a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.
wed. jul. 1 once upon a time in the west @ new beverly the tribe @ silent movie theater angst 11 PM @ silent movie theater thu. jul. 2 mark sultan, trabants @ los globos once upon a time in the west @ new beverly the tribe 7:30 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater fri. jul. 3 the goonies @ cinespia @ hollywood forever once upon a time in the west @ new beverly django unchained MIDNIGHT @ new beverly the tribe 4 PM @ silent movie theater this is america (pts 1 & 2) @ silent movie theater sat. jul. 4 mummies, gories, pandoras, fe fi fo fums, untamed youth, trouble makers, 5.6.7.8's, bombon, etc @ burger boogaloo @ mosswood park (OAKLAND) cool ghouls @ boogaloo afterparty @ leo's (OAKLAND) juan wauters, meat market @ boogaloo afterparty @ eli's (OAKLAND) the shining @ egyptian jaws @ aero once upon a time in the west @ new beverly blow out MIDNIGHT @ new beverly sun. jul. 5 jonathan richman, fuzz, king khan & bbq show, zulus, black lips, vial, audacity, etc @ burger boogaloo @ mosswood park (OAKLAND) jaws @ egyptian the hound of the baskervilles 5:40 10:00 PM, the private life of sherlock holmes 7:30 PM @ new beverly the tribe 3:30 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater duelle 6:30 PM @ silent movie theater mon. jul. 6 the private life of sherlock holmes, the hound of the baskervilles @ new beverly the tribe 4 PM @ silent movie theater the stanford prison experiment FREE (RSVP) @ silent movie theater giuseppe makes a movie 10:30 PM (w/ q&a) @ silent movie theater tue. jul. 7 spokenest, qui @ redwood shanghai joe, the animals @ new beverly the tribe 4:00 10:00 PM @ silent movie theater wed. jul. 8 the good the bad and the ugly @ egyptian kiss me deadly, desert sands @ new beverly the tribe 4:00 7:30 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater thu. jul. 9 amelie FREE 7 PM @ silver lake picture show l for leisure FREE 7 PM @ 356 mission the motherhood archives FREE @ veggie cloud the 17th parallel 8 PM @ hearkenings @ epfc the fisher king @ aero kiss me deadly, desert sands @ new beverly the tribe 7:00 10:00 PM @ silent movie theater fri. jul. 10 pacific rim MIDNIGHT @ nuart salo, faster pussycat kill kill @ egyptian popeye, good morning vietnam @ aero king of hearts 7 PM, arsenic and old lace @ new beverly django unchained MIDNIGHT @ new beverly sat. jul. 11 a hard day's night @ cinespia @ hollywood forever white magic, roco jet @ katzen kultur klub it's a mad mad mad mad world @ egyptian king of hearts 7 PM, arsenic and old lace @ new beverly the anderson tapes MIDNIGHT @ new beverly sun. jul. 12 one two three, kiss me stupid @ egyptian dead poets society, good will hunting @ aero mon. jul. 13 goon 4:20 7:30 PM @ silent movie theater tue. jul. 14 the devil's 8, johnny firecloud @ new beverly wed. jul. 15 triptides, the blank tapes @ mrs fish paths of glory, glory alley @ new beverly thu. jul. 16 geriatric crimesolvers FREE 7 PM @ 356 mission fuzz @ troubadour the rendez-vous of deja vu, apaches @ aero paths of glory, glory alley @ new beverly fri. jul. 17 chinatown MIDNIGHT @ nuart m. hulot's holiday, the big day @ egyptian easy rider, zabriskie point @ aero the birds 7 PM, jaws @ new beverly django unchained MIDNIGHT @ new beverly a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence @ silent movie theater sat. jul. 18 mr. holmes (w/ q&a) 7:15 PM @ landmark white dove, little wings @ el cid dirt dress @ non plus ultra the journals of knud rasmussen @ mush! to the movies! @ velaslavasay panorama mon oncle (english version), traffic (1971) @ egyptian let us live, the locket @ aero the birds 7 PM, jaws @ new beverly the haunting (1963) MIDNIGHT @ new beverly the naked kiss 2 PM @ pulp my daisy @ silent movie theater a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence 6:30 PM @ silent movie theater the reflecting skin MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater sun. jul. 19 why change your wife? 8 PM @ silents under the stars @ paramount ranch winchester '73 5 PM @ the crest 3-d rarities 2 PM @ filmforum @ downtown independent playtime, the illusionist @ egyptian hangover square, the lodger (1944) @ aero some girls do 5:40 9:30 PM, deadlier than the male 7:30 PM @ new beverly a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater mon. jul. 20 little magic (9:00) FREE @ echo deadlier than the male, some girls do @ new beverly 7 chinese brothers FREE (RSVP) 7:45 PM @ silent movie theater a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater tue. jul. 21 sunset blvd (w/ q&a) 7 PM @ royal zombie, beyond the door @ new beverly a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater wed. jul. 22 levitation room, adult books @ constellation room (santa ana) the st. valentine's day massacre, i walk the line @ new beverly a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater creep FREE (RSVP) @ silent movie theater thu. jul. 23 spaceballs FREE 7 PM @ silver lake picture show diary of a pregnant woman, mother love, joyce at 34 FREE @ veggie cloud se7en, panic room @ egyptian a clockwork orange, the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie @ aero the st. valentine's day massacre, i walk the line @ new beverly a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater rye coalition: the story of the hard luck 5 (w/ q&a) @ don't knock the rock @ silent movie theater deafula FREE 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater l.a. rebellion screening & discussion FREE 7 PM @ 356 mission fri. jul. 24 remambran @ gal palace suburbia, the decline of western civilization iii @ egyptian american graffiti, the conversation @ aero the t.a.m.i. show, go go mania @ new beverly django unchained MIDNIGHT @ new beverly horror of dracula 10:30 PM, dracula a.d. 1972 @ silent movie theater heller keller @ smell ganja & hess, namibia: independence now! @ ucla film archive sat. jul. 25 druid underground film festival @ hm157 south seas adventure @ tiki night @ egyptian a hard day's night, how i won the war @ aero what waits below 2 PM @ new beverly go go mania 5:45 9:55 PM, the t.a.m.i. show 7:30 PM @ new beverly hands on a hard body MIDNIGHT @ new beverly sweet smell of success 1 PM @ pulp my daisy @ silent movie theater car wash 4 PM @ silent movie theater from these roots, symbiopsychotaxiplasm: take one @ ucla film archive the clock (10am sat. - 10am sun.) @ lacma art of the americas sun. jul. 26 the debut of art deco 1 PM, au bonheur des dames @ egyptian confessions of a dangerous mind (w/ q&a) @ egyptian what waits below 2 PM @ new beverly the good the bad and the ugly @ new beverly reclamation works @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian the source family FREE 7 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque mon. jul. 27 the good the bad and the ugly @ new beverly tue. jul. 28 the good the bad and the ugly @ new beverly wed. jul. 29 robert aiki aubrey lowe & ariel kalma @ complex the good the bad and the ugly @ new beverly thu. jul. 30 telecaves, m geddes gengras, gardener, ant'lrd @ coaxial after tiller FREE @ veggie cloud re-animator, from beyond @ egyptian the passenger, taxi driver @ aero the good the bad and the ugly @ new beverly sir doug and the genuine texas cosmic groove (w/ q&a) @ don't knock the rock @ silent movie theater fri. jul. 31 jon brion @ largo melt banana @ roxy the changeling (w/ q&a), poltergeist @ egyptian the good the bad and the ugly @ new beverly django unchained MIDNIGHT @ new beverly songs from the second floor @ silent movie theater you the living 10 PM @ silent movie theater the wild party, anybody's woman @ ucla film archive night tide FREE 8 PM @ epfc filmmobile sat. aug. 1 apocalypse now @ cinespia @ hollywood forever apocalypse now @ aero mike watt & the secondmen, qui FREE @ bigfoot lodge east de la soul FREE (RSVP) @ annenberg space for photography allah-las @ teragram ballroom return of the living dead, night of the creeps @ egyptian the good the bad and the ugly @ new beverly elevator to the