Cinematheque Film Schedule

United States | 1972 | Robert Downey Sr.

“El Topo meets Life of Brian” (IMDb user “Afracious”) in this irreverent, surreal religious parody/western from the maker of Putney Swope. In it, a zoot-suited singer/dancer/entertainer who’s also a messiah figure parachutes into a frontier town and proceeds to perform miracles for the local misfits. Watch for little Robert Downey Jr. New digital restoration courtesy of Shout! Factory and the American Genre Film Archive. DCP. 91 min.

Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom | 2020 | Abel Ferrara

Willem Dafoe, in his sixth collaboration with Abel Ferrara, plays a grizzled loner operating a bar and trading post in the remote Arctic. He departs from there via dogsled to confront his dreams, memories, and visions from an unresolved life. This strange, hallucinatory, psychosexual whatsit is populated by pregnant women, naked dwarves, shamans, and magicians. “A beautiful, unhinged, sometimes hilarious trek into a geographical and psychological wilderness.” –Variety. Adults only! DCP. 92 min.

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Denmark | 2020 | Jeanette Nordahl

A soft-spoken teen girl goes to live with her aunt and cousins, but soon discovers that her new family is a ruthless criminal enterprise. This acclaimed debut film, like David Michôd’s 2010 Aussie thriller Animal Kingdom, is centered around a magnetically menacing matriarch. “An absorbing and highly watchable psychodrama.” –NY Times. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. 88 min. Wildland, a Cinematheque streaming exclusive, can be viewed online from 9/3 thru at least 10/14 via the link below....

Italy | 1953 | Federico Fellini

Fellini’s first great film is a poignant, semi-autobiographical tale of five twenty-something layabouts in a small, provincial Italian seaside town. (“Vitelloni” means “overgrown calves.”) These young men spend their days loafing, playing, drinking, womanizing, and daydreaming, harboring vague ambitions they will probably never realize. Fellini’s neorealist classic, sometimes likened to American Graffiti, reputedly inspired Scorsese’s Mean Streets. With Alberto Sordi; music by Nino Rota. 4K restoration! Subtitles. DCP. 105 min.

Japan | 1979 | Hayao Miyazaki

The first feature co-written and directed by Oscar-winning master animator Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away) was made before he co-founded Studio Ghibli. Part of the Lupin III manga and anime series devoted to the exploits of Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of the storied French gentleman thief and detective, Miyazaki’s action-adventure comedy finds Lupin III investigating counterfeit money in the small country of Cagliostro. “A perfect directorial debut.” –IndieWire. New 4K restoration! Cleveland...

Japan | 1979 | Hayao Miyazaki

The first feature co-written and directed by Oscar-winning master animator Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away) was made before he co-founded Studio Ghibli. Part of the Lupin III manga and anime series devoted to the exploits of Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of the storied French gentleman thief and detective, Miyazaki’s action-adventure comedy finds Lupin III investigating counterfeit money in the small country of Cagliostro. “A perfect directorial debut.” –IndieWire. New 4K restoration! Cleveland...

France | 2020 | François Ozon

This new coming-of-age tragedy from the director of Swimming Pool and In the House chronicles the nascent love of a 16-year-old French boy for a slightly older youth he meets on the Normandy coast one summer. Based on Aidan Chambers’ 1982 YA classic Dance on My Grave. “An intense and touching tale of first love…Blends the energy of youth with the curveballs of fate.” –Screen Daily. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. 35mm. 101 min.

United States | 1972 | Robert Downey Sr.

“El Topo meets Life of Brian” (IMDb user “Afracious”) in this irreverent, surreal religious parody/western from the maker of Putney Swope. In it, a zoot-suited singer/dancer/entertainer who’s also a messiah figure parachutes into a frontier town and proceeds to perform miracles for the local misfits. Watch for little Robert Downey Jr. New digital restoration courtesy of Shout! Factory and the American Genre Film Archive. DCP. 91 min.

Italy | 1953 | Federico Fellini

Fellini’s first great film is a poignant, semi-autobiographical tale of five twenty-something layabouts in a small, provincial Italian seaside town. (“Vitelloni” means “overgrown calves.”) These young men spend their days loafing, playing, drinking, womanizing, and daydreaming, harboring vague ambitions they will probably never realize. Fellini’s neorealist classic, sometimes likened to American Graffiti, reputedly inspired Scorsese’s Mean Streets. With Alberto Sordi; music by Nino Rota. 4K restoration! Subtitles. DCP. 105 min.

Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom | 2020 | Abel Ferrara

Willem Dafoe, in his sixth collaboration with Abel Ferrara, plays a grizzled loner operating a bar and trading post in the remote Arctic. He departs from there via dogsled to confront his dreams, memories, and visions from an unresolved life. This strange, hallucinatory, psychosexual whatsit is populated by pregnant women, naked dwarves, shamans, and magicians. “A beautiful, unhinged, sometimes hilarious trek into a geographical and psychological wilderness.” –Variety. Adults only! DCP. 92 min.

France | 2020 | François Ozon

This new coming-of-age tragedy from the director of Swimming Pool and In the House chronicles the nascent love of a 16-year-old French boy for a slightly older youth he meets on the Normandy coast one summer. Based on Aidan Chambers’ 1982 YA classic Dance on My Grave. “An intense and touching tale of first love…Blends the energy of youth with the curveballs of fate.” –Screen Daily. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. 35mm. 101 min.

Iraq, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates | 2019 | Shahad Ameen

Saudi Arabia’s submission for this year’s Oscar for Best Int’l Feature Film is a gorgeously photographed feminist fable in which a 12-year-old girl in a remote, patriarchal fishing village bucks one of her community’s longstanding traditions—that of requiring each family to sacrifice a daughter to sea maidens in order to guarantee good catches. “With its glittering black-and-white cinematography, immersive sound design, eerie score and creepy reveal, the film taps into something primal and chilling…Marks Ameen...

Japan | 1964 | Masahiro Shinoda

This stylish and visually stunning film noir, a major work of the 1960s Japanese New Wave, chronicles a yakuza’s fatal attraction for an alluring woman who has an escalating gambling habit. Music by Tōru Takemitsu. “Exuding world weary cool, Shinoda's existential thriller is a classic of '60s anomie...Breathtaking camerawork.” –Time Out Film Guide. Subtitles. 35mm scope print! 96 min.

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United States | 2020 | Yael Bridge

Socialism is the subject of this new nonfiction movie that explores the rich history of the American socialist movement. Weaving together film clips, forgotten history, and interviews with Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cornel West, and others, the movie shows that, contrary to popular belief, socialism is in fact deeply American and led to popular government programs such as public schools and Medicare. Activists and journalists explain how the 2008 financial crisis, the Wall Street bailout,...

Chile | 2019 | Pablo Larraín

Gael García Bernal stars in this suspenseful, volatile new film from the director of Jackie. Set in the world of reggaeton dance in Valparaiso, Chile, the movie delineates the coruscating emotional aftermath of an artistic couple’s decision to separate and return their adopted young son (a pyromaniac with psychopathic tendencies) to the orphanage. “One of the year’s most dynamic and electrifying films.” –IndieWire. Adults only! Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 107 min.

Japan | 1964 | Masahiro Shinoda

This stylish and visually stunning film noir, a major work of the 1960s Japanese New Wave, chronicles a yakuza’s fatal attraction for an alluring woman who has an escalating gambling habit. Music by Tōru Takemitsu. “Exuding world weary cool, Shinoda's existential thriller is a classic of '60s anomie...Breathtaking camerawork.” –Time Out Film Guide. Subtitles. 35mm scope print! 96 min.

Italy | 1954 | Federico Fellini

One of Fellini’s most beloved movies—and the first motion picture to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film—is a moving fable that chronicles the tragicomic relationship between a brutish, itinerant circus strongman (Anthony Quinn) and the simple-minded, love-starved waif (Giulietta Masina, Fellini’s wife) who works with him as a clown (and serves him like a slave). The title means The Road. 4K restoration! Subtitles. 108 min

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United States | 1976 | Michael Schultz

Richard Pryor, Franklyn Ajaye, George Carlin, Irwin Corey, Ivan Dixon, Antonio Fargas, Garrett Morris, the Pointer Sisters, and others star in this episodic comedy about a day in the life of an L.A. car wash. Rose Royce performs the hit theme song. “Amazingly sprightly…Highly enjoyable.” –Time Out Film Guide. 97 min.

Belgium, France | 2020 | Quentin Dupieux

The new surreal comedy from the director of Rubber and Deerskin tells of two goofballs who try to make money by domesticating and training a giant fly they find in the trunk of a stolen car. “Delightfully stupid and unusually sweet.” –Variety. Cleveland theatrical premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 77 min.

United States | 1931 | Josef von Sternberg

Three films into his seven-film Marlene Dietrich cycle, the great pictorialist moviemaker Josef von Sternberg (The Blue Angel, Morocco) paused to direct this potent, Pre-Code film version of Theodore Dreiser’s mammoth novel that also inspired George Stevens’ A Place in the Sun. The movie tells of a poor young man whose social-climbing ambitions force him to choose between his factory worker girlfriend and a rich young society woman. “Deserves to rank with Sternberg’s best work.”...

