a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.
tue. apr. 1 darby o'gill and the little people, the 3 worlds of gulliver @ new beverly the apartment @ cinerama dome wed. apr. 2 ossessione @ film noir fest @ egyptian thu. apr. 3 distant thunder FREE 7 PM @ csun armer theater hardly a criminal, one way street @ film noir fest @ egyptian gore vidal: the united states of america @ aero city lights @ the crest the stranger 9:15 PM @ the crest fri. apr. 4 nightfall, and hope to die @ film noir fest @ egyptian ladies and gentlemen the fabulous stains MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater nymphomaniac volume ii 11:30 PM @ nuart sat. apr. 5 detour, film noir fest closing weekend party @ film noir fest @ egyptian sun. apr. 6 m (1951), the hitch-hiker @ film noir fest @ egyptian mon. apr. 7 body and flesh: the tactile cinema of luther price 8:30 PM @ redcat drinking flowers, froth, adult books, mystic braves FREE (RSVP) @ echo tue. apr. 8 mark mcguire @ church on york our man in havana FREE 1:30 PM @ skirball wed. apr. 9 appropriation and film: deconstructing the masters FREE @ hammer thu. apr. 10 gore vidal: the united states of amnesia FREE @ hammer the circus @ the crest meatbodies, together pangea @ troubadour impact 9:15 PM @ the crest fri. apr. 11 nashville ramblers @ the barkley (pasadena) exorcist ii: the heretic MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater sin nombre FREE 2:30 PM @ santa monica library fairview branch sat. apr. 12 clueless 8 PM @ electric dusk drive-in nashville ramblers @ casbah (SD) sun. apr. 13 the squids @ 5 star bar mon. apr. 14 shelly silver: intimate visions and public spaces 8:30 PM @ redcat searching for sugarman @ the crest tue. apr. 15 big dick @ satellite au revoir simone @ the fonda wed. apr. 16 om @ great american music hall (SF) thu. apr. 17 the golden fortress FREE 7 PM @ csun armer theater om @ center for the arts eagle rock the great dictator @ the crest suddenly 9:15 PM @ the crest fri. apr. 18 wild at heart MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater robocop MIDNIGHT @ nuart sat. apr. 19 rear window 8 PM @ alex theatre the magnificent seven FREE 12:30 PM @ santa monica library main branch sun. apr. 20 wl, colleen green @ part time punks @ the echo mon. apr. 21 corners, cherry glazerr, mystic braves FREE (RSVP) @ echo small new films 8:30 PM @ redcat tue. apr. 22 wand @ echo wed. apr. 23 nasa space universe @ roxy thu. apr. 24 the chess players FREE 7 PM @ csun armer theater fri. apr. 25 jon brion @ largo fateful findings MIDNIGHT @ nuart earth @ el rey sat. apr. 26 harold and maude 8 PM @ electric dusk drive-in autolux, cosmonauts, allah-las, corners, froth, l.a. witch, diiv, mystic braves, etc @ desert daze festival sun. apr. 27 thee silver mt. zion memorial orchestra @ echoplex kent hayward films FREE 7 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque blackfish 4 PM @ the edye @ smc performing arts center mon. apr. 28 levitation room, mystic braves, l'aura moire FREE (RSVP) @ echo the art of collision: montage films by henry hills 8:30 PM @ redcat tue. apr. 29 diiv @ center for the arts eagle rock thu. may 1 the home and the world FREE 7 PM @ csun armer theater the wicker man (1973), eye of the devil @ egyptian fri. may 2 philip glass ensemble: la belle et la bete 8 PM @ ucla royce hall the princess bride MIDNIGHT @ nuart hold your applause: four takes on clapping FREE 8 PM @ machine sat. may 3 philip glass ensemble: music in twelve parts 5 PM @ ucla royce hall mon. may 5 juan manuel echavarria: coping with violence defying oblivion 8:30 PM @ redcat tue. may 6 clueless FREE 7 PM @ la film fest @ nokia plaza @ la live wed. may 7 loop, white fence @ church on york thu. may 8 the stranger FREE 7 PM @ csun armer theater jacco gardner @ church on york nels cline singers @ largo the history of questioning color perception FREE 8 PM @ machine old san francisco FREE 5 PM @ the crank @ ucla james bridges ai weiwei: the fake case FREE @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges fri. may 9 sunset boulevard MIDNIGHT @ nuart secret agent, young and innocent @ aero death race 2000 MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater bread and chocolate @ ampas linwood dunn ashes and diamonds, night train @ lacma sat. may 10 national lampoon's vacation @ cinespia @ hollywood forever the 39 steps, the lady vanishes @ aero yojimbo 4 PM @ japan film fest l.a. @ new beverly the flytraps, catholic spit @ the smell man on a swing 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater la brune et moi 