Cinematheque Film Schedule

Japan | 2004 | Makoto Shinkai, Yoshio Suzuki

The first animated feature from the director of Your Name., Weathering with You, and Suzume is an emotional, visually stunning sci-fi film set in an alternative post-WWII Japan where the USSR controls part of the country. Three teens—two boys and a girl—become fascinated with a mysterious, sky-scraping tower that is being built across the border, on a northern island in the (Soviet) “Union” sector. They vow to visit it without knowing how. “By any standard...

United States | 2022 | Lizzie Gottlieb

Two American literary titans—Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Robert Caro, 87, and legendary book and magazine editor Robert Gottlieb, 92—and their often contentious, 50-year relationship that has produced Caro’s seminal biographies The Power Broker and the multi-volume The Years of Lyndon Johnson are the subjects of this fascinating and often funny new documentary by Gottlieb’s daughter. “Bristles with ego and good-humored tension.” –Washington Post. DCP. 112 min.

United States | 1980 | Martin Scorsese

Widely regarded as one of the best American movies ever made, Martin Scorsese’s monochrome masterpiece stars Robert De Niro as brutish 1940s New York City middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, who pummels opponents inside the ring and battles personal demons outside. With Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty. Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 129 min.

Japan | 2004 | Makoto Shinkai, Yoshio Suzuki

The first animated feature from the director of Your Name., Weathering with You, and Suzume is an emotional, visually stunning sci-fi film set in an alternative post-WWII Japan where the USSR controls part of the country. Three teens—two boys and a girl—become fascinated with a mysterious, sky-scraping tower that is being built across the border, on a northern island in the (Soviet) “Union” sector. They vow to visit it without knowing how. “By any standard...

France, Germany | 2022 | Alain Gomis

In 1969, at the end of a European tour, Black American jazz great Thelonious Monk was interviewed on French TV. He also played the piano in the studio. Using newly discovered footage from this recording, French filmmaker Alain Gomis “reveals the disconnect between Monk and his interviewer, Henri Renaud, whose unwittingly trivializing approach conveys the casual racism and exploitation prevalent in the music industry” (Grasshopper Film). The film offers a unique opportunity to see Monk...

Belgium, Denmark, France, Morocco | 2022 | Maryam Touzani

This groundbreaking gay love story from the Arabic world—Morocco’s official submission for this year’s Oscar for Best Int’l Feature Film—was shortlisted for the prize but not nominated. Set largely in a traditional caftan store run by a husband and wife in the medina of Salé, the film chronicles the husband’s attraction for the young man who is the family business’s new apprentice—something the wife can’t help noticing. “Luscious…An ode to the many kinds of love...

United States | 1980 | Martin Scorsese

Widely regarded as one of the best American movies ever made, Martin Scorsese’s monochrome masterpiece stars Robert De Niro as brutish 1940s New York City middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, who pummels opponents inside the ring and battles personal demons outside. With Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty. Cleveland revival premiere. DCP. 129 min.

United States | 2022 | Lizzie Gottlieb

Two American literary titans—Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Robert Caro, 87, and legendary book and magazine editor Robert Gottlieb, 92—and their often contentious, 50-year relationship that has produced Caro’s seminal biographies The Power Broker and the multi-volume The Years of Lyndon Johnson are the subjects of this fascinating and often funny new documentary by Gottlieb’s daughter. “Bristles with ego and good-humored tension.” –Washington Post. DCP. 112 min.

Japan | 1955 | Akira Kurosawa

The most unusual of the 16 films that Toshiro Mifune and Akira Kurosawa made together is a modern-day tale in which an aging Japanese industrialist (Mifune, almost unrecognizable) lives in such fear of a nuclear attack that he tries to relocate his family to Brazil, where he’s convinced they’ll be safer. But his relations not only resist his plan; they try to have him committed. Takashi Shimura (Ikiru) co-stars. Subtitles. 35mm. 103 min.

France, Germany | 2022 | Alain Gomis

In 1969, at the end of a European tour, Black American jazz great Thelonious Monk was interviewed on French TV. He also played the piano in the studio. Using newly discovered footage from this recording, French filmmaker Alain Gomis “reveals the disconnect between Monk and his interviewer, Henri Renaud, whose unwittingly trivializing approach conveys the casual racism and exploitation prevalent in the music industry” (Grasshopper Film). The film offers a unique opportunity to see Monk...

