Relase Date: September 10, 2004

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART FALL FILM PROGRAM OFFERS A TOUR OF WORLD CINEMA

Washington, DC- This fall, the National Gallery of Art film program will take film lovers on a world tour of Africa, the former Soviet Union, Mexico, the South Pacific, Germany, France, and the Middle East through films by Raymond Depardon, Boris Barnet, Amy Stechler, F.W. Murnau, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Samira Makhmalbaf, Hana Makhmalbaf, Marziyeh Meshkini, Yousef Chahine, and Jean-Luc Godard. All films are shown in the cool comfort of the East Building Auditorium, which features stadium-style seating for 465 and a state-of-the-art wide screen.

RAYMOND DEPARDON: PROFILES FROM THE ROAD

Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and documentary filmmaker Raymond Depardon is an associate of the prestigious Magnum photo agency in Paris. In the early 1960s, after documenting the Algerian War, Depardon became interested in exotic locales and made them the focus of his candid, contemplative photojournalistic style. The retrospective look at Depardon’s films is organized in association with the French Ministry of Culture and the Embassy of France.

September 4, 2:30 p.m.
Untouched by the West (Un Homme sans I’Occident)
Les Années Déclic

September 5, 2:00 p.m.
New York, NY
John Lennon
Peasant Profile

September 5, 4:30 p.m.
Africa: How Is the Pain?

THE EXTRAORDINARY MR. BARNET

For most of the 20th century, Western presumptions about filmmaking in the former Soviet Union did not include the idea of comedy or satire, even though humor was, in fact, very much a part of the Soviet cinematic experience. Boris Barnet’s innate flair for inventing images filled his work with wit and humanism, as evidenced in this series of eight forgotten works. The series is presented through the cooperation of Seagull Films and Alla Verlotsky.

September 11, 2:30 p.m.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks

September 12, 4:30 p.m.
Girl with the Hat Box
The House on Trubnaya Square

September 18, 2:30 p.m.
Okraina

September 19, 4:30 p.m.
By the Bluest of Seas
Dark Is the Night

September 25, 2:00 p.m.
Bountiful Summer
Alenka

THE PUBLIC PREMIERE OF “THE LIFE AND TIMES OF FRIDA KAHLO”

Producer, director, and writer Amy Stechler portrays a tumultuous epoch through the eyes of one of its extraordinary participants in the public premiere of The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo. The film frames the artist’s career within distinct historical movements. Shot in high-definition video at sites throughout Mexico, this new documentary includes interviews with Carlos Fuentes and Hayden Herrera, and an unusual selection of photographs from a recently assembled archive. The film is a production of public television station WETA Channel 26, Washington, D.C., and Daylight Films in Association with Latino Public Broadcasting.

September 26, 4:30 p.m.
The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo

F.W. MURNAU: WEIMAR AND HOLLYWOOD IN THE 1920s

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau set the course for German cinema during the influential decade following World War I. By the mid 1920s, he was invited to work in Hollywood where he made his masterpiece Sunrise, a huge critical success but an unexpected commercial failure. Murnau eventually traveled to the South Pacific to shoot his final film, Tabu, a parable of eternal love and earthly paradise. The series is presented in association with Goethe Institut Washington.

October 2, 1:00 p.m.
Sunrise

October 2, 3:30 p.m.
Tabu

October 3, 5:30 p.m.
Sunrise

October 9, 1:00 p.m.
City Girl

October 9, 3:30 p.m.
Tartuff

October 10, 4:30 p.m.
City Girl

October 16, 1:00 p.m.
Faust

October 16, 4:00 p.m.
Der Letzte Mann (The Last Laugh)

October 17, 4:30 p.m.
Nosferatu--Eine Symphonie des Grauens

October 24, 4:30 p.m.
Phantom

October 30, 1:00 p.m.
Journey into the Night (Der Gang in die Nacht)

October 30, 3:30 p.m.
The Haunted Castle

CINEMA FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

In association with the exhibition Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum, a three-part festival of recent films from Turkey, Iran, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Syria, and Afghanistan will be shown from October 31, 2004 through mid-January, 2005. Turkey and Iran are the focus this fall.

Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan

The first cycle begins with the films of acclaimed Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. His quiet, minimalist narratives about secular, modern Turkish society and its profound connections to the traditional society of the past earned him the Prix du Jury at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. His stories, while eccentric and personal, are filled with poetic observations of the natural world and human relationships.

Samira Makhmalbaf, Hana Makhmalbaf, and Marziyeh Meshkini

Following in the footsteps of their father Moshen Makhmalbaf, the eminent post-revolutionary Iranian director, Samira Makhmalbaf, Hana Makhmalbaf, and their stepmother Marziyeh Meshkini, have been making films of extraordinary eloquence since the mid-1990s. The Makhmalbaf Film School, established in Tehran by Moshen during the last decade to train young filmmakers, evolved into a kind of family cooperative that simultaneously instructs the younger members while collaboratively focusing on the production of films such as the works featured in the second series below.

Yousef Chahine

The third and final part of the festival, in January 2005, focuses on new cinema from Arab cultures, encompassing a range of genres including comedy, melodrama, tragedy, and experimental cinema. One highlight will be the most recent work from Egyptian director Yousef Chahine, arguably the most celebrated director in the Arab world.

First Series: October 31, 4:30 p.m.
Uzak (Distant), Kasaba, Clouds of May, Cocoon

Second Series: November 7-27
The Day I Became a Woman
The Apple
Blackboards
At Five in the Afternoon
Joy of Madness
Stray Dogs

JEAN-LUC GODARD PUBLIC PREMIERE AND RETROSPECTIVE

Beginning November 18 and continuing through the end of December, a series of 15 films and ten works on video from the extraordinary career of French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard will include the Washington premiere of his most recent release, Notre Musique, on December 4, at 4:30 p.m. Godard, who observes his 74th birthday on December 3, was the major influence behind the French new-wave of the 1960s and is, arguably, the greatest living film director.

GENERAL FILM INFORMATION

Films are shown in the East Building Auditorium at 4th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Seating for all events is on a first-come, first-seated basis. To ensure getting a seat, arrive at least ten minutes before show time. Programs are subject to change; for the latest information call (202) 842-6799.

The East Building Auditorium is equipped with an FM wireless listening system for the hearing impaired. Receivers, ear phones, and neck loops are available at the art Information desk near the main entrance.

Listings of film programs are updated quarterly on www.nga.gov. To obtain a free film calendar by mail, send an e-mail to film-department@nga.gov. Please include your name and mailing address.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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