Cinematheque Film Schedule

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...

United States | 1946 | Alfred Hitchcock

Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains star in one of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest films—about an American espionage agent who coerces the promiscuous daughter of an accused traitor to infiltrate a group of Brazil-based Nazis by marrying their leader. “Suspense there is, but what really distinguishes the film is the way its smooth, polished surface illuminates a sickening tangle of self-sacrifice, exploitation, suspicion, and emotional dependence.” –Time Out Film Guide. 35mm. 102 min.

France | 2015 | Arnaud Desplechin

The latest film by the celebrated French director of A Christmas Tale is one of the most acclaimed movies of the past year. It’s also a sequel & prequel to the filmmaker’s breakthrough movie, 1996’s My Sex Life…Or How I Got into an Argument. (One does not need to have seen that earlier film to enjoy this one.) Mathieu Amalric reprises his role as academic Paul Dédalus, now middle-aged, who looks back over three episodes...

Denmark | 2015 | Jeppe Rønde

Hannah Murray (Gilly in Game of Thrones) plays a well-adjusted girl who moves with her dad to a Welsh town plagued by an epidemic of mysterious teen suicides. Will the communal depression of her peers infect her? Best Actress and Best Cinematography, 2015 Tribeca Film Festival; inspired by a true case. “Stylishly shot, eerily scored and moodily acted…Depending on how you like your movies, this is either a walkout or a must-see.” –The NY Times....

France | 2015 | Arnaud Desplechin

The latest film by the celebrated French director of A Christmas Tale is one of the most acclaimed movies of the past year. It’s also a sequel & prequel to the filmmaker’s breakthrough movie, 1996’s My Sex Life…Or How I Got into an Argument. (One does not need to have seen that earlier film to enjoy this one.) Mathieu Amalric reprises his role as academic Paul Dédalus, now middle-aged, who looks back over three episodes...

United States | 1946 | Alfred Hitchcock

Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains star in one of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest films—about an American espionage agent who coerces the promiscuous daughter of an accused traitor to infiltrate a group of Brazil-based Nazis by marrying their leader. “Suspense there is, but what really distinguishes the film is the way its smooth, polished surface illuminates a sickening tangle of self-sacrifice, exploitation, suspicion, and emotional dependence.” –Time Out Film Guide. 35mm. 102 min.

Denmark | 2015 | Jeppe Rønde

Hannah Murray (Gilly in Game of Thrones) plays a well-adjusted girl who moves with her dad to a Welsh town plagued by an epidemic of mysterious teen suicides. Will the communal depression of her peers infect her? Best Actress and Best Cinematography, 2015 Tribeca Film Festival; inspired by a true case. “Stylishly shot, eerily scored and moodily acted…Depending on how you like your movies, this is either a walkout or a must-see.” –The NY Times....

United States | 1996 | Wes Anderson

Owen Wilson co-wrote and made his big screen debut in Wes Anderson’s first feature—a charming, character-driven comedy about three clueless southwestern slackers who dream of pulling off a heist and then leading a life of crime. With Luke Wilson and James Caan. Music by Mark Mothersbaugh. 35mm. 91 min.

Venezuela | 2015 | Lorenzo Vigas

Winner of the top prize at last year’s Venice Int’l Film Festival, this affecting drama focuses on a lonely, middle-aged homosexual (Alfredo Castro of Pablo Larraín fame) who cruises the Caracas streets for working class young men willing to go home with him. (Once there he merely looks at them—no touching.) But when he picks up a young tough one day, his life changes dramatically. “Lorenzo Vigas' impressive debut charts an unlikely May-December romance with...

China | 2015 | Gan Bi

This debut film from a Chinese poet and filmmaker who’s still in his 20s is one of the most rapturously received movies of the year! Set in the subtropical Chinese province of Guizhou, the film is nominally about a doctor who journeys to another village to retrieve his young nephew, abandoned by his irresponsible half-brother. But the trip and the film unfold like a dream: the past, present, and future flow together; reality commingles with...

