During the past decade the world's filmmaking community has shown a heightened interest in Afghanistan, often transporting crews and cameras across the globe to film the cities and ancient landmarks in an effort to record, reveal, and romanticize the country. This series of films, organized in association with the exhibition Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, brings together a variety of nonfiction, semi-fictional, and documentary works, along with short subjects and television films. A program of recent experimental video by Afghan and Afghan-American artists illuminates both the breadth and the beauty of the country's artistic legacy.

Michelangelo Antonioni (1912–2007), the consummate modernist who converted the language of cinema into contemporary forms, was hailed on his death last July as "the most modern and controversial artist of his generation." Antonioni began as a critic, collaborated on scripts with the neo-realists, and directed his first feature, Cronica di un amore, in 1950. It was in the mid-1950s that he realized his own unique expression with Il grido. Subsequently, the world learned of that expression with the release of the much maligned L'avventura in 1960, arguably the most debated film of all time and today regarded as one of the most influential. This eight-part retrospective of Antonioni's most important Italian films (he began to work outside Italy after releasing Deserto rosso in 1964) is presented through the assistance of Luca Verdone; Sergio Toffetti; Laura Argento; Laura Boido; RAI International; Cineteca Nazionale, Rome; and the Italian Cultural Institute, Washington. Prints are from the British Film Institute and Cineteca Nazionale.

July 26 marks the eightieth birthday of Stanley Kubrick. To observe the occasion, two well-known film scholars, Robert Kolker and James Naremore, will review the director's contributions through a focused dialogue based on two of Kubrick's landmark films. A new restoration of Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is followed by his last and most enigmatic work, Eyes Wide Shut. Robert Kolker edited Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey: New Essays (2006) and James Naremore is author of On Kubrick (2007).

Born one hundred years ago in Oporto, Manoel de Oliveira embodies the last of the great twentieth-century auteurs. Today he is still making cinema of profound depth and candor with a style that is recognizable but never repetitive. During the last two decades he has released, on average, one film a year. All of this suggests that, at age 100, he has achieved critic Edward Said's definition of an artist who refuses to go gently into the night, "a restless sensibility, turning out works of unresolved contradiction." Thanks to the Embassy of Portugal, Instituto Camões, Cinemateca Portuguesa, ICA, Lusomundo, Antonio Pedroso, Florence Almozini, João Bénard da Costa, BAM Cinematek.

Tuesdays at noon will feature unusual historical films in 16 mm from the National Gallery's film department, including artists' portraits and exceptional educational films on topics from prehistory to the present. Now considered an endangered format, these 16 mm prints are sometimes unique copies.

The largest and most influential film studio in Russia, Mosfilm first opened its doors in Moscow in the early 1920s. From historical epics to musicals, propaganda films, and enduring classics by directors such as Mikhail Kalatozov, Mikhail Romm, Larisa Shepitko, and Andrei Tarkovsky, Mosfilm's contributions to film history have been beyond compare. Notable productions include Sergei Bondarchuk's monumental War and Peace, the most expensive film ever made, and Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, arguably the greatest film of all time. A selection of ten Mosfilm archival features from the 1920s through the 1950s is presented in June. More films from the 1960s through the present day will be shown in July, concluding with the 2007 Moscow International Film Festival grand prize winner. Organized in association with Envisioning Russia curators Alla Verlotsky and Richard Pena. A presentation of Seagull Films and the Film Society of Lincoln Center in cooperation with Concern Mosfilm. Special thanks to Karen Shakhnazarov.

The central cinematographer of Mexico's golden age of cinema, Gabriel Figueroa (1907–1997), played a key role in establishing the nation's visual heritage. A brilliant master of chiaroscuro, he developed a unique style based on his principle of “curvilinear perspective” that merged the latest Hollywood technique with the pictorial art of Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and Rufino Tamayo. Figueroa's commitment to Mexican national identity and his country's social issues remained firm: “My art has Mexican nationalism engraved everywhere.” He broke new ground and left an indelible mark on cinematography around the world. The Gallery's presentation of six restored 35 mm prints is made possible through the cooperation of the Mexican Cultural Institute and Filmoteca de la UNAM. Special thanks to Ivan Trujillo, José Manuel Garcia, Linda Lilienfeld, and Pablo Gutierrez Fierro. An exhibition of Figueroa's work at the Mexican Cultural Institute, 2829 16th Street NW, Washington, DC, will take place from November 2008 through January 2009. Gabriel Figueroa: Cinematographer is composed largely of still photographs, posters, and archival documents and is one of the most comprehensive retrospectives ever of the work of this Mexican artist.

