JUN—JUL 2016 at BAMcinématek The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor for BAMcinématek and BAM Rose Cinemas. JUN 1 at 7:30pm The Caribbean Film Series Guetty Felin’s AYITI MON AMOUR (2016) Haitian-born filmmaker Guetty Felin invokes past and present in this portrait of a small fishing hamlet still reeling in the wake of the earthquake that devastated the island in 2010. This neorealist fairytale follows the intersecting lives of an awkward teenager who discovers he has a special power gained from the sea, an old fisherman caring for his ailing wife, and the main character in an unfinished novel. Co-presented by the Caribbean Film Academy and The Brooklyn Cinema Collective. JUN 2 at 7pm New 4K restoration! Return engagement! One night only! Edward Yang’s A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY (1991) With Chang Chen, Lisa Yang, Chang Kuo-Chu. Edward Yang’s breathtaking epic returns to BAMcinématek for one night only following a hit four- day run in March. One of the towering masterpieces of the 1990s, A Brighter Summer Day charts the coming-of-age of a teenage boy (Chang) as he grows up amid political turmoil, warring street gangs, and the encroaching influence of American pop culture in 1960s Taiwan. The film’s novelistic sweep—its expansive running time, sprawling cast, and masterful accumulation of details—creates a richly-realized, intoxicating portrait of young love, rock ‘n’ roll, and teenage abandon. JUN 2—30 (Five Days, Five Films) Free outdoor screenings! FAB Flicks: 70s Black Cinema This June at Putnam Triangle Plaza, BAMcinématek, in partnership with FAB Alliance, presents five free outdoor screenings that celebrate a golden era of black stardom, complete with a DJ and food from local restaurants. Films include Motown helmer Berry Gordy’s Mahogany (1975), a camp mainstay starring Diana Ross as a Chi-town career climber; Jack Starrett’s ferocious mix of Blaxploitation, black power, and feminism Cleopatra Jones (1973), featuring model Tamara Dobson’s film debut as “Special Agent to the President”; Claudine (1974), John Berry’s warm, witty comedic drama spotlighting black urban life in the 1970s starring Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones; Arthur Marks’ Friday Foster (1975), in which the great Pam Grier plays an ex-model turned scrappy photographer; and Shining Star: A Tribute to Maurice White, which comprises two phenomenal vintage shows from Earth, Wind & Fire at the height of their power. Putnam Triangle Plaza is located at Fulton Street and Grand Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. JUN 3—9 (1 Week Only) New 4K restoration! Wolf Gremm’s KAMIKAZE ’89 (1982) Featuring Rainer Werner Fassbinder in his final performance With Fassbinder, Günther Kaufmann, Boy Gobert. Set in a retro-futuristic totalitarian dystopia, this ultra-rare, unsung blast of cyberpunk noir stars Fassbinder as a leopard-print-suit-wearing detective (“I always had Fassbinder in mind as a leopard, but I never told him this,” said Gremm) investigating a bomb threat at a shadowy media conglomerate—which leads him into the surreal heart of a sinister corporate conspiracy. Kamikaze ’89 plays like the art-damaged, New German Cinema answer to Hollywood’s paranoid thrillers of the 70s, complete with a synthy soundtrack by Tangerine Dream’s Edgar Froese (a BAMcinématek favorite and subject of Tangerine Dreams, a 2012 retrospective), neon-soaked, über-80s art direction, “beautifully photographed” (The New York Times) visuals by longtime Fassbinder DP Xaver Schwarzenberger, and appearances by Fassbinder muse Brigitte Mira and spaghetti western icon Franco Nero. JUN 7 at 7:30pm Ted Kotcheff’s FIRST BLOOD (1982) Kotcheff in person for a Q&A With Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna. Fresh off the blockbuster success of the Rocky franchise in the 1970s, Oscar-winning megastar Sylvester Stallone solidified his status as “one of the great physical actors in the movies” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) with the inaugural Rambo film. Co-written by and starring Stallone, and masterfully directed by inimitable auteur Ted Kotcheff, this cult classic follows John Rambo, a former Green Beret, seven years after returning home from the Vietnam War. After wandering into a small Washington town in search of an old friend, he is attacked by a sadistic local sheriff (Dennehy) and his deputies, resulting in a showdown that forces Rambo to use all the combat skills he learned as a prisoner of war on his brutish new enemies. Packed with expertly constructed set pieces, First Blood is one of the darkest and most visceral action films of its era. JUN 10—14 (5 Days) AROUND THE WORLD IN FIVE RESTORATIONS BAMcinématek showcases five world-cinema masterpieces on the big-screen in brand new restorations: Orson Welles’ towering account of the life and exploits of Sir John Falstaff, Chimes at Midnight (1965); Kelly Reichardt’s groundbreaking indie debut River of Grass (1994), a slacker Bonnie and Clyde for the 90s; Jacques Rivette’s OUT 1: Spectre (1972), made after his 12-hour masterpiece OUT 1: Noli me Tangere—which screened in its world theatrical premiere run at BAMcinématek last year—was deemed unfit for French television; Akira Kurosawa’s Ran (1985), a crowning achievement which transports King Lear to feudal Japan; and Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970), one of the most visually ravishing films ever made, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant as a tormented intellectual in Fascist Italy. JUN 15—26 (12 Days) BAMCINEMAFEST 2016 “New York’s best independent film showcase.”—The New Yorker In its eighth year, BAMcinemaFest introduces New York audiences to a wide-ranging lineup of innovative new films, presenting premieres from the best emerging voices in American independent cinema. This year’s festival opens with Ira Sachs’ Little Men, an achingly empathetic drama that confronts the complexities of gentrification. The Closing Night selection is Brooklyn filmmaker Tim Sutton’s third feature, Dark Night. Called “among the country’s most intriguing cinematic anthropologists” (Variety), Sutton’s latest is loosely inspired by the multiplex shooting that devastated Aurora, Colorado. As a special Centerpiece selection, BAMcinemaFest presents Todd Solondz’s macabre comedy Wiener-Dog. Two decades into a career of mining the varieties of human dysfunction, celebrated independent filmmaker Solondz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness) casts new light on the grotesque suburban landscape through the eyes of man’s best friend. For the full lineup, please visit BAM.org/BAMcinemaFest. JUN 29—31 (Three Days) ANIMATION BLOCK PARTY The East Coast's premier animation festival returns for its 13th annual edition, showcasing international films, award winners, experimental shorts, and classic features. Highlights of this year’s festival include The Pink Panther Collection, a selection of classic Pink Panther cartoons spanning two decades of animation; New York Animated Ads, which features rare cartoon advertisements from 1929 through the present day; and a 35mm screening of VHS classic The Transformers: The Movie (1986), Nelson Shin’s original big-screen incarnation of the intergalactic robot warriors, with kinetic anime visuals and all-star voice work by the likes of Leonard Nimoy, Scatman Crothers, and (in his final role) Orson Welles as a villainous planet. Full lineup to be announced. For press information, please contact Maureen Masters at 718.724.8023 / [email protected] Hannah Thomas at 718.724.8002 / [email protected] .