a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.
sat. dec. 1 moon duo @ down & out audition, black peter @ ucla film archive 2001: a space odyssey (70mm) @ lacma back to the future, who framed roger rabbit? @ aero boy meets girl 5 PM @ silent movie theater a bucket of blood 8 PM @ silent movie theater bombon FREE 6 PM @ permanent records the devil probably, le pont du nord @ new beverly olivia wyatt films 8 PM @ velaslavasay panorama the flytraps @ pehrspace crazy & thief 4:30 PM @ downtown independent sun. dec. 2 the wild ride FREE 8 PM @ biker movie night @ satellite no man of her own 7 PM, the mating season @ ucla film archive a christmas story 2 PM @ orpheum mauvais sang 6:30 PM @ silent movie theater on the road FREE (w/ rsvp) 9:30 PM @ silent movie theater the devil probably, le pont du nord @ new beverly empty quarter @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian crazy & thief 5 PM @ downtown independent middle of nowhere 8 PM @ downtown independent mon. dec. 3 recent work from anthology film archive FREE @ ucla film archive shadows 8 PM, johnny staccato @ silent movie theater la vacanza 3 PM @ hriff @ new beverly nerosubianco 9:40 PM @ hriff @ new beverly west of memphis FREE (w/ RSVP) @ lacma middle of nowhere 4:30 PM @ downtown independent crazy & thief 6 PM @ downtown independent tue. dec. 4 the incredible indelible films of manuel delanda @ silent movie theater burroughs "cut-up" films 9:45 PM, naked lunch @ silent movie theater dropout @ hriff @ new beverly manos: the hands of fate 9:30 PM @ hriff @ new beverly pushover 1 PM @ lacma mr. smith goes to washington FREE 1:30 PM @ skirball wed. dec. 5 the phantom carriage @ silent movie theater it's such a beautiful day 8:30 PM @ hriff @ new beverly broncho @ harvard & stone gunvor nelson films @ spielberg @ egyptian thu. dec. 6 veronika krausas' music & films FREE 7 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque dropout 2 PM @ hriff @ bellevarado studios tempo lavorativo / tempo libero 8 PM @ hriff @ bellevarado studios la vacanza 9:30 PM @ hriff @ bellevarado studios following @ egyptian holy motors 7:30 10:20 PM @ silent movie theater the deep FREE (w/ RSVP) @ lacma crazy & thief 5:30 PM @ downtown independent middle of nowhere 11:30 PM @ downtown independent fri. dec. 7 ornette: made in america @ new beverly all over me @ ucla film archive altered states MIDNIGHT @ nuart a clockwork orange @ lacma scarface (1983) @ grauman's chinese robert mckimson's looney tunes @ aero dagon MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater a virgin in hollywood 8 PM @ art share l.a. joel hodgson live: "riffing myself" & mst3k: "santa claus conquers the martians" @ silent movie theater brannigan's law FREE @ 5 star bar sat. dec. 8 the swiss family skiiers, thee tee pees @ 5 star bar ornette: made in america @ new beverly barry lyndon @ lacma prometheus 1 PM, alien, aliens, alien 3, alien resurrection @ egyptian miami connection MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater grass widow @ motley coffeehouse (claremont) joel hodgson live: "riffing myself" & mst3k: "santa claus conquers the martians" 4:00 8:00 PM @ silent movie theater upsilon acrux, ezra buchla @ sancho sun. dec. 9 ornette: made in america @ new beverly grass widow @ the echo mtns., dirt dress @ the smell the last days of pompeii 5 PM @ egyptian vertigo (70mm) @ aero ann arbor film festival traveling tour digital program b @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian mon. dec. 10 ornette: made in america @ new beverly pxl this 22 FREE 7:00 9:00 PM @ documental @ unurban roman milk @ pehrspace tue. dec. 11 ornette: made in america @ new beverly good will hunting, to die for FREE @ egyptian wed. dec. 12 ornette: made in america @ new beverly thrones @ smell amour FREE (RSVP) @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges thu. dec. 13 ornette: made in america @ new beverly king tuff @ the echo la air: pablo valencia FREE 8 PM @ epfc thrones, peter kolovos @ dem passwords nothing like chocolate 6 PM @ hriff @ bellevarado studios holy motors 7:30 10:20 PM @ silent movie theater broncho FREE 7 PM @ origami mike watt & the missingmen, cosmonauts @ 3 clubs john darnielle FREE 6 PM @ origami vinyl fri. dec. 14 wooden shjips, trans am @ echoplex the shining @ lacma king tuff, audacity @ center for the arts eagle rock sullivan's travels, o brother where art thou? @ new beverly it's a wonderful life (on ice) 8 PM @ location TBA @ epfc filmmobile sat. dec. 15 ty segall, bleached, pangea @ el rey loves of a blonde, the fireman's ball @ ucla film archive full metal jacket 5 PM @ lacma sullivan's travels 3:10 PM, o brother where art thou? @ new beverly house of games 8 PM @ new beverly new works salon viii 8 PM @ epfc the soft pack @ space temple sun. dec. 16 ty segall, bleached, audacity @ the observatory to each his own 7 PM, no time for love @ ucla film archive slits tribute night @ part time punks @ the echo the flytraps, catholic spit, cum stain @ redwood a christmas story 5 PM @ arclight hollywood ty segall FREE 1 PM @ permanent records mon. dec. 17 the dark crystal 9:45 PM @ silent movie theater tue. dec. 18 on the waterfront 1 PM @ lacma black christmas, silent night deadly night part 2 @ new beverly wed. dec. 19 brannigan's law @ the smell thu. dec. 20 gap dream, psychic ills @ the echo tchoupitoulas 7:30 9:35 PM @ new beverly fri. dec. 21 jon brion @ largo modern times, city lights @ egyptian it's a wonderful life @ aero django 7:30 9:45 @ new beverly sat. dec. 22 the loons @ bar pink (SD) it's a wonderful life @ egyptian the circus 2 PM @ aero everything is terrible holiday special 2012 9:30 MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater melissa nadler @ bootleg django 3:00 5:15 7:30 9:45 @ new beverly shoot first die later MIDNIGHT @ new beverly sun. dec. 23 the gold rush, the kid @ egyptian it's a wonderful life @ aero django 3:00 5:15 7:30 9:45 @ new beverly mon. dec. 24 daisies 7:00 PM @ silent movie theater tue. dec. 25 daisies 7:00 PM @ silent movie theater wed. dec. 26 daisies @ silent movie theater thu. dec. 27 daisies @ silent movie theater fri. dec. 28 the princess bride MIDNIGHT @ nuart zongo junction @ the mint lawrence of arabia @ egyptian it's a gift, w.c. fields shorts @ aero daisies 7:10 PM @ silent movie theater the entity MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater sat. dec. 29 the greatest cartoons ever 2:00 7:00 PM @ alex theatre the poseidon adventure @ egyptian it happened one night, holiday @ aero daisies 4:45 7:00 PM @ silent movie theater white fence @ the smell sun. dec. 30 raiders of the lost ark 5 PM, indiana jones and the temple of doom, indiana jones and the last crusade @ egyptian daisies 4:45 7:00 PM @ silent movie theater mon. dec. 31 melvins, redd kross @ the alexandria tue. jan. 1 duck soup 5 PM, monkey business @ aero the one armed swordsman 5 PM, (mystery shaw bros. film TBA) @ silent movie theater holy motors 6:45 PM @ downtown independent wed. jan. 2 the tin drum (director's cut) 8 PM @ silent movie theater walk proud MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater holy motors 4:45 7:00 PM @ downtown independent thu. jan. 3 the kinetic films of len lye FREE (RSVP) @ lacma metropolis, dark city @ egyptian the tin drum (director's cut) 8 PM @ silent movie theater holy motors 4:45 7:00 PM @ downtown independent fri. jan. 4 repo man MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater los cincos, the pope, qui, godzik pink @ the smell the godfather @ egyptian only the young @ silent movie theater repo man MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater call her savage, hoop-la @ ucla film archive zulus, nasa space universe, w-h-i-t-e @ glitter death sat. jan. 5 the pope, sharp ease, godzik pink @ the smell tess @ lacma goodfellas, miller's crossing @ egyptian our hospitality, three ages @ aero seeding of a ghost 11 PM @ silent movie theater only the young 8:30 PM @ silent movie theater parisian love, capital punishment @ ucla film archive sun. jan. 6 saccharine trust, deadbeats @ the echo the godfather part ii @ egyptian paper moon, the sterile cuckoo @ aero theodora goes wild 7 PM, true confession @ ucla film archive sat. jan. 12 the warlocks, cosmonauts @ bootleg fri. jan. 18 the neverending story MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater sat. jan. 19 brazil @ electric dusk drive-in bell gardens FREE 6 PM @ permanent records sun. jan. 20 budos band @ echoplex fri. jan. 25 el ten eleven @ central sapc tue. jan. 29 bouquet @ the smell sat. feb. 9 back to the future @ electric dusk drive-in sun. feb. 10 moonbeams @ echoplex thu. feb. 14 casablanca @ silent movie theater sat. feb. 16 sea lions @ the smell hepcat @ house of blues WHAT IT IS: All Over Me (1997) "...tough, compassionate and true." - San Francisco Chronicle Directed by Alex Sichel Alex Sichel’s penetrating feature charts a young lesbian’s sojourn of self-discovery. Alison Folland is pitch perfect as Claude, a teenager whose wish to start a band runs aground of her growing attraction for friend and potential band-mate, self-destructive Ellen. One of only a few lesbian features to receive a general release, the film is an emblem of its time, featuring music of Sleater-Kinney, Ani DiFranco, and Babes in Toyland. Producer: Dolly Hall. Screenwriter: Sylvia Sichel. Cinematographer: Joe DeSalvo. Editor: Sabine Hoffman. Cast: Alison Folland, Tara Subkoff, Cole Hauser, Wilson Cruz, Ann Dowd. 35mm, color, 90 min. ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL TRAVELING TOUR DIGITAL PROGRAM B Los Angeles Filmforum concludes its 2012 programming with the 2012 edition of the 50th AAFF Traveling Tour, giving Los Angeles audiences a chance to see the best new experimental works from around the world! This program of short films includes recent experimental, narrative, documentary and animated films selected from the most recent Ann Arbor Film Festival. Los Angeles Filmforum is pleased to present the 50th AAFF Traveling Tour. This program of short films includes recent experimental, narrative, documentary and animated films from England, France, Germany and the US; all selected from the most recent Ann Arbor Film Festival. The program includes Suzan Pitt's recent animation VISITATION, a journey through a surreal and dark landscape allowing an imaginary glimpse within "an outer-world night"; Sylvia Schedelbauer's SOUNDING GLASS (awarded Best Experimental Film at the AAFF), which "imbues still images with immense movement, imparts an ominous threat onto neutral foliage, and creates a mounting sense of tension..."(Aily Nash, Brooklyn Rail). Hayoun Kwon's animated documentary LACK OF EVIDENCE (awarded Best Film at the AAFF), tells the tragic tale of a Nigerian refugee who becomes entangled in European bureaucracy. The program concludes with THE WELL OF REPRESENTATION, the final part of the Ciebas series by Evan Meaney (awarded Most Promising Filmmaker at the AAFF). THE WELL OF REPRESENTATION is in part a remake of Hollis Frampton's Gloria! (1979), and in part a repurposing of hacked, 16-bit video game technology which asks us to reconsider our fear of the liminal. Other works include French Algerian filmmaker Neil Beloufa's, UNTITLED, a reenactment of terrorists hiding out in an Algerian villa; Dani Leventhal's TIN PRESSED, a "deft oscillation between elision and inclusion (that) reveals a brief but vast taxonomy of beauty, peace, longing and terror" (Jeremy Hoevenaar); 20 Hz, a sound-image composition of a geo-magnetic storm by the British duo Semiconductor; and Stephen Irwin's MOXIE (Audience Award at the AAFF) a darkly humorous animated portrait of a pyromaniac bear who misses his mother. Audition (Konkurs) (1964) Directed by Miloš Forman Forman’s influential first feature is made up of two short stories. In the first, a pair of young musicians in rival brass bands skip an important concert to attend a motorcycle race. In the second, a young female pedicurist secretly takes time off from work to attend a singing audition. Both stories whimsically illustrate the wish to transcend drab, authoritarian strictures. Filmové studio Barrandov. Screenwriter: Miloš Forman, Ivan Passer. Cinematographer: Miroslav Ondrícek. Editor: Miroslav Hájek. Cast: Jirí Suchý, Jirí Šlitr, Markéta Krotká, Ladislav Jakim, Karel Mares. 35mm, b/w, 77 min The Best of “Johnny Staccato” – 9:45pm A New York counterpart to the crime-solving hipsterism of its contemporary Peter Gunn, Johnny Staccato is still riveting in ways long removed from its lone ‘59/’60 season. Cassavetes-lovers can get hours of our main man as a moody jazz combo pianist who moonlights as an unorthodox detective, and the style points go through the roof from there: amazing wardrobe, fakey sets, and superb jazz music on the soundtrack, all bubbling within overblown plots and chewy dialogue. The young, mercurial Cassavetes is a blast, updating the old ‘40s noir detective fighting a confused world to the ‘50s fresh jazz era — and the series’ parade of guest stars is equal fun, as the show’s run included one-off turns by Dean Stockwell, Cloris Leachman, Martin Landau, Mary Tyler Moore and even Gena Rowlands! As well, Cassavetes even got to direct some of the episodes, giving him the opportunity to hone the skills he would simultaneously use on the production of Shadows. Join us for a snazzy selection of nuggets from this hidden treasure of golden-era television! Black Peter (Cerny Petr) (1964) Directed by Miloš Forman Peter is a disaffected teenager oppressed by his new job scoping out shoplifters in a supermarket, when he’d be much happier hanging out by a swimming pool and flirting with girls. The invectives with which his boss and his father harangue him seem almost of a language other than his own. Forman’s skilled use of non-actors and improvisation gives the film a surprising and cheeky charm. Filmové studio Barrandov. Producer: Rudolf Hájek. Screenwriter: Miloš Forman, Jaroslav Papoušek. Cinematographer: Jan Nemecek. Editor: Miroslav Hájek. Cast: Ladislav Jakim, Pavla Martinková, Jan Vostrcil, Vladimír Pucholt, Pavel Sedlacek. 