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater citizen kane @ lacma infinite body @ human resources before nanook: the frozen zone in early silent film 8 PM @ velaslavasy panorama omadox 8 PM @ epfc traditional fools FREE @ permanent the graduate FREE 1 PM @ l.a. central library meeting room a revenge of the nerds, bachelor party FREE @ street food cinema @ pan-pacific park the long riders 1:30 PM @ autry sun. may 11 pentagram, saint vitus, kadavar, dead meadow, etc @ psycho de mayo @ the observatory (santa ana) king kong vs. godzilla (1962) 3:30 7:30 PM, mothra (1961) 5:30 9:30 PM @ new beverly sorceror FREE 7 PM @ reel grit @ afi mildred pierce 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater an evening with tatsuya nakadai, ran @ silent movie theater a wedding 7 PM @ ucla film archive bouquet @ part time punks @ the echo mon. may 12 kadavar @ roxy haskell wexler documentaries FREE 6 PM @ documental @ unurban king kong vs. godzilla (1962), mothra (1961) @ new beverly ran 8 PM @ silent movie theater tue. may 13 jodorowsky's dune 8:00 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater acts of politics and becoming FREE @ hammer wed. may 14 tristana @ aero the great beauty 8 PM @ new beverly the traveler @ ucla film archive thu. may 15 the roots of heaven @ egyptian the birds @ aero the great beauty 8 PM @ new beverly fri. may 16 holly golightly & the brokeoffs @ satellite pineapple express MIDNIGHT @ nuart juan wauters @ the echo nineteen eighty-four, logan's run (1976), spacedisco one @ egyptian suspicion, topaz @ aero logan's run, soylent green @ new beverly nosferatu the vampyre 8 PM @ silent movie theater innocent sorcerers, the promised land @ lacma sat. may 17 charles bradley @ fonda seven @ cinespia @ hollywood forever logan's run 3:00 7:30 PM, soylent green 5:20 9:50 PM @ new beverly the warriors MIDNIGHT @ new beverly 100 onces, hex horizontal @ the smell othello 5:30 PM @ silent movie theater nosferatu the vampyre 8:00 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater secret honor, precious blood @ ucla film archive the magnificent ambersons, the stranger @ lacma sun. may 18 monsieur verdoux @ aero brazil, thx 1138 @ egyptian still lives and gradual speed @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian tyvek @ the smell othello 2:45 PM @ silent movie theater nosferatu the vampyre 5 PM @ silent movie theater mon. may 19 nosferatu the vampyre 9:30 PM @ silent movie theater tue. may 20 othello @ silent movie theater nosferatu the vampyre 9:50 PM @ silent movie theater wed. may 21 othello @ silent movie theater nosferatu the vampyre 9:50 PM @ silent movie theater thu. may 22 baraka (70mm) @ aero the sideshow FREE 5 PM @ the crank @ ucla james bridges ericka beckman: night one 7 PM @ filmforum @ moca grand othello 5:15 PM @ silent movie theater nosferatu the vampyre 10 PM @ silent movie theater david wilson (lecture) FREE @ hammer fri. may 23 el topo MIDNIGHT @ nuart lawrence of arabia (70mm) @ egyptian koyaanisqatsi @ aero matinee, the masque of the red death @ new beverly othello 7:30 9:50 PM @ silent movie theater blind chance, a short film about killing @ lacma sat. may 24 the rosalyns, the unclaimed @ redwood thrones @ satellite jaws @ cinespia @ hollywood forever vertigo (70mm) @ egyptian lawrence of arabia (70mm) @ aero matinee 3:30 7:30 PM, the masque of the red death 5:30 9:30 PM @ new beverly the lady from shanghai, mr. arkadin @ lacma sun. may 25 barry lyndon @ egyptian raiders of the lost ark 2:35 7:30 PM, indiana jones and the temple of doom 4:50 9:45 PM @ new beverly ericka beckman: out of hand @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian mon. may 26 harvey @ aero raiders of the lost ark, indiana jones and the temple of doom @ new beverly tue. may 27 raiders of the lost ark, indiana jones and the temple of doom @ new beverly wed. may 28 the square FREE @ hammer foxy brown, coffy @ new beverly thu. may 29 l'age d'or, viridiana @ egyptian foxy brown, coffy @ new beverly dead of night FREE 5 PM @ the crank @ ucla james bridges animation breakdown: technicolor toons @ silent movie theater california split, the long goodbye (1973) @ ucla film archive fri. may 30 the holy mountain MIDNIGHT @ nuart the priest's children @ egyptian joe, save the tiger @ aero foxy brown, coffy @ new beverly sleepaway camp MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater the hourglass sanitorium, mother joan of the angels @ lacma sat. may 31 rear window @ cinespia @ hollywood forever silent comedy revue @ retro format @ spielberg @ egyptian un chien