University of Wisconsin - Madison Cinematheque

SPRING 2004

Special Events
Saturday, January 31, 7:30 p.m.
I Vitelloni (Italy, 1953, 104 min., 35mm) *Brand new 35mm print!
Friday, March 5, 7:30 p.m.
Passages from Finnegans Wake (USA, 1965, 92 min., 35mm)
Thursday, April 1 - Sunday, April 4
SIXTH ANNUAL WISCONSIN FILM FESTIVAL

Black and White.and Red all over: Soviet Entertainment under Stalin

Soviet Montage cinema burst onto the international filmmaking scene in the mid-1920s, and works by directors such as Sergei Eisenstein became discussed and even imitated around the world. Within the Soviet Union, however, these stylistic and narrative innovations were seen by many with disapproval and suspicion. But instead of restricting film form and style, these internal debates within the film industry, combined with the demands and challenges put forth by Moscow authorities, led to a fury of experimentation, both advancing and in opposition to Soviet Montage. The seven films of this series, made between 1926 and 1936, reflect the heterogeneity that flourished within the Soviet film industry. Well-known masters, such as Boris Barnet, Grigori Kozinstev and Leonid Trauberg, as well as under-appreciated and lesser-known filmmakers, are represented in these films of charm and wit, dealing with the clash between contemporaneous bourgeois and proletariat cultures and themes of everyday life. The series is presented by Seagull Films, in collaboration with the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the BAM Cinematheque. All films are in Russian with English subtitles.

Friday, February 6, 7:30 p.m.
Katka's Reinette Apples ( Kat'ka Bumazhnyi Ranet) (Soviet Union, 1926,73 min., 35mm)
Friday, February 6, 8:45 p.m.
House in the Snow Drifts ( Dom v sugrobakh / Dom v razreze) (Soviet Union, 1927, 64 min., 35mm)
Friday, February 13, 7:30 p.m.
The New Babylon (Novyj Babilon / Shturm neba) (Soviet Union, 1929, 80 min., 35mm)
Friday, February 13, 9:00 p.m.
Alone (Odna) (Soviet Union, 1931, 80 min., 35mm)
Friday, February 20, 7:30 p.m.
By the Bluest of Seas ( U samogo sinego moria ) (Soviet Union, 1936, 71 min., 35mm)
Friday, February 20, 8:45 p.m.
Outskirts ( Okraina ) (Soviet Union, 1933, 98 min., 35mm)
Friday, February 27, 7:30 p.m.
Seven Courageous ( Semero smelykh ) (Soviet Union, 1936, 92 min., 35mm)

A Taste of Jewish Cinema, from Poland to Petaluma

A cowboy rides the range in California, singing Yiddish tunes; the daughter of a shtetl musician dons a boy's garb and a fiddle; a young man tries to convey to his 87-year-old grandmother what it means to be gay. As diverse as the Jewish experiences which they each try to capture, the films of this series comprise samples drawn from classic Yiddish talkies, contemporary Israeli film, and American independent cinema. Sponsored by the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, the series concludes with a visit from documentary filmmaker Andy Abrahams Wilson.

Saturday, February 7, 7:30 p.m.
Kadosh ( Sacred ) (France/Israel, 1999, 110 min., 35mm)
Saturday, February 14, 7:30 p.m.
Song of a Jewish Cowboy (USA, 2002, 18 min., BetaSP)
Yidl Mitn Fidl (Yiddle with a Fiddle) (Poland/USA, 1937, 92 min., 35mm)
Saturday, February 21, 7:30 p.m.
An Evening with Filmmaker Andy Abrahams Wilson
Bubbeh Lee and Me (USA, 1996, 35 min., 16mm)
Returning Home: Anna Halprin Dances in Nature (USA, 2003, 45 min., BetaSP)

Norma Talmadge, Unsung Diva of the Silent Screen

Perhaps no star of the silent screen deserves as serious a reconsideration as Norma Talmadge, consummate heroine of the melodrama genre. Unlike contemporaries Gloria Swanson and Marion Davies, Norma, who formed her own production company with husband Jospeh Schenck in 1917, retained control of her career from the late teens through the mid-1920s. During this time she developed her trademark star persona: the brave, tragic heroine, typically clothed in the most extravagant fashions of the time. Working with critically acclaimed directors Herbert Brenon, Sidney Franklin, and Frank Borzage, Norma rose to become one of the top box office attractions of the silent era. For many years thought to be lost, her films, according to scholar Richard Koszarski, "are one of the last major secrets of the silent cinema." The Cinematheque is proud to present this exceptional series of discovered films starring Norma on 35mm, tracing her career from the Vitagraph shorts through the features of the mid-1920s. Special thanks to Mike Mashon (Library of Congress), Caroline Yeager (George Eastman House), Tim Lanza (Douris Films), and Greta de Groat. (Stanford University).
All films feature live piano accompaniment!

