CinéSalon Series

Out of the Dark: The Mystery of Film Noir

May 4–July 5, 2021
Online & FIAF Florence Gould Hall

New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik and Broadway star Melissa Errico join forces to curate FIAF’s new CinéSalon series Out of the Dark: The Mystery of Film Noir. Running weekly from May 4 to July 5, 2021, the series marks the first in-person events presented in Florence Gould Hall by FIAF since March 2020. Certain films will also be available to stream virtually.

Incorporating both French and American examples—and some that involve French filmmakers who immigrated to America—the series explores the many sides of the ‘noir’ vision in cinema. A special attention is paid to the Franco-American dialogue at its core. Each film will be prefaced by a video introduction by Gopnik or Errico created exclusively for FIAF. They will discuss each film’s place in the evolution of the genre, pointing out its musical and dramatic affinities with their concert Mystery on May 6.

Adam Gopnik: “First discovered as “un nouveau genre ‘policier’” by French film critics in the years just after the Second World War, when a rush of previously unseen Hollywood thrillers and melodramas suddenly hit French cinemas, the newly named American genre “film noir” fit seamlessly with contemporary French preoccupations with violence, emptiness, and the search for meaning in a dark and duplicitous world.


Past Screenings


CinéSalon

Rififi

Du rififi chez les hommes

Online on Eventive:
Tuesday, May 4–Monday, May 10, 2021

In Person at FIAF:
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 7pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall


Video introduction by Melissa Errico

Dir. Jules Dassin, 1955, 118 min. DCP
In French, Italian, and English with English subtitles

After making such American noir classics as Brute Force and The Naked City, the blacklisted director Jules Dassin went to Paris and embarked on his masterpiece: a twisting, turning tale of four ex-cons who hatch one last glorious robbery in the City of Light.

CinéSalon

Daybreak

Le jour se lève

Online on Eventive:
Tuesday, May 11–Monday, May 17, 2021

In Person at FIAF:
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 7pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall


Video introduction by Adam Gopnik

Dir. Marcel Carné, 1939, 93 min. DCP
In French with English subtitles

In this compelling story of obsessive sexuality and murder, the working-class François (Jean Gabin) resorts to killing in order to free the woman he loves from the controlling influence of another man.

CinéSalon

Out of the Past

Online:
Tuesday, May 18–Monday, May 24, 2021

In Person at FIAF:
Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 7pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall


Video introduction by Melissa Errico

Dir. Jacques Tourneur, 1947, 97 min. 35 mm
In English

Jacques Tourneur’s landmark contribution to the noir genre features a private eye who tries to escape his sordid past by becoming a gas station owner in an off-the-beaten path California town. But his previous life soon catches up to him.

CinéSalon

Nightfall

Online:
Tuesday, May 25–Monday, May 31, 2021

In Person at FIAF:
Tuesday, May 25, 2021 at 7pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall


Video introduction by Adam Gopnik

Dir. Jacques Tourneur, 1956, 78 min. 35 mm
In English, Spanish, Italian with English subtitles

Based on David Goodis’s 1947 novel, a man (Aldo Ray), through a series of bizarre coincidences, finds himself falsely accused of bank robbery and murder and is pursued by the authorities as well as the real killers.

CinéSalon

Two Men in Manhattan

Deux hommes dans Manhattan

Online on Eventive:
Tuesday, June 1–Monday, June 7, 2021

In Person at FIAF:
Tuesday, June 1, 2021 at 7pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall


Video introduction by Adam Gopnik

Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, 1959, 84 min. DCP
In French and English with English subtitles

Two Men in Manhattan is director Jean-Pierre Melville’s love letter to New York City and homage to the American film noir. A French UN delegate has disappeared into thin air, sending a reporter and a hard drinking photographer on an assignment to find him.

CinéSalon

Elevator to the Gallows

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud

Online on Eventive:
Tuesday, June 8–Monday, June 14, 2021

In Person at FIAF:
Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 7pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall


Video introduction by Melissa Errico

Dir. Louis Malle, 1958, 91 min. 35 mm
In French and German with English subtitles

Taking place over the course of one restless Paris night, Louis Malle’s richly atmospheric crime thriller stars Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet as lovers whose plan to murder her husband (his boss) goes awry.

CinéSalon

Pépé le Moko

Online on Eventive:
Tuesday, June 15–Monday, June 21, 2021


Video introduction by Melissa Errico

Dir. Julien Duvivier, 1937, 94 min
In French and Arabic with English subtitles

The notorious Pépé le moko (Jean Gabin in an iconic performance) is a wanted man: women long for him, rivals hope to destroy him, and the law is after him at every turn.

CinéSalon

Diabolique

Les Diaboliques

In Person at FIAF:
Tuesday, June 15 at 7pm, 2021

FIAF Florence Gould Hall


Video introduction by Melissa Errico

Dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955, 117 min
In French and English with English subtitles

This thriller from Henri-Georges Clouzot, which shocked audiences in Europe and the US, tells the story of two women—the fragile wife and the willful mistress of the sadistic headmaster of a boys’ boarding school—who are plotting revenge. With its narrative twists and terrifying images, Diabolique is a heart-grabbing benchmark in horror filmmaking.

CinéSalon

Breathless

À bout de souffle

Online on Eventive:
Tuesday, June 22–Monday, June 28, 2021


Video introduction by Adam Gopnik

Dir. Jean-Luc Godard, 1959, 90 min
In French and English with English subtitles

With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, anything-goes crime narrative, and effervescent young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless helped launch the French New Wave and ensured that cinema would never be the same.

CinéSalon

Panique

In Person at FIAF:
Tuesday, June 22, 2021 at 7pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall


Video introduction by Adam Gopnik

Dir. Julien Duvivier, 1946, 91 min. DCP
In French with English subtitles

Proud, eccentric, and antisocial, Monsieur Hire (Michel Simon) has always kept to himself. But after a woman turns up dead, he discovers he finds himself framed for the murder. Based on a novel by Georges Simenon, the film finds acclaimed poetic realist Julien Duvivier’s applying his consummate craft to darker, moodier ends.

CinéSalon

Shoot the Piano Player

Tirez sur le pianiste

Online on Eventive:
Tuesday, June 29–Monday, July 5, 2021

In Person at FIAF:
Tuesday, June 29, 2021 at 7pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall


Video introduction by Adam Gopnik

Dir. François Truffaut, 1960, 81 min. 35 mm
In French with English subtitles

François Truffaut’s most playful film—part thriller, part comedy, part tragedy—Shoot the Piano Player follows the adventures of mild-mannered piano player Charlie (Charles Aznavour) as he stumbles into the criminal underworld and a whirlwind love affair.

 

FIAF Event Guidelines (as of 9/7/2022): Masks recommended but not mandatory. Proof of Covid-19 vaccination not required. Read more.