Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair
Coming soon. June 5 – June 11.
Co-presented by the American Cinematheque.
2026: A year of war, and no peace. In honor of the world’s current descent into madness and self-destruction, I felt it was fitting to embrace the despairing theme of combat in our selection of films for Bleak Week, a curatorial opportunity to explore the many crises of humanity from various perspectives and genres. Here you will find literal warfare, from the cover-less terrain of the Volga (The Red and the White) to the sewers of Warsaw (Kanal) and the jungles of the Philippines (Fires on the Plain), and the psychological kind on the open plains of the American west (Meek’s Cutoff) and the dark canals of Venice (Don’t Look Now). The cryptic and frenetic genre entries from provocateurs Lars von Trier (Europa) and Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher) are equally crushing portraits of youth in free fall. But no matter how dire the world view becomes (the late Bela Tarr’s The Turin Horse is especially stormy), these films all share a sense of resilience and a resistance to the loss of hope. Look no further than Allan King’s epic documentary Dying at Grace, one of the greatest films ever made about physical deterioration and emotional expression.
But who can pick just one nightmare when there are so many to choose from? I suggest you see them all, because collectively, they serve as a reminder of how far we can fall as human beings, and how we can ultimately survive the relentlessness of it all.
• Glenn Heath Jr., Artistic Director, Digital Gym Cinema.
Bleak Week: Andrzej Wajda: Three War Films – Kanal
- Fri, Jun 5
- Sun, Jun 7
Director: Andrzej Wajda Run Time: 96 min. Release Year: 1957 Language: Polish
Starring: Stanisław Mikulski, Tadeusz Gwiazdowski, Tadeusz Janczar, Teresa Iżewska, Wieńczysław Gliński
The Claustrophobic Nightmare of War
Bleak Week: Don’t Look Now
- Fri, Jun 5
- Wed, Jun 10
Director: Nicolas Roeg Run Time: 110 min. Release Year: 1973
Starring: Clelia Matania, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason, Julie Christie, Massimo Serato
Pass the warning.
Bleak Week: Pusher
- Fri, Jun 5
- Tue, Jun 9
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn Run Time: 110 min. Release Year: 1996 Language: Danish
Starring: Kim Bodnia, Laura Drasbæk, Mads Mikkelsen, Slavko Labović, Zlatko Burić
You don't have a chance. Seize it!
Bleak Week: The Turin Horse
- Sat, Jun 6
- Tue, Jun 9
Director: Béla Tarr Run Time: 155 min. Release Year: 2011 Language: Hungarian
Starring: Erika Bók, János Derzsi, Lajos Kovács, Mihály Kormos, Mihály Ráday
*Screening as part of Bleak Week, co-presented by the American Cinematheque. Synopsis: In Bela Tarr’s final masterpiece, a...
Bleak Week: Dying at Grace
- Sat, Jun 6
- Mon, Jun 8
- Wed, Jun 10
Director: Allan King Run Time: 148 min. Release Year: 2003
Starring: Colette Hegarty, Joyce Bone, Lloyd Greenway, Norman Collins, Phyllis Bobbitt
*Screening as part of Bleak Week, co-presented by the American Cinematheque. Synopsis: An extraordinary, transformative experience, Allan King’s Dying...
Bleak Week: Meek’s Cutoff
- Sat, Jun 6
- Wed, Jun 10
- Thu, Jun 11
Run Time: 104 min.
The Road to Civilisation is Not Always Civilised.
Bleak Week: Europa
- Sun, Jun 7
- Tue, Jun 9
Director: Lars von Trier Run Time: 113 min. Release Year: 1991 Language: German
Starring: Barbara Sukowa, Erik Mørk, Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier
World War II had finished, but it left indelible marks.
Bleak Week: Andrzej Wajda: Three War Films – A Generation
- Sun, Jun 7
Director: Andrzej Wajda Run Time: 87 min. Release Year: 1955 Language: Polish
Starring: Janusz Paluszkiewicz, Ryszard Kotys, Tadeusz Janczar, Tadeusz Łomnicki, Urszula Modrzyńska
*Screening as part of Bleak Week, co-presented by the American Cinematheque. Synopsis: Stach is a wayward teen living...
Bleak Week: Andrzej Wajda: Three War Films – Ashes and Diamonds
- Sun, Jun 7
Director: Andrzej Wajda Run Time: 103 min. Release Year: 1958 Language: Polish
Starring: Adam Pawlikowski, Bogumił Kobiela, Ewa Krzyżewska, Wacław Zastrzeżynski, Zbigniew Cybulski
Touched with the fire and rebellion of a new generation of Polish film makers
Bleak Week: The Red and the White
- Mon, Jun 8
- Thu, Jun 11
Director: Miklós Jancsó Run Time: 90 min. Release Year: 1967 Language: Hungarian
Starring: Anatoli Yabbarov, András Kozák, József Madaras, Juhász Jácint, Tibor Molnár
*Screening as part of Bleak Week, co-presented by the American Cinematheque. Synopsis: A haunting, powerful film about the...
Bleak Week: Fires on the Plain
- Mon, Jun 8
- Thu, Jun 11
Director: Kon Ichikawa Run Time: 105 min. Release Year: 1959 Language: Japanese
Starring: Eiji Funakoshi, Kyū Sazanka, Mantarō Ushio, Mickey Curtis, Osamu Takizawa
*Screening as part of Bleak Week, co-presented by the American Cinematheque. Synopsis: An agonizing portrait of desperate Japanese...