United States | 1996 | Wes Anderson

Owen Wilson co-wrote and made his big screen debut in Wes Anderson’s first feature—a charming, character-driven comedy about three clueless southwestern slackers who dream of pulling off a heist and then leading a life of crime. With Luke Wilson and James Caan. Music by Mark Mothersbaugh. 35mm. 91 min.

Venezuela | 2015 | Lorenzo Vigas

Winner of the top prize at last year’s Venice Int’l Film Festival, this affecting drama focuses on a lonely, middle-aged homosexual (Alfredo Castro of Pablo Larraín fame) who cruises the Caracas streets for working class young men willing to go home with him. (Once there he merely looks at them—no touching.) But when he picks up a young tough one day, his life changes dramatically. “Lorenzo Vigas' impressive debut charts an unlikely May-December romance with...

Taiwan | 1967 | kING hU

Voted the ninth best Chinese film of all time in a 2011 survey of film professionals, King Hu’s feature before A Touch of Zen (see 6/30 & 7/1) is one of the most famous and celebrated wuxia movies ever made. Set during the Ming Dynasty at a remote country inn, the film tells of a group of strangers who protect an assassinated general’s widow and children from the government’s bloodthirsty secret police. Cleveland revival premiere....

United States | 1981 | Penelope Spheeris

Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X are just a few of the bands captured on film in this classic look at the L.A. punk scene circa 1980. Penelope Spheeris’ groundbreaking documentary, which exposed a once-marginalized subculture, has now been digitally restored. (Spheeris’ Decline II: The Metal Years shows on 8/20 & 21.) Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 100 min.

China | 2015 | Gan Bi

This debut film from a Chinese poet and filmmaker who’s still in his 20s is one of the most rapturously received movies of the year! Set in the subtropical Chinese province of Guizhou, the film is nominally about a doctor who journeys to another village to retrieve his young nephew, abandoned by his irresponsible half-brother. But the trip and the film unfold like a dream: the past, present, and future flow together; reality commingles with...

United States | 1981 | Penelope Spheeris

Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X are just a few of the bands captured on film in this classic look at the L.A. punk scene circa 1980. Penelope Spheeris’ groundbreaking documentary, which exposed a once-marginalized subculture, has now been digitally restored. (Spheeris’ Decline II: The Metal Years shows on 8/20 & 21.) Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 100 min.

Taiwan | 1967 | kING hU

Voted the ninth best Chinese film of all time in a 2011 survey of film professionals, King Hu’s feature before A Touch of Zen (see 6/30 & 7/1) is one of the most famous and celebrated wuxia movies ever made. Set during the Ming Dynasty at a remote country inn, the film tells of a group of strangers who protect an assassinated general’s widow and children from the government’s bloodthirsty secret police. Cleveland revival premiere....

United States | 1998 | Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson’s breakthrough film is a peculiar comedy about Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman), the king of elaborate extracurricular activities at Rushmore Academy. In his scarce free time, Max struggles with academics, woos the new teacher (Olivia Williams), and befriends a wealthy industrialist (Bill Murray). Music by Mark Mothersbaugh. Scope. 93 min.

West Germany | 1982 | Wolf Gremm

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, in his last screen role before his death at age 37, stars in this cyberpunk sci-fi thriller based on Murder on the 31st Floor by Swedish novelist Per Wahlöö. Fassbinder, wearing a fake leopard-skin suit, plays a homicide detective investigating a bomb threat at the headquarters of “the combine,” a vast government corporation that controls all television and news in a newly totalitarian Germany. With Franco Nero; music by Edgar Froese of...

West Germany | 1982 | Wolf Gremm

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, in his last screen role before his death at age 37, stars in this cyberpunk sci-fi thriller based on Murder on the 31st Floor by Swedish novelist Per Wahlöö. Fassbinder, wearing a fake leopard-skin suit, plays a homicide detective investigating a bomb threat at the headquarters of “the combine,” a vast government corporation that controls all television and news in a newly totalitarian Germany. With Franco Nero; music by Edgar Froese of...

