Los Angeles Filmforum presents *Filmforum 50, program 13: Celluloid Improvisations 2026: An Evening with Mark Cantor.*

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A fantastic array of jazz films, presented by Mark Cantor, who did his first public programs of his jazz film collection at Pasadena Filmforum in February 1977!

Celluloid Improvisations is an archive of jazz (and jazz influenced and/or related) music preserved on 16mm sound film, videotape, laserdisc, DVD and various digital formats. The collection includes more than 4,000 separate performances, and while the archive’s holdings focus on jazz, they also include such related forms of American music as blues, Swing, Western Swing, “pop,” rhythm and blues, country-western, vernacular dance, vaudeville and variety arts, etc.

Selections to be announced, including performances by:

- Rahsaan Roland Kirk
- World Saxophone Quartet
- Dizzy Gillespie and Helen Humes
- Miles Davis
- Art Ensemble of Chicago
- Phil Woods (recreating Bird with Strings)
- Blind Boys of Mississippi
- Duke Ellington
- Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five
- Dinah Washington

And more rarities!

Complete program notes at: https://www.lafilmforum.org/schedule/

Filmforum 50: An Evening with Mark Cantor

2220 Arts + Archives

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

An exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s *Tess of the d’Urbervilles*. A strong-willed peasant girl (Nastassja Kinski, in a gorgeous breakthrough) is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge, which Polanski unfolds with deliberation and finesse. With its earthy visual textures, achieved by two world-class cinematographers—Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret and Ghislain Cloquet (Au hasard Balthazar)—TESS is a work of great pastoral beauty as well as vivid storytelling.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: France/UK

Introduction by author Kristen Lopez ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’

TESS

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Hungarian with English subtitles.*

One of the major achievements of twenty-first-century cinema thus far, Béla Tarr’s mesmeric parable of societal collapse is an enigma of transcendent visual, philosophical, and mystical resonance. Adapted from a novel by the celebrated writer and frequent Tarr collaborator László Krasznahorkai, WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES unfolds in an unknown era in an unnamed village, where, one day, a mysterious circus—complete with an enormous stuffed whale and a shadowy, demagogue-like figure known as the Prince—arrives and appears to awaken a kind of madness in the citizens, which builds inexorably toward violence and destruction. In thirty-nine of his signature long takes, engraved in ghostly black and white, Tarr conjures an apocalyptic vision of dreamlike dread and fathomless beauty.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Hungary

In honor of Béla Tarr‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair – Year 5’

WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

SOUTHLAND TALES is an ensemble piece set in the futuristic landscape of Los Angeles, as it stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Boxer Santaros (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) is an action star who’s stricken with amnesia. His life intertwines with Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar), an adult film star developing her own reality television project, and Ronald Taverner (Seann William Scott), a Hermosa Beach police officer who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.

FORMAT: Digital

DISTRIBUTOR: Sony

COUNTRY: USA/Germany

Q&A with filmmaker Richard Kelly. Moderated by Mark Olsen. Cannes Cut 20th Anniversary ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’

SOUTHLAND TALES

Aero Theatre

Broke, with his vintage Nash convertible repossessed, private eye Mike Hama is reduced to combing the mean streets of the Yokohama waterfront on a borrowed bicycle. But when Lily, a beautiful stripper from out of Hama&#8217;s past, returns to town, the fuse is lit on a criminal powder keg set to blow the lid off the Yokohama underworld.

The Stairway to the Distant Past

“Foreshadows everything from the works of Shinya Tsukamoto and Takashi Miike to two decades of MTV music videos.” &#8212; Tom Mes, MIDNIGHT EYE

Fans of TETSUO: THE IRON MAN take note! An early landmark in cyberpunk cinema, BURST CITY is an experimental, dystopian musical from underground filmmaker Gakuryū (formerly Sogo) Ishii that ignites a Molotov cocktail of MAD MAX-style carnage and real-life Japanese punk bands. In a derelict industrial wasteland on the outskirts of Tokyo, two rival bands and their unruly mobs of fans gather for a Battle of the Bands-style protest against a nuclear power plant, bringing them face-to-face with the yakuza industrialists that want to erase their turf.

Burst City

Brain Dead Studios

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[REGISTER FOR THIS SCREENING](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/iranian-cinema-between-dreams-and-hope-the-great-yawn-of-history-tickets-1987863605556?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 Audience Choice Award winner*

In a village in remote Iranian Kurdistan, an old mother waits for her son to return from military service. When he doesn’t arrive as expected, she sets out to find him only to discover a truth about his identity that will change their lives forever. 

DCP. Director/Screenwriter: Saman Hosseinpuor. With: Maryam Boubani, Kurosh Ahmadi, Kianoosh Farzin.

A frequent collaborator with filmmaker Ali Asgari, writer-director Farnoosh Samadi centers the inequity and injustices faced by Iranian women in much of her work. In her second feature behind the camera, Samadi expands her frame to include Azad (Fereshteh Hosseini), a trans man, longing to start his life with his lover Nora (Sadaf Asgari), but who must confront his estranged father before he can. Hosseini and Asgar (another Asgari film regular) deliver deeply affecting performances in a story that is by turns tender and harrowing about the power of love over hate. 

DCP. Director/Screenwriter: Farnoosh Samadi. With: Fereshteh Hosseini, Sadaf Asgari, Hooman Rahnemoon.

Part adventure story, part mystical allegory, director Aliyar Rasti’s *The Great Yawn of History* begins with an eccentric job interview. Beitollah (Mohammad Aghebati) drops dollar bills with his contact information around the city, then interviews anyone who calls about their belief system. Answering that he believes in nothing, Shoja (Amirhossein Hosseini) gets the gig: following Beitollah deep into the Iranian desert to find a box of gold coins he saw in a vision. Rasti’s debut feature won the Special Jury Award in the Encounters section of the Berlin International Film Festival for its exploration of faith and greed set against the hardscrabble landscapes of a depopulated rural Iran. 

DCP. Director/Screenwriter: Aliyar Rasti. With: Mohammad Aghebati, Amirhossein Hosseini, Saber Abar.

