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MoMA CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF RIALTO PICTURES WITH 17-FILM RETROSPECTIVE Series by Leading Distributor of Classic Repertory Cinema Spotlights Some of the Finest Filmmaking Talents Such as Robert Bresson, Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Jean- Luc Godard, and Jean-Pierre Melville Rialto Pictures: Reviving Classic Cinema July 25–August 10, 2007 The Roy and Niuta Titus 1 and 2 Theaters NEW YORK, June 26, 2007—Celebrating a decade of titles issued by Rialto Pictures, The Museum of Modern Art presents a 17-film survey from the distributor’s catalogue of extraordinary cinema. Rialto Pictures: Reviving Classic Cinema, presented July 25 through August 10, 2007, in The Roy and Niuta Titus 1 and 2 theaters, includes some of the most acclaimed films produced over the past six decades. These classics of cinema include Jules Dassin’s stylish and taut heist film Rififi (1955), Carol Reed’s memorable film noir thriller The Third Man (1949), and Jean-Pierre Melville’s powerful depiction of French Resistance fighters in L’armée des ombres (Army of Shadows, 1969), which was released in the United States for the first time in 2006, to wide critical acclaim. The exhibition is organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art. In 1997, film programmer and curator Bruce Goldstein established Rialto Pictures, a company dedicated to invigorating classic cinema by ensuring that it continued to be viewed, as originally intended, on the big screen. Since then Goldstein, in conjunction with his partner Adrienne Halpern, has released almost 40 fresh, and often restored, 35mm prints of classic foreign films with new English subtitles not seen in theaters since their original runs, and has premiered films never before distributed in America. “Rialto has given a new generation of filmgoers the opportunity to experience the works of masters as they were meant to be seen, and invites those who saw these films years ago to revisit them,” says Mr. Kardish. “MoMA salutes Bruce Goldstein and Adrienne Halpern for keeping classic cinema invigorated and contemporary.” Rialto Pictures: Reviving Classic Cinema spotlights some of the finest directing talents of the moving image: Robert Bresson, one of the undisputed masters of cinema, is represented by two of his strongest works, the influential Mouchette (1967), and the deeply moving Au hasard Balthazar (1966); Jean-Pierre Melville, whose portraits of underworld denizens in Bob le Flambeur (1955), and Army of Shadows are unforgettable; and Jules Dassin, whose seminal Rififi, the opening-night screening, will be shown with the seldom-screened Oscar-winning short Le Poulet (1962) by Claude Berri. Of special interest is Coming Attractions, a compilation of 10 trailers produced by Rialto Pictures to advertise their upcoming releases. The 20-minute program, which will be screened twice during this exhibition preceding Le Vieil homme et l’enfant (The Two of Us, 1967), includes six titles which are in this exhibition as well as four additional ones: The Graduate (1967), Elevator to the Gallows (1958), The Battle of Algiers (1966), and Band of Outsiders (1964). Many of the films in this retrospective are also notable for the career-defining performances of their actors. Giulietta Masina lent an air of poignancy to the role of a Roman prostitute in Le Notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria, 1957), directed by Federico Fellini; John Schlesinger’s Billy Liar (1963) features iconic performances by Tom Courtenay in the title role and, in the part that catapaulted her to stardom, a young Julie Christie; Jeanne Moreau captivated audiences as the dispassionate observer in Luis Buñuel’s Le Journal d’une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid, 1964); and the highlight of Carol Reed’s The Third Man is a brief but career-defining performance by Orson Welles as a black marketeer in post-War Vienna. Jean-Pierre Denis’s 2002 Murderous Maids, the chilling true story of two homicidal sisters, starring Sylvie Testud, is the company’s sole first-run feature (apart from Army of Shadows, a 36- year-old film that had never been released in the U.S.). Rialto’s latest rediscovery—Alberto Lattuada’s dark comedy Mafioso (1962)—was another success, a highlight of the 2006 New York Film Festival also screening in this retrospective. Upcoming Rialto releases include Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Doulos (1962), starring Jean- Paul Belmondo (which is screening at Film Forum June 29–July 12), and Alain Resnais’s classic Last Year at Marienbad (1961). Images are available at www.moma.org/press No. 62 Press Contact: Paul Power, (212) 708-9847, or [email protected] For downloadable images, please visit www.moma.org/press Please contact me for user name and password. Public Information: The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019 Hours: Wednesday through Monday: 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday: 10:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Closed Tuesday Museum Adm: $20 adults; $16 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; $12 full-time students with current I.D. Free, members and children 16 and under. (Includes admittance to Museum galleries and film programs) Target Free Friday Nights 4:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Film Adm: $10 adults; $8 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D. $6 full-time students with current I.D. (For admittance to film programs only) Subway: E or V train to Fifth Avenue/53rd Street Bus: On Fifth Avenue, take the M1, M2, M3, M4, or M5 to 53rd Street. On Sixth Avenue, take the M5, M6, or M7 to 53rd Street. Or take the M57 and M50 crosstown buses on 57th and 50th Streets. The public may call (212) 708-9400 for detailed Museum information. Visit us at www.moma.org RIALTO PICTURES: REVIVING CLASSIC CINEMA SCREENING SCHEDULE Wednesday, July 25 6:00 Le Poulet. 1962. France. Directed by Claude Berri. 15 min. Followed by Rififi. 1955. France. Directed by Jules Dassin. Screenplay by Auguste Le Bréton, Dassin, René Wheeler, based on the book by Bréton. With Jean Servais, Carl Möhner. Dassin’s second European feature is the most stylish of heist pictures. Deemed by contemporary critics to be the perfect mix of American toughness and French sophistication, the film centers on a carefully plotted and executed theft in a Parisian jewelry store. In French; English subtitles. 115 min. 8:30 Bob le Flambeur. 1955. France. Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Screenplay by Melville, Auguste Le Breton. With Roger Duchesne, Isabelle Corey. Shot on the streets of Montmartre over a period of three years, Melville’s tale of an honorable hood who attempts one last heist presents the Parisian neighborhood as the glamorous realm of gamblers, pimps, and ladies of the night. In French; English subtitles. 100 min. Thursday, July 26 5:30 Le Vieil homme et l’enfant (The Two of Us). 1967. France. Directed by Claude Berri. Screenplay by Berri, Gérard Brach, Michel Rivelin. With Michel Simon, Alain Cohen. A late triumph for Simon, The Two of Us is an affecting story of the caring bond formed between an elderly anti-Semite and an eight-year-old Jewish boy who goes to live with him during World War II. In French; English subtitles. 86 min. preceded by Coming Attractions. A compilation of trailers produced by Rialto Pictures for their upcoming releases. 20 min. 7:30 L’armée des ombres (Army of Shadows). 1969. France/Italy. Written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, based on the book by Joseph Kessel. With Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret. Restored and released last year in theaters, Army of Shadows was one of the most acclaimed films of 2006. Sustaining a tone of relentless suspense, Melville presents the calculated activities and covert maneuverings of French resistance fighters during World War II. In French; English subtitles. 140 min. Friday, July 27 5:00 Mafioso. 1962. Italy. Directed by Alberto Lattuada. Screenplay by Rafael Azcona, Marco Ferreri, Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli, based on the story by Bruno Caruso. With Alberto Sordi, Norma Bengell. Sordi gives one of his greatest performances as Nino, a successful foreman in a Milanese car factory who takes his wife and children on a visit home to his Sicilian roots and finds himself obliged to take a detour. In Italian; English subtitles. 99 min. 7:30 Le Poulet. Rififi. See Friday, July 27, 7:30 Saturday, July 28 2:00 L’armée des ombres (Army of Shadows). See Thursday, July 26, 7:30 5:00 Le Vieil homme et l’enfant (The Two of Us). preceded by Coming Attractions. See Thursday, July 26, 5:30 Sunday, July 29 2:00 Au hasard Balthazar. 1966. France. Written and directed by Robert Bresson. With Anne Wiazemsky, Walter Green. Au hasard Balthazar is a religious allegory conveyed through the life and death of a donkey. Baptized “Balthazar” by three young children at the start of the film, the donkey is soon thrown into a life of successive labors and abuses at the hands of different owners. In French; English subtitles. 95 min. 4:00 Mouchette. 1967. France. Written and directed by Robert Bresson, based on the novel by Georges Bernanos. With Nadine Nortier, Jean-Claude Guilbert. In Bresson’s masterpiece, loneliness, shame, and other tragedies universal to human experience are evoked with compassion and subtlety through the depiction of twenty-four hours in the life of a teenage outcast who quietly absorbs the sins and abuses of her rural community. In French; English subtitles. 80 min. 5:45 Le Notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria). 1957. Italy. Directed by Federico Fellini. Screenplay by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli. With Giulietta Masina, Amadeo Nazzari.