Lightstruck presents Ulrike Ottinger’s *TAIGA: A Journey to Northern Mongolia*. 501 minutes, English subtitles. 12 noon start time, with two breaks. The film will conclude at approximately 10pm.

Snacks, coffee and tea will be provided, as well as a dinner option at the evening break.

Digital restoration courtesy of Arsenal with thanks to Carsten Zimmer, Reinhild Feldhaus, and especially Ulrike Ottinger.

∆

“Taiga is an experience that causes us to think about why we live as we do, what it is to be human, and what is important in life.” (Roger Ebert)

Lightstruck is extremely excited to present a truly epic cinematic experience, as we screen Ulrike Ottinger’s nearly 8.5-hour, immersive documentary *Taiga* (1992) in a special all-day screening.

Known for her meticulously crafted experimental narrative films infusing political radicalism with a rich, surrealist opulence, German artist Ulrike Ottinger has also produced a singular body of memorable nonfiction work, though perhaps none so monumental – and mesmerizingly beautiful – as *Taiga*.

During an extended period spent in Northern Mongolia through multiple seasons, Ottinger approached ethnography in a radically different way, rejecting authoritative narrativizing or presumptuous didacticism. The extended length of the film reflects Ottinger’s larger impulse and approach in this project: to spend time – unadulterated, attentive time – with the Northern Mongolians she had befriended, and to enable their own distinctive approach to time and space in everyday life dictate the scale and pace of the film.

Over ten parts and 38 chapters, we see a seance, two weddings, preparation of foods, wrestling contests, music performances, storytelling sessions, and countless other events large and small, yet all equally defining the overall year-to-year and day-to-day experiences of nomadic life in the Darkhad Valley of Northern Mongolia. The film succeeds so brilliantly in part because of the unapologetically and earnestly fascinated gaze with which Ottinger documents what she sees, and the clear love for and engagement with people that the filmmaking reflects.

“I tried to explain my wish, which was to record a way of life that no longer exists in the place where I’ve come from, in order to show the document to the people back home, who are very interested in the nomadic ways. At first this puzzled them, but then they thought, Yes, indeed, we too would be interested to know how your people live…” (Ulrike Ottinger)

Lightstruck: Ulrike Ottinger’s TAIGA (1991/92)

2220 Arts + Archives

Erin Brockovich in 4K

Brighton Rock in 35mm

Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior) in 35mm

Academy Museum

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Italian with English subtitles.*

There has never been a face quite like that of Giulietta Masina. Her husband, the legendary Federico Fellini, directs her as Gelsomina in LA STRADA, the film that launched them both to international stardom. Gelsomina is sold by her mother into the employ of Zampanò (Anthony Quinn), a brutal strongman in a traveling circus. When Zampanò encounters an old rival in highwire artist the Fool (Richard Basehart), his fury is provoked to its breaking point. With LA STRADA Fellini left behind the familiar signposts of Italian neorealism for a poetic fable of love and cruelty, evoking brilliant performances and winning the hearts of audiences and critics worldwide.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Italy

LA STRADA

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

**BOB DYLAN: SHADOW KINGDOM, 2021, Dir. Alma Har’el, 51 Mins, White Light International Media Ltd., USA**

Shot by director Alma Har’el, this new film showcases Bob Dylan with band in an intimate setting as he performs songs from his extensive body of work. Created especially for this film, Bob Dylan performs repertoire from across his work including “Forever Young,” “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” and many more. This performance film marks Bob Dylan’s first concert since December 2019, and first performance since his universally acclaimed album, ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways.’

FORMAT: DCP

**HEARTS OF FIRE, 1987, Dir. Richard Marquand, 95 Mins, Park Circus, USA**

Grammy Award–winner and rock legend Bob Dylan stars in this hard-driving A STAR IS BORN–like, music-infused film about a striving musician (real-life pop star Fiona) drawn into the raw-edged lifestyle of fast-lane rock ‘n roll — and torn between two men and the different ways of life they represent. Written by Joe Eszterhas (BASIC INSTINCT, FLASHDANCE) and co-starring Golden Globe-nominee Rupert Everett, this features appearances by Ron Wood (The Rolling Stones), Richie Havens, lan Dury and Terry Williams (Dire Straits), with rockin’ soundtrack written by Dylan, Neil Young and John Fogerty.

FORMAT: 35mm

Celebrate Bob Dylan Day with a one-of-a-kind performance film & a cult classic drama

BOB DYLAN: SHADOW KINGDOM / HEARTS OF FIRE

Aero Theatre

While hiding from bullies in his school&#8217;s attic, a young boy discovers the extraordinary land of Fantasia, through a magical book called The Neverending Story. The book tells the tale of Atreyu, a young warrior who, with the help of a luck dragon named Falkor, must save Fantasia from the destruction of The Nothing.

The NeverEnding Story

From the rich and textured imagination of Czech visionary Juraj Herz (THE CREMATOR) comes his own vivid reimagining of a classic fairy tale in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The film follows the innocent Julie and her experiences living under the watchful eye of Netvor, a bird-like being torn between his growing affection for her and his animalistic urge to kill. Gorgeously shot, intriguingly surreal, thrillingly sensual &#8211; BEAUTY AND THE BEAST retells a beloved story in ways unlike any adaptation before or since.

Restored by Národní filmový archiv, Prague and Severin Films, supported by The Czech Audiovisual Fund.

Beauty and the Beast

Brain Dead Studios

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Japanese with English subtitles.*

Quiet passions erupt from within in Naruse’s late period masterpiece, a sumptuous melodrama of undulating and repressed feeling, set as the postwar dispersal of modernization stretches beyond Tokyo. Widow Reiko (Takamine) runs her in-law’s produce store, having rebuilt it herself in the 18 years since his passing, but faces a sudden outburst of new pressures: a push to remarry, fierce competition from a newly-minted supermarket and a love confession from her dead husband’s much younger brother Koji (Yuzo Kayama). Scripted by Takamine’s husband Zenzo Matsuyama, YEARNING finds devastating power in its tragic underpinnings as Takamine’s expressions—noted by even the faint glimmer of her eyes—convey multitudes—desire, melancholy and, as the film’s Japanese original title suggests, a swell of confusion in the wake of newfound longing.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Japan

35mm print courtesy of The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles Series co-presented by The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles and The Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities ‘Mikio Naruse: An American Cinematheque Retrospective’

YEARNING

Egyptian Theatre

Gardena Cinema is the oldest and only vintage single-screen stand-alone movie cinema in Southwest Los Angeles.

Tragedy ignites a group of teens on a wild quest. Together, they navigate the adventure while confronting the darkness within themselves.