gallows 2 PM @ pulp my daisy @ silent movie theater songs from the second floor 5 PM @ silent movie theater you the living @ silent movie theater atanarjuat: the fast runner FREE (RSVP) @ lacma romance apocalypse and moon landings: the twilight worlds of kate mccabe 8 PM @ epfc sun. aug. 2 call me lucky @ aero songs from the second floor 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater a swedish love story @ silent movie theater you the living 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater statues hardly ever smile 7 PM, the black g.i., inside bedford-stuyvesant @ ucla film archive the royal road @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian triptides, levitation room @ non plus ultra they live FREE 7 PM @ reel grit @ afi mon. aug. 3 a swedish love story 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater spokenest, susan @ pehrspace tue. aug. 4 she lost it at the movies: a tribute to pauline kael 8 PM @ silent movie theater a swedish love story 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater variations vii: john cage experiments in art and technology FREE 7 PM @ lacma art + technology lab delirious FREE @ hammer wed. aug. 5 cosmonauts, tomorrow's tulips @ mrs fish i build the tower @ aero ornette: made in america 8 PM @ silent movie theater straight outta compton FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc sinatra thu. aug. 6 tame impala @ hollywood forever special effects, the ambulance @ egyptian paper moon, what's up doc? @ aero korla @ don't knock the rock @ silent movie theater fri. aug. 7 tame impala @ hollywood forever the blob (1988), the thing (1982) @ egyptian the last picture show (w/ q&a), nickelodeon @ aero sat. aug. 8 it happened one night @ cinespia @ hollywood forever they all laughed, saint jack @ aero mickey one 4:30 PM @ pulp my daisy @ silent movie theater she's gotta have it, joe's bed-stuy barbershop: we cut heads @ ucla film archive the clock (10am sat. - 10am sun.) @ lacma art of the americas drinking flowers @ non plus ultra sun. aug. 9 nightmare city, burial ground @ egyptian she's funny that way, one day since yesterday @ aero first comes courage 7 PM @ ucla film archive mon. aug. 10 the goonies FREE (RSVP) 8 PM @ dive in theatre @ skybar @ mondrian tue. aug. 11 cool ghouls @ the echo thu. aug. 13 phantom surfers FREE @ viva cantina sister nancy FREE @ santa monica pier tyondai braxton, tim hecker @ teragram ballroom the howling (w/ q&a) @ egyptian doomed: the untold story of roger corman's the fantastic four @ aero the long night, the new-ark, a place in time @ ucla film archive leading light: a revival 8 PM @ hearkenings @ epfc wimps @ non plus ultra fri. aug. 14 echo park rising thee oh sees, destruction unit, etc @ berserktown @ the observatory (santa ana) phantom surfers, bombon @ alex's bar (long beach) 2001: a space odyssey MIDNIGHT @ nuart the savages (1967) 8 PM, lost angels (2010) FREE @ epfc filmmobile three amigos 8:30 PM @ eat see hear @ autry sat. aug. 15 echo park rising can't hardly wait, scream, cruel intentions @ movies all night @ cinespia @ hollywood forever america latina showcase 5 PM @ epfc sun. aug. 16 echo park rising royal trux, dead moon, etc @ berserktown @ the observatory chopping mall, night of the comet @ egyptian selected shorts 7 PM @ tell it like it is: black independents in new york 1968-1986 @ ucla film archive mon. aug. 17 indiana jones and the temple of doom FREE (RSVP) 8 PM @ dive in theatre @ skybar @ mondrian tue. aug. 18 2001: a space odyssey (w/ live accompaniment) @ hollywood bowl thu. aug. 20 galaxy driver: an improvideologue by mitchell brown and kio griffith 8 PM @ epfc levitation room @ la cita fri. aug. 21 subversive women @ spielberg @ egyptian will, personal problems @ ucla film archive man in the dark 3-D FREE 8 PM @ epfc filmmobile sat. aug. 22 pee wee's big adventure @ cinespia @ hollywood forever nasa space universe @ los globos the connection 2 PM @ pulp my daisy @ silent movie theater new works salon xxviii 8 PM @ epfc sun. aug. 23 i remember harlem 7 PM @ ucla film archive manhunter FREE 7 PM @ pehrspace mon. aug. 24 bouquet @ pehrspace lost grrrls: riot grrrl in los angeles @ pieter thu. aug. 27 clicks inside my dreams: short films by margaret rorison 8 PM @ epfc fri. aug. 28 six organs of admittance @ bootleg jon brion @ largo the black ryder @ roxy below dreams, cover me @ ucla film archive blade runner 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban sat. aug. 29 the virgin suicides @ cinespia @ hollywood forever levitation room, l.a. witch, corners, pangea, tomorrow's tulips, etc @ way strange fest @ imagine that! (upland) nick waterhouse @ teragram ballroom blast of silence 2 PM @ pulp my daisy @ silent movie theater sun. aug. 30 the autobiography of karl krogstad FREE 7 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque susan FREE @ ham & eggs mon. aug. 31 touki bouki @ pieter tue. sep. 1 casablanca 8 PM @ rooftop film club @ montalban lee 'scratch' perry (performs "super ape") @ dub club @ echoplex thu. sep. 3 winter @ roxy sat. sep. 5 cat power, susan, the rosalyns, the fly traps, glitterburst, julie ruin, bleached, bombon, etc @ burger-a-go-go 2 @ observatory (OC) psycho @ cinespia @ hollywood forever sun. sep. 6 ferris bueller's day off @ cinespia @ hollywood forever sat. sep. 12 fight club @ cinespia @ hollywood forever mon. sep. 14 clueless FREE (RSVP) 8 PM @ dive in theatre @ skybar @ mondrian sat. sep. 19 carrie @ cinespia @ hollywood forever mike watt & the secondmen, bombon @ pehrspace budos band, meg baird, etc @ la psych fest @ regent theater sun. sep. 20 i've always loved you, moonrise @ ucla film archive moon duo, earthless, tomorrow's tulips, etc @ la psych fest @ echo/echoplex tue. sep. 22 laetitia sadier @ the echo thu. sep. 24 stars of the lid @ regent sat. sep. 26 all the instruments agree (noon to 10 PM) FREE @ hammer sun. sep. 27 all the instruments agree (noon to 10 PM) FREE @ hammer tue. sep. 29 troublemakers: the story of land art (w/ q&a) 8 PM @ ace hotel theater sat. oct. 3 triptides @ roxy spokenest @ pehrspace sat. oct. 10 kids in the hall, etc @ festival supreme @ shrine wed. oct. 14 heron oblivion @ fonda mon. oct. 19 ghostbusters FREE (RSVP) 8 PM @ dive in theatre @ skybar @ mondrian tue. oct. 20 fuzz, mudhoney @ regent sat. oct. 24 luna @ teragram ballroom zombies @ saban theatre sun. oct. 25 luna @ teragram ballroom mon. oct. 26 the shining FREE (RSVP) 8 PM @ dive in theatre @ skybar @ mondrian fri. oct. 30 the ex @ the roxy sat. oct. 31 dracula (1931) (w/ philip glass & the kronos quartet live accompaniment) 4 PM @ ace hotel sun. nov. 1 windhand @ roxy thu. nov. 5 afi fest drinks @ the echo fri. nov. 6 afi fest deerhoof @ the echo sat. nov. 7 afi fest sun. nov. 8 afi fest mon. nov. 9 afi fest tue. nov. 10 afi fest joanna gruesome @ the echo wed. nov. 11 afi fest thu. nov. 12 afi fest mon. nov. 16 low @ troubadour WHAT IT IS: ALL THE INSTRUMENTS AGREE ALL THE INSTRUMENTS AGREE: an exhibition or a concert is a two-day program of back-to-back live performances by over 25 local, national, and international sound artists, music collectives, art bands, and visual artists whose practices extend into the production of sound. Conceived as an exhibition in the form of a concert, the continuous program of performances will alternate between two outdoor stages in the Hammer courtyard from noon to 10 p.m. each day. Spanning a range of influences, genres, and styles, participating artists include industrial music pioneer Genesis Breyer P-Orridge; Cairo-based artist Hassan Khan, whose live-mixed multi-track work Taraban will be performed for the first time in the U.S.; and GLITTERBUST, a new project by Kim Gordon and Alex Knost. ALL THE INSTRUMENTS AGREE brings together a variety of disparate approaches to underscore the unruliness, temporality, and communal nature of musical and sonic performance as an art form that is inherently at odds with the conventions of exhibition and display while remaining essential to the production