a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.

thu. jun. 2

the lady vanishes, the wrong man @ egyptian
woodsman, tape deck mountain @ the echo
nights of cabiria @ aero
after hours, something wild @ new beverly
firewall of sound 8 PM @ echo park film center
in bloom 6:30 @ beyond baroque
neighborhood public radio FREE 7 PM @ moca grand ave.


fri. jun. 3

rachel fannan (10:00) @ the sanctuary
taxi driver MIDNIGHT @ nuart
hawbuckin' hobos @ beyond baroque
socorro @ lot 1 cafe
shiver of the vampires 8 PM, requiem for a vampire @ silent movie theatre
rear window, the man who knew too much @ egyptian
ruthless people @ aero
fright night 8 PM, vampire's kiss @ new beverly
david lynch (book signing) 7 PM @ barnes & noble @ the grove


sat. jun. 4

bell gardens (9:00), damon and naomi @ spaceland
the short history of skate shorts 8 PM, gleaming the cube @ silent movie theatre
spellbound, saboteur @ egyptian
8 1/2 @ aero
blacula, scream blacula scream @ new beverly
pee wee's big adventure @ lacma
harold and maude @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
matthew barney, etc @ can art and politics be thought? conference FREE 1 PM @ hammer museum
becky stark, john c reilly @ echo country outpost
eric dolphy tribute show 2-5 PM @ barbara morrison performing arts center


sun. jun. 5

14 iced bears @ part time punks @ echoplex
mikal cronin, w-h-i-t-e, pangea @ pehrspace
last tango in paris, (2nd film TBA) @ silent movie theatre
north by northwest, frenzy @ egyptian
twin peaks episodes 1-5 FREE 8:30 PM @ le spec gallery
alain badiou, etc. @ can art and politics be thought? conference FREE 1 PM @ hammer museum
sharing some sharits: classic films by paul sharits @ echo park film center


mon. jun. 6

mexicali book n' movie at the analog annex 6 PM @ echo park film center annex


tue. jun. 7

crass tribute band @ the smell
cerebral ballzy @ the echo
allegro non troppo 8 PM @ animation tuesdays @ silent movie theatre


wed. jun. 8

captain blood 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ million dollar theatre
battleship potemkin 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
dawn penn @ dub club @ echoplex


thu. jun. 9

personal & the pizzas, black lips @ casbah (SD)
an evening with mary woronov, eating raoul @ silent movie theatre
shadow of a doubt, suspicion @ egyptian
easy rider, the trip @ aero
little wings, bobby birdman @ del monte speakeasy


fri. jun. 10

the goonies MIDNIGHT @ nuart
partch: at the edge of the world 8:30 PM @ redcat
personal & the pizzas, black lips @ velvet jones (SB)
cold fish FREE 8 PM (RSVP) @ silent movie theatre
hair extensions MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theatre
high sierra, the roaring twenties @ egyptian
the hired hand, the limey @ aero
upsilon acrux @ the smell
hito hata 8 PM @ location TBA @ epfc filmmobile


sat. jun. 11

our man in havana 3 PM FREE @ getty center
i am cuba! 6:30 PM FREE @ getty center
partch: at the edge of the world 8:30 PM @ redcat
house of wax (3-D) 8 PM @ vincent price birthday celebration @ downtown independent
love exposure 2:30 PM @ silent movie theatre
noriko's dinner table 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
white heat, the strawberry blonde @ egyptian
sea lions @ the smell
woggles, detroit cobras, sonics, etc. @ ink-n-iron fest
treasure of the sierra madre @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
neonates @ take off


sun. jun. 12

memories of underdevelopment NOON @ getty center
lucia 3 PM FREE @ getty center
king tuff @ spaceland
the thief of bagdad 4 PM @ egyptian
harold and maude @ aero
neonates @ the smell
twin peaks episodes 6-9 FREE 8:30 PM @ le spec gallery
the fuse (11:30) @ bootleg
works by anne mcguire (and others) @ echo park film center


mon. jun. 13

rachel fannan FREE @ silver lake lounge
fine cut - exploring the director/editor collaboration @ silent movie theatre


tue. jun. 14

!women art revolution FREE 7 PM @ hammer museum


wed. jun. 15

meat puppets @ detroit bar
king kong (1933) 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ los angeles theatre
sunrise (w/ live score) 8 PM @ silent movie theatre


thu. jun. 16

meat puppets @ the echo
identification marks: none 8 PM, walkover @ silent movie theatre
wake wood 9 PM @ new beverly
lebbeus woods and christoph a. kumpusch's "light pavilion" opening reception 7 PM @ mak center mackey garage
bernie @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 1
gems from the archives of russell harnden 8 PM @ echo park film center


fri. jun. 17

tremellow @ venue TBA
trmrs @ blue star
dirt dress @ the smell
kevin greenspon @ boy manor
deep end 8 PM, the shout @ silent movie theatre
oh her majesty's secret service, diamonds are forever @ egyptian
the finishing touch, big business, way out west @ aero
raiders of the lost ark @ ampas samuel goldwyn theater
meshes of the afternoon 8 PM @ location TBA @ epfc filmmobile
wild strawberries, the virgin spring @ new beverly
tyrannosaur 7:20 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 13
hot coffee FREE @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 12
you hurt my feelings @ la film fest @ downtown independent
the pruitt-igoe myth 7:40 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 14
drive 8 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 1, 8
how to cheat 9:50 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 11
skateistan: four wheels and a board in kabul 10:20 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 13


sat. jun. 18

watts ensemble @ bootleg
make music pasadena FREE
essential killing @ an evening with jerzy skolimowski @ silent movie theatre
the evil dead, evil dead ii, army of darkness @ egyptian
one am radio @ origami vinyl
wild pink horse FREE @ mal's bar
wild strawberries 3:50 7:30 PM, the virgin spring 5:40 9:20 PM @ new beverly
a bucket of blood MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
heathers @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
the dynamiter 12:45 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 11
the pruitt-igoe myth 4 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 10
tomboy 6 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 11
the destiny of lesser animals @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 12
ferris bueller's day off FREE (outdoor screening) 8 PM @ la film fest @ figat7th


sun. jun. 19

the untouchables (70mm), blue thunder (70mm) @ egyptian
dr. no, from russia with love @ aero
twin peaks episodes 10-14 FREE 8:30 PM @ le spec gallery
the outside man, the limey @ new beverly
unfinished spaces 4 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 10
tomboy 4:10 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 11
on the ice FREE 6:45 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 10
letters from the big man 9:35 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 9
the innkeepers 9:50 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 10
the dynamiter 10 PM @ la film fest @ downtown independent
tyrannosaur 10 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 11


mon. jun. 20

tremellow @ beauty is pain
dunes, neonates @ the smell
the outside man, the limey @ new beverly
tol'able david 7 PM @ photoplay award winners of the silent era @ ampas samuel goldwyn theater
skateistan: four wheels and a board in kabul 10:10 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 13


tue. jun. 21

horror of the zombies, the house that vanished @ new beverly
the dynamiter 4:40 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 9
das boot 7:20 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 13
you hurt my feelings 10:30 PM @ la film fest @ downtown independent


wed. jun. 22

laurel & hardy silent shorts 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
horance andy @ dub club @ echoplex
they shoot horses don't they?, harry in your pocket @ aero
you hurt my feelings 4:20 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 13
the innkeepers 7 PM @ la film fest @ downtown independent
letters from the big man 7:10 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 9
the guard 7:20 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 12
the destiny of lesser animals @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 13
page one: inside the new york times 7:45 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 8


thu. jun. 23

tremellow @ showcave
personal & the pizzas, black lips, cerebral ballzy @ detroit bar
la dolce vita @ egyptian
meek's cutoff @ spielberg theatre @ egyptian
cape fear (1962), on dangerous ground @ aero
the thing 7 PM @ crest theatre
how to cheat 4:10 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 9
page one: inside the new york times 4:30 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 12
another earth 7:20 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 8
boyz n the hood 8 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 11
detective dee and the mystery of the phantom flame 8:30 PM @ la film fest @ ford amphitheatre
the yellow sea 9:30 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 13
films from four mountain ranges by marcy saude 8 PM @ echo park film center


fri. jun. 24

andre williams @ satellite
jon brion @ largo
paperhead, trmrs @ hm157
holly golightly & the brokeoffs @ hotel cafe
personal & the pizzas, black lips, cerebral ballzy @ music box
valley girl MIDNIGHT @ nuart
big trouble in little china @ egyptian
meek's cutoff 7:00 9:30 PM @ spielberg theatre @ egyptian
citizen kane, the magnificent ambersons @ aero
college (w/ live musical score) 8 PM @ location TBA @ epfc filmmobile
unfinished spaces 7 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 14
the future 7:20 PM @ la film fest @ redcat
beats rhymes and life: the travels of a tribe called quest 8:30 PM @ la film fest @ ford amphitheatre
the guard 9:30 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 10
paperhead (5:00) FREE @ permanent records


sat. jun. 25

danton 6:30 PM FREE @ getty center
jon brion @ largo
devon williams, sea lions, pangea FREE @ 622 n. ave. 54, highland park, 1:30-4:30 PM
meek's cutoff 7:00 9:30 PM @ spielberg theatre @ egyptian
paper soldier 12:30 PM @ la film fest @ redcat
another earth 1:10 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 11
unfinished spaces 1:20 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 13
wild river 3:15 PM @ la film fest @ redcat
project nim FREE 3:45 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 8
the future 4:40 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 9
the yellow sea 6:30 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 11
how to cheat 7 PM @ la film fest @ downtown independent
terri 7:10 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 10
the seduction of ingmar bergman 8:30 PM @ la film fest @ ford amphitheatre
mr. nobody 9:45 PM @ la film fest @ redcat
we hate everything including this series: the screamers 8 PM @ echo park film center
all night mystery movie mayhem marathon 6 PM @ silent movie theatre
cosmonauts (10:00), dirt dress (11:00) @ pehrspace
the warriors @ cinespia @ hollywood forever


sun. jun. 26

sleep @ the wiltern
holly golightly & the brokeoffs FREE @ pappy & harriet's, pioneertown
dangerous liaisons NOON FREE @ getty center
sunset boulevard 2:00 7:00 PM @ last remaining seats @ palace theatre
agora 5:30 PM @ egyptian
vertigo (70mm) @ aero
neil hamburger @ satellite
twin peaks episodes 15-19 FREE 8:30 PM @ le spec gallery
frank fairfield (6:00) FREE @ origami vinyl
the arcane enchanter 3:30 PM @ la film fest @ redcat
terri 4 PM @ la film fest @ regal l.a. live 8
mia doi todd (5:00) FREE @ amoeba
rr @ filmforum @ spielberg theatre @ egyptian


mon. jun. 27

robin hood (1922) 7 PM @ photoplay award winners of the silent era @ ampas samuel goldwyn theater


tue. jun. 28

terri FREE 8 PM (sneak preview; RSVP) @ silent movie theatre
neil hamburger, rob huebel 8 PM @ wtf live @ steve allen theater


wed. jun. 29

safety last! 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ orpheum theatre
baraka @ egyptian
obsession, marnie @ aero
mia doi todd FREE @ the standard, west hollywood
watts ensemble @ royal/t


thu. jun. 30

animals & men, dunes, kit @ the smell
everything is festival! (times TBA) @ silent movie theatre
pink floyd - the wall @ egyptian
psycho, hangover square @ aero


fri. jul. 1

green & wood, earthless @ the dark horse
trmrs @ troubadour
audacity @ blue star
everything is festival! (times TBA) @ silent movie theatre
tron (70mm), terminator 2 (70mm) @ egyptian
monty python and the holy grail, monty python's the meaning of life @ aero


sat. jul. 2

everything is festival! (times TBA) @ silent movie theatre
jaws, piranha @ egyptian
butch cassidy and the sundance kid @ cinespia @ hollywood forever


sun. jul. 3

everything is festival! (times TBA) @ silent movie theatre
stop making sense, true stories @ egyptian
sea lions @ the smell
twin peaks episodes 20-24 FREE 8:30 PM @ le spec gallery
ghostbusters @ cinespia @ hollywood forever


mon. jul. 4

everything is festival! (times TBA) @ silent movie theatre


tue. jul. 5

heavyweights of cartoon comedy: jay ward vs. tex avery @ animation tuesdays @ silent movie theatre
how much does your building weigh mr. foster? FREE 7 PM @ hammer museum


