In association with the National Museum of the American Indian, this series of films and discussions focuses on the portrayal of American Indians in contemporary moving-image culture. Featuring eight separate events—four at the National Gallery and four at the National Museum of the American Indian—the series is offered in conjunction with the exhibitions George de Forest Brush: The Indian Paintings at the Gallery and Fritz Scholder: Indian/Not Indian at the NMAI. For a complete listing of all eight events at both museums go to www.americanindian.si.edu.

Discovering art in diverse and incongruous places is the pretext behind this stellar presentation of documentaries and fictional works from Swiss directors Thomas Imbach, Peter Liechti, Georges Gachot, Christoph Schaub, and Michael Schindhelm, all members of Switzerland's rising independent film community. Featuring six area premieres, the series coincides with a celebration of Swiss music in the Gallery's garden court. Special thanks to the Swiss Arts Council, the Embassy of Switzerland, and SwissFilms for support.

American director Jules Dassin (1911–2008), son of a barber from Connecticut, abandoned a promising Hollywood career during the blacklisting era of the 1950s and resettled in Europe. Marrying actress and, later, Greek culture minister Melina Mercouri, he shared a passion for Greek art and even urged the return of the Parthenon sculptures to Greece. Dassin died on March 31. His stance toward his life abroad is apparent in his work.

Complementing the exhibition Pompeii and the Roman Villa, this program features three variations on the theme of reconstructing the ancient Roman world—the arenas, houses, baths, and temples—for the cinema. Martin M. Winkler, professor of classics at George Mason University, introduces each program. Winkler has edited the essay collections Classical Myth and Culture in the Cinema; Gladiator: Film and History; Troy: From Homer’s Iliad to Hollywood Epic; and Spartacus: Film and History.

Although Josef von Sternberg's oeuvre is often linked with actress Marlene Dietrich, this director's relatively unknown early work was accomplished largely without the German diva. A six-film series includes two silent films that established his reputation as a poet of setting and mood. Special thanks to Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna, Library of Congress, and to the UCLA Film and Television Archive for 35 mm prints.

The photographs, films, and media installations of Hungarian avant-garde artist Péter Forgács captivate with their unique combination of style and layered historical content. While his themes are not easy — family, war, philosophy, vanishing times and places — the films themselves are magical, constructing ephemeral spaces from amateur footage and forgotten texts. Forgács' introductory lecture will be followed by three recent films.

The early films of Sir David Lean (1908–1991) have been restored for his centennial by the British Film Institute National Archive, Granada International, and Studio Canal. Although Lean's later 70 mm epics are generally better known, these films of the 1940s are so elegant and alive, so well written and constructed that, penned critic David Thomson, "they seem in love with the screen's power."

Tuesdays at noon will feature unusual historical films in 16 mm from the National Gallery's film department, including artists' portraits and exceptional educational films on topics from prehistory to the present. Now considered an endangered format, these 16 mm prints are sometimes unique copies.

Washington premiere

Tilda Swinton and Isaac Julien pooled talents to create this experimental portrait of their friend and mentor, British artist-director Derek Jarman (1942–1994). Jarman's daring theater designs and bold films such as Caravaggio and Edward II made him one of England's most controversial twentieth-century personalities. His milieu comes alive in the film's dramatic sequences and home movies. (Isaac Julien, 2008, digital beta, 76 minutes)

A new documentary on the Swiss artist draws from Giacometti's Écrits (Writings), memories of friends and collectors, and brilliant location cinematography of the spaces where he lived and worked. (Heinz Bütler, 2006, digital beta, 58 minutes)

Washington premiere

This premiere event is part of an ongoing quarterly program spotlighting the work of young European film directors. Dernier maquis' beautifully orchestrated shots and plan-séquences disclose a series of grim complications among Muslim workers at a remote industrial site in a Paris suburb. Director Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche plays site foreman in the film. Jean-Philippe Tessé will be present to discuss the film after the screening. (2008, 35 mm, French with subtitles, 93 minutes)

Critic Jean-Philippe Tessé (born 1977) writes for Les Cahiers du Cinéma. He is also head of the film section of Chronic'art and co-programer of the documentary competition at the Festival des Trois Continents in Nantes. He played the role of the Comte de Mareuil in Catherine Breillat's film Une Vieille Maîtresse (The Last Mistress).

A selection of new short films from Europe includes L’enfant borne (Pascal Mieszala, 35 mm, France, 2007, 16 minutes); Megatron (Marian Crisan, 35 mm, Romania, 2008, 10 minutes); Ester (Pernilla Johansson, 35 mm, Sweden, 2008, 4 minutes); Cambio de Turno (David Canovas, 35 mm, Spain, 2007, 20 minutes); Occupations (Lars von Trier, 35 mm, Denmark, 2007, 3 minutes); Auf der Strecke (Reto Caffi, 35 mm, Germany/Switzerland, 30 minutes); Cirugía (Alberto González Vázquez, 35 mm, Spain, 2007, 2 minutes); Taxi? (Telmo Esnal, 35 mm, Spain, 2007, 5 minutes); I Am Bigger and Better (Martin Duda, 35 mm, Czech Republic, 2007, 17 minutes); Shaman (Luc Perez, 35 mm, Denmark, 2008, 11 minutes); Nasija (Guillermo Ríos Bordón, 35 mm, Spain, 2006, 11 minutes); If It Happens (Marcel Lozinski, 35 mm, Poland, 2007, 39 minutes); Pizza Passionata (Kari Juusonen, 35 mm, Finland, 2002, 13 minutes); Easter Morning (Jurate Leikaite, video, Lithuania, 2007, 8 minutes); In the Mix (Jan Machacek, video, Austria, 2007, 3 minutes).

In 1914, eight years before Robert Flaherty's renowned Nanook of the North, photographer Edward S. Curtis made a dramatic feature with cast drawn entirely from British Columbia's Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) Nation. Long forgotten (the film had one brief revival in the 1970s), In the Land of the Headhunters has now come into its own with a full restoration of the print and the original orchestral score. (Edward S. Curtis, 1914, 35 mm, live accompaniment by the all-native Coast Orchestra, 76 minutes)

With modest means, postal clerk and librarian Herbert and Dorothy Vogel began buying contemporary art together in the 1960s and eventually amassed one of the finest collections anywhere. Following this screening of her new documentary, director Megumi Sasaki will lead an audience discussion. (Megumi Sasaki, 2008, digital beta, 89 minutes)

A neglected but now restored jewel, The Exiles portrays, in impromptu style reminiscent of John Cassavetes, the relocation of American Indians from their rural reservations to downtown Los Angeles in the late 1950s. "British director Mackenzie has an ear for the poetry of ritualized interaction," wrote one critic, "and an eye for the glint of hard lights on city streets." (Kent Mackenzie, 1961, 35 mm, 72 minutes)

Conservators and curators from the UK and US disclose details of the history, iconography, and preservation of one of the great works by Jan van Eyck in the National Gallery's collection. (BBC, 2006, digital beta, 50 minutes)

Narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi and produced by the National Gallery, this thirty-minute film examines the explosion of artistic activity around the Bay of Naples beginning in the first century BC. The film includes original footage of houses in Pompeii and of the seaside villas that dotted the coastline of the Bay of Naples. A ten-minute version is shown in the exhibition. It will be aired on Maryland Public Television, WETA-TV in Washington, and on public broadcasting stations throughout the United States.

The film is made possible by the HRH Foundation.