The Bill Cosford Cinema

MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL: "BOYS GO TO JUPITER" (2024)
2025-04-08 21:00 - 22:30 UTC | Cosford Cinema, 5030 Brunson Drive, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, United States
BUY TICKETS HERE
The Miami Film Festival presents “Boys Go to Jupiter,” an animated film of humid surrealism by director Julian Glander, at 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 8.
Set during the liminal period between Christmas and New Year’s, the film follows a week in the life of teenage delivery driver Billy 5000 (Jack Corbett) as he tries to out-smart the gig economy. After a routine dropoff, Billy becomes the caretaker of a mysterious egg that hatches an alien creature.
Through ridiculous humor, plenty of heart and a stellar voice cast (Comedic all stars Julio Torres, Sarah Sherman, Cole Escola, & Janeane Garofalo to name a few) Billy navigates the difficult choices of life, love and money that come along with becoming the unwelcomed parent of an alien creature.

Tickets are $15.50 for the general public and $14.50 for students, military and seniors (62+) with ID. Click on the link above.

“NOSFERATU” (2024) FREE SCREENING
2025-04-09 21:00 - 23:00, 2025-04-12 20:00 - 23:00
The University of Miami’s Cinematic Arts Commission invites you to a free screening of “Nosferatu” (2024) on Wednesday, Apr. 9th at 9 p.m. and Saturday, Apr. 12th at 8 p.m.
A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.

Admission is FREE and no tickets required!

MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL: "WHO WE ARE" UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM PROGRAM
2025-04-10 18:30 - 20:30
BUY TICKETS HERE
The Miami Film Festival and the University of Miami’s School of Communication present this diverse competition of short-documentary films, with a $1,000 prize awarded to the winning movie.
List of films:

“Chasing the Passage of Time” A determined crew of 25 takes on the monumental challenge of transporting the largest Richard Serra sculpture across Florida, navigating treacherous roads, logistical obstacles, and the relentless weight of art history—proving that moving a masterpiece is an art form in itself.

“View From the Floor” From a very early age Mindie Lind has had a deep obsession with performance and profound love of the stage. Mindie also has no legs, so it wasn’t long before news crews, national telethons, and even Maury Povich arrived to capture her in action, always portraying even the simplest activities as inspirational.
These early headlines of “Overcoming Obstacles Despite Disability” led Mindie to a lifelong struggle with imposter syndrome as she pursued her creative ambitions, always wondering if she’s a hit or a hack, talented or typecast, superstar or supercrip.
This short film, which was created in support of a longer feature, explores the singular experience of exceptionalism, exploitation and imposter syndrome within disability. Incorporating vibrant animation and beautiful score, “View From the Floor” is a bold, irreverent, and entertaining memoir of disability as told by crip culture champion, Mindie Lind.

“Tiger” Dana Tiger was just five years old when her father, legendary Muscogee Creek artist Jerome Tiger, passed away. She turned to his art as a way to know him, the richness of her culture, and the bounty of her family’s artistic tradition.
In memory of Jerome’s art and to support their family, Dana’s mother and uncle started a booming t-shirt printing business in the 1980s. Then, tragedy struck their family once more. Dana’s younger brother, Chris Tiger, was murdered and their business was brought to a halt.
Dana and her family have been working for nearly 30 years to revitalize the iconic Tiger t-shirt company, through immense grief and suffering from Parkinson’s. Now, everybody wants their hands on a Tiger T-shirt.

“Don’t Cry for Me All You Drag Queens” An homage to the legendary Mother Cavallucci by weaving together the present and past to provide a striking portrait of belonging and memory.
Joseph “Josie” Cavallucci (aka Mother Cavallucci) is a legendary New Hope drag queen that would host annual wedding celebrations in the 70s and 80s that served as fundraisers and a community party.
Poetically merging archival photographs and present day footage from a community drag show, the film sparks conversation about the modern-day issues Mother Cavallucci revolutionized.

