Cloud

Posted on July 22, 2025

Cloud, the stylish and subversive new thriller from suspense-maverick Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse) has finally arrived at The Frida Cinema!

The story follows Yoshii, an ambitious, yet directionless, young factory worker from Tokyo who side hustles in the murky realm of black market reselling, cheating buyers and sellers alike. After swindling his way into loads of cash, Yoshii gradually attempts to disconnect from humanity, moving out of the city, shunning his girlfriend, and entrusting duties to his new, devoted assistant.

Before long his life is plagued by a series of mysterious, sinister incidents that threaten to upend his success and bring about a most violent demise. A master of carefully simmering tension to a bloody crescendo, Kurosawa delivers a searing portrait of digital greed and vengeance.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Posted on July 19, 2025

This August, The Frida Cinema proudly presents Greenaway & Nyman, a film series celebrating four of the most iconic collaborations between filmmaker Peter Greenaway and composter Michael Nyman. We close our series with Greenaway’s 1989 masterpiece The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, a lurid, operatic masterpiece of gluttony, sumptuous beauty, and brutal vengeance, all set to Nyman’s famously haunting score, and almost entirely within the lavish confines of a French restaurant.

Albert Spica (Michael Gambon), a grotesquely boorish gangster, terrorizes guests and staff with his vulgarity and violence night after night at a fancy restaurant named Le Hollandais. His long-suffering wife Georgina (Helen Mirren), who quietly endures his abuse, begins a passionate affair with a gentle bookseller (Alan Howard), meeting him in secret among the restaurant’s corridors, kitchens, and storerooms. What unfolds is a richly stylized operatic tragedy, with color-coded sets that shift with each room, vibrant costumes by Jean-Paul Gaultier, and one of Michael Nyman’s most iconic scores.

A Zed & Two Noughts

Posted on July 19, 2025

This August, The Frida Cinema proudly presents Greenaway & Nyman, a film series celebrating four of the most iconic collaborations between filmmaker Peter Greenaway and composter Michael Nyman. Our second film in the series is 1985’s A Zed and Two Noughts, a beautifully disturbing and darkly humorous take on erotic obsession and death.

When a swan causes a car accident in front of the Rotterdam Zoo, two women die and a third, Alba (Andrea Ferréol), loses her leg. Their two grieving husbands, twin zoologists Oliver and Oswald (Eric and Brian Deacon), fixate on their wives’ bodies, and slowly become obsessed with evolution and decomposition, even going as far as to meticulously craft exquisitely morbid time-lapsed films of decaying creatures. As the film evolves into an increasingly bizarre scientific fantasia, things get even stranger when a mad surgeon schemes to use Alba as a subject for his own experiments in animal symmetry. Highlighted by painterly compositions inspired by Vermeer, a hypnotic score by Nyman, and Greenaway’s signature dark comedy, A Zed and Two Noughts is a stylish and unsettling exploration of mortality and the limits of control.

The Draughtsman’s Contract

Posted on July 19, 2025

This August, The Frida Cinema proudly presents Greenaway & Nyman, a film series celebrating four of the most iconic collaborations between filmmaker Peter Greenaway and composter Michael Nyman. Our series opens with the film that marked the beginning of their prolific and celebrated partnership, 1982’s The Draughtsman’s Contract. This film marked the beginning of a prolific and celebrated partnership, with Nyman’s driving, baroque score becoming an essential element of Greenaway’s distinct visual style.

Set in the lush English countryside at the close of the 17th century, The Draughtsman’s Contract is a labyrinthine tale of art, seduction, and deception. When Mrs. Virginia Herbert commissions a young, arrogant artist named Mr. Neville to produce a series of detailed drawings of her estate, their arrangement includes not only payment, but certain intimate privileges. As Neville obsessively sketches the grounds with mathematical precision, he begins to uncover cryptic clues and shifting allegiances that suggest a darker intrigue beneath the estate’s manicured surface.

Pump Up the Volume + Q&A w/ Allan Moyle and Sandy Stern

Posted on July 19, 2025

On Wednesday, August 20th, join us as we welcome writer/director Allan Moyle and producer Sandy Stern to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of writer-director Allan Moyle’s Pump Up the Volume, a fiery snapshot of early 90’s rebellion that’s endured as a cult classic, as well as a rallying cry for freedom of expression and speaking truth to power.

Christian Slater stars as Mark Hunter, a shy, bookish teenager who transforms into “Hard Harry” by night – an anonymous pirate radio DJ who broadcasts raw, uncensored thoughts to his audience of fellow high schoolers. As Harry’s shows begin to touch on themes of depression, authoritarianism, and hypocrisy, his rants grow bolder, enshrining him as a folk hero to his disaffected young fans – as well as a target for school administrators and the FCC. Highlighted by a sharp script, Slater’s magnetic performance, strong supporting turns by Samantha Mathis, Ellen Greene, and Annie Ross, and a popular soundtrack featuring Sonic Youth, Pixies, Concrete Blonde, and Leonard Cohen, Pump Up the Volume my be ultra-90’s in style, but its themes of censorship, alienation, identity, and the desperate need to be heard in a world that too often refuses to listen, remain sadly timeless.