United States | 1998 | Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson’s breakthrough film is a peculiar comedy about Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman), the king of elaborate extracurricular activities at Rushmore Academy. In his scarce free time, Max struggles with academics, woos the new teacher (Olivia Williams), and befriends a wealthy industrialist (Bill Murray). Music by Mark Mothersbaugh. Scope. 93 min.

France | 1966 | Ousmane Sembène

The groundbreaking debut by “the father of African cinema” Ousmane Sembène (1923-2007) was the first feature film ever directed by a black African. It focuses on a young Senegalese woman working as a maid for a white couple in southern France. She soon discovers that colonial attitudes linger in an alleged “post-colonial” world. “Formally spartan, Black Girl is dense with cool fury.” –Village Voice (May 2016). Preceded at showtime by Sembène’s short Borom Sarret (Senegal,...

Bulgaria | 2014 | Maya Vitkova

This ambitious, absurdist, allegorical new feature focuses on a young Bulgarian woman, Viktoria, born without a belly button, whose first 20 years of life are equally split between her country’s communist past and its capitalist present. Born to a mother who doesn’t want her, and named the “Socialist Bulgaria Baby of the Decade,” Viktoria spends her early life coddled by the state. But when Communism falls, she is forced to stand on her own two...

Georgia | 2014 | Mohsen Makhmalbaf

The latest film from the exiled Iranian master filmmaker of such films as Gabbeh and Kandahar is a pointed satire about a toppled dictator who tries to flee his country with his young grandson. Disguising himself as a street musician, he escapes into the countryside on his way to the coast. Along the way he meets some of the former political prisoners whom he oppressed for many years. “Has surprising urgency and sweep.” –The NY...

Georgia | 2014 | Mohsen Makhmalbaf

The latest film from the exiled Iranian master filmmaker of such films as Gabbeh and Kandahar is a pointed satire about a toppled dictator who tries to flee his country with his young grandson. Disguising himself as a street musician, he escapes into the countryside on his way to the coast. Along the way he meets some of the former political prisoners whom he oppressed for many years. “Has surprising urgency and sweep.” –The NY...

France | 1966 | Ousmane Sembène

The groundbreaking debut by “the father of African cinema” Ousmane Sembène (1923-2007) was the first feature film ever directed by a black African. It focuses on a young Senegalese woman working as a maid for a white couple in southern France. She soon discovers that colonial attitudes linger in an alleged “post-colonial” world. “Formally spartan, Black Girl is dense with cool fury.” –Village Voice (May 2016). Preceded at showtime by Sembène’s short Borom Sarret (Senegal,...

United States | 1968 | Peter Yates

Steve McQueen plays a San Francisco police detective charged with protecting a Mob informant in this iconic action film with the famous ten-minute car chase that everybody who came after tried to top. With Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Vaughn, and Robert Duvall. 35mm IB Tech print! 113 min.

United States | 1969 | Sam Peckinpah

William Holden, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, and Ben Johnson star in Sam Peckinpah’s celebrated Western, about a band of aging outlaws on the Texas-Mexico border early in the 20th century trying to survive fast-changing times. “The Gotterdammerung of Westerns.” –Michael Sragow. Adults only! Scope. 144 min.

Italy, United States | 1968 | Sergio Leone

Sergio Leone’s operatic follow-up to his Clint Eastwood “Man with No Name”trilogy is a deliberately paced, ultra-stylish revisionist Western about railroad expansion and a deadly fight for water rights. The film stars Henry Fonda (as a sadistic killer!), Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, and Jason Robards. It was co-written by Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento and boasts one of Ennio Morricone’s best scores. “Leone’s timeless monument to the death of the West (is the) best...

United States | 2001 | Wes Anderson

Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, and Danny Glover star in Wes Anderson’s whimsical and beautiful modern classic—the funny-sad tale of a family of child prodigies that falls apart when dad walks out on them. Music by Mark Mothersbaugh. Scope. 110 min.

