Movie/Film

This compelling documentary highlights the untold stories of eight Iranian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, weaving together personal narratives from both Iran and the United States. Co-directed by Persis Karim, the film offers a poetic and multifaceted perspective that challenges the predominance of negative media portrayals of Iran. The documentary delves into the experiences of the Bay Area Iranian diaspora, exploring how their lives and work have been shaped by this unique region, while also showcasing their profound contributions to its cultural and social fabric. Featuring rare archival footage, the film presents a layered narrative that brings new depth to our understanding of this community, especially at a time when Iran is regularly in the news again. Following the screening, a moderated Q&A session will be held with co-director Persis Karim and Kevan Harris, vice chair and associate professor of sociology at UCLA and lead researcher for the UCLA Iranian Diaspora Dashboard. A reception will follow.

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In-person: Q&A with Associate Professor Josslyn Luckett, NYU Cinema Studies (before "A Crushing Love"). Luckett will sign copies of "Toward a More Perfect Rebellion: Multiracial Media Activism Made in L.A." before the screening beginning at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Agueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country U.S., 1977 This Academy Award–nominated short documentary offers a luminous portrait of 80-year-old Navajo great-grandmother Agueda Martinez, whose life is deeply rooted in the land of New Mexico. Sepia-toned family photos paired with Agueda’s confident voice-over ground the film as we witness intimate footage of her plowing fields, harvesting crops, tending livestock and weaving intricate serape blankets late into the night. Agueda's insightful reflections on herbs, spirituality and ancestry reveal generational knowledge sustained by a profound connection to place and ritual. This quietly powerful work stands as a timeless celebration of steadfast stewardship of sacred land.—Public Programmer Beandrea July DCP, color, 16 min. Director: Esperanza Vasquez. Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification U.S., 1979 Created with performer Yolanda Vidato, this short is a pioneering work of Black feminist and experimental filmmaking. Shot in 16mm black-and-white in an area of Watts cleared for the unbuilt I-105 freeway and later abandoned, the film follows Milanda (Vidato) through symbolic, improvisational acts that layer African, Caribbean and urban Los Angeles imagery. Structured as a ritual for filmmaker Barbara McCullough’s “participant-viewers,” it honors Black and Third World women’s beauty and self-possession while also confronting how poverty and systemic neglect shape the landscape. As the film explores themes of resilience and psychic survival, it transforms a site of urban blight into consecrated ground.—Jacqueline Stewart 35mm, color, 6 min. Director: Barbara McCoullough. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Funded with a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation’s Avant-Garde Masters Grant Program funded by The Film Foundation. Wong Sinsaang U.S., 1971 Opening with the hiss of steam machines and the chatter of white customers in his father’s Silver Lake dry cleaning business, this short contrasts stereotype with intimacy, revealing Mr. Wong’s rich inner life. By narrating his own conflicted feelings of admiration and frustration and juxtaposing the grind of the laundromat — where Mr. Wong endures daily humiliations — with serene images of him practicing tai chi and writing poetry, Eddie Wong crafts a bittersweet document of immigrant labor and his father’s search for dignity and prosperity.—guest programmer Josslyn Luckett DCP, b&w, 12 min. Director: Eddie Wong. I Don’t Think I Said Much U.S., 1975 This tender portrait of Japanese American gardener Elmer Uchida blends documentary and fiction, opening with still photographs and disembodied voices before unfolding in slow-motion scenes of his daily work. Archival material, scripted commentary and intimate voice-over enrich the portrait, while UCLA Ethno-Communications filmmaker Jeff Furumura transforms the rhythms of gardening and Suiseki (Japanese rock appreciation) into poetic meditations on dignity and beauty. The result is a film that honors the quiet artistry and depth of a life too often overlooked.—guest programmer Josslyn Luckett DCP, b&w, color, 16 min. Director: Jeff Furumura. The Horse U.S., 1973 In this film based on writer-director Charles Burnett’s unpublished short story, a young Black boy gently comforts a horse fated to be killed on a remote California ranch. As three white men look on and hurl racial slurs at his absent father, tension builds. When the father (played by fellow UCLA Ethno-Communications alum Larry Clark) arrives, Burnett, exercising noticeable restraint, captures a fleeting moment of tenderness before shifting to the grim task at hand. Through the boy’s gaze, we feel the weight of witnessing the dehumanizing labor his father’s generation endured under white employers.—guest programmer Josslyn Luckett 35mm, color, 14 min. Director/Screenwriter: Charles Burnett. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Funded in part with a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation. Sleepwalker U.S., 1971 This quiet, dreamlike study of solitude and the aftermath of political struggle follows an Asian American typist through long bus rides and monotonous office work. Her exhaustion is evident in aching hands and downcast glances. When she skips work for a wandering walk, fleeting moments of play and memory emerge. Shot on 16mm in black-and-white with layered imagery and a striking soundscape, the film draws on director Laura Ho Fineman’s real-life activism

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In-person: Associate Professor Josslyn Luckett, NYU Cinema Studies. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Four Women U.S., 1975 Four Women transforms Nina Simone’s ballad into an experimental dance film that explores identity and survival. Dancer Linda Martina Young embodies Aunt Sarah, Saffronia, Sweet Thing and Peaches, shifting costume and movement to reflect each archetype. Filmmaker Julie Dash’s editing mirrors Simone’s vocals, pausing moments of motion before dissolving into the next image. One of the first experimental films by a Black woman filmmaker, it fuses music, dance and cinema into a bold statement of Black feminist artistry.—Public Programmer Beandrea July DCP, b&w, 10 min. Director: Julie Dash. With: Linda Martina Young. Restored by Indie Collect in collaboration with the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Women Make Movies. La Raza: “Celebration” U.S., 1974 “For la raza, we live to celebrate life,” declares host Ricardo Montalbán at the start of this episode, which captures the vibrancy of Mexican American celebrations and cultural traditions. Part of the six-episode McGraw Hill public affairs series La Raza that aired in 1974, it is directed by husband-and-wife UCLA Ethno-Communications alumni Moctesuma Esparza and Esperanza Vasquez. Blending Montalbán’s classic charm with intimate footage of community gatherings and dazzling musical performances, the episode foregrounds the richness of la vida and delivers an affirming portrait of a people too often overlooked or stereotyped on screen.—Public Programmer Beandrea July DCP, color, 53 min. Directors: Moctesuma Esparza, Esperanza Vasquez. With: Ricardo Montalbán. Cruisin’ J Town U.S., 1975 Directed by Duane Kubo, who earned a UCLA bachelor’s degree in astronomy and astrophysics in 1974, this short documentary explores the roots of the popular jazz fusion band Hiroshima in Los Angeles’ pre-redevelopment Little Tokyo. The group members discuss the sociological, political and cultural pulse of the early 1970s while reflecting on influences in Asian American music.—guest programmer Josslyn Luckett DCP, color, 26 min. Director: Duane Kubo. Cycles U.S., 1989 This exuberant experimental drama follows Rasheeda Allen as she anxiously awaits her overdue period. Blending live action with animation, filmmaker Zeinabu irene Davis draws on Caribbean folklore to craft a film language rooted in African American women’s experiences. As Rasheeda cleans her home and performs purification rituals, a layered soundtrack of African and diasporic music, including artists like Miriam Makeba and Clora Bryant, deepens the film’s sensory world. Hailed as “a brilliantly innovative reflection on Black womanhood” by the Los Angeles Times, Davis’ bold imagination shines.—Public Programmer Beandrea July DCP, b&w, 17 min. Director/Screenwriter: Zeinabu irene Davis. Part of: Toward a More Perfect Rebellion: Multiracial Student Activism at UCLA

