Cinematheque Film Schedule

United States | 1985 | Andrei Konchalovsky

Based on a screenplay by Akira Kurosawa and directed by the Russian helmer of Siberiade (hence the existential overtones), this breakneck action thriller stars Jon Voight and Eric Roberts (both Oscar-nominated) as escaped cons barreling through the frigid Alaskan wilderness on a train with a dead engineer and no brakes. “Wrenchingly intense and brutally powerful…A most exciting action epic…Serious enough to work strongly on numerous levels.” –Variety. With Rebecca De Mornay. 35mm. 111 min.

Mexico, West Germany | 1972 | Werner Herzog

In one of Werner Herzog’s greatest films, Klaus Kinski (unforgettable) plays a megalomaniacal, 16th-century Spanish conquistador trekking through the Amazonian wilderness on a relentless quest for El Dorado, the fabled city of gold. This moody, mesmerizing, visually stunning masterpiece has music by Popol Vuh. Subtitles. Restored DCP. 94 min.

United States | 2023 | Amanda Kim

Trailblazing Korean-American artist Nam June Paik (1932-2006) was a pillar of the American avant-garde in the 20th century and is widely recognized as the father of video art. This acclaimed new film traces this pioneer’s trajectory—from his beginnings in Korea to his life-changing discovery of John Cage’s work, and from his involvement in the Fluxus experimental art collective to his eventual emergence as an international art world superstar. Features readings of the artist’s writings by...

United States | 2022 | Julia Mintz

More than 25,000 Jewish partisans fought back against the Nazis and their collaborators during WWII, hiding out in the forests of Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and Belarus. Against extraordinary odds, these intrepid individuals (men and women) escaped Nazi slaughter, transforming themselves from young innocents to courageous resistance fighters and shattering the myth of Jewish passivity. In this new documentary, the last surviving partisans tell their stories. Cleveland premiere. DCP. 99 min.

France, Italy | 1963 | Federico Fellini

A hugely successful Italian film director hounded by associates, the media, and assorted hangers-on—and haunted by personal dreams, memories, and transgressions—finds himself at a creative impasse. He must overcome both outside distractions and private demons to go on living and work again. Federico Fellini’s autobiographical, phantasmagorical fantasy is one of the all-time great movies. Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, and Claudia Cardinale star. Music by Nino Rota. 4K restoration. Subtitles. DCP. 138 min.

United States | 1974 | Yvonne Rainer

This landmark experimental feature by dancer/choreographer-turned-filmmaker Yvonne Rainer “is a meditation on ambivalence that plays with cliché and the conventions of soap opera while telling the story of a woman whose sexual dissatisfaction masks an enormous anger” (Zeitgeist Films). Babette Mangolte (cinematographer of Jeanne Dielman) shot this classic of feminist film theory. “Insight, irony and wit are marvellously combined.” –Time Out Film Guide. Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 105 min.

France | 2019 | Céline Sciamma

Voted the 30th best movie of all time in the 2022 Sight and Sound “greatest films” poll (the most recent movie in the top 100), this four-year-old work by French filmmaking phenom Céline Sciamma is set on a remote island in Brittany at the end of the 18th century. A young female painter (Noémie Merlant of Tár) has been commissioned to paint a wedding portrait of a wealthy young woman (Adèle Haenel), but her subject...

United States | 2022 | Daniel Weintraub

This new documentary tells the story of iconic American composer, performer, teacher, philosopher, inventor, and humanitarian Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016). She was one of the world’s original electronic musicians (the only female amongst notable post-war American composers) as well as a master accordion player, a mentor, a gateway to music and sound for non-musicians, and a technical innovator who helped develop everything from tools that allow musicians to play together while in different countries to software...

West Germany | 1970 | Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Hanna Schygulla and Margarethe von Trotta star in Fassbinder’s underworld tale of a man (Harry Baer) who gets out of jail and reconnects with family and friends—and some associates who lure him back into a life of crime. “Slow, absurd, and quite mesmerizing…A witty, stylish meditation on [film noir].” –Time Out Film Guide. Subtitles. 35mm. 91 min.

