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

wed. jun. 1

blue velvet 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
rebecca @ ampas samuel goldwyn
carrie (1976) @ aero
any number can win, the sicilian clan @ new beverly


thu. jun. 2

viy @ silent movie theater
blue velvet 10 PM @ silent movie theater
chinatown 7 PM @ arclight santa monica
the shivas @ hi hat
chevalier 8 PM @ greek film fest @ spielberg @ egyptian
dressed to kill, obsession @ aero
trainspotting 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban


fri. jun. 3

nick waterhouse @ teragram
chevalier (w/ q&a) 7:20 9:50 PM @ nuart
matinee @ ucla film archive
black sunday MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater
death lens @ non plus ultra
body double, femme fatale @ aero
reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
pulp fiction 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban


sat. jun. 4

chevalier (w/ q&a) 7:20 9:50 PM @ nuart
winter, billy changer @ teragram
the purple rose of cairo, escape from liberty cinema @ ucla film archive
high cameras FREE @ lot 1
scarface (1983), carlito's way @ aero
big 2 PM @ new beverly
reefer madness MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
devil girl from mars 8 PM @ clockshop


sun. jun. 5

colleen green @ bootleg
the squid and the whale @ silent movie theater
big 2 PM @ new beverly
narrow margin (1990) 6:30 PM, midnight run @ new beverly
purple rain 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban


mon. jun. 6

splendor @ ucla film archive
casablanca @ arclight pasadena
narrow margin (1990), midnight run @ new beverly


tue. jun. 7

haxan: witchcraft through the ages (w/ live score by white magic) @ silent movie theater


wed. jun. 8

dazed and confused FREE 8 PM @ grand central market patio
psycho 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
we are young we are strong FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ goethe-institut
the big clock (RSVP) 7:45 PM @ film noir series @ starlight studios
to kill a mockingbird 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ million dollar theatre


thu. jun. 9

triptides (11:15) @ hi hat
radio on (w/ ted leo live) @ silent movie theater
the goonies 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban


fri. jun. 10

harlan county usa @ silent movie theater
once upon a time in the west @ aero
reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
fast times at ridgemont high 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
manakamana FREE @ friday night flights @ getty center


sat. jun. 11

upset @ viper room
to catch a thief @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
the love witch 4 PM @ aero
qui @ echo
the four feathers 2 PM @ the silent treatment @ silent movie theater
miss sharon jones @ silent movie theater
the devils 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
reefer madness MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
the godfather 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
the bribe (RSVP) 7:45 PM @ film noir series @ starlight studios


sun. jun. 12

the war of the worlds (1953) 1 PM @ silent movie theater
rosemary's baby 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater
raiders of the lost ark: the adaptation, raiders!: the story of the greatest fan film ever made @ regent
drive 5 PM, neon demon (w/q&a) FREE (RSVP) @ reel grit @ los feliz 3


mon. jun. 13

the devils @ silent movie theater
rosemary's baby 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater


tue. jun. 14

the devils @ silent movie theater
rosemary's baby 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
clueless 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
the mad executioners, the monster of london city @ new beverly


wed. jun. 15

globelamp, tashaki miyaki @ bootleg
a useful life, the seats of the alcazar @ ucla film archive
the mad executioners, the monster of london city @ new beverly
last day of freedom 8 PM @ clockshop


thu. jun. 16

a night at the opera, room service @ aero
the mad executioners, the monster of london city @ new beverly


fri. jun. 17

upset @ bootleg
raiders!: the story of the greatest fan film ever made 10 PM @ silent movie theater
duck soup, the cocoanuts @ aero
stacian, david scott stone @ smell
rainbow bridge 6:30 PM, sign o' the times, jimi plays berkeley @ new beverly
reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
drinking flowers (12:30) @ nonplussed fest @ non plus ultra
they live MIDNIGHT @ nuart


sat. jun. 18

john carpenter @ orpheum
goodfellas @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
raiders!: the story of the greatest fan film ever made 5:00 8:00 PM @ silent movie theater
animal crackers, monkey business @ aero
the princess bride 2 PM @ new beverly
rainbow bridge 6:30 PM, sign o' the times, jimi plays berkeley @ new beverly
purple rain MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
the locket (RSVP) 7:45 PM @ film noir series @ starlight studios
the french connection (w/q&a) @ laemmle fine arts


sun. jun. 19

goodbye dragon inn 7 PM, fantasma @ ucla film archive
bell book and candle 1 PM @ silent movie theater
raiders!: the story of the greatest fan film ever made 4:45 PM @ silent movie theater
hunt for the wilderpeople FREE @ silent movie theater
horse feathers 5 PM, a day at the races @ aero
the princess bride 2 PM @ new beverly
rough night in jericho 6:30 PM, assault on a queen @ new beverly
dad dad dad 12 PM-5 PM @ human resources


mon. jun. 20

rough night in jericho, assault on a queen @ new beverly
raiders!: the story of the greatest fan film ever made 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater
welcome to the dollhouse, palindromes @ silent movie theater
dallas acid @ the safari
the fifth element 8:15 PM @ arclight pasadena


tue. jun. 21

raiders!: the story of the greatest fan film ever made 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
valley girl @ new beverly
planet of the apes @ arclight hollywood
a touch of evil @ arclight sherman oaks