BETTER TOGETHER (2023)(PG-13) Fri 5/22: 7:30 pm; Sun 5/24: 3pm & 7:30pm

Gardena Cinema

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Japanese with English subtitles.*

In this cool, seductive jewel of the Japanese New Wave, a *yakuza*, fresh out of prison, becomes entangled with a beautiful and enigmatic gambling addict; what at first seems a redemptive relationship ends up leading him further down the criminal path. Bewitchingly shot and edited, and laced with a fever-dream-like score by Toru Takemitsu, this gangster romance was a breakthrough for the idiosyncratic Masahiro Shinoda. The pitch-black PALE FLOWER is an unforgettable excursion into the underworld.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Japan

Introduction by filmmaker and actor Greg Vrotsos ‘Sunday Print Edition’

Greg Vrotsos Presents PALE FLOWER

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

**“The Forgotten Faces,” 1960, Dir. Peter Watkins, 18 Mins, UK**

A film reconstruction of the Hungarian revolution of 1956.

FORMAT: DCP

**THE WAR GAME, 1965, Dir. Peter Watkins, 45 Mins, UK**

*“The filming took place in early 1965, in the Kent towns of Tonsbridge, Gravesend, Chatham and Dover. Once again the cast was almost entirely made up of amateurs, found via a series of public meetings throughout Kent some months earlier. Much of the filming, including the scenes of the firestorm, was done in a disused military barracks in Dover. The crew included cinematographer Peter Bartlett, sound recordist Derek Williams, make-up artist Lilian Munro, action co-ordinator Derek Ware, set designers Tony Cornell and Anne Davey, costumer Vanessa Clarke, and editor Michael Bradsell. I repeated the “you-are-there” style of newsreel immediacy. My purpose, as in CULLODEN was to involve ‘ordinary people’ in an extended study of their own history – only this time the subject involved potentially imminent events, for the threat of full-scale nuclear war was a very real one at that time. There was, however, an important stylistic difference in this film. Interwoven among scenes of ‘reality’ were stylized interviews with a series of ‘establishment figures’ – an Anglican Bishop, a nuclear strategist, etc. The outrageous statements by some of these people (including the Bishop) – in favour of nuclear weapons, even nuclear war – were actually based on genuine quotations. Other interviews with a doctor, a psychiatrist, etc. were more sobre, and gave details of the effects of nuclear weapons on the human body and mind. In this film I was interested in breaking the illusion of media-produced ‘reality.’ My question was – “Where is ‘reality?’ … in the madness of statements by these artificially-lit establishment figures quoting the official doctrine of the day, or in the madness of the staged and fictional scenes from the rest of my film, which presented the consequences of their utterances?”- and to that end I consistently inter-cut said interviews. Obviously beyond and above the question of form was my concern to use the film to help people break the silence in the media on the nuclear arms race.” – Peter Watkins*

FORMAT: DCP

‘Peter Watkins: An American Cinematheque Retrospective’

“The Forgotten Faces” / THE WAR GAME

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

He Sang Himself Into the Queen’s Boudoir! One Kiss and the Whole Kingdom Was His!

The queen of mythical Sylvania marries a courtier, who finds his new life unsatisfying.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Universal

COUNTRY: USA

THE LOVE PARADE

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Director Baz Luhrmann’s phantasmagorical musical has been hailed as one of the most visually inventive and wildly kinetic films in recent memory for its mixture of turn-of-the-century Parisian nightlife, late-20th-century pop music (beautifully performed in the film by lovers Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor) and astonishingly ornate production and costume design, courtesy of Oscar winner Catherine Martin. With John Leguizamo as pint-sized painter Toulouse-Lautrec.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Disney

COUNTRY: Australia/USA

25th Anniversary ‘It’s Showtime at the AC!’

MOULIN ROUGE!

Los Feliz Theatre

Diamonds Are Forever

Show People / The Matinee Idol

New Beverly Cinema

The seriously spaced-out masterwork that's a psychedelic see-it-to-believe it experience! Plus a primo selection of sci-fi animated shorts!

Helmut Herbst's THE CATHEDRAL OF NEW EMOTIONS + Spaced-Out Shorts!

A recently unearthed gem of Romanian animation! A sweeping psyched-out space epic with strange planets and stranger alien inhabitants!

THE SON OF THE STARS (1988) — A Romanian Animated Space Oddity!

Philosophical Research Society

**Screenwriter**: Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman

**Producers**: Frank Marshall, Robert Watts

Film Noir gets animated! This groundbreaking mix of live-action and animation is ready to delight you all over again. A classic at any age, *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* remains a funny, sexy, energizing love letter to old Hollywood, East Los Angeles, and the early cartoon giants like the Fleischer Brothers, Walt Disney, Friz Freleng, and Tex Avery.

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

**Producers**: Diane Ademu-John,  Carl Deal,  Tia Lessin,  Karen Ranucci,  Caren Spruch, Tony Tabatznik

Fiercely independent journalist Amy Goodman has spent three decades holding the powerful to account, reporting from war zones and the *Democracy Now!* newsroom. In *Steal This Story, Please!*, Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin craft a riveting portrait of journalism’s power – and peril – in an era of corporate control and political attacks on truth.

Undeterred by armed soldiers, evasive politicians, and riot police, Amy Goodman has reported some of the most consequential stories of our time. *Steal This Story, Please!* is a gripping account of the trailblazing journalist whose unwavering commitment to truth-telling spans three decades of turbulent history. From the frontlines of global conflicts to the organized chaos of her daily news show *Democracy Now!*, Goodman amplifies stories and voices too often silenced by commercial media.

Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin (*Trouble the Water, Citizen Koch, The Janes*) take us behind the scenes with the warm, wisecracking granddaughter of an Orthodox rabbi — raised in a tradition of asking hard questions – as she navigates a media landscape reshaped by technology, corporate consolidation, and political assaults on the press and on truth itself. Urgent, provocative and unexpectedly funny, *Steal This Story, Please!* is both a call to action and a celebration of resistance, posing the question: what happens to democracy when the press stops challenging power?

Steal This Story, Please!

**Screenwriter**: John Michael Hayes

**Producer**: Alfred Hitchcock

An all-time classic, Alfred Hitchcock’s delightful, voyeuristic thriller, starring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly, is endlessly watchable, perfect for a film that is itself all about watching. Stuck in his apartment with a broken leg and telescopic lens, a photojournalist (Stewart in one of his defining roles) distracts himself by observing the neighbors across the way. Most are just living normal lives — the newlyweds, a lady with her dog, a dancer with lots of boyfriends — but what’s going on in the Thorwald’s place? The bedridden Mrs. Thorwald seems to have mysteriously disappeared, and Mr. Thorwald is acting mighty suspicious. Enlisting help from his socialite girlfriend (the dazzling Kelly) and his physical therapist (much love to Thelma Ritter), our voyeuristic hero tries to make sense of what he’s seen — or at least what he thinks he’s seen.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Take home more solid gold gems from the filmography of Hollywood&#8217;s truest Princess, Grace Kelly!

