Cantonese

Beast Cops

Directed by Gordon Chan and Dante Lam
(Hong Kong, 1998, 110 min.)

Famed for its bloody final fight scene, gritty performances and the armloads of prizes it won at the Hong Kong Film Awards, “Beast Cops” is credited with breathing new life into the cops versus triads genre (Cantonese and Mandarin).

National Museum of American History
Sun., Aug. 6, 1 p.m.

Kung Fu Hustle

Directed by Stephen Chow
(Hong Kong, 2004, 99 min.)

Featuring a cast of legendary Hong Kong action stars, this film pits the ragtag denizens of a rundown slum against the dapper and ruthless Axe Gang. A nonstop series of action sequences is fueled by some of the most outrageous special effects ever devised (Cantonese and Mandarin).

National Museum of American History
Fri., Aug. 4, 7 p.m.

Made in Hong Kong

Directed by Fruit Chan
(Hong Kong, 1997, 109 min.)

The first independent Hong Kong film made after the 1997 British handover to China, this “intoxicating drama about teenage alienation” (Tom Dawson, BBC) depicts a rarely seen view of the city. Far from the skyscrapers and expensive suits that populate most Hong Kong crime films, it depicts high school dropout Autumn Moon, who lives in a tenement with his single mother and collects debts for a low-level gangster. He falls for the daughter of one of his victims, and he gets even deeper into the crime world to raise money to treat her kidney disease.

National Museum of American History
Sun., Aug. 6, 3:30 p.m.

Czech

The Wolf from Royal Vineyard Street
(Vlk z Kralovskych Vinohrad)

Directed by Jan Nemec
(Czech Republic/Slovakia/France, 2016, 68 min.)

“Our life zips by faster than our recollections of it,” said internationally celebrated Czech director Jan Němec (1936-2016). In his last film, Němec loosely adapts his collection of short, real-life stories spanning the ’60s to the present, experienced through the director’s alter ego in his direct-to-camera narratives about fame, glory and women.

The Avalon Theatre
Wed., Aug. 9, 8 p.m.

English

Atomic Blonde

Directed by David Leitch
(U.S., 2017, 115 min.)

An undercover MI6 agent (Charlize Theron) is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents.

Angelika Mosaic
Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Baby Driver

Directed by Edgar Wright
(U.K./U.S., 2017, 113 min.)

In this stylish, action-packed crime drama, a talented young getaway driver relies on the beat of his personal soundtrack to be the best in the game. When he meets the girl of his dreams, Baby sees a chance to ditch his criminal life and make a clean getaway. But after being coerced into working for a crime boss, he must face the music when a doomed heist threatens his life, love and freedom.

Angelika Mosaic
Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Beatriz at Dinner

Directed by Miguel Arteta
(U.S., 2017, 83 min.)

At an elegant dinner party, conversation between Beatriz (Salma Hayek), a self-effacing and spiritual immigrant from Mexico, and a hard-nosed businessman explodes into a bitter clash of cultures.

West End Cinema

The Beguiled

Directed by Sofia Coppola
(U.S., 2017, 94 min.)

At a girls’ school in Virginia during the Civil War, where the young women have been sheltered from the outside world, a wounded Union soldier is taken in. Soon, the house is taken over with sexual tension, rivalries and an unexpected turn of events.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

The Big Sick

Directed by Michael Showalter
(U.S., 2017, 119 min.)

Pakistan-born aspiring comedian Kumail connects with grad student Emily after one of his standup sets. However, what they thought would be just a one-night stand blossoms into the real thing, which complicates the life that is expected of Kumail by his traditional Muslim parents (English and Urdu).

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

The Confessional

Directed by Robert Lepage
(Canada/U.K./France, 1995, 100 min.)

Two stories separated by three decades play out in Québec city. In 1989, following his father’s death, Pierre embarks on a quest to unravel the identity of his adopted brother’s biological father. The search leads him back to 1952, just as Alfred Hitchcock arrives in Québec City to film a movie and a pregnant, unmarried young woman makes her own decisive and fateful confession (English and French).

Aug. 26, 1:45 p.m.

Dunkirk

Directed by Christopher Nolan
(U.S./U.K./France/Netherlands, 2017, 106 min.)

Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire, Canada and France are surrounded by the German army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.

AFI Silver Theatre
Angelika Mosaic
Atlantic Plumbing Cinema
Landmark’s Bethesda Cinema

Goon: Last of the Enforcers

Directed by Jay Baruchel
(Canada, 2017, 101 min.)

This sequel to the 2011 cult hockey comedy “Goon” revisits Doug “The Thug” Glatt and his team, the Halifax Highlanders, during a pro hockey lockout.

AFI Silver Theatre
Tue., Aug. 8, 7:10 p.m.

Escapes

Directed by Michael Almereyda
(U.S., 2017, 89 min.)

This documentary explores the life of Hampton Fancher, a flamenco dancer, actor and the unlikely producer and screenwriter of the landmark sci-fi classic “Blade Runner.”

Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., Aug. 4

The Exception

Directed by David Leveaux
(U.K./U.S., 2017, 107 min.)

This riveting World War II thriller follows German soldier Stefan as he goes on a mission to investigate exiled German Monarch Kaiser Wilhelm II who lives in a secluded mansion in the Netherlands. As Stefan begins to infiltrate the Kaiser’s life, he finds himself drawn into an unexpected and passionate romance with one of the Kaiser’s maids whom he soon discovers is secretly Jewish.

The Avalon Theatre

A Ghost Story

Directed by David Lowery
(U.S., 2017, 87 min.)

In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife.

Landmark’s Bethesda Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power

Directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk
(U.S., 2017, 98 min.)

A decade after “An Inconvenient Truth” brought climate change into the heart of popular culture comes the riveting and rousing follow-up that shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution. Cameras follow former Vice President Al Gore as he continues his tireless fight traveling around the world training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy.

Angelika Mosaic
Landmark’s Bethesda Cinema
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., Aug. 4

Koneline: Our Land Beautiful

Directed by Nettie Wild
(Canada, 2016, 96 min.)

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Nettie Wild creates a visually stunning celebration of an extraordinary part of the world, as well as a politically charged examination of the agents of “progress” increasingly encroaching on the pristine landscapes of northern British Columbia.

AFI Silver Theatre
Wed., Aug. 9, 7:20 p.m.

Lady Macbeth

Directed by William Oldroyd
(U.K., 2017, 89 min.)

Set in rural England in 1865, this austere, riveting drama centers around a young woman stifled by her loveless marriage to a bitter man twice her age, and his cold, unforgiving family. When she embarks on a passionate and dangerous affair with a young worker on her husband’s estate, a force is unleashed inside her so powerful that she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

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

The Little Hours

Directed by Jeff Baena
(Canada/U.S., 2017, 90 min.)

In this irreverent comedy, a group of medieval nuns spend their days chafing at monastic routine, spying on one another and berating the estate’s day laborer. After a particularly vicious insult session drives the peasant away, a virile young servant is introduced to the sisters as a deaf-mute to discourage temptation but soon struggles to maintain his cover as the repressed nunnery erupts in a whirlwind of pansexual horniness, substance abuse and wicked revelry.

AFI Silver Theatre
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Lost in Paris

Directed by Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon
(France/Belgium, 2017, 83 min.)

Librarian Fiona visits Paris for the first time to assist her myopic Aunt Martha. Catastrophes ensue, mainly involving an affable but annoying tramp who has yet to have an emotion or thought he was afraid of expressing (English and French).

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Maudie

Directed by Aisling Walsh
(Ireland/Canada, 2017, 115 min.)

An arthritic Nova Scotia woman works as a housekeeper while she hones her skills as an artist and eventually becomes a beloved figure in the community — and with the hardened reclusive bachelor for whom she works.

The Avalon Theatre

My Winnipeg

Directed by Guy Maddin
(Canada, 2007, 80 min.)

Visionary super-auteur Guy Maddin’s “docu-fantasia” melds fact, memory, myth and metafiction to paint a loving portrait of his hometown and the reasons the film’s narrator, a character named Guy Maddin, is trying desperately to leave it.

AFI Silver Theatre
Wed., Aug. 16, 9:30 p.m.

Nelly

Directed by Anne Emond
(Canada, 2016, 101 min.)

