O C T O B E R — D E C E M B E R
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5 Photos by: 1) Tommy Lau 2) Leah LoSchiavo 3 & 4) Zoë Elton 5) Pamela Yamzon
1. Asif Kapadia with Mark Fishkin, Founder/Director, CFI - Amy. 2. Joshua Oppenheimer with Zoë Elton, MVFF Director of Programming - The Book of Silence. 3 & 4. “Talent” from Shaun the Sheep. 5. Duncan Frost, raffle winner at the Back to the Future marathon in August.
CFI BOARD OF D I R E CTO R S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR / FOUNDER
Mark Fishkin CFI BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Kenneth Broad (Vice President)
Jim Davis Douglas Dolton Michael Dyett Lynne Hale Richard J. Idell (Secretary)
Bruce Katz Amy Keroes Jennifer Coslett MacCready (President)
Cathy Nourafshan Jonathan Parker
(Vice President)
Susan Schwartz Dr. Joel Sklar
(Vice President)
Jann Stanley Zach Zeisler (Treasurer)
EMERITUS BOARD
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
R A FA E L Q U A R T E R LY S TA F F R ICHAR D PE TERSON Director of Programming | Editor
JAN KL INGEL HOF ER Program Consultant
DAN ZAS T ROW Rafael General Manager
L EAH L OSCHIAVO Marketing Coordinator
TIM FR OSS Rafael Assistant Manager
MEL ANIE NICHOL S Science on Screen
S HE LLE Y 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 2015. 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.
KC Lauck Andrew McGuire Mary Poland Eric Schwartz Michael Schwartz Skip Whitney
OCTOBER – DECEMBER
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Vol. 17 Issue 4
AT-A-GLANCE
From the
DIRECTOR of PROGRAMMING
The fall quarter always starts with a roar with the Mill Valley Film Festival, and this year’s 38th edition promises to be one of the best. It’s always a challenge following this big event (kind of what a fledgling comic used to feel following Robin Williams), but we at the Rafael have a number of treats to offer, both in the arena of new films and retrospective highlights.
And there’s yet another centennial tribute, on December 19, the actual birthday of Edith Piaf, at which we welcome our dear friend Raquel Bitton back to the West Coast for an anniversary screening of her tribute film Piaf…Her Story, Her Songs. We’ve had several screenings with her over the last decade, and this film and its maker are lucky charms for us.
On view during the festival and four days beyond, the exclusive gallery exhibition The Saga of Ingrid Bergman celebrates the 100th anniversary of her birth. This opportunity has inspired us to program some of her classics, including films from Sweden, Hollywood and Italy. These screenings begin during the Festival but finish only days after. Catch them quickly.
We also have several filmmaker appearances, including Anna Halprin at select shows during our weeklong engagement of her film Journey in Sensuality-Anna Halprin and Rodin. There’s a special screening of 3 Still Standing, with both of the film’s directors and all three of its profiled comedians.
We’ve applied a slightly more “leisurely” pace to our other 100th birthday series, that is our continuing tribute to Orson Welles. Concentrating on his postHollywood career, this series presents some extremely rare titles, and although they might not be familiar to you, they are well worth exploring. I’m especially excited about Chimes at Midnight, one of the greatest movies that only few know about, as well as the opportunity to see a beautiful copy of a film like The Trial, previously available in deficient prints.
2015
Our first-run engagements include movies that will have played the Mill Valley Film Festival, such as Jafar Panahi’s Taxi and Hitchcock/Truffaut, as well as others that didn’t, such as Laurie Anderson’s Heart of a Dog and Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict. Additional films from MVFF may show up in the fall, and even next year. Depending on when you’re reading this, I look forward to seeing you—or having seen you—at Mill Valley Film Festival 38. See you at the screenings!
