The Wizard of Oz
Giants, fairies, magicians, ghosts, dragons, and monsters of all kinds… Here’s what your Cinémathèque has in store this summer! Since Méliès, filmmakers have embraced the fanstastic potential of cinema, creating infinite phantasmagorias and extraordinary spectacles where the unreal becomes real. Step into a world of fantasy and boundless imagination: whatever your generation, the monsters and wonders that once filled your childhood dreams are back this summer 2025!
Presented by Guy A. St-Cyr
Winner of three Academy Awards in 1940, including the Academy Juvenile Award for Judy Garland
35 mm print loaned by the Cineclub Film Society
A classic among classics, The Wizard of Oz is possibly the greatest American cultural icon. Cited by both David Lynch (Wild at Heart) and Martin Scorsese (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore), and an inspiration to artists such as Elton John, Electric Light Orchestra, and Aerosmith, the story of Dorothy being swept away from her native Kansas to the wonderful land of Oz continues to enchant generations of moviegoers.
Victor Fleming
Victor Fleming was an American filmmaker. After graduating from high school in Los Angeles, he entered the film industry and gradually worked his way up. Starting as an operator, then cinematographer for D. W. Griffith in 1915, he crossed path with Douglas Fairbanks, who helped him transition into directing. A lieutenant during World War I, he became a war reporter in 1918, filming President Woodrow Wilson's trip to Europe on behalf of the army. Back in America, he made his first two films, When the Clouds Roll By (1919) and The Mollycoddle (1920), with Fairbanks' support. In 1938, he was chosen by David O. Selznick to succeed George Cukor and Sam Wood as director of the celebrated adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for this film in 1940. That same year, he also directed The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, for MGM. In 1941, he adapted Robert Louis Stevenson's novel in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His final film, released at the end of the decade, starred Ingrid Bergman as Joan of Arc.
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