wed. jun. 22

holy wave (10:30) @ echo
double indemnity 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ ace hotel theatre
raiders!: the story of the greatest fan film ever made @ silent movie theater
bottle rocket FREE 8 PM @ grand central market patio
pan's labyrinth 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
the carey treatment @ new beverly
combat girls FREE 7 PM @ goethe-institut
double indemnity @ crest
the blues brothers @ arclight culver city


thu. jun. 23

raiders!: the story of the greatest fan film ever made 5 PM @ silent movie theater
the hitcher (w/ live score) 10 PM @ videosonics @ silent movie theater
weekend at bernie's, fun with dick and jane (1977) @ aero
the carey treatment @ new beverly
shark toys @ smell
raiders of the lost ark FREE 6:30 PM @ silver lake picture show


fri. jun. 24

sex stains @ troubadour
blank tapes @ resident
demons, anguish @ ucla film archive
welcome to the dollhouse 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
suspiria MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater
jon brion @ largo
flying hair @ echo
wake in fright, the apprenticeship of duddy kravitz @ aero
interstellar 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
the t.a.m.i. show @ new beverly
reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly


sat. jun. 25

raising arizona @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
the shining @ egyptian
raiders of the lost ark 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
the t.a.m.i. show @ new beverly
crack-up (RSVP) 7:45 PM @ film noir series @ starlight studios
safety last! 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ orpheum
suspiria 7 PM @ silent movie theater
silent salon 8:15 PM @ villa aurora


sun. jun. 26

cinema paradiso 7 PM @ ucla film archive
barry lyndon @ egyptian
on the waterfront 5:30 PM @ aero
my little chickadee 6:30 PM, the bank dick @ new beverly
night nurse 1 PM @ silent movie theater
palindromes 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater
welcome to the dollhouse @ silent movie theater
suspiria 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
sud @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian


mon. jun. 27

king khan & the shrines, gal pals @ echoplex
my little chickadee 6:30 PM, the bank dick @ new beverly
planet of the apes @ arclight hollywood


tue. jun. 28

night flight: born again @ silent movie theater
suspiria 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
soul brothers of kung fu, exit the dragon enter the tiger @ new beverly


wed. jun. 29

stephen steinbrink @ bootleg
the last picture show FREE 8 PM @ grand central market patio
harold and maude 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban


thu. jun. 30

black girl @ silent movie theater
season of the witch 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
the adventures of robin hood (1938) @ egyptian
a fistful of dollars, for a few dollars more @ aero
nightmare in chicago @ lacma


fri. jul. 1

purple rain MIDNIGHT @ nuart
dead meadow @ satellite
inferno 10 PM @ silent movie theater
jaws @ egyptian
the good the bad and the ugly @ aero


sat. jul. 2

purple rain @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
umberto (live performance), burial ground @ cinematic void
jaws @ aero
rear window 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
out of the past (RSVP) 7:45 PM @ film noir series @ starlight studios
the devils 5:00 10:00 PM @ silent movie theater
white dove @ hm157


sun. jul. 3

purple rain, sign 'o' the times @ aero
the devils 7 PM @ silent movie theater
telecaves, peter kolovos, gate @ non plus ultra
susan @ pehrspace


wed. jul. 6

el mariachi FREE 8 PM @ grand central market patio
mike watt & the missingmen @ bootleg
the devils @ silent movie theater


thu. jul. 7

meshes of the afternoon 7 PM, eyes without a face @ broad


fri. jul. 8

royal headache @ echo
blade runner 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban


sat. jul. 9

jump with joey @ roxy
so this is paris 2 PM @ silent treatment @ silent movie theater
the spiral staircase (RSVP) 7:45 PM @ film noir series @ starlight studios


sun. jul. 10

pet sounds w/ brian wilson @ hollywood bowl


mon. jul. 11

stanley kubrick's boxes @ laca
a touch of evil 7 PM @ arclight santa monica
lee noble @ pehrspace


tue. jul. 12

gate @ club pro


wed. jul. 13

deerhoof @ teragram


thu. jul. 14

gories, ty segall & mikal cronin, urinals, etc @ in the red fest @ echo/plex
cinema paradiso 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban


fri. jul. 15

oblivions, hunches, goggs, etc @ in the red fest @ echo/plex
ducktails @ highland park ebell club
pulp fiction 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
quarry (screening), chris cohen (performance), song of eurydice (performance) @ friday night flights @ getty center


sat. jul. 16

wand, goggs, etc @ in the red fest @ echo/plex
the revenant 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
beyond the forest (RSVP) 7:45 PM @ film noir series @ starlight studios


tue. jul. 19

dalek @ complex
some like it hot 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban


wed. jul. 20

grand budapest hotel 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
three days of the condor @ arclight culver city


fri. jul. 22

autolux @ constellation room
levitation room, asteroid #4 @ echo
high rise 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban


sat. jul. 23

autolux @ el rey
dazed and confused 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
flamingo road (RSVP) 7:45 PM @ film noir series @ starlight studios
mike watt & the missingmen, meat market, winter, etc @ dirty penni fest @ echo/plex
noyes, hex horizontal @ pehrspace


sun. jul. 24

jon brion @ largo


fri. jul. 29

jon brion @ largo
mind meld, walter @ echo
collections (screening), m geddes gengras (performance) FREE @ friday night flights @ getty center
raiders of the lost ark 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban


sat. jul. 30

woods @ echoplex
the godfather 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban
shark toys, susan FREE @ permanent hp


