Freedomfighters

Juilliard Opera: Dialogues des Carmélites

“In a world that often demands certainty, Dialogues des Carmélites invites us to sit with profound questions that have no easy answers: What makes a life worthy? How can we be truly prepared for our inevitable end? What does security mean when everything familiar is threatened? What sustains us when our institutions crumble? … Rather than imposing answers, the opera creates room for reflection on how faith manifests not as abstract doctrine, but as lived experience under extraordinary pressure.” — Louisa Muller, Director’s Note. Juilliard Opera directed by Louisa Muller. Matthew Aucoin conducts the Juilliard Orchestra. Performed and recorded on April 26, 2025 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Dialogues des Carmélites, an opera by Francis Poulenc. Libretto adapted by the composer.

La Era

The Wall

Prisoners await execution by firing squad when they are captured during the Spanish Civil War in this drama taken from the novella by Jean-Paul Sarte. Pablo is a loyalist jailed after he searches for his brother. An Irish mercenary and a Belgian physician are his cellmates. Flashbacks recall their lives before the war as they spend their last moments on Earth waiting for their date with death.

The Strategy of the Snail

A group of tenants facing eviction due to a city renovation unite to fight back, but as they clash with the landlord and his ruthless attorney, they each transform into the opposite of who they once were.

Dix Jours dans la guerre d'Espagne

The Magdalene Sisters

Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.

The Wave

A school teacher discusses types of government with his class. His students find it too boring to repeatedly go over national socialism and believe that dictatorship cannot be established in modern Germany. He starts an experiment to show how easily the masses can become manipulated.

Dark Habits

After her drug pusher boyfriend overdoses on heroin, a cabaret singer finds refuge from the authorities in a convent for fallen women.

The Convent

During the 17th century, a young woman is saved from execution and led to a priory to repent her sins but discovers a greater evil lies within.

The Ring Two

After the ordeal with Samara, Rachel and Aiden move to a rural town. But soon Rachel learns about the death of a girl in a similar fashion. To save Aiden, she must dig into Samara's past even further.

Collin

Children of Paradise

In a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans, theater mime Baptiste is in love with the mysterious actress Garance. But Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: pretentious actor Frederick, conniving thief Lacenaire, and Count Edouard of Montray.

Con la vida hicieron fuego

The sailor Quico Carola, alleged war hero of the Francoist side, emigrated to America and amassed a great fortune. Fifteen years later he returns to Ferrera (Asturias), his homeland, in search of a wife who makes him forget his late girlfriend. There he will see his old friends and Armandina, the widow of a Republican shot during the Spanish civil war.

Benito Mussolini: Anatomy of a Dictator

La doble vida del faquir

La doble vida del faquir (The magicians) returns to the scene of a school in the Catalan town of Sant Julià de Vilatorta where, in 1937, in the midst of civil war, a film-maker in hiding and a group of orphaned children dressed up as sultans and explorers shot an exotic adventure film. The films protagonists relive those childhood days when they were able to switch their school smocks for oriental turbans, while reality imposed its own fancy dress ball with military uniforms and priests dressed in civilian garb.

Extranjeros de sí mismos

Bad Lieutenant

While investigating a young nun's rape, a corrupt New York City police detective, with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness.

Five Cartridges

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), five International Brigade soldiers of different nationalities are given a crucial assignment as their commander lies dying: they are to smuggle top-secret information across enemy lines.

Salvador (Puig Antich)

The story of Salvador Puig Antich, one of the last political prisoners to be executed under Franco's Fascist State in 1974.

El rey y la reina