Cinematheque Schedule

United States | 1996 | Bridgett M. Davis

An aspiring actress has lost considerable weight to land her first movie role, but what the director didn’t tell her was that it includes a nude scene. Presented by Julie Dash, and celebrated as a key film in the canon of Black independent cinema of the ‘90s, Naked Acts explores Black female sexuality and identity and tells the story of self-reclamation in the face of histories of exploitation and objectification through images. Cleveland revival premiere....

France, Italy | 1969 | Jean-Pierre Melville

Melville’s (Le Samourai, Le Cercle Rouge) epic of the French Resistance was the winner of the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film 36 years after it was made. Adapted from Joseph Kessel’s 1943 book, Melville tells the story of the underground through the tension between loyalty and betrayal, never compromising his acute perspective. It is one of Melville’s most personal films, replaying the memories of his youth as a Resistance...

Slovakia, United States | 2023 | Shira Piven

Based on an Arthur Miller short story, Harold May is an American Jew and gifted tap dancer. While on tour in Europe, Harold and the rest of his troupe are scouted by a German attaché who leads the troupe to an exclusive performance for Hitler himself. In partnership with Cleveland Jewish Film Fest. Cleveland premiere. 112 min.

Belgium, France | 2023 | Benoît Chieux

From the distributor of Studio Ghibli films comes a psychedelic fairy tale that took years to make. Winner of the Annecy Festival Audience Award, the film tells the story of two sisters’ adventures in a Seussian fantasy world where they turn into cats and discover Sirocco, a terrifying wizard feared for his power over the wind. Impressive in its world-building and charming throughout, the film will delight both families and animation lovers. Subtitles (Thu. 9/12);...

Canada | 2023 | Pascal Plante

The high-profile case of a serial killer has just gone to trial, and model Kelly-Anne is obsessed. When reality blurs with her morbid fantasies, she goes down a dark path to seek the final piece of the case’s puzzle. Reminiscent of Assayas’ Demonlover, this fresh take on the tech-thriller/psychological horror genre has impressed critics and won the Cheval Noir Award for Best Feature at the 2023 Fantasia Film Festival. Red Rooms delves deep into our...

Japan | 1993 | Shinji Sômai

Grappling with her parents’ divorce, Renko, an energetic 6th grader, negotiates the realities of growing up in this tender coming-of-age tale. Somai’s patient and perceptive vision captures the world seen through the eyes of a rebellious young girl who is thrown into an odyssey of self-discovery despite her desire for everything to stay the same. Tomoko Tabata’s lead performance centers this emotional family drama. "After seeing it, I had confirmation that Shinji Somai was the...

Argentina, Spain | 2023 | Víctor Erice

The masterful Victor Erice’s (Spirit of the Beehive) long-awaited (for more than three decades) new feature film deals with an aging director called upon to recount his memories of working on his final and still unfinished film, where during its production, the lead actor and the filmmaker’s close friend mysteriously disappeared. Erice’s ode to cinema rejects teary-eyed recollections and instead pushes us to consider the bridge that film is between the past and the present...