andalou, land without bread, belle du jour @ egyptian the player @ ucla film archive brannigan's law @ the smell the trial, touch of evil @ lacma sun. jun. 1 the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie, the phantom of liberty @ egyptian altman and television FREE 3 PM @ ucla film archive kansas city, robert altman's jazz '34 @ ucla film archive tue. jun. 3 man of iron 1 PM @ lacma fri. jun. 6 videodrome MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater on the waterfront @ lacma sat. jun. 7 chimes at midnight 5 PM, f for fake @ lacma sun. jun. 8 the jail FREE 7 PM, the jar, the life work of juan diaz @ ucla film archive the hourglass sanatorium @ silent movie theater mon. jun. 9 sweet blues: a film about mike bloomfield FREE 6 PM @ documental @ unurban thieves like us, buffalo bill and the indians @ ucla film archive the hourglass sanatorium @ silent movie theater tue jun. 10 the hourglass sanatorium @ silent movie theater black cross 1 PM @ lacma wed. jun. 11 the lady eve 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ los angeles theatre the hourglass sanatorium @ silent movie theater fri. jun. 13 sherlock jr. FREE (time TBA) @ la film fest @ california plaza sun. jun. 15 images 7 PM, that cold day in the park @ ucla film archive tu. jun. 17 pharaoh 1 PM @ lacma fri. jun. 20 pump up the volume MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater altman @ ucla film archive sat. jun. 21 back to the future 2:00 8:00 PM @ last remaining seats @ united artists theatre sun. jun. 22 dante's inferno (1935) @ egyptian tue. jun. 24 eroica 1 PM @ lacma wed. jun. 25 vincent & theo @ ucla film archive fri. jun. 27 mccabe & mrs. miller, quintet @ ucla film archive sat. jun. 28 citizen kane 2:00 8:00 PM @ last remaining seats @ orpheum gosford park @ ucla film archive sun. jul. 20 the devils (1971) @ aero WHAT IT IS: ALIAS NICK BEAL 1949, Universal, 93 min, USA, Dir: John Farrow A true noir rarity! The Faust legend is played out as a supernatural noir thriller, with Ray Milland as the suave devil tempting ambitious DA Thomas Mitchell and fallen woman Audrey Totter in this dark and devious doppelgänger of Capra's IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Introduction by Alan K. Rode of the Film Noir Foundation. AND HOPE TO DIE LA COURSE DU LIÈVRE À TRAVERS LES CHAMPS 1972, CCFC, 99 min, France, Dir: René Clement This adaptation of David Goodis’ novel Black Friday concerns a crook on the lam (Jean Louis Trintignant) who crosses paths with a Montreal gang plotting a big score - led by noir stalwarts Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray (speaking French!). “Froggy” (as Ryan dubs our hero) decides to join in the heist and, of course, ends up neck-deep in danger. An odd and invigorating French-Canadian-American production, this is a rarely screened homage to noir on both the page and screen, sparked by a devilish script from author Sébastien Japrisot (The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun). In French with English subtitles. Introduction by Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation. Appropriation and Film: Deconstructing the Masters Organized by Jane Weinstock Like the appropriation artists of the 1980s, many experimental filmmakers of this period were interested in using appropriation to deconstruct the conventions of film. In Thriller (1979), Sally Potter takes Puccini’s La Bohème and Hitchcock’s Psycho and uses them to posit a female spectator. In Cinderella (1986) Ericka Beckman twists the classic fairy tale to play games with the viewer. And in Sigmund Freud’s Dora (1979), by Anthony McCall, Andrew Tyndall, Claire Pajaczkowska, Ivan Ward, and Jane Weinstock, the filmmakers employ Freud’s text to explore film language. The Art of Collision: Montage Films by Henry Hills “Hills breaks down standard sounds and images, transforming them into perceptive alternatives, political critiques, and a search for occult, creative expressions that have not been said or explored before.” —Mónica Savirón Uncovering the ethereal in the mundane and the abstract in the naturalistic, Henry Hills activates a heightened attentiveness in viewers through his signature use of montage—intensely concentrated, rhythmically complex, and replete with eccentric wit. A celebrated maker of experimental film since 1975, Hills has collaborated with New York “Language” poets, composer John Zorn and choreographer Sally Silvers, among other artists. The former longtime resident of the East Village now teaches at FAMU, the Czech national film academy in Prague, and