Film & Television Archive

Part of: Archive Television Treasures In person: Q&A with actors Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless, executive producer Barney Rosenzweig. Made possible by the John H. Mitchell Television Programming Endowment Cagney & Lacey aired on CBS from 1982–1988, immediately elevating the episodic police genre with its remarkable style and substance. Starring Tyne Daly as Mary Beth Lacey and Sharon Gless as Christine Cagney, the show, throughout its tenure, received numerous Emmy nominations and several awards honoring its lead performers, writers, directors and the series itself. Accompanied by an outstanding supporting cast, Daly and Gless triumph as detective partners and best friends who navigate the ethics and perils of law enforcement and confront the complexities of 1980s feminist politics through the microcosm of the New York City police force. Writing partners Barbara Avedon and Barbara Corday, and executive producer Barney Rosenzweig, were moved to action by Molly Haskell’s book, From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies, and Haskell’s critique of the film industry’s refusal to take seriously women “buddy” pictures. Cagney & Lacey was first conceived of as a feature film script in 1974. CBS initially produced the material in 1981 as a television movie; after many fits and starts, in 1982 the series was launched. From its inception, the show generated debate and controversy around the representation of women on television and the series’ commitment to grounding storylines in topical subjects including abortion, alcoholism, rape, sexual harassment and criminal justice. While CBS executives were threatened by the concept of a dramatic series centered on two women detectives, a strong and dedicated female viewership was vocal in its appreciation for long overdue complex women characters. Join us for a celebration of Cagney & Lacey with series stars Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless and executive producer Barney Rosenzweig in person. Following the screening, there will be a conversation moderated by Archive Research and Study Center Officer Maya Montañez Smukler. Program notes by Archive Research and Study Center Officer Maya Montañez Smukler.

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Part of: Archive Treasures Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program. Archive Treasures showcases works from UCLA Film & Television Archive’s extensive holdings, which comprise one of the largest moving image collections in the world. Included in this series will be deserving and rarely screened gems presented in original and restored prints.

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Part of Ryusuke Hamaguchi: Early Works Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Yanai Initiative When Drive My Car won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2022, on top of being the first Japanese film ever nominated for Best Picture, it may have appeared to many as if its director, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, had come out of nowhere to accomplish such a feat. Still others may have known him as the director of the four-hour tour-de-force relationship drama, Happy Hour, when it generated cinephile buzz on the festival circuit in 2016 or perhaps the spellbinding romance-by-way-of identity-crisis, Asako I & II, when it became his first film to premiere at Cannes in 2018. But well before these milestones, Hamaguchi was busy making shorts and features that have rarely screened outside of Japan. After graduating from Tokyo University in 2003 under the influence of John Cassavetes, Hamaguchi began directing in earnest before entering Tokyo University of the Arts where Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse) became a mentor. As a student and beyond, Hamaguchi took advantage of a network of non-profit, institutional support to workshop projects that allowed him to experiment with like-minded actors, screenwriters and cinematographers. Indeed, a number of his films from this period (Intimacies, Touching the Skin of Eeriness) foreground the creative process as elements of his sublimely structured mid-career style come into view. With his latest film, All of a Sudden, in theaters this November, the Archive is pleased to present this selection of early works by Hamaguchi that confirm what was to come even as they defy expectations. Series programmed and notes written by Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm.