Tatsuya Nakadai in person

Natsume Soseki's satirical Japanese novel I Am a Cat spurred Kon Ichikawa to make a film version casting Tatsuya Nakadai in the starring role as a Tokyo teacher during the Meiji period. By turns madcap, meditative, and moving, the film follows not only the teacher's comings and goings, but also the divergent affairs of the local cat population. Toward the end, the teacher's cat politely shares his own perplexed opinion of his overseer and of humans in general. (Kon Ichikawa, 1975, Japanese with subtitles, 35 mm, 116 minutes)

Actor Tatsuya Nakadai, legendary star of films by Akira Kurosawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Kon Ichikawa, and Mikio Naruse, is rivaled in reputation only by the late Toshiro Mifune as Japan's most iconic male star. One of the few actors known outside the country, Nakadai is also considered Japan's leading Shakespearean actor and, at 75, remains one of its most popular stage stars. Immediately following I Am a Cat, Mr. Nakadai will appear in person for an on-stage interview with Japanese film specialist Michael Jeck.

Special thanks to Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum, Tom Vick, and the Freer Gallery of Art.

One of the finest Hollywood studio renditions of Shakespeare, Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Julius Caesar features not only a stellar cast—James Mason as Brutus, Marlon Brando as Mark Antony, and John Gielgud as Cassius to mention only three—but also a respectful and sensitive reading of the text that preserves the play’s dramatic rhythms. (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1953, 35 mm, 120 minutes) Presented in association with the Shakespeare Theater Company’s stage production of Julius Caesar at the Harman Center for the Arts.

Australian director Scott Hicks was given an unparalleled entrée into the New York home of American composer Philip Glass. As the composer writes a new symphony, stages an opera, scores several films, and cavorts with friends and family, Hicks shapes his surprisingly intimate portrait of a very public artist. (Scott Hicks, 2007, 35 mm, 115 minutes)

Using period lenses, music, and narration, lanternists David Francis and Joss Marsh present three popular motifs in the nineteenth-century magic lantern repertoire: Victorian "railway mania" is the theme of the first, while the second recreates Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol using the marvel of dissolving views, and the third—complete with an audience sing-along—celebrates temperance in the propaganda saga Buy Your Own Cherries. Three short films are woven into the demonstration: The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899), a lantern-inspired Scrooge: or, Marley's Ghost (1901); and a flamboyant cinematic version of Buy Your Own Cherries (1904).

Travel back in time with the boisterous revelry of an authentic 1890s visual extravaganza projected on a full screen—the sort of show that led ultimately to the movies. America's history is dramatized in story, comedy, and song through a combination of projected pictures and live performers. Lanternist/presenter Terry Borton, a fourth-generation lanternist, is author of American Magic-Lantern Entertainment before the Movies: The Nation's First Great Screen Artist, Joseph Boggs Beale.

Deac Rossell, author of Laterna Magica / Magic Lantern: A History, Volume I, will discuss the early history and artistic evolution of lantern imagery.

Hollywood's eccentric master of glamour and craft, Josef von Sternberg, proved the perfect foil for former reporter Ben Hecht, whose script for this early gangster genre gem was based on personal experiences working Chicago's crime beat. Von Sternberg's direction adds aplomb, while performances from bank robber George Bancroft and moll Evelyn Brent enchant. Boston's Alloy Orchestra performs live its dazzling new score for the film. (Josef von Sternberg, 1927, silent with live accompaniment, 80 minutes)

Sculptor John Sherrill Houser's most important commission was to create the world's largest equestrian bronze—Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate. The Last Conquistador follows the intense battle among factions within the population, local authorities, and Houser himself. At the center of the controversy is conquistador Oñate—viewed as a genocidal war criminal by many, and admired by others as an iconic representative of the contributions made by Hispanic people to American history. Filmmaker John Valadez will be present to lead a discussion following his illuminating and complex film about the sculpture. (John Valadez, Cristina Ibarra, 2007, digital beta, 70 minutes)

Narrated by Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, the twenty-eight-minute documentary features footage of the 2004 recovery of collections from the National Museum, Kabul, that had been hidden in the vaults of the Central Bank in the Presidential Palace. The film also includes interviews with National Geographic archaeologist and exhibition curator Fredrik Hiebert and director of the museum in Kabul, Omara Massoudi. It was produced by the National Geographic Society. It will be aired on WETA-TV in Washington and on public broadcasting stations throughout the United States. Shown in conjunction with Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul. A twelve-minute version will run continuously on weekends in the East Building Small Auditorium.