(USA/1926—directed by Richard E. Norman) 

In The Flying Ace, the charismatic Laurence Criner stars as Captain Billy Stokes, a World War I pilot who returns home to find both romance and a plot involving a gang of payroll thieves. The fact that Black Americans were not permitted to serve as pilots in the US Armed Forces in 1926 did not stop writer-director Richard Norman from putting a valiant Black aviator at the center of his film.

His Florida-based Norman Pictures was one of the leading producers of race films alongside the Lincoln Motion Picture Company and the Micheaux Film Corporation. This remarkable film was preserved by the Library of Congress, and will be presented with a live score composed and performed by Alvin Waddles (piano), Marion Hayden (bass) and Vincent Chandler (trombone). Free with museum admission. (65 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.   
 

(USA/1928—directed by Richard D. Maurice)  

Silent film director and railway labor organizer Richard D. Maurice was born in Cuba in 1893, migrated to the US in 1903, and settled in Detroit where he worked as a tailor. In July 1920 he founded the Maurice Film Company at 184 High Street, and produced two feature films released a decade apart. Eleven P.M., his surviving feature, is a surreal melodrama in which a poor violinist named Sundaisy (Maurice) tries to protect an orphan girl (Wanda Maurice) who is victimized by petty criminals.

Many Black filmmakers during the silent era adopted stylistic conventions of Victorian theater, but Maurice's innovative use of location filming, extreme camera angles, fantasy imagery, and kaleidoscopic special effects closely resemble avant-garde European films of the 1920s. Eleven P.M. will be presented with a live musical score, composed and performed by pianist Alvin Waddles. (58 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.

(France/1932—directed by Edmond T. Gréville) 

Known as the "Black Venus" during the zenith of her popularity in the 1920s and 30s, singer, dancer, and actor Josephine Baker was the first Black woman to become an international film star, and a legendary icon of beauty and rare courage. Baker achieved her success far from Hollywood; she moved to Paris and appeared in silent films there. After the introduction of sound, she starred in singing roles for French musicals including Zou-Zou (1934) and Princess Tam Tam.

In this film, Max (Albert Préjean) is a novelist who escapes his social-butterfly wife in Paris to vacation in Tunisia, where he becomes infatuated with a young shepherdess named Alwina (Baker). He decides to present her to French society as a Bedouin princess to elicit his wife’s jealousy. Princess Tam Tam was wildly popular throughout Europe but never granted an exhibition visa and went unseen by American audiences until it was rediscovered in 1989. (77 min.) Free with museum admission. 

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/1939—directed by Richard Kahn) 

Herb Jeffries (1913-2014) was a mixed-race American actor from Detroit who became popular appearing in all-Black musical westerns in the late 1930s. With his matinee-idol good looks and velvety baritone voice, he enjoyed a long career as a jazz recording artist and toured with the likes of Earl Hines and Duke Ellington.

The Bronze Buckaroo finds frontiersman Bob Blake (Jeffries) pitted against the usual Western stock characters —horse rustlers, claim jumpers, and other cowboys not treating his gal with enough respect — but what makes the film an unexpected joy is the pure grace and gentle humor Jeffries brings to his singing role. (58 min.) Free with museum admission. 

Come early at 7 p.m. and hear singer and multi-instrumentalist Dr. Dom Flemons perform a tribute to Jeffries as part of his appearance at Friday Night Live! 

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/1920—directed by Oscar Micheaux)  

Oscar Micheaux (1884 –1951) was an American author, film director, and executive of the first American movie company owned by Black filmmakers. Micheaux began his career during the early silent era, working in studios built on the East coast before the rise of Hollywood.

Within Our Gates (1920) is his earliest surviving film, a dense melodrama exploring the experience of multiple Black class divides in the years after WWI. Micheaux’s film follows Sylvia Landry (Evelyn Preer), a young bi-racial woman named whose family history was blighted by racial violence. Within Our Gates will be presented with a live musical score, composed and performed by pianist Mike Jellick. (79 min.)

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of the exhibition Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971 from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts galleries from February 4th through June 23rd, 2024. 
 

Take in the audience favorite and award-winning films from the 2023 New York International Children’s Film Festival! These amazing short films inspire curiosity and conversation for viewers big and small. With animation, live action, and documentary shorts, Kid Flicks programs offer a chance to explore new frontiers from around the world, across the street, and the ever-expanding boundaries of our own perspectives.  

Whether dreaming up the fantastical, like a spider’s goal to capture the moon, or the practical, like a young animator’s future stardom, the shorts in Kid Flicks One are sure to enchant and delight all audiences (but especially our youngest!) 65min.

Designed for ages 5 to 10, but fun for all ages. 

Registration encouraged.

The New York International Children’s Film Festival’s collection of Spanish-language shorts spans genres, styles, and geographic regions to present a rich slice of Hispanic and Latinx storytelling that is perfect for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.  

These amazing short films were audience favorites and award winners at the 2022 New York International Children’s Film Festival, and are sure to inspire curiosity and conversation for viewers big and small. 

For ages 9 and up. In Spanish, Portuguese, and O'odham with English subtitles. (66min.) 

Advanced registration is encouraged.
 

France / 2023|Dir. Frederick Wiseman

Legendary film documentary maker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside the equally legendary La Maison Troisgros, the family-owned Paris restaurant that has held 3 Michelin stars for an unheard-of 55 years.

In his uniquely quiet, observational way, Wiseman goes inside the establishment, getting to know Troisgros family, and the chefs, food suppliers, vineyards, and servers that have built a world where a magical dining experience happens nightly—this time, before our eyes.

In French with English subtitles. (240 min.)
 

The trans writer and activist Paul B. Preciado used Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel Orlando, in which the title character starts life as a woman and then becomes a man, as a starting point in his documentary to look at the lives of trans people, past and present.

He cast 26 trans and non-binary people as different versions of Woolf’s famous gender nonconformist, using the book’s themes to talk about gender, social norms, and what it means to be trans.

In French with English subtitles. (98 min.) 

“A bracingly intelligent, delicate and detailed work.” –Screen International
 

India/2022 | Dir. S.S. Rajamouli

This exhilarating, action-packed spectacular was always conceived as a big-screen theatrical experience, and the DFT is proud to present it as it was intended to be seen!

Set in the 1920s before the fight for independence began, RRR (Rise Roar Revolt) imagines a fictional meeting between two real-life freedom fighters, set into motion when a young girl is stolen from her village by British soldiers.

With a powerful message, mind-boggling choreographed action sequences, and amazing musical numbers (including Naatu Naatu, winner of the 2023 Oscar® for Best Song), RRR is sheer big-screen joy from start to finish. To end the year properly, DFT audiences will have one more chance to see it as big and as loud as its creators intended. 

In Telugu and English with English subtitles (187 min.) 

“Such an irresistible and intoxicating celebration of cinematic excess that even after 187 minutes (including intermission or, as the title card announces, “InteRRRval”), you are left exhilarated, not exhausted.” —Joe Leydon, Variety