United Kingdom | 2019 | Mark Jenkin

The conflict between traditional fishermen and the tourist trade in a picturesque Cornish village is potently depicted in Mark Jenkin’s acclaimed, rough-hewn feature that proudly parades its artisanal filmmaking techniques. Jenkin used a vintage, hand-cranked Bolex camera, 16mm monochrome film (which he hand-processed), and post-dubbed sound to tell—and, in a way, comment upon—a story of gentrification about two warring brothers with divergent visions of the future. “A genuine modern masterpiece…Establishes Jenkin as one of the...

Britain | 2022 | Mark Jenkin

Set in 1973 on an uninhabited island off the Cornish coast, Mark Jenkin’s hand-crafted folk-horror movie focuses on a solitary naturalist temporarily living on the rocky isle to study a rare flower there. Her daily observations turn into a metaphysical journey in which the real and the surreal commingle. Shot on 16mm film like his previous movie Bait (see 5/11 at 6:45), Jenkin’s menacing mood piece evokes nightmarish classics like The Wicker Man, Don’t Look...

Britain | 2022 | Mark Jenkin

Set in 1973 on an uninhabited island off the Cornish coast, Mark Jenkin’s hand-crafted folk-horror movie focuses on a solitary naturalist temporarily living on the rocky isle to study a rare flower there. Her daily observations turn into a metaphysical journey in which the real and the surreal commingle. Shot on 16mm film like his previous movie Bait (see 5/11 at 6:45), Jenkin’s menacing mood piece evokes nightmarish classics like The Wicker Man, Don’t Look...

Japan | 2007 | Makoto Shinkai

Young love, missed connections, and unrequited feelings fill the trio of vignettes that comprise Makoto (Your Name., Suzume) Shinkai’s animated feature, a sensitive exploration of the romantic joys and heartaches during one man’s lifetime. “[An] exquisite, light-drenched tone poem.” –Variety. In English on Sat.; subtitles on Sun. DCP. 63 min.

Canada | 2022 | Tyler Chandler, Nicholas Meyers

Fantastic fungi strike again in this moving account of mushrooms and medicine! A loving mother of four with Stage 4 cancer is granted the right to legally use magic mushrooms to treat her end-of-life anxiety. She then embarks on a remarkable journey of personal transformation and healing while exploring lesser known possible cures for cancer (like cannabis oil). Cleveland premiere. DCP. 86 min.

United States | 1987 | Barbet Schroeder

Charles Bukowski, the “poet laureate” of L.A. lowlife, penned the screenplay for this semi-autobiographical comedy-drama about a belligerent, destitute, hard-drinking habitué of an Angeleno dive bar (Mickey Rourke) who befriends a fellow alcoholic (Faye Dunaway) but hides his literary prowess. Innovatively shot in color by Wim Wenders’ frequent cinematographer Robby Müller, Barfly was co-produced by legendary film programmer turned film producer Tom Luddy. “A truly original American movie, a film like no other.” –Roger Ebert....

France | 1946 | Georges Lacombe

Screen legends and real-life lovers Marlene Dietrich and Jean Gabin appeared together in only one movie—this one. Gabin plays a hard-working, small-town builder who falls for an exotic, sophisticated, newly-arrived widow. Unbeknownst to him, she is a toxic femme fatale. When first released in the U.S., Martin Roumagnac suffered heavy cuts due to objections from the Catholic Legion of Decency, but that missing footage is intact here. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 108 min.

Japan | 2007 | Makoto Shinkai

Young love, missed connections, and unrequited feelings fill the trio of vignettes that comprise Makoto (Your Name., Suzume) Shinkai’s animated feature, a sensitive exploration of the romantic joys and heartaches during one man’s lifetime. “[An] exquisite, light-drenched tone poem.” –Variety. In English on Sat.; subtitles on Sun. DCP. 63 min.

Canada | 2022 | Tyler Chandler, Nicholas Meyers

Fantastic fungi strike again in this moving account of mushrooms and medicine! A loving mother of four with Stage 4 cancer is granted the right to legally use magic mushrooms to treat her end-of-life anxiety. She then embarks on a remarkable journey of personal transformation and healing while exploring lesser known possible cures for cancer (like cannabis oil). Cleveland premiere. DCP. 86 min.