sun. jul. 31

neil hamburger @ satellite
vision quest: the films of tangerine dream 7 PM @ regent


fri. aug. 5

miss sharon jones (w/q&a) 7:30 9:55 PM @ nuart
rococo jet @ folktale fest @ human resources


sat. aug. 6

smash-up: story of a woman (RSVP) 7:45 PM @ film noir series @ starlight studios
thee cormans, the flakes @ pickwick gardens


sun. aug. 7

qui @ smell


thu. aug. 11

thee oh sees @ teragram


thu. aug. 18

hausu 7 PM @ broad


mon. aug. 22

the fifth element 7 PM @ arclight santa monica


tue. aug. 23

flying hair @ echo


fri. aug. 26

earth @ regent


sun. aug. 28

neil hamburger @ satellite


thu. sep. 1

the bigamist 7 PM @ broad


sat. sep. 3

pandoras, loons, flamin' groovies @ bootleg


sun. sep. 18

kraftwerk @ hollywood bowl


mon. sep. 19

black sabbath @ hollywood bowl


sun. sep. 25

dead c @ echo


thu. sep. 29

imitation of life 7 PM @ broad


fri. oct. 7

mystic braves @ troubadour


thu. oct. 13

tobacco @ echoplex


fri. oct. 14

(suicide, brian jonestown massacre, black angels, thee oh sees, dead meadow, white fence, temples, wand, l.a. witch, etc) SCHEDULE TBD @ desert daze


sat. oct. 15

(suicide, brian jonestown massacre, black angels, thee oh sees, dead meadow, white fence, temples, wand, l.a. witch, etc) SCHEDULE TBD @ desert daze


sun. oct. 16

(suicide, brian jonestown massacre, black angels, thee oh sees, dead meadow, white fence, temples, wand, l.a. witch, etc) SCHEDULE TBD @ desert daze




WHAT IT IS:



Anguish  (Spain/U.S., 1987)
Spanish writer-director Bigas Luna deploys the movie-within-a-movie device as an unsettling sensory assault on cinematic voyeurism in this mind-tripping horror “double feature.”  As Anguish opens, a killer stalks the city, psychically controlled by his psychotic mother, but when the camera pulls back, that movie’s onscreen effects seem to have mentally ensnared an unstable moviegoer who also can’t resist the murderous mother’s commands. 35mm, color, in Spanish with English subtitles, 89 min.


ANY NUMBER CAN WIN
Charles, a sixty-something career criminal, fresh out of jail, rejects his wife's plan for a quiet life of bourgeois respectability. He enlists a former cell mate, Francis, to assist him in pulling off one final score, a carefully planned assault on the vault of a Cannes casino. Dir. Henri Verneuil, 1963, 118 mins.


THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ
1974, Paramount, 120 min, Dir: Ted Kotcheff
Director Ted Kotcheff earned a Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and writer Mordecai Richler got an Oscar nomination for this funny and insightful portrait of an ambitious young man from a working-class Jewish family in 1950s Montreal. Richard Dreyfuss is perfect in the title role, making Duddy’s ethical lapses almost endearing as he hustles for a success that might impress his father (Jack Warden). Randy Quaid, Denholm Elliott and Joseph Wiseman costar. 35 mm! Discussion between films with director Ted Kotcheff.


ASSAULT ON A QUEEN
A group of adventurers refloat a WWII German submarine and prepare to use it to pull a very large heist; The Queen Mary, which they plan to rob on the high seas. With Frank Sinatra. Dir. Jack Donohue, 1966, 106 mins.


THE BIGAMIST
Like Cindy Sherman, Ida Lupino made her mark on both sides of the camera, a defiant siren of film noir, but also one of the first female auteurs, directing and producing independent features that delved into hot-button cultural topics like abortion and polyamory. For The Bigamist, Lupino positioned herself opposite Joan Fontaine, in a subtle and gorgeously photographed potboiler about a traveling salesman who takes on two wives. In Matthias Müller’s short Home Stories, the filmmaker distills gestures of the classic Hollywood melodrama, collecting the moonlit sighs and dramatic departures, shot in 16mm off of a television screen. Tickets to Doll Parts include same-night access to the full museum, including the Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life special exhibition, before the film program.
 

BLACK GIRL
The historic first feature film made in Africa by a black African director, Ousmane Sembčne’s Black Girl may be celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year, but it’s no less trenchant and eloquent than it was upon its 1966 arrival. A sharp character study in the vein of Italian neorealism, and an incisive portrait of French-Senegalese postcolonial relations, Black Girl follows a young girl named Diouana’s move from Dakar to the French Riviera with the bourgeois white family who has hired her. Sembčne, who got his start as an author and labor organizer, locates political gestures at their very seeds; in personal moments of impulse and morality, he tracks the gradual shift of Diouana’s temperament’s from optimistic to quietly defiant. Courtesy of a gorgeous new restoration from Janus, cinematographer Christian Lacoste’s stark frames deliver all of their original unmistakable symbolism, under the blindingly white sun of Antibes. Dir Ousmane Sembčne, 1966, DCP, 65 min.
Black Girl will be preceded by Sembčne’s first short film, Borom Sarret, about the trials of an unlucky wagoner, also newly restored. Dir Ousmane Sembčne, 1963, DCP, 20 min.