lives in Vienna. Hills’ recent short arcana (2011, digital video, 30 min.) has collected top prizes at Curtas Vila do Conde in Portugal and the Melbourne International Film Festival. In person: Henry Hills Body and Flesh: The Tactile Cinema of Luther Price "Luther Price is Brakhage after Punk." —Light Industry Luther Price's painstakingly handcrafted films and slides are truly one of a kind as the artist layers viscerally distressed found film strips with provocative images, anarchic visual patterns, dirt, mold and other detritus in a sensuous, even ecstatic, vision of entropy and mortality—inscribed directly onto the film medium. Price’s uncompromising work has been presented at storefront cinemas, underground performance venues and, in recent years, museums such as MoMA and the Whitney. The program features two slide projection pieces, including Light Fractures (2013), several Super 8 films, and a new 16mm film. The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khilari) (1977), 113 mins. The Chess Players focuses on events surrounding Britain’s colonial involvement in India in the late nineteenth-century. Employing Western actors and stars from the Bombay cinema, the film was Ray’s most expensive production and one of his few to utilize English dialog. DETOUR 1946, Wade Williams, 70 min, USA, Dir: Edgar G. Ulmer “Whichever way you turn, fate sticks out a foot to trip you” in this low-budget noir classic. Hitchhiking to Hollywood, loser Tom Neal takes several wrong turns and ends up on the expressway to hell - Ann Savage plays the vixenish vagabond who ushers him there. She ends up paying a stiff toll herself. (tickets start at $25 and include afterparty) Distant Thunder (Ashani Sanket) (1973), 101 mins. Set during World War II, Distant Thunder tells the story of the man-made famine that caused the deaths of five million inhabitants of Colonial Bengal. An emotionally charged film that contrasts the course of terrible events and the astonishing beauty of the world. Finyé (The Wind) Mali, 1982, 100 minutes Written and directed by Souleymane Cissé Starring Fousseyni Sissoko, Goundo Guissé, and Balla Moussa Keita Writer/director Souleymane Cissé’s 1982 drama starts with a deft intimacy—following high-school classmates from two disparate worlds as they traverse the tricky roads of family and friends while keeping an eye on their futures. Ba is a young man from the village, struggling to keep his grades up, and Batrou is the sensitive daughter of a no-nonsense military man. But then Cissé shifts the ground beneath the feet of his characters—and the audience—when a political stand becomes the center of the story. What seemed to be a tried and true story of the path to adulthood becomes another altogether different one. “The wind awakens the path of man,” a title informs at the beginning of Finyé, and Cissé is out to reveal what happens when a force of nature prods another such force into action. The Golden Fortress (Sonar Kella) (1974), 120 mins. A young boy is haunted by memories of a previous life and is kidnapped by sinister scheming bandits. A bewitching comedy-thriller, The Golden Fortress shows Ray at his most playful and includes some of the most memorable performances in Bengali cinema. GORE VIDAL: THE UNITED STATES OF AMNESIA 2013, 89 min, USA/Italy, Dir: Nicholas D. Wrathall Scion of a political family and a prodigiously gifted writer, Gore Vidal fit right into high society - except for his penchant to say what was on his mind. Vidal was among the sharpest critics of post-war America, and this thought provoking and entertaining documentary illuminates his life, work and politics with archival footage and recent one-on-one interviews filled with rapier wit. Discussion following with director Nicholas D. Wrathall (April 3 screening only). HARDLY A CRIMINAL (APENAS UN DELINCUENTE) 1949, Film Noir Foundation, 88 min, Argentina, Dir: Hugo Fregonese A bank employee (Jorge Salcedo) uses a loophole in Argentine law to concoct the perfect crime, planning to reap the rewards of his embezzlement after serving six years in prison. A vivid cross between NAKED CITY and BRUTE FORCE, and an evocative look at mid-20th century Buenos Aires. In Spanish with English subtitles. HASKELL WEXLER DOCUMENTARIES WHO NEEDS SLEEP? - In 1997, after a 19-hour day on the set, assistant cameraman Brent Hershman fell asleep behind the wheel, crashed his car, and died. Deeply disturbed by Hershman's preventable death, filmmaker and multiple-Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler shows how sleep deprivation and