Film Highlight

Latin American Film Festival

Now in its 30th year, the Latin American Film Festival at AFI Silver Theatre (Sept. 12-Oct. 2) is one of North America’s largest and long-running showcases of Latin America cinema. With the inclusion of films from Spain and Portugal, the festival celebrates Ibero-American cultural connections during National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Highlights from this year’s diverse slate of early announcements include Sundance Film Festival award-winners “The Sharks” (Uruguay) and “Midnight Family” (Mexico/U.S.); acclaimed Argentinian political thriller “Rojo”; Gabriel Mascaro’s “Neon Bull”; the dystopian romance “Divine Love” (Brazil); and Chilean critical darling “Too Late to Die Young”; and Venezuelan genre-bender “The Lake Vampire.”

For information, visit www.afi.com/silver/laff/#

Arabic

Tel Aviv on Fire

Directed by Sameh Zoabi

(Luxembourg/Belgium/Israel/France, 2019, 100 min.)

Salam, an inexperienced young Palestinian man, becomes a writer on a popular soap opera after a chance meeting with an Israeli soldier. His creative career is on the rise — until the soldier and the show’s financial backers disagree about how the show should end, and Salam is caught in the middle. (Arabic and Hebrew).

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

English

After the Wedding

Directed by Bart Freundlich

(U.S., 2019, 110 min.)

As if driven by an inescapable force, Isabel (Michelle Williams) has devoted her life to running an orphanage in a Calcutta slum. With funds running dry, a potential donor who requires she travel from India to New York to deliver a presentation in-person, contacts Isabel. Once in New York, Isabel lands uncomfortably in the sight line of the orphanage’s possible benefactor, Theresa Young (Julianne Moore), a multi-millionaire media mogul accustomed to getting what she wants.

Angelika Mosaic

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

American Factory

Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert

(U.S., 2019, 115 min.)

In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

West End Cinema

Blinded by Light

Directed by Gurinder Chadha

(U.K., 2019, 117 min.)

In 1987, Javed is a British teen of Pakistani descent growing up in England. Amidst the racial and economic turmoil of the times, he writes poetry as a means to escape the intolerance of his hometown and the inflexibility of his traditional father. But when a classmate introduces him to the music of “the Boss,” Javed sees parallels to his working-class life in Bruce Springsteen’s powerful lyrics.

Angelika Mosaic

Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Before Sunset

Directed by Richard Linklater

(U.S./France, 2004, 80 min.)

Nine years after Jesse and Celine first met, they encounter each other again on the French leg of Jesse’s book tour.

West End Cinema

Wed., Sept. 4, 1:30, 4:30, 7:30 p.m.

Cold Case Hammarskjöld

Directed by Mads Brügger

(Denmark/Norway/Sweden/Belgium, 2019, 128 min.)

In 1961, U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane mysteriously crashed in what was then Northern Rhodesia, killing Hammarskjöld and 15 others. Danish director Mads Brügger and Swedish private investigator Göran Björkdahl are trying to solve the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjöld. As their investigation closes in, they discover a crime far worse than killing the secretary-general of the United Nations (English, French, Swedish, Bemba and Danish).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Downton Abbey

Directed by Michael Engler

(U.K., 2019, 122 min.)

The continuing story of the Crawley family, wealthy owners of a large estate in the English countryside in the early 20th century.

The Avalon Theatre

Opens Mon., Sept. 23

Angelika Mosaic

Opens Fri., Sept. 20

The Farewell

Directed by Lulu Wang

(U.S., 2019, 98 min.)

Chinese-born, U.S.-raised Billi reluctantly returns home to find that, although the whole family knows their beloved matriarch, Nai-Nai, has been given weeks to live, everyone has decided not to tell Nai-Nai herself. As Billi navigates family expectations, she finds a lot to celebrate: a chance to rediscover the country she left as a child, her grandmother’s wondrous spirit and ties that keep on binding even when so much goes unspoken.

Angelika Mosaic

The Avalon Theatre

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Fidler, A Miracle of Miracles

Directed by Max Lewkowicz

(U.S., 2019, 92 min.)

This is the first in-depth documentary film that chronicles the life and themes of “Fidler on the Roof,” an iconic offering of American culture. The goal is to understand why the story of Tevye the milkman is reborn again and again as beloved entertainment and cultural touchstone the world over.

The Avalon Theatre

Opens Fri., Sept. 13

The Ito Sisters: An American Story

Directed by Antonia Grace Glenn

(U.S., 2017, 80 min.)

The Ito Sisters captures the stories of three Japanese American sisters, interviewed in their ’80s and ’90s, as they recount how their immigrant parents struggled to make a life in the United States in the early twentieth century. The family’s chronicle is set against the backdrop of the anti-Japanese movement in California, a sixty-year campaign by politicians, journalists, landowners, and labor leaders that culminated in the evacuation and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.

Freer Gallery of Art

Fri., Sept. 20, 7 p.m.

Judy

Directed by Rupert Gold

(U.K., 2019, 118 min.)

Legendary performer Judy Garland arrives in London in the winter of 1968 to perform a series of sold-out concerts.

Angelika Mosaic

Opens Fri., Sept. 27

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Directed by Joe Talbot

(U.S., 2019, 121 min.)