35mm, b/w, 85 min. BOY MEETS GIRL The definitive document of ‘80s underground French cinema, Boy Meets Girl was the exhilarating and tumultuously romantic debut by Leos Carax, a precocious and passionate 23-year-old cineaste soon to become his homeland’s leading bête noire and monstre sacré. Pairing the laconic, monochrome slapstick of Jim Jarmusch with a larger-than-life stylistic panache, Carax’s experimental melodrama stars Denis Lavant as a compulsive loafer whose post-breakup meanderings through nocturnal Paris draw him into the orbit of depressive beauty Mireille — whom he meets at a surreal house party, among astronauts and actresses, while she hides on the verge of suicide in the bathroom. In sequences both absurdly comic and profoundly romantic, these two unstable outcasts share Alex’s last moments of freedom together on the eve of his Army conscription. Culminating in a cataclysmic, violently poetic grand guignol finale, Boy Meets Girl is an essential page from the book of doomed French love; whether you’re tracing backwards from Desplechin or forwards from Godard, no history of cinematic amour fou is complete without it. Dir. Leos Carax, 1984, 35mm, 100 min. BURROUGHS “CUT-UP” FILMS “During the performances an unusual number of strange articles such as bags, pants, shoes, and coats were left behind, lost property, probably out of complete disorientation.” — Roy Underhill, assistant manager at the Cinephone, London (theater showing the initial theatrical run of Cut-Ups) In the 1960s, William Burroughs and collaborator Bryon Gysin made huge strides with the literary “cut-up” technique: take a sheet of text, scissor it into bits, toss the bits around and re-assemble — with the finished product’s coherence (or insanity) left to chance. Taking the form to the silver screen, Burroughs and partner Antony Balch explored fertile, ultra- experimental territory with Towers Open Fire (1963) and Cut-Ups (1967), two pioneering works of total mindslaying that are the ultimate in translating Burroughs’ indescribable style onto film. Taken together, this duo of shorts will leave you forever changed, and ready to devour the lone Beat’s entire bibliography. THE CIRCUS 1928, Janus Films, 71 min, USA, Dir: Charles Chaplin The Little Tramp goes from being a circus loiterer who steals hotdogs from babies to an accidental clown in this delightful riot by comedic genius Charlie Chaplin. Don't be fooled by the freewheeling slapstick throughout - the final shot evokes the heart-tugging yet adorable melancholia that makes the Tramp one of cinema's most enduring characters. WITH: "A Dog's Life," (1918, Janus Films, 40 min). A literal expression of Chaplin's identification with the underdog. Crazy & Thief (USA, 2011, 52 mins). Directed By: Cory McAbee. Producers: Cory McAbee, Scott Miller, Steve Holmgren. Screenwriter: Cory McAbee. Cinematographer: Scott Miller. Editor: Matt Cowan. Music: Cory McAbee. Cast: Willa Vy McAbee, John Huck McAbee, Gregory Russell Cook, Graham Stanford "I bet we find something that's better than anything anyone's ever seen," says 7-year-old Crazy as she and her 2-year-old brother, Thief, head out on an adventure of their own making, guided only by a homemade "Star Chart" and their unfettered imaginations. Working with his own children, director Cory McAbee has fashioned a film that irresistibly captures the exuberance of childhood. With wonder and a remarkable sense of humor (young Thief ranks among cinema's great surrealist comedians), this pint-sized Odyssey follows Crazy and Thief as they head towards their final destination: the Star of Bethlehem and a cardboard time machine that will get them back home. DAGON Legendary horror director Stuart Gordon’s most faithful and unsettling cinematic trip to the H.P. Lovecraft well! Adapted from Lovecraft’s “Shadow over Innsmouth," Dagon follows a group of vacationers stranded in a Spanish fishing village — one whose inhabitants seem controlled by a shadowy, malignant force. Things are “fishy” in more ways than one, and Gordon masterfully piles on the creeping dread and slimy shocks with the reckless conviction of one deeply steeped in Lovecraftian lore. Anchored by a performance from co-star Ezra Godden that seems lifted directly from the author’s fevered pages, Dagon is a wet and wild ride that gets weirder with each passing scene, leaving you with one of the most bizarre endings of any horror film of the 2000s and beyond. Criminally overlooked, this fish is still fresh, and is one you don’t want to get away — so climb aboard with us and director Stuart Gordon, producer Brian Yuzna and co-star Ezra Godden, who will all be here in person for a Q&A after the film! Dir. Stuart Gordon, 2001, 35mm, 98 min. DAISIES Daisies is a bubbling and buoyant spring of irrepressible female creativity; it is an overflowing audio-visual bouquet of color, music and texture; it is a freewheeling and effervescent farce, a formal free-for-all, a paradoxical mixture of bourgeois indulgence and cultural critique, and it’s your next favorite movie. Two young Czech girls (both named Marie) decide that the world is so corrupt that they might as well join in, and they do so with wild abandon — prancing, food-fighting, pranking old men, carousing in nightclubs and creating anarchy everywhere they go. Director Vera Chytilova’s love of cinema’s potential is both playful and palpable, as exuberant as the spirit of the two “daisies” whose misadventures have surprising weight and meaning. Banned upon its release by the Czech government, Daisies has become a major cult favorite thanks to its dazzling setpieces, charismatic and fashionable art-girl heroines, and an infectious sense of fun that’s as potent today as it was when it first premiered behind the Iron Curtain. Brand-new 35mm print! Dir. Vera Chytilova, 1966, 35mm, 74 min. THE DEEP 2012/color/95 min. Scr: Jon Atli Jonasson, Baltasar Kormakur; dir: Baltasar Kormakur; w/ Olafur Darri Olafsson In Iceland’s official Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film, director Balthasar Kormakur turns his eye toward a spectacle that made intense demands on the filmmaker and his cast. The Deep takes us inside a fishing boat that’s slammed by disaster—a horrific and unforeseen circumstance sinks their boat and leaves Gulli (Olafur Darri Olafsson) to survive the pounding punishment and fighting to stay alive. Kormakur, whose films include 101 Reykjavik and Jar City, small-scale stories with grim, telling bursts of comedy, veers into an epic direction with The Deep (which he co-wrote) and yet maintains his sure grip on intimate emotional notes. THE DEVIL, PROBABLY 1977/color/95 min. Scr:/dir; Robert Bresson; w/ Antoine Monnier, Tina Irissari, Henri de Maublanc. The most controversial film of Robert Bresson's career, Le Diable Probablement was prohibited to viewers under the age of eighteen in France, not because of sex or violence but because it was seen as encouraging suicide. At the Berlin Film Festival, where it was denied the Grand Prize, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and British critic Derek Malcolm threatened to walk off the jury if their support for it was not made public. (Fassbinder declared "the questions Bresson asks will never be unimportant.") Played by Antoine Monnier - a non-actor in his only film role who was also the great-grandson of Henri Matisse and who inspired the title of Dennis Cooper's debut novel - the single-minded protagonist of Bresson's film wanders around Paris looking for a reason not to kill himself - politics, religion, environmentalism, drugs, psychoanalysis - and ultimately finds none. Made when Bresson was in his seventies, The Devil, Probably is an indelible portrait of tormented youth. "Bresson's best film since Pickpocket... One comes out of the film