Israel | 2015 | Avishai Sivan

Winner of the award for Best Israeli Feature at the 2015 Jerusalem Film Festival, this bold, shocking, enigmatic drama (shot in striking b&w) tells of a devout, ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student who becomes a dramatically different person after a near-death experience. He renounces religious studies and his community’s conservative rules and starts exploring some of the taboo realms of the world at large. Meanwhile his father (who saved his life) worries that perhaps he shouldn’t have...

France | 2015 | Andrzej Zulawski

The final film (and first movie in 15 years) from the recently deceased Andrzej Zulawski (Possession) is as strange, sinister, darkly funny, and inscrutable as a David Lynch mystery. Based on a surreal novel by Witold Gombrowicz, the film is set at a village B&B, where a failed law student tries to discern the hidden significance (and interconnectedness) of the incongruous things he witnesses there (a dead sparrow dangling from a wire, etc.). He also...

United States | 2001 | Wes Anderson

Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, and Danny Glover star in Wes Anderson’s whimsical and beautiful modern classic—the funny-sad tale of a family of child prodigies that falls apart when dad walks out on them. Music by Mark Mothersbaugh. Scope. 110 min.

United Kingdom | 2015 | John Goldschmidt

In this crowd-pleasing comedy shown at this year’s Cleveland Int’l Film Festival, an elderly Jewish baker (Jonathan Pryce) struggles to keep his East London kosher bakery afloat. But when his African Muslim apprentice accidentally spills marijuana in the challah dough, sales take flight—and so do his customers. With Ian Hart and Pauline Collins. “Luminous…A delight.” –Cleveland Jewish News. DCP. 94 min.

Argentina | 2015 | Carlos Saura

Carlos Saura’s latest studio-shot live-performance film continues his years-long exploration of Spanish popular music and dance (Flamenco, Tango, Carmen, El amor brujo, et al.). Argentina, consisting of 20 choreographed tableaux,focuses on that country’s rich musical heritage—from Zamba to modern dance—and includes a tribute to the late, great protest singer Mercedes Sosa. Subtitles. DCP. 85 min. www.firstrunfeatures.com

France | 2015 | Andrzej Zulawski

The final film (and first movie in 15 years) from the recently deceased Andrzej Zulawski (Possession) is as strange, sinister, darkly funny, and inscrutable as a David Lynch mystery. Based on a surreal novel by Witold Gombrowicz, the film is set at a village B&B, where a failed law student tries to discern the hidden significance (and interconnectedness) of the incongruous things he witnesses there (a dead sparrow dangling from a wire, etc.). He also...

United Kingdom | 2015 | John Goldschmidt

In this crowd-pleasing comedy shown at this year’s Cleveland Int’l Film Festival, an elderly Jewish baker (Jonathan Pryce) struggles to keep his East London kosher bakery afloat. But when his African Muslim apprentice accidentally spills marijuana in the challah dough, sales take flight—and so do his customers. With Ian Hart and Pauline Collins. “Luminous…A delight.” –Cleveland Jewish News. DCP. 94 min.

Argentina | 2015 | Carlos Saura

Carlos Saura’s latest studio-shot live-performance film continues his years-long exploration of Spanish popular music and dance (Flamenco, Tango, Carmen, El amor brujo, et al.). Argentina, consisting of 20 choreographed tableaux,focuses on that country’s rich musical heritage—from Zamba to modern dance—and includes a tribute to the late, great protest singer Mercedes Sosa. Subtitles. DCP. 85 min. www.firstrunfeatures.com

Israel | 2015 | Avishai Sivan

Winner of the award for Best Israeli Feature at the 2015 Jerusalem Film Festival, this bold, shocking, enigmatic drama (shot in striking b&w) tells of a devout, ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student who becomes a dramatically different person after a near-death experience. He renounces religious studies and his community’s conservative rules and starts exploring some of the taboo realms of the world at large. Meanwhile his father (who saved his life) worries that perhaps he shouldn’t have...

