Winter 2004 

• Retrospectives: Yasujiro Ozu; Vincente Minnelli: Techicolour Dreamer; Uncomfortable Truths: The Cinema of Peter Watkins.
• Guests: David Bordwell, Colin MacCabe, Louise Bourque, Wendy Tilby, Peter Watkins, John Gianvito, Rani Singh, Guy Maddin, George Toles, Scott Smith, Robin Cass, Don McKellar, Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott, Allan King, Nick Hector, Avi Lewis.
• Cinematheque Ontario Lecture Series: David Bordwell on Yasujiro Ozu; Colin MacCabe on Jean Luc Godard.
• Event: Canada's Top Ten 2003 (screenings of all ten films, plus two panel discussions: PAGE TO SCREEN and DOCUMENTARY REALITY.) The Top Ten of 2003 films were: 20H17, RUE DARLING, THE CORPORATION, DYING AT GRACE, LA FACE CACHÉE DE LA LUNE, FALLING ANGELS, LES INVASIONS BARBARES, LOVE, SEX AND EATING THE BONES, MY LIFE WITHOUT ME, ON THE CORNER, THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD.
• Event: Human Rights Watch International Film Festival (five films from the Human Rights Watch Travelling Film Festival.)
• The Independents: Recent Works Roundup, A Picture Rarely Seen: Joseph Cornell Centenary (Joseph Cornell Classics and Rarities), Louise Bourque In Person!, Wendy Tilby's Carte Blanche, HARRY SMITH: FILM ALCHEMIST (Harry Smith Lecture and Screening, HEAVEN AND EARTH MAGIC).
• Limited Runs: Ozu's TOKYO STORY and LATE SPRING, Chaplin's MODERN TIMES, Fellini's I VITELLONI, Sokurov's FATHER AND SON.
• Special Screenings: Harry Smith's FILM #18, MAHAGONNY; Sokurov's MOTHER AND SON, Godard's CONTEMPT.
• Saturday Movie Matinees: MODERN TIMES, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, SUPERMAN, THE LADY VANISHES.
• Toronto Premiere: Steven Woloshen’s TWO EASTERN HAIR LINES (2003); Eve Heller’s GLINT (2003-04); Susan Turcot’s AMOR DE LOHN (2002); Siegfried A. Fruhauf’s STRUCTURAL FILMWASTE, DISSOLUTION 1 (2003); Pierce William’s SHARP PROOFING (2002), Harry Smith’s MAHAGONNY (1979-80), Aleksandr Sokorov’s FATHER AND SON (2003).
• Critical Note: "If you can only manage to make one film in the Cinematheque Ontario's expansive and essential centenary retrospective of the work of the late Japanese master filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu (1903-63), [TOKYO STORY] is the one. Moreover, if you've never seen an Ozu and want to get a sense of just what makes this most deceptively simple of moviemakers such a monumental figure in world cinema, TOKYO STORY . . . is the place to start." - Geoff Pevere, The Toronto Star, Saturday, January 17, 2004

Spring 2004 

• Retrospectives: Before THE PIANIST: Roman Polanski's Cinema of Cruelty; A Short History of Polish Animation; Lost and Found: New Argentine Cinema; Mystic Landscapes: The Films of Swedish Master Victor Sjöström; End of the Universe: The Haunting Vision of Pavel Jurácek.
• Cinematheque Ontario Lecture Series: István Szabó on-stage interview with Bart Testa.
• The Independents: John Walker presents STRAND: UNDER THE DARK CLOTH; Jennifer Baichwal presents THE TRUE MEANING OF PICTURES: SHELBY LEE ADAMS' APPALACHIA; "You Can't Do That On Television" guest curated and introduced by Ed Halter; IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN; Films by Maya Deren; Deren's DIVINE HORSEMEN: THE LIVING GODS OF HAITI.
• Limited Runs: Ceylan's DISTANT; Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY; the Dardennes' THE SON; Assayas' demonlover; Matthew's Barney's THE CREMASTER CYCLE; Luis BuZuel and Salvador Dali's L'ÂGE D'OR and UN CHIEN ANDALOU; Marker's LA JETEÉ and REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS TO COME.
• Special Screenings: Szabó's TAKING SIDES, Maddin's COWARDS BEND THE KNEE.
• Toronto Premiere: Olivier Assayas’ demonlover (2002), Martin Rejtman’s RAPADO (1992), Martin Rejtman’s SILVIA PRIETO (1999), Lisandro Alonso’s LA LIBERTAD (2001), Israel Adrián Caetano’s BOLIVIA (2001).
• Canadian Premiere: Matthew Barney’s THE CREMASTER CYCLE (1995-2002).
• Critical Note: " . . . Cinematheque Ontario's launch of all five of [Matthew] Barney's CREMASTER films counts as the film and art event of the year." - Cameron Bailey, NOW, April 22, 2004