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Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and made possible by the John H. Mitchell Television Programming Endowment Part of: Archive Television Treasures In-person: Introduction by former Television Archivist Dan Einstein. Q&A with dancer and actor Barrie Chase. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. On October 17, 1958, the supreme talents of Fred Astaire leapt off of small screens across the United States in living color on NBC. Executive produced by Astaire, the innovative An Evening With Fred Astaire represents a creative zenith and technical milestone as one of the earliest television specials utilizing color videotape. Serving as a showcase for the peerless dancing that made Astaire a beloved international star, the critically acclaimed TV special was honored with nine Emmy Awards across artistic and technical categories along with a Peabody Award. Notably, the program paired maestro Astaire with Barrie Chase, an extremely gifted dancer of athleticism and grace whom Astaire would later name as one of his favorite dance partners in his legendary career. In 1987, An Evening With Fred Astaire enjoyed further accolades as the UCLA Film & Television Archive presented the special to new audiences following an arduous restoration process of the original 2 in. color videotape masters. The technically challenging preservation project garnered engineers Ed Reitan and Don Kent, Television Archivist Dan Einstein and the Archive technical Emmy Awards. Virtually unseen since airing on the Disney Channel in 1987, join us for a rare screening of the television landmark An Evening With Fred Astaire and its masterful follow-up Another Evening With Fred Astaire (1959). In between episodes there will be a Q&A with dancer and actor Barrie Chase, co-star of the Fred Astaire specials, moderated by Maya Montañez Smukler, Archive Research and Study Center Officer. Introduction by former UCLA Television Archivist Dan Einstein. Program notes by Mark Quigley, John H. Mitchell Television Curator. An Evening With Fred Astaire U.S., 10/17/1958 In this first of four groundbreaking color specials starring Fred Astaire broadcast by NBC between 1958 and 1968, program executive producer and star Astaire, and his new dance partner Barrie Chase, set the small screen ablaze to unprecedented critical acclaim. Highlights include “Change Partners” with a luminous Astaire and Chase and the jazz stylings of Jonah Jones and his Quartet. DCP, color, 60 min. NBC. Production: Ava Productions, in association with the NBC Television Network. Executive Producer: Fred Astaire. Producer: Bud Yorkin. Director: Bud Yorkin. With: Fred Astaire, Barrie Chase, Jonah Jones Quartet. Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive (Dan Einstein), Don Kent, Ed Reitan Jr. Another Evening With Fred Astaire U.S., 11/4/1959 Also produced and directed by the great Bud Yorkin, this electric follow-up reunited the award-winning creative team from Astaire’s acclaimed first special, including indispensable stars Barrie Chase and the Jonah Jones Quartet. Joining the living color festivities are Astaire’s favorite drummer Alvin Stoller and The Bill Thompson Singers. DCP, color, 60 min. NBC. Production: Ava Productions. Executive Producer: Fred Astaire. Producer: Bud Yorkin. Director: Bud Yorkin. With: Fred Astaire, Barrie Chase, Jonah Jones Quartet. Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive (Dan Einstein), Don Kent, Ed Reitan Jr. UCLA would like to express its sincere gratitude to Mrs. Fred Astaire for the privilege of presenting these two nostalgic Fred Astaire Specials. An Evening With Fred Astaire Copyright © 1958 Mrs. Fred Astaire. Another Evening With Fred Astaire Copyright © 1959 Mrs. Fred Astaire.

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In-person: Q&A with filmmaker Allison de Fren, filmmakers and programmers Evelyn Kreutzer and Kevin B. Lee, Professor Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli, vice chair of UCLA Cinema and Media Studies, and Professor Amy Villarejo, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. A selection from the Hearst Metrotone News Collections of early conceptions of automation and “robots” in the home, office and night club will play interspersed throughout the program. Latencies of the Statistical Image Catalunya, 2024 The essay explores the genealogies that link today’s computer vision and artificial intelligence imaging systems to 19th-century scientific research's use of photography. Using the work of Étienne-Jules Marey and Francis Galton as case studies, the essay encourages an analysis of the latencies or cultural mutations manifest in the operative images of both periods.—Roc Albalat DCP, color, 9 min. Director: Roc Albalat. The Twilight Zone: “From Agnes — With Love” U.S., 2/14/1964 A simple task for a computer engineer becomes an all-encompassing problem when emotions get involved in this tale of man vs. technology.—Programming Coordinator Nicole Ucedo DCP, b&w, 25 min. CBS/Cayuga. Producers: William Froug, Rod Serling. Director: Richard Donner. Writer: Bernard C. Schoenfeld. With: Wally Cox, Ralph Taeger, Sue Randall. Fembot in a Red Dress U.S., 2015 Fembot in a Red Dress analyzes the cultural trope of the “lady in red” as it evolved from the genre of film noir to science fiction and from the human to the artificial female in a variety of film and television texts. Through juxtaposed sequences of fembots, “ladies in red,” and a combination of the two, the work attempts to mine the potential of the “critical supercut” not only for laying bare gendered patterns of representation, but also for uncovering subtle variations in meaning across cinematic texts and contexts.—Allison de Fren DCP, color, 13 min. Director: Allison de Fren. Not Exactly a Still Life Switzerland, 2024 Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo is a film about the drive to repeat and reproduce lost things, and the failure to do so. What would it mean to repeat the images of this repetitious film with the help of AI — but as disturbing (failed) dreams rather than an exact replica? We begin to imagine a new film within the one we know. AI gives us back the history of cinema — as an uncanny double.—Johannes Binotto DCP, color, 4 min. Director: Johannes Binotto. Toute la data du monde Switzerland, 2025 An experimental short essay film that reimagines Alain Resnais’ iconic 1956 essay film Toute la mémoire du monde (1956) for the AI age. Resnais’ film, on the surface a documentary portrait of the National Library of France, has commonly been understood as a meditation on the crisis of memory, knowledge and ethics after the horrors of World War II. Toute la data du monde takes some of Resnais’ images and questions as inspiration and applies them to this new current crisis of memory, knowledge and archivization in the age of AI. Through surreal, meditative and entirely AI-generated images, it suggests what the libraries of artificial intelligence and data might look like.—Evelyn Kreutzer DCP, b&w, in French with English subtitles, 4 min. Director: Evelyn Kreutzer Afterlives (excerpt) Germany/Belgium/France, 2025 Afterlives is a desktop documentary that critically engages with the historical and digital traces of extremist propaganda, questioning how images of violence circulate, mutate and persist. This excerpt explores how online platforms, including generative AI models, facilitate the disappearance and reappearance of extremist media.—Kevin B. Lee DCP, color, 7 min. Director: Kevin B. Lee. Part of: The Future of Reality: From Locarno to L.A.

