From Ildikó Enyedi, the director of Academy Award-nominated On Body and Soul, comes Silent Friend, an epic, awe-inspiring exploration of the natural world. Featuring an ensemble cast that includes Tony Leung, Léa Seydoux, and Venice Prize-winning newcomer Luna Wedler, Enyedi crafts a funny, tender meditation on the essential question of what it means to be human.
At the heart of an old German university grows a majestic ginkgo tree, its lifespan measured in centuries. As the years pass, the distinguished plant bears witness to the private lives of those who seek shade under its boundless branches. In 2020, a visiting neuroscientist conducts a series of experiments into the possibilities of botanical consciousness. In 1972, a young student is profoundly changed by studying the behavior of a simple geranium. And in 1908, the university’s first female student’s photographic inquiries reveal sacred patterns of the universe hidden within the humblest of plants. Three lonely souls, three outsiders. Over time, each is transformed by the quiet, enduring and mysterious power of nature.
This film will be presented in In German, English, and Cantonese with English subtitles.
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Trainspotting is turning 30 years old, and we’re celebrating with some anniversary screenings of a brand new 4K restoration via our friends at Sony Picture Classics!
Smart, funny, sickly and sometimes just plain unconscious, Mark Renton is a hero for our times. Set in an underbelly of Edinburg the city fathers never dreamed of, Trainspotting is the story of Mark and his so-called friends…a bunch of losers, liars, psychos, thieves and junkies. Hilarious but harrowing, the film charts the disintegration of their friendship as they proceed, seemingly inevitably, towards self-destruction. Mark alone has the insight and opportunity to escape his fate…but then again, does he really want to ‘choose life’?
Restoration notes: Supervised and approved by director Danny Boyle, this 4K digital restoration was undertaken by the Criterion Collection from a scan of the 35mm original negative. The 5.1 surround soundtrack was remastered from the original six-track magnetic masters by Ted Hall at Pacific Ocean Post in Santa Monica, California, in 1997.
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You’ve been asking for it, so we’re doing it! The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act is coming to The Frida Cinema! The viral internet sensation is reaching its long-awaited conclusion in a feature-length theatrical release! This “Last Act” combines episode 8 with the all new, hour long episode 9!
With Caine gone and the circus dark, the cast are left with only the mistakes and traumas of their pasts to keep them company. As the prospect of eternity closes in around them, they discover the truth about the Digital Circus and its history. Will they come to terms with what they uncover, or will they make…the other choice? Also, presumably at some point someone says something funny, because this ending can’t be THAT depressing, can it?
Watch the finale of the viral internet phenomenon the best way possible: on the big screen!
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Neither Heaven nor Earth could keep them apart!
Our Art House for Families series concludes with Powell & Pressburger’s astonishing Technicolor fantasia A Matter of Life and Death!
After miraculously surviving a plane crash during World War II, British pilot Peter Carter finds himself caught between worlds when celestial authorities realize he was never meant to live. As heavenly forces attempt to correct the error, Peter fights for the right to remain on Earth alongside the woman he has fallen in love with.
Few filmmakers ever have possessed sheer cinematic imagination quite like Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Moving effortlessly between the everyday and the cosmic, A Matter of Life and Death excels at both dazzling visual invention and genuine emotional sweep. The film stands as one of the great achievements of postwar cinema, making it a perfect finale for a series dedicated to the wonder of experiencing movies together on the big screen.
Our Art House for Families series celebrates the magic of moviegoing across generations all summer long. From silent comedy and international classics to science fiction and fantasy adventures, the series invites longtime cinephiles and first-time art house audiences of all ages to discover some of cinema’s most enduring films together on the big screen. This event is sponsored in part by the City of Santa Ana.
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Two of the most beloved family films ever made are up next for our Art House for Families series as we’re presenting a special double feature presentation celebrating the poetic, adventurous world of filmmaker Albert Lamorisse. It’s The Red Balloon and White Mane!
Winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film and an Academy Award for its screenplay, The Red Balloon follows a young Parisian boy who discovers a mysterious balloon with a personality all its own. Drifting through the streets of Paris with almost no dialogue, the film transforms ordinary city life into something quietly magical.
And then after a ten minute intermission, it’s time for White Mane, Lamorisse’s breathtaking adventure set in the marshlands of southern France, where a young boy forms an unforgettable bond with a wild horse pursued by local ranchers. Shot with extraordinary natural beauty and a sense of freedom that still feels exhilarating today, the film captures childhood adventure in an almost-mythic way.
These films will be presented in their original French language, with English subtitles. Although, it should be noted the films are essentially wordless, with the exception of some sparse dialogue.