and social sphere of contemporary art. THE AMBULANCE 1990, Park Circus/MGM, 91 min, USA, Dir: Larry Cohen When a medical crisis strikes and paramedics show up, they’re usually there to help, but this taut (and sometimes hilarious) thriller from writer-director Larry Cohen turns that notion on its head. Comic book artist Eric Roberts is chatting up Janine Turner on the streets of New York when she collapses and is whisked off in an ambulance - but she never makes it to any of the local hospitals. As Roberts tries to unravel the mystery, snappy reporter Red Buttons and cynical cop James Earl Jones help and hinder him, respectively. Discussion between films with writer-director Larry Cohen, moderated by David Del Valle. Anybody's Woman (1930) Out-of-work chorine Pansy Gray (Ruth Chatterton) accepts an irresponsible marriage proposal from Neil Dunlap (Clive Brook), an intoxicated dandy, and winds up in high society, to the horror of her newfound "family." Reforming her dissolute husband and striving to be an honest social success, Pansy is compromised by the flirtations of several men, including Neil's most important client, for which she is denounced as a seductress. Paramount Publix Corp. Director: Dorothy Arzner. Screenwriter: Zoë Akins, Doris Anderson. Cinematographer: Charles Lang. Editor: Jane Loring. With: Ruth Chatterton, Clive Brook, Paul Lukas. 35mm, b/w, 80 min. AU BONHEUR DES DAMES 1930, 89 min, France, Dir: Julien Duvivier AU BONHEUR DES DAMES is a tale of corporate greed crushing the competition and squeezing out the little guy. Though the story sounds like it was torn from today's headlines, AU BONHEUR DES DAMES is a fascinating classic from the silent era. The legendary German actress and fashion icon Dita Parlo (GRAND ILLUSION), whose exotic look and glamorous mystique inspired Madonna, stars as Denise, an orphan girl who comes to Paris to work in her uncle's small shop. Instead, she takes a job in the big department store across the street, which is trying to run her uncle out of business. Perhaps the last great silent production to come out of France, this melodrama is based on a novel by Emile Zola and directed by Julien Duvivier. Below Dreams (2014) Adapted from interviews she conducted with passengers she met on a Greyhound bus travelling from New York to New Orleans, director Garrett Bradley’s impressive feature debut follows three 20-somethings—an unemployed father, a single mom and a new arrival from New York—as they grapple with the challenges of adulthood as presented by their varied circumstances. Fusing the documentary and the subjective, Bradley deftly binds their complex inner lives to the life of a city itself in transition. Producer: David Stekert, Andrew Vogelman. Director: Garrett Bradley. Screenplay: Garrett Bradley. Cinematographer: Milena Pastreich, Brian C. Miller Richard. Editor: Garrett Bradley, Joe Murphy. With: Elliott Ehlers, Jamaine Johnson, Rebecca Matalon, Leanne Miller. HDCam, color, 82 min. In-person: Garrett Bradley. The Black G.I. (1971) Filmmaker Kent Garrett’s documentary, produced for the historic newsmagazine Black Journal, examines the irony of the soldier who defends national values that he does not enjoy at home. Producer: Kent Garrett. Director: Kent Garrett. Cinematographer: Leroy Lucas. 16mm, b/w, 54 min. BLAST OF SILENCE BLAST OF SILENCE is Allen Baron’s primal noir running from the shadows of Robert Rossen and lit in the natural dinge of Cassavettes. Soulless, lonely, misogynist, racist Cleveland hitman Frankie Bono (played by Baron) is contracted to extract a NY mob boss, but the Christmas season preys on his conscience and propels him into a ferocious internal battle to become “human.” It’s a losing battle. Hailed as the “new Orson Welles” at the ‘61 Cannes festival, Baron has since become a prolific director of iconic 1960’s and ‘70’s TV sitcoms and cop shows, but it’s the stripped-down, raw-nerved and impossibly bleak BLAST OF SILENCE he will forever be remembered for. With classic oddball beat characters (like Larry Tucker’s grotesque “Big Ralph”), a churning atonal jazz score by Meyer Kupferman and a black-hearted internal monologue voiced by an uncredited Lionel Stander, BLAST OF SILENCE is one of the boldest independent thrillers of the post-WW2 era and an obvious template for future mainstream classics like Scorsese’s TAXI DRIVER. Dir. Allen Baron, 1961, 35mm, 77 min. CALL ME LUCKY 2015, MPI Media Group, 106 min, USA, Dir: Bobcat Goldthwait Director Bobcat Goldthwait’s triumphant and wickedly funny documentary profiles Barry Crimmins, whose Boston club fostered the careers of countless comedians, Goldthwait among them. In the 1980s, Crimmins was known as a political satirist; spurred by a horrific personal history, he became an equally fierce crusader offstage. Celebrated comedians including Steven Wright, David Cross, Margaret Cho and Tom Kenny weigh in on the man’s inspiring transformation from standup to advocacy in this remarkable portrait. “A terrifically engaging surprise.” - Dennis Harvey, Variety. Discussion following with director Bobcat Goldthwait. CLICKS INSIDE MY DREAMS: SHORT FILMS BY MARGARET RORISON A writer, curator and filmmaker from Baltimore, Maryland. Rorison’s work often develops from explorations through rural and urban landscapes, combining language, sound and imagery to create installations and short films. Her films are explorations of materiality. They are impressionistic and poetic, taking form as investigations into personal memories and experience. She has worked in the past with documentary filmmakers, Stanley Nelson and Thomas Allen Harris, learning about the power of the image as a form of storytelling and investigation. Rorison studied creative writing and Spanish languages & literature at The University of Maryland and received an MFA at The Maryland Institute College of Art in 2012. She has shown her work at Anthology Film Archives (NY), Microscope Gallery (NY), as well as Ann Arbor, Images, Crossroads, Mono No Aware and Edinburgh International Film Festivals. She is the co-founder and curator for the Baltimore film series, Sight Unseen. Tonight’s screening includes a peek at Rorison’s new film created during her time as EPFC’s Summer Artist In Residence as well as a selection of past work. FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE! Cover Me (2015) Part of joint project with artist Tameka Norris, Cover Me emerged from footage co-written and conceived by Garrett Bradley and Norris but subsequently deployed in different ways by each: Bradley as a feature film, Norris as a video installation. In Cover Me, Bradley layers a rich soundscape over episodic scenes from the daily life of an aspiring singer (Norris), alternating between long, wide takes and intense close-ups to craft a powerful, personal account of an artist in the city. Producer: Wes Rossi. Director: Garrett Bradley. Screenplay: Garrett Bradley, Tameka Norris. Cinematographer: Zac Manuel, Jason Foster. Editor: Garrett Bradley. Art Director: Nick Living. Music: Brian Bo. With: Tameka Norris. DCP, color, 60 min. In-person: Garrett Bradley. CREEP The Duplass dynasty strikes again, reanimating the found-footage horror genre with a creepy dose of comedy into a fresh, largely improvised, deeply unsettling psychological thriller. In his directorial debut, Patrick Bryce, who co-wrote and co-stars in the film with Mark Duplass (also producing), plays a naive young man, Aaron, who, looking for work, comes across a mysterious Criagslist ad offering “$1,000 for the day. Filming service. Discretion is appreciated.” He responds to the ad and drives to a lone cabin in the woods outside a remote mountain town. There, his upbeat and overly-friendly film subject, Josef (Duplass), tells him he’s dying of brain cancer and wants to make a video diary for his unborn child. The two embark on a series of adventures that reveal increasingly disturbing hints that Josef may be more–way more–than just “a little off.” Get ready for a payoff that will leave your jaw