Release Date: December 19, 2014

Winter Films at National Gallery of Art Highlight Georgian Cinema, Contemporary Brazilian Documentary, Recent International Shorts, New Restorations, and More

The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear by Tinatin Gurchiani, to be shown as part of the film series Discovering Georgian Cinema on Thursday, January 29 at 6:30 p.m. at the Goethe-Institut. Image courtesy Icarus Films

Washington, DC—This winter, the National Gallery of Art film program continues its collaboration with Washington-area institutions during the ongoing renovation of the East Building galleries, which temporarily impacts the availability of the Gallery's auditorium. Films will be shown at:

American Film Institute, Silver Theatre (8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD)

American University, Malsi Doyle and Michael Forman Theater (McKinley Building, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW)

Embassy of France (4100 Reservoir Road NW)

Freer Gallery of Art (1050 Independence Avenue SW)

Goethe-Institut Washington (812 7th Street NW)

National Archives, McGowan Theater (7th Street and Constitution Avenue NW)

National Portrait Gallery, McEvoy Auditorium (8th and F Streets NW)

National Gallery of Art, West Building Lecture Hall (7th Street and Constitution Avenue NW)

The season opens with Selections from Oberhausen(January 3–10), featuring recent work from one of the oldest and most prominent showcases for short cinema in the world. Each event is introduced by artist and programmer Sylvia Schedelbauer. Discovering Georgian Cinema (January 12–March 26), a retrospective survey of filmmaking (in 35 mm archival prints) from this distinctive cultural milieu with roots in antiquity, takes place at several Washington venues. The Georgian project was originally organized by curators from the Museum of Modern Art and the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive. Washington is the only American venue other than New York and Berkeley.

The Gallery continues its ongoing collaboration with American University with the series Cruzamentos: Contemporary Brazilian Documentary (January 23–February 28), a program of historically significant non-fiction works from one of the most dynamic film cultures in the world. And the next installment of the popular series American Originals Now(February 21–22) features the work of artist Cathy Lee Crane.

Special events include the local premiere of the recently restored Moana with Sound(January 14), originally a silent film made in Samoa by Robert Flaherty. His daughter, Monica Flaherty, added local ambient sounds and traditional music recorded in Samoa several decades later. Well-recognized for his 16 mm musings on urban sites and waterways, Peter Hutton visits the Gallery (January 25) to introduce four of his works: New York Portrait: Two; Łodź Symphony; Study of a River; and an excerpt from the recent Three Landscapes.Presented in conjunction with the Environmental Film Festival, Levitated Mass (March 28) follows the journey of artist Michael Heizer's 340-ton earthwork boulder from a quarry in Riverside County, California, to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Seating for all events is on a first-come, first-seated basis, unless otherwise noted. Doors open thirty minutes before show time. Whenever possible, works are presented in their original formats. Please note that the West Building Lecture Hall seats 159 visitors.