~ Richard Peterson
INGRID BERGMAN OCTOBER 9—22 THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING OCTOBER 19 & 20 3 STILL STANDING OCTOBER 22 VICTORIA OPENS OCTOBER 23 EXPERIMENTER OPENS OCTOBER 23 JOURNEY IN SENSUALITY ANNA HALPRIN & RODIN OCTOBER 23—29 JACK PIERCE THE MAKER OF MONSTERS OCTOBER 24 ORSON WELLES 100: THE MAVERICK OCTOBER 25—NOVEMBER 22 THE LAST SEASON OCTOBER 26 KORLA OCTOBER 29 & 31 JAFAR PANAHI’S TAXI OPENS OCTOBER 30 MARSHLAND OPENS OCTOBER 30 THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER OPENS NOVEMBER 6 HEART OF A DOG OPENS NOVEMBER 13 PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT OPENS NOVEMBER 20 THE WONDERS OPENS NOVEMBER 27 STAR TREK IV—SCIENCE ON SCREEN DECEMBER 3 BIKES VS CARS OPENS DECEMBER 4 HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT OPENS DECEMBER 11 PIAF: HER STORY... HER SONGS DECEMBER 19 2015 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL AWARD-WINNING SHORTS JANUARY 1—7 Programs are 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
ON THE COVER
INGRID BERGMAN
I Am Ingrid by Richard Peterson
F
I’m going to keep this diary and hide it away forever. I’m 14 years, two months and three days old. I was born on the twenty-ninth of August 1915. My parents were Friedel Adler and Justus Bergman. I was baptized Ingrid. I was spirited, irritating, stubborn, and wild. In 1929, when she wrote these lines, Ingrid Bergman had already lost both parents—her father in recent memory, and her mother when she was still a toddler. Surely Justus Bergman, who owned a photographic studio, helped spark her passion for acting, having made numerous portraits and home movies of the little girl who loved to pose and play before the camera. If she enjoyed a rapid rise as an actor in her native Sweden, her transition to Hollywood stardom was instantaneous by comparison. In 1939 producer David O. Selznick (at the time working on Gone With the Wind), saw Bergman in the Swedish romance Intermezzo and imported her to California for what would be a nearly identical remake.
THE SAGA OF INGRID BERGMAN Friday, Oct 9 — Thursday, Oct 22 1020 B Street, San Rafael This exclusive exhibition from Sweden celebrates the magnificent, three-time Oscar®-winning actor Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982) on the centennial of her birth. Consisting of 30 photographic prints and a multimedia installation, the exhibition chronicles the path of Bergman’s remarkable life and career, from her early work in Sweden through Hollywood stardom, followed by a period of controversy and her ultimate renaissance. The photographic prints include work by Hollywood’s most prominent studio photographers as well as such world-renowned artists as Robert Capa, Gordon Parks and Lennart Nilsson, among others. The multimedia installation includes film clips and interview. The Saga of Ingrid Bergman was commissioned by Strandverket Art Museum, Marstrand, Sweden. Our presentation is made possible with support from the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, the Consulate General of Sweden, San Francisco, the Embassy of Sweden and the Swedish Institute, Stockholm. We thank Monahan Parker, Inc. for contributing the exhibition space, with special gratitude to Jonathan Parker and Cathy Ferrari.
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Selznick initially experienced buyer’s remorse when he saw how tall she was and encountered her absolute rejection of heavy makeup, plucked eyebrows and several Hollywood conventions of glamour. When Selznick changed gears and decided instead to promote her as a natural beauty, it was apparent that Ingrid’s self-styled “stubbornness” had served her well. Selznick called her “the most conscientious actress with whom I have ever worked.” Despite the growing difficulties of wartime travel, Bergman eventually reunited in America with her husband Petter Lindström and their baby daughter Pia. Her career quickly became the stuff of legend: Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gaslight (her first Oscar ®), The Bells of St. Mary’s, Spellbound, Notorious, Joan of Arc and many more. Loved by American audiences, she was Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite leading lady of the 1940s and was pursued by other top directors. She took her work seriously and tried to be as selective as Hollywood would allow. In 1949, overwhelmed by the intensity and honesty of the neo-realist masterpiece Rome, Open City, Bergman wrote to director Roberto Rossellini and offered to travel to Italy to work with him. Their first film, Stromboli, was far removed from Hollywood glamour. In addition to a movie, they produced a son—Roberto—resulting in divorce and a painful separation from her daughter Pia Lindström. The public scandal even echoed in the halls of Congress, where Colorado Senator Edwin C. Johnson called her “a horrible example of womanhood and a powerful influence for evil.” Bergman and Rossellini married and produced twin daughters, Isabella and Isotta Ingrid, as well as five more films that had scant exposure in the United States. They divorced in 1957, and shortly before their union dissolved, Bergman accepted the lead in Anastasia, a Hollywood production filmed in Europe. Cast against the studio’s wishes, she won another Best Actress Oscar at the 1957 Academy Awards. Ingrid was back. Later she would win a third Oscar ®, for Murder on the Orient Express. She would remark, “I’ve gone from saint to whore and back to saint again, all in one lifetime.”