United States | 2021 | Jon Else

Filmmaker Jon Else recorded the rehearsals of the 2017 opera Girls of the Golden West by composer John Adams and director/librettist Peter Sellars (who conceived the idea for the work while doing research for a production of Puccini’s The Girl of the Golden West) leading to its premiere at the San Francisco Opera with soprano Julia Bullock and mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges. The film grants audiences a detailed look behind the curtain at the production of...

United States | 1976 | John G. Avildsen

Never before shown at the Cinematheque, this rousing tale of a small-time Philly boxer who gets a chance at the world heavyweight title has moved beyond “legendary” to become almost mythic. Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Burgess Meredith, and Carl Weathers star in this unlikely Oscar winner for Best Picture (it beat out Taxi Driver and Network, among others), which Stallone also wrote. 35mm. 120 min.

France | 2022 | Louis Garrel

Nominated for 11 César Awards (French Oscars) including Best Film, Director, and Actor, and winning two (Best Supporting Actress for Noémie Merlant and Best Original Screenplay), Louis Garrel’s new movie focuses on a museum educator (Garrel) who tries to safeguard his mother from the ex-con she has just married—with unexpected and humorous results. “Quirky, touching, and well-played fun.” –RogerEbert.com. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 99 min.

France, Japan | 2001 | Shohei Imamura

The final film by two-time Cannes Palme d’Or winner Shohei Imamura (The Ballad of Narayama, The Eel) continued his lifelong fascination with “the relationship of the lower part of the human body and the lower part of the social structure” (his words). Warm Water… is a surreal comic allegory in which an unemployed Tokyo salaryman (Koji Yakusho) relocates to a small fishing village and becomes involved with a strange young woman whose body spouts water...

Japan | 2011 | Makoto Shinkai

In this epic anime fantasy from the director of Suzume and Weathering with You, a young girl who spends her days listening to her deceased father’s radio is transported to a land of legend where the dead can be brought back to life. Subtitles on Fri.; in English on Sun. DCP. 116 min.

Ireland | 2022 | Rachael Moriarty, Peter Murphy

In this whimsical charmer shot in the Irish language, a grieving widow believes that a stray dog is a reincarnation of her late husband. “You’d need a shard of ice in your heart not to be charmed even just a little by this eccentric Irish-language comedy.” –The Guardian (UK).Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 84 min.

France | 2022 | Louis Garrel

Nominated for 11 César Awards (French Oscars) including Best Film, Director, and Actor, and winning two (Best Supporting Actress for Noémie Merlant and Best Original Screenplay), Louis Garrel’s new movie focuses on a museum educator (Garrel) who tries to safeguard his mother from the ex-con she has just married—with unexpected and humorous results. “Quirky, touching, and well-played fun.” –RogerEbert.com. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 99 min.

United States | 1976 | John G. Avildsen

Never before shown at the Cinematheque, this rousing tale of a small-time Philly boxer who gets a chance at the world heavyweight title has moved beyond “legendary” to become almost mythic. Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Burgess Meredith, and Carl Weathers star in this unlikely Oscar winner for Best Picture (it beat out Taxi Driver and Network, among others), which Stallone also wrote. 35mm. 120 min.

Canada, Spain | 2021 | Inés Toharia

Why preserve films when audiovisual materials are so readily available online? That’s the key question posed in this new documentary that features interviews with film archivists, curators, technicians, and filmmakers (Costa-Gavras, Jonas Mekas, Ken Loach, Bill Morrison, Wim Wenders, et al.) from around the globe. Together, they explain what film preservation is and why saving celluloid remains important, even in a digital world. “Inspired and inspiring.” –Hollywood Reporter. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 119 min.

Ireland | 2022 | Rachael Moriarty, Peter Murphy

In this whimsical charmer shot in the Irish language, a grieving widow believes that a stray dog is a reincarnation of her late husband. “You’d need a shard of ice in your heart not to be charmed even just a little by this eccentric Irish-language comedy.” –The Guardian (UK).Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 84 min.

Japan | 2011 | Makoto Shinkai

In this epic anime fantasy from the director of Suzume and Weathering with You, a young girl who spends her days listening to her deceased father’s radio is transported to a land of legend where the dead can be brought back to life. Subtitles on Fri.; in English on Sun. DCP. 116 min.

United States | 2023 | Dan O’Shannon

This screening is SOLD OUT! Northeast Ohio’s Emmy-winning veteran TV comedy writer Dan O’Shannon (Modern Family, Newhart, Cheers, Frasier) takes baby boomers on a hop, skip, and jump down memory lane with his new overview of Cleveland’s children’s television from the 1950s to the 1970s. All the greats are here—from Gene Carroll and Romper Room’s Miss Barbara to Barnaby, Captain Penny, and Superhost, among others. Rare and evocative film and audio clips supplement the funny,...

