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The Belcourt Theatre
Wed-Tue, June 17-23

Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair

Presented in partnership with the American Cinematheque

Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair

Ticket 5-Packs: $45 ($35 Belcourt members)
*5-Packs are connected to your Belcourt account and are non-transferable. Once a 5-Pack is added to your cart, you may proceed to redeem film tickets in the same transaction. (*Belcourt members must be logged in to receive the discount.)

PURCHASE 5-PACK TICKETS

“Don’t threaten us with a bad time!” Or is it a “good time?” Such was our response when our downward-trodden but lovely friends at Los Angeles’ American Cinematheque approached us last year about taking part in their first expansion of their very popular series, Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair. Unable to participate due to our then-burgeoning 100th year celebration, we’re thrilled to get on board this year. The fifth annual edition in June 2026 expands to nearly 100 theaters across the U.S., Canada, U.K and South and Central America, with each venue presenting its own original curated lineup of uncompromising films defined by unpleasant truths and raw empathy.

Additional Encore Screenings may be added on Tue, June 23.

Upcoming Screenings

HARAKIRI (35mm)
Wed, Jun 17 at 7:30pm

HARAKIRI (35mm)

A desperate ronin arrives at the manor of a powerful Lord where he begs to be allowed to commit ritual suicide in this tragic, eviscerating anti-samurai film. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize, HARAKIRI, directed by Masaki Kobayashi is a fierce evocation of individual agency in the face of a corrupt and hypocritical system.
DANCER IN THE DARK (35mm)
Thu, Jun 18 at 7:30pm

DANCER IN THE DARK (35mm)

In rural America in 1964, a Czech immigrant and single mother (Björk) begins to lose her eyesight. As she tries to put away money for her young son before she goes completely blind, the woman reimagines her life in big musical song-and-dance routines starring herself and her co-workers. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Lars von Trier.
SEVEN
Fri, Jun 19 at 8:00pm

SEVEN

A pair of detectives (Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt) live among the seven sins in a crumbling city of crime all around them. What starts as one bizarre crime turns into a case of serial murders as a predator named John Doe begins to execute victims by paying homage to the "deadly sin" they represent. Directed by David Fincher.
THE TURIN HORSE (35mm)
Sat, Jun 20 at 2:00pm

THE TURIN HORSE (35mm)

A farmer and his daughter try to survive in a desolate landscape even as the horse that had always provided their livelihood has already given up on them. Clinging to daily ritual, the pair refuses to let go of life as they know it, even as omens abound that the world might be coming to an end. The final film from Hungarian master of slow cinema Bela Tarr (SÁTÁNTANGÓ), who plunges us into a feat of speechless, spellbinding storytelling.
WALL-E
Sat, Jun 20 at 5:30pm

WALL-E

In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.
THE MIST (Black & White Version)
Sat, Jun 20 at 8:00pm

THE MIST (Black & White Version)

After a mysterious mist envelops a small Maine town, a group of locals trapped in a supermarket must battle a siege of otherworldly creatures… and the fears that threaten to tear them apart.
THE FACE OF ANOTHER (35mm)
Sun, Jun 21 at 2:00pm

THE FACE OF ANOTHER (35mm)

After being burned and disfigured in an industrial accident, a desperate man agrees to a radical face transplant. But the relative freedom of his new persona stirs dark temptations within the alienated man. A staggering work of existential science fiction, Teshigahara's film explores both the limits and freedom in acquiring a new persona — and questions the notion of individuality itself.
COME AND SEE
Sun, Jun 21 at 4:40pm

COME AND SEE

As Nazi forces encroach on his small village in present-day Belarus, teenage Flyora eagerly joins the Soviet resistance. Rather than the adventure and glory he envisioned, what he finds is a waking nightmare of unimaginable carnage and cruelty.
TROUBLE EVERY DAY
Sun, Jun 21 at 8:00pm

TROUBLE EVERY DAY

An American newlywed on his honeymoon in Paris searches for his former medical colleague Leo who may have a cure for the tropical virus that transformed Leo’s wife into a murderous sexual carnivore in Claire Denis’ blood-soaked, divisive gem.
MYSTERIOUS SKIN
Tue, Jun 23 at 8:20pm

MYSTERIOUS SKIN

Closing out Bleak Week and screening in advance of and with a nod to his latest film (I WANT YOUR SEX, opening Jul 31), we offer Gregg Araki’s harrowing chronicle of childhood innocence lost. At the age of eight, Neil and Brian played on the same little league baseball team. When the boys' parallel lives inevitably intersect 10 years later the pair unearth dark, repressed secrets.
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