Cinematheque Film Schedule

Japan | 1973 | Eiichi Yamamoto

This lost masterpiece of Japanese animation never received a proper theatrical release in the U.S. A swirling, psychedelic blend of tarot-card imagery and erotic Art Nouveau style, this transgressive head trip tells of an innocent young woman who makes a pact with the Devil (voiced by Tatsuya Nakadai of Ran) after she is raped by a local lord on her wedding night. Director Eiichi Yamamoto previously directed TV versions of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy and...

United States | 1952 | Orson Welles

Shot in bits and pieces over four years with ever-changing actors and locations, Orson Welles’ baroque, visually stupendous version of Shakespeare’s classic had no right to be as good as it is. But it’s one of the most electrifying Shakespeare movies ever made, and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Welles himself plays the duped Moor whose suspicion of his wife’s infidelity leads to tragedy. Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 93 min.

United States | 1935 | David Butler

Shirley Temple and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson perform their famous staircase dance in this beloved family classic, one of the best films by the phenomenal child star who later entered politics. The film is a post-Civil War drama set in the Reconstruction-era South, about a family patriarch (Lionel Barrymore) who disowns his southern belle daughter when she marries a northerner. 35mm print from the Twentieth Century Fox studio archive! 81 min.

United States | 1952 | Orson Welles

Shot in bits and pieces over four years with ever-changing actors and locations, Orson Welles’ baroque, visually stupendous version of Shakespeare’s classic had no right to be as good as it is. But it’s one of the most electrifying Shakespeare movies ever made, and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Welles himself plays the duped Moor whose suspicion of his wife’s infidelity leads to tragedy. Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 93 min.

United States | 1942 | Sam Wood

Here’s the best movie Ronald Reagan ever made—a juicy potboiler in the Peyton Place mold, about a small Midwestern town during the pre-WWI era that teems with sex, sadism, moral corruption, and bad doctors (one of whom likes to perform unnecessary amputations). With Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Betty Field, Charles Coburn, and Claude Rains. “One of the great melodramas…As compulsive and perverse as any election, a veritable Mount Rushmore of emotional and physical cripples.” –Time...

United States | 1942 | Sam Wood

Here’s the best movie Ronald Reagan ever made—a juicy potboiler in the Peyton Place mold, about a small Midwestern town during the pre-WWI era that teems with sex, sadism, moral corruption, and bad doctors (one of whom likes to perform unnecessary amputations). With Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Betty Field, Charles Coburn, and Claude Rains. “One of the great melodramas…As compulsive and perverse as any election, a veritable Mount Rushmore of emotional and physical cripples.” –Time...

Australia | 1981 | Peter Weir

Mel Gibson stars in this handsome, lavish Australian New Wave classic that won eight Aussie Academy Awards, including Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Actor (Gibson), and Cinematography. It follows two idealistic sprinters in 1915 Australia who enlist in the British army to fight during the First World War. They are sent to the Gallipoli peninsula in what is now Turkey. DCP. 111 min.

Japan | 1973 | Eiichi Yamamoto

This lost masterpiece of Japanese animation never received a proper theatrical release in the U.S. A swirling, psychedelic blend of tarot-card imagery and erotic Art Nouveau style, this transgressive head trip tells of an innocent young woman who makes a pact with the Devil (voiced by Tatsuya Nakadai of Ran) after she is raped by a local lord on her wedding night. Director Eiichi Yamamoto previously directed TV versions of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy and...

Italy | 1980 | Federico Fellini

Marcello Mastroianni stars in this phantasmagorical Fellini fantasy about a middle-aged man (and Fellini stand-in) who finds himself in a surrealistic world dominated by females. There he encounters his own fears and fantasies about the opposite sex. “[Fellini’s] familiar gaudy treadmill of Barnum and ballet, circus and comic strip…Only a pinchpenny soul could denigrate the generosity, the sheer fertility of the Maestro’s invention.” –Time Out Film Guide. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 139 min. www.cohenmedia.net/films/city-of-women

United States | 1923 | Fred Newmeyer, Sam Taylor

Lifelong Republican Harold Lloyd was one of the three great clowns of the American silent screen, along with Chaplin and Keaton. In this “thrill comedy” that is his most famous and iconic movie, Harold plays a lowly, enterprising department store clerk who finds himself literally upwardly mobile—scaling the façade of a 12-story building—when a publicity stunt goes horribly wrong. This restored print features a musical score by the great silent film composer Carl Davis. “To...

