Standing on My Sisters' Shoulders

Standing on My Sister's Shoulders is a missing chapter in our nation's record of the Civil Rights movement.  This powerful documentary reveals the movement in Mississippi in the 1950's and 60's from the point of view of three courageous women who lived it - and emerged as its grassroots leaders. Their living testimony offers a window into a unique moment when the founders' promise of freedom and justice passed from rhetoric to reality for all Americans. Sponsored by the UWM Union Sociocultural Programming and the UWM Women's Resource Center.  For more information, contact UWM Union Sociocultural Programming, 414-229-6997.

The quintessential figure in the history of the European art cinema, the films of Ingmar Bergman remain unrivaled explorations of the intimate conflicts of the human soul and its search for freedom, individuality and hope in an uncertain world. This overdue series highlights newly made 35mm prints of some of his most famous and intriguing films, from his early career chronicles of tempestuous youth (SUMMER INTERLUDE), to the struggles with faithlessness and psychic darkness (CRIES AND WHISPERS, THE “GOD AND MAN” TRILOGY) to his late-career epiphanies of spiritual renewal and connection (AUTUMN SONATA, THE MAGIC FLUTE). “Arguably the greatest director of actors in the history of the medium, and his overall technical mastery and brutal honesty and relentless search for truth have made him, as well, one of the greatest artists of the 20^th century.” FILM FORUM

Thursday, February 3 – 7pm     *Free Admission
The Seventh Seal   (Det sjunde Inseglet)  
(Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 96 min., Swedish w/ Eng. St., 35mm B&W, 1957)

Back from the Crusades, knight Max von Sydow plays chess with Death in the one of the most famous images in film, as in a plague-ridden 14th-century Sweden he travels in quest of his wife, past wailing flagellants and a witch ready for burning. Establishing Bergman in the top ranks of contemporary directors, the first of his God-haunted works “contains some of the most extraordinary images ever committed to celluloid” Nigel Floyd      *New 35mm Print

Friday, February 4 – 7pm   
The Magic Flute   (Trollflöjten) *New 35 mm Print)  
(Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 134 min., Swedish w/ Eng. St., 35mm, 1975)

Prince Tamino must rescue the fair Princess Pamela, daughter of the Queen of Night. To do so, he must enter Sarastro's Temple of Wisdom. In a characteristic twist, Bergman made Sarastro and the Queen husband and wife. Shot on a replica of the 18th century Drottningholm Court Theater, Bergman dispenses with theatrical illusion to show the working parts of this production of Mozart’s famous opera, including a youthful extra killing time with a comic book. A dream of Bergman's since his childhood marionette theater, making it "the best time of my life." "A wonderful bit of sorcery – passionate, elegant and lighthearted,” TIME

Friday, February 4 – 9:30pm *Free Admission
Saturday, February 5 – 5pm    
Summer Interlude (Sommarlek)
(Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 94 min., Swedish w/ Eng. St., 35mm B&W, 1951)

Backstage at Swan Lake, Uncle Erland (Georg Funkquist) gives ballerina Maj-Britt Nilsson her diary of a long ago summer, and of the love affair marred by tragedy that has disillusioned her ever since. Bergman perfects, in this film, an intricate flashback structure, charting a “transition from youthful innocence to adult experience” (Nigel Floyd) — as well as the interaction of life and art. Aka Illicit Interlude. “The first film with a style of my own.”  Ingmar Bergman.

Saturday, February 5 – 7pm
Sunday, February 6 – 5pm
Cries and Whispers  (Viskningar och rop)  *New 35mm Print
(Ingmar Bergman, Swedish, 106 min., Swedish w/ Eng. St., 35mm, 1972)

"A self-portrait (in composite) of the great beloved of my childhood," recalls Bergman himself of this, one of his most sublime and startling works. Amid the blood-red backgrounds of a turn-of-the-century mansion and the atmosphere of a dream, Liv Ullman and Ingrid Thulin keep a death watch over spinster sister Harriet Andersson. Flashbacks tell their story of disappointed lives, meaningless marriages, and sisterly conflicts, with a final moving image suggesting what has been lost. Oscar for Sven Nykvist’s color cinematography, nominated for Best Film, Director and Screenplay. “Reduces almost everything else you’re likely to see this season to the size of a small cinder.” Vincent Canby, NY Times.