Ingrid Bergman—In Her Own Words is Stig Björkman’s extraordinary new documentary timed to observe the centenary of her birth. The film’s original Swedish title is Jag är Ingrid, which translates as “I Am Ingrid.” It follows her public life, but focuses on the private person through her words, her extensive home movies and the testimony of the children who wished they had had more of her. While she forged a brilliant career, the “spirited, stubborn” little girl inside her always grappled with the anxiety of separation. One of her final projects brought her together in 1977 with Sweden’s other world-famous Bergman. In Autumn Sonata she played a celebrated pianist who hadn’t seen her daughter (Liv Ullmann) in seven years. As Ullmann recalls, Ingrid and Ingmar butted heads throughout rehearsals. Often irritable and already struggling with the cancer that would claim her on her birthday in 1982, she railed against his script: “What mother would go so long without seeing her daughter?” In the end, Autumn Sonata was a beautiful film, a homecoming for Ingrid that earned Academy Award nominations for both her performance and Ingmar’s screenplay. The Saga of Ingrid Bergman, a centennial exhibition from Sweden on display during the Mill Valley Film Festival, portrays multiple facets of this proud, passionate woman who was an exceptional artist. Thanks to the movies, we can rewrite a signature line from Casablanca: We’ll always have Ingrid.
Notorious
In conjunction with the centenary exhibition The Saga of Ingrid Bergman, the Rafael presents a selection of her films from Hollywood, Italy and Sweden. INGRID BERGMAN—IN HER OWN WORDS MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 8:00 (Screened during the Mill Valley Film Festival. Tickets through MVFF box office)
Timed for the centenary of Ingrid Bergman’s birth, this beautifully crafted documentary is an intimate study of the woman behind the world cinema icon, using her private diaries (read by Alicia Wikander), and Bergman’s home movies. In English and in Swedish and Italian with English subtitles. With Isabella Rossellini, Pia Lindström. Music: Michael Nyman. Producer: Stina Gardell. Director: Stig Björkman. (Sweden 2015) 114 min.
AUTUMN SONATA (Höstsonaten) SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 8:15 (Screened during the Mill Valley Film Festival. Tickets through MVFF box office)
Presented in a rare 35mm print, this intense drama is one of Ingrid Bergman’s final projects, a homecoming to Swedish cinema as well as her only collaboration with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She plays a concert pianist who has neglected her family for her career and has a reckoning with her daughter (Liv Ullmann). With Lena Nyman, Erland Josephson, Gunnar Björnstrand. In Swedish with English subtitles. Camera: Sven Nykvist. Writer/Director: Ingmar Bergman. (Sweden 1978)
The following Ingrid Bergman films will all be screened at the Rafael CASABLANCA MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 7:15 Consistently ranked among the best films of all time, this romantic wartime melodrama propelled its two stars, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, into the iconic stratosphere. In Vichy-controlled Morocco, Rick must choose between Ilsa and helping her husband, a resistance leader, escape the Nazis. With Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Dooley Wilson. Director: Michael Curtiz. (US 1942) 102 min.
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NOTORIOUS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 7:15 (35MM PRINT) Screened in a rare 35mm print, this postwar thriller is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best. Ingrid Bergman plays the daughter of a convicted spy who is recruited by U.S. agent Cary Grant to infiltrate a Nazi organization hiding in Rio after World War II. With a fascinating plot of sex, lies and uranium, it boasts the longest Hollywood kiss up to that point (and you can bet Hitch was timing it). With Claude Rains. Writer: Ben Hecht. Director: Alfred Hitchcock. (US 1946) 101 min.
JOURNEY TO ITALY A WOMAN’S FACE (En kvinnas ansikte)
DOUBLE FEATURE
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 6:30 Journey to Italy (1954, 86 min.) is the widely acclaimed English-language collaboration with Roberto Rossellini about a disillusioned married couple (Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders) visiting Naples. A Woman’s Face (1938, 96 min., Swedish with English subtitles), features her as a disfigured blackmailer who encounters a plastic surgeon and an opportunity for redemption. Directed by Gustav Molander, it was remade in Hollywood with Joan Crawford.
