Winter 1997

• Retrospectives: Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Mohsen Makhmalbaf; Jacques Tati; 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY; MABOROSI; James Benning in person; King Hu's A TOUCH OF ZEN; Tati's PLAYTIME in 70mm; Bruce Conner; Student Showcase; Trinity Square Video; Stan Brakhage (regular 8mm); Maya Deren and Sidney Peterson; Independent Spirits at the NFB (Arthur Lipsett); THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS.
• Toronto Premieres: Sarah Moon's LUMI RE AND COMPANY; Bruce Conner's TELEVISION ASSASSINATION; Rainer Werner Fassbinder's RIO DAS MORTES, WHITY, PIONEERS IN INGOLSTADT, WORLD ON WIRES, THE NIKLASHAUSER JOURNEY and FEAR OF FEAR; James Benning's DESERET; Gariné Torossian's BIG DIVA AND THE GOLDEN APPLE; Lara Fitzgerald's IMMOBILE... LIÉ.
• Guests: James Benning; Terence Macartney-Filgate; Kara Blake; Lara Fitzgerald.
• Critical Note: "Thanks to a North American tour of a four-week retrospective... brought to Toronto by Cinematheque Ontario...the time is ripe for reconsideration. Perhaps...Fassbinder was too far ahead for the rest of us to seize something we could hold on to. Fifteen years on, maybe we're ready to catch up" - Geoff Pevere, The Globe and Mail, January 31, 1997.

Spring 1997 

• Retrospectives: Satyajit Ray (nine restored masterpieces); Chris Marker (in conjunction with AGO exhibit of Marker's installation); Susan Sontag Selects; SÁTÁNTANGÓ; Film Architecture: The Design of Dark Dreams (Lang, Wiene, Murnau, Protazanov, L'Herbier); Barbara Hammer; Robert Kennedy; A Tribute to Marian McMahon; A New Europe: Reeling After the Fall (Jan Švankmajer; Ildikó Szabó; Dušan Hanák); Mizoguchi reprise; COLD FEVER; EDVARD MUNCH.
• North American Premiere: Chris Marker's LEVEL FIVE.
• Toronto Premieres: Vincent Minnikendam's MOTHER DAO THE TURTLELIKE; Martin Šulík's THE GARDEN; Serban Marinescu's THE EARTH'S MOST BELOVED SON; Jan Švankmajer's CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE; Mirçea Daneliuc's THE SNAIL'S SENATOR; Ildikó Szabó's BITCHES; Drahomira Vihanová's THE FORTRESS; Milan Šteindler's THANK YOU FOR EACH NEW MORNING; Barbara Sass's THE TEMPTATION; Ivan Pavlov's FROM SCRATCH; Eldora Traykova's NEON TALES; Franci Slak's WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES; Jan Šverák's THE RIDE; Ibolya Fekete's BOLSHE VITA; György Szomjas's JUNK MOVIE; Konrad Szolajski's MAN OF ...; Michael Klier's IT'S ALWAYS BETTER THERE, WHERE WE ARE NOT; Dušan Hanák's PAPER HEADS.
• Guests: Susan Sontag; Barbara Hammer; Robert Kennedy; Drahomira Vihanová.
• Highlights: Susan Sontag declares Cinematheque Ontario one of the two true cinematheques in North America as packed houses enjoy her introductions and discussions of rare screenings of Krzysztof Zanussi's CONTRACT, Alexander Sokurov's DAYS OF THE ECLIPSE, Alexei Gherman's MY FRIEND IVAN LAPSHIN, Jean Renoir's NANA and Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's OUR HITLER.

