Cinematheque Film Schedule

France | 1963 | Éric Rohmer

The first two of Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales are the rarest, and set the tone and tenor for the others. In Moral Tale #1, a young student (played by future film director Barbet Schroeder) hangs out every day at a bakery to watch for a girl he once saw on the street. But an alluring bakery clerk distracts his attention. In #2, two friends who sponge off the same young woman find themselves in...

Japan | 1963 | Akira Kurosawa

In Akira Kurosawa’s riveting thriller, a shoe tycoon (Toshiro Mifune) faces a moral dilemma when his chauffeur’s son is mistaken for his own child and is kidnapped and held for ruinous ransom. Based on an Ed McBain novel, this is one of the best crime melodramas ever made—a thrilling detective story that plumbs Dostoevskian depths. Tatsuya Nakadai and Takashi Shimura co-star. Scope print! Subtitles. 143 min.

United States | 2019 | Robert Eggers

Robert Eggers’ acclaimed follow-up to The Witch is an hallucinatory horror film shot both in b&w and in an archaic aspect ratio of 1.19:1. (It looks like a Guy Maddin movie.) Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson play 1890s lighthouse keepers who try to maintain their working relationship and their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island. DCP. 109 min.

France, Italy | |

No film we showed last year was better received or sparked more discussion than this newly restored classic starring Alain Delon and Jeanne Moreau. Set in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of Paris, the film focuses on Catholic art dealer Robert Klein, who makes a comfortable living by buying paintings and sculptures at bargain prices from Jews desperate to flee France. But when he hears of another Robert Klein in Paris—a Jew wanted by the...

France | 1963 | Éric Rohmer

The first two of Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales are the rarest, and set the tone and tenor for the others. In Moral Tale #1, a young student (played by future film director Barbet Schroeder) hangs out every day at a bakery to watch for a girl he once saw on the street. But an alluring bakery clerk distracts his attention. In #2, two friends who sponge off the same young woman find themselves in...

United States | 2019 | Robert Eggers

Robert Eggers’ acclaimed follow-up to The Witch is an hallucinatory horror film shot both in b&w and in an archaic aspect ratio of 1.19:1. (It looks like a Guy Maddin movie.) Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson play 1890s lighthouse keepers who try to maintain their working relationship and their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island. DCP. 109 min.

Austria, Germany, United Kingdom | 2019 | Jessica Hausner

Move over, Audrey Junior; there’s a perilous new plant in town—Little Joe. Jessica Hausner’s stylish follow-up to Lourdes and Amour Fou is an English-language sci-fi thriller in which a corporate genetic engineer (Cannes 2019 Best Actress winner Emily Beecham) breeds a colorful new species of flower that elevates the mood of its human caretaker. What could possibly go wrong? “Artfully unnerving, austerely hypnotic.” –Variety. Cleveland premiere. DCP. 105 min.

United States | 2019 | Mark Landsman

Sex! Drugs! UFO’s! This behind-the-headlines look at the most notorious tabloid in U.S. history dissects the newspaper’s impact on American culture and politics while examining our collective obsession with the rich, famous, and powerful. “Blazingly paced…Entertains and informs.” –Hollywood Reporter. Cleveland theatrical premiere. DCP. 97 min.

United States | 2019 | Louis Schwartzberg

One of the most unexpected art house hits of 2019 is a mind-blowing, beautifully photographed look at the world of mushrooms—and how they can help save the planet. With Michael Pollan and Andrew Weil; narrated by Brie Larson. East Side Cleveland premiere. DCP. 81 min.

United States | 2019 | Mark Landsman

Sex! Drugs! UFO’s! This behind-the-headlines look at the most notorious tabloid in U.S. history dissects the newspaper’s impact on American culture and politics while examining our collective obsession with the rich, famous, and powerful. “Blazingly paced…Entertains and informs.” –Hollywood Reporter. Cleveland theatrical premiere. DCP. 97 min.

Austria, Germany, United Kingdom | 2019 | Jessica Hausner

Move over, Audrey Junior; there’s a perilous new plant in town—Little Joe. Jessica Hausner’s stylish follow-up to Lourdes and Amour Fou is an English-language sci-fi thriller in which a corporate genetic engineer (Cannes 2019 Best Actress winner Emily Beecham) breeds a colorful new species of flower that elevates the mood of its human caretaker. What could possibly go wrong? “Artfully unnerving, austerely hypnotic.” –Variety. Cleveland premiere. DCP. 105 min.

France | 1967 | Éric Rohmer

Two men vacationing on the Riviera, a painter and an art dealer, try to resist the advances of a promiscuous young woman who seems to “collect men” by sleeping with a different partner every night. The third of Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales (though originally intended to be the fourth) is a delightful mix of the cerebral and the sensuous and was his first film in color. Cinematography by the great Nestor Almendros. Subtitles. DCP....

United States | 1991 | Kathryn Bigelow

Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, and Gary Busey star in Kathryn Bigelow’s fourth feature, an adrenaline-charged adventure in which an undercover FBI agent infiltrates a group of SoCal surfers who moonlight as mask-wearing bank robbers. A modern cult classic! Scope. 122 min.

United States | 1962 | J. Lee Thompson

A sadistic ex-con (Robert Mitchum) terrorizes the family of the lawyer (Gregory Peck) he blames for his long prison sentence in this tense thriller. Originally storyboarded by Alfred Hitchcock (who was slated to direct), Cape Fear was remade in 1991 by Martin Scorsese. Music by Bernard Herrmann. With Polly Bergen, Martin Balsam, and Telly Savalas. Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 106 min.

France | 1967 | Éric Rohmer

Two men vacationing on the Riviera, a painter and an art dealer, try to resist the advances of a promiscuous young woman who seems to “collect men” by sleeping with a different partner every night. The third of Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales (though originally intended to be the fourth) is a delightful mix of the cerebral and the sensuous and was his first film in color. Cinematography by the great Nestor Almendros. Subtitles. DCP....

Australia, United States | 2019 | April Wright

This multi-award-winning new documentary is a love letter to the lavish movie palaces—many now gone—built in cities across America during the teens, twenties, and thirties. The film chronicles the history and architectural significance of these grand, ornate gathering places, as well as their current importance as historic theaters vital to the cultural life, community, and economy of many downtowns. With Leonard Maltin. Cleveland premiere. DCP. 85 min.

United States | 1962 | J. Lee Thompson

A sadistic ex-con (Robert Mitchum) terrorizes the family of the lawyer (Gregory Peck) he blames for his long prison sentence in this tense thriller. Originally storyboarded by Alfred Hitchcock (who was slated to direct), Cape Fear was remade in 1991 by Martin Scorsese. Music by Bernard Herrmann. With Polly Bergen, Martin Balsam, and Telly Savalas. Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 106 min.

United States | 2019 | Lily Zepeda

Jack Sim is the Singapore-born founder of the WTO (World Toilet Organization, in this case) and a tireless—and irreverent—crusader for proper sanitation around the globe. When he’s not making potty jokes, Sim is deadly serious about advocating for remedies to a problem that affects 2.4 billion people worldwide and causes tens of thousands of deaths each year. And he’s making progress. Get all the poop about this remarkable man in this “informative and fun documentary”...

Mexico | 2019 | Luke Lorentzen

One of the most acclaimed and awarded documentaries of 2019 profiles the Ochoa family, who make a living (just barely) running a private ambulance service in Mexico City, where only 45 public ambulances serve a population of nine million. As emergency medical workers, the Ochoas spend many nights racing against the competition to reach those in need, then racing the sick or injured to the hospital. The movie is one wild ride. “Outstanding…You can’t look...

France | 1969 | Éric Rohmer

The sexiest talkfest ever filmed, perfect for Valentine’s Day (and the day after)! Jean-Louis Trintignant plays a devout, uptight Catholic determined to marry a blonde woman (Marie-Christine Barrault) he sees at church. But when snow delays his departure from a dinner party one evening, he spends the night—mostly talking and fidgeting—with the beautiful, dark-haired hostess Maud (Françoise Fabian), an alluring divorcee. Éric Rohmer’s breakthrough movie was Oscar-nominated and remains one of his best and most...

France | 1969 | Éric Rohmer

The sexiest talkfest ever filmed, perfect for Valentine’s Day (and the day after)! Jean-Louis Trintignant plays a devout, uptight Catholic determined to marry a blonde woman (Marie-Christine Barrault) he sees at church. But when snow delays his departure from a dinner party one evening, he spends the night—mostly talking and fidgeting—with the beautiful, dark-haired hostess Maud (Françoise Fabian), an alluring divorcee. Éric Rohmer’s breakthrough movie was Oscar-nominated and remains one of his best and most...

United States | 1981/2000 | Edo Bertoglio

Jean-Michel Basquiat, the influential NYC artist who died from a drug overdose in 1988 at age 27, is the star of this low-budget movie that was shot in 1980-81 but not completed and released until two decades later. Produced and written by Cleveland native Glenn O’Brien, Downtown 81 is a kind of “day in the life of Basquiat,” capturing the painter, graffiti artist, and musician in his garbage- and rubble-strewn Lower East Side environs as...

United Kingdom | 1949 | Robert Hamer

In one of the greatest black comedies ever made, an impoverished Brit, disowned by his aristocratic family but still ninth in line to inherit a dukedom (and a fortune), systematically kills off the intervening eight—male and female—all played by the peerless Alec Guinness. “A merciless masterpiece.” -The New Yorker. Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 106 min.

United Kingdom | 1949 | Robert Hamer

In one of the greatest black comedies ever made, an impoverished Brit, disowned by his aristocratic family but still ninth in line to inherit a dukedom (and a fortune), systematically kills off the intervening eight—male and female—all played by the peerless Alec Guinness. “A merciless masterpiece.” -The New Yorker. Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 106 min.

Mexico | 2019 | Luke Lorentzen

One of the most acclaimed and awarded documentaries of 2019 profiles the Ochoa family, who make a living (just barely) running a private ambulance service in Mexico City, where only 45 public ambulances serve a population of nine million. As emergency medical workers, the Ochoas spend many nights racing against the competition to reach those in need, then racing the sick or injured to the hospital. The movie is one wild ride. “Outstanding…You can’t look...

United Kingdom, United States | 2019 | Joanna Hogg

This movie was voted the best film of 2019 (beating The Irishman, Parasite, Pain and Glory, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, et al.) in a year-end poll of over 100 film critics conducted by Britain’s Sight & Sound magazine. (It played in Cleveland for one week.) Joanna Hogg’s semi-autobiographical feature stars Honor Swinton Byrne (Tilda’s daughter) as a film student who begins a relationship with a toxic older man (Tom Burke) during the early 1980s....

United States | 2019 | Louis Schwartzberg

One of the most unexpected art house hits of 2019 is a mind-blowing, beautifully photographed look at the world of mushrooms—and how they can help save the planet. With Michael Pollan and Andrew Weil; narrated by Brie Larson. East Side Cleveland premiere. DCP. 81 min.

Japan | 1998 | Hideo Nakata

Here’s the king of all J-horror classics—and one of the scariest movies ever made! (It was remade in the U.S. as 2002’s The Ring.) In it, a journalist investigates a report of a cursed VHS tape that kills viewers seven days after they watch it. (Thank God for streaming services, right?) Adults only! Subtitles. DCP. 96 min.

France, Germany, Switzerland | 2015 | Jean-Gabriel Périot

The radicalization of West German youth during the late 1960s—specifically the rise of the revolutionary terrorist group the Red Army Faction (RAF) founded by Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof—is chronicled via historic film clips and audio recordings in this gripping real-life thriller. “Captivating...Essential for anyone interested in cinema and politics.” –Hollywood Reporter. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 93 min.

France | 2018 | Bruno Dumont

Bruno Dumont’s follow-up to his farcical 2014 murder-mystery Li’l Quinquin finds his eponymous teen hero and scamp now grown-up and going by the name CoinCoin. In this new four-part series, CoinCoin’s Northern France beach community seems to have been invaded by space aliens. But concerned residents can rest easy: bumbling gendarmes Captain Van Der Weyden and his loyal assistant Carpentier (both introduced in Li’l Quinquin, to the audience’s great delight) are once again on the...

