From timeless classics to the latest talents in world cinema, we hope you’ll join us this Spring for a diverse lineup of series and festivals.

In addition to our cinematheque offerings, click here to view upcoming new releases at the Film Society.

Art of the Real
April 20 – May 2
Now in its fourth year, the Art of the Real festival offers a survey of the most vital and innovative voices in nonfiction and hybrid filmmaking. This edition features titles from established figures such as Ignacio Agüero, Jem Cohen, Robinson Devor, and the late Michael Glawogger alongside up-and-comers Theo Anthony (Rat Film), Salomé Jashi (The Dazzling Light of Sunset), and Shengze Zhu (Another Year), as well as a tribute to the late Brazilian filmmaker Andrea Tonacci. Presented with support from MUBI.

Dazzling Light of Sunset

 

Two by Tarkovsky
Stalker
May 5-11
Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR, 1979, 163m
Russian with English subtitles
New digital restoration
This May at the Film Society, experience the mysteries and revelations of Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 science fiction masterpiece in a new digital restoration. Twenty years ago a falling object decimated a provincial Russian town, and those who later went near the crash site—now known as The Zone—disappeared. Access is strictly prohibited, but outsiders can still get in with the help of a “stalker.” Inside The Zone is The Room, within which secret wishes can be granted. Based on the novel Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers, Stalker is a visually extraordinary and philosophically provocative fable about the limits of knowledge—personal, scientific, and spiritual. New digital restoration by Mosfilm. A Janus Films release.

Solaris / Solyaris
May 12-18
Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR, 1972, 167m
Russian and German with English subtitles
New digital restoration
In possibly the most emotionally devastating science fiction film ever made, scientist Chris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) is sent to a space station whose inhabitants have been attempting to make contact with the mysterious planet Solaris. He’s convinced that the crew has gone mad, until he sees his own startling apparitions. Often described as a Soviet response to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris is a monolithic, enigmatic work of startling beauty and depth. Based on a novel by the great Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem. Solaris returns to the Film Society in a new digital restoration produced by Mosfilm from a 2K scan of the negative. A Janus Films release.

New York African Film Festival
May 3-9
The New York African Film Festival returns to the Film Society of Lincoln Center for its 24th edition. This year’s theme, The People’s Revolution, seeks to illuminate the sociopolitical work of reform-seeking artists throughout Africa and its diaspora, who exist in spaces where questions of human rights, civic duty, and the unrestricted nature of technology intersect, and where notions of identity, culture, and home are rewired. Highlights this year include Ewir Amora Kelabi, from Ethiopia, a poetic film about migration; the acclaimed South African film Vaya by director Akin Omotoso; and a powerful shorts program that includes Muhannad Iamin’s 80, the first animated documentary from Libya. This year’s NYAFF will also feature a stunning digital art exhibition exploring dance, movement, and virtual reality.

Il Bello Marcello
May 17-31
The Latin lover, the quintessential continental, the world weary Don Giovanni: for over five decades Marcello Mastroianni epitomized and complicated onscreen masculinity, and remains a key symbol of postwar Italian cinema. Propelled to worldwide stardom with his star turn in Fellini’s La Dolce vita, Mastroianni allured audiences with the diverse roles he embodied throughout his career―an impotent man in Il bell’ Antonio, a scheming cuckold in Divorce Italian Style, a gay man living in Mussolini’s Italy in A Special Day. Mastroianni’s magnetism made him a Fellini regular, but he also gave singular performances for international auteurs like Antonioni, Bellocchio, De Sica, Visconti, Demy, Ruiz, and Altman. This May, the Film Society will honor one of the 20th century’s greatest movie stars with a selected retrospective of his dynamic, unforgettable career. Co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Istituto Luce Cinecittà. Presented in association with the Ministry of Culture of Italy.

La Dolce Vita

 

Open Roads: New Italian Cinema
Jun 1-7
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema is the only screening series to offer North American audiences a diverse and extensive lineup of contemporary Italian films. This year’s seventeenth edition again strikes a balance between emerging talents and esteemed veterans, commercial and independent fare, outrageous comedies, gripping dramas, and captivating documentaries, with in-person appearances by many of the filmmakers. Co-presented with Istituto Luce Cinecittà.

Human Rights Watch Film Festival
June 9-17
A vital forum for films that tackle important global issues, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival showcases an international selection of acclaimed films that bring human rights struggles to life through storytelling—challenging, provocative movies that call for justice and social change. Among the 2017 highlights is “The Resistance Saga,” a trilogy of documentaries on Guatemala by Pamela Yates including When the Mountains Tremble, How to Nail a Dictator, and, receiving its New York premiere, 500 Years.

Peter Nestler
June 24-29
Admired by the likes of Jean-Marie Straub and Harun Farocki, Peter Nestler was one of the most important filmmakers to emerge from postwar Germany. From his early films about the changing realities of rural and industrial areas in Germany and the UK, to his work for Swedish television, Nestler has remained a precise observer of the poetry and politics of labor, crafting meticulous portraits of industrial processes, working conditions, and workers themselves, as well as the background of struggle and oppression against which the era’s proletariat toiled. A vigorous yet nuanced opponent of fascism, an excavator of lost histories and a masterful formalist whose works are rich with a materiality all their own, Nestler has spent five decades chronicling how things get made, whether in a factory or at the level of ideology. This June, the Film Society is pleased to host Nestler himself for his first major retrospective in years, including a wealth of new digital restorations courtesy of Deutsche Kinemathek. Presented in partnership with the 2017 Robert Flaherty Film Seminar.

New York Asian Film Festival
June 30 – July 15
Get wooed by die-hard romantics, unnerved by devil children, and bear witness to the fury of angry young men on paths of destruction in the sweet sixteenth edition of the New York Asian Film Festival. Wild cinematic outings that always have something to say about the human condition, this summer’s crop of titles range from the heartwarming to the desperately dark. Dive headfirst into the raging sea of talent from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and across South East Asia—filmmakers unafraid to take on controversial subjects and explore complex emotions. Co-presented with Subway Cinema.