Summer Guide: Undead of Summer—FILM

92YTribeca 92YTribeca’s eclectic repertory film programming typically includes a little bit of everything, from rare and classic cinema to cult films that fall somewhere between the kind of midnight movies the cheesy cheapies that the Pioneer Theater used to show and the ones the ’80s obsessed Landmark Sunshine does now. It kicks the summer off in June with the Iron Mule Short Comedy Festival, and a rare screening of W.C. Fields’ Million Dollar Legs, which has never been released on DVD, and a series entitled Obsessed in the ’90s, which includes titles like Misery and To Die For. In July, there is a collection of films about Outsider Sports, including Pumping Iron II: The Women and Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo. Also features musical sing-a-longs in both June and July of Grease 2, Spice World and Moulin Rouge! ($13 ticket for the musicals also includes one free beer.) 200 Hudson St., at Canal St., 212-601-1000, [www.92ytribeca.org](http://www.92ytribeca.org/).

Alliance Francaise The New York French Institute Alliance Francaise features some rare and exciting film programs on Cinema Tuesdays. In June, it highlights films starring Sylvie Testud, including Murderous Maids and a screening of Sagan introduced by the actress. Also in June is a series dedicated to 1940s star Edwige Feuilliere, star of such films as Julie de Carneilhan and Love is My Profession. 22 E. 60th St. (betw. Park & Madison Aves.), 212-355-6100, [www.fiaf.org](http://www.fiaf.org).

Anthology Film Archives The Anthology Film Archives provides viewers this summer with an exciting collection of undistributed contemporary films, spanning experimental narratives to lesser-known foreign films, and exciting retrospective series. In June, it hosts the Bicycle Film Festival and a week-long retrospective of films by Pierre Clementi, and in July it screens Eccentricities of a Blonde, Manoel de Oliviera’s new film and hosts anti-biopics like Lisztomania and Hans- Jurgen Syberberg’s “German Trilogy,” as well as Jonas Mekas’ Selects: Boring Masterpieces, which includes The Human Condition and Andy Warhol’s Empire. August features a week of films programmed by Maniac Cop director William Lustig. 32 2nd Ave. (at E. 2nd St.), 212-505-5181, [www.anthologyfilmarchives.org](http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/).

BAM Cinema Fest From June 9 through 20, BAM Cinématek hosts its second annual film festival, a lowscale, indie-minded collection of films that serve as an appetizer for New York cinephiles before Lincoln Center’s New York Film Festival comes around in September. Highlights of this year’s contemporary slate include Cold Weather, Aaron Katz’s follow-up to Quiet City; Cyrus, a new comedy by the Duplass Brothers starring Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly; and Valhalla Rising, a new Viking epic starring Mads Mikkelsen and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, the Pusher trilogy). Director Olivier Assayas selects two films to screen, Maurice Pialat’s We Won’t Grow Old Together and the director’s cut of Zodiac, and will also discuss his films with critic and Film Comment editor Kent Jones. Other retro highlights include screenings of William Lustig’s Maniac, G.W. Pabst’s Diary of a Lost Girl and Wake in Fright, Ted Kotcheff’s Ozploitation cult classic. June 9 through 20, 30 Lafayette Ave. (at Ashland Pl.), Brooklyn, 718-636-4100, [www.bam.org](http://www.bam.org/).

BAM Cinématek Apart from the Fest, the Brooklyn Academy of Music serves up an exciting palette of films ranging from a retro of films about soccer in June—just in time for the World Cup—to Contraband Cinema, a collection of political films ranging from Red Dawn to Sal. Other highlights include a second retrospective of films starring Cary Grant in July, featuring Bringing Up Baby and a new print of Thirty Day Princess. 30 Lafayette Ave. (at Ashland Pl.), Brooklyn, 718-636-4100, [www.bam.org](http://www.bam.org/).

