Film Series
Programmers’ Notebook: On Solitude
This series has been postponed due to concerns around the spread of COVID-19. For questions about ticket exchanges and refunds, contact BAM Ticket Services at info@BAM.org. (Note: our phone room is temporarily closed.) Alternatively, please consider donating your tickets at this time and help the arts continue to thrive during these challenging times.
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The latest in a recurring series in which BAM’s film programming team responds to a thought-provoking theme.
Inspired by Vitalina Varela, the breathtaking new film from Portuguese titan Pedro Costa, we’re recalling the often profound, illuminating ways that filmmakers have rendered the experience of solitude on screen. As the act of being alone with oneself can deepen our understanding of both ourselves and the world, these rich, insightful films are not just about loneliness, but also the qualities of strength, fortitude, resilience, character, and self-discovery that often accompany it.

The latest from Portuguese master Pedro Costa is a profound, visually sublime tale of a woman’s journey through time and memory as she confronts the specters of her past.

A teenage girl experiences a simultaneous sexual and spiritual awakening in Argentine auteur Lucrecia Martel’s provocative, tantalizingly elliptical study of sin and temptation.

It’s every man for himself in Jacques Audiard’s viscerally gritty crime drama.

Wim Wenders’ rapturous romantic reverie is pure cinematic poetry.

Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece is one of cinema’s most moving reflections on mortality.

A heart-racing, one-of-a-kind essay on human connection and its aching absence.

Andrew Ahn’s deeply personal, atmospheric study of queer alienation and sexual awakening.

Tom Hardy delivers a one-man tour-de-force in this gripping look at a life in breakdown.

Chantal Akerman’s poignant reflection on distance and dislocation.

Andrei Tarkovsky’s consciousness-bending landmark of philosophical science fiction.

A profoundly affecting study of artistic awakening from Korean master Lee Chang-dong.

Jem Cohen’s quietly wondrous rumination on art and healing set amid the wintry beauty of Vienna.

Juliette Binoche shines in Kieślowski’s piercing look at the search for personal freedom.

Triumphant humanism from the master of humanism Mike Leigh.

A wide-ranging look at this most fundamental yet complex of emotions in all its forms.

Poetic, surreal, and intensely personal reflections on childhood, history, and relationships.

A look back at the under-the-radar gems you may have missed the first time around.