Special Screenings 2024
Ongoing
Recent releases, restored classics, and special guests grace the Barbro Osher Theater.
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Seven Samurai
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Sátántangó
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Close Your Eyes
- Upcoming
Films - Past
Films - Past
Events
Upcoming Films
Close Your Eyes
Víctor Erice
Spain, Argentina, 2023Saturday, January 11 3:00 PMView DetailsRevered Spanish auteur Víctor Erice (The Spirit of the Beehive, El Sur, and The Quince Tree Sun) returns with his fourth feature, a meditation on memory, absence, and the magic of cinema—a “poignant cinematic swan song” (Hollywood Reporter).
No Fear, No Die
Claire Denis
France, 19904K Digital Restoration
Sunday, January 12 7:00 PMView DetailsIn Claire Denis’s surprising second film, Isaach de Bankolé and Alex Descas play immigrants who train birds for cockfights on the outskirts of Paris. The film “has a seedy, claustrophobic power that says as much about human as about animal exploitation” (Time Out).
Fairytale
Alexander Sokurov
Belgium, 2022Bay Area Premiere
Wednesday, January 15 7:00 PMView DetailsFairytale resurrects from the dead, via animated archival imagery, the twentieth-century leaders Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Joseph Stalin. A cinematic phantasmagoria that was banned by the Russian censors.
The Goldman Case
Cédric Kahn
France, 2023Friday, January 24 3:00 PMView DetailsNew York Times Critic’s Pick: “An electrifying courtroom drama” that delves into the sensationalized 1976 trial of Pierre Goldman. The film communicates so much about the complexity of Jewish identity in recent European history.
The Wages of Fear
Henri-Georges Clouzot
France, 19534K Digital Restoration
Sunday, January 26 6:00 PMView DetailsFour desperate men are hired by a ruthless oil company to drive trucks filled with explosives across a mountainous South American country in one of the toughest noirs ever filmed. Starring Yves Montand.
Sátántangó
Béla Tarr
Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, 1994BAMPFA Collection
Sunday, February 16 1:00 PMView DetailsBéla Tarr’s extraordinary seven-and-a-half-hour epic Sátántangó. “Set on an entropic collective farm during the last years of Hungarian Communism, it’s a mordant, characteristically Eastern European tale of hapless peasants and charismatic swindlers. . . . Despair has never been more voluptuously precise” (Village Voice).
Past Films
Snow and the Bear
Selcen Ergun
Turkey, Germany, Serbia, 2022Thursday, December 7 7 PMView DetailsA chilling, mysterious, and stunning debut film. “Selcen Ergun’s acute and wide-awake direction emphasizes the undertones of a rigid patriarchal society while brilliantly setting the atmosphere for this anti fairy-tale” (Toronto International Film Festival).
Victims of Sin
Emilio Fernández
Mexico, 1951Digital Restoration
Thursday, December 14 7 PMIntroduced by Peter Conheim and Viviana Garcia-BesnéView DetailsVictims of Sin is famed Mexican director Emilio Fernández’s unique blend of film noir, melodrama, and musical. Fernández infuses the film with impassioned songs and performances by Ninón Sevilla, an icon of Mexican cinema and a purveyor of African, Caribbean, and Cuban dance styles.
Werckmeister Harmonies
Béla Tarr
Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, 2000Digital Restoration
Sunday, December 17 4 PMView DetailsOne of the major achievements of twenty-first-century cinema thus far, Béla Tarr’s mesmeric parable of societal collapse is an enigma of transcendent visual, philosophical, and mystical resonance. New German Cinema icon Hanna Schygulla appears in a welcome cinematic comeback, while Lars Rudolf contributes a fevered performance of Klaus Kinski–like proportions.
Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros
Frederick Wiseman
France, United States, 2023Sunday, January 14 2 PMView DetailsEsteemed documentarian Frederick Wiseman’s latest is a food lover’s heaven—a long, behind-the-scenes excursion into the world of France’s venerable restaurant La Maison Troisgros, which has held three Michelin stars for more than five decades.
Werckmeister Harmonies
Béla Tarr
Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, 2000Digital Restoration
Sunday, January 21 1:30 PMView DetailsOne of the major achievements of twenty-first-century cinema thus far, Béla Tarr’s mesmeric parable of societal collapse is an enigma of transcendent visual, philosophical, and mystical resonance. New German Cinema icon Hanna Schygulla appears in a welcome cinematic comeback, while Lars Rudolf contributes a fevered performance of Klaus Kinski–like proportions.
