The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the full lineup of repertory, festival, and new release programming for the spring 2019 season, including Silent Cinema Events, featuring Yasujiro Ozu’s Dragnet Girl and Jean Epstein’s The Faithful Heart accompanied by live scores; a selection of work by the woefully under recognized Czechoslovak New Wave talent Ester Krumbachová; a retrospective of the late Italian filmmaker Ermanno Olmi; and the return of the nonfiction festival Art of the Real. In addition, the Film Society will present its annual partner festivals New York African Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, and New York Asian Film Festival. Our new release lineup includes the latest film directed by Matteo Garrone, Dogman, as well as several NYFF56 selections: Bi Gan’s visually astounding Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Olivier Assayas’s witty Non-Fiction, and Dominga Sotomayor’s dreamy Too Late to Die Young. More details and series dates are listed below.

SPRING 2019 FESTIVAL AND REPERTORY LINEUP

April 9
Live Musical Events with Silent Cinema
Dragnet Girl / Hijosen no onna
Yasujiro Ozu, Japan, 1933, 100m
Though he’s best known for his modernist domestic dramas, the great Yasujiro Ozu began his career making eclectic genre pictures—each its own unique, breathless love letter to Hollywood. His undeniably cool Dragnet Girl takes its cue from American gangster films, particularly Josef von Sternberg’s Underworld, to tell the story of a moll (Kinuyo Tanaka) desperate to keep her boxer-turned-gangster boyfriend from falling for an innocent shop girl and going straight. Hyper-stylized and psychologically dense, this silent crime film begs to be experienced anew with the atmospheric, transporting electro-ambient film score by critically lauded musical group Coupler in its New York premiere. Coupler’s score originated at Nashville’s Belcourt Theatre in 2018. Digital restoration courtesy of Janus Films. Now on sale.

May 2
The Faithful Heart / Coeur fidèle
Jean Epstein, France, 1923, 87m
This lyrical, fleet-footed melodrama tells a deceptively simple story of star-crossed lovers in sun-soaked Marseilles. Gina Manès plays Marie, a foundling raised to adulthood by the unloving married owners of a dockside café. Marie is in love with Jean (Léon Mathot), but has instead been promised to Petit Paul (Edmond van Daële), a hot-headed young drunk. The Faithful Heart is stylistically rooted in the tradition of French impressionist cinema, and narratively anticipates the full-fledged poetic realism of the 1930s. The Film Society is delighted to welcome back the Alloy Orchestra, performing an original score that brings Jean Epstein’s beautifully restored silent masterwork to life with the help of found objects, synthesizers, and handcrafted instruments. Now on sale.

Organized by Florence Almozini and Tyler Wilson.

April 17–28
Art of the Real
Celebrating its sixth year, the Art of the Real festival offers a survey of the most vital and innovative voices in nonfiction and hybrid filmmaking. Past editions have featured titles from Mati Diop, Agnès Varda, Derek Jarman, Corneliu Porumboiu, Irene Lusztig, Thom Andersen, Harun Farocki, Jem Cohen, Jumana Manna, Michael Glawogger, Theo Anthony, and Nicolás Pereda. This year promises yet another vibrant slate of brilliant new works by internationally acclaimed filmmakers and impressive, award-winning debuts from around the world, plus a retrospective of Japanese experimental filmmaker Toshio Matsumoto’s nonfiction work and a tribute to the late Lebanese filmmaker Jocelyne Saab. Support for this series provided by MUBI. Now on sale.

Organized by Dennis Lim and Rachael Rakes.

May 24–29
Ester Krumbachová
Though Ester Krumbachová was considered by director Vera Chytilová to be the boldest personality of the Czechoslovak New Wave, her contributions to the movement have been largely overlooked. A costume and set designer, scriptwriter, and director, the multi-hyphenate artist shared her puckishly surreal and trenchant, radical vision with such trailblazing directors as Chytilová (Daisies), Karel Kachyna (The Ear), Jaromil Jires (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders), and Jan Nemec (Diamonds of the Night). But shortly after making her directorial debut with the hilarious yet criminally underseen fantasy The Murder of Mr. Devil, she was blacklisted by the Czechoslovak Communist government. This May, the Film Society looks back on Krumbachová’s singular imprint on the Czechoslovak New Wave, and reexamines some of the movements’ most beloved, important works in a new light. Presented in collaboration with the Czech Center New York. Now on sale.

Organized by Florence Almozini and Tyler Wilson.

May 30–June 4
New York African Film Festival
Reaching back into the past and forward into the unknown, the New York African Film Festival takes cinema of all genres throughout Africa and the African Diaspora to weave a story of the present. From the archival to the experimental, classic fictional narrative to documentary, the festival—now in its 26th year—selects treasured stories of the past to contextualize the present and all of its possible futures. Now on sale.

Co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and African Film Festival, Inc. Organized by Mahen Bonetti, Francoise Bouffault, Dora King, Beatriz Leal-Riesco, Karen McMullen, and Dara Ojugbele, African Film Festival, Inc.

June 6–12
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema
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 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. Presale to Members Wednesday, May 15. On sale Friday, May 17.

Co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Istituto Luce Cinecittà. Organized by Florence Almozini and Dan Sullivan, Film Society; and by Carla Cattani, Griselda Guerrasio, and Monique Catalino, Istituto Luce Cinecittà.