Between Dreams and Hope / The Great Yawn of History

Hammer Museum

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Spanish with English subtitles.*

Carlos Saura’s international breakthrough is a tour de force of psychological tension in which three men, all veterans of the Spanish Civil War, reunite in the village of Castille for a day of drinking and rabbit hunting. There, under the sun’s hot glare, the rifts between the men begin to make themselves known, and barely repressed resentments are exposed, culminating in a shocking explosion of violence. Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival and cited by Sam Peckinpah as a major influence, THE HUNT is a searing exorcism of Spain’s political demons.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Spain

U.S. Theatrical Premiere of New 4K Restoration 60th Anniversary ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair – Year 5’

THE HUNT

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Edward G. Robinson stars as the ruthless newspaper editor who will go to any length, use any means—and destroy anyone—to get a paper-selling headline for the Five Star Final. Facing declining circulation, Joseph Randall decides to dig up a 20-year-old killing. He sends reporter Vernon Isopod (Boris Karloff) undercover as a clergyman to get a photograph of Nancy Townsend (Frances Starr) as she prepares for her daughter’s (Marian Marsh) wedding. Now a pillar of society, Townsend shot her lover two decades ago. And when Randall publishes the current photo of Townsend with the lurid photos and story of the shooting, Townsend commits suicide and her daughter’s fiancé’s family tries to call off the wedding. But even after he destroys so many lives in his quest for newspaper sales, will Randall feel remorse for the damage he has caused? 

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Park Circus

COUNTRY: USA

Introduction by professor Bernardo Rondeau 95th Anniversary 35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair – Year 5’ and ‘Sunday Print Edition’

FIVE STAR FINAL

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Japanese with English subtitles.*

Firebrand auteur Nagisa Ōshima offers a devastating vision of moral rot within postwar Japanese society in the form of a hauntingly sad family tragedy. Inspired by a scandalous true story, Boy follows ten-year-old Toshio (Tetsuo Abe, an orphan whose real life mirrored the tumultuous upbringing of his character) whose grifter parents use him as a pawn in a scheme to stage car accidents and then extort money from the drivers. As the family crisscrosses Japan in an increasingly desperate attempt to elude the law, Toshio escapes into an imaginary world of science fiction fantasy and space aliens that he dreams will deliver him from his harrowing existence. Applying the blistering stylistic experimentation of his earlier Japanese New Wave touchstones with newfound restraint, Ōshima adopts a relatively sober docudrama approach that proves no less shocking and subversive in its emotionally annihilating portrait of a stolen childhood.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Japan

Introduction by film critic Ryan Swen U.S. Theatrical Premiere of New 4K Restoration ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’

### **ABOUT THE ANTHOLOGY:**

CASTRATION MOVIE is a multi-part postmodern epic by visionary auteur Louise Weard. 

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

In CASTRATION MOVIE CHAPTER III: JUNIOR GHOSTS—PREMORPHIC DRIFT; A FRAGMENTARY PASSAGE, Izzy (Avalon Fast) does everything in her power to stop her partner (Henri Gillespi) from transitioning.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Muscle Distribution

COUNTRY: Canada

Q&A with filmmaker Louise Weard. Moderated by Vera Drew. L.A. Premiere ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’

CASTRATION MOVIE CHAPTER III: JUNIOR GHOSTS—PREMORPHIC DRIFT; A FRAGMENTARY PASSAGE

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Russian with English subtitles.*

In the aftermath of nuclear holocaust, a group of intellectuals crave to find hope in the pale and colorless new world. Among them, a history teacher tries to contact via letters his missing son.

FORMAT: DCP

COUNTRY: Soviet Union

40th Anniversary ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — Year 5’

LETTERS FROM A DEAD MAN

Los Feliz Theatre

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

A Hard Day’s Night / I Wanna Hold Your Hand

New Beverly Cinema

A \*very rare\* screening of Gisaburō Sugii’s anime classic — a gorgeous, strange, quietly ambient, and deeply philosophical work of art!

NIGHT ON THE GALACTIC RAILROAD (1985) — A Celestial Anime Masterpiece!

Philosophical Research Society

**Screenwriters**: Sherwood Schwartz,  Laurice Elehwany,  Rick Copp,  Bonnie Turner,  Terry Turner

**Producers**: David Paul Kirkpatrick,  Lloyd J. Schwartz,  Sherwood Schwartz

Watch your nose &#8211; the Bradys are back and they&#8217;re taking over the 1990s! In this hilarious big screen reimagining of America&#8217;s favorite television blended family, the whole Brady Clan are thrust &#8211; in all their wholesome 70s glory &#8211; into a new decade with a whole new set of problems, while still dealing with flying balls, sibling rivalry, and the chaffing of their polyester duds. A brilliant big screen send off with *bunches* of laugh out loud moments and an incredibly funny cast including the fabulous Shelley Long and director Betty Thomas (in a mini *Troop Beverly Hills* reunion) orchestrating a pitch-perfect comedy, you&#8217;ll want to join the Brady family yourself &#8211; especially when they put on their musical act to raise enough money to save their iconic house!

**Picks from the Video Store**

We love Shelley Long! Take home these classics and get ready for a *Long* hilarious night!

*The Money Pit, Outrageous Fortune, Troop Beverly Hills, Night Shift*

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

The Brady Bunch Movie

**Screenwriters**: B. Traven,  John Huston

**Producer**: Henry Blanke

Join Humphrey Bogart on an epic treasure hunt in John Huston&#8217;s classic tale of cunning, greed, and paranoia. Three down-and-out Americans—two hard-luck drifters (Bogart and Holt) and a grizzled prospector (Huston)—pool the meager resources they have to follow a rumor of gold ore to be found somewhere in the Sierra Madre mountains. While the three friends agree to split everything equally, once they discover a fortune in gold ore, greed and paranoia set in. Winner of three Oscars, including two for John Huston and one for his son, with a spot on the American Film Institute’s Top 100 American Films list reaffirming the film&#8217;s legacy as a universally acclaimed classic.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Hey man, *do* Bogart your night with these classics!

*Key Largo, The Big Sleep, In a Lonely Place*

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

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

**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: **Chung Seo-kyung, Park Chan-wook

**Producers:** Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim

You’re not going to want to miss this lurid, labyrinthine thriller, full of shifting alliances, shocking plot twists, and diabolical villains. In 1930s Korea, while the country is occupied by Japan, a con man posing as an aristocrat (Ha Jung-woo) hatches a plot to rob a Japanese heiress named Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee). A female pickpocket (Kim Tae-ri) gets roped into the plan by acting as a maid in Hideko’s household, but can she trust either the con artist who’s using her or the heiress she might be falling in love with? Probably not, but you’ll just have to watch this movie yourself and see how its twisty plot keeps you guessing all the way to a stunning ending.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Take home all of Park Chan-wook&#8217;s dark masterpieces from his director&#8217;s section

*Oldboy, Thirst, Lady Vengeance*

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

The Handmaiden

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)

Vidiots

L.A. Story

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Vista Theatre

Frequently throughout the year we will be highlighting a few titles that are considered to be "stuck" on VHS, with no physical releases since the format (discounting video transfers on DVDs, etc.) for various reasons, i.e. legal ownership disputes, music licensing issues, or perhaps just perceived lack of interest.

