Films

Sunday, October 19

Silent Horror with LIVE MUSIC by The Invincible Czars

5:30 p.m. PHANTOM OF THE OPERA | 8:00 p.m. NOSFERATU

Both shows at Planet Ant (Ant Hall), 2320 Caniff, Hamtramck 48212

The Phantom of the Opera

NEW 100th ANNIVERSARY SCORE

5:30 p.m. | Doors open at 5:00 p.m.

 

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The iconic moment when Mary Philbin removed Lon Chaney’s mask in The Phantom of the Opera is one of cinema’s most enduring images. Now, The Invincible Czars will bring their signature blend of eclectic instrumentation, adventurous arrangements and sense of emotional depth to this 100-year-old classic with their new, tastefully modern soundtrack, performing it live with the film in art house cinemas across the US and Canada in 2025.

The Czars’ Phantom of the Opera soundtrack is the culmination of nearly a year of meticulous composition, recording, and collaboration. The group drew inspiration from the film’s gothic visuals and haunting narrative to craft a score using their primary instruments: piano, violin, electric guitar/bass, organ, flute, drums and bass clarinet. They create a live experience so immersive that it’s easy to forget the music is being played live.

The tour will celebrate the 100th anniversary of this early American horror film. The band has been captivating both music and film enthusiasts across North America since 2015 when their soundtrack for Nosferatu earned them accolades in the art house community and made them staple of the silent film circuit.

United States. 1925.
Directed by Rupert Julian, Lon Chaney, and Ernst Laemmle.
In English.
Running time 93 min.

Nosferatu

8:00 p.m. | Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

 

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Nosferatu: A Symphomy of Horror is arguably the most important horror film of the silent era and one of the first vampire movies. It’s an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula.” The film follows Thomas Hutter as he journeys to Transylvania to sell property to the eerie Count Orlok (Max Schreck). Orlok’s obsession with Thomas’ wife, young Ellen Hutter, leads to a climactic showdown as she attempts to thwart his evil plans.

The film is celebrated for its atmospheric cinematography, haunting performances, and enduring influence on the horror genre, including remakes by Werner Herzog and Robert Eggers.

Violin, glockenspiel, organ, flute, bass clarinet, voices and vocals, music box, loops, electric guitar, bass, piano and percussion all play prominent roles in the Invincible Czars’ score. It’s a sight to behold when performed live by only four or five players. Don’t miss your chance to experience it LIVE on Sunday, October 19.

 

Germany. 1922.
Directed by F.W. Murnau.
In English.
Running time 94 min.

At the Edge of Hope

This documentary series brings together urgent, intimate, and deeply human films from Israel, Palestine, and beyond.Through stories that are both intimate and political, the films trace how personal lives are upended by war, how families and communities wrestle with grief and division, and how questions of identity and belonging are refracted through borders, histories, and everyday encounters.
 
They bear witness to the profound fractures that shape Israeli and Palestinian life, while also revealing the ways those fractures echo globally, in the halls of government, on university campuses, and in the rhythms of daily existence. Even amid devastation, the works gesture toward fragile possibilities: glimpses of connection, resilience, and the stubborn persistence of hope. More than chronicles of conflict, these films demand that we sit with complexity, listen across divides, and ask what it means to imagine a different future in a time of war.

Presented with

Holding Liat

FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE

Tuesday, October 28 at 7:00 p.m.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Phoenix Theatres State Wayne
35310 W Michigan Ave, Wayne, MI 48184

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On October 7, 2023, Liat was abducted from her kibbutz by Hamas. In the days that followed, filmmaker Brandon Kramer began filming with her family, documenting their raw and unfiltered struggle as they searched for answers. What begins as a portrait of grief quickly becomes something more: a window into the deep fractures within Israeli society, the reach of global diplomacy, and the human cost of a war that continues to devastate Gaza and Israel alike.

At the center is Liat’s father, Yehuda, a US citizen, a pacifist, and a man unwilling to remain silent. Traveling to Washington with his family, he pleads for his daughter’s life while fiercely challenging both Israeli and American policies. Within the family itself, emotions and politics collide, exposing the tensions that mirror an entire society: fear and defiance, longing and rage, despair and fragile hope.

Winner of the Berlinale Documentary Film Award, Holding Liat is more than a chronicle of one family’s ordeal. It is an urgent, unflinching reminder of how personal trauma and political violence are inseparably bound, and how even in the darkest of moments, the possibility of reconciliation depends on recognizing the humanity of those on the other side.

2025
Directed by Brandon Kramer.
In Hebrew with English subtitles.
Running time 98 min.

The Palestine Exception

FILMMAKER Jennifer Ruth IN ATTENDANCE

Monday, November 11 at 7:00 p.m.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Phoenix Theatres State Wayne
35310 W Michigan Ave, Wayne, MI 48184

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Universities are meant to be places where ideas can be argued without fear. Yet as Israel’s war on Gaza grinds on, that ideal feels increasingly fragile. Across the United States, administrators discipline students for protest, lawmakers threaten faculty, and new visa restrictions target Palestinian students. These are reminders that the space for dissent is narrowing fast,
 
The Palestine Exception looks squarely at this crisis of academic freedom. Through archival footage and candid interviews with scholars including Judith Butler, the film follows students and professors as they demand a ceasefire and divestment from companies tied to Israel. Their movement, already the largest U.S. anti-war uprising since the 1970s, meets a swift backlash, exposing what activists call the “Palestine exception,” where speech and assembly rights end the moment Israel is named.
 
The film resonates with today’s headlines while telling a story of campuses as both refuge and battleground, of personal and collective histories colliding, and of the stubborn insistence that a university remain a place for truth-telling, even when power wants silence.

USA. 2025
Directed by Jan Haaken & Jennifer Ruth,
In English.
Running time 70 min.