The Cinematheque MARCH+APRIL 2016 by The Cinematheque

EXPERIENCE ESSENTIAL CINEMA

STAGECOACH

MAR+ APR 2016

1131 Howe Street | Vancouver | theCinematheque.ca

UCLA FESTIVAL OF PRESERVATION DIVERCINÉ 2016 THE IMAGE BEFORE US: A HISTORY OF FILM IN B.C. - TAKE 2 IRELAND 2016: A CENTENARY FILM PROGRAMME

IMAGE: Delphine Seyrig in JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES

CHANTAL AKERMAN (1950-2015)

FAREWELL, CHANTAL y MARCH + APRIL 2016

“The cinematic event I look forward to most of all . . . No other movie festival comes close to it in the magnificent breadth of neglected but compelling American film material it puts on display.” Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times The UCLA Film and Television Archive celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015. The Archive’s important preservation and restoration work is showcased in its biennial UCLA Festival of Preservation, featuring glorious new 35mm prints of important classics, nearly-lost masterworks, neglected treasures, and rediscovered rarities spanning more than a century of American film history. Highlights from the most recent (17th) edition of the festival are now on tour and make their sole Canadian stop at The Cinematheque. Presented in 10 programs, the tour includes important war films by Hollywood auteurs John Ford and Anthony Mann; a “miracle” drama from the early 1950s by Douglas Sirk; a superb melodrama by Poverty Row cult favourite Edgar G. Ulmer, director of Detour; a lively all-star musical revue from 1932 featuring Bing Crosby in his first starring role; a trio of works featuring Canadian-born “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford, including her very last silent film; a wickedly funny sex comedy from

Hollywood’s brief, racy pre-Code era; an overlooked gem of outstanding 1960s independent filmmaking; and two moody B-movie horror thrillers, one of them White Zombie, cinema’s first-ever zombie film! In a digital age when DCP (Digital Cinema Package) has almost completely replaced celluloid film as the standard medium for the projection of motion pictures in movie houses, the UCLA Film and Television Archive has remained committed to preserving film on film, allowing likeminded institutions such as ours to continue offering opportunities to view films on film – itself a rare, endangered, but essential cinematic experience well worth preserving! Acknowledgements: All prints are courtesy of the UCLA Film and Television Archive. We are grateful to Shannon Kelley, Steven Hill, Nina Rao, and Todd Weiner at UCLA for their kind assistance in making this Vancouver presentation possible.

The Long Voyage Home USA 1940. Dir: John Ford. 103 min. 35mm

Fuelled by the formidable talents of director John Ford, cinematographer Gregg Toland, and actor John Wayne, this masterful, melancholy sea-faring drama, nominated for six Oscars, is perhaps the best film version of playwright Eugene O’Neill’s work. It may also be Toland’s finest achievement outside of Citizen Kane! The film concerns the crew of a British merchant marine ship transporting ammunition through dangerous Atlantic waters during WWII. Screenwriter Dudley Nichols (Ford’s frequent collaborator) adapted and updated four of O’Neill’s early plays set aboard the fictional SS Glencairn. “An essential work . . . The ensemble acting is extraordinary . . . It’s also as personal and as deeply felt as any of the more recently canonized Ford masterpieces” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader). Preservation funded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Film Foundation. FRIDAY, MARCH 4 – 6:30 PM

NEW, RESTORED

35mm

PRINTS

Men in War

USA 1957. Dir: Anthony Mann. 102 min. 35mm

Anthony Mann is best known for his brutal films noir of the 1940s and superb psychological Westerns of the 1950s (including five with James Stewart), but he also directed one of the finest American films about the Korean War. Mann’s anxious, anti-heroic drama is set on a single day in 1950, and concerns a small American infantry platoon stranded behind enemy lines. Heading the cast are Robert Ryan, as the war-weary lieutenant commanding the men; Aldo Ray, as the sergeant who undermines Ryan’s authority; and Robert Keith, as a shellshocked colonel. The film’s tone of disillusionment was condemned by the Pentagon, which had refused to cooperate in the production. “One of the best of the lost patrol movies . . . Beautifully staged by Mann with his usual eye to landscape” (Tom Milne, Time Out). Preservation funded by the Packard Humanities Institute. FRIDAY, MARCH 4 – 8:30 PM

The First Legion USA 1951. Dir: Douglas Sirk. 86 min. 35mm

Douglas Sirk, still several years away from his celebrated run of lush colour melodramas at Universal, produced and directed this independent feature, a complex, intelligent tale of devotion, doubt, and divine mystery. The film is set in a Jesuit seminary, where an apparent miracle re-energizes the flagging spirits of the cloistered community and brings pilgrims flocking to its door. Charles Boyer plays Father Arnoux, a former trial lawyer who is sceptical about the miraculous occurrence. The fine cast also includes William Demarest, Barbara Rush, and Leo G. Carroll. The film is based on a 1934 play by Emmet Lavery, who also wrote the screenplay. “A subtle, absorbing meditation on faith vs. reason . . . One of Sirk’s first masterpieces is also one of his most sincere, deeply felt works” (Film Society of Lincoln Center). Preservation funded by The Louis B. Mayer Foundation and The Carl David Memorial Fund for Film Preservation. THURSDAY, MARCH 10 – 6:30 PM

Her Sister’s Secret USA 1946. Dir: Edgar G. Ulmer. 86 min. 35mm

B-movie auteur and cult favourite Edgar G. Ulmer (Detour), working with a rare bigger budget, crafted this impressive wartime melodrama about two sisters, one of whom has a child out of wedlock. Pregnant after a romantic night of revelry with a soldier at the New Orleans Mardi Gras, Toni (Nancy Coleman) gives up the baby to her married older sister Renee (Margaret Lindsay). Several years – and plot twists – later, Toni regrets the decision. Poverty Row studio PRC trumpeted the film as their “first million-dollar production.” Notable German and Central European émigré talents in the cast and crew include, besides Ulmer, cinematographer Franz Planer, a five-time Oscar nominee. “Feverishly romantic, visually resplendent . . . Ulmer cuts loose with a wild creativity [and] a keen view of traumatic times” (Richard Brody, The New Yorker). Preservation funded by The Film Foundation and the Franco-American Cultural Fund. Shown with the permission of Films Around the World, Inc., New York City. THURSDAY, MARCH 10 – 8:15 PM

The Big Broadcast USA 1932. Dir: Frank Tuttle. 80 min. 35mm

Vaudeville-inspired all-star revues were all the rage during the early days of the talkies. This boisterous musical comedy spotlights Bing Crosby in his first starring role and George Burns and Gracie Allen in their featurefilm debut. A loose storyline – a failing radio station (run by Burns), an unambitious radio singer (played by Crosby), and a lovelorn Texas oilman (Stuart Erwin) – provides the pretext for a series of dazzling on-screen performances by some of the era’s leading musical stars, including the Mills Brothers, the Boswell Sisters, Kate Smith, and Cab Calloway. The latter’s “Kickin’ the Gong Around” is a raucous highlight, its gleeful drug references permissible because the movie dates from Hollywood’s brief, less-censorious pre-Code era. Camera tricks and offbeat comic touches add to the satirical fun. Paramount released three more Big Broadcast pictures in the 1930s. Preservation funded by The Packard Humanities Institute and Universal Pictures.

Preceded by

Me and the Boys

Great Britain 1929. Dir: Victor Saville. 7 min. 35mm

In this early “soundie,” American actress Estelle Brody, a major star of British silent cinema, croons a pair of alluring jazz numbers accompanied by the Ben Pollack Band, with 20-year-old Benny Goodman on clarinet. Preservation funded by Dudley Heer, Frank Buxton and Cynthia Sears, Hugh Hefner, and Mark Cantor. SUNDAY, MARCH 13 – 4:30 PM

Bachelor’s Affairs USA 1932. Dir: Alfred L. Werker. 64 min. 35mm

A middle-aged New York millionaire feels his years when he weds a beautiful but brainless younger blonde in this saucy, cynical, lightning-fast sex comedy from Hollywood’s naughty pre-Code era. Adolphe Menjou, tongue firmly in cheek, is debonair playboy Andrew Hoyt. Jean Harlow lookalike Joan Marsh is a revelation as ditzy Eva Mills. Their mismatch has been engineered by the latter’s gold-digging older sister (Minna Gombell). An extended California honeymoon of vigorous activity and late-night partying leaves the poor exbachelor utterly exhausted – and desperate for intelligent conversation! Bachelor’s Affairs, based on the play Precious by Canadian-born James Forbes, was nearly forgotten until 2014, when it was revived – and proved the audience favourite – at Syracuse’s Cinefest, devoted to rare classic cinema. “There’s just one word to describe it: hilarious” (Leonard Maltin, Indiewire). Preservation funded by The Packard Humanities Institute. SUNDAY, MARCH 13 – 6:30 PM

Spring Night, Summer Night USA 1967. Dir: J.L. Anderson. 82 min. 35mm

A major rediscovery! Steeped in an earthy, immersive, poetic sense of place, J.L. Anderson’s 1967 feature is being hailed as a classic of New American Cinema in the vein of The Exiles, Wanda, and Killer of Sheep. In the backwaters of south-eastern Ohio, two young lovers who may or may not be siblings struggle against a hardscrabble existence and malicious gossip. Anderson had earlier co-authored, with Donald Richie, 1959’s seminal The Japanese Film: Art and Industry. His lovely, lyrical, almost-lost film was originally released (as Miss Jessica is Pregnant) by an exploitation distributor who tacked on gratuitous nude scenes. “Anderson’s original cut is ready to take its place, finally, among the pantheon of American independent cinema . . . This stunning new preservation print promises to bring the film an even wider audience” (Paul Malcolm, UCLA). Preservation funded by The Packard Humanities Institute. TUESDAY, MARCH 15 – 6:30 PM

Mary Pickford Program

My Best Girl

USA 1927. Dir: Sam Taylor. 90 min. 35mm

The final silent film of Toronto-born screen icon Mary Pickford, aka “America’s Sweetheart,” was this sparkling romantic comedy directed by Sam Taylor, who had honed his comic chops on Harold Lloyd movies (including Safety Last! and The Freshman). Pickford plays Maggie, a department store clerk. Actor and musician Buddy Rogers (Pickford’s future husband) is Maggie’s love interest Joe, the stock boy who is actually the store owner’s son. The sophisticated cinematography is by Pickford regular Charles Rosher, fresh off his Oscar-winning work on Murnau’s masterpiece Sunrise. “Utterly charming . . . Taylor’s experienced hand is especially evident in the film’s overall polish and by the engaging way he textures the strange and quirky characters that populate the shop girl’s milieu” (Steven K. Hill, UCLA). Preservation funded by The Mary Pickford Foundation, The Packard Humanities Institute, and The Film Foundation.

