Czech

House
(Dom)
Directed by Zuzana Liová
(Czech Republic/Slovakia, 2011, 100 min.)
Ambitious teen Eva, about to graduate from high school, is prone to taking romantic risks and eager to leave her bleak hometown for glamorous London, while her controlling father painstakingly builds her a house on the family property — his modest effort to hold onto his family (Czech and Slovak).
The Avalon Theatre
Wed., Dec. 12, 8 p.m.

Danish

 A Royal Affair
(En kongelig affære)
Directed by Nikolaj Arcel
(Denmark/Sweden/Czech Republic, 2012, 137 min.)
An intriguing love triangle between a young but strong queen, an ever-more insane Danish king, and the idealistic royal physician sparks a revolution that forever changes a nation (Danish, English, German and French).
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

English

Anna Karenina
Directed by Joe Wright
(U.K., 2012, 129 min.)
Set in late-19th-century Russia high-society, the aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the attractive Count Vronsky.
AFI Silver Theatre
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Chasing Ice
Directed by Jeff Orlowski
(U.S., 2012, 75 min.)
In 2005, acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a National Geographic assignment to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate, a trip that opened the skeptic’s eyes to the biggest story in human history.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Directed by Peter Jackson
(U.S./New Zealand, 2012)
A curious Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, journeys to the Lonely Mountain with a vigorous group of Dwarves to reclaim a treasure stolen from them by the dragon Smaug.
Various area theaters
Opens Fri., Dec. 14

Hitchcock
Directed by Sacha Gervasi
(U.S., 2012, 98 min.)
“Hitchcock” is a love story about one of the most influential filmmakers of the last century, Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins), and his wife and partner, Alma Reville (Helen Mirren).
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

The House of Fear
Directed by Roy William Neill
(U.S., 1945, 69 min.)
Sherlock Holmes heads to a castle in Scotland, where the members of the Good Comrades Club see their number diminish one by one, each victim’s murder preceded by delivery of a menacing letter containing a number of orange seeds predicting their declining membership (followed by “The Woman in Green” (U.S., 1945, 68 min.) in which a series of mysterious murders of young women, each with a single finger severed, has the London police searching for a madman).
AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., Dec. 8, 1:10 p.m.,
Wed., Dec. 12, 6:30 p.m.

Hyde Park on the Hudson
Directed by Roger Michell
(U.K., 2012, 95 min.)
The love affair between President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley plays out over a weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of Britain visit upstate New York.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., Dec. 14

Life of Pi
Directed by Ang Lee
(U.S., 2012, 127 min.)
Pi Patel, the precocious son of a zookeeper, and his family decide to move to Canada, hitching a ride on a huge freighter. After a shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a 26-foot lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, all fighting for survival.
Various area theaters

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Directed by Billy Wilder
(U.K., 1970, 125 min.)
In this cheeky portrayal of the Great Detective, Billy Wilder has him making mistakes, falling in love and joking about the Watson relationship.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., Dec. 15, 4 p.m.

Red Dawn
Directed by Dan Bradley
(U.S. 2012, 94 min.)
A group of teenagers look to save their town from an invasion of North Korean soldiers.
Various area theaters

The Scarlet Claw
Directed by Roy William Neill
(U.S., 1944, 74 min.)
On a visit to Quebec City, Sherlock Holmes and Watson are summoned to the nearby village of La Mort Rouge, where a local matron, Lady Penrose, has been found murdered with her throat torn out (followed by “The Pearl of Death” (U.S. 1944, 69 min.) in which Holmes must identify the link between the theft of a possibly cursed pearl and a series of brutal murders).
AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., Dec. 2, 8:30 p.m.,
Tue., Dec. 4, 4 p.m.,
Wed., Dec. 5, 4 p.m.

Sherlock Holmes
Directed by Guy Ritchie
(U.S./Germany, 2009, 128 min.)
Director Guy Ritchie interprets Sherlock Holmes as a mystery- solving action hero, persuasively played with a louche foxiness by Robert Downey, Jr., with Jude Law as a sturdy, war-hardened Dr. Watson.
AFI Silver Theatre
Fri., Dec. 14, 9:30 p.m.,
Tue., Dec. 18, 9 p.m.