with a sense of exultation. When a civilization can produce a work of art as perfectly achieved as this, it is hard to believe that there is no hope for it." - Richard Roud. DROPOUT Dropout, which stars (then-and-now) real life couple Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero, who produced and financed the film themselves, tells the tale of a couple who meet in swinging London and run away together to have a series of adventures with society's dropouts. This premiere restoration has unseen material from the Tinto Brass archives, and was completed in cooperation with Tinto Brass and Alexander Tuschinski, to give viewers the most complete version of the director's original vision. Dir. Tinto Brass, 1970. Q&A with Tinto Brass, Alexander Tuschinski, and special guests from Tinto Brass’ 1960s & 1970s casts & crews on hand for a panel Q&A to follow (Nov. 4 screening only). EMPTY QUARTER Empty Quarter (2011, 16mm black & white/sound, 71 minutes) is a film about the region of Southeast Oregon, an area populated by ranching and farming communities, in Lake, Harney, and Malheur counties. The region is roughly one-third of Oregon's landmass yet holds less than 2% of the state's population. Southeast Oregon, though familiar by name is a foreign place, particularly to those who reside in urban environments. It is a landscape in the making, constantly undergoing change, being re-worked. It is a highly politicized landscape, evoking differing opinions concerning resource management and land use. It is also a landscape that is, despite some beliefs, rich with diversity, as seen by the presence of East Indian and Japanese families, ancestors of Basque sheepherders, home to the Paiute tribes people, and to Latinos who have come to help work the land. Empty Quarter departs from a documentary form that utilizes "talking head" interviews and "B-roll" or "cut-away" images tied together with occasional narration. The film instead presents stark portraits, waiting to be explored and digested by the viewer. Meaning is extracted in the slow process of accumulation and measured response. Through a series of stationary shots, recording open landscapes and the activities of local residents, Empty Quarter reflects on the character of the region. Natural areas are viewed among images of industry, various labor processes, resource management and recreation. Voices of local residents describe the history of pioneer settlement, social life of rural communities and the struggles of small town economies. THE ENTITY Ever wanted to see a mashup of Poltergeist and I Spit On Your Grave? If so, have we got an incredible movie for you: 1982's masterpiece The Entity! When Barbara Hershey attracts the unwanted attention of a randy specter lurking in her Spielbergian suburban abode, some seriously sexy paranormal activity goes down. Accompanied by truly disturbing layers of moody, jarring score work by Charles Bernstein, the film is a visceral rollercoaster of upside-down shocks. And like all good ghost stories of the era, this whack-a-doo supernatural thriller (directed by Sidney J. Furie, ringmaster of such diverse spectacles as Lady Sings The Blues, Iron Eagle and Ladybugs) is “based on a true story” — a fact lent credence by the on-screen presence of a crack team of parapsychologists, who usher in one of the most bat-shit “climaxes” you will see in a movie this (or any other) year. Come enjoy some ghost-coital/post-holiday cheer with us, as we indulge in the film Martin Scorsese’s listed as his #11 scariest flick of all time! Composer Charles Bernstein will be here to introduce the film, and to tell stories of his work scoring horror films in the 1980s! Dir. Sidney J. Furie, 1982, 35mm, 125 min. The Fireman's Ball (Horí, má panenko) (1967) "The movie is just plain funny. And as a parable it is timeless, with relevance at many times in many lands." - Roger Ebert Directed by Miloš Forman Forman’s absurdist comedy depicts social breakdown at a ball organized for a local fire department during which raffle prizes are looted, an impromptu beauty contest becomes a farce, and a fire breaks out, challenging inebriated firemen to do their job. Based on an actual anecdote, this allegory of official corruption and ineptitude was Oscar-nominated and provided a springboard to Forman’s American career. Filmové studio Barrandov. Producer: Rudolf Hájek. Screenwriter: Miloš Forman, Jaroslav Papoušek, Ivan Passer, Václav Sasek. Cinematographer: Miroslav Ondrícek. Editor: Miroslav Hájek. Cast: Vaclav Stöckel, Josef Švet, Jan Vostrcil, Josef Sebánek, Milada Jezková. 35mm, color, 73 min. FOLLOWING 1998, IFC Films, 69 min, UK, Dir: Christopher Nolan In writer-director Christopher Nolan’s startling feature debut, an aspiring author (Jeremy Theobald) researches his first book by following strangers in London. One of these, the dark, stylish Cobb (Alex Haw), catches the young man in the act and befriends him. But Cobb is a burglar, and his follower grows to love the illicit thrills of breaking and entering - until the two steal from a blonde (Lucy Russell) who turns out to be a gangster’s girlfriend. Shot in black-and-white on a shoestring budget, the film keeps audiences guessing with a nonlinear storytelling style similar to Nolan’s breakthrough follow-up, MEMENTO. “A taut, ingenious British neo-noir.” - Los Angeles Times. Discussion after the film with director Christopher Nolan. GUNVOR NELSON FILMS Filmforum continues bringing renowned experimental film artists from elsewhere this season with an extremely rare visit from Sweden of legendary media artist Gunvor Nelson. Gunvor Nelson is one of Sweden's internationally most prominent artists in her field - film and the moving image, and a key figure in the history of experimental film. Now 81 years old and living in Sweden, she says this is likely to be her last public screening in Los Angeles... ever, so you really don't want to miss it. "Gunvor Nelson's poetically expansive life's work-created in both San Francisco, her home and workplace for over thirty years, and her native Sweden, where she has resettled-has consistently, often courageously, privileged her subjective gaze and individual experience. Nelson relentlessly refuses predictability (and succeeds) in her search for a true relation between project and form. Among the most experimental of artists, Nelson illuminates such elusive and intimate subjects as childhood, aging, displacement, memory, women's roles, death, and the symbolic forces of nature and water via a potent exploration of the possibilities of sound and moving image. Her ephemeral, dreamlike images are simultaneously tactile and almost tangible, while her imaginative use of language and traces of music add considerably to the emotional impact of her works. Filmic collage and dynamic editing create tension and contrast. The unique characteristics of Nelson's works form less a definable style than a sustained aesthetic." – Jytte Jensen, Curator, MOMA HOLY MOTORS DIRECTOR Leos Carax, 116 MIN HOLY MOTORS may be the most driven and divine film produced this year. After a brief overture, harkening back to the very earliest images of cinema itself, Léos Carax's beguiling work takes us on a voyage unlike any other. The ship of choice is a gleaming white limousine. Inside, we follow