#Arts #MovieFilm

Part of: Ryusuke Hamaguchi: Early Works Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Yanai Initiative When Drive My Car won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2022, on top of being the first Japanese film ever nominated for Best Picture, it may have appeared to many as if its director, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, had come out of nowhere to accomplish such a feat. Still others may have known him as the director of the four-hour tour-de-force relationship drama, Happy Hour, when it generated cinephile buzz on the festival circuit in 2016 or perhaps the spellbinding romance-by-way-of identity-crisis, Asako I & II, when it became his first film to premiere at Cannes in 2018. But well before these milestones, Hamaguchi was busy making shorts and features that have rarely screened outside of Japan. After graduating from Tokyo University in 2003 under the influence of John Cassavetes, Hamaguchi began directing in earnest before entering Tokyo University of the Arts where Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse) became a mentor. As a student and beyond, Hamaguchi took advantage of a network of non-profit, institutional support to workshop projects that allowed him to experiment with like-minded actors, screenwriters and cinematographers. Indeed, a number of his films from this period (Intimacies, Touching the Skin of Eeriness) foreground the creative process as elements of his sublimely structured mid-career style come into view. With his latest film, All of a Sudden, in theaters this November, the Archive is pleased to present this selection of early works by Hamaguchi that confirm what was to come even as they defy expectations. Series programmed and notes written by Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm.

#Arts #MovieFilm

Part of: Ryusuke Hamaguchi: Early Works Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Yanai Initiative When Drive My Car won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2022, on top of being the first Japanese film ever nominated for Best Picture, it may have appeared to many as if its director, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, had come out of nowhere to accomplish such a feat. Still others may have known him as the director of the four-hour tour-de-force relationship drama, Happy Hour, when it generated cinephile buzz on the festival circuit in 2016 or perhaps the spellbinding romance-by-way-of identity-crisis, Asako I & II, when it became his first film to premiere at Cannes in 2018. But well before these milestones, Hamaguchi was busy making shorts and features that have rarely screened outside of Japan. After graduating from Tokyo University in 2003 under the influence of John Cassavetes, Hamaguchi began directing in earnest before entering Tokyo University of the Arts where Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse) became a mentor. As a student and beyond, Hamaguchi took advantage of a network of non-profit, institutional support to workshop projects that allowed him to experiment with like-minded actors, screenwriters and cinematographers. Indeed, a number of his films from this period (Intimacies, Touching the Skin of Eeriness) foreground the creative process as elements of his sublimely structured mid-career style come into view. With his latest film, All of a Sudden, in theaters this November, the Archive is pleased to present this selection of early works by Hamaguchi that confirm what was to come even as they defy expectations. Series programmed and notes written by Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm.

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In person: David Stenn, author of Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild. Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program and the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles “I’ve had enough trouble with men without marrying any!” declares Clara Bow (whose own hectic love life was this film's inspiration) as she flees wannabe Paris grooms for the French Riviera where comic mayhem ensues amidst Art Deco sets. Unseen for decades due to rights issues and still unavailable on any platform, this super-rare Pre-Code romp is “a rush of great fun, high spirits, and good humor from a bright ensemble cast, and particularly vivacious Bow” (Derek Winnert). Special thanks to David Stenn; and Margot Gerber, Art Deco Society of Los Angeles.

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In person: Q&A with UCLA Cinema and Media Studies Professor Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli and UCLA Comparative Literature Professor Nouri Gana. Guest speaker 60 years after its first screening in Algiers, The Battle of Algiers has lost none of its political punch. Premiering internationally at the 1966 Venice Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion, the film was celebrated for the audacity with which it confronted the still-raw history of French colonialism and the Algerian struggle for independence. In France, however, it remained effectively banned for years. Its extraordinary political afterlife has been equally paradoxical: a film embraced by anticolonial and revolutionary movements around the world has also been studied by military and counterinsurgency strategists, including at the Pentagon during the Iraq War. Starring almost exclusively nonprofessional actors and shot entirely on location in Algiers in a strikingly realist, quasi-documentary style, Gillo Pontecorvo’s film reconstructs the pivotal 1957 Battle of Algiers during the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62). Beginning with French paratroopers closing in on FLN militant Ali La Pointe, the film moves backward to trace his politicization and the escalating confrontation between the National Liberation Front and the French colonial state. Yet The Battle of Algiers is less the story of an individual revolutionary than of a people becoming a political subject. Made shortly before the manifestos that would theorize “Third Cinema,” the film became one of its enduring touchstones: cinema conceived not simply as representation but as intervention. Its unsettling treatment of colonialism, revolutionary violence, torture and collective resistance continues to raise urgent questions about political violence, national liberation and the unfinished work of decolonization. Note written by UCLA Cinema and Media Studies Professor Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli and UCLA Comparative Literature Professor Nouri Gana.