BLACK SUNDAY
The first official film by Italian horror maestro Mario Bava, Black Sunday remains one of the cornerstones of both Italian and Gothic horror, more than 50 years after its 1960 release. Considered wildly graphic for its day, the stylish and deeply unsettling film concerns the curse of a centuries old witch (played with voluptuous intensity in an icon-defining performance from Barbara Steele) who returns from the grave to wreak vengeance on the family whose ancestors burnt her at the stake hundreds of years prior. Dripping with atmosphere, Bava imbues every frame with an artistry that set the high standard for Italian horror, the spark fanned into flames by future genre masters like Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. More visually impressive and shocking than many of its classic horror contemporaries, Black Sunday is a vital film that demands to be seen on the big screen. Dir. Mario Bava, 1960, 35mm, 87 min.


BURIAL GROUND
1981, Severin Films, 85 minutes Dir: Andrea Bianchi
A professor accidentally fulfills the prophecy of the black spider and unleashes the SLOWEST zombies to ever shamble along in cinematic history. Armed with lawn tools and more brains then their human victims, the undead trudge along in one of the most bizarre entries in Italian zombie horror. Gore-soaked lunacy anchored by Peter Bark’s star-making performance as Michael: the lovable boy with a major Oedipus complex. The film will be preceded by a performance by UMBERTO (Not Not Fun Records / Death Waltz Recording Company.)


COMBAT GIRLS (Kriegerin)
Marisa is a young, attractive German woman and deeply convicted Neo-Nazi whose life is in a downward spiral. Blaming everyone from the police and politicians to capitalists and foreigners for Germany’s problems and her own, she combats the stress of her daily life through drinking and fighting. Feeling threatened from all sides, her only refuge is with her surrogate family; an aggressive gang of Neo-Nazis for whom hate, violence, and partying are routine. Marisa’s fragile sense of belonging is threatened when 14-year-old Svenja attempts to join the group. Like a role model to Svenja, Marisa is the epitome of a combat girl, fighting for the group’s principles.
Her political convictions are put to the test when she encounters Rasul, an Afghan refugee seeking asylum in her town. As the worlds of these three individuals collide, a chain of events is set in motion that will turn Marisa’s life upside down.
Questioning her once die-hard convictions, Marisa struggles to escape, but quickly realizes that the way out is not easy. Dir.: David Wnendt, Germany, 2011, 103 min., digital. German with English subtitles.


DAD DAD DAD
DAD DAD DAD is a three-channel collaborative video installation by Maura Brewer and Paul Pescador that takes Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film The Shining as a site of analysis. The first channel is a short, essayistic video that examines the relationship between the characters in The Shining and the Steadicam technology used to film their actions. In 1980, the Steadicam was a new technology that combined the stability of the tripod with the freedom of movement of hand-held film. In The Shining, Kubrick deploys the Steadicam both to track the action unfolding onscreen and as a point of view device, elevating the characters outside the confines of their physical bodies. The second channel is a narrative interpretation of The Shining, in which puppets made out newspaper and Styrofoam move through interiors, each mimicking a series domestic activities (cooking, masturbating and watching television.) Shifting between handheld camera and found footage, an underlying tone of violence and perversity builds. The final channel is an overlay of the previous two, which heightens the relationship between animate and inanimate actors. The mechanism of the moving camera becomes a character, functioning like a ventriloquist who both observes and enables the narrative action. Power dynamics between camera operator and subject become a metaphor for the relationship between father and child.


Demons  (Italy, 1985)
Berlin moviegoers looking for cheap horror thrills get more than they bargained for at the opening of the Metropol, a mysterious movie palace seemingly sprung up overnight, when the supernatural carnage on screen spills out into the audience.  Italian giallo masters Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento deliver on the practical gore, scorching rock soundtrack and tongue-in-cheek heavy meta-commentary. 35mm, color, in Italian with English subtitles, 88 min.


DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS
“It’s impossible to begin to talk about myself and the media without going back to how I wound up writing science fiction, and that is by watching a terrible movie. The movie was called, 'Devil Girl from Mars,' and I saw it when I was about 12 years old, and it changed my life…” -Octavia E. Butler
Please join us for a screening of the British cult classic Devil Girl from Mars (1954), followed by a conversation with writers Claire L. Evans and Claire Phillips on feminism in science fiction and the sci-fi climate of Butler’s childhood and early career. Devil Girl from Mars is the story of a female alien commander sent from Mars to capture human males to replace their own dying male population, thereby saving Martian civilization from extinction. 


THE DEVILS
Exploding at the seams with anti-puritanical flamboyance, Ken Russell’s assuredly-directed The Devils is like a darkly humorous journey into a mind on the brink of insanity. With sumptuous set design by Derek Jarman (Jubilee, Sebastiane), and celestial and melodramatic costuming by Shirley Russell, the film tells the tale of a 17th-century priest (Oliver Reed in his most arresting performance) accused of witchcraft by Sister Jeanne (a maddeningly creepy Vanessa Redgrave), a nun firmly in the grips of erotic hysteria. Dir. Ken Russell, 1971, 35mm , 112 min.


Escape from Liberty Cinema  (Poland, 1990)
After a decade-long hiatus, Polish writer-director Wojciech Marczewski returned to filmmaking with this sharp jab at official art that neatly carries the premise of The Purple Rose of Cairo into the realm of absurdist political satire.  From poet, to critic, to censor, Rabkiewicz’s career trajectory has left him bitter and resigned to self-loathing until a character in a film he approved starts speaking his own mind from the screen. DCP, color, 92 min.


