Films/Programs
Archival Presentations
Archive fans take note: you are in for a busy SIFF this year. The first weekend presents a brace of silent movie events with piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin (anyone who saw him at Peach Girl last year will know just what a treat this is). A luminous new print of Victor Sjöström’s The Scarlet Letter (1926), starring the even more luminous Lillian Gish, is followed by Au Bonheur des dames (1929) by Julien Duvivier of Pépé le Moko fame. We could not let the centennial of the birth of one of the fathers of modern cinema, Roberto Rossellini, pass without a salute from us, and so we have his neo-realist masterpiece Rome, Open City plus, for contrast, one of his stylized biographical offerings, The Flowers of St. Francis (which is playing with My Dad Is 100 Years Old, a tribute to her father written by and starring Isabella Rossellini and directed by Guy Maddin). Another pairing not to miss is two rarely seen film noir titles, The Window (Ted Tetzlaff, 1949) and The Man Who Cheated Himself (Felix Feist, 1950), introduced by world renowned film noir expert Muller. Younger audiences are welcome at the 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T and Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush (last year’s triumph The Circus brought requests for more, more, more Chaplin!), and seekers of the more exotic can look forward to a new print of the French-Brazilian classic Black Orpheus (1959), the Hong Kong martial arts movie The Five Venoms (1978) by the legendary Chang Cheh, and from the Czech Republic, Alfred Radok’s moving Holocaust story, Distant Journey (1950), a lost classic acknowledged by Alain Resnais as an influence on his own masterpiece Night and Fog. Our thanks go out to the Cinémathèque Française, Warner Brothers, UCLA Film & TV Archive, MK2 Films, Sony Pictures Repertory, the Národní Filmovy Archiv, Janus Films and Kino International for the loan of these cinematic treasures.
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USA, 1953, 89 min.
Films4Families: Saturday Morning at the Movies
Best known for his deliriously creative books, Dr. Seuss co-wrote and designed this underappreciated musical gem. Desiring to play baseball more than practice the piano, 8-year-old Bart falls asleep at the piano and dreams of a fantasy world
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United Kingdom, 1969, 145 min.
Desperate for a male heir, King Henry VIII of England discards his wife Katharine of Aragon in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn. In their thousand days together they play out one of the most passionate and shocking love stories in history. Introduced by renowned opera singer Jane Eaglen.
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France, 1930, 85 min.
Denise moves to Paris where her uncle’s struggling store is threatened by the glamorous “Au Bonheur des dames” department store across the street. Ironically, this is the only place she is able to find work. Based on the novel by Emile Zola, this is a fascinating glimpse of a past economic era.
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Brazil, 1959, 100 min.
Unmissable. New print of the colorful Brazilian classic that updates the Orpheus-Eurydice myth to Rio with the carnival in full bloom. The score by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfa sent the bossa nova beat around the world. Winner of the 1959 Palme d’or in Cannes.
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Czech Republic, 1949, 99 min.
Over the years, the stature of this mysteriously neglected masterpiece has grown. It is one of the few films that succeeds in bringing to life the horror and inexplicable reality of the Holocaust, by blending documentary with intensified, non-realist film techniques derived from expressionist and su
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Hong Kong, 1978, 97 min.
An eager martial arts apprentice must fulfill his dying master’s final wish and track down his five most lethal students, each armed with a separate, animal-inspired fighting method. Kicking ensues. Responsible for defining a genre, director Chang's 1978 classic is a lush, colorful chop-sockie maste
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Italy, 1950, 75 min.
Working from a script by Federico Fellini (among others), Roberto Rossellini’s Flowers of St. Francis is a compassionate, beautifully photographed look at the life of Francis of Assisi, known affectionately to his followers as “God’s Jester.” Truly one of Rossellini’s finest, most effortlessl
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USA, 1925, 72 min.
The Tramp sets off for the Klondike in search of riches and finds comedic gold. Often considered Chaplin’s greatest masterpiece, The Gold Rush contains some of the most memorable moments of comedy-in-pathos in his entire body of work, and it’s even better on the big screen!
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USA, 1969, 146 min.
With amazing dance sequences and some flat-out great show-tunes, Hello, Dolly! is an extravagant Hollywood production with a campy, feel-good attitude. Barbra Streisand stars as Dolly Levi, an 1890s Yonkers, NY matchmaker looking for a match herself. Presented by Seattle gourmand and
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USA, 1962, 107 min.
Kirk Douglas plays an aging cowboy on the run from encroaching technological progress, and from sheriff Walter Matthau. A towering performance by Douglas anchors this still potent elegy for The West, written by Dalton Trumbo. Presented by internationally-renowned Seattle glass artist Dale Chihuly.
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USA, 1950, 81 min.
Unscreened for more than 50 years! Lee J. Cobb is a sap of a cop used by a society dame (Jane Wyatt) to cover up her husband’s murder. A nifty thriller from underrated director Felix Feist, shot entirely on location in San Francisco. Not to be missed.
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Italy, 1950, 100 min.
A small handful of Italian resistance members (including the luminous Anna Magnani) attempt to eke out the final days of the German Occupation. Initially intended as a documentary (and employing a large number of untrained actors), director Roberto Rosselini’s unvarnished study of inner strength is
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USA, 1926, 98 min.
In a luminous new print of Victor Sjöström’s silent adaptation of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel, Lilian Gish stars as the tragic seamstress Hester Prynne, punished for playing on the Sabbath and seeking refuge in an ill-advised relationship with the kindly minister Arthur Dimmesdale.
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USA, 1927, 63 min.
Portastatic, headed up by Superchunk member and Merge Records co-founder Mac McCaughan, brings new life to an historic oddity. For this special event, the group unveils an original live score for the rarely seen silent film The Unknown. This 1927 masterpiece from director Tod Browning...
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USA, 1949, 73 min.
This unnerving film noir adaptation of Cornell Woolrich’s The Boy Who Cried Wolf is one of the most suspenseful films ever made. A boy (Bobby Driscoll, who copped a pint-sized Oscar for his performance) witnesses a murder but can’t get anyone to believe him—except the killers. Brand new 35mm
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