Cinematheque Film Schedule

United States | 1982/2007 | Ridley Scott

The 25th-anniversary edition of Blade Runner was the only one on which Ridley Scott had total artistic control. It restores footage that was cut out of earlier versions, and is the definitive edition of this cult classic to date. See 2/27 at 9:25 pm for further description.

United States | 1931 | Rouben Mamoulian

The best film version of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale—about a mild-mannered man of science who transforms into a homicidal monster—features stunning transformation scenes, Fredric March in an Oscar-winning performance, and artful cinematography by the great Karl Struss (Sunrise). With Miriam Hopkins and Rose Hobart.

United States | 2013 | Chuck Workman

Orson Welles was born 100 years ago this year, and we celebrate the occasion with a new documentary about the Promethean writer/director/actor by Academy Award winner Chuck Workman (Precious Images). Well known for his witty film-clip compilations that have enlivened many Oscarcasts, Workman here includes excerpts from almost every film Welles directed, even unfinished ones. There are also testimonials from Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater, Peter Bogdanovich, et al. “A lively and fresh retelling...

France, Italy | 1962 | Michelangelo Antonioni

Monica Vitti plays a translator who dumps her lover of four years (Francisco Rabal) for a fling with a young stockbroker (Alain Delon) in this essential Italian classic from the director of L’Avventura, Blow-Up, and Zabriskie Point. The film’s final sequence is unprecedented, unique, and legendary. Erica Levin, Assistant Professor of Film and Art History at the Cleveland Institute of Art, will introduce the movie and lead a post-film discussion.

France, Norway, Sweden | 2014 | Ruben Östlund

Ruben Östlund’s breakthrough work is one of the best and most acclaimed films of the past year. It was shortlisted for this year’s foreign-film Oscar but, inexplicably, not nominated. Force Majeure is a funny, chilly, Kubrickesque drama about an affluent Swedish family on a ski vacation in the French Alps. But their trip is spoiled—and their trust shattered—by a brush with death caused by a sudden avalanche.

France, Sweden | 2011 | Ruben Östlund

Ruben Östlund ‘s inflammatory and squirm-inducing third feature—hailed by critics but condemned by certain Swedish journalists—examines racial attitudes in contemporary Swedish society. Set in Gothenburg and inspired by a true case, the film details how a group of five underprivileged black boys aged 12-14 used head games and intimidation to rob three wealthier, fair-skinned boys around 40 different times between 2006 and 2008. A 2011 New York Film Festival selection. “The rare contemporary film that’s...

France, Sweden | 2011 | Ruben Östlund

Ruben Östlund ‘s inflammatory and squirm-inducing third feature—hailed by critics but condemned by certain Swedish journalists—examines racial attitudes in contemporary Swedish society. Set in Gothenburg and inspired by a true case, the film details how a group of five underprivileged black boys aged 12-14 used head games and intimidation to rob three wealthier, fair-skinned boys around 40 different times between 2006 and 2008. A 2011 New York Film Festival selection. “The rare contemporary film that’s...

France, Norway, Sweden | 2014 | Ruben Östlund

Ruben Östlund’s breakthrough work is one of the best and most acclaimed films of the past year. It was shortlisted for this year’s foreign-film Oscar but, inexplicably, not nominated. Force Majeure is a funny, chilly, Kubrickesque drama about an affluent Swedish family on a ski vacation in the French Alps. But their trip is spoiled—and their trust shattered—by a brush with death caused by a sudden avalanche.

Denmark, France, Poland, United Kingdom | 2013 | Pawel Pawlikowski

Pawel Pawlikowski's b&w throwback to the great Eastern European films of the 1960s is one of the most acclaimed and honored foreign-language films of the past two years, winning the European Film Award for best picture and this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Set in 1960 Poland, the movie tells of a novice nun who is urged by her Mother Superior to visit her sole surviving family member—a worldly, cynical aunt—before taking her...

