For Immediate Release
November 7, 2024

CLARK ART INSTITUTE AND IMAGES CINEMA SCREEN
FILM SERIES FEATURING NEW HOLLYWOOD AUTEURS 

Williamstown, Massachusetts—The Clark Art Institute partners with Images Cinema to present a film series that captures the explosion of creativity, critical acclaim, and box office success that Hollywood directors found after the fall of the studio system, on December 5, 12, and 19, 2024; January 16, 23, and 30, 2025; and February 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2025. All films are free and screened in the Manton Research Center auditorium on select Thursdays at 6 pm. Each film is introduced by a staff member of the Clark or Images.

2024
December 5 
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) 
Half comic fairy tale, half brutal fact, Bonnie and Clyde, directed by Arthur Penn, is based on the Barrow Gang that terrorized the South in the 1930s. Part of the changing of the guard in Hollywood, the film ushered in an era of violent and sexually liberated filmmaking. (Run time: 1 hour, 51 minutes)  

December 12 
A New Leaf (1971) 
This macabre comedy, directed by Elaine May, reveals the essence of marital love more brutally than many melodramas. Walter Matthau plays Henry Graham, a lazy Manhattan heir who is stopped cold by the news that he is broke. He must marry rich, fast. (Run time: 1 hour, 42 minutes) 

December 19 
The Godfather (1972) 
The Godfather was originally envisioned by Paramount as a low-budget quickie. Instead director Francis Ford Coppola fought for a period setting, shooting in New York, and a bigger budget. Coppola was part of the new realistic movement toward casting New York theater and TV-trained actors. (Run time: 2 hours, 55 minutes) 

2025
January 16 
The Exorcist (1973) 
Directed by William Friedkin, this is the story of an atheist actress who turns to two Jesuit priests to free her twelve-year-old daughter from demonic possession. Friedkin took strident, dictatorial measures to maintain a pervasive feeling of fear on the set, at times refrigerating it to just above freezing. (Run time: 2 hours, 2 minutes) 

January 23 
Phantom of the Paradise (1974) 
Fifty years after its release, Brian de Palma’s rock opera Phantom of the Paradise remains a connoisseur’s cult classic. A disfigured composer seeks revenge on the heartless producer who stole the music the composer wrote for the woman he loves from afar. William Finley, Paul Williams, and Jessica Harper star. (Run time: 1 hour, 32 minutes) 

January 30 
Young Frankenstein (1974) 
Writer and director Mel Brooks’s pioneering vulgarity looks both tame and edgy from today’s perspective. In Young Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein’s grandson (Gene Wilder), stares at the world with nearsighted wonder. He reaches what was (for the 1970s) a new kind of controlled maniacal peak. (Run time: 1 hour, 46 minutes) 

February 6 
Jaws (1975) 
A film that Steven Spielberg did not want to make, Jaws relies on the creative improvisations of three then-unknown actors (Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw) and the inspired editing of Verna Fields. Shot on the open ocean, Jaws is a populist, post-Watergate look at corrupt authority. (Run time: 2 hours, 5 minutes) 

February 13 
Rocky (1976) 
Rocky, directed by John G. Avildsen, offers a glimpse into how the fall of the old Hollywood studio system created new opportunities. Sylvester Stallone wrote the script for Rocky, eventually taking a deal that gave him the starring role. (Run time: 1 hour, 59 minutes)  

February 20 
Girlfriends (1978) 
When her best friend and roommate abruptly moves out to get married, artist and bar mitzvah photographer Susan (Melanie Mayron) finds herself adrift in both life and love. A wonder of American independent cinema by director Claudia Weill, Girlfriends is a remarkably authentic vision of female relationships. (Run time: 1 hour, 26 minutes)  

February 27 
Raging Bull (1980) 
Robert De Niro pours his blood, sweat, and brute physicality into the Oscar-winning role of Jake La Motta, the rising middleweight boxer from the Bronx whose furious ambition propels him to success within the ring but whose unbridled paranoia and jealousy tatter his relationships. Thelma Schoonmaker’s Oscar-winning editing, Michael Chapman’s tactile black-and-white cinematography, and Frank Warner’s ingenious sound design combine to make Raging Bull a uniquely powerful exploration of violence. (Run time: 2 hours, 9 minutes)

Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. Images Cinema has received funding support from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation's Arts Build Community grant to co-present/co-produce this series. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.

ABOUT IMAGES CINEMA
A Berkshire tradition for over 100 years, Images Cinema, a non-profit, community-supported movie theater, celebrates film as an art form, a source of entertainment and learning, and a means to cultivate an engaged community. As a non-profit organization, Images relies on support from the community through memberships, donations, and sponsorships from local businesses. Images Cinema is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. For more information visit www.imagescinema.org.

ABOUT THE CLARK
 The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of some 300,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.

The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free January through March and is $20 from March through December; admission is free year-round for Clark members, all visitors age 21 and under, and students with a valid student ID. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.

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