Film Festivals Galore

In addition to the D.C. Independent Film Festival and the Capital Irish Film Festival this month, two other major festivals are taking center stage in the nation’s capital in March.

Given the current wave of climate-related headlines in recent months, this year’s Environmental Film Festival (DCEFF) takes on added resonance as it fills up screens all over D.C. from March 14 to 24.

Founded in 1993, DCEFF has become the largest environmental film festival in the world, presenting over 100 films to audiences of more than 20,000 and collaborating with over 110 partners, including museums, embassies, universities and area theaters.

This year’s opening night film is “The River and the Wall,” which follows five friends on an immersive adventure through the unknown wilds of the Texas borderlands. They travel 1,200 miles on horses, mountain bikes and canoes to document the last remaining wilderness in Texas as the threat of new border wall construction looms.

Another local cinematic staple, the New African Film Festival, returns for its 15th year from March 7 to 17. Co-presented by AFI Silver Theatre, Africa World Now Project and afrikafé, the festival showcases the vibrancy of African filmmaking from all corners of the continent.

The opening night film, “The Burial of Kojo,” marks the feature debut of Brooklyn-based Ghanaian musician Samuel “Blitz the Ambassador” Bazawule. It follows the story of Esi as she recounts her childhood and the tumultuous relationship between her father, Kojo, and her uncle, Kwabena. When both men embark on an illegal mining expedition together, Kojo goes missing, presumably trapped in the mineshaft. After the police are unable to find him, young Esi sets out on a magical adventure to find her father — but will she be too late?

For a complete list of films from both festivals, visit https://dceff.org and www.afi.com/silver/.

English

The Aftermath

Directed by James Kent
(U.K./U.S./Germany, 2019, 108 min.)

Following World War II, a British colonel and his wife are assigned to live in the ruins of Hamburg during the post-war reconstruction, but tensions arise with the German widower who previously owned the house. In this charged atmosphere, enmity and grief give way to passion and betrayal.

Angelika Mosaic
Opens Fri., March 22

Alita: Battle Angel

Directed by Robert Rodriguez
(U.S., 2019, 122 min.)

A deactivated female cyborg is revived, but cannot remember anything of her past life and goes on a quest to find out who she is (English and Spanish).

Angelika Mosaic
Angelika Pop-Up
Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Arctic

Directed by Joe Penna
(Iceland, 2019, 97 min.)

Stranded in the arctic after an airplane crash, a man must decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his makeshift camp or to embark on a deadly trek through the unknown in the hopes of making it out alive.

Angelika Mosaic
Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

On the Basis of Sex

Directed by Mimi Leder
(U.S., 2018, 120 min.)

This is the true story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her struggles for equal rights and what she had to overcome to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

If Beale Street Could Talk

Directed by Barry Jenkins
(U.S., 2018, 119 min.)

A newly engaged Harlem woman races against the clock to prove her lover’s innocence while carrying their first born child.

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

The Brink

Directed by Alison Klayman
(U.S., 2019)

“The Brink” follows Steve Bannon through the 2018 midterm elections in the United States, shedding light on his efforts to mobilize and unify far-right parties in order to win seats in the May 2019 European Parliamentary elections. To maintain his power and influence, the former Goldman Sachs banker and media investor reinvents himself — as he has many times before — this time as the self-appointed leader of a global populist movement.

Landmark’s Theatres
Opens Fri., March 29

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Directed by Marielle Heller
(U.S., 2018, 106 min.)

Melissa McCarthy stars as Lee Israel, the best-selling celebrity biographer who finds herself unable to get published because she had fallen out of step with the marketplace, so she turns her art form to deception.

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
West End Cinema

Captain Morten and the Spider Queen

Directed by Kaspar Jancis
(Ireland/Estonia/Belgium/UK, 2018, 79 min.)

Created by talented animators from the west of Ireland, Estonia, Wales and Belgium, “Captain Morten” is Ireland’s first stop-motion feature animation. Dreamy 10-year-old Morten whiles away his days building his toy ship and trying to avoid the ire of his reluctant guardian, Anna. After a chance meeting with the inept magician Senór Cucaracha, Morten is magically shrunken down to the size of an insect and trapped aboard the deck of his own toy ship (part of the Capital Irish Film Festival).

AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., March 2, 1 p.m.

Curtiz

Directed by Yvan Topolánszky
(Hungary, 2018, 93 min.)

It’s 1942 and America is on the edge of war. Hungarian-born film director Michael Curtiz, under government pressure, gets a chance to influence public opinion about war by directing a new propaganda film: “Casablanca.” It does not come the best time though. Curtiz is working on helping his Jewish sister emigrate from Hungary before the Nazis get to her, his daughter appears on set with the purpose of getting answers why Curtiz had abandoned her as a child (English and Hungarian; part of the D.C. Independent Film Festival).

The Carnegie Institution for Science
Sun., March 10, 7:10 p.m.

Datsche

Directed by Lara Hewitt
(U.K., 2018, 93 min.)

Valentine Hermann is a young New York actor whose German grandfather had a datsche, a summer house, just outside of Berlin. Valentine goes to spend a summer in the garden house but discovers that someone is already there: Adam, a refugee trying to escape deportation (part of the D.C. Independent Film Festival).

The Miracle Theater
Sun., March 3, 6:40 p.m.

The Devil’s Doorway

Directed by Aislinn Clarke
(U.K./Ireland, 2018, 77 min.)

Northern Ireland, 1960: Father Thomas Riley and Father John Thornton are dispatched by the Vatican to investigate reports of a miracle — a statue of the Virgin Mary weeping blood — at a remote Catholic asylum for “immoral” women. Armed with cameras to record their findings, the priests instead discover a depraved horror show of sadistic nuns, Satanism and demonic possession (part of the Capital Irish Film Festival).
AFI Silver Theatre
Fri., March 1, 7:15 p.m.

Don’t Leave Home

Directed by Michael Tully
(U.S., 2018, 86 min.)

After unveiling her new sculptural exhibit on Irish urban legends, artist Melanie Thomas is contacted by Father Alistair Burke, a reclusive Irish priest who, legend has it, once painted the portrait of a young girl who later disappeared on the very day her image vanished from the painting (part of the Capital Irish Film Festival).

AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., March 2, 8:30 p.m.

Facing the Dragon

Directed by Sedika Mojadidi
(Afghanistan, 2018, 80 min.)

In this intimate documentary, Sedika Mojadidi follows two compelling Afghan women, within the government and the media, through the pivotal period after the international withdrawal from Afghanistan. We see Afghan women on the frontlines struggling to maintain their hard-won rights in a country where lawlessness, political instability and violence remains the standard way of life (part of the D.C. Independent Film Festival).

The Carnegie Institution for Science
Sat., March 9, 2 p.m.

The Favourite

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
(Ireland/U.K./U.S., 2018, 119 min.)

In early 18th century England, a frail Queen Anne occupies the throne and her close friend Lady Sarah governs the country in her stead. But when a new servant Abigail arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah.

Angelika Mosaic
Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Fighting with My Family

Directed by Stephen Merchant
(U.K./U.S., 2019, 108 min.)

A former wrestler and his family make a living performing at small venues around the country while his kids dream of joining World Wrestling Entertainment.

Angelika Mosaic
Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Float Like a Butterfly

Directed by Carmel Winters
(Ireland, 2018, 101 min.)

Encouraged from a tender age by her father’s affection for Muhammad Ali, Frances has the fire and discipline to be a great fighter — if only people could see past their narrow notions regarding her gender (part of the Capital Irish Film Festival).

AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., March 3, 2:30 p.m.

Free Solo

Directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
(U.S., 2018, 100 min.)

Follow Alex Honnold as he becomes the first person to ever free solo climb Yosemite’s 3,000ft high El Capitan Wall. With no ropes or safety gear, he completed arguably the greatest feat in rock climbing history.

Angelika Pop-Up

Genesis 2.0

Directed by Christian Frei and Maxim Arbugaev
(Switzerland/China/Russia/Korea/United States, 2018, 112 min.)

On the rugged, remote New Siberian Islands, “mammoth hunters” search the melting permafrost for the remains of these extinct beasts. Their finds, ranging from tusks to a perfectly preserved specimen with blood still in her veins, have attracted the interest of scientists who believe they can resurrect the species through the emerging discipline of synthetic biology (English and Russian).