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Stick around after the show for a conversation with special guests Allan Moyle and Sandy Stern!

Allan Moyle is a Canadian writer and director known for his offbeat, character-driven films that often explore youth rebellion, outsider identity, and the transformative power of music. He gained cult acclaim with his sharp, politically charged 1990 teen drama Pump Up the Volume, and his vibrant 1995 ensemble piece set inside a struggling indie record store, Empire Records; both films have found a devoted following for their quirky charm, quotable dialogue, and celebration of teen individuality. Almost 50 years since his directorial debut, 1977’s The Rubber Gun, Moyle’s work remains beloved for its sincerity, countercultural spirit, and empathy for misfits on the fringes.

Sandy Stern is an accomplished film producer known for championing bold, unconventional storytelling across a wide range of genres. He rose to prominence with the 1990 cult favorite Pump Up the Volume, which established his reputation for backing visionary, risk-taking filmmakers. Over the next decade, Stern played a key role in bringing to life some of the most inventive and iconoclastic films of the era, including Todd Haynes’ 1998 glam-rock fantasia Velvet Goldmine, Spike Jonze’s 1999 mind-bender Being John Malkovich, and the subversive 2004 teen satire Saved! Whether producing edgy dramas, surreal comedies, or heartfelt misfit tales, Stern’s work consistently foregrounds fresh voices and offbeat perspectives, making him a vital figure in the landscape of American independent cinema.

La Ceremonie: Members Only

Posted on July 11, 2025

Frida Cinema members are invited to a very special 30th anniversary screening of Claude Chabrol’s masterfully unsettling La Cérémonie, now restored in a beautiful 4K restoration via Janus Films!

Set in the quiet countryside of Brittany, the story follows a wealthy family who hires a new housekeeper, the enigmatic Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire). When Sophie strikes up a friendship with the town’s outspoken postal clerk, Jeanne (the legendary Isabelle Huppert), the two women form a volatile bond that builds to an unforgettable and shocking conclusion. With chilling performances and an atmosphere thick with quiet menace, La Cérémonie is a slow-burn thriller that builds to a devastating crescendo.

Winner of the César Award for Best Actress and widely considered one of Chabrol’s finest films, La Cérémonie is a must-see for fans of dark psychological drama and French cinema at its most provocative.

Not a member yet? Sign up here: https://thefridacinema.org/memberships/

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind + Science on Screen® Presentation by Dr. Sandra Langeslag

Posted on July 10, 2025

Join us Tuesday, May 20th for as we close our 2025 Science on Screen® series with writer Charlie Kaufman and director Michel Gondry’s 2004 Oscar-winning sci-fi masterpiece Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This special screening will be proceeded by a special presentation by Dr. Sandra Langeslag, who will be joining us to take a fascinating dive into the science of memory and heartbreak with her presentation “The Neuroscience Behind Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

Shall We Dance?

Posted on June 19, 2025

Film Movement Classics is bringing a brand new 4K restoration of Masayuki’s Suo 1996 charmer Shall We Dance? to The Frida Cinema!

Shohei Sugiyama (Koji Yakusho) seems to have it all – a high-paying job as an accountant, a beautiful home, a caring wife and a doting daughter he loves
dearly. However, he feels something is missing in his life. One day while commuting on the train he spots a beautiful woman staring wistfully out a
window and eventually decides to find her. His search leads him head-first into the world of competitive ballroom dancing.

A box office sensation in North America upon its initial release (which led to a Hollywood remake with Richard Gere), Film Movement Classics is presenting the original 137-minute film, available uncut for the first time in North America.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Posted on June 19, 2025

Join us for the heart and soul of our Fireworks At The Frida series, Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes To Washington!

Sent to fill a Senate seat as a political pawn, Smith instead uncovers a web of graft and greed. What follows is a political trial by fire—and one of the most legendary speeches in film history. But for all its soaring speeches and small-town sentiment, Capra’s film is no naïve civics lesson; it’s a clear-eyed look at how power distorts purpose, and how standing alone can still mean something.

With brilliant support from Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, and a gallery of weary insiders and hopeful outsiders, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington is both timeless and timely—especially in a week devoted to wrestling with American identity.

Nashville

Posted on June 19, 2025

Celebrate 50 years of Robert Altman’s 1975 magnum opus, Nashville, as part of our Fireworks At The Frida series!

With unforgettable performances from Lily Tomlin, Karen Black, Keith Carradine, Ronee Blakley, and Henry Gibson, the film skips between recording studios, campaign buses, traffic jams, and concert stages—capturing a cross-section of American life that feels both impossibly specific and disturbingly timeless. It’s more than a musical. More than a satire. More than a political drama.

Nominated for five Academy Awards and still a towering achievement in ensemble storytelling, Nashville holds up a cracked mirror to American identity—how we perform it, profit from it, and try to hold onto it even as it slips away.