Smith Rafael Film Center Quarterly | Jan-March 2016 by CAFILM

J A N U A R Y — M A R C H

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SEEN

AT THE

R A FA E L

ABOVE: Director Brad Bird in conversation with Richard Peterson, Rafael Director of Programming, and greeting fans at a screening of The Iron Giant: Signature Edition. Photos: Tommy Lau

LEFT: Amy director Asif Kapadia and host/moderator Lars Ulrich flank Lars’ father Torben, with CFI Founder/Director Mark Fishkin. Photo: Drew Altizer

CFI BOAR D OF DIRECTORS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR / FOUNDER

Mark Fishkin CFI BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Kenneth Broad (Vice President)

Jim Davis Lynne Hale Richard J. Idell (Secretary)

Bruce Katz Amy Keroes

Jennifer Coslett MacCready

EMERITUS BOARD

(Vice President)

Cathy Nourafshan Jonathan Parker (President)

Susan Schwartz Dr. Joel Sklar

(Vice President)

Jann Stanley Zach Zeisler (Treasurer)

Ann Brebner Rita Cahill Sid Ganis Gary Meyer Gordon Radley Christopher B. Smith Henry Timnick FOUNDING BOARD

Rita Cahill Mark Fishkin Lois Kohl Shore

HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD

Barbara Boxer Stewart Boxer Drusie Davis Jeff Fisher Peter Flaxman Robert Greber Linda Gruber Peggy Haas Jessica Igoe Michael Klein Roxanne Klein

KC Lauck Andrew McGuire Mary Poland Eric Schwartz Michael Schwartz Skip Whitney

R A FA E L Q UA RT E R LY STA F F R ICHAR D PET ERSON Director of Programming | Editor

JAN KL INGEL HOF ER Program Consultant

DAN Z AST ROW Rafael General Manager

L EAH L OSCHIAVO Marketing Coordinator

TIM F ROSS Rafael Assistant Manager

MEL ANIE NICHOL S Liaison, Science on Screen

S HE LLEY SPICER Director of Marketing & Publicity

BRIAN LEHMAN Graphics | Layout

The Smith Rafael Film Center is owned and operated by the California Film Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that also produces the annual Mill Valley Film Festival and CFI Education programs throughout the year. © Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. No portion of the Rafael Quarterly may be duplicated in any form without written consent from the Smith Rafael Film Center and/or the California Film Institute.

JANUARY – MARCH

2016

From the

DIRECTOR of PROGRAMMING

You can always tell when awards season comes along. It’s most apparent to me when I write up a new batch of descriptions for the Rafael quarterly and have to decide what nominations or critics’ lists or festival awards to cite while composing 100 words that might persuade you to see a particular film. I don’t enjoy the horse-race aspects of the various awards competitions, when all attention is directed toward the endof-the-year releases, and many of the earlier worthies inevitably fall by the wayside. But before you call me a spoilsport, I admit it’s impossible to ignore or avoid these races entirely. They’ve become so habit-forming that one can only admit “tis the season” and know that it will all be over two months into the New Year. In the meantime, there are several movies arriving at the Rafael with significant critical or festival pedigrees. First up is our annual For Your Consideration series, a weeklong feast of foreign language contenders selected by KD Davis and Janis Plotkin, senior programmers for the Mill Valley Film Festival. Among the films in this series are several MVFF alumni and festival veterans. We’re pleased that a number of the films that we’re presenting in theatrical runs are already figuring into this season’s critical discussions. And factor in our compilations of Sundance short film awards, the British Arrows collection of commercials and the upcoming Oscarnominated shorts, and you know that some of the shows literally proclaim their competitive spirit. Our guests this quarter include several Bay Area filmmakers, as well as filmmaker-authors Illeana Douglas,

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charming us with her stories, and William Wellman, Jr., reminding us what a great director his father was, with an archival restoration of the original A Star Is Born.

YOUTH CONTINUES FROM DECEMBER

MUSTANG CONTINUES FROM DECEMBER

Once again we’re excited to welcome our friends from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who are bringing with them three terrific and exclusive programs from the Academy Film Archive, including a Hollywood Home Movies edition focusing on vintage Disneyland, and a show on Aloha Wanderwell, a remarkable woman from the time when documentary filmmakers were indeed world adventurers. You’ve never heard of her, but come March you’ll never forget that name.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION WORLD OSCAR SUBMISSIONS JANUARY 1-7

2015 SUNDANCE SHORTS OPENS JANUARY 8

SON OF SAUL OPENS JANUARY 22

2015 BRITISH ARROWS AWARDS JANUARY 28 & 31

OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS OPENS JANUARY 29

45 YEARS OPENS JANUARY 29

In 2009 we hosted a fascinating weekend with authors Michael Ondaatje and David Thomson, who selected a handful of film favorites and discussed them from the writer’s point of view. It was delightful to hear them propose a series about trains on film: trains as vehicles of romance, suspense and thrills- in short, as vehicles of cinema. There are no more erudite and articulate critics than David and Michael, and they are looking forward to sharing their perspectives and exchanging ideas with the audience. Our executive director Mark Fishkin likes to compare the Rafael to a town hall, and we certainly try our best to fill it with lively and provocative discussions about art and meaning in the films we show. Movies can be pure entertainment, and sometimes they should be, but in the best circumstances they can be that, and so much more. So what’s your favorite for Best Picture?

