Ari Aster: A Bleak Week Retrospective

ABOUT THE SERIES:

The American Cinematheque is thrilled to welcome filmmaker Ari Aster for a retrospective as part of the fifth annual ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair,’ celebrating the scrupulous storytelling, genre experimentation and mastery of tone that make Aster a modern pioneer of bleak cinema. Aster first joins us for a screening of his latest film EDDINGTON, a neo-Western that stares down some of the most uncomfortable truths about modern identity, belief and alienation revealed through the pandemic.

With the release of his debut feature HEREDITARY, Aster immediately proved himself as a true force of the horror genre, interweaving classic conventions with arthouse sensibilities and eliciting unforgettable performances from Toni Collette and Alex Wolff. The debut was succeeded by MIDSOMMAR, a film whose darkest, most terrifying moments transpire in broad daylight, speaking right to the heart of ‘Bleak Week’ in sunny Los Angeles. With BEAU IS AFRAID, Aster defies easy categorization and sidesteps genre restrictions, creating a “nightmare comedy” that induces as much existential dread as any of his horror films. Join us for a week of films and conversations with a master of conjuring dread.

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