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In-person: Q&A with filmmaker Adele Tulli, moderated by guest programmer Kevin B. Lee. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Real Italy, 2024 Adele Tulli’s Real is a hypnotic and rhythmic journey via close encounters with AI, the internet and avatars. The observational documentary examines how and what people are using the internet for, as well as newer technologies that are emerging daily. As more communities form online, less human to human interaction is witnessed. This haunting portrait of human engagement with technologies focuses on influencers, children and everyone in between who is learning and adapting to AI and new tech at a rapid rate, from Korea to Italy and the U.S.—Programming Coordinator Nicole Ucedo DCP, color, in Korean, English, Italian and German with English subtitles, 83 min. Director/Screenwriter: Adele Tulli. Part of: The Future of Reality: From Locarno to L.A.

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Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum All Family Flicks screenings are free admission. Seating is first come, first served. The Billy Wilder Theater opens 15 minutes before each Family Flicks program. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory U.S., 1971 A golden ticket found in a chocolate bar leads young Charlie Bucket and four other lucky children on a marvelous adventure through the wondrous world of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Along with chocolate rivers, Oompa-Loompas and a chance to win a lifetime supply of chocolate comes a few life lessons along the way in this musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s classic. DCP, color, 100 min. Director: Mel Stuart. Screenwriter: Roald Dahl. With: Gene Wilder, Peter Ostrum, Jack Albertson. Recommended for ages 8+ Part of: Family Flicks

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Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. “Listen Asshole” performed on Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, Season 1, Episode 2 (excerpt) U.S., 2001 Michelle Myers and Catzie Vilayphonh — founding members of the Philadelphia-based spoken word duo Yellow Rage — made history in 2001 as the first Asian American women featured on HBO’s Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, more commonly known as Def Poetry Jam. Part slam poem, part manifesto, their searing group piece “Listen Asshole” was born of frustration and a desire to “shatter stereotypes of Asian American women as passive, quiet, and demure,” and earned a standing ovation for its unapologetic anger, sharp wit and fierce reclamation of voice. Hosted by rapper Mos Def, the first season of Def Poetry Jam was taped at New York City’s Supper Club. DCP, color, 5 min. Director: With: Michelle Myers, Catzie Vilayphonh. Itty Bitty Titty Committee U.S., 2007 From director Jamie Babbit (But I’m a Cheerleader), Itty Bitty Titty Committee is a sharp, funny and affirming story of Anna (Melonie Diaz), a shy young lesbian whose life transforms when she joins the radical feminist art collective C(i)A — Clits in Action — inspired by the real-life radical feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls. Shot in gritty, guerrilla style on Super 8 and Super 16, this SXSW Jury Prize winner is an edgy, rare depiction of a young woman’s political awakening. The film pulses with a punk soundtrack featuring Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. As critic B. Ruby Rich wrote, “This posse of revolting dykes delivers a megadose of hope.” DCP, color, 87 min. Director: Jamie Babbit. Screenwriters: Tina Mabry, Abigail Shafran. With: Melonie Diaz, Nicole Vicius, Daniel Sea. —Public Programmer Beandrea July Part of: A Place of Rage: Women and Anger on Screen

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Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry U.S., 1969 This 1969 Newsreel company short captures a fiery feminist play performed at an abortion rally, in which a beauty contestant is “prepared” by family, school and industry for the roles demanded by a sexist society. Produced during Newsreel’s peak years (1968–1972), it exemplifies the collective’s urgent, unfiltered documentation of protest, liberation movements and grassroots organizing beyond the reach of mainstream media. DCP, b&w, 17 min. Director: Newsreel Collective/Third World Newsreel. Sudden Fear U.S., 1952 A riveting Joan Crawford anchors this masterful blend of romance, suspense and noir. As playwright-turned-heiress Myra Hudson, Crawford turns in a tour-de-force performance, transforming from smitten newlywed to cunning survivor when she discovers her husband’s (Jack Palance) murderous plot. Shot on location in San Francisco, the film builds exquisite tension through shadowy visuals, razor-sharp plotting and Crawford’s electrifying emotional range — her face a shifting canvas of shock, hurt and resolve in this rediscovered classic of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The film received Academy Award nominations for Sheila O’Brien’s costume design, Charles Lang’s cinematography and the performances of both Crawford and Palance. DCP, b&w, 110 min. Director: David Miller. Screenwriters: Lenore Coffee, Robert Smith. With: Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame. —Public Programmer Beandrea July Part of: A Place of Rage: Women and Anger on Screen

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Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Portal U.S., 2022 Rodney Evans’ Portal is a visual essay capturing how Evans and friend Homay King navigate lives reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. Favoring human connection over isolation, the short pairs quiet images of rest — lying in bed, sleeping on a couch — with scenes of outdoor movement. Poetry, prose and intimate audio recordings from Evans and King narrate the radical changes of 2020, creating a resonant time capsule. Through its meditative visuals and lyrical storytelling, Portal invites viewers to simultaneously process their own pandemic experiences, offering a contemplative space to reflect on resilience, the power of community, and the shared impact of an extraordinary year.—Public Programmer Beandrea July DCP, color, 12 min. Director: Rodney Evans. Screenwriters: Rodney Evans, Homay King. Brother to Brother U.S., 2004 Rodney Evans’ feature debut stands firmly on the shoulders of the 1990s Queer New Wave in its unflinching portrayal of Black queer characters. Winner of the 2004 Sundance Jury Prize, it helped launch Anthony Mackie’s career and featured early roles for Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Lance Reddick. Mackie plays Perry, an art student grappling with homophobia and fetishization whose friendship with Bruce Nugent, a Black gay Harlem Renaissance artist and poet, inspires confidence and pride. Over 20 years later, Evans’ moving tribute to intergenerational black queer artistry stands up as a classic in modern American independent cinema.—Public Programmer Beandrea July 35mm, color, 90 min. Director/Screenwriter: Rodney Evans. With: Anthony Mackie, Roger Robinson, Ray Ford, Aunjanue Ellis. Support for the screening is provided by the Robert Gore Rifkind Foundation Queer Screening Endowment and The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation. Part of: Legacy Project Screening Series