Brooklyn International Film Festival Even more indie-minded than the BAM Cinema Fest, the Brooklyn International Film Festival focuses primarily on short films, experimental features and documentaries (this year’s line-up of 69 films feature only nine narrative features). Nothing you’re likely to recognize by title but a good chance to brag about having seen a great film that nobody knows of. June 4 through 13, Brooklyn Heights Cinema, 70 Henry St. (at Orange St.), Brooklyn, 718-596-7070, [www.wbff.org](http://www.wbff.org/).

Bryant Park Summer Film Festival This popular outdoor film series can get pretty noisy, making it rather hard to concentrate on the films screening, but it does feature some fun populist cinema. This year, movies screen every Monday night after sunset, starting June 21 with Goldfinger. Highlights include Carousel on June 28, My Man Godfrey on July 12, The China Syndrome on July 19 and Bonnie and Clyde on Aug. 23. Seating on the Bryant Park lawn is obviously first come first served. Bryant Park, enter park at W. 41st St. and 6th Ave., [www.bryantpark.org](http://www.bryantpark.org/).

Celebrate Brooklyn!’s Music & Movies Series The films screened at this outdoor arts festival at the Prospect Park Bandshell focus on the performing arts, so many of all three of this year’s featured films feature live musical accompaniment. On July 22, Carl Davis and the Two Man Gentlemen Band will perform while The Chaplin Mutuals, a collection of short films by and starring Charlie Chaplin, screens. DJ Tiger Style and Falu perform a new score for the seminal Bollywood drama Mother India July 29. And Aug. 6, organist Marco Benevuto and psychedelic/folk band White Tiger provide a new score to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Roger Corman’s House of Usher. June 8 through Aug. 8, Prospect Park Bandshell, enter park at 9th St. & Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, [www.briconline.org](http://www.briconline.org/).

Central Park Film Festival This outdoor film festival is notably more crowded and noisy than the Bryant Park Summer Film Festival, but that’s to be expected given the differences in venue. While the festival claims to focus primarily on “a New York theme,” last year’s line-up had everything from Sex and the City to the original Shaft to Twilight. Look to vote for their annual “Viewer’s Choice” section in August. Screenings are free and start at 8pm, lineup TBA. Aug. 18 through 22, Central Park, Rumsey Playfield, enter park at E. 69th St. & 5th Ave., [www.centralparknyc.org](http://www.centralparknyc.org/).

Cine Fest Petrobas Brazil The Tribeca Cinemas host the 8th annual festival of contemporary Brazilian cinema. Films to be screened range from imported comedies like So Normal 2 and Elvis & Madonna to a swath of docs like Queen of Brazil and Tamboro. The festival will close at Central Park’s Summerstage with a tribute in honor of the 50th anniversary of Brasilia, the nation’s capital. June 5 through Aug. 12, Central Park, Rumsey Playfield, enter park at E. 69th St. & 5th Ave. and the Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick St. (at Laight St.), 212-941-2001, [www.brazilianfilmfestival.com](http://www.brazilianfilmfestival.com/).

Film Forum Though the small art house is bound to be packed this summer, which is never good for a theater of auditoriums with such bad sight-lines, that’s largely because Film Forum’s summer repertory programming looks really mouth-watering. Apart from individual weeklong runs of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Le Amiche, Howard Hawks’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Jacques Tourneur’s Nightfall, Film Forum will host a comprehensive Anthony Mann retrospective and a mini-Charlie Chaplin program, emphasizing later films like Monsieur Verdoux and A Countess from Hong Kong. 209 W. Houston St. (betw. 6th Ave. & Varick St.), 212-727-8110, [www.filmforum.org](http://www.filmforum.org/).

Film Society at Lincoln Center The home to the most prestigious repertory theaters in the city features some mighty tempting programming this summer. This June alone is packed with some very exciting programs, including the New York Asian Film Festival. From June 1 through 3, the Walter Reade Theater will host a complete retrospective of director/playwright Agnes Jaoui’s films both as a director and screenwriter, including Family Resemblances and Let It Rain, her latest film. After that comes Open Roads (June 4 through 10), the Society’s perennial survey of new Italian films including new works by Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso), Gabriele Muccino (The Last Kiss), Gabriele Salvatores (I’m Not Scared) and Carlo Verdone (Iris Blonde). Then comes the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival (June 11 through 24), featuring new docs by Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp), Raoul Peck (Lumumba) and Geoffrey Smith (The English Surgeon). 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, W. 65th St. (near Amsterdam Ave.), [www.filmlinc.com](http://www.filmlinc.com/).