wed. jul. 6

the scarlet letter (1926) 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
new mastersounds @ troubadour
ezra buchla @ the smell
barton fink, sunset blvd. @ new beverly


thu. jul. 7

lit show film fest 7 PM @ beyond baroque


fri. jul. 8

sonny & the sunsets @ the echo
autolux (live set), master mystery (serial screening) @ into the night: music and magic @ skirball
quintron & miss pussycat @ the smell
pursued, blood on the moon @ ucla film archive


sun. jul. 10

if a tree falls: a story of the earth liberation front FREE 7 PM @ ucla film archive
twin peaks episodes 25-29 FREE 8:30 PM @ le spec gallery


mon. jul. 11

the covered wagon 7 PM @ photoplay award winners of the silent era @ ampas samuel goldwyn theater
kevin greenspon @ pehrspace


thu. jul. 14

the soft pack (8:00) FREE @ hammer museum


fri. jul. 15

white fence @ blue star
gris gris, king khan @ the echo


sun. jul. 17

track of the cat @ ucla film archive
iceage @ the echo


mon. jul. 18

w-h-i-t-e @ pehrspace
the big parade 7 PM @ photoplay award winners of the silent era @ ampas samuel goldwyn theater


wed. jul. 20

the general (1927) 7 PM @ photoplay award winners of the silent era @ ampas samuel goldwyn theater


thu. jul. 21

no age FREE @ levitt pavillion


fri. jul. 22

ty segall, audacity @ eagle rock center for the arts


sat. jul. 23

earth @ echoplex


sun. jul. 24

the wonderful country 7 PM @ ucla film archive
frank fairfield @ mccabe's


mon. jul. 25

beau geste 7 PM @ photoplay award winners of the silent era @ ampas samuel goldwyn theater


thu. jul. 28

thurston moore @ troubadour
slackers FREE 5 PM @ santa monica pier
the clock: 24-hour screening (begins 5 PM) FREE @ lacma 


fri. jul. 29

thurston moore @ troubadour
moab FREE @ 3 clubs


sat. jul. 30

nodzzz, ducktails, woods, etc @ woodsist festival @ fernwood (big sur)


sun. jul. 31

thee oh sees, woods, white fence, etc @ woodsist festival @ henry miller library (big sur)
neil hamburger @ satellite
grass widow @ the echo


tue. aug. 2

woods, white fence @ echoplex


thu. aug. 4

seven deadly sampler films too FREE 7 PM @ beyond baroque


sun. aug. 7

thrones @ troubadour


mon. aug. 8

four sons 7 PM @ photoplay award winners of the silent era @ ampas samuel goldwyn theater


tue. aug. 9

allah las @ the echo


tue. aug. 16

allah las @ the echo


tue. aug. 23

allah las @ the echo


tue. aug. 30

powaqqatsi (w/ live musical accompaniment by the philip glass ensemble) 8 PM @ hollywood bowl
allah las @ the echo


tue. sept. 20

low @ el rey


sat. oct. 1

eagle rock music festival


tue. nov. 1

wild flag @ casbah (SD)


wed. nov. 2

wild flag @ troubadour


thu. nov. 3

wild flag @ troubadour




WHAT IT IS:



AGORA
2009, Newmarket Films, 127 min, Spain, Dir: Alejandro Amenábar
Set in Roman Egypt, 400 A.D., this compelling historical drama follows Hypatia (Rachel Weisz), a Greek woman and mathematician, astronomer and philosopher bravely struggling to save the wisdom of classical antiquity in the midst of religious war. Filming took place on the island of Malta, where production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas re-created large parts of the city on location, further extended with the help of computer-generated imagery. The construction of the main set employed almost 400 people, and was the largest ever built on the island.  Discussion following with designer Guy Hendrix Dyas and set decorator Larry Dias, moderated by production designer John Muto.


Allegro Non Troppo
A rare 35mm screening of the momentous musical 1976 feature from master Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto! This film, a feature length parody of Disney’s Fantasia, is a masterpiece unto itself. Bozzetto visualizes Ravel's “Bolero” as an Evolutionary Fantasy, one that supposes life began as germs from a discarded Coke bottle; Vivaldi's “Concerto in C” is the backdrop of an insect revenge senario; and, Sibelius' “Valse Triste” is used for a poignant tale of an abandoned house cat. As well, Bozetto also skewers Dvorak and Debussy using full character animation, and the film is framed with zany live action bridging sequences featuring the Woody Allen of Italy, Maurizio Nichetti. Our resident animation historian, Jerry Beck, will begin the program with several classic American cartoon shorts -- by Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett and Friz Freleng -- that use classical music as their basis. Don't miss the classiest cartoon show of the year!
Dir. Bruno Bozzetto, 1976, 35mm, 85 min. 


ALL NIGHT MYSTERY MOVIE MAYHEM MARATHON
Cinefamily’s been acquiring so many cool ‘n rare 35mm prints that we just have to bust out and do a whole marathon night where we show the bestest of the best! As well, we’ve been chatting with some of our other print collector friends, and their coffers are bursting as well — so come join us for an extended night of overindulgence, where we pool it all together and pig out! Might you see fist-flying kung fu? Sinful sexploitation? Corny comedy? Big goofy rubber monsters stomping on major metropolitan areas? Simply indescribable nonsense you won’t be able to see on any other screen anytime soon?!?! Probably at least one of the above — so mosey on down, you cinema savage!


Another Earth
(USA, 2011, 92 mins)
Directed By: Mike Cahill; Executive Producers: Tyler Brodie, Paul S. Mezey; Producers: Mike Cahill, Hunter Gray, Brit Marling, Nicholas Shumaker; Screenwriters: Mike Cahill, Brit Marling; Cinematographer: Mike Cahill; Editor: Mike Cahill; Cast: William Mapother, Brit Marling, Jordan Baker, Robin Lord Taylor, Flint Beverage
On the eve of an epic global discovery—a second Earth glowing in the sky—two strangers, John and Rhoda, collide in a tragedy that forever changes their lives. Four years later the two, both shadows of their former selves, slowly come together as an unlikely couple. But looming almost as largely as the distant new Earth are the harsh realities of truth, guilt, and the complexities of forgiveness.
In this stunning collaboration, director Mike Cahill and mesmerizing actress/co-writer Brit Marling present the rare, successful hybrid of high-concept science fiction film and scrappy independent, fearlessly asking of their audience "What would you do if you met another you?"


The Arcane Enchanter (L'arcano incantatore)
(Italy, 1996, 96 mins)
Directed By: Pupi Avati; Producers: Antonio Avati, Aurelio De Laurentiis; Writer: Pupi Avati; Cinematographer: Cesare Bastelli; Editor: Amedeo Salfa; Cast: Carlo Cecchi, Stefano Dionisi, Arnaldo Ninchi, Andrea Scorzoni, Mario Erpichini, Vittorio Duse, Patrizia Sacchi; Music: Pino Donaggio
Secrets long buried and best forgotten come to the surface in The Arcane Enchanter. Never released in America, Avati Pupi’s gothic masterwork takes place in 18th century Italy, where a seminary student flees to a remote castle after being accused of bewitching a young girl.  Upon his arrival, he discovers he has been hired to serve a defrocked priest who is rumored to dabble in the black arts, and his first assignment is to dispose of the body of the previous assistant. Terror turns to fascination, obsession and eventually back to terror as the student is drawn into a dangerous quest for forbidden knowledge.  


Battleship Potemkin
(brand-new 35mm restoration!)
On the heels of their incredible job on Fritz Lang's Metropolis comes Kino's brand-new restoration of Battleship Potemkin, still one of most important experiences in film history 85 years after its original release! It is Odessa, 1905. Enraged with the deplorable conditions on board the armored cruiser Potemkin, the ship's loyal crew contemplates the unthinkable: mutiny. Seizing control of the Potemkin and raising the red flag of revolution, the sailors' revolt becomes the rallying point for a Russian populace ground under the boot heels of the Czar's Cossacks. When ruthless White Russian cavalry arrive to crush the rebellion on the sandstone Odessa Steps, the most famous and quoted film sequence in cinema history is born. For eight decades, Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 masterpiece has remained one of the most influential silent films of all time -- yet each successive generation has seen Battleship Potemkin subjected to censorship and recutting, its unforgettable power diluted in unauthorized public domain editions from dubious sources. This all-new restoration -- available for the first time in 35mm -- restores dozens of missing shots, all 146 original title cards, and Edmund Meisel's definitive 1926 score, returning the film to a form as close to its creator's bold vision as has been seen since the film's triumphant Moscow premiere!
Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1925, 35mm, 75 min. 


Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
(USA, 2011, 95 mins)
Directed By: Michael Rapaport; Producers: Edward Parks, Michael Rapaport, Frank Mele, Eric Matthies, Robert Benavides, Debra Koffler, ATCQ; Cinematographer: Robert Benavides; Editors: Lenny Mesina, AJ Schnack; Featuring: Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jarobi White
Live DJ sets by KCRW's Dan Wilcox, Anthony Valadez and Garth Trinidad. Music stars at 7 p.m. Movie starts at 8:30 p.m.
As Beats, Rhymes & Life begins, the rappers who anchored pioneering group A Tribe Called Quest are already going their separate ways. As youths in the mid-'80s, the Queens-born foursome of Tribe—Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White—found success with their exhuberant exploration and combination of hip hop, pop and jazz. But in recent years, Q-Tip, the band's visionary and reluctant pop star, has tired of the street-bred capriciousness of his lyrical partner Phife, who is equally frustrated with Q-Tip. How these two friends and musical partners got to this state forms the guts of actor-turned-filmmaker Michael Rapaport's candid and combustible documentary. 


Bernie
(USA, 2011, 95 mins)
Directed By: Richard Linklater; Executive Producers: Michael Bassick, William T. Conway, Don Fox, Jack Gilardi Jr., Ken Hirsh, Johnny Lin, Duncan Montgomery, Darby Parker, Jack Selby; Producers: Celine Rattray, Martin Shafer, Liz Glotzer, Matt Williams, David McFadzean, Judd Payne, Dete Meserve, Ginger Sledge, Richard Linklater; Writers: Skip Hollandsworth, Richard Linklater; Cinematographer: Dick Pope; Editor: Sandra Adair; Cast: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey
Indie icon Richard Linklater returns to his Texas roots in this delightfully poker-faced black comedy—based on a true story—about East Texas assistant funeral home director Bernie Tiede, beloved for his generosity and sweet spirit. So well liked is Bernie, especially by the town’s elderly ladies, that nobody in Carthage will say a bad thing about him, even when he commits a very nasty crime. 


BEAU GESTE (1926)
Introduced by film historian Frank Thompson.
Ronald Colman and William Powell starred in this first film version of Percival Christopher Wren’s classic adventure novel about three brothers who join the French Foreign Legion to protect their family’s honor.
With live musical accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.
Preceded by Harry Langdon in SATURDAY AFTERNOON (1926).


BIG BUSINESS
Stan and Ollie are California Christmas tree salesman plodding through slow business. When a disgruntled customer starts an argument, angry words escalate into full-scale destruction! A house, garden and car get completely totaled - as a disbelieving police officer watches. Presented with live musical accompaniment! (1929, 19 min.)


THE BIG PARADE (1925)
Introduced by film historian Kevin Brownlow.
Newly restored 35mm tinted print from Warner Bros. King Vidor directed John Gilbert in this moving drama about a young soldier’s experiences in World War I, which became one of the highest-grossing silent films of all time.
With a recorded stereo orchestral score composed by Carl Davis. 


Blood on the Moon (1948)
The plot of Blood on the Moon sounds like standard Western fare: A stranger rides into town and finds himself driven by circumstance and conscience into choosing sides in a range war. The familiarity of the tale highlights the film’s stylistic gambit. An unshaven Mitchum plays the stranger, Jim Garry, with a gritty, seedy edge, he’s a hero from hunger, that perfectly anchors the hard realism of old Val Lewton hands, director Robert Wise and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, who suffuse the sagebrush with deep noirish shadows.
RKO. Producer: Theron Warth. Based on a novel by Luke Short. Screenwriter: Lillie Hayward. Cinematographer: Nicholas Musuraca. Editor: Samuel E. Beetley. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, Walter Brennan, Phyllis Thaxter.  35mm, b/w, 88 min.