Our Art House for Families series celebrates the magic of moviegoing across generations all summer long. From silent comedy and international classics to science fiction and fantasy adventures, the series invites longtime cinephiles and first-time art house audiences of all ages to discover some of cinema’s most enduring films together on the big screen. This event is sponsored in part by the City of Santa Ana.
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We’re keeping French with the next installment in our Art House for Families series as we present Jean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of Mme. Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy-tale masterpiece: La Belle et la Bête!
Drawing from the classic French fable, the film follows Belle as she enters the mysterious castle of a cursed Beast whose world seems governed by living statues and other impossible acts of magic. You probably know the rest of the story, but you’ve never seen it told quite like this.
The spectacular visions of enchantment, desire, and death in Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) have become timeless icons of cinematic wonder. It remains one of the great achievements of fantasy cinema, blending handmade visual effects and poetic imagination into something genuinely timeless.
This film will be presented in its original French language, with English subtitles.
Our Art House for Families series celebrates the magic of moviegoing across generations all summer long. From silent comedy and international classics to science fiction and fantasy adventures, the series invites longtime cinephiles and first-time art house audiences of all ages to discover some of cinema’s most enduring films together on the big screen. This event is sponsored in part by the City of Santa Ana.
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Jacques Demy’s transcendent musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is the next film in our Art House for Families series!
This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother’s chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy’s return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.
Simultaneously intimate and visually overwhelming, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg remains one of the most beloved movie musicals ever made, influencing generations of filmmakers with its fusion of romantic melancholy and pure color-saturated movie magic. It’s a long-standing Frida Cinema favorite and an absolute-must for first timers on the big screen!
This film will be presented in its original French language, with English subtitles.
Our Art House for Families series celebrates the magic of moviegoing across generations all summer long. From silent comedy and international classics to science fiction and fantasy adventures, the series invites longtime cinephiles and first-time art house audiences of all ages to discover some of cinema’s most enduring films together on the big screen. This event is sponsored in part by the City of Santa Ana.
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The first film of our brand new Art House for Families series is Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, just in time for Father’s Day Weekend!
In the wake of World War II, Antonio finally secures a job that could support his struggling family, but when the bicycle he needs for work is stolen on his very first day, he and his young son Bruno set out across Rome in a desperate search to recover it. What unfolds is both a gripping odyssey through the city and a deeply moving portrait of the unique bond between parent and child.
A defining work of Italian neorealism, Bicycle Thieves transformed world cinema with its use of nonprofessional actors and location shooting, finding profound emotional weight in ordinary lives. Decades later, its heartbreak and compassion remain just as powerful, making it the perfect film to kick off this series.
This film will be presented in its original Italian language, with English subtitles.
Our Art House for Families series celebrates the magic of moviegoing across generations all summer long. From silent comedy and international classics to science fiction and fantasy adventures, the series invites longtime cinephiles and first-time art house audiences of all ages to discover some of cinema’s most enduring films together on the big screen. This event is sponsored in part by the City of Santa Ana.
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Award-winning actor, screenwriter, and Youtuber Maggie Mae Fish joins us in person to present a new series aptly titled Nu-Classics at The Frida Cinema! This series spotlights cult films that deserve to be added to the canon, programmed and hosted by Maggie, with special appearances by her YouTube and Nebula friends. The first nu-classic is Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winning-masterpiece Titane! Following the screening, Maggie will discuss the movie with Will Reese, director/co-showrunner of her Nebula series Amy’s Dead-End Dreamhouse.
The story follows a woman with a metal plate in her head from a childhood car accident as she embarks on a bizarre journey, bringing her into contact with a firefighter who’s reunited with his missing son after 10 years.
Fresh off its historic win at Cannes, the film became one of the most talked-about releases of the year 2022. Critics and audiences alike were electrified, praising Ducournau’s fearless vision. With only her second feature film, she has carved out a gnarly niche of body horror and melodrama that we absolutely adore at The Frida. Come see it on the big screen!
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In the town of Twin Peaks, everyone has their secrets…especially Laura Palmer.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is coming back to The Frida Cinema, playing between seasons two and three of our Twin Peaks: The Complete Series saga! And make sure to stick around afterwards as we go further down the rabbit hole with Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces, a 2014 compilation of deleted and extended scenes from the film.
In this prequel to his groundbreaking 1990s television series, David Lynch resurrects the teenager found wrapped in plastic at the beginning of the show, following her through the last week of her life and teasing out the enigmas that surround her murder. Nightmarish in its vision of an innocent torn apart by unfathomable forces, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is nevertheless one of Lynch’s most humane films, aching with compassion for its tortured heroine.
One ticket gets you access to two movies! There will be a ten minute intermission between both films.
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