Director Olivier Assayas & Actor Edgar Ramirez In Person with
an exclusive engagement of
CARLOS
Only one man could hijack the world. Carlos the Jackal.
A representative of the next generation of Cahiers du Cinéma critics-turned-filmmakers, Olivier Assayas has amassed a body of work encompassing some of the most ambitious and accomplished movies in contemporary French cinema. 
Following the character-driven, behavioral tradition of post-New Wave directors, Assayas also proves connected to his Cahiers forefathers by making films that speak to a wide variety of cinematic texts (seen most famously in IRMA VEP, which looks backwards to the mysterious silent serials of the great Louis Feuillade while throwing a sidelong glance at contemporary Hong Kong cinema). Assayas’s career has been marked by a thrilling creative restlessness, as he has explored a variety of genres and modes, trying his hand at contemporary drama (CLEAN), documentary portrait (HHH, his 1997 film on Hou Hsiao-hsien), period-piece (LES DESTINÉES) and cyber-thriller (the notorious DEMONLOVER).
Following the character-driven, behavioral tradition of post-New Wave directors, Assayas also proves connected to his Cahiers forefathers by making films that speak to a wide variety of cinematic texts (seen most famously in IRMA VEP, which looks backwards to the mysterious silent serials of the great Louis Feuillade while throwing a sidelong glance at contemporary Hong Kong cinema). Assayas’s career has been marked by a thrilling creative restlessness, as he has explored a variety of genres and modes, trying his hand at contemporary drama (CLEAN), documentary portrait (HHH, his 1997 film on Hou Hsiao-hsien), period-piece (LES DESTINÉES) and cyber-thriller (the notorious DEMONLOVER).Assayas’ most recent cinematic contribution, CARLOS, certainly falls in line with the creative ingenuity seen in his previous works. At 330 minutes, CARLOS has been described by the Los Angeles Times as "THE BOURNE IDENTITY with more substance, or MUNICH with more of a pulse…a globetrotting and epic look at one man's rise to the station of international guerrilla leader and terrorist celebrity." The film was an official selection of this year’s Cannes Film Festival where it electrified audiences.
Join us for an in-person tribute to Olivier Assayas with IRMA VEP and DEMONLOVER, as well as an exclusive limited-engagement of CARLOS!
Carlos Trailer
Carlos Trailer
Interview with Assayas in LA Weekly
Meet Edgar Ramirez
IRMA VEP, 1996, Zeitgeist Films, 96 min. Dir. Olivier Assayas. "[A] dark, brittle…comedy about a film company remaking Feuillade’s silent serial LES VAMPIRES…A once prestigious French director (Jean-Pierre Léaud) casts Hong Kong star Maggie Cheung (playing herself) as villainess Irma Vep, and his sexual infatuation with her is matched by that of the costume designer who escorts her around Paris. The feverish pace of the shooting seems to unleash bad vibes as well as desire, and Assayas follows the delirium as if he were at the center of a hurricane." – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader. In French with English subtitles. Trailer
"(An) epic achievement...Nothing I've encountered on any size screen matches the lucidity of this fact-based fiction—it amounts to a textbook on state-sponsored terrorism—and nothing I've seen in recent years has held my attention so relentlessly. 'Carlos' also stood as a textbook case of the total immersion that one can enjoy only in a theatrical setting."
Meet Edgar Ramirez
Thursday, October 21 – 7:30 PM
Before we get started with Carlos, Olivier Assayas In Person!
Double Feature:
IRMA VEP, 1996, Zeitgeist Films, 96 min. Dir. Olivier Assayas. "[A] dark, brittle…comedy about a film company remaking Feuillade’s silent serial LES VAMPIRES…A once prestigious French director (Jean-Pierre Léaud) casts Hong Kong star Maggie Cheung (playing herself) as villainess Irma Vep, and his sexual infatuation with her is matched by that of the costume designer who escorts her around Paris. The feverish pace of the shooting seems to unleash bad vibes as well as desire, and Assayas follows the delirium as if he were at the center of a hurricane." – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader. In French with English subtitles. TrailerNew Print!
DEMONLOVER, 2002, Palm Pictures, 117 min. Updating David Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME for the dotcom age, this dark thriller throws together gray-suited executives, high-tech websites and corporate espionage. As it draws links between the worlds of anime, videogames and pay-per-view pornography, Assayas’ film unnervingly suggests that even the most innocuous entertainments are part of a far less wholesome culture of the image. Music by Sonic Youth. In French with English subtitles. Discussion between films with Olivier Assayas. Trailer
Exclusive Engagement!
All ticket buyers will get a souvenir 'Carlos' booklet!
CARLOS
2010, IFC Films, 330 min.
In French with English subtitles.
Director Olivier Assayas' epic, searing and relentlessly thrilling portrayal of the Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez has been praised by the Los Angeles Times as "THE BOURNE IDENTITY with more substance, or MUNICH with more of a pulse," and received much well-deserved buzz at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Sanchez (played by Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramirez) is a fascinating real-life figure with an explosive rise and fall - he managed to found a worldwide terrorist organization and raid the OPEC headquarters before being caught by the French police in 1975.
