Cities & Cinema: Los Angeles
September 6–October 3, 2024
From Chinatown to La La Land to restored independent films, this series considers a diverse selection of works that foreground the history, architecture, and neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Special guests include May HaDuong, Director of the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and Los Angeles–based Italian journalist Luca Celeda.
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Smog
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La La Land
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Killer of Sheep
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Chinatown
- Upcoming
Films - Past
Films - Past
Events
Upcoming Films
Model Shop
Jacques Demy
France, United States, 1969Sunday, September 8 5:00 PMView DetailsThis sequel to Lola finds Anouk Aimée, now a little older and sadder, in Los Angeles, working in a “model shop,” where lonely men go to snap photos of beautiful women. “One of the great movies about L.A.” (Time Out).
The Exiles
Kent Mackenzie
United States, 196135mm Archival Print
Friday, September 13 7:00 PMIntroduction by May HaDuongView DetailsA semidocumentary film about American Indians living in Los Angeles, The Exiles is “a wrenching document of cultural dislocation” (Thom Andersen). Preceded by four Hearst Metrotone Newsreels from the 1930s–1960s.
Smog
Franco Rossi
United States, 1962Digital Restoration
May HaDuong and Luca Celada will give a twenty-five-minute lecture prior to the film.
Saturday, September 14 6:30 PMLecture by May HaDuong and Luca CeladaView DetailsIntended to address the identity crisis facing postwar Italians, and Europeans generally, Smog has become a key touchstone for contemporary Angelinos to connect with the past of their ever-evolving city.
Passing Through
Larry Clark
United States, 197716mm Archival Print
Passing Through was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2023.Sunday, September 15 4:30 PMLarry Clark and May HaDuong in ConversationView DetailsPassing Through theorizes that jazz is one of the purest expressions of African American culture, now hijacked by a white culture that brutally exploits musicians for profit. “An invaluable film-outcry” (Albert Johnson).
La La Land
Damien Chazelle
United States, 2016Friday, September 20 7:00 PMView Details“[Damien] Chazelle has crafted that rare thing, a genuinely romantic comedy, and as well, a rhapsody in blue, red, yellow and green” (Sight & Sound).
Killer of Sheep
Charles Burnett
United States, 1977BAMPFA Collection
Sunday, September 22 5:15 PMView DetailsA poetic evocation of working-class Watts, “a great—the greatest—cinematic tone poem of American urban life” (New York Magazine), Killer of Sheep’s “single most-recalled moment” is “the slow-dance scene between the . . . alienated Stan and his wife” (Adrian Martin).
Water and Power
Pat O’Neill
United States, 1989Wednesday, September 25 7:00 PMView DetailsA moving meditation on industrialization, Water and Power is an ingenious merging of optical printing and time-lapse cinematography. Screening with By the Sea (1963) and Horizontal Boundaries (2008).
Lions Love ( . . . and Lies)
Agnès Varda
United States, France, 1969Friday, September 27 7:00 PMView DetailsAgnès Varda’s experimental feature, shot in Hollywood in 1968 and starring Andy Warhol superstar Viva, is a deliberately decadent riff on fantasy, immaturity, and violence. “More than a time capsule of events and moods—it’s a living aesthetic model for revolutionary times” (Richard Brody). Preceded by four short Hearst Metrotone News Reels from the 1960s.
Hito Hata: Raise the Banner
Robert A. Nakamura, Duane Kubo
United States, 1980Digital Restoration
Sunday, September 29 4:00 PMView DetailsAn epic Japanese American drama, Hito Hata: Raise the Banner draws on the talents and support of Asian American filmmakers, writers, and theater professionals, as well as literally hundreds of people from the Asian Pacific American community.
Real Women Have Curves
Patricia Cardoso
United States, 2002Free Admission
Thursday, October 3 7:00 PMView DetailsFilmed on location in the predominantly Latino community of East Los Angeles, this nuanced portrayal of an intergenerational family centers around Ana, a high school senior who navigates what is expected of her with pride as a talented and compassionate woman.
Past Films
Chinatown
Roman Polanski
United States, 1974Friday, September 6 7:00 PMView DetailsRoman Polanski remakes Los Angeles history as noir fiction, placing hard-boiled PI Jack Nicholson in the rotten middle of a public waterworks scam orchestrated by gentleman farmer John Huston. “Undoubtedly one of the great films of the seventies” (Time Out). Preceded by three Hearst Metrotone News Reels from the 1930s.
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