Auteur, Author: Film & Literature

May 31–June 4, 2017

Films that celebrate, adapt, and reinterpret writing and writers, with a stellar lineup of authors, filmmakers, and others in person.

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  • Memories of Underdevelopment

  • Stalker

  • Intruder in the Dust

  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers

  • California Typewriter

  • Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

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Past Films

  • Memories of Underdevelopment

    • Sunday, June 4 8:30 PM
    Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
    Cuba, 1968

    Digital Restoration

    This groundbreaking Cuban work explores the experiences and reveries of a bourgeois writer after the revolution. “A profound, noble film” (New York Times).

    Introduction by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro

  • Intruder in the Dust

    • Sunday, June 4 3 PM
    Clarence Brown
    United States, 1949

    A proud black man who refuses to stand down to racism finds an unlikely friend in a young white boy (played by Claude Jarman, Jr.) in this extraordinary adaptation of the Faulkner classic.

    Claude Jarman, Jr. in Person

  • California Typewriter

    • Sunday, June 4 5:45 PM
    Doug Nichol
    United States, 2016

    This hymn to the ordinary typewriter is also a portrait of the countless artists, writers, and collectors (including Tom Hanks and Sam Shepard) who remain steadfast in their love and loyalty. “Pure typewriter heaven” (Don DeLillo).

    Doug Nichol, Steve Wasserman, Jeremy Mayer, Herbert Permillion III, and Ken Alexander in Person

  • Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press

    • Saturday, June 3 5:30 PM
    Neil Ortenberg, Daniel O’Connor
    United States, 2007

    Go behind the scenes of the legendary Grove Press, publisher of Samuel Beckett, Malcolm X, Che Guevara, and more, in this illuminating documentary and testament to free speech. With A Very British Pornographer: The Jack Kahane Story.

    Introduction by Robert Scheer

  • Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

    • Saturday, June 3 8:30 PM
    Paul Schrader
    United States, 1985

    Director’s Cut

    Paul Schrader and his brother Leonard joined together with Bay Area producer Tom Luddy for this rich, compelling profile of the controversial Japanese literary giant Yukio Mishima, who committed suicide in 1970 after a failed coup attempt.

    Introduction by Rachel Kushner

  • The Secret Garden

    • Saturday, June 3 3 PM
    Agnieszka Holland
    United States, 1993

    Recommended for ages 8 and up

    A lonely but enterprising young girl discovers a secret garden on her uncle’s isolated estate in this magical adaptation of the famed children’s novel. “Elegantly expressive . . . celebrating nature as a force for freedom” (New York Times).

    Introduction by Caroline Paul

  • 100 Years with Juan Rulfo

    • Friday, June 2 7 PM
    Juan Carlos Rulfo
    Mexico, 2017

    A very personal profile of the great Mexican author and photographer Juan Rulfo, created by his son Juan Carlos, whose film In the Pit won Best Documentary at Sundance.

    Juan Carlos Rulfo and Jorge Ruffinelli in Conversation

  • Stalker

    • Thursday, June 1 7 PM
    Andrei Tarkovsky
    USSR, 1979

    Digital Restoration

    A writer, a scientist, and their “stalker” guide venture into a mysterious wasteland known as the Zone. “A dense, complex, often contradictory, and endlessly pliable allegory about human consciousness” (Slant).

    Introduction by Geoff Dyer

  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers

    • Wednesday, May 31 7 PM
    Philip Kaufman
    United States, 1978

    A remake of the classic 1956 sci-fi flick, adapted from Jack Finney’s novel about an alien invasion, here set in San Francisco. Starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, and Jeff Goldblum.

    Philip Kaufman and David Thomson in Conversation preceding the screening