Hail Mary was condemned long before it was ever seen by the public, from Vatican City to Manhattan—anyone who attended a screening at the 1985 New York Film Festival will remember running a gauntlet of pamphleteers, prayer circles and newscasters outside Alice Tully Hall. The irony, of course, is that the film itself is far from blasphemous, but rather a glorious cinematic hymn, an attempt to reconcile spirit and flesh, science and nature. “Somehow I think we need faith, or I need faith, or I’m lacking in faith,” Godard told Katherine Dieckmann. “Therefore maybe I needed a story which is bigger than myself.” Hail Mary is presented in a new 35mm print.

Screening with

The Book of Mary (Le Livre de Marie)
Anne-Marie Miéville | France/Switzerland | 1985 | 25m
The film is about the broken affections between a husband and wife through the eyes of their young daughter.

And:

Notes on Hail Mary (Petites Notes à propos du film Je vous salue Marie)
Jean-Luc Godard | France/Switzerland | 1983 | Digital | 20m
Godard’s video notebook for Hail Mary.