Italy/2024—directed by Maura Delpero | 119 min.

Experience the breathtaking Alps in Vermiglio, Maura Delpero’s stunning new drama and Italy’s official submission to the 2025 Academy Awards® for Best International Feature.

Set in a remote village during the final days of WWII, the film tells the deeply personal story of a Sicilian soldier (Giuseppe De Domenico) who deserts the army and forms a life-changing bond with Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), the eldest daughter of a provincial family. Drawing from her own family history, Delpero crafts a poignant, contemporary tale inspired by Italian neorealist classics.

In Italian with English subtitles. Don’t miss this award-winning masterpiece!

“Breathtaking. The year’s most beautiful film.” –Nick Schager, Daily Beast

The Girl From Chicago (1932) is an early sound film by the legendary African American writer, director, and producer Oscar Micheaux. The film explores Micheaux’s career-long interest in the cultural divide between urban and rural life, contrasting criminal activity in Harlem, New York, and Batesburg, Mississippi. It also features Micheaux’s lively, trademark musical numbers, including a memorable scene set in a nightclub called the Radium Club.

Micheaux’s 1937 crime drama, Underworld, delves into similar themes. It tells the story of Sol Johnson, a young college graduate who moves from the South to Chicago, where he becomes emotionally entangled with a married singer (Bee Freeman) and a cunning gangster (Alfred "Slick" Chester).Total running time: 145 minutes.

France/2024—directed by Raoul Peck | 105 min.

Ernest Cole, one of South Africa's first Black freelance photographers, captured images that shocked the world by exposing the brutal realities of apartheid. Forced into exile in 1966, Cole continued his work in the U.S., documenting life in New York City and the American South—two places that alternated between stark contrasts and unsettling parallels to the segregation of his homeland. 

At just 27, Cole cemented his legacy with the groundbreaking photobook House of Bondage, showcasing his extraordinary talent and courage. In Raoul Peck's compelling documentary, Cole’s story is brought to life through his writings and photographs, including 60,000 long-lost negatives discovered in a Swedish bank vault in 2017.

“More than a great photographer, Ernest Cole captured something essential.” –Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Right in the Eye invites audiences of all ages on an extraordinary multimedia journey through the imaginative world of Georges Méliès, the legendary filmmaker and cinematographer. Created by Jean François Alcoléa, this live production showcases twelve of Méliès’ silent films, accompanied by a spellbinding live score performed by three virtuoso musicians. 

Using an eclectic array of instruments—ranging from piano, guitar, and percussion to the theremin, aquaphone, and even plastic take-out lids—the music captures the technical brilliance and whimsical creativity that define Méliès’ cinematic legacy.

Performances:

• Friday (75 min.)
• Saturday (55 min.)

Free with museum admission.

“It is at once inventive, elegant, and moving … right to the core!” –Chronique Festival Avignon

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

Senegal/1977—Directed by Ousmane Sembène | 117 min.

Ceddo (loosely translated as “the feudal class” or “outsiders”) remains one of the most important films in the brilliant career of writer and director Ousmane Sembène (1923–2007), often referred to as the father of African cinema. This 1977 epic, set during a period of religious expansion in precolonial Senegal, is now available in a new 4K restoration created in honor of Sembène’s centennial year.

On the surface, Ceddo is a riveting political thriller about the kidnapping of a powerful princess. However, the deeper themes of Sembène’s masterpiece include philosophy, political opportunism, feminism, and two electrifying leaps across the centuries. In this, his most ambitious film, Sembène succeeds in evoking the full breadth of the African experience. In Wolof with English subtitles.

“One of Sembène’s supreme masterworks. A mighty cinematic achievement.” –Richard Brody, The New Yorker

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

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

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