Cinematheque Film Schedule

United States | 2001-2014 | Bruce Checefsky

Bruce Checefsky is a photographer and Director of the Reinberger Galleries at the Cleveland Institute of Art. For the past 13 years he has also moonlighted as a maker of short, independent films that have shown widely around the world—from MoMA and the Anthology Film Archives to the Tate Modern and the Rotterdam Film Festival. Checefsky has carved out a unique niche for himself by reimagining and making abstract and avant-garde Eastern European shorts from...

Romania | 2013 | Calin Peter Netzer

The latest triumph for the Romanian New Wave won the top prize at last year’s Berlin Film Festival; it also was Romania’s official submission for this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Child’s Pose is a potent social drama about a prosperous Bucharest architect (Luminita Gheorghiu of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu ) who will stop at nothing to keep her deadbeat thritysomething son out of jail after a deadly car crash. “A razor-sharp...

Great Britain | 1964 | Stanley Kubrick

When mad U.S. Army General Jack D. Ripper single-handedly launches a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union (he’s convinced that Communists are contaminating our “precious bodily fluids” via fluoridation), all hell breaks loose in Washington and Moscow. Stanley Kubrick’s seminal Cold War comedy is not only one of the funniest movies ever made, it’s also one of the most suspenseful. There’s no let-up in great lines and memorable characters, three of whom are played by...

United States | 1964 | Sidney Lumet

The sober flip side of Dr. Strangelove is depicted in Sidney Lumet's tense and gripping Cold War thriller. Henry Fonda plays the U.S. President who must deal with the fallout when an American bomber is accidentally ordered to nuke Moscow. This straight-faced suspenser boasts a surprising number of similarities to Kubrick's satire, which was released earlier in the same year by the same studio (Columbia) and trounced Fail-Safe at the box office. With Walter Matthau,...

Great Britain | 1964 | Stanley Kubrick

When mad U.S. Army General Jack D. Ripper single-handedly launches a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union (he’s convinced that Communists are contaminating our “precious bodily fluids” via fluoridation), all hell breaks loose in Washington and Moscow. Stanley Kubrick’s seminal Cold War comedy is not only one of the funniest movies ever made, it’s also one of the most suspenseful. There’s no let-up in great lines and memorable characters, three of whom are played by...

Romania | 2013 | Calin Peter Netzer

The latest triumph for the Romanian New Wave won the top prize at last year’s Berlin Film Festival; it also was Romania’s official submission for this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Child’s Pose is a potent social drama about a prosperous Bucharest architect (Luminita Gheorghiu of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu ) who will stop at nothing to keep her deadbeat thritysomething son out of jail after a deadly car crash. “A razor-sharp...

France, Italy, West Germany | 1976 | Bernardo Bertolucci

Last shown at the Cinematheque in 1991, this is the complete, uncut, 5¼ -hour version of Bernardo Bertolucci’s sweeping and sensuous historical saga that chronicles 45 years of Italian political history and class struggle. (Part 2 will show at 6:45 tonight after a one-hour dinner break.) Robert De Niro and Gérard Depardieu star as childhood best friends born in 1901. One is a wealthy landowner’s grandson and the other a peasant, so their lives move...

Canada, United States | 2012 | William Hechter, Peter Miller

This acclaimed film profiles one of the least known major figures in early rock ‘n’ roll. Doc Pomus (reputedly the inspiration for John Goodman’s character in Inside Llewyn Davis) was born Jerome Felder in Brooklyn and, despite being partially paralyzed from polio, became a blues singer and then a brilliant songwriter of such hits as “Save the Last Dance for Me,” “This Magic Moment,” and many more. In this film enlivened by music and archival...

United Kingdom | 1977 | Ridley Scott

Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel, and Albert Finney star in Ridley Scott's first feature, a visually sumptuous tale of two inimical, Napoleonic-era French cavalry officers who duel with each other repeatedly over a 15-year-period in a never-ending quest for justice and honor. From a Conrad story. "[The] film is among the most staggeringly beautiful of its time." -Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide.

United States | 2011-14 | Mika Johnson

The Amerikans is an ongoing series of short (3-5 min.) documentaries that profile interesting, unusual, sometimes eccentric residents of northeast Ohio. Begun in 2011 and produced by Jeffrey Pence and Mika Johnson of Oberlin College, these mini-docs (all directed by Johnson) have focused, so far, on a dollhouse builder, a flamboyant funeral director, a bee sting therapist, an artist who uses his body as a paintbrush, a napkin collector, and a man in a gorilla...

various countries | 2000s, various directors

It’s been over a decade since we last presented a Spike & Mike “classic” festival of animation! Long a staple of our programming, and for years one of our most popular annual events, the Spike & Mike “classic” fest featured clever and entertaining new animated shorts from around the world, including early works by Tim Burton and Pixar animators and some Oscar winners. To mark Spike & Mike’s 30th anniversary, we present their latest “all...