Freer Gallery of Art
Sat., March 23, 2 p.m.

Gloria Bell

Directed by Sebastián Lelio
(Chile/U.S., 2019, 102 min.)

A free-spirited woman in her 50s seeks out love at L.A. dance clubs.

Angelika Mosaic
Opens Fri., March 15

Grace & Goliath

Directed by Tony Mitchell
(U.K./Ireland, 2018, 93 min.)

When Hollywood big shot Josh Jenkins sweeps into Belfast to make a movie, it’s not long before everything goes wrong and he’s left stranded and penniless. Feeling sorry for the actor, a hotel cleaner invites him to stay with her crazy family — and gradually the people of this strange city manage to touch his heart (part of the Capital Irish Film Festival).

AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., March 2, 3 p.m.

Greta

Directed by Neil Jordan
(Ireland/U.S., 2019, 98 min.)

A sweet, naïve young woman trying to make it on her own in New York City, Frances doesn’t think twice about returning the handbag she finds on the subway to its rightful owner. That owner is Greta, an eccentric French piano teacher with a love for classical music and an aching loneliness. Having recently lost her mother, Frances quickly grows closer to widowed Greta — but Greta’s maternal charms begin to dissolve and grow increasingly disturbing as Frances discovers that nothing in Greta’s life is what it seems in this suspense thriller.

Angelika Mosaic
Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., March 1

Hotel Mumbai

Directed by Anthony Maras
(Australia/U.S., 2019, 125 min.)

Based on the true story of the 2008 terrorist attack on the famed Taj Hotel in Mumbai, hotel staff risk their lives to keep everyone safe as people make unthinkable sacrifices to protect themselves and their families (multiple languages).

Angelika Mosaic
Opens Fri., March 29

The Hummingbird Project

Directed by Kim Nguyen
(Belgium/Canada, 2019, 111 min.)

A pair of high-frequency traders go up against their old boss in an effort to make millions in a fiber-optic cable deal.

Angelika Mosaic
Opens Fri., March 22

I, Dolours

Directed by Maurice Sweeney
(Ireland, 2018, 82 min.)

Dolours Price, the infamous IRA radical convicted of bombing England’s Old Bailey in 1973, granted a series of revealing interviews in 2010 on the strict condition of their posthumous release. The interviews, brought to life through vividly cinematic reenactments, uncover the birth of her fierce commitment to Irish Republicanism (part of the Capital Irish Film Festival).

AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., March 2, 5:45 p.m.

Lords of Chaos

Directed by Jonas Åkerlund
(U.K./Sweden, 2018, 118 min.)

In 1987 Oslo, 17-year-old Euronymous is determined to escape his traditional upbringing, and becomes fixated on creating “true Norwegian black metal” with his band Mayhem. He mounts shocking publicity stunts to put the band’s name on the map, but the lines between show and reality begin to blur.

AFI Silver Theatre
March 8 to 14

Mapplethorpe

Directed by Ondi Timoner
(U.S., 2018, 102 min.)

Arguably one of the most significant artists of the 20th century, Robert Mapplethorpe discovered himself both sexually and artistically in New York City throughout the ’70s and ’80s. Filmmaker Ondi Timoner explores Mapplethorpe’s tumultuous life from moments before he and Patti Smith moved into the famed Chelsea Hotel, home to a world of bohemian chic.

Landmark’s Theatres
Opens Fri., March 15

Metal Heart

Directed by High O’Conor
(Ireland, 2018, 90 min.)

On the cusp of adulthood, fraternal twin teen sisters Emma and Chantal are worlds apart. Emma is self-conscious and unsure of which path to take in life. Chantal, meanwhile, is beautiful, confident and knows exactly where her life is headed. When their parents go away for the summer, their simmering sibling rivalry threatens to boil over, especially when the mysterious boy next door moves back in (part of the Capital Irish Film Festival).

AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., March 3, 7:30 p.m.

The Mustang

Directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
(France/U.S., 2019, 96 min.)

Roman Coleman, a violent convict, is given the chance to participate in a rehabilitation therapy program involving the training of wild mustangs.