Jimmie dreams of reclaiming the Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of San Francisco. Joined on his quest by his best friend, Jimmie searches for belonging in a rapidly changing city that seems to have left them behind.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Love, Antosha

Directed by Garret Price

(U.S., 2019)

This heartfelt documentary portrays the brief but rich life of Anton Yelchin. Best known for his role as Chekov in the rebooted “Star Trek” films, he had an amazingly prolific career in movies and television, while dealing with a dangerous health condition he concealed.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Luce

Directed by Julius Onah

(U.S., 2019, 109 min.)

A married couple is forced to reckon with their idealized image of their son, adopted from war-torn Eritrea, after an alarming discovery by a devoted high school teacher threatens his status as an all-star student.

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Ms. Purple

Directed by Justin Chon

(U.S., 2019, 87 min.)

A young woman who works as a karaoke hostess in Koreatown reconnects with her estranged brother in the final days of their father’s life.

Landmark’s Theatres

Opens Fri., Sept. 27

One Child Nation

Directed by Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang

(U.S., 2019, 85 min.)

China’s One Child Policy, the rigid population control measure in force for over 30 years that made it illegal for couples to have more than one child, ended in 2015, but the process of dealing with the trauma of its brutal enforcement is only just beginning. This film explores the ripple effect of this devastating social experiment, uncovering shocking human rights violations such as abandoned newborns, forced sterilizations and abortions, government abductions and a lucrative adoption-to-foreigners market (English and Mandarin).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

The Peanut Butter Falcon

Directed by Tyler Nilson and Mike Schwartz

(U.S., 2019, 97 min.)

A modern Mark Twain-style adventure story, “The Peanut Butter Falcon” tells the story of Zak, a young man with Down syndrome, who runs away from a residential nursing home to follow his dream of attending the professional wrestling school of his idol.

Angelika Mosaic

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Tony Morrison: The Pieces I Am

Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

(U.S., 2019, 120 min.)

This artful and intimate meditation on the legendary storyteller examines her life, her works and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career.

West End Cinema

Vita & Virginia

Directed by Chanya Button

(Ireland/U.K., 2019, 110 min.)

Set amidst the bohemian high society of 1920s England, Vita Sackville-West is the brash, aristocratic wife of a diplomat who refuses to be constrained by her marriage, defiantly courting scandal through her affairs with women. When she meets the brilliant but troubled Virginia Woolf, she is immediately attracted to the famed novelist’s eccentric genius and enigmatic allure. So begins an intense, passionate relationship marked by all-consuming desire, intellectual gamesmanship, and destructive jealousy.

Landmark’s Theatres

Opens Fri., Sept. 6

Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Directed by Richard Linklater

(U.S., 2019, 130 min.)

A loving mom becomes compelled to reconnect with her creative passions after years of sacrificing herself for her family. Her leap of faith takes her on an epic adventure that jump-starts her life and leads to her triumphant rediscovery.

Angelica Mosaic

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Where’s My Roy Cohn

Directed by Matt Tyrnauer

(U.S., 2019, 97 min.)

Roy Cohn personified the dark arts of American politics, turning empty vessels into dangerous demagogues — from Joseph McCarthy to his final project, Donald J. Trump. This thriller-like exposé connects the dots, revealing how a deeply troubled master manipulator shaped our current American nightmare.

Angelika Mosaic

Opens Fri., Sept. 27

Japanese

Pitfall

Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara

(Japan, 1962, 97 min.)

When a miner leaves his employers and treks out with his young son to become a migrant worker, he finds himself moving from one eerie landscape to another. Intermittently followed (and photographed) by an enigmatic man in a clean, white suit, the former miner eventually comes face-to-face with his inescapable destiny.

Freer Gallery of Art

Wed, Sept. 4, 2 p.m.

Russian

Aquarela

Directed by Viktor Kossakovsky

(U.K./Germany/Denmark/U.S., 2019, 89 min.)

Water is the main protagonist here, seen in all its great and terrible beauty, as Viktor Kossakovsky travels the world, from the precarious frozen waters of Russia’s Lake Baikal and Miami in the throes of Hurricane Irma, to Venezuela’s mighty Angel Falls to paint a portrait of this fluid life force in all its glorious forms (Russian, English and Spanish).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Spanish

This Is Not Berlin

Directed by Hari Sama

(Mexico, 2019, 115 min.)

Seventeen-year-old Carlos doesn’t fit in anywhere, not in his family nor with the friends he has chosen in school. But everything changes when he is invited to a mythical nightclub where he discovers the underground nightlife scene: punk, sexual liberty and drugs.

Landmark’s Theatres

Opens Fri., Sept. 13

Thai

Nang Nak

Directed by Nonzee Nimbutr

(Thailand, 1999, 100 min.)

Based on a famous Thai legend that has inspired movies since the silent era, “Nang Nak” is, according to some, a true story illustrating the dangers of earthly attachments. In it, a soldier goes to war, leaving behind his pregnant wife. After nearly dying in battle, he returns home to his wife and newborn son. The problem is, he’s the only one in town who doesn’t know they are both ghosts.

Freer Gallery of Art

Fri., Sept. 27, 7 p.m.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

(Thailand, 2010, 114 min.)

Inspired by a book by a Buddhist monk about a man who could remember his previous incarnations, this is the story of a rural farmer dying of kidney disease who is visited by the ghosts of his wife and son (the latter in the form of a monkey with glowing eyes).

Freer Gallery of Art

Sun., Sept. 29, 2 p.m.

Turkish

Honeyland

Directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov

(Macedonia, 2019, 87 min.)

The last female beehunter in Europe must save the bees and return the natural balance in Honeyland, when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood.

West End Cinema