South Korea/2024—directed by Hong Sangsoo | 90 min.

A Traveler’s Needs is a delightful comedy of improbable encounters and unexpected lessons. Iris (Isabelle Huppert), a charming yet enigmatic woman, navigates life in modern Seoul by offering French lessons through an unconventional method. Initially absurd and amusing, her teaching reveals deeper insights into her past and circumstances, drawing viewers into her mysterious and captivating world.

This sweet and thoughtful film explores connection, meaning, and a surprising central beverage, while showcasing the incredible range of Isabelle Huppert. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival, A Traveler’s Needs is presented in English, French, and Korean with English subtitles. 

"Isabelle Huppert is sensational here, blending a deft sense of innocence with a hint of mischievousness." –Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

USA/1920—directed by Oscar Micheaux | 60 minutes

One of the most significant early works by independent African American film pioneer Oscar Micheaux, The Symbol of the Unconquered was created as a bold response to the racist themes central to D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film The Birth of a Nation. 

In Micheaux’s powerful narrative, the Ku Klux Klan is depicted as a violent gang of hooded thieves attempting to seize the property of a determined young Black homesteader. The film also explores complex issues of racial identity and the miscegenation laws of the era, adding depth to the characters’ struggles.

Recently restored by the Royal Cinémathèque of Belgium, this thematically rich work will be presented with a new live musical score, composed and performed by Marion Hayden.

“Stunning. Perhaps no other film in history has encapsulated so well the nightmarish, threatening madness of the Klan.” -Donald Bogle

The DFT’s popular annual program showcases this year’s nominees in both the short animation and short live-action categories in a single, spectacular ten-film presentation, with an intermission separating the two categories. Watching the Oscar® Shorts on the big screen offers a uniquely entertaining experience, highlighting the boundless creativity of emerging filmmakers as they bring new worlds to life through their imaginative storytelling.

Make your personal picks for the best and see the winners announced when the Oscars® are awarded on Sunday, March 2nd! Advance ticket purchase is recommended. The Oscar® Shorts program has an average running time of just over three hours, including one intermission.

The Academy Award Nominated Short Films - Animation and Live Action screenings on February 7, 8 and 9 have been cancelled due to Academy voting delays caused by the devastating fires in Los Angeles.

Those holding tickets for those dates may exchange them for tickets to any other performance of the Shorts scheduled between February 14th and March 2nd. To exchange tickets, call the DIA Call Center at 313-833-4005 during normal business hours.

The DIA is honored to present all five of this year’s Academy Award®-nominated short documentary films in a single program. While feature-length documentaries enjoy unprecedented popularity among moviegoers, short documentaries—much like their counterparts in the live action and animated short film categories (presented in a separate program)—are often equally, if not more, powerful, moving, and memorable than their longer counterparts. These films continue to attract a growing base of enthusiasts, thanks to their entertaining and enlightening exploration of the real world on the big screen.

Advance ticket purchase is recommended. The documentary program typically runs for about three hours, including a 25-minute intermission. For more details and updates, please check the DIA website at dia.org.

The Academy Award Nominated Short Films - Documentary screening on February 9 has been cancelled due to Academy voting delays caused by the devastating fires in Los Angeles.

Those holding tickets for that date may exchange them for tickets to any other performance of the Shorts scheduled between February 14th and March 2nd. To exchange tickets, call the DIA Call Center at 313-833-4005 during normal business hours.

USSR/1964—directed by Sergei Parajanov | 97 min.

One of the most beloved films of the Soviet era, Sergei Parajanov’s mind-blowing Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a visionary masterpiece that combines psychedelic folklore and ritual with staggering visual and narrative originality. 

Set in the Carpathian Mountains, it tells the story of Ivan and Marichka, star-crossed lovers whose families are embroiled in a feud. When Ivan marries another woman but continues to pine for Marichka, his wife recruits a sorcerer to win him back, setting off a frenzy of supernatural forces. Parajanov and his cinematographers conjure a magically charged atmosphere, bringing a folk legend to life in vivid colors. The result is a sensuous tour de force. 

This new 4K restoration was created by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna, with funding from the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. In Ukrainian with English subtitles.

“Extraordinary, intoxicating and exhilarating! One of the supreme works of Soviet cinema.” –Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Belgium/France/Netherlands/2024—directed by Johan Grimonprez | 150 min.

From Congo to Harlem and back again, Johan Grimonprez’s kinetic documentary delivers the politics of decolonization in jazz form, replete with virtuosic archival riffs, historical text styled as Blue Note album covers, and musical performances by jazz legends Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Nina Simone, who in the 1960s doubled as cultural ambassadors to Africa. 

Their roles as unknowing decoys in the CIA’s efforts to “remove” Congo’s prime minister Patrice Lumumba thread through this deeply researched, utterly fascinating, and densely textured tapestry, which scrambles the simplistic good guys/bad guys narrative. 

Richly illustrated by eyewitness accounts, memos, testimonies from mercenaries, speeches from Lumumba himself, and a canon of jazz icons in rare footage, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat interrogates colonial history to tell an urgent and timely story that resonates profoundly in today’s political climate. Winner of the Special Prize for Innovation, Sundance Film Festival. In English, French, Dutch, and Russian with English subtitles. 

"Critic’s Pick! A great documentary that uses every instrument cinema affords. The result, in a word, is marvelous." –Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times

This collection of short films from the 2024 New York International Children's Film Festival highlights Black narratives that transcend national boundaries, culture, and language, with films in English, French, Zulu, and even ASL. These films celebrate the joy, determination, resilience, and complexity of being young and Black, while underscoring the vibrancy of Black storytelling.

Canada/2024—directed by Paul Schrader | 91 min.

In a raw, surprising, and mesmerizing performance, Richard Gere stars as Leonard Fife, a world-famous documentary filmmaker whose cancer leaves him with only a short time to live. 

In an unexpected turn, Fife agrees to turn the lens on himself to clarify hidden aspects of his life, placing the task of filming in the hands of his former protégé (Michael Imperioli) while insisting that his wife and former student, Emma (Uma Thurman), be on set to hear every confession as he reveals them. 

Based on a book by Russell Banks, this searing, deeply personal work from Paul Schrader—the Grand Rapids native who scripted Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and directed Blue Collar and First Reformed—is a mature and demanding achievement by a master of his art, a film that reverberates in the mind and conscience long after viewing. Featured at the Cannes, New York, and Toronto Film Festivals. 

"Paul Schrader and Richard Gere, reunited for the first time since the 1980 American Gigolo, are at the peak of their powers." –Chuck Bowen, Slant

Iran/France/Germany/2024—directed by Mohammad Rasoulof | 147 min.

Shot entirely in secret, Mohammad Rasoulof’s astonishing, award-winning thriller centers on a family thrust into the public eye when Iman (Misagh Zare) is appointed as an investigating judge in Tehran. As political unrest erupts in the streets, Iman realizes that his job is even more dangerous than expected, making him increasingly paranoid and distrustful, even of his own wife, Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), and their daughters. 

In April 2024, despite his film being invited to compete in the Cannes Film Festival (where it won the Special Jury Prize), the director was sentenced by Iranian authorities to eight years in prison, as well as flogging and confiscation of his property; he has chosen instead to live in exile abroad. 

An official selection of the Toronto, Telluride, and New York Film Festivals, The Seed of the Sacred Fig is also a submission for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards®. In Farsi with English subtitles.

“A blistering, propulsive thriller.” –Justin Chang, The New Yorker

USA/2011–directed by Martin Scorsese | 147 min.

Orphaned and alone except for an uncle, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) lives within the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. Hugo's job is to oil and maintain the station's clocks, but to him, his more important task is protecting a broken automaton and a notebook left to him by his late father (Jude Law). Accompanied by the goddaughter (Chloë Grace Moretz) of an embittered toy merchant (Ben Kingsley), Hugo embarks on a quest to solve the mystery of the automaton and find a place he can call home.

Earning 11 Academy Award nominations, Hugo is a beautiful homage to early silent film and clockwork automatons.

Chassica Kirchhoff, DIA Assistant Curator of European Sculpture & Decorative Arts, will introduce this special screening with a brief presentation about The Rooster’s Crow Automaton Clock, a mechanical marvel in the DIA’s collection reminiscent of the wondrous clock in Hugo. Recommended for families with children ages 8 and up. 

“A dazzling and rapturous tribute to the magic of movies.” –Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Weekend Family Programs at the DIA are generously presented by the MSUFCU Desk Drawer Foundation.