France, Germany, Switzerland | 1971 | Marcel Ophüls

Though something of a running joke in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, Marcel Ophüls’ 4+ hour historical documentary remains one of the greatest nonfiction films ever made—and has relevance for Americans today. Ophüls employs archival footage and interviews with eyewitnesses to explode the myth of the vaunted French Resistance to Germany’s occupation of their country during WWII. Focusing on the town of Clermont-Ferrand, the movie demonstrates that there was perhaps more French collaboration with the enemy...

United Kingdom | 1980 | Peter Greenaway

Peter Greenaway’s first feature is a brilliant, cerebral work of prodigious imagination that lays the groundwork for many of his later films, characters, and obsessions. Set in the aftermath of a Violent Unknown Event that has left people showing bird-like symptoms and speaking strange new languages, the movie is a collection of mini-biographies of 92 of the VUE’s victims—all of them with last names that begin with the letters “fall.” Certifiably one of a kind....

Canada, United Kingdom, United States | 2007 | Andrew Dominik

Grafton Nunes, film scholar and former President + CEO of the Cleveland Institute of Art, introduces the acclaimed revisionist western that stars Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, Jeremy Renner, Sam Rockwell, Mary-Louise Parker, and Zooey Deschanel, among others. Stunningly shot by Roger Deakins, with music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, the film chronicles how a new recruit to Jesse James’ gang transitioned from idolizing the notorious outlaw to killing him. “One of the...

United States | 1998 | Cauleen Smith

This resurrected treasure of 1990s Black DIY filmmaking is a buddy movie/murder mystery/romance by filmmaker and multimedia artist Cauleen Smith. It focuses on a brash Oakland art student who observes that Black males around her are dying at an alarming rate. Fearing they will become extinct, she begins to take Polaroid snapshots of men to document their existence. Soon she also finds herself in a romance—and searching for a serial killer! Cleveland revival premiere. DCP....

United States | 1990/2020 | Francis Ford Coppola

For the 30th anniversary of The Godfather Part III, Francis Ford Coppola recut his much-maligned movie (which nevertheless earned seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture), changing the beginning and the ending (among other things) and giving it the title he always wanted. The basic plot—Michael (Al Pacino) locks horns with his trigger-happy nephew when he (Michael) wants to turn the Corleone family business legit—remains the same, but most agree that Coppola’s tweaks have improved the...

United States | 1998 | Cauleen Smith

This resurrected treasure of 1990s Black DIY filmmaking is a buddy movie/murder mystery/romance by filmmaker and multimedia artist Cauleen Smith. It focuses on a brash Oakland art student who observes that Black males around her are dying at an alarming rate. Fearing they will become extinct, she begins to take Polaroid snapshots of men to document their existence. Soon she also finds herself in a romance—and searching for a serial killer! Cleveland revival premiere. DCP....

Finland | 1972 | Mikko Niskanen

Why did a farmer and father shoot and kill four police officers in rural Finland in 1969? Mikko Niskanen’s five-hour movie—voted the greatest Finnish film of all time in a 1992 poll—has the answers. Originally a four-part TV miniseries (and never before released in America), Eight Deadly Shots accrues an abundance of naturalistic details relating to poverty, crippling government regulations, illicit work, and alcoholism that helps to explain one man’s descent into the unthinkable. Filmmaker...

United States | 1968 | Joe Dante

Before he directed such genre classics as Piranha and Gremlins, pop culture connoisseur and film collector Joe Dante assembled a legendary collage film that toured college campuses in the late 1960s. The Movie Orgy was a nearly five-hour mash-up of commercials, newsreels, cartoons, bloopers, movie trailers, educational films, and cheesy film and TV clips from the 1950s and 1960s. Virtually unseen for decades, and never released to home video or disc, The Movie Orgy has...

United Kingdom | 2013 | Ken Loach

Made between his two Cannes Palme d’Or winners, The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) and I, Daniel Blake (2016), this documentary feature by leftist British filmmaker Ken Loach extols the radical progressive changes that came to Britain after winning WWII, under the newly elected Labour government of Clement Attlee. Employing archival footage and new and old interviews, Loach re-creates this heady, optimistic era (later disparaged by Conservatives) that saw the expansion of the welfare...

