The penultimate film in our Arthouse 101: Japanese Cinema series is Isao Takahata’s Grave Of The Fireflies!

In the final days of World War II, two siblings—teenaged Seita and his little sister Setsuko—struggle to survive in firebombed Kobe after losing their home, their parents, and eventually, their place in a society that has collapsed around them. What follows is not just a war story, but a story of love, resilience, and unbearable loss.

Rendered with breathtaking beauty by the legendary animators at Studio Ghibli, Grave of the Fireflies is often called one of the greatest animated films ever made. It is also one of the most emotionally shattering anti-war films of any kind—haunting not because of spectacle, but because of its heartbreaking truth.

Arthouse 101: Japanese Cinema is a curated 12-film trip through the evolution of Japan—from the quiet post-war resilience of the 1940s all the way to the radical reinventions of the 1990s. Each Monday this July-September, we will explore a new facet of this incredible nation’s cinematic journey throughout the 20th century! All films will be presented in their original Japanese language with English subtitles!

Volunteer of the Month pick, selected by this month’s VOTM — The Amazing Dana!

From director Robert Wise (West Side Story, The Day the Earth Stood Still) comes the first big-screen voyage of one of television’s most iconic crews.

When a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud known as V’Ger threatens Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) takes command of the newly refitted U.S.S. Enterprise. Reuniting with Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the rest of the legendary crew, Kirk must lead his starship on a perilous mission into uncharted space that will test the limits of their loyalty, their skills, and their very understanding of what it means to be alive.

Featuring eye-popping art direction, groundbreaking visual effects, and a legendary score by Jerry Goldsmith – all of which were nominated for Academy Awards – Star Trek: The Motion Picture will be presented on Paramount Pictures’ striking new 4K Restoration.

This screening is open to Film Club Members only.

To learn more about the Frida Film Club or become a member, click here!

In anticipation of our upcoming run of the new 4K Restoration of visionary French filmmaker Leos Carax’s The Lovers on the Bridge (Sept 12 – 18), we are pleased to treat our Film Club Members with a rare opportunity to experience his 1986 masterpiece Mauvais sang (Bad Blood) on the big screen!

In a near-future Paris, residents are gripped with fear by a mysterious sexually transmitted plague.  A dying gangster enlists young thief Alex (Denis Lavant) to steal the serum that could mean humanity’s salvation. Caught between underworld rivalries, the shadow of his late father, and the suffocating weight of expectation, Alex navigates a landscape of danger and deceit that becomes even more complicated when he encounters Anna (Juliette Binoche), the much younger mistress of his employer, sparking a chain of events that threaten both their lives.

A stylish and surreal blend of crime drama, romantic fable, and pop-art cinematic poetry, Carax’s 1986 award-winner is a feverish meditation on love, risk, and mortality that cemented him as one of cinema’s great modern romantics.

Join us for an exciting evening of creativity and storytelling at Film Fest 255! This showcase features a dynamic lineup of short films created by talented student filmmakers from Santa Ana College, spanning genres from drama to comedy, and science fiction to experimental.

As a special highlight, the festival will include a screening of a professionally produced film currently showing at several film festivals. The film highlights the Santa Ana College students who worked on the production and offers inspiration and insight into the world of professional cinema.

Celebrate the voices of emerging artists and experience the passion, innovation, and vision of the next generation of filmmakers!

This program is a venue rental engagement. Member discounts and Frida Cinema comp passes not valid. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.

From Jared Hess, the offbeat mind behind Napoleon Dynamite, comes the legendary story of a Mexican monk who moonlighted as a luchador — Nacho Libre!

Jack Black stars as Ignacio, a monastery cook with big dreams of wrestling glory. By day, he tends to orphans with meager meals and modest means, but by night, he dons a homemade mask and cape to become “Nacho” – a bumbling yet big-hearted fighter who enters the chaotic world of Lucha Libre. Teaming up Esqueleto (Héctor Jiménez), a wiry street thief with zero wrestling skills but plenty of scrappy determination (and a firm belief in science), Nacho must balance his secret life in the ring with his devotion to the children he cares for, all while chasing respect, redemption, and the heart of the beautiful Sister Encarnación (Ana de la Reguera).

Wildly silly yet surprisingly sincere, Nacho Libre is a raucous underdog tale full of slapstick humor, colorful characters, and Jack Black at his most gloriously unhinged.

Dario Argento returned to the giallo in 1982 with Tenebrae, his most brutal, self-reflexive, and psychologically unhinged film to date. An American crime novelist arrives in Rome to promote his latest book, only to find that someone is using his fiction as a blueprint for real murders. What follows is a labyrinth of voyeurism, doubles, obsession, and bloodletting—crafted with icy precision and wicked intelligence.

Featuring some of Argento’s most audacious set pieces (including the now-legendary crane shot over a building façade) and a pulsing electronic score by Goblin members under the name Simonetti-Morante-Pignatelli, Tenebrae is a postmodern slasher steeped in chrome, glass, and guilt.

A strangely prophetic film in many ways, Tenebrae asks: when the line between creator and killer vanishes, who’s really holding the knife?

Bust out those plastic spoons! Tommy Wiseau’s enduring 2003 cult classic The Room is back at The Frida for its monthly screening!

Wiseau’s peerless magnum opus finds the auteur who shaped a generation taking on the arts of acting, writing, casting, directing, editing and more. What’s even more remarkable: he’s mastered them all. The multi-talented director stars as Johnny, a big-time banker working in gorgeously shot San Francisco. His fiancée Lisa, seemingly a happy part of a successful relationship, has wandering eyes…for Tommy’s best friend Mark. Cinema has never witnessed such betrayal!

An intense, sensual thriller–at least as it was intended by Wiseau–The Room is an intricately knit web of sweet secrets and bitter lies that interrogates the very form of drama itself, as well as a truly unforgettable piece of cinema.