INTERMEZZO JUNE NIGHT (Juninatten)
DOUBLE FEATURE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 6:30 As the concert pianist who falls in love with a married violinist (Gösta Ekman) in Intermezzo (1938, 88 min., directed by Gustav Molander), Ingrid Bergman caught the eye of producer David O. Selznick, who imported her to Hollywood for a remake with Leslie Howard. June Night (1940, 85 min.) was Ingrid Bergman’s final Swedish film for several decades. Directed by Per Lindberg, she plays a young woman who inadvertently finds herself at the center of a public scandal. Both films in Swedish with English subtitles. A Woman’s Face, Intermezzo and June Night are presented in digitally restored editions, courtesy of the Swedish Film Institute.
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THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
TWO NIGHTS ONLY!
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19 & TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 7:00 Narrated by Naomi Klein and based on her bestselling nonfiction book, this provocative documentary offers powerful portraits of communities on the front lines of fossil fuel extraction and the climate crisis it is driving, from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond. Klein’s narration connects the carbon in the air with the economic system that put it there, and the film builds to its most controversial and exciting idea: that we can seize the existential crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better. Executive Producers: Alfonso Cuarón, Danny Glover, Seth MacFarlane, Jodie Evans, Shepard Fairey. Writer: Naomi Klein. Director: Avi Lewis. (US 2015) 89 min.
3 STILL STANDING THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 7:15 DIRECTORS ROBERT CAMPOS & DONNA LOCICERO IN PERSON LIVE PERFORMANCES BY LARRY “BUBBLES” BROWN, WILL DURST & JOHNNY STEELE Filmmakers Robert Campos and Donna LoCicero will present a special screening of their “Stand-up Comedy Documentary” about three major Bay Area comedians, each of whom will perform a live set for the audience and then join the filmmakers for discussion. In 1980 Will Durst, Larry “Bubbles” Brown and Johnny Steele were contemporaries of Robin Williams, Dana Carvey and Paula Poundstone, but they stayed in San Francisco, working the clubs until the bubble burst in the 90s, in what Williams called “a comedic recession.” 3 Still Standing is a story of re-invention, resilience and the search to remain true to yourself. Featuring Debi Durst, Paula Poundstone, Michael Pritchard, Geoff Bolt, Rob Schneider, Robin Williams, others. Producers/Directors: Robert Campos, Donna LoCicero. (US 2014) $18 (CFI members $15)
VICTORIA OPENS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23 “This film is not a movie; it’s not about a bank robbery. It is bank robbery. Victoria was shot in one single take. Two hours and eighteen minutes. No cuts. No CGI…” Director Sebastian Schipper and cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen’s real-time tour de force stars Laia Costa as a young woman from Madrid who meets four locals outside a Berlin nightclub. Mischievous partying and a budding romance between Victoria and Sonne (Frederick Lau) take an ominous turn when the men have to do a “job” and she insists on driving the car. The night spirals out of control. Please note: heavy use of strobe lights in the first few minutes. In English and in German with English subtitles. (Germany 2015) 138 min.
EXPERIMENTER OPENS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23 Peter Sarsgaard stars as Stanley Milgram, the social psychologist who conducted the controversial “obedience study” at Yale in 1961. With the trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann airing in living rooms across America, Milgram wanted to explore how far the average person would go when instructed by an authority figure to perform a questionable act. Also starring Winona Ryder as his wife Sasha, Experimenter is a provocative film about ideas, rather than a conventional biography. Sarsgaard-as-Milgram frequently addresses the camera directly, and often we literally see on screen what he is thinking, in this thoughtful and stimulating film. With Jim Gaffigan, Dennis Haysbert, Taryn Manning, Anton Yelchin. Writer/Producer/Director: Michael Almereyda. (US 2015) 98 min.
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JOURNEY IN SENSUALITY: ANNA HALPRIN AND RODIN FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23 — THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29 ANNA HALPRIN IN PERSON, FRIDAY & SATURDAY AT 6:00 Legendary choreographer Anna Halprin’s latest collaboration with filmmaker Ruedi Gerber (Breath Made Visible) is a poetic film of dances in nature inspired by Auguste Rodin’s sculptures. Inspired while in Paris for a major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou, Halprin resolved to create a work in the Bay Area celebrating Rodin’s statement, “The world will only be happy when all people have the souls of artists,” and honoring the human body as a reflection of nature. The film follows Halprin’s rehearsals on the beach with members of the Sea Ranch Collective and takes us to the final performance in a redwood forest. Music: Fred Frith. Producer/Director: Ruedi Gerber. (US 2015) 63 min.