the adventures of Mr. Oscar (Carax's longtime leading man, Denis Lavant) who has nine "assignments" to complete. More like command performances, these assignments require that he inhabit various roles and lives as if on a movie set, becoming an old woman, a tramp and an assassin, among other things. As the odyssey continues (and after a bizarre musical interlude), the performances (or bouts of possession) begin to take their toll on Mr. Oscar and his ever-faithful chauffeur, Celine. By turns heartbreaking and uproariously funny, playful and morose, HOLY MOTORS is a wild and heavenly ride with endless interpretations and no easy answers. —Lane Kneedler HOUSE OF GAMES David Mamet's acclaimed first feature film, starring Lindsay Crouse as a famed psychiatrist/author whose work draws her into the dangerous but provocative world of a smooth-talking con man (Joe Mantegna), from which there is no escape. Mamet's flair for streetwise yet poetic dialogue is very much in evidence in this memorable drama of tricks that always outdo the truth. THE INCREDIBLE, INDELIBLE FILMS OF MANUEL DELANDA “An anarchist who studies analytical philosophy, Manuel DeLanda makes aggressive, wild movies that simultaneously leap all over the place and stand absolutely still. A touch of the happy charlatan is similarly brought to his glitter punk credentials that hark back to such diverse Spanish-speaking surrealists as Arrabal, Buñuel, Dali, and Jodorowsky — although, unlike most of his predecessors, DeLanda prefers LSD and computers to the sacraments and anti-Christs of Catholicism in establishing the terms of his shock (and semi-mock) rebellion.” –Jonathan Rosenbaum Audacious. Outlandish. Subversive. Intense. Insane. These are just a few of the inadequate adjectives that fail to describe Manuel DeLanda’s fantastically disarming and deeply funny films. Known today as an author, teacher, and philosopher, DeLanda’s iconic celluloid works remain among the most innovative, abrasive, and hypnotic films produced in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. Unique among the films of their era (or of any other for that matter), DeLanda’s movies have a highbrow philosophical tinge, lowbrow wit, and punk rock style. Radically conceived and frantically edited, DeLanda’s energetic, semiotic cinema earned him instant acclaim in the international experimental film world — and, raised in Mexico but transplanted to NYC, DeLanda rather amazingly created most of these films while still an undergraduate at the School for Visual Arts. Out of circulation for nearly two decades and newly restored by Anthology Film Archives from the best existing sources, these utterly distinctive films will undoubtedly re-arrange your synapses. Andrew Lampert (of Anthology Film Archives) will be here to introduce the films! Anthology Film Archives’ preservation of the films of Manuel DeLanda was generously supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Film Preservation Foundation. Film scheduled: - JUDGEMENT DAY (1983, 8 minutes, Super 8mm-to-16mm): Cockroaches meet their maker in the first installment of DeLanda’s incomplete “Jerry Falwell trilogy.” - THE ITCH SCRATCH ITCH CYCLE (1976, 8 minutes, 16mm): A bickering couple unleash holy hell on each other in this deconstruction of the shot/countershot technique. - MAGIC MUSHROOM MOUNTAIN MOVIE (1981, 10 minutes, Super 8mm-to-digital): Shot in 1973 but not edited until years later, this rarely-screen Jodorowsky-ian Mexican travelogue is surprisingly lovely and, for DeLanda, relatively restrained. - INCONTINENCE: A DIARRHETIC FLOW OF MISMATCHES (1978, 18 minutes, 16mm): WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF goes gaga in this optically-printed masterpiece featuring a very surprise appearance by Professor Mamboozoo (artist Joe Coleman). - ISMISM (1979, 8 minutes, Super8mm-to-16mm, screening on digital): “ISMISM documents my graffiti activities in New York (before switching to more obscene drawings on subway walls). The film was originally made as a class project for P. Adams Sitney. It has the form of a manifesto against the orthopedic power of language.” –Manuel DeLanda - RAW NERVES: A LACANIAN THRILLER (1980, 30 minutes, 16mm): A noir mostly set in a bathroom stall and stairwell. A private dick trapped in a tight spot. A narrator searching for a way out of the story. Toilet humor and pulp fiction captured in colors like you’ve never seen, RAW NERVES is DeLanda’s most accomplished film. IT’S A GIFT 1934, Universal, 73 min, USA, Dir: Norman Z. McLeod Considered by some to be the Great Man’s greatest film, this short, sweet W.C. Fields vehicle is little more than a series of zany sketches loosely tied to his desire to move to California and grow oranges. Includes the legendary "Mr. Muckle" and "Carl LaFong" scenes, as well as the hanging mirror and sleeping porch routines. Jean Rouverol, who co-wrote THE FIRST TIME, plays Fields’ daughter. IT'S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY Many folks think of Don Hertzfeldt as the source of some of the most quotable, hilarious, original animation to ever clobber the festival circuit (and get nominated for an Oscar) - but his evolution over the past decade has elevated his unmistakable sensibility to levels that are explosively artful, affecting, and often still hilarious. At the young age of 35, Hertzfeldt has amassed a body of work unparalleled in modern animation. His meticulously crafted shorts continue to amaze and inspire audiences globally, as his work blends traditional animation, experimental optical effects, trick photography, and new digital hybrids into works all printed out one frame at a time, captured entirely on an antique 35mm animation stand (one of the last remaining cameras of its kind left in America.) Two years in the making, the 23-minute It's Such a Beautiful Day is Don's longest, and most ambitious, film to date: blending traditional animation, experimental optical effects, and trick photography. JOEL HODGSON LIVE: "RIFFING MYSELF" & MST3K: "SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS" We’re unspeakably excited to have Joel Hodgson — the hilarious and awesome creator of both Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Cinematic Titanic — return to the Cinefamily for what basically amounts to our dream version of a TED talk. It’s going to be an incredible evening of stories and surprises: Joel will wax poetic about his forays into the depths of B-movie insanity, his search for the ultimate ventriloquist dummy (and how that dummy became the inspiration for both “Tom Servo” and “Crow”), the origin story of MST3K and the crazy array of TV pilots he’s been involved in over the years. Plus, he’s capping it all off with a screening of the MST3K version of Santa Claus Conquers The Martians! It’s going to be a very weird, very special night. JOHNNY STACCATO A New York counterpart to the crime-solving hipsterism of its contemporary Peter Gunn, Johnny Staccato is still riveting in ways long removed from its lone ‘59/’60 season. Cassavetes-lovers can get hours of our main man as a moody jazz combo pianist who moonlights as an unorthodox detective, and the style points go through the roof from there: amazing wardrobe, fakey sets, and superb music on the soundtrack, all bubbling within overblown