~ Richard Peterson

AN EVENING WITH ILLEANA DOUGLAS FEBRUARY 4 7 LANDFILL HARMONIC FEBRUARY 8 8 THE ANTHROPOLOGIST FEBRUARY 9 8 INGRID BERGMAN--IN HER OWN WORDS OPENS FEBRUARY 12 8 BARTLEBY FEBRUARY 18

THE CLUB OPENS FEBRUARY 19

A STAR IS BORN FEBRUARY 21

KEEPER OF THE BEAT FEBRUARY 25 & MARCH 3

EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT OPENS FEBRUARY 26

ACADEMY (AMPAS) PROGRAMS MARCH 5 & 6

HOW TO SMELL A ROSE MARCH 10 10 TRAINS ON FILM MARCH 11-13

CODE: DEBUGGING THE GENDER GAP MARCH 22 10 THEORY OF OBSCURITY MARCH 24 10

ON THE COVER: VINTAGE DISNEYLAND - See page 11 (Courtesy of Harold Lloyd Entertainment, Inc.)

THE LOBSTER MARCH 10

Programs subject to change, including opening dates. OTHER PROGRAMS OPEN THAT DO NOT APPEAR HERE. For up-to-date info: rafaelfilm.org Sign up for weekly email at rafaelfilm.org Check daily newspaper Call 415 454 1222

MIA MADRE MARCH 10

FOR YOUR

CONSIDERATION A Selection of Oscar® Submissions from Around the World

Each year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invites countries to submit a single film for consideration in the competition category of Foreign Language Film. This year 81 films have been accepted for competition and for the 13th consecutive year, the Smith Rafael Film Center offers a choice sampling. This is a rare opportunity to view some of the most distinguished works in international cinema, many of which are film festival prizewinners. Series Programmed by Karen Davis and Janis Plotkin

THE ASSASSIN

THE WAVE

COURT

THE ASSASSIN (NIE YINNIANG)

THE WAVE (BØLGEN)

COURT

Named Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, Hou Hsiao-Hsien fashions an intimate 9th century wuxia (martial arts) drama about a master swordswoman trained as an assassin (the ravishingly beautiful Shu Qi) and assigned to kill a politician with whom she has a history. Hou’s deeply humane epic is filled with stunning imagery. In Mandarin with English subtitles. 105 min.

A young geologist and his family are caught in the middle of an avalanche that threatens to destroy their idyllic village on the shores of the fjord. Director Roar Uthaug’s incredibly powerful nature-thriller will leave you breathless with suspense and filled with respect for the awe-inspiring power of the natural world. In Norwegian with English subtitles. 105 min.

600 MILES (600 MILLAS)

CANADA SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 7:15

Chaitanya Tamhane’s prize-winning Court is a quietly devastating, absurdist portrait of injustice and caste prejudice in contemporary India. An elderly folk singer and grassroots organizer, dubbed the “people’s poet,” is arrested on a trumped-up charge. Professional and nonprofessional actors provide a mixture of comedy and tragedy that is rich with complexity and contradiction. In Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati with English subtitles. 116 min.

TAIWAN FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 5:00

MEXICO FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 7:30

A young gun trafficker is being secretly followed by a US agent (Tim Roth). While these two apparent enemies slowly connect crossing the border between Arizona and Mexico, they reach a dangerous epiphany where the only way out is to trust each other. Gabriel Ripstein won Best New Director at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival. In English and in Spanish with English subtitles. 84 min.

THE FENCER (MIEKKAILIJA) FINLAND SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2:00 * WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 6:00

In filmmaker Klaus Härö’s drama, a haunted young man arrives in an Estonian town that has been under harsh Russian Communist rule since the end of World War II. Taking a job as sports instructor at the local school, he organizes a wildly successful fencing club. At the climactic competition with Russian foes, his past catches up with him. In Estonian and Russian with English subtitles. 98 min.

—4—

NORWAY SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 5:00

FELIX AND MEIRA

In filmmaker Maxime Giroux’s unconventional romance, Meira, a young Hasidic housewife and mother, and Félix, a secular Jew mourning his father’s recent passing, unexpectedly meet at a local bakery in Montreal. As Felix opens Meira’s eyes to the world outside of her tight-knit Orthodox community, her desire for change becomes harder for her to ignore. In Yiddish and French with English subtitles. 105 min.

IRAQI ODYSSEY 3D

SWITZERLAND SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 1:00 Tracing the emigrations of his family over more than half a century, this 3D documentary epic from acclaimed expatriate Iraqi filmmaker Samir pays moving homage to the frustrated democratic dreams of a people successively plagued by the horrors of colonialism, dictatorship, war, and foreign occupation. This riveting tale creates a genuine people’s history of Iraq, at once humble and majestic. In English and in Arabic with English subtitles. 163 min.

INDIA SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 4:15

THE THRONE (SADO)

SOUTH KOREA SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 7:00 Set in 18th century Korea, this sweeping historical epic traces an emotional and psychological arc of truly Shakespearean proportions, centering on King Yeongjo’s struggles with his belligerent and free-spirited son Sado. As the king grows increasingly disappointed in his son, Sado’s pride drives him on the road to vengeance. In Korean with English subtitles. 125 min.