Fantasma  (Argentina/France/Netherlands, 2006)
In this hypnotic commentary on cinematic rituals and presence, the star of director Lisandro Alonso’s Los Muertos (2004), Argentino Vargas, wanders through the Teatro San Martin in Buenos Aires, looking for the theater where Los Muertos is scheduled to screen.  Fantasma charts an existential journey through the hallways and lobbies of the cavernous theater and then continues beyond when Vargas confronts his own image on screen. 35mm, color, in Spanish with English subtitles, 60 min. 


FEMME FATALE
2002, Warner Bros., 114 min, Dir: Brian de Palma
Jewel thief Laure (Rebecca Romijn) gets more than she bargained for when she tries to double-cross her partners and start a new life in this fast, funny, deliriously sexy thriller. From its classic De Palma opening set piece (an erotically charged heist set against the backdrop of the Cannes Film Festival) to its provocative playfulness with the concept of “reality” and its elegantly constructed network of visual motifs, this is one of the director’s best and most underrated films. Antonio Banderas is terrific as the photographer who alternates between nemesis and love interest over the course of Laure’s adventure. 35 mm!


THE FOUR FEATHERS
By 1929, the talkies had taken off, and box offices were none-the-friendlier to silent films. Despite the circumstances, The Four Feathers–which debuted with music and sound effects only–was a hit; in fact, it was one of the last silent box office hits ever. Directed by the men who would go on to make King Kong, and based on the 1902 A.E.W. Mason novel of the same name, The Four Feathers follows a man who is branded a coward with the titular four white feathers, and subsequently endeavors to disprove the claim. Extravagantly shot partially on location in Africa, and decked out with the best cast Paramount could buy (Fay Wray as the lead), The Four Feathers is assuredly Hollywood history. Dir. Merian C. Cooper, Lothar Mendes & Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1929, 35mm (Courtesy of Universal), 80 min. As this 35mm print contains the original music & effects track from 1929, The Four Feathers will NOT feature a live score.


Goodbye, Dragon Inn  (Taiwan, 2003)
An old Taipei cinema is set to close.  Its final denizens, a small and lonely group of strangers, settle into disparate corners and mental spaces, as King Hu’s Dragon Inn (1967) plays on screen for the last time.  Tsai Ming-liang’s meditative feature masterfully demonstrates that such a place, haunted by stories and memories, is far greater than the sum of its parts. 35mm, color, in Mandarin and Min Nan with English subtitles, 82 min.


HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE
Perpetual foster kid Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) has a record—”kicking stuff, burning stuff, defacing stuff, stealing stuff” — but it looks like he’s finally found a home in the New Zealand countryside. Psych! Shit just got real — as what could have been a pastoral new life for Ricky becomes a screwball goose chase of miscommunication, as he, his foster uncle Hector, and Tupac the pit mix are forced into the New Zealand bush on a run from the wretched Child Welfare lady. At first unwilling, Hunt for the Wilderpeople’s unlikely duo forms a crack team that is one part The Wackness with a few dashes of The Road, toting rifles, raiding unattended cabins, and fending off vagabond goons—all with newly-thirteen-year-old Ricky’s G’d up twist on life. A rare sneak peek at the inimitable wit of Taika Waititi, the New Zealand native who gave us festival darling Boy (and even some Flight of the Conchords episodes!), this one-night-only screening of a soon-to-be-eminent hit will have you hip on what’s good in 2016—in just the way that would make Ricky Baker proud! Dir. Taika Waititi, 2016, DCP, 101 min. Q&A with Julian Dennison.


INFERNO
Foregoing conventional logic for pure nightmare dreamscape, Inferno finds director Dario Argento at the top of his game, and is the second film in his “Three Mothers” trilogy (directly following Suspiria). An American college student in Rome (Leigh McCloskey) is called to New York to help his poet sister investigate the mysterious and supernatural history of her building. The threadbare plot serves as a springboard for some of Argento’s wildest set pieces (the underwater ballroom!), imaginative use of light and color, and continued exploration of visual alchemy propelled by a raging soundtrack (this time by Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s keyboard virtuoso Keith Emerson). With optical effects by Argento’s mentor, Italian grandmaster Mario Bava, Inferno is easily one of the most beautiful films in the Video Nasties canon — so don’t miss it loud ‘n large in 35mm! With an introduction by Leigh McCloskey, actor, author, and expert on the occult! Dir. Dario Argento, 1980, 35mm, 107 min.


LAST DAY OF FREEDOM
Join us for a screening of the 2016 Oscar Nominated Documentary Short Last Day of Freedom (2015), followed by a conversation with the filmmakers Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman, and Susan Burton, Director of A New Way of Life Reentry Project. Phoneme Media’s graphic novel Panthers In The Hole will also be available for purchase courtesy of Skylight Books.
About the Film: When Bill Babbitt realizes his brother Manny has committed a crime, he agonizes over his decision—should he call the police? Last Day of Freedom, a richly animated personal narrative, tells the story of Bill’s decision to stand by his brother in the face of war, crime and capital punishment. The film is a portrait of a man at the nexus of the most pressing social issues of our day—veterans’ care, mental health access and criminal justice. Runtime 32 mins.