Preceded by

The Son’s Return

USA 1909. Dir: D.W. Griffith. 11 min. DCP

This recently re-discovered Biograph one-reeler, directed by the great D.W. Griffith, features Mary Pickford in one of her earliest roles and was one of 44 films she made in 1909. Preservation funded by The Mary Pickford Foundation, The Packard Humanities Institute, and the Museum of Modern Art.

and

A Manly Man

(aka His Gratitude) USA 1911. Dir: Thomas H. Ince. 12 min. 35mm

Few of the 30-odd one-reelers Mary Pickford made in Cuba for Carl Laemmle’s IMP still survive. This Eastmeets-West drama, set in the Philippines and directed by one of the important pioneers of American cinema, co-stars Owen Moore, Pickford’s first husband. Preservation funded by The American Film Institute/National Endowment for the Arts Film Preservation Grants Program and The Packard Humanities Institute. TUESDAY, MARCH 15 – 8:10 PM

White Zombie

USA 1932. Dir: Victor Halperin. 68 min. 35mm

Living Dead, Walking Dead, World War Z – it all starts here! Cinema’s first-ever zombie movie has Bela Lugosi, fresh off 1931’s Dracula, as Haitian voodoo master Murder Legendre, who uses his evil powers to provide zombie slave labour to local plantations. When fetching innocent Madeleine (Madge Bellamy) arrives on the island to wed her fiancé, smitten Legendre sets out to cast a spell on her too. Low-budget indie brothers Victor (director) and Edward (producer) Halperin filmed this gothic-horror and pop-culture milestone on the Universal Studios lot, using sets left over from Dracula, Frankenstein, and other films. “Halperin shoots this poetic melodrama as trance; insinuating ideas and images of possession, defloration, and necrophilia into a perfectly stylised design, with the atmospherics conjuring echoes of countless resonant fairytales” (Paul Taylor, Time Out). Preservation funded by The Packard Humanities Institute. THURSDAY, MARCH 17 – 6:30 PM

The Crime of Dr. Crespi USA 1935. Dir: John H. Auer. 63 min. 35mm

Erich von Stroheim, Hollywood’s “The Man You Love to Hate,” is creepy Dr. Crespi in future B-noir director John H. Auer’s low-budget chiller, a loose riff on Poe’s “The Premature Burial.” Crespi harbours a grudge against the fellow doctor who married his ex-sweetheart. When an accident lands that colleague on his operating table, Crespi seizes the opportunity to take a particularly gruesome form of revenge. The movie, independently produced by Auer, uses extreme close-ups to menacing effect. “The first film to be released under the Republic Pictures brand . . . Crespi nods to Carl Theodor Dreyer and Universal monster movies with a Vampyr-inspired cemetery trek and the casting of Dracula and Frankenstein sidekick Dwight Frye as an unorthodox hero” (Scott MacQueen, UCLA). Preservation funded by The Packard Humanities Institute. THURSDAY, MARCH 17 – 8:00 PM

ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS

ESSENTIAL CINEMA

“Kubrick’s sandal saga has aged amazingly well . . . To see it again on the big screen, in all its expansive glory, is a treat.” – Derek Adams, Time Out New Restoration!

Spartacus

USA 1960. Dir: Stanley Kubrick. 197 min. DCP

A rousing swords-and-sandals epic in Technirama and Technicolor, Spartacus was the great Stanley Kubrick’s only workfor-hire: the young director was parachuted in to replace Hollywood veteran Anthony Mann, who was fired by executive producer and star Kirk Douglas after a week of shooting. Douglas plays titular gladiator Spartacus, leader of a slave revolt against the Roman Empire in 73 B.C. The proverbial cast of thousands – including some 10,500 extras! – also features Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Jean Simmons, Tony Curtis, Woody Strode, John Gavin (as Julius Caesar), and Peter Ustinov, the latter in an Academy Award-winning supporting role as a slave dealer. The film also copped Oscars for it sumptuous cinematography (by Russell Metty), lavish art direction, and costume design. Dalton Trumbo not only wrote the screenplay but was credited with it – a fact which helped end Hollywood’s decade-long blacklist. Spartacus is a truly towering (and technically flawless) achievement – one of the finest gargantuan historical spectacles ever made. SATURDAY, MARCH 5 – 7:00 PM SUNDAY, MARCH 6 – 7:00 PM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9 – 7:00 PM

“A masterpiece . . . A film of extraordinary range and ambition. . . A great story beautifully told.” – Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune

“With the emotional sweep of a Verdi opera and the narrative density of a 19th-century novel, Rocco and His Brothers represents the artistic apotheosis of Italian neorealism.” – A.O. Scott, New York Times New Restoration!

Rocco and His Brothers (Rocco e i suoi fratelli)

Italy/France 1960. Dir: Luchino Visconti. 180 min. DCP

Luchino Visconti’s sweeping family saga is one of the central achievements of postwar Italian cinema and a major influence on the works of Italian-American filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola. It chronicles the migration of a widowed matriarch (Katina Paxinou) and her five sons from Italy’s traditional, impoverished south to modern, more prosperous Milan, where they hope to establish a better life. The film is structured in five segments, one for each sibling, but the narrative spotlight falls squarely on two brothers: brutish boxer Simone (Renato Salvatori) and saintly, selfless Rocco (Alain Delon). Their triangular romantic relationship with Nadia (Annie Girardot), a beautiful young prostitute, sets in motion a tragic chain of events. Visconti’s culture-clash epic mixes neorealist methods with operatic emotion and scale, and recalls the grand Hollywood melodramas. Shot in striking black-and-white by Giuseppe Rotunno and scored by Nino Rota, it screens here in the superb new restoration premiered last year at Cannes. FRIDAY, APRIL 8 – 7:00 PM SATURDAY, APRIL 9 – 7:00 PM SUNDAY, APRIL 10 – 7:00 PM

SPARTACUS

CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR

NEW CINEMA “The most beautiful film of the year.” — Mark Peranson, Cinema Scope “Like dreaming with your eyes open.” — Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter One of the five best films of 2015 — Sight & Sound, Cahiers du Cinéma

Cemetery of Splendour (Rak ti Khon Kaen)

Thailand/Great Britain/France/Germany/Malaysia 2015. Dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul. 122 min. DCP

The latest masterpiece from visionary Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul is, like his beguiling Palme d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, a transfixing, enigmatic work of restrained “magical realism” that delivers the mythical and mundane in equal, hushed tones. Set and shot in the director’s troubled hometown of Khon Kaen, the film revolves around a makeshift, schoolroom infirmary that cares for soldiers afflicted by a mysterious, sleep-inducing malady brought on, perhaps, by recent excavations in the area. Said to be embattled in centuries-old wars in their slumber, the soldiers receive chromatic dream therapy and company from a young clairvoyant and a kindly volunteer (Apichatpong regular Jenjira Pongpas Widner), whose waking life begins to slip unnoticeably into dreamscape when her patient (Banlop Lomnoi) comes to. A personal, quietly political coup against a militarized Thailand, Cemetery of Splendour is a singular cinematic experience, a hypnotic, lucid dream made manifest onscreen. THURSDAY, MARCH 31 – 6:30 PM FRIDAY, APRIL 1 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, APRIL 2 – 4:00 PM & 8:45 PM SUNDAY, APRIL 3 – 4:00 PM

“A lean, absorbing anti-thriller . . . The drama is tightly measured to ensure a controlled level of tension that remains discreetly constant.” – Jay Weissberg, Variety “Mixes subtle politics and morality in an expert, if discomfiting, manner . . . A film meant to leave audiences queasily stewing in their own moral juices.” – Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail

One Floor Below (Un etaj mai jos)

Romania/France/Germany/Sweden 2015. Dir: Radu Muntean. 93 min. DCP

The Romanian New Wave serves up its version of the cat-and-mouse psychological thriller in Radu Muntean’s fine new film (the director’s fifth dramatic feature). After the murder of his downstairs neighbour, middle-aged Patrascu (Teodor Corban) realizes he’s witnessed events that implicate the victim’s boyfriend Vali (Iulian Poselnicu), also a neighbour, in the crime. Patrascu decides to mind his own business and not tell the police. Vali, however, is soon insinuating himself into Patrascu’s life, befriending his wife and son. Muntean’s smart, suspenseful, simmering film ponders questions of responsibility, privacy, guilt, and community as we – and Vali – seek to understand Patrascu’s motivations and moral calculations. The antithesis of the Hollywood thriller, it displays the restraint and naturalism, and the wry take on post-Communist life, we’ve come to expect from Romania’s remarkable contemporary cinema. FRIDAY, APRIL 15 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, APRIL 16 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, APRIL 17 – 4:30 PM & 8:30 PM THURSDAY, APRIL 21 – 8:30 PM

“Emotionally devastating . . . Bier’s latest may be the most extreme and disturbing moral conundrum she’s examined to date.” – Steve Gravestock, Toronto International Film Festival Vancouver Premiere!

A Second Chance (En chance til)

Denmark 2014. Dir: Susanne Bier. 105 min. DCP

Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, director of the 2010 Oscar winner In a Better World, puts the dramatic pot on maximum boil in this harrowing, high-concept moral thriller, scripted by frequent collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen and produced by Lars von Trier’s Zentropa company. Heading the notable cast is Games of Thrones hunk Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as veteran cop Andreas. Happily married to Anne (Maria Bonnevie), who’s just given birth to their baby son, he’s concerned about partner and pal Simon (Ulrich Thomsen), who’s binge-drinking after a recent divorce. When Andreas and Simon encounter a junkie couple living in appalling squalor with their own newborn son, it is the first of several tragic turns that drive Andreas to a shocking course of action. Terrible moral and ethical dilemmas are a Bier specialty. Her willingness here to push things to extremes (and the limits of plausibility) has divided critics and will definitely split audiences! FRIDAY, APRIL 15 – 8:20 PM SATURDAY, APRIL 16 – 4:30 PM & 8:20 PM SUNDAY, APRIL 17 – 6:30 PM THURSDAY, APRIL 21 – 6:30 PM

A SECOND CHANCE

FAREWELL, CHANTAL CHANTAL AKERMAN (1950-2015)

The Belgian-born, Paris-based filmmaker Chantal Akerman, a boldly

be a potent medium for both experimentation and personal expression.

original filmmaker who was a key figure in European cinema and

Her work was also informed by the avant-garde cinemas of the 1960s

women’s cinema, died in October. At the time of her death, No

and ’70s, and by feminism. Her uncompromising films would in

Home Movie, her latest feature-length work, was making the

turn inspire directors such as Catherine Breillat, Claire Denis,

rounds of international film festival circuit. Akerman was said to be

Michael Haneke, Todd Haynes, Jim Jarmusch, Sally Potter, and

suffering from depression, and her death was reported as a suicide.

Gus Van Sant.

Akerman was born in Brussels in 1950, the child of Polish refugees.

The Cinematheque’s March/April program includes the Vancouver

Her parents were Jewish. Her mother survived Auschwitz;

premieres of No Home Movie, Akerman’s last film, and I Don’t

her mother’s parents did not.

Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman, a new documentary about her work, as well as an Essential Cinema

NEM

Akerman claimed that seeing Godard’s Pierrot le fou at age 15

presentation of Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080

inspired her to become a filmmaker: cinema, she realized, could

Bruxelles, the 1975 feature that is Akerman’s masterpiece.

“Brilliant . . . A film that changed the face of European cinema.” – J. Hoberman, Village Voice

Imported 35mm Print!

ESS

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Belgium/France 1975. Dir: Chantal Akerman. 201 min. 35mm

Chantal Akerman’s astonishing chef d’oeuvre, made with an all-female crew in 1975, was immediately recognized as a milestone of feminist cinema and is now regularly cited as one of the greatest films ever made. French luminary Delphine Seyrig plays a Brussels widow and housewife who works as a prostitute on the side, entertaining gentlemen callers in the modest flat she shares with her sullen teenage son (Jan Decorte). In the film’s meticulous, radically minimalist but remarkably intense realtime chronicle of this woman’s highly ordered day-to-day routine, the mundane details of housework – peeling potatoes, for instance, or making a bed – are given dramatic/narrative weight equal to or greater than sex – or murder! Shot with great precision by Babette Mangolte, Ackerman’s sly film transforms the drudgery of “woman’s work” into hypnotic horror show – and turns the basic ingredients of the 1940s “women’s-film” weepie into a subversive, modernist masterwork. Is it any surprise Todd Haynes is a huge fan? In French with English subtitles. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23

Refreshments & Special Introduction 6:00pm - Doors 7:00pm - Jeanne Dielman with introduction by Laura U. Marks Laura U. Marks is a Vancouver-based scholar, theorist, and curator. She teaches in the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University, and programs media for festivals and venues worldwide. Her most recent book is Hanan al-Cinema: Affections for the Moving Image (MIT Press, 2015).

Vancouver Premiere!

I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman

THURSDAY, MARCH 24 – 7:00 PM FRIDAY, MARCH 25 – 7:00 PM MONDAY, MARCH 28 – 6:00 PM

Belgium 2015. Dir: Marianne Lambert. 67 min. DCP

The extraordinary cinema of Belgian experimenter Chantal Akerman, one of the leading filmmakers of her generation, has both astounded and confounded viewers and critics. This expansive new documentary surveys Akerman’s remarkable – and remarkably nomadic – artistic career, which saw her direct more than 40 films up until her unexpected death in 2015. Akerman financed an early feature by working as a cashier in a gay porn theatre. Illustrated with excerpts from many of her key works, including 1975’s Jeanne Dielman, her most celebrated achievement, and 2015’s No Home Movie, her final testament, the documentary has Akerman and long-time editor Claire Atherton providing insight into the filmmaker’s aesthetics and methods. Gus Van Sant testifies to Akerman’s influence, while Akerman herself confesses – fittingly, given the subject of No Home Movie – “My mother is the center of my oeuvre.” In French with English subtitles.

MONDAY, MARCH 28 – 4:30 PM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 – 8:45 PM SUNDAY, APRIL 3 – 6:30 PM

N CI

One of the ten best films of 2015 – Sight & Sound Vancouver Premiere!

No Home Movie

Belgium/France 2015. Dir: Chantal Akerman. 115 min. DCP

The farewell film of Chantal Akerman, who died in October, is a portrait of the director’s mother in the final months of her own life. Natalia (Nelly) Akerman was a Polish refugee and Auschwitz survivor who settled in Brussels. Akerman’s film, as emotionally affecting as it is uncompromisingly formalist, is shot largely within the confines of Nelly’s apartment, where conversations between mother and daughter are interspersed with scenes (à la Jeanne Dielman, Akerman’s magnum opus) of Nelly’s everyday routine. Exploring displacement, solitude, maternal love, and mortality, Akerman also attempts, before the opportunity is lost forever, to learn more about her mother’s personal experiences in the Holocaust, events which have haunted the lives of both women but which Nelly has never wanted to discuss. “An extremely intimate film but also one of great formal precision and beauty . . . As much a masterpiece as Jeanne Dielman” (New York Film Festival). In French with English subtitles.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 – 6:30 PM THURSDAY, MARCH 31 – 8:50 PM FRIDAY, APRIL 1 – 8:50 PM SATURDAY, APRIL 2 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, APRIL 3 – 8:00 PM

Classics FROM OUR COLLECTION 16mm prints from The Cinematheque archive All seats $8.00 (single or double bill; adults, students, and seniors) $3 annual membership required

Stagecoach

The 39 Steps

“My name is John Ford. I am director of Westerns.” The prolific American master made many kinds of movies, of course (non-Westerns by Ford screen in both the UCLA and the Irish series in this March/April program), but this is where his greatest contribution to cinema begins. Stagecoach was Ford’s first sound Western, his first major collaboration with John Wayne (Stagecoach turned the B-movie actor into a star), and first picture shot in Monument Valley. Wayne is the Ringo Kid, a fugitive taken aboard a stagecoach carrying a motley assortment of passengers. Meanwhile, Apache forces led by Geronimo are on the warpath. Ford’s hugely influential, highly accomplished film was the first modern Western, instrumental in establishing the genre’s mythology and thematic maturity and its elevation to the ranks of A-movie respectability.

Great suspenseful fun, and a favourite of many Hitchcock aficionados, this adaptation of John Buchan’s spy novel features Robert Donat as Hannay, an innocent Canadian pursued by both police and villains after a mysterious woman is found murdered in his flat. The classic Hitchcock double chase has the hero on the run from London to Scotland, where he flees across the moors handcuffed to hostile stranger Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), who thinks him a killer. Featuring superb performances, supremely mischievous Hitchcock humour, and many memorable sequences – Donat’s hastily improvised speech to a political meeting he inadvertently crashes; the Mr. Memory musical hall finale – The 39 Steps is a virtual compendium of great Hitchcock motifs. “One of the three or four best things Hitchcock ever did” (Pauline Kael).

SUNDAY, MARCH 20 – 6:30 PM

SUNDAY, MARCH 27 – 6:30 PM

Grand Illusion

The Third Man

USA 1939. Dir: John Ford. 96 min. 16mm

(La grande illusion)

France 1937. Dir: Jean Renoir. 114 min. 16mm

Renoir’s great film is one of cinema’s finest pacifist works and also a perceptive inquiry into class relations and class loyalty. During WWI, three French POWs – an aristocratic officer (Pierre Fresnay), a Parisian mechanic (Jean Gabin), and a Jewish banker (Marcel Dalio) – are held in a prison camp under the command of an aristocratic Prussian (Erich von Stroheim). The French officer and his German counterpart find they have a natural social affinity, but their friendship cannot take precedence over wartime duty and patriotism. Like 1939’s Rules of the Game, Grand Illusion is an exemplar of Renoir’s much-admired humanism and, with its complicated sequence shots, fluid camera movement, and impressive composition-indepth, his mastery of mise-en-scène aesthetics. “One of the true masterpieces of the screen” (Pauline Kael). SUNDAY, MARCH 20 – 8:25 PM

Great Britain 1935. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. 85 min. 16mm

Great Britain 1949. Dir: Carol Reed. 93 min. 16mm

Directed by Carol Reed and scripted by Graham Greene, but dominated by the considerable presence of Orson Welles, The Third Man is one of the most entertaining of great films. Joseph Cotten is Holly Martins, a naïve American pulp-fiction writer who enters a labyrinth of crime, corruption, and cloak-anddagger intrigue when he lands in ravaged postwar Vienna to meet old pal Harry Lime (Welles). Anton Karas’s seemingly incongruous zither score provides an inspired counterpoint to Greene’s baroque suspense tale, while Welles’s pivotal performance, his pairing with favourite actor Cotten, and the extravagant Expressionist visuals (cinematographer Robert Krasker won the Oscar) make this a decidedly Wellesian affair. The Third Man was named the greatest British film of the 20th century in a 1999 British Film Institute poll. SUNDAY, MARCH 27 – 8:15 PM

CHAN CENTRE CONNECTS Alice’s Restaurant USA 1969. Dir: Arthur Penn. 111 min. Blu-ray Disc

Intrigued by the counterculture tale told in Arlo Guthrie’s epic 1967 talking-blues record “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” director Arthur Penn, co-scripting with playwright Venable Herndon, adapted the song into this 1969 feature. Hippie outsider Arlo (Guthrie, playing himself) encounters suspicion from the straight world; visits his dying father, legendary leftist activist and folk singer Woody Guthrie (played by actor Joseph Boley), in the hospital, joined by friend Pete Seeger (playing himself); and hangs out in the title converted church/commune created by his friends Alice and husband Ray. After Alice’s “Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat,” Arlo is arrested for littering by rule-following “Officer Obie” (cop William Obanhein, playing himself). The arrest helps Arlo avoid the Vietnam draft, but the commune is threatened when more personal, old-fashioned conflicts over sex and partnerships erupt in Alice and Ray’s alternative world. This was Penn’s feature follow-up to Bonnie and Clyde. THURSDAY, APRIL 14 – 7:00 PM.

This special screening is presented in conjunction with Arlo Guthrie’s performance at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on Thursday, April 21 at 8:00 pm. The Chan Centre Connects Series features film screenings, panel discussions, talks, and master classes, programmed in conjunction with the artists performing throughout the Chan Centre’s mainstage concert season. For more information on these events, please visit chancentre.com/connects www.chancentre.com

THE IMAGE A HISTORY OF FILM IN BRITISH COLUMBIA - TAKE 2 CONTINUED FROM JANUARY–FEBRUARY - Curated by Harry Killas It is time again to celebrate the innovative, iconoclastic, often astonishing cinematic heritage of British Columbia. “The Image Before Us” is a multi-year series of screenings presenting histories of film in British Columbia, inspired by The Image Before Us, written and directed by poet, scholar, and filmmaker Colin Browne in 1986. In that documentary essay film, Browne investigates and gently critiques the images of Vancouver that have been presented to us in many historic motion pictures, primarily newsreels and travelogues, produced in and about B.C. “What is the image before us?” Browne asks. “And how did it get that way?” How do we “read” our own films? If one focuses on this story or that image, what about the stories and images that have been left out? What stories and images have been presented and persist in our imaginaries of here? What others are not presented and consequently need to be? Browne’s rich, condensed, pungent, and ultimately moving work asks these questions that reverberate through our series: What do the films of British Columbia represent to us, and what are the cinematic narratives of here?

Harry Killas’s historical documentary films about British Columbia include Spilsbury’s Coast; Glowing in the Dark, on the history of Vancouver’s neon art and design; and Picture Start, about the first generation of Vancouver’s “photo-conceptual” artists. A graduate of NYU’s grad film program, Killas is currently working on an expanded version of Picture Start and on an autobiographical documentary, Greek to Me. He is an Associate Professor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

White Lake

Kissed

Canada 1989. Dir: Colin Browne. 80 min.

Canada 1996. Dir: Lynne Stopkewich. 78 min.

Family, memory, landscape, and absence are the subjects of the Genie-nominated White Lake, a poetic work of biographical documentary by Vancouver filmmaker and film archivist/historian Colin Browne, whose 1986 short The Image Before Us inspired this series. A mysterious great-grandfather and a family ranch in B.C.’s Okanagan are starting points for Browne’s deliberations. “White Lake is a film about absence and the way absence shapes time and memory. It is also about the delicate, fragile, tenacious construction of one’s past. At the same time, I was wondering about how landscape shapes consciousness and narrative. I had hoped that it would question the fundamental nature of the documentary portrait, and in a way it became an affirmation of the documentary gesture” (Browne). “One of the most rigorous and provocative re-imaginings of the documentary we have seen; its exceptional power rests in the apparent simplicity of its form, and the universality of its theme” (Vancouver I.F.F.).

UBC alumnus Lynne Stopkewich’s memorable first feature is undoubtedly the most tender and romantic film ever made about, uh, necrophilia. Adapted from a story by Barbara Gowdy and nominated for eight Genies, Kissed features the luminous Molly Parker in a star-making (and Geniewinning) performance as Sandra, a young woman whose girlhood fascination with the rituals of burying dead animals develops into a lifelong sensual attraction to death – and a sexual hankering for the corpses in the funeral home where she works! Peter Outerbridge co-stars as an intense young medical student who becomes obsessed with Sandra’s secret passion. In Stopkewich’s confident hands, the salacious subject matter makes for a film that is surprising delicate and disarming, yet electrifying. The striking images are by the talented Vancouver cinematographer Gregory Middleton.

preceded by

Canada 1999. Dir: Harry Killas. 17 min.

Strathyre Canada 1979. Dir: Colin Browne. 25 min.

In Colin Browne’s confident and freewheeling first film, he and friend Colin Ritchie go in search of a homestead near Kamloops called Strathyre, looking for evidence of an event that occurred more than six decades earlier, on the last weekend of October 1914. Guest in attendance: Colin Browne MONDAY, MARCH 7 – 7:00 PM

The Meaning of Life Canada 2008. Dir: Hugh Brody. 82 min.

The anthropologist, author, and documentary filmmaker Hugh Brody has had a long and distinguished career investigating Aboriginal issues in B.C. and Canada. The Meaning of Life documents an innovative program in B.C.’s Fraser Valley that uses First Nations culture as a method for rehabilitating Aboriginal prisoners convicted of the most serious crimes. The program is a collaboration between the Chehalis Nation and Correctional Service of Canada. The documentary, filmed over the course of two years at Kwìkwèxwelhp (formerly Elbow Lake Corrections Facility), ponders difficult questions of crime and punishment, and asks whether there is a justice system capable of incorporating forgiveness and redemption. Brody, who divides his time between Canada and his native Britain, is currently Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley. Guests in attendance: Hugh Brody (TBC), Colin Browne

Following up on the success of last year’s first season, “The Image – Take 2” shifts its focus to new themes and sub-themes: autobiography, family, the immigrant experience, American-Canadian relations, and sex. Come to the provocative and entertaining screenings in “The Image – Take 2” and be amazed. – Harry Killas

MONDAY, MARCH 14 – 7:00 PM

preceded by

Babette’s Feet In Harry Killas’s whimsical, witty romantic comedy about obsession, a restless man with a serious foot fetish finally meets the perfect (and perfectly fixated) partner. Starring Tom Scholte and Sarah-Jane Redmond. Guests in attendances: Lynne Stopkewich, Harry Killas MONDAY, MARCH 21 – 7:00 PM

BEFORE US

FAMILY PORTRAIT IN BLACK AND WHITE

Better than Chocolate

My Legacy

Canada 1999. Dir: Anne Wheeler. 101 min.

Canada 2014. Dir: Helen Haig-Brown. 60 min.

Love and sex are better than chocolate – and come in many flavours – in this good-hearted, Vancouver-set romantic comedy directed by oft-honoured Anne Wheeler (Loyalties, Bye Bye Blues) and written by Peggy Thompson. After young lesbians Maggie (Karyn Dwyer) and Kim (Christina Cox) fall in love and move in together, they must contend with the unexpected arrival of Maggie’s mom (Wendy Crewson) and teenage brother (Kevin Mundy), who aren’t aware that Maggie is gay. Meanwhile, transgendered Judy (Kissed’s Peter Outerbridge) has a crush on Frances (actor, author, and broadcaster Anne-Marie McDonald), a bookstore owner embroiled in a censorship battle. The film takes its title from a Sarah McLachlan lyric. The bookstore plotline riffs on the legal fight between Vancouver’s Little Sisters and Canada Customs. Women’s friendships have been a favourite Wheeler theme.

Award-winning Tsilhqot’in filmmaker Helen Haig-Brown, from B.C.’s Chilcotin Cariboo region, tackles the emotional legacy of Canada’s residential schools tragedy, and her own inability to commit to relationships, in the powerful My Legacy. “In this beautiful and highly personal experimental documentary, Helen Haig-Brown unravels the ways in which her own painful childhood is directly connected to her mother’s residential school experiences. The intergenerational effects of this devastating system on Helen’s family resulted in deeply ingrained beliefs about being unworthy of love. Through an evocative blend of animation and live action, the filmmaker shares her story of pain, anger, and forgiveness that ultimately leads to hope and healing” (imagineNATIVE Festival, Toronto).

preceded by

In Search of the Last Good Man Canada 1989. Dir: Peg Campbel. 10 min.

Peg Campbell’s Genie-winning short, co-written with Peggy Thompson, offers a satirical look at contemporary relationships. Six modern women gather in an espresso bar, waiting for that Last Good Man.

preceded by

Savage Canada 2009. Dir: Lisa Jackson. 6 min.

Anishinaabe filmmaker and SFU grad Lisa Jackson’s remarkable “residential school musical,” a genre-mixing depiction of a young girl’s journey into a dark part of Canadian history, won the Genie for best short.

Guests in attendances: Anne Wheeler, Peg Thompson, Sharon McGowan

Su Naa

MONDAY, APRIL 11 – 7:00 PM

Canada 2005. Dir: Helen Haig-Brown. 11 min.

Immigrant

Guest in attendance: Helen Haig-Brown (TBC)

Canada 2006. Dir: Bojan Bodruzic. 83 min.

Two Bosnian immigrants in Vancouver adapt to life in exile in this fine first feature by Sarajevo-born, Vancouver-based Bojan Bodruzic, multitasking as producer, director, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, composer, and actor! Told in nine chapters, the film follows two parallel story lines. In the first, young filmmaker Bojan takes his Canadian girlfriend Emily on a working trip to Bosnia, hoping it might strengthen their fraying relationship. In the second, refugee Enko, newly arrived in Vancouver, struggles with guilt, loneliness, and haunting memories of home. The film was selected for Canadian Front, an annual showcase presented by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. “An impressively disciplined criss-crosser that never loses its dramatic way forward, Immigrant marks a bold debut for all-in-one auteur Bodruzic . . . A thoughtful, accomplished work” (MOMA). preceded by

The Miracle

(MY BIG BROTHER) A young woman tries to resolve her guilt about the death of her brother. Best Experimental Film, imagineNATIVE Festival, 2005.

MONDAY, APRIL 25 – 7:00 PM

Family Portrait in Black and White Canada 2012. Dir: Julia Ivanova. 85 min.

Vancouver-based Julia Ivanova, who trained as a filmmaker in her native Moscow, is establishing herself as one of our finest documentarians. Family Portrait, a riveting look at racism and complicated compassion in post-Soviet Ukraine, was a hit at Sundance and won Best Canadian Feature honours at Hot Docs. In Sumy, a small city in north-eastern Ukraine, iron-willed Olga Nenya has raised a brood of 27 children, the majority of them mixed-race black kids abandoned by their mothers. In a society where racist attitudes seem prevalent and neoNazi skinheads are a peril, Olga’s dedication to her charges is especially remarkable. As Ivanova’s scrupulous film reveals, Olga, like most “saints,” is also a plainly flawed human being.

Canada 1999. Dir: Asghar Massombagi. 21 min.

preceded by

An immigrant from Iran roams the streets of Vancouver in search in of work. SFU grad Massombagi was born in Tehran and immigrated to Vancouver in 1986. Khaled, his acclaimed first feature, debuted at TIFF and VIFF in 2001.

Trauma

Guest in attendance: Bojan Bodruzic MONDAY, APRIL 18 – 7:00 PM

Canada 2015. Dir: Rafi Spivak. 20 min.

“Why don’t I have a single memory from Lithuania?” Returning to his birthplace after 35 years of absence, filmmaker Rafi Spivak tries to reconstruct lost moments with the help of his sister, who seems to be strangely invested in this personal narrative. Guests in attendances: Julia Ivanova (TBC), Rafi Spivak MONDAY, MAY 2 – 7:00 PM

MY LEGACY

SUN

MON

TUES

TICKETS

WED

DIM Cinema

Sessions: Kelley and Trecartin – 7:30 pm

MARCH 7

Essential Cinema

Spartacus – 7:00 pm

THURS

Seijun Suzuki

Story of a Prostitute – 6:30 pm Kanto Wanderer – 8:25 pm

The Cinematheque is recognized as an exempt non–profit film society under the B.C. Motion Picture Act, and as such is able to screen films that have not been reviewed by the B.C. Film Classification Office. Under the act, all persons attending cinematheque screenings must be members of the Pacific Cinémathèque Pacifique Society and be 18 years of age or older, unless otherwise indicated.

UCLA Festival of Preservation

The Long Voyage

Essential Cinema

Seijun Suzuki

Spartacus – 7:00 pm

Home – 6:30 pm Men in War – 8:30 pm

GUEST

BC Film History

White Lake + Strathyre – 7:00 pm

UCLA Festival of Preservation

The Meaning of Life – 7:00 pm

UCLA Festival of Preservation

Spring Night,

Summer Night – 6:30 pm

Me and the Boys – 4:30 pm

My Best Girl + The Son’s Return

Bachelor’s Affairs – 6:30 pm

+ A Manly Man – 8:10 pm

Sci-Fi Cinema Sunday

Galaxy Quest – 1:00 pm

GUEST

BC Film History

Kissed + Babette’s

Essential Cinema

Spartacus – 7:00 pm

UCLA Festival of Preservation

The First Legion – 6:30 pm

Seijun Suzuki

Gate of Flesh – 6:30 pm

Youth of the Beast – 6:30 pm

Youth of the Beast – 8:15 pm

NEW CINEMA 7 FAREWELL, CHANTAL 8

CHAN CENTRE CONNECTS 9

White Zombie – 6:30 pm

DiverCiné 2016

My Golden Days – 6:30 pm

DiverCiné 2016

Carte Blanche – 6:30 pm Run – 8:35 pm

Our Loved Ones – 8:50 pm

The Crime of Dr. Crespi – 8:00 pm

GUEST

Farewell, Chantal

Refreshments & Special

Farewell, Chantal

Jeanne Dielman – 7:00 pm

Farewell, Chantal

Jeanne Dielman – 7:00 pm

DiverCiné 2016

April and the Extraordinary World – 4:00 pm

Doors – 6:00pm

Hope – 6:30 pm

Grand Illusion – 8:25 pm

Jeanne Dielman – 7:00 pm

Héritages – 8:20 pm

Classic from Our Collection

The 39 Steps – 6:30 pm

Farewell, Chantal I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman – 4:30 pm

The Cinematheque’s 43rd Annual General Meeting 6:00pm

IN THIS ISSUE

ESSENTIAL CINEMA 6

UCLA Festival of Preservation

Stagecoach – 6:30 pm

Feet – 7:00 pm

Jeanne Dielman – 6:00 pm

Sam Klemke’s Time Machine –7:30 pm

GUEST

Frames of Mind

Introduction

Classics from Our Collection

GUEST

BC Film History

The Big Broadcast +

The Third Man – 8:15 pm

CLASSICS FROM OUR COLLECTION 9

SAT

Gate of Flesh – 8:15 pm

$3 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED FOR THOSE 18+

UCLA FESTIVAL OF PRESERVATION 2–5

Her Sister’s Secret – 8:15 pm

ALL SCREENINGS ARE RESTRICTED TO 18+ UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED

theCinematheque.ca

Kanto Wanderer – 6:30 pm Story of a Prostitute – 8:20 pm

HOW TO BUY TICKETS Day–of tickets go on sale at the Box Office 30 minutes before the first show of the evening. Advance tickets are available for credit card purchase at theCinematheque.ca ($1 service charge applies). Events, times, and prices are subject to change without notice.