on the floor. Dir. Patrick Brice, 2014, DCP, 82 min. DEAFULA One of the great white whales of psychotronic cinema, Deafula is as strange and singular as it sounds: possibly the most bizarre and also the most refreshing Dracula adaptation ever. It’s also the first full length feature film ever created entirely in sign language (with oddly affecting dubbed-in dialogue for a hearing audience). Our vampire, Steve, is a preacher’s son and a mild-mannered theology student with sad, gentle blue eyes and a blond seventies shag, who isn’t bothered by crucifixes or walking around in daylight but is bothered a lot by the inexplicable trail of blood-drained corpses that lie in his wake. When the bloodlust comes upon him, he transforms into Deafula, an opera-caped, black-haired vampire (with an inexplicably giant schnozz), who sucks on attractive ladies but also does things like mind-control a violent junkie biker to drive himself and his girlfriend off a cliff. Only after Steve’s father lies dying of a heart attack does he direct him to his mother’s friend, a powerful occult wizardess who was at Steve’s birth. With her bug-eyed, handless (the deaf version of a mute!) hunchback assistant by her side, she reveals the satanic truth of Steve’s heritage and what he must do to rid the evil from his nature. Dir. Peter Wolf, 1975, 16mm, 95 min. THE DEBUT OF ART DECO Illustrated Presentation: “Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes” The 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, France heralded in the design aesthetic that the world now knows as “Art Deco.” This illustrated presentation celebrates the 90th anniversary of the Paris exhibition of 1925, which was a six month (April – October) display of modern decorative arts from all over Europe. Rory Cunningham, past president of the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles, will speak about the pavilions, the boutiques and luxury goods displayed in the Expo, how the style spread throughout the world, and how it continues to evolve. Plus, newsreels documenting the 1925 expo will screen! DELIRIOUS Mark Bradford cites Eddie Murphy's 1983 film Delirious as an influence for his multimedia installation Spiderman, a component of the exhibition Mark Bradford: Scorched Earth. In the film, a 22-year-old Eddie Murphy performs live, outrageous stand-up comedy that includes childhood memories of the ice cream man alongside virulent homophobic rants. (1983, Dir. B. Gowers, 80 min.) A Q&A with UCLA Professor Uri McMillan follows the screening. With the multimedia installation Spiderman, Bradford reimagines Murphy’s searing commentary on sexuality in the controversial stand-up comedy film. Bradford’s early identification as an artist emerging in the mid-1980s was informed by queer and feminist politics during the developing AIDS crisis. With this work, he explores the deep cultural fears and misrepresentations that misconceive black identity and gender as one-dimensional, and providing critique of pervasive cultural racism and homophobia in society as a whole. DOOMED: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ROGER CORMAN’S THE FANTASTIC FOUR 2015, 85 min, USA, Dir: Marty Langford How many movies did Roger Corman make that never got released? One – a 1994 film featuring Marvel Comics superheroes The Fantastic Four. Through exclusive interviews with cast and crew, this documentary provides an inside look into the secrets, stories and legal shenanigans that have kept the Four’s first big screen adventure on the shelf. Discussion following with actors Joseph Culp, Alex Hyde-White, Rebecca Staab, Carl Ciarfalio, special effects makeup artist John Vulich and executive producer Mark Sikes. First Comes Courage (1943) Director Dorothy Arzner's final film (finished by Charles Vidor when she fell ill) veers from melodrama into WWII geopolitics, but featured a strong female lead. In Nazi-occupied Norway, Nicole Larsen (Merle Oberon) is branded a traitor for keeping company with a Nazi officer, while she is in fact a spy. Her readiness to die, and her renunciation of love to the cause, are worthy notes in Arzner’s swan song. Columbia Pictures Corp. Producer: Harry Joe Brown. Director: Dorothy Arzner. Screenwriter: Lewis Meltzer, Melvyn Levy. Cinematographer: Joseph Walker. Editor: Viola Lawrence. With: Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, Carl Esmond, Isobel Elsom, Fritz Leiber. 35mm, b/w, 88 min. FROM BEYOND 1986, Park Circus/MGM, 85 min, USA, Dir: Stuart Gordon Director Stuart Gordon delivers yet another great adaptation of a short story by H.P. Lovecraft. Jeffrey Combs, Ted Sorel and Barbara Crampton are plunged into a terrifying alternate universe when an ambitious scientist decides to forcibly evolve man’s sixth sense organ. This opens up the gate to another dimension, mutating human beings and unleashing monstrous creatures from the netherworld. A wildly imaginative romp through a gleefully cruel horror wonderland. With the original DAWN OF THE DEAD’s Ken Foree. Discussion between films with director Stuart Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna. From These Roots (1974) William Greaves’ masterful montage film, employing mostly still images, documents Harlem's prevalence as a center of art and culture in the early 20th century. Producer: William Greaves. Director: William Greaves. SCR: William Greaves. Cinematographer: David Greaves. Editor: William Greaves, David Greaves. With: Brock Peters (narrator). Digital video, b/w, 28 min. Ganja & Hess (1973) Filmmaker Bill Gunn’s complexly layered, highly allegorical and lushly photographed iteration of vampire mythology dramatizes the psychology of addiction and engages with the tensions between European and African diasporic cultures and religions. This not-to-be-missed experience is one of the masterpieces of American art cinema. Producer: Chiz Schultz. Director: Bill Gunn. Screenwriter: Bill Gunn. Cinematographer: James E. Hinton. Editor: Victor Kanefsky. With: Marlene Clark, Duane Jones, Bill Gunn, Sam Waymon, Leonard Jackson. 35mm, color, 113 min. I BUILD THE TOWER In the center of Watts sits the enigmatic art project of Italian immigrant Sabato Rodia, whose monumental mosaic-covered spires are now seen as an architectural and sculptural masterpiece. This compelling film, cited by Nonfics.com as one of the 20 best documentaries about Los Angeles, paints a rich portrait of the Watts Towers, their struggle for survival from demolition by the city and the lone man who created them over a 30-year period. Made with exclusive access to Rodia’s family and the cooperation of the Watts community, the film also details the growth of the conditions that led to the violence of 1965… and to Watts embracing the Towers as a symbol of freedom and initiative. “…the film is wonderful: lyrical, well-made and edited, and compelling…” - Ken Burns Los Angeles’ recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Watts Uprising gives us a unique opportunity to better understand the recent violence underscoring our continuing practices of inequality in our country. Join us for a screening of I BUILD THE TOWER, Edward Landler and Brad Byer’s definitive feature documentary on the Watts Towers and their creator, Sabato Rodia. Made with exclusive access to Rodia’s family and the cooperation of the Watts community, the film follows Rodia’s life through the creation of his monumental mosaic-covered spires and their recognition as an architectural and sculptural masterpiece. I BUILD THE TOWER also tells the story of Watts. Showing this story as Rodia saw it over the 30 years of his work on the towers, the film details the growth of the conditions that led to the violence of 1965 - and to Watts embracing the Watts Towers as a symbol of freedom and initiative. Following the screening, panelists with perspectives drawn from long-term experience with Watts and the Watts Towers - for some going back to before 1965 - will address the issues raised in the film about our local history that are still influencing our society today. Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant (1968-1971) Originally aired on New York’s WNEW and hosted by Roxie Roker and Jim Lowry, this weekly show was conceived to counter images of Black neighborhoods as presented in the mainstream news. It is considered the first African American–produced television series in the U.S. This program will feature varied program excerpts, featuring an unscripted dialogue with Bedford-Stuyvesant residents and a powerful public forum with Harry Belafonte. Producer: Charles Hobson. Digital video, b/w, 60 min. I Remember Harlem (1981) William Miles, acclaimed visual historian of Harlem, lovingly renders an epic telling of the community's 350-year history as the cultural hub of African American life. Extending from the late 17th century to the early 1980s, the film registers the socioeconomic shifts and challenges of the late 20th century, also chronicling the momentous experiences of Civil Rights activism and the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance. Producer: William Miles. Directed by William Miles. Screenwriter: Clayton Riley. Cinematographer: Richard Adams. Editor: Jonathan Weld, Richard Adams, John Zieman, John Godfrey. With: Adolph Caesar (narrator). 16mm, color, 240 min. I've Always Loved You (1946) As a post-war journeyman director, Frank Borzage came to Republic, which produced this uncharacteristically lavish Technicolor romance about an egotistical concert pianist (Philip Dorn) who takes on young prodigy Catherine McLeod as his pupil. The student develops amorous feelings for her mentor, but when her talent threatens to outshine his, he brutally severs their relationship in what may be Borzage’s most unrestrained melodrama. Production: Republic Pictures Corp. Distribution: Republic Pictures Corp. Producer: Frank Borzage. Director: Frank Borzage. Based on the story "Concerto" by Borden Chase. Screenwriter: Borden Chase. Cinematographer: Tony Gaudio. Production Design: Ernst Fegté. Editor: Richard L. Van Enger. Music: Walter Scharf. With: Philip Dorn, Catherine McLeod, William Carter, Mme. Maria Ouspenskaya, Felix Bressart. 35mm, color, 117 min. Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983) Spike Lee’s thesis film for his master’s degree at NYU went on to win a student Academy Award. The new owner of a barbershop is frustrated in his attempt to run a legitimate, traditional business by a scarcity of customers and the incursions of a gangster who wants to use the shop as a front for a numbers racket. Producer: Spike Lee. Director: Spike Lee. Screenwriter: Spike Lee. Cinematographer: Ernest Dickerson. Editor: Spike Lee. With: Monty Ross, Donna Bailey, Stuart Smith, Tommie Hicks, Horace Long. 16mm, b/w, 60 min. The Journals of Knud Rasmussen Written and directed by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn Canada, 2006, digital projection, 112 min. The second film in the Fast Runner trilogy, from the same makers of Atanarjuat, the Fast Runner. Unlike Atanarjuat, which was set in a mythic past, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen is set among Inuit in 1922-1923, as the shaman Avva and his children face the conversion of many Inuit from their home community to Christianity. We follow the Inuit view of the visitation by Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen, on his 5th Thule Expedition across the Canadian Arctic, accompanied by writer Peter Freuchen. With beauty and pacing to match Atanarjuat, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen allows us an alternate view of the encounters between Inuit and explorers from Europe. Preceded by: In the Best of All Possible Worlds By Steve Rowell USA Norway, 2011, digital projection, 6 min. A short video from a larger research project "The Cold Coast Archive", in collaboration with artists Signe Liden and Annesofie Norn. Both this video and the collaborative project use the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) as a starting point for investigations into and extrapolations from the broader meaning of a remote landscape of contingency and preparedness. Built to withstand catastrophe, the SGSV is the most robust food-crop seed vault on Earth, buried in a frozen mountainside, on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, one of the most remote and pristine places on Earth. The Seed Vault was opened in 2008 and is currently hosting seeds from nearly every nation on Earth. Filmed in February 2011, during the first week of sunlight for that year. Filmmaker Steve Rowell in attendance! And in the garden: Break by Kate Lain USA, 2015; Paper, ink, gelatin, to digital; 2:15 loop Homemade gelatin is a fragile material, and I had recently begun using it in my printmaking. I was fascinated by the ways the gelatin block was impacted by the making of each print and suspected that if I made enough successive prints, I would be left with some sort of beautiful record of something completely falling apart. I ended up making 136 prints from a single block. I scanned the set of prints, each a unique record of a particular moment in the process of disintegration. The scans are what you see here. The scans have come alive, the prints sit quietly in a box, the gelatin is gone. The sounds are recordings of ice breaking apart. I made this in a broader context of global warming, melting of the polar ice caps, great personal unrest and change, and the deterioration of the health of a few people close to me. KORLA Organist Korla Pandit was an alluring enigma, a television pioneer and the godfather of exotica music. He never spoke a word on 900 episodes of his groundbreaking 1950s TV program but captured the hearts of countless Los Angeles housewives with his soulful, hypnotic gaze and theatrical performance of popular tunes and East Indian compositions on the newly developed Hammond B3 organ. In the 90s he resurfaced as a cult figure with the tiki/lounge music aficionados and ended up immortalized in the film Ed Wood. Often pegged as a “man of mystery,” Korla lived up to that billing when he took an amazing secret with him to his grave in 1998—one that is finally revealed in Korla. Dir. John Turner 2015, DCP, 78 min. With Director John Turner in person. L.A. Rebellion Screening & Discussion Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification (dir. Barbara McCullough; 1979, 6 min) Hour Glass (dir. Haile Gerima; 1971, 14 min) Shipley Street (dir. Jacqueline Frazier; 1981, 25 min) I & I: An African Allegory (dir. Ben Caldwell; 1979, 32 min) Followed by a conversation with Ben Caldwell, Jacqueline Frazier, and Jan-Christopher Horak LEADING LIGHT: A REVIVAL This program reprises seven films that have screened at various local venues in recent years whose images and sounds (or silences) have not ceased reverberating in the bodies of those who saw them. Like a haunting ghost, each of these films is calling to return. Featuring: Leading Light (John Smith, 1975, 11min), The Wonder Ring (Stan Brakhage, 1955, 6min), Les Tournesols (Rose Lowder, 1983, 3min), Valentin de las Sierras (Bruce Baillie, 1968, 10min), Path of Cessation (Robert E. Fulton, 1974, 15min), Anselmo (Chick Strand, 1967, 3min), — ——- (a.k.a. The Rock and Roll Film, Thom Andersen and Malcolm Brodwick, 1967, 11min). CURATOR SEAN BATTON IN ATTENDANCE! LET US LIVE 1939, Sony Repertory, 68 min, USA, Dir: John Brahm Compelling proto-noir concerning a pair of innocent taxi drivers (Henry Fonda and Alan Baxter) railroaded to the death house for a robbery-homicide. An early standout performance by Fonda receives stellar support from costar Maureen O’Sullivan, along with a well-crafted script (by Anthony Veiller and Allen Rivkin), photography (Lucien Ballard) and superior direction by noir maestro John Brahm. Introduction by Alan K. Rode. THE LOCKET 1946, Warner Bros., 85 min, USA, Dir: John Brahm On his wedding day, a groom (Brian Aherne) is told stunning tales regarding the troubled past of his bride-to-be (Laraine Day), including her destructive