2/19/26

DAGUERRÉOTYPES

France | 1975 | 80 min. 
Director: Agnès Varda
“Where did you come from?” “When did you get here?” “Why did you come?”

These questions are asked to all of the subjects in Agnes Varda’s documentary about the shopkeepers who work on the very street that Varda lives: Rue Daguerre. A series of vignettes of the people that made Paris in 1975 what it was, Agnes Varda balances showing their day to day lives while also giving the audience a feeling that the lack of work/life balance takes a toll on their psyche. Richard Brody of The New Yorker called the film “affectionate anthropology” which is a great way to describe the entirety of Varda’s filmography.

Introduced by Max Kimble (RTF)
series: 1975 at 50

2/26/26

NOSFERATU

Germany | 1922 | 94 min. 
Director: F.W. Murnau
This film marked the first appearance on screen of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and remains arguably the eeriest and most magical of the many versions of this famous tale. Where Eggers’s 2024 version literalizes the psychosexual dimensions of the source, Murnau keeps these submerged, where they mix with images evocative of WWI’s and the influenza epidemic’s mass death. Murnau’s use of real locations instead of stylized studio sets to create atmosphere, his deployment of special effects such as negative exposure and fast-speed motion to suggest a ghostly ride, and his casting the gaunt, spectral figure of Max Schreck as the Count make this a notable development of the Expressionist style.

Introduced by Dr. Paul Monticone (RTF)
series: Big Screen Film History

3/05/26

ENTRE LES MURS

France | 2008 | 128 min. 
Director: Laurent Cantent 

Entre les murs (the Class) offers an unflinching, intimate look inside a contemporary French classroom, where teaching is a daily negotiation between authority, identity, and belonging. Based on the non-fiction novel by the same name, the film draws on real experiences and is performed largely by nonprofessional actors, including the book’s author himself. Entre les murs paints a deeply human portrait of education as a social battleground, and of young people struggling to define themselves within it. Winner of the Palme D’Or (Cannes Film Festival), and France’s official entry to the Academy Awards.

Conversation led by Prof. Jon Mason (RTF)
series: World Classrooms

3/12/26

LA PASSION DE JEANNE D’ARC

France | 2008 | 128 min. 
Director: Carl Th. Dreyer 

In 1431, the charismatic, mystic warrior Joan is led before her English and French inquisitors for the last day of her trial for heresy. Danish director Dreyer condensed months of interrogation into a single day, with all dialogue taken from the original transcripts, built a gigantic re-creation of the city of Rouen, then showed it only obliquely as he concentrated on close-ups of fevered intensity—most notably of Falconetti’s Joan. A star of light stage comedies in Paris, Falconetti had never acted in films before and would never appear on screen again, but her performance here is ranked among the greatest in cinema history. This new restoration features composer Richard Einhorn’s acclaimed Voices of Light, a choral and orchestral work inspired by the film. .

Introduced by Dr. Paul Monticone (RTF)
series: Big Screen Film History

1/29/26

NIGHT MOVES

USA | 1975 | 99 min. 
Director: Arthur Penn
Cast: Gene Hackman, Susan Clark, Jennifer Warren, Harris Yulin, Melanie Griffith

A neo-noir classic that reimagines the hardboiled private eye of the 1940s for the sunny, cynical 1970s. Gene Hackman delivers a subtle but commanding performance as Harold Moseby, a former football player who’s taken the straightforward case of tracking down a faded Hollywood starlet’s missing daughter. Unsurprisingly, things are not so simple, and he becomes embroiled in the sordid family dramas of Hollywood’s elite and pulled into a sinister conspiracy that evokes the Watergate-era’s paranoia. Though not a hit on its initial release, Roger Ebert ranked this genre-bending, character-driven noir his No. 2 film of 1975 (behind only Nashville), and its reputation has only grown over the 50 years since.

Introduced by Dr. Paul Monticone (RTF)
Series: 1975 at 50

2/5/26

THE WAVE

Germany | 2008 | 107 min. 
Director: Dennis Gansel
Cast: Jurgen Vogel, Frederick Lau, Max Riemelt, Jennifer Ulrich, Christiane Paul

Based on a real-life experiment that took place in a Californian high school, The Wave tells the story of a high school teacher's unusual class experiment. In an attempt to demonstrate what life is like under a dictatorship, the teacher comes up with an experiment to explain to his students how totalitarian governments work. A role-playing game with tragic results. Within a few days, what began with harmless notions like discipline and community builds into a real movement: The Wave. As the students' boundaries are pushed, things begin to spiral out of control and this newly found cult starts to take on a life of its own.

Introduced by Dr. Edward Smith (World Languages)
series: World Classrooms

2/12/26

RAN

Japan | 1985 | 162 min. 
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Teraro, Masato Ide, Daisuke Ryû

The final epic film of legendary director Akira Kurosawa, Ran, based on William Shakespeare’s apocalyptic tragedy King Lear and Japanese history, tells the story of an aging warlord in 16th-century Japan who divides his kingdom among his three sons, with disastrous consequences. Drawing on Shakespeare’s themes of family betrayal, generational trauma, and the wasteful horrors of war, this sprawling epic is widely viewed as one of Kurosawa’s masterpieces, and one of the greatest films of the 20th century. 

Introduced by Dr. Claire Falck (English)
series: Shakespeare on Screen