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CINEMATHEQUE PRESS RELEASE -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DECEMBER 14, 2012

UW CINEMATHEQUE ANNOUNCES SPRING 2013 SCREENING CALENDAR LINEUP INCLUDES ANIMATIONS FROM STUDIO GHIBLI, SPAGHETTI WESTERNS, , , SHIRLEY CLARKE, PETER WATKINS, , 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 and originally released internationally in 1964, Italian director ’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 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 and , 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, ’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 , 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 . 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, , and .

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 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, 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 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. Louis during the Depression, King of the Hill. All screenings in this series take place Thursday evenings at the Chazen Museum of Art.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS This calendar’s special presentations include the first area screening of Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters, a new documentary about the renowned American photographer that will be shown on a double bill with a new 35mm print of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, one of Crewdson’s primary influences. Plus, new 35mm prints of Le Pont du Nord, a never-before- released-in-America feature from 1981 by French New Wave co-founder Jacques Rivette, and Marriage Italian Style, Vittorio De Sica’s marvelous 60s satire starring and Sophia Loren.

PREMIERE SHOWCASE This spring’s selection of the best in contemporary cinema includes some big names: we kick off with Robert Pattinson in the Madison premiere of Cosmopolis, the latest film by Canadian master David Cronenberg. In February, we’ll have the only local screening of the minimalist knockout The Loneliest Planet, starring Gael Garcia Bernal. A whirlwind portrait of New Orleans, the documentary hybrid Tchoupitoulas complements our Shirley Clarke series by carrying her radical spirit into the era of high-definition video.

UW CINEMATHEQUE AND WUD FILM COMMITTEE PRESENT MARQUEE MONDAYS Spring screenings at the Marquee Theater at Union South, co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Film Committee, are bookended by a pair of gritty thrillers from 1971: Ted Kotcheff’s journey into the Australian wasteland, , and Richard Compton’s Rambo prototype, Welcome Home, Soldier Boys. In-between are two fan favorites from the 1980s: the recently rediscovered martial arts camp epic Miami Connection and Sam Raimi’s slapstick gorefest Evil Dead II.

SCREENINGS AT-A-GLANCE:

Special Presentation Friday, January 18, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall GREGORY CREWDSON: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS USA | 2012 | HD Projection | 79 min. Director: Ben Shapiro Shot over a 10-year period, acclaimed photographer Gregory Crewdson is shown at work on his ambitious series of photographs entitled “Beneath the Roses.” Partially inspired by David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Crewdson’s large portraits offer scenes of small-town American life, while exploring its frequently disturbing underbelly. Working almost exclusively on locales in Western Massachusetts, Crewdson requires a production scale equivalent to shooting a movie, which means employing a crew of 60 and frequently creating soundstages in order to capture one indelible image. The artist candidly talks about his childhood and reveals his influences in this fascinating portrait of an artist that is just as intimate as Crewdson’s pictures.

Special Presentation Friday, January 18, 8:30 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall BLUE VELVET USA | 1986 | 35mm | 120 min. Director: David Lynch Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Lynch takes on Smalltown, USA in what remains today his most famous feature film. Jeffrey Beaumont (MacLachlan), recently home from college, and his blonde galpal Sandy (Laura Dern), become enmeshed in the town’s underworld after discovering a severed human ear. Their investigation leads them to nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens (Rossellini), who is being kept as the personal slave of the psychotic, raving fetishist Frank Booth (the unforgettable Hopper).

Premiere Showcase Saturday, January 19, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall COSMOPOLIS Canada | 2012 | 35mm | 109 min. Director: David Cronenberg Cast: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti Twilight heartthrob Pattinson stars as a Wall Street billionaire taking meetings in the back of a stretch limo as he is chauffeured across a near- futuristic Manhattan. Cronenberg’s eccentric, claustrophobic adaption of White Noise author Don DeLillo’s novel evokes the economic crisis. Like many of Cronenberg’s works, his latest looks ready to stand the test of time – Cosmopolis was cited as one of the ten best films of all time by esteemed critic Amy Taubin, who ranked it alongside masterpieces by Hitchcock, Godard, Renoir, and Kurosawa in her 2012 Sight and Sound poll.

