(Romania/2023—directed by Radu Jude) 

Radu Jude is among the most radical filmmakers working today and one of the few unafraid to diagnose the absurd evils that make contemporary living what it is. In his latest and most darkly comic film, Jude explodes conventional boundaries of narrative, charting a course through one day in the life of a severely overworked film production assistant, Angela, who drives around Bucharest filming accident victims auditioning to be in a safety video for a multinational corporation.

At the same time, the sleep-deprived Angela upkeeps her own side project—a trash-talking alter ego with more than 20,000 online viewers that serves as the film’s perverse Greek chorus. Through ingenious intercutting, Jude initiates a conversation with his country’s past and present about the ability of the captured image to exploit, and to contort the truth. In Romanian with English subtitles. (163 min.) 

(USA/1924-28—directed by Solomon Sir Jones)  

The Reverend Solomon Sir Jones was a successful Baptist minister and early documentary filmmaker in Oklahoma during the 1920s. He was a defender of the movement for all-Black Oklahoma towns that would be built and governed by Black inhabitants. Starting in 1924, Jones recorded life in the towns of Taft, Clearview, Melvin, and Boley with the then-new 16 mm film equipment.

The surviving footage preserves images of daily life — worship, sporting events, schools, parades, Masonic meetings, picnics, funerals, and Juneteenth celebrations. Jones’ 29 reels of silent black-and-white celluloid are now considered the definitive film record of the Great Migration of the 1920s. (60 min.)  

This program is a compilation of unedited footage from the films of Solomon Sir Jones, presented with a musical score by Alvin Waddles (piano), Marion Hayden (upright bass), and Leslie Deshazor (viola). 

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.  

(USA/1933—directed by Dudley Murphy)  

The Emperor Jones is an early sound film based on Eugene O’Neill’s groundbreaking 1920 theater work. The story follows a Black Pullman porter accused of murder, who evades prison by escaping to a remote Caribbean island where he sets himself up as the titular emperor.

The play toured New York and London in 1925 with a young Paul Robeson in the lead, delivering searing performances that made him an international star. The film adaptation — Robeson’s most important screen role — was made outside the prevailing restrictions of the Hollywood studio system by avant-garde director Dudley Murphy (Ballet Mécanique).

Had it come out a year later, O’Neill’s transgressive themes on race and critiques of colonialism would have been censored by the puritanical Motion Picture Production Code. (72 min.) 

Made prior to the implementation of the Motion Picture Code, The Emperor Jones remains a potent parable about power, exploitation, and race. This original, uncensored version of the film includes language, racial epithets and cultural characterizations that may be offensive and disturbing to viewers today, as they were in 1933.

This screening will be introduced by Sam White, founding Artistic Director of Shakespeare in Detroit, who will discuss the legacy of Paul Robeson’s performance and the connection to Eugene O’Neill’s original stage production of The Emperor Jones.

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.   

(USA/1981—directed by Francis Ford Coppola)  

After finally—and successfully—completing his famously troubled production of Apocalypse Now in the Philippines, Coppola turned to the controlled interiors of Hollywood studios for this stylized musical romance, with cinematography by the great Vittorio Storaro (Last Tango in Paris) and an innovative score by Tom Waits.

Teri Garr and Frederic Forest are a couple who break up during their fifth anniversary celebration in Las Vegas, encountering surprises and complications in the persons of Raul Julia, Nastassja Kinski, and Harry Dean Stanton.

Critics and exhibitors dismissed the film after seeing an unfinished preview and it was rarely screened, but the movie’s delicacy and conceptual daring more than justifies this newly minted restoration from a true cinematic pioneer. (107 min.)  

“Dazzling. Coppola’s film is sensuous, gaudy, dreamlike, baroque... a hymn to Hollywood tinsel.” –David Ansen, Newsweek 

When Ryuichi Sakamoto died last March at 71, the world lost one of its great musicians: a classical composer, a techno-pop artist, and a piano soloist who elevated every genre he worked in and inspired music lovers across the globe. As a final gift, filmmaker Neo Sora (Sakamoto’s son) constructed this stunning elegy starring Sakamoto himself in one of his final performances, in Tokyo in 2022.

This intimate and beautiful one-man show features just Sakamoto and a Yamaha grand, as the composer glides through his most haunting, delicate melodies. This unique work was described by the 2023 New York Film Festival as “bringing us so close to a living, breathing artist that it feels like pure grace.” In Japanese with English subtitles. (102 min.)

(USA/1941—directed by Spencer Williams)  

Actor and film director Spencer Williams (1893-1969) began his career in New York theater circles, where he worked as a stagehand for Oscar Hammerstein I and was mentored by the great Black vaudevillian Bert Williams in the art of comedy. After serving in the Army in France during WWI, he went to Hollywood, landing stereotyped roles in silent film comedies such as Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928).

Williams’ first feature, The Blood of Jesus, is a singular work that draws from two very different traditions: Southern Baptist spirituality, and the surreal imagery of silent Expressionist films. Cathryn Caviness plays a young woman who suffers a personal tragedy and dreams she is suspended between life and death, at the crossroads of heaven and hell. (57 min.)  

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.   

(Turkey/2023—directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan)  

In a village in the East Anatolia region of Turkey, the weary Samet (Deniz Celiloglu) is struggling through his last year as an elementary school art teacher. He's further disillusioned when a girl in his class appears to accuse him of inappropriate behavior.

The only light in Samet's life is his growing friendship with—and clear attraction to—Nuray, a teacher from a nearby school. Politically engaged and confident, she's not afraid to put the self-absorbed Samet in his place; one of their conversations ranks among Ceylan’s greatest sequences.

Best Actress Prize, 2023 Cannes Film Festival. In Turkish with English subtitles. (197 min.)
 

(Denmark/Germany/2023—directed by Nikolaj Arcel)  

In 1755, the impoverished Captain Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen) sets out to conquer an uninhabitable land with an impossible goal; to cultivate crops and build a colony for the King in exchange for a desperately desired royal name for himself. But the sole ruler of the area, the merciless Frederik De Schinkel, determinedly believes this territory belongs to him.

When De Schinkel learns that a recently escaped couple in his employ has taken refuge with Kahlen, the ruler swears to do everything in his power to drive the captain away. Mikkelsen’s delicate, commanding performance is the epicenter of this satisfying and visually rich adventure.

Denmark’s submission to the 2024 Academy Awards®. In Danish with English subtitles. (127 min.)  

The DFT is honored to present a complete program with all of this year's Oscar-nominated short documentaries. While not as high profile as their feature-length counterparts, short documentaries are often every bit as and have a growing base of enthusiasts for their expansive, enlightening exploration of the world.

Advance ticket purchase is recommended, and remaining seats will be available at the door prior to each performance. The documentary program runs a bit over three hours, including one 25-minute intermission. 
 

The DFT’s most popular annual program combines all the nominees in both the short animation and short live action categories into one spectacularly entertaining presentation. The surprises and visual inventiveness of the Oscar® Shorts on the big screen provide jolts of pleasure and fresh wonder at the ways cinema can explore the world through new eyes and unbridled imaginations.

Make your personal picks for the best before the winners are awarded Sunday, March 10. Advance ticket purchase recommended, though some seats may be available at the door prior to each performance. Running time is approximately three hours, plus a 25-minute intermission.