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SFF and the Ringling Museum of Art bring you Treasures From The Janus Film Collection: January 22nd through March 26th, 2007
Founded in 1956, Janus Films has been the unquestioned leader in bringing classic world cinema to American audiences. In celebration of Janus’ unrivaled commitment to 50 years of great cinema, The Ringling Museum of Art and The Sarasota Film Festival have collected ten masterpieces that have definitively shaped the art of film.
All screenings begin at 7:00pm at the Historic Asolo Theater, located within the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art at 5401 Bayshore Road, in Sarasota. Tickets are $7 per film or $30 for a package of 5 films. Seating is limited.
For tickets, call the Historic Asolo Theater Box Office at (941) 360-7399
January 22nd, 2007
La Strada by Federico Fellini
1954/108 Minutes
Italy
There has never been a face quite like that of Giulietta Masina. Her husband, the legendary Federico Fellini, directs her as Gelsomina in La Strada, the film that launched them both to international stardom. Gelsomina is sold by her mother into the employ of Zampanò (Anthony Quinn), a brutal strongman in a traveling circus. When Zampanò encounters an old rival in highwire artist the Fool (Richard Basehart), his fury is provoked to its breaking point. With La Strada, Fellini left behind the familiar signposts of Italian neorealism for a poetic fable of love and cruelty, evoking brilliant performances and winning the hearts of audiences and critics worldwide. We are proud to present La Strada, winner of the Academy Award® for Best Foreign Film in 1956.
Presented in conjunction with the 40th Anniversary of The Ringling Clown College exhibition
January 29, 2007
Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis) by Marcel Carné (1945),
1945/ 190 Minutes
France
Poetic realism reaches sublime heights with Children of Paradise (Les enfants du paradis), the ineffably witty tale of a woman loved by four different men. Deftly entwining theater, literature, music, and design, director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert resurrect the tumultuous world of 19th-century Paris, teeming with hucksters and aristocrats, thieves and courtesans, pimps and seers.
“All discussions of Marcel Carne's Children of Paradise begin with the miracle of its making. Named at Cannes as the greatest French film of all time, costing more than any French film before it, Les Enfants du Paradis was shot in Paris and Nice during the Nazi occupation and released in Paris right after the liberation, ran for 54 weeks. It is said to play somewhere in Paris every day.”—Roger Ebert
(Presented with a 10 minute intermission)
February 5, 2006
Casque D’or by Jacques Becker
1952/94 Minutes
France
Jacques Becker lovingly evokes the Belle Époque Parisian demimonde in this classic tale of doomed romance. When gangster’s moll Marie (Simone Signoret) falls for reformed criminal Manda (Serge Reggiani), their passion incites an underworld rivalry that leads inexorably to treachery and tragedy. With poignant, nuanced performances and sensuous black-and-white photography, Casque d’or is Becker at the height of his cinematic powers. A romantic masterpiece.
February 12, 2007
Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu
1953/ 135 Minutes
Japan
Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story follows an aging couple, Tomi and Sukichi, on their journey from their rural village to visit their two married children in bustling, post-war Tokyo. Their reception is disappointing: too busy to entertain them, their children send them off to a health spa. After Tomi falls ill she and Sukichi return home, while the children, grief-stricken, hasten to be with her. From a simple tale unfolds one of the greatest of all Japanese films. Starring Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, the film reprises one of the director's favorite themes—that of generational conflict—in a way that is quintessentially Japanese and yet so universal in its appeal that it continues to resonate as one of cinema’s greatest masterpieces.
February 19, 2007
Divorce Italian Style by Pietro Germi
1961/104 Minutes
Italy
Baron Ferdinando Cefalù (Marcello Mastroianni) longs to marry his nubile young cousin Angela (Stefania Sandrelli), but one obstacle stands in his way: his fatuous and fawning wife, Rosalia (Daniela Rocca). His solution? Since divorce is illegal, he hatches a plan to lure his spouse into the arms of another and then murder her in a justifiable effort to save his honor. Pietro Germi’s hilarious and cutting satire of Sicilian male-chauvinist culture won the 1962 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Presented in conjunction with dell’Arte Italiana
February 26, 2007
Ashes and Diamonds by Andrezj Wajda
1958/ 103 Minutes
Poland
On the last day of World War Two in a small town somewhere in Poland, Polish exiles of war and the occupying Soviet forces confront the beginning of a new day and a new Poland. In this incendiary environment we find Home Army soldier Maciek Chelmicki, who has been ordered to assassinate an incoming commissar. But a mistake stalls his progress and leads him to Krystyna, a beautiful barmaid who gives him a glimpse of what his life could be. Gorgeously photographed and brilliantly performed, Ashes and Diamonds masterfully interweaves the fate of a nation with that of one man, resulting in one of the most important Polish films of all time.
Presented in conjunction with Sarasota Celebrates Poland and its Arts
March 5, 2007
Knife In The Water by Roman Polanski
1962/ 94 Minutes
Poland
Roman Polanski’s first feature is a brilliant psychological thriller that many critics still consider among his greatest work. The story is simple, yet the implications of its characters’ emotions and actions are profound. When a young hitchhiker joins a couple on a weekend yacht trip, psychological warfare breaks out as the two men compete for the woman’s attention. A storm forces the small crew below deck, and tension builds to a violent climax. With stinging dialogue and a mercilessly probing camera, Polanski creates a disturbing study of fear, humiliation, sexuality, and aggression. This remarkable directorial debut won Polanski worldwide acclaim, a place on the cover of Time, and his first Oscar® nomination.
Presented in conjunction with Sarasota Celebrates Poland and its Arts
March 12, 2007
The Magic Flute by Ingmar Bergman
1975/ 135 Minutes
Sweden
Ingmar Bergman puts his indelible stamp on Mozart’s exquisite opera in this sublime rendering of one of the composer’s best-loved works: a celebration of love, forgiveness, and the brotherhood of man. The Magic Flute stars Josef Köstlinger as Tamino, the young man determined to rescue a beautiful princess from the clutches of parental evil.
“Bergman’s film of The Magic Flute remains the finest screen version of an opera ever produced. Shot in sumptuous color by Sven Nykvist, and featuring some of the finest Nordic singers of the day, the film marks Bergman’s overt tribute to classical music.” –Peter Cowie
March 19, 2007
Summertime by David Lean
1955/ 100 Minutes
United Kingdom
An American spinster’s dream of romance finally becomes a bittersweet reality when she meets a handsome—but married—Italian man while vacationing in Venice. Katharine Hepburn’s sensitive portrayal of the lonely heroine and Jack Hildyard’s glorious photography make Summertime an endearing and visually enchanting film.
“Lean’s technique has never been smoother and more tactful, never more supportive of a star giving a bravura performance in a difficult role. He takes his time, lets the movie breathe… (while) her fervency and stiffened resistance seem emblematic of the great and single-minded director’s whole career.: -- David Denby
March 26, 2007
Rules of The Game by Jean Renoir
1939/ 106 Minutes
France
Widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, we close our series with Jean Renoir’s masterpiece The Rules of the Game. The film a scathing critique of corrupt French society cloaked in a comedy of manners; At a weekend hunting party, amorous escapades abound among the aristocratic guests and are mirrored by the activities of the servants downstairs. The refusal of one of the guests to play by society’s rules sets off a chain of events that ends in tragedy. Poorly received upon its release in 1939, the film was severely re-edited, and the original negative was destroyed during World War II. Only in 1959 was the film fully reconstructed and embraced by audiences and critics who now see the film as a timeless representation of a vanishing way of life.
“The Rules of the Game (is) a dazzling accomplishment, original in form and style, a comic tragedy, absurd and profound, graced by two of the most brilliant scenes ever created.” -- Alexander Sesonske
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