Cinematheque Film Schedule

Romania | 2015 | Corneliu Porumboiu

The acclaimed new film from the celebrated Romanian director of 12:08 East of Bucharest and Police, Adjective has been described as “a deadpan caper comedy” (Variety). In it, a young Bucharest family man agrees to help his destitute neighbor search for treasure that is reputedly buried on the grounds of his late grandfather’s country estate.“A subtle adventure of thwarted ambitions and hidden dreams.” –The Hollywood Reporter. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 89 min.

Great Britain | 1976 | Nicolas Roeg

The late David Bowie plays an alien searching for water for his drought-stricken planet in this cult sci-fi film that was initially released in the U.S. in a heavily-abridged version. (We will show the complete, original cut.) The film follows the E.T. as he lands in the American Southwest, conceals his identity, and proceeds to build a huge corporate empire. Candy Clark, Buck Henry, and Rip Torn co-star in this ambitious, visually-stunning work from the...

France | 1933 | Jean Vigo

Four boys organize an uprising at a repressive French boarding school in this lyrical, anarchic short feature that was banned in France from 1933 to 1945 and inspired Lindsay Anderson’s 1968 anti-establishment classic If… Jean Vigo also directed L’Atalante before his death at 29. Preceded at showtime by François Truffaut’s 18-min. Les Mistons (The Mischief Makers, France, 1958), a formative French New Wave classic that Truffaut regarded as his first “real” film. Bernadette Lafont...

United Kingdom | 1951 | Alexander Mackendrick

Alec Guinness stars in one of the great Ealing comedies—a sci-fi satire about a British chemist who invents a space age white fabric that repels dirt and never wears out. Despite this breakthrough, he soon runs afoul of both capitalists and labor unions. From the director of The Ladykillers and Sweet Smell of Success. Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 85 min.

Italy | 1966 | Sergio Leone

The most famous of all spaghetti Westerns is set during the Civil War. Three desperadoes—a bounty hunter (Lee Van Cleef), a bandito (Eli Wallach), and a mysterious Man with No Name (Clint Eastwood)—battle each other and the U.S. Army for a cache of buried Confederate gold. Ennio Morricone’s score is legendary. Restored, uncut version! In English. DCP. 180 min. Special admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under $8; no passes,...

Romania | 2015 | Corneliu Porumboiu

The acclaimed new film from the celebrated Romanian director of 12:08 East of Bucharest and Police, Adjective has been described as “a deadpan caper comedy” (Variety). In it, a young Bucharest family man agrees to help his destitute neighbor search for treasure that is reputedly buried on the grounds of his late grandfather’s country estate.“A subtle adventure of thwarted ambitions and hidden dreams.” –The Hollywood Reporter. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 89 min.

France | 1933 | Jean Vigo

Four boys organize an uprising at a repressive French boarding school in this lyrical, anarchic short feature that was banned in France from 1933 to 1945 and inspired Lindsay Anderson’s 1968 anti-establishment classic If… Jean Vigo also directed L’Atalante before his death at 29. Preceded at showtime by François Truffaut’s 18-min. Les Mistons (The Mischief Makers, France, 1958), a formative French New Wave classic that Truffaut regarded as his first “real” film. Bernadette Lafont...

Great Britain | 1976 | Nicolas Roeg

The late David Bowie plays an alien searching for water for his drought-stricken planet in this cult sci-fi film that was initially released in the U.S. in a heavily-abridged version. (We will show the complete, original cut.) The film follows the E.T. as he lands in the American Southwest, conceals his identity, and proceeds to build a huge corporate empire. Candy Clark, Buck Henry, and Rip Torn co-star in this ambitious, visually-stunning work from the...

France | 1919 | Abel Gance

The great, pioneering French director Abel Gance (Napoleon) was no one-hit wonder! His first super-production was this galvanizing anti-war silent film that was partially shot during actual WWI battles. The movie follows the fates of two Frenchmen who love the same women and are both sent off to war. This powerful, haunting work, one of the most technologically advanced movies of its era, was also the first great pacifist film. With a new orchestral score...

France, Switzerland | 2015 | Philippe Garrel

The new film from veteran French helmer Philippe Garrel (Regular Lovers, A Burning Hot Summer) focuses on a pair of married documentary filmmakers whose relationship is threatened when he falls in love with a beautiful intern at a film archive. Named the third best film of 2015 by France’s Cahiers du cinéma magazine. “A tightly focused romantic drama that exudes the narrative terseness of a good short story and the lucid craftsmanship of a filmmaker...

United States | 1987 | Brian De Palma

Federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) enlists some uncorrupted Chicago cops (Sean Connery, Andy Garcia) to help him bring down vicious gangster Al Capone (Robert De Niro). Brian De Palma’s thrilling, stylish, Oscar-winning Prohibition-era crime drama has a script by David Mamet and a Grammy-winning score by Ennio Morricone. DCP. Scope. 119 min.

