Capital Projections: War and politics edition
Capital Projections is The DC Line’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting arthouse and repertory screenings in the coming week.
SLY
Qodrat (Hamed Behdad) is a buffoon who’d love to break into politics but is too unrefined for the established leadership. When he yells out bomb warnings at a rock concert, he’s surprised when an explosive actually goes off — a coincidence that sends him careening into Iranian politics. Director Kamal Tabrizi satirizes former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, taking advantage of his leading man’s resemblance to the volatile leader. Blogger Joe Bendell writes that “Hamed Behdad completely embraces [the character’s] absurdism, playing him like Ahmadinejad, by way of Chauncey Gardiner from Being There.” The screening is presented in conjunction with the Freer Gallery’s annual Iranian Film Festival — most of which is on hold due to the government shutdown. Thankfully, though, you can see this portionat Silver Spring’s AFI Silver theater, a festival partner that’s run by an independent nonprofit.
Watch the trailer.
Tuesday, Jan. 29 and Thursday, Jan. 31, at 7:15 p.m. at the AFI Silver. $13.
SQUADRON 303
Based on journalist Arkady Fiedler’s 1940 book of the same name, this war drama tells the true story of fighter pilots who escaped occupied Poland and overcame local prejudices to fight the Nazi Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. The film’s structure is reportedly unwieldy, and Britflicks writes that, as a result, “We do not fall in love with these characters and hence find no hook upon which to hang our emotions. But it is well worth the ticket price and does shine a light on a glossed over part of military history.”
Watch the trailer.
Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. at the Avalon. $12.75.
THE DEMINER
Playing like a nonfiction version of The Hurt Locker, this 2017 documentary directed by Hogi Hirori and Shinwar Kamal follows Kurdish Col. Fakir Berwari, who after the fall of Saddam Hussein was horrified by the devastation caused by landmines around Mosul. Berwari went on to disarm thousands of the devices, and even the loss of his right leg didn’t lessen his resolve. The film will be screened as part of an event co-hosted by the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, the Embassy of the Czech Republic, and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Watch the trailer.
Thursday, Jan. 31, at 5:30 p.m. at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs in the Voesar Conference Room, Suite 412, 1957 E St. NW. Admission is free; reservations are required.
STEPPING OUT
In this rarely screened 1991 musical comedy, Liza Minnelli plays a has-been Broadway performer who heads upstate to Buffalo, where she reluctantly takes charge of a dance class whose endearing misfits include such stars as Julie Walters, Bill Irwin and Shelley Winters. This is the last program in my series Fraudway, which I curated for the Music Division at the Library of Congress, where I work.This series has mostly been a showcase for over-the-top movie production numbers that couldn’t be achieved on stage; this modest film presents one of the great stage and screen entertainers in a fictionalized role that echoes her stalled career. We’ll be showing a pristine 35mm print.
Watch the trailer.
Thursday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m. in the Mary Pickford Theater on the third floor of the Madison Building at the Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. SE.. Admission is free. Seating is first-come, first-served. For the best seating options, patrons are encouraged to arrive 15 to 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. For information, call 202-707-5502.
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
2019 marks the 80th anniversary of a year that is considered one of the greatest in movie history. As part of its weekly Cinema Classics series, Landmark West End is screening one of that year’s greatest performances — although it wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar. In 15th-century Paris, Esmeralda (Maureen O’Hara) is framed for murder, and only the grotesque bell ringer of the city’s great cathedral can clear her name. Director William Dieterle’s 1939 adaptation of the Victor Hugo classic stars Charles Laughton as the hunchback Quasimodo — a heartbreaking portrayal all the more impressive when you consider that the heavy makeup left him with just half a face to express emotion.
Watch the trailer.
Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 1:30, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. at Landmark West End. $12.50.
Thanks to the success of the 1962 classic What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, screen legend Bette Davis had a colorful second (or third) act as a queen of B-movie horror. This 1968 comedy-thriller from England’s notorious fright-meisters Hammer Films stars Davis as a one-eyed widow whose three sons have come home to celebrate the anniversary of her marriage to their late father. Typical of her lurid late-career roles, Davis turns the ham volume all the way to 11 as an acid-tongued matriarch.
Watch the trailer.
Monday, Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. at Smoke and Barrel. Free.
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