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Part of: Ryusuke Hamaguchi: Early Works Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Yanai Initiative When Drive My Car won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2022, on top of being the first Japanese film ever nominated for Best Picture, it may have appeared to many as if its director, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, had come out of nowhere to accomplish such a feat. Still others may have known him as the director of the four-hour tour-de-force relationship drama, Happy Hour, when it generated cinephile buzz on the festival circuit in 2016 or perhaps the spellbinding romance-by-way-of identity-crisis, Asako I & II, when it became his first film to premiere at Cannes in 2018. But well before these milestones, Hamaguchi was busy making shorts and features that have rarely screened outside of Japan. After graduating from Tokyo University in 2003 under the influence of John Cassavetes, Hamaguchi began directing in earnest before entering Tokyo University of the Arts where Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse) became a mentor. As a student and beyond, Hamaguchi took advantage of a network of non-profit, institutional support to workshop projects that allowed him to experiment with like-minded actors, screenwriters and cinematographers. Indeed, a number of his films from this period (Intimacies, Touching the Skin of Eeriness) foreground the creative process as elements of his sublimely structured mid-career style come into view. With his latest film, All of a Sudden, in theaters this November, the Archive is pleased to present this selection of early works by Hamaguchi that confirm what was to come even as they defy expectations. Series programmed and notes written by Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm.

#Arts #MovieFilm

Part of: The Trouble With Ghosts In person: UCLA Cinema and Media Studies Professor Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli and Université Paris Cité Visual Studies Professor Martine Beugnet The history of photography, film and television is so populated by ghosts that we can forget what is uniquely strange about them. The ghost is a troubling figure that points to the limit of thought — to death and nothingness. Yet, phantoms need an audience and a medium to make their appearance in the form of the sound of knocking, audiovisual noise, an eerie feeling, a white sheet with two cut out holes for eyes. What is a ghost without its sheet, or medium through which it speaks? In the process of taking new forms, they test the boundaries between the human, the machine and the non-human, stirring up new anxieties. Even if said to be non-beings, ghosts are granted supernatural sight (a maniacal gaze) and power (to possess bodies and to touch the living). At the same time, they interrupt communications, and images of the dead continue to be circulated as exploitable brands. While endlessly occupying the archive of contemporary digital media, certain ghostly images, memories and dreams are privileged over others. For lack of political will, or even just lack of images, witnesses and sound recordings, some ghosts do not and will not see the light of day. The Trouble With Ghosts explores what is so conceptually and figuratively unsettling about the ghost and the media that host it. The series is an attempt to understand the politics of ghosting in an age that is so preoccupied with specters (past, present and future). Series programmed by UCLA Cinema and Media Studies Professor Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli, Université Paris Cité Visual Studies Professor Martine Beugnet and Archive Research and Public Access Coordinator Nicole Ucedo. Notes written by Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli and Martine Beugnet.

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Part of: The Trouble With Ghosts In person: UCLA Cinema and Media Studies Professor Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli and Université Paris Cité Visual Studies Professor Martine Beugnet The history of photography, film and television is so populated by ghosts that we can forget what is uniquely strange about them. The ghost is a troubling figure that points to the limit of thought — to death and nothingness. Yet, phantoms need an audience and a medium to make their appearance in the form of the sound of knocking, audiovisual noise, an eerie feeling, a white sheet with two cut out holes for eyes. What is a ghost without its sheet, or medium through which it speaks? In the process of taking new forms, they test the boundaries between the human, the machine and the non-human, stirring up new anxieties. Even if said to be non-beings, ghosts are granted supernatural sight (a maniacal gaze) and power (to possess bodies and to touch the living). At the same time, they interrupt communications, and images of the dead continue to be circulated as exploitable brands. While endlessly occupying the archive of contemporary digital media, certain ghostly images, memories and dreams are privileged over others. For lack of political will, or even just lack of images, witnesses and sound recordings, some ghosts do not and will not see the light of day. The Trouble With Ghosts explores what is so conceptually and figuratively unsettling about the ghost and the media that host it. The series is an attempt to understand the politics of ghosting in an age that is so preoccupied with specters (past, present and future). Series programmed by UCLA Cinema and Media Studies Professor Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli, Université Paris Cité Visual Studies Professor Martine Beugnet and Archive Research and Public Access Coordinator Nicole Ucedo. Notes written by Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli and Martine Beugnet.