LACIS Festival Friday, January 25, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall TABU Portugal | 2012 | 35mm | 110 min. | Portuguese with English subtitles Director: Miguel Gomes Cast: Teresa Madruga, Laura Soveral, Ana Moreira A transporting reverie of lost love, this visionary diptych straddles contemporary and colonial Mozambique. One of cinema’s most promising new voices, Gomes’s third feature is formally daring, heartbreaking, and funny. Shot in luminous black and white and featuring a sound design evocative of , Tabu evokes cinema’s past to point to its future. Named the second best film of 2012 in Sight and Sound’s poll of over 100 critics. (MK)

LACIS Festival Friday, January 25, 9:15 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall JUAN OF THE DEAD (JUAN DE LOS MUERTOS) Cuba/Spain | 2011 | 35mm | 92 min. | Spanish with English subtitles Director: Alejandro Brugués Cast: Alexis Diaz de Villegas, Jorge Molina, Andrea Duro In an already barely functioning contemporary Havana, unemployed ladies man Juan and his chubby pal Lázaro witness the earliest signs of the impending zombie apocalypse. Seizing a unique business opportunity, the two buddies refashion themselves as exterminators of the flesh-eating dead. Taking his cue from zombie maestro George A. Romero, director Brugués has fashioned a minor classic of the sub-genre, one that is rife with humor and socio-economic implications and contains loads of clever ways to stop a rampaging decaying corpse.

LACIS Festival Saturday, January 26, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall LAS ACACIAS Argentina | 2011 | HD Projection | 82 min. | Spanish with English subtitles Director: Pablo Giorgelli Cast: Germán de Silva, Hebe Duarte, Nayra Calle Mamani Winner of the Camera d’Or at the , this quietly beguiling road movie follows a long haul trucker transporting a Paraguayan woman and her infant daughter across the Argentine border. “Articulates emotional transformation with simplicity and grace. Rarely has a film managed to say so much while saying so little.” (NY Times) (MK)

LACIS Festival Saturday, January 26, 8:30 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall THE HARDER THEY COME Jamaica | 1972 | 35mm | 103 min. Director: Perry Henzell Cast: Jimmy Cliff, Janet Barkley, Carl Bradshaw Reggae legend Cliff is sensational in his acting debut as Ivan, a poor singer from the countryside who comes to Kingston to hit it big as a recording star. When his record gets no promotion, Ivan finds work in the city’s criminal underworld and ultimately becomes a fugitive folk hero. The first Jamaican feature film, shown here in a recently struck 35mm print, is politically charged and filled with great Cliff songs, including “Many Rivers to Cross”, “You Can Get it if You Really Want” and the title tune.

Studio Ghibli Sunday, January 27, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art SPIRITED AWAY (SEN TO CHIHIRO NO KAMIKAKUSHI) Japan | 2001 | 35mm | 125 min. Director: Hayao Miyazaki In the delightful, frequently awe-inspiring film that won Studio Ghibli the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a 10-year-old girl on vacation with her parents is transported to a land of spirits. While she searches for a way to return to her mother and father, our young heroine finds work in a fabulous bathhouse for the various witches and magical creatures that populate the story’s dreamworld. The superb English-language version will be shown.

Marquee Mondays Monday, January 28, 7 p.m. - At Marquee Theater WAKE IN FRIGHT (OUTBACK) | 1971 | 35mm | 114 min. Director: Ted Kotcheff Cast: Gary Bond, Donald Pleasence, Jack Thompson Presumed to be a lost film, Canadian director Kotcheff’s unforgettable journey into the Australian heart of darkness has returned to the screen in a new 35mm restoration. John Grant (Bond), a young schoolteacher in a remote outpost, travels to Sydney for his summer holidays, but, enroute, he gets waylaid in a rough mining town. “Befriended” by the locals, including a debauched doctor (the mesmerizing Pleasence), John embarks on an extended lost weekend of gambling, kangaroo hunting, and lots of drinking. A sometimes savage tale of self-destruction, Wake in Fright has been finding renewed enthusiasm from audiences and critics like Roger Ebert, who proclaimed that “It's not dated. It is powerful, genuinely shocking, and rather amazing.”

John Ford Rarities Friday, February 1, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall STRAIGHT SHOOTING USA | 1917 | 35mm | 60 min. Director: John Ford Cast: Harry Carey, Duke R. Lee, Hoot Gibson Ford’s first feature follows Cheyenne Harry (Carey), a freelance outlaw hired to intervene in a dispute between a scheming rancher and a farmer. Both a tragic murder and growing affection for the farmer’s daughter leads Harry to a moral reckoning regarding his gun-for-hire ethos. The film “received critical acclaim for its graceful blend of raw action, infectious characters, compelling situations, and artful, unaffected photography…characteristics in which we can glimpse the mature Ford of later years.” (Tag Gallagher, John Ford: The Man and His Films) Archival print courtesy of the Library of Congress. Live piano accompaniment by David Drazin. (MC)

John Ford Rarities Friday, February 1, 8:15 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall AIR MAIL USA | 1932 | 35mm | 84 min. Director: John Ford Cast: Pat O’Brien, Ralph Bellamy, Gloria Stuart Talented-but-reckless airman Duke Talbot (O’Brien) runs off with the wife of a freshly-deceased fellow pilot, forcing the even-tempered Mike Miller (Bellamy) to finish the downed pilot’s mail route. When Miller’s plane crashes into a mountain during the job, Talbot must decide whether to use his daredevil aviation skills to save his injured comrade. Ford’s stirring yarn combines a Hawks-ian ardor for male camaraderie and professionalism with an undercurrent of moody darkness, accentuated by the Expressionist- influenced cinematography of Karl Freund (frequent cinematographer of Ford favorite F.W. Murnau). Archival print courtesy of the Library of Congress. (MC)