Seijun Suzuki

FRI

New Cinema Cemetery of Splendour – 4:00 pm Farewell, Chantal I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman – 6:30 pm No Home Movie – 8:00 pm

Essential Cinema

Rocco and His

Farewell, Chantal

No Home Movie – 6:30 pm

New Cinema

Cemetery of

GUEST

BC Film History

Splendour – 6:30 pm

The Cinema of Chantal

Farewell, Chantal

Akerman – 8:45 pm

No Home Movie – 8:50 pm

Better than Chocolate

Farewell, Chantal No Home Movie – 6:30 pm Cemetery of Splendour – 8:45 pm

Essential Cinema

Rocco and His Brothers – 7:00 pm

Essential Cinema

Rocco and His Brothers – 7:00 pm

DIM Cinema

Eadweard Muybridge,

Chan Centre Connects

Alice’s Restaurant – 7:00 pm

Zoopraxographer – 7:30 pm

New Cinema

One Floor Below – 6:30 pm

A Second Chance – 8:20 pm

New Cinema

A Second Chance – 4:30 pm One Floor Below – 6:30 pm

Good Man – 7:00 pm

BC FILM HISTORY 10–11

New Cinema Cemetery of Splendour – 4:00 pm

APRIL 4–7, 2016

+ In Search of the Last

Brothers – 7:00 pm

Cemetery of

I Don’t Belong Anywhere:

CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS

APRIL

New Cinema

A Second Chance – 8:20 pm

IRELAND 2016 14–16 SEIJUN SUZUKI 17 DIVERCINÉ 2016 18–19

FRAMES OF MIND 20 DIM CINEMA 21 SCI-FI CINEMA SUNDAY 22

Rated G

Rated PG Rated 14A

APRIL AND THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD

Ireland 2016: Centenary

BC Film History

Immigrant + The

Frames of Mind

Hedi Schneider is Stuck – 7:30 pm

New Cinema

A Second Chance – 6:30 pm One Floor Below – 8:30 pm

Ireland 2016: Centenary

GUEST

Film Programme

Opening Night with Intro & Live Music

Ireland 2016: Centenary Film Programme

Ryan’s

Doors – 6:00pm

Daughter – 7:00 pm

Newsreel & Actuality Programme: Ireland 1916-23 – 7:00pm Young Cassidy – 8:15 pm

GUEST

BC Film History

Film Programme

My Legacy + Savage + Su Naa

1916: The Irish

(My Big Brother) – 7:00 pm

Ireland 2016: Centenary Film Programme

Mise Éire – 6:30 pm Rocky Road to Dublin + The Making of Rocky Road

Michael Collins – 6:30 pm

GUEST

Miracle – 7:00 pm

Rebellion – 5:00 pm

Rated 18A BACKGROUND IMAGE:

Sci-Fi Cinema Sunday Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home – 1:00 pm New Cinema One Floor Below – 4:30 pm A Second Chance – 6:30 pm One Floor Below – 8:30 pm

GUEST

to Dublin – 8:15 pm

GUEST

BC Film History

Family Portrait in Black and White + Trauma – 7:00 pm

MAY

Ireland 2016: Centenary

Film Programme

The Plough and the

Ryan’s Daughter – 7:00 pm

Stars – 6:30 pm Young Cassidy – 8:00 pm

Ireland 2016: Centenary Film Programme

The Wind That Shakes the Barley – 6:30 pm This Other Eden – 9:00 pm

SUN

MON

TUES

TICKETS

WED

DIM Cinema

Sessions: Kelley and Trecartin – 7:30 pm

MARCH 7

Essential Cinema

Spartacus – 7:00 pm

THURS

Seijun Suzuki

Story of a Prostitute – 6:30 pm Kanto Wanderer – 8:25 pm

UCLA Festival of Preservation

The Long Voyage

Essential Cinema

Seijun Suzuki

Spartacus – 7:00 pm

Home – 6:30 pm Men in War – 8:30 pm

GUEST

BC Film History

White Lake + Strathyre – 7:00 pm

UCLA Festival of Preservation

The Meaning of Life – 7:00 pm

UCLA Festival of Preservation

Spring Night,

Summer Night – 6:30 pm

Me and the Boys – 4:30 pm

My Best Girl + The Son’s Return

Bachelor’s Affairs – 6:30 pm

+ A Manly Man – 8:10 pm

Sci-Fi Cinema Sunday

Galaxy Quest – 1:00 pm

GUEST

BC Film History

Kissed + Babette’s

Essential Cinema

Spartacus – 7:00 pm

UCLA Festival of Preservation

The First Legion – 6:30 pm

Seijun Suzuki

Gate of Flesh – 6:30 pm

Youth of the Beast – 6:30 pm

Youth of the Beast – 8:15 pm

NEW CINEMA 7 FAREWELL, CHANTAL 8

CHAN CENTRE CONNECTS 9

White Zombie – 6:30 pm

DiverCiné 2016

My Golden Days – 6:30 pm

DiverCiné 2016

Carte Blanche – 6:30 pm Run – 8:35 pm

Our Loved Ones – 8:50 pm

The Crime of Dr. Crespi – 8:00 pm

GUEST

Farewell, Chantal

Refreshments & Special

Farewell, Chantal

Jeanne Dielman – 7:00 pm

Farewell, Chantal

Jeanne Dielman – 7:00 pm

DiverCiné 2016

April and the Extraordinary World – 4:00 pm

Doors – 6:00pm

Hope – 6:30 pm

Grand Illusion – 8:25 pm

Jeanne Dielman – 7:00 pm

Héritages – 8:20 pm

Classic from Our Collection

The 39 Steps – 6:30 pm

Farewell, Chantal I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman – 4:30 pm

The Cinematheque’s 43rd Annual General Meeting 6:00pm

IN THIS ISSUE

ESSENTIAL CINEMA 6

UCLA Festival of Preservation

Stagecoach – 6:30 pm

Feet – 7:00 pm

Jeanne Dielman – 6:00 pm

Sam Klemke’s Time Machine –7:30 pm

GUEST

Frames of Mind

Introduction

Classics from Our Collection

GUEST

BC Film History

The Big Broadcast +

The Third Man – 8:15 pm

CLASSICS FROM OUR COLLECTION 9

SAT

Gate of Flesh – 8:15 pm

$3 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED FOR THOSE 18+

UCLA FESTIVAL OF PRESERVATION 2–5

Her Sister’s Secret – 8:15 pm

ALL SCREENINGS ARE RESTRICTED TO 18+ UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED

theCinematheque.ca

Kanto Wanderer – 6:30 pm Story of a Prostitute – 8:20 pm

Seijun Suzuki

FRI

New Cinema Cemetery of Splendour – 4:00 pm Farewell, Chantal I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman – 6:30 pm No Home Movie – 8:00 pm

Essential Cinema

Rocco and His

Farewell, Chantal

No Home Movie – 6:30 pm

New Cinema

Cemetery of

GUEST

BC Film History

Splendour – 6:30 pm

The Cinema of Chantal

Farewell, Chantal

Akerman – 8:45 pm

No Home Movie – 8:50 pm

Better than Chocolate

Farewell, Chantal No Home Movie – 6:30 pm Cemetery of Splendour – 8:45 pm

Essential Cinema

Rocco and His Brothers – 7:00 pm

Essential Cinema

Rocco and His Brothers – 7:00 pm

DIM Cinema

Eadweard Muybridge,

Chan Centre Connects

Alice’s Restaurant – 7:00 pm

Zoopraxographer – 7:30 pm

New Cinema

One Floor Below – 6:30 pm

A Second Chance – 8:20 pm

New Cinema

A Second Chance – 4:30 pm One Floor Below – 6:30 pm

Good Man – 7:00 pm

BC FILM HISTORY 10–11

New Cinema Cemetery of Splendour – 4:00 pm

APRIL 4–7, 2016

+ In Search of the Last

Brothers – 7:00 pm

Cemetery of

I Don’t Belong Anywhere:

CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS

APRIL

New Cinema

A Second Chance – 8:20 pm

IRELAND 2016 14–16 SEIJUN SUZUKI 17 DIVERCINÉ 2016 18–19

FRAMES OF MIND 20 DIM CINEMA 21 SCI-FI CINEMA SUNDAY 22

Rated G

Rated PG Rated 14A

APRIL AND THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD

Ireland 2016: Centenary

BC Film History

Immigrant + The

Frames of Mind

Hedi Schneider is Stuck – 7:30 pm

New Cinema

A Second Chance – 6:30 pm One Floor Below – 8:30 pm

Ireland 2016: Centenary

GUEST

Film Programme

Opening Night with Intro & Live Music

Ireland 2016: Centenary Film Programme

Ryan’s

Doors – 6:00pm

Daughter – 7:00 pm

Newsreel & Actuality Programme: Ireland 1916-23 – 7:00pm Young Cassidy – 8:15 pm

GUEST

BC Film History

Film Programme

My Legacy + Savage + Su Naa

1916: The Irish

(My Big Brother) – 7:00 pm

Ireland 2016: Centenary Film Programme

Mise Éire – 6:30 pm Rocky Road to Dublin + The Making of Rocky Road

Michael Collins – 6:30 pm

GUEST

Miracle – 7:00 pm

Rebellion – 5:00 pm

Rated 18A BACKGROUND IMAGE:

Sci-Fi Cinema Sunday Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home – 1:00 pm New Cinema One Floor Below – 4:30 pm A Second Chance – 6:30 pm One Floor Below – 8:30 pm

GUEST

to Dublin – 8:15 pm

GUEST

BC Film History

Family Portrait in Black and White + Trauma – 7:00 pm

MAY

Ireland 2016: Centenary

Film Programme

The Plough and the

Ryan’s Daughter – 7:00 pm

Stars – 6:30 pm Young Cassidy – 8:00 pm

Ireland 2016: Centenary Film Programme

The Wind That Shakes the Barley – 6:30 pm This Other Eden – 9:00 pm

IRELAND 2016 CENTENARY FILM PROGRAMME Co-presented by the Irish Film Institute, the Embassy of Ireland, and The Cinematheque April 24 marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the 1916 Easter Rising, also known as the Easter Rebellion, a crucial moment in the history of Ireland’s struggle for independence and the ultimate creation of a sovereign Irish state. This special film program, curated by the Irish Film Institute, and featuring films by an array of prominent directors, including John Ford, David Lean, Neil Jordan, and Ken Loach, reveals how the events of 1916-1923 and their aftermath have continued to captured the imagination of filmmakers, both Irish and foreign, who have created a substantial body of work from a range of perspectives. Acknowledgments: The Cinematheque is grateful to the Embassy of Ireland (Ottawa) and the Irish Film Institute (Dublin) for their support of this program.

Opening Night!

Refreshments + Special Introduction + Film Screening with Live Musical Accompaniment! FRIDAY, APRIL 22

6:00 pm – Doors 7:00 pm – Introduction by Brian McIlroy + “Newsreel & Actuality Programme: Ireland 1916-23” with Live Music 8:15 pm – Young Cassidy Brian McIlroy is Professor of Film Studies at the University of British Columbia, where he teaches an online course on Irish cinema. He is the author or editor of three books on Irish cinema, including Genre and Cinema: Ireland and Transnationalism (Routledge, 2007).

Live Musical Accompaniment!

Newsreel & Actuality Programme: Ireland 1916-23

This compilation programme is comprised of newsreel, actuality, and other silent, non-fiction film footage documenting events in Ireland between 1916 and 1923 and sourced from international archives such as the Imperial War Museum, British Pathé, and other news agencies. The programme with be presented with live musical accompaniment. Running time: approx. 45 min. FRIDAY, APRIL 22

Opening Night with Refreshments and Special Introduction 6:00 pm Doors 7:00 pm Introduction by Brian McIlroy & Screening with Live Music

Young Cassidy

Great Britain 1965. Dirs: Jack Cardiff, John Ford. 110 min.