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Part of: Food and Film Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum Just as every memorable dinner harmonizes textures and flavors to create something more than the sum of its parts — of the type that feels like “a kind of love affair” — so too does Danish director Gabriel Axel’s Babette’s Feast. A dash of piety, a splash of romance, a hint of heartache, a touch of splendor, and generous portions of human frailty and desire all come together in Axel’s framing, Henning Kristiansen’s cinematography and the delicate performances of its outstanding cast to make you fall in love with the movies and dining, all over again. We’re pleased to present this Academy Award-winning classic of the culinary screen to mark the fifth anniversary of Lulu at the Hammer Museum. Programmed and note written by Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm.

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Part of: Ryusuke Hamaguchi: Early Works Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Yanai Initiative When Drive My Car won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2022, on top of being the first Japanese film ever nominated for Best Picture, it may have appeared to many as if its director, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, had come out of nowhere to accomplish such a feat. Still others may have known him as the director of the four-hour tour-de-force relationship drama, Happy Hour, when it generated cinephile buzz on the festival circuit in 2016 or perhaps the spellbinding romance-by-way-of identity-crisis, Asako I & II, when it became his first film to premiere at Cannes in 2018. But well before these milestones, Hamaguchi was busy making shorts and features that have rarely screened outside of Japan. After graduating from Tokyo University in 2003 under the influence of John Cassavetes, Hamaguchi began directing in earnest before entering Tokyo University of the Arts where Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse) became a mentor. As a student and beyond, Hamaguchi took advantage of a network of non-profit, institutional support to workshop projects that allowed him to experiment with like-minded actors, screenwriters and cinematographers. Indeed, a number of his films from this period (Intimacies, Touching the Skin of Eeriness) foreground the creative process as elements of his sublimely structured mid-career style come into view. With his latest film, All of a Sudden, in theaters this November, the Archive is pleased to present this selection of early works by Hamaguchi that confirm what was to come even as they defy expectations. Series programmed and notes written by Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm.

#Arts #MovieFilm

In person: Q&A with UCLA Asian American Studies Assistant Professors Loubna Qutami and Nour Joudah, moderated by UCLA Comparative Literature Ph.D. student Aciah Abdulsater. Guest speaker Every space hosts the accumulation of time and is thus a repository of memory, one that is active and dynamic. Jean Khalil Chamoun’s Women Beyond Borders (2004) and Theo Panagopoulos’ The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing (2024) were made two decades apart, but together they foster an ongoing conversation at the intersection of identity, memory and place across Lebanon and Palestine. Though distinct in form, the films consider the relationship between people’s lived environments and their individual and collective identities. The films navigate through spaces both historically and presently marked by displacement, violence and resilience. Both offer meditations and testimonies on how these spaces can inhabit a people’s memories, linger into their present realities and influence their futures. Rather than attempting to unearth a singular tradition, this program amplifies an ongoing cinematic conversation across Lebanon and Palestine that is rooted in intertwined histories of occupation and resistance. This conversation is an urgent one to hold today in light of the ongoing aggression against southern Lebanon and historic Palestine that continues to target complete ecosystems. This systematic surge of destruction and harm affects far beyond the physical; it seeks to fracture memory, sever a people’s sense of being and belonging, and jeopardize social relations that places sustain. The moving image as a tool presents an opportunity to forge an alternative place of memory work, one capable of preserving spatial memory, making visible the forms of erasure, and imagining continuities that exceed the violence of occupation and its imposed restriction on bodies and space. Programmed by UCLA Comparative Literature Ph.D. student Aciah Abdulsater and Archive Research and Public Access Coordinator Nicole Ucedo. Notes and concept by Aciah Abdulsater.

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n person: Pre-screening talk by Laura Horak, author, Trans Cinema: Making Communities, Identities, and Worlds. Post-screening Q&A. Archive Talks pairs leading historians and scholars with screenings of the moving image media that is the focus of their writing and research. Each program will begin with a special talk by the invited scholar that will introduce audiences to new insights, interpretations and contexts for the films and media being screened. This screening will be preceded by a book signing of Trans Cinema: Making Communities, Identities, and Worlds with author Laura Horak beginning at 6 p.m. in the lobby. The Archive first worked with archivist and scholar Laura Horak in 2022 when we presented a series of films unearthed by Horak and her collaborators, Maggie Hennefeld and Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi. Their archival project Cinema’s First Nasty Women celebrated the work of silent comedians who brought an anarchic brand of gender non-conformity to slapstick. Alongside that work, Horak is also the director of the Transgender Media Lab at Carleton University, which created the Transgender Media Portal(opens in a new tab), a database of trans creators, including links to where their work can be seen. Suffice it to say, increasing the visibility and access to the media she studies is an essential element of Horak’s ongoing research project. With her latest book, Trans Cinema: Making Communities, Identities, and Worlds, Horak dives deep into the history, practice and aesthetics of trans artists in the United States and Canada in the 21st century while positioning them within the larger history of trans media production and representation. The Archive is pleased to welcome Horak back to the Billy Wilder Theater for a brief talk about her work followed by a selection of works by trans artists and an on-stage conversation, with more special guests to be announced soon! Part of the Archive’s Legacy Project Screening Series. Support for the screening is provided by the Robert Gore Rifkind Foundation Queer Screening Endowment and The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation.

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In person: Introductions and pre-screening conversation with author and film historian Howard Gutner and Deborah Nadoolman Landis, founding director and chair of the David C. Copley Center for Costume Design at UCLA. Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in partnership with the David C. Copley Center for Costume Design at UCLA. Archive Talks pairs leading historians and scholars with screenings of the moving image media that is the focus of their writing and research. Each program will begin with a special talk by the invited scholar that will introduce audiences to new insights, interpretations and contexts for the films and media being screened. This screening will be preceded by a book signing of Banton of Paramount: Haute Couture in Hollywood’s Golden Age with author Howard Gutner beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the lobby.

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Part of: Archive Television Treasures In person: actors Ruta Lee, Rich Little, Jo Anne Worley Made possible by the John H. Mitchell Television Programming Endowment Premiering on NBC on October 17, 1966, Hollywood Squares became one of the most popular game shows in television history, with over 4,000 episodes of the original network incarnation produced through 1981. The longevity of the simple tic-tac-toe game was driven in large part by the show’s charismatic, quick-witted host, Peter Marshall. A talented actor and nightclub comedian, Marshall breezily tackled the daunting task of corralling the series’ boisterous, rotating stable of nine celebrities, setting up punchlines and volleying retorts with equal aplomb. While high-wattage superstars such as Vincent Price and Sammy Davis Jr. often guested, the literal center of Hollywood Squares’ towering, neon-lit set featured an icon like no other — actor and comedian Paul Lynde. Beloved by audiences of all stripes, Lynde routinely brought down the house with bawdy ad-libs and double entendres — delivered impeccably with a knowing wink. Painfully closeted in his personal life to protect his showbiz career, Lynde turned conventional wisdom of the day upside down, boldly introducing the masses to an undeniably empowered, queer-coded persona previously unseen on television. Join us as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the premiere of Hollywood Squares and the birth centennials of Peter Marshall and Paul Lynde. Two preserved episodes will be screened, complete with original commercials, as well as an extended clip reel showcasing a galaxy of guest stars, risque retorts and the genius of Paul Lynde. Programmed and notes written by John H. Mitchell Television Curator Mark Quigley.