long work hours are a lethal combination. WHO NEEDS SLEEP? is a commentary on our quality of life. FOUR DAYS IN CHICAGO - Academy Award-winning filmmaker and lifelong activist Haskell Wexler takes a personal look at Chicago (and its Occupy movement) over four days in May 2012 -- four days filled with politics, protest and police. HASKELL WEXLER IN PERSON! THE HITCH-HIKER 1953, RKO, 71 min, USA, Dir: Ida Lupino A groundbreaking, fact-based story of two pals on a Mexican fishing trip kidnapped by a serial killer who terrorizes both men into delivering him to safety. The only American film noir directed by a woman - the great Ida Lupino - features a trio of terrific performances by Frank Lovejoy, Edmond O’Brien and the odious William Talman. Introduction by Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation. The Home and the World (Ghare-Baire) (1984), 140 mins. Ray’s The Home and the World concerns an aristocratic but progressive man, who insisting on broadening his more traditional wife’s political horizons, drives her into the arms of a friend. An elegant, profound, and meditative work from the late-career of a master. It’s A Frame-Up! (2013, 29 min. Dir. Michael Schlesinger). In this faux 1938 short, the vaudeville team of Biffle and Shooster wangle jobs in an art gallery - on the very day a priceless painting has been delivered. With Nick Santa Maria, Will Ryan, Robert Picardo and Daniel Roebuck. “I can't think of any other intentional comedies of recent years that have given me so many, or so many varied, big laughs in the space of 30 minutes. It makes what has basically been a dead art form for the past 50 years feel vital once again.” - Tim Lucas, Video Watchdog. 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. Juan Manuel Echavarria: Coping with Violence, Defying Oblivion “A touching visual essay about a small town caught in the midst of a very large and dangerous conflict.” —Cinespect A novelist–turned–artist, photographer and videomaker, Juan Manuel Echavarria screens two films in which peasants in his native Colombia devise original ways of coping with entrenched everyday violence—bloody conflict among guerrillas, army, paramilitaries and drug traffickers that has persisted for decades. In Bocas de Ceniza (Mouths of Ash, 2003–04, digital video, 18 min.), subjects look directly to the camera and mourn the toll of violence in individually created folk songs. The second documentary, Réquiem NN (2013, digital video, 67 min.), takes place in the town of Puerto Berrío on the Magdalena River—from which local residents regularly fish out the remains of victims of violence. Burying the so-called “No Names” (“NNs”), the townspeople adopt the fallen as their own: they give them names, invent personal histories, and decorate and visit their tombs. In person: Juan Manuel Echavarría, Margarita De la Vega-Hurtado. Curated by Steve Anker and Bérénice Reynaud. KENT HAYWARD FILMS SUNSET TO SUNSET (’10, 3m) A stop-motion walk across Los Angeles, in which the filmmaker comes face to face with the city instead of watching it blur by through a windshield. Screened at over 25 film festivals, including Dances with Films, DocuWest, New Filmmakers and Film Independent's Cinema Lounge. AUGUST (’13, 10m) Stolen moments, both real and imagined, from a return to rural Michigan. STANDBY... (’93, 3m) Vintage raw footage of a series of interviews with all of the “content” cut out. A playful look at what people do before "action" and after "cut." SEDIMENTATION (’96, 5m) An experimental short film exploring a condemned structure creaking over Castaic Lake. PORTRAITS (’95-present, 6m) Excerpts from an ongoing collection of character studies. HOMESTEAD ARTIFACT (’00, 49m) A personal documentary about the filmmaker’s family rediscovering their lost homestead in rural New Mexico and the pieces of history buried there. Los Angeles Times’ Kevin Thomas: “Deeply affecting... Hayward has succeeded beautifully.” LA Weekly: “An affecting rumination on the importance of memories.” Hayward teaches film classes at Cal State Long Beach, Loyola Marymount University and El Camino College and has worked in the entertainment industry on many film and television productions, including The Aviator, Eureka!, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and The Dark Knight Rises. KENT HAYWARD IN PERSON! M (1951) 1951, Superior Pictures, 91 min, USA, Dir: Joseph Losey The American version of Fritz Lang’s 1931 classic about a child murderer being simultaneously hunted by the police and the underworld receives renewed impetus in the setting