A WAR (KRIGEN)

DENMARK MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 6:00 In director Tobias Lindholm’s sensitively rendered war drama, a young Danish military commander patrols a war-torn Afghan province, while back in Denmark his wife struggles to hold everyday life together for the children. Using only three professional actors, with all supporting roles played by war veterans, this film is a remarkably evenhanded and nonjudgmental look at the cost of conflict to all sides. In Danish with English subtitles. 115 min.

THE THRONE

A WAR

THE PARADISE SUITE

THE SECOND MOTHER (QUE HORAS ELA VOLTA?)

EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT (EL ABRAZO DE LA SERPIENTE)

RAMS (HRUTAR)

This Sundance and Berlin winner centers around Val, a hard-working, live-in housekeeper who is perfectly content to take care of her wealthy employers’ needs, from cooking and cleaning to being a surrogate mother to their teenage son. But when Val’s estranged daughter Jessica suddenly shows up, the unspoken but intrinsic class barriers that exist within the home are thrown into disarray. In Portuguese with English subtitles. 112 min.

Winner of the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, this visually startling black-and-white tale of the Amazon intercuts two journeys of a lone shaman 40 years apart. The last of the Cohiuano people, he lives in harmony with the rainforest, despite the incursion of missionaries and rubber barons, and he guides two scientists looking for a sacred healing plant. In Spanish, Portuguese and Amazonian languages with English subtitles. 125 min.

Winner of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard competition, this touching and wry Icelandic comedy wittily portrays the connection between man and beast. For brothers Gummi and Kiddi, who haven’t spoken to one another in 40 years, their lambs are their life. But after a mysterious outbreak of scrapie leads to a decree that all local sheep must be slaughtered, the siblings are forced to work together in surprising ways. In Icelandic with English subtitles. 93 min.

IXCANUL

THE PARADISE SUITE

THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT (LE TOUT NOUVEAU TESTAMENT)

With an indigenous cast and the power of a classic fable, Ixcanul tells the moving story of a Mayan family living in the shadow of a volcano in the Guatemalan highlands. Young Maria has her eyes on a handsome worker, but her parents have promised her to the foreman at the coffee plantation, in filmmaker Jayro Bustamente’s beautifully filmed world where nature and rituals are part of daily life. In Kaqchikel and Spanish with English subtitles. 91 min.

Writer/director Joost von Ginkel’s powerful and timely mosaic centers on the interwoven stories of six immigrants from different social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, living in Amsterdam today. While the characters seem to share little more than the city where they now reside, their destinies are inextricably interconnected by a series of life-changing events. In Dutch, French, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Swedish with English subtitles. 123 min.

IXCANUL

EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT

BRAZIL MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 8:30

COLUMBIA TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 8:00

GUATEMALA TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 6:00

NETHERLANDS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 8:15

ICELAND THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 6:00

DIRECTOR GRIMUR HAKONARSON IN PERSON

BELGIUM THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 8:30

Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael (Toto the Hero) delivers an outrageously funny, surreal and sacrilegious social satire posing the question: What if God is not dead, but merely an ornery, overworked average Joe living in Brussels with a rebellious pre-teen daughter? (You thought He only had a son?) The all-star cast features Benoît Poelvoorde, Catherine Deneuve, Yolande Moreau and a gorilla! In French with English subtitles. 110 min.

RAMS

* Following the screening of The Fencer on Saturday, January 2, 2:00, San Rafael’s Marin Fencing Academy will present a short film profile and live demonstration of Olympic fencing taught there. Each attendee receives a pass for a two-hour introductory session.

—5—

YOUTH CONTINUES FROM DECEMBER Winner of Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor (Michael Caine) at the recent European Film Awards, Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s English-language follow-up to his Oscar-winning The Great Beauty stars Caine and Harvey Keitel as lifelong friends Fred and Mick- one a renowned orchestra conductor and the other a veteran filmmaker- who relax and ponder retirement at a luxurious resort in the Swiss Alps. While Fred has no plans to resume his musical career, despite the urging of his loving daughter Lena (Rachel Weisz), Mick is intent on finishing the screenplay for what he figures will be his last important project. Sumptuous in its visuals and resplendent in its soundtrack, Sorrentino’s comic and touching tale is anchored by terrific performances. Rated R. With Jane Fonda, Paul Dano. Writer/Director: Paolo Sorrentino. (Italy 2015) 123 min.

MUSTANG CONTINUES FROM DECEMBER Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as France’s submission for Oscar consideration, this tale of female empowerment is the remarkable feature debut of director Deniz Gamze Ergüven. Her story, set in northern Turkey, focuses on five free-spirited teenage sisters who are virtually imprisoned after they’re seen interacting with local boys. Their family removes all “instruments of corruption” like cell phones and computers, and subjects them to endless lessons in housekeeping to prepare them for becoming brides. As the eldest sisters are married off, the younger ones bond together to rebel and chase a future they can determine for themselves. In Turkish with English subtitles. Writers: Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Alice Winocour. Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven. (France/Turkey 2015) 94 min.

