CINEMATHEQUE PRESS RELEASE -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DECEMBER 14, 2012 UW CINEMATHEQUE ANNOUNCES SPRING 2013 SCREENING CALENDAR LINEUP INCLUDES ANIMATIONS FROM STUDIO GHIBLI, SPAGHETTI WESTERNS, PRESTON STURGES, JOHN FORD, SHIRLEY CLARKE, PETER WATKINS, CLAUDE SAUTET, JEAN RENOIR AND MUCH, MUCH MORE After a jam-packed fall calendar that included great anti-westerns of the 60s and 70s, the marvelous Japanese action epics of Kenji Misumi, golden age Hollywood gems written by Preston Sturges, a visit from director Tim Hunter, two full-house pre-release screenings of the acclaimed new movie Silver Linings Playbook and so much more, the UW Cinematheque is proud to announce a January-May calendar that promises even more. On offer are a retrospective of anime features from Japan’s Studio Ghibli, a series of great Spaghetti Westerns, more Preston Sturges and a number of other series and special presentations that take viewers from the silent era to area premieres of some of the contemporary cinema’s most talked-about recent releases. Filmed on locations in Spain and originally released internationally in 1964, Italian director Sergio Leone’s Fistful of Dollars proved to be one of the most successful and influential films of the decade. Not only did it make a star of Clint Eastwood around the world, it began a 15-year cycle of dozens of European Westerns that forever altered the Western as we knew it with more explicit and explosive violence and aggressively political storylines. This spring, the UW Cinematheque will present an extensive series of these wonderful “Spaghetti Westerns” shown on 35mm prints in their English- language release versions. While the series allows for two Leone classics, it also provides an opportunity to discover the brilliant and personal work of “the other Sergios,” namely Sergio Corbucci and Sergio Sollima, and a host of other Italian directors who flourished in this fascinating sub-genre. The series will be extended to also include screenings of Spaghetti Westerns in the 2013 Wisconsin Film Festival. Equally eye-opening is our even more extensive series of exquisite Japanese animated features produced by Studio Ghibli that will be presented as our spring Sunday Cinematheque at the Chazen selections. As if that were not enough, our January-May calendar includes retrospective screenings devoted to such diverse talents as America’s Shirley Clarke, John Ford and Preston Sturges, Italy’s Vittorio De Sica, France’s Jacques Rivette, Claude Sautet and Jean Renoir, England’s Peter Watkins; our annual selection of films sponsored by the University’s Department of Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies, including the first area showing of Miguel Gomes much- celebrated new film Tabu; and the first area screenings of new films by such talented contemporary filmmakers as David Cronenberg and Julia Loktev. As always, all of our Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public, whether in our regular venue at 4070 Vilas Hall or at the Chazen Museum of Art or at the Marquee Theater at Union South. The Cinematheque’s website (http://cinema.wisc.edu) will go live with the spring calendar at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, December 17, 2012. Friday and Saturday programs screen at: 4070 Vilas Hall 821 University Ave Madison, WI 53706 Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon programs screen at: Chazen Museum of Art 750 University Avenue Madison, WI 53706 ‘Marquee Monday’ programs screen at: Marquee Theater at Union South 1308 W. Dayton Street Madison, WI 53715 Admission free for all screenings, seating limited. Our website: http://cinema.wisc.edu For photos, visit: https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/kfkolb/web/CINEMATHEQUE%20FAL L%202012%20PHOTOS/ Preview screening copies are available for many of the films listed below. To request copies or for additional information, contact: Jim Healy, (608) 263-9643, [email protected] Karin Kolb, (608) 262-3627, [email protected] SERIES AT-A-GLANCE: SUNDAY SCREENINGS AT THE CHAZEN: CASTLES IN THE SKY: MIYAZAKI, TAKAHATA, AND THE MASTERS OF STUDIO GHIBLI. For nearly 30 years the Japanese Animation Studio Ghibli, founded by Hayao Miyazaki, has produced some of the world's most popular and critically acclaimed animated features, praised for combining dazzling visual artistry with sophisticated and emotionally resonant stories, and concern for social and environmental issues. This 14 film retrospective features not only beloved audience hits like Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service, and the Oscar®-winning Spirited Away, but also rarely seen titles like Only Yesterday (directed by Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata) and Tomomi Mochizuki’s Ocean Waves, which have, until now, never been released in North America. 10 of the newly-struck 35mm prints will be shown in the original Japanese with English subtitles, while the remaining four will be screened in excellent English language versions. All screenings in this series take place Sunday afternoons at the Chazen Museum of Art. SPAGHETTI WESTERNS The enormous international success of Sergio Leone’s Fistful of Dollars (1964) gave birth not just to the film career of Clint Eastwood, but it also spawned hundreds of other European Westerns, a genre which remained popular around the world well into the 1970s. While the principal talents behind these so-called “Spaghetti Westerns” were typically Italian, the films themselves were usually international co-productions which relied heavily on Spanish locations. These politically engaged post-modern action epics broke into new territories of screen violence and frequently presented viewpoints highly critical of American history. Our selection includes Leone’s classic, plus eye-opening work by his talented contemporaries, including Sergio Sollima and Sergio Corbucci, who counts Quentin Tarantino among his devout acolytes. The series will also expand to include screenings in the 2013 Wisconsin Film Festival. LACIS FESTIVAL DE CINE 2013 The 2013 edition of our annual series of films supported by the department of Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies (LACIS) brings us four feature films from four different nations. Portugal’s Miguel Gomes, whose work was highlighted in the 2011 edition, is represented by Tabu, his newest and most acclaimed work yet. From Argentina comes the Cannes prize- winner Las Acacias and Caribbean cinema is given a special spotlight with the Cuban zombie comedy Juan of the Dead and a new 35mm print of Jamaica’s first feature film, The Harder They Come starring Reggae music legend Jimmy Cliff. Special thanks to LACIS’ Alberto Vargas and Sarah Ripp. RARE JOHN FORD One of the most accomplished, prolific and influential of American directors, John Ford tried his hand at almost every genre in a career that covered six decades. In February, we present three hard-to-see Ford movies that demonstrate his great versatility, beginning with Ford’s first feature, the 1917 silent Western Straight Shooting. The 1932 aviation drama Air Mail finds Ford setting the template for several films by his contemporary Howard Hawks and the 1959 British detective story Gideon of Scotland Yard is an episodic vehicle for English actor Jack Hawkins. None of these Ford gems are currently available on DVD. PRESTON STURGES: WRITER-DIRECTOR Following up our Fall 2012 series of delightful features written by the great American satirist Preston Sturges during the 1930s, we now present five movies from Sturges’ brilliant but mercurial run as a writer-director under contract at Paramount Pictures in the 1940s. The series begins with Sturges debut as director (a job for which he was paid $1), the political send-up The Great McGinty, and includes the beloved comedies Christmas in July, Sullivan’s Travels, Hail the Conquering Hero, and The Lady Eve. PETER WATKINS: FAUX DOCUMENTARY PIONEER More popular now than ever in fictional feature films and television, the pseudo-documentary or “found footage” format is primarily used today to make sometimes fantastic subjects and stories seem more real to an audience. The innovative work of faux documentary pioneer Peter Watkins achieves this sense of intimacy and immediacy, and, at the same time, manages to critique contemporary journalistic filmmaking. In March, we will screen two recently struck 35mm prints of Peter Watkins most celebrated films, the counterculture classic Punishment Park and the deliberately anachronistic biopic, Edvard Munch. SHIRLEY CLARKE: NEW RESTORATIONS The landmark independent cinema of Shirley Clarke (1919-1997) has been championed for employing new styles that allowed for a greater sense of realism and confronting once-taboo subjects. In March, the Cinematheque will offer showings of two Clarke classics from the 1960s that have been recently restored by Milestone Films: the cinema veritè masterpiece Portrait of Jason and The Connection, a fictional look at the life of drug-addicted musicians. Milestone’s Dennis Doros will be on hand to present Portrait of Jason and discuss the restorations. RENOIR & SAUTET: 2 X 2 The Cinematheque pays tribute to two great French directors from separate generations, Jean Renoir and Claude Sautet, with recently struck 35mm prints of their finest films. Those new to Renoir (1894-1979) will get a chance to see big-screen showings of his canonized masterpieces, Rules of the Game and Grand Illusion, two films that routinely make lists of the greatest movies ever made. The lesser-known Sautet (1924-2000), oft-cited as an heir to Renoir’s humanistic traditions, is represented by two marvelous but atypical crime movies, Classe Tous Risques and Max et les Ferrailleurs. AT THE CHAZEN: NEW DEAL CINEMA In conjunction with the Chazen Museum of Art’s exhibit 1934: A New Deal for Artists (on display February 16-April 28), we are pleased to present four separate programs of popular cinema that reflect the sociological and cultural trends of 1934, the height of the Great Depression. The series includes the movie that made Shirley Temple a star, Stand Up and Cheer, paired with the Betty Boop vehicle, Poor Cinderella; the anti-fascist comic thriller The President Vanishes; William Powell and Bette Davis in the WB pre-code gem, Fashions of 1934; and Steven Soderbergh’s 1993 depiction of St.