of Bunker Hill locations under the direction of Joe Losey. David Wayne turns in a bravura performance as the killer and is supported by a veritable character actor’s Hall of Fame: Howard Da Silva, Luther Adler, Steve Brodie, Raymond Burr, Norman Lloyd, Walter Burke and Jim Backus. NOT ON DVD! Introduction by Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation. NIGHTFALL 1957, Sony Repertory, 79 min, USA, Dir: Jacques Tourneur One of the last true noirs of the classic era, this often-overlooked gem, based on a novel by noir legend David Goodis, features terrific direction from Tourneur and stunning cinematography by Burnett Guffey. Aldo Ray plays an artist whose life goes permanently haywire when fate interrupts a winter hunting trip. From then on it’s life on the run, dozens of double-crosses, psychotic killers on his trail, lots of de rigeur flashbacks, and a young Anne Bancroft decked out in sequins and lace. Introduction by Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation. ONE WAY STREET 1950, Universal, 79 min, USA, Dir: Hugo Fregonese Even though he had just begun his American film career, James Mason already had his doomed-fugitive persona down pat in ODD MAN OUT and THE RECKLESS MOMENT. Here he’s a disillusioned doctor who feels responsible for his wife’s death and believes he’s only worthy of patching up wounded criminals. Deciding to take a gamble, he tricks Los Angeles gang boss Dan Duryea out of his latest haul, as well as absconding with Duryea’s more than willing moll, Marta Toren. The pair head for Mexico with the swag – but can they outrun Duryea’s seemingly limitless reach? OSSESSIONE 1943, 131 min, Italy, Dir: Luchino Visconti Based on James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, the first acclaimed work of Italian neorealism is a gritty, earthy (and unlicensed) adaptation of the famous noir novella, much closer in tone and spirit to Cain’s tale than the 1946 Hollywood version. Clara Calamai and Massimo Girotti burn up the screen as the doomed lovers, but Visconti makes the story as much about poverty as about lust and greed. The film was reviled and banned by Italy’s Fascist government, and MGM (legal holder of the movie rights) confiscated and destroyed all the prints it could find. Yet OSSESSIONE survives, a stunning hybrid of noir and neorealism - the director’s first masterpiece. In Italian with English subtitles. Philip Glass Ensemble: La Belle et la Bête One of the most celebrated and unique works in Philip Glass’ recent career, his live interpretation of Jean Cocteau’s masterpiece La Belle et la Bête is also his most challenging experiment in synchronizing music with film. For this production, Glass removed the film’s original dialogue track and score by Georges Auric and replaced it with his own musical score played live by the Philip Glass Ensemble. The dialogue is performed live by the vocalists who are synchronized with the actors in the film. “Jean Cocteau’s work was central to the modern art movement of the 20th century. More than any other artist of his time, he again and again addressed questions of art, immortality and the creative process as subjects of his work. La Belle et la Bête is an extremely thoughtful and subtle reflection on the life of an artist. Presented as a simple fairy tale, it soon becomes clear that the film takes on a deeper subject-the very nature of the creative process.” —Philip Glass Philip Glass Ensemble: Music in Twelve Parts “A full-body immersion into the early compositional world of Philip Glass… To hear a composer lay out his palette in such richly evocative detail is a rare and rewarding delight.” —San Francisco Chronicle One of the most revolutionary works of composer Philip Glass’ oeuvre comes to Los Angeles for the first time. Music in Twelve Parts, an epic performance work composed by Glass for his acclaimed ensemble between 1971-1974, is simultaneously a massive theoretical exercise and a deeply engrossing work of art. The score is the culmination of Glass’s explorations and theories on repetition and is widely considered to be both a masterpiece of minimalism and a seminal work of 20th-century music. Music in Twelve Parts is a not-to-be-missed evening for Glass fans and new-music enthusiasts. The performance is comprised of four approximately 50-minute segments plus two short intermissions and an hour-long dinner break, with an on-site meal option available for advance purchase. SCAVENGER HUNT After our own years-long search, we’ve finally located a 35mm print of this rollicking not-on-DVD, not-to-be-missed