Preston Sturges Saturday, February 2, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall THE GREAT MCGINTY USA | 1940 | 35mm | 81 min. Director: Preston Sturges Cast: Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff, William Demarest “In this town, I’m all the parties.” After proving himself a natural born racketeer, hobo Dan McGinty (Donlevy) finds himself climbing the crooked political ladder, with graftmeister The Boss (a hilarious Tamiroff) supplying the rungs, but it’s a long way down to the banana republic cabana from where the story is relayed. Preston Sturges famously sold his Academy Award-winning script to Paramount for $1 on the condition that it be his directorial debut - look out for Demarest, Arthur Hoyt, Harry Rosenthal, Esther Howard, and other members of his burgeoning stock company. Skewering the Right and Left with equal zeal, incorporating voter fraud and puppet regimes, this savage satire of election politics has proven distressingly prescient time and again. (MK)

Preston Sturges Saturday, February 2, 8:30 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall CHRISTMAS IN JULY USA | 1940 | 35mm | 67 min. Director: Preston Sturges Cast: Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn “If you can’t sleep at night, it isn’t the coffee - it’s the bunk!” Thinking he’s won $25,000 in a slogan writing contest with that doozy, an office clerk (Powell) goes on a spending spree and proposes to his best girl. When he learns the truth, our hero is not quite prepared for the consequences in this fast-paced screwball comedy classic. One of our great satirists, Sturges takes aim at American consumerism and the world of advertising and hits a bullseye.

Studio Ghibli Sunday, February 3, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (KAZE NO TANI NO NAUSHIKA). Japan | 1984 | 35mm | 116 min. | Japanese with English subtitles Director: Hayao Miyazaki Set in a future world decimated by atmospheric poisons, gigantic insects and war, Nausicaä’s eponymous princess must use her skills as both soldier and scientist in an effort to reconcile humanity with nature. One of the best science-fiction films of the 1980s, Nausicaä’s critical and commercial success in Japan eventually led to the formation of Studio Ghibli. The film also marks the first of Miyazaki’s many superb collaborations with composer Joe Hishaisi. (KK)

John Ford Rarities Friday, February 8, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall GIDEON OF SCOTLAND YARD (GIDEON’S DAY) UK| 1959 | 35mm | 91 min. Director: John Ford Cast: Jack Hawkins, Anna Massey, Cyril Cusack This unusual departure for director Ford depicts a day-in-the-life of a busy detective (Hawkins), whose work includes hunting murderers, thwarting bank robberies, and exposing corrupt colleagues. Released in the U.S. in a shortened, black and white version, this archival 35mm print of the European release restores the Technicolor and about 10 minutes of footage.

Preston Sturges Saturday, February 9, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS USA | 1942 | 35mm | 90 min. Director: Preston Sturges Cast: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick Successful comedy director (auteur of such mindless entertainments as Ants in Your Pants of 1940) sets out to make his Big Artistic Statement (entitled O Brother, Where Art Thou), and tours the country to connect with the downtrodden. Sturges’s signature film fearlessly mocks the very idea of heavy-handed artistic ambition, while serving as its own example for the social value of comedy. (MK)

Studio Ghibli Sunday, February 10, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art CASTLE IN THE SKY (TENKÛ NO SHIRO RAPYUTA) Japan | 1986 | 35mm | 125 min. | Japanese with English subtitles Director: Hayao Miyazaki Miner Pazu joins forces with the mysterious Sheeta to find the lost island of Laputa. Seeking hidden treasure, they are accompanied by an amusing band of air pirates and doggedly pursued by greedy government agents. Drawing inspiration from Jonathan Swift, European aeronautical and weaponry design, and a number of other sources, Miyazaki has crafted a jaw-dropping visual feast and a ripping tale of adventure.

Special Presentation Friday, February 15, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall LE PONT DU NORD France | 1981 | 35mm | 129 min. | French with English subtitles Director: Jacques Rivette Cast: Bulle Ogier, Pascale Ogier, Pierre Clémenti Real life mother and daughter team Bulle and Pascale Ogier star as a claustrophobic ex-convict and a kung-fu practicing free spirit. The mismatched duo find themselves entwined in a “mystery without a solution, a thriller without a plot, a modern-day Don Quixote/Sancho Panza tale that transforms the streets of into a giant board game, a maze spotted with mysterious traps, puzzling clues, and chance encounters.” (Ed Howard, Only the Cinema) Never before released in the U.S., this fascinating oddity from nouvelle vague member Rivette offers an invaluable view of Paris during a time of political change and increasing modernization.

