Fall film programming tips are sliding over the Reeler HQ transom today almost faster than I can keep up with them. In my feeble effort to be comprehensive, here are a few of the doozies:
–From Sept. 23 through the end of the year, MoMA is teaming up with the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting to host–wait for it—Made in NY, a 20-film program comprising perhaps the most obvious, user-friendly New York cinema selections of the last 40 years. Which I do not necessarily mean as a bad thing–Do the Right Thing is here, as are the dated-but-underrated Moonstruck and the default “transgressive NYC” tandem of Midnight Cowboy and Requiem for a Dream. Most brilliantly, however, MoMA will screen The Godfathers Part I and II consecutively on Saturday, Sept. 30. I normally would not even consider making other plans during the run of the New York Film Festival, but that is a rarer treat than you would think. Take advantage of it.
A little less newsy, I suppose, is MoMA’s Otto Preminger series, running the entirety of October and featuring nine films including Advise and Consent and Bonjour Tristesse–both of which will be introduced by the filmmaker’s widow, Hope Preminger. The outlandish Jackie Gleason/Carol Channing “comedy” Skidoo is also in line for a screening, so plan accordingly–it is not available on video.
–Makor just released its October program, which includes an Oct. 30 return engagement of A Prairie Home Companion with Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor in attendance. Tickets are $25 and will probably sell out before I even publish this. Also on the sked are the sure-to-arouse, first-ever Fordham Law Film Festival (featuring The Accused, Judgment at Nuremberg and In the Bedroom among other titles) and a preview of Stanley Nelson’s sublime Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple, followed by a discussion and Q&A with Nelson and some guy named VanAirsdale. From some movie blog in town? Never heard of him.
–Finally, Film Forum teases the world with a glimpse of its own fall and winter slate, which kicks off in late October with an engagement (and a new print) of Werner Herzog’s Aguirre: The Wrath of God. Also in October: The Soros/Sundance Documentary Fund 10th Anniversary Film Festival. A restored version of The Rules of the Game screens Nov. 1-16, while a 28-film Woody Allen retrospective winds down the year. Finally, Billy Wilder’s mortifying Ace in the Hole –a rarely-screened high point of two recent Wilder retrospectives in NYC–gets a full week next January.
The program is not available online at the moment, so follow the jump for a full read-through. And start saving your money, I guess.

FILM FORUM FALL/WINTER 2006/2007 REPERTORY PREVIEW
October 20-25 & October 30/31** 8 Days!
Werner Herzog’s AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD
New 35mm Print! Starring Klaus Kinski
(1972) Deep in the Peruvian jungle, conquistador Klaus Kinski seizes command of a scouting expedition with its eyes on the lost city of El Dorado. The film that introduced the world to the legendary director-actor team and established 29-year-old Herzog as a filmmaker of unique vision and reckless eccentricity. “One of the great haunting visions of the cinema.” – Roger Ebert. “One of the 100 All-Time Best Films.” – TIME magazine (2005). (** — see reverse)
November 1-16 16 Days!
Jean Renoir’s THE RULES OF THE GAME
New 35mm Restoration!
(1939) Both a comedy of manners and a biting satirical look at a corrupt society under the shadow of war, Renoir’s beloved masterpiece has been on most lists of all-time great movies–often as number one. But now, thanks to painstaking digital restoration, this “film of films” (François Truffaut) can finally be seen in all its visual glory in a complete 35mm print. “As fresh, funny and poignant as it ever was, and even more mysterious. How did Renoir do it?” – J. Hoberman. “Stands above all other films because, quite simply, it has it all. If one movie can stand for all others, represent all that film can be, that film is THE RULES OF THE GAME.” – Paul Schrader.
November 17-30 Two Weeks!
Jean-Luc Godard’s
TWO OR THREE THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER…
New 35mm Print!
(1966) In what has been called “the summit of Godard’s work,” Marina Vlady plays both an actress in a film and a housewife from the Paris suburbs who turns tricks in the city once a month. A summing up of Godard’s concerns and techniques from that decade in which he singlehandedly redefined the avant-garde. The widescreen photography by frequent Godard collaborator Raoul Coutard (CONTEMPT, BAND OF OUTSIDERS, etc.) has been restored with its diamond bright colors of late 60s haute kitsch. With new subtitles by veteran Godard translator Lenny Borger. “Perhaps Godard’s greatest feature!” – Susan Sontag. “One of the top ten films of the 20th Century!” – J. Hoberman.
December 1-21 Three Weeks! Over 40 Films!
FOX BEFORE THE CODE
A three-week festival of racy and sophisticated movies from the early 1930s, before the strict enforcement of the self-censoring Hollywood Production Code. Of all the studios, those from Fox Studio (prior to its merger with Darryl F. Zanuck’s 20th Century Pictures) are among the most daring of the era. This series features over 40 rarities and re-discoveries, with stars like Clara Bow (who made her last two films for Fox), Cary Grant, Loretta Young, George Raft, Jean Harlow, and spotlights the early career of Spencer Tracy, when he was the studio’s answer to Jimmy Cagney, playing the same kinds of brash, cocky Irishmen. Directors featured in the series include Raoul Walsh, Frank Borzage, Fritz Lang, Erich von Stroheim, William Wellman, Victor Fleming and many others.
December 22-January 11 Three Weeks! 28 Movies!
ESSENTIALLY WOODY
A three-week 28-movie career overview of New York’s greatest export since cheesecake opens with his chef d’oeuvre ANNIE HALL in a new 35mm print and continues with the best of his four-decade career, from his early comedies (TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN, BANANAS, SLEEPER, LOVE AND DEATH), through his emergence as a more “serious” filmmaker in the mid-70s (INTERIORS, MANHATTAN, etc. etc.), to his more recent work (BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, DECONSTRUCTING HARRY).
January 12-18 One Week!
Billy Wilder’s ACE IN THE HOLE
New 35mm Restoration! Starring Kirk Douglas
Wilder’s most venomous and cynical attack on American greed stars Kirk Douglas as a ruthless reporter who exploits a doomed man trapped in a cave. Perhaps the director’s most infamous film (“Americans expected a cocktail and felt I was giving them a shot of vinegar instead” – Billy Wilder), ACE’s brand new restoration places this vitriolic tour de force deservedly at the top rung of his oeuvre. “Its reputation has gathered steam. Maybe the time for ACE IN THE HOLE is now.” – Sarah Fishko, WNYC.
**From October 26-29, Film Forum hosts the Soros/Sundance Documentary
Fund Tenth Anniversary Film Festival.
More than a dozen documentaries on social justice and human rights issues, all made with support from the Soros/Sundance Documentary Fund, will be screened this weekend in recognition of the Fund’s 10th anniversary. Films include SENORITA EXTRAVIADA, CHILDREN UNDERGROUND, and the Oscar-winning ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER, with most screenings followed by discussions with filmmakers and activists.
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