Northwestern University June 2012 Film Calendar

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Screenings of Block Cinema’s spring series celebrating Paris -- the City of Light -- conclude in early June with three films from the 1960s and 1980s directed by Martin Ritt and Eric Rohmer.   

“Paris Belongs to Us: The City of Light in Film” toasts a city which has sparked the imagination of filmmakers for more than a century. Since cinema’s earliest days, Paris has served as an iconic backdrop, vibrant social milieu and gritty locale for every kind of film and story possible. For more details, visit www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/view/cinema/2012/paris-belongs-to-us-the-city-of-light-in-film.html. 

The film series is made possible by generous support of the Institut Francais, The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York and Chicago’s Consulat general de France. 

Screenings will take place in the James B. Pick and Rosalyn M. Laudati Auditorium at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, on Northwestern University’s Evanston campus. Free parking is available in the lot directly south of the museum.

Unless otherwise noted, general admission to Block Cinema is $6 for the general public or $4 for Block Museum members, Northwestern faculty, staff and students, students from other schools with valid IDs, and individuals aged 65 and older. Quarterly passes are $20. Tickets are available one hour before showtime. For more information, call the Block Cinema Hotline at (847) 491-4000 or visit the Block Cinema website at www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/block-cinema.

JUNE 2012 FILMS 

Paris in Film, “Paris Blues,” 7 p.m. Friday, June 1, Block Cinema (Martin Ritt, United States, 35 mm, 95 minutes). One of famed director Martin Ritt’s (“Hud,” “Sounder,” “Norma Rae”) earliest films, “Paris Blues” stars Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as American jazz musicians living in Paris. After falling for two vacationing Americans (Joanne Woodward and Diahann Carroll), the two men must decide whether to leave the broader cultural acceptance of jazz and the more tolerant racial attitude in France, or return to the U.S. with their new loves. 

Paris in Film, “The Sign of Leo” (“Le signe du lion”), 7 p.m. Thursday, June 7, Block Cinema (Eric Rohmer, 1962, France, 35 mm, 100 minutes). Rohmer’s debut feature focuses on Leo, an American living on modest means in Paris until he learns of an inheritance and begins spending large sums of money, to disastrous results. Rarely screened and long unavailable in the U.S., “The Sign of Leo” contains one of the most memorable final scenes in French cinema. Archival 35 mm print courtesy of the Institut Francais. 

Paris in Film, “Summer” (“Le rayon vert”), 7 p.m. Friday, June 8, Block Cinema (Eric Rohmer, 1986, France, 35 mm, 98 minutes). In the heat of summer most Parisians flee the city, but Delphine finds herself unhappily stranded when her travel plans fall through. Wandering between Paris and several resort towns in search of the perfect getaway, her loneliness threatens to overwhelm her as she struggles to connect with others in a meaningful way. Marie Riviere (who collaborated on the story) puts in a poignant performance in the lead role.