Olivier Assayas electrified the Cannes Film Festival with CARLOS, his epic and definitive portrait of the notorious international terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal, who masterminded a wave of terror attacks in Europe and the Middle East in the ’70s and ’80s. Co-written by Assayas and Dan Franck, CARLOS illustrates the evolution of contemporary terrorism as it examines the life of its title character. Tracing the arc of Carlos’ criminal activities across two decades and several nations, the film features a dynamic cast of international talent and was shot in numerous countries, including Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Lebanon, and Morocco.
Don't miss this stunning telling of an unbelievable moment in history, in a one week exclusive run at the Cinematheque!
"(An) epic achievement...Nothing I've encountered on any size screen matches the lucidity of this fact-based fiction—it amounts to a textbook on state-sponsored terrorism—and nothing I've seen in recent years has held my attention so relentlessly. 'Carlos' also stood as a textbook case of the total immersion that one can enjoy only in a theatrical setting."
- Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal
"An event...An outrageous political gangster film Possibly the most universally admired movie among the Cannes Film Festival's official selections."
"An event...An outrageous political gangster film Possibly the most universally admired movie among the Cannes Film Festival's official selections."
- J. Hoberman, Film Comment
"An astonishing film. Olivier Assayas adopts a fleet, ever-propulsive style that creates an extraordinary you-are-there sense of verisimilitude, while Edgar Ramirez inhabits the title role with the arrogant charisma of Brando in his prime."
"An astonishing film. Olivier Assayas adopts a fleet, ever-propulsive style that creates an extraordinary you-are-there sense of verisimilitude, while Edgar Ramirez inhabits the title role with the arrogant charisma of Brando in his prime."
- Todd McCarthy, indieWIRE
"HOW GOOD IS OLIVIER ASSAYAS' 'CARLOS'? Think of 'The Bourne Identity' with more substance, or 'Munich' with more of a pulse, and you begin to have a sense of what the French filmmaker accomplished with this globe-trotting and epic look at one man's rise to the station of international guerrilla leader and terrorist celebrity. This is an impressive work, the kind that one may be moved to see for reasons of novelty (it is a five-hour odyssey, after all) but that one is glad to have seen for all sorts of nobler reasons."
Steven Zeitchik, Los Angeles Times
Screening Schedule:
Friday, October 22 – 7:00 PM
"HOW GOOD IS OLIVIER ASSAYAS' 'CARLOS'? Think of 'The Bourne Identity' with more substance, or 'Munich' with more of a pulse, and you begin to have a sense of what the French filmmaker accomplished with this globe-trotting and epic look at one man's rise to the station of international guerrilla leader and terrorist celebrity. This is an impressive work, the kind that one may be moved to see for reasons of novelty (it is a five-hour odyssey, after all) but that one is glad to have seen for all sorts of nobler reasons."
Steven Zeitchik, Los Angeles Times
"A SPECTACULAR ACHIEVEMENT. BRAVURA NARRATIVE FILMMAKING ON A HUGELY AMBITIOUS SCALE. A landmark contribution to the recent flush of movies devoted to '70s terrorism....a marvel of concision, and for all its nonstop globe-trotting and language-switching, its energy rarely flags...Ramirez holds Carlos' many contradictions together in an indelible performance, maintaining a fearsome intensity through the first two-thirds before gradually draining away the charisma and athleticism, he's convincing at every age and every stage. The film is Ramirez's star-making show."
Screening Schedule:
Friday, October 22 – 7:00 PM
Director Olivier Assayas and Edgar Ramirez will introduce the screening.
Special prices: General $18, Student/Senior $15, Members $12.
There will be an intermission after Part 2. Buy Carlos Tickets
Saturday, October 23 – 11:00 AM
Director Olivier Assayas and Edgar Ramirez will introduce the screening and appear for discussion following.
Special prices: General $18, Student/Senior $15, Members $12.
There will be an intermission after Part 2. Buy Carlos Tickets
Saturday, October 23 – 6:00 PM
Director Olivier Assayas and Edgar Ramirez will introduce the screening.
Buy Carlos Tickets
Saturday, October 23 – 6:00 PM
Director Olivier Assayas and Edgar Ramirez will introduce the screening.
Buy Carlos Tickets
Long Version additional screening in the 80-seat Spielberg Theatre:
Sunday, October 24 – 3:00 PM
Special prices: General $18, Student/Senior $15, Members $12.
There will be an intermission after Part 2. Buy Carlos Tickets
The "Short Version" (166 min) of CARLOS will screen in the 80-seat Spielberg Theatre at these times:
(regular ticket prices apply: general admission $11; student/senior $9; Cinematheque members $7.)
Monday, October 25 – 7:30 PM
Tuesday, October 26 – 7:30 PM
Wednesday, October 27 – 7:30 PM
Monday, October 25 – 7:30 PM
Tuesday, October 26 – 7:30 PM
Wednesday, October 27 – 7:30 PM
Discussion with Cinematographer Denis Lenoir.
Thursday, October 28 – 7:30 PM
Thursday, October 28 – 7:30 PM
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Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028
PARKING:
$2 for up to 4 hours with validation from the Egyptian or any business in the Hollywood & Highland Complex parking structure. Lots are $5-10 behind the Egyptian off Selma Avenue.
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028
PARKING:
$2 for up to 4 hours with validation from the Egyptian or any business in the Hollywood & Highland Complex parking structure. Lots are $5-10 behind the Egyptian off Selma Avenue.
