Noir City Hollywood Festival Returns With Focus on Race and Gender in Film Noir — and More 35mm Restorations

variety.com:

Chris Willman Music WriterSidney Poitier — film noir icon? That may not be one of the phrases that popped up most frequently in the recent obituaries and appreciations for the late actor, but Poitier did take his turn at noir.

The movie with which he made his screen debut, “No Way Out,” will be featured at the upcoming resumption of the annual Noir City Hollywood Festival, which is devoting separate days to the treatment of race and women in the crime dramas of the ’40s and ’50s, along with a continued focus on presenting restorations in 35mm glory.Noir City Hollywood has been a staple at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre each spring since the late ’90s, but with that theater closed for extensive Netflix-funded renovations, this year it will take place at the American Legion Theatre a few blocks up Highland Blvd.

Hosted as always by Film Noir Foundation president (and TCM “Noir Alley” host) Eddie Muller and board member/treasurer Alan K.

Rode, it’ll transpire over a condensed three-day period instead of the usual 10, on April 15-17, which will make for more of a sprint than a marathon for the hardcore. “After it was canceled last year,” says Rode, “we felt that a 10-day festival might be a bridge too far, but we certainly want to go back to that when the Egyptian is reopen. “Doing this with eight films over a weekend felt definitely more viable right now, particularly when it’s the weekend before the TCM Classic Film Festival, and we’re hopeful that people coming for that will we’re hopeful that people will come into town early for Noir City.”The lineup includes double features over three nights and matinees on two — all with the full-bar service in a historically significant locale that has helped make the.