Our next series is filled with timeless classics spanning four decades. It’s a daunting task to assemble only six films from world cinema without the feeling that we’re neglecting a particular director or country. This series has some atypical choices. For instance, we’ll screen one of Bergman’s rare comedies instead of one of his many insightful dramas. From the French director Jean Cocteau we’re screening his lesser known but wildly imaginative adaptation of the Greek myth Orpheus. From Japan instead of a popular film from Akira Kurosawa, we have one from Yasujiro Ozu, a director overlooked for decades in the West. Join us as a we wander outside of Hollywood for a while and please stay tuned for another Foreign Film class in the future.

The schedule for this class will straddle the holidays, so please pay close attention to the class dates! Although each class officially begins at 3pm, some participants choose to come early at 2:30pm to watch bonus material such as scenes from related movies and extra content related to the series or each particular screening.

November 8 – Orpheus (Released 1/1/1950) directed by Jean Cocteau, 95 minutes. A retelling of the Greek myth where Orpheus, a devotee of Dionysus, enters Hades to bring back his wife, Eurydice. This is visual poetry and dreamlike storytelling from Cocteau at the height of his powers.

November 15 – Tokyo Story (Released 11/3/1953) directed by Yasujiro Ozu, 136 minutes. An aging couple leave their small town to visit their grown children in bustling, post-war Tokyo. Ironically, it wasn’t released in the US until 1972, apparently because the decision-makers thought it too Japanese, preferring directors like Kurosawa and Kinugasa. This simple family drama perfectly demonstrates the generational conflicts of all cultures and people, and consistently ranks in the top 5 among the greatest films of all time.

November 22 – Smiles of a Summer Night (Released 12/26/1955) directed by Ingmar Bergman, 108 minutes. Four men and four women spend a weekend in the country in this boudoir farce set at the turn of the 20th century in Sweden. Bergman was depressed and at a low point in his career when he wrote and directed this, his international breakthrough film.

December 6 – Blow-Up (Released 1/1/1966) directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, 111 minutes. A bored and egotistical photographer in swinging London finds his passion renewed as he investigates a possible murder he may have photographed. Antonioni directed his first English language film and created a counter cultural milestone.

January 3 – Wings of Desire (Released 5/17/1987) directed by Wim Wenders, 127 minutes. Two angels in Berlin provide invisible rays of hope to the distressed people in their everyday lives. One angel falls in love with a trapeze artist and is willing to give up eternal life to experience the sensual world that mortals take for granted. This is time capsule capturing a unique moment before the Berlin wall came down.

January 17 – Babette’s Feast (Released 10/1/87) directed by Gabriel Axel, 104 minutes. A pious family living in seclusion in a remote village on the western coast of Denmark takes in an exiled Parisian chef for room and board. After fourteen years of service she prepares them a true Paris feast to thank her host family. The first Danish film to a win Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, it is based on a 1958 short story written by Isak Denison.