FILM SERIES
Both Sides of the Camera: Actor/Directors
Spanning the entire history of cinema, this series brings together a powerhouse lineup of films from around the world where the director is their own star. It’s a celebration of moviemaking titans across the ages, featuring silent comedians who built the basics of film grammar like Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand; polymath-artists like Orson Welles and Spike Lee; actors that wanted to expand their art like Jackie Chan, Robert Townsend, and Barbara Loden; and independent iconoclasts like John Cassavetes, Cheryl Dunye, and Wendell B. Harris, Jr.
Orson Welles gives a show-stopping performance in this delightful thriller.
Dennis Hopper is a bad dad just home from prison in his hurricane-force domestic tragedy.
Racial tensions run high in the streets of Bed-Stuy in Spike Lee’s landmark Brooklyn classic.
Jackie Chan’s breathtaking martial-arts comedy about a rogue Hong Kong police inspector.
Jacques Tati’s old-world alter-ego traverses Paris amid sight gags and physical comedy.
Albert Brooks makes comedic gold out of the meaning of one man’s life—and what comes next.
Comedian Robert Townsend takes aim at Hollywood in this wildly inventive satire.
Unjustly overlooked today, Normand was one of the silent era’s most popular, gifted comedians.
Youssef Chahine’s acclaimed populist drama is propelled by one man’s dangerous obsession.
Barbra Streisand made history with this musical about a Jewish woman’s quest for education.
Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton show off their emotional, technical, and comedic brilliance.
Edward James Olmos traces one man’s journey from East LA to Folsom Prison—and back again.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s heart-shattering portrait of queer romance in 1970s West Germany.
Martial arts meets Looney Tunes in Stephen Chow’s dazzling action-comedy.
Jean Renoir’s mix of farce and melodrama is considered one of the best films ever made.
Takeshi Kitano’s Venice prize-winning masterpiece blends domesticity and operatic violence.
The final, searing masterwork from John Cassavetes follows two siblings thrown together.
Jean-Luc Godard plays his own version of a Shakespearean fool in this fascinating work.
New Queer Cinema icon Cheryl Dunye on Black lesbian identity and the movies.
Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep shine in this romance about a fleeting, profound connection.
Jerry Lewis showcases his talents in this story of a bumbling professor and his alter-ego.
Chantal Akerman’s first narrative feature is a landmark investigation of female subjectivity.
Elaine May is a nerdy heiress in one of the funniest—and darkest—comedies of the 70s.
A brilliant acid comedy about a conman from Wendell B. Harris Jr. explores Black alienation.
Elia Suleiman offers a darkly comic, piercing vision of life in his hometown of Nazareth.
Barbara Loden’s experimental neo-realist milestone follows a working-class woman adrift.
Jiang Wen faces off against Chow Yun-fat in this wildly inventive action spectacle.