FILM HIGHLIGHT

AFI Latin American Film Festival

Now in its 28th year, the AFI Latin American Film Festival showcases the best filmmaking from Latin America and, with the inclusion of films from Spain and Portugal, celebrates Ibero-American cultural connections.

This year’s selection of films will once again include numerous international film festival favorites, award winners, local box office hits and debut works by promising new talents.

Highlights include the North American premiere of Cannes-debuted Colombian drama “The Dragon Defense”; “The Queen of Spain,” Fernando Trueba’s Spanish answer to “Hail, Caesar!” starring Penélope Cruz; Argentina’s acclaimed 2016 Oscar selection “The Distinguished Citizen”; “The Untamed,” the latest from Cannes prize-winning Mexican director Amat Escalante; the U.S. premiere of the Portuguese colonial drama “Joaquim”; and the Sundance-debuted Dominican prison romance “Woodpeckers” with lead actor Jean Jean in attendance.

The festival runs Sept. 14 to Oct. 4 at AFI Silver Theatre. For information, visit AFI.com/Silver.

English

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

Directed by Ted Kotcheff

(Canada, 1974, 120 min.)

Richard Dreyfuss stars as Duddy Kravitz, the younger son of a working-class Montreal Jewish family and a man of serious ambition in this dark comedy.

AFI Silver Theatre

Mon., Sept. 4, 1:10 p.m.

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.

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.

Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Battle of the Sexes

Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

(U.K./U.S., 2017, 121 min.)

This true story follows the 1973 tennis match between world number-one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs.

Angelika Mosaic

Opens Fri., Sept. 22

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 Row Cinema

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Birth of the Dragon

Directed by George Nolfi

(China/Canada/U.S., 2017, 103 min.)

Set against the backdrop of 1960s San Francisco, “Birth of the Dragon” is a modern take on the classic movies for which Bruce Lee was known, including the legendary showdown between Lee and kung fu master Wong Jack (English and Mandarin).

Angelika Mosaic

Opens Fri., Sept. 1

Columbus

Directed by Kogonada

(U.S., 2017, 100 min.)

A Korean-born man finds himself stuck in Columbus, Indiana, where his estranged architect father is in a coma. The man meets a young woman who wants to stay in Columbus with her mother, a recovering addict, instead of pursuing her own dreams.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Dolores

Directed by Peter Bratt

(U.S., 2017, 95 min.)

Dolores Huerta is one of the most important, yet least known, activists in the fight for racial, class and gender equality in American history. She was an equal partner co-founding the first farm workers union with Cesar Chavez, but her enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized.

Landmark’s Theatres

Opens Fri., Sept. 15

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

Angelika Pop-Up

Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Gook

Directed by Justin Chon

(U.S., 2017, 94 min.)

Two Korean American brothers run their late father’s shoe store in a predominantly African American community of Los Angeles, where they strike up a unique friendship with an 11-year-old African American girl in the buildup to the “infamous” L.A. riots (English and Korean).

Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Opens Fri., Sept. 1

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.

West End Cinema

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

(U.K./U.S., 2017)

When their headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage, the Kingsman’s journey leads them to the discovery of an allied spy organization in the U.S. These two elite secret organizations must band together to defeat a common enemy.

Angelika Mosaic

Opens Fri., Sept. 22

Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards

Directed by Michael Roberts

(U.K., 2017, 89 min.)

“Manolo” is the in-depth portrait of legendary fashion designer Manolo Blahnik and how his extraordinary dedication to his craft led him to become the world’s most famous luxury shoemaker. Growing up on a remote Spanish Canary island, Manolo made shoes out of sweet wrappers for lizards that he caught in his family’s garden. After opening his first store in London in 1973 and coming of age in fashion capitals such as Paris and New York, Manolo now has shops and department store concessions in over 20 countries and still creates every shoe.

Landmark’s Theatres

Opens Fri., Sept. 29

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.

Angelika Pop-Up

Opens Fri., Sept. 1

Menashe

Directed by Joshua Z. Weinstein

(U.S., 2017, 82 min.)

