Film Screenings / Programs / Series
VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE 2026
February 12 – February 22
From 2013-19, Anthology marked Valentine’s Day (and in this case we mean “marked” in the most menacing way) by presenting a series called “Valentine’s Day Massacre”. The heart (so to speak) of the series was the pairing of Maurice Pialat’s grueling, autobiographical study of a dysfunctional off-and-on relationship, WE WON’T GROW OLD TOGETHER, and Albert Brooks’s hilarious yet no less painful MODERN ROMANCE. These two films are like flip sides of the same coin: Pialat’s may depict brutal emotional violence while Brooks’s is explicitly comic, but look past their disparate tones and you’ll find that the two films are nearly identical. Both focus with almost unbearable intensity on a pair of mismatched lovers and their perpetual conflict, dissecting male narcissism, insecurity, and egotism with surgical precision and self-deprecatory ruthlessness. And when you factor in the subterranean vein of absurd humor coursing through Pialat’s film, and the frank confrontation with the tragedy of contemporary relationships that underlies MODERN ROMANCE, the two films become even more closely intertwined.
We soon expanded the series to include, most importantly, Andrzej Żuławski’s POSSESSION, a batshit crazy depiction of an imploding marriage that’s perhaps the ultimate dysfunctional relationship film. These three films became the core lineup of “Valentine’s Day Massacre”, with guest-appearances from a revolving selection of additional films in the subsequent years.
We put the series on ice during the pandemic, but now, in collaboration with author (“That Very Witch”), programmer, film critic, and video artist Payton McCarty-Simas, we’re bringing it back. For the 2026 edition, we’ll be supplementing the OG Pialat/Brooks/Żuławski lineup with a selection of similarly cracked takes on romantic relationships hand-picked by McCarty-Simas, including the “video-nasty” THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA (1976), the twisted German cult film DER FAN (1982), and Carlos Saura’s classic contribution to the Spanish quinqui genre, DEPRISA, DEPRISA (1981).
Special thanks to Payton McCarty-Simas; Brian Belovarac (Janus Films); Bret Berg (AGFA); Dave Jennings (Sony); and Jacob Perlin (The Film Desk).
Upcoming Screenings
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Maurice Pialat
WE WON’T GROW OLD TOGETHER
February 12 at 6:30 PM
February 15 at 8:00 PM
February 22 at 5:15 PM
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Albert Brooks
MODERN ROMANCE
February 12 at 9:15 PM
February 15 at 5:30 PM
February 22 at 8:00 PM
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Andrzej Żuławski
POSSESSION
February 13 at 7:30 PM
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Carlos Saura
DEPRISA, DEPRISA
February 14 at 4:30 PM
February 19 at 6:30 PM
February 21 at 9:00 PM
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Matt Cimber
THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA
February 14 at 7:00 PM
February 20 at 9:15 PM
February 21 at 6:45 PM
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Eckhart Schmidt
DER FAN
February 14 at 9:15 PM
February 19 at 9:00 PM
February 20 at 7:00 PM