The early years of Irish playwright and patriot Sean O’Casey are brought to life in this polished, intelligent, shot-in-Dublin screen drama, co-directed by Jack Cardiff and John Ford. Rod Taylor (The Birds, The Time Machine) gives perhaps his finest performance as Cassidy (as O’Casey referred to himself in his autobiographic writings), a young writer, labourer, and freedom fighter who comes to realize that his powerful pen can be a mighty sword. The film begins in 1911, with opposition to British rule on the rise. The powerhouse cast includes Maggie Smith, Julie Christie, Edith Evans (as Lady Augusta Gregory), and Michael Redgrave (as W. B. Yeats). Ford (whose O’Casey adaptation The Plough and the Stars also screens in this series) fell ill mid-production and was replaced by Cardiff, director of an Oscar-honoured adaptation of Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers but best known as one of the great cinematographers (The Red Shoes). FRIDAY, APRIL 22 – 8:15 PM THURSDAY, APRIL 28 – 8:00 PM

THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY

Ryan’s Daughter

Michael Collins

Dir: David Lean. 206 min.

Dir: Neil Jordan. 132 min.

David Lean was on the epic run that included Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago when he directed this Madame Bovary-inspired drama set in a small Irish village during the 1916 Troubles. Sarah Miles is the married woman who has a scandalous affair with a shell-shocked British officer (Christopher Jones); Robert Mitchum is her much-older husband, the local schoolteacher. John Mills won an Oscar for his supporting role as a developmentally-challenged villager. Freddie Young’s sumptuous cinematography also won an Oscar – Young’s third, after his statuettes for Lawrence and Zhivago. A hit with audiences but not critics, “Ryan’s Daughter is arguably the most visually-impressive film ever made in Ireland . . . The production was long and drawn out while Lean waited for perfect weather conditions for his many and spectacular outdoor scenes . . . the breadth of which can only be fully appreciated on the big screen” (Alice Butler, Irish Film Institute).

Liam Neeson is Irish Republican hero Michael Collins in writer-director Neil Jordan’s ambitious, contentious historical drama, winner of the Golden Lion and Best Actor prize at Venice. Denounced by the press in Britain, broaching taboo subjects and breaking box-office records in Ireland, Michael Collins traces the soldier and politician’s key role in seismic Irish events from the 1916 Rising to the 1922 outbreak of civil war. Alan Rickman plays rival leader Éamon de Valera; Julia Roberts and Aidan Quinn provide romantic intrigue; and Ian Hart and Stephen Rea have roles. “A dense, stirring tale . . . This is Jordan’s most ambitious and satisfying movie – a thriller with a real sense of scale, pace, menace, and moral import” (Geoff Andrew, Time Out). “Powerful . . . Without sacrificing its credibility, Jordan gives the story some of the panache – and moral complexity – of a gangster saga” (Tom Charity, The Rough Guide to Film).

Great Britain 1970.

Ireland/Great Britain/USA 1996.

SUNDAY, APRIL 24 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, APRIL 23 – 7:00 PM FRIDAY, APRIL 29 – 7:00 PM

APRIL 24TH CENTENNIAL 1916-2016

1916: The Irish Rebellion

USA/Ireland 2016. Dir: Pat Collins. 70 min.

Narrated by Michael Collins star Liam Neeson and produced by the Keogh-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, this new documentary recounts Ireland’s historic Easter Rising, which began exactly 100 years ago – on April 24, 1916. “On Easter Monday 1916, a small group of Irish rebels – including poets, teachers, actors and workers – took on the might of the British Empire. Although defeated militarily, the men and women of the Easter Rising would soon win a moral victory – with their actions leading to the creation of an independent Irish state and contributing to the eventual disintegration of the British empire. They have inspired countless freedom struggles throughout the world – from Ireland to India” (Keogh-Naughton Institute).

Mise Éire Ireland 1959.

Dir: George Morrison. 88 min.

“Produced by the pioneering Irish-language advocacy group Gael Linn, Mise Éire draws almost exclusively on contemporaneous newspapers, newsreels, and actuality footage from the early years of Ireland’s revolutionary period to present a history of that turbulence. The era under director George Morrison’s microscope is divided into three segments and spans from the late years of the nineteenth century through to the 1916 Rising and concluding with Sinn Fein’s electoral victory in 1918, a triumph that would be a precursor to revolution. The film’s approach to this history is avowedly patriotic, celebrating as heroes and martyrs those who involved themselves in the radical nationalist movement. The film is notable for the invaluable work of archival salvage undertaken by Morrison in identifying and preserving moving images in Irish and British collections to create this feature-length montage” (Irish Film Institute). WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27 – 6:30 PM

SUNDAY, APRIL 24 – 5:00 PM

Rocky Road to Dublin Ireland 1967. Dir: Peter Lennon. 70 min.

“Rocky Road to Dublin is a 1968 documentary film by Irish-born journalist Peter Lennon and French cinematographer Raoul Coutard (long-time collaborator of Jean-Luc Godard), examining the contemporary state of the Republic of Ireland, posing the question, “what do you do with your revolution once you’ve got it?” It argues that Ireland was dominated by cultural isolationism, Gaelic and clerical traditionalism at the time of its making. Astonishingly, this film, selected by the Cannes Festival to represent Ireland in 1968 and immediately shown across Europe and North America, was shunned in Ireland. Apart from one brief run in 1968 at the Dublin International Film Theatre it was never accepted for commercial or television release in Ireland until the 2000s. This is the film that, in the late ’60s, shattered Ireland’s complacent view of itself as a liberated country” (Sunniva O’Flynn, Irish Film Institute). FOLLOWED BY

The Making of Rocky Road to Dublin Ireland 2004. Dir: Paul Duane. 30 min.

Made during Rocky Road to Dublin’s revival in the 2000s, this 30-minute film recounts the fascinating story behind Peter Lennon’s iconoclastic 1967 documentary, including its de facto banning in Ireland, its role in the 1968 Paris riots, and its popular resurgence decades after it was made. Featuring interviews with Lennon and cameraman Raoul Coutard. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27 – 8:15 PM

The Plough and the Stars USA 1937. Dir: John Ford. 72 min.

Hollywood heavyweight John Ford, proud of his Irish heritage, directed several “Irish” films. Two of them, The Informer and The Quiet Man, won Best Director Oscars. Made not long after The Informer, The Plough and the Stars adapts the Sean O’Casey play that caused a riot at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre in 1926. Barbara Stanwyck plays Nora Clitheroe, a fearful wife clashing with her husband Jack (Preston Foster) over his involvement in the 1916 Irish uprising. Ford wanted to import the entire cast of the original Dublin stage production; RKO studio, however, insisted on Stanwyck in the lead (and also fiddled with the film’s final cut). Many of the original Irish players do appear, including Barry Fitzgerald, here beginning his long Hollywood career. In 1965’s Young Cassidy – also screening in this series – Ford dramatized playwright O’Casey’s life and the controversy surrounding his 1926 play. THURSDAY, APRIL 28 – 6:30 PM

The Wind That Shakes the Barley Great Britain/Ireland 2006. Dir: Ken Loach. 127 min.

Veteran left-wing director Ken Loach’s incendiary drama, set during Ireland’s War of Independence and subsequent Civil War, won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2006. Cillian Murphy is young revolutionary Damien O’Donovan, who abandons a medical career to join his brother Teddy (Pádraic Delaney) in the battle against the British. When a divisive treaty with the Brits sparks civil war amongst the Irish, the brothers finds themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham co-stars. The script is by Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, Loach’s regular partner since 1996’s Carla’s Song. “A sombrely beautiful dream of the violent Irish past . . . Loach has made a film for our moment, a time of bewildering internecine warfare” (David Denby, The New Yorker). “Enthralling . . . As alive and troubling as anything on the evening news, though far more thoughtful and beautiful” (A. O. Scott, New York Times). SATURDAY, APRIL 30 – 6:30 PM

This Other Eden Ireland 1959. Dir: Muriel Box. 80 min.

“The first Irish feature to be directed by a woman, This Other Eden is a comedy set in 1945 where the erection of a statue of patriot martyr Jack Carberry creates problems in a small town. With the return of strong-willed Máire McRoarty (Audrey Dalton) following her exile at an English school to protect her from an unsuitable suitor, and the arrival of Englishman Crispin Brown (Leslie Phillips), long-held secrets begin to emerge that explode the mythology surrounding Carberry’s and Ireland’s past. With a fine supporting cast of Abbey Theatre players and star turns from Milo O’Shea and Hilton Edwards, This Other Eden is not just a critique of the past but a witty and complex comment on an emergent modern Ireland” (Sunniva O’Flynn, Irish Film Institute). SATURDAY, APRIL 30 – 9:00 PM

1916: THE IRISH REBELLION

Continued from February

AAncatinarcdonhy the films of

Seijun Suzuki 鈴木清順

Co-presented with The Japan Foundation Running February 20-March 12, 2016, The Cinematheque’s presentation of the films of Japanese B-movie maverick and master Seijun Suzuki showcases ten remarkable works from this irreverent, deliriously stylish, outrageously entertaining director’s peak period, the 1960s, and includes all his greatest hits. Acknowledgements: This travelling retrospective was programmed and organized by Tom Vick, Curator of Film, Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution (Washington D.C.). It was co-organized by and is co-presented with The Japan Foundation. Film notes by Tom Vick, Freer and Sackler Galleries. Final screenings in the series March 2-3 & March 11-12. Full series introduction and program notes can be found in our January/February 2016 Program Guide and online at theCinematheque.ca

春婦伝

肉体の門

(Shunpu den)

(Nikutai no mon)

Story of a Prostitute

Gate of Flesh

Japan 1965. Dir: Seijun Suzuki. 96 min. 35mm

Japan 1964. Dir: Seijun Suzuki. 90 min. 35mm

Suzuki favourite Yumiko Nogawa gives perhaps her most ferocious performance in this scathing portrayal of Japanese militarism preWWII. Sent with six other comfort women to service a garrison of some 1,000 men in Manchuria during the Sino-Japanese War, Nogawa’s Harumi is brutalized by a vicious lieutenant who wants her as his personal property. Meanwhile, she falls in love with his gentle young assistant. Taijiro Tamura’s novel was previously made into 1950’s much-sanitized Escape at Dawn (scripted by Kurosawa). Working in B-movies allowed Suzuki to use the genre’s expected sex and violence to advance the view he shared with Tamura: “that the sex-drive is a crucial part of the human will to live” (Tony Rayns). “The movie that proves Suzuki should be lifted out of the limiting category of the Asia Extreme cult directors and placed at the grown-ups’ table” (David Chute, The Criterion Current). Print courtesy The Japan Foundation.