Landmark’s Theatres
Opens Fri., March 29

Ruben Brandt, Collector

Directed by Milorad Krstic
(Hungary, 2019)

Ruben (whose name combines two famous artists, Rubens and Rembrandt) is a psychotherapist tormented by terrible nightmares in which he is attacked by people (and monsters) from famous paintings. Some of his criminal patients, including lovely kleptomaniac cat burglar Mimi, decide to steal the paintings to help cure him. Eventually, the mysterious “Collector” quickly becomes the most wanted criminal in the world, as gangsters and headhunters chase him while the reward for his capture grows astronomically (English and Hungarian).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., March 1

The Silver Branch

Directed by Katrina Costello
(Ireland, 2017, 75 min.)

When farmer/poet Patrick McCormack and his rural community are drawn into a divisive battle with the government over a planned visitor center, he and a small group of friends take the fight to the Irish High Court in order to protect the fate of this iconic wilderness (part of the Capital Irish Film Festival).

AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., March 3, 12:45 p.m.

Stan & Ollie

Directed by Jon S. Baird
(U.K./Canada/U.S., 2018, 97 min.)

Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly bring their brilliant comedic chops to bear as legendary comedy duo Stan “Laurel” and Ollie “Hardy” in this hilarious road movie recounting the pair’s famed 1953 “farewell” tour of Britain and Ireland.

Angelika Pop-Up
The Avalon Theatre

Tito and the Birds

Directed by Gabriel Bitar
(Brazil, 2018, 73 min.)

In this animated adventure about a little boy and his journey to save the world, Tito, a shy 10-year-old boy, lives in a world on the brink of pandemic. Fear is crippling people, making them sick and transforming them. Tito realizes, based on his father’s past research, that there may be a way to utilize the local pigeon population and their songs to create a cure for the disease.

AFI Silver Theatre
March 1 to 7

Transformistas

Directed by Chad Hahne
(Cuba/U.S., 2019, 79 min.)

This documentary tells the story of how a group of drag queens carved out a space for the LBGTQ community in Cuba, against all odds, at a time when performing in drag was illegal and homosexuality was denounced as a product of capitalism (part of the D.C. Independent Film Festival).

The Human Rights Campaign
Wed., March 6, 7:30 p.m.

They Should Not Grow Old

Directed by Peter Jackson
(U.K./New Zealand, 2019, 99 min.)

Through ground breaking computer restoration technology, filmmaker Peter Jackson’s team creates a moving real-to-life depiction of the WWI, as never seen before in restored, vivid colorizing and retiming of the film frames, in order to honor those who fought and more accurately depict this historical moment in world history.

Angelika Mosaic
The Avalon Theatre
Wed., March 13, 8 p.m.

Under the Clock

Directed by Colm Nicell
(Ireland, 2018, 76 min.)

“Under the Clock” explores the social history of Ireland through the heartwarming tales of ordinary people whose relationships began at one of Ireland’s most famous meeting places (part of the Capital Irish Film Festival).

AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., March 3, 11 a.m.

Vice

Directed by Adam McKay
(U.S., 2018, 132 min.)

“Vice” explores how a bureaucratic Washington insider quietly became the most powerful man in the world as vice president to George W. Bush, reshaping the country and the globe in ways still felt today.

Angelika Mosaic
Atlantic Plumbing Cinema
Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

French

Chantrapas

Directed by Otar Iosseliana
(France/Georgia, 2010, 122 min.)

Niko is determined to make his own films his own way, but as he butts heads with official censors and state-appointed producers, the artist finds that creative freedom is far more elusive than he imagined in this satirical comedy-drama (French and Georgian; part of the D.C. Francophonie Festival).

Embassy of Georgia
Tue., March 19, 7 p.m.

Climax

Directed by Gaspar Noé
(France/Belgium/U.S., 2019, 95 min.)

French dancers gather in a remote, empty school building to rehearse on a wintry night. The all-night celebration morphs into a hallucinatory nightmare when they learn their sangria is laced with LSD.

Angelika Pop-Up
Opens Fri., March 8

Félicité

Directed by Alain Gomis
(France, 2017, 123 min.)

Living her life in the chaotically vibrant Congolese capital of Kinshasa with a proud defiance, Félicité doesn’t need marriage, a man or even love to get by. But when her son is injured in a traffic accident, she must find a way to pay for his operation, and embarks on a double journey: through the punishing outer world of the city and the inner world of the soul (French and Lingala; part of the D.C. Francophonie Festival).