‍This month brings us HEARTS AND ARMOUR, a strangely psychedelic, and wonderfully cheap Italian sword & sorcery flick that was distributed by Warner Bros on VHS yet has still never seen a physical release since.

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## From the back of the box:

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In a titanic clash of cultures, noble warriors follow their hearts while wielding their sowrds because they live in a world of *Hearts and Armour*. There, codes of honor become codes of conflict... and high ideals are prey to a thousand human weaknesses.

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Tanya Roberts (the former Charlie's Angel whose *The Beastmaster*, *Sheena*, and *A View to Kill* make her one of the hottest tickets on the entertainment scene) heads a cast of talented newcomers in this sword-clanging epic of magic, armour and valiant knights. The ravishing Roberts brings an exotic blend of softness and savagery to her role of Angelica, a Moorish princess trapped in the turmoil of brutal combat between Christians and Moors in the Middle Ages.

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But the passions of war cannot eclipse love's passion. Christian warrior Orlando (handsome *Gentleman's Quarterly* model Rick Edwards in his screen debut) seeks victory over the Moors... and the hand of the captive Angelica. His Christian comrade, *femme-fatale*-in-armour Bradamante (popular Italian actress Barbara De Rossi), loves Ruggero (Ron Moss), the Moorish prince determined to free Angelica. Bradamante, knowing the prophets have fortold that Orlando will someday slay Ruggero, is torn between love and loyalty. The conflicting passions of war and love hurtle to a final showdown, where terrifying combatants like the Mongol, the Human Weapon and the Black Warrior clash in a battle to the death.

‍

In the spellbinding tradition of *Excalibur*, which focused on Arthurian legends of the north, *Hearts and Armour* brings to the screen the medieval myths of sun-drenched southern Europe. There, in a rhapsody of swordplay, lavish spectacle, searing passions and hellbent barbarians in stylized armour, men and women play out their entangled destinies... and become legends.

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**dir. Giacomo Battiato, 1983***Italy, VHS projection*98 min

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## SUNDAY, 6/77:30P DOORS8:00P SCREENING

Special ticket prices! $6 general admission, $5 members.

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*Whammy! is located in the REAR unit of 2514 Sunset Blvd, entrance access is via Rampart Blvd.*

Stuck on VHS: HEARTS AND ARMOUR (1983)

WHAMMY!

### **ABOUT THE EPISODES:**

**Episode 101 “Step Into My Office,” Dir. Harry Bradbeer, 47 Mins**

It won’t end the way you want it to.

FORMAT: DCP

**Episode 102 “Tread Lightly,” Dir. Harry Bradbeer, 43 Mins**

You’re an investigator. Investigate.

FORMAT: DCP

### **ABOUT THE SERIES:**

**SPIDER-NOIR, 2026, Amazon Prime, USA**

SPIDER-NOIR is a live-action series based on the Marvel comic Spider-Man Noir. SPIDER NOIR tells the story of Ben Reilly (Nicolas Cage), a seasoned, down on his luck private investigator in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life, following a deeply personal tragedy, as the city’s one and only superhero.

Q&A with co-showrunner, writer and executive producer Oren Uziel. Moderated by Jenelle Riley.

SPIDER-NOIR

Hollywood Entertainment is proud to host director Henry Hanson and star Milo Talwani for the LA premiere of *Puppygirl*, the remarkable hyperpop docu-porn-madness, presented alongside their beloved comedy, *Dog Movie*! Their bright and beautifully lo-fi digital tales of deranged intracommunal dynamics are bracing and funny slices of intricately weaponized discomfort. In their condensed runtimes, they provoke us with brutal and brilliant observations about bad friends, boundaries, queer community and sexuality, porn, dogs, and so much more.

### Dog Movie

*Release Year:* 2023

*Run Time:* 56 mins

A passive-aggressive tenderqueer couple sends their household into a quiet tailspin when they adopt an elderly dog who shares the same name as the unemployed couch surfer they just can’t seem to confront in *Bros Before* filmmaker Henry Hanson&#8217;s improvised microbudget debut feature, which he/they describe as “the trans *Curb Your Enthusiasm*.”

### Puppygirl

*Release Year:* 2025

*Run Time:* 55 mins

A semi-delusional trans woman (Milo Talwani) embarks on a shocking, bizarre, and oddly touching personal odyssey to undo years of sexual repression by performing in puppygirl fetish porn in Henry Hanson&#8217;s new gonzo documentary.

Dog Movie + Puppygirl

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

**PADDINGTON, 2014, Dir. Paul King, 95 Mins, Lionsgate, UK/France**

A young Peruvian bear travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he meets the kindly Brown family, who offer him a temporary haven.

FORMAT: DCP

**PADDINGTON 2, 2017, Dir. Paul King, 104 Mins, Warner Bros., UK/France/Luxembourg**

Paddington, now happily settled with the Brown family and a popular member of the local community, picks up a series of odd jobs to buy the perfect present for his Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday, only for the gift to be stolen.

FORMAT: DCP

**PADDINGTON IN PERU, 2025, Dir. Dougal Wilson, 106 Mins, Sony Pictures, UK/France/USA**

Full of Paddington’s signature blend of wit, charm, and laugh-out-loud humor, PADDINGTON IN PERU finds the beloved, marmalade-loving bear lost in the jungle on an exciting, high-stakes adventure. When Paddington discovers his beloved Aunt Lucy has gone missing from the Home for Retired Bears, he and the Brown family head to the wilds of Peru to look for her. The only clue to her whereabouts is a spot marked on an enigmatic map. Determined to solve the mystery, Paddington embarks on a thrilling quest through the rainforests of the Amazon to find his aunt…and may also uncover one of the world’s most legendary treasures.