Saturday, February 28, 7:30 p.m.
The final 17-min. reel of A Tale of Two Cities (USA, 1911, 35mm)
His Official Appointment (USA, 1912, 13 min., 35mm)
Sawdust and Salome (USA, 1914, 14 min., 35mm)
Going Straight (USA, 1916, 60 min., 35mm)
Saturday, March 6, 7:30 p.m.
The Heart of Wetona (USA, 1919, 80 min., 35mm)
Saturday, March 6, 9:00 p.m.
Yes or No (USA, 1920, 90 min., 35mm)
Saturday, March 27, 7:30 p.m.
The Sign on the Door (USA, 1921, 100 min., 35mm)
Saturday, April 10, 7:30 p.m.
Within the Law (USA, 1923, 105 min., 35mm)
Saturday, April 24, 7:30 p.m.
The Song of Love (USA, 1923, 105 min., 35mm)
Saturday, April 24, 9:30 p.m.
The Lady (USA, 1925, 90 min., 35mm)

Global Lens: New Cinema from the Developing World

In partnership with the Wisconsin Film Festival, the Cinematheque presents two films from the Global Film Initiative's outstanding Global Lens series. Debut features from Latin American and Caribbean filmmakers, Nothing and Margarette's Feast share a playful nostalgia for the era of silent cinema. The films' enchanting characters and brilliant storytelling techniques offer us unique insight into world cultures and human nature, fully engaging our spirit and senses.

Friday, April 16 and Saturday April 17, 7:30 p.m.
Nothing ( Nada mas ) (Cuba, 2001, 88 min., 35mm)
Friday, April 16 and Saturday, April 17, 9:00 p.m.
Margarette's Feast ( Festa de Margarette ) ( Brazil/USA, 2002, 90 min., 35mm)

Fernando de Fuentes: Of Rancheros and Revolutions

Considered the single most important film director in Mexico in the 1930s and 1940s, Fernando de Fuentes (1894-1958) aspired to make the Mexican film industry as accomplished, efficient, and diverse as its Hollywood model while remaining culturally authentic. Not an easy task, but as producer, writer, and sometimes editor of his own films, de Fuentes knew talent and had the clout to get it: the actresses Maria Felix (Mexico's Dietrich) and Lupe Vélez, and the actor/singer Jorge Negrete, among others, gained their considerable cult followings in his films, while the great cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa received the prize at Venice for Allá en el rancho grande , his debut film. For de Fuentes, who relished genre, to remain authentically national meant exploiting certain myths and exploding others. Today's critics fault him for the folkloric nostalgia of the comedias rancheras in which everyone is muy contento -especially the men, and most especially the patrón. But in his best-known works, his trilogy on the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917), de Fuentes, who was a teenager in 1910, came to his subject questioning the very meaning of war, using the heroic period to explore themes of personal betrayal and corruption. These films, which helped define the Revolution for the popular imagination, are the centerpiece of our small tribute to de Fuentes, which also includes populist entertainments with Vélez and Negrete shown in their Bay Area premiere revivals. -from a note for the Pacific Film Archive (PFA)

The Cinematheque thanks Iván Trujillo and José Manuel Garcia of the Filmoteca de la UNAM. All films are in Spanish with English subtitles.

Friday, March 26, 7:30 p.m.
¡Vamanos con Pancho Villa! ( Let's Join Pancho Villa ) (Mexico, 1935, 92 min., 35mm)
Friday, March 26, 9:15 p.m.
Allá en el Rancho Grande ( Out on the Big Ranch ) (Mexico, 1936, 100 min., 35mm)
Friday, April 9, 7:30 p.m.
El Prisonero Trece ( Prisoner 13 ) (Mexico, 1933, 74 min., 35mm)
Friday, April 9, 9:00 p.m.
La Zandunga (Mexico, 1938, 107 min., 35mm)
Friday, April 23, 7:30 p.m.
El Compadre Mendoza ( Godfather Mendoza ) (Mexico, 1933, 85 min., 35mm)
Friday, April 23, 9:00 p.m.
Jalisco Canta en Sevilla ( Jalisco Sings in Seville ) (Mexico, 1948, 133 min., 35mm)

Director Spotlight: Marina Goldovskaya

Independent Film and Video Collaborative Open Shows

Highlighting the work of local filmmakers and videographers, the Independent Film and Video Collaborative holds its semi-annual Open Shows, to which anyone who has made a film or video can submit. Entries, accepted on a first-come/first-screened basis, should list title, director, and length (less than 10 minutes), and must be submitted in 16mm, 35mm, video, BetaSP, or DVD format. Check out new works by future Martin Scorseses and Mira Nairs!

Saturday, January 31, 7:30 p.m.
I Vitelloni (Italy, 1953, 104 min., 35mm)
*Brand new 35mm print!

Directed by Federico Fellini. Written by Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli. Produced by Jacques Bar , Mario de Vecchi, Lorenzo Pegoraro. Cinematography: Carlo Carlini, Otello Martelli, Luciano Trasatti. Editing: Rolando Benedetti. Original music: Nino Rota . Cast: Franco Interlenghi (Moraldo), Alberto Sordi (Alberto), Franco Fabrizi (Fausto), Leopoldo Trieste (Leopoldo), Riccardo Fellini (Riccardo).