United Kingdom | 1977 | Ridley Scott

Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel, and Albert Finney star in Ridley Scott's first feature, a visually sumptuous tale of two inimical, Napoleonic-era French cavalry officers who duel with each other repeatedly over a 15-year-period in a never-ending quest for justice and honor. From a Conrad story. "[The] film is among the most staggeringly beautiful of its time." -Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide.

various countries | 2000s, various directors

It’s been over a decade since we last presented a Spike & Mike “classic” festival of animation! Long a staple of our programming, and for years one of our most popular annual events, the Spike & Mike “classic” fest featured clever and entertaining new animated shorts from around the world, including early works by Tim Burton and Pixar animators and some Oscar winners. To mark Spike & Mike’s 30th anniversary, we present their latest “all...

Russia | 2011 | Alexander Sokurov

Winner of the top prize at the 2011 Venice Film Festival (where jury president Darren Aronofsky hailed it as a film that can "change you forever"), FAUST is an eccentric, visually stunning, phantasmagoric version of the famous legend, about a man who seeks enlightenment but sells his soul to the devil to win a beautiful young woman. This new film from the director of Russian Ark concludes Sokurov's "Men of Power" tetralogy. (Earlier films focused...

Russia | 2011 | Alexander Sokurov

Winner of the top prize at the 2011 Venice Film Festival (where jury president Darren Aronofsky hailed it as a film that can "change you forever"), FAUST is an eccentric, visually stunning, phantasmagoric version of the famous legend, about a man who seeks enlightenment but sells his soul to the devil to win a beautiful young woman. This new film from the director of Russian Ark concludes Sokurov's "Men of Power" tetralogy. (Earlier films focused...

various countries | 2000s, various directors

It’s been over a decade since we last presented a Spike & Mike “classic” festival of animation! Long a staple of our programming, and for years one of our most popular annual events, the Spike & Mike “classic” fest featured clever and entertaining new animated shorts from around the world, including early works by Tim Burton and Pixar animators and some Oscar winners. To mark Spike & Mike’s 30th anniversary, we present their latest “all...

Canada, United States | 2012 | William Hechter, Peter Miller

This acclaimed film profiles one of the least known major figures in early rock ‘n’ roll. Doc Pomus (reputedly the inspiration for John Goodman’s character in Inside Llewyn Davis) was born Jerome Felder in Brooklyn and, despite being partially paralyzed from polio, became a blues singer and then a brilliant songwriter of such hits as “Save the Last Dance for Me,” “This Magic Moment,” and many more. In this film enlivened by music and archival...

Australia, Thailand | 2013 | Kim Mordaunt

Winner of the audience award for "best narrative feature" at the Tribeca, AFI, and Sydney Film Festivals (among others), this unexpected crowd-pleaser tells of a 10-year-old Laotian boy, Ahlo, whom his elders believe to be cursed and a bringer of bad luck. Ahlo tries time and again to prove his worth to his tragedy-beset family, and ultimately enters a rocket-building competition. "A kid-centric slice of intractable humanism in the mode of The Kite Runner, Tsotsi,...

France, Germany | Georgia 2013 | Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Gross

Georgia's official entry for this year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a tense coming-of-age tale about two 14-year-old girls, best friends, who live under the constant threat of violence in chaotic, civil war-torn 1992 Georgia, one year after the nation broke free from the USSR. "[An] astute, observant film." -The NY Times.

France, United States | 2013 | Arnaud Desplechin

Benicio Del Toro and Mathieu Amalric star in the new film from the director of A Christmas Tale and Kings & Queen. Set in post-WWII America, the movie tells of a Blackfoot Indian and war vet (Del Toro), recently returned from France, who suffers from either PTSD or schizophrenia. His case is referred to French-American anthropologist and psychoanalyst Georges Devereau (Amalric), a real-life pioneer in ethno-psychiatry. Devereau puts his patient on the couch and talks...

France, Germany | Georgia 2013 | Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Gross

Georgia's official entry for this year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a tense coming-of-age tale about two 14-year-old girls, best friends, who live under the constant threat of violence in chaotic, civil war-torn 1992 Georgia, one year after the nation broke free from the USSR. "[An] astute, observant film." -The NY Times.

United States | 1955 | Alfred Hitchcock

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly star in Hitchcock’s elegant, picturesque romantic thriller set on the French Riviera. It tells of a suave ex-jewel thief who must clear his name when local authorities accuse him of returning to his old occupation and robbing tourists.

United States | 1955 | Alfred Hitchcock

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly star in Hitchcock’s elegant, picturesque romantic thriller set on the French Riviera. It tells of a suave ex-jewel thief who must clear his name when local authorities accuse him of returning to his old occupation and robbing tourists.