Part social realist drama, part sadomasochistic trash opera, Gate of Flesh paints a dog-eat-dog portrait of postwar Tokyo. The film takes the point of view of a gang of tough prostitutes working out of a bombed-out building. When a lusty ex-soldier lurches into their midst, the group’s most sensitive member is tempted to break one of its most important rules: no falling in love. From the women’s bold, colour-coded dresses to the unorthodox use of superimposition effects and theatrical lighting, this is Suzuki at his most astonishingly inventive. “Not infrequently shocking . . . Visual stylization reaches new heights in Suzuki’s vehement and convulsive adaptation of Taijiro Tamura’s notorious novel” (Tony Rayns). Print courtesy The Japan Foundation.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 – 6:30 PM THURSDAY, MARCH 3 – 8:20 PM

関東無宿

Kanto Wanderer (Kantô mushuku)

Japan 1963. Dir: Seijun Suzuki. 92 min. 35mm

Based on a book by Taiko Hirabayashi, one of Japan’s most famous female novelists, Kanto Wanderer puts a Suzukian spin on the classic yakuza movie conflict between giri (duty) and ninjo (humanity). Nikkatsu superstar Akira Kobayashi plays Katsuta, a fearsome yakuza bodyguard torn between defending his boss against a rival gang leader and his obsession with Tatsuko, a femme fatale who reappears from his past. Suzuki uses this traditional story to experiment with colour and to indulge his interest in Kabuki theatre techniques and effects, most notably in the stunning final battle, in which the scenery falls away to reveal a field of pure blood red. “As an example of Suzuki’s mid-period output at Nikkatsu, Kanto Wanderer offers us an inspiring sample of experimentation on assignment” (Margaret BartonFumo, Senses of Cinema). Print courtesy The Japan Foundation.

FRIDAY, MARCH 11 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, MARCH 12 – 8:15 PM

野獣の青春

Youth of the Beast (Yajû no seishu)

Japan 1963. Dir: Seijun Suzuki. 91 min. 35mm

Suzuki himself claims that 1963 was the year when he truly came into his own, and Youth of the Beast is one of his breakthroughs. In his second collaboration with the director, Jo Shishido rampages through the movie, playing a disgraced ex-cop pitting two yakuza gangs against each other to avenge the death of a fellow officer. As the double and triple crosses mount, Suzuki fills the frame with lurid colours, striking compositions, and boldly theatrical effects that signal a director breaking away from genre material to forge a pulp art form all his own. “Hot stuff . . . Suzuki raises the genre’s visual rhetoric to a new high. Who else would park a gay yakuza in a pink limo under matching cherry blossoms?” (Tony Rayns, Time Out). Print courtesy The Japan Foundation. FRIDAY, MARCH 11 – 8:15 PM SATURDAY, MARCH 12 – 6:30 PM

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 – 8:25 PM THURSDAY, MARCH 3 – 6:30 PM

My Golden Days

(Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse) France 2015. Dir: Arnaud Desplechin. 123 min. DCP

One of France’s most prodigious and internationally-admired filmmakers, Arnaud Desplechin (Kings and Queens, A Christmas Tale) revisits the carnal-minded characters of 1996’s My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument, his early art-house triumph, for this lush, loose, coming-of-age prequel/sequel. A-list actor Mathieu Amalric reprises his César-winning role as romancer Paul Dédalus, now a middle-aged professor preparing to return to Paris after a stint in Tajikistan. Detained by authorities for suspected spy activity, Dédalus slips into reverie and sets up the film’s time-wrinkling, tripartite flashback structure where childhood traumas, amateur espionage, and an admirably cliché-free account of amour de jeunesse — featuring a marvellous turn by newcomer Quentin Dolmaire as a young Paul — unfold in Desplechin’s characteristically rich, emotionally on-point fashion. “Touchingly personal . . . Effortlessly captures the liminal state between a halcyon past and an unknown yet tantalising future” (Jordan Cronk, Sight & Sound). FRIDAY, MARCH 18 – 6:30 PM

Our Loved Ones (Les êtres chers)

Canada 2015. Dir: Anne Émond. 102 min. DCP

Four years after her stunning first feature Nuit #1 made waves on the festival circuit, Montreal-based filmmaker Anne Émond confirms her status as Canada’s to-watch cinéaste with this ante-upping sophomore effort, an ambitious, multi-decade-spanning family drama that, despite its expanded scope, maintains the intimacy and emotional know-what of Émond’s award-winning debut. Selected for Canada’s Top Ten 2015, Our Loved Ones traces the lasting fallout of a patriarch’s suicide on a Quebecois family over two generations. Denis Villeneuve favourite Maxim Gaudette (Polytechnique, Incendies) is eldest son David, a marionette maker who, unaware that his father hanged himself, must contend with his own melancholic state when he discovers the truth. His teenage daughter (Karelle Tremblay) wrestles with the fear that it’s hereditary. “Impressive . . . Marks a decisive step up for Quebec director Émond” (Boyd van Hoeij, Hollywood Reporter). FRIDAY, MARCH 18 – 8:50 PM

Carte Blanche

Poland 2015. Dir: Jacek Lusinski. 106 min. DCP

Fast-rising Polish director Jacek Lusinski draws from the real-life story of a high school teacher going blind for his surefooted second feature, an emotionally-nuanced, convention-skirting bio-drama told with refreshing intelligence and level-headed optimism. Diagnosed with a genetic disorder that will inevitably take his sight, much-loved history teacher Kacper (Andrzej Chyra, top-biller of Andrzej Wajda’s Oscar-nominated Katyn) decides to keep his blindness a secret, fearing the truth may jeopardize his job and ability to prepare his pupils for term exams. His unwillingness to disclose his condition is tested when a rebellious student’s own secret surfaces. Carte Blanche was awarded the Grand Jury Prix at last year’s Shanghai International Film Festival from a jury led by revered Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev (Leviathan, The Return). SATURDAY, MARCH 19 – 6:30 PM

HOPE

elebrating the creative and cultural diversity of the French-speaking world, Festival DiverCiné is an annual festival of acclaimed new cinema from around la Francophonie, the international community of countries and governments linked by their use of French as a common language and by their shared values.

Festival DiverCiné is organized by the Embassy of France in Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage, and is presented in Vancouver in partnership with The Cinematheque. All films screen in their original language with English subtitles.

Run

Ivory Coast/France 2014. Dir: Philippe Lacôte. 102 min. DCP

The first-ever Ivorian feature to premiere at Cannes (it was selected for Un Certain Regard, which champions bold and original filmmaking), writer-director Philippe Lacôte’s full-length debut is a vibrant, elliptical, mystically-imbued work of political dissidence in dialogue with Ivory Coast’s recent past. Told through the eyes, or rather the memories, of the film’s eponymous hero – known as Run because of his relentless need to flee — Run traces the twisting, life-spanning events leading up to his assassination of the Ivorian Prime Minister, which forces Run on the lam yet again. His history, including a spiritual education derailed by act of extreme, senseless violence, is painted with equal parts oneirism and unflinching realism, a testament to the surreality of life during wartime. “A film that feels both deeply personal and urgent . . . The current hotness of African cinema just got a little hotter” (Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter). SATURDAY, MARCH 19 – 8:35 PM

All-Ages Matinee!

April and the Extraordinary World (Avril et le monde truqué)

France/Belgium/Canada 2015. Dirs: Christian Desmares, Franck Ekinci. 105 min. DCP

What if France’s Industrial Revolution stalled at the Age of Steam? That’s what directors Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci (along with Snowpiercer-scribe Benjamin Legrand) explore in this ravishing, whip-smart animated adaptation of beloved French graphic novelist Jacques Tardi’s steampunk adventure. Set in a dystopian, smog-choked 1940s Paris still mired in Napoleonic rule and steam-power technology, April and the Extraordinary World sets its titular young heroine (voiced by French treasure Marion Cotillard) on a search for her missing parents, a pair of scientists whose puzzling disappearance, along with countless others, have prevented the electrical era from occurring. Faithfully rendered in Tardi’s retro, ligne claire style — a pared-down approach made famous by Hergé’s The Adventures of Tintin, a clear touchstone — this imaginative, beautifully hand-drawn sci-fi whodunit is “a film with instant-classic appeal . . . The rare toon that leaves kids inspired not to buy toys, but to make the world a better place” (Peter Debruge, Variety). SATURDAY, MARCH 26 – 4:00 PM

Hope

France 2014. Dir: Boris Lojkine. 92 min. DCP

In his acclaimed fiction-feature debut, French documentarian Boris Lojkine depicts with sobering frankness and credibility the harrowing journey of two African migrants seeking refuge in Europe. Travelling north through the Sahara in a truck full of Cameroonian men, the eponymous (and symbolicallyloaded) Hope, a young Nigerian en route to Spain, is raped and abandoned in southern Algeria; Léonard, a fellow passenger, then commits himself to Hope’s protection and safe passage. An award-winner at Cannes’ Critics’ Week, Lojkine’s affecting feature is buoyed by intuitive, lived-in performances by its nonprofessional cast — all real-life migrants — and a poignant score by Montrealer David Bryant, member of the post-rock outfit Godspeed You! Black Emperor. “From its ensemble to its production design, no element of the nightmarish story world in Hope feels imagined or ill considered” (Guy Lodge, Variety). SATURDAY, MARCH 26 – 6:30 PM

Héritages (Mirath)

Lebanon/France 2013. Dir: Philippe Aractingi. 100 min. DCP

Franco-Lebanese filmmaker Philippe Aractingi (Under the Bombs) turns his attention inward for his latest rumination on the Lebanese experience, a deeply personal, multi-generational portrait of his own family’s recurrent exile from, and return to, their war-plagued motherland. Marrying home movies, staged re-enactments, and archival footage, Aractingi’s affecting (and unconventional) autobio-doc uses the émigré director’s most recent flight from Lebanon — precipitated by the onset of the 2006 conflict — to throw into relief an ancestral pattern of displacement dating back to his great-greatgrandfather’s escape during the Druze-Maronite Massacre of 1860. Spurred by the desire to explore a hitherto hidden past with his children — “a past not to be told” – Aractingi deftly weaves a tragic, familial heritage through the benchmarks of Middle Eastern history with poise and surprising levity, in part due to his camera-loving family members playing dual roles as themselves and century-spanning forebears. “A poignant, elegant tapestry about the meaning of exile” (Jay Weissberg, Variety). SATURDAY, MARCH 26 – 8:20 PM

HEDI SCHNEIDER IS STUCK

A Monthly Mental Health Film Series Presented by The Cinematheque and the Institute of Mental Health, UBC Department of Psychiatry

he Cinematheque is pleased to join with the Institute of Mental Health, UBC Department of Psychiatry in presenting “Frames of Mind,” a monthly event utilizing film and video to promote professional and community education on issues pertaining to mental health and illness. Screenings, accompanied by presentations and audience discussions, are held on the third Wednesday of each month.

Series directed by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Director of Public Education, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia. Programmed by Caroline Coutts, film curator, filmmaker, and programmer of “Frames of Mind” since its inception in September 2002.

Sam Klemke’s Time Machine Australia 2015. Dir: Matthew Bate. 90 min. Blu-ray Disc

In 1977, at the age of 19, Colorado native Sam Klemke used his Super-8 camera to record the first of his annual “personal status reports,” frank and unwaveringly honest self-portraits that would continue for the next 35 years. In front of our eyes, Klemke morphs from a self-important teenager “destined for greatness” into a bewildered and floundering twentysomething still living in his parents’ basement. From a self-loathing 30-year-old struggling with never-realized goals, unemployment, problems with women, and binge eating, and onwards into his more philosophical 50s, Klemke’s optimism and indomitable sense of humour remain intact. Throughout, director Matthew Bate cleverly parallels Klemke’s story with that of the 1977 Voyager 1 space launch and its onboard Golden Record, a rose-tinted portrait of humanity’s greatest achievements. “An existential message in a bottle . . . An adventuresome, unclassifiable feature” (Dennis Harvey, Variety). Post-screening discussion with Dr. Rene Weideman, a registered psychologist in private practice and a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Weideman worked previously as the Coordinator of the Outpatient Psychiatry Program at Vancouver General Hospital and as the Director of the Clinical Psychology Centre at Simon Fraser University. Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 – 7:30 PM

Vancouver Premiere!

Hedi Schneider is Stuck (Hedi Schneider steckt fest)

Germany/Norway 2015. Dir: Sonja Heiss. 90 min. DCP

Aptly characterized as a “German angst comedy,” this is the story of Hedi, an offbeat, happy-go-lucky thirtysomething living a semi-bohemian life with her loving husband, Uli, and their mischievous 4-year-old son, Finn. Life is good, until very suddenly, it isn’t. Out of nowhere, Hedi is struck by a panic attack, followed swiftly by crushing anxiety and a fullblown depression. Doctors provide little explanation, but medication is prescribed (“only for emergencies”). As Uli and Finn struggle to adapt to their new reality, Hedi becomes increasingly dependent on tranquilizers, inspiring some achingly tragicomic scenes, such as when a doped-up Hedi visits an exotic pet store to buy back Finn’s affections. Without ever negating the seriousness of the topic at hand, the film treats clinical depression with a light touch and extraordinarily tender humour, exploring love, family, and our hold on “normal life”’ as the very fragile things they are. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Trish Nolan. Dr. Nolan joined the Mood Disorders Association Clinic in 2015. She also holds positions at the UBC Mood Disorders Centre of Excellence and the Reproductive Psychiatry Program at St. Paul’s Hospital. She has a passion for general outpatient psychiatry, which integrates an understanding of medications and evidence-based psychotherapies to improve patient outcomes. Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia. Co-sponsored by The Mood Disorders Association of BC (MDABC) WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20 – 7:30 PM

SAM KLEMKE’S TIME MACHINE

EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE, ZOOPRAXOGRAPHER

Moving-image art in dialogue with cinema Programmed by Michèle Smith, co-editor of the art journal Drawing Room Confessions.

www.dimcinema.ca

Sessions: Kelley and Trecartin

Two rarely seen videos highlight the impact of language, translation, and silence on the work of American artists Mike Kelley and Ryan Trecartin. Kelley’s silent, two-fold video Test Room… and A Dance… jumps between protocols of scientific animal study and modernist choreography in a surreal laboratory environment. A unique version of Trecartin’s The Re’Search (Re’Search Wait’S) made for a 2014 exhibition at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing premieres here for the first time outside China. The “movie” – a term deliberately used by the artist to describe his films – adopted Mandarin subtitles for that exhibition, further complicating Trecartin’s repurposing and layering of language. Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known to Elicit Curiosity and Manipulatory Responses and A Dance Incorporating Movements Derived from Experiments by Harry F. Harlow and Choreographed in the Manner of Martha Graham | Mike Kelley/USA 1999. 60 min. The Re’Search (Re’Search Wait’S) | Ryan Trecartin/USA 2009-10. 40 min. Programmed in conjunction with the exhibition My House: Mike Kelley and Ryan Trecartin at Presentation House Gallery, December 19, 2015 - March 3, 2016, curated by Tobin Gibson. presentationhousegallery.org TUESDAY, MARCH 1 – 7:30 PM

Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer USA 1975. Dir: Thom Andersen. 59 min. DCP

Thom Andersen’s extraordinary meditation on the nature of vision, a project that began as a UCLA film thesis for which the aspiring filmmaker re-photographed thousands of Muybridge images, is “at once a biography of Muybridge, a re-animation of his historic sequential photographs, and an inspired examination of their philosophical implications . . . The ‘zoopraxography’ of the title speaks to both Muybridge’s practice of motion study — as distinct from photography — and his 1879 device, which enabled the images’ projection. As such, it foregrounds Muybridge’s role in the invention of cinema, and cinema itself as an illusion arising from stillness” (Ross Lipman, UCLA). Preceded by a reanimation of Muybridge’s most famous work, the protofilm Horse in Motion, 1886. A co-production with Capture Photography Festival. Capture Photograph Festival, an annual celebration of photography and lens-based art, runs April 1-28, 2016. capturephotofest.com

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13 – 7:30 PM

THE RE’SEARCH (RE’SEARCH WAIT’S)

The Cinematheque’s Education Department presents

STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME

An Afternoon Film Program for Children and Their Families $6 Children & Youths (under 18) $9 Adults (Cinematheque membership not required)

Attention all ages! Beam aboard the Starship Cinematheque for a 12-month mission as we explore the outer reaches of cosmic cinema with our 2016 series, “Sci-Fi Cinema Sunday.” Each month, we present a science-fiction film that inspires wonderment beyond the infinite with tales of faraway galaxies, alien encounters, ripples in spacetime, and technological tomorrows. Films will be introduced by Vancouver film history teacher, critic, and intergalactic space pirate Michael van den Bos. In-theatre giveaways courtesy of Cinema Sunday community sponsors Videomatica Sales, Golden Age Collectables, and Kidsbooks.

Galaxy Quest

USA 1999. Dir: Dean Parisot. 102 min. 35mm

The endlessly watchable, scene-snatching British actor Alan Rickman passed away in January. In memoriam, we present one of Rickman’s most delectably deadpan turns, in director Dean Parisot’s cult-status comedy – an elbow-nudging, sci-fi send-up with Star Trek, and its fervent fandom, in its sights. Once television royalty, the cast of long-cancelled space-adventure series “Galaxy Quest” are now fan-convention fodder, with only Commander Peter Quincy Taggart/actor Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen) still relishing the attention. When a quartet of diehard devotees invite the “crew” aboard their spaceship — an exact replica of the show’s — the washed-up thespians find themselves thrust into a real-life (and off script!) interplanetary war, recruited by aliens who believe the episodic TV space soap to be an historical documentary. Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub, and Sam Rockwell round out the cast — but it’s Rickman as the apathetic Alexander Dane, forever tied to his Spock-spoofed character, who radiates. Get a crash course in the history of sci-fi on the small screen with a short pre-show presentation by our Education Department! Explore how our changing world gave rise to one of TV’s most successful genres, and how these pioneering programs continue to shape the techno-savvy world of today – both offscreen and on. SUNDAY, MARCH 20 – 1:00 PM

“Easily the most absurd of the Star Trek stories – and yet, oddly enough, it is also the best.” — Roger Ebert

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home USA 1986. Dir: Leonard Nimoy. 119 min. 35mm

The late, loved sci-fi stalwart Leonard Nimoy (aka Spock) co-conceived and directed what is, in our opinion, the most flat-out enjoyable feature film in the stardating saga. Picking up where Star Trek III: The Search for Spock left off (some catch up needed, Trekkies-to-be!), Kirk and co. prepare to stand trial for crimes against Starfleet when, en route to Earth in a commandeered Klingon vessel, they’re warned of a mysterious alien probe transmitting a destructive beacon into our planet’s oceans. Deciphering that the signal is attempting to communicate with nowextinct humpback whales, the crew must travel back in time to – gasp! – 1986 San Francisco to first find and then ferry one of these endangered mammals back to the 23rd century! Lightweight, witty, and occasionally ridiculous (Spock vs. punk anyone?), The Voyage Home is also admirably big-hearted, carrying an important environmental message about the irrevocable damage we’re doing to ourselves. Star Trek Trivia! Big and little Trekkies (or Trekkers!) alike are invited to participate in a dual-difficulty trivia game after the film. Know your Vulcans from your Vortas? Test your knowledge for a chance to win Trek-related prizes from our community sponsors. SUNDAY, APRIL 17 – 1:00 PM

GALAXY QUEST

JULY 2016 indielab.ca

43rd Annual General Meeting MARCH 29 - 6 PM

The Cinematheque Theatre 1131 Howe Street All members are invited to attend Please bring your valid Cinematheque membership card

DON’T THINK I’VE FORGOTTEN: CAMBODIA’S LOST ROCK AND ROLL

THU APR 21 2016/ 8pm

Arlo Guthrie chancentre.com

FRI APR 8 2016/ 8pm

Anoushka Shankar Tickets and info at chancentre.com

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE 200 – 1131 Howe Street Vancouver, BC V6Z 2L7 Phone: 604.688.8202 Fax: 604.688.8204 Email: info@theCinematheque.ca Web: theCinematheque.ca STAFF Executive and Artistic Director: Jim Sinclair Managing Director: Kate Ladyshewsky Operations & Marketing: Shaun Inouye Education Manager: Liz Schulze Education Coordinator: Hayley Gauvin Venue Operations Manager: Linton Murphy Assistant Theatre Managers: Gabi Dao, Jessica Johnson, Aryo Khakpour, Viktor Koren, Justin Mah Head Projectionist: Al Reid Relief Projectionists: Tim Fernandes, Ron Lacheur, Cassidy Penner, Helen Reed, Ryan Ermacora Film Archive Preservation Coordinator: Jarin Schexnider BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Jim Bindon Vice-President: Eleni Kassaris Secretary: Lynda Jane Treasurer: Elizabeth Collyer Members: David Legault, Moshe Mastai, Wynford Owen, Eric Wyness

theCinematheque.ca

VOLUNTEERS

THE CINEMATHEQUE PROGRAM GUIDE

Theatre Volunteers: Simon Armstrong, David Avelino, Sarah Bakke, Mark Beley, Taylor Bishop, Eileen Brosnan, Jeremy Buhler, Nadia Chiu, Andrew Clark, Rob Danielson, Steve Devereux, Bill Dovhey, Olivia Fauland, Moana Fertig, Kevin Frew, Lesli Froeschner, Andrew Gable, Shokei Green, Paul Griffiths, Joe Haigh, Savannah Kemp, Tash King, Michael Kling, Nicola Kuchta, Ray Lai, Christina Larabie, Sharon Lee, Britt MacDuff, Abbey Markowitz, Liam McClure, Dawn McCormick, Vit Mlcoch, Kelley Montgomery, Adrian Nickpour, Chahram Riazi, Will Ross, RJ Rudd, Hisayo Saito, Sweta Shrestha, Paige Smith, Raimondo Spano, Stephen Tweedale, Nathaniel Vossen

Program Notes: Jim Sinclair, additional program notes by Shaun Inouye Advertising: Shaun Inouye Proofreading: Kate Ladyshewsky Design: Marc Junker

Distribution: Hazel Ackner, Horacio Bach, Michael Demers, Gail Franko, Jeff Halladay, Alan Kollins, Martin Lohmann, Lynn Martin, Matthew Shields, Lora Tanaka, Vanessa Turner, Justina Vanovcan, Harry Wong

SUPPORT The Cinematheque is a charitable not-forprofit arts society. We rely on financial support from public and private sources. Donations are gratefully accepted — a tax receipt will be issued for all donations of $50 or more. To make a donation or for more information, please call our administration office at 604.688.8202.

Office: Jo B., Betty-Lou Phillips Education: Ryan Calderon, Michael van den Bos, Abby Wiseman And a special thanks to all our spares!

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Published six times a year with a bi-monthly circulation of 10–15,000. Printed by Van Press Printers. ADVERTISING To advertise in this Program Guide or in our theatre before screenings, please email advertising@theCinematheque.ca or call 604.688.8202.

The Cinematheque gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the following agencies:

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