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SEPTEMBER 6-30
Three programs in one, this 37-film series combines a complete Milos Forman retrospective with a look at “Czech Literature in Czech Film” and “Czech Animation: Jirí Trnka and Karel Zelan.” The Forman subsection includes his American work, so that such films as Hair (Sept. 23, 8:45 p.m.), Ragtime (Sept. 20, 8:15 p.m.), and Amadeus (Sept. 29, 9 p.m.; Sept. 30, 4 p.m.) mingle with such darker earlier work as Love of a Blonde (Sept. 14, 6 p.m.; Sept. 15, 10 p.m.), The Fireman’s Ball (Sept. 14, 10 p.m.; Sept. 17, 7:30 p.m.), and Black Peter (pictured, Sept. 29, 6 p.m.; Sept. 30, 7 p.m.). Still, it’s a chance to see Valmont (Sept. 6, 8:30 p.m.), which unjustly lost the Laclos-adaptation battle to Dangerous Liaisons. The literature subseries, meanwhile, includes the clockwork peasant brutality of The Cow (Sept. 15, 6 p.m.; Sept. 16, 6:30 p.m.) and such chestnuts as Jirí Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains (Sept. 8, 9:30 p.m.; Sept. 9, 6 p.m.). Forman will be present for the Sept. 14 screenings, and Menzel will attend screenings on Sept. 8 and 9. At the Kennedy Center’s American Film Institute Theater. $6.50. (202) 785-4600. (Mark Jenkins)