In this lush Technicolor, widescreen film, Frank Sinatra plays a widower struggling to hold on to his small Miami hotel as he is overtaken by luxury towers such as the Fontainebleau and the Eden Roc. Directed by Frank Capra and co-starring Edward G. Robinson, A Hole in the Head spans classic Hollywood and new cinematic frontiers to provide a fascinating look at mid-century Miami at the height of the “hotel wars.”

A Hole in the Head is presented by the Norton Herrick Center for Motion Picture Studies at the University of Miami as part of “Screening Miami: Film Projections of South Florida over Time,” a new film and discussion series exploring the movie image of Miami from the 1940s through the present day.

The film screens Thursday, October 11 at 7 p.m. with a special introduction by film scholar and writer Gaspar Gonzalez. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

Stars in Shorts is a delightful collection of short films featuring some of the world’s biggest actors. Judi Dench is a neophyte in the complicated landscape of Internet dating in Friend Request Pending. Colin Firth is an unusually needy neighbor to Keira Knightley in Steve. Lily Tomlin gets lost on her way to a funeral in Procession. Jason Alexander is a screenwriter at the end of his rope in the musical short Not Your Time. Also including short films starring Kenneth Branagh, Julia Stiles, and others, Stars in Shorts is the first collection of short films to bring you everything you expect when you go to the movie theater: laughs, drama, and, now, some of the best actors from film and television.

Stars in Shorts screens Friday, October 5 at 9:15 p.m.; and Saturday, October 6 at 1 p.m., 3:15 p.m., and 7:45 p.m. General admission is $9. Admission is $7 for seniors, University of Miami alumni, faculty, non-UM students, and staff; free for UM students. To purchase tickets online or for more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

With an arresting mix of eroticism and horror, director Nagisa Oshima plunges the viewer into a nightmarish tale of guilt and retribution in Empire of Passion. Set in a Japanese village at the end of the 19th century, the film details the emotional and physical downfall of a married woman and her younger lover following their decision to murder her husband. Empire of Passion was Oshima’s only true kaidan (Japanese ghost story), and the film—a savage, unrelenting experience—earned him the “Best Director” award at the Cannes Film Festival. In Japanese with English subtitles.

Presented by the Lowe Art Museum, Empire of Passion screens Tuesday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m. General admission is $5; free for UM students. To purchase tickets online or for more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

Merida, a skilled archer, is the daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom and inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom. When she turns to an eccentric old witch for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late.

Brave screens Saturday, October 6 at 10 p.m. and Sunday, October 7 at 8 p.m. General admission is $5; free for UM students. To purchase tickets online or for more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

The Cinema Hold Up is a vibrant, authentic, and wonderfully observed portrait of the tempo and texture of today’s Mexican youth culture. Negus, Chale, Sapo, and Chata are teenagers who grew up in the same rundown district of Mexico City. They spend their days listening to hip-hop, smoking marijuana, and fantasizing about the opposite sex. One day they have the bright idea of robbing a movie theater, jeopardizing the one sure thing they have in life—their friendship. An explosive, entertaining comedy with impeccable performances, this original, unpredictable debut establishes Iria Gómez Concheiro as a promising new director in Mexican cinema. In Spanish with English subtitles.

The Cinema Hold Up screens Friday, October 5 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, October 6 at 5:30 p.m. General admission is $9. Admission is $7 for seniors, University of Miami alumni, faculty, non-UM students, and staff; free for UM students. To purchase tickets online or for more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.