ISSUE 69 AFI SILVER THEATRE AND CULTURAL CENTER NOVEMBER 27, 2014–JANUARY 29, 2015 AFI EUROPEAN UNION FILM SHOWCASE DECEMBER 3–21 Plus: THE WIZARD OF OZ 75th GONE WITH THE WIND 75th MARY POPPINS 50th A HARD DAY’S NIGHT 50th Robert Wise’s THE SOUND OF MUSIC and WEST SIDE STORY | IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE and Holiday Classics Pictured: Timothy Spall in Mike Leigh’s MR. TURNER, part of the AFI European Union Film Showcase AFI.com/Silver Contents EUROPEAN UNION FILM SHOWCASE AFI European Union Film Showcase .........2 December 3–21 Holiday Classics ..................................10 The best of European cinema…without the jet lag. OPENING NIGHT Robert Wise .......................................12 Now in its 27th year, the AFI European Union Film WARSAW UPRISING Special Engagements ........ 12, 14, 16 Showcase continues its tradition of bringing the best in In person: producer Jan Ołdakowski, director of the Warsaw Year in Review/Supporters European cinema to Washington audiences. Uprising Museum Acknowledgement ..............................13 This year's selection of more than 50 films includes Wed, Dec 3, 7:15 Calendar 15 international film festival award winners, local box-office Working with six hours of authentic documentary and newsreel footage ............................................ filmed in Warsaw in the summer and fall of 1944, director Jan Komasa Polska Courtesy of Telewizja First-Run Engagements hits and debut works by promising new talents, plus many ........................16 countries' official Oscar® submissions for Best Foreign (SUICIDE ROOM) has fashioned a remarkable one-of-a-kind film: a Language Film. non-fiction narrative of the momentous events surrounding the Warsaw AFI Member passes accepted at Uprising. Polish resistance fighters rose up to strike a blow against their all screenings in this issue, except AFI thanks the embassy cultural counselors of the EU Nazi occupiers, in what became a two-month battle — the longest films in the AFI European Union Film member states and the European Union Delegation to the sustained counter-attack by any European resistance movement in the Showcase. USA in Washington, DC, for their continuing support of history of WWII (“This is the fiercest of our battles since the start of the the AFI European Union Film Showcase. To become a Member of AFI visit war. It compares to the street battles of Stalingrad.” –SS chief Heinrich AFI.com/Silver/JoinNow Special thanks also to Ambassador and Head of the Himmler). While the Poles fought to the last bullet, the Soviet forces European Union Delegation to the USA David O’Sullivan failed to advance as hoped for, and the Polish resistance was tragically TICKETS and the staff of the Delegation for their generous support. defeated by the Nazis, who visited a new wave of destruction on the • $12 General Admission city and its populace — just three months before they would be routed • $10 Seniors (65 and over), students Film listings and showtimes are correct at once and for all by the late-arriving Soviets. DIR Jan Komasa; SCR/PROD Jan with valid ID, and military personnel press time, but are subject to change. Check Oldakowski, Piotr C. Sliwowski; SCR Wladyslaw Pasikowski, Joanna Pawluskiewicz. Poland, 2014, color/b&w, 87 min. In Polish with English subtitles. NOT RATED • $8.50 AFI Members (2-Star level & up) AFI.com/Silver for updated listings and the latest information on filmmaker guests. • $7 Children (12 and under) • $9 Matinee tickets, weekdays No passes accepted. before 6:00 p.m. (holidays excluded) AFI would like to thank the following supporters: AFI PREVIEW is published by the American Film Institute. Bronze Sponsor All screenings take place at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center: Courtesy of Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego 8633 Colesville Road Silver Spring, MD 20910 For address changes and subscription services, contact: Supporting Sponsor American Film Institute • Amtrak 2021 N. Western Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90027 Cultural Sponsors Attn: Membership On the cover: MR. TURNER, courtesy of • British Council • Embassy of the Federal Republic Sony Pictures Classics • Embassy of Belgium of Germany • Royal Danish Embassy • Embassy of Hungary Editor: Julie Hill • Embassy of Estonia • Embassy of Italy TICKETS & PASSES Production Manager: Rebecca Lentz- • Embassy of Finland • Embassy of the Republic of Poland Fernandes $13 General Admission Production Coordinator: Alice Massie $10 AFI Members (2-star level & up) WEEKLY HAPPY HOURS Director of Programming: Todd Hitchcock Stop by the café on select days PASSPORT Associate Programmer: Josh Gardner during the showcase from 6:00 Can’t get enough of European film? With the Design: Lauren Bellamy, Washington Post Media to 7:00 for Happy Hour! Happy Passport, you’ll zip right past customs (the AFI Hours feature European drink Silver box office) and be admitted to every film Information is correct at press time. specials, complimentary snacks Films and schedule subject to change. courtesy of local restaurants and in the showcase, NO TICKETS