plots and chewy dialogue. The young, mercurial Cassavetes is a blast, updating the old ‘40s noir detective fighting a confused world to the ‘50s beatnik era — and the series’ parade of guest stars is equal fun, as the show’s run included one-off turns by Dean Stockwell, Cloris Leachman, Martin Landau, Mary Tyler Moore and even Gena Rowlands! Join us for a dose of this hidden treasure of golden-era television! LA AIR: PABLO VALENCIA LA AIR is a new artist-in-residence program that invites Los Angeles filmmakers to utilize EPFC resources in creating a new work over a four-week period. Though he is famed for his tongue-in-cheek criticisms, his satires of traditional culture, and his unending social responsibility, few remember that Pablo Valencia, a Los Angeles based artist, began first and foremost: as an artist; a collagist, painter, sculptor, sound designer, and filmmaker. He creates representational and abstract pieces moving freely between documentation, surrealism, and formalism. Pablo was instrumental in the founding of the Overseas Chinese Artists Foundation as well as laying the groundwork for experimental artists in the East Village where he published three books about the future generation of artists. His work has been displayed all over the world in Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea and the United States and recently has been commissioned by the Tate Modern. Later his name would become famous with projects such as the ‘Bird’s Nest,’ the Olympic Stadium for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, a project he quickly distanced himself from following completion. His role as an activist deepened following the closing of his blog. His work has been shown extensively throughout the Americas and Europe. During his residency at the Echo Park Film Center he has strived to make work that is a meditation on time and marked by a pursuit of honesty. He has created work for this show on Super 8, regular 8, and video. Pablo currently resides in Los Angeles. His LA AIR show is sponsored by Coke. He is a resident of Los Angeles. THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (GLI ULTIMI GIORNI DI POMPEII) 1926, 144 min, Italy, Dir: Carmine Gallone, Amleto Palermi Based on Edward Bulwer-Lytton's popular 19th-century historical novel of the same title, THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII centers on the ardent love between young dandy Glaucus and the beautiful Ione in the days leading up to Mount Vesuvius' devastating eruption. It was Italy's most expensive production up to that point, with sumptuous, extravagant sets and photography re-envisioning a standing Pompeii followed by the volcano's annihilative mayhem, and one of the grandest examples of early cinema's fascination with the legendary natural disaster. With Victor Varconi, Rina De Liguoro and María Corda. This incredibly rare 35mm print has not been screened in the U.S. in decades, prior to its September unveiling at the Harvard Film Archive. Live musical accompaniment provided by Cliff Retallick. Getty Villa curator Kenneth Lapatin will do a 15-minute multimedia presentation before the screening. LA VACANZA The second film to team the (then-and-now) real life couple Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero with Tinto Brass is perhaps their greatest collaboration; a story about women in society, and the very nature of sanity, with mediations on the absurd corruption inherent in power. New subtitles created by HRIFF for the screening of this very rare masterpiece. This World Premiere restoration has unseen material from the Tinto Brass archives, and was completed in cooperation with Tinto Brass and Alexander Tuschinski, to give viewers the most complete version of the director's original vision, in the highest quality available in the world, to assist its first screening in 35 years. Dir. Tinto Brass, 1971. LE PONT DU NORD 1982/color/127 min. Scr/dir: Jacques Rivette; w/ Bulle Ogier, Pascale Ogier, Pierre Celementi. Bulle Ogier and her real-life daughter Pascale (who tragically died two years later at the age of twenty-five) star in Le Pont du Nord as two women, one of them recently released from prison, who are brought together by fate and a black valise to embark on a dangerous treasure hunt through the City of Lights. Harkening back to the central theme of Celine and Julie Go Boating - two women joined by chance on an enigmatic journey through an urban wonderland-Rivette crafts a delirious, noir-tinged fairy tale. Loves of a Blonde (Lásky jedné plavovlásky) (1965) Directed by Miloš Forman A troop of conscripts is sent to a small factory town with a man shortage. Their smooth moves at an organized dance fail to charm young schoolgirl Andula, though she falls for a fast-talking pianist, unexpectedly following him to his home in Prague. Ironic and touching, Forman’s portrait of love’s letdowns implicitly critiques social engineering in communist Czechoslovakia of the 1960s. Filmové studio Barrandov. Producer: Rudolf Hájek, Vlado Hreljanovic. Screenwriter: Miloš Forman, Jaroslav Papoušek, Ivan Passer, Václav Sasek. Cinematographer: Miroslav Ondrícek. Editor: Miroslav Hájek. Cast: Hana Brejchová, Vladimír Pucholt, Vladimír Menšík, Ivan Kheil, Jirí Hrubý. 35mm, b/w, 88 min. THE MAKIOKA SISTERS The Makioka Sisters chronicles the life and affairs of four sisters in late '30s Japan. An older, conservative sister tries to continue family traditions and pretensions to status, while the younger sisters discover the new freedoms becoming available to them. "This Kon Ichikawa film has a triumphant simplicity about it. You don't just watch the film--you coast on its rhythms and glide past the precipitous spots" (Pauline Kael, The New Yorker). The cast includes Juzo Itami, who would later emerge as a prominent director with The Funeral, Tampopo and A Taxing Woman. In Japanese with English subtitles. 1983, Japan, 35mm, 140 minutes. 35mm print made in 2011! directed by Kon Ichikawa; starring Keiko Kishi, Yoshiko Sakuma, Sayuri Yoshinaga, Yûko Kotegawa; in Japanese with English subtitles. MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE The World Premiere of Manos: The Hands of Fate in HD. The cult classic and MST3K hit, now restored in a 2K resolution HD print that is the most pristine version ever screened of this entertaining film about a family that gets lost on the road, only to stumble upon a hidden, underground, devil-worshiping cult led by the fearsome Master and his servant Torgo. Dir. Harold P. Warren, 1966. MIDDLE OF NOWHERE What happens when love takes you places you never thought you would go? When her husband, Derek, is sentenced to eight years in a California prison, Ruby drops out of medical school to maintain her marriage and focus on ensuring Derek's survival in his violent new environment. Driven by love, loyalty, and hope, Ruby learns to sustain the shame, separation, guilt, and grief that a prison wife must bear. Her new life challenges her to the very core of her identity, and her turbulent path propels her in new, often frightening directions of self-discovery. Ava DuVernay’s elegant and emotionally inspiring debut portrays the universal dilemma of how a woman maintains herself as she commits to loving and supporting someone through hardship. Featuring luminous performances by a cast of rising stars, led by Emayatzy Corinealdi and Omari Hardwick, Middle of Nowhereinfuses gravity and grace into the prison tale and marks the arrival of an important new directorial talent. 