Based on the life and electrifying writings of former sex worker-turned-bestselling novelist Nelly Arcan, acclaimed director/writer Anne Émond’s third feature is a powerhouse drama of sexuality and solitude (English and French).

AFI Silver Theatre
Mon., Aug. 28, 7 p.m.

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World

Directed by Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana
(U.S., 2017, 103 min.)

This documentary about the role of Native Americans in contemporary music history — featuring some of the greatest music stars of our time — exposes a critical missing chapter, revealing how indigenous musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives and influenced popular culture.

Landmark’s Theatres
Opens Fri., Aug. 25

Shivers

Directed by David Cronenberg
(Canada, 1975, 87 min.)

In a Montreal high-rise, an unorthodox scientist accidentally releases a culture of parasites. Transmitted via sexual contact, the organisms infect the building’s residents one by one, creating a sex-crazed horde who will stop at nothing to satisfy their primal lust and pass the pathogen to the next victim.

AFI Silver Theatre
Fri., Aug. 25, 11:55 p.m.
Sat., Aug. 26, 11:55 p.m.

Step

Directed by Amanda Lipitz
(U.S., 2017, 83 min.)

“Step” is the true-life story of a girls’ high school step team set against the background of the heart of Baltimore. These young women learn to laugh, love and thrive — on and off the stage — even when the world seems to work against them.

AFI Silver Theatre
Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema
Opens Fri., Aug. 4

Stories We Tell

Directed by Sarah Polley
(Canada, 2013, 108 min.)

Actor and director Sarah Polley addresses the complicated mystery of her mother’s life in this rousing mix of memoir, interview, reconnaissance and copious Super-8 home-movie footage, both real and staged.

AFI Silver Theatre
Mon., Aug. 21, 7:30 p.m.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Directed by Luc Besson
(France, 2017, 137 min.)

In the 28th century, a duo of special operatives is charged with maintaining order throughout the human territories. Under assignment from the minister of defense, the two embark on a mission to the astonishing city of Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis where species from all over the universe have converged over centuries to share knowledge, intelligence and cultures with each other.

Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Estonian

The Fencer
(Miekkailija)

Directed by Klaus Härö
(Finland/Estonia/Germany, 2017, 99 min.)

Endel, an Estonian fencing master on the run from the Soviet secret police, leaves Leningrad and hides out in a small Estonian town as sports master at the elementary school. Despite hostility from the principal and lack of equipment, he decides to teach fencing to the enthusiastic young students. But when the children want to participate in a national fencing tournament in Leningrad, Endel must make a choice.

Landmark’s Theatres
Opens Fri., Aug. 11

French

Café de Flore

Directed by Jean Marc Vallée
(Canada/France, 2011, 120 min.)

In present-day Montreal, successful DJ Antoine balances his career with his responsibilities to his new love, his daughters and his ex-wife. Meanwhile, in 1969 Paris, Jacqueline, a fiercely devoted mother of a young boy with Down syndrome, defies the doctors and her husband to fight for her son.

AFI Silver Theatre
Mon., Aug. 28, 9:10 p.m.

From the Land of the Moon
(Mal de pierres)

Directed by Nicole Garcia
(France/Belgium/Canada, 2017, 116 min.)

In 1950s France, Gabrielle (Marion Cotillard) is a passionate, free-spirited woman who is in a loveless marriage and falls for a dashing injured veteran of the Indochinese War when she is sent away to the Alps to treat her kidney stones (French, Spanish and German).

West End Cinema
Opens Fri., Aug. 4

Léolo

Directed by Jean-Claude Lauzon
(Canada, 1992, 107 min.)

This dark and outrageously original coming-of-age fantasy tells the story of Léo, a boy living in a Montreal tenement with his mentally unstable family. His only escape is a rich fantasy world in which he is Léolo Lozone, an Italian boy conceived when his mother fell into a cart of semen-covered Sicilian tomatoes.

AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., Aug. 13, 12:30 p.m.

Marie Curie

Directed by Marie Noelle
(Poland/Germany/France, 2017, 100 min.)

A sweeping biographical film about the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, “Marie Curie” is as much an intimate portrayal of the struggles of the scientist’s private world as of her legendary public accomplishments, chronicling her battles against the male academic establishment, as well as her blissful marriage to her scientific partner, Pierre. Her world falls apart when her husband perishes in a tragic accident, and despite near scandal, Curie perseveres and triumphs once more (French, German, English and Polish).