France, Germany, Turkey | 2014 | Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Winner of the Palme d’Or (top prize) at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, the new film from Turkey’s foremost filmmaker is set in a gorgeous hotel on an Anatolian mountaintop. There the haughty innkeeper caters to his guests, insults his wife, and looks down on the residents of the shabby properties at the base of the mountain. “Nuri Bilge Ceylan is at the peak of his powers.” –Variety.

Denmark, France, Poland, United Kingdom | 2013 | Pawel Pawlikowski

Pawel Pawlikowski's b&w throwback to the great Eastern European films of the 1960s is one of the most acclaimed and honored foreign-language films of the past two years, winning the European Film Award for best picture and this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Set in 1960 Poland, the movie tells of a novice nun who is urged by her Mother Superior to visit her sole surviving family member—a worldly, cynical aunt—before taking her...

India | 2012 | Anurag Kashyap

The reviews for this five-hour-and-20-minute Indian gangster epic have been sensational: “an extraordinary ride through Bollywood's spectacular, over-the-top filmmaking” (Hollywood Reporter); “a brilliant collage of genres, by turns pulverizing and poetic in its depiction of violence” (Variety); “[an] insane masterpiece” (Slant Magazine); “a rich and exuberant character-driven crime saga in an idiom you absolutely have not encountered before…A signal achievement in 21st-century cinema” (Salon.com ). Set in a North Indian mining town, The Gangs of...

India | 2012 | Anurag Kashyap

The reviews for this five-hour-and-20-minute Indian gangster epic have been sensational: “an extraordinary ride through Bollywood's spectacular, over-the-top filmmaking” (Hollywood Reporter); “a brilliant collage of genres, by turns pulverizing and poetic in its depiction of violence” (Variety); “[an] insane masterpiece” (Slant Magazine); “a rich and exuberant character-driven crime saga in an idiom you absolutely have not encountered before…A signal achievement in 21st-century cinema” (Salon.com ). Set in a North Indian mining town, The Gangs of...

France | 2014 | Bruno Dumont

A comedy from Bruno Dumont (Humanité, Hadewijch), France’s foremost proponent of miserablism and heir to the ascetic spiritual striving of Robert Bresson? Stranger things have happened, especially in Dumont’s miracle-laden movies. Li'l Quinquin, originally a four-part miniseries for French TV, is set in sea-swept, sparsely populated northern France (the rural setting of most of Dumont's films). There two provincial cops try to solve a series of bizarre murders while a mischievous moppet (li'l Quinquin) looks...

France, Sweden | 2008 | Ruben Östlund

Ruben Östlund’s uncomfortably naturalistic sophomore outing assembles a mosaic of modern Swedish society from a series of snapshots of questionable human behavior. Constructed like a string of short films, the movie focuses on people of various ages in multiple settings and situations—from two teenage girls who strip and touch each other in front of a digital camera, to a group of drunken twentysomething men who end up participating in a homosexual act. The movie questions...

Australia | 2014 | Michael and Peter Spierig

Ethan Hawke stars in this clever, convoluted new sci-fi film noir from the brother team that made Daybreakers. Based on Robert A. Heinlein's short story –All You Zombies—, this head-spinning thriller follows a time-traveling "temporal agent" (Hawke) as he journeys into the past and the future to catch a notorious terrorist. With Sarah Snook and Noah Taylor. “Skillful and atmospheric…The sort of boldly illogical head trip that gives preposterousness a good name.” –Variety.

Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Luxembourg | 2014 | Tomm Moore

Tomm Moore's new, Oscar-nominated Irish animated feature, like his previous Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells, is firmly rooted in Celtic myth and legend. Song of the Sea is a beautifully rendered, hand-drawn fantasy (with music) about a motherless brother and sister who, while trying to get back to their lighthouse home, discover a hidden, supernatural world of fairies, witches, and selkies (creatures that are half human, half seal). Voices by Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan, et...