Saturday, February 5 – 9pm
Sunday, February 6 – 7pm
The Magician (Ansiktet)  *New 35mm Print  (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 100 min., Swedish w/ Eng. St., 35mm B&W, 1958)

1846, and mute mesmerist Albert Vogler’s “health theater,” with dressed-as-a-boy Ingrid Thulin in tow, arrives in Stockholm to face house arrest at Consul Erland Josephson’s home, complete with grueling examination by rationalist doctor Gunnar Björnstrand — and an O. Henryish surprise twist. Both an extended metaphor of the artist’s plight and suspenseful horror tale, with Max von Sydow mesmerizing as the Christ-like Vogler. Aka The Face. “A film made by a master.”  Pauline Kael.

Monday February 7 – 7pm
Through a Glass Darkly (Såsom i en spegel) Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 91 min., Swedish w/ Eng. St., 35mm B&W, 1961) 
Academy Award Winner – Best Foreign Film

Amid a family’s island summer holiday, schizophrenic daughter Harriet Andersson (in arguably the greatest performance of Bergman’s entire oeuvre) inexorably descends into outright madness — but father Gunnar Björnstrand tells his son that “God is love, love is God.” With a four-person cast that also includes Max von Sydow and Lars Passgård, this is the first of Bergman’s “chamber” films and the first of his “God and Man” trilogy. (Parts 2 and 3, WINTER LIGHT and THE SILENCE play on February 8 and 9)

Tuesday, February 8 – 7pm  
Winter Light (Nattvardsgästerna)
(Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 80 min., Swedish w/ Eng. St., 35mm B&W, 1963)

A day in the life of rural pastor Gunnar Björnstrand, contending with his own loss of faith, from morning service, through his failure to comfort a suicidal Max von Sydow, to his anguished encounter with mistress Ingrid Thulin — highlighted by her extraordinary monologue in tight close-up — to an evening High Mass. The second of the director’s “God and Man” trilogy. “Masterly even by Bergman’s own standards.”  David Shipman.

Wednesday, February 9 – 7pm   
The Silence (Tystnaden)
(Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 95 min., Swedish w/ Eng. St., 35mm B&W, 1963)

In a stiflingly hot foreign city seemingly on the brink of war, sisters Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom are trapped in a hotel (deserted except for a troupe of dwarves), unable to speak the language or bear each other’s presence. The most overtly allegorical of Bergman’s works and the final statement of the “God and Man” trilogy. Despite — or perhaps because of — censorship battles for its overt eroticism, a giant box office success. “[U]nforgettably dreamy” Guy Maddin

Thursday, February 10 – 7pm   
Autumn Sonata (Höstsonaten)  *New 35mm Print
(Ingmar Bergman, Sweden/France/Germany, 92 min., Swedish w/ Eng. St., 35mm, 1978)

In a long-planned collaboration between director and star, Ingrid Bergman (in an Oscar-nominated performance — her last feature role) returned to Swedish cinema after forty years to play a concert pianist coming home to an anguished reunion with neglected daughter Liv Ullmann. “The best Bergman film in years, filled with his liberating mixture of violence and tenderness that is the sign of emotional truth.”  Jack Kroll, Newsweek.

In memory of Dr. Sheldon Stone 

Milwaukee’s annual festival of French cinema presents another exciting and diverse selection of contemporary and classic films from the Francophone countries of the world.  

Friday, February 11 – 7pm – Opening Night - Free screening
Monsieur N(Antoine de Caunes, France/UK, 120min., French/English/Corsican w/Eng St., 35mm, 2003)

Flitting enticingly between mystery, romance and intrigue Antoine de Caunes’ handsomely crafted, impeccably played and ingeniously plausible period piece charts the final years of Napoleon’s exile on St. Helena. Centering on the battle of wills between the Napoleon and his island jailor, Sir Hudson Lowe, the film also examines the conspiratorial motives of those who shared in the deposed Emperor’s banishment and shadowy demise. Based on real events, MONSIEUR N. is a powerful historical intrigue and a compelling story of one of the most important figures of the 19^th century. “[E]xcellent staging, fine cinematography and first-rate acting,” HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Saturday, February 12 – 5pm – Free screening
Strayed (Les Égarés)
(André Téchiné, France/UK, 95 min., French w/ Eng. St., 35mm, 2003)

Set in 1940 at the beginning of France’s occupation by the Germans, the recently widowed Odile (Emmanuelle Béart) is a young, beautiful mother fleeing Paris with her two children. When German planes bomb the road filled with refugees, the family hides in the woods where they encounter Yvan (Gaspard Ulliel), a 17 year-old illiterate delinquent whose survival skills and charm soon prove indispensable. The four fugitives stumble upon an abandoned house that becomes, for a brief time, the setting for a makeshift family. Odile, at once suspicious of and attracted to the mysterious stranger, soon finds herself at the center of a fascinating set of personal and sexual dynamics. “One of the year’s best films.” FILM COMMENT