Sherlock Holmes in Washington
Directed by Roy William Neill
(U.S., 1943, 71 min.)
After a British agent carrying a top-secret dossier is kidnapped en route to the U.S. during World War II, the British government summons the services of Sherlock Holmes, sending him to D.C. to investigate the man’s disappearance (followed by “The Spider Woman” (U.S., 1944, 63 min.) in which the inexplicable deaths of several prominent London men puzzle Scotland Yard and electrify the press).
AFI Silver Theatre
Fri., Dec. 7, 2 p.m.,
Tue., Dec. 11, 4 p.m.,
Thu., Dec. 13, 4 p.m.

Terror by Night
Directed by Roy William Neill
(U.S., 1946, 60 min.)
While traveling by train from London to Edinburgh, Lady Carstairs, owner of the fabled Star of Rhodesia diamond, loses both her prized jewel and her son, murdered during the robbery that Sherlock Holmes must now investigate (followed by “Dressed to Kill aka Prelude to Murder” (U.S., 1946, 72 min.) in which Holmes suspects that the death of Watson’s old school chum is related to his recent purchase of a music box).
AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., Dec. 1, 11 a.m.,
Mon., Dec. 3, 3:45 p.m.,
Thu., Dec. 6, 3:45 p.m.

They Might Be Giants
Directed by Anthony Harvey
(U.S., 1971, 98 min.)
George C. Scott plays Justin Playfair, a New York City psychiatric patient who believes he’s Sherlock Holmes.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., Dec. 15, 11:05 a.m.,
Sun., Dec. 16, 11:05 a.m.

The Waiting Room
Directed by Peter Nicks
(U.S., 2012, 83 min.)
This riveting documentary was filmed over 24 hours at Highland Hospital in Oakland, Calif., where uninsured patients come to the ER of the nearly overwhelmed hospital and wait to be seen.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Without a Clue
Directed by Thom E. Eberhardt
(U.K., 1988, 107 min.)
In this inspired parody, Michael Caine plays a clueless Sherlock — actually, a drunken actor named Reginald Kincaid — hired to front for the real brains of the operation, doctor/detective/crime novelist Dr. John Watson (Ben Kingsley).
AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., Dec. 8, 11 a.m.,
Sun., Dec. 9, 11 a.m.

French

Children of Paradise
(Les enfants du paradis)
Directed by Marcel Carné
(France, 1945, 190 min.)
A celebration of theatrical life on the famous Boulevard du Crime — once the site of small playhouses, where Parisians strolled nightly, until the city was rebuilt in the 1860s — the tale unfolds around a romantic rivalry for the love of an adored courtesan of the boulevard.
National Gallery of Art
Sun., Dec. 23, 2 p.m.,
Sun., Dec. 30, 2 p.m.

Port of Shadows
(Le quai des brumes)
Directed by Marcel Carné
(France, 1938, 91 min.)
A waterfront café in the depths of Le Havre becomes a shadowy backdrop for criminal low-lifes and the ill-fated love between a despairing army defector and a restless beauty.
National Gallery of Art
Sat., Dec. 22, 2 and 4 p.m.

German

Barbara
Directed by Christian Petzold
(Germany, 2012, 105 min.)
A doctor working in 1980s East Germany finds herself banished to a small country hospital.
Theater TBA
Opens Fri., Dec. 21

Dress Rehearsal
(La Répétition generale)
Directed by Werner Schroeter
(W. Germany, 1980, 88 min.)
Werner Schroeter elevates dance and theater performances by Pina Bausch, Kazuo Ohno and Reinhild Hoffmann into an exhilarating essay on love and desire, feelings and expression, the artist and society (German, French and English).
Goethe-Institut
Mon., Dec. 10, 6:30 p.m.

