David Mamet is one of the most original forces in American cinema and theatre with a distinctive voice that's instantly recognizable in works such as GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, AMERICAN BUFFALO, and HOUSE OF GAMES. Yet he's also a Hollywood craftsman in the best sense of the classical studio style, with a range that encompasses large-scale action (HEIST, SPARTAN), whimsical comedy (THINGS CHANGE, STATE AND MAIN), and even Hitchcockian suspense (THE SPANISH PRISONER).

Join us for a selection of the writer-director's finest films, including a sneak preview of his newest film at which he will be present In-Person.

Sneak Preview of David Mamet’s latest film RED BELT, just about to be released. 2008, Sony Pictures Classics, 99 min. View Trailer. Read an Interview with Mamet. Discussion following with director David Mamet.

Friday, April 18 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, 1992, New Line Cinema, 100 min. David Mamet adapts his own Pulitzer-winning play about a night in the life of some very desperate real estate salesmen, and the result is an American masterpiece. Al Pacino is the smooth-as-silk office champ and Jack Lemmon is a haunted, pathetic has-been who sees his livelihood slipping away before his very eyes in this tragic yet hilarious dissection of what men will do to survive in a cutthroat business world. James Foley directs a spectacular cast that also includes Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey.

AMERICAN BUFFALO, 1996, MGM Repertory, 88 min. FEDERAL HILL director Michael Corrente helms this absorbing film version of Mamet's acclaimed play (like GLENGARRY, adapted by Mamet himself), in which three low-level thieves plan an ill-advised robbery. Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Franz and Sean Nelson are all excellent in this smart, observant character study.

Saturday, April 19 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

THE SPANISH PRISONER, 1997, Jean Doumanian Productions, 110 min. Campbell Scott plays an inventor worried that the company he works for is going to steal his work; Steve Martin is the enigmatic businessman Scott meets as he gets drawn into a web of psychological suspense. Mamet applies his unique sensibility to a Hitchcockian framework, and the result is a one-of-a-kind thriller that is utterly unpredictable and thoroughly entertaining.
HEIST, 2001, Warner Bros, 109 min. Gene Hackman, Delroy Lindo, Rebecca Pidgeon and Ricky Jay are members of an expert criminal gang who are longer on talent than they are on trust -- especially when new member Sam Rockwell and fence Danny DeVito get involved in the crew's last big heist. In one of the great action films of the decade (with wall-to-wall quotable dialogue), Mamet presents one of his most compelling studies yet of betrayal and its consequences.

HOUSE OF GAMES, 1987, MGM Repertory, 102 min. David Mamet made one of the most stunning directorial debuts in American film history with this razor-sharp analysis of con games and the men who play them. Lindsay Crouse plays a psychiatrist and author who's tired of just treating criminal patients and writing about them -- she wants to experience some illicit thrills herself. She finds what she's looking for in the form of con artist Joe Mantegna, who draws Crouse into his world and gives her a lot more than she bargained for.