2015 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL AWARD-WINNING SHORTS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 8 - THURSDAY, JANUARY 14 All six short films in this program won awards at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and showcase a wide variety of story and style. Don Hertzfeldt’s animated World of Tomorrow (Short Film Jury Award: Best of Fest) takes us on a mind-bending tour of the future. In Frankie Shaw’s Smilf (Short Film Jury Prize: US Fiction), a young single mother struggles to balance her new life with her old. In Japanese filmmaker Atsuko Hirayanagi’s Oh Lucy! (Short Film Jury Prize: International Fiction), a blonde wig awakens desires in a middle-aged “office lady.” The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul (Short Film Jury Prize: Non-Fiction) by Kitty Green follows girls in war-torn Ukraine auditioning for the role of the Olympic champion figure skater. Paul Cabon’s Storm Hits Jacket (Short Film Jury Prize: Animation) depicts two scientists caught up in the chaos of Nature. Object (Short Film Jury Prize for Poetic Vision) by Paulina Skibińska from Poland takes a creative view of an underwater search. Foreign language films have subtitles.

SON OF SAUL

OPENS FRIDAY, JANUARY 22 Grand Prix winner at Cannes, Golden Globe nominee and Hungary’s submission for Foreign Language Oscar consideration, this powerful drama immerses you in the ninth circle of hell on earth. Set in Auschwitz-Birkenau, October 1944, it follows Saul (Géza Röhrig), a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners isolated from the camp and forced to assist the Nazis in the machinery of large-scale extermination. After discovering the body of a boy he believes to be his son, Saul desperately seeks a rabbi to recite Kaddish before burying him. With the camera focused intensely on Saul, the horrors are obscured visually, although we remain vividly aware of them. Rated R. In Hungarian, Yiddish, German, Polish with English subtitles. Camera: Mátyás Erdély. Director: László Nemes. (Hungary 2015) 107 min. The Rafael is the only theater in the Bay Area offering screenings of Son of Saul on 35mm film, the director’s preferred format. Opening weekend will be entirely 35mm, followed by digital projection from Monday through Thursday. Please check rafaelfilm.org for subsequent weeks’ format schedules.

—6—

The Finest Commercials from the UK! 2015 BRITISH ARROWS AWARDS

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 6:30, 8:15 SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 4:15, 6:00 The Rafael joins forces with Yerba Buena Art Center in showcasing the winners of the British Arrows Awards, acknowledging the UK advertising agencies and production companies that create the best commercials of the year. This compilation of 2015 winners is an eclectic mix of mini-dramas, outrageous wit, inspired animation, high-tech extravaganzas and bawdy comedy. Special thanks to the British Arrows Awards and to Walker Art Center. (UK 2015) 73 min.

OPENS FRIDAY, JANUARY 29 The Rafael again participates in the national release of short films nominated for the upcoming Academy Awards®. Audiences will have the opportunity to see the nominated Live Action and Animated shorts prior to the 88th Academy Awards® ceremony on Sunday, February 28, 2016. We will also have select screenings of the nominees for Documentary Short Subject. While we have no indication of the nominated titles at press time, it‘s likely that several of the films will have already won awards at international film festivals. Each category will be screened in an individual program, each requiring separate admission.

45 YEARS

OPENS FRIDAY, JANUARY 29 British film icons Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay star as a retired couple in this sensitive examination of a long-term relationship that suddenly becomes fragile. Married for 45 years without children, Kate and Geoff are preparing for their anniversary party when a letter arrives from Switzerland that stirs mournful memories in Geoff and growing emotional distress for Kate. As she attempts to glean information from her husband and his erratic behavior, she begins to study and assess their long marriage, in this quietly powerful drama. Recently Rampling was named Best Actress at the European Film Awards, and at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival both she and Courtenay earned Silver Bears for their exquisite performances. Rated R. Writer/Director: Andrew Haigh. (UK 2015) 95 min.

AN EVENING WITH ILLEANA DOUGLAS “I BLAME DENNIS HOPPER” THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 7:00 Illeana Douglas has enjoyed a diverse career as actor, writer, director and star of film and television, and her acclaimed new memoir, I Blame Dennis Hopper (And Other Stories From a Life Lived In and Out of the Movies), is as lively and charming as any of her performances. Part autobiography and part love letter to movies and moviemakers, it starts with how Easy Rider transformed her parents from middle-class squares into hippies, and how her grandfather Melvyn Douglas first brought her onto a movie set (Being There). Then it expands into candid, often hilarious stories about her experiences, which have included such films as Goodfellas, Cape Fear, To Die For, The Californians and Ghost World, as well as such television series as Six Feet Under and Welcome to Sweden. In this program, Douglas will participate in an onstage interview and share stories illustrated by film clips. Invited participants include directors Terry Zwigoff and Jonathan Parker, and following the program she will sign her book, available for sale at the Rafael. Program approximately 90 minutes plus discussion. $15 (CFI members $12)

—7—

LANDFILL HARMONIC

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 6:30 The world generates a billion tons of garbage every year. The poor live with it and from it, but the people of Cateura, Paraguay transform garbage into beauty. This inspiring testament to the transformative power of music follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a musical youth group, located near one of South America’s largest landfills, performing with instruments made entirely out of garbage. When their story goes viral, they enter a global spotlight and must navigate a world of arenas and sold-out concerts. Directors: Graham Townsley, Brad Allgood. (US 2015) 84 min. plus performance. The screening will be preceded by a live musical performance by children from San Rafael’s Enriching Lives Through Music (ELM), a Canal neighborhood group performing classical and self-composed music.

THE ANTHROPOLOGIST

DR. SUSAN A. CRATE IN PERSON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 6:30 Environmental anthropologist Dr. Susan A. Crate will present and discuss this documentary (screened at the recent Paris climate summit) following her and teenage daughter Katie, as they travel the globe to explore effects of climate change on centuries-old indigenous communities. “Climate change forces us to have to learn the family business,” says Mary Catherine Bateson, daughter of famed anthropologist Margaret Mead. While Mead analyzed how communities confront change resulting from war and modernity, Crate and Bateson find that climate change forces communities to reconfigure how and where they live. Directors: Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, Jeremy Newberger. (US 2015) 81 min. plus discussion. $12 (CFI members $8)

This program is part of the Rafael’s series Science on ScreenSM, made possible by a grant from the Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Dr. Susan A. Crate is Associate Professor of Anthropology, Departmen of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University. Following her Q&A, there will be a panel discussion on regional climate issues with representation from the County of Marin, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and the City of San Rafael, a community partner for this program along with Art Works Downtown. Both Landfill Harmonic and The Anthropologist are presented in conjunction with CFI Education’s Environmental Youth Forum, Feb. 8-10.

INGRID BERGMAN—IN HER OWN WORDS

OPENS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12 Stig Björkman’s beautifully crafted documentary is an intimate study of the woman behind the world cinema icon from such films as Casablanca and Gaslight. Bergman once said, “I’ve gone from saint to whore and back to saint again,” and the film recounts the controversies that dogged her life choices, including the fallout from her relationship with Italian director Roberto Rossellini. Rich with film clips, as well as contemporary conversations with her children (including Isabella Rossellini), this portrait gains resonance from private letters (read by Alicia Vikander) and extensive home movie footage she took throughout her life. They bring vividly to life a serious artist and independent woman. In English and in Swedish, Italian, French with English subtitles. Director: Stig Björkman. (Sweden 2015) 114 min.

BARTLEBY - 35MM PRINT!

FILMMAKER JONATHAN PARKER & MUSICIAN SETH ASARNOW IN PERSON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 7:00 Bay Area filmmaker Jonathan Parker will present and discuss a rare 35mm screening of his first feature film, a wry, contemporary adaptation of Herman Melville’s story Bartleby, the Scrivener. Crispin Glover stars as Bartleby, a mundane office worker whose constant refusal of duties confounds his clueless boss (David Paymer). Critically acclaimed at its release, it captures the darkly comic tone of the story, enhanced by a score performed on the theremin. Co-composers Parker and Seth Asarnow will give a live onstage demonstration of this influential electronic instrument. Additional cast: Glenne Headly, Maury Chaykin, Joe Piscopo, Seymour Cassel, Carrie Snodgress, Dick Martin, Josh Kornbluth. Music: Seth Asarnow, Jonathan Parker. Writers: Jonathan Parker, Catherine DiNapoli. Director: Jonathan Parker. (US 2001) 83 min. plus discussion and theremin demonstration.

—8—

THE CLUB

OPENS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19 Golden Globe nominee as well as Chile’s submission for Foreign Language Oscar consideration, this gripping and mordant drama from filmmaker Pablo Larraín (No) centers on a small seaside town and a secluded house where four former priests have been sent to purge the sins of the past, under the watchful eye of their female caretaker. The fragile stability of their daily routine is soon disrupted by two arrivals: an emissary from the Vatican, who seeks to understand the effects of their isolation, and a newly-disgraced housemate, who brings with him the secrets they thought were long and deeply buried. In Spanish with English subtitles. Director: Pablo Larraín. (Chile 2015) 97 min.

A STAR IS BORN - 35MM PRINT!

WILLIAM WELLMAN, JR. IN PERSON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 4:15 In anticipation of the following week’s Academy Awards, author William Wellman, Jr. will present a rare archival 35mm screening of the 1937 classic A Star Is Born, directed by his father, subject of his recently published biography Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel. Wellman (1896-1975) was one of Hollywood’s greatest directors, known for Wings (the first “Best Picture” Oscar) and other exemplary work through decades and a wide range of genres. Produced in early Technicolor by David O. Selznick, A Star Is Born is the first version of this title and one of the best films Hollywood made about itself. Aspiring actress Esther Blodgett (Janet Gaynor), renamed Vicki Lester, receives a career boost from alcoholic movie star Norman Maine (Fredric March), but her fame gradually overshadows his. This early Technicolor romance earned Wellman his only personal Oscar, for Original Story. (US 1937) 111 min. plus discussion. $12 (CFI members $8) Following the screening, William Wellman, Jr. will sign his book, Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel, available for sale at the Rafael. The 35mm film print of A Star Is Born is on loan from the UCLA Film & Television Archive, which preserved the film from the original Technicolor three-strip negatives.

KEEPER OF THE BEAT: A WOMAN’S JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF DRUMMING

IN PERSON: FILMMAKER DAVID L. BROWN & MUSICIAN BARBARA BORDEN IN PERFORMANCE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 7:00 THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 7:00 Musician Barbara Borden and filmmaker David L. Brown will present and discuss their documentary favorite from the 2013 Mill Valley Film Festival, and Borden will also perform live in conjunction with the screening. Capturing Borden at her Mill Valley home and tracing her travels and teaching throughout the world, Brown’s film recounts her inspiring life story as a pioneering woman drummer- including her work with the women’s jazz band Alive!- and her commitment to drumming as a tool for group harmony, greater fellowship and personal transformation. What emerges is a portrait of an artist brimming with joy, determination and love of sharing her spirit through music. Director David L. Brown. (US 2013) 62 min. plus performance and discussion. $12 (CFI members $8)

EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT

OPENS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26 Winner of Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, and Colombia’s entry for Oscar consideration, this visually stunning historical drama centers on an Amazonian shaman, the last of his people, who takes two scientists on quests- 40 years apart- for the same sacred healing plant. Inspired by the real-life journals of two explorers, filmmaker Ciro Guerra casts indigenous actors and crafts beautiful, even psychedelic, black-and-white images for what he calls “an encounter of wisdom and knowledge in the context of destruction,” as his film juxtaposes the beauty and mystery of nature with the destructive force of colonialism. In Spanish, Portuguese and Amazonian languages with English subtitles. Camera: David Gallego. Director: Ciro Guerra. (Colombia 2015) 125 min.

—9—

HOW TO SMELL A ROSE:

A VISIT WITH RICKY LEACOCK IN NORMANDY FILMMAKER GINA LEIBRECHT IN PERSON THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 7:00 Bay Area filmmaker Gina Leibrecht will present and discuss her final collaboration with the late, great Les Blank. It documents a visit in 2000 that Blank and Leibrecht made to the 200-year-old farm in Normandy, France that Richard Leacock shared with Valerie Lalonde. Leacock was himself a great documentarian and cinematographer (celebrated as co-founder of the cinema verité movement), and the two living legends engaged in extended conversations about the history of non-fiction film. But an authentic Les Blank film has to include tantalizing food, and this film doesn’t disappoint, focusing on Leacock at the Sartilly farmers’ market and in the kitchen, as well as walking in the French countryside. Screened with a Les Blank short subject. Camera/Producers/Directors: Les Blank, Gina Leibrecht. (US 2014) Program approximately 90 min.

CODE: DEBUGGING THE GENDER GAP

FOLLOWED BY PANEL DISCUSSION TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 7:00 While tech jobs are growing three times faster than colleges produce computer-science graduates, this Mill Valley Film Festival audience favorite examines why so few women and minorities are in those classes and how the technology sector doesn’t always provide a culture welcome to women. Experts from the worlds of tech, psychology, science and education are juxtaposed with inspiring stories of women engaged in the fight to challenge complacency in the industry and increase awareness of a global issue. Code aims to inspire change in mindsets, in the educational system, in start-up culture and in the way women see themselves in the field of coding. Producer/Director: Robin Hauser Reynolds. (US 2015) 78 min. Panel discussion (participants to be announced) immediately follows the screening. $12 (CFI members $8) This program is part of the Rafael’s series Science on ScreenSM, made possible by a grant from the Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

THEORY OF OBSCURITY: A FILM ABOUT THE RESIDENTS

DIRECTOR DON HARDY IN PERSON THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 7:00 Filmmaker Don Hardy will present and discuss his new documentary telling the story of The Residents, the legendary renegade sound and video collective from San Francisco. With a history spanning more than 40 years and 60 albums, The Residents remain shrouded in mystery, including the identities of the members, who always perform in masks and costumes. More than a band that plays strange music, The Residents are multimedia pioneers, having paved the way in home recording, video production, animation, CD-Rom, podcasts and web-series. Interviewees include fans such as Les Claypool from Primus and Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, as well as Penn Jillette (who toured with them), Gary Panter and Jerry Harrison. Writer/Director: Don Hardy. (US 2015) 87 min. plus discussion.

COMING IN MARCH THE LOBSTER

Recipient of the Jury Prize at Cannes, this dark comedy from Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos was filmed in Ireland and stars Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz in a world where single people are given 45 days at a resort to find a mate or be transformed into the animal of their choice.

MIA MADRE

In Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti’s new film, he and Margherita Buy play siblings keeping watch over their fading mother, while Buy, a movie director undergoing an existential crisis, must contend with a pompous American star, hilariously played by John Turturro.

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PRESENTED BY

THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES Smith Rafael Film Center welcomes the return of our friends from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, bringing us their third new edition of Hollywood Home Movies as well as two other outstanding archival attractions. Special thanks to Randy Haberkamp of the Academy for organizing these presentations.

HOLLYWOOD HOME MOVIES

Hosted by: LYNNE KIRSTE, Special Collections Curator, Academy Film Archive; RANDY HABERKAMP, Managing Director, Preservation and Foundation Programs; special appearance by SUZANNE LLOYD; live piano accompaniment by MICHAEL MORTILLA In our third annual show culled from the Academy’s extensive collection of home movies by Hollywood stars and directors, we turn our attention to Anaheim and the beginning and evolution of Disneyland. Although it is one of the most photographed places on earth, here are scenes you haven’t seen before. The program includes 1948 footage of Walt Disney and animator Ward Kimball examining locomotives that would inspire the iconic train around the park (as well as film of Walt on his backyard train), amateur footage from opening day 60 years ago, Guy Williams appearing as Zorro, Steve McQueen with his family, Walt welcoming the 1957 Foreign Language nominees with Giulietta Masina (La Strada) conducting the Disneyland Band, and much more. As a bonus, Suzanne Lloyd will share her grandfather Harold Lloyd’s stunning 3D photography of Disneyland in the 50s. Program approximately 2 hours. $12 (CFI members $8)

(Courtesy of Harold Lloyd Entertainment, Inc.)

VINTAGE DISNEYLAND & 3D PHOTOGRAPHY SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 7:15

ALOHA WANDERWELL BAKER SILENT FILM ADVENTURESS SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 4:15

Hosted by HEATHER LINVILLE, Academy Film Archive; live piano accompaniment by MICHAEL MORTILLA Witness the fascinating true story of a 1920s female “Indiana Jones,” who as a teenager joined an expedition to travel around the world by Ford Model T and filmed and edited footage from more than 40 countries. Through rare film and photographs, you’ll learn about this unique filmmaker and her adventures, including surviving a plane crash in the uncharted Amazon and remaining for months with an indigenous tribe and filming them, while her husband went to find replacement parts. From becoming a confidante of Chinese bandits to socializing with Hollywood stars, she had an eventful life. Program approximately 90 min. $12 (CFI members $8)

THE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TRAILER SHOW

35MM ALL THE WAY!

SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 7:00 Hosted by CASSIE BLAKE, Public Access Coordinator, Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is home to the world’s largest 35mm collection of trailers- previews of coming attractions, that is- and this show offers a virtual history of rock ‘n’ roll using some of the wildest and most artful pre-show entertainment from the last several decades. See and hear The Who, Bob Dylan, Elvis, The Beatles, David Bowie, Talking Heads, animated hard rock, hip-hop-sploitation, new wave noir, prog pomposity, three-chord poses and much more- all on vintage 35mm film! Program approximately 90 min.

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In their first appearance together at the Rafael since their initial “dialogue” series in 2009, David Thomson, celebrated film critic and historian, will join award-winning novelist and poet Michael Ondaatje for an entertaining weekend of screenings and discussions around trains as cinematic subject and stimulus. Thomson is the author of more than 20 books, including a number of biographies and The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, which, in a 2010 poll, was voted the best film book of all time. Ondaatje is the author of several novels, including The English Patient, Anil’s Ghost, and The Cat’s Table, as well as his interview book The Conversations - Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film. They will also engage the audience in their discussions. MICHAEL ONDAATJE

FROM THE PRESENTERS “Trains on film? Trains in film? Or maybe just trains and movies as motion dreams that enthrall us, and take us somewhere else while we’re sitting in apparent safety and comfort. From the Lumiere brothers to Hitchcock and beyond, movie-makers have loved to get on trains. The two machines are escape fantasies with the same reliance on desperation and bliss. Trains are contained worlds, furious energies racing towards death and climax, and journeys that mimic the destinies of life - they are our kind of thing. This series grows out of our fascination with the kinship of the two and our shared desire to transport viewers. “Our selection has to omit many great films, but these champion loco features will be hurried along with shorts, clips, extracts and collisions that will come as surprises and delights. All aboard!”

DAVID THOMSON

THE TRAIN - 35MM PRINT!

SHANGHAI EXPRESS

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 7:00 As the Allies approach Paris in 1944, a stationmaster (Burt Lancaster) has to stop an art-obsessed German colonel (Paul Scofield) from transporting loads of French masterworks by train to Germany. Director John Frankenheimer’s terrific action-thriller bursts with sweat and oil and is graced with the acrobatic skill of Lancaster, then in his early 50s. With Jeanne Moreau. (US 1965) 133 min. plus discussion.

SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2:00 One of the finest collaborations between Marlene Dietrich and director Josef von Sternberg, this pre-Code gem features Clive Brook as a British officer who encounters his former lover, now a courtesan, on the express between Beijing and Shanghai. She to him: “It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily.” Top cinematographers Lee Garmes and James Wong Howe provide the dazzling visuals. With Anna May Wong. (US 1932) 80 min. plus discussion.

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THE LADY VANISHES

RUNAWAY TRAIN - 35MM PRINT!

SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 4:15 Alfred Hitchcock and trains were made for each other, and this seminal work from his British period is one of his best. Michael Redgrave, Margaret Lockwood and Dame May Whitty star in this comic thriller about an English tourist’s search for an elderly train companion who has apparently disappeared and whose existence is doubted by most of the other passengers. (UK 1938) 96 min. plus discussion. Digital restoration!

SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 7:15 Jon Voight, Eric Roberts and Rebecca De Mornay star in this white-knuckle action film from Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky and based on an original screenplay by Akira Kurosawa. Two hardened criminals break out of an Alaskan prison, and along with a female railroad worker, find themselves on a speeding train that can’t be stopped. Rated R. (US 1986) 111 min. plus discussion.

BRIEF ENCOUNTER

UNSTOPPABLE

SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 3:00 Based on a play by Noël Coward and directed by David Lean, this pinnacle of film romance stars Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard as two adults, both married with children, who encounter each other at a railway station and, during subsequent meetings there, find their casual relationship developing into something deeper. (UK 1945) 86 min. plus discussion. Digital restoration!

SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 6:00 Inspired by the true-life “Crazy Eights” incident, the final film directed by Tony Scott is a runaway-train thriller with an added edge: It’s laden with toxic chemicals, and an accident could decimate human life and cause environmental disaster. Denzel Washington is the veteran engineer and Chris Pine the young conductor who must risk their lives to stop it and save everyone in its path. With Rosario Dawson. Rated PG-13 (US 2010) 98 min. plus discussion.

FOR INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMS, REGULAR RAFAEL PRICES APPLY. NON-REFUNDABLE PASSES VALID FOR ALL SIX SHOWS ARE AVAILABLE FOR $40 GENERAL AND $25 FOR CFI MEMBERS.

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WHAT’S SHOWING AT T H E R A FA E L ? BE IN THE KNO W. . . O N T H E GO !

BROWSE FILMS & EVENTS CREATE A PERSONALIZED SCHEDULE PURCHASE TICKETS SHARE FAVORITES ON SOCIAL MEDIA SEARCH SMITH RAFAEL IN ITUNES & GOOGLE PLAY

2 015 M IL L VA L L E Y FIL M FE S T I VA L SP O NSO RS S I G N AT U R E CHR IS TO PHER B. A N D J E A NNIE MEG SMITH

MAJOR

THANK YOU FILMGOERS D O N O R S SPONSORS VOLUNTEERS M E M B E R S

As we welcome a new year, all of us at the California Film Institute would like to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to our generous family of supporters. You have been an integral part of furthering CFI’s mission to celebrate and promote film as art and education. We look forward to sharing another year of inspiring film with you!

CFI is a 501(C)(3) Nonprofit Learn about year-round sponsorship opportunities with CFI.

For information about CFI Membership

Beau Blanchard: bblanchard@cafilm.org | 415.526.5836

Angie Young: ayoung@cafilm.org | 415.526.5834

CALIFORNIA FILM INSTIT U T E I N DI V I DUA L a nd F O U N DAT I O N DON O R S LEADERSHIP CIRCLE

Christopher B. & Jeannie Meg Smith Jennifer Coslett MacCready INVESTOR CIRCLE

Ken and Jackie Broad Family Fund Drusie and Jim Davis, Drusie Davis Family Fund Gruber Family Foundation Daniel Kenyon and Michelle Marchetta Kenyon Michael and Susan Schwartz Fund PLATINUM CIRCLE

Jim Boyce Trust and Kris Otis Margaret E. Haas The Jay Pritzker Foundation Eric Schwartz, EAS Fund Lois and Mel Tukman Christine Zecca Foundation GOLD CIRCLE

Alex and Elizabeth Aal Lorrie and Mark Fishkin

OFFICIAL AIRLINE

Andree and John Jansheski Nancy and Rich Robbins Vickie Soulier Saul Zaentz Trust

Marjorie Swig Patricia Tanoury Henry O. Timnick

Janet Fox Dee Fratus Frank Gaipa Kenneth and Joan Gosliner FAST PASS | MVFF Lisa Graeber Nancy Abodeely SILVER CIRCLE Mera Granberg The Allen Family Fund Anonymous Larry and Carie Haimovitch Brian and Nina Arellanes BRONZE CIRCLE Ann-Eve Hazen Laurie Bautista Richard C. Barker Russell and Susan Holdstein Jane Bay Liz Hume and Jay Jacobs Elisabeth and Howard Jaffe Kamala Geroux-Berry Arch & Stella Rowan Foundation and David Berry Willa Jefferson-Stokes FAST PASS | CFI Amy Keroes and Jeff Fisher Inez Brooks-Myers Anonymous Roxanne Klein Marc and Robin Bussin Beverly Butler Andrea Manson Krueger Joe and Sue Carlomagno Alice Corning K.C. and Steve Lauck Tom Cohen Sharon A. Fox and Kristi Denton Cohen Cynthia Maram Lynne Hale Brian and Marie Collins Cindy and John McCauley Katz Family Foundation Joel and Justine Coopersmith Catherine and Ted McKown Labe and Roberts Stephanie DiMarco Kenneth and Vera Meislin Karen and Gregg Lund James Mochizuki Gail and Doug Dolton Stephen and Mary Mizroch Monahan Parker, Inc. Joanne Dunn Maggie O’Donnell Floum Julie Erickson and Art Rothstein Linda Morgan Gertrud Parker Suki and Russell Munsell Dennis P. Fisco Jonathan and Deborah Parker and Pamela Polite Fisco Cathy and Robert Nourafshan Gordon Radley Catherine and Peter Flaxman Mary and Bill Poland

PREMIERE MEDIA

Mark and Dorian Polite Heidi Richardson and Michael Dyett Karen and Harry Rosenbluth Jack and Judy Sherman Diane Shore Susan and Joel Sklar Jann Stanley and Soren Dalsager Elliott and Shayna Stein Lucinda Watson and Ted Bell Skip and Aew Whitney Kate Wilson Zach and Marlies Zeisler MAJOR FOUNDATION SUPPORT

The Bernard Osher Foundation Fenwick Foundation Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

County of Marin National Endowment for the Arts

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SAN CFI EDUCATION’S 8TH ANNUAL OAKLAND FRANCISCO

ENVIRONMENTAL YOUTH FORUM FEBRUARY 8, 9, 10 2016 3 days of films, youth panels, presentations, and exhibits by environmental activists focusing on current challenges and solutions. For grades 1-12.

A CASUAL, COME-AS-YOU-ARE EVENING CELEBRATING THE 88TH ACADEMY AWARDS® SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28

For more information: cfieducation.org SUPPORT PROVIDED BY

Tickets: $15. General $12. Members Includes Free champagne & popcorn, games & prizes Beer, wine and box dinners will be available for purchase

Doors Open: 3:30 | Red Carpet: 5:00 | Ceremony: 5:30 NANCY AND RICH ROBBINS

This event is not sponsored by, nor affiliated with, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.