Preston Sturges Saturday, February 16, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO USA | 1944 | 35mm | 101 min. Director: Preston Sturges Cast: Eddie Bracken, Ella Raines, William Demarest Capping off Sturges’s sidesplitting streak at Paramount, this ruthless sendup of mindless patriotism may be the most enjoyable anti-war film ever made. A perfectly cast Bracken (fresh from Miracle of Morgan’s Creek) stars as a runty discharged marine who is mistaken for a war hero when he returns home. The military milieu provides an ideal showcase for Sturges’s troupe of hysterical blowhards. “Sturges’s stock company of wonderful bit actors is orchestrated and conducted like a pop symphony… a scathing delight.” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader) (MK)

Studio Ghibli Sunday, February 17, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art ONLY YESTERDAY (OMOHIDE PORO PORO) Japan | 1991 | 35mm | 119 min. | Japanese with English subtitles Directed by Isao Takahata Although considered by many to be Studio Ghibil co-founder Takahata's best work, Only Yesterday took twenty years to be released in the U.S. Takahata dares to use Studio Ghibli’s color and technique not to depict fantasy, science fiction, or war, but to show the infinite value of an ordinary contemporary life, that of 27 year old Tokyo office worker Taeko. Flashing back and forth between Taeko’s youth in 1966 (the start of Japan’s economic boom) and her adult life in 1982, Only Yesterday delicately captures many aspects of Japanese life both past and present. It gives a rich and quiet voice to Taeko who confronts the ghosts of her childhood on her way to visit a rural haven that she can call home. (KK)

Premiere Showcase Friday, February 22, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall THE LONELIEST PLANET USA | 2011 | 35mm | 113 min. Director: Julia Loktev Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Hani Furstenberg, Bidzina Gujabidze Bernal (Y Tu Mamá También) and Furstenberg star as a young backpacking couple on a guided trek through Georgia’s breathtaking Caucasus Mountain range. Their idyll is ruptured by a chance encounter that exposes both their place in the world and between each other. As rigorous and rewarding as a mountain hike, Loktev’s film unfolds in an exacting series of single-take scenes. (MK)

Preston Sturges Saturday, February 23, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall THE LADY EVE USA | 1941 | 35mm | 94 min. Director: Preston Sturges Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn A brassy con artist (Stanwyck) and her timid mark (Fonda) fall in, out, and back in love on board a luxury ocean liner in this irresistible romantic comedy. Typecast to perfection, Stanwyck and Fonda elevate the opposites- attract conceit to intimate poetry, lovingly photographed in extra-long takes. Unusually elegant for Sturges, this suggests a path not taken for the typically madcap writer/director, who never treated human emotions (or anything really) with such genuine sensitivity and grace again - he also never had such natural romantic leads to work with. This being prime vintage Sturges, it’s also flat-out hilarious, endlessly quotable and overrun with his trademark blustering coots (Coburn, Eugene Palette, William Demarest). (MK) Studio Ghibli Sunday, February 24, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (TONARI NO TOTORO) Japan | 1988 | 35mm | 86 min. Director: Hayao Miyazaki When their mother is hospitalized, two young sisters retreat with their father to the countryside. The new environment introduces the girls to the wonders of nature but also three furry spirits of the forest who can only be seen by the children. Deeply personal and imbued with the magic of childhood discovery, this much-loved Studio Ghibli classic will be shown in the excellent English-language version, featuring the voices of Dakota and Elle Fanning.

Marquee Mondays Monday, February 25, 7 p.m. - At Marquee Theater MIAMI CONNECTION USA | 1987 | HD Projection | 83 min. Director: Richard Park Cast: Y.K. Kim, Richard Hirsch, Joseph Diamond A long-lost pinnacle of the VHS era, this newly unearthed whatsit is the sole feature of Tae Kwon Do master and nascent outsider artist Y.K. Kim. When a gang of motorcycle ninjas takes over the Floridian drug trade, it falls to a heroic martial arts/new wave band called Dragon Synth to save the day. Among the film’s head-scratching, head-spinning delights are ineptly staged battle royales, a synth-rock paean to true friendship, and the single greatest scene of someone checking their mailbox in the history of cinema. (MK)

New Deal Cinema Thursday, February 28, 7 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art STAND UP AND CHEER USA | 1934 | 35mm | 68 min. Director: Hamilton MacFadden Cast: Warner Baxter, James Dunn, Shirley Temple In this frothy Depression Era fantasy, President Roosevelt names a brash Broadway producer (Warner Baxter) as the country’s first “Secretary of Amusement”. While the new cabinet member faces lobbyists looking to take down his department, he finds help from a father-daughter act (Dunn and, in a star-making cameo appearance, Temple) who wow the nation with a number called “Baby, Take a Bow”. Preceded by Betty Boop in her only Technicolor cartoon, POOR CINDERELLA (1934, 11 min.)