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In-person: Q&A with Elena Gorfinkel, author of “BFI Classics: Wanda,” moderated by Archive Research and Study Center Officer Maya Montañez Smukler. Book signing before the screening. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Wanda U.S., 1970 In 1970, Wanda screened at the Venice Film Festival as the sole U.S. entry winning the International Critics Prize. Barbara Loden, actor-turned-filmmaker, directed, produced and co-starred in the independent production, made for an estimated $100,000, in collaboration with Nicholas Proferes serving as cinematographer and editor. The feature was Loden’s directorial debut. Wanda follows Loden in a quiet and captivating portrayal of an apathetic young woman on a journey through a bleak and rural Pennsylvanian landscape. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 1971, Loden was clear about her approach to filmmaking: “I’ve got more movies in me, but they will have to be done my way. I’m not interested in entertaining people. I only want to do things that mean something to me, that I can say about a human being on film and then communicate that feeling to others.” In her new book, Elena Gorfinkel draws on archival sources, including scripts, interviews, production records, oral history and previously unseen ephemera, to trace the film’s feminist legacies, and its lasting influence on contemporary filmmakers, artists and writers.—Archive Research and Study Center Officer Maya Montañez Smukler 35mm, color, 105 min. Director/Screenwriter: Barbara Loden. With: Michael Higgins, Barbara Loden, Frank Jourdano. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with Televentures Corp. and Parlour Pictures with funding provided by The Film Foundation and GUCCI.

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In-person: film preservationist and author Ross Lipman. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Notfilm U.S., 2015 10th anniversary screening Writer-director Ross Lipman’s deep dive into the production of literary giant, Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s only movie, Film (co-directed with Alan Schneider, 1965), was hailed as one of the 10 best films of the year when it was released and stands a decade later as a master class in historical, aesthetic and thematic exposition. Weaving together primary documents, first-person interviews, archival materials and more, Lipman explores how the influences and concerns of a cavalcade of artists, both the celebrated and the obscure (including Beckett, star Buster Keaton, cinematographer Boris Kaufman and publisher Barney Rosset) coalesced — or not — into one of the most enigmatic and evocative cinematic works of the 20th century.—Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm DCP, color, 130 min. Director/Screenwriter: Ross Lipman. With: Kevin Brownlow, Leonard Maltin, Judith Douw. Part of: Ross Lipman and The Archival Impermanence Project

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In-person: film preservationist and author Ross Lipman, filmmaker Eleanor Antin, actor Christine Berry, violinist Alicia Svigals, pianist Donald Sosin. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. The Man Without a World U.S., 1991 Los Angeles restoration premiere! Through the persona of a censored, persecuted Soviet-era filmmaker, Yevgeny Antinov, writer-director Eleanor Antin constructs a captivating silent film portrait of Jewish shtetl life in 1920s Poland. Evocative of Guy Maddin, Antin remediates and repurposes period melodrama suffusing Jewish communal life before the Holocaust with mysticism, politics and homespun wisdom swirling in a pot of love, jealousy and murder. Presented with live original music composed and performed by world-renowned klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals and celebrated silent film pianist Donald Sosin, The Man Without a World was largely overlooked on its initial release but, restored in 2020, it is, as Ross Lipman writes, “ripe to at last be truly discovered.”—Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm DCP, b&w, silent with live musical accompaniment, 98 min. Director/Screenwriter: Eleanor Antin. With: Pier Marton, Christine Berry, Anna Henriques. Restored by Milestone Films with funding from the Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts. This screening was made possible with the essential support of the Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts. Part of: Ross Lipman and The Archival Impermanence Project

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In-person: film preservationist and author Ross Lipman, Archive Head of Preservation Jillian Borders. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Four Women U.S., 1975 Set to Nina Simone’s stirring ballad of the same name, Julie Dash’s dance film features Linda Martina Young as strong “Aunt Sarah,” tragic mulatto “Saffronia,” sensuous “Sweet Thing” and militant “Peaches.” Kinetic camerawork and editing, richly colored lighting, and meticulous costume, makeup and hair design work together with Young’s sensitive performance to turn longstanding Black female stereotypes to oblique, critical angles.—Jacqueline Stewart 16mm, color, 7 min. Director: Julie Dash. With: Linda Martina Young. The Juniper Tree Iceland, 1990 While still a graduate film student at UCLA, writer-director Nietzchka Keene used a Fulbright Fellowship to shoot this stunning folk horror story adapted from a Grimm fairytale on location in Iceland. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, The Juniper Tree features a pre-Sugarcubes Björk in her film debut as one of a pair of sisters (the other played by Bryndis Petra Bragadóttir) who are cast to the rocky wilds after their mother is accused of witchcraft and burned alive. The harsh but beautiful Icelandic landscape captured in dazzling black and white by cinematographer Randolph Sellars feels, as Ross Lipman writes, “so palpable it almost functions as a character.”—Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm 35mm, b&w, 79 min. Director/Screenwriter: Nietzchka Keene. With: Björk, Bryndis Petra Bragadóttir, Valdimar Örn Flygenring. Restored by the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation. Part of: Ross Lipman and The Archival Impermanence Project

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Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. A Place of Rage U.S., 1991 This insightful documentary, one of Pratibha Parmar’s early features, delivers candid interviews with activists Angela Davis, June Jordan and Alice Walker where they talk through their experiences with the Civil Rights, Black Power, Feminist and LGBTQ+ movements. As they reassess key figures like Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer, the film offers essential perspectives from the 1990s culture wars that provide vital historical context for ongoing struggles for justice and equality. DCP, color, 52 min. Director: Pratibha Parmar. With: Angela Davis, June Jordan, Alice Walker. My Name Is Andrea U.S., 2022 Pratibha Parmar’s My Name Is Andrea is a bold hybrid documentary reexamining the life and legacy of radical feminist Andrea Dworkin. Decades before #MeToo, Dworkin challenged sexism and rape culture with fearless urgency, shaped by values learned in the Civil Rights Movement. Blending rare archival footage with performances of Dworkin’s salient writing by Ashley Judd, Soko, Amandla Stenberg, Andrea Riseborough and Christine Lahti, Parmar crafts a rousing portrait of a brilliant yet misunderstood public intellectual whose searing call for justice still resonates powerfully today. DCP, color, 91 min. Director/Screenwriter: Pratibha Parmar. With: Ashley Judd, Soko, Amandla Stenberg. —Public Programmer Beandrea July Part of: A Place of Rage: Women and Anger on Screen