“The Boriqua’s Dilemma” A political documentary short that focuses on the centuries-long status debate in Puerto Rico. It commences with an animated crash course that frames the rest of the film in a historical context. The crash course touches on Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the US, the political status debate, as well as the four most common status preferences.
The film then introduces its six interview subjects, three politicians and three civilians. They each debate their preferred status as the film ventures into the most important arguments on the topic, showcasing each perspective and their influences including Hurricane Maria, PROMESA, and the gentrification happening in Puerto Rico’s metropolitan areas today.

“Stud Country” The largest queer country western line dancing event in America was created to preserve Los Angeles’ little known 50+ year queer line dancing tradition. Despite its success and fiercely committed community, the event is set to lose its venue due to gentrification.

“Confessions of a Jumbotron Addict” An obsessive Brooklyn Nets basketball fan decodes one of the great mysteries of attending live sporting events: how to get up on the Jumbotron. With a newfound superpower to get the crowd hyped through ridiculous dance moves, he finds himself at the center of a double-overtime nailbiter against the Detroit Pistons.

“Que Hay Allí Afuera?” A reflection on the chaos permeating in the mind of Manolo Lázaro, where hazy memories of Cuba conflict with the realities faced by his loved ones who remain.
Tickets are $15.50 for the general public and $14.50 for students, military and seniors (62+) with ID. Click on the link above.

MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL: "TRANSPLANT" (2024)
2025-04-10 21:00 - 23:00
The Miami Film Festival presents the psychological thriller “Transplant” at 9 p.m. Thursday, April 10th.
A motivated surgical resident pushes himself to extreme lengths while training under a legendary heart transplant surgeon obsessed with protecting his perfect reputation.
Like the medical world version of Damien Chazelle’s “Whiplash,” “Transplant” is about a mentor-mentee relationship that gets pushed to dangerous levels. Filmmaker Jason Park tackles themes such as ambition – and the way our family dynamics shape that very ambition – and what happens when one’s moral compass collides with ruthless determination.
When other people’s lives hang in the balance, how does that affect one’s decisions and actions? The film asks tough questions, while at the same time operating like a fast-paced thriller that consistently keeps the audience on their toes.
Tickets are $15.50 for the general public and $14.50 for students, military and seniors (62+) with ID. Click on the link above.

MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL: "NEWS WITHOUT A NEWSROOM" (2025)
2025-04-11 18:30 - 20:30
BUY TICKETS HERE
The Miami Film Festival presents writer-director Oana Liana Martisca’s timely documentary “News Without a Newsroom” at 6:30 p.m Friday, April 11.
As local newsrooms vanish and the industry’s first digital transformation redefines journalism, News Without a Newsroom explores the profound shift in journalism’s culture, values, and connection to the communities it serves. Once a pillar of democracy, local newspapers provided a voice for the marginalized and a check on power. Now, with shrinking staffs, remote journalists, and AI-driven social media shaping the news people see, the newsroom’s collaborative spirit and public service mission are at risk.
Through frontline reporting and expert insights, the film unpacks the challenges facing journalism today—from political polarization and media distrust to legislative threats and the emergence of generative AI, which blurs the line between fact and fiction like never before.

Tickets are $15.50 for the general public and $14.50 for students, military and seniors (62+) with ID. Click on the link above.

MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL: "THE THREESOME" (2025)
2025-04-12 12:00 - 14:00
BUY TICKETS HERE
The Miami Film Festival presents the provocative drama “The Threesome” at noon Saturday, April 12th.
One fateful night, the stars seemingly align for Connor – a kind and unassuming young man – as his long-time crush – the electric and irreverent Olivia – steers them into a threesome with a sweet, alluring stranger Jenny.
The encounter sparks a relationship between Connor and Olivia and their love grows quickly, all the way toward planning a life together. But their happy romance is soon demolished when Jenny reappears in their lives, thrusting all three into a difficult journey towards true accountability and adulthood.
Featuring charismatic performances from Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King, and Ruby Cruz, “The Threesome” reminds us that even the simplest relationships are messy… and three’s a crowd.
https://youtu.be/oI8_lzaFCJo?si=-hcFou5nL3mCUMWI
Tickets are $15.50 for the general public and $14.50 for students, military and seniors (62+) with ID. Click on the link above.

MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL: "THE PYTHON HUNT" (2025)
2025-04-12 14:30 - 16:30
BUY TICKETS HERE
The Miami Film Festival presents the documentary “Python Hunt” at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12th.
Every year, the Florida government calls upon the general public to compete in an invasive python removal contest in the Everglades in an attempt to save the threatened ecosystem. For ten grueling nights, an eclectic group of amateur hunters confront the dangerous terrain, nocturnal creatures and their own desires.
Meanwhile, one professional hunter leads the charge to undermine the competition, questioning what hides beneath the python mania gripping the ‘glades.

Called ‘the next Tiger King’ by Deadline after the film’s SXSW premiere, “The Python Hunt” is a truly entertaining documentary that is sure to break out when released. This is a documentary filled with insane memorable characters and incredible skin crawling scenes of angry Burmese pythons.
Tickets are $15.50 for the general public and $14.50 for students, military and seniors (62+) with ID. Click on the link above.

MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL: "THE THINGS YOU KILL" (2025)
2025-04-12 17:00 - 19:00
BUY TICKETS HERE
The Miami Film Festival presents the Turkish drama “The Things You Kill” at 5 p.m. Saturday, April 12th.
Reaping what you sow, as a concept, stretches all the way back to the apostle Paul and Galatians—maybe further—but it gets an interesting twist in this film about Ali, a university professor who spirals into a dissociative rage after his mother’s suspicious death and eventually recruits a near-otherworldly gardner named Reza as a vessel to exact revenge.
That is the sowing. The reaping comes once the violence unearths family secrets and refracts Ali’s reality, a multitude of selves and shadow selves planted in the dark and fecund soil of his soul, waiting to see which will take root. It’s a disquieting, multilayered parable—another thing with a long history that feels new in this smart, thought-provoking story.

Tickets are $15.50 for the general public and $14.50 for students, military and seniors (62+) with ID. Click on the link above.

"MRS. ROBINSON" (2024) FREE SCREENING AND PANEL DISCUSSION
2025-04-16 18:30 - 20:30
REGISTER FOR FREE TICKETS HERE
Project Dandelion and Common Pictures present a free screening of “Mrs. Robinson,” which tells the inspirational life story of change-maker Mary Robinson: Ireland’s first female President, a pioneering UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the successor of Nelson Mandela as Chair of The Elders and the co-founder of Project Dandelion.
In a world facing unprecedented challenges, “Mrs. Robinson” offers a powerful narrative of courage, resilience, and unwavering leadership. It reminds us of the profound impact one person can have in the fight for justice and a better future.
Showtime is 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 16. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion focusing on the issues raised in the film, including female leadership, human rights activism and climate justice.
Admission is FREE but registration required at link above.

“SING SING” (2024) FREE SCREENING
2025-04-16 21:00 - 23:00, 2025-04-19 20:00 - 22:00
The University of Miami’s Cinematic Arts Commission invites you to a free screening of “Sing Sing” (2024) on Wednesday, Apr. 16th at 9 p.m. and Saturday, Apr. 19th at 8 p.m.
Divine G, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.

Admission is FREE and no tickets required!

SUNDAYS AT THE U WITH MOVIES: "CHUNGKING EXPRESS" (1994)
2025-04-20 13:00 - 15:00
BUY TICKETS HERE
You’re invited to a screening of Wong Kar Wai’s breakthrough 1994 hyper-kinetic tale of romantic longing, “Chungking Express,” at 1 p.m. Sunday April 20th.
The whiplash, double-pronged “Chungking Express” is one of the defining works of nineties cinema and the film that made Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai an instant icon. Two heartsick Hong Kong cops (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung), both jilted by ex-lovers, cross paths at the Midnight Express take-out restaurant stand, where the ethereal pixie waitress Faye (Faye Wong) works.
Anything goes in Wong’s gloriously shot and utterly unexpected charmer, which cemented the sex appeal of its gorgeous stars and forever turned canned pineapple and the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” into tokens of romantic longing.

