Films

Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest film — fresh from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival — is a triptych fable featuring a stacked cast, including frequent collaborators Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, as well as Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Jesse Plemons and more.

In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past. The third in Ti West’s triptych — which includes X and PEARL — plays the Belcourt in an exclusive 35mm engagement.

New 70th Anniversary 4K DCP Restoration — One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Akira Kurosawa’s landmark SEVEN SAMURAI tells the story of a 16th century village whose desperate inhabitants hire eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. Seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment with delicate human emotions and relentless action — resulting in a rich, evocative and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.

Miloš Forman’s exquisite tale of the 18th century rivalry between journeyman court composer Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) and boisterous young upstart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce). 40th Anniversary – New 4K Restoration courtesy of the Saul Zaentz Co. and Academy Film Archive.

An unflinching depiction of the migrant crisis captured in stark black-and-white, this riveting film explores the intractable issue from multiple perspectives. Agnieszka Holland brings a masterful eye for realism and deep compassion to this blistering critique of a humanitarian calamity that continues to unfold.

A young vampire is unable to kill to meet her need for blood, but may have found a solution in a young man with suicidal tendencies.

Elliot Page plays feminist avenger Hayley Stark, a teenage vigilante who plots an operational revenge on the sexual predator (Patrick Wilson) she meets in an internet chat room. Screening in 35mm

Robert Altman’s dreamlike masterpiece about the relationship between a naive Southern waif (Sissy Spacek) and a would-be sophisticate (the brilliant Shelley Duvall) careens from the humorous to the chilling to the surreal, resulting in one of the most unusual and compelling films of the 1970s.

The anarchic fictionalized retelling of prominent Irish language rap group Kneecap’s rise to fame. In this fiercely original sex, drugs and hip-hop biopic, the group play themselves, laying down a global rallying cry for the defense of native cultures.

CatVideoFest is a compilation reel of the latest and best cat videos culled from countless hours of unique submissions and sourced animations, music videos and classic internet powerhouses. See also: HOUSE (Sat-Sun, Aug 3-4)

A cinematic riddle, mirror, dream or puzzle in which the Oedipus myth is transposed to a period from the 1980s to the present, from the beaches of Greece to the lakes of Berlin. An austere, baroque work with occasional drops of blood.

In appreciation of the torturous work the recently departed Shelley Duvall put into inhabiting the iconic terrified matriarch, we're excited to revisit the Overlook Hotel — the intersection of the minds of Stanley Kubrick and Stephen King. With a suspenseful score by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind and additional pieces by masterful modernists Krzysztof Penderecki, Béla Bartók, and György Ligeti.

Superbly crafted, wickedly fun and woefully underseen, this 2016 thriller stars the late Anton Yelchin as the singer of a touring punk band who must square off against a skinhead club owner, played by Patrick Stewart, after witnessing a murder at his club. Directed by Jeremy Saulnier (BLUE RUIN).

A hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt’s creaky country home, only to come face to face with evil spirits, bloodthirsty pianos and a demonic housecat. Nothing can prepare you for the feline freakout that follows. See also: CatVideoFest 2024 (Fri-Thu, Aug 2-8). Screening in 35mm

Part of Staff Picks and programmed by Brooke, who says: "One of the greatest examples of essential feminist cinema that you’ve probably never heard of! Influenced by her documentarian roots, Weill’s depiction of young women navigating life in ‘70s New York City is everything I love about independent filmmaking. Truly a touchstone of American feminist cinema, I only wish I could’ve had access to this film as a budding female filmmaker.”

An all-out feel-good musical production set on the bustling streets of 1960’s Baltimore celebrating the beautiful diversity of bodies — big and small, black and white, masculine and feminine, and everything spectacularly in between.

In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can’t teach him — how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom.

Divine G, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theater group with other incarcerated men.

Shot over the course of three years on all seven continents, this wildly popular at-the-time documentary from French actor/filmmaker Jacques Perrin takes the observational doc a step further with remarkable ingenuity as the camera takes flight with several species of birds on their annual migrations. Screening in 35mm

Wealthy San Francisco socialite Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) pursues potential boyfriend Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) to a small Northern California town where she finds that it’s winged mayhem for the complacent townsfolk of Bodega Bay.

The classic rock star myth, gussied up in vinyl and velvet, sexified with the mesh of R&B and New Wave, with parental issues straight out of Greek tragedy, and above all, the music of His Royal Badness at the top of his game. New 4K Restoration

Poignant and timeless, THE COLOR PURPLE unfurls 40 years of Celie’s life — an unforgettable portrait of how love, friendship and hope will always vanquish grief, abuse and loneliness.