France, United States | 2013 | Arnaud Desplechin

Benicio Del Toro and Mathieu Amalric star in the new film from the director of A Christmas Tale and Kings & Queen. Set in post-WWII America, the movie tells of a Blackfoot Indian and war vet (Del Toro), recently returned from France, who suffers from either PTSD or schizophrenia. His case is referred to French-American anthropologist and psychoanalyst Georges Devereau (Amalric), a real-life pioneer in ethno-psychiatry. Devereau puts his patient on the couch and talks...

Australia, Thailand | 2013 | Kim Mordaunt

Winner of the audience award for "best narrative feature" at the Tribeca, AFI, and Sydney Film Festivals (among others), this unexpected crowd-pleaser tells of a 10-year-old Laotian boy, Ahlo, whom his elders believe to be cursed and a bringer of bad luck. Ahlo tries time and again to prove his worth to his tragedy-beset family, and ultimately enters a rocket-building competition. "A kid-centric slice of intractable humanism in the mode of The Kite Runner, Tsotsi,...

United States | 1952 | Nicholas Ray

Bernard Herrmann's music for Nicholas Ray's noir thriller was reputedly the composer's favorite score. Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino star in the film, in which a brutal NYC cop on the verge of a nervous breakdown is sent upstate to simmer down and cool off. There he befriends a gentle blind woman whose disturbed younger brother has been accused of molesting and murdering a girl.

United States | 1964 | Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock’s underrated psychological thriller stars Tippi Hedren as a frigid, troubled kleptomaniac and Sean Connery as the widower who becomes one of her victims, but decides to marry and try to reform her nonetheless. Bernard Herrmann’s score is the last one that Hitchcock used in one of his films.

United States | 1964 | Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock’s underrated psychological thriller stars Tippi Hedren as a frigid, troubled kleptomaniac and Sean Connery as the widower who becomes one of her victims, but decides to marry and try to reform her nonetheless. Bernard Herrmann’s score is the last one that Hitchcock used in one of his films.

United States | 1952 | Nicholas Ray

Bernard Herrmann's music for Nicholas Ray's noir thriller was reputedly the composer's favorite score. Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino star in the film, in which a brutal NYC cop on the verge of a nervous breakdown is sent upstate to simmer down and cool off. There he befriends a gentle blind woman whose disturbed younger brother has been accused of molesting and murdering a girl.

United States | 1941 | William Dieterle

Bernard Herrmann won his only Oscar (beating himself and his Citizen Kane score, also nominated) for his music to this visually stunning fantasy that transposes the Faust legend to New England. Based on Stephen Vincent Benet's story, it tells of a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the devil, Mr. Scratch (Walter Huston). But when Scratch comes to claim it seven yeas later, the farmer enlists the great American orator Daniel Webster to...

United States | 1941 | Orson Welles

Orson Welles’ bravura account of the rise and fall of a mysterious newspaper tycoon (loosely modeled on William Randolph Hearst) was, for decades, voted the greatest movie ever made. To fully appreciate its astonishing beauty and power, you need to see it on the big screen! “More fun than any other great movie.” –Pauline Kael. With Welles, Joseph Cotten, and Everett Sloane. Cinematography by Gregg Toland; music by Bernard Herrmann.

United States | 1958 | Nathan H. Juran

Ray Harryhausen did the stop-motion animation for this exciting and exotic adventure fantasy that is on the National Film Registry and has a perfect 100% “fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.com. The film follows the heroic exploits of Sinbad the Sailor, who, while transporting his future bride to Baghdad, is attacked by a giant Cyclops, then runs afoul of a powerful magician. This was Bernard Herrmann’s first (and favorite) of four scores he wrote for Harryhausen movies. ...

United States | 1958 | Nathan H. Juran

Ray Harryhausen did the stop-motion animation for this exciting and exotic adventure fantasy that is on the National Film Registry and has a perfect 100% “fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.com. The film follows the heroic exploits of Sinbad the Sailor, who, while transporting his future bride to Baghdad, is attacked by a giant Cyclops, then runs afoul of a powerful magician. This was Bernard Herrmann’s first (and favorite) of four scores he wrote for Harryhausen movies. ...

United States | 1976 | Brian De Palma

At the end of his career Bernard Herrmann composed music for “movie brats” like Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese. In 1977 he earned two posthumous Oscar nominations for two of his final scores—one for Taxi Driver and the other for this Vertigo-like psychological thriller. De Palma’s film, which was written by Paul Schrader and shot by the great Vilmos Zsigmond, tells of a New Orleans businessman (Cliff Robertson) who becomes fixated on a young...

United States | 1941 | Orson Welles

Orson Welles’ bravura account of the rise and fall of a mysterious newspaper tycoon (loosely modeled on William Randolph Hearst) was, for decades, voted the greatest movie ever made. To fully appreciate its astonishing beauty and power, you need to see it on the big screen! “More fun than any other great movie.” –Pauline Kael. With Welles, Joseph Cotten, and Everett Sloane. Cinematography by Gregg Toland; music by Bernard Herrmann.