Film Program Spring 2007 National Gallery of Art, Washington

Spring Series film

Alain Resnais and Fanny Ardant

Czech Modernism 1920 – 1940

In Praise of Independents: The Flaherty

Parisian Panorama 1920 – 1930

Art Films and Events

Amateur Photographer

Belle T0ujours

Blockade

Crimson Gold

Days of Autumn

Lonesome with Alloy Orchestra

Paul Mellon: In His Own Words André Kertész, Courbevoie, 1926, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation Rouben Mamoulian 22 Sun June 5:00 Event: Lonesome with Alloy Orchestra Sergei Paradjanov, The Rebel 29 Sun 2 Sat 4:30 and Fanny Ardant: Life is a 2:00 Czech Modernism: Virginity Seventh Heaven Bed of Roses 4:00 Event: Belle Toujours 3 Sun Winslow Homer: Society 2:00 Czech Modernism: Lecture by Michal May Bregant and Solitude 4:00 Czech Modernism: The Kreutzer Sonata 5 Sat and Such is Life 4:00 Event: Seventh Heaven with organist 9 Sat April Dennis James 1:00 Event: Paul Mellon: In His Own Words 6 Sun 4:00 Czech Modernism: Tonka of the Gallows 1 Sun 4:30 Event: Days of Autumn 10 Sun 4:30 The Flaherty: Czech Dream and 12 Sat 5:00 Event: Paul Mellon: In His Own Words The Angelmakers 2:00 Event: Sergei Paradjanov, The Rebel; 15 Fri 7 Sat Rouben Mamoulian 12:30 Event: Amateur Photographer and 2:00 The Flaherty: The Gaze Back and It Works; 4:30 Czech Modernism: Faithless Marijka Blockade Patty Chang Videoworks 13 Sun 16 Sat 8 Sun 4:30 Czech Modernism: From Saturday to 12:30 Event: Amateur Photographer and 4:30 The Flaherty: The Sky Turns Sunday Blockade 14 Sat 20 Sun 2:30 Czech Modernism: The Strike and Crisis 12:30 Parisian Panorama: Etudes sur and 4:30 Event: Crimson Gold 17 Sun Paris Cinema 26 Sat 4:00 Czech Modernism: The Distant Journey 15 Sun 2:00 Czech Modernism: On the Sunny Side 4:30 Parisian Panorama: The Tower; Paris qui 27 Sun Films are shown in original format in the dort; Under the Roofs of Paris 2:00 Art Film: Winslow Homer: Society and auditorium of the National Gallery’s East 21 Sat Solitude Building at 4th Street and Constitution 1:00 Parisian Panorama: Paris Express and 5:00 Czech Modernism: The River Avenue nw. Seating is on a first-come basis. Paris la nuit To ensure a seat, please plan to arrive at 3:00 Alain Resnais and Fanny Ardant: Mélo least ten minutes before showtime.

Programs are subject to change. For current information, visit our Web site: www.nga.gov/programs/film.htm or call (202) 842-6799.

film

National Gallery of Art, Washington Art, of Gallery National

Spring 2007 Spring Program Film

National Gallery of Art Fourth Street and Non-Profit Org. Constitution Avenue nw U.S. Postage Paid Washington, dc Washington, DC Permit # 9712 Mailing address 2000b South Club Drive Landover, md 20785 www.nga.gov

Films are shown in the East Building Auditorium

Cover image from Lonesome (Photofest)

Film Program Spring 2007 Lonesome with Alloy Orchestra April 22 at 5:00 Boston’s Alloy Orchestra returns to the National Gallery to perform its original score for a new restoration of the exquisite and rarely seen romantic silent Lonesome by Hun- garian director Pál Fejös. Released in the late 1920s, when most theaters in America were adopting the new sound technology, Lonesome had last-minute additions of several dialogue sequences. Viewed as silent film pantomime, however, Lonesome is one of the most beauti- ful and sophisticated films of all time — just the footage on Coney Island alone, when the two young lovers have lost one another, is on par with the greatest modernist masterpieces. (Pál Fejös, 1928, 35 mm, 70 minutes)

Alain Resnais and Fanny Ardant: Mélo April 21 at 3:00 An adaptation of Henri Bernstein’s popular 1929 French melodrama of a doomed ménage à trois (and the first of two presentations cel- ebrating the collaboration of director Alain Resnais and actress Fanny Ardant), Mélo is both an homage to Parisian boulevard drama and a testament to the extraordinary power of human memory. “Resnais’s real triumph,” noted one critic, “was to bring the pleasures of the theater to film in a lithe, almost dreamy theatricality under a painted sky in an unreal world using the musical structure he found so fascinating in Bernstein’s play.” Mélo’s superb cast (Fanny Ardant, Sabine Azéma, Pierre Arditi, André Dussollier) serve up their exaggerated passion and pain with extraordi- nary French aplomb. (Alain Resnais, 1986, 35 mm, French with subtitles, 112 minutes)

Alain Resnais and Fanny Ardant: Seventh Heaven (Photofest) (La Vie est un roman) April 29 at 4:30 Resnais’s charming musing on the uto- Days of Autumn (Días de Otoño) addition to artifacts related to his cinema. pian idea that human life can somehow be Washington premiere of the restored print (Patrick Cazals, 2004, Beta , Armenian and improved is composed of three fused and sp May 6 at 4:30 French with subtitles, 52 minutes) fanciful narratives. Traveling back in time to Rouben Mamoulian details the life of 1914, the first tale ofLa Vie est un roman (star- Gabriel Figueroa’s stunning cinematography another pioneering Georgian-Armenian film- ring Ruggero Raimondi and Fanny Ardant) grants graceful form to this magical tale of maker from Tbilissi, who in the 1920s and focuses on a wealthy and visionary count who young Luisa, a pastry chef whose seemingly 1930s became a huge success in Hollywood opens a temple of happiness. In the second, fanciful stories about her romance with the with the first ever three-strip Technicolor more contemporary tale, a group of education man who rescues her shoe all but rival her film,Becky Sharp, and the Garbo vehicle, reformers has taken over the temple (now a pâtisserie’s embellished confections. Based Queen Christina. The documentary covers his progressive school) for a seminar on “educat- on a B. Traven story and adapted for the life in Tbilissi, New York, Rochester, Los ing the imagination.” A third tale provides screen by Emilio Carballido, Julio Alexan- Angeles, and Paris and contains interview counterpoint as evidence that the objectives der, and the exceptional Roberto Gavaldón footage with Mamoulian recorded shortly of the other two were, in fact, unattainable. (the most respected Mexican director of the before his death. (Patrick Cazals, 2006, “For those who enjoy a little ambiguity and period apart from Buñuel), Days of Autumn Betasp, English, French, and Armenian mystery in their fantasies,” writes critic Judy is an expressive vehicle for actress Pina Pelli- with subtitles, 63 minutes) Stone, “La Vie est un roman is extraordinary cer who brings to the role of Luisa “a limit- fun.” (Alain Resnais, 1983, 35 mm, French less world of feelings, sensations, moods,” with subtitles, 110 minutes) wrote Justino Fernandez. “Her duel between Crimson Gold reality and imagination affects us deeply.” Hamid Dabashi in person (Roberto Gavaldón, 1962, Spanish with sub- May 20 at 4:30 Seventh Heaven titles, 92 minutes) World premiere of new musical score The has been garnering Dennis James in person international acclaim for over two decades. May 5 at 4:00 Sergei Paradjanov, The Rebel Despite its outwardly melodramatic form, also Rouben Mamoulian Jafar Panahi’s recent Crimson Gold reflects The world premiere of a new musical score Patrick Cazals in person on the minutiae of everyday life in Iran with for Frank Borzage’s enchanting Seventh May 12 at 2:00 meticulousness and measured poetry. After Heaven will be performed by composer and the screening, Hamid Dabashi, professor of celebrated organist Dennis James. In one of A new documentary on the beloved Georgian- Iranian studies and comparative literature the great romantic tales of the 1920s, actors Armenian filmmaker from Tbilissi who made at Columbia University and author of a new Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor play a poor the uncommonly beautiful collage filmsSayat book on the history of Iranian cinema, will Parisian couple sharing a Montmartre garret Nova (1968) and Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors discuss the film and Panahi’s position within on the eve of World War I. The film, selected (1967) is introduced by its director, French the pantheon. (Jafar Panahi, 2003, 35 mm, to the National Film Registry of the Library filmmaker Patrick Cazals. Once blacklisted Farsi with subtitles, 95 minutes) of Congress, is shown in association with by Soviet authorities, Sergei Paradjanov was the exhibition Paris in Transition. (Frank celebrated as a hero and adorned his Yerevan Borzage, 1927, 35 mm, silent with live organ home (now enshrined as a museum) with score, 110 minutes) his paintings, sculpture, and furniture, in Winslow Homer: Society and Solitude In Praise of Independents: Deep in rural Hungary, the village of Washington premiere Nagyrev was the unsettling scene for a Steven John Ross in person The Flaherty bizarre rash of arsenic murders in the 1920s. May 27 at 2:00 The Angelmakers documents the events that For the sixth year, the National Gallery occurred after a group of village women Winslow Homer, unique in American art his- salutes the annual independent seminar were held responsible for poisoning their tory for his documentary and poetic portray- and showcase known as The Flaherty, the husbands. Unable to discuss this history for als of pre- and post-Civil War life as well as prestigious American venue designed for many years, descendants recall tales of life, illustrations for Harper’s Weekly, has until now the critical study and viewing of experimen- death, and the unending universal battle never been the subject of a feature documen- tal, documentary, and overlooked works of between the sexes. In a related sequence, tary. Steven Ross’s new work carefully chron- fiction that takes place annually at Vassar present-day echoes emerge as members of icles both Homer’s distinctive biography and College. A forum of artists, academics, film- an all-female dance club fight for the right to his artistic evolution through abundant loca- makers, writers, and critics assembles for leave home and pursue their own interests. tion footage and interview sequences with the weeklong event named after American (Astrid Bussink, 2005, Betasp, Hungarian artists and Homer scholars including Gallery pioneer filmmaker Robert Flaherty. Special and English with subtitles, 30 minutes) curator Franklin Kelly. (Steven John Ross, thanks to Linda Lilienfeld, Mary Baron, and 2007, digital beta, 110 minutes) Mary Kerr. The Gaze Back (Volver la Vista) also It Works Belle Toujours Czech Dream also Patty Chang Videoworks June 2 at 4:00 preceded by The Angelmakers Fridolin Schönwiese in person Finding inspiration in the cinematic past, April 1 at 4:30 April 7 at 2:00 namely Luis Buñuel’s Belle de jour, Manoel In the last decade, foreign investors have Austrian filmmaker Fridolin Schönwiese de Oliveira creates a playful and poignant erected over a hundred big-box markets in describes his unusual documentary in this present-day sequel to Buñuel’s film (and an the . Would-be shoppers way: “Volver la vista moves the viewer into the implicit homage to a mentor) in Belle Toujours. immediately scurried inside. Embraced as a perspective of a foreigner, namely Mexicans Critic Diana Sanchez wrote, “Belle Toujours social concept with a passion unsurpassed who live in Austria and Austrians who spend reunites the two main characters of Buñuel’s elsewhere in Europe, these stores lure most of their lives in Mexico. Through a Belle de jour thirty-eight years later in Paris. families who often spend entire days. “Part unique blend of cliché and yearning, immi- is again cast as the acrimoni- human comedy, part consumer critique, but grants create a picture — part real, part ous Henri, the keeper of the one secret that mostly exploitation art prank, Czech Dream imaginary — of their homeland and, through Séverine is desperate to discover....Now, documents — with support from government establishing their actual location, attempt Henri is disgusted when Séverine tells him grants and complicit assistance from several to define their identities. The participants she wishes to retreat to a convent. Further sponsors — the phony marketing and gala in the film are accompanied by two cinema- referencing Buñuel and screenwriter Jean- opening of the completely fictitious and slyly tographers who also have gone to a foreign Claude Carrière, Oliveira casts Bulle Ogier named ‘Czech Dream Hypermarket’ — in place — one of the cinematographers is Mexi- to play in Catherine Deneuve’s unforgettable reality, only a storefront banner erected in can, the other Austrian, and each is filming role (her blonde wig providing a hilarious a huge and empty field near . The the other country. Thus, as they shoot, their touch).” (, 2006, 35 mm, social fallout from the project is fascinat- perspective is compatible with that of the nar- French with subtitles, 70 minutes) ing, especially as it coincided with the Czech rators and narratives of the ‘other.’” (Fridolin government’s own enormous campaign to Schönwiese, 2005, 35 mm, Spanish and Ger- Paul Mellon: In His Own Words promote the dream of joining the European man with subtitles, 90 minutes)