Peter Watkins Friday, March 1, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall PUNISHMENT PARK USA | 1971 | 35mm | 88 min. Director: Peter Watkins Cast: Patrick Boland, Kent Foreman, Carmen Argenziano In one of the most provocative films of the Vietnam War era, draft dodgers and other counterculture types are rounded up, placed before military tribunal, and hunted down by the National Guard. “A dystopian critique intended for the peace-movement years but possibly even more relevant today... might be the most radioactive portrait of American divisiveness and oppression ever made.” (Michael Atkinson, Village Voice) (MK)

Spaghetti Westerns Saturday, March 2, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall (DA UOMO A UOMO) Italy | 1967 | 35mm | 114 min. Director: Giulio Petroni Cast: , John Phillip Law, Mario Brega A young boy witnesses the brutal slaughter of his parents by bandits. He grows into a vengeful young adult (Law) who relentlessly searches for the team of killers with help from an outlaw (Van Cleef) who hides his own dark past. Classically told and positively gripping, this violent European oater features a pounding, percussive score by .

Studio Ghibli Sunday, March 3, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art PORCO ROSSO (KURENAI NO BUTA) Japan | 1992 | 35mm | 94 min. | Japanese with English subtitles Director: Hayao Miyazaki After witnessing a traumatic battle during WWI, an Italian pilot is transformed into a creature that is part pig/part human. Undaunted by his new appearance, Porco becomes an ace bounty hunter of air pirates, while still finding time to romance the (human) ladies. “Porco Rosso was initially conceived as a short film for Japan Airlines, and its roots show in its delight with aviation and the experience of flight.” (Tasha Robinson, The Onion AV Club)

Peter Watkins Friday, March 8, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall EDVARD MUNCH Norway | 1974 | 35mm | 174 min. | Norwegian with English subtitles Director: Peter Watkins Cast: Geir Westby, Gro Fraas, Eric Allum Visionary filmmaker Watkins takes us into the life and times of one of history’s great artists, the creator of the once-reviled-now-iconic painting ‘The Scream’. Munch (1863-1944) is today recognized, along with Van Gogh, as one of the first true expressionists. Watkins’ most audacious move is a series of anachronistic, direct camera ‘interviews’ with the actors portraying Munch and his contemporaries – a device that takes this film out of the realm of the typical bio-pic and transforms it into a sociological epic. Often shown in shoddy, inferior copies, this 35mm restoration was supervised by the director himself.

Spaghetti Westerns Saturday, March 9, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall THE MERCENARY (IL MERCENARIO) Italy | 1968 | 35mm | 110 min. Director: Sergio Corbucci Cast: Franco Nero, Tony Musante, Jack Palance In 1915 Mexico, a group of revolutionaries hire a Polish gun-for-hire ( superstar Nero), but they are thwarted by a well-dressed and brutal government agent (Palance) in “one of the genre’s most powerful and politically charged achievements.” (Dave Kehr). Director Corbucci, a celebrated master of the Italian western (), worked six times with composer Ennio Morricone, whose score for The Mercenary was put to use again in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.

Studio Ghibli Sunday, March 10, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art POM POKO (HEISEI TANUKI GASSEN PONPOKO) Japan | 1994 | 35mm | 119 min. | Japanese with English subtitles Director: Isao Takahata When the development of a new Tokyo suburb threatens the already diminishing habitat of the tanukis -- raccoon-like animals from Japanese folklore -- the magical but mischievous creatures transform themselves into humans and begin a “spooking war.” Look out for Totoro, Kiki and Porco Rosso shortly before the spectacular night-time spirit parade, with thousands of ghosts, dragons and other magical creatures descending on the city. (KK)

New Deal Cinema Thursday March 14, 7 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art THE PRESIDENT VANISHES USA | 1934 | 35mm | 80 min. Director: William A. Wellman Cast: Edward Arnold, Arthur Byron, Rosalind Russell Fearing that the U.S. will be forced into war by a fascist cabal of weapon- makers, the President stages his own kidnapping in order to delay the war mongers’ plans. This politically loaded piece of pop entertainment from prolific director Wellman features script contributions from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

Shirley Clarke - Dennis Doros in person. Friday, March 15, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall PORTRAIT OF JASON USA | 1967 | 35mm | 105 min. Director: Shirley Clarke Cast: Jason Holliday, Clarke, Carl Lee You’ll never forget Jason Holliday. A black, gay hustler with ever-deferred dreams of mounting his own nightclub act, Holliday offers a rich and ribald tour through the highs and lows of his colorful past over the course of a long, booze-filled evening, with Clarke’s stationary camera rolling all the while. But how much can we trust Jason’s stories…or, for that matter, Clarke’s intentions? A fascinating snapshot of LGBT and African American history, Portrait of Jason by turns enthralls and unsettles in its depiction of the ever-shifting power dynamics between subject and filmmaker. This landmark in American independent filmmaking has been recently restored by Milestone Films. Milestone’s Dennis Doros will introduce this screening. (MC)

Spaghetti Westerns Saturday, March 16, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall FACE TO FACE (FACCIA A FACCIA) Italy | 1967 | 35mm | 112 min. Director: Sergio Sollima Cast: , Gian Maria Volonté, Heading west for his health, a New England school teacher (Volonté) falls in with an outlaw gang, eventually becoming leader of the bandits. This unusual European western from director Sollima () and screenwriter Sergio Donati (Once Upon a Time in the West), features a particularly memorable performance by Volonté as an intellectual who is slowly transformed into a fascistic killer. Ennio Morricone contributes another excellent score.

Studio Ghibli Sunday, March 17, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE (MAJO NO TAKKYÛBIN) Japan | 1989 | 35mm | 102 min. Director: Hayao Miyazaki Young witch-in-training Kiki flies her broomstick to a new town to complete her studies in magic. Away from her family, Kiki finds support from a family of bakers and her loyal cat, Jiji. Gentle, sweet-natured and beautifully rendered, Miyazaki’s fantasy is perfect entertainment for youngsters and grown-ups alike. This excellent English-language version features the voice of Kirsten Dunst as the titular heroine and a particularly memorable performance by the late Phil Hartman as Jiji.

Marquee Mondays Monday, March 18, 7 p.m. - At Marquee Theater EVIL DEAD II USA | 1987 | 35mm | 85 min. Director: Sam Raimi Cast: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Theodore Raimi Part remake, part sequel, this cult classic introduced “groovy” to the horror lexicon and firmly established Bruce Campbell as an underground star. Raimi adds comedy and Three Stooges-style slapstick to the buckets of gore for his tale of unlucky youngsters who meet demons in the woods.

Shirley Clarke Friday, March 22, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall THE CONNECTION USA | 1962 | 35mm | 110 min. Director: Shirley Clarke Cast: Warren Finnerty, Garry Goodrow, Roscoe Lee Browne Clarke’s raw and self-reflexive feature debut tracks a cinéma-vérité filmmaker chronicling a group of heroin addicts as they await the arrival of their next package (the “connection” of the film’s title). Praised at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, the film became embroiled in a highly-public censorship battle in New York State over its unvarnished depiction of drug culture. The Connection continues to captivate as both a landmark of the New American Cinema and a complex critique of the slipperiness of cinematic “realism”. (MC)

Spaghetti Westerns Saturday, March 23, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall IF YOU MEET PRAY FOR YOUR DEATH (SE INCONTRI SARTANA PREGA PER LA TUA MORTE) Italy | 1968 | 35mm | 95 min. Director: Gianfranco Parolini Cast: Gianni Garko, Klaus Kinski, William Berger A vicious attack on a stagecoach ends with the strongbox in the hands of the dastardly Lasky (Berger) and it’s up to the laconic hero Sartana (Garko) to track down the outlaw and the loot. The first in a popular series of European westerns with equally wonderful titles, this Sartana is oft-cited by fans as the best.

Studio Ghibli Sunday, March 24, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art WHISPER OF THE HEART (MIMI WO SUMASEBA) Japan | 1995 | 35mm | 111 min. | Japanese with English subtitles Director: Yoshifumi Kondô Ninth-grader Shizuku spends her last summer vacation before high school reading and working on translating a sentimental John Denver song (“Take Me Home, Country Roads”) into Japanese. Through a series of curious and magical incidents (involving a cat), she meets the like-minded, equally bookish Seiji. As they find themselves pulled in different directions, both teenagers are determined to remain true to their feelings for one another. Full of the promise of youth, the film is a bittersweet memorial for Miyazaki’s protégé Yoshifumi Kondō who died at 47. Whisper of the Heart was his only full length feature film. (KK)

New Deal Cinema Thursday, April 4, 7 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art FASHIONS OF 1934 USA | 1934 | 35mm | 78 min. Director: William Dieterle Cast: William Powell, Bette Davis, Frank McHugh Powell and Davis have great chemistry as a swindler and his assistant who attempt to steal the latest Paris fashion designs and sell knock-offs at cut- rate prices. Caught in the act, the duo is forced to put on a legitimate fashion show. This breezy pre-code comedy with musical numbers is a gem of a showcase for Warner Bros. talent.

