30 March – 9 April

One of the leading figures of a new generation of American filmmakers dubbed New Hollywood, Francis Ford Coppola (b.1939) started working on low budget horror films for Roger Corman and other independent productions before he broke through with the staggering critical and commercial success of The Godfather (1972). While Coppola’s bold and ambitious style would elevate him as one of the foremost filmmakers of his generation, it would also push him to the brink of ruin on several occasions.

Dir: Francis Ford Coppola US/Romania/Germany/Italy/France  2007  124mins  35mm
Dominic Matei, an aging professor of linguistics, survives a cataclysmic event to find his youth miraculously restored and his intellect heightened. On the run from Nazi scientists eager to learn the secret of his transformation, Matei reunites with a former lover, forcing him to choose between his life’s work and her personal safety. At once a poignant love story, political thriller and lively philosophical quest, Coppola’s first feature film in a decade fuses his early classical approach with today's digital age. Stars Tim Roth, Alexandra Maria Lara and Bruno Ganz.

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Dir: Francis Ford Coppola US 1974  113mins  35mm
Paranoid surveillance expert Harry Caul has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered. Having recorded their conversation, he obsessively listens to the tape over and over again in an attempt to unravel its meaning. Though written prior, the completed film was released shortly after the Watergate scandal broke, inadvertently articulating the public’s growing concerns over personal responsibility and loss of privacy. Stars Gene Hackman, John Cazale, and Harrison Ford.

Winner Palm d’Or Cannes Film Festival 1974.
Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Centring on the real-life Harlem nightclub, this jazz infused homage to the glamorous era of gangsters is almost as famous for its budgetary excesses and controversies on and off the set. Coppola undertook directorial duties late in production, when producer Robert Evans passed the task of finally getting his bloated pet project on film, and still managed to piece together an entertaining and visually stylish film. Stars Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Bob Hoskins and Nicholas Cage.

Preceded by short Black and Tan with Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra (1929).

Dir: Francis Ford Coppola US 1979 202mins 35mm
Joseph Conrad's novel, The Heart of Darkness is transposed to the Vietnam War in Coppola’s notorious serpentine masterpiece. US Army Captain Willard travels up the Nung River on assignment to terminate the deranged Colonel Kurtz with extreme prejudice. The Redux edit restores the French plantation and Playboy playmates sequences and includes a new scene with Kurtz. Stars Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper and Marlon Brando.

Winner Palm d’Or Cannes Film Festival 1979.
Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die