PMA Films: “Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair”: Kiss Me Deadly (1955) + La Jetée (1962) (Presented on 16mm with Kinonik)
Screens as part of "Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair," a week-long festival presented in partnership with the American Cinematheque. These films will be projected on 16mm by Kinonik.
Discounted festival passes ($65, or $50 for PMA members and students) are available here. A festival pass will automatically register you for all "Bleak Week" screenings. Click the "Get Tickets" link above to purchase tickets for this single screening.
Kiss Me Deadly
Directed by Robert Aldrich. 106 minutes. Not Rated. In English.
One evening, private detective Mike Hammer picks up a hitchhiker who's standing on the highway wearing only a trench coat. They're stopped farther on by strangers who knock out Mike and murder the young woman. Although warned not to investigate by the police, Mike and his girlfriend and assistant, Velda (Maxine Cooper), become ensnared in a dark plot involving scientist Dr. Soberin (Albert Dekker) and Christina's terrified roommate, Lily (Gaby Rodgers).
La Jetée
Directed by Chris Marker. 27 minutes. Not Rated. In French with English subtitles.
Chris Marker, filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor, and now videographer and digital multimedia artist, has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his complex queries about time, memory, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. Marker's La Jetée is one of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made, a tale of time travel told in still images.
About “Bleak Week”:
Presented in partnership with the American Cinematheque, “Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair” is an annual festival showcasing some of the greatest works of cinema from across the globe that venture into the darkest sides of humanity and the bleakest points in human history.
PMA Films joins the fifth annual edition in June 2026 as the festival expands to nearly 100 theaters across the U.S., Canada, UK and South and Central America, with each venue presenting its own lineup of uncompromising films defined by unpleasant truths and raw empathy.
The Portland Museum of Art’s lineup features 11 masterpieces from a variety of decades, genres, and international auteurs, beginning with Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers on June 8 and concluding with Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry on June 14. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Todd Field (In the Bedroom, Tár) will join us to discuss Taste of Cherry. PMA Films will also host its first 16mm film screenings in many years in partnership with Kinonik on June 9 (Kiss Me Deadly/La Jetée) and June 11 (Black Girl), and will partner with SPACE Gallery to screen the devastating animated films Watership Down and The Plague Dogs at SPACE on June 13.