“For my money, Wong Kar Wai is one of the most exciting filmmakers that has come out since I’ve personally been making films. His movies have a level of excitement that’s different from American films, like the majority of Hong Kong films. But his are a little bit different.
“I saw “Chungking Express” when I was with “Pulp Fiction” at a festival in Stockholm. It just blew me away. I just absolutely adored it. I love romantic films and this movie had this wonderful romantic-comedy element to it while at the same time being encapsulated in this crazy, frenetic Hong Kong world, which is wild. Wong Kar Wai has all the frantic energy of a John Woo or Ringo Lam but he’s also taking a cue from the sense of fun of the French New Wave films of the late 1950s and early 1960s.” — Quentin Tarantino
Tickets are $6 (including service charge) and available at link above. UM students use code UMSTUDENT at checkout for free admission (must show Cane card at the door.)

"ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR" (2025) FREE EARLY SCREENING
2025-04-22 19:30 - 21:30
REGISTER FOR TICKETS HERE
Join us at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, for a free screening of the upcoming new thriller “Another Simple Favor,” starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick.
Stephanie Smothers and Emily Nelson reunite on the island of Capri, Italy, for Emily’s extravagant wedding to a rich Italian businessman, which is is interrupted by murder and betrayal.

Admission is FREE but registration required at link above.

“PADDINGTON IN PERU” (2024) FREE SCREENING
2025-04-23 21:00 - 23:00, 2025-04-26 20:00 - 22:00
The University of Miami’s Cinematic Arts Commission invites you to a free screening of “Paddington In Peru” (2024) on Wednesday, Apr. 23rd at 9 p.m. and Saturday, Apr. 26th at 8 p.m.
Paddington returns to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. With the Brown family in tow, a thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey.

Admission is FREE and no tickets required!

"HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON" (2025) FREE ADVANCE SCREENING
2025-04-24 19:30 - 21:30
REGISTER FOR FREE TICKETS HERE
Join us at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, for an early screening of the upcoming “How To Train Your Dragon” live-action adventure written and directed by Dean DeBlois, the creator of the previous “How To Train Your Dragon” animated films. Admission is free but registration required at link.
As an ancient threat endangers both Vikings and dragons alike on the isle of Berk, the friendship between Hiccup, an inventive Viking, and Toothless, a Night Fury dragon, becomes the key to both species forging a new future together.

Admission is FREE but registration required at link. Ticket does not guarantee entry, so please arrive early.

"HOPE REBORN: THE MOVIE" (2025) FREE SCREENING
2025-04-26 17:00 - 19:30
REGISTER FOR FREE TICKETS HERE
HOPE REBORN is a full-length, faith-based film, created by Comunità Cenacolo, about a spiritual sanctuary where souls who’ve lost all hope are rescued through a conscientious program of prayer, work, love, as well as life-changing community projects and experiences.
Showtime is 5 p.m. Saturday, April 26th. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion. Admission is FREE but registration required at link above.

SUNDAYS AT THE U WITH MOVIES: "L'ARGENT" (1983)
2025-04-27 13:00 - 15:00
BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 27th for a screening of Robert Bresson’s naturalistic 1983 classic “L’argent” (“Money”)in French with English subtitles.
In his ruthlessly clear-eyed final film, French master Robert Bresson pushed his unique blend of spiritual rumination and formal rigor to a new level of astringency.
Transposing a Tolstoy novella to contemporary Paris, “L’argent” follows a counterfeit bill as it originates as a prop in a schoolboy prank, then circulates like a virus among the corrupt and the virtuous alike before landing with a young truck driver and leading him to incarceration and violence.
With brutal economy, Bresson constructs his unforgiving vision of original sin out of starkly perceived details, rooting his characters in a dehumanizing material world that withholds any hope of transcendence.

“Set in contemporary France in an unidentified city that sometimes seems to be Paris but probably isn’t, ”L’argent” (Money) is a serenely composed film that tells a ruthless tale of greed, corruption and murder without once raising its voice. It goes beyond the impartiality of journalism. It has the manner of an official report on the spiritual state of a civilization for which there is no hope.
“Like all Bresson films, ”L’argent” can’t be interpreted exclusively in social, political or psychological terms. Mr. Bresson’s characters act out dramas that have been in motion since the birth of the planet. He’s not a fatalist, but he insists on recognizing inevitable consequences, given a set of specific circumstances.” — Vincent Canby, The New York Times
Tickets are $6 (including service fee) and available at link above. Students with college ID use code UMSTUDENT at checkout for free admission (must show student ID at the door).