Japan | 1985 | Akira Kurosawa

In Kurosawa’s magisterial take on Shakespeare’s King Lear, an elderly Japanese warlord (Tatsuya Nakadai) bequeaths his domain to his eldest son, prompting resentment in his two younger sons and sparking a devastating power struggle (and color-coded battle scenes). “Spectacular…Among the most thrilling movie experiences a viewer can have!” –The NY Times. Subtitles. Cleveland revival premiere. 4K DCP. 161 min.

United States | 1923 | Fred Newmeyer, Sam Taylor

Lifelong Republican Harold Lloyd was one of the three great clowns of the American silent screen, along with Chaplin and Keaton. In this “thrill comedy” that is his most famous and iconic movie, Harold plays a lowly, enterprising department store clerk who finds himself literally upwardly mobile—scaling the façade of a 12-story building—when a publicity stunt goes horribly wrong. This restored print features a musical score by the great silent film composer Carl Davis. “To...

Germany | 2008 | Doris Dörrie

One of the most beloved Roxanne T. Mueller Award winners in the history of the Cleveland Int’l Film Festival, this touching drama tells of a Bavarian husband and wife who decide to visit their grown children in Berlin and Tokyo—only to discover that their presence is a burden to them. Doris Dörrie takes the plot and theme of Ozu’s celebrated 1953 Japanese classic Tokyo Story into new and unexpected directions in this piercingly beautiful modern...

United States | 1970 | John Wayne, Ray Kellogg

This hawk’s-eye view of the Vietnam War stars John Wayne as a U.S. Special Forces colonel who gallantly leads the fight against the Vietcong and, along the way, makes a true believer out of a cynical American war correspondent (David Janssen). Lambasted by liberal critics when first released at the height of the antiwar protests, this film that was intended to honor the sacrifices of American soldiers is now regarded by some as an exciting...

Italy | 1980 | Federico Fellini

Marcello Mastroianni stars in this phantasmagorical Fellini fantasy about a middle-aged man (and Fellini stand-in) who finds himself in a surrealistic world dominated by females. There he encounters his own fears and fantasies about the opposite sex. “[Fellini’s] familiar gaudy treadmill of Barnum and ballet, circus and comic strip…Only a pinchpenny soul could denigrate the generosity, the sheer fertility of the Maestro’s invention.” –Time Out Film Guide. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 139 min. www.cohenmedia.net/films/city-of-women

Japan | 1985 | Akira Kurosawa

In Kurosawa’s magisterial take on Shakespeare’s King Lear, an elderly Japanese warlord (Tatsuya Nakadai) bequeaths his domain to his eldest son, prompting resentment in his two younger sons and sparking a devastating power struggle (and color-coded battle scenes). “Spectacular…Among the most thrilling movie experiences a viewer can have!” –The NY Times. Subtitles. Cleveland revival premiere. 4K DCP. 161 min.

United States | 2015 | Dennis Hauck

Shot (and shown) in 35mm Techniscope and comprised of five uninterrupted long takes (each lasting up to 22 minutes), this clever neo-noir by former Clevelander Dennis Hauck stars John Hawkes as a hard-boiled private eye whose pursuit of a missing stripper takes him through an assortment of colorful L.A. locales and lowlifes. With Robert Forster and Joanna Cassidy (Blade Runner). “A strangely involving, idiosyncratic masterwork.” –The L.A. Times. Adults only! 35mm 107 min.

United States | 1939 | Frank Capra

James Stewart plays a greenhorn U.S. senator whose youthful idealism runs up against the chamber’s ingrained corruption (sound familiar?) in this fast-talking, inspiring political comedy that was branded anti-American by some in Washington when first released. Stewart was a lifelong Republican. But so was, surprisingly, the film’s populist, presumably progressive director, Frank (It’s a Wonderful Life) Capra. With Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, et al. 4K DCP. 129 min.

