Natalia Almada (Mexico, 2011). Almada, whose last film, El general, was a favorite at Sundance, follows an impassive watchman who minds the ever-expanding graveyard in the notoriously narco-friendly city of Cualican, Sinaloa. “An unsettlingly quiet, even lyrical film about a world made and unmade by violence" (A.O. Scott, NY Times). (72 mins)

Les Blank with Maureen Gosling (U.S., 1984). Les Blank in person. A joyful glimpse of Polish American music, dancing and food. Followed by Chulas Fronteras, featuring Flaco Jiménez and other Norteño musicians on both sides of the border. (108 mins)

Luchino Visconti (Italy, 1965). Studio Vault Print! Visconti's somber mood piece is an Elektra story of madness and incestuous passions in a family haunted by secrets and the shadow of the Holocaust. Claudia Cardinale stars with Jean Sorel and Marie Bell. (102 mins)

Raj Kapoor (India, 1949). New 35mm print! Two city friends (Raj Kapoor, Premnath) find country lovers in Kapoor's first megahit, whose almost physically sensual cinematography echoes the deep-focus splendor of Citizen Kane and the iconic portraitures of silent-era Murnau. (171 mins)

Gus Van Sant (U.S., 1991). Gus Van Sant's melancholic portrait of street hustlers in Portland follows a narcoleptic Mike (River Phoenix) and his best friend Scott (Keanu Reeves) as they embark on a journey to find Mike's mother. “Van Sant's cleareyed, unsentimental approach to a plot that pivots on betrayal and death is reflected in magnetic performances from Reeves and Phoenix" (Rolling Stone). (104 mins)

Jack Hill (U.S., 1974). As the lone female action star of her time, Pam Grier was driven by a fleshy physicality, nonstop aggression, and a wild wardrobe of seventies couture. In Foxy Brown, Grier exacts revenge on a crime syndicate who shot down her undercover-narc boyfriend. “Grier is an actress able to convey an amazing and unflinching strength” (Time Out). (94 mins)

Valerio Zurlini (Italy/France, 1961) Imported Print! With this film, Claudia Cardinale etched her wistful, playful character whose edge comes from the reality that she never knows where her next meal is coming from. Claudia plays a showgirl seduced away from her act by a playboy aristocrat, only to become the object of fascination for the man's teenage brother. (113 mins)

Raj Kapoor (India, 1948). New 35mm print! Few Hollywood melodramas are as perversely aflame with thwarted love as Kapoor's intense directorial debut, which adds a surprising dose of noir to its tale of youthful idealists fighting the bleakness of the modern world. (138 mins)