France/1991—directed by Maurice Pialat | In French with English subtitles. (159 minutes)

In rising to the risky challenge of dramatizing the last 67 days of the life of Vincent Van Gogh, French auteur Maurice Pialat fashioned this intimate depiction of a fascinating, troubled, yet frequently charming genius.

This is due to the generous and deeply human performance of singer and composer Jacques Dutronc, whose acting career followed his musical success and lead to his receiving the 1992 César Award - France’s version of the Oscar® - for his performance as Van Gogh in the film that director Jean-Luc Godard called “astonishing.”

(USA/1956—directed by Vincente Minnelli)

Vincente Minnelli’s lavishly colorful, widescreen biography of Vincent Van Gogh is powered by Kirk Douglas’s Oscar® nominated performance as the brilliant, tormented artist.

Though it shaped Van Gogh’s story to fit within the framework of a big-studio Hollywood blockbuster, the enduring popularity of Lust For Life – if not its absolute accuracy – is considered by many to be one of the principal factors that propelled Van Gogh’s art into America’s popular consciousness in the fifties.

Co-starring Anthony Quinn as Paul Gaugin, and James Donald as Vincent’s brother Theo. (122 minutes)
 

In the aftermath of World War II, Ypsilanti-based designer Preston Tucker (Jeff Bridges) was quick to realize that over the four years during which Detroit’s Big Three had forsaken individual automobile production to focus on the war effort, Americans had developed a voracious appetite for new cars. Tucker’s answer was to independently create an innovative “car of the future,” featuring pioneering safety features and modern streamlined styling, including a center-mounted “cyclops” headlight that turned with the vehicle.

It’s easy to see why the Detroit-born Francis Ford Coppola was drawn to this story of one man’s vision and unwavering determination; many of Coppola’s own independent productions —not to mention his brilliant Godfather saga—can be seen as parallel portraits of American dreamers. (110 minutes) 

“Francis Coppola's heartfelt tribute to Preston Tucker turns out to be one of his most personal and successful movies.”  –Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader 

“An elegiac corollary to the fiery documentaries that captured Hong Kong's recent protest movement, Chan Tze Woon's Blue Island looks at the state of the region in the wake of the 2020 national security law, an era where many pro-democracy protesters have either fled into exile or are sitting in custody. Explicitly hybrid in its approach, the film not only blurs narrative and documentary, but also the years of 2019 to 2021 with a longer history of Hong Kong as a site of refuge. 

The film incorporates staged sequences in which the young protest leaders of today―many of whom are awaiting sentencing for speaking out―are daringly cast in the roles of student leaders from 1989 and earlier. Timely and resonant, Blue Island grapples honestly with the fact that Hong Kong as we once knew it is no more.” –Jesse Cumming, HotDocs Festival, Toronto.

In Yue Chinese (Cantonese), English and Mandarin with English subtitles. (97 minutes)

“Political bravery and aesthetic daring... Urgent, remarkable, genre-defying.” –Museum of Modern Art

(Denmark, Norway, Sweden/2021 —directed by Linda Hambäck) 

Though Jonna’s home is filled with wonderful kids and a caring guardian, she can’t help but pin her hopes on one day being adopted. When that long-awaited day finally arrives, she learns that love comes in all shapes, sizes, and, er, creatures… like the enormous ape with the equally enormous heart who wants to take Jonna home. Using her own experience as an adoptee, director Linda Hambäck shares this hilarious and moving story through a powerful, nuanced lens.

A warm tale of love over greed, the joy in the things that make us different, and the life-changing magic of sometimes letting things get a little messy, The Ape Star is sure to win hearts. Recommended for families with children 6 and over. (73 minutes)  

Divorced photographer Mahmut finds his life of solitary routine is interrupted when Yusuf, a distant cousin from his remote village, shows up without warning to stay in Mahmut’s tiny Istanbul apartment until he can find work. The job doesn’t materialize, but instead of leveling with his host, Yusuf invents a series of scenarios in hopes of prolonging his stay; the result is a subtly comic psychological dance that can’t help but suggest an austere yet witty Turkish tribute to Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple.