In the film that established Federico Fellini as a director of international stature, five aimless, unemployed, and restless adolescents wander the streets of their seaside village, stumbling upon various opportunities for adventure and mischief. Released fifty years ago, Fellini's masterpiece earned a Silver Lion at the 1953 Venice Film Festival and quickly became a classic of Italian cinema, paving the way for landmark coming-of-age films such as Mean Streets and American Graffiti . Tonight's screening is sponsored by the Italian Club and the Department of French and Italian. Italian with English subtitles.

" I Vitelloni is the story of adolescents who cannot see anything more in life than satisfying their animal desires-sleeping, eating, fornicating. I was trying to say there is something more, there is always more. Life must have a meaning beyond the animal. In I Vitelloni I was portraying, not, as people have claimed, the death throes of a decadent social class, but a certain torpor of the soul." -Federico Fellini

Directed by Friedrich Ermler and Edouard Ioganson. Written by Mikhail Borisoglebsky and Boris Leonidov. Cinematography: Yevgeni Mikhailov, Andrei Moskvin. Art Director: E. Enei. Assistant Director: R. Maiman. Cast: Veronika Buzhinskaya (Katka), Bella Chernova (Verka), Valeri Solovtsov (Semka Zhgut, bandit). Russian with English subtitles. Print source: Seagull Films.

Friedrich Ermler, one of the Soviet era's most undervalued directors, paired with Edouard Ioganson to create this remarkably accurate portrayal of everyday life in 1920s Leningrad . Seduced and cheated by a bandit lover, Katka, a charming fruit vendor, meets Fedka, a gentle man of the streets. Shot on-location and set during the era of the New Economic Policy, Katka's reveals extraordinary scenes of urban life under the imminent return of capitalism. With live piano accompaniment!

Directed by Friedrich Ermler. Written by Boris Leonidov. Cinematography: Yevgeni Mikhailov and Gleb Bushtuev. Art Director: E. Enei. Cast: Fyodor Nikitin (musician), T. Okova (his wife). Russian with English subtitles. Print source: Seagull films.

As communist and tsarist forces battle outside the former Russian capital, Petrograd , a lonely musician tries to survive in a crowded apartment house shared by working and middle class inhabitants. Based on the short story The Cave by Yevgeny Zamatkin, Ermler's first major film features an endearing performance by Fyodor Nikitin, who went on to become a distinguished cinematographer in the Soviet era. With live piano accompaniment!

Directed by Amos Gitai. Written by Eliette Abecassis and Amos Gitai. Produced by Amos Gitai and Michel Propper. Cinematography: Renato Berta. Editing: Monica Coleman, Kobi Netanel. Original music: Philippe Eidel, Louis Sclavis. Cast: Yaël Abecassis (Rivka), Yoram Hattab (Meïr), Meital Barda (Malka), Uri Klauzner (Yossef), Yussuf Abu-Warda (Rav Shimon), Leah Koenig (Elisheva), Sami Hori (Yaakov), Rivka Michaeli (gynaecologist), Samuel Calderon (Uncle Shmouel). Hebrew with English subtitles. Print source: Kino International.

Critically praised Israeli director Amos Gitai sets his most provocative and sensuous film in Jerusalem 's Orthodox Mea Shearim quarter, where sisters Rivka and Malka struggle over the conflict of love and duty. Deemed barren and thus unfit for marriage, Rivka is ordered to divorce her husband, to whom she is passionately married; meanwhile, Malka falls in love with a man rejected by the community as too secular. Kadosh was nominated for a Golden Palm at Cannes in 1995, though its script was refused by the Israeli Film Commission on account of its sensitive subject matter. Advisory: Contains scenes of explicit sex.

Written and Directed by Grigori Kozinstev and Leonid Trauberg. Cinematography: Andrei Moskvin. Art Director: E. Enei. Original Music: Dmitri Shostakovich. Cast: Yelena Kuzmina (Louise Poirier, salesperson), Pyotr Sobolevsky (Jean, a soldier), David Gutman (owner of the 'New Babylon'), Sofya Magarill (actress), Sergei Gerasimov (Lutro, journalist), S. Gusev (Poirier, elderly man), Yanina Zheimo (Theresa, milliner), A.Glushkova (washerwoman), Yevgeni Chervyakov (soldier of the National Guard), Andrei Kostrichkin (head salesclerk), A. Zarzhitskaya (girl in the barricade), Vsevolod Pudovkin (salesclerk), Oleg Zhakov (soldier of the National Guard), Lyudmila Semyonova (can-can dancer), A. Arnold (deputy). Russian with English subtitles. Print source: Seagull films.