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Part of: Dorothy Dandridge The story of Dorothy Dandridge’s career mirrors that of early 20th century Black Hollywood. She first arrived in Los Angeles with her family in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. Dorothy’s mother, Ruby, found work in radio and in small film parts, usually playing domestics. Dorothy and her sister Vivian transformed their Chitlin’ Circuit acrobatic act The Wonder Children into a singing group called The Dandridge Sisters, who were popular in nightclubs like The Cotton Club. The Dandridge family lived in the thriving Black Hollywood area around Central Street in South Los Angeles, connected to the rest of the city by streetcars known as Red Cars. In the 1940s, Dorothy lived in that same neighborhood with her husband, Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers. Dandridge later moved to a beautiful modern home in the Hollywood Hills before that area was fully integrated. She was always a pioneer, doing things first and refusing to accept the discrimination she saw around her. After she became the first Black woman to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for Otto Preminger’s Carmen Jones (1954), she turned down countless supporting roles or what she considered to be stereotypes. Dandridge instead chose to make European and independent films, many of which will screen on prints in this series. She wasn’t so much ahead of her time, as an uncompromising bright talent who refused to bend to a flawed and racist industry. Hollywood today is still catching up to her. Series programmed and notes written by Miriam Bale.

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Part of: The Art of the Benshi 2026 In person: benshi Ichiro Kataoka, composer and pianist Makia Matsumura. Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Yanai Initiative The UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Yanai Initiative are honored to welcome back to the Billy Wilder Theater renowned Japanese benshi Ichiro Kataoka for a weekend of live performances timed to celebrate the new release of a Flicker Alley Blu-ray box set inspired by the national Art of the Benshi tour organized by the Archive and Yanai in 2024. During the silent film era in Japan, film screenings were accompanied by live narrators, called benshi. Full-fledged artists in their own right, benshi familiarized and enlivened the cinema experience in Japan through expressive performances that illuminated and extended the emotional and thematic range of the works on screen. The art, today, is carried on by a small group of specialized performers who have been apprenticed by the preceding generations of benshi, creating a continuous lineage back to the original performers. Kataoka will be joined on stage by another veteran of the 2024 tour, composer and pianist Makia Matsumura, who will accompany his original performances with original scores. Every benshi event is a unique, live experience but this weekend’s program will be especially memorable for the North American premiere of the National Film Archive of Japan’s restoration of director Teinosuke Kinugasa’s groundbreaking, always astonishing A Page of Madness on the centennial of its original release. Programmed by Ichiro Kataoka, Michael Emmerich and Paul Malcolm. Notes written by Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm. Special thanks to Michael Emmerich and Elizabeth Leicester, Yanai Initiative; National Film Archive of Japan.

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Part of: The Art of the Benshi 2026 In person: benshi Ichiro Kataoka, composer and pianist Makia Matsumura. Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Yanai Initiative The UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Yanai Initiative are honored to welcome back to the Billy Wilder Theater renowned Japanese benshi Ichiro Kataoka for a weekend of live performances timed to celebrate the new release of a Flicker Alley Blu-ray box set inspired by the national Art of the Benshi tour organized by the Archive and Yanai in 2024. During the silent film era in Japan, film screenings were accompanied by live narrators, called benshi. Full-fledged artists in their own right, benshi familiarized and enlivened the cinema experience in Japan through expressive performances that illuminated and extended the emotional and thematic range of the works on screen. The art, today, is carried on by a small group of specialized performers who have been apprenticed by the preceding generations of benshi, creating a continuous lineage back to the original performers. Kataoka will be joined on stage by another veteran of the 2024 tour, composer and pianist Makia Matsumura, who will accompany his original performances with original scores. Every benshi event is a unique, live experience but this weekend’s program will be especially memorable for the North American premiere of the National Film Archive of Japan’s restoration of director Teinosuke Kinugasa’s groundbreaking, always astonishing A Page of Madness on the centennial of its original release. Programmed by Ichiro Kataoka, Michael Emmerich and Paul Malcolm. Notes written by Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm. Special thanks to Michael Emmerich and Elizabeth Leicester, Yanai Initiative; National Film Archive of Japan.