France | 2022 | Léa Mysius

A strange and solitary little girl with the magical ability to sniff out and follow the most subtle scents finds herself transported into dark and disturbing family memories when she meets her father’s sister, newly released from prison. Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Color) stars. “For all its structural ingenuity, The Five Devils is fundamentally a love story, and a surprisingly affecting one.” –Time Out. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 103 min.

France | 2022 | Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret

A filmmaker shooting a non-documentary feature film in a poor housing project in Northern France decides to cast some of the neighborhood’s real-life troubled teens in his movie. But locals wonder why he chose the four “worst ones” (the most troubled and troublesome) for his narrative. This award-winning comedy-drama limns the links between truth and fiction, while pondering moviemakers’ moral responsibilities to children they work with. 100% critics’ rating (based on 19 reviews) on

France | 2022 | Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret

A filmmaker shooting a non-documentary feature film in a poor housing project in Northern France decides to cast some of the neighborhood’s real-life troubled teens in his movie. But locals wonder why he chose the four “worst ones” (the most troubled and troublesome) for his narrative. This award-winning comedy-drama limns the links between truth and fiction, while pondering moviemakers’ moral responsibilities to children they work with. 100% critics’ rating (based on 19 reviews) on

France | 2022 | Léa Mysius

A strange and solitary little girl with the magical ability to sniff out and follow the most subtle scents finds herself transported into dark and disturbing family memories when she meets her father’s sister, newly released from prison. Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Color) stars. “For all its structural ingenuity, The Five Devils is fundamentally a love story, and a surprisingly affecting one.” –Time Out. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 103 min.

China | 2000 | Lou Ye

Vertigo (see 6/29) echoes through this atmospheric, visually-stunning, Shanghai-set noir mystery-thriller—in which a man, just out of prison, discovers a woman who looks exactly like his lost former lover. A masterpiece from the so-called “Sixth Generation” of Chinese filmmakers. “Whatever city this one is showing in…move there. –Time. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 83 min.

Denmark, France, Iceland, Sweden | 2022 | Hlynur Pálmason

The stunningly-photographed, much-praised new film from the director of A White, White Day is set during the late 19th century. A Lutheran priest from Denmark is sent to a remote area of Iceland to establish a church there, but he soon finds his faith challenged by the harsh realities and vastness of the natural world. “[An] extraordinary film.” –Anthony Lane, The New Yorker. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 143 min.

Spain | 1976 | Carlos Saura

Perhaps the most celebrated film by the late, great Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura (Carmen, Tango), Cría Cuervos stars The Spirit of the Beehive’s Ana Torrent as a young girl growing up in a troubled family headed by a womanizing, army-officer father during the waning days of Franco’s repressive regime. Traumatized by the recent death of her mother (Geraldine Chaplin), the child continues to see and talk to her. Chaplin, Saura’s longtime companion and muse in...

Spain | 1976 | Carlos Saura

Perhaps the most celebrated film by the late, great Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura (Carmen, Tango), Cría Cuervos stars The Spirit of the Beehive’s Ana Torrent as a young girl growing up in a troubled family headed by a womanizing, army-officer father during the waning days of Franco’s repressive regime. Traumatized by the recent death of her mother (Geraldine Chaplin), the child continues to see and talk to her. Chaplin, Saura’s longtime companion and muse in...

United States | 1976 | Greg MacGillivray, Jim Freeman

This soaring chronicle of American aviation—released during the U.S. Bicentennial as the premiere attraction on the giant IMAX screen of the National Air and Space Museum—got MacGillivray Freeman Films’ shift to large-format movie productions off to a flying start (so to speak). Spanning hot air balloons to the Apollo-Soyuz mission, the hugely popular and highly acclaimed To Fly! also jump-started the craze for immersive IMAX documentaries at science museums; it was added to the Library...

China | 2000 | Lou Ye

Vertigo (see 6/29) echoes through this atmospheric, visually-stunning, Shanghai-set noir mystery-thriller—in which a man, just out of prison, discovers a woman who looks exactly like his lost former lover. A masterpiece from the so-called “Sixth Generation” of Chinese filmmakers. “Whatever city this one is showing in…move there. –Time. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 83 min.