FORMAT: DCP

‘Paddington’s Bleak Week Marmalade Chaser – Chapter 5’

PADDINGTON / PADDINGTON 2 / PADDINGTON IN PERU

Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow / Snake Deadly Act

The Silent Partner/ Narrow Margin

Only Yesterday

Aardman Animations Celebration

Academy Museum

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

In this Oscar-nominated adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon neo-noir novel, stoner private eye Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix, in an industrial-strength mullet) winds his way through three interrelated cases in 1970 Los Angeles after an ex-girlfriend (Katherine Waterston) turns up at his door. Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, Jena Malone and Martin Short round out the amazing cast.

FORMAT: 70mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Park Circus

COUNTRY: USA

INHERENT VICE in 70mm

A treasure chest of narrative fragments, *The Decay of Fiction* lacks the itinerary and “instructions for use” that automatically comes with a linear story. The shards of its many implied plotlines are the fruit of O’Neill’s all-encompassing sense of form, which for better or worse is conceptual rather than technical or material. – Jonathan Rosenbaum, *The Chicago Reader*, May 30, 2003,

https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2023/03/ghosts-of-hollywood/

***Skies***  | 9 min  | 35mm transferred to digital  |World Premiere

A new film by Pat O&#8217;Neill, Skies, composed of excerpts from his 35mm film timelapse documentation of the skies above the western United States landscape in the early 70s. Soundtrack by [Thollem McDonas](https://thollem.bandcamp.com/album/the-light-is-real-voices) from his album [The Light Is Real (Voices)](https://thollem.bandcamp.com/album/the-light-is-real-voices) with Terry Riley.

“I am interested in exploring the boundaries of believability. The narrative tradition insists that, no matter how fantastic the story, its surface must be seamless. By contrast, I call attention to the artifice, all the staged aspects, and allow the well-worn stories to slip over and through one another. The film’s intention could be described as wanting to take stories off the screen and into the imagination. I like to work within the gaps between reality and story, to look at what is going on around the story, its context, and to make that a part of my conversation with the audience.” – Pat O’Neill

**Tickets:** $15 general, $10 students/seniors (purchased at door), free for Filmforum members.

The Decay of Fiction

Movie theater chain established in 1938 showcasing the latest independent, foreign & art films.

This unique series is hosted by filmmaker Stanley Sheff, who worked closely with Welles as a collaborator, editor, and un-credited co-director on his unsold TV pilot The Orson Welles Show. Sheff will share stories from their professional collaboration and personal friendship, giving audiences a rare first-hand glimpse into the private world of Orson Welles.Doors at 7pm, show at 7:30pm and film at 8pm.

Tonight's show:TOUCH OF EVILMexican Narcotics officer Ramon Miguel 'Mike' Vargas has to interrupt his honeymoon on the Mexican-US border when an American building contractor is killed after someone places a bomb in his car. He's killed on the US side of the border but it's clear that the bomb was planted on the Mexican side. As a result, Vargas delays his return to Mexico City where he has been mounting a case against the Grandi family crime and narcotics syndicate. Police Captain Hank Quinlan is in charge on the US side and he soon has a suspect, a Mexican named Manolo Sanchez. Vargas is soon onto Quinlan and his Sergeant, Pete Menzies, when he catches them planting evidence to convict Sanchez. With his new American wife, Susie, safely tucked away in a hotel on the US side of the border - or so he thinks - he starts to review Quinlan's earlier cases. While concentrating on th

TOUCH OF EVIL

Fine Arts Theatre

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

A mysterious boat returns to a village 30 years after vanishing. Two men join its crew hoping for better fortune. After one voyage, they find themselves transported back in time, mistaken for the original crew.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: 1-2 Special

COUNTRY: UK

Q&A with filmmaker Mark Jenkin Advance Screening

ROSE OF NEVADA

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

A wildlife volunteer on an uninhabited island off the British coast descends into a terrifying madness that challenges her grip on reality and pushes her into a living nightmare. Evoking the feeling of discovering a reel of never-before-seen celluloid unspooling in a haunted movie palace, this provocative and masterful vision of horror asserts Mark Jenkin as one of the U.K.’s most exciting and singular filmmakers.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: NEON

COUNTRY: UK

ENYS MEN

Breakfast at Tiffany’s / Roman Holiday

**Screenwriters**: Jacques Tati, Jacques Lagrange, Art Buchwald

**Producer**: Bernard Maurice

Join Monsieur Hulot in Paris in this breathtaking comedy masterpiece. *“A film that comes from another planet, where they make films differently.”* So sayeth legendary French auteur Francois Truffaut about *PlayTime*, a movie that looks and feels like nothing else you’ve ever seen before. Director Jacques Tati spent a small fortune constructing an artificial city to shoot in (the set was big enough to require its own power plant!), all for a surreal comedy about a lonely Everyman (Tati himself) wandering around a bizarre, modernist metropolis he can’t quite comprehend. You’ll want to see this on the big screen so you can take in every detail of Tati’s unforgettable masterpiece, one of the greatest movies ever made about the absurdity of modern life.

**Movie Den** is a community initiative generously supported by **Golden Globe Foundation.******

All tickets come with a free small popcorn. Please enter through the video store. Doors will open 45 minutes before showtime.

If online tickets are no longer available HAVE NO FEAR, we will ALWAYS have walk-ups available starting 45 minutes before showtime (which give you plenty of time for free popcorn and a browse of the video store)!

This series was designed for audience members 12 and up, please note some films may contain more mature content than others. We encourage parents, caretakers, and guardians to explore the program and titles prior to ticket purchases. We will include MPAA ratings for all films in this series. Parental discretion is advised.

PlayTime

**Screenwriter**: Boots Riley

**Producers**: Aaron Ryder,  Andrew Swett,  Allison Rose Carter,  Jon Read,  Boots Riley

Get your eyeballs and brain ready for maximum explosiveness as Boots Riley&#8217;s newest inventive, hilarious, surreal, stylish, stop-motion-sprinkled, and utterly singular masterpiece hits our microcinema in all its dazzling propagandistic glory! The fashion, the fun, the gonzo satire &#8211; it&#8217;s the wildest ride in cinema this year and an absolute revelation for those of us who have been craving the return of originality to filmmaking. Keke Palmer heads a crew of professional fashion boosters out to resell expensive clothes at a discount, but when a fashion maven (Demi Moore at her bitchy best) vows to take them down, and an unexpected guest with a magical gadget appears &#8211; their quest begins to turn global. Boots Riley solidifies his place among America&#8217;s most inventive auteurs with yet another brilliantly bonkers but perennially relevant capitalist critique that will keep you laughing, gagging (at the FASHION), and cheering throughout.