Victims of Sin
Emilio Fernández
Mexico, 1951Digital Restoration
Wednesday, January 24 7 PMIntroduced by Peter Conheim and Viviana Garcia-BesnéView DetailsVictims of Sin is famed Mexican director Emilio Fernández’s unique blend of film noir, melodrama, and musical. Fernández infuses the film with impassioned songs and performances by Ninón Sevilla, an icon of Mexican cinema and a purveyor of African, Caribbean, and Cuban dance styles.
Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros
Frederick Wiseman
France, United States, 2023Saturday, January 27 2 PMView DetailsEsteemed documentarian Frederick Wiseman’s latest is a food lover’s heaven—a long, behind-the-scenes excursion into the world of France’s venerable restaurant La Maison Troisgros, which has held three Michelin stars for more than five decades.
Black God, White Devil
Glauber Rocha
Brazil, 1964Digital Restoration
Saturday, January 27 7 PMView Details“Steeped in history, myth, religion, and politics, and suffused with the feverish intensity of the blistering desert, Black God, White Devil is one of the Cinema Novo movement’s most uncompromising statements on current social issues as well as the universal problem of mindless fanaticism” (Janus Films).
Snow and the Bear
Selcen Ergun
Turkey, Germany, Serbia, 2022Wednesday, January 31 7 PMView DetailsA chilling, mysterious, and stunning debut film. “Selcen Ergun’s acute and wide-awake direction emphasizes the undertones of a rigid patriarchal society while brilliantly setting the atmosphere for this anti fairy-tale” (Toronto International Film Festival).
Bushman
David Schickele
United States, 1971Bay Area Premiere of the Digital Restoration
Open Captions
Saturday, February 3 3 PMGail Schickele, Nighttrain Schickele, Rob Nilsson, Ross Lipman, among others in ConversationView DetailsBAMPFA presents the Bay Area premiere of the recently completed restoration of Bushman, directed by Bay Area independent filmmaker David Schickele. We will be joined by special guests, including Schickele’s family, who have been instrumental to the preservation of Bushman, as well as original members of the cast and crew and the preservation team. Paired with Schickele’s earlier film Give Me a Riddle.
Vishniac
Laura Bialis
United States, 2023Copresented with The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
Sunday, February 4 2 PMLaura Bialis and Veronica Selver in ConversationView DetailsBAMPFA partners with The Magnes to host the East Bay Premiere of Vishniac, Laura Bialis’s new portrait of famed photographer Roman Vishniac’s life and work. Bialis joins the February 4 screening to discuss her film with Bay Area documentary filmmaker Veronica Selver (Irmi, KPFA on the Air).
Sorry to Bother You
Boots Riley
United States, 2018Copresented with UC Berkeley’s Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry and the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs, in conjunction with Imagining Beyond Authoritarianism: Race and Gender in Our Times
Closed CaptionsSaturday, February 10 7 PMBoots Riley and Darieck Scott in ConversationView DetailsSurrealism meets satire in Oakland. Boots Riley’s black comedy chronicles a hapless telemarketer whose sudden burgeoning success in the workplace is directly proportional to his alienation from his coworkers, his girlfriend, and himself.
Black God, White Devil
Glauber Rocha
Brazil, 1964Digital Restoration
Thursday, February 15 7 PMView Details“Steeped in history, myth, religion, and politics, and suffused with the feverish intensity of the blistering desert, Black God, White Devil is one of the Cinema Novo movement’s most uncompromising statements on current social issues as well as the universal problem of mindless fanaticism” (Janus Films).
Vishniac
Laura Bialis
United States, 2023Copresented with The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
Friday, February 23 4 PMView DetailsBAMPFA partners with The Magnes to host the East Bay Premiere of Vishniac, Laura Bialis’s new portrait of famed photographer Roman Vishniac’s life and work.
Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros
Frederick Wiseman
France, United States, 2023Saturday, February 24 11:30 AMView DetailsEsteemed documentarian Frederick Wiseman’s latest is a food lover’s heaven—a long, behind-the-scenes excursion into the world of France’s venerable restaurant La Maison Troisgros, which has held three Michelin stars for more than five decades.