JACK PIERCE—THE MAKER OF MONSTERS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 4:15 FILMMAKER STREPHON TAYLOR IN PERSON Bay Area filmmaker Strephon Taylor will present his new film about one of Hollywood’s best makeup artists. A Greek immigrant, Jack P. Pierce worked in various jobs on movie sets until his talent for makeup emerged in the mid-1920s. His best work for Universal Studios coincided with that company’s development of a new “horror” genre. Pierce’s creation of the Frankenstein Monster, in collaboration with actor Boris Karloff, quickly became iconic, and his designs for The Mummy (also Karloff), the Bride of Frankenstein and The Wolf Man are still remembered today. Drawing from interviews, historical footage and hundreds of photos, the documentary offers a look at one of the chief architects of film fantasy in the pre-digital age. (US 2015) 82 min. plus discussion.
THE LAST SEASON MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 7:00 FILMMAKER SARA DOSA IN PERSON Bay Area filmmaker Sara Dosa will present her fascinating documentary filmed in Central Oregon’s wild mushroom hunting camps and that was awarded Best Bay Area Documentary at the 2014 San Francisco International Film Festival. Every fall, hundreds of Cambodian, Thai and Laotian refugees, as well as Vietnam War veterans, come together for the matsutake mushroom harvest. The film focuses on Roger, a US Special Forces vet, and Kouy, a former Cambodia freedom fighter, in their hunt for this rare and elusive mushroom, that offers a livelihood as well as a process to heal the scars of war. Their journey into the woods is a story of family emerging from an unexpected, hidden place. Producer: Josh Penn. Director: Sara Dosa. (US 2014) 78 min. plus discussion.
KORLA
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 7:00 & SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31, 4:15 IN PERSON: FILMMAKERS ERIC CHRISTENSEN & JOHN TURNER As multifaceted as the sparkling jewel he wore on his turban, Korla Pandit was a television pioneer, one of the first musicians to popularize the Hammond organ, and a godfather of the exotica music genre. From 1949, first in Los Angeles and subsequently in San Francisco, this self-described son of a Brahmin priest from New Delhi performed on TV daily while staring silently and dreamily into the camera. In the 1950s he charmed American housewives, and decades later would captivate the hipsters who frequent tiki bars. In the Bay Area he lived and performed in Marin and Sonoma counties. Musical admirers interviewed in the documentary include Carlos Santana, Booker T. Jones and Steven Halpern. Editor: Dan Friedman. Producers: Eric Christensen, John Turner. Director: John Turner. (US 2015)
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SUNDAYS & THURSDAYS
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 22 As a follow-up to our first Orson Welles retrospective in June, we are pleased to continue our tribute to his work as filmmaker on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Part One focused on his years in Hollywood, beginning with his debut film, the legendary masterpiece Citizen Kane. The second series honors the films he made during his extended sojourn in Europe beginning in the late 1940s. One of the most ambitious and influential of all filmmakers, Orson Welles can’t be measured by commercial success. An independent filmmaker long before the term became familiar, he embraced the creative freedom of being away from Hollywood, although the difficulties of financing his projects impelled him to take actor-for-hire jobs. The constant search for production funds would dog his path for the rest of his life, until he passed away at his typewriter in October 1985. Americans are generally unaware of the films he produced during these years, since few received proper distribution in the United States. As several scholars and critics have noted, much of his work is literally invisible to the public, fueling an erroneous image of Welles as lazy. He was constantly- even obsessively- working, whether it was film, theater, radio, or even television, a new medium in which he wanted to make his mark. While some of his projects remained unfinished, there are remarkable films to discover and cherish.
CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT (FALSTAFF)
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 4:30 & 7:00 Orson Welles’ personal favorite draws from several Shakespeare plays to make Falstaff its central character and the corpulent knight’s relationship with the future Henry V as its tragic heart. Filmed in Spain on a tiny budget, it suffered technical limitations but depicts the middle ages more vividly than any other movie. Even with little money, Welles could attract the best talent, and the international cast includes John Gielgud, Jeanne Moreau, Margaret Rutherford, Keith Baxter and several others. A climactic battle scene inspired such films as Braveheart and Kenneth Branagh’s own Henry V. Some critics call this the greatest and most cinematic of Shakespeare films, and we are inclined to agree. Digitally restored version. Writer/Director: Orson Welles. (Spain 1965) 115 min.