The Avalon Theatre

The Midwife

Directed by Martin Provost
(France, 2017, 117 min.)

Two of French cinema’s biggest stars shine in this bittersweet drama about the unlikely friendship that develops between Claire (Catherine Frot), a talented but tightly wound midwife, and Béatrice (Catherine Deneuve), the estranged, free-spirited mistress of Claire’s late father.

The Avalon Theatre
West End Cinema

A Woman’s Life
(Une vie)

Directed by Stéphane Brizé
(France/Belgium, 2016, 119 min.)

Upon finishing her schooling in a convent, young aristocrat Jeanne marries a local viscount, who soon reveals himself to be a miserly and unfaithful husband. As she navigates his chronic infidelity, pressure from her family and community, and the alternating joys and burdens of motherhood, Jeanne’s rosy illusions about her privileged world are slowly stripped away in this tale of tormented love embedded in the restrictive social and moral codes of marriage and family in 19th century Normandy.

The Avalon Theatre
Wed., Aug. 16, 8 p.m.

Hebrew

Harmonia

Directed by Ori Sivan
(Israel, 2016, 97 min.)

Abraham, the conductor of the Jerusalem Philharmonic, and his wife Sarah, the orchestra’s harpist, cannot have children. When Hagar, a young horn player from East Jerusalem, joins the orchestra, she bonds with Sarah and a unique friendship evolves between the two women. Hagar, feeling Sarah’s pain from not having children, offers to have a baby for her from Abraham, but as the child grows older and becomes a renowned pianist in his own right, an emotional clash develops between the two women.

The Avalon Theatre
Wed., Aug. 23, 8 p.m.

Inuktitut

Searchers

Directed by Zacharias Kunuk
(Canada, 2016, 94 min.)

Nunavut, circa 1913: When Kuanana returns from hunting caribou to find his wife and daughter kidnapped and his home ransacked, he sets off across the barren Arctic with his band of maliglutit (followers) and his father’s spirit helper.

AFI Silver Theatre
Wed., Aug. 23, 7:30 p.m.

Japanese

In This Corner of the World
(Kono sekai no katasumi ni)

Directed by Sunao Katabuchi
(Japan, 2016, 129 min.)

In this animated film set in Hiroshima during World War II, an 18-year-old girl gets married and now has to prepare food for her family despite the rationing and lack of supplies. As she struggles with the daily loss of life’s amenities, she still has to maintain the will to live.

Angelika Mosaic
Opens Fri., Aug. 18

Rashomon

Directed by Akira Kurosawa
(Japan, 1950, 88 min.)

The murder of a man and the rape of his wife in a forest grove are seen from several different perspectives in Akira Kurosawa’s meditation on the nature of truth that transformed narrative cinema.

AFI Silver Theatre
Aug. 11 to 17

Korean

The Battleship Island

Directed by Ryoo Seung-wan
(South Korea, 2017, 132 min.)

To whet your appetite for the Freer|Sackler’s Korean film festival this fall, the museum presents an exclusive prerelease screening of the newest movie from Ryoo Seung-wan. During World War II, some four hundred Korean civilians were conscripted by the Japanese as slave labor to work in the coal mines of Hashima Island, nicknamed “Battleship Island” due to its resemblance to a war vessel. Based on actual events, this film is the action-packed, moving story of the conscripts’ uprising against their oppressors in the waning months of the Pacific War (Korean and Japanese).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Thu., Aug. 3, 7 p.m.

Spanish

Endless Poetry
(Poesía sin fin)

Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsk
(Chile/France, 2016, 128 min.)

Through the intensely personal lens of writer/director Alejandro Jodorowsky comes the story of his years spent as an aspiring poet in Chile in the 1940s — replete with Jodorowsky’s wonderfully imaginative, surreal and psychedelic imagery. Against the wishes of his authoritarian father, 20-year-old Alejandro (played appealingly by real life son Adan Jodorowsky) leaves home to pursue his dream of becoming a poet, and is introduced into the eccentric bohemian and artistic inner circle of Santiago.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema