The Paris Theater is proud to partner with the American Cinematheque to bring you BLEAK WEEK NEW YORK from June 8-14, 2025. For the past four years, the Cinematheque has hosted Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair, a weeklong festival in Los Angeles that spotlights some of the greatest films from around the world to explore the darkest sides of humanity, as well as some of the bleakest points in human history. A harrowing, yet powerful lineup of films defined by stark imagery, unimaginable tragedies, existential fear, nihilism and shocking acts of brutality, this series features the world’s leading filmmakers who wholly embrace a cinema of despair in pursuit of unpleasant truths and raw empathy.
This year’s New York edition of Bleak Week includes17 films that span a variety of genres and time periods, and will welcome a number of exciting guests for illuminating post-film conversations.
Special guests joining us at the Paris for Bleak Week include the legendaryKathleen Turner, who in her decades-spanning career has starred in classics likeBody Heat andSerial Mom, iconically voiced Jessica Rabbit inWho Framed Roger Rabbit?, and scored an Oscar nomination forPeggy Sue Got Married. Turner will appear at Bleak Week alongside the pitch-black comedyThe War of the Roses (1989).John Turturro will discussMiller's Crossing(1990),one of his many brilliant collaborations with the Coen Brothers (of which others include his Cannes Best Actor-winning performance inBarton Fink, and his scene-stealing turn inThe Big Lebowski);After joining us for Bleak Week 2024 alongside his magnum opusMargaret, and again earlier this year for the 25th anniversary of his debut featureYou Can Count on Me,Kenneth Lonergan returns to the Paris for a Q&A followingManchester By the Sea (2016), for which Lonergan scored his third Oscar nomination and first win for Best Original Screenplay. Fresh off their massive success withThe Brutalist - which scored 10 nominations and 3 wins at last year’s Oscars -Brady CorbetandMona Fastvold will join us to discuss their work together on the Natalie Portman-starringVox Lux (2018), joined by actorDaniel London. Closing things out, filmmakerTodd Solondz, who has helmed multiple classics of despairing cinema starting with his celebrated debut featureWelcome to the Dollhouse, will join us for a discussion of his infamous sophomore featureHappiness (1998), playing in a new 4K restoration.
Additional series highlights include the New York premieres of two brand new 4K restorations: Uli Edel’s 1981 shockerChristiane F., and Atom Egoyan’s 1997 adaptation of Russell Banks’The Sweet Hereafter, for which Egoyan was Oscar-nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. 35mm prints of Catherine Breillat’sFat Girl (2001), Stanley Kubrick’sA Clockwork Orange (1971) and Denis Villeneuve’sIncendies (2010) will feature in the lineup, alongside 4K restorations of Mike Leigh’sNaked (1993) and Fritz Lang’sScarlet Street (1945), and a new restoration of Edgar G. Ulmer’s notoriously brutal film noirDetour (1945). Rounding out the lineup are a 40th anniversary screening of Elem Klimov’s shocking war filmCome and See (1985), Sofia Coppola’s debut feature filmThe Virgin Suicides (1999), Michael Powell’s serial killer thrillerPeeping Tom (1960), and Kinji Fukasaku’s yakuza filmBattles Without Honor and Humanity (1973).
Featuring 35mm shows of:
A Clockwork Orange
Fat Girl
Incendies
Tickets are now on sale for this exciting collaboration between the Paris Theater and American Cinematheque, with additional special guests to be announced in the coming days.
For previous films featured in this series, click here to see the 2024 series line-up.