I Love Boosters

**Screenwriter**: Leah McKendrick

**Producers**: Todd Black,  Becky Sanderman,  Jason Blumenthal,  Steve Tisch, David J. Bloomfield

**KCRW**,** Vidiots**, and** Netflix **invite you to a special advance screening of ***Voicemails for Isabelle ***followed by a conversation with director **Leah McKendrick** and actress **Zoey Deutch**.

Jill copes with her sister’s death by leaving her voicemails chronicling her chaotic life in San Francisco. When the number is unknowingly reassigned, an elusive Austin real estate agent begins receiving the hilariously confessional messages.

Doors will Open at 6:30pm, Screening will start at 7:30pm, with conversation to follow.

Guests must RSVP to attend. For more information and to RSVP click [here](https://events.humanitix.com/kcrw-partner-screening-voicemails-for-isabelle).

Please note that this screening is first-come-first-served, and your RSVP does not guarantee entry. As we are hoping to accommodate as many people as possible, all free screenings are overbooked to account for no-shows. We recommend an early to on-time arrival, we may not be able to accommodate late entries.

Voicemails for Isabelle

Disclosure Day (70mm)

Beginners

Acropolis Cinema presents *An Injury to All* (Dir. Travis Wilkerson, 2026). World premiere sneak preview of a new work in progress, presented as a singular live documentary!

Total runtime: 90 min. In person: Travis Wilkerson.

~

*An Injury to All* is both the prequel to *An Injury to One* (2001) and its urgent postscript. It traces the life of I.W.W. Organizer Frank Little before his arrival and infamous murder in Butte, Montana. Following his peripatetic, restless journey from his childhood in Oklahoma to his astonishing rise as a visionary organizer criss-crossing the American West, struggling for immigrant rights, for militant labor, for free speech and always and forever against the social catastrophe of war—his is a singular and irreplaceable story of American resistance and the inspiring vision of a different kind of world. Most of all, it restores his incompatible life—rather than the horror of his eventual death—to the place it always deserved to be. A ferocious antidote to the present moment and conscious riposte to the 250th anniversary of the USA.

Acropolis Cinema: Travis Wilkerson's An Injury to All (2026)

10th Anniversary of Spa Night

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being the clownishly homicidal Joker.

FORMAT: 70mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Park Circus

COUNTRY: USA/UK

Ultra rare screening! Last screened in L.A. in 1998 ‘Ultra Cinematheque 70 Fest 2026’

BATMAN in 70mm

Exclusive screening of "STRIKING" a film by Khufu Najee.

Doors 7PM.

RSVP required. Entry is first come, first served. A standby line will be available.

STRIKING (Screening) starring Ovrkast.

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

Monthly short film festival. Watch and vote. Audience award to the best short film each month. Annual championship in DECEMBER.

MOVIE SCREENERS CLUB (Thu. 6/18) 7:30pm

Gardena Cinema

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*“In 1966, following the collapse of a film which I hoped to develop with Albert Finney’s production company, on the 1916 Easter uprising in Dublin, I was approached by John Heyman, a British artists’ agent, to make a film based on an original screenplay by Johnny Speight, which dealt with the influence of Steven Shorter, a pop star in the 1960s. American novelist Norman Bognor and I adapted the script, which we retitled PRIVILEGE, to emphasize the significance of Steven Shorter as an allegory for the manner in which national states, working via religion, the mass media, sports, Popular Culture, etc., divert a potential political challenge by young people. In case this theme appears exaggerated, it is important to keep in mind that it was set in the ‘swinging Britain’ of the 1960s, and was prescient of the way that Popular Culture and the media in the US commercialized the anti-war and counter-culture movement in that country as well. PRIVILEGE also ominously predicted what was to happen in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain of the 1980s – especially during the period of the Falkland Islands War.” – Peter Watkins*

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures

COUNTRY: UK

‘Peter Watkins: An American Cinematheque Retrospective’

PRIVILEGE

### **ABOUT THE EPISODES:**

**Part 1, 2017, Dir. David Lynch, 60 Mins, Paramount, USA**

My log has a message for you.

FORMAT: DCP

**Part 2, 2017, Dir. David Lynch, 54 Mins, Paramount, USA**

The stars turn and a time presents itself.

FORMAT: DCP

### **ABOUT THE SERIES:**

**TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN, 2017, Paramount, USA**

Directed entirely by David Lynch, this 18-part limited event series picks up 25 years after the residents of a quaint northwestern American town were stunned when their homecoming queen, Laura Palmer, was shockingly murdered. TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN is written and executive produced by series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost, and is executive produced by Sabrina S. Sutherland.

TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN Parts 1 & 2

One Battle After Another

The world theatrical premiere of the restoration of a fascinating and singular 70s artifact of California's new age movement.

THE PYRAMID (1976) presented by Analog Outlaw and Enlighted Artists

**Screenwriters**: Kevin McDonald,  Mark McKinney,  Scott Thompson,  Bruce McCulloch, Norm Hiscock

**Producer**: Lorne Michaels

Vidiots is tickled pink to welcome comedy legend ***Scott Thompson*** for a special 30th Anniversary screening of the comedy cult classic ***Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy.***

Your serotonin is about to shoot through the roof when everyone&#8217;s favorite Canadian sketch comedy troupe takes on Big Pharma in this ridiculously demented laugh riot. In a rush to launch a new anti-depressant onto the market, a shifty pharmaceutical company fast-tracks a scientist&#8217;s breakthrough pill Gleemonex that makes people remember their happiest memory, and although it&#8217;s successful, it has unfortunate side effects that the company is all too willing to hide to protect their profit margins! Like any true cult classic, this brilliantly bonkers social satire opened to an underwhelming reception, but over the last 30 years an ever-growing cult of *Candyphiles* have recognized the forward-thinking brilliance of the *Kids* and their gender-bending, consumerist-skewering, oddball-extravaganza that is *Brain Candy*!

**Picks from the Video Store**

You can take home every last episode of *The Kids in the Hall *on DVD tonight, as well as these absurd specials!

*The Kids in the Hall: Same Guys, New Dresses, The Kids in the Hall: Tour of Duty, The Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town*

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

Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy

Happiness

The Seven Year Itch with Kim Morgan

The Parallax View in 4K

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Often misunderstood, Malcolm X was one of the leading forces of the United States’ Civil Rights Movement. He inspired many—and frightened many—but is destined to be remembered as one of the greatest men of his era. This riveting biography directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington in an Academy Award-nominated performance reveals the man at the center of a storm of change.

