BREAKING BARD Series Celebrates Shakespeare on Film at MoMA, Starting Today

Four hundred years after the death of William Shakespeare, The Museum of Modern Art will screen 21 films based on his iconic writings in Breaking Bard: Shakespeare on Film, today, October 12, through October 24 in The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters.

The series features work from directors Kenneth Branagh, Laurence Olivier, Baz Luhrmann, Roman Polanski, Julie Taymor, and Franco Zeffirelli; performances from actors Olivier, Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Ethan Hawke, Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen, Robert Downey Jr., Ralph Fiennes, Julia Stiles, LL Cool J, and Al Pacino; and both traditional and nontraditional interpretations of Shakespeare's most popular works, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Othello.

The series opens on October 12 with Laurence Olivier's Academy Award-winning Hamlet (1948), the definitive cinematic version for which Olivier won the Best Actor Oscar.

Other highlights include a screening of Julie Taymor's A Midsummer Night's Dream (2014), introduced by the filmmaker, and an entire day dedicated to the most tragic love story ever written, Romeo and Juliet. On October 15, MoMA will screen Lloyd Kaufman's TRomeo & Juliet (1996), Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968).

Breaking Bard: Shakespeare on Film is organized by Anne Morra, Associate Curator, Department of Film, in conjunction with the British Film Institute and the British Council.

Full List of Films featured in Breaking Bard: Shakespeare on Film:

- Play On! Shakespeare in Silent Film. 2016. A feature length celebration from the BFI National Archive draws together a selection from more than two dozen Shakespeare films from 1899 to the close of the silent film era.

- A Midsummer Night's Dream. 2014. Directed by Julie Taymor. With Kathryn Hunter, David Harewood, Max Casella

- Coriolanus. 2011. Directed by Ralph Fiennes. Screenplay by John Logan. With Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Brian Cox

- Deliver Us from Eva. 2003. Directed by Gary Hardwick. Screenplay by James Iver Mattson, B.E. Brauner, Hardwick. With LL Cool J, Gabrielle Union, Duane Martin. Based on The Taming of the Shrew

- Maqbool. 2003. Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. Screenplay by Abbas Tyrewala, Bhardwaj. With Irrfan Kahn, Tabu, Panjak Kapur. Based on Macbeth

- O. 2001. Directed by Tim Blake Nelson. Screenplay by Brad Kaaya. With Mekhi Phifer, Martin Sheen, Julia Stiles. Based on Othello

- Hamlet. 2000. Written and directed by Michael Almereyda. With Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Julia Stiles

- Titus. 1999. Written and directed by Julie Taymor. With Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Based on Titus Andronicus

- Looking for Richard. 1996. Directed by Al Pacino. Narration written by Al Pacino, Frederic Kimball. With Pacino, Penelope Allen, Winona Ryder

- Romeo + Juliet. 1996. Directed by Baz Luhrmann. Screenplay by Craig Pearce, Luhrman. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo

- TRomeo & Juliet. 1996. Directed by Lloyd Kaufman. Screenplay by Kaufman, James Gun. With Jane Jensen, Will Keenan, Sean Gunn. Based on Romeo and Juliet

- Richard III. 1995. Directed by Richard Loncraine. Screenplay by Loncraine, Ian McKellen. With Ian McKellen, Robert Downey Jr., Annette Bening

- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. 1990. Written and directed by Tom Stoppard. With Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss. Based on Hamlet

- Henry V. 1989. Written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. With Branagh, Judi Dench, Paul Scofield

- The Tempest. 1979. Written and directed by Derek Jarman. With Heathcote Williams, Peter Bull, Toyah Wilcox

- King Lear. 1971. Written and directed by Peter Brook. With Paul Scofield, Irene Worth, Cyril Cusack

- Macbeth. 1971. Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Polanski, Kenneth Tynan. With John Finch, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw

- Romeo and Juliet. 1968. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Screenplay by Franco Brusati, Masolino D'Amico, Zeffirelli. With Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, Michael York

- All Night Long. 1962. Directed by Basil Dearden. Screenplay by Nel King, Paul Jarrico. With Patrick McGoohan, Marti Stevens, Paul Harris. Based on Othello

- FORBIDDEN Planet. 1956. Directed by Fred M. Wilcox. Screenplay by Cyril Hume. With Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen. Based on The Tempest

- Hamlet. 1948. Directed by Laurence Olivier. Starring Olivier, Eileen Herlie, Jean Simmons

Pictured, from the top: Romeo + Juliet. 1996. USA. Directed by Baz Luhrman. Courtesy 20th Century Fox/Photofest; A Midsummer Night's Dream. 2014. USA. Directed by Julie Taymor. Courtesy of BOND/360. Photo by Joan Marcus; Hamlet. 2000. USA. Directed by Michael Almereyda. Courtesy Miramax/Photofest.