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First As Tragedy, Then As Farce: Anti-Fascist Comedies

Aug 29—Sep 4, 2025
    Part of
  • BAM Film 2025
Programmed by Conor Williams

At a time when authoritarianism has once again gained a grip on world politics, this series of films—which includes masterpieces from great artists of cinema alongside unsung gems given another chance—can hopefully serve as a reminder that cinema has long been a medium through which we have the power and the responsibility to fight back against fascism. These works share a particular sense of humor. Unafraid to poke fun at nationalism, militarism, capitalism, and many other -isms, the films curated here are meant to provoke laughter, but also thought—and direct action.
 

Leadership support for
BAM’s strategic initiatives provided by:

Mellon Foundation

Leadership support for
BAM Access Programs provided by
the Jerome L. Greene Foundation

JL Greene

Leadership support for
BAM programming provided by:

Howard Gilman

Leadership support for
BAM’s strategic initiatives provided by:

Altman Foundation

Leadership support for
BAM Film provided by
The Thompson Family Foundation

Major support for programs in
the Lepercq Cinema is provided by
The Lepercq Charitable Foundation

  • Film

    Duck Soup

    Aug 29—Sep 1, 2025

    Duck Soup

    Aug 29—Sep 1, 2025
    When the new dictator of Freedonia brings the nation to a halt with his lateness and insults, tensions with neighboring Sylvania mount until war is declared in this outrageous Marx Brothers comedy.
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    Film

    Duck Soup

    Aug 29—Sep 1, 2025
    The dictator of Freedonia brings his country to war in this outrageous Marx Brothers comedy.
  • Film

    The Great Dictator

    Aug 29—Sep 4, 2025

    The Great Dictator

    Aug 29—Sep 4, 2025
    In his first pure talkie, Charlie Chaplin gives one of the most profound performances ever put to screen, offering both a cutting caricature of Adolf Hitler and a sly tweaking of his own comic persona.
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    Film

    The Great Dictator

    Aug 29—Sep 4, 2025
    Charlie Chaplin slyly tweaks his own comic persona in a cutting caricature of Adolf Hitler.
  • Film

    To Be or Not to Be

    Aug 29—Sep 1, 2025

    To Be or Not to Be

    Aug 29—Sep 1, 2025
    In Ernst Lubitsch's audacious black comedy, Jack Benny and Carole Lombard are the stars of an acting troupe embroiled in a Polish soldier’s efforts to track down a German spy during the Nazi occupation.
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    Film

    To Be or Not to Be

    Aug 29—Sep 1, 2025
    An acting troupe is embroiled in a Polish soldier’s efforts to track down a German spy.
  • Film

    The Grand Budapest Hotel

    Aug 30—Sep 2, 2025

    The Grand Budapest Hotel

    Aug 30—Sep 2, 2025
    Recounting the adventures of legendary concierge Gustave H. and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend, The Grand Budapest Hotel is Wes Anderson’s most visually brilliant work.
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    Film

    The Grand Budapest Hotel

    Aug 30—Sep 2, 2025
    Wes Anderson recounts the adventures of a legendary concierge and his most trusted friend.
  • Film

    Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

    Aug 30—Sep 2, 2025

    Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

    Aug 30—Sep 2, 2025
    In this pitch-black Cold War satire from director Stanley Kubrick starring the brilliant Peter Sellers in three roles, a mentally unstable US Air Force general orders a nuclear bomb attack on Russia.
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    Film

    Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

    Aug 30—Sep 2, 2025
    An unstable Air Force general threatens to bomb Russia in this classic Cold War satire.
  • Film

    Porco Rosso

    Aug 30—Sep 1, 2025

    Porco Rosso

    Aug 30—Sep 1, 2025
    A world-weary flying ace turned bounty hunter, whose face has been transformed into that of a pig by a mysterious spell, confronts a band of sky pirates in this aerial fantasy from Hayao Miyazaki.
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    Film

    Porco Rosso

    Aug 30—Sep 1, 2025
    A flying ace with the face of a pig because of a mysterious spell confronts sky pirates.
  • Film

    Starship Troopers

    Aug 30—Sep 4, 2025

    Starship Troopers

    Aug 30—Sep 4, 2025
    Courageous soldiers are dispatched to a desolate system for a showdown between species in Paul Verhoeven’s dazzling sci-fi satire, now appreciated as a darkly insightful commentary on US imperialism.
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    Film

    Starship Troopers

    Aug 30—Sep 4, 2025
    Paul Verhoeven’s dazzling sci-fi satire offers darkly insightful commentary on US imperialism.
  • Film

    BlacKkKlansman

    Aug 31—Sep 3, 2025

    BlacKkKlansman

    Aug 31—Sep 3, 2025
    Determined to make a difference, the first African American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department sets out to infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan in a Spike Lee film based on a true story.
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    Film

    BlacKkKlansman

    Aug 31—Sep 3, 2025
    The first African American detective in Colorado Springs sets out to expose the Ku Klux Klan.
  • Film

    Desperate Living

    Aug 31—Sep 4, 2025

    Desperate Living

    Aug 31—Sep 4, 2025
    A rich housewife murders her husband with the help of her maid and the two find refuge in Mortville until they run into the tyrannical Queen Carlotta, in this provocative, punkish John Waters comedy.
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    Film

    Desperate Living

    Aug 31—Sep 4, 2025
    A housewife murders her husband with her maid’s help in this provocative John Waters comedy.
  • Film

    Love & Anarchy

    Aug 31—Sep 3, 2025

    Love & Anarchy

    Aug 31—Sep 3, 2025
    A freckled Italian farm boy allies himself with the women of a brothel in an attempt to assassinate Benito Mussolini in Lina Wertmüller’s wild tragicomedy, a powerful statement on the terror of fascism.
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    Film

    Love & Anarchy

    Aug 31—Sep 3, 2025
    A farm boy allies himself with the women of a brothel in an attempt to assassinate Mussolini.
  • Film

    The Organizer

    Sep 2—Sep 3, 2025

    The Organizer

    Sep 2—Sep 3, 2025
    Marcello Mastroianni stars in Mario Monicelli’s revolutionary comedy about class warfare in late 19th-century Italy, a beautiful and moving ode to the power of the people brimming with humor and honesty.
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    Film

    The Organizer

    Sep 2—Sep 3, 2025
    Marcello Mastroianni stars in a revolutionary comedy about class war in 19th century Italy.

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