Bleak Week: 'The Red and the White'

A haunting, powerful film about the absurdity and evil of war. Set in Central Russia during the Civil War of 1918, "The Red and the White" details the murderous entanglements between Russia’s Red soldiers and the counter-revolutionary Whites in the hills along the Volga. The epic conflict moves with skillful speed from a deserted monastery to a riverbank hospital to a final, unforgettable hillside massacre.

"The Red and the White" is a moving visual feast where every inch of the Cinemascope frame is used to magnificent effect. With his brilliant use of exceptionally long takes, vast and unchanging landscapes and Tamás Somlós hypnotic black and white photography, Miklós Jancsó gives the film the quality of a surreal nightmare. In the director’s uncompromising world, people lose all sense of identity and become hopeless pawns in the ultimate game of chance.

Restored in 4K from its original 35mm camera negative by National Film Institute Hungary – Film Archive.

"The Red and the White" plays as part of Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair. Co-presented by the American Cinematheque, 'Bleak Week' spotlights a diverse lineup of films that venture into the darkest sides of humanity and the bleakest points in human history.

What began as a Los Angeles-based festival expands this year to 73 cities around the world, including San Diego's Digital Gym Cinema! Founded in 2022, Bleak Week is an annual weeklong festival where audiences can celebrate and experience some of the most challenging works of arthouse cinema. Each June, ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair’ spotlights a diverse lineup of films that venture into the darkest sides of humanity and the bleakest points in human history.

Digital Gym Cinema is proud to be a participating cinema in the expanded fifth edition of Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair which runs from June 5 through June 11.

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