Set within the New York Hasidic community in Brooklyn, “Menashe” follows a kind but hapless grocery store clerk trying to maintain custody of his son Rieven after his wife, Lea, passes away. Since they live in a tradition-bound culture that requires a mother present in every home, Rieven is supposed to be adopted by the boy’s strict, married uncle, but Menashe’s Rabbi decides to grant him one week to spend with Rieven prior to Lea’s memorial, giving the father a final chance to prove to his skeptical community that he can be a capable parent (English and Yiddish).

Angelika Pop-Up

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

School Life

Directed by Neasa Ní Chianáin and David Rane

(Ireland/Spain, 2017, 99 min.)

This observational documentary follows a year in the lives of two inspirational teachers at Headfort, the only primary-age boarding school in Ireland. For nearly half a century, this husband and wife have shaped thousands of minds, but now the unthinkable looms: what would retirement mean?

Landmark’s Theatres

Opens Fri., Sept. 15

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

West End Cinema

The Trip to Spain

Directed by Michael Winterbottom

(U.K., 2017, 110 min.)

After jaunts through northern England and Italy, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon embark on another deliciously deadpan culinary road trip. This time around, the guys head to Spain to sample the best of the country’s gastronomic offerings in between rounds of their hilariously off-the-cuff banter.

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Tulip Fever

Directed by Justin Chadwick

(U.S./U.K., 2017, 107 min.)

In 17th-century Amsterdam, a married woman (Alicia Vikander) begins a passionate affair with an artist hired to paint her portrait during the height of “tulip mania.” The lovers gamble on the booming market for tulip bulbs as a way to raise money to run away together.

Angelika Mosaic

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., Sept. 1

Viceroy’s House

Directed by Gurinder Chadha

(U.K./India/Sweden, 2017, 106 min.)

In this lavish, sweeping historical epic, Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”) stars as the last Viceroy of India. He and his wife (Gillian Anderson) arrive at Delhi’s palatial Viceroy’s House in 1947 to oversee handing the country back to its people, negotiating with Hindu, Sikh and Muslim leaders as conflict erupts and two independent nations are carved out of the subcontinent.

West End Cinema

Opens Fri., Sept. 8

Victoria and Abdul

Directed by Stephen Frears

(U.K./U.S., 2017, 112 min.)

Queen Victoria strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk named Abdul Karim.

Angelika Mosaic

Opens Fri., Sept. 29

Zuzana: Music Is Life

Directed by Peter Getzels and Harriet Gordon Getzels

(Czech Republic/U.S., 2017, 83 min.)

This is the triumphant story told by Zuzana Ruzickova, 90, and how she became a world-famous harpsichordist and interpreter of Bach in Czechoslovakia, despite three years in concentration camps and forty years of communist persecution.

Edlavitch DCJCC

Wed., Sept. 13, 8:30 p.m.

French

After Love
(L’économie du couple)

Directed by Joachim Lafosse

(France/Belgium, 2017, 100 min.)

After 15 years together, Marie and Boris have decided to separate. However, Boris refuses to move out of the family home that Marie shares with their 8-year old twin daughters. Both sides refuse to budge in this painfully intimate, intensely fascinating drama about the emotional and financial complexities of a separation and the end of a long love story.

The Avalon Theatre

Wed., Sept. 20, 8 p.m.

The Decline of the American Empire
(Le déclin de l’empire Américain)

Directed by Denys Arcand

(Canada, 1986, 101 min.)

When University of Montreal academic Rémy and his wife gather with friends at a country retreat, conversational topics quickly turn to sex. While the male contingent prepares dinner, trading stories of sexual escapades and infidelity, their female counterparts tell their own tales at a nearby gym.

AFI Silver Theatre

Sun., Sept. 3, 1 p.m.

The Demons
(Les demons)

Directed by Philippe Lesage

(Canada, 2015, 118 min.)

While 1980s suburban Montreal is blighted by a series of kidnappings targeting young boys, 9-year-old Felix is busy finishing his school year. As the peripheral knowledge of these abductions begins to permeate Felix’s fragile consciousness, his imagined demons slowly start to mirror an increasingly nightmarish reality around him.

AFI Silver Theatre

Wed., Sept. 6, 7:30 p.m.

I Killed My Mother
(J’ai tué ma mere)

Directed by Xavier Dolan

(Canada, 2009, 96 min.)

Wunderkind Xavier Dolan burst onto the world stage at age 20 with this daring semi-autobiographical feature about an angry young man growing up, coming out and navigating a near-matricidal relationship with his single mother.