affair with a tortured artist (Robert Mitchum). This dazzling and dizzying psychodrama uses a web of interlocking flashbacks to show how a woman’s childhood obsession with a prized locket dictates the course of her life. THE LODGER 1944, 20th Century Fox, 84 min, USA, Dir: John Brahm The foggy, gas-lit London environs of Jack the Ripper are memorably recreated by director John Brahm and cinematographer Lucien Ballard with a stellar ensemble of 1940s British-Hollywood performers including Merle Oberon, George Sanders and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Front and center is the mountainously sinister Laird Cregar, whose chilling performance garnered him a tragically brief period of movie stardom. Don’t miss the definitive screen version of Marie Belloc Lowndes’ novel about the infamous Ripper murders on the big screen! The Long Night (1976) Steely Brown, a young boy living in Harlem, wanders the streets of the city one night, reflecting on what led to the disappearance of his father. Meeting the denizens of his neighborhood, he engages in conversations that begin to sketch the outlines of the enigma, invoking Vietnam, marital discord, paternal relationships, substance abuse, schooling and unemployment—in short, the life of an American family. Producer: Ed Pitt. Director: Woodie King, Jr. Screenwriter: Julian Mayfield, Woodie King, Jr. Cinematographer: James Malloy. Editor: Joe Staton. With: Dick Anthony Williams, Peggy Kirkpatrick, W. Geoffrey King, Shauneille Perry, Woodie King, Jr. 35mm, color/sepia, 85 min. MAN IN THE DARK 3-D Filmed in 3D, Man in the Dark stars Edmond O'Brien as Steve Rawley, a man with a past. Thing of it is, Rawley knows nothing about that past: a former gangster, he underwent an operation that not only altered his appearance, but also wiped out all criminal tendencies--not to mention all memory of his past misdeeds. Rawley is kidnapped by his former mob cohorts, who demand that he cough up the $130,000 that he salted away during his gangster days. Audrey Totter co-stars as Peg Benedict, who loves Rawley for what he is, not what he was. Man in the Dark is a remake of the 1936 Ralph Bellamy vehicle The Man who Lived Twice. with special guest Eric Kurland of the LA 3D Club. Locations are announced 24-hours prior to show time. MICKEY ONE “In the real world, you have to be realistic. You have to make compromises.” Such is spoken to Mickey One, a rising young nightclub comedian running from the mob for reasons he’s never told. This simple premise is the launchpad for Warren Beatty and Arthur Penn’s complex, scabrous metaphor for trying to survive in the film industry—based, not on your talent or what your ambitions can offer, but how well you bend and obey the powers that be. Given dreamlike structure by avant garde editor Aram Avakian (future director of END OF THE ROAD) and a free-wheeling Eddie Sauter jazz score (with sax improvs by Stan Getz), MICKEY ONE is at once a celebration of the possibilities offered American mainstream cinema by the new British film and French New Wave—it appears a cross between Richard Lester’s THE RUNNING, JUMPING AND STANDING FILM and Welles’ THE TRIAL while predicting films like Roeg and Cammell’s similar PERFORMANCE. Dir. Arthur Penn, 1965, 35mm, 93 min. Moonrise (1948) Director Frank Borzage suffuses a noir idiom with this own brand of unadulterated romanticism in his last great film. Dane Clark stars as an alienated young man haunted by his father’s crimes who finds himself hunted by the law after killing a local bully in a fight. Wracked by guilt, he nevertheless seems poised for redemption when he falls for his victim’s fiancée (Gail Russell). Production: Chas. K. Feldman Group Productions, Inc.; Marshall Grant Pictures. Distribution: Republic Pictures Corp. Producer: Charles Haas. Director: Frank Borzage. Based on the novel Moonrise by Theodore Strauss. Screenwriter: Charles Haas. Cinematographer: John L. Russell. Production Design: Lionel Banks. Editor: Harry Keller. Music: William Lava. With: Dane Clark, Gail Russell, Ethel Barrymore, Allyn Joslyn, Rex Ingram. 35mm, b/w, 90 min. Namibia: Independence Now! (U.S./Namibia, 1985) Produced for the United Nations Council on Namibia to illustrate life under apartheid and the struggle of the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) for independence, the film depicts the significant role of women in this struggle. Producer: Pearl Bowser. Director: Christine Choy. Cinematographer: Doug Harris, Alfred Santana. Editor: Allan Siegel. 16mm, color, 55 min. The New-Ark (1968) Director Leroi Jones (a.k.a Amiri Baraka) makes a rare, onscreen appearance in this recently re-discovered film, a portrait of “Spirit House,” a Black nationalist community center in Newark, New Jersey, where urban theater and political consciousness-raising further the aims of Black education. Director: Leroi Jones. Screenwriter: Leroi Jones. Cinematographer: James Hinton. Digital video, color, 25 min. New Works Salon XXVIII The New Works Salons series is a casual forum for the presentation and discussion of new works in film, video, sound, and performance, with local and visiting artists in-person to introduce their work. This program will feature Section A, the first part of Paul Pescador’s third feature film titled Crushes. Anna Wittenberg will show two recent video works: KJMP Presents Der Sandmann, in which KJMP—an a cappella quartet from the Inland Empire Chorus in Riverside California—performs The Chordettes’ 1954 hit Mr. Sandman 30 percent slower than originally written. Her work Olga Digs a Hole features a woman digging a hole in a nondescript outdoor setting, alongside imagery from the inside of a windsock and various landscape shots. Alee Peoples will show her new 16mm film Non-stop Beautiful Ladies, a Los Angeles street film starring empty signs, radio from passing cars and human sign spinners, some with a pulse and some without. Charlotte Pryce will show her new 16mm film Prima Materia: “Delicate threads of energy spiral and transform into mysterious microscopic cells of golden dust: these are the luminous particles of the alchemist’s dream. San Francisco-based filmmaker Paul Clipson will show his recent 16mm film The Liquid Casket / Wilderness of Mirrors, with music by Lawrence English, Sepand Shahab will share a recent composition and Mike Stoltz will present a new performance work incorporating 16mm film and sound. FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE! NIGHT TIDE (Curtis Harrington, 1961) Writer/director Curtis Harrington does an admirable job working around the severe budget limitations of the 1963 psychological chiller Night Tide. Sailor Johnny (Dennis Hopper) falls in love with carnival-girl Mora (Linda Lawson), despite warnings that Mora is a "jinx" who has brought about the deaths of two previous suitors. Mora performs a mermaid act at the carnival, but to her it's no act: she believes herself the descendant of an underwater race that must kill by the light of the full moon to survive. With introduction by Doug Harvey. Starting the evening is Fatty and Mabel Adrift (Roscoe Arbuckle, 1916) with live original musical score by The Sun Warshippers. Locations are announced 24-hours prior to show time. ONE DAY SINCE YESTERDAY: PETER BOGDANOVICH AND THE LOST AMERICAN FILM 2014, 120 min, USA, Dir: Bill Teck When Peter Bogdanovich’s highly personal THEY ALL LAUGHED got short shrift from its studio, the director bought the film back to distribute himself; while not a box office hit, the romantic comedy’s reputation has risen steadily over the years. This new documentary, re-edited since its Venice Film Festival premiere, takes an affectionate look at an underseen gem and illuminates its place in Bogdanovich’s filmography. Discussion between films with director Peter Bogdanovich. Personal Problems (1980) Acclaimed writer Ishmael Reed, in collaboration with director Bill Gunn, reworks the soap opera genre to illuminate under-represented African American realities and critique the reductive