Saturday, February 12 – 7pm
Sunday, February 13 – 5pm
Seaside (Bord de mer)  *Milwaukee Premiere
(Julie, Lopes-Curval, France, 88 min., French w/ Eng. St., 35mm, 2002)
Winner – Camera D’Or – Cannes Film Festival

In Cayeux, a small coastal town on the Bay of Somme, beautiful young Marie works at a pebble processing plant. Her boyfriend, Paul, a warehouse employee in winter and a lifeguard in summer, doesn’t understand Marie’s dreamy temperament and stifles her with his clumsy love. The people who vacation in Cayeux remind Marie that youthful dreams lie elsewhere. She wants to leave, and when Albert, a young executive at the plant gets fired, he seems like a genuine Prince Charming. From this and several other stories, aided by close, revealing observations, we see a community perched between transition and stasis. “A reminder of how, at its best, French cinema is unparalleled at tapping the essence of humanity in all its forms.”  TIME OUT NY

Saturday, February 12 – 9pm
Sunday, February 13 – 7pm
Nickel and Dime (À la petite semaine)           *Milwaukee Premiere
(Sam Karmann, France, 100 min., French w/ Eng. St., 35mm, 2003)

With equal doses of charm, humor, and romance, Sam Karmann’s engaging crime drama follows a group of criminals in the working-class neighborhood of Saint-Ouen in Paris. When fifty-something Jacques is released after serving five years in prison, he goes right to his local hangout and reunites with his old hoodlum friends Francis and Didier. Jacques would prefer to find a real job, but when wheeler-dealer Marcel tries to lure him with talk of fast money, it is soon difficult to resist the temptations of a life of crime. Based on the true story of Désir Carré, a petty criminal who decided to begin acting after several stays in jail. “French cinema has always had a particular fascination with the everyday realities of small-time crime, and Sam Karmann’s taut ensemble piece is an impressive addition to the canon.” Jonathan Romney  

In the near future besieged by global freezing and the disappearance of gravity in Uganda, a couple fight for their love, and ultimately for their lives, in a world out of balance. Separated lovers John (Joaquin Phoenix) and the world famous ice skater Elena (Claire Danes) are reunited in New York where they encounter strange and unexpected events, embarking on a journey that will rediscover their love. “[A] film maudit for the ages—rapturous and inexplicable in equal measure. VILLAGE VOICE

In memory of Dr. Sheldon Stone

Tuesday & Thursday, February 15 & 17 – 7pm – Free screenings
Pickpocket
(Robert Bresson, France, 75 min., French w/ Eng. St., 35mm, 1959)

Modeled after Doestoevesky's Crime and Punishment, Bresson's Pickpocket is nevertheless a characteristically rigorous and purely cinematic treatment of a young man's drift into petty thievery and his achievement of grace. "It is one of those consummate works of art which in one flash pales everything you have ever seen. I would be tempted to say Pickpocket is the finest film I've seen if Bresson hadn't made three or four other films which affect me as deeply… an unmitigated masterpiece" Paul Schrader

Wednesday, February 16 – 7pm – Free screening
The Models of Pickpocket (Les modeles de Pickpocket)*Milwaukee Premiere
(Babette Mangolte, France, 89 min., French w/ Eng. St., Beta SP, 2003)

After a chance encounter with a person who appeared in Bresson’s classic film, filmmaker/cinematographer Mangolte searches out the other lead “models” (Bresson’s preferred label for the non-professionals he deployed as characters in his films). CHICAGO READER’s Jonathan Rosenbaum writes, "The most beautiful of her works… one that deserves to be called a poetic personal essay as well as a documentary… Mangolte seems to imply that it's possible to confuse Bresson's films with life because they're made up of its very substance."