June 9 at 1:00, June 10 at 5:00 Union.” — Steven Mockus. (Vít Klusák and Preceding the feature is It Works, Fridolin Filip Remunda, 2005, 35 mm, Czech with Schönwiese’s short documentary about four A new biographical film celebrates the spirit, subtitles, 87 minutes) handicapped children who accomplish enor- life, and philosophy of Paul Mellon. The narration draws from interviews, speeches, and a variety of writings in which Mellon describes his passions, pursuits, and inter- ests, such as family, art, collecting, horses, and racing. This screening is part of a public celebration of the one hundredth anniver- sary of Paul Mellon’s birth on June 10, 1907. (Joseph Krakora for the National Gallery of Art, 2007, high definition, 60 minutes)

Blockade also Amateur Photographer June 15 and 16 at 12:30 “The Siege of Leningrad during World War II lasted 900 days, leaving more than 600,000 dead from starvation, bombings, disease, or cold. Blockade, a compilation film based on silent footage found in Moscow’s archives (to which the filmmaker has added recon- structed sound), is an extraordinary account of life and death in a great city experiencing unprecedented hardship. As the Russian winter eventually takes hold and snow falls relentlessly, people forage for food and step over shrouded corpses lying in the streets. Beautiful street sculpture, bridges, palaces, and lampposts are the backdrop for coffins pulled on sleds on frozen walkways.” — New York Film Forum. (Sergei Loznitsa, 2005, digital beta, no dialogue, natural sounds, 52 minutes) Preceding the film,Amateur Photographer compiles the recollections of a German pri- vate serving on the Eastern front, based on his diaries and photographs. (Irina Gedrov- ich, 2004, Betasp, German with subtitles, 26 minutes)

