Shakespeare Wallah (James Ivory, 1965, 35mm, 120 mins)

James Ivory in person! With Bollywood on the rise, vagabond British Shakespeareans tour post-colonial India to dwindling audiences and a growing sense that an era has come to an end. Shashi Kapoor, Felicity Kendal, and Madhur Jaffrey form a triangle of lovers at the film’s heart, with a score composed by the great Satyajit Ray. “A breezy and beguiling study, comedy, romance, elegy” (Alan Scherstuhl). 35mm print from the Yale Film Archive.

New York Ninja (John Liu/Kurtis Spieler, 1984/2021, 35mm, 93 mins)

Kurtis Spieler in person! A New York TV technician becomes a ninja to avenge the death of his wife at the hands of villain Freddie Cufflinks—but that’s not the real story of this recent re-discovery. When hours of silent, unedited 35mm film shot in the 1980s was found by Connecticut’s Vinegar Syndrome, Spieler assembled the footage, found actors to record dialogue, and discovered what it’s like to make a 1980s ninja movie in 2021. 35mm print from Vinegar Syndrome.

Within Our Gates (Oscar Micheaux, 1920, 35mm, 83 mins)

Solomon Sir Jones Films (Solomon Sir Jones, 1924-1928, DCP)

Live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin! African-American life in the 1920s is revealed through the documentaries of Oklahoma’s Solomon Sir Jones and the bold drama Within Our Gates, the oldest known surviving film by an African-American director. 35mm print from the Yale Film Archive, DCP from the Beinecke Library. Co-presented with the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library in honor of the centenary of Solomon Sir Jones’s filmmaking career.

Film: The Living Record of Our Memory (Inés Toharia, 2021, DCP, 120 mins)

Exploring the history of film—and film preservation—through the eyes of individual archivists, preservationists, and filmmakers working to ensure that film history is not forgotten, Toharia’s documentary is “a cautionary tale urging us to be more aware of how we store and preserve what we film and watch” (Charles Bramesco). DCP from Filmoption.

“Cinemix” features stand-alone screenings of standout films, presented by the Yale Film Archive and our colleagues from across campus and beyond.

Class Pictures: Student Archivist Screening Night #4 (Selected 16mm rarities, 90 mins)

The students take over the screen for one of our most beloved events. See shorts that are selected, inspected, researched, repaired, and introduced by students in FILM 604: The Film Archive. The night’s lineup will be full of surprises, providing a fascinating glimpse into a great trove of little-known oddities made throughout the 20th century. You never know what you’ll see, but you’ll only see it here! 16mm prints from the Yale Film Archive.