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Part of: Dorothy Dandridge The story of Dorothy Dandridge’s career mirrors that of early 20th century Black Hollywood. She first arrived in Los Angeles with her family in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. Dorothy’s mother, Ruby, found work in radio and in small film parts, usually playing domestics. Dorothy and her sister Vivian transformed their Chitlin’ Circuit acrobatic act The Wonder Children into a singing group called The Dandridge Sisters, who were popular in nightclubs like The Cotton Club. The Dandridge family lived in the thriving Black Hollywood area around Central Street in South Los Angeles, connected to the rest of the city by streetcars known as Red Cars. In the 1940s, Dorothy lived in that same neighborhood with her husband, Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers. Dandridge later moved to a beautiful modern home in the Hollywood Hills before that area was fully integrated. She was always a pioneer, doing things first and refusing to accept the discrimination she saw around her. After she became the first Black woman to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for Otto Preminger’s Carmen Jones (1954), she turned down countless supporting roles or what she considered to be stereotypes. Dandridge instead chose to make European and independent films, many of which will screen on prints in this series. She wasn’t so much ahead of her time, as an uncompromising bright talent who refused to bend to a flawed and racist industry. Hollywood today is still catching up to her. Series programmed and notes written by Miriam Bale.

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Part of: Archive Television Treasures In person: writer-director Reginald Hudlin, producer-director Stan Lathan, NYU Associate Professor Josslyn Luckett Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Directors Guild of America. Made possible by the John H. Mitchell Television Programming Endowment. In a trailblazing entertainment industry career spanning over half a century, producer-director Stan Lathan continues to leave an indelible creative mark. His groundbreaking work in television began with directing the PBS public affairs and documentary series Say Brother and Black Journal, which were produced to give voice to Black communities following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Later summoned by Redd Foxx to work on Sanford and Son as one of the few Black directors in primetime television, Lathan went on to helm episodes for a wide range of hit series, from Hill Street Blues to Roc. A formidable talent, he also directed numerous pilots that launched highly successful series, including Amen and Moesha. In a career of milestones, following his theatrical feature Beat Street (1984), Lathan partnered with Russell Simmons to create Def Comedy Jam and Def Poetry Jam for HBO, the latter garnering the duo a Peabody Award. Among multiple Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards and too many other major awards to mention, Lathan was recognized with a CINE Golden Eagle and an American Film Festival Blue Ribbon for directing the American Playhouse telefilm Go Tell It on the Mountain (1985). In perhaps the highest accolade possible, cultural titan James Baldwin publicly pronounced his love of the TV adaptation of his seminal work. Join us as we celebrate Stan Lathan with a screening of Go Tell It on the Mountain, introduced by NYU Associate Professor Josslyn Luckett. Programmed and notes written by John H. Mitchell Television Curator Mark Quigley.

