During May and June, we’ll present four highly acclaimed recent releases making their first local theatrical appearances in our Dryden Theatre, beginning with the May 10 and 11 screenings of Pere Portabella’s The Silence Before Bach. Portabella’s unique cinematic essay is a series of comic, dramatic, and documentary episodes that each pay homage to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, while collectively suggesting that modern Europe owes much more to its classical music tradition than we might expect.

Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterwork Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford, returns to the Dryden in an all-new “Final Cut” that includes newly remastered special effects and some newly shot footage. The most comprehensive version we could ever expect of this provocative and visually mind-blowing work of speculative cinema, Blade Runner: The Final Cut screens on May 24 and 25.

An unusually funny and deadpan comedy of the sexes, director Sangsoo Hong’s Woman on the Beach (screening June 13) tells the story of a self-centered film director who instigates affairs with two women, and ultimately reveals his awkward, egotistical, and chauvinistic personality. One of South Korea’s most acclaimed contemporary filmmakers, Hong’s talents suggest a Korean equivalent of Albert Brooks.

Finally, Taiwanese filmmaker Hsiao-Hsien Hou travels outside of Asia for the first time, and his resulting effort, Flight of the Red Balloon (June 28 & 29), is a delightful and moving tribute to the transformative powers of all art. Set in a gorgeous Paris, the film pays homage to Albert Lamorisse’s immortal The Red Balloon while following the story of the growing relationship between a single-mother puppeteer (Juliette Binoche) and her film student nanny (Song Fang).