South Korea | 2022 | Hong Sang-soo

In the new film by Hong Sang-soo (The Novelist’s Film), Hong regular Kwon Hae-hyo plays a film director who goes with his estranged daughter, an aspiring interior designer, to a building owned by an established designer who is an old friend. They tour the property, share a meal, and chat with other residents of the building. Then they do it again—differently. Each flight of stairs invites a new flight of fancy for the imaginative Hong....

West Germany | 1970 | Rainer Werner Fassbinder

In this Fassbinder crime movie, a German-American Vietnam veteran returns to Munich, where he takes a job as a hired killer for three renegade cops. With Margarethe von Trotta and a host of Fassbinder regulars (Hark Bohm, Ingrid Caven, Kurt Raab, Irm Hermann) and even RWF himself. ”This is Fassbinder before he froze up as a Douglas Sirk impersonator: a real punk movie.” –Dave Kehr. Subtitles. 35mm. 80 min.

United States | 1923 | Buster Keaton, John G. Blystone

Buster Keaton’s first feature-length masterpiece is set during the 1830s and tells of two Southern clans engaged in a decades-long blood feud. One day a young man in one of the families falls for a young woman who, unbeknownst to him, is one of his “sworn enemies” in that other family. This silent comedy classic has great gags, authentic period detail, and a daring waterfall climax. Natalie Talmadge, Keaton’s real-life wife, co-stars. Music track. Restored...

United States | 2022 | Raphael Sbarge

Laemmle Theatres, a beloved 85-year-old arthouse cinema chain in Los Angeles, is the focus of this new documentary. Now experiencing seismic cultural changes and increasing financial pressures, Laemmle Theatres—like all specialty moviehouses—is facing an uncertain future. Yet the family behind this multigenerational business—whose sole mission has been to support the art of film—is determined to survive. With Cameron Crowe, Allison Anders, Ava DuVernay, Nicole Holofcener, James Ivory, Kenneth Turan, Leonard Maltin, et al. Gregory Gardner,...

United Kingdom | 2013 | Ken Loach

Made between his two Cannes Palme d’Or winners, The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) and I, Daniel Blake (2016), this documentary feature by leftist British filmmaker Ken Loach extols the radical progressive changes that came to Britain after winning WWII, under the newly elected Labour government of Clement Attlee. Employing archival footage and new and old interviews, Loach re-creates this heady, optimistic era (later disparaged by Conservatives) that saw the expansion of the welfare...

South Korea | 2022 | Hong Sang-soo

In the new film by Hong Sang-soo (The Novelist’s Film), Hong regular Kwon Hae-hyo plays a film director who goes with his estranged daughter, an aspiring interior designer, to a building owned by an established designer who is an old friend. They tour the property, share a meal, and chat with other residents of the building. Then they do it again—differently. Each flight of stairs invites a new flight of fancy for the imaginative Hong....

United States | 1923 | Buster Keaton, John G. Blystone

Buster Keaton’s first feature-length masterpiece is set during the 1830s and tells of two Southern clans engaged in a decades-long blood feud. One day a young man in one of the families falls for a young woman who, unbeknownst to him, is one of his “sworn enemies” in that other family. This silent comedy classic has great gags, authentic period detail, and a daring waterfall climax. Natalie Talmadge, Keaton’s real-life wife, co-stars. Music track. Restored...

France, Germany, United Kingdom | 2022 | Mia Hansen-Løve

Léa Seydoux stars in Mia Hansen-Løve’s ecstatically-reviewed follow-up to Bergman Island. Seydoux plays a young Parisian widow raising an eight-year-old daughter alone while also trying to find a decent nursing home for her aging professor father, who suffers from a neurodegenerative disorder. An opportunity for romance presents itself at this inopportune time. Pascal Greggory, Melvil Poupaud, and Nicole Garcia fill out the all-star cast. “Critic’s Pick…What matters here is the delicacy with which Hansen-Love reveals...

