Star-Studded 15th TCM Classic Film Fest Returns to Hollywood April 18-21

The 15th TCM Classic Film Festival returns to historic Hollywood venues April 18-21, 2024, presenting “Pulp Fiction” and a reunion of its stars, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel on opening night. The star-packed lineup continues over the course of the four-day festival to include filmmakers Jodie Foster, Steven Spielberg and Mel Brooks, actor Morgan Freeman, writer-filmmaker Nancy Meyers, and many more.

Jodie Foster

TCM Primetime Host Ben Mankiewicz serves as official film festival host, alongside Jacqueline Stewart, Dave Karger, Alicia Malone, and Eddie Muller.

On Friday, April 19, Jodie Foster (“Taxi Driver,” “Nyad”) will place her hand and footprints prints at the world-famous TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX®. “The Silence of the Lambs (1991), for which Foster earned an Academy Award® and BAFTA Award for Best Actress, will screen during the festival.

Steven Spielberg will join UCLA Film School’s Howard Suber in a Q&A, followed by a screening of director’s cut of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977). A screening of “A Little Romance” (1979) will include star Diane Lane in conversation with Mankiewicz, “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994) screening will feature stars Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins in attendance, and for closing night on Sunday, the 1987’s comedy “Spaceballs” will be presented by writer and director Mel Brooks.

Legendary leading man Billy Dee Williams will introduce his films “Lady Sings the Blues” (1972) and “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings” (1976), and Academy Award-winning makeup artist Lois Burwell will appear with her films “Almost Famous” (2000) and “Lincoln” (2012). Both will sit down with a TCM host for a conversation in Club TCM located in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Ben Mankiewicz at The Egyptian Theatre.

The weekend lineup also includes:

Filmmaker Nancy Meyers introducing the world premiere restoration of one of her favorite movies, “North By Northwest” (1959), completed by Warner Bros. and The Film Foundation. Director David Fincher will present a world premiere restoration IMAX® screening of his 1995 thriller “Se7en,” and a cast reunion for “Little Women” (1994) will feature Trini Alvarado, Samantha Mathis and Eric Stoltz.  A world premiere restoration of “The Searchers” (1956), completed by Warner Bros. and The Film Foundation, will be introduced by writer/director Alexander Payne.

“Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings will introduce a U.S. premiere restoration of “The Small Back Room” (1949), restored by The Film Foundation and courtesy of Rialto Pictures.

In addition, “That’s Vitaphone!: The Return of Sound-on-Disc” will present for the first time in more than 90 years, six Vitaphone vaudeville shorts of the 1920s, projected in 35mm, with sound played back from their original 16-inch discs on a turntable designed and engineered by Warner Bros. Post Production Engineering Department.

Vitaphone would usher in the talking picture with the premiere of “The Jazz Singer” in October 1927. By the early 1930s, though, sound-on-disc would be replaced industry-wide by the less cumbersome sound on film. This replica of a Vitaphone machine, the only one in existence, marks the first time modern audiences will be able to experience these films as they did in the 1920s, using discs restored from the era.

In attendance to provide context will be Bruce Goldstein, founder and co-president of Rialto Pictures, Warner Bros. post-production engineers Steve Levy and Bob Weitz, and Vitaphone expert Shane Fleming.

Location, Location

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, site of the first Academy Awards® ceremony, is the Festival’s official hotel and site of some events. Screenings and events will also be held at the Egyptian Theatre, TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX®, and the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres.

Follow the festival on social at #TCMFF.

For the full schedule and information about the galas, venues and festival passes, go to TCM Classic Film Festival.

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