1946 : The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture(2022) opens Friday

With 1946 opening Friday here is my post from last years DOC NYC when it premiered 

1946 is one of the most important films of the decade. That’s not hyperbole, it’s a statement of fact. An examination of how the mistranslation of a phrase in 1946 set in everyone’s mind that homosexuality was a bad thing.

Framed by director Sharon "Rocky" Roggio‘s relationship with her dad, an evangelical minister,  the film begins as a question of whether a gay person can be a christian.  The film follows as Roggio discovers Kathy Baldock who was doing research on when the word homosexual entered the bible. Baldock was on a crusade to find out why her best friend wasn’t loved by god. What she found out was that the negative attitude toward being gay comes from the fact that the translators didn’t truly understand what several words meant so they fudged it.  The film shows how it happened and why and it puts the whole discussion in the context of two thousand years of translations and culture. If you have an open mind the film will rock your world.

As the film clearly points out, the mistranslation, and the inability to instantly correct the mistake (that’s a story) has resulted in decades of death and destruction as people took the mistake to mean they could destroy the mistakenly labeled abominations. I was crushed by the realization.  

I was also shocked at how Roggio doesn’t sugar coat her father’s refusal to look at the evidence that the translation is wrong. In his refusal to see the world as it is we see the vast majority of those who will not change their mind even when confronted with irrefutable evidence. (Hell, the film points out that there are forces dead set against the facts because it will change their world view)

But lest you think this is all negative, the truth is there are the moments of great joy and soul saving hope.  When we are introduced to the man who first spotted the mistake I began to cry.  The simple statement “Hi David” had me reaching for a tissue. I also sobbed at the conclusion of the film which was filed with so much hope and love – the film is ultimately a discussion of forgiveness and the ability to bridge view points. And it will leave you feeling good.

This film is magnificent and an absolute must see.

One the truly great films of 2022 or any other year.

1946: THE MISTRANSLATION THAT SHIFTED A CULTURE (2022)

1946 is one of the most important films of the decade. That’s not hyperbole, it’s a statement of fact. An examination of how the mistranslation of a phrase in 1946 set in everyone’s mind that homosexuality was a bad thing.

Framed by director Sharon "Rocky" Roggio‘s relationship with her dad, an evangelical minister,  the film begins as a question of whether a gay person can be a christian.  The film follows as Roggio discovers Kathy Baldock who was doing research on when the word homosexual entered the bible. Baldock was on a crusade to find out why her best friend wasn’t loved by god. What she found out was that the negative attitude toward being gay comes from the fact that the translators didn’t truly understand what several words meant so they fudged it.  The film shows how it happened and why and it puts the whole discussion in the context of two thousand years of translations and culture. If you have an open mind the film will rock your world.

As the film clearly points out, the mistranslation, and the inability to instantly correct the mistake (that’s a story) has resulted in decades of death and destruction as people took the mistake to mean they could destroy the mistakenly labeled abominations. I was crushed by the realization.  

I was also shocked at how Roggio doesn’t sugar coat her father’s refusal to look at the evidence that the translation is wrong. In his refusal to see the world as it is we see the vast majority of those who will not change their mind even when confronted with irrefutable evidence. (Hell, the film points out that there are forces dead set against the facts because it will change their world view)

But lest you think this is all negative, the truth is there are the moments of great joy and soul saving hope.  When we are introduced to the man who first spotted the mistake I began to cry.  The simple statement “Hi David” had me reaching for a tissue. I also sobbed at the conclusion of the film which was filed with so much hope and love – the film is ultimately a discussion of forgiveness and the ability to bridge view points. And it will leave you feeling good.

This film is magnificent and an absolute must see.

One the truly great films of 2022.

THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCESTHE PUPPET MASTER: THE COMPLETE JIRI TRNKA, APRIL 20-25

Touring retrospective originates in New York before continuing to more than nine cities 

“Trnka—the name is the sum of childhood and poetry.” —Jean Cocteau

A Midsummer Night's Dream, courtesy Czech National Film Archive 

New York, NY (March 20, 2018) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Comeback Company announce The Puppet Master: The Complete Jiri Trnka, the first complete U.S. retrospective of the works of Czech animation master Jiri Trnka (1912-1969), April 20-25.
 
Revered as the pioneer of a remarkable new genre of animation that utilized puppets, Trnka conveyed the drama and psychology of his characters through his figures’ body language, expressive lighting, and camera movement. The director’s approach to puppet film as a serious art form was borne out of the lively Czech puppet theater tradition, which helped preserve the language over centuries of Hapsburg rule when there were no Czech schools, theater, or books published in the language. Already a prolific artist, author, and beloved book illustrator in his country, Trnka made films that had enormous impact on the development of Czech animation, and he inspired the careers of generations of filmmakers and animators around the globe. 

Trnka’s body of work as a director—18 short and six feature-length animated films in total—was rivaled only by Walt Disney Studios in output and brought him international acclaim, from Cannes to Venice and beyond. With his puppet animation studio, founded in 1946, he helped lay the groundwork for Czech animation predominance alongside stop-motion animation masters Karel Zeman, Hermina Tyrlova, Jan Svankmajer, and Jiri Barta. 

This essential series will present all 24 of the artist’s films, including 11 newly translated works and the U.S. premieres of two new digital restorations: Trnka’s Venice Film Festival prize-winning first feature The Czech Year and Old Czech Legends, a breathtaking collection of Bohemian myths. The lineup also features Trnka’s Shakespeare adaptation A Midsummer Night’s Dream, narrated by Richard Burton; his subversive, absurdist, anti-authoritarian trilogy The Good Soldier Svejk; and three distinct shorts programs featuring the filmmaker’s unique early work in hand-drawn cartoons (including Cannes Film Festival prize-winning The Animals and the Brigands), his magical family-friendly works, and his later, more formally and politically defiant films (featuring his final masterpiece, The Hand, about the plight of artists toiling under the restrictions of a totalitarian government). Also included is a two-program sidebar dedicated to Jiri Brdecka, a screenwriter and animation director whose close friendship with Trnka occasioned a number of short- and feature-film collaborations. 