THE LOVE WITCH
2016, Anna Biller Productions, 120 min, USA, Dir: Anna Biller
In this special presentation of director Anna Biller’s latest independent feature, beautiful young witch Elaine is determined to find a man to love her. In her gothic Victorian apartment she makes spells and potions to seduce men - but they work too well, and she ends up with a string of hapless victims. When she finally meets the man of her dreams, her desperation to be loved will drive her to the brink of insanity and murder. With a visual style that pays tribute to Technicolor thrillers of the 1960s, THE LOVE WITCH explores female fantasy and the repercussions of pathological narcissism. 35 mm! Discussion following the feature with director Anna Biller, moderated by Alyse Wax.


MANAKAMANA
Inspired by the Getty Center's iconic people-mover transporting visitors up the hill, Veggie Cloud presents Manakamana, a documentary by filmmakers Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez, produced by the Sensory Ethnographic Lab at Harvard University. Consisting of 11 uncut vignettes documenting rides on a cable car as it ascends a mountain in the jungles of Nepal, the film captures intimate, transitory moments between pilgrims as they make an ancient journey to worship at the Manakamana Temple. An additional selection of shorts connected to trams or other forms of transportation will be announced. 


Matinee  (1993)
A Key West movie theater becomes ground zero for the onscreen fusion of atomic age fears, intensely real and fantastically imagined, in director Joe Dante’s loving tribute to movie showmen.  As the Cuban Missile Crisis heats up, B-movie barker Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman) rolls into town with his latest monster shocker, Mant!—filmed in both “Atomo-Vision” and “Rumble Rama”—to the delight of the local coming-of-age kids hoping for a little spectacular escapism from an adult world gone mad. 35mm, color, 99 min. Director Joe Dante in person!


MISS SHARON JONES
Sharon Jones is a true soul survivor. She’s been called “the female James Brown” for the energy she brings to the stage backed by her band The Dap-Kings. That energy is the fuel for a study of contrasts in Miss Sharon Jones!, as we follow her on an emotional journey as she goes through chemotherapy and struggles to mount a comeback show at New York’s Beacon Theater. This story finds its perfect match in director Barbara Kopple, another soulful talent and two-time Oscar winner for Harlan County, USA and American Dream, whose career also includes studies of performers in Wild Man Blues and Shut Up and Sing! Kopple’s supreme skill at observational filmmaking shines through as she captures the highs and lows of Jones’ efforts to battle cancer and keep her band together. We watch as the band completes its 2014 album Give the People What They Want. By the end of this film, what you’ll want is more Sharon Jones. Dir. Barbara Kopple, 2015, DCP, 93 min.


NARROW MARGIN
A Los Angeles District Attorney (Gene Hackman) is attempting to take an unwilling murder witness (Anne Archer) back to the United States from Canada to testify against a top-level mob boss. Frantically attempting to escape two deadly hit men sent to silence her, they board a Vancouver-bound train only to find the killers are on board with them. For the next 20 hours, as the train hurls through the beautiful but isolated Canadian wilderness, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues in which their ability to tell friend from foe is a matter of life and death. Dir. Peter Hyams, 1990, 97 mins.


NIGHT FLIGHT: BORN AGAIN
“Night Flight—fuzzily remembered by ’80s punks who tuned in after stumbling home from shows, or, if you’re a little bit younger and had no boundaries, watched all night long at a Saturday night sleepover—represents the golden age of basic cable television. The variety program ran overnight on Fridays and Saturdays on the USA Network, and featured music videos, short films, documentaries, and animation like Bambi Meets Godzilla and Mr. Bill. And with MTV still in its infancy, Night Flight was the place to catch all the coolest punk and New Wave music videos” (AV Club). In conjunction with the release of subscription channel Night Flight Plus, join us for Night Flight: Born Again, a special big-screen tribute to what VH1 called “the single greatest rock omnibus program ever aired,” featuring nostalgic jewels from Ozzy Osborne, BB King, Wendy O Williams, Divine, Billy Idol, Johnny Rotten, and Frank Zappa, plus a special tribute to Prince and many more treasures from the archive.


Nightmare in Chicago
The rarely shown gem Nightmare in Chicago was a 1964 made-for-TV film directed by Robert Altman, who was then just recovering from a couple of mixed experiences behind the camera. He showed his first prowess as a major director with this thriller-melodrama, which was atypical for almost everyone involved; a serial killer, thought to have disappeared from the scene, may have resurfaced in Chicago. But the hunt for this murderer is complicated by the movement of Army munitions through the streets of the city. Altman assembled a cast that included Ted Knight (later known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show), Robert Ridgely (a gifted comedian who worked with Jonathan Demme and Bob Newhart, later known as the Colonel in Boogie Nights) and John Alonzo, who went to become the cinematographer who worked on Chinatown, among other films. And most interestingly, Nightmare premiered under the title Once Upon a Savage Night on an anthology series called Kraft Suspense Theater. It was sponsored by the people who brought you Velveeta. (Nightmare in Chicago was the European theatrical title.) This heady mix of elements alone would demand viewing; that it’s an impressive genre piece is the most important aspect of the film. Teleplay by David Moessinger, based on a novel by William P. McGivern; directed by Robert Altman, with Charles McGraw, Robert Ridgely, Ted Knight, Barbara Turner; score by John Williams. 1964, 81 min, color, 16mm


NIGHT NURSE
Your blood pressure will spike and you will break out in spots when you see this jaw-dropper starring Barbara Stanwyck as a woman who trains to become a nurse and uncovers social and sexual inequality at every turn. She finds it in the teaching hospital first as she and her fellow student Joan Blondell are forced to deal (and they deal very ably) with the unwanted overtures of the male interns. Later, when Stanwyck accepts a live-in arrangement caring for two sick children in the home of a debauched rich woman, she must deal with the woman’s villainous lover and chauffer. The fiendish role is a real mustache twirler, but it is redeemed by the ironically pre-mustache Clark Gable who for once provides a male counterpart with presence comparable to Stanwyck’s. You’ll be shocked by the liberated attitudes and language of the film. But mostly you’ll be thrilled by it. Dir. William A. Wellman, 1931, 35mm, 72 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.


