Bates Area Civic Association

FEBRUARY 2010 NGA ART FILMS & EVENTS

Henry V
Sunday, February 7 at 4:30 p.m.

One of two cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare’s last major history play
(Laurence Olivier’s 1944 rendering is the other), Kenneth Branagh’s robust
restaging is brilliant and balanced, and even single-handedly revived
popular interest in reading Shakespeare. (Kenneth Branagh, 1989, 137
minutes)

www.nga.gov/programs/film/index.htm#henryv

Agnes Varda: Short Films
Saturday, February 13 at 3:30 p.m.

Celebrated French director and current Academy Award nominee Agnes Varda has
produced a collection of provocative short films during the course of a long
career. The program ranges from L’Opera mouffe and Du cote de la cote (both
1958) to Black Panthers (1968) to The So-Called Caryatids (1984), with many
forays in between. (Total running time 120 minutes)

www.nga.gov/programs/film/index.htm#agnesvarda

Love Letters and Live Wires:
England’s GPO Film Unit in the 1930s
Sunday, February 14 at 4:30 p.m.

Public service shorts by England’s legendary GPO Film Unit, all from the
British Film Institute’s archival collection, include Love on the Wing
(Norman McLaren), The Fairy of the Phone (Basil Wright and William
Coldstream), The Tocher (Lotte Reiniger), Night Mail (Basil Wright and Harry
Watt), and others. (Total running time 80 minutes)

www.nga.gov/programs/film/index.htm#loveletters

Les Lutins du Court-Metrage: Festival of New French Shorts
Saturday, February 20 at 4:00 p.m.

A selection of four new French shorts filled with fantasy, surprise, wit,
wisdom, and beauty: La Difunta Correa (Nicolas Cambois and Sebastien
Gardet), Tony Zear (Valentin Potier), Nous (Olivier Hems), and La vie
lointaine (Sebastien Betbeder).

www.nga.gov/programs/film/index.htm#frenchshorts2010

FILM SERIES

Celebrating Chekhov on the Russian Screen
Anton Chekhov wrote his four principal plays during cinema’s first decade,
1895 to 1905. To mark the 150th anniversary of the eminent Russian writer’s
birth in January 1860, the National Gallery is pleased to present seven
Russian filmic adaptations of Chekhov’s short stories and plays.

The Lady with the Dog
Saturday, February 6 at 2:30 p.m.
Introduced by Peter Rollberg, professor of slavic languages, film studies
and international affairs, George Washington University
(Iosif Kheifitz, 1960, Russian with subtitles, 89 minutes)

Chekhovian Motifs
Saturday, February 13 at 12:30 p.m.
(Kira Muratova, 2002, Russian with subtitles, 120 minutes)

www.nga.gov/programs/film/chekhov.htm

Peleshian: Poet of the Cinema
Artavazd Peleshian, Armenia’s distinguished cinematic poet, is rooted in the
history of his homeland yet universal in his reach. During a long career
that began in the Soviet period, Peleshian has crafted a body of iconic
cinematic short essays that study the spiritual aspects of nature, history,
and human life.

The Beginning followed by We, The Inhabitants, and Life
Saturday, February 20 at 2:00 p.m.

The Seasons followed by Our Century and The End
Sunday, February 21 at 4:00 p.m.

www.nga.gov/programs/film/peleshian.htm

In Praise of Independents: The Flaherty
The National Gallery salutes the annual Flaherty Seminar with a two-day
selection of works from the 2009 seminar, “Witnesses, Monuments, Ruins”
programmed by Irina Leimbacher, professor of anthropology, University of
California Berkeley.

Wedding of Silence
(Pavel Medvedev, 2003, Russian with subtitles, 28 minutes)
followed by White Sky (Susanna Helke and Virpi Suutari, 1998, Russian with
subtitles, 54 minutes)
Saturday, February 27 at 2:00 p.m.

The Chickens (al-Dajaj) (Omar Amiralay, 1977, subtitles, 40 minutes)
preceded by Kristallnacht (Chick Strand, 1979, 7 minutes) and Flaherty and
Film (NET, 1960, 16 minutes)
Saturday, February 27 at 3:45 p.m.

Sweetgrass (Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, 2009, 105 minutes)
Sunday, February 28 at 4:30 p.m.

www.nga.gov/programs/film/theflaherty09.htm

Films are shown in the East Building Auditorium, 4th Street at Constitution
Avenue NW. There is no charge for admission but seating is on a first-come,
first-seated basis. Doors open approximately 30 minutes before each show
time. Programs are subject to change.

For more information call (202) 842-6799, e-mail film-department@nga.gov or
visit www.nga.gov/programs/film/