Eugène Atget, Notre Dame, 1922, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Patrons’ Permanent Fund mous feats of strength — for each child, a Pierre Chenal, a fascinating yet little- Czech Modernism critical achievement — in the few minutes known filmmaker in 1920s Paris, was a that each is on camera. “Without attempting talented designer close to the surrealists. He 1920 – 1940 to force the film in a direction dictated conceived his Paris Cinema as a documentary by particular pedagogic, sociological, or view of the city, entwined with the technol- The commitment to the avant-garde dem- aesthetic dogma, It Works concentrates on ogy of photography and filmmaking, as seen onstrated by early twentieth-century Czech the work process itself. Human achievement through the eyes of a cameraman. Besides filmmakers played a key role in sustaining and film as an instrument of perception filming streets, stations, and monuments, he the vibrant film culture of fol- stand opposite one another.” — Fridolin recorded the apparatus of the camera itself lowing World War I. This program examines Schönwiese. (1998, 35 mm, German with with behind-the-scenes visits to film factories the forms and figures of Czech film from the subtitles, 21 minutes) and studios. (Pierre Chenal, 1929, 35 mm, mid-1920s through the mid-1940s in a retro- Installation video artist Patty Chang silent, 32 minutes) spective of twelve works that also anticipate is known for her ingenious digital video, the renowned new wave of the 1950s and including the two works in this program, 1960s. Two films by the prominent director The Tower (La Tour) Untitled (Eels) and Moving Earth. Chang con- Gustav Machatý and a selection of social- also Paris qui dort founds spectators with one-person perfor- problem films, such asThe Strike and The and Under the Roofs of Paris mances she describes as “catalysts for spe- Distant Journey, are among the highlights. The (Sous les toits de Paris) cific situations.” In both of the above pieces, series was organized by Irena Kovárová and April 15 at 4:30 for example, she regards the camera with is presented through the cooperation of the obvious anxiety and challenges the audience René Clair’s short homage to the Eiffel Tower Czech Center, New York, the National Film to determine the source of her distress. A reg- was lyrically hailed by contemporary crit- Archive in Prague, and the Brooklyn Academy ular on New York’s gallery and performance ics as “a poem in iron filigree... serving up of Music, with special thanks also to Adri- circuit, Chang has been building an interna- a sense of losing yourself in lace swollen enne Mancia and Sonja Simonyi. tional reputation in the field of new media art. a thousand times [with] the sky, the river (Patty Chang, 1996 – 2006, digital video and and the grounds of Paris, clouds, the eye Faithless Marijka (Marijka neveˇrnice) Betasp, 65 minutes) of René Clair.... La Tour must be seen, it is May 12 at 4:30 a great lesson of humility, of conscience, of poetry.” — Alexandre Arnoux, Pour Vous, 1928. A mountain woodcutter heads to the wilder- The Sky Turns (El cielo gira) (René Clair, 1927, 35 mm, silent, 10 minutes) ness, leaving his wife alone with another man. April 8 at 4:30 In Clair’s earlier and more whimsical Paris Faithless Marijka, a delicate portrait of social At the time of filming, there were fourteen qui dort, the tower’s night watchman awakens isolation in the Carpathian Ukraine, makes remaining inhabitants of Aldealseñor, a one day to a city where time has stopped — excellent use of the region’s local inhabit- village in the barren uplands of Soria (Cas- nothing moves. Looking down on the fro- ants, particularly their diverse languages and tilla, Spain). After over a thousand years of zen photographic tableaux below him, he dialects. The film’s treatment by novelist and uninterrupted vitality in the village, these finds a group of air travelers who are, like communist sympathizer Ivan Olbracht, the residents represent the last generation. For himself, stranded in time and space. “It was avant-garde montage, and a musical score the moment, things proceed as normal. Soon, because I was interested in the movement by Martinu˚ (recorded with the orchestra of however, and without any outward fanfare, produced by the cinematographic machine the Czechoslovak National Theater) provide life will come to an end there. The neighbors that I tried to demonstrate the absurd... that a rich backdrop. (Vladislav Vancˇura, 1934, of this village and the painter Pello Azketa is, to paralyze Paris in order to emphasize 35 mm, Ruthenian, Slovak, Yiddish, Czech share something in common: for them, how different Paris was, both animated and with subtitles, 76 minutes) things are already disappearing before their alive...” — René Clair. (René