*High Society, The Swan, The Country Girl*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Rear Window

**Screenwriter**: Ildikó Enyedi

**Producers**: Reinhard Brundig,  Mónika Mécs,  Nicolas Elghozi,  Meng Xie

At the heart of a German university grows a majestic ginkgo tree, its lifespan measured in centuries. As the years pass, the distinguished plant bears witness to the private lives of those who seek shade under its boundless branches, forming a nexus that connects three generations of students and teachers across time and space. In 2020, a visiting neuroscientist conducts a series of experiments into the possibilities of botanical consciousness. In 1972, a young student is profoundly changed by studying the behavior of a simple geranium. And in 1908, the university’s first female student’s photographic inquiries reveal sacred patterns of the universe hidden within the humblest of plants. Over time, each is transformed by the quiet, enduring, and mysterious power of nature.

From Ildikó Enyedi, the director of Academy Award-nominated *On Body and Soul, *comes* Silent Friend*, an epic, awe-inspiring exploration of the natural world. Featuring an ensemble cast that includes Tony Leung, Léa Seydoux and Venice Prize-winning newcomer Luna Wedler, Enyedi crafts a thoughtful meditation on the essential question of what it means to be human.

Silent Friend

**Screenwriter**: Paul Thomas Anderson from the novel by Upton Sinclair

**Producers**: Paul Thomas Anderson,  Daniel Lupi,  JoAnne Sellar

Paul Thomas Anderson&#8217;s epic and sprawling adaptation of Upton Sinclair&#8217;s scathing novel is part Western, part capitalist critique, and all masterpiece &#8211; magnificently filmed, acted, and crafted. Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview&#8217;s motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives. With a cinematic vision this sprawling, do yourself the favor to watch it in glorious 35mm celluloid on our big beautiful screen!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Take home a master class in acting from Daniel Day-Lewis with these gems:

*The Unbearable Lightness of Being, My Beautiful Laundrette, A Room with a View*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

There Will Be Blood on 35mm

**Screenwriters**: Nick Kocher,  Brian McElhaney

**Producers**: Kelly McCormick,  David Leitch,  Aram Tertzakian,  Nick Spicer,  Guy Danella, Lee Kim

We want your Memorial Day weekend getaway to Vidiots to be a bloody good time, so we booked you a cabin in the woods to relax, unwind, and survive a half dozen murder plots! When miserable couple Dan and Lisa retreat to a remote cabin for a romantic reset, each arrives with a secret plan to kill the other. However, their carefully plotted traps and counterplots quickly unravel when strangers crash the weekend with plans of their own. As the toxic getaway spirals into chaotic carnage, Dan and Lisa must soon figure out if they want to save their marriage or survive it.

Over Your Dead Body

Vidiots

The Spy Who Loved Me

Mank

Vista Theatre

Cure in 4K

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Steven Spielberg directed this powerful, realistic re-creation of WWII’s D-day invasion and the immediate aftermath.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount

COUNTRY: USA

Memorial Day Screening Free screening for active-duty military, veterans, reserves and National Guard; tickets available at box office.

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Cantonese with English subtitles.*

A Hong Kong hitman accidentally blinds an innocent woman during a hit. He is determined to get her surgery to help her regain her sight but he needs to complete one more hit first. He completes the job but then is ambushed as he tries to escape: someone wants him dead. Meanwhile a resourceful, unorthodox police detective is hot on his trail.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Shout! Studios

COUNTRY: Hong Kong

Co-presented by 36 Cinema Special thanks to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research for the print ‘Cinematic Void’

Cinematic Void Presents THE KILLER

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

A cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent into the past to protect Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her teen son John (Edward Furlong) from a new advanced model cyborg T-1000 (Robert Patrick) in a bid to stop a future war between humans and the intelligent machine SkyNet.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Rialto Pictures

COUNTRY: USA

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY in 35mm

The Victors

**Screenwriters**: Michael Crichton, David Koepp, Malia Scotch Marmo

**Producers**: Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen

Hop in scientists and dino-philes, we&#8217;re heading on a prehistoric thrill ride to the world&#8217;s hottest new amusement park! In Steven Spielberg&#8217;s massive blockbuster based on the Michael Crichton best-selling novel, a group of scientists are among the first visitors to a theme park with an enormous, prehistoric twist. After extracting ancient DNA, billionaire John Hammond (Sir Richard Attenborough) has brought to life an island full of dinosaurs. When the safety precautions fail and the dinos are loose, can this rag-tag bunch of sexy scientists and pre-teens live through the night and outwit and outrun these vicious predators? Be a clever girl and find out!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Need to take home more Jeff Goldblum? We&#8217;ve got all the hits, and these deep cut gems!

*Vibes, Deep Cover, Hideaway*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Jurassic Park on 35mm

**Screenwriters**: William Shakespeare, Craig Pearce, Baz Luhrmann

**Producer**: Baz Luhrmann, Gabriella Martinelli

Baz Luhrmann gives Shakespeare his signature razzle-dazzle in this opulent rendition of a time-honored classic. In this contemporary take on William Shakespeare&#8217;s classic tragedy, the Montagues and Capulets have moved their ongoing feud to the sweltering suburb of Verona Beach, where Romeo and Juliet fall in love and secretly wed. Though the film is a visually striking modern spectacle, the bard&#8217;s dialogue remains.

**Picks from the Video Store**

We&#8217;ve got a huge section for Shakespearean adaptations! Take home these treasures and more tonight!

*10 Things I Hate About You, Macbeth (x4), Much Ado About Nothing*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Romeo + Juliet

Hostel/ Hostel: Part II

Lightstruck presents *A 16mm Experimental Film Restoration Celebration!*

For this program, Lightstruck is thrilled to present an eclectic assortment of 16mm experimental short films restored by the Academy Film Archive, featuring work by John Smith, Suzan Pitt, Robert Nelson, Chick Strand, James Otis, Janie Geiser, Julie Murray, Phil Solomon, Barbara Hammer, Chris Langdon, Mike Henderson, Gus Van Sant, Mike Jittlov, Thom Andersen, and Fred Worden. Mark Toscano (one half of Lightstruck) has had an intimate connection to the films selected in this program, having worked at the Academy Film Archive for more than 20 years developing and overseeing their experimental film collections. As the other half of Lightstruck (Zena Grey), I have also gained a close relationship and devotion to this incredibly diverse and vast collection of films.

The work of a film archive is complex and multifaceted, but one of the key purposes it embodies is to make its collections accessible, to ensure that films don’t merely sit untouched on vault shelves but also have the period capacity to be activated in cinema spaces for assembled audiences. Dipping into the 600+ films Mark has had the honor and pleasure of working on during his time at the Academy thus far, this program seeks to assemble some of our very favorite films from among so many special ones, representing a wide range of work spanning 1967 to 2004, all by artists who are dearly meaningful to Mark and me.

So this program is a celebration of sorts, focusing on a wide array of American experimental filmmaking, all screening in 16mm preservation prints, with one stray British film to kick things off: John Smith’s *The Girl Chewing Gum*, celebrating its 50th birthday this year. And as it’s a celebration, stick around after the show for some cake!