OTHELLO
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 4:30 & 7:00 When his original producer went bankrupt at commencement of shooting, Orson Welles made his first post-Hollywood film over a period of two years on real locations (sometimes on different continents), as the filmmaker/star acted in other films (The Third Man, for instance) before reassembling his cast and crew. The end result, which was awarded the Palme d’0r in Cannes in 1952, is one of his best, most personal and most visually dazzling films and second only to Chimes as the best cinematic Shakespeare. Digital restoration. Writer/Director: Orson Welles. (Morocco/Italy 1952) 93 min.
CONFIDENTIAL REPORT (MR. ARKADIN) 35mm print!
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 7:00 Orson Welles’ Mr. Arkadin has existed in several differently edited versions, but the one titled Confidential Report is regarded the closest to his intentions. Peculiar but fascinating, and often very funny, it plays like an absurdist variation on Citizen Kane, in which the mysterious and powerful Mr. Arkadin (Welles) claims amnesia and hires a rogue to track down his own past. Filmed in many European cities with priceless episodes featuring such talent as Michael Redgrave, Akim Tamiroff, Mischa Auer, it also features Italian countess Paola Mori, whom Welles married. Writer/Director: Orson Welles. (Spain/France/Switzerland 1955) 93 min.
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THE TRIAL
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 4:30 & 7:00 Orson Welles’ visually extraordinary adaptation of the novel by Franz Kafka stars Anthony Perkins as Joseph K, who is accused of a crime that is never defined. When the original budget suddenly collapsed, Welles repeated his Othello improvisation by setting most of the film in the abandoned Gare d’Orsay in Paris. It was a masterstroke, with the labyrinthine architecture of the former railroad station providing a perfect set for this existentialist, absurdist and subversive drama. The impressive cast also includes Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli and Akim Tamiroff. Digital restoration. Writer/Director: Orson Welles (France 1962) 119 min.
THE IMMORTAL STORY
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 7:00 Besides Shakespeare, Orson Welles’ favorite author was Isak Dinesen (née Karen Blixen), and his hour-long adaptation of The Immortal Story for European television was his first film in color. In another Kane-like role, Welles stars as Mr. Clay, a wealthy merchant in 19th century Macao who decides to stage (and therefore own) a legendary tale told by sailors. Co-starring Jeanne Moreau, Roger Coggio and Norman Eshley, this surreal, subtly erotic story captures Dinesen’s mystical atmosphere, aided by an inspired use of music by Erik Satie. Also screened will be two short subjects, including Welles’ 1934 student film Hearts of Age. Writer/Director: Orson Welles. (France/Spain 1968) Program approximately 90 min.
F FOR FAKE 35mm print!
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 4:30 & 7:00 Screened in a 35mm print, Orson Welles’ final film to enjoy a formal release in the United States was, like much of his work, years ahead of its time. Weaving together documentary footage of Hungarian-born art forger Elmyr de Hory and American literary forger Clifford Irving, Welles adds his own personal stories and his love of magic to create an ingenious film-essay on fakery and the relative value of art. Co-starring his lover and collaborator Oja Kodar, F For Fake initiated a new direction he was eager to pursue in his own art. Writer/Director: Orson Welles. (France/Iran 1975) 90 min.
THE OTHER SIDE OF ORSON
A PRESENTATION BY JOSEPH MCBRIDE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 7:00 Joseph McBride, film historian and Professor at San Francisco State University, has written three books on Orson Welles, the most recent being What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career. He also worked with Welles, as an actor on his long-gestating, still-unfinished drama about the film industry, The Other Side of the Wind. McBride will share stories about that film and its difficult history. He will also screen several rare shorts and clips that represent the work by Welles of which most people are unaware. Program approximately 2 hours.
TOUCH OF EVIL
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 4:30 & 7:00 Orson Welles’ last film for a Hollywood studio was originally released as a minor “B” movie but has since grown in stature to be regarded as one of his best films, as well as a pinnacle of film noir. Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh star with Welles in a visionary drama about police corruption and racism at the Mexican border, beginning with a bravura camera movement from one side to the other. After delivering a rough cut, Welles was locked out of the editing room, and 40 years after its release, a crew that included Oscar-winning editor Walter Murch reconstructed the film to conform, as much as possible, to Welles’ intentions. That is the version we present. (US 1958) 111 min.