France, Sweden | 2008 | Ruben Östlund

Ruben Östlund’s uncomfortably naturalistic sophomore outing assembles a mosaic of modern Swedish society from a series of snapshots of questionable human behavior. Constructed like a string of short films, the movie focuses on people of various ages in multiple settings and situations—from two teenage girls who strip and touch each other in front of a digital camera, to a group of drunken twentysomething men who end up participating in a homosexual act. The movie questions...

Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Luxembourg | 2014 | Tomm Moore

Tomm Moore's new, Oscar-nominated Irish animated feature, like his previous Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells, is firmly rooted in Celtic myth and legend. Song of the Sea is a beautifully rendered, hand-drawn fantasy (with music) about a motherless brother and sister who, while trying to get back to their lighthouse home, discover a hidden, supernatural world of fairies, witches, and selkies (creatures that are half human, half seal). Voices by Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan, et...

United States | 2014 | Barry Levinson

Al Pacino and Greta Gerwig star in this new Birdman-like comedy co-written by Buck Henry and based on a novel by Philip Roth. Pacino plays an aging, suicidal Shakespearean actor who tangles with reality and battles dementia while having an affair with an amoral young lesbian. With Dianne Wiest, Charles Grodin, and Kyra Sedgwick. “A treasure trove of off-kilter humor, affecting pathos and first-class acting.” –The L.A. Times.

Japan | 2013 | Shion Sono

Winner of the People's Choice Award in the Midnight Madness section of the 2013 Toronto Int’l Film Festival, this bloody comedy tells of an amateur Japanese film club that helps a yakuza boss realize his long-held dream of making the ultimate action epic. A real-life war with a rival gang affords him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Cult auteur Shion Sono says that this gleeful, outrageous, Tarantinoesque meta-movie was inspired by “the love of 35mm.”

United States | 2014 | Barry Levinson

Al Pacino and Greta Gerwig star in this new Birdman-like comedy co-written by Buck Henry and based on a novel by Philip Roth. Pacino plays an aging, suicidal Shakespearean actor who tangles with reality and battles dementia while having an affair with an amoral young lesbian. With Dianne Wiest, Charles Grodin, and Kyra Sedgwick. “A treasure trove of off-kilter humor, affecting pathos and first-class acting.” –The L.A. Times.

Sweden | 2004 | Ruben Östlund

Ruben Östlund’s first feature is a deadpan pseudo-documentary that utilizes a fixed camera to record/re-create random aberrant human activities that he witnessed over a period of years in his hometown of Gothenburg. Among them: a young miscreant twists rooftop TV antennas to spoil people’s reception; punks destroy random bicycles; a young man with Down's syndrome shouts songs as he plays the guitar in the town square. The result is a group portrait of outsiders and...

Australia | 2014 | Michael and Peter Spierig

Ethan Hawke stars in this clever, convoluted new sci-fi film noir from the brother team that made Daybreakers. Based on Robert A. Heinlein's short story –All You Zombies—, this head-spinning thriller follows a time-traveling "temporal agent" (Hawke) as he journeys into the past and the future to catch a notorious terrorist. With Sarah Snook and Noah Taylor. “Skillful and atmospheric…The sort of boldly illogical head trip that gives preposterousness a good name.” –Variety.

United States | 2014 | Paola di Floria, Lisa Leeman

A hit when first shown in December, this recent film traces the life and career of India’s Hindu Swami Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952). Yogananda introduced millions of westerners to yoga and meditation through his many U.S. lectures. He also founded the Self-Realization Fellowship and wrote the best-selling book Autobiography of a Yogi, a favorite of George Harrison and Steve Jobs.

United Kingdom | 1936 | William Cameron Menzies

H. G. Wells wrote this celebrated, prophetic British science fiction film, imagining a history of London (here named “Everytown”) from 1940 through 2054. Wells foresaw a devastating world war starting in 1940, and envisioned years of disease, totalitarianism, space travel, and advanced technology after that—not a bad prediction for someone living in the mid-1930s. But Things To Come is perhaps best remembered for its monumental Art Deco sets designed by director William Cameron Menzies....

United Kingdom | 1936 | William Cameron Menzies

H. G. Wells wrote this celebrated, prophetic British science fiction film, imagining a history of London (here named “Everytown”) from 1940 through 2054. Wells foresaw a devastating world war starting in 1940, and envisioned years of disease, totalitarianism, space travel, and advanced technology after that—not a bad prediction for someone living in the mid-1930s. But Things To Come is perhaps best remembered for its monumental Art Deco sets designed by director William Cameron Menzies....

United States | 2014 | Paola di Floria, Lisa Leeman

A hit when first shown in December, this recent film traces the life and career of India’s Hindu Swami Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952). Yogananda introduced millions of westerners to yoga and meditation through his many U.S. lectures. He also founded the Self-Realization Fellowship and wrote the best-selling book Autobiography of a Yogi, a favorite of George Harrison and Steve Jobs.

Netherlands | 2014 | Miroslav Slaboshpitsky

The Cinematheque partners with the Cleveland Int’l Film Festival on one of the films showing in this year’s 39th edition, taking place March 18-29 at Tower City Cinemas and at other locations around town. This year’s co-presentation is unlike any movie you’ve ever seen: a Ukrainian drama set in a boarding school for deaf teens, told entirely in sign language with no subtitles. It is also one of the most groundbreaking, acclaimed, and unflinching films...

Australia, Canada | 2014 | Jennifer Kent

The breakout art house horror hit of 2014 tells of a beleaguered Aussie single mother, still haunted by her husband’s recent death in an automobile accident, who must now deal with her six-year-old son’s belief that the monster from one of his pop-up storybooks is lurking in his bedroom. Pretty scary.

United States | 1980 | William Peter Blatty

Written and directed by Exorcist author William Peter Blatty, this unclassifiable comic drama is set in an old castle turned insane asylum. There an army shrink (Stacy Keach) who is himself unstable encourages a troubled astronaut (Scott Wilson) and the disturbed Vietnam War vets in his care to act out their fantasies as therapy. Released in five different versions by distributors who didn’t know what to do with such an unusual movie, The Ninth Configuration...

United States | 1980 | William Peter Blatty

Written and directed by Exorcist author William Peter Blatty, this unclassifiable comic drama is set in an old castle turned insane asylum. There an army shrink (Stacy Keach) who is himself unstable encourages a troubled astronaut (Scott Wilson) and the disturbed Vietnam War vets in his care to act out their fantasies as therapy. Released in five different versions by distributors who didn’t know what to do with such an unusual movie, The Ninth Configuration...

Netherlands | 2014 | Miroslav Slaboshpitsky

The Cinematheque partners with the Cleveland Int’l Film Festival on one of the films showing in this year’s 39th edition, taking place March 18-29 at Tower City Cinemas and at other locations around town. This year’s co-presentation is unlike any movie you’ve ever seen: a Ukrainian drama set in a boarding school for deaf teens, told entirely in sign language with no subtitles. It is also one of the most groundbreaking, acclaimed, and unflinching films...

Australia, Canada | 2014 | Jennifer Kent

The breakout art house horror hit of 2014 tells of a beleaguered Aussie single mother, still haunted by her husband’s recent death in an automobile accident, who must now deal with her six-year-old son’s belief that the monster from one of his pop-up storybooks is lurking in his bedroom. Pretty scary.

United States | 1973 | Norman Jewison

First a hit record album, then a Broadway show, then a movie, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar recounts the Passion of Christ. Tonight three of the stars of the movie—Ted Neeley (Jesus), Barry Dennen (Pontius Pilate), and Bob Bingham (Caiaphas)—will appear in person with a new digital restoration of the film. Neeley (who also appeared in Django Unchained), Dennen (who also played Pilate on the original JCS album...