1968 (2018)
2025-04-27 17:00
BUY TICKETS HERE
Directed by Tassos Boulmetis
2018 | 93 mins
In Greek with English subtitles
With Antonis Kafetzopoulos, Stelios Mainas, Errikos Litsis, Ieroklis Michailidis, Giorgos Mitsikostas, Vasiliki Troufakou, Themis Panou, Antonis Antoniou.
April 4th, 1968. The Kallimarmaro Stadium is a buzz, with thousands of people gathered and millions listening through their radios. The AEK – Slavia Prague basketball game has just begun. A girl in love is dreaming of her wedding day, while the future husband becomes more desperate with every Greek ball going through the hoop. An elderly husband and wife remember the home they left behind. A young communist prisoner cheers from his jail cell and a PROPO betting shop becomes the place where old and new wounds resurface. Years before this night, three Constantinopolitans decided to create an athletic union that will tell their story. At the end of this night, Greek history will have changed forever.
4:00 p.m. – Opening social hour with Greek coffee selection
5:00 p.m. – Film Screening
6:45 p.m. – A taste of Greece with a variety of authentic meze, music and discussion

On April 4, 1968, an epic basketball game between the Greek AEK team and Slavia Prague, against all odds, gave Greece its first European Cup, a Guinness world record for the largest attendance at a basketball game (80,000 in the Panathenaic Stadium), and a victory that is still talked about. More than just a thrilling David and Goliath story, acclaimed director Tassos Boulmetis uses this historic sporting event to create a docudrama that reveals the fascinating personal and political histories that came to play on the court that night against a backdrop of upheaval that rocked the world in 1968.
Nominated for five Hellenic Film Academy Awards, including Best Film
Tickets: 1968 tickets
About:
The Hellenic Cultural Society’s Film Program celebrates and promotes the work and talent of established and emerging Greek, Cypriot and Greek/Cypriot Heritage filmmakers. At the South Florida Greek Film Festival and at Film Nights, screenings of full-length films, documentaries, shorts, discussions, provide opportunities to connect, to inspire, to entertain and to share the richness of the Greek culture.

2025 'CANES FILM FESTIVAL
2025-05-02 16:00 - 20:45, 2025-05-03 14:00 - 20:30, 2025-05-04 13:15 - 21:00
27th ‘Canes Film FestivalFriday, May 2, 4:00 PM – 8:45 PM
Saturday, May 3, 2:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Sunday, May 4, 1:15 PM – 9:00 PM FREE ADMISSION NO TICKETS REQUIRED
Experience the 27th Annual UM ‘Canes Film Festival, featuring original films created by students from the University of Miami’s Department of Cinematic Arts. Screenings will take place at the state-of-the-art Cosford Cinema on the following dates and times:

Friday, May 2 at 4:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 3 at 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 4 at 1:15 p.m.

Don’t miss this inspiring celebration of emerging talent in film.
For full program visit: canesfilmfestival.com

SUNDAYS AT THE U WITH MOVIES: "IRMA VEP" (1996)
2025-06-08 13:00 - 15:00
BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 8th for director Oliver Assayas’ dazzling film-industry satire “Irma Vep,” starring Maggie Cheung, which inspired the recent HBO miniseries.
IRMA VEP | 1996 | DIRECTOR: Oliver Assayas | WITH: Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Richard, Nathalie Boutefeu | UNRATED contains sexual situations and adult content | RUNNING TIME: 1H 39M | In English and French with English subtitles
Olivier Assayas’s live-wire international breakthrough stars a magnetic Maggie Cheung as a version of herself: a Hong Kong action-movie star who arrives in Paris to play the latex-clad lead in a remake of Louis Feuillade’s classic silent crime serial Les vampires.
What she finds is a behind-the-scenes tangle of barely controlled chaos as egos clash, romantic attractions simmer, and an obsessive director drives himself to the brink to realize his vision.
Blending blasts of silent cinema, martial-arts flicks, and the music of Sonic Youth and Luna into a hallucinatory swirl of postmodern cool, Assayas composes in “Irma Vep” a witty critique of the nineties French film industry and the perennial tension between art and commercial entertainment.