Embassy of France
Tue., March 12, 7 p.m.

Sofia

Directed by Meryem Benm’Barek
(France/Qatar, 2018, 80 min.)

When 20-year-old Sofia buckles over in pain during a family gathering, her cousin Lena whisks her off to a hospital, telling her family she is taking her to the pharmacy to seek relief from a stomach ache. In fact, Sofia has gone into labor without knowing she was pregnant. Lena must implore a doctor to allow her unmarried cousin to deliver at his facility, where Sofia is dismissed immediately after the birth and instructed to come back with the father or face prosecution. Holding her newborn daughter, Sofia leads her cousin to one of Casablanca’s slums, in search of the father she barely knows (French and Arabic; part of the D.C. Francophonie Festival).

Embassy of France
Tue., March 26, 7 p.m.

German

The Invisibles

Directed by Claus Räfle
(Germany, 2017, 110 min.)

Berlin, February 1943: The Nazi regime declares the Reich’s capital “free of Jews.” But some 1,700 Jews managed to survive the war living in Berlin, hiding in plain sight: “invisible.” Claus Räfle’s gripping docudrama traces the desperate and ingenious adventures of four real-life survivors who seemed to be ordinary German youths trying to navigate the scarcities and prohibitions of Berlin at the height of World War II.

Landmark’s Theatres
Opens Fri., March 22

Never Look Away

Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
(Germany/Italy, 2018, 188 min.)

Young artist Kurt Barnert has fled to West Germany, but he continues to be tormented by the experiences of his youth in the Nazi years and during the GDR-regime. When he meets student Ellie, he is convinced that he has met the love of his life and begins to create paintings that mirror not only his own fate, but also the traumas of an entire generation (German and Russian).

Angelika Mosaic
The Avalon Theatre

Hebrew

Family in Transition

Directed by Ofir Trainin
(Israel, 2018, 60 min.)

This documentary tells the story of the only family in Nahariya, a small traditional town in Israel, whose lives change completely after their father announces that he’s transitioning to become a woman. Their mother chooses to stay with her spouse through the whole process but just as it seems that life is back to normal, she takes a sharp turn and shakes everything up again.

The Avalon Theatre
Wed., March 27, 8p.m.

Icelandic

Woman at War

Directed by Benedikt Erlingsson
(Iceland/France/Ukraine, 2019, 101 min.)

Hall is a 50-year-old independent woman with a quiet routine as a popular choir director in a small country town. But she leads a double life as a passionate environmental activist, engaged in secret warfare against the giant power company that is (in her opinion) desecrating the countryside and hastening global warming (Icelandic, Spanish, English and Ukrainian).

Landmark’s Theatres

Opens Fri., March 8

Japanese

Kill

Directed by Kihachi Okamoto
(Japan, 1968, 114 min.)

Two down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty town and become involved in a local clan dispute in this pitch-black action comedy.

Freer Gallery of Art
Wed., March 6, 2 p.m.

Mori, the Artist’s Habitat

Directed by Shuichi Okita
(Japan, 2018, 99 min.)

In the last 30 years of his long life, reclusive artist Morikazu Kumagai (1880-1977), a.k.a. Mori, almost never left his Ikebukuro home. Instead, he took pleasure in observing the cats, fish, birds, and insects living in his luxuriant garden, eventually rendering them in his distinctive paintings.

Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., March 17, 2 p.m.

Shoplifters

Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda
(Japan, 2018, 121 min.)

After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets and tests the bonds that unite them.

West End Cinema

Penguin Highway

Directed by Hiroyasu Ishida
(Japan, 2018, 118 min.)

Budding genius Aoyama is only in the 4th grade, but already lives his life like a scientist. When penguins start appearing in his sleepy suburb hundreds of miles from the sea, Aoyama vows to solve the mystery. When he finds the source of the penguins is a woman from his dentist’s office, they team up for an unforgettable summer adventure (part of the D.C. Independent Film Festival; includes an anime breakfast experience for children over 8).

The Miracle Theater
Sat., March 2, 10:45 a.m.

Korean

Burning

Directed by Lee Chang-dong
(South Korea, 2018, 148 min.)

