Film retrospectives will honor two icons of the stage and screen this summer in New York City. An exhibition celebrating Oscar-winning actress and singer Barbra Streisand, called “Simply Streisand,” will be held June 30-July 6 at the Quad Cinema. “Talking Pictures: The Cinema of Yvonne Rainer,” will feature screenings of the dancer, choreographer, and director’s work July 21–27 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC).
“Simply Streisand” is a collection of Streisand’s “evergreen big-screen work” in honor of the legend’s 75th birthday. Streisand made her feature film debut at age 20 in “Funny Girl.” She won a Golden Globe and Oscar for the role of Fanny Brice. “Streisand’s screen presence was larger-than-life,” a press release details. “Her breathtaking singing voice and extraordinary comic chops turned a series musicals and comedies into smash hits.”
Streisand-led films like “Funny Girl,” “A Star Is Born,” “The Way We Were,” and “Hello, Dolly!” will screen at the retrospective. “The Mirror Has Two Faces,” “Yentl,” and “The Prince of Tides” — all helmed by Streisand — will also be shown.
Opening up about her lack of Best Director Oscar nods, Streisand recently said, “There were a lot of older people [voting]. They don’t want to see a woman director. I don’t know how many women wanted to see a woman director.” She added, “I directed because I couldn’t be heard.”
Check out the Quad’s website for “Simply Streisand’s” full schedule.
“Talking Pictures” will screen the radical work of Rainer, who completed her first film in 1972. Her “cinema signaled new possibilities for film language, retooling narrative generally and melodrama specifically with a disjunctive audiovisual syntax, restless political intelligence, deft appropriation, and deadpan wit,” a press release summarizes.
Rainer herself will attend the retrospective to discuss her career and work with writer Lynne Tillman. Their conversation will serve as the centerpiece of the film series.
All of the films Rainer directed — such as “Lives of Performers,” “Privilege,” and “Film About a Woman Who…” — will screen. Films that feature Rainer as subject and those that influenced her own filmmaking style will also be included. Among them are “Paul Swan” and “Madame X: An Absolute Ruler.”
Visit the FSLC website for the entire schedule and lineup for “Talking Pictures.”