Clair, 1923, eyes. The narrator returns to her origins to 35 mm, silent, French with translation, From Saturday to Sunday make the film as she tries to reclaim her past 34 minutes) (Ze soboty na nedeˇli) while she can. (Mercedes Alvarez, 2005, 35 Under the Roofs of Paris was Clair’s first May 13 at 4:30 mm, Spanish with subtitles, 110 minutes) sound film, a poetic treatise on love and unconfirmed friendship moving back and forth through In Gustav Machatý’s first talking picture, a Parisian streets and bistros with a young young woman attracted to the glamour of the street singer (Albert Préjean) who falls for a chic cocktail crowd learns to accept the much charming shop girl (Pola Illery). “A delight- simpler joys of a working-class life. Art direc- ful experiment with sound, in which music tion by Alexandr Hackenschmied, a score Parisian Panorama plays a much more important role than by jazz composer Jaroslav Ježek, and a script conversation.” — R. C. Dale. (René Clair, 1930, cowritten by surrealist poet Víteˇzslav Nezval 1920–1930 35 mm, French with translation, 82 minutes) lend From Saturday to Sunday a tender roman- ticism that prompted one critic to call it a In conjunction with the exhibition Paris in masterpiece of early sound cinema — “the tale Paris Express Transition, a cinematic homage to 1920s Paris might be trivial but its recounting is refined.” also Paris la nuit is presented in three parts. Neighborhoods, (Gustav Machatý, 1931, 35 mm, Czech with April 21 at 1:00 parks, street life, dance halls, theatre, and subtitles, 71 minutes) views of the city at all hours were recorded by Paris Express provides a beguiling gaze at the many renowned avant-garde filmmakers and city in 1928 — its boulevards, shops, monu- cinematographers of the day. One program On the Sunny Side (Na slunecˇní straneˇ) ments, and amusements. Completed in black features the work of René Clair, whose studio- May 26 at 2:00 and white by filmmakers Pierre and Jacques produced Sous les toits de Paris is an ode to the Prévert, Marcel Duhamel, and Alberto Caval- Adapting a modernist scenario by the Lin- simple pleasures of the city. Special thanks canti at the time of production, the film later guistic Circle of Prague (including Roman to Linda Lilienfeld, Mary Baron, and Jennifer received a few color sequences filmed in the Jakobson, Miloslav Disman, and surrealist Ormson for their assistance and to Forum same locations. (Pierre and Jacques Prévert, poet Víteˇzslav Nezval), director Vladislav des Images, Gaumont-Pathé, CNC, and Ciné- 1928, French with translation, 35 minutes) Vancˇura used odd mise-en-scène and cam- mathèque Française. The young, innocent countess Rita of Paris era angles to interpret the fate of children la nuit wants to visit the poorer neighbor- assigned to an experimental reform school. Etudes sur Paris hoods of the city. When someone arranges a “His characters exist as symbols, frozen in also Paris Cinema trip for her, it proves to be a rather amusing mannered isolation: the camera looks down April 14 at 12:30 mistake for all concerned. (Henri Diamant- on them, like specimens in a social labora- Berger, 1930, 35 mm, French dialogue, 64 tory.... With an obvious debt to Soviet mon- The five studies ofEtudes sur Paris make the minutes) tage, the narrative emerges from stunning rounds of Parisian districts in the 1920s, vignettes — a maniacal puppet show, a Hitch- poetically documenting street life, workers, cockian tango on top of St. Vitus Cathedral.... cafés, even traffic — a city symphony of the A visual and sound syntax that compares French capital “worthy of the admiration,” favorably to the work of later avant-garde according to one reviewer, “of Jean Vigo practitioners from Buñuel to Bausch.” — and Jean Renoir.” (André Sauvage, 1928, Pacific Film Archive. (Vladislav Vancˇura, 1933, 35 mm, silent, French intertitles translated, 35 mm, Czech with subtitles, 76 minutes) 75 minutes) The Strike (Siréna) also Crisis (Krise) June 16 at 2:30 Based loosely on the historical events fol- lowing an 1899 worker’s uprising, The Strike chronicles the Hudec family and their dilemma, providing a microcosm of the Czech social crisis at that period. The film’s socialist realist style (the author of the origi- nal novel was an important Communist party member in the postwar period) is offset by Juroslav Tuzar’s modernist cinematography and music of the brilliant E. F. Burian. The film was awarded top honors at the 1947 Ven- ice Mostra, coincidentally the first and last award for the Czech cinema at any Venice fes- tival. (Karel Steklý, 1947, 35 mm, Czech with subtitles, 83 minutes) For Crisis, photographer Alexandr Hackenschmied, producer Hans Burger, and American director Herbert Kline joined forces to make a cogent exposé on the ris- ing fascist threat in