Bushman
David Schickele
United States, 1971Saturday, February 24 7 PMView DetailsBAMPFA presents the recently completed restoration of Bushman, directed by Bay Area independent filmmaker David Schickele. Paired with Schickele’s earlier film Give Me a Riddle.
Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros
Frederick Wiseman
France, United States, 2023Saturday, March 2 11:30 AMView DetailsEsteemed documentarian Frederick Wiseman’s latest is a food lover’s heaven—a long, behind-the-scenes excursion into the world of France’s venerable restaurant La Maison Troisgros, which has held three Michelin stars for more than five decades.
BAMPFA Student Committee Film Festival 2024
Free Admission
Friday, April 5 7:30 PMStudent Filmmakers in PersonView DetailsA selection of outstanding student films from around the Bay Area.
Film & Video Makers at Cal: Works from the Eisner Competition 2024
Free Admission
Sunday, May 12 2 PMUC Berkeley Student Filmmakers in PersonView DetailsStudent filmmakers join us for a screening of this year’s prizewinners and honorable mentions in the film and video category of the Eisner Prize competition, UC Berkeley’s highest award for creative media making.
Nostalghia
Andrei Tarkovsky
USSR, Italy, 1983Digital Restoration
Sunday, June 9 7:00 PMView DetailsAndrei Tarkovsky’s breathtaking journey through the ruined but magical spaces of Tuscany follows a Russian man who feels the longing for home, closure, and the absolute that the film’s title describes. “Not so much a movie as a place to inhabit for two hours” (J. Hoberman).
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer
United Kingdom, Poland, United States, 2023Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and Academy Awards for Best International Feature and Best Sound
Audio Description
Closed CaptionedWednesday, June 12 7:00 PMView DetailsLoosely inspired by the 2014 novel of the same name by Martin Amis, Jonathan Glazer has created a singular, unsettlingly timeless representation of inhumanity and our capacity for indifference in the face of atrocity.
Daughters of the Dust
Julie Dash
United States, 1991Presented in conjunction with A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration
Thursday, June 13 7:00 PMIntroduced by Nadia EllisView DetailsA film experienced in sequences, from the perspective of several generations of women, including an unborn daughter, Daughters of the Dust creates a fabric of universal themes: the conflicts between personal and collective history, and between spiritual and industrial life.
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer
United Kingdom, Poland, United States, 2023Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and Academy Awards for Best International Feature and Best Sound
Audio Description
Closed CaptionedSunday, June 16 7:00 PMView DetailsLoosely inspired by the 2014 novel of the same name by Martin Amis, Jonathan Glazer has created a singular, unsettlingly timeless representation of inhumanity and our capacity for indifference in the face of atrocity.
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Raven Jackson
United States, 2023Wednesday, June 19 7:00 PMView DetailsA lyrical exploration across a woman’s life in Mississippi, the feature debut from award-winning poet, photographer, and filmmaker Raven Jackson is a richly layered portrait. One of the film’s producers is Barry Jenkins.
About Dry Grasses
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Turkey, France, Germany, 2023Friday, June 21 7:00 PMView DetailsNestled away in the wintry East Anatolia region of Turkey, public-school art teacher Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu) yearns to leave the sleepy village for cosmopolitan Istanbul.
The 9 Lives of Barbara Dane
Maureen Gosling
United States, 2023Wednesday, June 26 7:00 PMMaureen Gosling, Jed Riffe, and Nina Menéndez in PersonView DetailsFor decades Barbara Dane lent her stellar singing voice to social-justice movements in the Bay Area and beyond, garnering an impressive FBI file along the way. “A true unsung hero of American music” (Boston Globe).
Nostalghia
Andrei Tarkovsky
USSR, Italy, 1983Digital Restoration
Saturday, June 29 7:00 PMView DetailsAndrei Tarkovsky’s breathtaking journey through the ruined but magical spaces of Tuscany follows a Russian man who feels the longing for home, closure, and the absolute that the film’s title describes. “Not so much a movie as a place to inhabit for two hours” (J. Hoberman).
About Dry Grasses
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Turkey, France, Germany, 2023Wednesday, July 3 7:00 PMView DetailsNestled away in the wintry East Anatolia region of Turkey, public-school art teacher Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu) yearns to leave the sleepy village for cosmopolitan Istanbul.
Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 19544K Digital Restoration
Seven Samurai also screens Sunday, September 22 and Sunday, November 24.
Saturday, September 7 5:30 PMView DetailsA ragtag group of samurai bands together to protect a village from bandits in Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, often cited as one of the ten best films ever made.
Green Border
Agnieszka Holland
Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium, 2023Thursday, September 12 7:00 PMView DetailsWinner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, this riveting thriller explores the European migrant crisis from multiple ground-level perspectives. “A stunning, harrowing film. . . . Reverberates with deep empathy and quiet fury” (Time Out).
The Early Days of the Pacific Film Archive & Double Suicide
Masahiro Shinoda
Japan, 1969Presented in collaboration with the Berkeley Historical Society & Museum, located at 1931 Center Street, where the Berkeley and the Movies exhibition is on display until September 21.
Sunday, September 15 1:00 PMLecture by Sheldon RenanView DetailsFounding Director of the Pacific Film Archive Sheldon Renan joins us for a special presentation on the early history of the film archive. Following his talk, we will screen a 35mm print of Masahiro Shinoda’s Double Suicide, a striking and artful adaptation of a Bunraku puppet play about doomed love.
Green Border
Agnieszka Holland
Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium, 2023Thursday, September 19 7:00 PMView DetailsWinner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, this riveting thriller explores the European migrant crisis from multiple ground-level perspectives. “A stunning, harrowing film. . . . Reverberates with deep empathy and quiet fury” (Time Out).
Banel & Adama
Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Senegal, France, Mali, 2023Saturday, September 21 4:00 PMView DetailsThe titular Senegalese couple at the heart of this visually ravishing romantic drama faces the challenges of drought and communal responsibility. Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s poetic debut competed at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.
The Stranger and the Fog
Bahram Beyzaie
Iran, 1974Digital Restoration
Saturday, September 21 6:00 PMView DetailsBanned in Iran after the 1979 revolution, “this visually ravishing masterwork invents its own mythology to critique the sociopolitical conditions of 1970s Iran” (Film at Lincoln Center).
Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 19544K Digital Restoration
Seven Samurai also screens Sunday, November 24.
Sunday, September 22 1:00 PMView DetailsA ragtag group of samurai bands together to protect a village from bandits in Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, often cited as one of the ten best films ever made.
Banel & Adama
Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Senegal, France, Mali, 2023Thursday, September 26 7:00 PMView DetailsThe titular Senegalese couple at the heart of this visually ravishing romantic drama faces the challenges of drought and communal responsibility. Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s poetic debut competed at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.
Waiting for Life
Staffan Julén
Sweden, 2024Bay Area Premiere
This event is organized by the Consulate General of Sweden in San Francisco, the Embassy of Sweden in Washington D.C., and the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm with support from Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation and the Swedish Arts Council.Friday, September 27 3:00 PMStaffan Julén, Donald “Twin” James, Reginald “Happy” Wilson, Amir Rostami, Jerzy Sarnecki, Jan Jönson, Camila Salazar Atías, and Andrea Crider in ConversationView DetailsA special screening of the Swedish documentary Waiting for Life, presented by Stockholm-based filmmaker Staffan Julén. The post-screening conversation includes the two main subjects of the film, Donald “Twin” James and Reginald “Happy” Wilson, as well as Swedish criminologists Amir Rostami and Jerzy Sarnecki. Moderated by Andrea Crider
CineSpin: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Robert Wiene
Germany, 1920Free Admission
Friday, October 18 7:00 PMLive Music from Aidan LathamView DetailsJoin us for CineSpin, the BAMPFA Student Committee’s annual event featuring terrific UC Berkeley student musicians and/or DJs providing original live accompaniment for great movies.
Green Border
Agnieszka Holland
Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium, 2023Sunday, October 20 3:30 PMView DetailsWinner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, this riveting thriller explores the European migrant crisis from multiple ground-level perspectives. “A stunning, harrowing film. . . . Reverberates with deep empathy and quiet fury” (Time Out).
Le samouraï
Jean-Pierre Melville
France, 1967Digital Restoration
Thursday, October 31 7:00 PMView DetailsAlain Delon embodies cool as a solitary, silent Parisian killer flitting between hits and flings in this essential, influential assassin film. “Achieves an atmosphere of mesmerizing, otherworldly beauty” (Slant).