June 14–27
Ermanno Olmi
Across a career that spanned more than six decades, Ermanno Olmi established himself as one of the key Italian filmmakers of his generation. Updating the stylistic hallmarks of Italian neorealism to craft fiction films full of light and dignity, Olmi time and again captured the experience of work and family and expressed the churn of history with humor and grace. Known for his commitment to working with nonprofessional actors and to capturing the specific textures of the locations in which he filmed, Olmi, who started out as a self-taught documentarian, drew inspiration from his Catholic faith and from the social and cultural preoccupations of his native Lombardy region—personified by peasants in rural farming communities or by white-collar workers in the provincial capital of Milan. But Olmi, who passed away last year at age 86, was also always concerned with the political and economic systems underlying the social and physical environments in which his characters lived and dreamed. Join the Film Society and the Istituto Luce Cinecittà in paying homage to this singular and sophisticated voice in Italian cinema, whose influence can be seen today in the work of such major directors as Alice Rohrwacher and Pietro Marcello. Presale to Members Wednesday, May 15. On sale Friday, May 17.

Organized by Florence Almozini and Dan Sullivan of Film Society of Lincoln Center, and by Camilla Cormanni and Paola Ruggiero of Istituto Luce Cinecittà. Co-produced by Istituto Luce Cinecittà, Rome. Presented in association with the Ministry of Culture of Italy.

June 14–20
Human Rights Watch Film Festival
Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights, and its annual film festival is a vital forum for movies that tackle important global issues. Showcasing an international selection of acclaimed works that bring human rights struggles to life through storytelling, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival presents challenging, provocative art that calls for justice and social change. Selections in recent years have included some of the most urgent documentary and fiction films of our time (including The Act of Killing, Born Into Brothels, The Cleaners, Dheepan, Incendies, The Invisible War, Iraq in Fragments, The Oath, and Restrepo), and this year will again feature essential and entertaining films everyone will be talking about. On sale Friday, May 17.

Organized by Human Rights Watch.

June 28–July 11
New York Asian Film Festival
The 18th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival is nearly upon us. This annual survey of essential—and often wild—films is New York’s most exhaustive selection of titles from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and other countries across Southeast Asia. Programmed and operated by the New York Asian Film Foundation, the festival features contemporary premieres and classic titles, plus a host of in-person appearances and Q&As with up-and-coming and established stars and auteurs.

Organized by the New York Asian Film Foundation.

SPRING 2019 NEW RELEASES LINEUP

April 12
Long Day’s Journey Into Night / Di qiu zui hou de ye wan
Bi Gan, China/France, 2018, 139m
Mandarin with English subtitles
Following his knockout debut, Kaili Blues (ND/NF 2016), writer-director Bi Gan returns with this immersive art-house sensation that broke box-office records in China. Long Day’s Journey Into Night is a noir-tinged film about a solitary man (Huang Jue) haunted by loss and regret, told in two parts: the first an achronological detective story, the second a nocturnal dream. Again centering around his native province of Guizhou in southwest China, the director has created a film like nothing you’ve seen before, especially in the second half’s hour-long, gravity-defying 3-D sequence shot, which plunges its protagonist—and us—through a labyrinthine cityscape. An NYFF56 selection. A Kino Lorber release.

Dogman
Matteo Garrone, Italy/France, 2018, 103m
Italian with English subtitles
The latest dark fable from Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah, Tale of Tales) trains its unflinching gaze on mild-mannered Marcello (Marcello Fonte), a doting single father who owns and lovingly operates a one-man dog grooming business in a sparse Neapolitan suburb. When Marcello’s pliable friendliness leads him into an entanglement with the local bully, he finds himself increasingly alienated from the goodwill of his community, and his hardwon livelihood is placed in jeopardy. With its stark, chilly atmospherics and quietly propulsive narrative, Dogman left an indelible impression on audiences at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where Fonte was awarded Best Actor for a performance of slow-burning intensity and raw sensitivity. A Magnolia Pictures release.

May 3
Non-Fiction / Doubles vies
Olivier Assayas, France, 2018, 106m
French with English subtitles
Set within the world of publishing, Olivier Assayas’s new film finds two hopelessly intertwined couples—Guillaume Canet’s troubled book executive and Juliette Binoche’s weary actress; Vincent Macaigne’s boorish novelist and Nora Hamzawi’s straight-and-balanced political operative—obsessed with the state of things, and how (or when) it will (or might) change. Is print dying? Has blogging replaced writing? Is fiction over? But the divide between what these characters—and their friends, and their enemies, and everyone in between—talk about and what is actually happening between them, moment by moment, is what gives Non-Fiction its very particular charm, humor, and lifelike stabs of emotion. An NYFF56 selection. A Sundance Selects release.

May 31
Too Late to Die Young / Tarde Para Morir Joven
Dominga Sotomayor, Chile/Brazil/Argentina/Netherlands/Qatar, 2018, 110m
Spanish with English subtitles
The year 1990 was when Chile transitioned to democracy, but all of that seems a world away for 16-year-old Sofia, who lives far off the grid in a mountain enclave of artists and bohemians. Too Late to Die Young takes place during the hot, languorous days between Christmas and New Year’s Day, when the troubling realities of the adult world—and the elemental forces of nature—begin to intrude on her teenage idyll. Shot in dreamily diaphanous, sun-splashed images and set to period-perfect pop, the second feature from one of Latin American cinema’s most artful and distinctive voices is at once nostalgic and piercing, a portrait of a young woman—and a country—on the cusp of exhilarating and terrifying change. An NYFF56 selection. A KimStim release.

New releases are organized by Dennis Lim and Florence Almozini.