During the month of December, the MFA presents a series of Czech Horror and Fantasy Films and several exciting engagements.
On December 11 we begin our series of Czech Horror and Fantasy on Film. Exploring such universal themes as fate, lust, greed, madness, and death, this nine-program series features thematically and stylistically diverse horror and fantasy films from Czechoslovakia made between 1964 and 2000. These rarities, including early shorts by Jan Svankmajer and the features THE PIED PIPER (December 11 & 14) and VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS (December 20), are visually stunning and contain some amazing and ambitious animation.
Our four major engagements for the holiday season bring back some of the most popular films from this year’s festivals. December 17-January 11 we will present 12 shows of ALMOST PEACEFUL, this November’s Boston Jewish Film Festival closing night feature. Also in conjunction with The Boston Jewish Film Festival, we will present 4 shows of Charlie Chaplin’s classic film THE GREAT DICTATOR, in a newly restored 35mm print, December 17-26. This new print was originally screened in April as part of the New Center for Arts and Culture’s Words on Fire series. December 19-28 we present 4 shows of HOW I KILLED MY FATHER, one of the most acclaimed selections in July’s Boston French Film Festival. We will also conclude our third engagement of RIVERS AND TIDES, which runs through December 28.
The MFA Film Program is particularly pleased to present a 7-show engagement of a restored 35 mm print of Federico Fellini's 1953 classic I VITELLONI, January 2-8. Although it had a rocky path to studio acceptance and a troubled shoot, I VITELLONI, Fellini's third feature film, went on to win the Silver Lion at the 1953 Venice Film Festival and became an international hit, paving the way for the success of LA STRADA. With its accurate portrayal of daily village life in post-war Italy, I VITELLONI continues to be a favorite of Italian film audiences.
" I VITELLONI is the story of adolescents who cannot see anything more in life than satisfying their animal desires-sleeping, eating, fornicating. I was trying to say there is something more, there is always more. Life must have a meaning beyond the animal. In I VITELLONI, I was portraying, not, as people have claimed, the death throes of a decadent social class, but a certain torpor of the soul." - Federico Fellini.
I VITELLONI screens January 2-8 at the MFA. All films are in the Remis Auditorium.
Tickets are $8 for MFA members, seniors, and students; $9 for general admission.
Please call the Box Office at 617 369 3306 for reservations.