Friday, February 18 – 7pm
Saturday, February 19 – 9pm
Seducing Dr. Lewis (La Grande séduction)           *Milwaukee Premiere
(Jean-François Pouliot, Canada, 108 min., French w/Eng St., 35mm, 2003)

A ragtag fishing community on a tiny impoverished island must persuade a young Montreal-based doctor to live in their town in order to get a much-needed new factory. Over a one-month trial period, the villagers try to satisfy his every need and convince him that their town offers all the charms of a thriving metropolis. However, as the good-hearted duplicity develops, and Doctor Lewis begins to respond to the simple “authenticity” of the village, the question arises: how will he feel when he finds out it’s based on lies? Winner of seven Jutra Awards (French-Canada’s Oscar) and a huge Canadian box-office smash: “Very funny! Warm, sweet. Would fit comfortably in a British comic tradition that stretches from the old Ealing Studios films to recent hits like The Full Monty.” NY TIMES

Friday, February 18 – 9pm – Free screenings Saturday, February 19 – 5pm
Viva Algeria (Viva Laldjerie)  *Milwaukee Premiere

(Nadir Moknèche, Algeria/France, 113 min., French w/ Eng. St., 35mm, 2003)
A peek into the double life of Goucem, club-hopping siren by night and career-girl mistress of a married doctor by day, becomes a drama of the intertwined lives of three women in mood-drenched Algiers, a city split between a proud and vibrant past and a violent present. Director Mokneche, known as “the Algerian Almodóvar,” conjures up atmosphere as he compassionately portrays women caught by tradition as they reach for modernity. “VIVA ALGERIA jumps off the screen with humor, poignancy and local color.” VARIETY

Saturday, February 19 – 7pm – Free screeningsSunday, February 20 – 5pm
Strong Shoulders (Des Épaules solides)           *Milwaukee Premiere
(Ursula Meier, Switzerland/France/Belgium, 96 min., French w/ Eng. St., Beta SP, 2003)

At a special school for athletes, where intense physical training is the curriculum, fifteen-year-old Sabine (an extraordinary performance by Louise Szpindel) is determined to become the fastest runner in the world. Fighting the notion that she can't compete with men, she must also struggle with her maturing body and sexual awakening as well as the fragile tendencies of the human heart. “Ursula Meier's debut feature film is a rare achievement—a moving, vibrant portrait of young female athletes who have full and complex inner lives.” (MOMA New Directors/New Films 2004) Presented as part of ARTE Television’s Masculin/Feminin series focusing on contemporary gender relations. ARTE is a French-German TV station that creates programs of European and international relevance.

Sunday, February 20 – 7pm – Free screening
Lumumba
(Raoul Peck, France/Belgium, 115 min., French w/ Eng. St., 35mm, 2000)

The remarkable, true story of Patrice Lumumba, the formerly vilified and later redeemed leader of the independent Congo. Writer/director Raoul Peck renders an emotional and tautly woven account of this towering figure in African history whose flair for oratory and an uncompromising belief in the capacity of his homeland helped build a prosperous nation independent of its former Belgium overlords. Sponsored by UWM Union Sociocultural Programming and the UWM Department of Africology.  For more information, contact, UWM Union Sociocultural Programming, 414-229-6997.

Friday, February 25 – 7pm 
Saturday, February 26 – 5pm
Sunday, February 27 – 7pm
Notre Musique  *Milwaukee Premiere
(Jean-Luc Godard, France/Switzerland, 80 min., French & Spanish w/Eng. St., 35mm, 2004)

A timeless meditation on war seen through the prisms of cinema, text and image. Set in Sarajevo after the Bosnian war, Godard also draws on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the treatment of Native Americans, and the legacy of the Nazis as the historical backdrop to a story that follows two Israeli Jewish women and their journey to light or darkness. “Beautiful and elegant. Like Dante's ''Divine Comedy,'' this autumnal meditation on war, violence and ethnic hatred is divided into three parts: hell, purgatory and paradise.” NY TIMES

Friday, February 25 – 9pm
Saturday, February 26 – 7pm
For Ever Mozart  *Milwaukee Premiere
(Jean-Luc Godard, France/Switzerland/Germany, 84 min., French w/Eng. St., 35mm, 1996)

Godard mixes fast-paced intellectual vaudeville with graceful philosophical reflections and starling moments of quiet beauty on a journey through both recent European history and the director’s own filmic past (including nods to Shakespeare, Camus, and John Ford). The story centers on a grizzled filmmaker who sets out to stage a play in embattled Sarajevo. “Godard’s most profound film on warfare…confronting the failure of art to change the course of history.” Amy Taubin

Saturday, February 26 – 9pm – One show only – Free screening
Les Carabiniers
(Jean-Luc Godard, France/Italy, 80 min., French w/Eng. St., 16mm, 1963)

