Series Site
'The Dr. Saul and Dorothy Kit Film Noir Festival is a 10-year festival series devoted to the legacy of film noir. Launched in 2018, and postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival combines public film screenings with lectures from renowned film scholars. Festival organizers select a distinct theme for each year’s festival to revisit the noir canon from a unique perspective. Screenings are located at Columbia University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts.
The 2023 Kit Noir Film Festival will examine women’s contributions to noir as film producers, screenwriters, novelists, and, in one instance, as a director. Rather than dwell on the character types that women played in noir (such as the notorious “femme fatale”), the festival instead draws attention to what women provided from behind the camera. In the process, it uncovers a period much like our own, in which women have occupied a prominent place in the popular imaginary of crime.
Screenings will be accompanied by discussions with film scholars Julie Grossman, Dana Polan, and Shelley Stamp, as well as a panel featuring crime writers Megan Abbott and Sarah Weinman.
The lineup features 10 films released between 1946 and 1964, with some titles screening on 35mm film. The series will include a free pre-festival virtual screening on February 25-26 of The Deep End. See the festival schedule for full details on films and showtimes.
This festival is funded by a generous gift from alumnus Gordon Kit (CC '76), in honor of his parents."