Fridays this Summer

6/24/2016 @ 7:00 PM 9:30 PM

Little Miss Sunshine

(Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006) · With an overworked mother, a father hoping to become a motivational speaker, an uncle living at home after a suicide attempt, a teenager who has taken a vow of silence, a grandpa outed from a retirement home, and an aspiring child beauty queen, the Hoover family is the epitome of dysfunction. When the youngest daughter qualifies for the “Little Miss Sunshine” pageant, the whole family sets off on a roadtrip to California and learns to support one another.

runtime: 101 min format: 35mm

 

7/1/2016 @ 7:00 PM 9:30 PM

Black Magic

(Gregory Ratoff, 1949) · An adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s novel, Black Magic stars Orson Welles as Joseph Balsamo, a French gypsy who passes from torturous childhood to hypnotist, magician, and con-artist. As Count Cagliostro, Balsamo wins wealth and fame, and plots to lay low King Louis XV. Though uncredited, Welles also co-directed the film, which features much of his signature style in addition to its elaborate costumes and sets. Print preserved by the Library of Congress.

runtime: 105 min format: 35mm

 

7/8/2016 @ 7:00 PM 9:00 PM

Chicago Calling

(John Reinhardt, 1951) · Directed by noir filmmaker John Reinhardt, Dan Duryea stars as Bill Cannon, a man down on his luck. He can’t find or keep a job and his family's left him. He learns his daughter was injured in a car crash, but he won’t know more until a call comes on his home phone. One problem: his phone is disconnected. Watch him try to scrape up the money to learn her fate. If only the his problems in this film could be solved noir-style with a gun or some good luck. Print preserved by the Library of Congress.

runtime: 75 min format: 35mm

 

7/15/2016 @ 7:00 PM 9:30 PM

It Happened on Fifth Avenue

(Roy Del Ruth, 1947) · This Christmas comedy grows increasingly screwball as it packs one character after another into a multimillionaire’s 5th Ave mansion—a hobo, a slew of homeless army vets, the millionaire’s runaway daughter who falls in love with one of the vets, and eventually the millionaire himself posing as another hobo. After losing the Oscar for Best Story to fellow holiday film Miracle on 34th Street, this gem nearly disappeared from public consciousness.

runtime: 116 min format: 16mm

 

7/22/2016 @ 7:00 PM 9:00 PM

The Night Holds

(Andrew Stone, 1955) · A thrilling noir based on a real crime, The Night Holds Terror follows three criminals, dubbed the “Night of Terror Trio,” who kidnap a man on his way home from work and take his family hostage in their suburban home. Shot in just 18 days on a budget of $78,000, the film retains a gritty authenticity and tense pacing, only aided by strong performances from John Cassavetes, in his first major role, and Vince Edwards as two of the criminals.

runtime: 170 min format: DCP

 

7/29/2016 @ 7:00 PM 9:00 PM

La Deuda

(Manuel José Alvarez and Nicolás Buenaventura Vidal, 1997) · In small El Paraíso, somebody murders the Turk, local shylock and sole proprietor of the town’s pawnshop. The townsfolk unceremoniously bury him just outside the cemetery in an unmarked grave. After reclaiming their pawned belongings, they attempt a return to their daily lives, the crime unsolved since everyone wanted him dead. When spooky occurrences begin to interrupt their lives, a Biblical flood forces the town to confront its growing collective guilt.

runtime: 98 min format: 35mm

 

8/5/2016 @ 7:00 PM 9:30 PM

Plaff

(Juan Carlos Tabio, 1988) · Concha is a middle class widow whose son, a star baseball player, has just married an engineer. When the newlyweds move in with her, someone begins hurling eggs intermittently at Concha’s house. Hunting for the culprit, Concha lashes out at everyone from her new daughter-in-law to her husband’s former mistress to God, but the eggs keep flying. This reflexive farce confuses the attentive movie-goer while unearthing the social tensions of late ‘80s Cuba.

runtime: 110 min format: 35mm

 

8/12/2016 @ 7:00 PM 9:30 PM

Los Sobrevivientes

(Tomás Gutierrez Alea, 1979) · Cuba's aristocrats lose their privileges to Castro's guerrillas much as Confederate elites lost theirs to Sherman. Unlike Gone With The Wind, this film does not invite us to sympathize with these rich men. They are pampered and childish, a class that impedes rather than leads. A question may lie beneth the surface. Is theft justified if one does not like those in power? Note that The Survivors was released in the year of the Iranian revolution.

runtime: 130 min format: 35mm

 

8/19/2016 @ 7:00 PM 9:30 PM

Otario

(Diego Arsuaga, 1997) · In this Uruguayan whodunit, a wealthy Spanish woman hires a private detective to find her husband, who disappeared a while back in Montevideo. His investigation leads him to a cabaret owner whose connections to a veritable gallery of rogues only deepens the mystery. Set in the ‘40s, Otario paints the milieu of film noir with the erotic rhythm of tango.

runtime: 106 min format: 35mm

 

8/26/2016 @ 7:00 PM 9:00 PM

Las Voces

(Pablo Torre, 2011) · On her deathbed, Ema tells her granddaughter about her long-dead grandfather. Clara, Ema’s daughter, begins to wonder about the father that she never knew. Forty years in the past, Juan works as a ventriloquist, eking out a living on the streets performing with his only companion, a porcelain doll. After getting hired to perform his act at a movie house, he meets Ema, but a mysterious little girl and an unsolved crime threaten his newfound stability.

runtime: 92 min format: 35mm

 

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