After originating at the Film Society in April, the series will continue on in variations to tour North America. Trnka’s films will screen at the American Cinematheque (Los Angeles, CA), George Eastman Museum (Rochester, NY), Cleveland Cinematheque/CIA (Cleveland, OH), Harvard Film Archive (Cambridge, MA), Lightbox Film Center (Philadelphia, PA), The Gene Siskel Film Center (Chicago, IL), The Cinematheque (Vancouver, BC, Canada), Cornell Cinema (Ithaca, NY), Speed Art Museum (Louisville, KY), and more to be announced. 

The touring retrospective is produced by Comeback Company, with support from the Czech Film Fund. Organized by Irena Kovarova with Florence Almozini and Tyler Wilson. Films provided by the Czech National Film Archive. 

Tickets go on sale April 6 and are $15; $12 for students, seniors (62+); $8 for kids under 12; and $10 for Film Society members. See more and save with the 3+ film discount package or All-Access Pass. Learn more at filmlinc.org.

Acknowledgments:Alex Zucker; Martina Raclavska; Marketa Santrochova, Czech Film Center; Michal Bregant, Katerina Fojtova, Tomas Zurek, Michaela Mertova, Czech National Film Archive. Special thanks to the Czech Center New York.

FILMS & DESCRIPTIONSAll screenings held at the Walter Reade Theater (165 W. 65th) unless otherwise noted

*Please note, while some films may be appropriate for children, most of Trnka’s films are for adult audiences.*

The Czech Year / Spalicek
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1947, 78m
Czech with English subtitles
Trnka established his reputation as a world-renowned master of puppet animation with his Venice prize-winning first feature, a kinetic visual symphony bursting with music and dance that celebrates the customs and folklore of the Czech people. Composed of six short episodes—the last of which, Bethlehem, was Trnka’s first-ever attempt at puppet animation—it traces one year in a country village through the town’s traditions, from springtime festivities to feasts to fairs to Christmas-night rituals. Trnka’s extraordinary puppet work is a marvel to behold in this new digital restoration by the Czech National Film Archive, but equally impressive is his mastery of the cinematic language, with rhythmic montage editing and swooping camera movements creating a whirling dervish sense of dynamism. U.S. Premiere of the new digital restoration.
Friday, April 20, 6:30pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova)
Sunday, April 22, 8:30pm 

The Emperor’s Nightingale / Cisaruv slavik
Jiri Trnka & Milos Makovec, Czechoslovakia, 1948, 35mm, 72m
No dialogue
Trnka’s adaptation of a classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale is an enchanting animated jewel box. Framed by live-action sequences—about a lonely boy shut away from fun and play—the story unfolds as a child’s dream vision, a tale of illusion versus reality in which a Chinese emperor is ensorcelled first by the song of a nightingale, then by its mechanical replica. Working in a rich red, green, and gold visual palette, Trnka conjures a hallucinatory storybook world of moonlit bamboo forests, softly glowing Chinese lanterns, and bursting fireworks displays all set to a gorgeous, rhapsodic score by his key collaborator, Vaclav Trojan. 

Preceded by:
The Devil's Mill / Certuv mlyn
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1949, 20m
No dialogue A barrel organ grinder meets the devil on a mysterious moonlit night in this haunted-house fable, which showcases Trnka’s atmospheric use of sound to conjure a macabre mood. Saturday, April 21, 2:30pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova)
Wednesday, April 25, 4:30pm 

Bayaya / Bajaja
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1950, 75m
Czech with English subtitles
Based on a pair of Czech fables, this rousing, medieval-set adventure charts the exploits of a young peasant whose dead mother returns in the form of a white horse, whisking him away on a quest to free her soul from purgatory and save three princesses from a host of hydra-headed dragons. Balancing moments of atmospheric lyricism with vigorous action sequences, the third feature-length collaboration between Trnka and composer Vaclav Trojan—who contributes a stirring, cantata-like score set to text by Surrealist writer Vitezslav Nezval—confirms the pair to be a creative partnership as fruitful as Eisenstein and Prokofiev or Hitchcock and Herrmann.

Preceded by: Song of the Prairie / Arie prerie
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1949, 20m
No dialogue
One of Trnka’s most delightfully silly efforts is a slapstick spoof of John Ford’s Stagecoach and Hollywood singing-cowboy Westerns based on a popular novel by Jiri Brdecka, who would later direct his own adaptation, the cult favorite Lemonade Joe (screening in the Brdecka sidebar). Sunday, April 22, 2:30pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova)
Tuesday, April 24, 4:30pm 

Old Czech Legends / Stare povesti ceske
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1952, 91m
Czech with English subtitles
A treasure trove of Bohemian myths are brought to life by Trnka’s magical puppet work in this folkloric hymn to the Czech land, history, and people newly restored by Czech National Film Archive. Based on a tome by the “Czech Sir Walter Scott” Alois Jirasek and the medieval chronicle of Cosmas, it illustrates seven fabled historical episodes, including the settling of an Edenic ancient Bohemia, the tale of an all-female revolt led by a cast-out princess, and the legend of a weak-willed king whose passion for gold nearly destroys his kingdom. It all culminates in a breathtaking climactic battle sequence—a tour de force of editing, music, and stop-motion (employing more than 70 figurines) that plays like puppet Kurosawa. U.S. Premiere of the new digital restoration.
Friday, April 20, 4:00pm
Saturday, April 21, 9:30pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova) 

The Good Soldier Svejk, Parts I-III / Osudy dobreho vojaka Svejka I.-III.
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1954, 74m
Czech with English subtitles
Adapted from the scathingly funny, hugely influential anti-war classic by anarchist writer Jaroslav Hasek, this three-part satirical farce charts the exploits of the eponymous World War I infantryman, whose antic misadventures continually frustrate his commanding officers—and reveal the absurdity of the entire conflict. Basing his designs on the novel’s original, celebrated illustrations by Josef Lada, Trnka mixes his trademark puppetry with striking cutout-animation sequences to accompany the droll, rambling tales that Svejk spins. The result is a subversive anti-authoritarian statement that captures the novel’s biting wit and irreverent spirit. 