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Canada | 2020 | Bruce La Bruce

The latest provocation from the veteran underground filmmaker who has been called “the John Waters of Canada” focuses on a narcissistic young man whose world is rocked when he learns that he has an identical twin brother. Set in the sexually liberated 1970s, La Bruce’s movie is a love letter to the psychosexual thrillers of that era. “A wild ride that’s enjoyable in all its B-movie glory while also titillating the intellect.” –Hollywood Reporter. Adults...

Italy | 1956 | Federico Fellini

The magnificent Giulietta Masina (La Strada) plays an eternally optimistic Rome streetwalker with a heart of gold and a head of cotton candy in her husband’s Oscar-winning masterpiece, shown here in a newly restored, newly subtitled, uncut version. This buoyant, poignant classic inspired the musical Sweet Charity. 4K restoration! Subtitles. DCP. 117 min.

Various countries | 2021 | various

Seven short films selected from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival—fiction, documentary, and animation—comprise this new program. Sundance is widely considered the premier American showcase for new short films. For almost 40 years, it has served as the launchpad for many now-prominent independent filmmakers—from Damien Chazelle to Dee Rees. Seven countries are represented in this year’s collection, which includes movies that won awards for writing and acting. For complete program details, visit www.sundance.org/festivals/short-film/. Cleveland premiere....

Italy | 1956 | Federico Fellini

The magnificent Giulietta Masina (La Strada) plays an eternally optimistic Rome streetwalker with a heart of gold and a head of cotton candy in her husband’s Oscar-winning masterpiece, shown here in a newly restored, newly subtitled, uncut version. This buoyant, poignant classic inspired the musical Sweet Charity. 4K restoration! Subtitles. DCP. 117 min.

Various countries | 2021 | various

Seven short films selected from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival—fiction, documentary, and animation—comprise this new program. Sundance is widely considered the premier American showcase for new short films. For almost 40 years, it has served as the launchpad for many now-prominent independent filmmakers—from Damien Chazelle to Dee Rees. Seven countries are represented in this year’s collection, which includes movies that won awards for writing and acting. For complete program details, visit www.sundance.org/festivals/short-film/. Cleveland premiere....

Belgium, France | 2020 | Quentin Dupieux

The new surreal comedy from the director of Rubber and Deerskin tells of two goofballs who try to make money by domesticating and training a giant fly they find in the trunk of a stolen car. “Delightfully stupid and unusually sweet.” –Variety. Cleveland theatrical premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 77 min.

United States | 1931 | Josef von Sternberg

Three films into his seven-film Marlene Dietrich cycle, the great pictorialist moviemaker Josef von Sternberg (The Blue Angel, Morocco) paused to direct this potent, Pre-Code film version of Theodore Dreiser’s mammoth novel that also inspired George Stevens’ A Place in the Sun. The movie tells of a poor young man whose social-climbing ambitions force him to choose between his factory worker girlfriend and a rich young society woman. “Deserves to rank with Sternberg’s best work.”...

United Kingdom | 1962 | David Lean

Soon-to-retire Cleveland Institute of Art President + CEO (and lifelong movie maven) Grafton Nunes has selected eight of his all-time favorite films to be shown in an eight-month "carte blanche" series running through April 2022. He will introduce each one. Nunes’ first selection has been named the #1 film you must see on the big screen. David Lean’s celebrated, influential historical epic stars Peter O’Toole as T.E. Lawrence, a British adventurer who united Arab tribes...

Italy | 1960 | Federico Fellini

One of the landmark films of the modern era, Fellini’s expansive survey of “the sweet life” focuses on a gossip columnist (Marcello Mastroianni) who is both attracted and repelled by the decadence and excesses of Rome’s fashionable but soulless jet-set. Contains many iconic sequences, including Anita Ekberg in the Trevi Fountain. With Anouk Aimée. Restored scope DCP! Subtitles. 175 min.

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Japan | 2020 | Sion Sono

Prolific, subversive Japanese cult director Sion Sono (Suicide Club, Love Exposure) is finally starting to find an audience in the U.S. (His first English-language film, Prisoners of the Ghostland starring Nicolas Cage, was released on 9/17.) Red Post, the film Sono made right before Ghostland, is a madcap comedy-drama in which a bevy of aspiring actresses audition for parts in a new movie by a prominent and acclaimed arthouse filmmaker. But life impinges upon art....