banalities of television—soaps in particular. The saga of Johnnie Mae Brown, a professional nurse’s aid, leads us through the stresses of her professional and personal life, rendered with a penetrating irony. Producer: Walter Cotton. Director: Bill Gunn. Screenwriter: Ishmael Reed, Walter Cotton. Cinematographer: Roberto Polidori. Editor: Bill Gunn. With: Verta Mae Grosvenor, Walter Cotton, Stacey Harris, Jim Wright, Thommie Blackwell. Digital video, color, 70 min. A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE The most distinctive Swedish filmmaker since Ingmar Bergman, Roy Andersson concludes the trilogy he began with the acclaimed Songs from the Second Floor and You, the Living with this astonishing mixture of the absurd, the hilarious, the shocking, and the horrifying. Presented as a series of darkly comic vignettes, Pigeon shifts between two loose narrative strands: in one, two hapless novelty salesmen wander around town trying to sell their inventory of vampire fangs and rubber masks; in the other, Charles XII, Sweden’s most bellicose king, reappears in modern times to carry on his series of disastrous defeats. Shifting between nightmare, fantasy, reverie, and even an impromptu musical number, Pigeon is a dazzling, provocative, and very disturbing critique of our times. —TIFF. Dir. Roy Andersson, 2014, DCP, 101 min. A Place in Time (1977) A New York artist witnesses a crime and resolves to redeem his earlier inaction. A silent film in pantomime, this early work by director Charles Lane brings a unique deftness and grace to its social realist narrative. Producer: Charles Lane. Director: Charles Lane. Screenwriter: Charles Lane. Cinematographer: Ron Fortunato. Editor: Charles Lane. With: Francine Piggot, George Riddick, Joseph Robinson, Ina Mayhew, Joseph Reid, Charles Lane. 16mm, b/w, 34 min. Reclamation Works: New and recent films by William E. Jones and Thom Andersen In what promises to be a superb evening, William E. Jones and Thom Andersen each return to Filmforum to present recent works that look deep into past films to find or revitalize their meanings. Whether social investigation, political commentary, or a new-forgotten filmmaker’s documentation of an era largely forgotten, these two artists again show why they are two of the finest cinema makers of today. Five works by William E. Jones include one U.S. and four Los Angeles premieres, and Thom Andersen’s Juke is its local premiere. ROMANCE, APOCALYPSE AND MOON LANDINGS: THE TWILIGHT WORLDS OF KATE MCCABE “Kate McCabe’s works are funny and sweet personal observations of our twilight worlds. Worlds where portraits of places and emotions are the kinetic sublime- where we as viewers are transported betwixt and between, hovering – our feet grounded on earth, our heads in the clouds. The everyday scene, a moving lyrical event functioning as a tribute to beauty and our lucid spirit. These short films are like private conversations sharing a secret and a dream.” Join filmmaker and founder of Joshua Tree’s Kidnap Yourself art collective Kate McCabe for the special premiere of her new 16mm film “You and I Remain”, a lovely apocalyptic lullaby about the Anthropocene with music and sound design by Jason Payne (Nitzer Ebb) plus a selection of other short films. FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE! The Royal Road “A breathtaking cinematic essay…a masterpiece.”— Sam Fragoso, Roger Ebert.com “A beguiling meditation….serenely accomplished.” — Dennis Harvey, Variety From acclaimed filmmaker Jenni Olson, THE ROYAL ROAD is a stunning feature-length cinematic essay that offers up a primer on the Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War alongside intimate reflections on nostalgia, butch identity, the quest for unattainable women, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo—all against a contemplative backdrop of 16mm urban California landscapes, and featuring a voiceover cameo by Tony Kushner. Filmmaker Jenni Olson in person! SAINT JACK 1979, Concorde-New Horizon, 112 min, USA, Dir: Peter Bogdanovich One of director Peter Bogdanovich’s best and most underrated films is adapted from the Paul Theroux novel and features Ben Gazzara as an easygoing, expatriate American pimp in Vietnam-era Singapore. Exceptionally authentic location atmosphere highlights this fascinating character study. With Denholm Elliott, Joss Ackland and George Lazenby. SELECTED SHORTS * Teach Our Children (1972) Documenting the 1971 Attica prison rebellion with footage of the calamity and subsequent interviews with guards and prisoners, this penetrating documentary also critiques the systemic subjugation of people of color in America, and gives voice to those at Attica who organized to secure their rights under abject conditions. Director: Christine Choy, Susan Robeson. Digital video, b/w, in English and Spanish with English subtitles, 35 min. * Free, White & 21 (1980) Howardena Pindell delivers a stark direct-camera monologue recounting incidents in which she was discriminated against for being an African American woman. A blonde white woman (Pindell in disguise) injects a cynical rebuttal, claiming Pindell is just being paranoid. Director: Howardena Pindell. Digital video, color, 12 min. * I Am Somebody (1970) This inspiring documentary chronicles the struggles of underpaid female hospital workers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1969, seeking to unionize as they heroically face down the National Guard and public opinion. Producer: Madeline Anderson. Director: Madeline Anderson. Cinematographer: Don Hunstein, Roland Mitchell. Editor: Madeline Anderson. 16mm, color, 30 min. * A Dream is What You Wake Up From (1978) An intimate portrait of members of three contemporary Black families, giving insight to the societal, economic, gendered and sometimes elusive forces that insidiously circumscribe and condition their everyday lives. Director: Larry Bullard, Carolyn Johnson. Cinematographer: Larry Bullard. Editor: Allan Siegel. With: Lauren Craig, Kym Fleming, Damian Hayes, Cheryl Daniels, Onaje Frank Ruffin. 16mm, color, 50 min. 7 CHINESE BROTHERS Larry (Jason Schwartzman) is content with his dog Arrow and booze, barely tolerating anything or anyone else. His marginally successful relationships include his grandmother, who keeps him afloat financially, and his best friend Norwood, who provides him with pharmaceuticals. But a chance encounter at a Jiffy Lube gives Larry a beguiling new boss and the impetus to head in another direction for a while. This movie showcases all that may be needed to help a person get unstuck in life: love (or an unrequited crush), friendship (or someone your family likes better than you) and family (or in this case a grandmother who will support you whenever you get fired from a job). Dir. Bob Byington, 2015, DCP, 76 min. SHE’S FUNNY THAT WAY 2014, Lionsgate, 93 min, USA, Dir: Peter Bogdanovich Director Peter Bogdanovich’s first feature in more than a decade kicks into gear when Broadway director Owen Wilson takes a fancy to call girl-turned-actress Imogen Poots and casts her in his latest play – along with his wife (Kathryn Hahn) and her ex (Rhys Ifans). Jennifer Aniston, Will Forte and a host of cameos too good to spoil here add to the romantic chaos in this effervescent comedy. “It’s a hysterical screwball fantasia that openly steals from Lubitsch, Hawks, Capra and Sturges and wants to be caught with its fingers in the till. The result is a highly sexed Jenga-pile of silliness, to which Bogdanovich can’t resist adding block after teetering block.” - Robbie Collin, The Telegraph. Discussion between films with director Peter Bogdanovich. Songs From the Second Floor Songs From the Second Floor, which shared the Special Jury Prize at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, is an indescribably surrealistic examination of the pointlessness of modern life in a nameless city full of directionless people. Throughout a series of unrelated vignettes, all marked by absurd black humor, the film's