American Cinematheque

Over the decades, the movies have given George Orwell’s bleak vision in Nineteen Eighty-Four a variety of twists. In the 1970s, Michael York in LOGAN'S RUN and Robert Duvall in THX 1138 personified the individual struggling to break free of a repressive society. Director Michael Radford’s official adaptation of NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR was released, appropriately, in 1984; soon thereafter, Terry Gilliam’s BRAZIL underlined the Monty Pythonesque absurdity of a state’s relentless efforts to crush a single man. In the new millennium, V FOR VENDETTA, CHILDREN OF MEN and SPACEDISCO ONE show that, 30 years after 1984, dystopia remains a cinematic evergreen.

When issue #27 of Detective Comics hit the stands in May 1939, few could have predicted that the caped crusader pictured on its cover would become a cultural icon. Over the next 75 years, Batman would become one of the most widely recognized fictional characters in the world, spawning a film franchise that has topped $3 billion in ticket sales. Join us for a film salute to Batman!