Winter 1996 

• Retrospectives: Rhombus Media - Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach; Alexander Dovzhenko; Krzysztof Kiéslowski; THE MINISTRY OF ILLUSION: FILMS MADE IN GERMANY 1933-1945; Wong Kar-wai; Peter Greenaway's THE BABY OF MÂCON; Nelson Pereira dos Santos; Transcendental Style in Cinema (Bresson; Dreyer; Ozu); A Tribute to Louis Malle.
• Canadian Premieres: Barbara Willis Sweete's FALLING DOWN STAIRS; Niv Fichman's STRUGGLE FOR HOPE.
• Toronto Premiere: Krzysztof Kiéslowski's THE SCAR.
• Guests: Barbara Willis Sweete; Niv Fichman; Gabriel Thibaudeau; Steve Reinke; Laurence Green.

Spring 1996 

• Retrospectives: Victor Erice; Werner Herzog; Newfoundland Comedians on Film; Leos Carax's BOY MEETS GIRL; Marker's LA JETÉE and Godard's GERMANY YEAR 90 NINE ZERO; Mann Made: An Extended Carte Blanche Spotlighting Toronto's Ron Mann; 12 Masterpieces of Czech Cinema (Forman, Haas, Menzel); Gila Almagor; Tsai Ming-liang's VIVE L'AMOUR; Vittorio de Sica; Argentinean cinema (Bemberg, Subiela, Torre Nilsson).
• Toronto Premieres: Werner Herzog's HERDSMEN OF THE SUN, BELLS FROM THE DEEP, COBRA VERDE and ECHOES OF A SOMBRE EMPIRE; Shemi Zarhin's PASSOVER FEVER; Shmuel Hasfari's SC'CHUR; Luis Cesar D'Angiolillo's KILLING GRANDPA; Raul de la Torre's FUNES, A GREAT LOVE; Juan José Jusid's WHERE ARE YOU THE LOVE OF MY LIFE THAT I CANNOT FIND YOU?; Leonardo Favio's GATICA THE MONKEY; Javier Torre's THE TOMBS; Oscar Barney Finn's COUNTING TO TEN; Tristán Bauer's CORTAZAR.
• World Premiere: Richard Fung's DIRTY LAUNDRY.
• Guests: Gila Almagor; Andy and Mike Jones; Ron Mann; Helen Lee; John Greyson; Tom McSorley.
• Special Presentation: Ron Mann presents PAINTERS' PAINTING CD-ROM.
• Critical Note: "The Cinematheque show ... moves beyond many of the familiar greatest hits in favour of some of the less canonized films. ... Capturing the hothouse pursuits of Argentina's idle bourgeois ... THE HAND IN THE TRAP is a much more satisfying excursion into chilly perversion than last year's overhyped re-release of BELLE DE JOUR" - Cameron Bailey, NOW, May 9-15, 1996.
• Highlights: The first lady of Israeli cinema, Gila Almagor, visits Cinematheque Ontario for a sold-out week of screenings co-presented with the Toronto Jewish Film Society.

Summer (June-July) 1996 

• Retrospectives: Gianni Amelio's BLOW TO THE HEART; Michelangelo Antonioni's IDENTIFICATION OF A WOMAN; Kiéslowski's DECALOGUE; Marleen Gorris; Abbas Kiarostami; Irish cinema; Toru Takemitsu; Nagisa Oshima's IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES.
• SUMMER IN ITALY III: Visconti; Taviani Brothers; Pasolini; Scola; Olmi; Magnani Spotlight.
• Toronto Premieres: Marleen Gorris's THE LAST ISLAND; Mary McGuckian's WORDS UPON THE WINDOW PANE; Joe Comerford's HIGH BOOT BENNY; Colin Gregg's LAMB; Charlotte Zwerin's MUSIC FOR THE MOVIES: TORU TAKEMITSU.
• Canadian Premieres: Jenifer McShane and Tricia Regan's A LEAP OF FAITH; Abbas Kiarostami's THE TRAVELLER, FELLOW CITIZEN and FIRST GRADERS.
• Critical Note: "In a world divided into little pockets of isolation, A LEAP OF FAITH is an enlightening experience" - Pamela Cuthbert on A LEAP OF FAITH, part of Cinematheque Ontario's Irish cinema series, eye Weekly, June 13 1996.

Fall 1996 

• Retrospectives: Kenji Mizoguchi; contemporary Greek cinema (with a special spotlight on Pantelis Voulgaris); Jean-Pierre Melville; Peter Mettler Carte Blanche; Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg; Marguerite Duras.
• Canadian Premieres: Kenji Mizoguchi's CASCADING WHITE THREADS and HOMETOWN.
• North American Premieres: Mike Figgis's JUST DANCING AROUND?: WILLIAM FORSYTHE (co-presented with The Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film and Video).
• Toronto Premieres: Kozintsev and Trauberg's THE NEW BABYLON; Stavros Tsiolis and Christos Vakalopoulos's PLEASE LADIES, DON'T CRY; Pericles Hoursoglou's LEFTERIS; Tonia Marketaki's CRYSTAL NIGHTS; Sotiris Goritsas's FROM THE SNOW; Antonis Kokkinos's END OF AN ERA; Pantelis Voulgaris's ELEFTERIOS VENIZELOS, ACROPOLE, THE STRIKER WITH THE NO. 9 and THE GREAT LOVE SONGS; Jean-Pierre Melville's THE RED CIRCLE; Bertrand Tavernier's L.627; Béla Tarr's JOURNEY ON THE PLAIN; Peter Liechti's SIGNERS KOFFERS.
• Guests: Pantelis Voulgaris; Antonis Kokkinos; Christopher Dewdney; Peter Mettler; Shawn Chappelle; Andrew James Paterson; Barry Greenwald.
• Highlights: The Kenji Mizoguchi travelling series, organized by Cinematheque Ontario Senior Programmer James Quandt and the Japan Foundation, Tokyo, launches at Film Forum in New York to great acclaim. Accompanied by a publication edited by Gerald O'Grady, the series goes on to play in more than 20 cities across North America, enjoying sell-out crowds everywhere. The tour also went on to Europe, playing at the National Film Theatre in London and setting box-office records there. Some of the celebrities present for the Toronto screenings include Michael Ondaatje and Atom Egoyan.
• Critical Notes: "This major international accomplishment demonstrates how cinematheques now take on a job parallel to what museums do with paintings and sculpture" - Robert Fulford, The Globe and Mail, October 30, 1996. "Alas the object of these tributes (Kenji Mizoguchi) - one of the major artists of the 20th century - still draws a blank from most educated Americans... Rather than waste time bemoaning this lapse, I would simply urge that it be rectified by rushing to Film Forum and catching the upcoming Mizoguchi retrospective...(The same package of 26 films, assembled by James Quandt of Cinematheque Ontario and the Japan Foundation, Tokyo, will tour 12 cities in North America)" - Phillip Lopate, The New York Times, September 15, 1996.