France | 1970 | Éric Rohmer

In one of the funniest and most enchanting of Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales, a 35-year-old French diplomat engaged to be married in a month finds himself attracted to two teenage sisters he meets while vacationing at a lakefront villa. He fixates on the sensuous knee of the older one, which he yearns to caress. Nestor Almendros did the shimmering summertime cinematography. Subtitles. DCP. 105 min.

United States | 1936 | William Wyler

Here’s a longtime “four-star” movie that is largely forgotten and almost never shown theatrically—despite an ever-growing reputation. (It was added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry in 1990 and was reputedly the all-time favorite movie of longtime Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne.) Based on Sinclair Lewis’ novel, the film tells of a successful, middle-aged Midwest American businessman (Walter Huston) who sells his company and moves to Europe to appease his unhappy, status-conscious...

Japan | 1998 | Hideo Nakata

Here’s the king of all J-horror classics—and one of the scariest movies ever made! (It was remade in the U.S. as 2002’s The Ring.) In it, a journalist investigates a report of a cursed VHS tape that kills viewers seven days after they watch it. (Thank God for streaming services, right?) Adults only! Subtitles. DCP. 96 min.

United States | 2006 | Doug Atchison

An 11-year-old girl from South Central L.A. with a talent for spelling aspires to participate in the National Spelling Bee. But many challenges stand in her way. This rousing modern classic is a true, well-deserved crowd-pleaser—not a guilty pleasure. With Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, and Keke Palmer. 112 min.

France, Germany, Switzerland | 2015 | Jean-Gabriel Périot

The radicalization of West German youth during the late 1960s—specifically the rise of the revolutionary terrorist group the Red Army Faction (RAF) founded by Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof—is chronicled via historic film clips and audio recordings in this gripping real-life thriller. “Captivating...Essential for anyone interested in cinema and politics.” –Hollywood Reporter. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 93 min.

France | 1970 | Éric Rohmer

In one of the funniest and most enchanting of Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales, a 35-year-old French diplomat engaged to be married in a month finds himself attracted to two teenage sisters he meets while vacationing at a lakefront villa. He fixates on the sensuous knee of the older one, which he yearns to caress. Nestor Almendros did the shimmering summertime cinematography. Subtitles. DCP. 105 min.

United States | 2018 | Jodie Mack

Experimental animator Jodie Mack has been called “the most playful and imaginative avant-garde filmmaker of her generation” by the Chicago Reader. Mack’s buoyant first feature (shot on 16mm film but shown here from 35mm) is a globe-hopping, eye-opening delight in which a panoply of patterns and textiles are propelled through space and time, around the world, to a danceable electronic beat. The result is a playful, colorful, cross-cultural evocation of labor and capital, global trade...

France | 1972 | Éric Rohmer

The last of Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales is the only one dealing with a married man—in this case a happily married man whose ordered life is upset by the reappearance of an old friend, Chloé (Zouzou), who becomes his regular afternoon confidante and temptress. Subtitles. DCP. 97 min.

France | 1972 | Éric Rohmer

The last of Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales is the only one dealing with a married man—in this case a happily married man whose ordered life is upset by the reappearance of an old friend, Chloé (Zouzou), who becomes his regular afternoon confidante and temptress. Subtitles. DCP. 97 min.

Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Russia, Switzerland | 2019 | various directors

10 new animated short films from seven different countries—including three movies that have qualified for Academy Award consideration—comprise the latest edition of this popular program. For over two decades now, the Animation Show of Shows has been presenting new and innovative short films—a curated selection of “the best of the best”—to appreciative audiences around the world. 40 of the films showcased in the ASOS over their first 20 years went on to receive Academy Award...

Hungary | 1981 | István Szabó

Winner of the 1982 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, István Szabó’s historical epic tells of a left-leaning stage actor in pre-WWII Germany who, in a Faustian bargain for fame and fortune, hitches his wagon to the rising Nazi party. Klaus Maria Brandauer’s monumental performance as the corrupt, compromised thespian made him an international star. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 144 min.