France | 1980 | Paul Grimault

One of the great animated movies of all time is virtually unknown in America! Begun in 1947 but not completed until 1980 (after a long hiatus), this beloved French film was written by the great screenwriter Jacques Prévert (Children of Paradise) and proved a major influence on Hayao Miyazaki and other Studio Ghibli animators. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen, Grimault’s fairy tale is set in the highly vertical kingdom of Tachycardia, where tyrannical cross-eyed King...

United States | 2015 | Ross Lipman

Notfilm is a feature-length documentary on one of the strangest all-star projects in the annals of cinema. In 1964 New York City, director Alan Schneider shot an avant-garde short movie written by Waiting for Godot author Samuel Beckett (his only screenplay), starring Buster Keaton, produced by Barney Rosset of Grove Press, and photographed by Oscar winner Boris Kaufman (brother of Dziga Vertov). It was entitled Film. In his new “kino-essay” Notfilm, director Ross Lipman, a...

United States | 1939 | Frank Capra

James Stewart plays a greenhorn U.S. senator whose youthful idealism runs up against the chamber’s ingrained corruption (sound familiar?) in this fast-talking, inspiring political comedy that was branded anti-American by some in Washington when first released. Stewart was a lifelong Republican. But so was, surprisingly, the film’s populist, presumably progressive director, Frank (It’s a Wonderful Life) Capra. With Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, et al. 4K DCP. 129 min.

United States | 1961 | Anthony Mann

Charlton Heston plays the 11th-century Castilian knight Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (known as El Cid), who helped stop Islamic world domination by driving the Moors out of feudal Spain. (They had to pry his sword from his cold, dead hands). Sophia Loren, Raf Vallone, and Herbert Lom co-star in this lavish historical super-production—one of the best ever—from a director mostly known for his Westerns. Like Ben-Hur (released two years earlier), El Cid was shot in...

United States | 2015 | Ross Lipman

Notfilm is a feature-length documentary on one of the strangest all-star projects in the annals of cinema. In 1964 New York City, director Alan Schneider shot an avant-garde short movie written by Waiting for Godot author Samuel Beckett (his only screenplay), starring Buster Keaton, produced by Barney Rosset of Grove Press, and photographed by Oscar winner Boris Kaufman (brother of Dziga Vertov). It was entitled Film. In his new “kino-essay” Notfilm, director Ross Lipman, a...

France | 1980 | Paul Grimault

One of the great animated movies of all time is virtually unknown in America! Begun in 1947 but not completed until 1980 (after a long hiatus), this beloved French film was written by the great screenwriter Jacques Prévert (Children of Paradise) and proved a major influence on Hayao Miyazaki and other Studio Ghibli animators. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen, Grimault’s fairy tale is set in the highly vertical kingdom of Tachycardia, where tyrannical cross-eyed King...

United States | 2015 | Dennis Hauck

Shot (and shown) in 35mm Techniscope and comprised of five uninterrupted long takes (each lasting up to 22 minutes), this clever neo-noir by former Clevelander Dennis Hauck stars John Hawkes as a hard-boiled private eye whose pursuit of a missing stripper takes him through an assortment of colorful L.A. locales and lowlifes. With Robert Forster and Joanna Cassidy (Blade Runner). “A strangely involving, idiosyncratic masterwork.” –The L.A. Times. Adults only! 35mm 107 min.

Germany | 1921 | Fritz Lang

Here’s a new digital restoration of the first great film by the director of Metropolis (see 5/21 & 22), M, and many others. A dazzling blend of German Romanticism, German Expressionism, and Orientalism, the film is an elaborate fantasy in which Death grants a young woman three chances to thwart fate and save the life of her fiancé. She finds herself in a trio of tales set, respectively, in storied Persia, 17th-century Venice, and mythic...

Brazil | 2015 | Gabriel Mascaro

A handsome, itinerant cowhand who helps deliver bulls to rodeos in northeast Brazil dreams of becoming a fashion designer; in his spare time he creates exotic fantasy costumes for the “mother” in his makeshift work family. This sensuous, painterly drama—one of the most acclaimed films of the past year—is a rodeo movie that explores gender and body issues as much as animal wrangling. “Not since Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz rutted in Jamón Jamón have...