RADIO ON
One of the only true English road movies, and definitely the hippest, the rarely seen Radio On is a highway film built around its eclectic yet ŕ la mode late ‘70s soundtrack, featuring the likes of Kraftwerk, David Bowie, and Robert Fripp. Shot in contrasty black and white by Martin Schäfer (assistant cameraman to Wim Wenders, who served as producer) the camera surveys the highway and Modernist architecture through the wide and cinematic windshield. In the words of Ted Leo, it’s “punk-noir mystery Candide through the lens of England’s political and social upheavals of the late 70s. Very in my lane.” Dir Christopher Petit, 1979, 35mm (courtesy of BFI), 104 min.


RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION
In 1982, Eric Zala, Jayson Lamb and Chris Strompolos began filming a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark. They were twelve years old. Six years later, the film was in the can. Twenty-four years later still, The Cinefamily brings you Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, along with co-directors Eric Zala and Chris Strompolos in person to tell the amazing story of this legendary movie. No other film experience will prepare you for this. This trio of filmmakers showed more tenacity, originality, heart, courage and skill than ten indie production teams put together, and all before puberty! We promise The Adaptation is like no other film you have ever seen — except, of course, Raiders of the Lost Ark! Dir. Eric Zala, 1989, Digital Presentation, 100 min.


RAIDERS!: THE STORY OF THE GREATEST FAN FILM EVER MADE
When three pre-teens set out to shoot a veracious remake of Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark one summer in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, they initiated their quest with the naivety of youthful ambition. Seven years and countless fights, growth spurts and voice changes later, the team had completed every scene except one: the iconic moment when Indiana fends off a buffed-out Nazi while dipping and dodging whirring airplane propellers. Featuring interviews with John Rhys-Davies (“Asps, very dangerous—you go first.”) and filmmaker Eli Roth, Raiders! is the Burden of Dreams for the Ain’t It Cool News set, proving that one group of inspired kids might unexpectedly become inspiration. Dir. Jeremy Coon and Tim Skousen, 2015, DCP, 104 min. Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala and director Jeremy Coon in person!


SEASON OF THE WITCH
After his first zombie classic, Romero produced this endearing and atmospheric early ’70s experiment, worthy of rediscovery. Season Of The Witch tried to find an audience under other titles (Jack’s Wife and Hungry Wives), neither of which captured this surreal portrait of a housewife who resorts to suburban witchcraft when her husband and friends fail to provide any excitement. Don’t miss your chance to catch this ultra-rare slice of Romero in a bona fide 35mm print. Dir. George A. Romero, 1972, 35mm, 104 min.


The Seats of the Alcazar  (France, 1989)
The legendary feud between French film journals Cahiers du Cinéma and Positif is given a loving and masterfully droll send up—along with cinephilia itself—as only French writer-director Luc Moullet could.  Cahiers critic Guy Moscardo (Olivier Maltinti) happily extols the virtues of his favorite theater, the Alcazar, until Jeanne (Elizabeth Moreau), a Positif critic, turns up during a Vittorio Cottafavi retrospective and he’s faced with a double bill of rivalry and potential romance. 16mm, color, in French with English subtitles, 54 min.


THE SICILIAN CLAN
Roger Santet is a convicted murderer sprung from prison by the Sicilian clan headed by the aging Vittorio Manalese. They conspire to steal a large cache of jewels from an exhibit in Rome. As they are preparing for the heist, the mobster's American friend Tony Nicosia suggests that a better way to get the rocks would be to hijack the transport plane while it is en route to New York. The dogged inspector Le Goff is using all the available resources to thwart their plans... Dir. Henri Verneuil, 1969, 125 mins.


SILENT SALON
Three short films shot in and around Los Angeles in the early 1910s.  Featuring the Villa Aurora Pipe Organ: Live Accompaniment by Dean Mora and Michael Mortilla.
* "The Speed Kings" (1913, 12 min.) filmed at the Santa Monica car races.
* Mabel Normand starring in "A Dash Through the Clouds" (1912, 12 min.) made in Culver City with Mabel flying a plane.
* "Teddy at the Throttle" (1917, 30 min.) starring 18-year-old Gloria Swanson, directed by Clarence Badger, and costarring Bobby Vernon and Wallace Berry (Swanson's husband at the time). Locations include the Beverly Hills Hotel, the old Pacific railroad trestle and a still very rural Los Angeles. 


