Release Date: October 20, 2015

Film Events at the National Gallery of Art This Fall Include Washington Premieres, New Restorations, Retrospectives for Maya Deren, Agnès Varda, Wojciech Jerzy Has, and Frederick Wiseman, Appearances by Filmmakers and Artists, and Ciné-Concerts

Still from La pointe courte by Agnès Varda, 1955, screening as part of the film series Angès Varda: Ciné-Portraiture, on Wednesday, November 4, 7:00 p.m., at American University McKinley Building. Image courtesy Ciné-Tamaris

Washington, DC—Weekends at the National Gallery of Art feature screenings of classic, documentary, and avant-garde cinema, as well as area premieres. Once again, the Gallery is teaming up with Washington-area cultural institutions American Film Institute (AFI) and the American University School of Communication to offer additional screening venues in the DC area.

Washington premieres this fall include Kandahar Journals (November 7; Louie Palu and Devin Gallagher in person), Counting (December 13; Jem Cohen in person), and Hockney(December 26).
         
Retrospectives this fall include Agnès Varda: Ciné-Portraiture (through November 22); The Faraway Worlds of Wojciech Jerzy Has (through October 25); and Frederick Wiseman's New York (November 15–27). Since 1969, Wiseman has been filming New York City institutions from a detached and determined perspective.

New Restorations

New film restorations include The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (November 6), a co-presentation with the American Film Institute; Rocco and His Brothers (December 19), a powerful allegorical tale from Luchino Visconti, digitally restored to its full splendor; Jane B par Agnès V (November 22), revealing the many faces of actress Jane Birkin; Strange Victory(December 12), a rarely seen work by Leo Hurwitz featuring newsreels, covertly recorded footage, and dramatized sequences; and films by the Polish master filmmaker Wojciech Jerzy Has (through October 25). The Rajiv Vaidya Memorial Lecture: Technicolor at 100(December 6) is devoted to a centennial celebration of Technicolor, and coincides with the publication of a new history of the color process, The Dawn of Technicolor, 1915–1935.

Films with Live Musical Accompaniment

On November 29, Gillian Anderson conducts members of the National Gallery of Art Orchestra in a performance of the original musical score for D. W. Griffith's Way Down East. Other musical events include accompaniments by pianists Gabriel Thibaudeau (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, November 6, American Film Institute); Donald Sosin (Beggars of Life, November 13); and Andrew Simpson (Rajiv Vaidya Memorial Lecture: Technicolor at 100, December 6). 

November 28–December 27, Twenty-Five Years of Milestone Film, co-presented with the American Film Institute, honors the independent American distribution company that has been reviving interest in lost and neglected titles for a quarter-century.

Special Appearances

Jon Imber's Left Hand
Richard Kane in person, introduced by Harry Cooper, curator of Modern Art and head of the department, National Gallery of Art
October 31 (3:00)
East Building Auditorium

Kandahar Journals
Louie Palu and Devin Gallagher in person
Washington premiere
November 7 (3:00)
East Building Auditorium
Shown in conjunction with FotoWeek DC

Rajiv Vaidya Memorial Lecture: Technicolor at 100
James Layton and David Pierce in person
Live musical accompaniment by Andrew Simpson
December 6 (2:00)
East Building Auditorium

Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning
Dyanna Taylor in person
November 14 (2:30)
East Building Auditorium
Shown in conjunction with FotoWeek DC

Counting
Jem Cohen in person
Washington premiere
December 13 (4:00)
East Building Auditorium

Special Events: Fall 2015

The Black Power Mixtape (1967–1975) (featuring Erykah Badu, Melvin Van Peebles, Talib Kweli, and Angela Davis, among others)
November 1 (4:00)
East Building Auditorium

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (live musical accompaniment by Gabriel Thibaudeau; Washington (premiere of the restoration)
November 6 (7:00)
American Film Institute

Beggars of Life (live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin)
November 13 (7:00)
American Film Institute

Way Down East (live musical accompaniment by NGA Orchestra, Gillian Anderson conducting)
November 29 (2:00)
East Building Auditorium

Rajiv Vaidya Memorial Lecture: Technicolor at 100 (live musical accompaniment by Andrew Simpson)
December 6 (2:00)
East Building Auditorium

Wondrous Boccaccio (Washington premiere)
December 20 and 27 (2:00)
East Building Auditorium

Hockney (Washington premiere)
December 26 (2:00)
East Building Auditorium

The East Building Auditorium reopened for weekend film screenings on August 1. All screenings at the National Gallery of Art are free of charge; seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis unless noted otherwise. Doors open 30 minutes before show time. Whenever possible, works are presented in original format.