(DET sJUNDE INSEGLET, Ingmar Bergman, Sweden 1957, 96 min., Swedish with subtitles, 35mm)

A knight (Max von Sydow) and his squire return from the Crusades to their plague-ravaged and spiritually lost homeland. Their aim is to fend off the black spectre of Death by challenging him to a game of chess. The first of an intense series of Bergman films that grapple with the doubts and contradictions of religious belief suggests that God is silent and death is implacable. Fifty years after its first release, it remains a cinematic masterpiece for all time. New 35mm print!