Release Date: January 20, 2016

Premieres of Recent Films on Artists, New Cinema from Iran in the Twentieth Iranian Film Festival, Screenings of Works from the Bolshoi Theater, New Features from Greece, and Special Appearances Highlight National Gallery of Art 2016 Film Season

Film still from Xenia (Panos H. Koutras, 2014, DCP, subtitles, 134 minutes), to be shown at the National Gallery of Art on Sunday, February 7, 4:00 p.m., as part of the “Athens Today: New Greek Cinema” film series. Image courtesy of Feelgood Entertainment and Pyramide Distribution.

Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art's 2016 film season includes screenings from Reseeing Iran: The 20th Annual Iranian Film Festival with new restorations of classic, new-wave Iranian cinema from the 1960s, as well as premieres of new features and shorts, along with an onstage discussion with one of Iran's greatest actresses, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya.

The Gallery will co-host an eight-part film series with the American Film Institute and the Freer and Sackler Galleries (whose theater is closed for renovation). The program is cosponsored by the ILEX Foundation and organized by Tom Vick (Freer and Sackler Galleries), Carter Long (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), and Marian Luntz (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston).

Other highlights include selections from the famed international festival of alternative film in Belgrade, Serbia, organized to spotlight new creativity in alternative film and video from around the world; and a program of recent Spanish, nonfiction film, Spanish Arts Showcase: New Nonfiction, organized in association with the American University School of Communication, its College of Arts and Sciences, and Moisés García Rubio, 2015Culturex Fellow at the National Gallery of Art. Additional premieres include new works from China, Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as new nonfiction films on artists Eva Hesse, Lilias Trotter, Robert Smithson, Walter de Maria, and Michael Heizer.

Athens Today: New Greek Cinema includes premieres of recent works from Athens, including Chevalier, a film by Athina Rachel Tsangari that delves into a shadowy world of rivalry and aggression as six men compete for a victory ring—the Chevalier. Xenia, by Panos H. Koutras, mixes humor with compassion and poignancy to tell the story of two brothers who meet in Athens for a road trip to find their estranged biological father. The series is presented through the cooperation of the New York Greek Film Festival and is programmed in conjunction with the National Gallery of Art exhibition Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, on view in the West Building through March 20.

Bolshoi Postmodern: Innovative Performance in HD reveals the experimental side of the Bolshoi Theater. The series incorporates four high-definition screenings of groundbreaking dance and opera productions from the past decade—including two of the ballets that put the renowned dancer Alexey Ratmansky on the map as a preeminent choreographer.

The final screenings of the winter season include examples of new digital restorations from international film archives. Cinéma Restauré: Two by Julien Duvivier showcases two restored 1930s classics from the Gaumont Pathé Archives—La fin du jour and La belle équipe.

Special Appearances and Premieres

Avalanche
Fatemeh Motamed-Arya in person
January 31 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

Many Beautiful Things
Laura Waters Hinson in person
Washington premiere
February 6 at 2:30
East Building Auditorium

Flames of Paris
Introduced by Katerina Novikova and Anna Winestein
February 20 and March 12 at 1:00
East Building Auditorium

Wozzeck
Introduced by Katerina Novikova and Anna Winestein 
February 20 at 3:30
East Building Auditorium

Eugene Onegin
Introduced by Katerina Novikova and Anna Winestein
February 21 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

Eva Hesse
Filmmakers Marcie Begleiter and Karen Shapiro in person
American Premiere
February 27 at 3:00
East Building Auditorium

Hand Gestures
March 4 and 5 at 12:30
East Building Auditorium

The Iron Ministry
March 5 at 3:00
East Building Auditorium

In Transit
March 6 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

The Bolt
Introduced by Anna Winestein
March 12 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

Dreams Rewired
March 13 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

The Creeping Garden
March 19 at 3:30
East Building Auditorium

Ella Maillart—Double Journey
Filmmaker Antonio Bigini in person
American premiere
March 20 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art
March 26 at 3:00
East Building Auditorium

FILM SERIES
Reseeing Iran: Twentieth Annual Iranian Film Festival

Jafar Panahi's Taxi
January 23 at 2:00
East Building Auditorium

Avalanche
Fatemeh Motamed-Arya in person
January 31 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

Monir preceded by Wolkaan
February 13 at 2:00
East Building Auditorium

Greek Documentary Series
Through March 20

The films in this series of Greek archeological documentaries are being presented on a rotating schedule in the West Building Lecture Hall in conjunction with the National Gallery of Art exhibition Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World. They are presented through the cooperation and support of Eleftherios Ikonomou, ARTSetc. Intercultural Dialogues UG, Berlin, John Goelet Foundation, and AGON, the International Meeting of Archaeological Film of the Mediterranean Area and Beyond.

Keeping Track of Lost Colors: Colored Marbles of Ancient Greece
February 16, 23 at 10:30
March 1, 15 at 10:30
West Building Lecture Hall

Works on the Acropolis of Athens (The People behind the Monuments) followed by Ancient Hydraulis
February 16, 23 at 12:30
March 1, 8, 15 at 12:30
West Building Lecture Hall

Alexander the Great
February 16, 23 at 2:30
March 1, 8, 15 at 2:30
West Building Lecture Hall

Sculpting the Human Figure: The Female Form in Ancient Greek Sculpture followed by The Male Form in Ancient Greek Sculpture
February 18 at 10:30
March 3 at 10:30
West Building Lecture Hall

Lysippos Epoesen (aka Lysippos Created): The Story and the Art of Alexander the Great's Legendary Sculptor
February 18, 25 at 12:30
March 3 at 12:30
West Building Lecture Hall

Work Which Remains Hidden
February 21, 28 at 11:30
March 6, 13, 20 at 11:30
West Building Lecture Hall

The World's First Computer: The Antikythera Mechanism
February 21, 28 at 1:30
March 6, 13, 20 at 1:30
West Building Lecture Hall

A Third Life for Messene
February 21, 28 at 3:30
March 6, 13, 20 at 3:30
West Building Lecture Hall

Athens Today: New Greek Cinema
Through February 28

Chevalier
January 24 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

Xenia
February 7 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

Forever
February 14 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

Silent
February 28 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

Bolshoi Post-Modern: Innovative Performance in HD 
February 20–March 12

Flames of Paris
Introduced by Katerina Novikova and Anna Winestein
February 20 and March 12 at 1:00
East Building Auditorium

Wozzeck
Introduced by Katerina Novikova and Anna Winestein
February 20 at 3:30
East Building Auditorium

Eugene Onegin
Introduced by Katerina Novikova and Anna Winestein
February 21 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

The Bolt
Introduced by Anna Winestein
March 12 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

Cinéma Restauré: Two by Julien Duvivier
March 26–27

La fin du jour 
March 26 at 12:30
East Building Auditorium

La belle équipe
March 27 at 4:00
East Building Auditorium

Films Screening at American University  
The Man Who Would Be Second
January 22 at 7:00
American University, McKinley Building

Paco de Lucía—The Search
January 27 at 7:00
American University, McKinley Building

The Dream (El somni) followed by The Dream of Luis Moya 
February 5 at 7:00
American University, McKinley Building

Films are shown in original formats whenever possible.  Seating is on a first-come, first- seated basis unless noted otherwise.