Multitalented actresses Setsuko Hara, Machiko Kyo, Hideko Takamine, Kinuyo Tanaka, Ayako Wakao, and Isuzu Yamada—icons from the golden age of 20th-century Japanese cinema—rose to international prominence by enchanting audiences with their beauty, elegance, and commanding range of expression. The 13 films in the program (both jidai-geki, or period dramas, and gendai-geki, or contemporary stories) include works by many of Japan's legendary filmmakers. With special thanks to Janus Criterion, Film Forum, and the Japan Foundation for support.

The ongoing project American Originals Now offers an opportunity for discussion with established independent filmmakers and a chance to share in their art. This two-part retrospective devoted to highlights from the work of Ernie Gehr (born 1943)—one of the most prolific of the generation of American filmmakers who first challenged the notion that the cinema must correspond to visual reality—includes post-screening discussions with the artist. Gehr's concern for film's formal attributes, which can produce beautiful and startling effects, parallels the interests of minimalist art. "Even as film goes the way of all flesh and is supplanted by digital, Gehr's work affirms the persistence of cinema"—Manohla Dargis.

Greek director Michael Cacoyannis (1921–2011) was internationally renowned not only as a film, theater, and opera director—he was also an accomplished writer, actor, and translator, a designer of settings and costumes, a producer, and all-around man of the contemporary theatrical arts. He worked on many of the world's great stages for more than 60 years. While known for his productions of the plays of Euripides, he could masterfully adapt modern writers including O'Neill, Chekhov, and of course his Greek contemporary Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek. Cacoyannis' final film, The Cherry Orchard, and his lauded adaptation of Euripides' Electra are presented as a tribute to the director's career (he died last year). With thanks to the Greek Film Center, Athens, the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, and the Embassy of Greece.

Heir to the robust traditions of early 20th-century Central and Eastern European animation artists, Czech avant-garde animator Jan Švankmajer (born 1934) has been a powerful influence on contemporary filmmakers—Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, and Timothy and Stephen Quay among them. A self-proclaimed surrealist (even a registered member of the Czech Surrealist Society), Švankmajer is just as likely to link his work to oral tradition and folkloric fairy tales. His dreamlike, fantastic fables—more Brothers Grimm than Disney—combine puppet animation with ominous subjects and symbols while probing the machinery of the unconscious mind. For pure outré inventiveness and magic, Švankmajer has no equal in cinema today. This series has been organized in association with curator Irena Kovarova. Additional support provided by the Czech Center New York.

American filmmaker Bill Morrison has devoted much of his artistic career to repurposing archival film footage—creating beautiful new forms from old filmic remnants, frequently collaborating with musicians to engender novel aural and visual sensations. His Decasia: The State of Decay (2002), crafted as a bold multimedia event with music by Michael Gordon, is considered a classic of the art film genre, frequently revived at festivals and international art venues. This program includes five recent works completed by Morrison since his much heralded Decasia, all of them continuing the tradition of marrying forgotten archival cinema and avant-garde sound.

The classic 1956 film by Henri-Georges Clouzot—an imaginative homage to his friend Picasso as the maestro paints before the camera—is shown in conjunction with the exhibition Picasso's Drawings, 1890–1921: Reinventing Tradition. (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1956, 35 mm, French with subtitles, 78 minutes)

Gillian B. Anderson, conductor
National Gallery of Art orchestra members in performance

Segundo de Chomón (1871–1929) worked in Barcelona, Paris, and Turin. He made more than 300 silent films and invented effects for features like Cabiria (1914) and Napoleon (1927). Often compared to French magician and filmmaker Georges Méliès for the technical quality and creativity of his work, Chomón was considered one of the great men of the theater and was hired by major companies like Pathé Frères and Itala Films. The films in this program, Les Cent Trucs, Le Spectre Rouge, Les Oeufs de Pâques, Les Tulipes, En avant la Musique, and Le Voyage sur Jupiter, among others, have the "once upon a time" quality of folk tales with their trick photography used to achieve surreal or Freudian effects. Talented composers from the New York University Steinhardt Film Scoring Program have limited their melodic, rhythmic and harmonic palettes and gestures to those of the first decade of the 20th century and have incorporated Catalan melodies. With thanks to Ron Sadoff and to The Sorel Organization for support. (c. 1903–1912, total running time approximately 70 minutes)

Pere Portabella (born 1929), a veteran Barcelona filmmaker whose narrative features and short films are rich in Catalan textures, was a friend of Joan Miró and worked closely with the artist on special projects, including a group of interesting documentary shorts about his friend: Miró 37/Aidez l’Espagne (1969), Miró l’Altre (1969), Miró Tapís (1974), and Miró la Forja (1973). (Pere Portabella, DigiBeta from 35 mm, total running time 73 minutes)

Introduction and recital by pianist Lincoln Mayorga

A Suitcase Full of Chocolate recounts the extraordinary history of Sofia Cosma, a brilliant concert pianist whose career was suppressed first by the Nazis and later by the Soviets. Years later, against all odds, Cosma reconstructed her life and profession as a performer in Romania, becoming one of the most celebrated pianists of Eastern Europe, then continued her work for many years in the United States and finally in Russia. (Lincoln Mayorga, 2011, DigiBeta, 93 minutes) Sponsored by the Billy Rose Foundation.

The annual Robert Flaherty Seminar is an acclaimed international forum for independent filmmakers, artists, critics, and curators. Founded by Frances Flaherty, widow of Robert Flaherty, the seminar is now in its 57th year. This program includes a selection of experiments, documentaries, and shorts from the 2011 "Sonic Truth" seminar, programmed by historian and curator Dan Streible, department of cinema studies, New York University. This year's selection includes city symphonies, music documentaries, and works by Les Blank, Frank Scheffer, and Sid Laverents, among others. Titles include Window Cleaning in Shanghai (Laura Kissel, 2010, 3 minutes); The Florestine Collection (Helen Hill and Paul Gailiunas, 2011, 29 minutes); The Phantom of the Operator (Caroline Martel, 2004, 66 minutes); Moods of a City (Westwood Movie Club, 1972, 15 minutes); Multiple Sidosis (Sid Laverents, 1970, 10 minutes); Jazz Dance (Roger Tilton, cinematography by Richard Leacock, 1954, 22 minutes); and The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins (Les Blank, 1968, 31 minutes).

Cesc Mulet's poetic documentary The Phosphorescent Trails of Snails, poetically combines documentary and fiction elements to explore color, symbol, and form in Miró's paintings, drawing inspiration from Yvon Taillandier’s Je travaille comme un jardinier. (Cesc Mulet, Televisió de Mallorca, 2009, 54 minutes)

Rebel philosopher Paul Goodman wrote Growing Up Absurd, which became a kind of manual for the youth of the 1960s. In that book and others, he encouraged young Americans to challenge the status quo—the well-established systems whose visible failings, he believed, were crippling society at large. As an outspoken public guru (and instructor at a number of universities including Black Mountain College), Goodman was an omnipresent figure for over a decade. The film provides a fresh look at his life and work. (Jonathan Lee, 2011, HD-Cam, 90 minutes)

Named for Thomas Edison's pioneering New Jersey film studio, this renowned festival competition is now in its 30th year. A selection of the festival's best new documentary and experimental shorts—cutting-edge works from independent film and video makers—is culled from the December 2011 judging and presented by the Black Maria's founding director, John Columbus. (Total running time approximately 120 minutes)

Dennis James, piano, and Douglas Bowles, tenor

In His People, shot on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the sons of a Russian immigrant pushcart peddler are causing huge problems for the family. Determined to become a lawyer, son Morris strives to conceal his true identity, while brother Sammy turns to prizefighting and then gets an Irish girlfriend. Max Dupont's location cinematography adds piquant atmosphere, while period-style vocals and piano score, performed live, supply a 1920s milieu. (Edward Sloman, 1925, 16 mm, 93 minutes)

Amarilly of Clothesline Alley stars Mary Pickford as a down-to-earth Irish cigarette girl in love with the bartender at the Cyclone Café . . . until she gets a taste of the uptown life. (Marshall A. Neilan, 1918, 35 mm, 67 minutes)

Lecture and performance by pianist Leslie Amper

Besides playing a vital role in the New York art scene of the early 20th century, George and Emma Bellows were regulars at concerts, vaudeville shows, dance events, and the cinema. A pianist herself, Emma accompanied silent movies and dance classes, while George was a talented choral singer and drummer. A screening of D. W. Griffith's The New York Hat (1912, 35 mm, 15 minutes)—shot near Emma's childhood home—concludes the program, with piano accompaniment by Leslie Amper, who also discusses the musical life of the Bellows. (Total running time approximately 70 minutes)

One of the most remarkable yet oddly inaccessible painters working today is German artist Gerhard Richter. With an astonishing variety of techniques that have garnered worldwide acclaim, Richter has also written commandingly on the matter of art-making and its position in contemporary society. Belz's new portrait views the artist, who proved a difficult but fascinating subject, from a variety of stances. "Now that there are no priests or philosophers left, artists are the most important people in the world."—Gerhard Richter. (Corinna Belz, 2011, 35 mm, German with subtitles, 97 minutes)

Washington premiere

A new portrait of the prominent French avant-garde director and film theorist Jean Epstein (1897–1953) focuses on his poetic renderings of the sea, the works he photographed in Brittany, including Le Tempestaire (1947) and Les Feux de la Mer (1948). The director's sister, Marie Epstein, and fishermen and other Bretons who played in his films recall his working methods. (James June Schneider, 2011, HD-Cam, French with subtitles, 68 minutes)

Narrated by Ed Harris and produced by the Gallery, this film examines the impact of the Spanish Civil War, the fascism of the Franco regime, and the events of World War II on Miró's career.

Made possible by the HRH Foundation.
The film screens with minor exceptions.

Produced by the Gallery, this film uses original footage shot in Manhattan and Maine to chronicle Bellows' career. In his works, Bellows captured the rapidly changing face of early 20th-century New York, explored the rocky coast of Maine, and addressed the social and political issues of the day.

Made possible by the HRH Foundation.
The film screens with minor exceptions.