A CLOSE UP (filmmakers-in-person) series Screening and talk with Sabine El Chamaa A film script is an unfinished work, a ghost that seeks to inhabit a form. Where do the characters that are conceived for years, but that fail to find their bodies in an image, reside? This film attempts to materialize their presence in New York City. Sabine El Chamaa is a Lebanese filmmaker and is currently a Fellow at the Center for Human Rights and the Arts at Bard College. She has a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London from the department of Communications, Media and Cultural Studies and an MFA from USC Cinematic Arts in Film Production. Her projects include fiction and non-fiction films, multidisciplinary installations, photography, and podcasts. Her current interests are centered on the ongoing reconstruction of collective and personal memory in relation to one’s embodied experience and personal archives. Screening of work-in-progress and in-person talk with Sabine El Chamaa Presented by Center for Human Rights & the Arts, Bard College

Leo and Remi are two thirteen-year-old best friends, whose seemingly unbreakable bond is suddenly, tragically torn apart. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Lukas Dhont's second film is an emotionally transformative and unforgettable portrait of the intersection of friendship and love, identity and independence, and heartbreak and healing

It’s not easy being an artist: As she prepares for a solo show, Lizzy (Michelle Williams) has a broken water heater, annoying parents and a troubled brother … and that’s just the start of her problems. Kelly Reichardt (WENDY AND LUCY) returns with a funny and touching tale of a creative soul in turmoil. With Judd Hirsch, Hong Chau and Andre Benjamin. (U.S., 2022, 108m) “A wry comedy about a solitary sculptor … [feels] universal and true.” –Screen International Short: Michelle Williams plays a sculptor struggling to prepare for a solo show • “Universal and true” –Screen International

A Scandinavian successor to Tarkovsky, Hlynur Pálmason has created deeply spiritual and troubling and cinematically breathtaking tales of men wrestling with their own futility. Here, a young Danish priest (played by the luminous Danish actor Elliott Crosset Hove) travels to Iceland, hoping to build a church and make photographs. His efforts are blunted by the irresistible forces of nature and his own arrogance. The scenes are luminous and awe-inspiring: a waterfall that vanishes before it reaches the surface, an animal carcass being subsumed into the earth … (Denmark-Iceland-France-Sweden 2022, 143m) “Steadily gripping, often mordantly funny … Pálmason’s camera exalts in every magisterial frame … a source of never-ending awe.” –L.A. Times

Film preceded by a live performance by David Rothenberg and Lucie Vitkova and followed by a Q&A. The musician David Rothenberg gathered together an international band of musicians for a visionary experiment: how to cross the species line and make music live with nightingales. As it turns out, jamming with nightingales is easy—every tune makes them sing more. But it leads to a deeper encounter, an unanswerable question, a listening unlike any other, as Ville Tanttu’s film captures. (Finland, 2019, 52m)

Purchase ticket for film screening only -or- Free with purchase of ticket to Skip Lievsay masterclass Veteran Hollywood sound editor Midge Costin explores cinema’s secret sauce: the power of sound. While directors, actors and cinematographers get the bulk of the credit, what we hear is as important as what we see, and Costin introduces us to unsung heroes—Walter Murch, Ben Burtt and Gary Rydstrom–and the greats who appreciate their work, including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, David Lynch, Barbra Streisand, Ang Lee, Sofia Coppola and Ryan Coogler. Followed by a conversation with the legendary sound designer Skip Lievsay, nominated for Oscars for ROMA, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, TRUE GRIT and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and winner for GRAVITY. (U.S., 2019, 95m).  “Leaves you eager to go hear a favorite movie for the first time” –Indiewire

After Mark (Sean Connery) falls for the criminally calculating Marnie (Tippi Hedren), he hires her … and then entraps her into marriage. Hitchcock’s most disturbing film, made more so by his own boundary-crossing on-set obsession for his lead actress, spills out of genre mastery and into the more complex, troubling and provocative arena of the art film. The flat sets, reminiscent of German Expressionism, heighten the intensit through their sense of unreality. (U.S., 1964, 130m) “Hitchcock’s best film … psychologically resonant, visually transcendent.” –New Yorker

David Hare’s new classic follows the legendary urban designer (and master manipulator) Robert Moses who, for 40 years, reshaped a city through charm and intimidation. The amazing Ralph Fiennes plays Moses, as he faces off with neighborhood activists who imagine a very different New York City. (U.K., 2022, 180m with intermission) “★★★★★ … Dramatically gripping and politically thoughtful” –The Guardian

In 1968 America, in a moment of extreme partisanship, the cunningly conservative William F. Buckley Jr. (played by David Harewood of Homeland), and the unruly liberal Gore Vidal (Zachary Quinto, Star Trek) began their nightly, televised debates in the lead up to a Presidential election. As they heighten their attacks, and as the discourse outside of the studio turns ugly, the once-sedate TV news becomes supercharged with animosity and rage: a new normal. Jeremy Herrin (All My Sons) directs this blistering political thriller, filmed live from the Young Vic in London’s West End. (U.K., 2023, 180m with intermission) “★★★★ … stupendous. An absolute must-see” –The Guardian

On the eve of World War II, John Halder (played by Doctor Who’s David Tennant) is an ethical, intelligent German professor who is pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences. Dominic Cooke (the Olivier Award-winning Follies) directs C.P. Taylor’s timely tale, with a cast that also features Elliot Levey (Coriolanus) and Sharon Small (The Bay), from London’s Harold Pinter Theatre. (U.K., 2023, 160m with intermission) ” ★★★★ … has the power to chill you to the bone” –Time Out

women who are unable to slow the rising fear, vengeance and retribution in their small village. Directed by Lyndsey Turner (Hamlet) and captured live from the Olivier stage at the National Theatre. (U.K., 2022, 180m with intermission) “★★★★★ … A gripping revival of Arthur Miller’s masterpiece” –The Times

Hitch’s classic, shot inventively on the cheap as the eve of America’s entrance into World War II, follows a factory worker (Robert Cummings) accused of setting a deadly fire at an airplane plant. Thus begins a nationwide pursuit of the man he suspects is the real villain (Norman Lloyd) … only to find a powerful cabal at the end of the line. A taut, entertaining thriller, with scenes written by Dorothy Parker. (U.S., 1942, 108m) “Hitchcock at his best” –Time

In this masterclass we learn how sound design is key to making memorable films Skip Lievsay is a supervising sound editor, re-recording mixer and sound designer who has collaborated closely with the Coen brothers, Alfonso Cuaron and a host of others such as Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Jonathan Demme and Robert Altman. In 2014 he won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing for Gravity; he was also nominated in the same category for the films Inside Llewyn Davis and Roma.He will demonstrate how sound design elevates key scenes in Gravity (2013), Roma (2018) Barton Fink (1991), The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001), No Country for Old Men (2007), and True Grit (2010).

After an amateur historian (Sally Hawkins, an Oscar nominee for SHAPE OF WATER and BLUE JASMINE) makes a stunning discovery, she has a tough time convincing the close-minded academics and historians that its real. But could it be true: that a novice has discovered the burial site of King Richard III? And forced us to rethink his legend? Stephen Frears (THE QUEEN, PHILOMENA) and writer Steve Coogan (THE TRIP) transmute a thrilling true story into a whimsical, inspiring tale. (U.K., 2022, 108m) “Moving … a historical detective story that carries the kick of a true-life Da Vinci Code.” –Variety

Rural Ireland. 1981. Nine-year-old Cait is sent away from her overcrowded, dysfunctional family to live with foster parents for the summer. Quietly struggling at school and at home, she has learned to hide in plain sight from those around her. In his debut, director Colm Bairead tells the story of a girl who, away from her home, begins to blossom, but discovers one painful truth. The highest-grossing Irish language film ever; winner, Berlin Film Festival. (Ireland, 2022, 96m) “A heartfelt tale, made with the deepest sincerity, and packed with soulful portrayals and lovely imagery.” –L.A. Times

For decades, critics have rated Hitchcock’s story of obsession, manipulation and fear as one of cinema’s top five works: VERTIGO’s power endures today. The story follows a detective (Jimmy Stewart) who is forced to retire due to his fear of heights. When he sees a woman who reminds him of someone who died tragically (Kim Novak), he’s pulled into a psychological vortex. Music by Bernard Hermann, costumes by Edith Head, titles by Saul Bass, cinematography by Robert Burks: legends, all. (U.S., 1958, 128m) “One of the landmarks—not merely of the movies, but of 20th-century art” –Chicago Reader