(Die Büchse der Pandora)
Directed by G.W. Pabst
133 minutes
With English title cards

One of the most sultry and erotic films ever made, this film showcases the steamy performance of Louise Brooks, in a role that made her world famous. Brooks was a little girl from Kansas who never followed the rules and who was shipped over to Germany to play this character, which was one of the most notorious roles in German culture. One of the first "bad girls" to ever hit the silver screen, Brooks plays Lulu, a newly wed bride who is actually more of a femme fatale than an obedient or innocent hausfrau. Louise Brooks, encompassing the very essence of sexual allure and mystery, has been forever linked to her iconic portrayal of Lulu, the dancer-turned-hooker who captivates all men in her path with her elusive beauty. Brook's real life reflected her role in the film in many ways, she was a bi-sexual seductress who lived her life defiantly and without compromise to both men and women.

The film was directed by Pabst (The Threepenny Opera) and is set in 1928 Weimar Germany, which was the most decadent hot spot in the 20th Century. In Germany the economy had plummeted, no one had money to survive, so many people started living on the edge as if they had no future. That decadent, daring, anything goes, sexually-charged world was perfectly captured by Brooks in the main character of this flick Lulu. The "black helmet" haircut of Brooks would take the world by storm, and has been haunting films ever since.... from Betty Blue to Pulp Fiction.

In the silent film era, Brooks's expressive face and graceful movements enabled her to epitomize a Roaring Twenties' version of feminism: an autonomous sexuality, free of any man's  control. For many years in her life she would be rejected in America, to the point of living in poverty... it would be in the 60s that her image would reemerge and be fetishized as an erotic icon.

The soundscore to go along with the silent images is by Fassbinder composer Peer Raben.

This will be a high-definition screening.