“There are innumerable great touches, big and small, in ‘Irma Vep,’ which is organic and alive like few movies ever are. (It was shot on the fly in three weeks, and the spontaneity shows.) But the one sequence that everyone who’s seen the film remembers is a restless Maggie slipping into her catsuit after hours and skulking around the hotel like Irma Vep in the movie. Only this time, she embodies the role effortlessly—she’s sexy, mysterious, resourceful, and liberated. — Scott Tobias, The AV Club
Tickets are $6 (including service charge) and available at link above. Students use code STUDENT at checkout for free admission (must show student ID at the door).

SUNDAYS AT THE U WITH MOVIES: "TO DIE FOR" (1995)
2025-06-15 13:00 - 15:00
BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 15th, for a screening of the 1995 dark-comedy classic “To Die For,” starring Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon and Joaquin Phoenix.
TO DIE FOR | 1995 | DIRECTOR: Gus Van Sant | WITH: Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, Ileana Douglas | RATED R for vulgar language, sexual content and brief violence | RUNNING TIME: 1H 46M
The all-American obsession with celebrity turns monstrous in this deliciously subversive (and disturbingly prescient) satire of our television-mediated, true-crime-obsessed age.
In a career breakthrough, Nicole Kidman delivers a diabolical deconstruction of the girl next door as a local TV weather reporter whose perfectly perky facade belies a murderous heart, as her ruthless pursuit of fame ensnares three disaffected teens in a sordid, tabloid-ready scandal.
Deftly deploying shifting perspectives, faux-documentary interviews, and a supporting cast featuring Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, and Casey Affleck, director Gus Van Sant adds provocative layers of meaning to this darkly funny examination of suburban sociopathy.

“To Die For” is the kind of movie that’s merciless with its characters, and Kidman is superb at making Suzanne into someone who is not only stupid, vain and egomaniacal (we’ve seen that before) but also vulnerably human. She represents, on a large scale, feelings we have all had in smaller and sneakier ways. She simply lacks skill in concealing them.
“The film is filled with perfect character studies. Dillon, the former teen idol whose acting has always been underrated, here turns in a sly comic performance as a man dazzled by beauty but seduced by comfort. Illeana Douglas is Janice, Suzanne’s ice-skating sister-in-law, who spots her as a phony and makes life uncomfortable by calling her on it.
“Finally, though, the movie is about Suzanne, and Nicole Kidman’s work here is inspired. Her clothes, her makeup, her hair, her speech, her manner, even the way she carries herself (as if aware of the eyes of millions) are all brought to a perfect pitch: Her Suzanne is so utterly absorbed in being herself that there is an eerie conviction, even in the comedy. She plays Suzanne as the kind of woman who pities us – because we aren’t her, and you know what? We never will be.” — Roger Ebert
Tickets are $6 (including service charge) and available at link above. Students use code STUDENT at checkout for free admission (must show student ID at the door).

SUNDAYS AT THE U WITH MOVIES: "LA PROMESSE" (1996)
2025-06-22 13:00 - 15:00
BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 22 for the heartfelt coming-of-age drama “La promesse” (“The Promise”), the directorial debut of acclaimed Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.
LA PROMESSE | 1996 | DIRECTORS: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne | WITH: Jérémie Renier, Olivia Gourmet, Assita Ouedraogo | RUNNING TIME: 1H 30M | UNRATED: Adult themes | In French with English subtitles
“La promesse” is the breakthrough feature from Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, who would go on to become a force in world filmmaking.
The brothers brought the unerring eye for detail and the compassion for those on society’s lowest rungs developed in their earlier documentary work to this absorbing drama about a teenager (Jérémie Renier) gradually coming to understand the implications of his father’s making a living through the exploitation of undocumented workers.
Filmed in the Dardennes’ industrial hometown of Seraing, Belgium, “La promesse” is a brilliantly economical and observant tale of a boy’s troubled moral awakening.