BLUE THUNDER
1983, Sony Repertory, 109 min, USA, Dir: John Badham
Déjà vu 1983! The government has unleashed its newest weapon: a heavily armed helicopter that can spy on civilians from 1,000 feet and incinerate entire city blocks. The only ones who can stop Big Brother (in the form of Malcolm McDowell’s fascist cop) from using it against us are Vietnam vet-turned-police chopper pilot Roy Scheider and his tech-savvy partner, Daniel Stern. Director John Badham's paranoid actioner flies high with stunning cinematography by John Alonzo and dazzling dogfights over downtown L.A.


CAPE FEAR
1962, Universal, 106 min, USA, Dir: J. Lee Thompson
Gregory Peck is an ordinary family man terrorized by psychotic ex-con Robert Mitchum in this adaptation of John D. MacDonald’s THE EXECUTIONERS. A classic Bernard Herrmann score drives this relentless thriller, a finely tuned suspense piece that was remade by Martin Scorsese in 1991.


The Clock: 24-Hour Screening
Thursday, July 28 | 5:00 pm through Friday, July 29 | 5:00 pm
LACMA is excited to present another free 24-hour screening of The Clock starting on Thursday July 28 at 5pm.  Artist Christian Marclay's The Clock is a 24-hour single-channel montage constructed from thousands of moments of cinema and television history depicting the passage of time. Marclay has excerpted each of these moments from their original contexts and edited them together to create a functioning timepiece synchronized to local time wherever it is viewed - marking the exact time in real time for the viewer for 24 consecutive hours. The sampled clips come from films of all genres, time periods, and cultures, some lasting only seconds, others minutes, and have been culled from hundreds of films, famous and obscure, into a seamless whole. The result, a melding of video and reality, unfolds with a seemingly endless cast of cameos. This free screening will allow The Clock to be seen in the way Marclay intended, by making it available in its entirety.


COLD FISH
Right from its sucker-punch opening with its jagged hand written titles and razor editing, Sion Sono’s Cold Fish grabs you by the hair and drags you through an intense narrative of betrayal, infidelity and murder. Ostensibly inspired by the story of a real-life Japanese serial killer (who raised dogs, rather than fish), Cold Fish has all of Sono’s trademark brilliance and nihilism in its tale of sad-sack Shamoto (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), who’s stuck with a failing fish store and a family who hates him. When Shamoto meets the the charismatic and rich Murata, owner of a popular high-end fish shop and a hot-red Ferrari (Denden, in one of the greatest serial killer portrayals of the last few decades), his life changes irrevocably. Easily manipulated and coerced into progressively worse situations, it’s not long before Shamoto realizes that not only has Murata car-jacked his life, but he’s also shut the windows, locked the doors and is driving them full-speed off of a cliff. Schedule permitting, Sion Sono will join us for a Q&A after the film!
Dir. Sion Sono, 2010, 144 min. 


College
The epic struggle between athlete and intellectual is hardly a laughing matter, but College delivers one of the funniest, earliest examples of the jock vs. nerd story. His character Roland is an intelligent buffoon who must adapt to the athleticism of Clayton University, where he hopes to win the favor of a former high school classmate (Anne Cornwall).  Keaton's subsequent disastrous attempts to become a star athlete are so breathtakingly executed with perfect childlike attitude; the track-and-field mishap sequence, filmed on the USC track, exemplifies the stunning degree of Keaton's physical control, as does his character's transformation from dispassionate stumbler to ace athelete.  College is a necessity for fans of sports films, jocks, nerds, and anyone who wants to learn a thing or two about comedic filmmaking at 1/200 of the unit cost (the film was significantly lower-budgeted than usual, due to the box-office disappointment of The General).
Dirs. Buster Keaton & James W. Horne, 1927, 35mm, 66 min.


THE COVERED WAGON (1923)
35mm print courtesy of the Paramount Pictures Collection at UCLA. This epic adventure of pioneers on a dangerous journey along the Oregon Trail is considered one of the first great Western films and features scenes filmed on location in Nevada and Utah.
With live musical accompaniment provided by Will Ryan and the Cactus County Cowboys.
Preceded by surviving fragments of 1924’s Photoplay Medal recipient ABRAHAM LINCOLN, and images from THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923) projected in 3D. 


Danton (1982)
Acting as a metaphor for revolutionary events unfolding in Poland in the early 1980s, this powerful historical drama from filmmaker Andrzej Wajda follows Georges Jacques/Danton and Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre, allies in the French Revolution.


Deep End
Having left his native Poland in anger over the censorship of his previous film Rece do gory, Jerzy Skolimowski ventured to England and produced the rarely-seen Deep End, a kind of disturbing anti-Harold and Maude that stands as one of the most unpredictable films of Mod-era British cinema. Deep End begins as a charmingly surreal comic coming-of-age tale, as seemingly innocent as the schoolboy crush that 15-year-old public bath attendant Mike harbors for his beguiling older coworker Susan -- but when Mike starts taking Susan’s flirtatious behavior seriously, and in turn can’t properly process adult sexuality, Deep End takes a sharp turn for the turbulent. Skolimowski’s off-the-cuff handling of dialogue and cinematography ratchets up the sense of squalor as Mike compulsively follows Susan through Soho’s back-end brothels and peep shows, all set to the driving rhythm of Can’s indelible psychedelic soundtrack. Alternately hilarious and horrifying, Deep End doesn’t stop playing with your expectations until the very last frame; this long-considered-lost swinging-London psychodrama has become an off-kilter classic, recently landing a spot on Time Out’s list of the 100 Best British Films.
Dir. Jerzy Skolimowski, 1970, 35mm, 90 min.


The Destiny of Lesser Animals (Sibo ne kra, Dabo ne kra)
(Ghana , USA, 2011, 87 mins)
In Fante, English, Pidgin, Twl and Ga with English subtitles
Directed By: Deron Albright; Producers: Deron Albright, Francis Gbormittah, Dede Maitre, Yao B. Nunoo; Screenwriter: Yao B. Nunoo; Cinematographer: Aaron T. Bowen; Editors: Jacob Bricca, Lisa Molomot; Cast: Yao B. Nunoo, Fred Amugi, Abena Takyi, Sandy Arkhurst, Xolasie Mawuenyega
In this incisive take on one man's journey of self discovery, Bonifice Koomsin, a police detective desperate to escape his life in Ghana, purchases a counterfeit passport, complete with a visa to America. When that passport is stolen, however, he finds himself embarking on a serpentine hunt into the underworld he is supposed to police. As the stakes escalate, Koomsin's motives are increasingly compromised and gradually his own fragile identity begins to crumble.
Transcending its suspenseful policier genre, Deron Albright’s feature directorial debut emerges as an intimate portrait of a man who has given up on his nation in an attempt to rewrite his own history.  


Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
(Hong Kong, 2010, 106 mins)
In Mandarin and Spanish with English subtitles
Directed By: Tsui Hark; Executive Producers: Nansun Shi, Peggy Lee, Chen Kuo-fu; Producers: Wang Zhongjun, Wang Zhonglei, Tsui Hark; Screenwriter: Zhang Jialu; Cinematographers: Chan Chi-ying, Chan Chor-keung; Editor: Yau Chi-wa; Cast: Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Li Bingbing, Chao Deng, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Jean-Michel Casanova, Teddy Robin Kwan, Jinshan Liu, Rochard Ng, Lu Yao
The giant Buddha statue commemorating the coronation of China’s first female emperor is nearly finished and everything is on track for a grand ceremony when state officials suddenly start spontaneously combusting. Could the Empress be the next target? In prison for treason, Detective Dee has seen better days, but even the Empress knows he’s the only one who can solve the mystery of the phantom flame.
Rife with gigantic set pieces, thousands of extras and stunning fight choreography by Sammo Hung, Tsui Harks’s film reunites many of Hong Kong’s biggest stars for this martial arts meets police procedural adventure. Detective Dee will definitely have his hands full with this one. 


Drive
(USA, 2011, 95 mins)
Directed By: Nicolas Winding Refn; Executive Producers: David Lancaster, Bill Lischak, Linda McDonough, Jeffrey Stott, Gary Michael Waters; Producers: Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker; Writer: Hossein Amini; Editor: Matthew Newman; Cast: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, Albert Brooks, Tina Huang
Brutal and beautiful, Nicholas Winding Refn's film noir is as black as they come. Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan star as a mysteriously self-contained Hollywood stunt driver who can turn on a dime between tender and terrifying and the young mother whose family he tries to help when he agrees to drive a getaway car for her ex-con husband.  Then the job goes south, way south.
Right from the amazing opening action sequence on the streets of downtown L.A., you know you are in the hands of a hard-boiled master. Refn, the Danish-born director of the Pusher trilogy and Bronson, brings a savage poetry to this haunting, violent thriller. 


The Dynamiter
(USA, 2010, 73 mins)
North America Premiere
Directed By: Matthew Gordon; Executive Producers: Karthis Achar, Todd Murphy, George Dritsas, Casey Gordon, Nicola Benizzi, Ray Gordon, Geoff Grayson, Jon Owsley, Art Jones, Marianne Michallet, Erik Goshin; Producers: Matthew Gordon, Kevin Abrams, Mike Jones, Nate Tuck, Amile Wilson, Art Jones, Merilee Holt; Screenwriter: Brad Ingelsby; Cinematographer: Jeffrey Waldron; Editors: Kevin Abrams, Brandon Boyd; Cast: William Patrick Ruffin, John Alex Nunnery, Patrick Rutherford, Ciara McMillan
During a balmy summer in rural Mississippi, a troubled 14-year-old boy comes to realize what truly matters to him: family. Forced to don the mantle of “man of the house,” young Robbie spends his days working, caring for his elderly grandmother and little half-brother Fess, and trying to avoid the fate of his wastrel older brother. Best intentions collide with harsh realities, and Robbie must try to survive a life that has left him with few options.
With a remarkable empathy for its characters, this atmospheric first feature by Matthew Gordon is a loving look at a teenage boy negotiating what it means to be a man. 


Eating Raoul
“You really get to like Paul and Mary, and want them to succeed, even if they do have to kill some perverts along the way.” -- J. Read, Monsters At Play
An outlandish mixture of '50s-themed high camp, '70s Robert Downey, Sr.-style bizarro satire and '80s gross-out sex romp, the indie hit Eating Raoul is Cult Film Director Hall Of Famer Paul Bartel’s finest hour. Bartel and Mary Woronov star as a sexually conservative couple (“Paul” and “Mary”, natch) who, after they need quick cash to open their dream restaurant, devise an makeshift S&M operation to lure rich horndogs to their deaths. Beyond its savagely funny swipes at the Sexual Revolution (featuring squads of lecherous swingers, all whacked out like Mr. Farley from “Three’s Company” on PCP), the film is as much a love letter to our city as a prime Cheech & Chong vehicle, for it’s crammed full of nutty local characters and enough unmistakably L.A. locales to fill an entire season of Huell Howser specials. Woronov easily steamrolls over the film’s population of wackos and sleazoids with aplomb; with her distinct mixture of understated deadpan comedy, soft sensuality and no-bullshit ingenuity, Mary’s radiant heat has ensured that Eating Raoul remains a “classic cult classic.” (Rob Lineberger, DVD Verdict)
Dir. Paul Bartel, 1982, 35mm, 90 min. (35mm print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive) 


ESSENTIAL KILLING
An Evening With Jerzy Skolimowski
It’s a rare thing when a film director whose career spans six decades makes a feature with the same kind of intensity, excitement, importance and uniqueness as they would their debut -- and Jerzy Skowlimowski nails this exact situation with Essential Killing, one of the best of his entire career. In one of his most fearless, primal performances -- during which he has no spoken dialogue -- Vincent Gallo is an unnamed prisoner of war captured in a Middle Eastern country by American forces; en route to being processed at a European outpost, the transport truck containing Gallo crashes in the Polish wilderness, spilling him out into the bone-snappingly harsh winter. What follows is a harrowing portrait of the extremes humans can reach in order to survive: as an injured and increasingly maddened Gallo devises further ruses to duck the encroaching soldiers on his trail, he must kill anyone who stands in his way -- but wouldn’t you, if you were in his shoes? Skolimowski brilliantly avoids any partisan politics inherent in the subject matter by never explicitly stating if Gallo is, in fact, Taliban, instead immersing the viewer in a densely poetic and aurally fractured trip that leaves you chilled, thrilled and fulfilled -- lingering in your mind for weeks afterwards.
Dir. Jerzy Skolimowski, 2010, 35mm, 83 min. 