In this surreal but pointedly acerbic political fable, two peasants are recruited to join the army in the service of “The King.” Promised wealth, fulfillment and freedom while at war, the two “riflemen” leave their wives, Cleopatra and Venus, on a crusade that takes them as far as Egypt and the U.S., killing and torturing innocent victims for their unseen leader. “A vitally important film, in terms of Godard’s notions of form and…his growing political awareness.” CHICAGO READER

Sunday, February 27 – 5pm – One show only – Free screening
The Old Place
(Anne-Marie Miéville & Jean-Luc Godard, 49 min., English & French w/Eng. St., Video, 2001)

Commissioned by New York’s Museum of Modern Art to create an essay on the role of the fine arts at the end of the 20^th century, Miéville and Godard incorporate a wide variety of imagery, including original images of nature, film clips from various periods of cinematic history, and photographs from around the world. The result of their questioning is an ever deeper inquiry into humanity and time itself, as well as the world’s current cultural climate.

The 81 year old, Ousmane Sembene, of Senegal, is often referred to as “The Dean of African Cinema.” Already established as one of Africa’s leading novelists, Sembene turned to filmmaking in order to reach a wider audience. Becoming the first film director from an African country to achieve international recognition, he remains the major figure in the rise of an independent post-colonial African cinema. Beginning with his newest film, the critically acclaimed MOOLAADÉ, the retrospective showcases the concentrated realism and biting social criticism of his early classics (BOROM SARRET, BLACK GIRL) and the rich, wide-ranging mixture of sophisticated satire, political allegory and traditional African forms on display in the celebrated feature films MANDABI and XALA. For more information please call 414-229-2931.

From the edges of experimental filmmaking to the far corners of the globe, the lives and experiences of women will be explored in this festival of film. Among the titles scheduled for presentation are “The Experimentalists” program from the MadCat Women’s Film Festival and the documentary In the Mirror of Maya Deren. The festival is co-sponsored by the Department of Film, the UWM Union Theatre, Socio-Cultural Programming, the Women’s Resource Center, Women’s Studies, and the Community Media Project. For more information contact Annie Melchior at 414-229-6015.

Inspired by Breillat's own experiences on the set of her remarkable FAT GIRL, a frank – and humorous – exploration of how sexuality is brought to life in cinema. The director, Jeanne (Anne Parillaud), is struggling with a difficult sex scene between a young actress (Roxane Mesquida) and actor (Grégoire Colin) who only have utter contempt for each other. “Shakespearean in its complexity, an on-location As You Like It, brilliantly written and cleverly directed.” FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Saturday, March 19 – 7pm
Sunday, March 20 – 5pm
A Real Young Girl (Une vraie juene fille)           *Milwaukee Premiere
(Catherine Breillat, France, 93 min., French w/Eng. St., 35mm, 1976)

Director Catherine Breillat's first film (based on her novel Le Souperail): a coming of age tale focusing on fourteen-year-old Alice, returning from boarding school to her family’s summer house and finding herself in the turbulent throes of an imminent sexual awakening. Unreleased since its debut in 1976 due to France’s “X Law,” A REAL YOUNG GIRL is an “unpolished, yet curiously dreamy… product of an era at once angrier and more innocent than our own.” NY TIMES

Saturday, March 19 – 9pm – One show only
Anatomy of Hell (Anatomie de l'enfer)
(Catherine Breillat, France, 80 min., French w/Eng St., 35mm, 2004)

Catherine Breillat dissects female sexuality and male apprehension in a film that will both mesmerize and shock. Two strangers meet at night and soon seal a deal. She (former Chanel model Amira Casar) will pay him (Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi) to come to her isolated house for four nights. His job is to look at her, to endeavor to truly see her in all her most intimate contours. “[A] philosophical speculum on gender relations to perverse (and perversely elegant) effect.” VILLAGE VOICE

No one under 18 admitted.

 Hailed as the heir of Tarkovsky, Aleksander Sokurov (RUSSIAN ARK) is responsible for some of the most luminous, metaphysical, meditative, painterly and poetic cinema of recent years. The combination of spiritual intensity and boundless lyricism, formal rigor and technological inventiveness are on display in the classic Mother and Son and the Milwaukee premiere of Father and Son – the first two parts of his planned Family Trilogy – and in a rare special screening of his made-for-television series Confession.  

Friday, April 1 – 7pm
Saturday, April 2 – 9pm
Sunday, April 3 – 7pm
Father and Son (Otets i syn) *Milwaukee Premiere (Aleksander Sokurov, Russia/Germany/Netherlands/Italy, 97 min., Russian w/Eng. St., 35mm, 2003)
Winner – FIPRESCI Prize – 2003 Cannes Film Festival

A small family — a father and a son — live on the top floor of an old house in an unnamed city by the sea. The father, retired from the military, cannot imagine his life without his son, while the son’s loyalty is an instinctive moral responsibility that is being tested by life. Unraveling with such intensity that it becomes the stuff of fairy tale, this is Sokurov’s second film of a trilogy dedicated to the drama of human relations. “[B]racingly beautiful,” WASHINGTON POST

Friday, April 1 – 9pm
Sunday, April 3 – 5pm
Mother and Son (Mat i syn)
(Aleksander Sokurov, Germany/Russia, 73 min., Russian w/Eng. St., 35mm, 1997)

A love story about the deep affection that exists between a Mother and her Son, which Sokurov portrays as the greatest love in the world: primal, life-giving and pure. The Mother and Son are seen within and against an ethereal landscape of melancholy beauty, crafted with sublime intensity in the tradition of German Romantic painting. “His films have a visual power and moral depth that creates an unforgettable emotional experience. Mother and Son is one of his most beautiful, most important films." Susan Sontag

Saturday, April 2 – 4pm – Free screening
Confession: From the Commander’s Diary (Povinnost)  *Milwaukee Premiere
(Alexander Sokurov, English & Russian w/ Eng. St., 210 min., Beta, 1998)

An intensely lyrical diary of despair as a repressed young naval captain recounts his unattainable desires while the men under him endure the repetitive meniliaties of their military service, aboard a ship traversing a barren wintry landscape. A depiction of souls trapped in routine and longing, Sokurov’s epic video (originally presented serially, on television) sustains echoes of Melville (and therefore anticipated Claire Denis’ Beau Travail) in its depiction of muffled sexuality and its devotion to the details of lives at sea.

In COSMOPOLITAN, award-winning Indian actor Roshan Seth stars as Gopal, a suburbanite whose orderly life suddenly disintegrates when he loses his job, and his wife announces that she's leaving him to follow her guru.  He soon turns to a love-life quiz in his daughter's Cosmopolitan magazine (only to discover that he's a "ditchable dude") and the glorious all-singing, all-dancing Bollywood films of his youth for advice on navigating the next stage of his love life. Sponsored by UWM Union Sociocultural Programming.  For more information, contact UWM Union Sociocultural Programming, 414-229-6997.

2005 Latin American Film Series

The 27th annual Latin American film series highlights the best of recent feature length and documentary film.Watch for the complete schedule at: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CLACS/ Sponsored by Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Union Programming, Union Theatre, and the Dept. of Film. For more information, contact Julie Kline, 414-229-5986.

Ninety-six-year-old, Portuguese master Manoel de Oliveira’s newest film. Setting sail for the historic Mediterranean ports of Marseilles, Pompeii, Athens and Istanbul, a history professor and her daughter encounter a series of travelers of different nationalities (Irene Papas, Stefania Sandrelli, Catherine Deneuve and John Malkovich), who weigh in on the sites and the state of the world. But when a strange threat menaces the ship, together they are all forced to deal as passengers in the same boat. “Supremely audacious” BRIGHT LIGHTS FILM JOURNAL

Commemorating the 100^th anniversary of the birth of the great Japanese film director, this selected series of Ozu masterworks (in brand new 35mm prints) is a rare opportunity to discover the unique artistry of one of the “most Japanese” and the most significant master directors of the classical film whose work extends from the silent era into cinema today. Exerting a profound influence on artists as diverse as Jim Jarmusch, Abbas Kiarostami, Aki Kaurismaki and Hou Hsiao-hsien, Ozu’s art reverently explores the “mystery of the everyday,” and displays an intensely perceptive and compassionate view of the human condition faced with the daily displacements of an ever-changing modern world. “A sacred treasure of the cinema.” Wim Wenders

Tuesday, May 3 – 7pm – Opening Night Free screening!
Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari)
(135 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles, 35mm B&W, 1953)

Emotionally overwhelming, TOKYO STORY stands as a characteristic study of Japan's growing generational gap. When an elderly couple (Chishu Ryu and Chieko Higashiyama) come to Tokyo they find themselves to be a troublesome burden for their own offspring. Only their widowed daughter-in-law (Setsuko Hara) shows the slightest sympathy as the chasm between old and new Japan becomes painfully apparent. Ozu's most well - known film and continually acknowledged on multiple top ten lists as one of cinema's greatest achievements, TOKYO STORY serves as a perfect primer to the cinematic world of Yasujiro Ozu.