Notes by Zena Grey. Films picked by Mark Toscano. All films courtesy of the artists and all prints courtesy of and thanks to the Academy Film Archive, which is also where Mark was able to have the opportunity to restore them, with particular gratitude to Joe Lindner and Mike Pogorzelski for their support over so many years. Big additional thanks to all the collaborators from multiple film and sound labs, including Colorlab, Fotokem, Triage, Cinema Lab, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio, Endpoint Audio, and SD Sound.

Lightstruck: A 16mm Experimental Film Restoration Celebration

Castle in the Sky in 35mm

Baby It’s You in 4K

Niagara

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In French with English subtitles.*

Michèle seems indestructible. Head of a leading video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. Being attacked in her home by an unknown assailant changes Michèle’s life forever. When she resolutely tracks the man down, they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling game—a game that may, at any moment, spiral out of control.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures Classics

COUNTRY: France/Germany

*Thank you to our airline sponsor Delta Air Lines.*

Q&A with actor Isabelle Huppert 10th Anniversary ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’ and ‘Isabelle Huppert: A Bleak Week Tribute’

ELLE

Fledgling singer-songwriter Winslow Leach finds himself double-crossed by the nefarious music producer Swan, who steals both his music and the girl Winslow wants to sing it, Phoenix, for the grand opening of his new rock palace, the Paradise. After Swan has Winslow sent to prison for trespassing, Winslow endures a freak accident that leaves him disfigured and seeking revenge.

Phantom of the Paradise

David, a robotic boy—the first of his kind programmed to love—is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee and his wife. Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David. Without final acceptance by humans or machines, David embarks on a journey to discover where he truly belongs, uncovering a world in which the line between robot and machine is both vast and profoundly thin.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Post-screening conversation with UCLA Design Media Arts Professor **Rebeca Méndez**,** **UCLA English Professor **Elizabeth DeLoughrey**, and investigative journalist **Rosanna Xia**

Co-presented with the UCLA Department of Media Arts and the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Beneath the glittering surface of the Pacific Ocean lies a world of ancient and ongoing kinship—and a hidden legacy of destruction. Guided by the cosmologies of the Tongva and Acjachemen peoples and the relation to the abalone, this immersive journey into the ocean depths confronts a half-century of chemical dumping off the coast of Catalina Island, asking us to renew relations with a mother ocean that has been exploited.

Created by artist **Rebeca Méndez**, *The Sea Around Us *is an immersive cinematic experience born from the shocking revelation that over 500,000 barrels of toxic chemicals—including the pesticide DDT+, acid sludge, and radioactive waste—were dumped into the ocean off Santa Catalina Island between 1947 and 1972, with disastrous implications for marine and human ecologies. Méndez's vision weaves together underwater footage, Indigenous knowledge systems and song, and poetic storytelling into a call to action for care and accountability to our source of life. The screening is followed by a conversation with Rebeca Méndez, artist and professor in the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts, Professor UCLA English Professor **Elizabeth DeLoughrey**, and investigative journalist **Rosanna Xia**.

The Sea Around Us

Hammer Museum

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

When an Aboriginal child arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery run by a renegade nun (Cate Blanchett) in 1940s Australia, the new boy’s presence disturbs a delicately balanced world in this story of tradition and the cost of survival.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Vertical Entertainment

COUNTRY: Australia

*Thank you to our airline sponsor Delta Air Lines.*

Q&A with filmmaker Warwick Thornton ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’ and ‘Warwick Thornton: A Bleak Week Retrospective’

THE NEW BOY

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Spanish with English subtitles.*

Miguel Littín’s now legendary debut feature is a crucial work of the New Chilean Cinema, a transformational movement that ushered an urgently realist and political imperative into Chilean filmmaking. Based on the true story of an impoverished drifter whose seemingly inexplicable cold-blooded murder of a widow and her five young children shocked the nation and set in motion a fierce debate about penal reform, JACKAL OF NAHUELTORO revisits the crime to ask penetrating questions about the class system and responsibility of the state towards its citizens. Following the tragic story of the killer’s difficult life as an abused orphan who never receives an education, the film convincingly insists on holding to task the sociocultural conditions that shaped a life lost to indolence, alcohol and dark forces and that can push one to commit the most heinous of crimes. 

FORMAT: DCP

COUNTRY: Chile

Curated in partnership with Cineteca de la Universidad de Chile ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’

JACKAL OF NAHUELTORO

**Screenwriter**: Sophy Romvari

**Producers**: Ryan Bobkin, Sara Wylie, Sophy Romvari, Gábor Osváth

In the late 1990s, eight-year-old Sasha and her family relocate to a new home on Vancouver Island, but their fresh start is interrupted by increasingly dangerous behavior from the eldest son, Jeremy. At wit’s end, their parents are presented with a shattering choice. Award-winning director Sophy Romvari’s feature debut is a lyrical and profound testament to the things we carry with us, masterfully chronicling the haze of a languid summer and the hyaline clarity of the moments that defined it.

Blue Heron

**Screenwriters**: Katie Aselton, Mark Duplass

**Producer**: Emily A. Neumann

Vidiots welcomes back our beloved Founding Members and indie legends **Katie Aselton **and** Mark Duplass** for their latest collaboration, the honest and heartfelt ***Magic Hour***, followed by a conversation with Aselton, Duplass, and cast member **Daveed Diggs**!

Erin and Charlie escape to the desert to navigate an unexpected and challenging new phase of their relationship. Co-written and produced by Katie Aselton, this bittersweet examination of modern marriage takes twists and turns in the stark and beautiful landscapes of Joshua Tree. Don&#8217;t miss this magical night with two icons of American Independent Cinema and a crowd full of movie-loving Vidiots!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Head out to the desert from your couch! Take home these sandy classics on physical media tonight!

*Rubin and Ed, Tremors, Tank Girl*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Magic Hour

Rambo III

All About Eve in 35mm with Lorraine Nicholson

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Sam, a middle-aged Aboriginal man, works for a preacher in the outback of Australia’s Northern Territory. When Harry, a bitter war veteran, moves into a neighboring outpost, the preacher sends Sam and his family to help Harry renovate his cattle yards. But Sam’s relationship with the cruel and ill-tempered Harry quickly deteriorates, culminating in a violent shootout in which Sam kills Harry in self-defense. As a result, Sam becomes a wanted criminal for the murder of a white man, and is forced to flee with his wife across the deadly outback, through glorious but harsh desert country. A hunting party led by the local lawman Sergeant Fletcher is formed to track Sam down. But as the true details of the killing start to surface, the community begins to question whether justice is really being served.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Samuel Goldwyn Films

COUNTRY: Australia

*Thank you to our airline sponsor Delta Air Lines.*

SWEET COUNTRY

Come experience a screening of Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol and Production Team's Commentary Track over the film for the real fedora heads

With intro by So You Did A Thing Podcast's Zed Cutsinger

Synopsis: Matt and Jay's plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, resulting in them accidentally travelling back to the year 2008.

Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie The Commentary Track Screening

Director Gregg Araki's MYSTERIOUS SKIN, adapted from Scott Heim's acclaimed novel, is an intensely powerful chronicle of childhood innocence lost. The film features starmaking turns from Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, Looper, The Dark Knight Rises) and Brady Corbet (Thirteen) alongside outstanding performances from co-stars Michelle Trachtenberg (Eurotrip, Ice Princess), Mary Lynn Rajskub (TV's 24) and Academy Award® nominee Elizabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas). At the age of eight, Kansas youngsters Neil and Brian played on the same little league baseball team. Now, ten years later, the two boys couldn't be more different. Neil is a charismatic but emotionally aloof male hustler while Brian is a nervous introvert obsessed with the idea that he has been abducted by a UFO. When the boys' parallel lives inevitably intersect, the pair unearth dark, repressed secrets on a harrowing and unforgettable journey of self-discovery.

Mysterious Skin

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

A hapless man’s romantic obsession with his ex-wife draws him into a deadly caper in this definitive noir. 

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Universal

COUNTRY: USA

‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’

CRISS CROSS

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Swedish with English subtitles.*

Shame was Bergman’s scathing response to the escalation of the conflict in Vietnam. Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann star as musicians living in quiet retreat on a remote island farm, where the civil war that drove them from the city soon catches up with them. Amid the chaos and confusion of the military struggle, vividly evoked by Sven Nykvist’s handheld camera work, the two are faced with uncomfortable moral choices. This film, which contains some of the greatest scenes in Bergman’s oeuvre, shows the devastating impact of war on defenseless individuals.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Sweden

SHAME

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In French with English subtitles. *

Following a global cataclysm, Anne (Isabelle Huppert) and her family set out for a safe haven at their holiday home. But, when they arrive, the home is already occupied by other survivors. Their hopes for safety are immediately dashed by a violent tragedy, which serves as a lesson to take nothing for granted and expect the worst in this new, harsh landscape. Accompanied by a fierce young boy (Hakim Taleb), the family eventually reaches a train station with the prospect of escaping.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Strand Releasing

COUNTRY: France

*Thank you to our airline sponsor Delta Air Lines.*

Q&A with Isabelle Huppert ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’ and ‘Isabelle Huppert: A Bleak Week Tribute’

TIME OF THE WOLF

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Spanish with English subtitles.*

Aimed at an international audience—and indeed, it was the first Mexican film to be nominated for an Academy Award, as well as Mexico’s entry in the 1960 Cannes Film Festival—MACARIO takes the form of a macabre fable about an impoverished peasant (Ignacio López Tarso) who is kind to a mysterious stranger on the Day of the Dead, and is rewarded with the power to heal the sick. Drawing on a novella by B. Traven (*The Treasure of the Sierra Madre*), Gavaldón and his cinematographer, Gabriel Figueroa, create a rich pageant of folkloric imagery.

FORMAT: DCP

COUNTRY: Mexico

Curated in partnership with Cineteca Universidad de Guadalajara ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’

MACARIO

Every 1st Thursday of the month we’ll be hosting a music open mic night for kids and teens.


Our intention is to create a supportive and joyful space where young people can come together, share their love of music, practice performing regularly, make mistakes, try again & grow!

All performers must be under 18 & guardians must be present.

5pm - 7pm

No cover charge

Please email info@scribblecommunity.com with any questions.

Glow Big: Youth Open Mic

Scribble

**Screenwriter**: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Christian Hohoff

**Producer**: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Join us for Rainer Werner Fassbinder&#8217;s straggering queer tragedy of love, money, and loyalty lost. A lottery win leads not to financial and emotional freedom but to social captivity, in this wildly cynical classic of gay German cinema. Casting himself against type, the director himself  plays Fox,  a suggestible working-class innocent who lets himself be taken advantage of by his bourgeois new boyfriend and his circle of materialistic friends, leading to the kind of resonant misery that only Fassbinder could create. *Fox and His Friends* is unsparing social commentary, an amusingly pitiless and groundbreaking if controversial depiction of a gay community in 1970s West Germany.

**Picks from the Video Store**

With a catalog of nearly 40 films, it&#8217;s hard to complete a Fassbinder-a-thon without a video store! Take home more masterpieces tonight!

*Querelle, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, In a Year with 13 Moons*

**Accessibility Options**: Open Captions, Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Fox and His Friends

Rambling Rose/ Music Box

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Belarusian, Russian and German with English subtitles. *

This widely acclaimed film from Soviet director Elem Klimov is a stunning, senses-shattering plunge into the dehumanizing horrors of war. As Nazi forces encroach on his small village in present-day Belarus, teenage Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko, in one of the screen’s most searing depictions of anguish since Renée Falconetti’s JOAN OF ARC) eagerly joins the Soviet resistance. Rather than the adventure and glory he envisioned, what he finds is a waking nightmare of unimaginable carnage and cruelty—rendered with a feverish, otherworldly intensity by Klimov’s subjective camerawork and expressionistic sound design. Nearly suppressed by Soviet censors who took eight years to approve its script, COME AND SEE is perhaps the most visceral, impossible-to-forget antiwar film ever made.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Soviet Union

‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair – Year 5’

COME AND SEE

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: A24

COUNTRY: USA

*Thank you to our airline sponsor, Delta Air Lines.*

Q&A with filmmaker Ari Aster ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’ and ‘Ari Aster: A Bleak Week Retrospective’

EDDINGTON

INNER WAVE

SEE YOU WHEN I GET BACK

SCREENING + Q&A

@ BRAIN DEAD STUDIOS

Merch available in the patio

Inner Wave - See You When I Get Back Screening + Q&A

**
[REGISTER FOR THIS SCREENING](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ucla-celebration-of-iranian-cinema-mortician-2025-tickets-1987862782093?aff=oddtdtcreator)**

**Please note**: Registration does not guarantee entry if the event reaches capacity. Admission is granted on a first come, first served basis.

Patrons who have registered will need to obtain their free tickets at the box office, where seating will be assigned. Any seats remaining 15 minutes before showtime will be released to standby patrons.

*Farhang Short Film Festival 2nd prize winner*

A visually striking story of a small town tragedy, *Abraham* follows a local policeman who stumbles into a family secret while investigating the murder of a young man whose body is found in a cave outside the city. 

DCP. Directors/Screenwriters: Elnaz Ghaderpour, Reza Gamini. With: Hamid Pour Azari, Sajad Afsharian, Safoora Khoshtinat.

Winner of the audience-voted Sean Connery Prize at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, *Mortician *is set in Canada where a schlubby émigré, Mojtaba (Nima Sadr), performs Islamic ritual washing of the dead as a cultural service of the Iranian government. When he loses his job he wonders how he’ll continue to send money to his family back home until an enigmatic, exiled pop star (Gola), an outspoken opponent of the regime, hires him to help her with one last public protest. The oddest of couples, they find common ground amidst the cold Canadian winter until their secret is exposed in writer-director Abdolreza Kahani’s slow-burn thriller. 

DCP. Director/Screenwriter: Abdolreza Kahani. With: Nima Sadr, Gola, Pouya Razavi.