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Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum n-person: chef and restaurateur Alice Waters. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. The Scent of Green Papaya France, 1993 Writer-director Tr?n Anh Hùng won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes for his debut feature, The Scent of Green Papaya, a luminous portrait of the sensuous world as experienced by Mùi, a young servant girl to a troubled, middle-class family, in 1950s Saigon. Taking up her duties as a child, Mùi marvels at the small wonders that suffuse the open-air home — raindrops glistening on leaves, the hum of insects, the scent of papaya in the courtyard. Preparing and sharing meals becomes central to her attunement with the rhythms of nature and family life, as well as Hùng’s larger meditation on memory, desire and the grace of the everyday.—Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm 35mm, color, in Vietnamese with English subtitles, 104 min. Director/Screenwriter: Tr?n Anh Hùng. With: Tran Nu Yen Khe, Man San Lu, Thi Loc Truong. Print courtesy of the Yale Film Archive. Part of: Food and Film

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Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum All Family Flicks screenings are free admission. Seating is first come, first served. The Billy Wilder Theater opens 15 minutes before each Family Flicks program. The Phantom Tollbooth U.S., 1970 A mysterious tollbooth and a toy car transport young Milo to a magical, topsy-turvy world where letters are at war with numbers. Accompanied by the “watchdog” Tock, Milo embarks on a fantastical adventure to reunite the Kingdom of Wisdom in this live action/animated film based on the children’s book by Norton Juster. 35mm, color, 90 min. Directors: Chuck Jones, Abe Levitow. Screenwriters: Chuck Jones, Sam Rosen. With: Butch Patrick. Recommended for ages 8+ Part of: Family Flicks

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In-person: Professor Kathleen McHugh, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, will give a brief talk before the screening. Q&A to follow screening. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. I May Destroy You U.K., 2020 Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You is a radical, genre-defying exploration of trauma, consent and creative survival in the post-#MeToo era. Professor Kathleen McHugh’s latest research on women and anger explores the topic through the series, which, McHugh argues, channels Coel’s anger as both trauma response and creative force. The result: a bold, complex portrait of survival, consent and artistic self-possession. Inspired by Coel’s own experience of assault, the series follows Arabella, a rising writer whose rape during a night out shatters her sense of reality. In Episode 1, Arabella vanishes into the night, only to wake with no memory and a wound on her forehead. Episode 9 explores how her growing online presence alienates those closest to her. The finale imagines alternate confrontations with her rapist before Arabella ultimately reclaims her narrative. Formally daring and emotionally fearless, Coel’s series resists tidy resolutions, instead offering a bold meditation on self-preservation and the messy, nonlinear work of healing. Professor McHugh will give a brief talk, followed by a screening and on-stage conversation. Episode 1: “Eyes Eyes Eyes Eyes” Digital video, color, 30 min. Max. Director: Sam Miller. Screenwriters: Michaela Coel, Sherie Myers, Stephanie Yamson. With: Michaela Coel, Weruche Opia, Paapa Essiedu, Marouane Zotti, Stephen Wight. Episode 9: “Social Media Is a Great Way to Connect” Digital video, color, 32 min. Max. Director: Sam Miller. Screenwriters: Michaela Coel, Sherie Myers, Stephanie Yamson. With: Michaela Coel, Weruche Opia, Paapa Essiedu, Stephen Wight. Episode 12: “Ego Death” Digital video, color, 34 min. Max. Directors: Michaela Coel, Sam Miller. Screenwriters: Michaela Coel, Sherie Myers, Stephanie Yamson. With: Michaela Coel, Weruche Opia, Paapa Essiedu, Lewis Reeves. —guest programmer Kathleen McHugh and Public Programmer Beandrea July Part of: A Place of Rage: Women and Anger on Screen

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In-person: cartoonist and illustrator Nathan Gelgud. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. La Chinoise France, 1967 A major influence on Nathan Gelgud’s book Reel Politik, Jean-Luc Godard’s La Chinoise follows a group of students who form a Maoist revolutionary group over their summer vacation. No lazy bunch, they start each day with calisthenics and slogans before a crowded schedule of Maoist lectures and discussions they lead themselves. Like the theater workers in Reel Politik, they learn revolution as they go. Boldly designed and obliquely stated, the film itself doubles as a catalog of its own political and aesthetic influences, with a regular stream of propaganda posters, comic books, news photos, book covers and slogans filling the frame like a cinematic syllabus for radical home schooling.—Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm DCP, color, in French with English subtitles, 96 min. Director/Screenwriter: Jean-Luc Godard. With: Anne Wiazemsky, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Juliet Berto. Part of: Reel Politik: Seizing the Means of Projection With Nathan Gelgud

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Made possible by the John H. Mitchell Television Programming Endowment In-person: Joe Saltzman, Alison Martino. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Premiering in 1964 on CBS affiliate KNXT (now KCBS), Ralph Story’s Los Angeles (1965–69) remains one of the most fondly remembered series in L.A. television history (and one of the most requested items in the UCLA Film & Television Archive’s collections). Created by Dan Gingold (of KNXT's historic The Big News broadcast), the locally produced Ralph Story’s Los Angeles explored the history, personalities and landmarks of L.A. in one of the first newsmagazine-styled programs on television. Foregrounding the warm, wry personality of newsman and commentator Ralph Story, the local Emmy-winning series earned high television ratings, often outperforming network programs in prime time. In later years, the innovative series inspired an entire genre of popular local TV programs covering the unique landscape of Los Angeles, including Visiting With Huell Howser. Today, the surviving episodes of Ralph Story's Los Angeles represent an invaluable moving image archival record of an evolving L.A. as it stood at mid-century. Join us for a reprise of a specially curated best of Ralph Story’s Los Angeles omnibus, last presented a decade ago to a sold-out crowd at the Archive’s This Is the City symposium. Featuring excerpts and complete episodes documenting such iconic locales as Angels Flight, Clifton’s Cafeteria, Disneyland at night, Sunset Boulevard, the long lost landmarks Hollywood Ranch Market and Beverly Park, and more! With in-person guests Joe Saltzman, producer of Ralph Story’s Los Angeles, and historian Alison Martino of Vintage Los Angeles. Programmed and notes written by John H. Mitchell Television Curator Mark Quigley. Ralph Story’s Los Angeles U.S, 1965–69 DCP, b&w and color, approx. 110 min. KNXT. Executive producer: Dan Gingold. Producer: Joe Saltzman. Director: Jim Johnson. Writer: Jere Witter, Nate Kaplan. Angels Flight segment: Executive producer: Joe Sands. Producer: Dan Gingold. Director: Dan Gingold. Writers: Jere Witter, Nate Kaplan. Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Video transfers at DC Video; engineering services by David Crosthwait. Additional transfers at CBS Media Exchange. Special thanks to Paul Button, KCBS. Part of: Archive Television Treasures