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Part of: Dorothy Dandridge The story of Dorothy Dandridge’s career mirrors that of early 20th century Black Hollywood. She first arrived in Los Angeles with her family in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. Dorothy’s mother, Ruby, found work in radio and in small film parts, usually playing domestics. Dorothy and her sister Vivian transformed their Chitlin’ Circuit acrobatic act The Wonder Children into a singing group called The Dandridge Sisters, who were popular in nightclubs like The Cotton Club. The Dandridge family lived in the thriving Black Hollywood area around Central Street in South Los Angeles, connected to the rest of the city by streetcars known as Red Cars. In the 1940s, Dorothy lived in that same neighborhood with her husband, Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers. Dandridge later moved to a beautiful modern home in the Hollywood Hills before that area was fully integrated. She was always a pioneer, doing things first and refusing to accept the discrimination she saw around her. After she became the first Black woman to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for Otto Preminger’s Carmen Jones (1954), she turned down countless supporting roles or what she considered to be stereotypes. Dandridge instead chose to make European and independent films, many of which will screen on prints in this series. She wasn’t so much ahead of her time, as an uncompromising bright talent who refused to bend to a flawed and racist industry. Hollywood today is still catching up to her. Series programmed and notes written by Miriam Bale.

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In person: director Raha Shirazi. Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Farhang Foundation In this powerful documentary, director Raha Shirazi tells of the generational struggle of Iranian women to achieve basic human rights, from the suffrage movement under the Shah in the 1960s to the Women, Life, Freedom Movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. While a group of high profile activists speak on camera, including Mahnaz Afkhami, Asieh Amini, Masih Alinejad and Shaparak Shajarzadeh, it’s the anonymous girls and women demonstrating in classrooms, homes, offices and on the streets, as seen in archival news footage and more recent TikTok videos, that are the film’s real focus. As each generation has evolved new strategies to advance the cause, their unwavering commitment to freedom remains an inspiring constant. Programmed and note written by Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm. Program generously funded by the Farhang Foundation.

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Part of: Dorothy Dandridge The story of Dorothy Dandridge’s career mirrors that of early 20th century Black Hollywood. She first arrived in Los Angeles with her family in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. Dorothy’s mother, Ruby, found work in radio and in small film parts, usually playing domestics. Dorothy and her sister Vivian transformed their Chitlin’ Circuit acrobatic act The Wonder Children into a singing group called The Dandridge Sisters, who were popular in nightclubs like The Cotton Club. The Dandridge family lived in the thriving Black Hollywood area around Central Street in South Los Angeles, connected to the rest of the city by streetcars known as Red Cars. In the 1940s, Dorothy lived in that same neighborhood with her husband, Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers. Dandridge later moved to a beautiful modern home in the Hollywood Hills before that area was fully integrated. She was always a pioneer, doing things first and refusing to accept the discrimination she saw around her. After she became the first Black woman to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for Otto Preminger’s Carmen Jones (1954), she turned down countless supporting roles or what she considered to be stereotypes. Dandridge instead chose to make European and independent films, many of which will screen on prints in this series. She wasn’t so much ahead of her time, as an uncompromising bright talent who refused to bend to a flawed and racist industry. Hollywood today is still catching up to her. Series programmed and notes written by Miriam Bale.

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Part of: Dorothy Dandridge The story of Dorothy Dandridge’s career mirrors that of early 20th century Black Hollywood. She first arrived in Los Angeles with her family in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. Dorothy’s mother, Ruby, found work in radio and in small film parts, usually playing domestics. Dorothy and her sister Vivian transformed their Chitlin’ Circuit acrobatic act The Wonder Children into a singing group called The Dandridge Sisters, who were popular in nightclubs like The Cotton Club. The Dandridge family lived in the thriving Black Hollywood area around Central Street in South Los Angeles, connected to the rest of the city by streetcars known as Red Cars. In the 1940s, Dorothy lived in that same neighborhood with her husband, Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers. Dandridge later moved to a beautiful modern home in the Hollywood Hills before that area was fully integrated. She was always a pioneer, doing things first and refusing to accept the discrimination she saw around her. After she became the first Black woman to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for Otto Preminger’s Carmen Jones (1954), she turned down countless supporting roles or what she considered to be stereotypes. Dandridge instead chose to make European and independent films, many of which will screen on prints in this series. She wasn’t so much ahead of her time, as an uncompromising bright talent who refused to bend to a flawed and racist industry. Hollywood today is still catching up to her. Series programmed and notes written by Miriam Bale.

#Arts #MovieFilm