“Morality is a given in the movies; everyone, even the worst of creatures, knows if they’re bad or good. In “La Promesse,” an exceptional film from Belgium, all of that is reversed as a sense of right and wrong struggles to emerge in a young man who never knew there was a difference. The conflicts involved are intense and absorbing, proving that compelling moral dilemmas make for the most dramatic cinema.
““La Promesse” makes being politically relevant and philosophically thoughtful so simple and involving that the story seems to be telling itself. Written and directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, a pair of filmmaking brothers, it is made with such unobtrusive sureness that it’s able to exert great power without forcing anything.
“Among the many things it does right, “La Promesse” refuses to even consider glib solutions. This film understands that moral choices are a painful, troublesome business, that decisions to do the right thing are not simple to take and hardly make things easier. Nothing in life takes more courage, and no kind of filmmaking offers greater rewards.” — Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Tickets are $6 (including service charge) and available at link above. Students use code STUDENT at checkout for free admission (must show student ID at the door).

SUNDAYS AT THE U WITH MOVIES: "TO SLEEP WITH ANGER" (1990)
2025-06-29 13:00 - 15:00
BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 29, for a rare screening of Charles Burnett’s 1990 drama “To Sleep with Anger,” about a family living in South Central Los Angeles who receive a visit from a charismatic stranger (Danny Glover).
TO SLEEP WITH ANGER | 1990 | WRITER-DIRECTOR: Charles Burnett | WITH: Danny Glover, Paul Butler, Mary Alice, Carl Lumbly, Sheryl Lee Ralph | RUNNING TIME: 1H 42M | RATED: PG for adult themes
A slow-burning masterwork of the early 1990s, this third feature by Charles Burnett is a singular piece of American mythmaking.
In a towering performance, Danny Glover plays the enigmatic southern drifter Harry, a devilish charmer who turns up out of the blue on the South Central Los Angeles doorstep of his old friends. In short order, Harry’s presence seems to cast a chaotic spell on what appeared to be a peaceful household, exposing smoldering tensions between parents and children, tradition and change, virtue and temptation.
Interweaving evocative strains of gospel and blues with rich, poetic-realist images, “To Sleep with Anger” is a sublimely stirring film from an autonomous artistic sensibility, a portrait of family resilience steeped in the traditions of African American mysticism and folklore.

“Charles Burnett’s “To Sleep With Anger” is a subtle kind of horror movie in which the unwelcome visitor is not a slasher or a cartoon character, but a soft-spoken relative named Harry, getting on a bit in years, well-dressed, seemingly courteous. The tension in the movie is created as he stays and stays, until he is clearly unwelcome and yet no one can figure out a way to get rid of him. And the horror element comes as it begins to dawn on us, and the characters in the movie, that this man is some sort of emissary of evil. Perhaps not Satan precisely, but familiar with the neighborhood.
“Harry is played in the movie by Danny Glover, who usually plays the most pleasant of men; he is the easy-going member of the team in the “Lethal Weapon” movies. Here his very pleasantness makes him more sinister. His good manners turn oily, somehow, and the others begin to clear a space around him, physically and in conversation. Glover is an actor of considerable presence, and here he lets us know his character is from hell, and hardly has to raise his voice.” — Roger Ebert
Tickets are $6 and available at link above. Students use code STUDENT at checkout for free admission (must show student ID at the door).

SUNDAYS AT THE U WITH MOVIES: "LA LA LAND" (2016) FREE SCREENING
2025-07-20 13:00 - 15:00
REGISTER FOR FREE TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 20 at 1 p.m. to celebrate the installation of our new giant movie screen and curtains with a free screening of Damien Chazelle’s Oscar-winning musical “La La Land,” starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
Admission is FREE but registration required at link above.
When the pianist Sebastian (Gosling) and the actress Mia (Stone) follow their passion and achieve success in their respective fields, they find themselves torn between their love for each other and their careers.

