Screenings: 31 October 2026 Saturday 18:30 / 15 December 2026 Tuesday 20:00 / 10 January 2027 Sunday 14:00
 

Director: Bob Fosse
Screenplay: Julian Barry (adapted from his own 1971 play)
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Valerie Perrine, Jan Miner, Stanley Beck, Gary Morton
 

USA / 1974 / 111 min. / Black and white / DCP / English / Turkish subtitles
 

Starring Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce (1925–1966), the stand-up comedian known for his biting social satire in defiance of censorship, Lenny is both a critique of the system constructed around his stage performances and a distinctive biographical film that seeks to understand a person in all his complexity. Distinguished by the tension subtly crafted through Alan Heim’s editing, Bruce Surtees’s cinematography, which expands the possibilities of black-and-white imagery, and its masterful performances, the film received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and earned Valerie Perrine the Best Actress award at Cannes.

A note for attentive viewers: the interviewer’s voice belongs to the director, who also appears, if only indistinctly, in some shots.
 

* We thank Il Cinema Ritrovato and Cineteca di Bologna for their contributions.