Wednesdays at 3 p.m.January 19 through May 3Film 50: History of Cinema, a film class presented jointly by the Pacific Film Archive and the UC Berkeley Film Studies Program, returns in January in the new PFA Theater. This annual film/lecture course designed for non-film majors is open to the general public as space permits. BAM/PFA members and others will want to take advantage of this opportunity to explore the history and aesthetics of narrative features with illuminating discussion by Professor Russell Merritt. Film 50 will survey a century of international cinema, looking at major film styles and genres, including German Expressionism, French Impressionism, the French New Wave, as well as films such as Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali and Yasujiro Ozu's Early Summer that defy easy categorization. Throughout the course, lectures will consider the social contexts from which the films emerge, how movies connect with other arts, and how they form a distinct form of expression. Screenings and lectures are held in the new PFA Theater, Bancroft @ Bowditch. Advance tickets are available at the PFA box offices, or charge-by-phone (510-642-5249). January 19 The Terms of Cinema: An Illustrated LectureJanuary 26 The Movies Begin: The Nickelodeon EraFebruary 2 Broken Blossoms (D. W. Griffith, U.S., 1919) Bruce Loeb on pianoFebruary 9 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, Germany, 1920) with short Cinderella (Lotte Reiniger, Germany, 1922) Randy Craig on pianoFebruary 16 Strike (Sergei Eisenstein, U.S.S.R., 1924) Bruce Loeb on pianoFebruary 23 L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, France, 1934) with short The Smiling Madame Beudet (Germaine Dulac, France, 1923)