United States | 1999-2016 | Rian Brown

Rian Brown is a widely-exhibited filmmaker and video artist who is also Associate Professor of Cinema Studies and New Media at Oberlin College. Brown’s work spans a variety of film genres—experimental, autobiography, documentary, video installation—and explores such subjects as motherhood, identity, landscape, memory, and nostalgia. Tonight Brown screens her short films made over the past 17 years. Program includes: Presence of Water (1999), a combination collage/essay film shot in Italy when she was eight months...

Netherlands | 2015 | Peter Greenaway

The most acclaimed film in a number of years by the iconoclastic and provocative British director of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover details the sexual awakening of the great Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein, a homosexual and one of Greenaway’s idols. Greenaway imagines that this happened while the Battleship Potemkin director was in Mexico during the early 1930s, shooting miles of footage for his never-finished south-of-the-border epic ¡Que Viva México! Greenaway’s...

United States | 1933/1940 | Sol Lesser/Marie Seton

The great Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin) spent most of 1931 in North America shooting an epic, six-part portrait of the history and culture of Mexico. The film’s title was going to be ¡Que Viva México! (See previous blurb.) But with 50 hours of footage in the can, the film’s backer, American socialist and novelist Upton Sinclair, pulled the plug on the project for being over budget and behind schedule. Eisenstein returned to Russia,...

Netherlands | 2015 | Peter Greenaway

The most acclaimed film in a number of years by the iconoclastic and provocative British director of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover details the sexual awakening of the great Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein, a homosexual and one of Greenaway’s idols. Greenaway imagines that this happened while the Battleship Potemkin director was in Mexico during the early 1930s, shooting miles of footage for his never-finished south-of-the-border epic ¡Que Viva México! Greenaway’s...

Italy | 1965 | Antonio Pietrangeli

This major Italian film that is virtually unknown in America is being reissued here by Janus Films and the Criterion Collection. It follows a gorgeous small town hairdresser (Stefania Sandrelli of Divorce Italian Style, The Conformist, et al.) who moves to Rome to become a model or movie star. She soon finds herself a party girl passed from man to man, blind to how she’s being exploited.With Jean-Claude Brialy, Nino Manfredi, and Ugo Tognazzi. Cleveland...

Italy | 1965 | Antonio Pietrangeli

This major Italian film that is virtually unknown in America is being reissued here by Janus Films and the Criterion Collection. It follows a gorgeous small town hairdresser (Stefania Sandrelli of Divorce Italian Style, The Conformist, et al.) who moves to Rome to become a model or movie star. She soon finds herself a party girl passed from man to man, blind to how she’s being exploited.With Jean-Claude Brialy, Nino Manfredi, and Ugo Tognazzi. Cleveland...

France, Switzerland | 2015 | Philippe Garrel

The new film from veteran French helmer Philippe Garrel (Regular Lovers, A Burning Hot Summer) focuses on a pair of married documentary filmmakers whose relationship is threatened when he falls in love with a beautiful intern at a film archive. Named the third best film of 2015 by France’s Cahiers du cinéma magazine. “A tightly focused romantic drama that exudes the narrative terseness of a good short story and the lucid craftsmanship of a filmmaker...

United States | 1987 | Brian De Palma

Federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) enlists some uncorrupted Chicago cops (Sean Connery, Andy Garcia) to help him bring down vicious gangster Al Capone (Robert De Niro). Brian De Palma’s thrilling, stylish, Oscar-winning Prohibition-era crime drama has a script by David Mamet and a Grammy-winning score by Ennio Morricone. DCP. Scope. 119 min.

Mexico | 2015 | Arturo Ripstein

Mexico/Spain, 2015, Arturo Ripstein A tragic confrontation between two mask-wearing, midget Mexican wrestlers and two aging Mexico City prostitutes is delineated in the new film by master filmmaker Arturo Ripstein (Deep Crimson). Inspired by a 2009 case, this gritty, lurid, but compassionate drama (shot in gorgeous b&w) proves worthy of Ripstein’s mentor, the great Spanish surrealist Luis Buñuel. It’s also a bit Felliniesque. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 99 min.

United Kingdom | 1939 | Alfred Hitchcock

UK, 1939, Alfred Hitchcock Charles Laughton and Maureen O’Hara star in the last film Hitchcock made in England before relocating to the U.S., and the first of his three Daphne Du Maurier adaptations. (The others were Rebecca and The Birds.) The action centers around a pub in early 19th century Cornwall, where pirates and murderers hang out when they’re not causing ships to run aground and then plundering the cargo. With Robert Newton. 4K DCP. 99...

United Kingdom | 1939 | Alfred Hitchcock

UK, 1939, Alfred Hitchcock Charles Laughton and Maureen O’Hara star in the last film Hitchcock made in England before relocating to the U.S., and the first of his three Daphne Du Maurier adaptations. (The others were Rebecca and The Birds.) The action centers around a pub in early 19th century Cornwall, where pirates and murderers hang out when they’re not causing ships to run aground and then plundering the cargo. With Robert Newton. 4K DCP. 99...