Wednesday, May 4 – 7pm
The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (Ochazuke no aji)
(115 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles, 35mm B&W, 1952)

Starting on a very light-hearted and funny note and quickly turning to darker tones, this social satire of arranged marriages marks itself as being one of Ozu's most “moving” films. FLAVOR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE centers on the marital strains of the sophisticated, snobby Taeko and her reserved, rustic husband, Mokichi. With a surprisingly active camera, Ozu places much of the film's action in very modern locations. The inclusion of trains, car races, and baseball games make for a very atypical Ozu film, but one that continues to speak about clashes between old and new traditions.

Thursday, May 5 – 7pm
Equinox Flower (Higan-bana)
(118 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles, 35mm Color, 1958)

For his first color film, Ozu tackles the topic of arranged marriages and life's capricious nature. Hirayama (Shin Saburi), a tyrannical, but loving father, critical of his own arranged marriage finds himself at odds with his modern, liberated daughter, who balks at idea of following down a similar, unromantic road. Accusing her father of being inconsistent, he angrily protests: "Everyone is inconsistent, except God. The sum total of inconsistencies is life!" Delightfully funny and remarkably sad, EQUINOX FLOWER brings a gorgeous, colorful palette richly populated with numerous shades of Ozu's favorite color red.

Friday, May 6 – 7pm – with Live Musical Accompaniment!
I Was Born, But… (Umarete wa mita keredo…)
(90 min., silent w/ English intertitles, 35mm B&W, 1932)

One of the two silent films that Ozu would later recreate in color and sound, I WAS BORN, BUT… concentrates on the world of children and their relationship to the world of adults. Two young brothers confront a bully only to be shocked at the site of their strict father passively obey his boss. Hoping to strip their father of his subservient ways the two boys go on a hunger strike. Ozu's skillful use of children escapes cuteness and provides the film with open eyes able to view the unspoken social hierarchies and power relations of the adult world.

Friday, May 6 – 9pm
Good Morning (Ohayo)
(94 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles, 35mm Color, 1959)

Full of youthful exuberance, Ozu revisits his 1932 silent film I WAS BORN, BUT… This time the center of conflict revolves around Hayashi (Chishu Ryu) and his two sons. When he scolds them for persistently begging for a television set the two boys take a vow of silence insisting that most adult dialogue is polite chatter. From housewives spreading innocuous rumors to lovers who only talk about the weather, Ozu once again uses the eyes of children to show the childish formalities of the adult world. Comedic and colorful, OHAYO is much more than a simple modernization or an empty greeting.

Saturday, May 7 – 5pm – with Live Musical Accompaniment!
I Flunked, But… (Rakudai wa shita keredo…)
(64 min., silent w/ English intertitles, 35mm B&W, 1930)

A student on the verge of failing decides to fill his shirtsleeves with crib notes only to watch his chances of passing get washed away with the laundry. The first film to pair Chishu Ryu ( TOKYO STORY, OHAYO ) and Ozu, I FLUNKED, BUT… is a silent comedy that speaks to any student who has ever experienced the pressures of "exam hell". Crammed for time this film was made in a mere week and finds itself punctuated with a twist of irony as the failed student returns to the comfort of college while his friends face the real world and unemployment.

Preceded by:
A Straightforward Boy (Tokkan kozo)
(38 min., silent w/ English intertitles, 35mm, 1929

Supposedly written over an order of beers this charming short story of ill-fated kidnappers finds the unprepared criminals in over their heads when they abduct a bratty little boy. Long thought lost, A STRAIGHFORWARD BOY highlights the antics of a troublesome tike who acts like an early, Japanese, predecessor to Dennis the Menace. Starring Ozu's favorite child actor Tomio Aoki, the boy lives up to his character's name, Tokkan Kozo (literally, “a boy who charges into you.”). Constantly pestering his abductors with continuous demands for toys and candy, the pint-sized problem child proves himself worth far less in ransom than he is in trouble.

Saturday, May 7 – 7pm
Early Spring (Soshun)
(144 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles, 35mm B&W, 1956)

After college, Shoji enters the workforce with youthful enthusiasm that quickly turns to frustration. Feeling trapped by his job and his marriage Shoji befriends a young typist and attempts to shake up his daily routine. Their tryst leads to separation from his wife and a new position in a rural outpost. Ozu's longest film taps into the banal rhythms of workaday life, complete with morning commutes, office drudgery, and after-work refreshments. Looking to portray “the pathos of the white-collar life within the context of a transforming society,” Ozu's use his rich, minimalist camera style to deliver one of his finest films.