“Gosling and Stone embrace the limitations of their song-and-dance abilities instead of trying to disguise them. They elevate “La La Land” into something much more substantial than a tribute to escapism. They give this big, generous movie its soul, and their relationship is so simply rendered and touching that “La La Land,” for all its cotton-candy artifice, rings truer and more honest than most contemporary Hollywood studio pictures.
“Here is a celebration of the artistic drive that is also a daring feat of showmanship, as technically accomplished in its own way as “Mad Max Fury Road” or “The Revenant.” But its vibe is the opposite of mechanical. During one musical number, when fireworks start going off in the sky, you can feel them going off in your head too.” — Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald
Admission is FREE but registration required at link above.

SUNDAYS AT THE U WITH MOVIES: "NETWORK" (1976)
2025-07-27 13:00 - 15:00
BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 27th, for director Sidney Lumet’s Oscar-winning “Network,” a merciless — and timely — satire of the machinations inside the news department of a major TV network.
NETWORK | 1976 | DIRECTOR: Sidney Lumet | WITH: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Firth, Beatrice Straight, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty | RATED R for vulgar language, sexual situations, strong adult themes | RUNNING TIME: 2H 1M
A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor’s ravings and revelations about mass media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.

“The movie caused a sensation in 1976. It was nominated for 10 Oscars, won four (Finch, Dunaway, supporting actress Beatrice Straight, screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky), and stirred up much debate about the decaying values of television. Seen a quarter-century later, it is like prophecy. When Chayefsky created Howard Beale, could he have imagined Jerry Springer, Howard Stern and the World Wrestling Federation?
“One of Chayefsky’s key insights is that the bosses don’t much care what you say on TV, as long as you don’t threaten their profits. Howard Beale calls for outrage, he advises viewers to turn off their sets, his fans chant about how fed up they are–but he only gets in trouble when he reveals plans to sell the network’s parent company to Saudi Arabians.
“There’s a parallel here with “The Insider,” a 1999 film about CBS News, where “60 Minutes” can do just about anything it wants to, except materially threaten CBS profits.” — Roger Ebert
Tickets are $6 and available at link above. Students use code STUDENT at checkout for free admission (must show student ID at the door).

SUNDAYS AT THE U WITH MOVIES: "JOHNNY GUITAR" (1954)
2025-08-03 13:00 - 15:00
BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 3, for a screening of “Johnny Guitar,” director Nicholas Ray’s 1954 landmark western starring Joan Crawford as a strong-willed female saloon owner who is wrongly suspected of murder and bank robbery after helping a wounded gang member.
JOHNNY GUITAR | 1954 | DIRECTOR: Nicholas Ray | WITH: Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Ernest Borgnine, John Carradine | RUNNING TIME: 1H 50M | UNRATED Contains mild violence
“The Western is the prime political genre, and Nicholas Ray’s “Johnny Guitar” is one of the greatest Westerns, but its political ideas are hardly the source of its enduring—and controversial—power. What makes the movie is the performances by its lead actors, Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden, which are different in kind from any others that I’ve seen, including by those actors elsewhere.
“Performances are always connected to direction, but the ones in “Johnny Guitar” appear even more so—in terms of the composition of images, the positioning of actors relative to one another and to the décor, and, above all, the movie’s general tone—than literally any Hollywood movie I know, including such epochally inventive ones as “Citizen Kane” and “Vertigo.” Without any intellectual palaver, metafictional games, or reflexive winks, “Johnny Guitar” is a theory of cinema in motion.

“Even in the studio world of seductive artifice, “Johnny Guitar” stands out; it achieves an unmatched height of stylized behavior. The film is a sort of cinematic opera in which scenes have the force of arias, in which dialogue less advances the action than it adorns the movie like bruising and vulnerable lyric poetry, in which the framing of actors forms a unique visual music—even unique in the career of its director, Nicholas Ray, who made many enduring classics (such as “In a Lonely Place” and “Rebel Without a Cause”) but nowhere else reached the singular intensity and stylistic purity of “Johnny Guitar.”
“It’s among the very heights of what the Hollywood system, for all its distortions and exclusions, was capable of—and, even more important, it represents the furthest extreme that the star system could produce or allow.” — Richard Brody, New Yorker
Tickets are $6 and available at link above. Students use code STUDENT at checkout for free admission (must show student ID at the door).