Puss in Boots
(Der gestiefelte Kater)
Directed by Christian Theede
(Germany, 2009, 59 min.)
When the miller dies, his youngest son Hans inherits only the old male cat, while Hans’s brothers get the mill and the donkey. Hans decides to make fur gloves out of the pet, but the cat persuades him to buy a pair of boots instead.
Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital
Sun., Dec. 2, 2 p.m.

The Smiling Star
(Der lachende Stern)
Directed by Werner Schroeter
(W. Germany, 1983, 108 min.)
As a guest of the Manila International Film Festival, Werner Schroeter was horrified to discover the yawning gap between rich and poor in the Philippines. He began to clandestinely film and research the legacy of colonialism through archival footage, producing an extraordinary collage documentary on Marcos’s corrupt regime in the Philippines (German, Tagalog and English).
Goethe-Institut
Mon., Dec. 17, 6:30 p.m.

Willow Springs
Directed by Werner Schroeter
(W. Germany, 1973, 78 min.)
A feminist cult that survives by robbing and killing passersby in the isolation of the California desert find their communal life threatened by the arrival of a strange man.
Goethe-Institut
Mon., Dec. 3, 6:30 p.m.

The Wishing Table
(Tischlein, deck’ dich)
Directed by Ulrich König
(Germany, 2008, 59 min.)
Max is the youngest of three brothers, and so clumsy that his father sends him to the fields to herd goat. But Max just wants to go out into the world like his brothers.
Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital
Sun., Dec. 9, 2 p.m.

Hungarian

There Was Once…
Directed by Gabor Kalman
(U.S./Hungary, 2011, 103 min.)
A Hungarian Catholic high school teacher striving to chart a new course of tolerance in her conflict-ridden hometown, Kalocsa, Hungary, discovers a forgotten part of local history: the Jewish community that once thrived but is now nonexistent in her city (Hungarian and English).
Washington DCJCC
Mon., Dec. 10, 7 p.m.

Italian

Hawks and Sparrows
(Uccellacci e uccellini)
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
(Italy, 1966, 86 min.)
This madcap fable features the incomparable “prince of laughter” Totò, young comic actor Ninetto Davoli, and an officious talking crow who recites a tale of two friars (also Totò and Ninetto) asked by Saint Francis to preach a doctrine of love to the overbearing hawks and lowly sparrows of the field.
National Gallery of Art
Sun., Dec. 16, 4:30 p.m.

La Rabbia: The Rage of Pasolini
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini and Giuseppe Bertolucci
(Italy, 1963-2008, 84 min.)
This 1963 feature essay — a compilation of moments caught on newsreels, including the revolution in Cuba, workers at a Fiat plant, floods in Europe, even the death of Marilyn Monroe — was originally stripped of its radical undertone. In 2008, 30 years after the filmmaker’s death, Giuseppe Bertolucci recaptured his friend’s original purpose.
National Gallery of Art
Sat., Dec. 29, 3:30 p.m.

Japanese

Death Row Woman
(Onna shikeishû no datsugoku)
Directed by Nobuo Nakagawa
(Japan, 1960, 76 min.)
Arrested for the murder of her wealthy businessman father, convicted on false evidence, and sentenced to death, Kyoko makes a daring escape and reunites with her fiancé to unmask the real killer.
Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., Dec. 16, 2:30 p.m.

Flesh Pier
(Nyotai sanbashi)
Directed by Teruo Ishii
(Japan, 1958, 73 min.)
Ken Utsui stars as an undercover cop investigating a call-girl ring operating out of a Ginza nightclub called the Arizona. When he visits the club, however, he is surprised to discover the boss’s moll is his long-lost love.
Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., Dec. 16, 1 p.m.

Ghost Cat of Otama Pond
(Kaibyô Otama-ga-ike)
Directed by Yoshihiro Ishikawa
(Japan, 1960, 75 min.)
A young couple is caught in a web of ghostly revenge, with a black cat serving as a conduit between the worlds of the living and dead.
Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., Dec. 9, 2:30 p.m.

Ghost Story of Yotsuya
(Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan)
Directed by Nobuo Nakagawa
(Japan, 1959, 76 min.)
Nobuo Nakagawa’s film is among the most faithful of many screen adaptations made since the silent era of a kabuki play by Nanboku Tsuruya that was first staged in 1825.
Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., Dec. 9, 1 p.m.

The Horizon Glitters
(Chiheisen ga giragira)
Directed by Michiyoshi Doi
(Japan, 1961, 89 min.)
A motor-mouthed proto-punk who breaks out of prison with his cellmates in search of a large cache of diamonds.
Freer Gallery of Art
Fri., Dec. 14, 7 p.m.

Revenge of the Pearl Queen
(Onna shinju-ô no fukushû)
Directed by Hideo Shimura
(Japan, 1956, 90 min.)
Voluptuous sensation Michiko Maeda becomes embroiled in a robbery and murder plot, falls off a ship to escape a would-be rapist, and finds herself a castaway among a crew of hungry-eyed men. When she discovers enough pearls to make a fortune, she schemes to trap the criminals who sent her overboard.
Freer Gallery of Art
Fri., Dec. 21, 7 p.m.

Vampire Bride
(Hanayome kyûketsuma)
Directed by Kyotaro Namiki
(Japan, 1960, 80 min.)
Desperate for relief from the pain of her life, a dance student with a horrific facial scar visits a sorceress in the mountains, where she becomes transformed into a fanged, hairy monster — reacting at first with disgust to her new body, but then reveling in her newfound power.
Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., Dec. 9, 4 p.m.

Yellow Line
(Ôsen chitai)
Directed by Teruo Ishii
(Japan, 1960, 79 min.)
A hit man betrayed by his employer grabs a dancer at Tokyo Station to serve as a hostage/cover and hops a train to Kobe, where her reporter boyfriend follows the pair, suspecting she may have walked into a trap set by a Kobe-based prostitution ring.
Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., Dec. 16, 4 p.m.

Mandarin

Eat, Drink, Man, Woman
(Eat, Drink, Man, Woman)
Directed by Ang Lee
(Taiwan, U.S., 1994, 124 min.)
Generations clash around the dining table in Ang Lee’s charming comedy-drama about widowed master chef Chu (the extraordinary Sihung Lung) and his three thoroughly modern daughters (Mandarin and English).
Freer Gallery of Art
Fri., Dec. 7, 7 p.m.

Pushing Hands
(Tui shou)
Directed by Ang Lee
(Taiwan, 1992, 105 min.)
In Ang Lee’s debut feature, Mr. Chu, a retired tai chi master, moves in with his son and American daughter-in-law in New York State, leading to a clash of cultures and generations (Mandarin and English).
Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., Dec. 2, 1 p.m.

The Wedding Banquet
(Xi yan)
Directed by Ang Lee
(Taiwan/U.S., 1993, 106 min.)
A gay Taiwanese entrepreneur living in New York agrees to marry a Chinese woman in need of a green card to assuage his tradition-bound parents. There’s just one problem: The parents insist on flying in from Taiwan to throw an elaborate banquet that will severely test their son’s ruse and strain his relationship with his actual lover (Mandarin and English).
Freer Gallery of Art
Sun., Dec. 2, 3 p.m.

Russian

Generation P
Directed by Victor Ginzburg
(Russia/U.S., 2011, 112 min.)
In a world populated by gangsters, freshly minted millionaires and virtual politicians, Babylen Tatarsky works in a drab convenience shop when a chance run-in reveals an exciting career opportunity pitching Western products to Russian consumers.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., Dec. 7

Silent

Sherlock Holmes
Directed by Albert Parker
(U.S., 1922, 109 min.)
Screen legend John Barrymore chews the scenery as Sherlock Holmes and matches wits with arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty in this entertaining silent interpretation.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., Dec. 1, 2 p.m.

Spanish

Tristana
Directed by Luis Buñuel
(Spain/Italy/France, 1970, 98 min.)
Don Lope, a Mephistophelean, anti-clerical socialist, seduces his innocent and beautiful young ward Tristana, becoming her lover/father figure in this perverse, haunting study of power shifts in an obsessive relationship.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema