Hello Hard Li(ght)brary Heads!
We have BIG news: we will be showing our next series of films on 16mm!!! This has been in the works almost two years, and we are thrilled to be finally realizing this dream with some picks of international classics from four members of our team.
— Syd, Hard Light Cinema
CLASSICS ON 16MM:
Rome, Open City (1945) dir. Roberto Rossellini
📅 November 1
⏰ doors 1:30p / starts 2p
Roberto Rossellini’s largely non professional cast tell a bold story of antifascist resistance at the close of WWII in this film produced immediately after the Nazi occupation of Italy. Co-written with Federico Fellini and filmed on bombed-out location, Rome, Open City is considered one of the early, formative works of Italian Neorealism.
— Warner West, Hard Light Cinema
Diary of a Country Priest (1951) dir. Robert Bresson
📅 December 6
⏰ doors 1:30p / starts 2p
Our next film comes from Robert Bresson, one of Cinema’s most ideologically revolutionary directors. Bresson’s Diary of a Country Priest garnered international praise, altered the landscape of filmmaking, and paved the way for many conflicted characters portrayed on film in the decades to come. Join us in witnessing the introspective struggles of a spiritually and physically declining priest in the pessimistic French countryside from a quintessential voice in transcendental filmmaking.
— Barrett Reynolds, Hard Light Cinema
Wild Strawberries (1957) dir. Ingmar Bergman
📅 January 3
⏰ doors 1:30p / starts 2p
The film that helped cement Ingmar Bergman’s place on the world stage, Wild Strawberries is a surreal, philosophical exploration of existentialism and introspection. Through dreams, nightmares and memories, we follow Isak, a 78-year-old professor, as he confronts his mortality and reflects on a life lived.
— Andee, Hard Light Cinema
Woman in the Dunes (1964) dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara
📅 February 7
⏰ doors 1:30p / starts 2p
One of the signature collaborations between Hiroshi Teshigahara and novelist Kobo Abe, Woman in the Dunes blends the boundary-pushing tendencies of the Japanese New Wave with the spiritual and transcendental. In the dunes, eroticism and the mundanity of life intertwine in the original situationship. Come and see one of Andrei Tarkovsky’s all-time favorite films in gritty 16mm and prepare to dream.
— Syd, Hard Light Cinema
All screenings are FREE. There is ample free street parking surrounding RPL that is unlimited on weekends. Thank you to all the librarians at RPL Main Branch for working with us to bring 16mm screenings to Richmond. See you there!
xo hard light 💟