Premiere Showcase Friday, April 5, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall TCHOUPITOULAS USA | 2012 | HD Projection | 80 min. Director: Bill Ross, Turner Ross This lyrical cinéma vérité documentary follows a group of kids staying out all night on the streets New Orleans. Independent cinema at its finest, this is a rare contemporary film to exhibit the freeform energy of Shirley Clarke. (MK)

Spaghetti Westerns Saturday, April 6, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall NAVAJO JOE Italy | 1966 | 35mm | 93 min. Director: Sergio Corbucci Cast: Burt Reynolds, , Aldo Sambrell In his only spaghetti western, Reynolds plays an Indian who, armed with a hatchet and bow-and-arrow, relentlessly pursues the outlaw who scalped and killed his woman. The startling score by Ennio Morricone (here credited as ‘Leo Nichols’) features a chorus of shrieking voices and pounding surf guitar. The main theme was later used to great comic effect in Alexander Payne’s Election.

Studio Ghibli Sunday, April 7, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art OCEAN WAVES (UMI GA KIKOERU) Japan | 1995 | 35mm | 72 min | Japanese with English subtitles Director: Tomomi Mochizuki Taku and his best friend Yutaka are headed back to school for what looks like another uneventful year. But they soon find their friendship tested by the arrival of Rikako, a beautiful new transfer student from Tokyo who wants only one thing, to go back. Adapted from Saeko Himuro’s best-selling novel, this bittersweet coming of age story features strong attention to detail and a striking use of perspective. The first Studio Ghibli feature produced exclusively for Japanese television, it has not been made available on DVD in the U.S. (KK)

2 x Renoir Friday, April 19, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall THE RULES OF THE GAME (LES RÈGLE DU JEU) France | 1939 | 35mm | 110 min. | French with English subtitles Director: Jean Renoir Cast: Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Jean Renoir Continually heralded as one of the greatest films in the history of the cinema, Renoir’s bittersweet comedy about class distinction was originally banned for being too critical of French society. The multi-character story revolves around the guests gathered for a weekend of partying and hunting at a country chateau.

Spaghetti Westerns Saturday, April 20, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (PER UN PUGNO DI DOLLARI) Italy/Spain/West | 1964 | 35mm | 100 min. Director: Sergio Leone Cast: Clint Eastwood, Gian MariaVolonté, Marianne Koch In a story pilfered from Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (which itself was inspired by Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest), an amoral wanderer with no name finds himself on both sides of a war between two families in a Mexican town. This classic created the worldwide craze for European westerns, turned Eastwood into an iconic superhero, and introduced movie lovers to the estimable talents of director Leone and composer Ennio Morricone.

Studio Ghibli Sunday, April 21, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art PRINCESS MONONOKE (MONONOKE-HIME) Japan | 1997 | 35mm | 134 min. | Japanese with English subtitles Director: Hayao Miyazaki In one of the most popular films ever released in Japan, a prince searches for a cure to the lethal curse placed on him. On his journey he finds himself in the middle of a war between a mining town and the animals living in a nearby forest whose protector is a girl raised by wolves. Ecologically- conscious and epic in presentation, Princess Mononoke is one of Studio Ghibli’s signature efforts.

New Deal Cinema Thursday, April 25, 7 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art KING OF THE HILL USA | 1993 | 35mm | 103 min. Director: Steven Soderbergh Cast: Jesse Bradford, Karen Allen, Spalding Gray In the darkest days of the Great Depression 12-year-old Aaron (Bradford) uses his ingenuity and imagination to survive when he is separated from his family. One of director Soderbergh’s most memorable films (and still not available on DVD in the U.S.!), this moving, episodic, and picaresque drama is based on the memoir of writer A.E. Hotchner. The excellent cast also includes stars-to-be Adrien Brody, Katherine Heigl and singer Lauryn Hill.

2 X Renoir Friday, April 26, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall GRAND ILLUSION (LA GRANDE ILLUSION) France | 1937 | 35mm | 117 min. | French with English subtitles Director: Jean Renoir Cast: Jean Gabin, Erich von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay Renoir’s WWI drama is a profound statement on the futility of war, but also one of the most entertaining prison break movies. Two French soldiers, one working class (the magnificent Gabin) and one more genteel (Fresnay), plot their escape from a POW camp. Legendary director von Stroheim is unforgettable as the aristocratic German camp commander. A newly restored 35mm print will be shown.

Spaghetti Westerns Saturday, April 27, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall (PER QUALCHE DOLLARO IN PIÙ) Italy/Spain/West Germany | 1965 | 35mm | 132 min. Director: Sergio Leone Cast: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonté Clint Eastwood is a nameless bounty hunter who teams with the mysterious Col. Mortimer (Van Cleef) to hunt down the vicious Indio (Volonté). Klaus Kinski appears as a hunchbacked match book cover and Ennio Morricone’s superb score makes excellent use of a musical watch. A quintessential, fully- realized work of art from Leone, this semi-sequel to is “more elaborate, more imaginatively plotted, better photographed, funnier, more brutal, and more overtly adult and political than the original.” (Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic)

