The Enduring Legacy of Godzilla
Since the character’s debut in 1954, Godzilla has appeared in over thirty theatrical films, going through several evolutions both in his look and sound, as well as his relationship to the humans around him. But inevitably, filmmakers return to the character’s roots as a seemingly unstoppable malevolent force, wreaking destruction across whatever landmass he encounters. In these films, the humans often take center stage as they deal with and adapt to the uncontrollable force unleashed. This series will look at Godzilla across four different eras of his portrayal and how this disaster of potentially man-made retribution affects and reflects the characters at the films’ centers.
Dates and Titles:
September 11: Gojira (Ishirô Honda, 1954, 96 min., DCP)
October 9: Godzilla vs. Biollante (Gojira vs. Biorante, Kazuki Ômori, Koji Hashimoto, Kenjirô Ohmori, Japan 1989, 104 min., DCP)
November 13: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (Gojira Mosura, Kingu Gidora Daikaijû sôkôgeki, Shûsuke Kaneko, 2001, 105 min., 35mm)
December 4: Godzilla Minus One (Gojira -1.0, Takashi Yamazaki, Japan 2023, 124 min., DCP)
Goldie Hawn to Receive George Eastman Award
The George Eastman Museum will honor actor Goldie Hawn with the George Eastman Award for distinguished contribution to the art of cinema on Tuesday, October 22.
To Catch a Thief on 35mm (Matinee)
Hitchcock125 This romantic comedy was director Alfred Hitchcock’s third venture with stars Cary Grant and Grace Kelly.
Post-Stalinist Poland
For this year’s Part 1 of the Polish Film Festival, we are focusing on films collected and held by the George Eastman Museum. The collection highlights the period of time following the end of Stalinism in the mid-1950s. At that time in the country’s cinema, production was organized into “film groups,” collectives led by an experienced director and consisting of directors, writers, and production managers. This led to the rise of the Polish Film School movement, which trained some of the most-renowned Polish directors and artists. The three features in this series feature such prominent directors: Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski, and Jerzy Skolimowski. This cinema was able to address the complexity of Polish history during World War II, and began to explore the national character of Poles in contrast to the homogeneity of communist rule. These features will be supplemented by two short films in the collection that metaphorically address the military state and the need for large-scale change.
A Holiday Musical Cocktail Party
Swing Shift (on 35mm)
Celebrating Goldie Hawn The lives of Santa Monica couple Jack and Kay Walsh are upended by the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, when Jack (Ed Harris) enlists in the Navy, leaving Kay (Goldie Hawn) to fend for herself.
To Catch a Thief (on 35mm)
Hitchcock 125 This romantic comedy was director Alfred Hitchcock’s third venture with stars Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Though the film is motivated by the mystery of who is emulating a reformed jewel thief’s modus operandi, Hitch’s real concern seems to be in arranging a series of slyly sophisticated interludes between the suave and debonair Grant and the exquisite and playful Kelly.
Henry Fonda for President
Henry Fonda for President It’s too late to elect Henry Fonda president - he died in 1982. But in Alexander Horwath’s new documentary essay, and in a land where actors can become presidents, we can imagine an America led by Fonda, reflecting his ancestors’ immigration to North America and his own work ethic, as represented by the films he made.
The Merry Widow
Presented free to seniors (62+). "It is a good show in the excellent Lubitsch manner, heady as the foam on champagne, fragile as mist and as delicately gay as a good-natured censor will permit . . . "
Bringing Up Baby
Presented free to seniors (62+). In the mother of all screwball comedies, Cary Grant stars as a stuffy paleontologist who knows more about dinosaurs than he does about the modern woman . . .