Mortician

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Swedish with English subtitles.*

A salesman and his son sexually abuse several generations of an indigent family’s women as payment for debt. Janni must see his mother, sister, niece and wife all being exploited, and the family grow with the abuser’s kids.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Sweden

U.S. Premiere of New Restoration 40th Anniversary ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair – Year 5’

THE SERPENT'S WAY

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Italian with English subtitles.*

Standing tall alongside classic coming-of-age films like SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE and THE 400 BLOWS, MISUNDERSTOOD is a beautiful and heartfelt exploration of the trials of life through the eyes of parents and children. John, having recently lost his wife, chooses to inform his oldest son, Andrew, but requests that he not tell Milo, his sickly younger brother. Forced to take a brave face, Andrew struggles with his impossible burden as Milo grows weaker and John’s grief blinds him to the plights of his son. With its incredible child performances and exquisite direction, MISUNDERSTOOD is a powerful rumination on family crisis and the painful weight of held secrets.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: AGFA

COUNTRY: Italy

60th Anniversary ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair – Year 5’

MISUNDERSTOOD

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Japanese with English subtitles.*

In Kyushu, southwest Japan, one hot summer morning, a municipal bus is hijacked. In the carnage only three people survive: the driver, Makoto, a school girl, Kozue, and her older brother, Naoki. Suffering from trauma, Makoto disappears. The children withdraw in silence. Two years later, their mother has divorced and their father dies at the wheel of his car. They now live alone in the family house. Makoto returns to town and takes up household with the children, who are soon joined by their cousin, Akihiko, a student on vacation from college. The body of a murdered woman is discovered on the river bank; and the police suspect Makoto. Soon after, he buys an old bus; fits it with beds; and invites the three young people to leave on a trip.

COUNTRY: Japan

EUREKA

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Spanish with English subtitles.*

An old man pays a woman to live with him as if she were his wife, until one day he discovers that she’s sleeping with his son.

FORMAT: DCP

COUNTRY: Argentina

Curated in partnership with Caligari, Argentina ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’

PALO Y HUESO


Attention, students. The bell’s ringing, so grab your seat and don’t get caught in the hallway without a pass. Class is officially in session.

  

Step inside the halls of Willard R. Abbott Elementary for a one-night-only Live Read celebrating the heart, humor, and hustle of everyone’s favorite Philadelphia public school. Join Janine, Gregory, Ava, Melissa, Jacob, Barbara, and Mr. Johnson as they navigate another unforgettable school year where the resources may be limited, but the dedication and chaos are limitless.

  

Our cast of special guests will perform two standout episodes from Season 5 of **Abbott Elementary**, bringing the show’s signature mockumentary style and sharp comedy to the stage.

  

Created by and starring Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary premiered in 2021 to widespread acclaim, earning 30 Primetime Emmy nominations and four wins, including Lead Actress for Brunson.

  

_Special thanks to ABC Entertainment for making this event possible._

  

* * *

**Tickets**  

  

  
$40 for Wallis Subscribers and Film Independent Members  
$50 for General Public

* * *

SAFETY IS OUR PRIORITY: For our most current safety protocols and requirements, please click [here](http://thewallis.org/safety).

LIVE READ: ABBOTT ELEMENTARY

The Wallis

**Screenwriters:** David Mickey Evans, Robert Gunter

**Producers:** Dale De La Torre, William S. Gilmore

*You&#8217;re killing me Smalls!* This much-cherished home run of a family film hits its the Vidiots big screen for a championship screening. During a summer of friendship and adventure, one boy becomes a part of the gang, nine boys become a team, and their leader becomes a legend by confronting the terrifying mystery beyond the right field wall. Bring your teammates and swing for the fences!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Looking for more underdog sports movies? Take home these winners tonight!

*The Bad News Bears, The Mighty Ducks, Little Big League*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

The Sandlot

**Screenwriter**: Amanda Kramer

**Producers**: Jacob Agger,  Miranda Bailey,  Sarah Winshall,  Natalie Whalen,  Jake Agger

With filmmaker **Amanda Kramer** in person on Saturday, June 6th!

Our microcinema is about to get strange with Amanda Kramer&#8217;s latest absurd and surreal vision of material and interpersonal desires as a woman (Juliette Lewis) swaps bodies with a chair, and everyone likes her better as a chair. Upon seeing a gorgeous chair in a showroom, Camille (Juliette Lewis) realizes that she truly envies the life of this perfect piece of furniture. If only she could be someone’s favorite thing. When she and the chair swap forms, Camille learns that she is better liked as an inanimate object than she was as a person: her mother (Betty Buckley) finds her to be a better listener, and her best friends (Samantha Mathis and Robin Tunney) enjoy a newfound, friction-free rapport. As the chair, Camille is unable to speak or move and winds up in the hands of Olivier (Mamoudou Athie), a minimalist bachelor who gradually becomes romantically fixated on his elegant new possession. Narrated by Melanie Griffith, this modern fable celebrates the messiness of female interiority with deadpan humor, surrealist flourishes, and interpretative dance numbers. An absurdist spin on the body-swap comedy, *By Design* is a bold new work from singular filmmaker Amanda Kramer.

By Design

**Screenwriters**: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

**Producers**: Ethan Coen,  Graham Place

With a special introduction by Founding Member **Noah Segan**, writer/director of John Turturro&#8217;s latest film *The Only Living Pickpocket in New York!*

One of the darkest of Joel and Ethan Coen&#8217;s catalogue of brilliant dark comedies, *Barton Fink* is one of the best and strangest retellings of the classic era of Hollywood with monumental performances by John Turturro and John Goodman. Barton Fink is a young New York playwright with a bright future in bleak drama on the Great White Way, when his agent lands him a deal in Hollywood. Adrift in a world of wheelers and dealers, Barton strikes up an acquaintance with his neighbor at his tenement hotel and learns the dark truths of his favorite author and the real way Hollywood works behind the scenes. With some of the best sound design in the history of cinema, remarkable period set design, and a magnificent balance of unnerving bleakness and humor, *Barton Fink* ranks amongst the Coen&#8217;s greatest achievements.

**Picks from the Video Store**

There&#8217;s so much to love about John Turturro! Take home decades worth of stellar performances like these deep cuts tonight!

*Fear X, The Source, Monkeybone*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Barton Fink on 35mm

**Screenwriter**: Robert Rodriguez

**Producers**: Robert Rodriguez, Bill Borden

Antonio Banderas and Robert Rodriguez team up again for an action film like no other! Rodriguez goes balls to the wall with his playful mixture of B-movie elements, beautiful badass stars, and a cacophony of vengeful violence. This time around, El Mariachi plunges headfirst into the dark border underworld when he follows a trail of blood to the last of the infamous Mexican drug lords, Bucho, for an action-packed, bullet-riddled showdown. With the help of his best friend and a beautiful bookstore owner, the Mariachi tracks Bucho, takes on his army of desperados, and leaves a trail of blood of his own.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Take home these deep cut Banderas bangers tonight!