United States | 1974 | Tobe Hooper

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying the impact and influence this low-budget horror film has had on the genre. In the movie, a van full of young friends happens upon a rural farmhouse occupied by a family of murderous psychos. Mayhem follows. Non-squeamish adults only! DCP. 83 min.

United Kingdom | 1978 | Jerzy Skolimowski

Alan Bates, Susannah York, and John Hurt star in the second British film (after Deep End) by the Polish director of EO. Set in remote, sparsely populated Devon in South West England, the film tells of a young composer of experimental music and his wife who take in a mysterious, sinister stranger. This enigmatic man claims he can unleash a magic, Aboriginal shout that can kill. Tim Curry co-stars. “Terrifying.” –Roger Ebert. DCP. 86 min.

Canada, United Kingdom | 1990 | Philip Ridley

This cult creepfest is set in 1950s Idaho, where a young boy is convinced that a neighboring widow (Lindsay Duncan) is a vampire, responsible for his friends’ disappearances. The stunning visuals evoke Edward Hopper. With Viggo Mortensen. “[It] reminded me of Blue Velvet and the other works of David Lynch, but I think it's better…It's about nightmares, and I'm not easily going to forget it.” –Roger Ebert. “A gothic masterpiece.” –The Guardian. Cleveland revival premiere....

United States | 1974 | Tobe Hooper

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying the impact and influence this low-budget horror film has had on the genre. In the movie, a van full of young friends happens upon a rural farmhouse occupied by a family of murderous psychos. Mayhem follows. Non-squeamish adults only! DCP. 83 min.

United Kingdom | 1978 | Jerzy Skolimowski

Alan Bates, Susannah York, and John Hurt star in the second British film (after Deep End) by the Polish director of EO. Set in remote, sparsely populated Devon in South West England, the film tells of a young composer of experimental music and his wife who take in a mysterious, sinister stranger. This enigmatic man claims he can unleash a magic, Aboriginal shout that can kill. Tim Curry co-stars. “Terrifying.” –Roger Ebert. DCP. 86 min.

United Kingdom, United States | 1992 | Francis Ford Coppola

Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, and Keanu Reeves star in Francis Ford Coppola’s lavish and stylish horror movie, one of the best (and most influential) vampire chillers ever made. Winner of three Oscars. DCP. 127 min.

United States | 2004 | Guillermo del Toro

A red, horned demon summoned from Hades by the Nazis to aid them during WWII is captured by the Allies and reprogrammed to work instead for the U.S. government. 60 years later, Hellboy’s mystical mentor Rasputin reappears and tempts him to return to the dark side. Ron Perelman is devilishly good as the cigar-chomping, Satanic superhero at the center of Guillermo del Toro’s fun fantasy, full of heart, humor, and dazzling set pieces. 35mm. 122...

United Kingdom, United States | 1992 | Francis Ford Coppola

Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, and Keanu Reeves star in Francis Ford Coppola’s lavish and stylish horror movie, one of the best (and most influential) vampire chillers ever made. Winner of three Oscars. DCP. 127 min.

United States | 2004 | Guillermo del Toro

A red, horned demon summoned from Hades by the Nazis to aid them during WWII is captured by the Allies and reprogrammed to work instead for the U.S. government. 60 years later, Hellboy’s mystical mentor Rasputin reappears and tempts him to return to the dark side. Ron Perelman is devilishly good as the cigar-chomping, Satanic superhero at the center of Guillermo del Toro’s fun fantasy, full of heart, humor, and dazzling set pieces. 35mm. 122...

South Korea, United States | 2016 | Na Hong-jin

The most recent movie written and directed by South Korean genre master Na Hong-jin (The Chaser, The Yellow Sea) is a lavishly praised chiller about a policeman investigating a remote Korean village where a mysterious illness is turning the sick into deranged killers. Is the newly-arrived Japanese man, whom locals say is an evil spirit, to blame? “A bullet train of laughs, gore, frights and folklore, making the two-and-a-half hour runtime feel like a couple...