Speed Cinema

I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba) Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov Production on this film started only a week after the Cuban missile crisis and was designed to be Cuba’s answer to both Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin and Jean-Luc Godard’s freewheeling romance, Breathless. Instead, I Am Cuba turned out to be something quite unique — a wildly schizophrenic celebration of Communist kitsch, mixing Slavic solemnity with Latin sensuality. The plot, or rather plots, feverishly explore the seductive, decadent, and marvelously photogenic world of Batista’s…

Andrei Rublev Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky With his second feature, a towering epic that took him years to complete, Andrei Tarkovsky waded deep into the past and emerged with a visionary masterwork. Threading together several self-contained episodes, the filmmaker traces the renowned icon painter Andrei Rublev through the harsh realities of fifteenth-century Russian life, vividly conjuring the dark and otherworldly atmosphere of the age–a primitive hot-air balloon takes to the sky, snow falls inside an unfinished church, naked pagans celebrate…

Busting Out for Buster The General Directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman Sunday, January 20, 1 pm Free Many critics consider The General to be the last great comedy of the silent era, and it consistently ranks as one of the greatest films of all time on international critics’ polls. Set during the Civil War and based on a true incident, the film is also an authentic-looking period piece that brings the scope and realism of Matthew Brady-like images…

Andrei Rublev Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky With his second feature, a towering epic that took him years to complete, Andrei Tarkovsky waded deep into the past and emerged with a visionary masterwork. Threading together several self-contained episodes, the filmmaker traces the renowned icon painter Andrei Rublev through the harsh realities of fifteenth-century Russian life, vividly conjuring the dark and otherworldly atmosphere of the age–a primitive hot-air balloon takes to the sky, snow falls inside an unfinished church, naked pagans celebrate…

Shoplifters (Manbiki kazoku) Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft, and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love—not blood—that defines a family. This latest from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda (Nobody Knows) begins with the mischief and intrigue of a heist film. But Shoplifters…

Shoplifters (Manbiki kazoku) Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft, and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love—not blood—that defines a family. This latest from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda (Nobody Knows) begins with the mischief and intrigue of a heist film. But Shoplifters…

Shoplifters (Manbiki kazoku) Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft, and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love—not blood—that defines a family. This latest from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda (Nobody Knows) begins with the mischief and intrigue of a heist film. But Shoplifters…

Appalshop at 50 Stranger with a Camera Directed by Elizabeth Barret Sunday, January 27, 1 pm During the 1960s, filmmakers from around the world came to Appalachia to document the dire conditions of the region’s poorest residents. Media focused the nation’s attention on economic injustice and helped to lead to the declaration of the War on Poverty. However, the use of the striking images of poverty raised questions about whether media-makers with otherwise good intentions exploited and perpetuated long-held stereotypes…