An Evening With Mary Woronov
Not every actor can list both Warhol films and “Murder, She Wrote” in their CV -- oh, wait, no actor can claim that but Mary Woronov. There is a cult of M.V., and it’s richly deserved; her performances are so distinct and unique that her mere onscreen presence sharpens each image, and gives every scene a B12 shot in the rear. To admire Mary’s work is to get deeply involved, like you would with a new favorite band: once you’re introduced, you’re hooked, and have to track down every last appearance. She is smart, she is hilarious, she is sexy, and she can convey everything from knife-edge danger to warm familiarity with a single look. Beyond her voluminous career in film and TV, she’s also a painter, a novelist, a a dancer, a college professor -- in short, a superstar. Join us in a spirited on-stage discussion with Mary, as we weave a web taking us from her days as a member of Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable, to her stint on a network soap, her award-winning stage work, the Corman years, her kinship with Paul Bartel and beyond!


EVERYTHING IS FESTIvAL!
Imagine an extended 4th of July holiday weekend where all your fantasies come true. A time where you can just be...free. Free to laugh until your sides literally split open, and feel as cool as a skateboarding, shade-tippin' dog. We're talking about the festival to end all film festivals -- the 2nd Annual Everything Is Festival! (aka the 47th Annual Gathering Of The Terribles!) For reasons beyond our control (perhaps it’s God's plan), Cinefamily is giving the found footage freaks at Everything Is Terrible! free range of a five-day span, and letting them do whatever the hell they want (note: we did have to say “no” to the all-night helicopter foam party). Here's just some of the lineup so far:  The Pelican Brief Project: a completely weird live re-scoring by Candybox Violence!  Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation: the legendary '80s VHS shot-for-shot remake of Raiders by a cast & crew of teenagers in Mississippi -- with the film's star Chris Strompolos in person!  A mind-bending live version of IFC's Food Party", with host Thu Tran in person!!!!  Sledgehammer: one of the earliest and most insane SOV (shot-on-video) horror films ever -- with star Ted Prior in person!  The return of the Found Footage Battle Royale!  Everything Is Terrible! & Friends: assorted madness from EIT! and their favorite pals they've met on their mystical found footage journey (Black Magic Rollercoaster, Showbeast, Rem Lazar, Paul Crik, the Brain Bludgeon crew and many more!)  Top-secret über-rare prints from the vaults of Cinefamily and Austin, TX’s famous Alamo Drafthouse!


FILMS FROM FOUR MOUNTAIN RANGES BY MARCY SAUDE
A program of recent experimental documentary shorts investigating marginal histories embedded in the landscape. Fragmented tales of outlaws, back-to-the-landers, farmers, and most of all- mountains. Former gold rush boom towns; serial killers in Santa Cruz, California; Anabaptist folk medicine as performance art; anarchists and Comanche re-enactors; a rural festival of antique farming technology; quiet looks at counterculture architecture; lots of mountain-gazing in the Rockies, the Sangre de Cristos, Southern Appalachia and the California Redwoods; and attempts to push against the edges of non-fiction form. Total running time: approx 70min.
FILMMAKER MARCY SAUDE IN ATTENDANCE!


Fine Cut - Exploring The Director/Editor Collaboration
Presented by the International Documentary Association
A good documentary editor is worth their weight in gold. More than editors working in other genres, the documentary editor is responsible for finding and shaping story, often without any kind of script.  For directors, working with the right editor is crucial. They make you better. They challenge you to see around your limitations. When you're stymied, they help you find your way. Together, you collaborate to overcome some of the biggest challenges and obstacles in your film. It's a true partnership, and in many ways, editors are the unheralded superstars of your favorite documentaries. Join producer/director Robert Kenner (Two Days in October, Food, Inc.), as he engages with Kate Amend, ACE (Into the Arms of Strangers, The Long Way Home), Kim Roberts (Food, Inc., Waiting for Superman) and Victor Livingston (Shakespeare Behind Bars, Crumb) in an exploration of the rewards, and challenges, inherent in the director/editor collaboration, and other pearls of wisdom from the editing room.


THE FINISHING TOUCH
Stan and Ollie are contracted to build a house in one day, but when a seemingly harmless bird perches atop the new chimney, the completed house begins to fall apart, piece by piece. Classic Laurel and Hardy mayhem ensues when the owner demands his money back. Presented with live musical accompaniment!  (1928, 19 min.)


FIREWALL OF SOUND
The Internet has saved the music industry. The Internet has destroyed the music industry. Both of these statements are picked apart in this award-winning documentary, featuring members of Neutral Milk Hotel, Superchunk, The Mountain Goats, and many more. FILMMAKER DEVIN DiMATTIA IN ATTENDANCE!


FOUR SONS (1928)
Four-time Best Director winner John Ford helmed this drama about four brothers in World War I, one of the few of Ford’s silent films that still exists.
Preceded by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in TWO TARS (1928) and a fragment from the 1928 lost film THE CASE OF LENA SMITH, directed by Josef von Sternberg, courtesy of the Austrian Film Museum, Vienna. 


The Future
(Germany , USA, 2011, 91 mins)
Directed By: Miranda July; Executive Producer: Sue Bruce-Smith; Producers: Gina Kwon, Roman Paul, Gerhard Meixner; Screenwriter: Miranda July; Cinematographer: Nikolai von Graevenitz; Editor: Andrew Bird; Cast: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, David Warshofsky, Isabella Acres, Joe Putterlik
In Miranda July’s boldly imaginative second feature, a couple gives themselves the opportunity to explore a “what if” situation. What if Sophie and Jason could quit their jobs for 30 days and do the things that might actually be fulfilling to them? What if Sophie could choreograph a solo dance masterpiece and Jason could solve global warming by canvassing for an environmental cause? Fantasy blends with reality as their endeavors turn out to be less than fulfilling and each enters a realm of personal failure that inevitably leads to a crisis in their relationship.
A film that could only come from July's incredibly unique perspective, The Future reveals the ways in which we can lose ourselves and each other.


GEMS FROM THE ARCHIVES OF RUSSELL HARNDEN
Once again film collector Russell Harnden returns with another unique screening of GEMS FROM THE ARCHIVES. He will share with us more of those wonderful educational and industrial films from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s for an evening that’s sure to stimulate your mind and make you laugh at the same time. These campy and nostalgic reminders of a simpler time will include topics such as venereal disease being kept at bay (“FIGHT SYPHILIS”), two hapless drivers battling it out in a game of road rage without cars (“STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN”), plus you’ll learn how to talk with your body and not with your mouth (“THE FUNCTION OF GESTURES”). Drawn from his personal collection of over 2,800 films, Russell will present a sampling of many more great titles as well. We all remember falling asleep in the classroom when we should have been watching and taking these films VERY seriously, so be sure to join us and see them again or for the first time! CURATOR RUSS HARNDEN IN ATTENDANCE! 


THE GENERAL (1927)
Introduced by film historian Kevin Brownlow.
35mm print from the original negative from Photoplay Productions. Actor-director Buster Keaton’s Civil War comedy about a Confederate train engineer is considered one of the star’s masterpieces, mixing classic slapstick with spectacular action sequences.
With a recorded stereo orchestral score composed by Carl Davis.
Preceded by a “then-and-now” presentation by John Bengtson outlining the filming locations for silent era comedies by Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. 


Gleaming the Cube
When asked to describe the highest highs of the skating experience by Thrasher Magazine, artist Garry Davis inadvertently coined the term “gleaming the cube” in a moment of stoned, glossolalic genius. Little did he know that his words would soon be spun into the twisted yarn of board-sports history as the title of the definitive skater-sleuth mystery movie. Hot off 1988’s Heathers, the film features Christian Slater in his prime, coming off like a young and jaded Jack Nicholson with bleach-blonde hair, decked out in a Cramps T-shirt. After the gratuitous murder of his Vietnamese step-brother, Slater grabs his board and seeks his own special brand of street justice, skating the suburban sprawl of Orange County while uncovering an illegal gunrunning operation. With cameos by Tony Hawk and the notorious Bones Brigade, GTC packs authenticity into its neo-noir narrative, punctuating the story with amazing sequences of sidewalk shredding that’ll bring any boarder to a state of total skate satori. And with musical moments that include The Dickies’ Anaheim anthem “Stukas Over Disneyland”, the movie stands out as a pristine artifact of its era, managing to land all its jaw-dropping tricks without skinning a proverbial knee. Gleaming The Cube screenwriter Michael Tolkin (The Player, The Rapture, The New Age) and co-stars Max Perlich and Steven Bauer will be here for a Q&A after the film!
Dir. Graeme Clifford, 1989, 35mm, 105 min. 


The Guard
(Ireland, 2011, 96 mins)
Directed By: John Michael McDonagh; Executive Producers: Martin McDonagh, Don Cheadle, Lenore Zerman, Ralph Kamp, Tim Smith, Paul Brett, David Nash; Producers: Chris Clark, Flora Fernandez Marengo, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe; Screenwriter: John Michael McDonagh; Cinematographers: Larry Smith, BSC; Editor: Chris Gill; Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, Dominique McElligott, Sarah Greene, Katarina Cas
Brendan Gleeson gives an unforgettable performance as caustic, unruly Irish police officer Jerry Boyle, a man fond of booze, hookers and whatever drugs he can filch off a corpse. When Boyle is put on a case that involves lethal international drug traffickers, he finds himself saddled with a new partner from the States, FBI investigator Wendell Everett, a straight-laced, by-the-book former Rhodes Scholar played by Don Cheadle. Their partnership, needless to say, is not a smooth one: racial sensitivity is not one of Boyle's strong suits.
First time writer-director John Michael McDonagh has fashioned a rowdy, at times surprisingly touching entertainment that's part thriller, part character study and part odd-couple black comedy.


HAIR EXTENSIONS
Sion Sono takes body horror to a whole new richly-lathered, sleek and shiny level with Exte (aka Hair Extensions), his unique blend of genre fireworks, trippy setpieces, left-field nutjob characters and intense melodrama. Kill Bill/Battle Royale star Chiaki Kuriyama plays an apprentice hairdresser who has to contend with being suddenly saddled with her loser half-sister’s young daughter, and with running afoul of a whacked-out morgue attendant who’s harvesting endless reams of freshly-grown demon hair from a magical corpse! Sono deftly walks the tightrope between hard-hitting, truly sad family histrionics and a giddy Peter Jackson-esque comedic horror tone, giving us a bounty of indelible and seriously squirmy moments wrapped within one of his trademark unpredictable packages. Schedule permitting, Sion Sono will be here to introduce the film!
Dir. Sion Sono, 2007, digital presentation, 108 min. 


HARRY IN YOUR POCKET
1973, MGM Repertory, 103 min, USA, Dir: Bruce Geller
Ray (Michael Sarrazin) is a pickpocket working the Seattle train station when he’s caught red-handed by Sandy (Trish Van Devere), but as she confronts this second-rate thief, someone else makes off with her cash. When Ray agrees to help his would-be mark, the two fall in with Harry (James Coburn) and his mentor, Casey (Walter Pidgeon), a pair of expert pickpockets, or “cannons.” Learning from the best, Ray and Sandy become an integral part of the team - but Ray’s ambitions, Harry’s attraction to Sandy, and Casey’s taste for cocaine threaten to derail the entire operation. Featuring a score by Lalo Schifrin, HARRY IN YOUR POCKET revels in the law and lingo of larceny, and has a touch of the same gleeful mischief that made THE STING such a hit.


HAWBUCKIN' HOBOS
Cultural anthropologist GERRY FIALKA explores America’s affection for free spirit and the open road. Utilizing rare audio and film clips, Fialka arouses insight into music experimenter/hobo HARRY PARTCH and folk singer/labor and peace activist UTAH PHILLIPS.


Heavyweights of Cartoon Comedy:
Jay Ward vs. Tex Avery!
Never before in the history of animation have these two titans of cartoon comedy faced off -- just for laughs! Making his way into the ring: our resident animation historian Jerry Beck, who has collected a complete program of the rare 35mm and 16mm film prints that pit the two masters of cartoon mayhem against each other, with results that are hilarious. Tex Avery, the champion from Texas who created Droopy Dog and Red Hot Riding Hood, was the "king of cartoons" with his series of MGM theatrical shorts of the ‘40s and ‘50s. These animated masterpieces practically invented the language of cartoons, and are rife with exploding bombs, eye-popping doubletakes and girl-hungry Hollywood wolves. Tonight’s challenger is Jay Ward, the prize-winning Bay Area producer who revolutionized TV toons in the ‘60s with witty dialogue, funny artwork and zany characters like Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right and Super Chicken. Who was funnier: Avery or Ward? Does it matter?! This big-screen contest will screen the best of the best -- and the audience will be victor! 


HIGH SIERRA
1941, Warner Bros., 100 min, USA, Dir: Raoul Walsh
Script by John Huston and W.R. Burnett, from Burnett’s novel. The quintessential gangster romance, from the pen of one of America’s most important crime writers. Humphrey Bogart plays Mad Dog Earle, an outlaw looking for one last score, sidetracked by love, hounded by inescapable fate. With the incomparable Ida Lupino and Joan Leslie, both taking excellently to Walsh’s rugged and fast-paced direction. Remade twice, as COLORADO TERRITORY and I DIED A THOUSAND TIMES.


THE HIRED HAND
1971, Sundance Channel, 90 min, USA, Dir: Peter Fonda
This quietly unassuming but powerful Western languished for decades in obscurity - until it was recently restored in a beautiful new print through the efforts of director and star Peter Fonda, editor Frank Mazzola and the Sundance Channel. After many years away, world-weary Harry (Peter Fonda) returns to the family farm with easygoing pal Arch (the superb Warren Oates), only to be greeted by bitter wife Hannah (Verna Bloom). Determined to settle down, Harry’s healing relationship with Hannah is imperiled when grudge holders from the past threaten him. The stunning, near-hallucinatory cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond looks even better today than it did in 1971. Not to be missed!  Discussion between films with Peter Fonda, moderated by Larry Karaszewski.


HITO HATA
This poignant drama chronicles the contributions and hardships of Japanese Americans from the turn of the century to the late seventies. Veteran actor/director Mako leads a veteran cast of Asian/Pacific American actors and actresses including Pat Morita, Sachiko and the East-West Players in this first feature film made by and about Asian Americans.


Hot Coffee
(USA, 2010, 88 mins)
Directed By: Susan Saladoff; Producers: Susan Saladoff, Alan Oxman, Carly Hugo; Cinematographer: Martina Radwan; Editor: Cindy Lee; Featuring: Stella Liebeck, Jamie Leigh Jones, Senator Al Franken, John Grisham, Oliver Diaz
The infamous McDonald's spilt coffee case, which is always held up as a prime example of a "frivolous lawsuit," forms the starting point of Susan Saladoff's eye-opening, infuriating investigation into the ways corporations and big business are gaming the civil justice system to deprive us of our rights. And spending billions to make us believe this is a good thing. After hearing the facts, you'll think twice about calling that lawsuit frivolous. The four stories she tells, from a raped female soldier who has no legal recourse against her attackers to the judge whose name was smeared for opposing tort reform, cast much needed light on a subject that's been deliberately kept in the dark. 


How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?
Co-presented with the Getty Research Institute
This documentary explores the passions and influences of British architect Norman Foster. He discusses what inspired him to design some of today’s most stunning and innovative architectural structures, such as the Beijing Airport, the Reichstag, and the world’s tallest bridge, in Millau, France. (2010, Dirs. Carlos Carcas & Norberto López Amado, 78 min.)


How to Cheat
(USA, 2011, 88 mins)
Directed By: Amber Sealey; Producer: Ben Thoma; Screenwriter: Amber Sealey; Cinematographer: Gabriel Diamond; Editor: Michelle M. Witten; Cast: Amber Sealey, Kent Osborne, Amanda Street
In this funny and honest depiction of the messiness of modern marriage, writer-director Amber Sealey also stars as Beth, a woman of child-bearing age and inclination who, with her husband Mark, has been struggling to conceive. Sealey’s guileless performance as a woman betrayed by her own body is matched by Kent Osborne’s as the awkward Mark, who, confused and frustrated, turns to online dating, where he shops for the perfect affair to shake up his life. Given his counterproductive tendency to reveal his motives up front, his encounters tend to be short and ugly, until he meets the avid Louise, whose complex attitude sets them all down an unexpected path. 


Identification Marks: None
It’s ironic that a fiercely driven film student itching to make a first feature would methodically scrounge university-issued scraps of film stock in order to produce an epic meditation on aimlessness -- but that’s exactly what a young Jerzy Skolimowski did in the early ‘60s, gaming the system at the famous Lodz Film School to produce Identification Marks: None, a landmark independent work made at the height of state-supported Polish cinema. Skolimowski plays Andrzej Leszczyc, a bored college student who’s through with bumming about, and turns himself into the draft board after having ditched them for years. As we follow Andrzej through episodic tableaux covering the final hours before his conscription, the narrative uncoils almost exclusively in graceful, effortless long takes; while these shots were originally conceived as a crafty work-around to the film’s minuscule means, they serve as an entrancing enhancement, bringing a hyper-realistic focus to Andrzej’s encounters with all manner of eccentric street life, and his drifting through the hollowed-out shell of a gray, overcast Communist society few of us Americans can still truly fathom.
Dir. Jerzy Skolimowski, 1965, 35mm, 73 min. 


IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT
Marshall Curry, Oscar-nominated director of Street Fight (2005) paints a surprising portrait of political activism caught in a legal vortex. Reconstructing the recent history of the Earth Liberation Front, and the case of Oregon-based activist Daniel McGowan, Curry depicts both the economic sabotage performed by “ELF” sleeper cells, disenchanted with ineffectual public protests and the police brutality that often follows, and the legal maneuvers of a system which today often brands activists as terrorists. Digital video, color, 85 min.


IN BLOOM
Celebrate James Joyce's Bloomsday with rare film clips and live readings from The Marshall McLuhan-Finnegans Wake Reading Club, who prioritize effects before causes. The gap is where the action is. Mash up resonating intervals with magical parallelisms. As McLuhan is music of the future, Joyce's doubleness in Ulysses bridges the ancient and modern worlds by a continuous parallel of the interface between myth and realism, order and anarchy. "Joyce uses the pun as a way of seeing the paradoxical exuberance of being through language. - McLuhan. Percept plunder for the recent future. Also join us for Gerry Fialka’s presentation on James Joyce and Experimental Film
6:30  -party on the front lawn of Beyond Baroque
7:04:20 - Relighting of SPONTO neon
7:15 FILM: (free in theater) Wing Of Art- Joseph Campbell on Finnegans Wake (57 minutes, 1990)
8:15 FILM: The Unlucky Sailor (9 Unread Chapters of Finnegans Wake) (36 m, 2010) by Gary Kibbins “Kibbins’s new films raise profound questions about the languages used to construct and deconstruct the world, while at the same time having that rare quality of being uniquely, laugh-out-loud funny.”
9:00 FILM: Joseph Campbell on Ulysses (57m, 1990)


The Innkeepers
(USA, 2011, 102 mins)
Directed By: Ti West; Executive Producers: Badie Ali, Hamza Ali, Malik B. Ali , Greg Newman; Producers: Derek Curl, Larry Fessenden,Peter Phok, Ti West; Screenwriter: Ti West; Cinematographer: Eliot Rockett; Editor: Ti West; Cast: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis
Wonderfully toying with audience expectations, writer-director Ti West takes a slowburn approach to this ghostly blend of humor, suspense and scares. Quietly building the anticipation of frights to come, West and his cast disarm the audience with casual jokes and friendly banter even as the elements of the terrifying climax are put into place.
During the final working weekend of a supposedly haunted New England inn, two lackadaisical desk clerks-cum-ghost hunters, armed with only a portable cassette deck and a couple of flashlights, search for proof of the supernatural. Of course, the problem is sometimes the thing you’re looking for finds you first. 


Laurel & Hardy Silent Shorts!
The most instantly recognizable, iconic and uproarious duo in silent film, this comic pair actually made only a few dozen shorts together for Hal Roach before they seamlessly transitioned into the talkie era, but virtually all of them are sparkling golden. One can point to the universality of their foibles as the root of their massive appeal, their birdbrained, dimwitted antics being a mirror of our own travails, but it was also the pace of their timing -- a steady, patient waltz as opposed to the manic ragtime of most other slapstick -- that elevated Laurel and Hardy's already powerful comedy to genius level. This program is not only a total joy, but is your chance to witness the lightning-fast stylistic evolution of whom J.D. Salinger described as "two heaven-sent artists and men".


Letters from the Big Man
(USA, 2011, 115 mins)
Directed By: Christopher Munch; Executive Producer: Linda Brown; Producer: Christopher Munch; Screenwriter: Christopher Munch; Cinematographer: Rob Sweeney; Cast: Lily Rabe, Jason Butler Harner, Isaac C. Singleton Jr., Jim Cody Williams, Fiona Dourif, Don McManus, Karen Black
Questions of human nature, ecology, and cryptozoology lie at the heart of the latest singular film from writer-director Christopher Munch. No matter how deep into the forest she goes, a young Forestry Service worker can’t escape the feeling that someone is watching her. Only after a few sightings—in person and in dreams—does she realize her trailmate is a Sasquatch.
Munch, aided by a marvelous central performance by Lily Rabe and the sun-dappled cinematography of Rob Sweeney, has crafted a lyrical ode to the relationship between man and nature that is as timeless and magical as the legends of the Pacific Northwest. 


LIT SHOW FILM FEST
Cinematic preview for Suzy WIlliams' LIT SHOW - rare film clips with/about Kurt Vonnegut, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Marlon Brando singing Tennessee Williams lyrics.  


Love Exposure
"It’s too bad words like 'masterpiece' and 'epic' have been so overused by excitable film critics, because Sion Sono’s Love Exposure is an actual epic masterpiece that is going to dominate the filmscape for decades." - New York Asian Film Festival
"Japan's eroto-theosophical answer to the allegorical journeys of Alejandro Jodorowsky" -- Film Four
Ask yourself this question: when was the last time a movie really mattered to you, and shattered your world? Every so often, a film comes screaming out of the ether that magically reveals a larger truth about this thing we stumble through called life, and the latest cinematic salve is the unforgettable, uncategorizable, unmissable Love Exposure, the brand-new behemoth from Sion Sono (Suicide Club, Strange Circus) that gleefully tackles life's biggest issues: love, death, sex, revenge, religion and up-skirt panty photography. Winner of festival awards across the globe, and breaker of art house attendance records in Japan, Love Exposure has only been seen in the U.S. at a handful of sell-out screenings, with its initially daunting 237 minutes leaving audiences desperate for another installment. Purportedly based on the life of one Sono's friends, the film tells the epic story of Yu, a teenager who loses his Catholic faith when his mother dies and his bible-thumping priest father demands that the innocent boy confess to sins that he hasn't committed. As he manufactures sins to keep his father pleased, Yu trains in the 'art' of panchira (clandestine panty snapshots!), and all bets are off when he crosses paths with Yoko, the woman of his dreams (his "Virgin Mary"), at a streetfight. As he pursues his heart, Yu finds himself tripped up by apocalyptic religious cults, Catholic guilt and the call of pornography -- and must use his love to fight his way out of darkness. The Cinefamily is proud to present one of the top Japanese films of the few years -- if not the last decade! Schedule permitting, Sion Sono will be here for a Q&A after the film!
Dir. Sion Sono, 2008, HDCAM, 237 min. 


Lucia (1969)
Directed by Humberto Solas, Lucia tells three stories of three periods of Cuban history from the vantage point of three women, each Lucia.


MASTER MYSTERY
(from IMDB)
Justice Department agent Quentin Locke must investigate a powerful cartel protected by a robot (here referred to as "The Automaton") and using a gas weapon "The Madagascar Madness".  Dir. Harry Grossman, Burton L. King; 1920; 15 episodes @ ~ 4 hours.  Starring: Harry Houdini, Marguerite Marsh and Ruth Stonehouse.


Memories of Underdevelopment (1968)
Combining drama with documentary footage, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea's Memories of Underdevelopment tells the story of Sergio, a wealthy, introspective author who decides to remain in Cuba.


MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON
Made by Maya Deren with her husband, cinematographer Alexander Hammid, Meshes of the Afternoon established the independent avant-garde movement in film in the United States, which is known as the New American Cinema. Making new and startling use of such standard cinematic devices as montage editing and matte shots, the film directly inspired early works by Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, and other major experimental filmmakers. 


MEXICALI BOOK N’ MOVIE AT THE ANALOG ANNEX
Say goodbye to the EPFC Analog Annex in true punk rock style!
To continue the Mexicali / Imperial Valley Showcase EPFC’s Analog Annex will host a multidisciplinary convergence of artistic expression as artists incite the Annex’s walls with the region’s firebrand, unbridled work. Mexicali Rose Media/Arts Center will be unveiling their 2-disc DVD chronicling 4 years of artistic endeavor in the border-adjacent Pueblo Nuevo community. Visual provocateurs Rata de Gallo will be on hand to assault the spectator’s senses with their extraordinary brand of media discourse. Garage-rockers Los Sweepers round out the festivities with their raucously stylized homage to the Latino teen punk groups of the ‘60s rock n roll scene. 


