SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

MAGNOLIA

Fall 2021 special presentations will include 35mm prints of contemporary classics like Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, P.T. Anderson’s Magnolia, Sean Baker’s The Florida Project, and David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr., in honor of its 20th anniversary. Also on 35mm, Andrzej Zulawski’s bonkers Possession and Carl Foreman’s star-studded WWII drama The Victors. Plus, a screening of the recent digital restoration of Rashomon, presented in conjunction with University Theatre’s fall staging of a new play based on Kurosawa’s legendary film.

  • Sat., Sep. 4 | 7:00 PM
    4070 Vilas Hall

In 1969 Tinseltown, former TV cowboy Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) struggles to maintain his leading man status, even though he receives endless encouragement and support from his sidekick and stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt, in his Oscar-winning role). Cliff and Rick’s odyssey through the darkest fringes and into the beating heart of the entertainment industry finds them interacting with savvy agents, child actors, Bruce Lee, Sharon Tate (Robbie), and the Manson family. Writer-director Tarantino’s witty, violent, and unforgettable epic mixes fantasy and real-life Hollywood history that results in one of the best movies of the last decade. This screening marks the first opportunity for Madison audiences to view and experience OUATIH on Tarantino’s preferred format, a 35mm film print.

  • Fri., Sep. 10 | 7:00 PM
    4070 Vilas Hall

Director Kurosawa and his star Mifune gained international fame and awakened the world to the importance of Japanese cinema with this story of murder told through the eyes of four different characters. The defining event takes on a different twist with each retelling. Rashomon remains a potent allegory of the chaotic conditions in Japan immediately following World War II. This screening is presented in conjunction with University Theatre’s stage production of Rashomon, directed by David Furumoto, September 16-26.

  • Fri., Nov. 5 | 7:00 PM
    4070 Vilas Hall

Wildly perverse, rattlingly unpredictable, and hard-to-see in the US until recently, Zulawski’s baroque knockout is like nothing you’ve ever seen. An unhinged nightmare of sexual jealousy shot through with surrealist flourishes, this Eurohorror freakout has earned devoted fans all over the world.  Neill and Adjani (who won Best Actress at Cannes for her performance) star as a couple whose failing marriage devolves into a melee of psychosis and violence.  “A head-spinning masterpiece!” (Time Out New York).

  • Sat., Nov. 6 | 7:00 PM
    4070 Vilas Hall

An amnesiac woman (Harring), with the help of a bright-eyed, newly arrived Hollywood hopeful (Watts), searches for her identity.  With filmic quotes from Sunset Boulevard, Gilda and Persona, Mulholland Dr. contemplates the corruption and empty promises behind Tinseltown with some of the most arresting images and sounds ever committed to celluloid. Lynch was awarded the best director prize at Cannes for what has proven to be one of his most enduring works, a project originally intended as a pilot for ABC that became one of the most acclaimed movies of the 21st century.

  • Sat., Nov. 13 | 7:00 PM
    4070 Vilas Hall

A budget motel just outside of Walt Disney World provides the unforgettable setting for this contemporary classic of American indie cinema.  Blissfully unaware of the precariousness of her situation, six year-old Moonee (Prince) and her friends treat the run down Magic Castle as their private wonderland, while her mom (Vinaite) resorts to increasingly dangerous methods of making ends meet.  This 35mm presentation coincides with the publication of UW-Madison Professor Emeritus J.J. Murphy’s revelatory new monograph on the film’s production. (MK)

  • Fri., Nov. 19 | 7:00 PM
    4070 Vilas Hall

George Lucas produced this sequel to his 1973 blockbuster youth classic that follows almost all of the teen characters from the original (Richard Dreyfuss’ Curt is absent) as they face adulthood across the increasingly turbulent and dangerous 1960s. Breaking from American Graffiti’s simple one-night storytelling strategy, Lucas and screenwriter-director Norton cleverly set the action across four consecutive December 31sts, which are intercut using three different screen aspect ratios.

  • Sat., Dec. 4 | 7:00 PM
    4070 Vilas Hall

After achieving enormous success with The Guns of Navarone, celebrated screenwriter and producer Foreman made his only directorial effort with this star-studded WWII action extravaganza. The story follows the lives of a single squadron of American soldiers in Europe, from 1940 Britain to 1945 Berlin. Foreman keeps the episodic, multi-character structure consistently compelling, providing his actors with many opportunities to shine. In addition to Edwards, Peppard, and Moreau, the international cast includes Albert Finney, George Peppard, Melina Mercouri, Romy Schneider, Eli Wallach, Peter Fonda, and Elke Sommer.

  • Sat., Dec. 11 | 7:00 PM
    4070 Vilas Hall

The intersecting, troubled lives of a motley assortment of Angelenos at the end of the 20th century power the story of auteur filmmaker Anderson’s ambitious and rewarding third feature. Breathtakingly edited and concluding on an almost biblical level, the film is ultimately carried by its amazing cast: Moore, Hoffman, John C. Reilly, Jason Robards (in his final film), Philip Baker Hall, and, in the role of a lifetime, Cruise as Frank T.J. Mackey.

  • Sat., Dec. 18 | 7:00 PM
    4070 Vilas Hall

Highlighting works produced in Communication Arts Media Production courses at UW Madison, this program is curated by the instructors of film, video and animation courses and gives new filmmakers the opportunity to present their films on screen for the first time.