characters stand witness to an utterly motionless traffic jam, the pathetic firing of a 30-year employee, a magic trick gone horribly wrong, and the failed business ventures of a crucifix salesman. Dialogue is largely absent from the film, and even where present, it usually only confounds what little expository quality there is in the narrative. The tone of Swedish director Roy Anderssen's highly original and challenging project recalls such bleak visionaries as Samuel Beckett and Luis Buñuel, and though it certainly perplexed audiences, it also left them laughing uncontrollably. Directed By: Roy Andersson. Running Time: 1 hr. 37 min. SPECIAL EFFECTS 1984, Park Circus/MGM, 106 min, USA, Dir: Larry Cohen Past-his-prime director Chris Neville (a very effective Eric Bogosian) kills an actress at his home while cameras roll; turning the footage into a movie, he casts the woman’s boyfriend in a role in order to frame him for the deed. Zoë Lund (MS. 45) shines in a dual role that looks at Hollywood with both allure and dread. Discussion between films with writer-director Larry Cohen, moderated by David Del Valle. Statues Hardly Ever Smile (1971) A group of African American children on a tour of the Brooklyn Museum interact with Egyptian art objects through acting and performance exercises led by a storyteller. Producer: Kent Garrett. Director: Stan Lathan. Cinematographer: Leroy Lucas, St. Clair Bourne. Editor: Kathleen Collins. Digital video, color, 21 min. Subversive Women: A Low-Key Night of New Underground Films Made by Women Join us for the first-ever Women Underground event and watch awesome films that are way too wacky, gory, sick, crazy, strange, weird, twisted, odd or insane to show at mainstream film festivals. Women Underground is a shorts showcase of some of the strangest animated, surreal, experimental, violent and wildly entertaining movies of 2015, that all happen to be directed by women. 120 min. Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) Springing to the sprightly beat of Miles Davis’ score, William Greaves’ improvisational docu-fiction about the making of a film finds director Greaves impishly fomenting insurrection on his own set as cast and crew struggle to comprehend his vision and motives. Levels of performance and the very status of filmed events are inverted in the film, acclaimed decades after its production as a masterpiece ahead of its time. Producer: William Greaves. Director: William Greaves. Screenwriter: William Greaves. Cinematographer: Terry Filgate, Stevan Larner. Editor: William Greaves. With: Patricia Ree Gilbert, Don Fellows, Susan Anspach, Jonathan Gordon, Bob Rosen. 35mm, color, 72 min. THEY ALL LAUGHED 1981, HBO Films, 115 min, USA, Dir: Peter Bogdanovich Director Peter Bogdanovich uses the private-eye genre as a vehicle to deliver deeply romantic insights about love, marriage and regret. John Ritter and Ben Gazzara work for the Odyssey Detective Agency, a firm where the investigators are more concerned with their own complicated love lives than with solving any cases. Audrey Hepburn and Dorothy Stratten co-star in this hilarious ensemble dramedy, a film that Quentin Tarantino declared one of the 10 greatest ever made. 3-D RARITIES The first meeting of the LA 3-D Club was held on July 21st, 1955. The first documented public exhibition of a 3-D motion picture took place on June 10, 1915 at New York's Astor Theatre. The LA 3-D Club, LA Filmforum, and 3-D SPACE are proud to commemorate these important events with a very special presentation of 3-D RARITIES, an amazing collection of stereoscopic treasures dating back to the dawn of 3-D cinematography, followed by a Q&A with Bob Furmanek, founder and president of the 3-D Film Archive, and producer of these restorations. Films screening include: Kelley's Plasticon Pictures: THRU' THE TREES, WASHINGTON D.C., the earliest extant 3-D demonstration film from 1922 with incredible footage of Washington and New York City; NEW DIMENSIONS (aka MOTOR RHYTHM) the first domestic full color 3-D film originally shown at the New York World's Fair in May 1940; THRILLS FOR YOU, a fascinating promotional film for the Pennsylvania Railroad, first shown in 1940 at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco; BOO MOON, an excellent example of color stereoscopic animation from 1953; DOOM TOWN, a controversial anti-atomic testing film which was mysteriously pulled from theatrical release after a few play-dates in July 1953; I'LL SELL MY SHIRT, a burlesque comedy unseen in 3-D for over 60 years; THE MAZE coming attraction trailer with fantastic 3-D production design by the legendary William Cameron Menzies, and much more. Presented in high quality digital 3-D, all films in 3-D RARITIES have been restored and mastered in 2K from original 35mm elements for optimum quality. Meticulously re-aligned shot by shot for precise registration of the original left/right elements, these historic 3-D films have never before looked this good! TRAFFIC 1971, Janus Films, 96 min, France, Dir: Jacques Tati Jacques Tati reinstates M. Hulot, who is given the assignment of escorting a ridiculously gadget-addled, super-deluxe camper from its French factory to the International Automobile Show in Amsterdam. Of course, a comic set of obstacles, detours and mishaps sets the caravan reeling. In French with English subtitles. Variations VII: John Cage Experiments in Art and Technology Directed by Barbro Shultz Lundestam and produced by Billy Klüver and Julie Martin for Experiments in Art and Technology. Documenting the work of artist John Cage for 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering, this film shows the series of innovative dance, music, and theatre performances held at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City in October of 1966. 9 Evenings was the result of collaborations between artists and engineers from Bell Telephone Laboratories. Cage’s performance, Variations VII, was the next to last in the artist’s series of indeterminate works, which used electronic equipment and systems. The Wild Party (1929) Director Dorothy Arzner guided Clara Bow to a winning performance in this, her first sound feature. Stella is an inveterate partier at an all-girl college. But when a favorite classmate is implicated in a scandal, Stella heroically defends her friend's reputation at the expense of her own. Rich with pre-Code delights (including furtive, "innocent" bed-hopping with college professors), one may easily detect the film's insistence on the supremacy of female friendships. Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. Producer: E. Lloyd Sheldon. Director: Dorothy Arzner. Screenwriter: E. Lloyd Sheldon. Based on a story by Warner Fabian. Cinematographer: Victor Milner. Editor: Otto Lovering. With: Clara Bow, Fredric March, Marceline Day, Shirley O’Hara, Adrienne Doré. 35mm, b/w, 77 min. Will (1981) Considered the first feature film directed by an African American woman, trailblazer Jessie Maple's first feature tells the story of a girls’ basketball coach and former athlete, battling heroin addiction as he and his spouse bring up a 12-year-old street kid, “Little Brother,” that they’ve taken in. Maple’s unblinking but compassionate telling of their story renders a Harlem not without its troubles, but brimming with humanity. Producer: Jessie Maple, Leroy Patton. Director: Jessie Maple. Screenwriter: Anthony Wisdom, Jessie Maple. Based on an original story by Jessie Maple. Cinematographer: Leroy Patton. Editor: Willette Coleman. With: Obaka Adedunyo, Loretta Devine, Robert Dean, Audrey Maple, Ellwoodson Williams. 16mm, color, 70 min. You, The Living Filmmaker Roy Andersson draws the viewer into the world of a woman whose most uplifting moments are always balanced by tragedy, and whose joy is constantly offset by sorrow. In laughing along at the good times and shedding a tear at the bad, the comic tragedy of life manifests itself in a manner that all can surely relate to. Directed By: Roy Andersson. Running Time: 1 hr. 32 min.