Neighborhood Public Radio
For their final Engagement Party event, Neighborhood Public Radio will bring together local noise musicians and sound and performance artists to facilitate a live performance gesture exploring the ways in which we sonically experience indoor and outdoor spaces, and how sound informs our perceptions of our surroundings. Approximately 100 guitarists will occupy MOCA's galleries and plaza; oscillating between moments of silence and moments of drone, these musicians will perform an open-ended score that will be transmitted through speakers scattered around the museum.
After 9pm NPR, will be sending messages to space using Morse code and high powered light beams.


Mr. Nobody
(2011, 99 mins)
In Toto the Hero, visionary Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael imagined how a character’s life would be different if he’d been switched at birth with the boy next door. Two decades later, he conjures up another daydreamer, nine-year-old Nemo Nobody, who is faced with a similar life-altering moment. Forced to pick sides during his parent’s divorce, Nemo projects all the possible outcomes his future might take. Working in English with a cast that includes Jared Leto, Diane Kruger and Sara Polley, Van Dormael crafts an ambitious “meaning of life” project, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2009, but never made its way to the U.S. 


Noriko's Dinner Table
Sion Sono’s classic 2001 J-Horror freak-out Suicide Club is best remembered for showing -- in Kool-Aid red -- exactly what fifty-four Japanese school girls would look like if they all jumped at once in front of an express train. In typical unpredictable Sono fashion, 2005’s Noriko’s Dinner Table is less of a Suicide Club sequel, in favor of a teen drama set in the same insane dysfunctional universe, and with a much more somber and pensive tone. The film focuses on teen sisters Noriko and Yuka, and their fervent desire to escape from their overprotective father. Symbolized by a loose thread that needs to be yanked free, Noriko finds her escape hatch through an Internet chat room, which leads to a new life and identity with the mysterious Kumiko and her eerie “rent-a-family” business -- in which the three girls create a constantly morphing family unit, ready to role play to their customer’s needs. A spiritual and stylistic cousin of Sono’s masterpiece Love Exposure, Noriko’s Dinner Table states in emo tones that life’s a bitch, but yes, you can choose your family. Schedule permitting, Sion Sono will be here to introduce the screening!
Dir. Sion Sono, 2005, 159 min. 


OBSESSION
1976, Sony Repertory, 98 min, USA, Dir: Brian De Palma.
Cliff Robertson is haunted by the death of his wife and daughter following a botched kidnapping, but he gets a shot at redemption when he meets a new woman (Genevieve Bujold) with an uncanny resemblance to his dead spouse. Screenwriter Paul Schrader and director Brian De Palma pay glorious homage to the work of Alfred Hitchcock with this romantic, hallucinatory thriller, which includes one of Bernard Herrmann's best scores - one that builds upon and possibly even tops his classic work with the Master of Suspense himself.


ON DANGEROUS GROUND
1951, Warner Bros., 82 min, USA, Dir: Nicholas Ray
Violent, embittered metro cop Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan) gets sent upstate to cool off and investigate a small-town murder probe. The search leads him to a fateful confrontation with local blind woman Mary (Ida Lupino, magnificent) and his own black heart. Sterling contributions all around: writer A.I. Bezzerides’ savvy script, Ray’s vigorous direction and location shooting, Bernard Herrmann’s alternately brassy and soft score and Ryan’s ferocious performance make this one of the genre’s most affecting statements about anger and alienation in the big city.


On the Ice
(USA, 2011, 96 mins)
Directed By: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean; Executive Producers: Doug Dey, Susanne Adamski, Nick Quested, Cary Fukunaga, Rick Rosenthal, Nick Morton, Greg Smith; Producers: Cara Marcous,Lynette Howell, Marco Londoner, Zhana Londoner; Screenwriter: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean; Cinematographer: Lol Crawley; Editor: Nat Sanders; Cast: Josiah Patkotak, Frank Qutuq Irelan, Teddy Kyle Smith, Adamina Kerr, Sierra Jade Sampson, John Miller, Rosabelle Kunnanna Rexford
In the isolated, frozen town of Barrow, Alaska, Iñupiaq teenagers Qualli and Aivaaq have grown up like brothers in a tight-knit community defined as much by ancient traditions as by hip-hop and snowmobiles. Early one morning, on a seal hunt with their friend James, a tussle turns violent, and James is killed. Panic stricken, terrified and with no one to blame but themselves, Qallii and Aivaaq lie and declare the death a tragic accident. As Barrow roils with grief and his protective father becomes suspicious, Qalli stumbles through guilt-filled days, wrestling with his part in the death. 


Page One: Inside the New York Times
(USA, 2011, 88 mins)
Directed By: Andrew Rossi; Executive Producers: Daniel Stern, Daniel Pine; Producers: Kate Novack, Josh Braun, David Hand, Alan Oxman, Andrew Rossi, Adam Schlesinger; Screenwriters: Kate Novack, Andrew Rossi; Cinematographer: Andrew Rossi; Editors: Chad Beck, Christopher Branca, Sarah Devorkin; Featuring: Sarah Ellison, David Carr, Tim Arango, Brian Stelter, Bruce Headlam, Richard Perez-Pena, Clay Shirky, Alex Jones, Ian Fisher, Noam Cohen
As the standard-bearer for daily journalism, the New York Times has been confronted by the 21st-century old-media revenue crisis in a way mirrored by no other American newspaper. Andrew Rossi's Page One provides a tour through these critical issues, guided by the company's curmudgeonly, idiosyncratic media critic David Carr. In the age of the Internet, the Times faces unprecedented challenges: covering worldwide news on a shrinking budget, crafting a complex relationship with Wikileaks and determining how to get online readers to pay for their daily digital fix. Page One makes a convincing and entertaining case for the Times’ necessity in a world where all the rules seem to be changing.


Paper Soldier (Bumazhnyy soldat)
(Russia, 2008, 118 mins)
In Russian and Georgian with English subtitles
Producers: Artem Vassiliev, Sergei Shumakov; Screenwriters: Alexey German Jr., Vladimir Arkush; Cinematographers: Alisher Khamidhodjaev, Maxim Drozdov; Editor: Sergei Ivanov; Cast: Merab Ninidze, Chulpan Khamatova, Anastasya Sheveleva
Alexey German Jr.’s Paper Soldier is an intricate, visually sumptuous rumination on the early “space race” and the spiritual costs of Soviet Utopianism. Danya, a doctor attending to the first generation of cosmonauts, teeters on the brink of collapse, his inner state tied to the risks of his charges.
A stunning visual meditation on the failures inherent in the loftiest aspirations, Paper Soldier  won the Silver Lion for Best Director at Venice in 2008. “The world is moved by madness,” Danya says, as Yuri Gagarin’s rocket ship counts down. A stark and delirious vision indeed. 


Partch: At the Edge of the World
"Weird and wonderful sonorities, truly unlike anything else on Earth or any neighboring celestial body" —LA Weekly
An amazing array of custom-built instruments returns to REDCAT’s stage for a concert that celebrates the inimitable music of American composer Harry Partch. Under the direction of John Schneider, the ensemble Partch performs works by the legendary and definitively inventive composer, from whom it takes its name, on one-of-kind instruments such as Cloud Chamber Bowls, Kithara, Chromelodeon, HypoBass, Adapted Guitars, and more. This year the ensemble has assembled a program that features excerpts from Lyrics of Li Po, The Wayward, and Summer 1955, including Ulysses at the Edge of the World, written for jazz great Chet Baker, and a screening of a rare 1958 film that documents Harry Partch giving a tour of his Chicago music studio and conducting a recording session for Daphne of the Dunes.


Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation 	  	 
While Godfrey Reggio’s groundbreaking documentary Koyaanisqatsi focused on modern life, its sequel Powaqqatsi focuses on the conflict between traditional ways and industrialization in the third world. As with Koyaanisqatsi, the film is strongly related to its Glass soundtrack, which this time uses children’s voices, in harmony with the film’s message and images. Following the Bowl’s hugely successful 2009 performance of Koyaanisqatsi, Philip Glass and his ensemble return to accompany the sequel.


Project Nim
(England, 2011, 93 mins)
Directed By: James Marsh; Executive Producers: John Battsek, Andrew Ruhemann, Nick Fraser, Hugo Grumbar, Jamie Laurenson; Producer: Simon Chinn; Cinematographer: Michael Simmonds; Editor: Jinx Godfrey
James Marsh follows up on his award-winning Man on Wire with this mesmerizing and disturbing look at a scientific experiment gone awry. Could an animal be taught to communicate with humans using sign language?
In the 1970s, a chimp named Nim was taken from his parents to be raised by a family of well-off counter-cultural New Yorkers. This was just the first stop in a long and increasingly twisted journey, which, in Marsh's expert hands, reveals far more about human desire, cruelty and ambition than chimpanzee learning abilities. Though the title character is loveable and there is laughter, this is no children's story; the pain is too real. 


The Pruitt-Igoe Myth
(USA, 2011, 83 mins)
Directed By: Chad Freidrichs; Producers: Chad Freidrichs, Jaime Freidrichs, Paul Fehler, Brian Woodman; Screenwriters: Chad Freidrichs, Jaime Freidrichs; Cinematographer: Chad Freidrichs; Editor: Chad Freidrichs; Featuring: Sylvester Brown, Robert Fishman, Joseph Heathcott, Brian King, Ruby Russell, Joyce Ladner, Valerie Sills, Jacqueline Williams
When the 33 buildings that comprised St. Louis’ Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex were infamously imploded, they took with them shocking physical proof of how the United States has failed to deal with its urban poor. Once beautifully maintained and sparkling with newness and hope, Pruitt-Igoe was born from good intentions. But when the economy weakened and legislators' noble intentions drifted away, the complex was allowed to sink into abject decline, becoming lawless and, for the residents who remained, often terrifying.
Comprised of gripping archival footage and stirring personal interviews, this enlightening history probes complex issues of race, poverty and class with artistry and compassion. 


Pursued (1947)
Working from a script by Niven Busch (author of Duel in the Sun who co-scripted The Postman Always Rings Twice) with legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe behind the lens, director Raoul Walsh reimagines the Western for the age of noir with actor Robert Mitchum at its dark, fatalistic heart. As Jeb Rand, an orphan taken in by the matriarch of a ranching family and haunted by barely repressed memories of violence, Mitchum exudes a brooding, rough-hewn sensuality as a man unable to shake free from the grip of his past. Walsh and Howe transform the iconic Western landscape from one of expansive vistas into a claustrophobic web of shadows, shot through with dread, paranoia and Freudian anxieties. Pursued not only set the stage for the darker, eccentric Westerns of the 1950s, such as Johnny Guitar and Forty Guns, it established the versatility of Mitchum’s screen presence for other directors, such as William A. Wellman, looking to push the Western genre into more deeply psychological terrain.
Warner Bros. Producer: Milton Sperling. Screenwriter: Niven Busch. Cinematographer: James Wong Howe. Editor: Christian Nyby. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright, Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger, Alan Hale. 35mm, b/w, 101 min.


Requiem For A Vampire
Rollin’s jones for long, luscious poetic moments seething with gothic malaise and decay reached its zenith in Requiem For A Vampire, a decadent experience in which the craggy edges of stones in castle walls, the delicate sheen of fabric and cloaks sliding over bare skin, and the warm glow of sunlight over a country field have never looked so beguiling.  Devoid of any spoken dialogue for most of its running time, Requiem bursts out of the gate as two schoolgirl-aged robbers decked out in clown costumes flee their broken-down car on a country road, and wind up at a desolate castle presided over by a cult of vampires.  The film then goes even further than Shiver to remove the tethers of standard narrative, as the girls undergo a serious of sensual, hallucinatory encounters that eventually disintegrate into a horrific nocturnal montage of the girls succumbing completely to the will of the bloodsuckers.  Steadily paced and obviously personal, this "naive" film (to use Rollin's term) resembles an elegent jazz session played out at the edge of a twilight dreamworld.
Dir. Jean Rollin, 1973, digital presentation, 95 min. 


