USA/1936 | Dir. Charles Chaplin

Modern Times, Chaplin’s last outing as the “Little Tramp,” puts the iconic character to work as a giddily inept factory employee who becomes smitten with a gorgeous gamine (Paulette Goddard).

With its barrage of unforgettable visual gags and sly commentary on class struggle during the Great Depression, Modern Times pushes boundaries in every way.

It’s mostly a silent film, but with a synchronized Chaplin score that includes the melody “Smile”, as well as a startling comic song from Chaplin  near the end, yet it was made and successfully released almost a decade after sound came to the movies. 

Admission is free. (87 min.)

“A masterpiece. The opening sequence is possibly Chaplin’s greatest encounter with the 20th century.”—Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

USA/1931 | Dir. Charles Chaplin

Releasing a silent film years after the introduction of sound was an astonishing risk for Chaplin, yet City Lights is anything but old-fashioned. A poor tramp (Chaplin) encounters a blind flower-seller (Virginia Cherrill) on a busy city street.

She believes he’s wealthy, and rather than disillusion her, he vows to keep his status a secret, and somehow find enough money to pay for the operation that will restore her sight. His comic genius is at its height in legendary sequences, but the final moments are what it’s all about.

Admission is free; our holiday gift to you. (86 min.)

“Magical… comes closest to representing all the different notes of Chaplin’s genius.” —Roger Ebert, The Great Movies
 

France/Italy/1963 | Dir: Jean-Luc Godard

Godard’s foray into lush color and CinemaScope moviemaking stars the great Michel Piccoli as a screenwriter caught in a tangle of deceit and ambition between a difficult, demanding director (Fritz Lang), a crude, snarling American producer (Jack Palance), and his disillusioned wife (Brigitte Bardot), as he attempts to doctor the script for an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey.

A pillar of the French New Wave, Godard’s cinematography with its sun-soaked settings, dazzling seascapes, and complex color scenes, are spectacularly refreshed in a dazzling new restoration. In French, German and Italian with English subtitles. (104 min.) 

“A masterwork…a many-layered odyssey of intelligence and sensuality.” –Phillip Lopate, The New York Times
 

Mexico/1951 |Dir. Emilio Fernández

Rarely screened in the United States, Victims of Sin (Victimas del pecado) displays Fernández’s unique blend of film noir, intense melodrama, and explosive musical numbers. Cuban-born acting-dancing sensation Ninón Sevilla brings mind-blowing energy to the role of Violeta, a cabaret performer who adopts the abandoned child of Rita (Rita Montaner) and Rodolfo (Rodolfo Acosta), her murderous, swaggering pimp.

Motherhood forces Violeta to give up her career, but kindhearted club owner Santiago (Tito Junco) pulls her back from poverty and prostitution—until Rodolfo, freed from prison, swears to reclaim his son.

Fernández charges Victims of Sin with the impassioned power of Sevilla, fusing her energy with the gleaming nighttime images of legendary cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa. In Spanish with English subtitles. (84 min.)

“Brilliant! Ninón Sevilla, whose emotional dial is permanently cranked to 11, blows everyone else off the screen.” —Farran Smith Nehme, The Village Voice
 

Japan/1954 | Dir. Akira Kurosawa

Consistently called one of the best movies ever made, with an influence on movie-making that resonates to the present day. In 16th century Japan, a small village is regularly plundered by bandits until a band of unemployed samurai agree to train the defenseless farmers to fight.

Kurosawa’s masterpiece is one of the most influential battle epics ever filmed, and above all a timeless fable about bravery, friendship, and character. This special screening will be introduced by Linda Hoaglund, translator for the film’s 2006 revised English subtitles. (207 min. with one intermission)

“One of the greatest of all films.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
 

USA/2019 | Dir. Linda Hoaglund

Edo Avant-Garde looks at the pivotal role of Edo-era (1603–1868) Japanese artists, whose aesthetic and artistic exploration were centuries ahead of their time. Their works, often painted on screens or fans, demonstrate techniques and styles that began to appear in Western art with the advent of “modern” art such as abstraction and surrealism.

Stunningly filmed by cinematographer Kasamatsu Norimichi, the film looks at works by artists including Sotatsu, Korin, Okyo, Rosetsu, Shohaku, and the many others who left their work unsigned.

Linda Hoaglund will introduce this screening, and return on Friday evening for Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.  
In English and Japanese with English subtitles. (83 min.)
 

The brand-spanking-new 2023 edition of CatVideoFest is just what the doctor ordered: a hand-selected, carefully curated collection of the most entertaining, inventive and hilarious cat videos of the year.

An underground sensation that has packed theaters for years, CatVideoFest is a joyous communal experience that surprises and charms—a downright celebratory event on the DFT’s big screen.

Tickets go quickly, and advance purchase is recommended, especially on October 29–National Cat Day! In English and Feline. (73 min.) 

“When the history of this era is written, the primacy of a certain type of cat video will be recognized and celebrated ... if you don’t understand the appeal, no explanation will illuminate you.” -Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle film critic

China/2022 | Dir. Li Ruijun

Two middle-aged people—Cao, a timid, frail woman and Ma, an unassuming farmer—are pushed into an arranged marriage in the poor rural province of Gaotai in northern China. Ma has little to offer beyond a small house and some barren land, but he’s a patient, skilled farmer, and over time their garden begins to thrive, as does their relationship, until their peaceful existence is threatened by encroaching urbanization, as the local government begins incentivizing landowners to uproot their lives and to move to the city.

Meticulously shot over a full year, this moving, humanist work establishes director Li Ruijun as one of the most important voices of Chinese cinema. In Mandarin with English subtitles. (134 min.) 

“A moving portrait of China’s disappearing rural way of life, Return to Dust, like much of Li’s work, is a triumph of indie filmmaking.” —David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
 

The marvelously creative “adverts” of British television are recognized each year with the prestigious British Arrows awards, and the winners are assembled into a compilation that has become a favorite in cinemas worldwide, including the DFT.  

The inventiveness, playfulness, and power of these British advertisements, designed to present a product, a service, or a public service message with sincerity and winningly off-center wit, come loaded with a satisfying, distinctly British kick. (approx. 80 min.)
 

USA/1981/2007 | Dir: Jon Else (Total running time 180 min.) 

A timely double-feature of two Jon Else films with the development of the atomic bomb at the center.
Jon Else’s Oscar®-nominated 1981 documentary The Day After Trinity tells the story of the Manhattan Project, and J. Robert Oppenheimer’s race to create the world’s first nuclear weapon, both to end WW2 and beat the Russians to the finish line. 

Through enthralling interviews with Manhattan Project scientists, as well as archival footage depicting Oppenheimer’s rise and fall, you’ll meet the real people being portrayed in this summer’s blockbuster.

Also on this special double-feature: Else’s 2007 Wonders are Many: The Making of Doctor Atomic, a witty and revealing documentary on the creative process behind Doctor Atomic, composer John Adams’ opera about Oppenheimer, directed by Peter Sellars, with a world premiere in 2005 by the San Francisco Opera.

“Wonders are Many is a dazzling case of the right filmmaker attached to the right subject.” —Robert Koehler, Variety