NEEDED. The Check AFI.com/Silver for updates. festive music. Enjoy a cold drink all-access Passport gives you admission for one and a delicious appetizer before to every screening, including Opening and your film. Closing Night films and Special Presentations, AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center is funded by Happy Hour dates: as well as access to Happy Hours. At the an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts end of the showcase, you can see how many Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant Dec. 4, 5, 11, 12, 18 & 19 countries you “visited” by checking the stamps cultural community where the arts thrive. Happy Hour specials are valid ONLY for Passport in your Passport! Valued at nearly $700! holders and filmgoers attending shows in the $175 General Public / $135 AFI Members and Students AFI Silver is AFI European Union Film Showcase on the given dates. part of the 25586 Passports may be purchased at AFI.com/Silver/EUshowcase 2 Daily Listings: 301.495.6700 #AFIfilmEU Tickets & Full Schedule at AFI.com/Silver/EUshowcase AUSTRIA BELGIUM BULGARIA OCTOBER NOVEMBER [Oktober November] U.S. Premiere! Sun, Dec 7, 7:45 UNCLE TONY, THREE FOOLS AND Götz Spielmann (REVANCHE, ANTARES) returns with this THE SECRET SERVICE acutely observed and emotionally affecting drama of two sisters’ Wed, Dec 17, 5:30; Sat, Dec 20, 3:15 fractious relationship. Actress Sonja (Nora von Waldstätten) left Courtesy of Be For Films In the 1960s and ‘70s, Communist Bulgaria had a celebrated her family home, a rambling old country hotel in the Austrian animation studio, with Donyo Donev its leading light. His short Alps, to pursue her dreams of stardom in Berlin. Sister Verena films like CLEVER VILLAGE, DE FACTO, PARDON and the beloved (Ursula Strauss) stayed put, marrying and having a son, her “Three Fools” series delighted viewers at home and abroad. But, work in the hotel eventually giving way to becoming a full-time as revealed in this documentary, the true creative force behind caregiver to their aging father (Peter Simonischek). When Sonja these works was his “assistant” animator, Anton “Uncle Tony” returns home for the first time in years after their father falls ill, Trayanov. More troublingly, the documentary avers that Donev and her extended visit will cause these two very different women to other senior figures at the studio were in league with the Bulgarian learn to live together again, navigating the treacherous shoals WASTE LAND secret police. Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s impassioned of family history and sibling rivalry. With Sebastian Koch (THE documentary — now a flashpoint of controversy in Bulgaria, after LIVES OF OTHERS). Official Selection, 2013 Toronto, San WASTE LAND a record-setting theatrical run in Sofia — tells a story of Communist- Sebastian Film Festivals; 2014 Santa Barbara Film Festival. DIR/ Tue, Dec 16, 9:15; Wed, Dec 17, 7:30 era state control and corruption, but one with widespread SCR/PROD Götz Spielmann; PROD Martin Gschlact, Antonin Svoboda, Bruno Wagner. Austria, 2013, Hardboiled homicide detective Leo Woeste (Dardenne relevance to the world of creative collaboration and credit-taking. color, 114 min. In German with English subtitles. NOT RATED brothers regular Jérémie Renier) promises his next case will be Official Selection, 2014 Sarajevo, Warsaw, Cairo Film Festivals. his last after his wife becomes pregnant. When the body of a DIR/SCR/PROD Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova. UK/Bulgaria, 2014, color/b&w, 87 min. In English Congolese teen washes ashore, Leo is drawn into the immigrant and Bulgarian with English subtitles. NOT RATED underworld of Brussels and quickly finds himself a stranger in his own land. Consumed with the case, and unable to ignore his deepening attraction to the victim’s alluring sister, Leo begins to unravel. Renier gives a bravura performance in filmmaker Pieter Courtesy of The Match Factory Van Hees’ stylish Fincher-esque psychological thriller. Official Courtesy of Viktoria Films Selection, 2014 Toronto Film Festival. DIR/SCR Pieter Van Hees; PROD Eurydice Gysel, Koen Mortier. Belgium, 2014, color, 97 min. In Flemish and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED SPECIAL PRESENTATION VIKTORIA OCTOBER NOVEMBER VIKTORIA THE GREAT MUSEUM [Das große Museum] Courtesy of IFC Films Thu, Dec 4, 4:00; Fri, Dec 5, 12:00; Wed, Dec 10, 9:00 1979 Bulgaria: Boryana dreams of fleeing her Communist Fri, Dec 5, 5:15; Sun, Dec 7, 1:00 country for freedom in the West, but an unintended pregnancy Johannes Holzhausen’s Wiseman-esque documentary takes the grounds her, even more so after the child’s birth causes a viewer inside Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, during the national sensation: she was born without a belly button. Named lead-up to the 2013 re-opening of its renovated Kunstkammer the “Socialist Bulgaria Baby of the Decade” and “Child of galleries. A trained art historian who clearly reveres this august the Future” and lavished with gifts, baby Viktoria grows up building and its priceless art collection, Holzhausen combines to be a spoiled brat.