rarity! It’s a rib-tickling shot to the funny bone, as a mind-boggling, all-star cast competes against each other in a $200 million race against time. The will of the dearly-departed eccentric game inventor Milton Parker (Vincent Price) is specific: his fifteen would-be heirs are to participate in a highly unusual scavenger hunt, winner take all. Filled to the brim with that-guys and what’s-’er-names, Scavenger Hunt is a veritable clown car of crazed character actors, legendary stars and those long forgotten — all in a barrage of kooky cameos: Richard Benjamin, Scatman Crothers, Ruth Gordon, Cloris Leachman, Cleavon Little, Roddy McDowall, Tony Randall, a young Arnold Schwarzenegger and many, many more. Plus, it’s a wild dash through the San Diego Zoo, the streets of Hollywood and the mad, mad, mad, mad world of Southern California, as the film highlights an amazing batch of our own Southland locales. Did we mention that it’s also from Michael Schultz — the director of Car Wash, The Last Dragon and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band?! Dir. Michael Schultz, 1979, 35mm, 116 min. Shelly Silver: Intimate Visions and Public Spaces "By staking her right to documentary material as well as fictional writing, Shelly Silver sizes up the likelihood of an imaginary point of view reaching a truth more subtle than autobiographical truth." —Cinema du Reel This screening of two works by Shelly Silver begins with What I'm Looking For (2004, digital video, 15 min.), the second in her trilogy of fictional essay films shot in public spaces, which explores the relationship between a female photographer and subjects met on the Internet. The program continues with Touch (2013, digital video, 68 min.), in which a gay man recounts, mostly in Mandarin, his return to New York’s Chinatown after 50 years in order to care for his dying mother. Like the narrator—a librarian, cataloguer and recorder—the city has changed and yet the past still haunts familiar streets. The character is an invention of the filmmaker, but as her narrator confides, “words make the impossible imaginable, therefore possible.” Currently chair of Columbia’s Visual Arts Program, Silver has utilized video, film and still photography to investigate contested territories between public and private, narrative and documentary, the watcher and the watched. Small New Films “Mysterious and lush explorations of the visual world... Rick Bahto’s Super 8mm films play like formalist, haiku-like postcards to distant friends.” —San Francisco Cinematheque Since 2002, the Echo Park Film Center (EPFC) has been an influential proponent of small-gauge film, particularly Super 8mm and 8mm. This survey of handmade films affirms the independent spirit of the EPFC community in an aesthetically eclectic range of works from personal diary films to cross-disciplinary collaborations, from documentary portraiture to hand-processed abstraction. Drawing on young experimenters from the center’s education and residency programs as well as artists commissioned to make brand-new films for EPFC’s 12-year anniversary, the program includes Kate Brown’s 4X3, Marilyn Hernandez’s Perforated Damage, Alee Peoples’ Waxing and Milking, a film for two projectors by Rick Bahto, and shorts by Paul Clipson, Chloe Reyes and Pablo Valencia—all projected from Super 8 or 8mm camera originals. Co-sponsored by the Echo Park Film Center. Curated by Rick Bahto. The Stranger (Aguntuk) (1991), 120 mins. In his final film, Ray tells the story of a bourgeois couple who receive news that a man claiming to be the wife’s long-lost uncle will be staying with them after years of travel. The Stranger is a complex and humane portrait of a world both corrupt and sadly beautiful. SWEET BLUES: A Film About Mike Bloomfield Filmmaker Bob Sarles (in person) together with his longtime partner Christina Keating, through their production company Ravin’ Films, have produced documentary and concert films about artists including Jefferson Airplane, John Lee Hooker, Dr. John, Phil Lesh, Otis Redding, Buddy Guy, Stax Records and the psychedelic music era for clients including The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Stax Museum of American Soul Music, VH1, Columbia Records, Time Life and PBS. They are currently in production on a documentary film about American satirist and counter culture hero Paul Krassner. We will be presenting their latest film about the late great blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield as well as some choice nuggets from their extensive body of music related films.