during the 1930s. Remarkably, Crisis — which also includes avant-garde performances by the famous comedy team of Jiri Voskovec and Jan On the Sunny Side (National Film Archive, Prague) Werich — premiered in New York City just two days before the complete German occupation of Czechoslovakia. (Herbert Kline, 1938, 35 The River (Rˇeka) The Kreutzer Sonata (Kreutzerova sonáta) mm, English narration, 71 minutes) May 27 at 5:00 Donald Sosin on piano with violin accompaniment With a tempo as unhurried as the meandering also Such is Life (Takový je život) The Distant Journey (Daleká cesta) flow of a river, the film tells the lyrical story June 3 at 4:00 June 17 at 4:00 of a village magistrate’s son whose affec- tion for his sweetheart eventually spawns The celebrated master of early Czech cinema One of the first film adaptations of a Holo- a furious wrestle with a river pike. Cloaked Gustav Machatý is now largely remembered caust story (written by Mojmír Drvota and in gentle melodrama and cinematographer for two sensational works: Ecstasy (1933) Alfred Radok from Erik Kolár’s text), The Dis- Jan Stallich’s beautiful pastoral locations, and Erotikon (1929). In his rarely seen earlier tant Journey remains, notes critic J. Hoberman, the tale is told with a mix of actors and non- Kreutzer Sonata, Machatý updated Tolstoy’s “among the most original... a stylized danse actors — “believable country folk possessed of once scandalous 1889 story about a wealthy macabre, audacious and grotesque, looking a natural charm,” wrote one reviewer. (Josef landowner consumed with jealousy after his back to Caligari and forward to the unsettling Rovenský, 1934, 35 mm, Czech with subtitles, beautiful wife becomes involved with a vio- puppet animations of Jan Svankmajer.” Expe- 88 minutes) linist. (Gustav Machatý, 1926, 35 mm, Czech riences in the Terezín ghetto, where director intertitles translated live, silent with piano Alfred Radok’s father died, are expressed in and violin accompaniment, 95 minutes) a chilling stylistic formalism with newsreels Virginity (Panenství) Such is Life, anticipating the Czech natu- flashing beneath, and scenes of mass move- June 2 at 2:00 ralistic tradition of the 1960s (as in Milos ment staged by a camera moving rhythmically Evoking a sophisticated romanticism sugges- Forman’s celebrated oeuvre), portrays the in, up, and back. “Radok’s Terezín scenes,” tive of Frank Borzage, with fluid camera style trials and tribulations of a washerwoman writes Hoberman, “are charged with a sense and gleaming cinematography, Virginity tells (Vera Baranovskaya) who at first endures her of claustrophobic unreality and controlled the tale of an innocent beauty who attracts fate with grace, but ultimately dies and leaves hysteria... the most compelling moments are many suitors but ends up sacrificing herself behind a hapless husband and disgraced based on actual events.” (Alfred Radok, 1948, to help her dying lover. Marie Majerová’s daughter. German director Karl Junghans 35 mm, Czech with subtitles, 100 minutes) modernist novel was adapted for the screen uses Prague locations and Soviet montage by Otakar Vávra, a pioneer in Czech cinema to weave fragile visual poetry from his char- who is still directing at the age of ninety-six. acters’ deep deprivations. “Neue Sachlichkeit,” (Otakar Vávra, 1937, 35 mm, Czech with sub- wrote one reviewer, “with montage-based titles, 84 minutes) punch.” (Karl Junghans, 1929, 35 mm, silent Upcoming Series with live piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin, 73 minutes) Lecture: Modernism in Central European Modernity and Tradition: Film in Life, Art, and Cinema Interwar Central Europe June 3 at 2:00 Tonka of the Gallows (Tonka Šibenice) June 9 at 4:00 Opening June 24, 2007, to be included in the The advent of modernism in Central Europe summer calendar as seen in the cinema and in the moderniza- Tonka of the Gallows finds a former country tion of life through art are the subjects of a waif now hustling as a city hooker. When she lecture by Michal Bregant, noted authority on volunteers to spend a night in prison with From Vault to Screen: New Central and Eastern European film and dean a poor condemned man, her transforming Preservation from American of famu, the prestigious film and media encounter is later viewed as a bad omen and and European Collections school of the Academy of Performing Arts in disgraces her even more. Adapted from a Prague. (approximately 50 minutes) novel by Prague journalist Egon Erwin Kisch Opening June 30, 2007, to be included in the (and inspired by a newspaper story), this first summer calendar Czech talking picture features strong perfor- mances from the young Yugoslav actress Ita Rina and celebrated Soviet Vera Baranovskaya. (Karel Anton, 1930, 35 mm, Czech with sub- titles, 84 minutes)