Preceded by: The Two Frosts/ Dva mrazici
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1954, 12m
Czech with English subtitles
Two mischievous frost spirits—voiced by famed comedian Vlasta Burian and author, popular actor, and satirist Jan Werich—make things chilly for a pair of travelers in this wintry comic folktale.
Friday, April 20, 2:00pm
Sunday, April 22, 4:30pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova) 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream / Sen noci svatojanske Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1959, 35mm, 72m English version Richard Burton narrates this bewitching adaptation of Shakespeare’s romantic fairy tale, in which the love lives of mortals and forest sprites mingle during one magical moonlit evening. In his final feature—also the first CinemaScope film made in Czechoslovakia—Trnka deploys the full force of his imagination and technical wizardry to evoke the story’s enchanted-woodlands setting, a garlanded, pastel dreamscape awash in starry-night atmosphere, colorful festoons of flowers, and exquisitely wrought fantasy creatures. The graceful puppetry combined with the Vaclav Trojan score and voiceover work by Burton and members of the Royal Shakespeare Company yields a masterpiece of surpassing, balletic beauty. 

Preceded by:
Why UNESCO? / Proc UNESCO?
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1958, 10m
Czech with English subtitles
Commissioned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (which considered Disney for the assignment before settling on Trnka), this cartoon short employs strikingly simple animation to make the case that all of humanity is enriched when we tear down the walls that separate us.
Saturday, April 21, 7:30pm (Q&A with Tereza Brdeckova, film writer and daughter of Jiri Brdecka) *Pre-screening reception open to all ticket holders, with beer courtesy of the Czech Center New York.
Wednesday, April 25, 6:30pm

Shorts Program 1: A Star from the Start TRT: 74m
Trnka proved himself to be a master animator from the very beginning, as evidenced by the formally inventive, wittily offbeat works in this program, which includes the filmmaker’s earliest experiments in the art form: hand-drawn cartoons that play like a distinctly Czech anti-Disney, a modernist tour de force of surrealist invention, and a rapturously beautiful puppet adaptation of Chekhov. 

Grandpa Planted a Beet / Zasadil dedek repu
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1945, 10m
No dialogue
A farmer finds himself with an unusually fertile bumper crop on his hands in Trnka’s first film, a charming hand-drawn adaptation of a Czech fairy tale that announced the director as an animation talent to rival Disney. The program also serves as a survey of animation techniques employed by the artist throughout his career. 

The Animals and the Brigands / Zviratka a petrovsti
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1946, 8m
Czech with English subtitles
A rooster, a cat, and a goat meet a trio of ignoble characters deep in a night-shrouded forest in this hand-illustrated, Cannes prize-winning folktale, which showcases Trnka’s gift for evoking light and shadow. 

Springman and the SS / Perak a SS
Jiri Brdecka & Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1946, 35mm, 13m
No dialogue
Trnka combines 2-D and collage animation to striking effect in this zanily offbeat, anti-Nazi lampoon, which crosses Max Fleischer–like absurdism with a biting satirical edge. His first collaboration with Jiri Brdecka. 

The Gift / Darek
Jiri Trnka & Jiri Krejcik, Czechoslovakia, 1946, 15m
Czech with English subtitles
Trnka reached new heights of modernist abstraction with this innovative, surrealist mini-masterwork, which critic Jean-Pierre Coursodon praised as the Citizen Kane of animation.

Romance with Double Bass / Roman s basou
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1949, 13m
Czech with English subtitles This dreamily beautiful puppet work adapts a short story by Chekhov into a magical, moonlit reverie about a musician, a princess, and a chance encounter while night-swimming.

The Golden Fish / O zlate rybceJiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1951, 15m Czech with English subtitlesTrnka returned to 2-D animation for this wryly humorous fairy tale—written and narrated by legendary Czech actor Jan Werich—about a man whose problems only multiply when he catches a wish-granting fish. Friday, April 20, 8:15pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova)
Tuesday, April 24, 8:30pm 

Shorts Program 2: Tales and CollaborationsTRT: 93m
Silly circuses, classic fairy tales, and toy trains come to life through magical stop-motion, puppet, and hand-drawn animation in these charming, family-friendly shorts that showcase Trnka’s fruitful collaborations with fellow artists, animators, and puppeteers.  

Merry Circus / Vesely cirkus Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1951, 35mm, 12m
No dialogueTrnka brings to life a surrealist circus of tightrope-walking fish, musical monkeys, balancing bears, and high-flying acrobatics in this whimsical feat of cutout animation made in collaboration with leading Czech painters of the era.  

The Gingerbread House / Pernikova chaloupka
Bretislav Pojar, Czechoslovakia, 1951, 35mm, 18m
No dialogue
The Czech version of Hansel and Gretel receives a captivating, puppet-animated adaptation, featuring striking—and fittingly macabre—storybook imagery designed by Trnka and direction by his close colleague and animation heir, Bretislav Pojar.

How the Old Man Traded It All Away / Jak starecek menil, az vymenil
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1953, 9m
Czech with English subtitles
Folk art–like hand-drawn stills illustrate this sweetly simple pastoral fable, in which a peasant comes into possession of a small fortune—but realizes there are treasures greater than gold.

Kutasek and Kutilka / Kutasek a Kutilka jak rano vstavali
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1954, 18m
Czech with English subtitles
How do you wake up a sleeping puppet? Made by Trnka in collaboration with actor and puppeteer Josef Pehr, this winsome mix of live action and puppet play is enchanting entertainment for the youngest of viewers.

The Midnight Adventure / Pulnocni prihoda
Bretislav Pojar, Czechoslovakia, 1960, 13m
No dialogue
An old woodblock train meets its shiny new electric replacement one Christmas Eve in this glowingly nostalgic stop-motion toy story, directed by Bretislav Pojar and featuring gorgeous design by Trnka. 