Summer 2004 

• Retrospectives: Deadly Detours: 15 Noir Classics; Dangerous to Know: Screen Star Anna May Wong; Eisenstein to Sokurov: 12 Classics From Lenfilm Studio; Maestro: The Films of Luchino Visconti; Fatal Beauty: French Crime Classics; Italian Trilogy: Three Early Films by Bernardo Bertolucci.
• Guests: J. Hoberman.
• Cinematheque Ontario Lecture Series: J. Hoberman on Sixties Cinema and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (USA, 1962).
• Limited Runs: Tareque Masud’s THE CLAY BIRD (France/Bangladesh, 2002); E.A. Dupont’s PICCADILLY (UK, 1929); Gillo Pontecorvo’s THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS (Algeria/Italy, 1966); Federico Fellini’s LA DOLCE VITA (Italy, 1959).
• Special Screenings: Febo Mari and Arturo Ambrosio’s CENERE (Italy, 1916)
• Toronto Premiere: Tareque Masud’s THE CLAY BIRD (2002); Luchino Visconti’s DAYS OF GLORY (Italy, 1945).
• Critical Note: “Has the film-going experience really become nothing more than a "thrill ride," as all those whore quotes in the movie ads proclaim? I would hate to think so. Which is why I'm cheering that Cinematheque Ontario's summer season is here . . . If you care at all about seeing good movies . . . you owe it to yourself to check out Cinematheque's summer offerings.” - Peter Howell, The Toronto Star, May 28, 2004

Fall 2004 

• Retrospectives: Pulp Fictions: The Best of Sam Fuller; Danish for Beginners: Recent Danish Cinema; Chaplin in the Limelight; Cambodian Elegy: The Films of Rithy Panh; Sadness Will Last Forever: The Films of Maurice Pialat; Attack of Godzilla! A 50th Anniversary Tribute; New Chinese Cinema: Spotlight on Ning Ying; Hybrid: Fiction, Faction, and Other Lies.
• Guests: Richard Schickel, J rgen Leth, Jean Roy, R. Bruce Elder and Anna Joukova, Peter Wintonick, Jennifer Reeves, Ernie Gehr, William O’Meara, Gabriel Thibaudeau, Jason Jestadt, and the Madawaska String Quartet.
• Cinematheque Ontario Lecture Series: Richard Schickel on Samuel Fuller and THE BIG RED ONE; J rgen Leth On-Stage Interview; Peter Wintonick on Hybrid Films and MILLHOUSE: A WHITE COMEDY; William O’Meara on Composing for Silent Cinema and FOOLISH WIVES.
• THE INDEPENDENTS: Programme 1: Recent Works Roundup (with films by Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof, Cécile Fontaine, Jason Britski, Tom Sherman, Leslie Peters, and Bill Morrison); Programme 2: Formal Explorations (with films by Bärbel Freund & Rainer Bellenbaum, Hollis Frampton, Stan Brakhage, and the world premiere of R. Bruce Elder and Anna Joukova’s INFUNDE LUMEN CORDIBUS); Programme 3: Peter Wintonick’s CINÉMA VÉRITÉ: DEFINING THE MOMENT; Programme 4: Jennifer Reeves in Person and the Toronto premiere of THE TIME WE KILLED; Programme 5: Ernie Gehr in Person and the Canadian premiere of four recent works; Programme 6: Animated Hybrids – Fusion and Confusion (with films by Chris Landreth and Ann Marie Fleming).
• Limited Runs: Jacques Tati’s PLAYTIME (France, 1967); Samuel Fuller’s THE BIG RED ONE (USA, 1980); J rgen Leth and Lars von Trier’s THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS (Denmark/Switzerland/Belgium/France, 2003); Rithy Panh’s S21: THE KHMER ROUGE KILLING MACHINE (France, 2003); Gillo Pontecorvo’s THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS (Algeria/Italy, 1966) and BURN! (Italy/France, 1969); Michelangelo Antonioni’s ZABRISKIE POINT (USA, 1970).
• Saturday Movie Matinees: Jacques Tati’s PLAYTIME (1967); Richard Lester’s A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (UK, 1964); Charles Chaplin’s THE GOLD RUSH (USA, 1925) and THE CIRCUS (USA, 1928); Ishiro Honda’s KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (Japan, 1962); Norman Panama and Melvin Frank’s THE COURT JESTER (USA, 1956).
• Special Screenings: A Tribute to Mary Greto with Mary Greto’s DISTENCES (Canada, 2002) and Alexander Sokurov’s MOTHER AND SON (Russia/Germany, 1997)$ Toronto Premiere: Samuel Fuller’s THE BIG RED ONE (1980); Lotte Svendsen’s GONE WITH THE FISH (Denmark/Norway/Sweden, 1999); Jennifer Reeves’ THE TIME WE KILLED (USA, 2004); Maurice Pialat’s LE GARÇU (France, 1995); Werner Herzog’s LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY (Germany/UK, 1997); BURN!
• Canadian Premiere: Ernie Gehr’s PASSAGE (2003), COLLECTOR (2003), PRECARIOUS GARDEN (2004), THE ASTRONOMER’S DREAM (2004).
• World Premiere: R. Bruce Elder and Anna Joukova’s INFUNDE LUMEN CORDIBUS (Canada, 2004).
• Critical Note: “After seeing these movies [Saturday Movie Matinees], you feel like you've spent an hour or two to some purpose . . . [t]hey’ll do your nervous system a lot of good.” - Philip Marchand, The Toronto Star, November 13, 2004