97 minutes. NEROSUBIANCO Also known as "Attraction." Anita Sanders plays Barbara, a woman whose quiet sexuality masks deep-rooted repression. She secretly hungers for a torrid love affair. A chance meeting with a handsome man in a park culminates in a series of surreal dream sequences revealing that, despite her aversion to meeting this man, she can think of nothing else. This HRIFF premiere restoration has unseen material from the Tinto Brass archives, and was completed in cooperation with Tinto Brass and Alexander Tuschinski, to give viewers the most complete version of the director's original vision, in the highest quality available in the world, to properly have its first screening in 35 years. Q&A with Tinto Brass, Alexander Tuschinski, and special guests from Tinto Brass’ 1960s & 1970s casts & crews on hand for a panel Q&A to follow. Dir. Tinto Brass, 1969. NEW WORKS SALON VIII Celebrate our last day open in 2012 with a program of all brand new work! Several local and visiting artists will present in-progress or recently completed works. Kate Brown will show Couch (16mm, 3min, b/w, California) and recent 16mm footage from Los Angeles. Dana Berman Duff will show Vibrant Matter, short studies of the unstable nature of matter in 16mm film and digital video projection. Kate Lain will show her work In the Usual Manner, in which photographer Barret Oliver brings his darkroom and gear to the Huntington Library to produce hauntingly beautiful work ‘in the usual manner’ of the nineteenth-century photographer. Eve-Lauryn LaFountain will show her work They Told Me ‘Apikaan’ Means Braid, which was created as a 50 foot 16mm film loop installation that physically ran the length of a gallery at Calarts in October as part of the group show This is All We Have in Common. The piece explores issues of identity and the breakdown of tradition as a loop of information that is constantly circling. Originally shot on 8mm film by Rick Bahto, optically printed to 16mm, hand processed, performed and conceived by Eve-Lauryn LaFountain. Alee Peoples will show Them Oracles (2012, 16mm to HD, 7:26), a skeptic investigation of what an oracle can be and what it would sound like. Human desire and blind faith allow, maybe even will, these mystic soothsayers to exist. Plus more TBA! No Man of Her Own (1950) Directed by Mitchell Leisen A train accident and a case of mistaken identity gives a pregnant woman abandoned by her lover the opportunity to pass as the daughter-in-law of a wealthy couple. When her past returns to threaten her new life, she discovers the lengths she will go to escape it. Leisen’s suspenseful noir probes the possibility of reinvention and redemption. Paramount Pictures Corp. Producer: Richard Maibaum. Screenwriter: Sally Benson, Catherine Turney. Based on a novel by William Irish. Cinematographer: Daniel L. Fapp. Editor: Alma Macrorie. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, John Lund, Jane Cowl, Phyllis Thaxter, Lyle Bettger. 35mm, b/w, 98 min. NOTHING LIKE CHOCOLATE Deep in the rain forests of Grenada, anarchist chocolatier Mott Green seeks solutions to the problems of a ravaged global chocolate industry. Solar power, employee shareholding and small-scale antique equipment turn out delicious chocolate in the hamlet of Hermitage, Grenada. Finding hope in an an industry entrenched in enslaved child labor, irresponsible corporate greed, and tasteless, synthetic products, Nothing Like Chocolate reveals the compelling story of the relentless Mott Green, founder of the Grenada Chocolate Company. Narrated by Susan Sarandon. Dir. Kum-Kum Bhavnani, 2012. No Time For Love "...a first-class example of the inconsequential put to highly diverting use." - The New York Times Directed by Mitchell Leisen. The full range of Mitchell Leisen’s visual power is on display here from the mud-and-muck realism of the underwater tunnel where Fred MacMurray’s sand hog toils to the dizzyingly surreal dream sequence that animate the sexual frustrations of Claudette Colbert’s photojournalist after she meets MacMurray on assignment. Class and gender roles take a licking in Charles Binyon’s breezy script while Leisen again proves his facility for putting desire on screen. Paramount Pictures, Inc. Producer: B.G. DeSlyva. Screenwriter: Claude Binyon. Cinematographer: Charles Lang. Editor: Alma Macrorie. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Ilka Chase, Richard Haydn, Paul McGrath. 35mm, b/w, 94 min. (1943) OLIVIA WYATT FILMS Forthcoming from Sublime Frequencies, "The Pierced Heart & The Machete," is a vivid exploration of two annual Vodou pilgrimages in Haiti. The first is for Èzili Danto, goddess of love, art and passion; worshippers from all over the world descend on the southwestern town of Ville-Bonheur to bathe in the sacred waterfall where Dantò resides. The second pilgrimage is for Dantòs' husband Ogoun, god of war, iron and healing. It takes place at the end of July in the northern town of Plaine du Nord, where hundreds of enraptured practitioners bathe in a mud pool and make sacrifices. (2012, 70 min.) With "Staring into the Sun," Olivia Wyatt explores 13 different tribes throughout Ethiopia. Traveling from the northern highlands to the lower Omo Valley, Wyatt brings together the worlds of Zar spirit possession; Hamer tribal wedding ceremonies; Borena water well polyphonic singing; wild hyena feedings; and bizarre Ethiopian TV segments; presenting an enchanting look at these ethereal images, landscapes and sounds from the horn of Africa. (2009, 60 min.) Both films have been released by Sublime Frequencies and the filmmaker, Olivia Wyatt, will be present for this Los Angeles première of the films at The Velaslavasay Panorama. Ornette: Made in America Shirley Clarke cemented her place as one of the key figures of the American independent film movement with her films The Connection (1961) and The Cool World (1963), both of which had strong jazz elements. Before retiring from filmmaking in the '80s, Clarke returned to the jazz scene for her final work, making this brilliant documentary on the decades-spanning career of multi-instrumentalist Ornette Coleman, a towering yet humble figure whose "free jazz" innovations rocked the world upon the release of his album "The Shape Of Jazz To Come" in 1959. Highlights include Coleman's homecoming performance of his "Skies Of America" symphony in Fort Worth, Texas (a town whose segregated past Coleman longed to escape as a child), and footage of Coleman's fusion group Prime Time overlayed with 8-bit video game effects! Dir: Shirley Clarke, 1985, 35mm, 85 min. THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE Victor Sjostrom's silent ghost story, The Phantom Carriage (Korkarlen), is based on the legend that the coachman of Death must be replaced by the last man to die each year. The film is as famous for its realistic depictions of life in the slums as it is for its fantasy sequences that make evocative use of double exposures. Victor Sjostrom---Sweden---1920---107 mins. PUSHOVER 1954/b&w/88 min. Scr: Roy Huggins; dir: Richard Quine; w/ Fred