Stage & Screen
Presenting an exciting selection of filmed performances ranging from one-of-a-kind concerts to stage productions from the National Theatre.
Upcoming engagements will be announced on an ongoing basis.
AFI Silver After Dark
All tickets just $8!
Join us for a monthly late-night series showcasing classic, soon-to-be classic and should-be-classic horror, sci-fi, action, fantasy and cross-genre gems hand-picked by the AFI Silver programming team. We promise deep cuts — sometimes literally — underrated classics, sneak peeks, new restorations and all-time favorites up on the big screen, the way late-night movies are meant to be seen!
Monthly selections will be announced on an ongoing basis.
NEW: Pick up our new After Dark Punch Card at the Silver Box Office! Catch six After Dark flicks and your next one is on us.
Recent Restorations
April 24–July 9
This series rounds up a wide range of recent digital restorations of screen classics. Here is your chance to see them back on the big screen and looking better than they have in years, thanks to the efforts of dedicated film archivists and specialty distributors.
Rob Reiner Remembered
April 24–July 9
A beloved actor, writer, director, producer and activist, Rob Reiner (1947–2025) broke the Hollywood mold, deftly navigating the transition from television actor to acclaimed studio filmmaker with an enviable track record of iconic hits. Beginning with his riotous debut, THIS IS SPINAL TAP, his films would go on to define entire genres, from the now-often-imitated mockumentary to the modern romantic comedy with WHEN HARRY MET SALLY… Reiner dominated the cinematic landscape of the ‘80s with quintessential classics STAND BY ME and THE PRINCESS BRIDE before turning to more politically minded fare in the ‘90s with A FEW GOOD MEN and THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT. Even as he focused on directing and producing via his company Castle Rock, he still lit up the screen as an actor, with a standout being his performance as Leonardo DiCaprio’s beleaguered father in Martin Scorsese’s THE WOLF OF WALL STREET. With this series, the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center pays tribute to the legendary filmmaker and actor whose impact on our global cinematic vocabulary “goes to 11."
Andrzej Wajda Centennial
April 24–June 29
To mark the centennial of Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda (1926–2016) — and the “Year of Andrzej Wajda” in Poland — AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center celebrates his visionary work with a selection of nine films from across his more than six-decade career. Over the course of more than 40 features, Wajda became one of cinema’s most vital chroniclers of Polish history, while also exploring universal themes — political repression, resistance and the role of artists in speaking truth to power — that saw the impact of his work expand beyond Poland to influence filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Wajda captured audiences across the globe, receiving a Palme d’Or and honorary awards from the Oscars®, the Venice Film Festival and the Berlinale. Beginning with Wajda’s landmark War Trilogy — A GENERATION (1955), KANAL (1957) and ASHES AND DIAMONDS (1958) — this series also includes the incisive critiques of state power MAN OF MARBLE (1977) and MAN OF IRON (1981), as well as lesser-known gems, such as the Nouvelle Vague-inspired INNOCENT SORCERERS (1960), and later works, including KORCZAK (1990) and AFTERIMAGE (2016), his final film. Additional films will be presented at the National Gallery of Art later this year.
Presented in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, DC, the Wajda Film Center and the National Gallery of Art.
Special thanks to DI Factory, Jędrzej Sabliński and Jessica Rosner.
Pride on Screen
May 29–June 30
As Pride celebrations in Washington, DC, enter their 51st year, the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center proudly presents a series of 10 films in recognition and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. Pride on Screen offers a globe-spanning tour of LGBTQ+ history, from recent releases like A USEFUL GHOST, a Thai romance about a haunted vacuum cleaner, and S&M biker romantic drama PILLION to a new restoration of radical Brazilian drag-queen crime film THE DEVIL QUEEN and anniversary celebrations of THE HANDMAIDEN, Park Chan-wook’s effortlessly cool lesbian thriller, and Barry Jenkins’ Best Picture–winning MOONLIGHT. Notable presentations include a screening of FUCKTOYS with filmmaker and star Annapurna Sriram and AFI Silver After Dark shows of THE SERPENT’S SKIN.
DC Caribbean FilmFest 2026
June 5–11
In recognition of Caribbean Heritage Month in June, the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center is proud to once again host the DC Caribbean FilmFest, now in its 24th year. The Fest is co-presented with the Caribbean Association of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund Staff (CAWI), the Caribbean Professional Network (CPN), the Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS) and Africa World Now Project.
Special thanks to media sponsor WPFW and supporting sponsor DC Caribbean Bar Association.
Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair
June 12–18
Presented in partnership with the American Cinematheque, Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair is an annual festival showcasing some of the greatest works of cinema from across the globe that venture into the darkest sides of humanity and the bleakest points in human history.
The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center joins the fifth annual edition in June 2026 as the festival expands to nearly 100 theaters across the U.S., Canada, UK and South and Central America, with each venue presenting its own lineup of uncompromising films defined by unpleasant truths and raw empathy.
AFI Silver’s original curated lineup features 17 dark, depressing works from some of cinema’s most celebrated auteurs, including Béla Tarr’s immersive seven-hour masterpiece SÁTÁNTANGÓ, Isao Takahata’s devastating GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES and Lynne Ramsey’s raw and deeply poetic RATCATCHER.
Also part of Bleak Week: MISERY and KORCZAK.
Learn more about the dreary dates and ennui-inducing events that are part of Bleak Week, including our June 12 Unhappy Hour.
Play Ball! The American Pastime
July 3–16
“Baseball is our game: the American game. I connect it with our national character,” said poet Walt Whitman about a sport one just cannot help but romanticize. “[It] belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly, as our constitutions, laws: is just as important in the sum total of our historic life.” With 2026 marking three anniversaries — the 125th of the American League, the 150th of the National League and the 250th of the United States of America itself — AFI Silver presents these four films that capture the magic and history of the great American pastime.
AFI Life Achievement Award: Eddie Murphy
July 10–September 14
Eddie Murphy has spent the entirety of his 45-plus-year career making audiences laugh. In 1980, at the tender age of 19, he joined the cast of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, revitalizing the struggling sketch show and becoming a household name in the process. Murphy soon unleashed his comic persona onto the big screen, starring in a slew of 1980s hits that include 48 HRS. (his debut), TRADING PLACES, BEVERLY HILLS COP, COMING TO AMERICA and EDDIE MURPHY RAW, the highest-grossing stand-up comedy film of all time. In later decades, Murphy would prove himself a talented children’s entertainer, notably as the voice of Mushu in MULAN and Donkey in the landmark computer-animated film SHREK. All this success has led Murphy to become one of the most commercially successful African American actors in the history of the motion-picture business and one of the industry’s top box-office performers overall. He has also received multiple accolades, including a Grammy®, an Emmy®, an Academy Award® nomination (for DREAMGIRLS), the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. In celebration of his latest achievement — becoming the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award honoree — AFI Silver pays tribute to a trailblazing force in the art form of film, television and stand-up comedy with this retrospective featuring his most hilarious and acclaimed work.
Additional titles to be announced.
CinemaScope Summer
July 11–Sept. 17
“CinemaScope will bring to the screen a dimension of reality, a greatness and a panoramic sweep that will make it the most powerful and effective medium of entertainment in the world.” — Spyros Skouras, President, 20th Century–Fox
“It wasn’t made for people. It’s only good for snakes — and funerals.” — Fritz Lang, playing himself, in Jean-Luc Godard’s CONTEMPT (1963)
Introduced in 1953 by 20th Century–Fox, CinemaScope was Hollywood’s biggest bid to ensure theatrical entertainment held sway over broadcast television, which had grown rapidly since its commercial expansion in the late ‘40s. Utilizing anamorphic lenses developed by inventor Henri Chrétien that captured a wider image than previous formats, CinemaScope ensured that the motion-picture image would have a scale no tiny screen could compete with — and stories to match. As the pioneers of the format, 20th Century–Fox were the most invested in it, but in time all major American studios would make films in some version of the format (originally a 2.55:1 ratio, later standardized at 2.35:1 to include sound-on-film soundtracks). While filmmaker opinions varied, as the famous Fritz Lang quote attests, the medium was well-utilized for spectacular genres like ancient-world epics, musicals and wide-horizon westerns. Many innovative CinemaScope films came from overseas in Italy, France, the USSR and Japan. (See our Tatsuya Nakadai retrospective for some “Samurai in ‘Scope” examples.)
