This year’s holiday series begins with our annual co-presentation with Outfest of AUNTIE MAME, starring Rosalind Russell in the title role; the Comden & Green-penned comedy is the perfect cup of eggnog to warm a December night. Another holiday tradition at the Cinematheque is the heart-warming ELF, featuring Will Ferrell as one of Santa’s helpers searching for his real father. And would it really be Christmas without Bruce Willis battling terrorists? The latest installment of the Greg Proops Film Club offers the comedian’s take on DIE HARD in a pre-screening podcast.

Further off the beaten path is EYES WIDE SHUT; Stanley Kubrick’s final film pivots on a Christmas party scene (hosted by former Cinematheque chair Sydney Pollack). Our double feature of Billy Wilder’s THE APARTMENT and Sean Baker’s TANGERINE offers two takes on seasonal infidelity; the latter film was shot less than a mile from the Egyptian Theatre. Dystopian future tales BRAZIL and THINGS TO COME both feature holiday scenes. And Cinematic Void is back to wish you a very demonic Christmas with a midnight screening of THE EXORCIST III (which includes a memorable sequence built around IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE).

For a more old-fashioned yuletide, Michael Curtiz’s WHITE CHRISTMAS teams Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye with Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen; Irving Berlin’s classic title track is among the film’s 13 songs. That 1954 musical is paired British drama THE HOLLY AND THE IVY, which stars Ralph Richardson as a recently widowed minister torn between his roles of clergyman and father. You’ll have two chances to enjoy seasonal evergreen IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: The Frank Capra/Jimmy Stewart classic screens once at the Egyptian and once at the Aero the week before Christmas.

Running in tandem with these Holiday Spirit events is our Christmas Noir series – read more about it here.

Series compiled by Grant Moninger. Program notes by John Hagelston.