AFI Silver Theatre

Mon., Sept. 11, 7 p.m.

It’s Only the End of the Word
(Juste la fin du monde)

Directed by Xavier Dolan

(Canada/France, 2016, 99 min.)

A terminally ill playwright returns from Paris to his family in small-town France after a 12-year absence, his very presence unleashing old family tensions.

AFI Silver Theatre

Wed., Sept. 13, 7 p.m.

Mollenard

Directed by Robert Siodmak

(France, 1938, 105 min.)

Salty gun-running sea captain Mollenard dives into dizzying intrigues, bar battles, and confrontations with nemesis Bonnerot, yet cherishes the camaraderie of his crew and loves the allure of the East.

National Gallery of Art

Sat., Sept. 2, 4 p.m.

My Uncle Antoine
(Mon oncle Antoine)

Directed by Claude Jutra

(Canada, 1971, 104 min.)

Claude Jutra’s evocative portrait of a boy’s coming of age in wintry 1940s rural Québec has been consistently cited by critics and scholars as the greatest Canadian film of all time.

AFI Silver Theatre

Sat., Sept. 9, 12:30 p.m.

Pièges

(Personal Column)

Directed by Robert Siodmak

(France, 1939, 111 min.)

This commanding pulp-fiction piece directed by Robert Siodmak (who belonged to a German-exile community in 1930s Paris) foreshadows his later Hollywood film noirs. After several young women answer a personal column and vanish without a trace, the flics recruit taxi-dancer Adrienne Charpentier to go undercover and respond to the ad.

National Gallery of Art

Sat., Sept. 2, 1:30 p.m.

Polina

Directed by Valérie Müller and Angelin Preljocaj

(France, 2016, 112 min.)

Polina is a dedicated young ballet student in Russia, rigorously trained from an early age by a perfectionist instructor. After being accepted into the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet, she decides that she wants something different, impulsively following her free-spirited French boyfriend to the south of France to join a dance company led by a brilliant choreographer (Juliette Binoche) who is creating challenging new works (French and Russian).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., Sept. 1

Hungarian

1945

Directed by Ferenc Török

(Hungary, 2017, 91 min.)

It’s August 1945 − the war is over, and an uneasy, humid stillness pervades a small Hungarian village longing for a return to normalcy. But when two Holocaust survivors arrive, the town eyes them with suspicion. Are they here to reclaim stolen land? To open a competing pharmacy? Will they expose the villagers’ wartime crimes and complicit silence?

Edlavitch DCJCC

Wed., Sept. 13, 6:30 p.m.

Korean

The Handmaiden

Directed by Park Chan-wook

(South Korea, 2016, 145 min.)

A crook-turned-servant falls for the heiress she had originally schemed to swindle in this audacious, visually sumptuous and highly erotic period piece (Korean and Japanese).

AFI Silver Theatre

Fri., Sept. 1, 12:30 and 9:45 p.m.,

Sun., Sept. 3, 7:30 p.m.

Mandarin

I Am Not Madame Bovary
(Wo bu hi pan jin lian)

Directed by Dajun Zhang

(China, 2016, 128 min.)

After being conned by her ex-husband, Li Xuelian is immersed in a long legal battle and is ready for retribution in this coldly comic revenge thriller.

AFI Silver Theatre

Sun., Sept. 10, 5:20 p.m.,

Wed., Sept. 13, 9:05 p.m.

Turkish

Cat
(Kedi)

Directed by Ceyda Torun

(Turkey/U.S., 2016, 79 min.)

Hundreds of thousands of Turkish cats roam the metropolis of Istanbul freely. For thousands of years they’ve wandered in and out of people’s lives, becoming an essential part of the communities that make the city so rich (screens with “Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul”).

Goethe-Institut

Thu., Sept. 28, 6 p.m.

Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul

Directed by Fatih Akin

(Germany/Turkey, 2005, 90 min.)

Award-winning director Fatih Akin and bassist Alexander Hacke take viewers on a journey through Istanbul, the city that bridges Europe and Asia, and challenge familiar notions of East and West (Turkish, German, Kurdish and English; screens with “Cat”).

Goethe-Institut

Thu., Sept. 28, 7:45 p.m.