Circus Hurvinek / Cirkus Hurvinek Jiri Trnka & Stanislav Latal, Czechoslovakia, 1955, 23m Czech with English subtitles Trnka pays homage to two of Czechoslovakia’s most beloved characters—Spejbl and the mischievous Hurvinek, a father and son duo created by Trnka’s puppeteer mentor, Josef Skupa—in this imaginative tale of a young boy who dreams of being part of the circus.
Saturday, April 21, 12:30pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova) Sunday, April 22, 12:30pm

Shorts Program 3: Mature Mastery TRT: 84m
In the 1960s, at the height of his artistic powers, Trnka turned to increasingly dark, surreal, satirical, and politically defiant subject matter. The result was a string of visually innovative, modernist masterpieces that encompass dystopian science fiction, religious parody, and, in his final crowning achievement, an impassioned protest against state censorship. 

Passion / Vasen
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1962, 9m
No dialogue
A boy’s need for speed causes problems throughout his life in this triumph of modernist design, which blends puppet, stop-motion, collage, and cutout animation with a gothic humor and Pop Art–like visual design. 

Cybernetic Grandma / Kyberneticka babicka
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1962, 28m
Czech with English subtitles
Trnka took a turn into Space Age sci-fi surrealism with this dark, dystopian satire on automatization in which a child traverses a forbidding technological wasteland to meet (surprise!) her uncanny new robotic grandmother. 

Archangel Gabriel and Mistress Goose / Archandel Gabriel a pani Husa
Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1964, 29m
No dialogueAdapted from a story in Boccaccio’s Decameron, this irreverent, medieval-set lampoon of religious hypocrisy mixes Christian iconography with bawdy black humor to tell the tale of a lusty Venetian monk who assumes the guise of the angel Gabriel to seduce a married woman.  

The Hand / RukaJiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1965, 35mm, 18m
No dialogueTrnka’s final work is a powerful, deeply personal allegory about the plight of the artist toiling under the restrictions of a totalitarian government. The story of a simple sculptor who is menaced by a giant, disembodied hand that forces him to bend to its will, it was banned by the Communist censors for two decades—but has since taken its place as an acknowledged masterpiece of animation.
Sunday, April 22, 6:30pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova) Wednesday, April 25, 8:30pm

Tribute to Jiri Brdecka Along with Trnka, Jiri Brdecka (1917-1982) was one of the founders of Czech animation, who explored its potential as a serious art form as early as the 1940s. Even though he’s best-remembered and revered abroad for his short animated works as a director, Brdecka wrote many screenplays for others’ films, both animated and live action, including the remarkable and immensely popular Western parody Lemonade Joe (1964), based on his eponymous novel. He penned original ideas, scripts, and dialogues for renowned directors such as Martin Fric (The Emperor’s Baker – The Baker’s Emperor), Oldrich Lipsky, Jiri Weiss, Karel Zeman (The Fabulous Baron Munchausen), Vojtech Jasny (Cassandra Cat), and Vera Chytilova (The Very Late Afternoon of a Faun, based on his book of the same name). But his longest-lasting collaboration was with Jiri Trnka, having co-written four of Trnka’s animated shorts and three of his feature-length puppet animated films. This program is a companion to the complete Trnka retrospective, held in homage to their creative partnership and close friendship.
Program organized by Limonadovy Joe s.r.o. in partnership with Czech Centres. Films courtesy of the Czech National Film Archive, Kratky Film Praha a.s., and Rembrandt Films. Thanks to Irena Kovarova/Comeback Company.  

Lemonade Joe / Limonadovy Joe aneb Konska operaOldrich Lipsky, Czechoslovakia, 1964, 99m
Czech with English subtitlesThis relentless and hilarious musical send-up of the American Western written by Brdecka is one of the most popular works in Czech film history. Lemonade Joe follows a soft drink–swigging gunfighter as he tries to steer the sinful residents of Arizona’s Stetson City away from alcohol and toward the health benefits offered in Kolaloka (a parody of Coca-Cola). The satire was adapted from versions of the character created by Brdecka across various media, including print, radio, and the theater. The visual gags are reminiscent both of the 1920s American silent slapstick and the colorful era of the swinging ’60s, including its inspired music and songs (the full title in Czech calls it a Horse Opera). Based on the same source, Jiri Trnka made the short puppet film Song of the Prairie (1949), showing in his retrospective with the feature Bayaya.
Tuesday, April 24, 6:30pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova) 

Shorts Program: Jiri Brdecka’s Animated ShortsThis program of nine animated shorts by Brdecka spans his entire directing career and showcases his wealth of collaborations with important Czech artists and animators, such as Jiri Trnka and Eva Svankmajerova. From comedy to musical, tragedy, and even horror, the short films here, each designed by a different artist, have it all, even receiving acclaim in the West: Brdecka won the Grand Prix at Annecy International Animation Festival for his film Gallina Vogelbirdae (1963). TRT: 100m 

Springman and the SS / Perak a SSJiri Brdecka & Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1946, 14mNo dialogue 

Reason and Emotion / Rozum a citJiri Brdecka, Czechoslovakia, 1962, 15mNo dialogue

The Frozen Logger / Zmrzly drevarJiri Brdecka, Czechoslovakia, 1962, 5mIn English

Gallina Vogelbirdae / Spatne namalovana slepiceJiri Brdecka, Czechoslovakia, 1963, 14mNo dialogue 

The Letter M / Slovce MJiri Brdecka, Czechoslovakia, 1964, 9mCzech with English subtitles

Forester’s Song / Do lesicka na cekanouJiri Brdecka, Czechoslovakia, 1966, 10mCzech with English subtitles 

Metamorpheus / MetamorfeusJiri Brdecka, Czechoslovakia, 1969, 13mLatin and Czech with English subtitles 

There Was a Miller on a River / Jsouc na rece mlynar jedenJiri Brdecka, Czechoslovakia, 1971, 11mCzech with English subtitles

Prince Copperslick / Trinacta komnata prince MedenceJiri Brdecka, Czechoslovakia, 1980, 9mCzech with English subtitlesSaturday, April 21, 4:30pm (Introduction by Tereza Brdeckova, film writer and daughter of Jiri Brdecka) *Post-screening reception open to all ticket holders, with beer courtesy of the Czech Center New York.

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
The Film Society of Lincoln Center is devoted to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema. The only branch of the world-renowned arts complex Lincoln Center to shine a light on the everlasting yet evolving importance of the moving image, this nonprofit organization was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international film. Via year-round programming and discussions; its annual New York Film Festival; and its publications, including Film Comment, the U.S.’s premier magazine about films and film culture, the Film Society endeavors to make the discussion and appreciation of cinema accessible to a broader audience, as well as to ensure that it will remain an essential art form for years to come.

Special Thanks to NYLO NYC. 

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Shutterstock, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. American Airlines is the Official Airline of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on Twitter.

COMEBACK COMPANY
Based in New York, Comeback Company was founded by producer and independent film programmer Irena Kovarova. Having worked in repertory cinema since 2004, Irena founded the company in 2013 to further expand her film projects. Among major programs produced by the company are a retrospective of Czech director Jan Nemec’s 50 year career (in 2014), and a touring retrospective of Academy Award nominated director Ruben Ostlund (in 2014-15), which both toured over 15 cities in North America and screened in New York City. Another program was a retrospective of Kelly Reichardt films touring through 5 countries in Central Europe in 2016; For details, visit www.comebackcompany.com.

Nate Hood's Quarantine Qapsule #2 Affair in Trinidad [1952] ★★

Lest you think things have gone loopy with the numbering of Nate's Quarantine Quapsules,I have not.  Nate didn't start sending me the capsules until he had reached number 5.  In order to keep the set complete I'm posting the first four over the next couple days as bonus pieces.

The first ten minutes of Vincent Sherman’s Affair in Trinidad are one of the great fake-outs of 50s Hollywood cinema. Six years after Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford made Hollywood magic in the timeless noir Gilda (1946), they reunited for what at first glance appears to be a better-late-than-never victory lap. The first scene sees Hayworth in a nightclub, singing and dancing a shockingly risqué (for the early 50s) calypso number, flashing more bare legs than a line of can-can dancers while her strapless bustier proves more stubbornly defiant of gravity than Anita Ekberg’s sweetheart neckline during the Fontana di Trevi scene in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960). Sherman even gives a knowing nod to Gilda’s most famous moment—Hayworth’s infamous head pop/hair flip into the frame for her introduction—with a quick close-up hair toss near the start of the dance. Could this film be a greatest hits of Gilda, we wonder?

Alas, it’s not to be. Immediately after this show-stopping number Affair in Trinidad reveals its true colors as an idiot rip-off of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (1946): it follows a woman forced by government authorities local cops to infiltrate a group of ex-Nazi expats living in Brazil Trinidad and Tobago by faking romantic interest in their leader while actually falling in love with a different man, all of which leads to a climactic party sequence where she steals valuable information and escapes down a staircase narrowly misses getting killed on a staircase.

I call it an idiot ripoff because everyone in the film acts like a total and complete ignoramus the whole time, best demonstrated in a scene where Ford, the brother of a man murdered by de facto ex-Nazi leader Max Fabian (Alexander Scourby), barges into his home, waves damning evidence in his face, and…sticks around. (The longer the film goes on the more and more one develops an intense kinship with Juanita Moore’s Dominique, the West Indian housekeeper of Ford’s brother’s estate who can barely hide her exasperation with all the stupid white people running around her islands.)

Only Hayworth seems to be trying here; the usually dependable Ford is a charisma sinkhole who’s not so much stoic as non-responsive and non-reactive. When we see them fall in love, we see the mechanics of a hackneyed script, not a believable story development.

The DOC NYC 2022 Curtain Raiser

The always wonderful DOC NYC opens Wednesday and we are better for it. A summing of of the year in documentaries and an indication of the big ones that are going to be talked about next year (the world Premieres carry over) it is the must attend for anyone who loves true life tales.

And if you are not in New York and love documentaries, not to worry if you don’t live in New York because the fest is having a virtual component so you too can watch the goodness.

I’ve been covering the festival every year except the first one. Somehow I missed the first year but I’ve been there every year since then and having a blast all along the way.

In all seriousness this is a great festival. Its not just the fact the screenings are so much fun, but its knowing that the festival is so well programmed that the odds are very much in your favor that what you are going to see is going to delight you. In all seriousness after a dozen years and literally several hundreds film the number of truly bad films I have seen could be counted on one hand with some fingers missing.

I love this festival to death, and at a time I’m serious considering not going whole hog into festival coverage I waded in and I’m already hip deep in the selections. Hey what can I say there are just too many good films I don’t dare miss.

I knew the festival was going to be gangbusters because walking in the door I already had seen about two dozen of their selections

Here are the films we've reviewed previously

 SR
2ND CHANCE
AFTER SHERMAN
ALL THAT BREATHES
ART OF REBELLION
BAD AXE
CESÁRIA ÉVORA
DESCENDANT
FIRE OF LOVE
HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS
I DIDN'T SEE YOU THERE
RIOTSVILLE
RETURN OF TANYA TUCKER
NAVALNY
MASTER OF LIGHT
LAST FLIGHT HOME
WE ARE NOT GHOULS
TERRITORY
THIS MUCH WE KNOW
SAM NOW
OUTTA THE MUCK
THE VOUS
38 AT THE GARDEN
FAVORITE DAUGHTER
FREEDOM SWIMMER
HOUSE OF LEBEIJA
LONG LINE OF LADIES
PANOLA PROJECT

The Must See Films of DOC NYC So Far:

Of the one's we've previously seen (click on the links above for our thoughts):
SR
ALL THAT BREATHES
BAD AXE
DESCENDANT
OUTTA THE MUCK
THE VOUS
SAM NOW
TERRITORY
FIRE OF LOVE

Of the ones we have screened for this festival:

QUEEN OF THE DEUCE- is a look at the woman who controlled a large number of NYC porno palaces-but the story before that is the important part

1946: THE MISTRANSLATION THAT SHIFTED A CULTURE is one of the great films of 2022. A look at how a mistake in translating the Bible in 1946 has resulted in the death of millions.

CASA SUSANNA is a deeply moving film about Trans women in the 1960's. Simply told it is a film of enormous power.

IMMEDIATE FAMILY - the story of a group of musicians who started to play with friends and ended up being one of the greatest backing bands ever.

MAYA AND THE WAVE has some of the most awe inspiring surfing images I've ever seen- a must on a big screen

THE CONSPIRACY is a vital and important film about how the myth of a Jewish conspiracy affected three families and how the lies are still causing chaos today.

I'm sure there will be more but we haven't seen them yet.

A word of warning to filmmakers and festival organizers, because of my schedule I will be running coverage long past the end of the festival.  My time of late has been a balancing act of watching films or writing and this year I’m going to watch and review later

And now if you don’t mind back to the screening.

For more information and tickets go here.

The Inaugural Dr. Saul and Dorothy Kit Film Noir Festival: March 21-25

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of: Paris 1946 and American Film Noir

Wednesday–Sunday, March 21–25, 2018

Programmed by Rob King, Associate Professor, Film and Media Studies, Columbia University School of the Arts. Most films shown on 35mm. Click here or see below for full schedule.

The Lenfest Center for the Arts, Columbia University
615 West 129th Street, New York, NY 10027

Paris 1946. The war is over and American films are once again in Parisian theaters. The French immediately notice a shift in the sensibility of Hollywood’s crime films. They call it noir.

This festival—the first in a ten-year series exclusively devoted to the legacy of film noir—returns us to that pivotal moment in film history some seven decades ago. For its inaugural year, the Kit Noir Festival will present eight of the films that screened in France that season and inspired the label film noir. #kitnoir

Wednesday, March 21
7:30 pm: Keynote Lecture by James Naremore, University of Indiana, followed by a reception
Free with registration
The Lantern

Thursday, March 22
7:30 pm: The Maltese Falcon
Buy tickets
The Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room

Friday, March 23
7:30 pm: Double Indemnity
Buy tickets
The Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room

Saturday, March 24
12:00 pm: The Lodger
Buy tickets
The Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room

3:00 pm: Laura
Buy tickets
The Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room

5:00 pm: Notes on Film Noir in 2018: Paul Schrader in Conversation with Annette Insdorf
Free with registration
The Lantern

7:00 pm: Murder, My Sweet
Buy tickets
The Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room

Sunday, March 25
1:00 pm: The Suspect
Buy tickets
The Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room

3:30 pm: Phantom Lady, followed by a lecture by Thomas Elsaesser, Film & Media Studies**
Buy tickets
The Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room

7:00 pm: Scarlet Street
Buy tickets
The Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room

This festival is funded by a generous gift from alumnus Gordon Kit (Columbia College ’76), in honor of his parents.

Tickets: $12 General Admission / $10 Seniors (65 and older) / $8 Student*
Packages: $40 for four films / $75 for all eight films
Advance ticket sales available online only
Day-of screening ticket sales available on-site, pending availability
Festival on-site box office hours:
Thursday, March 22 starting at 5 pm
Friday, March 23 starting at 5 pm
Saturday, March 24 starting at 11 am
Sunday, March 25 starting at 12 pm

*FREE CU Student Rush for students with a current CUID: A Student Rush Line will form 30 minutes prior to each screening in the Lenfest lobby, and valid student CUID holders will be admitted beginning 10 minutes prior to each screening, pending availability. The number of available student rush seats will vary for each screening and are not guaranteed. To secure a guaranteed seat for any screening, discounted $8 student tickets are available in advance.

**Pending availability, free admission will be available for the March 25 lecture by Thomas Elsaesser following the screening of Phantom Lady. A line will form in the Lenfest Center lobby beginning at 4:45 pm.

Artists and programs subject to change without notice. Photography and recording devices prohibited. All sales final. No refunds. No exchanges.

For more information, contact filmnoir@columbia.edu

January and February 2019 Repertory Film Calendar at Metrograph Announced [Pasolini, Kay Francis, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Teshigahara, and more!

January and February 2019 Repertory and Special Events Calendar Announced

Opens January 4 Pier Paolo Pasolini: A Future Life, Part 1 All 35mm! A retrospective of the cinematic works of Pier Paolo Pasolini, poet, composer, public intellectual, and provocateur, will stretch across three calendars at Metrograph, but when thinking of where to start with this singularly brilliant filmmaker, there was only one logical place—at the end. Pasolini thought constantly of his own demise, and that of the earth, especially as, entering middle-age, he became increasingly influenced by Antonin Artaud and the Marquis de Sade. Setting out to make his film of de Sade’s Salò, Pasolini explained “The most sincere thing I could do at that moment was to make a film about a mode of sexuality whose joyousness is a compensation for repression—a phenomenon that was about to come to an end, forever.” It was, he said, a film that was to make him “A new director. Ready for the modern.” Three weeks before its premiere, however, Pasolini was dead, murdered on the beach at Ostia, a shadowy event believed by many to be politically motivated. Decades later, Pasolini looms larger than ever in in our cultural consciousness as one of the most radical, uncompromising artists who ever lived. “Death,” he once said, “is not being unable to communicate; but no longer being able to be understood.” He is speaking to us still. Titles include La terra vista dalla luna, part of the omnibus film The Witches (1967), Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life": The Decameron (1971), The Canterbury Tales (1972), and Arabian Nights (1974), as well as Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975).

Opens January 11 Kay Francis: The Queen of Pleasure  First-Ever Retrospective Celebrating Ms. Francis' Legacy A top box-office attraction in the 1930s and an idiosyncratic and can’t-take-your-eyes-off-her screen presence, Kay Francis was undisputed royalty on the Warner Bros. lot. The Oklahoma-born Francis was a tall, striking, raven-tressed beauty, the first infamous onscreen clotheshorse, a verifiable superstar whose face decorated scores of gushing fan magazines, though privately her life was far more risqué than the Pre-Code vehicles that established her fame, including comedies like Trouble in Paradise and Jewel Robbery(opposite frequent partner William Powell) or melodramas like One Way Passage, a doomed romance set on a champagne and martini-soaked trip set aloft an ocean liner, in which she was equally effective. Even at the height of her fame, Francis’ magnetism was never without a melancholy lining; she was oft-quoted to say that she couldn’t wait to be forgotten—and indeed her stardom would dim by the end of the ‘30s—but no performer so magnetic, in love, laughter, and tears, could ever really disappear, and so Metrograph is pleased to reintroduce a new generation to the woman who, in imitation of her charming speech impediment, was sometimes called “Wavishing Kay Fwancis.” Titles include Trouble In Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932), Jewel Robbery (William Dieterle, 1932), Wife Wanted (Phil Karlson, 1946), British Agent(Michael Curtiz, 1934), Cynara (King Vidor, 1932), Transgression (Herbert Brenon, 1931), One Way Passage (Tay Garnett, 1932), Stolen Holiday (Michael Curtiz, 1937), The Cocoanuts (Robert Florey & Joseph Santley, 1929), Let's Go Native (Leo McCarey, 1930), The Virtuous Sin (George Cukor & Louis J. Gasnier, 1930), and Girls About Town (George Cukor, 1931).

Opens January 18 Hiroshi Teshigahara  8-Film Retrospective and Shorts Program  A towering crest of the Japanese New Wave, Hiroshi Teshigahara crashed down on the world of art house cinema in the 1960s. He is best known today for his films of this fecund period, particularly the four atmospheric, endlessly beguiling, avant garde-adjacent movies that he made working with novelist and screenwriter Kōbō Abe, unclassifiable works that explore the mysteries and vagaries of identity: Pitfall,Woman of the Dunes, The Face of Another, and The Man Without a Map. Undeniably major as these awesome accomplishments are, however, they reveal only a portion of the creative genius of this multihyphenate artist, who worked as a painter, sculptor, designer, and Noh theater director in addition to his cinematic pursuits, and whose cinema exists at an intersection between the high international modernism of Antonioni, Bergman, and Resnais, and the traditional Japanese fine arts (his father was founder and master of the world-famous Sogetsu School of Ikebana now run by his daughter.) At Metrograph, you can discover the full measure of Teshigahara’s restless genius, including early shorts and extraordinary features about AWOL American GIs (Summer Soldier), a brilliant Catalan architect (Antonio Gaudi), and the famed face-off between a Zen monk and a warlord (Rikyu). The sum total shows a cineaste who is much more than his brilliant ‘60s run, and nothing less than a titan of Japanese cinema. Titles include Pitfall (1962), Woman in the Dunes (1964), The Face of Another (1966), Antonio Gaudi(1984), Rikyu (1989), Basara (1992), The Man Without a Map (1968), Summer Soldiers (1972), and a shorts program.  Presented with Teshigahara’s grandson, New York composer and artist Tristan Teshigahara Pollock, in-person.

Opens January 25      Hou Hsiao-hsien In the 21st Century 4-Film Retrospective Includes Imported 35mm Print of Café Lumière   Spending his formative years in Taipei, a distinctly modern city that had swiftly grown into a metropolis in the years following the Chinese Civil War, Hou Hsiao-Hsien has always been principally an urban filmmaker, his view of the life in the concrete jungle perhaps summed up in the title of one of his breakthrough movies: City of Sadness. As the city has changed, Hou the artist has changed with it, producing at the turn of the century one of his most radical departures, Millennium Mambo (2001), a film that found the director searching for the digital pulse of a new era with a new freewheeling style. This daring and still-misunderstood work will play with a trio of 21st century Hou films, movies in which the alienation and exhilaration of life in the anonymous contemporary cityscape is distilled into unforgettable images as only this poet of urban anomie can. Titles also include an imported 35mm print of Café Lumière(2003),  Three Times (2005) and Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)

Opens January 26 Produced by David O. Selznick 8-Film Overview of the Legendary Hollywood Producer More than any single figure, David O. Selznick codified prestige-with-a-capital-P filmmaking during the Golden Age of the Hollywood studios, a creative producer in the truest sense who was renowned for his attention to detail, as exemplified by his novel-length memos. Selznick began his life in movies working for father Lewis J. Selznick’s production companies before moving to MGM, where he filled the enormous shoes of the studio’s legendary second-in-command, Irving Thalberg, and eventually became the son-in-law of studio head Louis B. Mayer. Selznick had the keys to the kingdom at MGM, but soon he was bucking for independence, and in 1935 went his own way with Selznick International Pictures, throwing himself into worrying and willing a string of enduring classics into being, including Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940), and the highest grossing American film ever, Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Overseeing every aspect of the filmmaking process on his movies, from writing to casting to editing to directing, Selznick in his brilliant career garnered ten Academy awards nominations. He also brought Hitchcock to America; gave his second wife, Jennifer Jones, her greatest roles; and, in the words of biographer David Thomson, “cared for every facet of making a film and had a greater sense of how to photograph individuals, how to use sets and music, and how to construct picture than many directors.” Let this retro stand as incontrovertible evidence that the “Selznick touch,” though hard to classify, was nevertheless very real—and close to a guarantee of movie magic. Titles include What Price Hollywood?(George Cukor, 1932), Dinner at Eight (Cukor, 1933), Spellbound (Hitchcock, 1945), Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946), The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949), and Portrait of Jennie (William Dieterle, 1948).

Opens February 8 Valentine's Day at Metrograph   Colliding cars, cannibalism, and a sentimental song at Rick’s Café—these are just a few of the ways that lovers have of expressing their emotions in our wild ride of a Valentine’s Day series, which finds space for loves queer and straight, spiritual and carnal, and everything in-between. A great date for a special someone, someones, or just yourself—and don’t forget, The Commissary will be serving an especially romantic prix fixe menu. Reserve in advance. Titles include Heaven Can Wait (Ernst Lubitsch, 1943),Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016), Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942), Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001), Crash (David Cronenberg, 1997), and Querelle (R.W. Fassbinder, 1982).

ONGOING SERIES

Throughout January and February Playtime Playtime is Metrograph’s regularly-recurring weekend matinee series of studio standards, animated adventures, and foreign-language frolics, kid-friendly in content but selected because their quality has been proven plain to moviegoers of all ages. This time around we’ve got adventures galore on the agenda, so come on down with Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (Charles Lamont, 1955), munch some marmalade with Paddington (Paul King, 2014) and Paddington 2 (King, 2018), and take a few hacks at the plate with Wonderboy (The Natural, Barry Levinson, 1984). Revisit the movies you know by heart, take a chance on something you’ve never heard of—and be sure to hang around to talk about your favorite scenes over brunch in the upstairs Commissary. Titles also include Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, 1946), Shaun the Sheep Movie (Mark Burton & Richard Starzak, 2015), Song of the Sea (Tomm Moore, 2014), and Inside Out (Pete Docter & Ronnie Del Carmen, 2015).

Throughout January and February Late Nights at Metrograph   Introducing Late Nights at Metrograph, new to this calendar and a staple to every calendar going forward. A combination of established favorites, movies we’ve been dying to find an excuse to book, and cult curios playing every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, it’s a new way to end your day on a voluptuous cinematic experience—and don’t worry, the Commissary will still be serving food and lots of drinks from a special late night menu when you get out, so no need to go to bed hungry. Titles include Mind Game (Masaaki Yuasa, 2004), Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995), News from Home (Chantal Akerman, 1977),Weekend (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967), Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1972), Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki, 1967), and Kaili Blues (Bi Gan, 2015).

Throughout January and February   Academy at Metrograph The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Continues its Residency  at Metrograph with Upcoming Winter 2019 Programming Stephen Bogart Presents The African Queen on January 12 and Eve's Bayou with Director Kasi Lemmons on February 9   ACADEMY AT METROGRAPH continues in January and February of 2019, with upcoming programming that includes The African Queen presented by Stephen Bogart on January 12, and Eve's Bayou, with director Kasi Lemmons on February 9. The African Queen will be presented by Stephen Bogart, son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, on January 12. One of  John Huston’s best-loved films and one of the most entertaining odd-couple pictures ever made, this action-comedy-romance, shot in Uganda and the Congo, teams Humphrey Bogart as a crass Canadian supply boat skipper and Katharine Hepburn as his bluestocking cargo, a prudish missionary who he’s transporting through c. 1914 German East Africa when war breaks out and all hell breaks loose.  On February 9, Eve's Bayou will be presented by director Kasi Lemmons. One of the essential works of African-American cinema of the 1990s, and just selected for the Library of Congress' National Film Registry, Eve's Bayou is a film of rich, steamy sexuality and an incredible sense of place, that follows the loss of innocence that occurs when the daughter of a well-to-do Louisiana family (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) catches her father (Samuel L. Jackson) in a moment of infidelity. Boasting an impressive line-up of actresses, including living legends Lynne Whitfield and Diahann Carroll, Debbi Morgan, and Meagan Good, it’s a seductive tour de force in an atmosphere thick with voodoo, other Creole legends, and household magic. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) began a yearlong residency at Metrograph in July 2017, bringing exciting and entertaining programs to the big screen. Programs in ACADEMY AT METROGRAPH have and continue to feature onstage conversations with filmmakers and scholars of motion pictures, tributes, newsreels, rarely seen clips from past Oscar® ceremonies, and home movies from Hollywood legends.  This monthly series highlights unique archival elements, including recent restorations and film prints from the Academy Film Archive by celebrating classic moments from the Academy’s 90-year history.

SPECIAL EVENTS

January 5 Nico Baumbach Presents Jean-Luc Godard's Film Socialisme Godard: “This movie was titled Socialism, at first, but it seemed to have too many connotations. Film Socialism is different: a philosopher wrote me 12 pages saying how wonderful it is to see ‘film’ alongside ‘socialism,’ since that has another meaning altogether, even hope.” "His twin obsessions: film in its relation to the history of twentieth century politics, but also the possibility of an equality of images or images of equality, a film manifesto in the tradition of Vertov, “a smile that dismisses the universe.” Godard’s first feature shot entirely on video is about the death of both film and socialism and the signs of their persistence and potential. It features Patti Smith and Alain Badiou on a cruise ship, an intrigue about gold Stalin stole from Spain, a llama, a YouTube cat video, and ends with an attack on the idea of intellectual property. Required viewing for everyone living in the 21st century, whether or not you wish to participate in the promotion of my book, Cinema/Politics/Philosophy published by Columbia University Press." —Nico Baumbach, who will be on hand to present the film and sign copies of Cinema/Politics/Philosophy after the screening.

January 11  The Unholy Three with Live Store by Gary Lucas Maestro of the macabre Tod Browning (Freaks, Dracula) directs frequent collaborator Lon Chaney to a masterfully sinister—and occasionally quite moving—performance as a warped ventriloquist masterminding an underhanded Christmas Eve crime along with dastardly dwarf Harry Eales and strongman Victor McLaglen. This sinful syndicate will stop at nothing, including a cross-dressing turn by Chaney, to get what they want in this sleeper sickie, remade five years later as Chaney’s first talkie but never surpassed in this visually ingenious sideshow thriller, which has the added inducements of Mae Busch as a pulchritudinous pickpocket and a maniacal chimpanzee. Featuring live performance by Gary Lucas accompanying the film.

February 2  Hilton Als on James Baldwin   In conjunction with God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin at David Zwirner in January in February, the curator of that exhibition, author and scholar Hilton Als will present a selection of films and visual excerpts of Baldwin on screen.