MacMurray, Phil Carey, Kim Novak, Dorothy Malone A police detective falls for the bank robber’s girlfriend he is supposed to be tailing. PXL THIS 22 22th annual festival features films made with the Fisher-Price PXL 2000 toy camcorder. PXL THIS is one of the longest running film festivals in the entertainment capital of the world. Celebrating "cinema povera" moving image art, it evokes Marcel Duchamp's axiom "Poor tools require better skills." Pixelators from across the globe hoick up inventive approaches to the unassuming throw-away of consumer culture. These low-tech hi-jinx films come through loud and clear by reframing a new cinema language. "If movies offer an escape from everyday life, Pixelvision is the Houdini of the film world." - SF Weekly. RECENT WORK FROM ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES Curator of Collections Andrew Lampert will present a program of recent preservations undertaken by Anthology Film Archives including Money, a radically-composed, rapid-fire time capsule of Lower Manhattan and United States, a conceptual bicentennial film dealing with spatial and temporal relationships between two travelers, their car, and the geographic, political, and social changes from New York to Los Angeles. In addition to the other works listed, Lampert will show a sampling of newly digitized videos and a few reels from the “Unessential Cinema” collection of works gathered from deceased laboratories, bereaved widows and trash dumpsters. Approx. TRT: 60 min. Money (1985) Directed by Henry Hills. A radically-composed time capsule, a rapid-fire portrait of the innovative ‘downtown’ Lower Manhattan community of poets, musicians, dancers, and personalities active in the early-to-mid-1980s. As much a sound work as it is a film, Money features John Zorn, Christian Marclay, Fred Frith, Arto Lindsay, Abigail Child, Charles Bernstein, and an extraordinary cast of luminaries. 35mm, b/w, 15 min. Chewing (1980) Directed by Madeleine Gekiere. A delightful structuralist study of the act of eating an apple. 16mm, color, 6 min. Letter to D.H. in Paris (1967) Directed by David Brooks. An influential figure within the NYC experimental film community of the mid-1960s, David Brooks died tragically young leaving behind only a handful of works. This piece is described by the maker as “Stoned people, music, movement, fields.” 16mm, color, 4 min. Six Windows (1979) Directed by Marjorie Keller. “A pan and a dissolve make a window of a wall on film. A portrait of the filmmaker in a luminous space, synthetically rendered via positive and negative overlays. ... I lived in some rooms by the sea and watched the inside and the view as well as the window panes that divided and joined them. I was often lost in thought. The birds would come and make a racket, reminding me I shared that space and sky with them. The film is a moody record of that place and my peace of mind.” 16mm, color, silent, 7 min. The United States of America (1975) Directed by Bette Gordon, James Benning. A true masterpiece of 70s cinema, more remarkable today than ever before. A conceptual bicentennial film dealing with spatial and temporal relationships between two travelers, their car, and the geographic, political, and social changes from New York to Los Angeles. The space within each frame is at the same time continuous and elliptical. 16mm, color, 27 min. ROBERT MCKIMSON'S LOONEY TUNES Robert “Bob” McKimson (1910-77) and his brothers Chuck and Tom left their thumbprint on some of the greatest animation of the 20th century. Bob cut his teeth with Walt Disney before moving on to Warner Bros. to help launch its first cartoon series, Looney Tunes, in the early 1930s. During his three-decade-plus tenure with the studio, he created such immortal characters as Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzales and the Tasmanian Devil. Lineup includes: “Hillbilly Hare,” “Devil May Hare,” “Rabbit’s Kin,” “Hot Cross Bunny,” “Foghorn Leghorn,” “Bedevilled Rabbit,” “Bill of Hare,” “Tabasco Road,” “The High and the Flighty,” “Falling Hare” and “Walky Talky Hawky.” Discussion following the screening with Robert McKimson Jr., John Kricfalusi and Darrell Van Citters. Tempo Lavorativo / Tempo Libero (Italy / 1964) Philosopher and novelist Umberto Eco commissioned director Tinto Brass to create two meditations: one on “Free Time” and one on “Work Time,” in his hyper-editing style that went on to influence a generation of filmmakers. “A frenetically paced montage, in which Dziga Vertov’s lesson and his The Man with a Movie Camera blend with the suggestions and radicalism of the avant-garde of the 1960s.”- Venice International Film Festival. To Each His Own Directed by Mitchell Leisen. Olivia de Havilland won her first Academy Award in Leisen’s groundbreaking melodrama about an unwed mother’s emotional journey. Young Jody Norris meets a departing serviceman in wartime. Emotionally drawn together, they share a passionate night. But Jody is left pregnant and alone when her lover is killed in battle, and she gives up her child. Meeting him years later, she longs to identify herself but is constrained by her secret sorrow. A timely story that many Americans must have lived during World War II, the film is striking for its frankness and the dignity it affords its characters. Paramount Pictures. Producer: Charles Brackett. Screenwriter: Charles Brackett, Jacques Théry. Cinematographer: Daniel L. Fapp. Editor: Alma Macrorie. Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Mary Anderson, Roland Culver. 35mm, b/w, 122 min. (1946) VERONIKA KRAUSAS' MUSIC & FILMS Composer Veronika Krausas screens films and discusses her music. "In all her creative endeavors, be they music, performance, film or photography, she is a compiler, forging compositions in a literal sense through a vast archive of accumulated observations and the unlikely connections between them. Sonically and visually, she is intrigued by dissonance. Krausas is a student of randomness, engineering conceptual juxtapositions of elements that have haphazardly intruded into her consciousness and piqued her interest." -Shan Nys Dambrot, Art Critic & LA Weekly. "Krausas' extraordinary works eschew the commonplace, the pretty, and the predictably lyric sensibility to explore a more provocative and uncharted path... a sortie into an incongruous universe where forking paths inexplicably converge, and where discordances co-exist in subtle sympathy... [Her] pieces invoke a place beyond comfort or familiarity, and deliver the listener into a crossroads of authentic grace, discovery, and delight." - Quintan Ana Wikswo, Catalysis Projects. W.C. FIELDS SHORTS "Pool Sharks" (1915, Cohen Media, 15 min.). W.C. Fields makes his screen debut as one of two rivals playing a game of pool for the hand of a lady love - a skit Fields performed often during his career in vaudeville. "The Golf Specialist" (1930, Cohen Media, 20 min.). W.C. Fields' first talkie is filled with classic dialogue and behavior as he plays J. Effingham Bellwether, a golfer whose game is beset with hilarious distractions. "The Dentist" (1932, Cohen Media, 21 min.). When W.C. Fields' daughter wants to run away with the wrong man, Dad locks her in a room above his office - not realizing how her stomping around will wreak havoc on his dental practice.