Founders of the legendary FEKS (Factory of the Eccentric Actor) in Leningrad , directorial team Kozintsev and Trauberg extracted outrageous performances from their actors for this masterpiece set during the Franco-Prussian War. The exhilarating depiction of the 1871 Paris Commune contrasts capitalism and communism by way of a romance between a worker in a Parisian department store and a young soldier at the barricades. But The New Babylon is no typical historical costume drama; stylized performances, inventive editing techniques and fantastic shot compositions render an entirely refreshing approach to the genre. With live piano accompaniment!

Written and Directed by Grigori Kozinstev and Leonid Trauberg. Sound Director: L. Arnstam. Cinematography: Andrei Moskvin. Art Director: E. Enei. Original Music: Dmitri Shostakovich. Sound Engineer: I. Volk. Cast: Elena Kuzmina (Kuzimina, schoolteacher), Pyotr Sobolevsky (her fiancé), Sergei Gerasimov (head of the Soviet village), Mariya Babanova (his wife), Van-Liu Sian (kulak), Yanina Zheimo (young schoolteacher), Boris Chirkov (telephone conversation). Russian with English subtitles. Print source: Seagull Films.

An overlooked masterpiece of Soviet cinema, Odna was first attacked by government authorities for overt themes of "individualism", only to be later awarded for its "lifelike" mode of storytelling. Based on a true story, the film concerns a young woman sent to teach in Siberia but abandoned by her driver on the snowy frozen plains. Though originally conceived as a silent picture, Odna was released as one of the first Soviet sound films, and its innovative, asynchronous soundtrack features a brilliant score composed by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Scott Gerber, a cowpoke and descendent of the progressive Jewish chicken ranchers of Petaluma , California , roams the West while singing Yiddish songs of social justice. A short and delightful documentary portrays a man who bridges two fascinating worlds. Print source: Bonnie Burt Productions.

Directed by Joseph Green and Jan Nowina-Przybylski. Written by Joseph Green and Konrad Tom. Produced by Joseph Green and Jacob Kalich. Cinematography: Jack Jonilowicz. Original music: Abraham Ellstein. Cast: Molly Picon (Yidl), Leon Liebgold (Froim, the Fiddler), Simche Fostel (Arye), Max Bozyk (Isaac "Ikey" Kalamutker), Dora Fakiel (Tauba Lepski), A. Lewin (The Widow), S. Natan (R. Singer), Samuel Landau (Saul Gold), Max Brin, A. Kurc. Yiddish with newly restored English subtitles. Print source: National Center for Jewish Film.

This cheerful musical comedy stars Molly Picon, comedienne of the Yiddish theater, as a shtetl girl who disguises herself as a boy and becomes a traveling musician with her father. The most successful Yiddish musical of all time, Yidl features a soundtrack of folksy lyrics and catchy tunes, joyfully capturing the vitality of traditional small town Jewish life.

Directed by Boris Barnet. Co-director: S. Mardanov. Written by Klimenti Mints. Cinematography: Mikhail Kirillov. Original Music: Sergei Pototsky. Cast: Elena Kuzmina (Maria), Lev Sverdlin (Yussuf), Nikolai Kryuchkov (Aliosha), Semyon Svashenko (president of the fishermen's collective), V. Sateyeva, Aleksandr Zhukov, Andrei Dolinin, Sergei Komarov. Russian with English subtitles. Print source: Seagull Films.

Once a professional boxer, Boris Barnet turned to filmmaking in the early 1920s and rightfully became the father of Soviet film comedy. In this delightful romantic tale, Yussuf and Aliosha are two young shipwrecked sailors who lust after Misha, a gorgeous island beauty. Later revered by Jean Luc Godard and Ota Iosseliani, By the Bluest of Seas revels in joyful youth and spontaneity.

Directed by Boris Barnet. Written by Konstantin Finn and Boris Barnet. Cinematography: Mikhail Kirillov and A. Spiridonov. Art Director: S. Kozlovsky. Original Music: Sergei Vasilenko. Cast: Sergei Komarov (Alexander Petrovich Greshin, master of the boot workshop), Elena Kuzmina (Manka, his daughter), Robert Erdman (Robert Karlovich). Russian with English subtitles. Print source: Seagull Films.

A cozy provincial town lies in the backwoods, a far distance from the contemporaneous battles of World War I. When the town's peasants discover, however, that their land has been sold from under them, the struggle between the bourgeois and the proletariat hits home and a riot ensues. One of Barnet's most important films, Outskirts is a shining example of the director's masterful ability to combine humor with sincerity, comedy with tragedy.

Directed and Produced by Andy Abrahams Wilson. Based on "Still Dance" created by Eeo Stubblefield. Cinematography and Editing: Andy Abrahams Wilson. Cast: Anna Halprin. Print source: New Day Films.

A breathtaking and lyrical dance documentary showcases the pioneer of post-modern dance, Anna Halprin. As she moves gracefully through landscapes of earth, wind, water, and fire, Halprin, now 80 years old, draws poignant metaphorical connections between the forces of nature and the human body.

Directed by Sergei Gerasimov. Written by Yuri German and Sergei Gerasimov. Cinematography: E. Velichko. Original Music: Venedikt Pushkov. Editing: M. Shapiro. Cast: Nikolai Bogolyubov (Capt. Ilya Letnikov, head of wintering quarters), Tamara Makarova (Zhenya Okhrimenko, doctor), Ivan Novoseltsev (Bogun, aviator), Oleg Zhakov (Kurt Shefer, radioman), Andrei Apsolon (Osya Korfunkel, meteorologist), Ivan Kuznetsov (Sasha Rybnikov, machinist), Pyotr Aleinikov (Moliboga, chef). Print source: Seagull Films.

An enormously popular adventure film, and one of the best of its genre, Seven Courageous tells the tale of a group of explorers sent on a geological expedition to the dangerous northern wilderness. An assault by a blizzard and other perilous forces of nature illuminate the adventurers' tender camaraderie and, most importantly, their capacity to act for the greater good of the group, rather than for individual lives.

Directed by Charles Kent. Written by Catherine Carr. With Charles Kent (Col. Armistead), Hal Wilson (Amber), Norma Talmadge (His Daughter). Print source: Library of Congress.

In one of her earliest roles at the Vitagraph Company production studios, Norma plays the daughter of a Southern gentleman who travels to Washington for a government job.

Former criminals John Remington and his wife Grace are respected, affluent members of their community-until a former gang member bullies the couple into carrying out just one more heist. Variety declared the film's plot "ridiculously impossible" but praised Norma's fine performance.

Production company: Vitagraph Company of America; distributor: The General Film Company; director: Van Dyke Brooke; author: Mrs. Owen Bronson; released September 27, 1913, 2,000 feet. Leading players: Norma Talmadge (Viola), Leo Delaney (John Burton, young playwright), Harry Northrup (John Mears, critic), Van Dyke Brooke (Viola's father), Charles Eldridge (lawyer). Print: Library of Congress.

Friday, March 5, 7:30p.m.
Passages from Finnegans Wake
(USA, 1965, 92 min., 35mm)

Distinguished as a pioneer of experimental animation, Mary Ellen Bute spent ten years crafting this live-action feature film based on James Joyce's magnum opus. Typical of Bute 's poetic studies in light, rhythm, and sound, Passages delights critics, Joyceans, and cineastes. Time magazine wrote that "its dream sequences.featuring reverse footage, collages and montages.frequently are as challenging and witty as Joyce's prose." The rarely seen film was distributed originally by Grove Press.

Daughter of a Native American chief and a Caucasian woman, Wetona returns to her tribe after schooling in the East and finds herself torn between the two cultures of her heritage. When she announces that a man from the East has "defiled" her, a dramatic pursuit ensues, wherein Wetona seeks to warn her lover, and her father seeks to kill him. Heart of Wetona is one of the first features directed by the classical Hollywood legend Sidney A. Franklin. With live piano accompaniment!

The threat of marital infidelity looms large in this superb melodrama. Norma plays two wives, one rich and one poor, each tempted by a beguiling rake. Norma's sister Natalie, who plays the maid of the rich woman and the sister of the poor one, links the interwoven plots. With live piano accompaniment!

Friday, March 26, 7:30p.m.

¡Vamanos con Pancho Villa! ( Let's Join Pancho Villa )
(Mexico, 1935, 92 min., 35mm)

Here de Fuentes examines the Revolution pitilessly, in all its chaos and contradictions. ¡Vámonos! tells the stories of six rancheros who join Pancho Villa's loyal troops and one by one are led to their deaths. The desertion of a single disillusioned survivor contributes to a portrait of the charismatic Pancho Villa as a heartless leader in the face of war's horrors and personal loss. De Fuentes had state support for this first superproduction in Mexican cinema: use of a new film studio; for the film's thrilling, realistic battle scenes, a train (a major protagonist of the film as it was of the Revolution); and a battalion of soldiers as extras. Critical appreciation came late-in a sixties revival-but with its cynical depiction of Mexican leadership, its Grand Illusion -like argument for peace on the personal level, and a score by Silvestre Revueltas, this is now considered the definitive work on the Mexican Revolution. - Adapted from a note for the Pacific Film Archive.

Friday, March 26, 9:15p.m.

Allá en el Rancho Grande ( Out on the Big Ranch )
(Mexico, 1936, 100 min., 35mm)

Directed and Edited by Fernando de Fuentes. Written by Fernando de Fuentes, Antonio Guzmán Aguilera, Luz Guzmán de Arellano. Produced by Alfonso Rivas Bustamante, Fernando de Fuentes. Cinematography: Gabriel Figueroa. Original music: Lorenzo Barcelata, José López Alavés. Cast: Tito Guízar (José Francisco Ruelas), René Cardona (Felipe), Esther Fernández (Cruz), Lorenzo Barcelata (Martín), Emma Roldán (Angela), Carlos López (Florentino), Margarita Cortés (Eulalia). In Spanish with English subtitles. Print source: Filmoteca de la UNAM.