Ethiopia, Qatar, United States | 2021 | Jessica Beshir

Khat is Ethiopia’s biggest cash crop and a plant that Sufi Muslims chew to aid meditation and transcendence. It is also the subject of this mesmerizing new nonfiction film. Shot in sumptuous b&w with emphasis on light, textures, and sounds, this languid movie tries to replicate the mellow, woozy euphoria induced by the drug. “[Constructs] a loose intergenerational narrative around the elder harvesters for whom khat is both their daily bread and daily escape, and...

United States | 1978 | Claudia Weill

This landmark indie film, three years in the making and largely funded by grants, stars Melanie Mayron as a young Jewish photographer in NYC who must fend for herself when her best friend/roommate leaves to get married. Stanley Kubrick called Claudia Weill’s feminist, slice-of-life comedy-drama “one of the very rare American films that I would compare with the serious, intelligent, sensitive writing and filmmaking that you find in the best directors in Europe.” With Eli...

United States | 1978 | Claudia Weill

This landmark indie film, three years in the making and largely funded by grants, stars Melanie Mayron as a young Jewish photographer in NYC who must fend for herself when her best friend/roommate leaves to get married. Stanley Kubrick called Claudia Weill’s feminist, slice-of-life comedy-drama “one of the very rare American films that I would compare with the serious, intelligent, sensitive writing and filmmaking that you find in the best directors in Europe.” With Eli...

United States | 2021 | Connie Hochman

This new documentary revisits the glory years of George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet. Former dancers remember their time with Balanchine, explaining how they tried to fulfill the vision of a genius who was at once a groundbreaking choreographer, taskmaster, mad scientist, and spiritual teacher. The film is filled with never-before-seen archival footage of Balanchine at work during rehearsals and classes in preparation for his seminal works. Cleveland premiere. DCP. 88 min.

Ethiopia, Qatar, United States | 2021 | Jessica Beshir

Khat is Ethiopia’s biggest cash crop and a plant that Sufi Muslims chew to aid meditation and transcendence. It is also the subject of this mesmerizing new nonfiction film. Shot in sumptuous b&w with emphasis on light, textures, and sounds, this languid movie tries to replicate the mellow, woozy euphoria induced by the drug. “[Constructs] a loose intergenerational narrative around the elder harvesters for whom khat is both their daily bread and daily escape, and...

United States | 2021 | Connie Hochman

This new documentary revisits the glory years of George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet. Former dancers remember their time with Balanchine, explaining how they tried to fulfill the vision of a genius who was at once a groundbreaking choreographer, taskmaster, mad scientist, and spiritual teacher. The film is filled with never-before-seen archival footage of Balanchine at work during rehearsals and classes in preparation for his seminal works. Cleveland premiere. DCP. 88 min.

Italy | 1960 | Federico Fellini

One of the landmark films of the modern era, Fellini’s expansive survey of “the sweet life” focuses on a gossip columnist (Marcello Mastroianni) who is both attracted and repelled by the decadence and excesses of Rome’s fashionable but soulless jet-set. Contains many iconic sequences, including Anita Ekberg in the Trevi Fountain. With Anouk Aimée. Restored scope DCP! Subtitles. 175 min.

United States | 1928 | Victor Seastrom (Sjöström)

Lillian Gish stars in one of the artistic pinnacles of the silent era, never before shown at the Cinematheque. She plays a delicate young woman from Virginia who travels West to live with relatives on the lonely Texas plains. There the relentless wind and dust, coupled with the crudeness and brutality of the locals, drive her to near madness. As the foremost filmmaker of the Swedish silent cinema, director Victor Sjöström was lured to Hollywood...

Canada | 2020 | Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt

Billy Tipton was a successful American jazz musician and bandleader who lived from 1914 to 1989. After his death, it was revealed that he had been assigned female at birth. This new documentary employs prominent figures in the trans community to paint a multifaceted portrait of this successful entertainer who has now become a transgender icon. “A compelling, often profound film.” –L.A. Times. Cleveland premiere. DCP. 83 min.

Japan | 1989 | Shin’ya Tsukamoto

A cult hit absent from theaters for many years, Shin’ya Tsukamoto’s feature debut is a perverse, darkly comic, graphically violent and gory alloy of David Cronenberg, David Lynch, and Sam Raimi. A Japanese “salaryman” involved in a car accident with a “metals fetishist” finds himself plagued by nightmares. He gradually transforms into the Iron Man, a lusty, rusty scrapheap of tangled metal, dangling cables, and uncontrollable urges, with a large rotating drill extending from his...