United Kingdom | 1986 | Roland Joffé

UK/France, 1986, Roland Joffé Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons star in the Palme d’Or winner at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. (Chris Menges’ color and scope cinematography also won an Oscar.) Set in the South American jungle during the late 18th century, the film tells of a Spanish Jesuit priest who tries to convert the natives to Christianity while also protecting them from Spanish and Portuguese slave traders. With Aidan Quinn and Liam Neeson. Robert...

Romania | 2015 | Radu Jude

Romania/Bulgaria/Czech Republic/France, 2015, Radu Jude This extravagantly praised black comedy/historical drama explores the little explored subject of Gypsy slavery, which flourished from the 14th to the 19th centuries in two principalities (Wallachia and Moldavia) that would later become part of present-day Romania. Set in 1835 Wallachia, the film, which is in gorgeous b&w, follows a constable who has been hired by a boyar (land-owning aristocrat) to find and retrieve a runaway Roma slave who had an...

United States | 1953 | George Stevens

USA, 1953, George Stevens Join Cinematheque Director John Ewing as he celebrates his 65th birthday by watching a 35mm color print of his all-time favorite movie! (There will be free cake for filmgoers before the screening.) Shane is one of the greatest and most archetypal westerns ever made—a stirring (and beautifully filmed) account of settlers vs. cattlemen, and of a mysterious, dangerous stranger (Alan Ladd) who sides with a family of “sodbusters.” With Jean Arthur, Van...

Romania | 2015 | Radu Jude

Romania/Bulgaria/Czech Republic/France, 2015, Radu Jude This extravagantly praised black comedy/historical drama explores the little explored subject of Gypsy slavery, which flourished from the 14th to the 19th centuries in two principalities (Wallachia and Moldavia) that would later become part of present-day Romania. Set in 1835 Wallachia, the film, which is in gorgeous b&w, follows a constable who has been hired by a boyar (land-owning aristocrat) to find and retrieve a runaway Roma slave who had an...

Mexico | 2015 | Arturo Ripstein

Mexico/Spain, 2015, Arturo Ripstein A tragic confrontation between two mask-wearing, midget Mexican wrestlers and two aging Mexico City prostitutes is delineated in the new film by master filmmaker Arturo Ripstein (Deep Crimson). Inspired by a 2009 case, this gritty, lurid, but compassionate drama (shot in gorgeous b&w) proves worthy of Ripstein’s mentor, the great Spanish surrealist Luis Buñuel. It’s also a bit Felliniesque. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 99 min.

Taiwan | 1991 | Edward Yang

Taiwan, 1991, Edward Yang This magnum opus by the late, great Taiwanese master Edward Yang (Yi Yi) is perhaps his masterpiece. Long out of release (we showed it only once in 1997, ten years before Yang’s untimely death at age 59), it’s a four-hour coming-of-age saga that focuses on a Taiwanese boy’s experience of gang violence and young love during the 1960s. It’s also a portrait of a society in transition, one searching for its own...

Sweden | 1978 | Ingmar Bergman

France/West Germany/Sweden/UK, 1978, Ingmar Bergman Ingrid Bergman, in her final theatrical film (and only collaboration with Ingmar Bergman), plays a renowned concert pianist who locks horns with her resentful daughter (Liv Ullmann), whom she neglected to pursue her career. Color cinematography by Sven Nykvist. Subtitles. 99 min. Special admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.

Sweden | 1978 | Ingmar Bergman

France/West Germany/Sweden/UK, 1978, Ingmar Bergman Ingrid Bergman, in her final theatrical film (and only collaboration with Ingmar Bergman), plays a renowned concert pianist who locks horns with her resentful daughter (Liv Ullmann), whom she neglected to pursue her career. Color cinematography by Sven Nykvist. Subtitles. 99 min. Special admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.

Sweden | 2015 | Stig Björkman

Sweden, 2015, Stig Björkman The radiant Swedish girl who became a Hollywood icon, middling mother, and then an international cause célèbre when she abandoned her husband and child to live with married Italian director Roberto Rossellini is seen through her letters and diaries (read by Alicia Vikander), rare home movies, and archival photographs and film clips. This effervescent new documentary has music by Michael Nyman. “Cinephile catnip.” –The NY Times. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 114 min.

Sweden | 2015 | Stig Björkman

Sweden, 2015, Stig Björkman The radiant Swedish girl who became a Hollywood icon, middling mother, and then an international cause célèbre when she abandoned her husband and child to live with married Italian director Roberto Rossellini is seen through her letters and diaries (read by Alicia Vikander), rare home movies, and archival photographs and film clips. This effervescent new documentary has music by Michael Nyman. “Cinephile catnip.” –The NY Times. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 114 min.

Italy | 1988 | Giuseppe Tornatore

Italy/France, 1988, Giuseppe Tornatore This beloved, nostalgic film that is infused with a love of movies recounts the almost father-son relationship between a young Italian boy growing up in post-WWII Italy and the veteran film projectionist (Philippe Noiret) at his small town’s movie theater. Ennio Morricone’s lyrical score amplifies the film’s emotions. Subtitles. DCP. 124 min. Special admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.