John Slattery's 2018* Eyes

The San Francisco Bay Area is still home to a rich cinephilic culture nurtured in large part by a diverse array of cinemas, programmers and moviegoers. I'm honored to present a selection of favorite screenings experienced by local cinephiles in 2018. An index of participants can be found here. 

Two-time IOHTE contributor John Slattery is a filmmaker based in Berkeley. He decided to provide a list of favorites from 2017 as well as one from 2018.

The Headless Woman image screen capture from Strand DVD

1.     La Cienaga, Holy Girl, and The Headless Woman - Lucrecia Martel (PFA) Three very strong examples of her masterful filmmaking (even though I am of the very few who would not have great things to say or write about her latest film, Zama). 
2.     Satantango -  Béla Tarr, (PFA) Much more than a great film. Much more. More. 
3.     The Apple - Samira Makhmalbaf, (PFA) I can see what she did – there is little mystery to the mechanics of it. But what she did, and the way she did it, is so, so great!  
4.     The Hart of London - Jack Chambers (Artists' Television Access by San Francisco Cinematheque) A film that remains the single most memorable, shocking, beautiful, haunting and amazing film, for me, of the last few years.   

2017
The First Teacher - Andrei Konchalovsky  (PFA)

Johnny Guitar - Nicholas Ray (PFA)
L’Argent - Robert Bresson  (PFA)
Kevin Jerome Everson and Edgar Arceneaux (PFA)
Los Olividados - Luis Buñuel - (PFA)
Lost Landscapes of Los Angeles (Internet Archive)
What Have I Done to Deserve This? - Pedro Almodóvar, (PFA)