FORMAT: 70mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Park Circus

COUNTRY: USA

MALCOLM X in 70mm

An African-American man working at a slaughterhouse in the Watts area of Los Angeles leads a dissatisfied and listless existence.

Killer of Sheep

It&#8217;s a hot one on a summer day in Brooklyn as the pizzas get delivered, ice is used for foreplay and boomboxes play on. Hyper-colourful, righteously angry and showcasing Spike Lee at peak power, this one rides the tightrope of human emotion/drama and political indignation. Good soundtrack too.

Do the Right Thing

Join us for day of riso printing! Come by and participate in this quick turnaround open riso studio. Beginners and experiences artists can bring a simple photograph or design, or make something on the spot, and have us print it on our riso with a quick turnaround time. We will have supplies to make drawings, collages, or print an existing image. This session will be limited to one color or two color designs. We will print 20 copies of each design. To print extra copies, feel free to pay a small material fee.

1-Hour Risograph Printing (6/19)

Heavy Manners Library

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Having built his career as both an actor and director of silent cinema with comedic short films starring his wildly popular Little Tramp character, Charles Chaplin confounded audiences when he followed up his first feature, The Kid, with a serious melodrama—sans the Tramp! A major departure from his previous output, A WOMAN OF PARIS centers around the title character (frequent Chaplin Studios actor Edna Purviance), who is betrayed by her lover and then cast aside by her would-be fiancé (Adolphe Menjou). Applauded by the press but rejected by the public, then pulled from distribution by Chaplin himself, A WOMAN OF PARIS, with its influential, understated acting and deft storytelling, now stands as one of Chaplin’s greatest directorial achievements.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: USA

Get your ticket for just $7.02 at the box office! ‘Film by the Foot’

A WOMAN OF PARIS

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

**“Le Jour Ou…,” 1997, Dir. Chantal Akerman, 7 Mins, Chantal Akerman Foundation, Switzerland**

*In French with English subtitles.*

Chantal Akerman ruminates on the future of cinema from her bed.

FORMAT: DCP

**MAKING OF TOMORROW WE MOVE, 2004, Dir. Chantal Akerman, 80 Mins, Chantal Akerman Foundation, France**

*In French with English subtitles.*

What a revelation and a privilege it is to see Chantal Akerman at work. Its French title a pun, this film offers behind-the-scenes footage from the production of TOMORROW WE MOVE: makeup and costume tests, script readings, scene blocking and rehearsals and on-set interviews with Aurore Clément and Sylvie Testud, her lead actresses, as well as Akerman herself.

FORMAT: DCP

Photo courtesy of Collections CINEMATEK © Chantal Akerman Foundation ‘Chantal Akerman: An American Cinematheque Retrospective’

“Le Jour Ou…” / MAKING OF TOMORROW WE MOVE

Inglourious Basterds

The first night of a rare, momentous 2-evening retrospective of the Basses' remarkable short films, feat. beautiful archival 16mm prints!

THE FILMS OF SAUL & ELAINE BASS —Night 1: Short Films feat. WHY MAN CREATES

**Screenwriters**: Michael Tolkin,  Henry Bean

**Producers**: Pierre David,  Henry Bean

Vidiots is thrilled to welcome actor/director/legend **Bill Duke** for a special screening of his neon-soaked neo-noir ***Deep Cover*!**

We are going undercover with Laurence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum in Bill Duke&#8217;s slick crime thriller set in the underbelly of early 90s Los Angeles. Fishburne plays Russell Stevens, an undercover LAPD officer determined to infiltrate the cartel of LA&#8217;s biggest drug kingpin, played by none other than Jeff Goldblum, in one of his most menacing roles. Stevens has to walk the line between criminal and cop as he plunges into ever darker territory to keep his cover and bring down the operation. Smart and stylish with a killer early 90s hip hop soundtrack and incredible performances by Fishburne and Goldblum, this sizzling slice of neo-noir will pull you deep under its sinister spell!

Screening followed by a conversation with Bill Duke. And the fun doesn&#8217;t stop there! Join us for [*Predator*](https://vidiotsfoundation.org/movies/predator/) with Bill Duke and Richard Chaves on Sunday the 21st.

**Picks from the Video Store**

We&#8217;ve got decades of Bill Duke deep cuts you can take home tonight on Blu-Ray and DVD!

*Street of No Return, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, Car Wash*

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

A Weekend with Bill Duke: Deep Cover

**Screenwriter**: Angela Robinson

**Producers**: Jasmine Kosovic,  Andrea Sperling

Everyone&#8217;s favorite teen girl secret agent squad movie finally comes to Vidiots&#8217; big screen in all its queer and girl power glory! A quartet of girls from a prep high school are recruited by a secret paramilitary academy to conduct cloak-and-dagger missions, all while maintaining their Discipline, Energy, Beauty, and Strength! This campy cult classic is the gayest sendoff to *Charlie&#8217;s Angels* the cinema world has produced! So grab your squad and get ready for a campy kick-ass queer time!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Searching for more Sapphic cinema? Take home these queer classics tonight!

*But I&#8217;m a Cheerleader, Desert Hearts, Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love*

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

D.E.B.S.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Acropolis Cinema presents *An Injury to One - 4K Reconstruction* (Dir. Travis Wilkerson, 2001/2026).

*U.S premiere of the reconstruction of the 2001 film for its 25th anniversary using gorgeous new 4K scans, texts, and animations.*

Total runtime: 53 min. In person: Travis Wilkerson.

~

*An Injury to One* provides a corrective—and absolutely compelling—glimpse of a particularly volatile moment in early 20th century American labor history: the rise and fall of Butte, Montana. Specifically, it chronicles the mysterious death of Wobbly organizer Frank Little, a story whose grisly details have taken on a legendary status in the state. Much of the extant evidence is inscribed upon the landscape of Butte and its surroundings. Thus, a connection is drawn between the unsolved murder of Little, and the attempted murder of the town itself.

Archival footage mixes with deftly deployed intertitles, while the lyrics to traditional mining songs are accompanied by music from William Oldham, Jim O'Rourke, and the band Low, producing an appropriately moody, effulgent, and strangely out-of-time soundtrack. The result is a unique film/video hybrid that combines painterly images, incisive writing, and a bold graphic sensibility to produce an articulate example of the aesthetic and political possibilities offered by filmmaking in the digital age.

This version is not precisely a “remaster” but rather a meticulous reconstruction of the original vision of the film. Where the original material was available, it was used, in the highest quality available. Where such material no longer exists, adequate substitutions were made. The result is something new, both resolutely of the past while firmly in the present. The richness of the film material is almost unimaginable from the original version—more lush, more expressive, more heartbreaking, too.

Acropolis Cinema: Travis Wilkerson's An Injury to One - 4K Reconstruction (2001/2026)

The Rescuers

River of No Return

Car Wash 50th Anniversary Screening in 4K

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Based on the daring campaigns of real-life British military figure T.E. Lawrence (Peter O’Toole, in his first feature) during WWI, this sweeping epic of Arab infighting and British colonialism won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. The amazing cast includes Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains and Alec Guinness as Prince Feisal.

FORMAT: 70mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Sony

COUNTRY: UK

‘Ultra Cinematheque 70 Fest 2026’ The American Cinematheque’s own pristine 70mm archival print!

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA in 70mm

### **ABOUT THE FILM: **

Hank (Frederic Forrest) and Frannie (Teri Garr) argue while celebrating their fifth anniversary. Yearning for a life of excitement and romance, Frannie fears that she is wasting her life on a man who shows no interest in her dreams of traveling to far-off places. The argument escalates and they break up. Heading in separate ways and taking to the streets, they both meet and spend the night with strangers. Hank with the seductive Leila (Nastassja Kinski), a runaway circus performer and Frannie with Ray (Raul Julia), a handsome waiter who moonlights as a cocktail pianist and singer.

FORMAT: 70mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Rialto Pictures

COUNTRY: USA

In remembrance of Dean Tavoularis Last screened in L.A. in 1990 ‘Ultra Cinematheque 70 Fest 2026’

ONE FROM THE HEART in 70mm

An enterprising producer believes he has hit upon a winning concept: a program of original animated shorts set to classical music. Undeterred by warnings that this has already been done by an American named &#8216;Prisney,&#8217; he rallies an orchestra of geriatric women, a bullish conductor, and an animator that he keeps locked in the dungeon. What could go wrong?

Allegro non troppo

After bassist Jason Newsted quits the band in 2001, heavy metal superstars Metallica realize that they need an intervention. In this revealing documentary, filmmakers follow the three rock stars as they hire a group therapist and grapple with 20 years of repressed anger and aggression. Between searching for a replacement bass player, creating a new album and confronting their personal demons, the band learns to open up in ways they never thought possible.

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster

A punk rock band is forced to fight for survival after witnessing an act of violence at a skinhead bar.

Green Room

Oh hi Mark! A double feature you won't believe and an epic meet & greet with Greg Sestero with exclusive merch for fans. Do NOT Miss This!

THE ROOM (2003)(R) & BIG SHARK (2023)(PG-13) w Greg Sestero In-Person 6pm

**
[REGISTER FOR THIS SCREENING](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ucla-celebration-of-iranian-cinema-oh-what-happy-days-2025-tickets-1987863994720?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.

Family secrets and betrayals explode in the most riveting video call you’ve ever seen. Writer-director Homayoun Ghanizadeh transforms the familiar stacked boxes of talking heads we all live with these days into a dazzling, high-wire act of storytelling and performance when three generations of an Iranian family are confronted by the son of a former family servant over the fate of the stately family home back in Iran. Ghanizadeh’s riveting, all-star ensemble — Golshifteh Farahani, Payman Maadi, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Ali Nasirian, Shirin Neshat — delivers an acting tour de force that deliberately transcends the bounds of the film’s form. 

DCP. Director/Screenwriter: Homayoun Ghanizadeh. With: Golshifteh Farahani, Shirin Neshat, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Ali Nasirian, Payman Maadi.

Oh, What Happy Days

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

In NO BLOOD RELATION, a gripping early example of Mikio Naruse’s cinematic boldness, featuring a screenplay by Ozu’s famed collaborator Kogo Noda, an actress returns to Tokyo after a successful stint in Hollywood to reclaim—with the help of her gangster brother—the daughter she abandoned years before.

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’

NO BLOOD RELATION

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Swedish with English subtitles.*

A period piece that forgoes nostalgia in favor of a stark examination of working-class struggle, Bo Widerberg’s second feature unfolds in 1936 in the director’s hometown of Malmö. It’s there, in the poor district of Raven’s End, that young Anders (Widerberg’s regular collaborator Tommy Berggren) chases his dream of becoming a writer while growing increasingly disillusioned with the dead-end world that surrounds him: an alcoholic father, a toiling mother and the ominous specter of Nazism. Delivering a bracing jolt of kitchen-sink realism to Swedish cinema, Widerberg paints an unsparing portrait of youthful idealism bumping up against economic despair.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Sweden

West Coast Theatrical Premiere of 2K Restoration ‘Bo Widerberg: An American Cinematheque Retrospective’

RAVEN'S END

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

After being falsely convicted of murdering his wife, Vincent Parry escapes San Quentin and shacks up with Irene Jansen, a woman whose innocent father died in prison. Undergoing plastic surgery to change his appearance, Vincent sets off on the hunt for the real killer under a new identity.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTIRBUTOR: Park Circus

COUNTRY: USA

Program begins with a live recording of the Greg Proops Film Club podcast. Feature starts at 7:30pm ‘The Greg Proops Film Club’

The Greg Proops Film Club Presents DARK PASSAGE

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Julianne Moore stars with Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack and Robert Pattinson in this unforgettable drama from acclaimed director David Cronenberg. Hollywood actress Havana Segrand (Moore) is unraveling as her career flounders. Her therapist (Cusack) and his wife are busy managing the career of their child-star son. But when a mysterious young woman named Agatha (Wasikowska) befriends a limo driver (Pattinson) and ties all their lives together, nothing will ever be the same as they try to survive a world of money, fame, envy and relentless hauntings.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Universal

COUNTRY: Canada/France/Germany/USA

‘Watch Local: Sex, Lies, and… Fame at the Chateau Marmont’

MAPS TO THE STARS

Lilo & Stitch

Mars Attacks!

Featuring the Basses' strange sci-fi cult classic PHASE IV and their most cosmic explorations of the natural world and the otherworldly

THE FILMS OF SAUL & ELAINE BASS —Night 2: PHASE IV and Beyond — feat. QUEST

**Screenwriters**: Dennis Lee, Jim Henson, Terry Jones

**Producer:** Eric Rattray

Step into one of Jim Henson&#8217;s most beloved fantasy worlds with Rock God and Goblin King David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, and a plethora of magical puppets from foxes to worms in a psychedelic Escheresque landscape. When teen Sarah is forced to babysit Toby, her baby stepbrother, she summons Jareth the Goblin King to take him away. When he is actually kidnapped, Sarah is given just thirteen hours to solve a labyrinth and rescue him. A musical puppet banger for any age of cinephile, make sure you head to Vidiots for all the dance magic we can muster!

**Picks From the Video Store**

Take home more David Bowie tonight!

*Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Linguini Incident*

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

Labyrinth

**Produced by**: Elliot Page, Megan Ellison, Matt Jordan Smith, Jennifer Steinman Sternin, Drew Denny

With producer/director **Drew Denny** in conversation after the screening!

Elliot Page narrates this hilarious and heartening romp through the animal world, led by brave scientists fighting censorship as they reveal the truth about our nature. *Second Nature* — everything you didn’t learn in high school biology!

Did you know that clownfish change sex from male to female? (*So if Nemo’s mom had died in real life, his dad would have become his mom!*) Did you know that albatross, penguins and swans parent in same sex pairs? Or that bonobos, who are just as closely related to us as chimps, are matriarchal and have same-sex sex every day?!

Debunking myths that females are “inferior” and being queer is “unnatural,” *Second Nature* follows trailblazing trans Evolutionary Biologist Dr. Joan Roughgarden as she meets other groundbreaking scientists exploring the 1500+ animal species who engage in same-sex sexual behavior and parenting, change sex, form matriarchies, and more.

Second Nature: Gender and Sexuality in the Animal World

**Screenwriter**: Ronald Bass

**Producers**: Ronald Bass,  Jerry Zucker

You are cordially invited to a very special occasion: Vidiots is playing the wildly entertaining *My Best Friend’s Wedding*, one of the best romantic comedies of an impressive decade. Julianne (Julia Roberts) realizes she has feelings for her longtime platonic guy friend Michael (Dermot Mulroney) just as he announces he’s marrying Kimmy (Cameron Diaz), but will her attempts to break up the couple lead to true love with Michael or utter disaster? Make sure you RSVP to this fizzy delight that has everything you’d want from a ‘90s rom-com: impromptu musical numbers, giant flip phones, characters with glamorous jobs like “restaurant critic” and “sportswriter,” and Rupert Everett as the impossibly charming gay BFF!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Have you got wedding fever? Take home these gems full of fabulous nuptials

*The Wedding Banquet, Muriel&#8217;s Wedding, Margot at the Wedding*

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

My Best Friend’s Wedding

**Screenwriter**: Aleshea Harris

**Producers**: Tessa Thompson,  Kishori Rajan,  Riva Marker,  Janicza Bravo,  Aleshea Harris

Summer is just getting started and we&#8217;ve got one hell of a roadtrip planned for you with Aleshea Harris&#8217; miraculous debut feature &#8211; a vengeance film so incendiary and kick-ass, we had to bring it back for more! In *Is God Is*, two sisters embark on an epic quest for revenge, confronting a charged family history that will push them to extraordinary lengths. The film is Aleshea Harris’ directorial debut and is based on Harris’ adaptation of her award-winning play of the same name.

Is God Is

**Writer/Producer**: David Cronenberg

Co-Presented by Community Partner **The Cinegogue**

Car culture has never been more bizarrely erotic than in David Cronenberg&#8217;s take on J.G. Ballard&#8217;s disturbing novel in this audacious and twisted fetishistic phenomenon. James Spader plays James Ballard, a television producer in a passionless marriage. After a car accident involving Dr. Helen Remington (Holly Hunter), he uncovers a dark sub-culture of car-crash victims who embrace their scars and indulge in auto-obsession. Not streaming on any online platforms, you won&#8217;t want to miss this singular work of vehicular eroticism.

Stop by the video store early (between 8:00pm and 9:30pm) for a special Cinegogue pop up shop with special giveaways and exclusive merch!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Our David Cronenberg section is stocked with nearly 50 years of creepy treasures!

*Shivers, The Brood, Videodrome*

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

Crash

Pather Panchali

Phantom Thread in 70mm

Summertime in 35mm

### **ABOUT THE FILM: **

Oscar-winning filmmaker Jordan Peele reinvents the summer blockbuster with an epic sci-fi pop nightmare that will have you never looking at clouds the same way ever again.

FORMAT: 70mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Universal

COUNTRY: USA

NOPE in 70mm

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Richard Dreyfuss stars as cable worker Roy Neary, who experiences a close encounter of the first kind – witnessing UFOs soaring across the sky. Meanwhile, government agents have close encounters of the second kind – discovering physical evidence of extraterrestrial visitors in the form of a lost fighter aircraft from World War II and a stranded military ship that disappeared decades earlier only to suddenly reappear in an unusual place. Roy and the agents follow the clues that have drawn them to reach a site where they will have a close encounter of the third kind – contact.

FORMAT: 70mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures

COUNTRY: USA

‘Ultra Cinematheque 70 Fest 2026’ The American Cinematheque’s personal newly struck 70mm print of Director’s Cut!

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND in 70mm

The French language production of Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse.

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice&#8217;s united mob.

Filmforum 50: An Evening with Mark Cantor

7:30 PM

TESS

11:00 AM

WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES

3:00 PM

SOUTHLAND TALES

7:30 PM

The Stairway to the Distant Past

5:15 PM

Burst City

8:00 PM

Son

Between Dreams and Hope

The Great Yawn of History

7:00 PM

THE HUNT

11:00 AM

FIVE STAR FINAL

1:00 PM

BOY

4:00 PM

CASTRATION MOVIE CHAPTER III: JUNIOR GHOSTS—PREMORPHIC DRIFT; A FRAGMENTARY PASSAGE

7:00 PM

LETTERS FROM A DEAD MAN

10:00 PM

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

2:00 PM

A Hard Day’s Night

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

6:30 PM

NIGHT ON THE GALACTIC RAILROAD (1985) — A Celestial Anime Masterpiece!

7:00 PM

The Brady Bunch Movie

1:00 PM

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

3:45 PM

By Design

4:30 PM

The Handmaiden

7:00 PM

Chime and Shé (Snake)

7:30 PM

L.A. Story

10:00 AM

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Stuck on VHS: HEARTS AND ARMOUR (1983)

8:00 PM