Saturday, May 7 – 9:30pm – Free screening
An Inn In Tokyo (Tokyo no yado )
(80 min., silent w/ music track & English intertitles, 35mm B&W, 1935)

Similar to Italian neo-realist films, in particular De Sica's The Bicycle Thief , this down-and-out post-Depression drama spans three sun-scorched days. With his two sons in tow, widower Kihachi roams the industrial streets looking for work. Finally able to find work in a factory the family's fortune takes a wrong turn when Kihachi contemplates stealing money to help a woman who's worse-off than he is. Considered to be one of Ozu's grimmest tales, this visceral, splendidly shot film produced during the sound era remained silent at Ozu's request, with the studio only adding sound effects and music.

Sunday, May 8 – 5pm – with Live Musical Accompaniment!
That Night's Wife (Sono yo no tsuma)
(66 min., silent w/ English intertitles, 35mm B&W, 1930)

A poor artist turns to crime to pay for his sick daughter's medicine. THAT NIGHT'S WIFE begins with a visually stunning, silent bank heist and quickly transforms into a domestic drama. Tracking the robber back to his apartment, a detective finds himself held at gunpoint by the artist's wife. With the majority of the film taking place on one set, Ozu constructs an atmospheric melodrama as the couple wait for their daughter to recover. Playing off the tangible claustrophobia of the setting, Ozu's dramatic twists and masterful command of film language helps create a dark scenario that is heavily influenced by the visual styles of Josef von Sternberg and Fritz Lang.

Preceded by:
Woman of Tokyo (Tokyo no onna)
(47 min., silent w/ English intertitles, 35mm B&W, 1933)

In the hopes of putting her younger brother through school Chikako works two jobs. By day she finds employment as a translator and after hours she earns a more illicit income as a “lady of the night”. When her brother finds out just how his sister is paying for his scholastic endeavors he accuses her of bringing shame to the family. A subtle film full technical rigor WOMAN OF TOKYO is constructed with Ozu's stylistic trademarks (low camera angle, across-the-axis cuts, and duration-based editing), but rather than Ozu's usual focus on parent-child relationships this featurette transposes it to a sibling situation, deftly dramatizing a familial clash with concentrated intensity.

Sunday, May 8 – 7pm
Late Spring (Banshun)
(108 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles, 35mm B&W, 1949)

One of Ozu's personal favorites, LATE SPRING tells the story of a widowed father (Chishu Ryu) who concocts a plan to marry off his uncommonly traditional daughter, Noriko (Setsuko Hara). Content to live with her father and care for him, rather than start a family of her own, Noriko refuses many marriage offers, but has to reconsider when her own father thinks of remarrying. With its subtle glances and quiet gestures, the film stands as the director's most influential work, counting among its many admirers directors Claire Denis and Hou Hsiao-hsien (who incorporated a clip into his historical epic, Good Men, Good Women ).

Wednesday, May 11 – 7pm – with Live Musical Accompaniment!
Tokyo Chorus (Tokyo no gassho)
(91 min., silent w/ English intertitles, 35mm B&W, 1931)

Part student comedy, salaryman film, and domestic drama this multi-faceted early silent film finds most of its action revolving around the working class. When office worker Okajima (Tokihiko Okada) is fired for defending an unjustly accused colleague he finds temporary employment as walking-billboard for his former classmate's curry restaurant. A new parent incapable of dealing with the embarrassment of losing his job, Okajima attempts to retain his parental dignity while his children are forced to deal with their father's humble new job and his desperate attempts to feed his family. TOKYO CHORUS is essential Ozu full of comedy, sadness, and social critique.

Thursday, May 12 – 7pm
An Autumn Afternoon (Samma no aji)
(112 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles, 35mm Color, 1962)

Ozu's final film sets the cinematic master on familiar terrain with his long time collaborator, Chishu Ryu, taking on the role of a widower anxious for his daughter to marry. AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON reworks LATE SPRING , but makes the daughter far more assertive and modern, refusing many callers and bossing about her father. Hints of OHAYO/GOOD MORNING pop up in Ozu's continual ironic glances on Japan's growing affinity towards consumer goods such as golf clubs and refrigerators. Passing away while this film was in production, Ozu's mother, with whom he lived his entire life, most likely serves as a source of inspiration for this beautiful, nostalgic swansong.