Redlands Art Association’s Cinema Classic Series offers four foreign films in September

Redlands Art Association’s Redlands Cinema Classic series of foreign, art and specialty films, in its 27th year, will offer four films plus screenings of the Manhattan Short Film Festival on its fall series, running Sept. 2-Oct. 1.

The films will be screened at Harkins Mountain Grove 16 at 27481 San Bernardino Ave., Redlands.

The series begins with “Primavera,” a 2025 film in Italian with English subtitles, to be screened at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2, and at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3. The film, loosely based on the novel “Stabat Mater” by Tiziano Scarpa, tells the story of composer Antonio Vivaldi in Venice in the early 1700s and his student Cecilia, a violinist who lives in an institution for abandoned girls.

The second film is “A Sad and Beautiful World,” a 2025 film from Lebanon in Lebanese Arabic with English subtitles, to be screened 7 p.m. Sept. 9 and 2:30 p.m. Sept. 10. The film is a romantic comedy-drama spanning 30 years, about childhood sweethearts Nino and Yasmina who grow up in Beirut and try to survive war. It has won awards at more than 20 film festivals, including the Venice Film Festival, according to a news release from Redlands Art Association.

Next in the series is “The Blue Trail,” a 2025 film in Portuguese with English subtitles, to be screened 7 p.m. Sept. 16 and 2:30 p.m. Sept. 17. The film tells the story of Tereza, a 77-year-old woman in a small town in the Amazon. When she receives a government order to relocate to a senior compound to make room for the younger generation, she runs away on a journey through the rivers and rainforest of the Amazon.

Screening times for the fourth film, “Kokuho,” which runs nearly three hours, are earlier, at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 23 and 1:30 p.m. Sept. 24. This 2025 film from Japan, in Japanese with English subtitles, tells the story 14-year-old Kikuo who, after the death of his father, is placed under the tutelage of a famous Kabuki actor alongside the actor’s son Shunsuke. The film spans decades as the two boys develop their skills and compete.

The series will conclude with two screenings of the Manhattan Short Film Festival, at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 30 and 1:30 p.m. Oct. 1. The festival features 10 short films from countries around the world, and each qualifies to enter the Academy Awards, according to the news release.

Those attending the screenings in Redlands will join people in more 500 cities in the United States and around the world viewing the films and voting for the finalists. Ballots from Redlands will be counted and sent to New York to be added to those from around the world. Redlands Art Association will post the results the following week on its website, according to the news release.

Tickets for the Manhattan Short Film Festival are $50 and include food and beverages. They must be purchased by Sept. 24 at redlandscinemaclassic.com or at the Redlands Art Association Gallery, 215 E. State St., Redlands.

Tickets for the other films are $20, also available at redlandscinemaclassic.com and at the Redlands Art Association Gallery.

Proceeds benefit the Redlands Art Association’s Margaret Clark Art Education Enrichment Fund, which provides funds for art education programs throughout Redlands, according to the news release.

For information about Redlands Art Association, a nonprofit organization, go to redlands-art.org.

Redlands Daily Facts article, August 29, 2026. Read the complete article here.