Brazil | 2015 | Gabriel Mascaro

A handsome, itinerant cowhand who helps deliver bulls to rodeos in northeast Brazil dreams of becoming a fashion designer; in his spare time he creates exotic fantasy costumes for the “mother” in his makeshift work family. This sensuous, painterly drama—one of the most acclaimed films of the past year—is a rodeo movie that explores gender and body issues as much as animal wrangling. “Not since Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz rutted in Jamón Jamón have...

United States | 1985 | Joseph Zito

One of Chuck Norris’ most preposterous, paranoid, and xenophobic movies tells of an ass-kicking ex-CIA agent who is happily living in the Florida Everglades with his pet armadillo when he is forced out of retirement to deal with a band of Commie terrorists who have infiltrated Miami, wreaking havoc, fomenting panic, and threatening Christmas. With Richard Lynch; a Golan-Globus production for Cannon Films. 35mm. 107 min.

Germany | 1921 | Fritz Lang

Here’s a new digital restoration of the first great film by the director of Metropolis (see 5/21 & 22), M, and many others. A dazzling blend of German Romanticism, German Expressionism, and Orientalism, the film is an elaborate fantasy in which Death grants a young woman three chances to thwart fate and save the life of her fiancé. She finds herself in a trio of tales set, respectively, in storied Persia, 17th-century Venice, and mythic...

United States | 1992 | Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Harris star in Eastwood’s somber, elegiac Western about a reformed killer who returns to his violent ways to collect a bounty he desperately needs. A meditation on both morality and mortality, Eastwood’s final Western takes a fresh, nuanced, sobering look at frontier heroism and justice. Winner of four Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actor (Hackman). “Magnificent.” –Time Out Film Guide. 35mm. 131 min.

Argentina | 2015 | Pablo Trapero

The new film from one of Argentina’s most prominent filmmakers was the country’s official entry for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. The Puccios are a seemingly normal, respectable, upper-middle-class Buenos Aires family. But in reality they’re criminals who kidnap their wealthy neighbors, hold them for ransom, and then murder them. Based on a notorious true case. “A muscular, Hollywood-style account of the Puccio fiasco.” –Variety. Subtitles. DCP. 108 min.

Argentina | 2015 | Pablo Trapero

The new film from one of Argentina’s most prominent filmmakers was the country’s official entry for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. The Puccios are a seemingly normal, respectable, upper-middle-class Buenos Aires family. But in reality they’re criminals who kidnap their wealthy neighbors, hold them for ransom, and then murder them. Based on a notorious true case. “A muscular, Hollywood-style account of the Puccio fiasco.” –Variety. Subtitles. DCP. 108 min.

United States | 1985 | Joseph Zito

One of Chuck Norris’ most preposterous, paranoid, and xenophobic movies tells of an ass-kicking ex-CIA agent who is happily living in the Florida Everglades with his pet armadillo when he is forced out of retirement to deal with a band of Commie terrorists who have infiltrated Miami, wreaking havoc, fomenting panic, and threatening Christmas. With Richard Lynch; a Golan-Globus production for Cannon Films. 35mm. 107 min.

United States | 1992 | Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Harris star in Eastwood’s somber, elegiac Western about a reformed killer who returns to his violent ways to collect a bounty he desperately needs. A meditation on both morality and mortality, Eastwood’s final Western takes a fresh, nuanced, sobering look at frontier heroism and justice. Winner of four Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actor (Hackman). “Magnificent.” –Time Out Film Guide. 35mm. 131 min.

United States | 2015 | Anna Rose Holmer

Set and shot in Cincinnati, Anna Rose Holmer’s highly acclaimed debut feature focuses on an 11-year-old tomboy (Royalty Hightower) who trains at a local gym but doesn’t fit in with either the male boxers she spars with nor the female dance team in the next gym she yearns to join (and eventually does). But when a mysterious outbreak of fainting spells plagues the team, she again finds herself an outsider. “Riffs on the power and...

Taiwan | 1969/75 | King Hu

Arguably the greatest martial arts movie ever made, King Hu’s wuxia epic is set in medieval China, where an artist and scholar, and the feisty young woman he loves, battle a band of assassins—first in a haunted castle, later in a bamboo forest, where they are joined by some high-flying Buddhist monks. Political, supernatural, and spiritual, this movie is “a magical metaphysical tour that begins with the understated elegance of a haiku, unfolds into a...