Please note, six screenings:
November 10, 5 & 8 p.m.
November 11, 5 & 8 p.m.
November 12, 5 & 8 p.m.

(Tony Kaye, US 2006, 152 min., Digital Projection)

Tony Kaye, director of the controversial American History X, spent 15 years researching and filming this extraordinary documentary exploring the abortion issue in America. Kaye devotes equal time to both sides, interviewing extremists and average citizens, as well as interspersing thoughtful commentary from political activist Noam Chomsky. An intelligent and compelling investigation into a very complex topic, it also is very graphic in showing the physical and psychological realities of abortion and is not recommended for the faint-hearted. The Dryden’s special three-day run will qualify Lake of Fire for a Best Documentary Academy Award® nomination.

(Cecil B. DeMille, US 1925, 90 min., 35mm)

Legendary director DeMille’s final film for Paramount Pictures before he set up his own studio is a wonderful melodrama set in the Alpines. Scheming American Flora (Lillian Rich) marries into European royalty to bolster her own sagging fortunes. When a tragic accident leaves Flora a widow, she turns her romantic attention toward the unattainable Admah Holtz (Rod La Rocque). Live piano by Philip C. Carli.

(Spike Lee, US 1989, 120 min., 35mm)

Spike Lee’s movie milestone examines the complexities of race relations during a particularly hot 24-hour period in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The cast includes Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Danny Aiello, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson, and the writer/director himself as Mookie. “At a time when too many filmmakers shy away from controversy or politics, Spike Lee hits you with his best shot”—Jack Garner.

(F.W. Murnau, Germany 1926, 106 min., Digital Projection)

Following Nosferatu and The Last Laugh, master expressionist F.W. Murnau hit a crest with his rendering of Goethe’s classic Faust. Emil Jannings plays the diabolical Mephistopheles, who tempts an aging alchemist with the promise of eternal youth for a small price…his everlasting soul. Murnau pushed the limits of visual creativity, using experimental optical effects to create the cinematic equivalent of sturm und drang. Faust will be brought to life with an exhilarating new score performed live by Willem Breuker Kollektief—a ten-piece orchestra from the Netherlands. Admission $10, $8 members/students. No Take-10 tickets or passes.

A co-presentation of the Bop Shop; George Eastman House; the University of Rochester’s Departments of Modern Languages and Cultures, Modern Languages and Cultures German Section, Visual Cultural Studies, Film Studies, and River Campus’ Department of Music; and the Eastman School of Music’s Departments of Musicology and Humanities.

(L’ARMÉE DES OMBRES, Jean-Pierre Melville, France 1969, 145 min., French with subtitles, 35mm)

The most critically acclaimed film event of 2006 was the first-ever US release of Melville’s heart-stopping thriller. In France during the final year of the German occupation, a group of resistance agents find their plans subverted from without and within. The fine cast includes Lino Ventura, Jean-Pierre Cassell, and in one of her greatest performances, Simone Signoret.