An annual stop at the Belcourt, this year’s 110-minute theatrical program consists of seven short films curated from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, including three Festival Award-winning titles: ALOK, Bug Diner, Dream Creep, Essex Girls, Pathological, Pisko the Crab Child is in Love, The Masterpiece.

Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski doesn't want any drama in his life. But he must embark on a quest with his bowling buddies after his rug is destroyed in a twisted case of mistaken identity.

Was it Colonel Mustard in the study with a gun? Miss Scarlet in the billiard room with the rope? Or was it Wadsworth the butler? It’s all a roll of the dice in this riotously wicked adaptation of the classic whodunit board game. RIP Martin Mull…

Disney’s animated classic is the romantic tale of Lady, a lovingly pampered cocker spaniel, and Tramp, a freewheeling mutt with a heart of gold.

A “behind-the-scenes look” into the highly competitive and cut-throat world of dog shows through the eyes of a group of ruthless dog owners, this hilarious mockumentary from director Christopher Guest and co-writer Eugene Levy really gives the dog its bone. Screening in 35mm

This new 4K version of the acclaimed 2006 live concert film captures a blistering two-hour performance from My Morning Jacket’s Nov 2005 two-night stand at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. OKONOKOS encapsulates the band at a peak moment in their career.

A cantor (Jason Schwartzman) in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher (Carol Kane) re-enters his life as his new adult bat mitzvah student.

In BURDEN OF DREAMS, famed documentarian Les Blank captures legendary director Werner Herzog’s filming of his most ambitious film FITZCARRALDO (Sun-Mon, Aug 25-26), in which an entrepreneur endeavors to push a steamship over a mountain to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle. New 4K Restoration

When siblings Judy and Peter stumble upon a century old magical board game, a single dice roll frees Alan (Robin WIlliams) who’s been trapped inside the game and unleashes a whirlwind of jungle themed obstacles that can only be reversed by finishing the game.

As chronicled with bravado in Les Blank’s making-of documentary BURDEN OF DREAMS (Fri-Mon, Aug 23-26), Werner Herzog’s backbreaking epic fictionalizes the true-life mission of a South American rubber baron (Klaus Kinski, with gusto) to establish an opera house in the Peruvian jungle — which can only be accomplished by hauling a gigantic river boat over a mountain.

After a spiritual awakening, a former Texas cattle rancher leaves the cruel cycle of animal agriculture and transforms her husband’s beef operation into a sanctuary.

In India Donaldson's insightful, piercing debut, 17-year-old Sam embarks on a three-day backpacking trip in the Catskills with her dad and his oldest friend. When lines are crossed and Sam's trust is betrayed, her dad's emotional limitations face the universal moment when the parental bond is tested.

A group of scientists are dispatched to investigate the world's first theme park with actual live dinosaurs. Genetic manipulation, chaos theory, and family tensions are explored, and the state of visual effects in the movies was changed forever.

In the last seven days of her life, Laura Palmer, besieged by a transuniversal conflict reaching back into infinity, must face her own immovable destiny amongst the myriad of secrets in the town of Twin Peaks.

San Fernando Valley, 1977. Teenage busboy Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg) gets discovered by porn director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), who transforms him into adult-film sensation Dirk Diggler. Brought into a supportive circle of friends, Dirk fulfills all his ambitions—but a toxic combination of drugs and egotism threatens to take him back down. Screening in 35mm

A teenage girl with an overbearing father and a dark secret which threatens to sublimate her own identity is investigated in her rural hometown — and a lost piece of jewelry might be the key to unwinding her intertwined persona in this big screen follow-up to a beloved TV series.

A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.

GODZILLA is the roaring granddaddy of all movie monsters. This rampaging radioactive reptile — the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears — became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost 30 sequels.

The groundbreaking generative documentary about visionary musician and artist Brian Eno is a film that’s different every day it’s shown — an ephemeral approach that resonates with Eno’s own artistic practice, his methods of using technology to compose music, and his endless deep dive into the mercurial essence of creativity. These versions will never be seen again.

Created to commemorate the 20 years that have passed since D.C.-based post-hardcore band Fugazi’s last live appearance, WE ARE FUGAZI FROM WASHINGTON D.C. is a 96-minute movie comprising crowd sourced, fan recorded live shows and rare archive footage.

Part of Staff Picks and programmed by Ter

Some 50 years after SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE, director/co-writer Victor Erice turns in another masterpiece — thus ending a long gap between films with a moving meditation on memory, identity and cinema itself.