Kick off November at The Frida with a 4K restoration of Carol Reed’s The Third Man, starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, and Orson Welles!

Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives in a bombed-out, post-war Vienna at the invitation of his childhood friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) only to find him dead. Martins develops the ultimate conspiracy theory after learning of a “third man” present at the time of Harry’s death, butting up against interference from British police officer Major Calloway (Trevor Howard), and falling head-over-heels for Harry’s grief-stricken lover Anna (Alida Valli).

Not just a great Film Noir, but one of the most revered films in cinema history, The Third Man is frequently discussed alongside Casablanca as one of the definitive films about postwar Europe, and its reputation rests on the rare combination of a terrific mystery, extraordinary visual style, and one of cinema’s most iconic villain performances.

Our Art House of Horrors: Presented by MUBI series ends with The Shining, the legendarily disturbing 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel.

The film follows Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic, who takes a job as the winter caretaker of the remote Overlook Hotel. Along with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and young son Danny (Danny Lloyd), who possesses psychic abilities called “the shining,” Jack hopes to find peace and inspiration for his writing. However, the hotel’s malevolent supernatural forces and Jack’s descent into insanity turn their stay into a nightmare. 

Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation is one of the most meticulously crafted horror films ever made, transforming an isolated hotel into a labyrinth of psychological terror. From the Steadicam’s eerie glide through The Overlook, to Jack Nicholson’s unforgettable descent into madness, to Frida Cinema favorite Shelley Duvall’s manic performance as Wendy Torrance, Kubrick created an atmosphere so unnerving that its images have become permanently embedded in the cinematic imagination.

Our Spielberg Summer series turns its attention to one of the most powerful and influential war films ever made with Saving Private Ryan, a landmark achievement that forever changed how combat is portrayed on screen.

In the aftermath of the D-Day invasion, Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) and his squad are assigned an extraordinary mission: locate Private James Ryan (Matt Damon), whose brothers have all been killed in action, and bring him home. As the soldiers journey deeper into war-torn France, the mission forces each man to confront difficult questions about the value of a single life amid unimaginable loss.

Famous for its visceral opening depiction of Omaha Beach, Saving Private Ryan goes far beyond just technical brilliance. Spielberg combines staggering realism with his signature humanism, creating a film that honors both the chaos of war and the ordinary people “asked” to endure it.

Our Art House 101: Global Queer Cinema series is headed to the Philippines for one of the most daring and influential films in the country’s queer cinema history: Macho Dancer.

After being expelled from the military, a young man named Pol leaves his provincial home for Manila, where he finds work as a macho dancer in a seedy nightclub. But beneath the glitter and spectacle of the club lies a dangerous world of exploitation, drugs, prostitution, and corruption. As Pol becomes increasingly entangled in the lives of the men and women around him, his search for survival becomes inseparable from a society rotting beneath the surface.

Directed by Lino Brocka, one of the giants of Philippine cinema, Macho Dancer is a provocative film about sexuality and political oppression. Made during the final years of Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship, Brocka uses the world of male sex work to expose the desperation and corruption of a society where virtually everything, including the concept of desire itself, can become a commodity. Come support this landmark of Filipino queer cinema and a powerful act of cinematic resistance on the big screen.

The Scout, the new dramedy from director Paula Gonzalez-Nasser is coming to The Frida Cinema!

Sofia works as a location scout for a TV pilot filming in New York City. It’s her job to find the homes, businesses, and exteriors where the show will be filmed. Driving around the city’s different neighborhoods, she enters the private spaces of strangers to photograph their cozy apartments and eclectic shops, stepping into the fabric of their lives while trying to satisfy the demands of her erratic employers. Over a day filled with these encounters, Sofia witnesses moments of curiosity, vulnerability, and quiet tension until her work takes a sudden, personal turn.