December 18, 2025
CLARK ART INSTITUTE PRESENTS SHADOW VISIONARIES FILM SERIES
Williamstown, Massachusetts—Inspired by its Shadow Visionaries: French Artists Against the Current, 1840–70 exhibition, the Clark Art Institute presents a four-part film series of twentieth-century French films that echo with meditations on memory and longing. Prepare yourself for fantastical allegories and crumbling, ruined cityscapes.
All films are screened in the Manton Research Center auditorium on select Thursdays at 6 pm.
January 22
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
Adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” director Jean Epstein conjures an atmospheric masterpiece. The hero, having indirectly caused the death of his beloved, stubbornly tries to resurrect her spirit by devoting himself to painting and sculpture. Epstein conveys the twilight zone between life and death through lingering dissolves and a brilliant use of slow motion. This 1928 film shows how the initial obsession with Poe, captured in the Shadow Visionaries exhibition, continues into the twentieth century. (Run time: 1 hour, 3 minutes)
The screening is accompanied by a newly composed score by Paul de Jong and Matthew Gold, performed live. The event is jointly presented by the Williams College Department of Music and the Clark.
Tickets $10 ($8 members, $7 college students, $5 children 17 and under). To purchase tickets, visit events.clarkart.edu.
January 29
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy-tale masterpiece—in which the pure love of a beautiful girl melts the heart of a feral but gentle beast—is a landmark of motion picture fantasy, with unforgettably romantic performances by Jean Marais and Josette Day. Director Jean Cocteau’s spectacular visions of enchantment, desire, and death in Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) have become timeless icons of cinematic wonder. (Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes)
February 5
La Jetée (1962)
Filmmaker Chris Marker has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his complex queries about time, memory, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. Marker’s La Jetée is one of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made, a tale of time travel told in still images. The nostalgia for architectural photography, captured in Shadow Visionaries, echoes throughout the haunting film. (Run time: 28 minutes)
February 12
The City of Lost Children (1995)
The City of Lost Children is an inventive blend of dream, fairy tale, and myth, and to a strange, sinister sea-girt world that functions according to its own crazy logic. After his infant brother is abducted by a gang of semi-robotic Cyclops, kindly strong-man One (Perlman) sets off on a search that will unite him with feisty nine-year-old orphan Miette (Vittet) and lead him to the sea-rig laboratory inhabited by the evil Krank (Emilfork), his six cloned brothers (Pinon), their diminutive "mother," and Uncle Irvin, a sardonic brain floating in a fish tank. (Run time: 1 hour, 52 minutes)
Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. For more information, visit events.clarkart.edu.
Shadow Visionaries: French Artists Against the Current, 1840–70 is on view at the Clark through March 8, 2026.
ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of nearly 300,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free to all from January through March. From April through December, admission is $22 for adults, $20 for seniors (65+), $10 for young adults (18–25) and college students, and free for all visitors under 18. Admission is free year-round for Clark members. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
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