June 15, 2019 – September 1, 2019
The Parisian Belle Époque period (roughly 1871-1914) was one of great innovation and pure entertainment, leaving an artistic legacy that included the Moulin Rouge and perhaps more importantly, the birth of popular cinema. Taking inspiration from the Portland Art Museum’s Paris 1900 exhibition (on view June 8-September 8), we are pleased to present a cinematic exploration of this most thrilling period, both through films made contemporaneously and through those looking back for inspiration and nostalgia. All screenings are free to members of the Portland Art Museum.
Alice Guy-Blaché Solax Shorts
Directed by Alice Guy-Blaché
Alice Guy-Blaché, the first woman filmmaker, came up during the Belle Époque period in Paris around the turn of the …
French Cancan
Directed by Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir’s return to France in the early 1950s, following more than a decade of self-exile, culminated in his first …
Georges Méliès Shorts Program
Directed by Georges Méliès
One of the foremost early innovators of the motion picture in the fin-de-siècle Parisian milieu—alongside the Lumière Brothers, Alice Guy-Blaché, …
Jules and Jim
Directed by François Truffaut
One of the finest films of the French New Wave, Jules & Jim cemented François Truffaut’s legacy after his unassailable …
Moulin Rouge
Directed by John Huston
Legendary Hollywood director John Huston moved beyond the confines of gritty America with Moulin Rouge, a biopic of artist Henri …
Paris 1900 (Paris mil neuf cent)
Directed by Nicole Védrès, Pierre Braunberger
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in 1947 and lying in relative obscurity until it was restored recently, Paris 1900 …
The Earrings of Madame De…
Directed by Max Ophüls
Max Ophüls’s sumptuous and enveloping drama, adapted from the novel by Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin, is set in high society …
Workers Leaving the Factory Shorts Program
Directed by Various
Considered the first motion picture presented in public, the Lumière Brothers’ Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895) is indeed a …