Studio Ghibli Sunday, April 28, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS (HOHOKEKYO TONARI NO YAMADA- KUN) Japan | 1999 | 35mm | 104 min. | Japanese with English subtitles Director: Isao Takahata Takahata’s cheery adaptation of a popular newspaper manga by Hisaichi Ishii represents a dramatic break from the frequently mythical storytelling of Studio Ghibli. In order to stay true to the manga, the director uses a seductive minimalist aesthetic in portraying the life and misadventures of the disorganized Yamada family. Takahata brings these charming failures to life by leaving the majority of the frame empty, sometimes presenting only etchings or sketches, filled with soft colors that evoke watercolor painting. Ghibli’s first entirely computer-generated feature still manages to magically capture the aura and feeling of a childhood memory. (KK)

Marquee Mondays Monday, April 29, 7 p.m. - At Marquee Theater WELCOME HOME, SOLDIER BOYS USA | 1971 | 35mm | 91 min. Director: Richard Compton Cast: Joe Don Baker, Paul Koslo, Alan Vint In this distinctively gritty, sometimes disturbing piece of action exploitation from the early 70s, a trio of Vietnam War vets return home to a not so welcoming U.S. When their car breaks down in a particularly inhospitable small town, the three soldiers set out to destroy the entire village. This forerunner of Rolling Thunder and First Blood has still never been released on home video. An excellent new 35mm print will be shown.

2 X Sautet Friday, May 3, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall CLASSE TOUS RISQUES France | 1960 | 35mm | 108 min. | French with English subtitles Director: Claude Sautet Cast: Lino Ventura, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Sandra Milo In this hard-hitting French film noir, Ventura plays a career thief who executes a broad daylight payroll heist on the streets of Milan. With the help of a new partner (Belmondo), he returns to France after holing up in Italy, and realizes, perhaps too late, that there’s more to life than being a gangster. Following up on 50s masterworks like Rififi while anticipating 60s thrillers like Le Samourai, Classe Tous Risques contains the first teaming of Ventura and Belmondo, two of French cinema’s greatest icons.

Special Presentation Saturday, May 4, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE (MATRIMONIO ALL’ITALIANA) Italy | 1964 | 35mm | 102 min. | Italian with English subtitles Director: Vittorio De Sica Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren, Aldo Puglisi Often thought of as a sequel to Pietro Germi’s comedy Divorce-Italian Style, De Sica’s satirical examination of the institution of marriage in Italian society is much darker in tone, filled with conniving humanity and bitter passion. In this adaptation of the 1946 play by Eduardo De Filippo, Filumena (Loren) performs a tour-de-force in order to get her unfaithful longtime lover, Domenico (perfectly realized by Mastroianni), to marry her. “Whenever Vittorio De Sica gets together with Sophia Loren something wonderful happens.” (New York Times) (KK)

Studio Ghibli Sunday, May 5, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Museum of Art THE CAT RETURNS (NEKO NO ONGAESHI) Japan | 2002 | 35mm | 75 min. | Japanese with English subtitles Director: Hiroyuki Morita Haru, a bored teenager, is whisked away to a magical cat kingdom where the king plans to turn our heroine into a feline and marry her off to the prince! Accompanied by cat friends like the fat, cranky Muta and the dashing Baron from Whisper of the Heart, Haru must find a way to stop her transformation...and she’s already sprouted whiskers and a tail! (KK)

2 X Sautet Friday, May 10, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS France | 1971 | 35mm | 112 min. | French with English subtitles Director: Claude Sautet Cast: , , Georges Wilson The unusual anti-hero of this compelling, elaborately plotted thriller, Max (Piccoli) is an independently wealthy police detective obsessed with trapping criminals. Frustrated after a failed case, Max sets about luring a gang of petty thieves into committing a big bank robbery, a plan that requires Max to seduce the gang leader’s prostitute girlfriend (a devastating performance by Schneider). As emotionally complex as the story, Max is a mature masterpiece that unjustly remained unreleased in the U.S. for over forty years.

Saturday, May 11, 7 p.m., 4070 Vilas Hall COMMUNICATION ARTS SHOWCASE Highlighting works produced in Communication Arts Media Production courses at UW Madison, this program is curated by the instructors of film, video and animation courses and gives new filmmakers the opportunity to present their films on screen for the first time.

Sunday, May 12, 2 p.m. - At Chazen Musem of Art HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE (HAURU NO UGOKU SHIRO) Japan | 2004 | 35mm | 114 min. Director: Hayao Miyazaki A teenaged milliner is cursed by a witch and transformed into an old woman. She is then sent to work as a housekeeper in the huge walking castle belonging to young magician Howl, who holds the key to breaking the hatmaker’s spell. Miyazaki’s follow-up to Spirited Away, an adaptation of a British novel by Diana Wynne Jones, delivers an equally compelling story set in a dazzling visual universe. The English language version, featuring the voices of Christian Bale, Jean Simmons, Lauren Bacall, Billy Crystal, and Emily Mortimer, will be shown.

See you at the Movies!

Jim Healy, Director of Programming