IFC Center After its regular slate of new indies and foreign films, The IFC Center screens a lot of enticing older films as part of the “Weekend Classics” (Friday-Sunday at 11 a.m.) and the “Waverly Midnights” (Fridays and Sundays at midnight) programs. This summer the theater continues a streak of topical series with Good Meds, Bad Meds: American Health Care On Screen, with films like the Paddy Chayefsky-scripted drama The Hospital and Bette Davis weepy Dark Victory, which features Humphrey Bogart with a campy Irish accent. The latest midnight series Cage Heat: Nicolas Cage at Midnight, also runs until July and includes the lumpy but under-appreciated Neil LaBute The Wicker Man and Michael Bay’s Con Air. 323 6th Ave. (at W. 3rd St.), 212-924-7771, [www.ifccenter.com](http://www.ifccenter.com/).

Light Industry Fans of modern art will find a treasure trove of oddities at Light Industry this summer. On June 3, Tuning a Deaf Ear will feature short films from Pittsburgh, including Nosferatu in WSPD, a short adaptation of F.W. Murnau’s film shot on super 8mm performed by kids from the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. Aug. 12, there’s Public Opinion Laboratory Presents, featuring two performance art pieces involving carousel slide and multiple kinds of movie projectors to create elliptical new narrative-less, overlapping images. 220 36th St. (betw. 2nd & 3rd Aves.), Brooklyn, [www.lightindustry.org](http://www.lightindustry.org/).

Manhattan Film Festival Screening at Symphony Space, this relatively new film festival is dedicated to short film programs. Shorts are arranged by generic categories like International Short Program and Action Short Program, as well as several dedicated to local filmmakers, like New York Short Program and Brooklyn Short Program. Many of the films are loaded onto the festival’s website via YouTube. July 21 through 25, 2537 Broadway (betw. W. 94th & W. 95th Sts.), 212-864-5400, [www.manhattanfilmfestival.org](http://www.manhattanfilmfestival.org/).

Movie Nights On The Elevated Acre Part of the River to River Festival, this series pairs classic New York movies with indie shorts screened on a rooftop plaza overlooking the East River. This year’s offerings include Broadway Danny Rose (July 29), Auntie Mame (Aug. 5), The Country Girl (Aug. 12) and The Muppets Take Manhattan (Aug. 19). The Elevated Acre, 55 Water St. (betw. Coenties & Old Slips), [www.rivertorivernyc.com](http://www.rivertorivernyc.com/).

Movies with a View at Brooklyn Bridge Park Screened on the newly opened Pier 1, this Dumbo-based outdoor film festival is probably not the place where the patrons of the nearby St. Ann’s Warehouse go—but that can only be a good thing. Starting in July, the festival screens movies every Thursday night after sunset, so get there early lest some yoga mom steal your pic-a-nic spot. Highlights include Brokeback Mountain, The Blues Brothers and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 1 Main St. (at Washington St.), Brooklyn, 718- 802-0603, [www.brooklynbridgepark.org](http://www.brooklynbridgepark.org/).

Museum of Modern Art If you can get past the uncomfortable seats in Titus 1, you’ll find that the programming at MoMA is worth every bit of discomfort suffered in house while watching the movies. In June the museum screens Neil Diamond’s Reel Injun (June 14 through 20), a new documentary about the representation of Native Americans, while in July it hosts a complete retrospective of the films of Sally Potter (July 7 through 21), from early shorts to Rage, her experimental drama released on cell phones. Be sure to look out for a retrospective of films starring Ida Lupino in August as well as a comprehensive collection of French comedies distributed by Gaumont Studios in July (July 25 through Aug. 26). 11 W. 53rd St. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.) 212- 948-9400, [www.moma.org](http://www.moma.org/).