THE ROARING TWENTIES
1939, Warner Bros., 106 min, USA, Dir: Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh came bursting onto the screen in his first Warner Bros. directorial outing with this sensational gangster tale starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart as World War I vets who return to an unwelcoming American society and go straight for the criminal life instead. With a script from crackerjack Warner Bros. writing team Jerry Wald and Richard Macauley, and produced by the incorrigible erstwhile journalist Mark Hellinger, this picture bristles with suspense, smart-aleck humor and Walsh's great comic and dramatic timing. The triple threat of Cagney, Bogey and Walsh make for nonstop action and fun. A terrific round-up and look-back at the great Warner Bros. gangster yarns of the 1930s, this film says it all about how the studio kept in touch with the hard-knock life of the times. Also starring the inimitable Gladys Cooper as Cagney's saloon-owning friend and Pricilla Lane as the woman who just can't love Cagney the way he wants. A blast of energy that is pure Walsh!


ROBIN HOOD (1922)
Introduced by film historian and Fairbanks biographer, Jeffrey Vance.
Newly restored 35mm tinted print from MoMA. Douglas Fairbanks had one of his greatest successes with this lavish swashbuckler based on the classic English hero.
With live musical accompaniment performed by Clark Wilson on an Allen Theatre Organ.
Preceded by Charlie Chaplin in PAY DAY (1922).


RR (2007, 16mm, color, 115 min., sound)
Benning's last 16mm film, consisting of 43 static shots of trains crossing through the frame, in locations throughout the United States. The shot duration is determined by the time it takes the train to pass through the frame.
Chosen as one of the best movies of its year, and its decade, RR, by James Benning, merges observation and motion, present-day commerce and the historical growth of America, in Benning's inimitable style.
"Avant-garde? Documentary? Landscape study? At this point, it's better simply to call him one of America's greatest contemporary filmmakers, hands-down. RR, Benning's 2007 feature-length study of American railroads, is one of his finest achievements to date." – Michael Sicinski
"Benning is easily one of the ten best visual thinkers working today, period. There's not a single redundant frame in the entire film: every shot finds a different angle/distance/composition. Sometimes scale is majestic; sometimes the train rushes up close in an epileptic blur of flashing colors; sometimes two trains overlap with such interlocking precision that, as ludicrous as it sounds, it's a Mamet-level shock." – Vadim Rizov, Slant Magazine
#66 in Film Comment's Best Films of 2000-2009


RUTHLESS PEOPLE
1986, Buena Vista Pictures, 93 min, USA, Dir: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Kidnappers Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater think they've found their ticket to the good life when they snatch Bette Midler, the wife of a wealthy businessman (Danny DeVito). The problem is that the woman's husband was already planning to murder her and is thrilled to have her out of the way. This is only the first of an endless series of clever - and hilariously nasty - twists and turns in this brilliant farce from the creators of AIRPLANE! and TOP SECRET.  Discussion following with directors David Zucker, Jerry Zucker and other guests (TBA).


The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman
(USA, 2011,  mins)
World Premiere
Writers: Ron Mael, Russell Mael; Original Story: Ron Mael, Russell Mael; Music: Ron Mael, Russell Mael; Staging: Ron Mael, Russell Mael; Featuring: Ron Mael, Russell Mael, Guy Maddin, Peter Franzen, Ann Magnuson, Rebecca Sjowall, Jacob Sidney, Tammy Glover, Emmi Joutsi, Dean Menta, Katie Puckrik, Nina Sallinen, Sal Viscuzo; Plus Musicians: Jim Wilson & Marcus Blake
Live Theatrical Event with Sparks and Guy Maddin
Presented as what might best be described as a “film-to-be,” this musical from the acclaimed Los Angeles band Sparks finds a conflicted Ingmar Bergman transported from his native Sweden to Hollywood during the heyday of the 50s studio system.
For this live performance, Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael will be joined onstage by famed Finnish actor Peter Franzen, Ann Magnuson and filmmaker Guy Maddin to present the work, originally commissioned by Swedish National Radio, in its entirety. Maddin, who will be directing the feature film version of the musical, will give stage and cinematic directions to the 14-member cast of this unique tale of art, temptation, and the lure of big breasts and bigger budgets. 


SEVEN DEADLY SAMPLER FILMS TOO
Experimental films to political activist cinema to lit, art, music, poetry flix to avant garde documentaries, this series provokes new questions and features fiery discussions. 


SHARING SOME SHARITS: CLASSIC FILMS BY PAUL SHARITS
Paul Sharits was one of the most important figures of the American avant-garde in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Trained as a painter, he worked in a variety of arts, and left us with numerous superb films. He visited Filmforum a couple of times, and we had a tribute show to him in 1997, but Los Angeles is long overdue for another program of his work. Here’s a chance to see a few of his classic “structuralist” films and more, in living 16mm! Including Ray Gun Virus (1966), T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G (1968), N:O:T:H:I:N:G (1968), Axiomatic Granularity (1973), Piece Mandala/End War (1966).


Shiver of the Vampires
Our tribute to the late, great Jean Rollin (November 3, 1938 - December 15, 2010) continues with a double shot of his early ‘70s dark fantasies!  First up is Shiver of the Vampires, the sensual work that fully established the visual motifs and overall stylistic approach to which Rollin would return to for most of his subsequent horror efforts.  This bewitching serving of psychedelic stew concerns newlyweds who visit an old castle owned by the bride's dead-’n-fanged cousins.  As the plot progresses (or devolves!), gorgeous vampires, bloodsucking hippies and lashings of lesbian sex all swirl in bizarre, candy-colored lighting (predating Dario Argento's Suspiria by several years), culminating in one of its creator's most visually intoxicating works.  Freakish?  Beautifully macabre?  Instant cult classic?  Yes, yes, and YES!!!!  Finders Keepers celebrates the launch of its new “Rollinade” soundtrack series, which documents some of the finest musical moments of Rollin’s career as an avant-gardener, counterculture vulture and Gallic vamp-tramp, by presenting Acanthus’ entire unreleased prog-rock score to Shiver of the Vampires on CD and vinyl for the first time.  Imagine an early Gong/Ame Son/Soft Machine session fuelled by a thousand-year-old acid-bathed blood transfusion!
Dir. Jean Rollin, 1970, 35mm, 95 min. 


The Short History of Skate Shorts (feat. Skaterdater!)
A program of rare and unseen shorts from the '60s and '70s depicting the origins of the worldwide skateboarding phenomenon! First up is the legendary Skaterdater (screened from a super-rare 35mm print), which won the Grand Prix for Best Short Film at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, and was also nominated for a Best Short Film Oscar! Considered one of the very first films ever on the subject of the sport, this entrancing essay follows the coming-of-age story of a young boy who must choose between the attention of a girl, and his skate crew buddies. Featuring a slew of sharp board tricks, barefoot riding and a killer score by Davie Allen and the Arrows, Skaterdater is a must-see, no matter if you’re a casual skate fan or a lifelong shredder. Also included in the show is The Devil’s Toy, the awesome satirical 1966 Canadian mockumentary short in which Montreal is shown as a Wild West of youthful skater lawlessness -- plus, more shorts TBA!
Skaterdater   Dir. Noel Black, 1965, 35mm, 18 min.
The Devil's Toy   Dir. Claude Jutra, 1966, Beta SP, 15 min. (Archival video courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada) 


The Shout
A gonzo gothic fantasy played straight, The Shout (winner of the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival) showcases Skolimowski at his most formally audacious. Alan Bates is unspeakably chilling as Crossley, a dark stranger who emerges from the dunes of a sleepy English seaside village to wreak havoc on an avant-garde composer of musique concrète (John Hurt) and his wife (Susannah York). Insinuating himself as an unwanted resident of their house, Bates regales his hosts with tales of black magic and the “terror shout,” his ability to shriek so loud and penetrating that any creature within earshot will be struck dead. As Hurt finds it impossible to resist the promise of sonic novelty, and York as develops an irresistible desire for the lurking sorcerer, Skolimowski twists the narrative in impossible directions, while also finding time for extended synthesizer montages, left-field Francis Bacon references, inexplicable role reversals, wild symbology, frame stories within flashbacks, and at least one false ending -- in other words, it’s a total blast!
Dir. Jerzy Skolimowski, 1978, 35mm, 86 min. 


Skateistan: Four Wheels and a Board in Kabul
(Afghanistan, 2011, 95 mins)
In English, Dari and German with English subtitles
Directed By: Kai Sehr; Executive Producer: Ken Meyer; Producer: Rene Kock; Screenwriter: Nadia Soraya Hennrich; Cinematographer: Ralf K. Dobrick; Editor: Nadia Soraya Hennrich; Featuring: Oliver Percovich, Sharna Nolan, Mirwais Ahmad, Andreas Schützenberger
This astonishing documentary reveals a side of Afghanistan we’ve never seen before, as skateboarding transforms the lives of young people in Kabul.
When young Australian activists introduce the sport—one of the few that girls are allowed to play—the results are amazing. Rich girls and poor street kids skate side-by-side, as the empty fountain where the kids practice their ollies and kickflips becomes a place where youngsters of all sects, religions and genders come together. But the activists’ efforts to raise money for a permanent indoor skatepark encounter resistance from corrupt politicians and skeptical locals, and lurking in the background is the always-present threat of Taliban violence. 


SOMETHING WILD
A wildly inventive and entertaining comic nightmare from former Roger Corman prodigy Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), this screwball odyssey is a ride to remember. Jeff Daniels plays clean-cut New York bond trader Charlie Driggs, who accepts a ride home from a strange but attractive lower-class woman named Lulu (Melanie Griffith). The sexy Louise Brooks lookalike doesn't take him home, but shanghais him for a bizarre roadtrip to Virginia that includes kinky bondage sex, destruction of property, and robbery. Things get stranger when Lulu tells Charlie that her real name is Audrey and takes him home to meet her mother, asking him to pose as her husband...  1986, USA, 35mm, 113 minutes.  directed by Jonathan Demme; written by E. Max Frye; starring Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, Ray Liotta, Gary Goetzman, Charles Napier, John Sayles, Tracey Walter


Sunrise
(w/ live score by Brian LeBarton!)
Multi-instrumentalist and electronic music whiz Brian LeBarton, who for years has been the close collaborative partner of Beck Hansen, returns to the Cinefamily to bring his unique aural vision to classic films from the silent era! For May's visit, Brian scores Sunrise, a picture widely regarded as one of the best films of the 1920s! In F.W. Murnau’s morality tale, Anses (George O’Brien), a sensitive and easily-swayed farmer, falls under the spell of The Woman From The City (Margaret Livingston), a jezebel who convinces him to run off with her -- but only after he murders his innocent wife Indre (Janet Gaynor). Murnau used his expert German Expressionist techniques to craft a fairytale ride through the tortured mental landscape of a man caught between devotion and seduction, making Sunrise the most vibrant of all his Hollywood productions.
Dir. F.W. Murnau, 1927, 35mm, 95 min. 


Terri
(USA, 2011, 105 mins)
Directed By: Azazel Jacobs; Executive Producers: Jefferson Bjoraker, Zach Free; Producers: Alison Dickey, Hunter Gray, Lynette Howell, Alex Orlovsky; Screenwriter: Patrick deWitt; Cinematographer: Tobias Datum; Editor: Darrin Navarro; Cast: John C. Reilly, Jacob Wysocki, Creed Bratton, Olivia Crocicchia, Bridger Zadina
An outsider in every possible way, from his weight to his refusal to wear anything but pajamas, Terri spends his days mocked at school and largely left to his own devices at home. When Mr. Fitzgerald, the school’s well-intentioned Vice Principal, turns his attentions to Terri’s antisocial eccentricities, and a popular girl suddenly becomes a pariah, Terri finds himself on an unexpected path to friendship.
Jacob Wysocki as Terri delivers an exquisitely unaffected performance and is perfectly matched by the hilarious and poignant John C. Reilly. With Terri, Mamma's Man director Azazel Jacobs and writer Patrick deWitt breathe new life into the American teen movie, reminding us that we’re all outsiders and it’s all going to be okay. 


THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1924)
1924, Warner Bros., 155 min, USA, Dir: Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh performs a high-wire act as director and comes out the winner in this magical melange of fantasy and fun. Working with his good friend, actor-producer Douglas Fairbanks, proved a match made in Hollywood heaven. Walsh's fine, realistic tone keeps Fairbanks in check as the actor tries again and again to go for physical hijinks and enough balletic action to take the audience's breath away. Special effects galore, some of them straight from Walsh's imagination. Production design by the great William Cameron Menzies adds just the right zing to Fairbanks' and Walsh's vision in this smart, action-packed tale about a clever thief named Ahmed who steals the heart of a princess and must win her love in the end. It's an Arabian Nights fantasy that Walsh infuses with gusto and bravado. The sets are sumptuous and the characters deliciously entertaining in this landmark silent film that became one of the highlights of Walsh's earlier career. Also featuring the seductive Anna May Wong and a beautiful Julanne Johnston. Originally premiered at the Egyptian Theatre!  Introduction by Walsh biographer Marilyn Ann Moss. Screening presented with live musical accompaniment.