United States | 2004 | Wes Anderson

Jacques Cousteau meets Herman Melville in Wes Anderson’s waterlogged fourth feature, in which an oddball oceanographer (Bill Murray) vows revenge on the “jaguar shark” that killed his partner. With Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum. Music by Mark Mothersbaugh. Scope. 119 min.

United States | 2015 | Noah Baumbach, Jake Paltrow

Director Brian De Palma (Blow Out, Scarface, The Untouchables) takes the viewer, movie by movie, through his 50-year, 28-film career in this fascinating, clip-laden documentary by fellow filmmakers (and fans) Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow. This new film should whet your appetite for the seven-film De Palma series we present in August. “He's a pretty marvelous raconteur.” –Variety. Adults only! DCP. 107 min. a24films.com

United States | 2015 | Noah Baumbach, Jake Paltrow

Director Brian De Palma (Blow Out, Scarface, The Untouchables) takes the viewer, movie by movie, through his 50-year, 28-film career in this fascinating, clip-laden documentary by fellow filmmakers (and fans) Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow. This new film should whet your appetite for the seven-film De Palma series we present in August. “He's a pretty marvelous raconteur.” –Variety. Adults only! DCP. 107 min. a24films.com

United States | 2004 | Wes Anderson

Jacques Cousteau meets Herman Melville in Wes Anderson’s waterlogged fourth feature, in which an oddball oceanographer (Bill Murray) vows revenge on the “jaguar shark” that killed his partner. With Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum. Music by Mark Mothersbaugh. Scope. 119 min.

United States | 1930 | John Murray Anderson

Newly restored to its original two-strip Technicolor glory, this Universal Pictures extravaganza features a series of musical numbers by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, including a performance of Rhapsody in Blue, which Whiteman commissioned from George Gershwin. (Whiteman, a hugely popular bandleader of the 1920s, was dubbed “the King of Jazz” by the white media of his day.) This classic revue film also contains assorted comedy sketches, the first Technicolor animation, Bing Crosby as one...

United Kingdom | 1969 | Richard Attenborough

A battalion of British stars (Maggie Smith, Dirk Bogarde, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, John Mills, Michael and Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, Susannah York, Jack Hawkins, et al.) appears in this epic musical revue and fantasia that uses popular period songs and stylized, surreal set pieces to satirize the waste and hubris of the First World War. It was Richard Attenborough’s directorial debut. DCP. 144 min.

Canada, United Kingdom, United States | 2016 | various directors

There are eight films from three different countries in this year’s edition of this popular program. Included are four Short Film Jury Award winners—for Non-fiction (Sol Friedman’s Bacon & God’s Wrath, in which a 90-year-old Jewish woman prepares to try bacon for the first time); for Animation (Nina Gantz’s Edmond); for Outstanding Performance (Ben Petrie’s Her Friend Adam); for U.S. Fiction (Calvin Lee Reeder’s The Procedure)—as well as the Short Film Grand Jury Prize winner...

United States | 1930 | John Murray Anderson

Newly restored to its original two-strip Technicolor glory, this Universal Pictures extravaganza features a series of musical numbers by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, including a performance of Rhapsody in Blue, which Whiteman commissioned from George Gershwin. (Whiteman, a hugely popular bandleader of the 1920s, was dubbed “the King of Jazz” by the white media of his day.) This classic revue film also contains assorted comedy sketches, the first Technicolor animation, Bing Crosby as one...

Canada, United Kingdom, United States | 2016 | various directors

There are eight films from three different countries in this year’s edition of this popular program. Included are four Short Film Jury Award winners—for Non-fiction (Sol Friedman’s Bacon & God’s Wrath, in which a 90-year-old Jewish woman prepares to try bacon for the first time); for Animation (Nina Gantz’s Edmond); for Outstanding Performance (Ben Petrie’s Her Friend Adam); for U.S. Fiction (Calvin Lee Reeder’s The Procedure)—as well as the Short Film Grand Jury Prize winner...