Released 20 years ago but unavailable for theatrical exhibition for years, Distant—written, directed, photographed, produced and co-edited by Nuri Bilge Ceylan—was awarded the coveted Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. In Turkish with English subtitles. (110 minutes)

“Remarkable! A Chekhovian tale of major artistic power… Genuinely beautiful and haunting.” –Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune 

Narcissus blossoms, tasty dim sum dishes, bowing to elders and lucky red envelopes filled with money encompass puppeteer Tom Lee’s memories of celebrating Lunar New Year when he was growing up. Born in Seoul, Korea and raised in Mililani, Hawai’i, Tom Lee is a director, designer and puppet artist based in New York & Chicago. His original works include Shank’s Mare (performed in the DFT in 2017).

He has collaborated extensively with other puppetry companies, including War Horse by the Handspring Puppet Company and Dan Hurlin’s Obie-award-winning Hiroshima Maiden and Disfarmer. In The Great Zodiac Animal Race—a live-streaming puppet show that will be projected on the DFT's giant screen—Lee retells the classic tale with shadow puppet animals inspired by Asian languages and pictograms in a film suitable for all ages. (50 minutes)

The Adventures of Prince Achmed and Tom Lee's Great Zodiac Animal Race are presented in partnership with Cinema Lamont and Detroit Puppet Company as part of their 2022 Puppet Film Series. Screenings are scheduled every weekend in August at participating Detroit venues and will focus on historic and contemporary perspectives on the art of puppetry on film. For full series schedule and film details visit the Detroit Puppet Company website >

In the shadow of the pandemic, a small town rallies to protect a beloved local bookstore in its hour of need. A landmark in Lenox, Massachusetts since 1976, The Bookstore is a magical, beatnik gem thanks to its owner, Matt Tannenbaum, whose passion for stories runs deep. Charming and eccentric, Matt is surrounded by great literature, friendly neighbors and tree-lined streets, in a town where time stood still.

Presiding at The Bookstore for over forty years, Matt is a true bard of the Berkshires and his shop is the kind of place to get lost in—a tiny sliver of paradise, a Brigadoon where one discovers great words and ideas merely by browsing. This intimate portrait of one example of a tragically endangered species—the independent book shop and the family at its heart— provides a journey through good times, challenges, problem-solving and, best of all, the indispensable stories on the shelves. Hello, Bookstore is a valentine to human creativity, of both the literary and entrepreneurial kind. (86 minutes)

“Compelling and heartwarming. A drama worthy of Hollywood magic.” –Thomas Farragher, The Boston Globe

A searing, indelible, now-classic portrait of anti-colonial struggle in 1970s Africa, Sarah Maldoror’s adaptation of a novella by the Angolan writer José Luandino Vieira was banned by the Angolan government until the country obtained its independence from Portugal in 1975. Sambizanga follows Maria (unforgettably portrayed by Cape Verdean economist Elisa Andrade) as she tries to pick up the pieces after her husband, a secret anti-colonial activist, becomes a political prisoner.

Co-written by Maldoror’s husband Mário Pinto de Andrade (himself a leading figure in the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola), Sambizanga—shown during the DFT’s first season in 1974—is a forceful, stirring evocation of the Angolan population’s plight before the revolution and their intensifying political consciousness during it. Restoration funding is provided by Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

This restoration is part of the African Film Heritage Project, an initiative created by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project (founded by Martin Scorsese), the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers and UNESCO—in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna—to help locate, restore, and disseminate African cinema. In Portuguese with English subtitles. (102 minutes) 

“An essential landmark. Once seen, never forgotten: as cinema and politics, Sambizanga is unimpeachable. Don’t miss it.” –Jon Dieringer, Screen Slate 

Just 23 years old when she created it, Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed premiered in Germany in 1926, whereupon it was immediately hailed as the world’s first feature-length animated film. Today, this enchanting Arabian Nights tale remains one of the great classics of animation—beautiful, mesmerizing, and packed with imaginative and wondrous adventures, including a magical flying horse, a sorcerer’s army of monsters, and, of course, a beautiful princess.

This cinematic treasure for all ages has been restored to reproduce its delicate images and spectacular color tinting and will be presented with live musical accompaniment by pianist David Drazin. (65 minutes) 

“There’s never been anything like it. Dazzling and utterly sophisticated.” -Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle