Discover Resnais’s hard-to-find documentary shorts of the 1950s, plus the poignant romantic-triangle drama Mélo. Resnais’s documentary shorts from the 1950s established him as a filmmaker of inimitable sensibility. Set to a text by poet Paul Éluard and details of Picasso’s epic antiwar painting, Guernica (1950, codir. Robert Hessens, 13 mins., 35mm) is an oddly lyrical call for peace. Banned for decades for its denunciation of French colonialism, Statues Also Die (1953, 30 mins., 35mm), codirected by Chris Marker, examines European appropriation of African sacred art and sculpture. Marker also assisted on Night and Fog (1955, 32 mins., 35mm), one of the first and still among the most haunting film commentaries on the Holocaust. Toute la mémoire du monde (1956, 22 mins., video) is an elegant “portrait” of France’s Bibliothèque Nationale.

Set in Paris in the 1920s, Mélo depicts a romantic triangle between friends and fellow violinists Pierre (Pierre Arditi), Marcel (André Dussollier), and Pierre’s young wife Romaine (Sabine Azéma). Forgoing the formalism of earlier works such as Marienbad and Muriel, Resnais instead focuses on the emotional landscape of the trio, using close-ups and long takes to extract powerful emotion from each of the characters. Also with Fanny Ardant. (112 mins., 35mm)

Mélo begins at 8:45 PM.

Presented with support from the French Ministry of External Affairs and French Cultural Services, New York.

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