Set in '70s Kingston and '80s Hackney, Idris Elba's powerful directorial debut centers on the life of a young Jamaican man named D (Aml Ameen) who has never fully recovered from the murder of his older brother Jerry Dread (Everaldo Creary), committed during his childhood. D grows up under the wing of a Kingston Don and music producer named King Fox (Sheldon Shepherd). Fox dispatches him to London, where he reconnects with his childhood sweetheart, Yvonne (Shantol Jackson), and his daughter who he's not seen since she was a baby. But before he can be convinced to abandon his life of crime and follow "the righteous path," he encounters the man who shot his brother 10 years earlier, and embarks on a bloody, explosive quest for retribution — a quest which brings him into conflict with vicious London gangster Rico (Stephen Graham).
DIR Idris Elba; SCR Brock Norman Brock, Martin Stellman, from the novel by Victor Headley; PROD Gina Carter, Robin Gutch. UK, 2018, color, 101 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Lionel Barrymore is Grandpa Vanderhof, patriarch of a kooky household of free spirits, including prolifically unpublished playwright daughter Spring Byington and her pyromaniacal husband Samuel S. Hinds; dancer granddaughter Ann Miller and her xylophonist husband Dub Taylor; Russian layabout Mischa Auer and inventor friend Donald Meek. Then there's granddaughter Jean Arthur, the most daring of the bunch: she falls in love with James Stewart, son of corporate raider and arms dealer Edward Arnold. Only screenwriter Robert Riskin and director Frank Capra could make corn like this pop, and they did, winning Best Picture and Best Director Oscars® among seven nominations. DIR/PROD Frank Capra; SCR Robert Riskin, from the play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. U.S., 1938, b&w, 126 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.