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Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Born in Flames U.S., 1983 This radical, post-punk vision of feminist revolt is set in a dystopian New York a decade after a failed social-democratic revolution. When Adelaide Norris, founder of the Women’s Army, is mysteriously killed, women across race, class and sexual orientation unite to challenge a government bent on repression. Shot guerrilla-style on the streets of 1980s pre-gentrified New York, on a $40,000 budget, over five years, the film is a fierce DIY manifesto and unforgettable entry in the canon of science fiction genre films. It remains a landmark of feminist cinema — visionary and startlingly urgent. DCP, color, 80 min. Director/Screenwriter: Lizzie Borden. With: Jean Satterfield. Preserved by Anthology Film Archives, with restoration funding from the Golden Globe Foundation and The Film Foundation, and supervised and approved by director Lizzie Borden. Stranger Inside U.S., 2001 Cheryl Dunye’s Stranger Inside is a raw, gripping women’s prison drama starring Yolonda Ross as Treasure, a young butch who commits a crime to reunite with her lifer mother, Brownie (Davenia McFadden). By engaging and reshaping women-in-prison film conventions, Dunye centers incarcerated Black lesbians and their family ties rather than crime or punishment. This constitutes “a radical act — to center Black queer women behind bars, on their own terms,” says Dunye. Through its intimate focus and Dunye’s auteurist vision, the film reframes a marginalized community, blending maternal melodrama and genre subversion into a landmark of American independent cinema. DCP, color, 97 min. Director/Screenwriter: Cheryl Dunye. With: Yolonda Ross, Davenia McFadden. —guest programmer Kathleen McHugh Part of: A Place of Rage: Women and Anger on Screen

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Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in partnership with the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, UCLA Art & Global Health Center, the UCLA AIDS Institute and the Herb Ritts Foundation Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Eyes on Ukraine U.S./Ukraine, 2025 In commemoration of AIDS Awareness Month (and World AIDS Day, December 1), the UCLA Film & Television Archive presents the official world premiere of Eyes on Ukraine, a powerful documentary that explores the intersection of two crises — war and the HIV epidemic. Directed by Mo Stoebe and executive produced by Richard Gere, the film follows HIV-positive Ukrainian activist Yana Panfilova as she joins “Through Positive Eyes,” a global photo-storytelling project co-directed by award-winning South African photographer Gideon Mendel and the UCLA Art & Global Health Center. Part of an engrossing visual anthology that connects the power of community, art and activism in the face of a global pandemic, Eyes on Ukraine depicts the harrowing and inspiring daily struggle of young people living with HIV. Arriving at a time when the global health community is confronting historic cuts to research and support, Eyes on Ukraine looks to the resilience of a new generation, navigating survival and community through art and activism. Preceding the film will be a short presentation looking back at the history of “Through Positive Eyes,” an initiative of MAKE ART/STOP AIDS. A post-screening panel will focus on the quickly changing landscape of HIV/AIDS funding, featuring UCLA faculty and a representative group of international “Through Positive Eyes” “artivists.” DCP, color, 37 min. Director: Mo Stoebe. Executive Producer: Richard Gere. Producers: David Gere, Katja Kulenkampff. With: Yana Panfilova, Liza Shevchuck, Yehor Pasko.

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In-person: Associate Professor Kathleen McHugh, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Chasing the Moon U.S., 1991 Chasing the Moon, directed by Dawn Suggs, is a lyrical, introspective work following a Black lesbian as she navigates the lingering impact of an attack that leaves her uneasy in public spaces. Created in the 1990s when Suggs was part of the directing program at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and Third World Newsreel’s production program, the film weaves together a rare and resonant portrait of the personal and political.—Public Programmer Beandrea July DCP, b&w, 4 min. Director/Screenwriter: Dawn Suggs. Our Father, the Devil U.S., 2021 Babetida Sadjo gives a riveting performance as Marie, a Guinean refugee and head chef at a French retirement home whose life is upended by the arrival of Father Patrick, a priest tied to a harrowing past. This taut, elegant revenge thriller stands up as one of the most engrossing depictions of the aftermath of trauma, even as it surrenders to the allure of supposed payback. Writer-director Ellie Foumbi’s assured direction builds sophisticated tension, crafting a gripping psychological drama and a profound meditation on true healing.—guest programmer Kathleen McHugh DCP, color, 108 min. Director/Screenwriter: Ellie Foumbi. With: Babetida Sadjo, Souleymane Sy Savané, Jennifer Tchiakpe. Part of: A Place of Rage: Women and Anger on Screen

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In-person: cartoonist and illustrator Nathan Gelgud. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Putney Swope U.S., 1969 Anarchic trickster of American cinema, Robert Downey Sr. is another pillar in the canon of radicalized movie theater workers in Nathan Gelgud’s book Reel Politik, and Putney Swope stands at the zenith of Downey’s devilish, bomb-throwing career. After the corporate board of a Madison Avenue ad firm accidentally votes its only Black member to be chairman, Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson) transforms the company’s image-making apparatus into a machine for revolution and profit. Soon, a parade of CEOs and activists alike are beating a path to his door to pay respects (and cash) to get their piece of the action. 35mm, color and b&w, 85 min. Director/Screenwriter: Robert Downey Sr. With: Arnold Johnson, Stan Gottlieb, Allen Garfield. Hi, Mom! U.S., 1970 Raw and raucous, Brian De Palma’s early career dark comedy with Robert De Niro fuses underground aesthetics and Hitchcock homage on the streets and in the tenements of New York. De Niro reprises his character Jon Rubin from De Palma’s Greetings, now struggling to make a living, first with a voyeuristic pitch to a porn producer then as an actor in a political theater troupe looking to cash in on radical chic. Revolution is in the air and everyone seems in on the hustle as De Palma veers wildly from broad comedy to sexual farce to documentary-style realism and outright shock, deftly capturing the tumult of the times. 35mm, color and b&w, 87 min. Director/Screenwriter: Brian De Palma. With: Robert De Niro, Jennifer Salt, Allen Garfield. —Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm Part of: Reel Politik: Seizing the Means of Projection With Nathan Gelgud

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Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum All Family Flicks screenings are free admission. Seating is first come, first served. The Billy Wilder Theater opens 15 minutes before each Family Flicks program. The Wiz U.S., 1978 Director Sidney Lumet’s dazzlingly inventive adaptation of the hit Broadway musical transplants L. Frank Baum’s fantastical world from somewhere over the rainbow to somewhere over the Brooklyn Bridge. Diana Ross, as Dorothy, heads the all-Black cast featuring Michael Jackson as The Scarecrow, Nipsey Russell as The Tin Man, Ted Ross as The Lion and Richard Pryor as The Wiz. DCP, color, 134 min. Director: Sidney Lumet. Screenwriter: Joel Schumacher. With: Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor. Recommended for ages 7+ Part of: Family Flicks

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Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Los Angeles Filmforum In-person: Q&A with Steve F. Anderson, filmmaker and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, moderated by Los Angeles Filmforum programmer Diego Robles. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. A filmmaker and the current Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, Steve F. Anderson grew up in Los Angeles watching images filmed in the city on television. Seeing images of where you live on screen as well as out your window can generate a desire to always decipher what is “real” and what isn’t. As filmmaker Thom Andersen notes in Los Angeles Plays Itself, Angelenos can quickly be taken out of a movie’s car chase scene when their geographical map of Los Angeles doesn’t correspond with the street directions on screen. Steve F. Anderson sought to explore this “intersection of fact and fiction on the screens of Hollywood” with his latest essay feature film, Reality Frictions, which we are pleased to debut in Los Angeles in partnership with Los Angeles Filmforum. One of the films referenced in Anderson’s work is Marlon Fuentes’ Bontoc Eulogy, which explores the performative images taken at the St. Louis World Fair in 1904 of displaced and coerced indigenous Filipino communities. A screening of Reality Frictions and Q&A with Steve F. Anderson will be followed by Bontoc Eulogy.—Programming Coordinator Nicole Ucedo Programmed by Los Angeles Filmforum Executive and Artistic Director Adam Hyman and Archive Programming Coordinator Nicole Ucedo. Reality Frictions U.S., 2024 Los Angeles premiere! Steve F. Anderson declares the goal of his film as “...not just to investigate the lines between reality and fiction, but to understand what happens when images, events, or people from the real world intrude on the cinematic one.” With structures resembling chapters, the audiovisual essayistic investigations siphon philosophical inquiries while also ushering in a fury of quotidian interrogations from archival sources. Conceptually, the film is framed by Vivian Sobchack’s ideas on “Documentary Consciousness,” while aesthetically, the film’s mannerisms express direct connections to the cinema of Thom Andersen, especially Los Angeles Plays Itself.—Los Angeles FiImforum Programmer Diego Robles DCP, color, 68 min. Director: Steve F. Anderson. Bontoc Eulogy Philippines/U.S., 1995 Marlon Fuentes’ film journeys into learning about Markod, the filmmaker’s grandfather, who along with many Igorot people, was displayed in St. Louis’ World Fair of 1904. Cinematically, he voices concerns against the cosmology that frames the archival footage. His presence combines with scenes he recreates that probe generational fissures from centuries of colonialism, and neo-imperialist pressures against a more diverse Filipino and Filipino-diasporic cultural identity. Against the backdrop of media (mis)representation, he lovingly reinstates honor and respect to his grandfather, showing himself bear witness to the inhumane “studying” of human remains in our very own academic institutions.—Los Angeles FiImforum Programmer Diego Robles DCP, b&w, 56 min. Directors: Marlon Fuentes, Bridget Yearian. Screenwriter: Marlon Fuentes. Part of: Reality Frictions / Bontoc Eulogy

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Made possible by the John H. Mitchell Television Programming Endowment In-person: Q&A with Todd S. Purdum, author of “Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television.” Book signing before the screening. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. A natural comedic actor, singer and percussionist, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III, better known as Desi Arnaz, also possessed considerable behind-the-scenes creative and business acumen that proved equally paramount to his incredible success. In the biography Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television, author Todd S. Purdum illuminates that the visionary practices introduced to the television industry by Arnaz dramatically altered the course of the medium. Arnaz’s most significant contribution was his audacious abandonment of live TV to shoot his new sitcom on film with three cameras. The runaway utility of the then-novel (and costly) production technique paved the way for the lucrative redistribution of I Love Lucy, and what ultimately became known as the “rerun.” The proceeds of Arnaz’s brilliant innovation helped fund Desilu Studios — his joint venture with Lucille Ball that quickly became one of the most prolific production arms of the rapidly expanding medium of television in the 1950s and ’60s. As a refugee forced to flee Cuba during the revolution of 1933, Arnaz faced extreme poverty and racism upon arrival in the United States. His unlikely rise to superstar and studio mogul represents a truly American rags to riches story, often undertold, with Arnaz’s genius overshadowed by the peerless comedic talents of his partner, Lucille Ball. Join us for a screening of beloved classics and archival gems honoring television pioneer Desi Arnaz, featuring a Q&A with Todd S. Purdum, author of Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television. Programmed and notes written by John H. Mitchell Television Curator Mark Quigley. Desi Arnaz and His Orchestra U.S., 1946 In this one-reeler, Warner Bros. introduces Desi Arnaz to motion picture audiences as a rising new star, complete with a performance of his signature tune, “Babalú.” 35mm, b&w, 10 min. Director: c. With: Desi Arnaz. I Love Lucy: “Job Switching” U.S. 9/15/1952 With original commercials! Internationally beloved for Lucille Ball’s and Vivian Vance’s hilarious turns as inept chocolate factory workers, this landmark episode also highlights Arnaz’s comedic instincts as his alter ego Ricky Ricardo attempts domestic chores. In 1996, TV Guide ranked this episode number 2 in their “100 Most Memorable Moments in TV History,” surpassed only by coverage of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon. DCP, b&w, 30 min. CBS. Production: A Desilu Production. Executive Producer: Desi Arnaz. Producer: Jess Oppenheimer. Director: Marc Daniels. Writers: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr. With: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley. Westinghouse Promotional Film (excerpt) U.S., ca. 1958 In this corporate film, Desilu President Desi Arnaz offers an aerial tour of the vast production facilities across Los Angeles that he co-owned with partner Lucille Ball. Following the helicopter tour, Arnaz presents Westinghouse sponsors with his detailed production bible for the ambitious Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse television anthology that he executive produced. DCP, b&w, 20 min. With: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley. The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show: “Lucy Meets the Mustache” U.S., 4/1/1960 Directed by Desi Arnaz, this final episode of the I Love Lucy phenomenon represents the last time that he and Lucille Ball appeared together as the beloved Ricardos. Tensions between the couple, in the midst of divorce, were palpable on set as the cultural touchstone came to an end. The classic episode finds Lucy trying to revive Ricky’s flagging career by haranguing fellow TV pioneers Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams for work. DCP, b&w, 60 min. CBS. Production: Desilu Productions. Executive Producer: Desi Arnaz. Producer: Bert Granet. Director: Desi Arnaz. Writers: Bob Schiller, With: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Ernie Kovacs, Edie Adams. The Mothers-in-Law home movies U.S., ca. 1967 Shot on the set of the short-lived sitcom The Mothers-in-Law (1967–69), these home movies, with commentary by longtime Desilu collaborators, writer Madelyn Pugh and editor Dann Chan, and series star Kaye Ballard, offer a rare glimpse of Desi Arnaz at work as executive producer and director. DCP, color, 15 min. With: Desi Arnaz, Kaye Ballard, Eve Arden. Special thanks to Jim Pierson. Courtesy of Desilu Too. Part of: Archive Television Treasures

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Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. British Sounds U.K., 1970 When their surprised patrons ask the theater staff in Nathan Gelgud’s book Reel Politik what they plan to show in their newly liberated movie house, “the Godard-Gorin stuff” is at the top of their list. An agitprop primer in Marx and Mao, radical feminism, and the deconstruction of capitalist image production, British Sounds was Jean-Luc Godard’s first completed project with the Dziga Vertov Group, a militant film collective that included Jean-Pierre Gorin and Jean-Henri Roger, and marked the New Wave icon’s radical break from auteurist filmmaking. Overlapping voiceover readings from the Communist Manifesto and other radical texts illuminate and clash with an extended montage — a car assembly line, a union strategy meeting, a nude woman at home, student organizers — that suggests, if not a fully realized vision, a vital new cinema struggling to be born. DCP, color, 54 min. Directors/Screenwriters: Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Henri Roger. The Third Generation Germany, 1979 The precision and elegance of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s camerawork (he also acted as cinematographer) stands in sharp contrast to the shambolic activities of the would-be terrorist cadre he turns his gaze on in this late ’70s satire of bourgeois revolutionaries. Contrasts bold and subtle abound in this film suffused with high art cinematic allusions and bathroom graffiti, banal routines and sudden bursts of violence. Ostensibly living underground while making vague plans to kidnap a corporate fat cat, these middle-class Marxists play Monopoly to unwind even as their target unspools plans of his own to turn the threat of terrorism into higher profits. DCP, color, in German with English subtitles, 110 min. Director/Screenwriter: Rainer Werner Fassbinder. With: Harry Baer, Hark Bohm, Margit Carstensen. —Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm Part of: Reel Politik: Seizing the Means of Projection With Nathan Gelgud

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In-person: cartoonist and illustrator Nathan Gelgud. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. Punishment Park U.S., 1971 Long before reality TV and the current right-wing vogue for alliterative concentration camps (Alligator Alcatraz, et al.), English filmmaker Peter Watkins envisaged the end point of the American right’s demonization of its political enemies in this still disturbing mockumentary. After Nixon declares a national emergency, convicted thought criminals — anti-war activists, conscientious objectors, civil rights leaders — are given a choice: go to prison or take their chances in Punishment Park, an inhospitable desert expanse where, if they can survive three days while being hunted by cops, they can win their freedom. As a European TV crew documents their tribunals and tribulations, a band of leftists struggle across the wasteland rallying around the shared humanity the authorities try to deny them. 35mm, color, 88 min. Director/Peter Watkins. With: Patrick Boland, Carmen Argenziano, Kent Foreman. Ice U.S., 1970 Of all the films in this series, Robert Kramer’s Ice unfolds with the least sense of irony in its rough-hewn, hand-held depiction of an earnest revolutionary network organizing against a fascist takeover of the American government. Kramer himself was co-founder of the radical New York-based collective Newsreel, which produced documentaries in support of leftist causes that would hopefully, in his words, “explode like a grenade in people’s faces.” Kramer’s experience with the era’s revolutionary underground informs Ice’s realism, from the furtive strategy sessions to internal ideological debates, punctuated by sudden bursts of violence. DCP, b&w, 128 min. Director/Screenwriter: Robert Kramer. With: Leo Braudy, Robert Kramer, Paul McIsaac. —Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm Part of: Reel Politik: Seizing the Means of Projection With Nathan Gelgud

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In-person: cartoonist and illustrator Nathan Gelgud. Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event. We Can’t Go Home Again U.S., 1973 If the theater workers in Nathan Gelgud’s book Reel Politik made a movie, it would look something like Nicholas Ray’s We Can’t Go Home Again. Beginning in 1969 and throughout his tenure teaching at Harpur College in New York, Ray recruited students to contribute improvised scenes to an audacious, idealist act of collective filmmaking that Ray wove into an ever-evolving, split-screen tapestry of the times. On its decidedly kaleidoscopic surface, Ray’s ostensible final feature contrasts sharply with his studio career — Rebel Without a Cause (1955), In a Lonely Place (1950), Johnny Guitar (1954) — even as its intensely personal, deeply empathetic and confessional tone resonates with the qualities that made Ray an exemplar Hollywood auteur. DCP, color and b&w, 93 min. Director/Screenwriter: Nicholas Ray. With: Nicholas Ray, Richard Bock, Tom Farrell. A Night at the Opera U.S., 1935 As ever with the Marx Brothers, it’s the delirious moments in between the plot points that make the experience. And of course, everyone will have their own favorites. For one of Nathan Gelgud’s reel revolutionaries, in A Night at the Opera it’s when the boys, on a steamship crossing the Atlantic, join a gathering of Italian immigrant families on the upper deck for a feast of spaghetti, music and dancing. It’s a beautiful sequence of abundance, togetherness and joy that she recalls in moments of doubt or despair. “I think the world could be like that,” she says. “And that keeps me going.” Amen. 35mm, b&w, 91 min. Director: Sam Wood. Screenwriters: Morrie Ryskind, George S. Kaufman. With: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx. Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive. —Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm Part of: Reel Politik: Seizing the Means of Projection With Nathan Gelgud

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