Summer (June - July) 1997 

• Retrospectives: Northern Encounters (a Pan-Nordic Film Festival, with films from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, with spotlights on Lars von Trier, Aki Kaurismäki, Fridrik Thor Fridriksson); Satyajit Ray reprise; West African cinema.
• SUMMER IN FRANCE: Homage to Cannes; spotlight on Georges Franju; tributes to Simone Signoret; Jeanne Moreau; Jacques Demy; Jean Renoir; Jean Vigo; Alain Resnais; Claude Chabrol.
• Canadian Premieres: Lars von Trier's MEDEA and IMAGES OF A RELIEF; Anders R innow-Klarlund's THE EIGHTEENTH.
• Toronto Premieres: Niels Arden Oplev's PORTLAND; Jan Troell's HAMSUN; Veikko Aaltonen's PATER NOSTER; Henning Carlsen's TWO GREEN FEATHERS; Berit Nesheim's THE OTHER SIDE OF SUNDAY; Marius Holst's CROSS MY HEART & HOPE TO DIE; Hans Petter Moland's ZEROº KELVIN; Daniel Bergman's SUNDAY'S CHILDREN; Agneta Fagerström-Olsson's THE HERO; Kjell Sundvall's THE HUNTERS; Björn Runge's HARRY & SONJA; Susanne Bier's LIKE IT NEVER WAS BEFORE; Hilmar Oddsson's TEARS OF STONE; Asdas Thoroddsen's INGALÓ; Fridrik Thor Fridriksson's CHILDREN OF NATURE; Souleymane Cissé's FINYÉ; Restored version of Jean-Luc Godard's LE MÉPRIS.
• Critical Notes: "The most magical vacation package of the season is available now, at bargain prices, to those who visit Europe via Summer in France, a program of almost fifty films at Cinematheque" - Eileen Whitfield, Toronto Life, July 1997.

Fall 1997 

• Retrospectives: Douglas Sirk; Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Shohei Imamura; Fritz Lang's M; F.W. Murnau; Olivier Assasyas's IRMA VEP; Arab Cinema; Larissa Shepitko; Gregory J. Markopoulos; Tribute to Louise Beaudet; Mike Hoolboom book launch; Joel Haertling; Kenneth Anger's MAGICK LANTERN CYCLE; L.I.F.T. Highlights.
• Toronto Premieres: The restored version of F.W. Murnau and Robert Flaherty's TABU; Elia Suleiman's CHRONICLE OF A DISAPPEARANCE.
• Guests: Yo-Yo Ma; Atom Egoyan; Kevin McMahon; François Girard; Barbara Willis Sweete; Niv Fichman; Patricia Rozema; Robert Beavers; Guy Maddin; Peter Harcourt; Mike Hoolboom; Piers Handling; Sarah Abbott; Cara Morton; Kika Thorne; Barbara Mainguy; Philip Hoffman; Gariné Torossian; Gary Popovich; Roberto Ariganello.
• Highlights: Cinematheque Ontario, in conjunction with the Japan Foundation, launches and organizes a touring retrospective of films by Shohei Imamura, and publishes an accompanying book, edited by Senior Programmer James Quandt, including articles by Donald Richie, Max Tessier, and Dave Kehr.
• Critical Notes: "Virtually none of his [Imamura's] films have enjoyed even a reasonably sized North American release. That is about to change. Pigs, Pimps and Pornographers, a complete retrospective of Imamura's features from before 1997, begins an 11-city tour tonight at Cinematheque Ontario in Toronto. At the same time, Cinematheque is launching the first English-language book of essays by and about the director, called simply Shohei Imamura. The man is worth the hoopla" - Don Irvine, The Globe and Mail, November 14, 1997. "Editor Quandt has put together a selection of essays that is as entertaining as an Imamura film" - Norma Reveler, Asahi Evening News, August 23, 1998. "Beginning tonight, Toronto filmgoers are getting an extraordinary opportunity to steep themselves in Arab Cinema...[W]atching Youseff Chahine's CAIRO STATION or Salah Abou Seif's THE BEGINNING AND THE END...One is reminded how seductive story-telling can be, how rewarding it is to enter the lives of unknown others" - Judy Gerstel, The Toronto Star, November 7, 1997.