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JAFAR PANAHI’S TAXI
OPENS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30 In the third “anti-film” he has produced in the five years since he was sentenced to a 20-year ban on filmmaking, Iranian director Jafar Panahi takes to the streets of Tehran, driving a taxi outfitted with cameras and interacting with a cross section of passengersmen and women, young and old- from all walks of life. Conversations touch on issues of crime, punishment, morality and censorship, but some also become very humorous. Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, this unconventional film represents both a triumph of the artistic spirit and a valuable opportunity to observe everyday life in a society we need to learn much more about. In Persian with English subtitles. Writer/ Director: Jafar Panahi. (Iran 2015) 82 min.
MARSHLAND (LA ISLA MINIMA)
OPENS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30 Like a Spanish counterpart to True Detective, this visually striking thriller traces the labyrinthine search for a serial killer in the marshlands and rice paddies of Spain’s deep south. In 1980, shortly after the restoration of democracy in Spain, two investigators arrive in a rural town in Andalusia. Juan (Javier Gutiérrez) is a veteran of the fascist Franco regime, and rookie Pedro (Raúl Arévalo) is a reformist, and their teaming produces tensions between “old school” techniques and more enlightened methods. This atmospheric neo-noir won 10 of Spain’s Goyas, including Best Film, Director, Original Screenplay and Cinematography. In Spanish with English subtitles. Camera: Alex Catalán. Writers: Rafael Cobos, Alberto Rodríguez. Director: Alberto Rodríguez. (Spain 2014) 105 min.
THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER (HAGANENET) OPENS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6 In this powerful yet subtle psychological drama from Israel, Sarit Larry stars as Nira, a dedicated kindergarten teacher who discovers that one of her five-year-old charges, Yoav (Avi Shnaidman), is a prodigy who can spontaneously recite beautiful, original and sophisticated poetry. Being an amateur poet herself, Nira takes a special interest in Yoav. However, in the course of trying to nurture his talent and “protect” it from a world that, in her opinion, has no place for poetry, her pedagogical interest starts to veer dangerously close to an unhealthy obsession, in this fascinating, progressively strange and suspenseful story. In Hebrew with English subtitles. Writer/Director: Nadav Lapid. (Israel/France 2014) 119 min.
HEART OF A DOG OPENS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 Musician/performance artist Laurie Anderson has created a remarkable new film: a wry, wondrous and haunting cinematic journey through love, death and language. Centering on her beloved rat terrier Lolabelle, who died in 2011, Anderson composes a personal essay weaving together childhood memories, philosophical musings on data collection, contemporary surveillance culture and the Buddhist conception of the afterlife, as well as heartfelt tributes to the artists and thinkers who inspire her. Fusing her own witty narration with original violin compositions, hand-drawn animation and artwork, she creates a hypnotic collage of visual language out of her life and art, examining how stories are constructed and told, and how we use them to make sense of our lives. Writer/Director: Laurie Anderson. (US/France/Germany 2015) 75 min.
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PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT OPENS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20 A colorful character who was not only ahead of her time but helped to define it, Peggy Guggenheim was an heiress to her family fortune who became a central figure in the modern art movement. As she moved through the cultural upheaval of the 20th century, she collected not only art, but also artists. Her colorful personal history included such figures as Max Ernst (whom she married), Samuel Beckett, Jackson Pollock, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, as well as countless others. While fighting through personal tragedy, she maintained her vision to build one of the most important collections of modern art, now enshrined in her Venetian palazzo. Director: Lisa Immordino Vreeland. (US 2015) 97 min.
PHOTO: ROLOFF BENY COURTESY OF NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF CANADA
THE WONDERS (LE MERAVIGLIE) OPENS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27 Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher’s entrancing, richly textured drama centers on a family of beekeepers living in the isolated Tuscan countryside. Their household dynamic is disrupted by the arrival of a troubled teenage boy and a gaudy reality-television show intent on showcasing the family and their traditional lifestyle. Both intrusions interest the eldest daughter, who is struggling to find her footing in the world. Rohrwacher conveys her adolescent sense of wonder and confusion with graceful naturalism. In Italian, French and German with English subtitles. With Alexandra Lungu, Alba Rohrwacher, Monica Bellucci. Writer/Director: Alice Rohrwacher. (Italy 2014) 111 min.
STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (35mm print!)
WITH PRESENTATION BY CONSERVATIONIST MARY JANE SCHRAMM THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 7:00 Conservationist Mary Jane Schramm will share an illustrated presentation on humpback whales, followed by a 35mm screening of one of the best of the Star Trek movies. Actively involved in marine conservation for more than three decades, Schramm is co-author of West Coast Whale Watching, and her field experience includes work aboard National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ships and other research vessels. She is currently based at the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Presented in a rare 35mm print, the 1986 film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home finds Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the original crew beaming down to one of their strangest destinations, 20th century San Francisco, to save Earth from an alien probe. Guess who are the only creatures who can communicate with it? Directed and co-written by Leonard Nimoy (who also plays Spock), this Trek is one of the most fondly remembered of the series. Film 119 min., rated PG. $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.
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BIKES VS CARS OPENS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4 This documentary depicts a global crisis that we know we need to deal with: climate, resources and cities consumed by the car. The film takes us to cities around the world, from congested places such as Los Angeles and São Paulo (where commuters average three hours in traffic daily), to Copenhagen, where 40% commute to work on bikes. Sequences in Toronto focus on the controversial former mayor Rob Ford, who was elected on a popular platform to “Stop the War on Cars.” We meet activists and thinkers who are fighting for better cities and who refuse to stop riding bikes despite the increasing number of riders killed in traffic. In English and in Portuguese with English subtitles. Writer/Director: Fredrik Gertten. (Sweden 2015) 91 min.
HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT
OPENS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11 A film buff’s delight (and equally fun for anyone else), this documentary celebrates one of the most influential books in the field. In 1962 French director François Truffaut persuaded Alfred Hitchcock to participate in an extensive, weeklong interview (through an interpreter) covering all of his films. Based on original recordings used to produce the seminal volume Hitchcock/Truffaut, this film illustrates some of the greatest cinema lessons of all time, plunging us into the worlds of The Birds, Vertigo and Psycho and other classics. It also interviews several contemporary filmmakers inspired by the book, including Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater and Peter Bogdanovich, among others. Hitchcock fans are guaranteed a “Good Evening.” Writers: Kent Jones, Serge Toubiana. Director: Kent Jones. (US 2015) 80 min.
PIAF: HER STORY…HER SONGS
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 7:00 RAQUEL BITTON IN PERSON On the occasion of Edith Piaf’s 100th birthday, Raquel Bitton will present a rare 35mm screening of her sumptuously filmed concert-documentary capturing her internationally acclaimed tribute to the legendary French singer known as the “Little Sparrow.” The leading interpreter of Piaf’s repertoire, Bitton performs her most famous songs and takes us on a moving and emotional journey through Piaf’s tempestuous life. Woven into the live concert is a luncheon in Paris, hosted by Bitton, in which many of Piaf’s composers, friends and family share their memories of the great artist, who tragically died more than 50 years ago. Executive Producer: Fred Fuchs. Producers: George Elder, Gerald Prolman. Music Arranger: Bob Holloway. Director: George Elder. Writer/Artistic Director: Raquel Bitton. (US/Canada/France 2003) 94 min. plus discussion. $12 (CFI members $8)
2015 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL AWARD-WINNING SHORTS
FRIDAY, JANUARY 1 TO THURSDAY, JANUARY 7 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 languages have subtitles.
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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.
Indie Lens Pop-Up (formerly Community Cinema) is a daytime, monthly series presented by CFI Education in partnership with ITVS bringing an intergenerational audience together for film screenings and community-driven conversations.
TWIN SISTERS October 26 – Noon by Mona Friis Bertheussen The moving true story of Mia and Alexandra twin Chinese infants adopted from an orphanage in 2003 and two sets of hopeful parents, from Norway and Sacramento, California.
Guest speaker: Angela Hansen (mom of twin, Mia)
AUTISM IN LOVE November 30 – Noon by Matt Fuller
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Four adults with varying degrees of autism open up their personal lives as they navigate the world of dating and romantic relationships.
Panel moderated by Janet Lawson, MFT Executive Director, Autistry Studios NANCY AND RICH ROBBINS
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