THE THING 1982, Universal 109 min.
A team of unsuspecting scientists at an isolated research station in the Antarctic are confronted by a hideous, mutating alien organism in director John Carpenter’s bleak, brilliant vision of the horror within.
Kurt Russell is at his very best as sarcastic, sombrero-wearing helicopter pilot MacReady, joined by a terrific cast including Wilford Brimley, Richard Dysart, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Masur and Donald Moffat. Gorgeous, chilling cinematography by longtime Carpenter collaborator Dean Cundey (ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, HALLOWEEN) perfectly captures the frozen Antarctic wastelands – and master make-up F/X artist Rob Bottin’s mindbending alien horrors are among the most surreal and disturbing ever put on film.
Adapted from writer John W. Campbell Jr.’s classic story “Who Goes There?” (earlier filmed by Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby in 1951 as THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD), Carpenter’s vision of THE THING easily ranks as one of the finest American sci-fi & horror films of the past three decades.
Discussion following with actor David Clennon, producers David Foster and Lawrence Turman, and cinematographer Dean Cundey (schedules permitting). 


TOL’ABLE DAVID (1921)
Introduced by film historian and preservationist David Shepard.
35mm print from MoMA. Richard Barthelmess had a breakout hit with this touching drama about a small-town boy who comes of age when confronted by a trio of violent criminals, directed by two-time Oscar nominee Henry King.
With live musical accompaniment composed and performed on piano by Alexander Rannie.
Preceded by Harold Lloyd in NEVER WEAKEN (1921). 


Tomboy
France, 2011, 82 mins)
In French with English subtitles
Directed By: Céline Sciamma; Producer: Benedicte Couvreur; Screenwriter: Céline Sciamma; Cinematographer: Crystel Fournier; Editor: Julien Lachery; Cast: Zoé Héran, Malonn Levana, Jeanne Disson, Sophie Cattani, Matthieu Demy,Yohan Vero, Noah Vero, Cheyenne Laine, Ryan Boubekri
The assured second feature from the director of Waterlilies, Céline Sciamma, Tomboy features an astonishing performance from young Zoé Héran as the title character, a ten-year-old girl named Laure who dresses as a boy and convinces her new friends that she's ten-year-old Michael.  Newly arrived with "his" family in the French countryside, Michael wins admirers for his soccer skills and steals the heart of young Lisa.  But how long can she keep her secret?  Touching, funny and heartbreaking, Tomboy explores questions of gender and identity with great warmth and insight. 


TRACK OF THE CAT
Like the pursuit of the mysterious, metaphorical black panther that leads actor Robert Mitchum’s Curt Bridges deeper and deeper into the snow packed Rockies in Track of the Cat, William A. Wellman’s obsession with an aesthetic experiment—shooting a color film with a black-and-white palette—carries the director to the edge of a cinematic abyss. By turns brilliant and confounding, Track of the Cat, with its story of a corrupted ranching family tearing itself apart in wintry isolation, remains a fascinating balancing act between visual minimalism and overwrought melodrama. Mitchum, again, proves the fulcrum for a director’s vision as a fascistic brute who cruelly dominates his family until he’s lead into the hunt for a panther carries him into the wilderness and a confrontation with himself.
Warner Bros. Producer: John Wayne, Robert Fallows. Based on a novel by Walter Van Tilburg. Screenwriter: A.I. Bezzerides. Cinematographer: William H. Clothier. Editor: Fred MacDowell. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright, Diana Lynn, Tab Hunter, Beulah Bondi. 35mm, color, 103 min.


TRUE STORIES
1986, Warner Bros., 90 min, USA, Dir: David Byrne
David Byrne of the Talking Heads drops in on a small Texas town as it's about to celebrate the state's sesquicentennial. Various quirky, memorable characters emerge, including and most notably John Goodman as Louis Fyne, a rotund bachelor longing to get hitched.


Tyrannosaur
(England, 2011, 91 mins)
Directed By: Paddy Considine; Executive Producers: Peter Carlton Mark, Herbert, Katherine Butler, Hugo Heppell, Suzanne Alizart, Will Clarke; Producer: Diarmid Scrimshaw; Screenwriter: Paddy Considine; Cinematographer: Erik Alexander Wilson; Editor: Pia Di Ciaula; Cast: Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan
Actor Paddy Considine makes his feature writing/directing debut with this emotionally brutal story of a working class widower, played with a fierce intensity by Peter Mullan, whose moral compass is no match for his overwhelming and unfocused rage. Consumed in a cycle of violence and remorse, he tries to connect with a seemingly angelic thrift store clerk, who turns out to have some complicated issues of her own. The result is wrenching and realistic, with just a few hints of possible redemption. 


Unfinished Spaces
(USA, 2011, 84 mins)
In Spanish and English with English subtitles
Directed By: Alysa Nahmias, Benjamin Murray; Producers: Alysa Nahmias, Benjamin Murray; Cinematographer: Benjamin Murray; Editors: Kristen Nutile, Alex Minnick; Featuring: Ricardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti, Roberto Gottardi
In 1961, in the heady first days of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro asked three visionary architects to build the Cuban National Arts Schools on what had been the golf course of a country club. Before construction was completed, the Revolution became Sovietized, and suddenly the project was denounced as bourgeoise and counter-revolutionary. The story has many more fascinating twists and turns, as these radical, magnificent buildings become a prism through which we see the turbulent, ever-shifting history of Castro's Cuba and follow the fates of the three architects, now in their 80s, who would get a second chance to revitalize their utopian project. 


WAKE WOOD
Still grieving the death of their only child Alice at the jaws of a crazed dog, vet Patrick and pharmacist Louise relocate to the remote town of Wake Wood where a local pagan ritual gives them three more precious days with her. But, what will they do when it's time for their new daughter to go back?  directed by David Keating; starring Aidan Gillen, Eva Birthistle, Timothy Spall, Ella Connolly.  2011, UK/Ireland, 35mm, 90 minutes


WAY OUT WEST
1937, Hal Roach (Hallmark Entertainment), 65 min, USA, Dir: James W. Horne
In what half of their fans consider their best feature, Stan and Ollie travel, well, out west to deliver the deed to a gold mine to the daughter of its late owner. Naturally, they don’t reckon with perennial nemesis Jimmy Finlayson trying to snatch it for himself. Endlessly entertaining, with Rosina Lawrence, Sharon Lynne, Stanley Fields, and the boys’ legendary soft-shoe to "At the Ball, That’s All" and duet of "Trail of the Lonesome Pine."


WE HATE EVERYTHING INCLUDING THIS SERIES: THE SCREAMERS
Punk rock film night continues! Come join us groovy ghoulies for a night dedicated to one of Los Angeles' most influential and short-lived punk bands, The Screamers. The Screamers, active in the 1970s, were part of an early LA punk scene that shaped the minds of many; including punk super stars like Darby Crash (whom you’ll see as Bobby Pyn). Rare live footage and the feature film POPULATION ONE will be shown, so come on over and rage with us at EPFC!!!! You never know, maybe a Screamer or two will show up?


Wild River
(USA, 1960, 110 mins)
Directed By: Elia Kazan; Producer: Elia Kazan; Screenwriter: Paul Osborn; Cinematographer: Ellsworth Fredericks; Editor: William Reynolds; Cast: Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick
A commercial failure upon its first release, Wild River is now recognized as one of Elia Kazan's greatest achievements. Montgomery Clift stars as a field agent for the Tennessee Valley Authority during the Depression. It's his job to evict people from their land to make way for the construction of a dam. This pits him against the proud old woman, played by Jo Van Fleet, who refuses to leave her island home. Meanwhile, he falls in love with the old woman's widowed granddaughter, unforgettably embodied by Lee Remick.  Elegiac and morally complex, this is one of Kazan's most personal and haunting movies.
The digital restoration of this color Cinemascope film was completed by Academy Film Archive and Twentieth Century Fox.


!Women Art Revolution
Through intimate interviews, art, and rarely seen footage, !Women Art Revolution reveals how the feminist art movement transformed our culture; challenging the public and academia alike on issues of gender, sexuality, class, free speech and race. A Q&A with director Lynn Hershman-Leeson, and artists Kathe Kollwitz and Judy Baca will follow the screening. (2010, Dir. Lynn Hershman-Leeson, 83 min.)


THE WONDERFUL COUNTRY
Actor Robert Mitchum executive produced and stars in this surprisingly unsung border Western about a gun running ex-pat American, Martin Brady, who’s buried himself so deep in Mexico on the run from his past that he’s picked up a Mexican accent. When his boss, a corrupt state governor played by Pedro Armendáriz, calls him a “gringo,” Brady winces from the shame. When a job north of the border goes south, Brady finds himself stranded, caught between two countries, two identities. As war and violence push him back and forth across the Rio Grande, Brady emerges as a man tossed about by action, instead of driving it. Mitchum beautifully captures the drifters’ quiet longing for a place to call home, as others decide his fate, in a performance that Lee Server described as “certainly the most poetic and tender of Mitchum’s assorted portrayals of alienated adventurers.”
United Artists. Producer: Chester Erskine. Screenwriter: Robert Ardrey. Cinematographer: Alex Phillips. Editor: Michael Luciano. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Julie London, Gary Merrill, Albert Dekker, Jack Oakie.  35mm, Technicolor, 98 min.  In-person: Alan K. Rode, author and film historian. 


WORKS BY ANNE McGUIRE (AND OTHERS)
Filmforum first screened a film of Bay Area artist Anne McGuire with When I Was a Monster in 1997, when its multifaceted investigation of the feminine image, performance, and personal trauma resonated with its lack of shame, succinctness and humor. Her video pieces continue to grow in depth, marvels of brief artistic statements working with wit, media savvy, unabashed performances, and brilliant comments on modern society. We’re delighted to host her tonight, finally, for a full retrospective of her short works. She’s adding a couple of classic films by others that have had influence on her to round out the evening. Her videos have screened at MOMA in New York, The Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, and numerous festivals, museums, and art galleries around the world. She makes works on paper, writes poems and songs, and performs as Freddy McGuire with electronic musician Wobbly, live and on the radio.


The Yellow Sea (Hwanghae)
(South Korea, 2010, 140 mins)
In Korean with English subtitles
Directed By: Na Hong-jin; Executive Producers: Byun Jong-eun, You Jung-hoon; Producer: Han Sung-goo; Screenwriter: Na Hong-jin; Cinematographer: Lee Sung-je; Editor: Kim Sun-min; Cast: Ha Jung-woo, Kim Yun-seok, Cho Seong-ha
A raw, visceral take on the crime thriller, Na Hong-jin’s The Yellow Sea sets a new standard for hardcore action. When a cabdriver up to his neck in debt agrees to murder a businessman for a local crime boss, he could never imagine how deep into the criminal underworld he’s about to fall.  A double-cross or two later, he’s stuck in a foreign land, pursued by the police, two opposing crime bosses and legions of hatchet-welding thugs.
Reunited with the stars of his previous hit The Chaser, Na proves he is the most promising of Korea’s young action directors and delivers a film charged with bone-crunching violence, fantastic chase scenes and high-octane thrills. 


You Hurt My Feelings
(USA, 2011, 85 mins)
Directed By: Steve Collins; Producer: Anish Savjani; Screenwriter: Steve Collins; Cinematographer: Jeremy Sauliner; Editor: Steve Collins; Cast: Courtney Davis, Macon Blair, John Merriman
John, a nanny to two adorable toddlers, is pining away for his ex-girlfriend Courtney, who’s recently become involved with the jovial Macon, who just wants everyone to get along. Over the course of a year the three fall in and out of love with one another, form tender, surprising relationships, and get to know each other almost as well as they get to know themselves. Director Steve Collins returns to the Los Angeles Film Festival with the indescribably charming and beautifully rendered story of a love triangle that’s as much about friendship as it is about romance. With kindness and warmth, Collins and his actors so perfectly relay to their audience every moment of absurdity, joy, and pain their characters experience that, in the end, they feel almost like family.