SO THIS IS PARIS
A glittering social satire staged safely abroad, So This Is Paris passes off the routine infidelities of Jazz Age blue-bloods as “the French way.” Teasing the audience with urbane good humor—and featuring a nigh-surrealist montage of an “artist’s ball” (read: nightclub) that superimposes throngs of dancing legs and arms into a proto-psychedelic rendering of a really good champagne high—this silent doesn’t shy away from wanton hedonism. Lubitsch is a master of glamour and subtlety, with Wilde’s edged wit, and the ability to stack a dozen ironies on top of one another in five seconds flat. Lurid details are suggested by the simple presence of a man’s cane in the wrong woman’s home, or, not so subtly, in a long string of vulgar insults (to a police officer) left conspicuously missing from the intertitles. Dir Ernst Lubitsch, 1926, 35mm, 80 min. Featuring live accompaniment by Cliff Retallick!


Splendor  (Italy, 1989)
The Archive and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Los Angeles take the opportunity of this series to pay tribute to the late Italian maestro Ettore Scola with this special screening of his comic and moving ode to the bygone days of moviegoing in a small Italian town.  Marcello Mastroianni delivers a pitch-perfect performance as the owner of the Splendor reflecting back on a life spent in the proverbial dark. 35mm, color, in Italian with English subtitles, 105 min.


STANLEY KUBRICK'S BOXES
A few years after his death, the widow of Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) asks Jon Ronson to look through the contents of about 1,000 boxes of meticulously sorted materials Kubrick left. Ronson finds that most contain materials reflecting work Kubrick did after the release of "Barry Lyndon " in 1975, when Kubrick's film output slowed down. Ronson finds audition tapes for "Full Metal Jacket," photographs to find the right hat for "Clockwork Orange" or the right doorway for "Eyes Wide Shut" -- thousands of details that went into Kubrick's meticulous approach. Ronson believes that the boxes show "the rhythm of genius." Interviews with family, staff, and friends are included. Dir. Jon Ronson, 2008.


SUD
Completed in 1999, Chantal Akerman’s Sud (South) is a searing examination of the hate crime killing of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas. Tracing the terrain of Jasper, Sud intertwines the city’s landscape, interviews and footage of Byrd’s funeral. Describing the project Akerman wrote: “How do the trees and the whole natural environment evoke so intensely death, blood and the weight of history? How does the present call up the past? And how does this past, with a mere gesture or a simple regard, haunt and torment you as you wander along an empty cotton field or a dusty country road?”
A difficult, important film, Sud poses Akerman’s questions without fully answering them, seemingly acknowledging the inability of landscape or interviews to fully explain the genesis of such profound violence. Introduced by Courtney Stephens. 


A Useful Life  (Uruguay, 2010)
A middle-aged cinema manager in Montevideo must deal with the reality that his beloved cinema, and only workplace for a quarter-century, is on its last legs.  But as dwindling audiences and disastrous finances signal the death of cinephilia as he has known it, a potential romance suggests there just might be life beyond the movies in this sweet and wistful human comedy. 35, b/w, in Spanish with English subtitles, 67 min.


VISION QUEST: THE FILMS OF TANGERINE DREAM
For almost 50 years, German electronic voyagers Tangerine Dream have generated a thick, uncompromising, beguiling mist of non-stop rhythm and sound. After film director William Friedkin used their impossibly cool work as the soundtrack to 1977’s “Sorcerer,” the band created for Hollywood a seismic array of priceless instrumentals across the Eighties -- including scores for “Thief,” “Risky Business,” “The Keep,” “Firestarter,” “Vision Quest,” and “Legend.” Tonight, we give thanks to these intrepid synth trailblazers with a video tour through their starkly brilliant body of film work, followed by a secret 16mm screening of one of their choicest genre film selections. DJ sets before and after the show from the Restless Nites crew!


VIY
A young priest is ordered to preside over the wake of witch in a small old wooden church of a remote village. This means spending three nights alone with the corpse with only his faith to protect him. Dir. Georgi Kropachyov, Konstantin Yershov, 1967, 35 mm, 78 min.


WAKE IN FRIGHT
1971, Drafthouse Films, 108 min, Dir: Ted Kotcheff
Among the films that kickstarted a new wave of Australian cinema in the 1970s, WAKE IN FRIGHT was M.I.A. for decades until this stunning HD restoration. Schoolteacher Gary Bond finds himself stranded in the Outback mining town of Bundanyabba, where Donald Pleasence and the other local drunkards soon reduce him to their primitive level. “WAKE IN FRIGHT is a deeply – and I mean deeply – unsettling and disturbing movie. I saw it when it premiered at Cannes in 1971, and it left me speechless. Visually, dramatically, atmospherically and psychologically, it's beautifully calibrated and it gets under your skin one encounter at a time.” - Martin Scorsese.


WE ARE YOUNG, WE ARE STRONG
August of 1992. Three years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, anti-immigrant attacks targeting a refugee shelter on the outskirts of the former East German city of Rostock culminate in the notorious “Night of the Fire.”
Following three days of violence, nearly 3,000 rioters, neo-Nazis and bystanders set fire to the shelter, trapping Vietnamese refugees and a group of journalists inside.
Qurbani’s controversial film recounts the hours leading up the evening’s startling events as experienced by three very different characters:Lien, a young Vietnamese immigrant, caught in a struggle for survival; Stefan, an insecure youth, who, along with his friends participates in the night’s riots; and Stefan’s father Martin, an ambitious local politician torn between advancing his career by remaining silent, and standing up for his ideals, taking action to stop the riots.
Qurbani meticulously recreates the look and feel of the era, when many East German cities struggled with unemployment and feelings of isolation from the West, exposing the complex issue of xenophobia in a country thought to have been healed by German reunification. Discussion with Director Burhan Qurbani, and reception following the screening.