New Fest New York’s annual LGBT film festival is sponsored this year by Marc Jacobs and Joan Rivers. Naturally they’ll be screening Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, the documentary about Rivers’ career as a comedienne—so quit asking her if it’s about her plastic surgery, jerk. The festival will screen an estimated 100 films from 20 countries over 11 days. June 3 through 13, 333 W. 23rd St. (betw. 8th & 9th Aves.), 646-290-8136, [www.newfest.org](http://www.newfest.org).

New York Asian Film Festival The best film festival in town has come a long way from the Anthology Film Archives nine years ago to Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade. This year’s festival will feature tributes to Hong Kong stars Sammo Hung and Simon Yam, with both stars in attendance, and screenings of a bevy of pop and art house films, including historical drama-cum-martial arts flick Ip Man 2 and camp sci-fi freak-out Robo-Geisha. June 25 through July 8, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, W. 65th St. near Amsterdam Ave.

New York Food Film Festival Now in its fourth year, this quirky festival features some tasty-looking treats, like The World’s First Food Truck Drive-In on June 26, when a herd of the city’s food trucks will allow attendants to sample some of the best food in town along with some films starring some of the trucks. Opening night of the festival is Oyster Night, when the festival will screen four shorts and feature an oyster shucking competition. Be sure to check out the Burger ‘N’ Beer Garden, which will screen Beer Wars and include a meet-and-greet with acclaimed microbrewery brewmasters and burgers from established burger joints like Mr. Bartley’s and Louis Lunch. Most of the events are free to the public. For information, visit [www.nycfoodfilmfestival.com](http://www.nycfoodfilmfestival.com/).

River Flicks at Hudson River Park Based around the posh Pier 54, where attendees can sample cuisine and listen to the latest band, this year’s River Flicks film program divides into two programs. The first program is the kid-oriented Family Favorites, which includes The Wizard of Oz, The Great Muppet Caper and the surprisingly winsome Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The other program is for more “mature” audiences: I Still Know What You Saw Last Summer screens some of the most popular flicks from last year like The Proposal, Public Enemies and Star Trek. Pier 54, W. 13th St. and the West Side Highway, 212-627-2121, [www.riverflicksnyc.com](http://www.riverflicksnyc.com/).

Rooftop Films Summer Series This outdoor program of indie flicks is screened throughout Brooklyn atop Brooklyn Tech High School, El Museo del Bario, The New Design High School and The Old American Can Factory and on the lawn of Fort Greene Park and Socrates Sculpture Park. Highlights of the slate of contemporary features include Sweet Mud (June 20 on the pier at Solar One), a comedy about a boy and his “mentally-troubled mother” set in a kibbutz in the 1970s and the winner of the Sundance Best World Drama prize, and Tiny Furniture (June 20 in the parking lot across from BAM), a quirky comedy about a twenty-something girl adrift in Tribeca. Be sure to check out the week of Swedish films starting July 21, including The Ape (July 23 at Brooklyn Tech High School), a Dardenne-esque character study. Doors open at 8, live music is performed at 8:30, the movies start at 9 followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and finally an after-party with complimentary drinks. Various locations, 718-417-7362, [www.rooftopfilms.com](http://www.rooftopfilms.com/).

Sunshine at Midnight at the Landmark Sunshine Attended largely by stoners, hardcore shut-ins and drunk hipsters, the Landmark Sunshine caters mostly to the kind of people you don’t want to sit next to in a movie theater. The slate of summer midnight movies isn’t exactly inspiring, but it does feature some familiar favorites like Evil Dead 2 (June 25 & 26), Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (July 2 through 4) and Pink Flamingos (July 9 & 10). Be sure to check out the New York premiere of Gone with the Pope (June 4 & 5), supposedly the posthumously edited pseudo sequel to cult filmmaker Duke Mitchell’s The Executioner (aka: Massacre Mafia Style). 143 E. Houston St. (betw. Eldridge & Forsyth Sts.), 212-330-8182.