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The Paranoid Style in American Cinema, 1974-1999

Mar 1—Mar 7, 2024
    Part of
  • BAM Film 2024

“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”—Joseph Heller

American history has always been defined by the sense that there are shadowy groups pulling the strings of public life. Inspired by everything from the wild conspiracy theories spawned by JFK’s assassination to the revelatory presidential corruption of Watergate, this series gathers films across a pivotal 25 year period at the “End of History”—the 70s, 80s, and 90s—when the power structures at the heart of the American empire were laid bare for all to see. Featuring political thrillers like
JFK and All the President’s Men as well as paranoid classics from the dawn of the internet like Enemy of the State and The Matrix, these movies question everything, trust no one, and stop at nothing to uncover the elusive truth.

Leadership support for
BAM Access Programs provided by
the Jerome L. Greene Foundation

JL Greene

Leadership support for
BAM Film provided by
the Ford Foundation and
The Thompson Family Foundation

  • Film

    They Live

    Mar 1—Mar 5, 2024

    They Live

    Mar 1—Mar 5, 2024

    Ghoulish creatures are masquerading as humans while they lull the public into submission through subliminal advertising messages in this John Carpenter thriller.

    More
    Film

    They Live

    Mar 1—Mar 5, 2024

    A rugged loner stumbles upon a terrifying discovery in John Carpenter’s ghoulish thriller.

  • Film

    The X-Files

    Mar 1—Mar 2, 2024

    The X-Files

    Mar 1—Mar 2, 2024

    FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully work to uncover a millenia-spanning supernatural entity and a government conspiracy set in place to hide the truth about alien colonization of Earth.

    More
    Film

    The X-Files

    Mar 1—Mar 2, 2024

    Mulder and Scully uncover a millenia-spanning supernatural entity and government conspiracy. 

  • Film

    All the President’s Men

    Mar 1—Mar 6, 2024

    All the President’s Men

    Mar 1—Mar 6, 2024

    Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman star as two Washington Post reporters investigating a seemingly minor break-in and end up uncovering the greatest political scandal in US history.

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    Film

    All the President’s Men

    Mar 1—Mar 6, 2024

    The story of two reporters who uncover the greatest political scandal in US history.

  • Film

    Winter Kills

    Mar 1—Mar 7, 2024

    Winter Kills

    Mar 1—Mar 7, 2024

    A thinly veiled take on the JFK assassination and the conspiracy theories it spawned, starring Jeff Bridges and John Huston.

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    Film

    Winter Kills

    Mar 1—Mar 7, 2024

    A thinly veiled take on the JFK assassination, starring Jeff Bridges and John Huston.

  • Film

    Cutter’s Way

    Mar 2—Mar 4, 2024

    Cutter’s Way

    Mar 2—Mar 4, 2024

    Two best friends are thrust into a conspiracy after one of them witnesses a man ditching a body in a trash can in this neo-noir thriller.

    More
    Film

    Cutter’s Way

    Mar 2—Mar 4, 2024

    Two best friends are thrust into a conspiracy following the death of a local tycoon.

  • Film

    The Parallax View

    Mar 2—Mar 5, 2024

    The Parallax View

    Mar 2—Mar 5, 2024

    A journalist investigates the assassination of a senator and the subsequent deaths of six witnesses, leading him to the depths of a shadow organization.

    More
    Film

    The Parallax View

    Mar 2—Mar 5, 2024

    A journalist investigates the shadow organization responsible for a spate of murders.

  • Film

    Blow Out

    Mar 2—Mar 4, 2024

    Blow Out

    Mar 2—Mar 4, 2024

    One of Brian de Palma’s masterpieces, this neo-noir mystery thriller stars John Travolta as a movie sound effects technician who accidentally records an assassination attempt.

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    Film

    Blow Out

    Mar 2—Mar 4, 2024

    A film technician unwittingly records an assassination attempt in Brian de Palma’s classic.

  • Film

    Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America

    Sun, Mar 3, 2024

    Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America

    Sun, Mar 3, 2024

    UFOs are real, the Earth is hollow, and the Panama Canal is flooded with radioactive waste in this delightfully cheesy, conspiracy-fueled mock-doc from experimental auteur Craig Baldwin.

    More
    Film

    Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America

    Sun, Mar 3, 2024

     UFOs are real and the Earth is hollow in this hilarious, conspiracy-fueled mock-doc.

  • Film

    JFK

    Sun, Mar 3, 2024

    JFK

    Sun, Mar 3, 2024

    Made at the peak of Oliver Stone’s fame, this absolutely unhinged pop history renewed interest in the JFK assassination and brought the conspiracy thriller genre into the 90s.

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    Film

    JFK

    Sun, Mar 3, 2024

    Oliver Stone’s unhinged pop history brought conspiracy thrillers into the 90s.

  • Film

    Enemy of the State

    Mar 3—Mar 7, 2024

    Enemy of the State

    Mar 3—Mar 7, 2024

    Tony Scott’s murky—and prophetic—political thriller about a corrupt group of NSA agents and the unsuspecting lawyer who learns about their scheme to kill a congressman.

    More
    Film

    Enemy of the State

    Mar 3—Mar 7, 2024

    A murky—and prophetic—political thriller about a dangerously corrupt group of NSA agents.

  • Film

    The Truman Show

    Mar 4—Mar 6, 2024

    The Truman Show

    Mar 4—Mar 6, 2024

    Jim Carrey shines as the unwitting Truman Burbank in this mind-bending dramedy from director Peter Weir about a man whose life is a nonstop TV show—literally.

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    Film

    The Truman Show

    Mar 4—Mar 6, 2024

    Jim Carrey shines as a man whose life is a nonstop TV show—literally.

  • Film

    Invasion of the Body Snatchers

    Mar 5—Mar 7, 2024

    Invasion of the Body Snatchers

    Mar 5—Mar 7, 2024

    This dazzling, whip-smart remake of Don Siegel’s 1956 spine-tingler depicts the battle against a scourge of gelatinous alien parasites who are generating perfect biological clones on earth.

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    Film

    Invasion of the Body Snatchers

    Mar 5—Mar 7, 2024

    The legendary, ectoplasmic spine-tingler about a scourge of alien parasites on earth.

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