Cornell Cinema announces the spring semester film slate, which features a mix of contemporary and classic films selected to spark curiosity, inspire understanding, and advance teaching across disciplines. Weekly screenings will resume on Thursday, January 25 in the historic Willard Straight Theatre. Additional information will be available at cinema.cornell.edu.
The semester kicks off with Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950), presented in a 35mm print courtesy of Janus Films. Kurosawa’s masterpiece is a psychological thriller told from four points of view: a woman, her murdered husband (speaking from beyond the grave), his attacker, and a woodcutter who witnessed the crime. The film screens as part of “Introduction to Japanese Film,” one of two course-driven film series on offer at Cornell Cinema this term. The other — “Cinematic Cities,” co-taught by Patty Keller, associate professor of Spanish and comparative literature in Romance studies in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), and Cecilia Lawless, senior lecturer of Spanish language and literature (A&S) — will feature four films that explore the dynamic nature of urban space through cinema. Screenings will take place on Monday evenings at 7pm beginning with one of the earliest city films, Walter Ruttman’s Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927), which screens on Monday, January 31 in a digital restoration courtesy of the Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin.
This year’s “New Visions, New Voices” program will highlight ten critically-acclaimed, debut features by filmmakers from across the globe. Highlights include the Ukrainian war drama Klondike (2022), directed by Maryna Er Gorbach, Saim Sadiq’s Joyland (2022), A.V. Rockwell’s poignant drama A Thousand and One (2023), and Arnold is a Model Student (2022), a Thai political satire by Sorayos Prapapan. In collaboration with the Department of Performing and Media Arts, we are also pleased to welcome Cornell alums Jason Goldman ’03 and Greg Reese ’02 for a screening of Goldman’s debut documentary feature Rowdy Girl (2023), which tells the story of a former Texas cattle rancher who goes vegan and transforms her husband’s beef operation into a farmed animal sanctuary.
Local families can beat the winter blues with Sunday matinees at Cornell Cinema. The semester will begin with the latest from Studio Ghibli: Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-nominated film The Boy and the Heron (2023), which screens in an English-language dub on Sunday, January 28. (You can catch the Japanese-language version with English subtitles on Saturday, January 27 at 7pm.) February will feature three movie musicals by the iconic composing duo Richard Rogers & Oscar Hammerstein II – better known as Rogers & Hammerstein – including The Sound of Music (1965), The King and I (1956), and Carousel (1956). Finally, in March, we will focus on the Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, presenting four of its distinctive, hand-drawn animated features, including the Academy Award-winning Wolfwalkers (2020). Founded in 1999 by a trio of Irish filmmakers in Kilkenny, the animation studio celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
Cornell Cinema is pleased to participate for the first time in Science on Screen, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “Science on Screen” supports creative pairings of current, classic, cult, and documentary films with lively introductions by notable figures from the world of science, technology, and medicine. Cornell Cinema’s program will foreground cutting-edge research happening across campus and include topics such as food science, environmental governance, deep fake technology, and particle physics. The first Science on Screen event will take place on Thursday, February 1 with Steven Wolf, associate professor of natural resources and environment (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) presenting Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi (1982), a prescient meditation on relations between humans and the environment.
Our spring calendar will also feature numerous filmmaker visits and special events catalyzed in collaboration with various campus departments and programs. Cornell Cinema will offer an exclusive chance to experience in 3D Anselm, a cinematic portrait of artist Anselm Kiefer by the acclaimed German filmmaker Wim Wenders. We are pleased to present the theatrical headphones version of 32 Sounds, an immersive feature documentary by filmmaker Sam Green that explores the elemental phenomenon of sound and its power to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us. Each member of the audience will receive their own set of headphones for a special, immersive audio experience. Finally, we look forward to welcoming filmmaker Davy Chou for a February screening of Return to Seoul as the kick-off event for our annual French Film Festival, supported by the Albertine Cinematheque/FACE Foundation.
In addition, Cornell Cinema is partnering with the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies to welcome to campus filmmaker Maria Niro and Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko for a screening of Krysztof Wodiczko: The Art of Un-War. The Milstein Program in Humanity and Technology and the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program will welcome Muscogee journalist Angel Ellis and filmmaker Joe Peeler for a screening of Bad Press. The Jewish Studies Program will welcome filmmaker Aviva Kempner for a screening of her latest documentary A Pocket Full of Miracles: A Tale of Two Siblings. And the South Asia Program at the Einaudi Center and the Lab of Ornithology will welcome Shaunak Sen for a screening of All That Breathes.
More information about these and other filmmaker visits is forthcoming on cinema.cornell.edu, and additional films and events will be announced throughout the semester. Sign up for the Cornell Cinema email list to stay up to date on the latest happenings.
The best way to take advantage of all that Cornell Cinema has to offer is to purchase an All-Access Pass, which offers complimentary admission to all regular Cornell Cinema screenings for one low, annual price. Passes are available to purchase online and are valid for the remainder of the 2023-24 academic year. Those preferring to purchase individual tickets for screenings can do so via the online ticketing platform or in-person at the Cornell Cinema box office on the day of each screening.
Cornell Cinema is committed to accessibility for all visitors. The theater has wheelchair and companion seating as well as a lift to move from the outer to the inner lobby, which includes an accessible, gender-neutral washroom. Cornell Cinema also has assistive listening headsets and closed caption readers available for checkout at the Box Office. To inquire about accommodations for an upcoming screening, call 607-255-3522. Find more information about volunteer ushering, advertising opportunities, our cinema rental program, and ways of supporting Cornell Cinema at cinema.cornell.edu.
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