*Matador, The House of the Spirits, Femme Fatale*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Desperado

Join us in the microcinema for a double dose of horror shorts sure to unnerve and mystify: Kiyoshi Kurosawa&#8217;s newly released NFT ***Chime*** and Renee Zhan&#8217;s lauded ***Shé (Snake)***.

***Chime***

**Director**: Kiyoshi Kurosawa **Runtime**: 45 min. **Language**: Japanese with English subtitles

A masterclass in escalating dread and shocking violence, *Chime *reaffirms Kiyoshi Kurosawa as one of modern horror’s most innovative and unpredictable visionaries. During a class, culinary instructor Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka) witnesses the suicide of a young student (Seiichi Kohinata), driven to insanity by what he claims is a chiming sound that controls his mind. Soon, Matsuoka begins hearing it, too, and descends into a mental abyss that warps his perception of reality and gives vent to his darkest impulses. Expertly blending psychological portraiture and hallucinatory mystery, Kurosawa offers a chilling depiction of madness that interrogates the very stability of our everyday existence, with the director’s patented creeping tracking shots and complex sound design fashioning an immersively terrifying and unnerving cinematic experience.

Screening with:

***Shé (Snake)***

**Director**: Renee Zhan **Runtime**: 15 min. **Language**: English and Mandarin

Fei, a 16 year old British-Chinese girl, is the top violinist in an elite youth orchestra. When another Chinese violinist arrives to challenge her place, Fei’s anxieties and internalized racism grow to take monstrous physical form. They whisper to her, urging her to be the best, no matter the cost.

Chime and Shé (Snake)

Basic Instinct

The Doors

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

This fascinating follow-up to 1978’s landmark WATERSHIP DOWN follows lab test dogs Snitter and Rowf, who jailbreak from their torture in a secret facility only to find that the outside world’s even more bleak. Since the dogs accidentally broke a vial used by plague researchers on their way out, the human world launches a lethal hunt. Here is a world where animals are not a blank slate for our ideals and morality, but are the direct expression of the animals themselves; Humanity’s the bad guy, and the audience is not left off the hook. Featuring a slew of top-tier British voice talents: John Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne, Judy Geeson and Patrick Stewart.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: AGFA

COUNTRY: UK/USA

THE PLAGUE DOGS

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

What happened in that town in 1948 should have been a “love story.” A socially awkward high school girl is taken advantage of by teenagers in a rural Southern town… until the most popular boy at school starts to date her. Their fragile relationship becomes increasingly threatened by gossip, cruelty, and violence, leading to a tragic ending.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Zephina Media

COUNTRY: USA

Q&A with actor Robert Englund. Moderated by Larry Karaszewski. World Premiere of New Restoration ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’

BUSTER AND BILLIE

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Skipping back and forth through time, we open with a catatonic Theresa Russell undergoing a mysterious operation while Art Garfunkel(!) looks on and recalls their stormy relationship in the city of Vienna, beginning with a chance meeting at a party and soon degenerating into a series of psychologically violent games that treat sex and power interchangeably. Harvey Keitel(!) also makes a surprise appearance as the police detective tasked with figuring out just what exactly happened. Critically lambasted upon its release, this off-the-cuff study in obsession is still capable of wildly polarizing viewers.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: AGFA

COUNTRY: UK

Q&A with actor Theresa Russell. Moderated by Xan Cassavetes. ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’ and final screening of ‘Watch Local: Z Channel’

BAD TIMING

In 1930s Prague, a Czech cremator who firmly believes cremation relieves one from earthly suffering is drawn inexorably to Nazism.

The Cremator

Ignacio, a disrespected cook at a Mexican monastery, can barely afford to feed the orphans who live there. Inspired by a local wrestling hero, he decides to moonlight as the not-so-famous Luchador &#8220;Nacho Libre&#8221; to earn money for the monastery &#8212; not to mention the admiration of beautiful nun Sister Encarnación.

Nacho Libre

Max and his sister move to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches killed in the 17th century.

HOCUS POCUS (1993)(PG) Live Cast Commentary In-Person 2:30pm

The latest film in Getty’s Artist Dialogues series features Ofelia Esparza and her daughter, Rosanna Esparza Ahrens, whose multigenerational practice of creating *ofrendas*, or altars, weaves together memory, customs, and community. Long recognized for their role in helping establish and sustain Día de los Muertos traditions in the city, the Esparzas have shaped the practice as both a communal ritual and a contemporary art form. In the short film, *Ofelia and Rosanna Esparza: Made to Remember* (11:55 min), they reflect on the ofrenda as both cultural obligation and art: a bridge between the living and the dead, and between the stories of generations past and those yet to come.

Ofelia, born in East Los Angeles in 1932, learned the practice from her mother, who brought her traditions from Huanimaro, Mexico. She has spent decades building elaborate ofrendas that honor ancestors through handmade paper flowers, textiles, photographs, objects and layered narratives grounded in the conviction that to be forgotten is the most final death of all. Rosanna carries this legacy forward, exploring how the making itself, the gathering, the storytelling, the shared labor, is as much the offering as the altar it produces.

Together, Ofelia and Rosanna illuminate the ofrenda as a form of ephemeral art: carefully composed with attention to focal point, dimension, and material, yet always temporary by design. Here, conservation carries different meaning than it typically does in cultural heritage contexts. Rather than relying on permanence, the artform is sustained through intergenerational continuity, carried forward by storytelling, teaching and community solidarity. 

Following the screening, Ofelia and Rosanna Esparza will join Los Angeles County's Civic Art Conservation and Collections Manager Laleña Vellanoweth for a conversation on the conservation of their work and audience Q&A. 

----------


Artist Dialogues is part of the Getty Conservation Institute's Art in L.A. project, exploring art, conservation, and Los Angeles' cultural heritage. This film was conceived in collaboration with independent curator jill moniz.



Ofelia and Rosanna Esparza: Film Screening and Artist Q&A

Getty Center

**
[REGISTER FOR THIS SCREENING](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ucla-celebration-of-iranian-cinema-inside-amir-2025divine-comedy-2025-tickets-1987863374866?aff=oddtdtcreator)**

**Please note**: Registration does not guarantee entry if the event reaches capacity. Admission is granted on a first come, first served basis.

Patrons who have registered will need to obtain their free tickets at the box office, where seating will be assigned. Any seats remaining 15 minutes before showtime will be released to standby patrons.

After his girlfriend emigrates to Italy with the expectation that he will soon follow, bike messenger Amir (Amirhossein Hosseini) is still neither fully committed to leaving nor fully clear on what the future holds if he stays in Iran. Instead, he spends his in-between days hanging with friends who have themselves settled into a life of drift, playing poker, cooking meals together and biking around the city and country. Nothing ever really happens, which is precisely the point of writer-director Amir Azizi’s warm and loving portrait of a generation that has learned to embrace simple freedoms and pleasures where they can find them in a world where even that can feel like an act of resistance. 

DCP. Director/Screenwriter: Amir Azizi. With: Amirhossein Hosseini, Hadis Nazari, Nader Pourmahin.