Tito Guízar stars in this signature film of a distinctly Mexican genre, the comedia ranchera . This tragicomic form offered an idealized vision of rural (feudal) life replete with traditional songs and dance. Its brand of folkloric nostalgia struck a chord with the Mexican middle class in the tumultuous second half of the 1930s, and did much to establish mariachis as the national musical form (blurring regional distinctions). The success of Over on the Big Ranch also showed that there was a sizable audience for Mexican "local color" in the U.S. and Latin America . The love-triangle plot has three lifelong friends-a landowner's son and two orphans-overcoming the class barriers that divide them. Gabriel Figueroa's cinematography is always worth the price of admission, and the film makes up in striking visual detail for the 180-degree turn it represents for Fernando de Fuentes from the rigorous reflection in his Revolution trilogy. - Adapted from a note for the Pacific Film Archive.

Saturday, March 27, 7:30p.m.
The Sign on the Door
(USA, 1921, 100 min., 35mm)
WITH LIVE PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT BY STEPHANIE REARICK!

Directed by Herbert Brenon. Adapted by Mary Murillo and Herbert Brenon, based on the play by Channing Pollock. Produced by Joseph M. Schenck. Cinematography: J. Roy Hunt. Cast: Norma Talmadge (Ann Hunniwell/Mrs. "Lafe" Regan), Charles Richman ("Lafe" Regan), Lew Cody (Frank Devereaux), David Proctor (Colonel Gaunt), Augustus Balfour (Ferguson, Devereauxs valet), Mac Barnes ("Kick" Callahan), Helen Weir (Helen Regan), Robert Agnew (Alan Churchill), Martinie Burnlay (Marjorie Blake), Paul McAllister ("Rud" Whiting, district attorney), Louis Hendricks (Inspector Treffy), Walter Bussel (Bates, the Regan butler). Print source: Library of Congress.

A compromising photograph of a woman incites this exciting thriller, adapted from Channing Pollock's Broadway hit. Faced with a highly suspicious husband and a teenage daughter seduced by a rascal, Norma Talmadge executes one of her most riveting melodramatic performances. WITH LIVE PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT BY STEPHANIE REARICK!

The Wisconsin Film Festival, a public program of the University of Wisconsin- Madison Arts Institute, is the state's premier film event. The Festival presents the best recent independent film, world cinema and new media; cultivates discovery through discussions with filmmakers; and showcases the work of Wisconsin filmmakers. Last year's Festival screened more than 150 films from 25 countries, and set record-breaking attendance of 21,000. Tickets go on sale March 4. For more information, visit www.wifilmfest.org or (877) 963-FILM.

Friday, April 9, 7:30p.m.

El Prisonero Trece ( Prisoner 13 )
(Mexico, 1933, 74 min., 35mm)

Directed by Fernando de Fuentes. Written by Fernando de Fuentes and Miguel Ruiz. Cinematography: Ross Fisher. Editing: Aniceto Ortega. Original music: Guillermo A. Posadas.

Cast: Alfredo del Diestro (Colonel Julián Carrasco), Luis G. Barreiro (Zertuche), Adela Sequeyro (Marta), Arturo Campoamor (Juan), Adela Jaloma (Gloria), Emma Roldán (Margarita Ramos), Antonio R. Frausto (Enrique Madariaga, prisoner), Luis Sánchez Tello (Captain Salgado), Joaquín Coss (Ordóñez), Ricardo Carti (José), Octavio Martínez (Prisoner), Fernando A. Rivero (Suicide Prisoner), Ana Guerrero, Roberto Gavaldón, Eduardo Landeta, Raúl de Anda, Alicia Bolaños (Lola). In Spanish with English subtitles. Print source: Filmoteca de la UNAM.

The first film in de Fuentes's trilogy on the Mexican Revolution (of which El Compadre Mendoza is the recognized masterpiece) deals with a tragic incident involving a corrupt army colonel (Alfredo del Diestro) who is ordered to execute a prisoner, and through his own mendacity unwittingly sets in motion a plot to sacrifice his own son. According to critic Federico Serrano, "As opposed to most of the Mexican or foreign directors who have dealt with this theme, from Emilio Fernandez to Elia Kazan, de Fuentes does not give his films an epic or grandiloquent air. In his work, the Revolution is a social phenomenon which is translated into internal movements. Prisoner Number 13 does not deal with the Revolution directly. Instead, de Fuentes uses it as a background for a moralistic tale." The military nevertheless found the film to be offensive, and viewers will recognize the censor's hand in the film's less than satisfying ending. - Adapted from a note for the Pacific Film Archive.

Directed by Fernando de Fuentes. Written by Fernando de Fuentes, Salvador Novo, Rafael M. Saavedra. Produced by Pedro A. Calderón. Cinematography: Ross Fisher, Alex Phillips. Editing: Charles L. Kimball. Original music: Lorenzo Barcelata, Max Urban. Cast: Lupe Velez (Lupe), Rafael Falcón (Ramón Miranda), Arturo de Córdova (Juancho), Joaquín Pardavé (Don Catarino, The Mayor), Carlos López (The Secretary), María Luisa Zea (Marilú), Manuel Noriega (Don Eulogio), Rafael Icardo (Don Atanasio), Carmen Cortés (Petra), Antonio Mendoza (Pedro), Enrique Carrillo (Juan), Alvaro González (José Antonio), Jesús Melgarejo (El Número Doce), Hernán Vera (Don Manuel), David Silva, José Elías Moreno, Conchita Gentil Arcos (Amiga de Lupe). In Spanish with English subtitles. Print source: Filmoteca de la UNAM.

A pioneer Latina actress in Hollywood , the Mexican-born Lupe Vélez gained fame through slapstick comedy roles during the 1930s and 1940s, most notably as "The Mexican Spitfire" in a series of similarly titled exploitation films. La Zandunga is her first starring role in her native country, its filming triggered in part by her fevered reception there during a 1937 visit. De Fuentes stays sensibly out of the way of Vélez's considerable star wattage as he flings her and the plot merrily about the scenic Isthmus of Tehuantepec , celebrating its natural beauty amid songs, comedic interludes, romances, and folklore. "She seems rather calmer than in her English stage and film work," blithely noted the New York Times of Vélez; allowed to escape from Hollywood's more frenzied vision of her persona, she blossoms here as a true romantic heroine, in a setting as exoticized as anything Hollywood created. - Adapted from a note for the Pacific Film Archive.

When Mary Turner is sent to prison for a crime she did not commit, she vows upon her release to take vengeance on those who wronged her, always staying within the letter of the law. "The story is an unusually absorbing one, rich in human interest. Norma Talmadge has never been provided with a more congenial role. As with all her pictures, it has been produced with an apparent disregard for expense. The star has been surrounded by an unusually fine cast. The theme is out of the ordinary and the development and direction are superb. All of these points combine to make Within the Law a production that grips you and rivets your attention from the first flash to the final fade-out." ( Moving Picture World ) With live piano accompaniment!

Directed by Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti. Written by Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti and Manuel Rodríguez. Produced by Thierry Forte, Sarah Halioua, Antonio P. Pérez, Camila Vives. Cinematography: Raúl Rodríguez. Editing: Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti, Antonio Pérez Reina. Original Music: Edesio Alejandro. Cast: Thais Valdés (Carla Pérez), Nacho Lugo (Cesar), Daisy Granados (Cunda), Paula Ali (Cuca), Verónica López (Concha), Luis Manuel Iglesias (Prof. Calzado), Raúl Eguren (El de la Empresa), Edith Massola (The Secretary), Octavio "Churrisco" Rodriguez (El administrador), Raúl Pomares (El cartero), Coralia Veloz (voice)

Carla Pérez, an attractive but lonely postal worker, dreams of winning the lottery but settles for playing God with the letters that pass through her hands. With heaps of poetic references and a evocative visual style, Malberti's whimsical film honors the traditions of silent film comedy. Winner of the Best First Feature and the Cuban Press Association Award at last year's Havana Film Festival.

Friday, April 16, 9:00p.m.
Margarette's Feast ( Festa de Margarette )
( Brazil/USA, 2002, 90 min., 35mm)

Written, Directed, Photographed and Edited by Renato Falcão. Produced by Regina Datria. Original Music: Hique Gomez. Cast: Hique Gomez (Pedro), Carmem Silva, Jefferson Silveira, Isis Medeiros, Pedro Gil, Artur Pinto, Dimitri Sanchez, Leonardo Lentino, Ilana Kaplan (Margarette).

Pedro, an affable "everyman", wants to throw a party for his wife but loses his job just before her birthday. An homage to silent, black-and-white films of a cinema passed, Renato Falcão's stunning debut feature thrills the senses with its exhilarating soundtrack, exuberant acting styles, and audacious cinematic techniques. Full of humor and affection, Margarette's Feast won a FIPRESCI Award at the Motovun Film Festival, and two prizes at the Brazilia Festival of Brazilian Cinema.

Saturday, April 17, 9:00p.m.

Margarette's Feast ( Festa de Margarette )
( Brazil/USA, 2002, 90 min., 35mm)

Friday, April 23, 7:30p.m.

El Compadre Mendoza ( Godfather Mendoza )
(Mexico, 1933, 85 min., 35mm)

Written and Directed by Fernando de Fuentes and Juan Bustillo Oro. Based on a story by Juan Bustillo Oro and Mauricio Magdaleno. Produced by José Castellot hijo, Rafael Angel Frías, Antonio Prida Santacilia. Cinematography: Ross Fisher. Editing: Fernando de Fuentes. Original music: Manuel Castro Padilla. Cast: Alfredo del Diestro (Rosalío Mendoza ), Carmen Guerrero (Dolores "Lolita" Garcia Mendoza), Antonio R. Frausto (Gen. Felipe Nieto), Luis G. Barreiro (Tenógenes), Emma Roldán (María, the mute), José Ignacio Rocha (Jerónimo, the servant), José del Río (Felipe Mendoza). In Spanish with English subtitles. Print source: Filmoteca de la UNAM.