In this searing examination of an alienated young man, a frustrated introvert’s already difficult life is complicated by the appearance of two people into his orbit: a spirited woman who offers romantic possibility, and a wealthy and sophisticated young man she returns from a trip with.

AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., March 2, 11 a.m.,
Mon., March 4, 7 p.m.

Mandarin

Bitter Money

Directed by Wang Bing
(France/Hong Kong, 2016, 152 min.)

The Chinese city of Huzhou is home to 18,000 clothing factories employing some 300,000 laborers. This unobtrusive, empathetic documentary follows a handful of these workers through their daily routines, capturing their camaraderie and the precariousness of their lives.

Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., March 3, 2 p.m.

Dead Souls

Directed by Wang Bing
(France/Switzerland, 2018, 495 min.)

Over 10 years in the making, Wang Bing’s latest project records testimony from survivors of a hard-labor camp in the Gobi Desert. The 495-minute documentary also surveys the harsh landscape, where the bones of those who didn’t survive remain. It will be shown in three parts, each followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker.

Freer Gallery of Art
Sat., March 9, 12 p.m. (Part 1)
Sat., March 9, 4 p.m. (Part 2)
Sun., March 10, 1 p.m. (Part 3)

Monster Hunt

Directed by Raman Hui
(China/Hong Kong, 2015, 118 min.)

Join students from D.C.’s Chinese language immersion schools to watch a 3-D adventure that broke box office records. Brush up on your Mandarin or simply relax and enjoy the fantastic tale of a time when humans battled monsters — until the birth of Wuba, a monster king who wants to end the war.

Freer Gallery of Art
Thu., March 14, 10:30 a.m.,

Fri., March 15, 1:30 p.m.

Mrs. Fang

Directed by Wang Bing
(France/China/Germany, 2017, 102 min.)

This “unflinching, challenging, provocative film” (Jessica Kiang, Variety) presents the final days of a woman dying of Alzheimer’s in a small fishing village.

Freer Gallery of Art
Fri., March 1, 7 p.m.

Polish

Cold War

Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
(Poland/U.K./France, 2018, 89 min.)

“Cold War” is a passionate love story between a man and a woman who meet in the ruins of postwar Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in 1950s Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, it’s the tale of a couple separated by politics, character flaws and unfortunate twists of fate — an impossible love story in impossible times (Polish, French, German, Russian, Italian and Croatian).

Angelika Mosaic
Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Spanish

Birds of Passage

Directed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra
(Colombia/Denmark/Mexico, 2019, 125 min.)

During the marijuana bonanza in 1970s, a violent decade that saw the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia, Rapayet and his family, who belong to the Wayúu indigenous people, get caught up in a conflict where honor is the highest currency and debts are paid with blood (Spanish, Wayuu and English).

AFI Silver Theatre
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., March 1

Everybody Knows

Directed by Asghar Farhadi
(Spain/France/Italy, 2019, 132 min.)

Laura, a Spanish woman living in Buenos Aires, returns to her hometown outside Madrid with her two children to attend her sister’s wedding. However, the trip is upset by unexpected events that bring secrets into the open (Spanish, English and Catalan).

AFI Silver Theatre
Angelika Mosaic
Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Roma

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
(Mexico/U.S., 2018, 135 min.)

The most personal project to date from Academy Award-winning director and writer Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma” follows a young domestic worker for a family in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City. Delivering an artful love letter to the women who raised him, Cuarón draws on his own childhood to create a vivid and emotional portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy amidst political turmoil of the 1970s.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Swedish

The Feminist

Directed by Hampus Linder
(Sweden, 2018, 91 min.)

In her native Sweden, everybody has an opinion about feminist trailblazer Gudrun Schyman. Some see her as a superhero, others as a villain — but most would agree that she’s been one of the most influential politicians of the past decades. Gudrun Schyman has been through all the ups and downs of political life: from humble beginnings in a blue-collar family grappling with her father’s alcoholism, becoming a social worker, rising to lead the Leftist party to record election results; publicly shamed for her struggles with addiction; overcoming her demons, and founding Europe’s first feminist party (part of the D.C. Independent Film Festival; in association with the Swedish Embassy).

The Carnegie Institution for Science
Fri., March 8, 5 p.m.