Iranian writer-director Bahram Ark (*Skin*, *Animal*) plays Bahram, an Iranian writer-director who has achieved fame on the international festival circuit but has yet to have one of his films screened in Iran. After his latest is again denied a permit, he and his producer Sadaf (Sadaf Asgari) set out on her moped determined to find a way to get it on screen with the help of a hodgepodge of decidedly eccentric characters. Bahram’s situation is all too familiar to co-writer-director Ali Asgari (*Terrestrial Verses*) and his regular collaborators here, who use romantic comedy tropes to illuminate the absurdities — and dangers — faced by filmmakers in Iran. 

DCP. Director: Ali Asgari. Screenwriter: Alireza Khatami, Bahram Ark, Bahman Ark, Ali Asgari. With: Bahram Ark, Sadaf Asgari, Hossein Soleimani.

Inside Amir / Divine Comedy

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

A paranoid man embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in this bold and ingeniously depraved film from writer and director Ari Aster.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: A24

COUNTRY: USA

*Thank you to our airline sponsor, Delta Air Lines.*

BEAU IS AFRAID

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Spanish and Italian with English subtitles.*

When his long-lost brother resurfaces, Jacobo, desperate to prove his life has added up to something, looks to scrounge up a wife. He turns to Marta, an employee at his sock factory, with whom he has a prickly relationship.

FORMAT: DCP

COUNTRY: Argentina/Germany/Spain/Uruguay

Introduction by filmmaker Fede Álvarez Co-presented by Cinemateca Uruguaya ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’

WHISKY

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

When the record book closed on Boston Red Sox outfielder Jimmy Piersall’s career, it showed 17 seasons in the major leagues and an impressive lifetime batting average of .272. But before he racked up those numbers, Piersall faced a foe much tougher that a 90-m.p.h. fastball: mental illness. Anthony Perkins stars as Piersall in this powerful true story. FEAR STRIKES OUT also marks the filmmaking debut of Alan J. Pakula and Robert Mulligan, the team whose credits include TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. From top to bottom, the film fields a stellar lineup of talent. And the result is a drama of unflinching force and effectiveness.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount

COUNTRY: USA

World Premiere of New 4K Restoration ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair – Year 5’

FEAR STRIKES OUT

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In French with English subtitles.*

The most controversial film of Bresson’s career, THE DEVIL, PROBABLY was off-limits to viewers under the age of 18 in France as an incitement to suicide. A film that caused Rainer Werner Fassbinder to threaten to walk off the Berlin Film Festival jury if his support for it was not made public, it traces the last six months in the life of a young Parisian in search of his own demise, who rejects the conventional solutions offered by politics and religion, saying “My sickness is that I see clearly.”

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: The Film Desk

COUNTRY: France

THE DEVIL, PROBABLY

**Screenwriters**: Rita Hsiao, Chris Sanders, Philip LaZebnik, Raymond Singer, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer

**Producer**: Pam Coates

Why be a princess when you can be a warrior? As her father faces certain death in the army, a young woman poses as a man and takes his place, becoming an enduring heroine for the Chinese people throughout the ages. Based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, with beautiful animation, great songs, and an empowering message, this is the perfect film to share with your little warrior.

Mulan

**Producer**: Richard Schmiechen

A true twentieth-century trailblazer, Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world. The Oscar-winning *The Times of Harvey Milk,* directed by Robert Epstein and produced by Richard Schmiechen, was as groundbreaking as its subject. One of the first feature documentaries to address gay life in America, it’s a work of advocacy itself, bringing Milk’s message of hope and equality to a wider audience. This exhilarating trove of original documentary material and archival footage is as much a vivid portrait of a time and place (San Francisco’s historic Castro District in the seventies) as a testament to the legacy of a political visionary.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Take home more incredible queer documentaries tonight on fabulous physical media!

*Portrait of Jason, The Queen, Kamikaze Hearts*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

The Times of Harvey Milk

**Screenwriters**: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon

**Producer**: Lawrence Bender

*How do you like them apples?* School may be out for summer, but we&#8217;re giving you the chance to audit one of the great masterclasses in acting of the 1990s &#8211; Gus Van Sant&#8217;s heartfelt ode to unsung genius and working-class heroes, written by and starring then up-and-comers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with earnest and magnificent performances by Stellan Skarsgård and Robin Williams. Will Hunting is the most brilliant janitor you&#8217;ve ever met, but his hot temper is holding him back. With the help of an empathetic psychology professor and the love of a good woman, maybe he can break through to the life his mind deserves. With nine Oscar nominations and wins for Robin Williams and Affleck and Damon for original screenplay and a soundtrack that includes Elliot Smith, this moving drama is in a class by itself!

**Picks From the Video Store**

Our Gus Van Sant director&#8217;s section is stocked with the indie legend&#8217;s whole ouevre &#8211; take home more bangers tonight!

*Mala Noche, Elephant, My Own Private Idaho*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Good Will Hunting

**Screenwriter**: Stephen Peters

**Producers**: Steven A. Jones,  Rodney Liber

Your Saturday night is about to get a whole lot sexier and twistier when we dive into the late 90s cult classic thriller *Wild Things*. When teen debutante Kelly (Denise Richards) fails to attract the attention of her hunky guidance counselor, Sam (Matt Dillon), she cries rape, igniting a scandal that results in his arrest. Sam appeals to Ken (Bill Murray), a hack personal-injury lawyer who has never handled a case that couldn&#8217;t be helped by a prop neck brace. Soon, a second victim, Suzie (Neve Campbell), comes forward, and Detective Duquette (Kevin Bacon) discovers that the unfolding case is far from what it seems.

Lightstruck: Ulrike Ottinger’s TAIGA (1991/92)

12:00 PM

Erin Brockovich in 4K

2:00 PM

Brighton Rock in 35mm

2:30 PM

Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior) in 35mm

6:30 PM

LA STRADA

3:00 PM

BOB DYLAN: SHADOW KINGDOM,

HEARTS OF FIRE,

7:30 PM

The NeverEnding Story

5:15 PM

Beauty and the Beast

8:00 PM

YEARNING

7:00 PM

BETTER TOGETHER (2023)(PG-13) Fri 5/22: 7:30 pm; Sun 5/24: 3pm & 7:30pm

Greg Vrotsos Presents PALE FLOWER

1:00 PM

“The Forgotten Faces,”

THE WAR GAME,

4:00 PM

THE LOVE PARADE

7:00 PM

MOULIN ROUGE!

10:00 PM

Diamonds Are Forever

2:00 PM

Show People

The Matinee Idol

6:30 PM

Helmut Herbst's THE CATHEDRAL OF NEW EMOTIONS + Spaced-Out Shorts!

7:00 PM

THE SON OF THE STARS (1988) — A Romanian Animated Space Oddity!

7:00 PM

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

12:30 PM

Steal This Story, Please!

1:00 PM

Rear Window

3:45 PM

Silent Friend

4:00 PM

There Will Be Blood on 35mm

7:00 PM

Over Your Dead Body

7:30 PM

The Spy Who Loved Me

10:00 AM

Mank