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus
Neo Sora
Japan, 2023Friday, November 15 4:30 PMView DetailsA celebration of an artist’s life in the purest sense, Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus is the definitive swan song of one of the world’s greatest musicians. A concert film featuring just him and his piano.
Le samouraï
Jean-Pierre Melville
France, 1967Digital Restoration
Sunday, November 17 4:00 PMView DetailsAlain Delon embodies cool as a solitary, silent Parisian killer flitting between hits and flings in this essential, influential assassin film. “Achieves an atmosphere of mesmerizing, otherworldly beauty” (Slant).
The Stranger and the Fog
Bahram Beyzaie
Iran, 1974Digital Restoration
Saturday, November 23 3:30 PMView DetailsBanned in Iran after the 1979 revolution, “this visually ravishing masterwork invents its own mythology to critique the sociopolitical conditions of 1970s Iran” (Film at Lincoln Center).
Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 19544K Digital Restoration
Also screens on Saturday, December 14Sunday, November 24 2:00 PMView DetailsA ragtag group of samurai bands together to protect a village from bandits in Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, often cited as one of the ten best films ever made.
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus
Neo Sora
Japan, 2023Friday, November 29 3:00 PMView DetailsA celebration of an artist’s life in the purest sense, Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus is the definitive swan song of one of the world’s greatest musicians. A concert film featuring just him and his piano.
Le samouraï
Jean-Pierre Melville
France, 1967Digital Restoration
Friday, November 29 5:30 PMView DetailsAlain Delon embodies cool as a solitary, silent Parisian killer flitting between hits and flings in this essential, influential assassin film. “Achieves an atmosphere of mesmerizing, otherworldly beauty” (Slant).
Close Your Eyes
Víctor Erice
Spain, Argentina, 2023Friday, December 6 7:00 PMView DetailsRevered Spanish auteur Víctor Erice (The Spirit of the Beehive, El Sur, and The Quince Tree Sun) returns with his fourth feature, a meditation on memory, absence, and the magic of cinema—a “poignant cinematic swan song” (Hollywood Reporter).
The 9 Lives of Barbara Dane
Maureen Gosling
United States, 2023Saturday, December 7 3:00 PMMaureen Gosling, Jed Riffe, and Nina Menéndez in PersonView DetailsFor decades Barbara Dane lent her stellar singing voice to social-justice movements in the Bay Area and beyond, garnering an impressive FBI file along the way. “A true unsung hero of American music” (Boston Globe).
In the Bones
Kelly Duane de la Vega, Jessica Anthony, Zandashé Brown
United States, 2022Sunday, December 8 4:00 PMKelly Duane de la Vega, Jessica Anthony, Clare Major, and Mario Furloni in PersonView DetailsA searing look at the culture that overturned Roe v. Wade, In the Bones is a cinematic journey through Mississippi that provides a poetic and sometimes painful portrait of American culture through the ordinary lives of women and children.
The Goldman Case
Cédric Kahn
France, 2023Wednesday, December 11 7:00 PMView DetailsNew York Times Critic’s Pick: “An electrifying courtroom drama” that delves into the sensationalized 1976 trial of Pierre Goldman. The film communicates so much about the complexity of Jewish identity in recent European history.
The Wages of Fear
Henri-Georges Clouzot
France, 19534K Digital Restoration
Friday, December 13 7:00 PMView DetailsFour desperate men are hired by a ruthless oil company to drive trucks filled with explosives across a mountainous South American country in one of the toughest noirs ever filmed. Starring Yves Montand.
Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 19544K Digital Restoration
Also screens on Sunday, November 24Saturday, December 14 1:30 PMView DetailsA ragtag group of samurai bands together to protect a village from bandits in Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, often cited as one of the ten best films ever made.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Jacques Demy
France, 19644K Digital Restoration
Saturday, December 14 6:30 PMView DetailsFor those who love the 1960s, French culture, Catherine Deneuve, Jacques Demy, design, romance, musicals, or cinema itself, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg stands alone, unmatched.
No Fear, No Die
Claire Denis
France, 19904K Digital Restoration
Wednesday, December 18 7:00 PMView DetailsIn Claire Denis’s surprising second film, Isaach de Bankolé and Alex Descas play immigrants who train birds for cockfights on the outskirts of Paris. The film “has a seedy, claustrophobic power that says as much about human as about animal exploitation” (Time Out).
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