(1939/USA - directed by Victor Fleming and King Vidor)

DIA Member Exclusive! Follow the yellow brick road to an evening of wonder and joy with a delightful Dinner and Movie event to start your Thanksgiving weekend. Indulge in a family dinner that's perfect for sharing and savoring together. After dinner, settle in for a FREE screening of the timeless classic, The Wizard of Oz. Relive the enchanting journey down the yellow brick road with Dorothy, Toto, and all your favorite characters in stunning cinematic glory. Whether it's your first time experiencing this beloved tale or a cherished tradition, it's sure to be a magical evening for all ages. (102min.)

Dinner service begins at 5:45 p.m.

Screening begins at 7 p.m.

Dinner with the movie is SOLD OUT. The movie screening is free and tickets are still available to reserve in advance. No tickets sold at the door. For DIA members only.

Dinner options

Choice of main: Kansas City BBQ Fried Chicken Sliders, BBQ Chicken Pizza, Mac & Cheese
Choice of side: Southwest Corn Salad, Tater Tots, French Fries
Dessert: Cupcakes, Red Apple Lollipops

USA/1922-directed by Alan Dwan

Robin Hood is a silent adventure film produced by and starring Douglas Fairbanks, a swashbuckling adventure based on the tale of the medieval hero Robin Hood, and the first to present elements of the take-from-the-rich and give-to-the-poor legend that became familiar to audiences for decades on. Robin Hood was also the first motion picture to have a Hollywood premiere (at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre) and the most expensive film produced in its day. It remains one of the most exciting and entertaining American films of the silent era and will be even more so when the DFT presents it with a live score composed and played by David Drazin.

For ages 10 and up. (132 min.) Free with museum admission.

“The superlatives that press agents have coined during the past ten years can now be put to profitable use. They can all be wrapped up, in bundles of twelve, and all applied to Douglas Fairbanks’ Robin Hood.” -Robert Sherwood, The New York Herald, 1922

The Detroit Film Theatre will end its 50th Anniversay Season with a holiday gift for DIA visitors; a special matinee screening of Charlie Chaplin’s classic silent film The Circus, presented with a live score composed and performed by virtuoso silent film pianist David Drazin. 

Chaplin’s extraordinary blend of comedy and heart shines as his iconic Tramp stumbles into the ring of a traveling circus and soon becomes the star of the show and falling for a charming equestrian artist along the way. This perfect comedy ranks among Chaplin’s most iconic, with audacious set pieces, close brushes with a lion and a climactic tightrope walk with a company of monkeys. For all ages.

“There's an edge to The Circus that suggests a man gazing deep into the void, laughing at the darkness and urging us to do the same.” -Keith Uhlich, Time Out

Featuring Vijay Iyer, piano
Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings

Holi is known around the world as a joyful, chaotic, and colorful Indian celebration of springtime. In response to Stravinsky’s own famously chaotic Le Sacré du Printemps. pianist and composer Vijay Iyer, and filmmaker Prashant Bhargava were intrigued by the possible connection with Holi. Radhe, Radhe: Rites of Holi is a journey of devotion for the goddess Radha, where Iyer and Bhargava answer back to the Sacré score and with a new work for chamber ensemble and film. This performance will be an encounter between live music and film, lived experience and myth. 

USA/2023–directed by Jeff Zimbalist | 102 min.

The first film project with full access to Mailer’s family and archive of never-before-seen footage, outtakes, audio recordings, and interviews. How to Come Alive explores the rollercoaster life of the writer, literary outlaw, and unrepentant social provocateur Norman Mailer, whose very public life included six marriages, nine children, 11 bestsellers, four feature films, three arrests, one mayoral candidacy, and two Pulitzer Prizes.

Mailer’s ideas and writings about love, anger, politics, fear, and courage cut to the core of human nature while grasping the joys and challenges of American life. Laying himself bare on film with legendary bluster, humor and occasional self-effacement, Mailer encourages us to think adventurously and speak fearlessly.

South Korea/2023—directed by Hong Sang-soo | 83 min.

In Our Day alternates two seemingly unrelated stories: in the first, a disillusioned former actress hopes to recharge herself at the apartment of her longtime friend. In the second, a poet, being visited by a student making a documentary about him, is also host to an annoyingly naïve young man who drills him with questions about the meaning of it all—which tempts the writer to reach for a daytime cocktail, even though his doctors have warned him to give up booze.

From these two sets of encounters, Hong Sang-soo charmingly evokes a world filled with possibility, in which a minute detail can have unexpected repercussions. Hong’s 30th feature film is a sly and humane inquiry into the search for meaning and artistic satisfaction in an uncertain world. Official selection, Cannes and New York Film Festivals. In Korean with English subtitles.

“Exultant and revelatory.” —Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Italy/1946–directed by Vittorio De Sica | 93 min.

Prior to filming their Oscar®-winning 1948 classic Bicycle Thieves, the writing and directing team of Cesare Zavattini and Vittorio De Sica created the brilliant, groundbreaking Italian neo-realist masterwork Shoeshine (Sciuscia). A drama of two young street kids who become involved in Rome’s black market while scraping together a meager living polishing shoes in the chaotic aftermath of World War II.

Shoeshine has long had distribution problems in the US, but this stunning restoration—made possible by the Film Foundation, the George Lucas Family Foundation, and Cineteca di Bologna—marks a new era. Winner, Honorary Academy Award® for Quality of Production. In Italian with English subtitles.

“Radiant, compassionate, and above all, humane. If people cannot feel Shoeshine, what can they feel?” —Pauline Kael, I Lost it at the Movies

Sweden/Denmark/Georgia/Turkey/2024—directed by Levan Akin | 105 min.

Retired teacher Lia (brilliantly portrayed by Mzia Arabuli), who lives on the rocky Black Sea coast of Georgia, has made a promise to find out what happened to her long-lost niece, Tekla. A neighbor tells Lia that Tekla might be in Turkey, and they set off to find her.

In Istanbul they discover a beautiful city of connections, possibilities, and cats—but looking for someone who doesn't want to be found proves more difficult than expected.

The pair meet Evrim (Deniz Dumanli), a human rights lawyer and as the three weave their way through the city's labyrinthine backstreets, they discover Tekla may be closer than imagined. Jury Prize Winner, 2024 Berlin Film Festival. In English, Georgian and Turkish, with English subtitles.

“Elegant, stirring, emotionally affecting. A warmly humanistic new film.” —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

France/1968—directed by Melvin Van Peebles | 87 min.

Unable to break into a segregated Hollywood, Melvin Van Peebles decamped to France, taught himself the language, and wrote novels in French, one of which would be the basis for his stylistically innovative feature debut, The Story of a Three Day Pass.

Turner (Harry Baird), an African American soldier stationed in France, is granted a three-day leave and heads to Paris, where he finds whirlwind romance with a white woman (Nicole Berger)–but what happens when his furlough is over?

Channeling the brash exuberance of the French New Wave, Van Peebles explores the psychology of a relationship while examining France’s contradictory attitudes about race, all in a film that is playful and wryly subversive; it laid the foundation for the cinematic revolution he unleashed three years later with Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. Restoration supervised by Mario Van Peebles. In English and French with English subtitles.

“A New Wave classic and one of the great American films of the era.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Iran/2023—directed by Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami | 77 min.

Through a series of stirring vignettes, often humorous and always affecting, Iranian directors Asgari and Khatami follow people from all walks of life in contemporary Tehran.

As they navigate cultural, religious, and institutional constraints, this audacious film captures the spirit and determination of people facing daily adversity, while offering a nuanced portrait of a complex society.

The sole Iranian film selected by the Cannes Film Festival in 2023, it was also a London, Chicago and AFI Film Festival selection. In Persian with English subtitles.

“One of the most brilliant and provocative films to emerge from Iran in recent years.” —Godfrey Cheshire, rogerebert.com