Through its satirical portrait of an opportunistic landowner, El Compadre Mendoza presents a complex analysis of the corrupted ideals of the Mexican Revolution, and in particular of the self-interested ambivalence of the middle class. Mendoza (Alfredo del Diestro, who established himself as a Mexican Raimu in Prisoner Number 13 ) survives the civil war by alternately hanging the flags of the government and revolutionary forces, depending on the colors worn by the approaching troops. He names a dashing young Zapatista leader (who is in love with his wife) godfather to his son, but easily betrays his kinsman when political push comes to economic shove. The film and its director were rediscovered in the 1960s by the French critic Georges Sadoul, who cited El Compadre Mendoza' s modern qualities, and its "humor, vivid sense of observation, and memories of the Mexican Revolution (then still very recent)." - Adapted from a note for the Pacific Film Archive.

Friday, April 23, 9:00

Jalisco Canta en Sevilla ( Jalisco Sings in Seville )
(Mexico, 1948, 133 min., 35mm)

Written, Directed, and Produced by Fernando de Fuentes. Based on a story by Paulino Masip, Adolfo Torrado. Cinematography: Víctor Herrera. Editing: Juan Serra. Original music: Manuel L. Quiroga. Cast: Gabriel Algara, Antonio Almorós, Manuel Arbó, Francisco Bernal, Angel de Andrés, Morenito de Talavera, Manolo Escudero, Custodia España, Casimiro Hurtado. In Spanish with English subtitles. Print source: Filmoteca de la UNAM.

Here de Fuentes invigorates the decade-old comedia ranchera genre by dragging its pistol-wearing heroes and songs of rural pride off the back-country ranch and straight to the Old World of Spain, colliding the tough ex-colonized of Mexico with their genteel ex-colonizers. Legendary singer Jorge Negrete is Nacho Mendoza, the "charro from Jalisco," his onscreen image of proud ranchero mirroring that of his successful recording career. Journeying to Spain with his comic-relief buddy Nopal (Soto la Marina , a.k.a. El Chicote) to collect an inheritance, Nacho finds these Spaniards a strange breed indeed, but nothing that a few songs, some fistfights, and plenty of kisses (for a rancher's beautiful daughter) cannot conquer. One of several "Jalisco" films that de Fuentes and Negrete collaborated on, Jalisco Sings in Seville was filmed to open up Spanish audiences to Mexican films, and remains a fascinating example of Mexico 's vibrant popular cinema and its effort to exploit every possible market. - Adapted from a note for the Pacific Film Archive.

In the wake of The Sheik (1921), prominent screenwriter Frances Marion wrote and co-directed The Song of Love , an Arabian spy story set in Algeria . Norma plays a native dancing girl, and though the suspenseful story of romance and murder is completely enjoyable, the film is worth watching simply for the cast's outrageously lavish costumes. With live piano accompaniment!

Master of melodrama Frank Borzage ( Seventh Heaven , A Farewell to Arms ) directs Norma in arguably her finest picture, a weepy about a widowed singer who loses custody of her son, only to meet him again many years later in her Marseilles café. In its emphasis on the experiences of single motherhood, The Lady was a vital precursor to an important cycle of American cinema, the maternal melodrama.

Friday, April 30, 7:30p.m.
Solovky Power ( Solovetsky Vlast )
(Soviet Union, 1989, 93 min., BetaSP)

Directed by Marina Goldovskaya. Written by Dmitri Chukovsky, Marina Goldovskaya,Viktor Listov. Original music: Nikolai Karetnikov, Marianna Krutoyarskaya. Cinematography: Marina Goldovskaya.

This award-winning, harrowing documentary reveals the painful truth about the first Soviet prison camp, Solovky. Located on a remote island in the White Sea , Solovky became the model for the gulag system. Goldovskaya's groundbreaking film, which was recently transferred from 35mm to video with a new soundtrack, catapulted the director to international acclaim.

Saturday, May 1, 7:30p.m.
A Taste of Freedom
(Soviet Union, 1991, 46 min., BetaSP)

Directed by Marina Goldovskaya. Produced by Roland Joffe. Cast: Sasha Politkovsky, Anya Politkovsky.

Goldovskaya spends six weeks with a couple whose daily existence reflects the turmoil and uncertainty of the times. As TV journalist Sasha Politkovsky tests the limits of the new freedom afforded Russian reporters, Anya grows deeply concerned for his safety.

Directed and Photographed by Marina Goldovskaya. Produced by Georg Herzfeld and Chantal Bernheim. Editing: Marina Goldovskaya, Tatiana Samoilova. Music: Marina Kroutojarskaja.

In a tiny village outside of Moscow , Prince Eugene Meshersky struggles to resurrect his life while restoring the ruins of his ancestor's castle to its former glory. The Prince's unwavering persistence serves as a metaphor for Russians trying to rebuild their country after years of shattered dreams and political upheaval.