LA UPCOMING STUFF - MAY 2013 < size>

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

fri. may 10

man or astro-man?, audacity @ the echo
the good the bad and the ugly (extended version) MIDNIGHT @ nuart
monty python's the meaning of life, the adventures of baron munchausen @ egyptian
the french connection, to live and die in l.a. @ aero
the story of adele h., the man who loved women @ new beverly
gone with the pope 11:55 PM @ grindhouse film festival @ new beverly
the source family 7:15 10:00 PM @ silent movie theater
flower buds @ ucla film archive
frances ha FREE (RSVP) @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges
el general 7 PM, intimidades de shakespeare y victor hugo FREE (RSVP) @ lacma
portrait of jason 8 PM @ ampas linwood dunn
the dining dead (11:30) @ gnarnia
telecaves (9:30), ezra buchla (midnight) @ mezz


sat. may 11

alien @ electric dusk drive-in
gypsy, made in ash @ ucla film archive
the third man @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
the adventures of robin hood (1938) @ egyptian
the story of adele h. 3:05 7:30 PM, the man who loved women 5:00 9:25 PM @ new beverly
the source family 1:45 4:15 6:45 9:45 PM @ silent movie theater
the drifting classroom MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater
levitation room, blackfeet braves @ the smell
el lugar mas pequeno 5 PM, mi vida dentro FREE (RSVP) @ lacma
the decade you spent a decade trying to forget 8 PM @ epfc
small format: amateur films reframed 12:15 PM @ ampas linwood dunn
silent rediscoveries & hey l.a. 2:15 PM @ ampas linwood dunn
corporate orientation 4:30 PM @ ampas linwood dunn
orphan outliers 8 PM @ ampas linwood dunn
l.a. witch @ pehrspace
the blank tapes FREE 7 PM @ origami
kat kong (7:00) @ bike oven
sister nancy @ echoplex
the lions FREE 5 PM @ amoeba
raiders of the lost ark @ eat|see|hear @ paul revere middle school
ernest cole FREE 2 PM @ fowler museum
the exorcist @ aero< color>


sun. may 12

memoirs of prison 7 PM @ ucla film archive
art21: 'identity' & 'william kentridge' 2 PM FREE @ lacma
psycho (1960), mommie dearest @ egyptian
the russians are coming the russians are coming 5:30 PM, the loved one 8 PM @ new beverly
the source family 2:15 4:45 7:15 10:00 PM @ silent movie theater
china girls @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian
revenge: a love story FREE 7 PM @ afi


mon. may 13

the birthday party, the boys in the band @ aero
the loved one, the russians are coming the russians are coming @ new beverly
the source family 7:30 10:10 PM @ silent movie theater
before midnight FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
wett nurse FREE 7 PM @ origami vinyl

		
tue. may 14

short films starring llyn foulkes FREE @ hammer
red rock west, kill me again @ new beverly
the source family 7:30 10:10 PM @ silent movie theater
stories we tell FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
the music tapes (7:00, 9:00) @ bootleg


wed. may 15

turning the page: storytelling in the digital age @ ampas samuel goldwyn
three kids @ aero
red rock west, kill me again @ new beverly
the source family 7:30 10:10 PM @ silent movie theater
the war party MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater


thu. may 16

back to school, mash @ aero
butch cassidy and the sundance kid 9 PM @ new beverly
the source family 7:20 9:35 PM @ silent movie theater
polski film, signal @ ucla film archive
we steal secrets: the story of wikileaks FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
valley girl @ lacma
center for visual music presents: an evening with barry spinello 8 PM @ epfc
janka nabay and the bubu gang, awesome tapes from africa @ the echo


fri. may 17

thee rain cats, zig zags @ smell
sonny & the sunsets @ satellite
silent comedy shorts @ aero
portrait of jason 7:30 10:00 PM @ new beverly
the drifting classroom 10 PM @ silent movie theater
tango & cash MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater
before sunrise, before sunset @ lacma
delicate textures: films by steve polta 8 PM @ epfc
willow creek 10 PM @ meltdown


sat. may 18

hepcat, aggrolites @ house of blues anaheim
strawberry festival
american psycho @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
terrorism and kebab 1 PM @ egyptian
back to the future, back to the future part ii, back to the future part iii @ egyptian
in cold blood, electra glide in blue @ aero
portrait of jason 3:30 6:00 8:30 PM @ new beverly
technicolor toons 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater
school in the crosshairs 10 PM @ silent movie theater
flow, drift @ an evening with quentin lee @ ucla film archive
up to the border: a personal view about the berlin wall 8 PM @ epfc
l.a. witch @ the smell
the dream machine: a living room screening with phil solomon 8 PM @ filmforum @ velaslavasay pavilion


sun. may 19

art21: 'place' & 'spirituality' 2 PM FREE @ lacma
strawberry festival
a streetcar named desire, who am i this time? @ aero
an evening with suzanne ciani synth pioneer 8 PM @ silent movie theater
elmer gantry 7 PM @ ucla film archive
colleen green FREE 7 PM @ origami
gap dream FREE @ rrose in a prose bbq 2-8 PM @ s.c.u.m. headquarters
portrait of jason 5:30 8:00 PM @ new beverly


mon. may 20

the elegaic visions of phil solomon 8:30 PM @ redcat
the tree of life @ aero
the house @ ucla film archive
tremellow @ pehrspace
portrait of jason 8:00 PM @ new beverly


tue. may 21

black angels @ mayan
the milky way FREE @ hammer
the deep FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
dishonored 1 PM @ lacma
portrait of jason 8:00 PM @ new beverly


wed. may 22

portrait of jason 8:00 PM @ new beverly
brazil 9:30 PM @ coming back cinema @ los feliz 3
exploding flowers FREE (8:00) @ stories
kat kong (9:30) FREE @ lot 1< color>


thu. may 23

bullfighter and the lady FREE 5 PM @ the crank @ ucla james bridges
ulzana's raid 9 PM @ aero
school in the crosshairs @ silent movie theater
sky song 9:45 PM @ silent movie theater
the kings of summer FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
pxl this 22 8 PM @ epfc
portrait of jason 8:00 PM @ new beverly


fri. may 24

the loons w/ glenn ross campbell, etc @ ugly things 30th anniversary day one @ the casbah (SD)
gap dream, mikal cronin, pangea @ the echo
detroit cobras @ down & out
vertigo (70mm) @ egyptian
i drink your blood MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater
witness: libya & witness: rio 8 PM @ epfc
heathers (10:00), dream boys (10:45) @ pehrspace
pretty in pink FREE 8 PM @ friday night flicks @ pershing square
shadows, shadows up close @ new beverly< color>


sat. may 25

love revisited, the rosalyns, "the pretty things - midnight to six" (screening), etc @ ugly things 30th anniversary day two @ the casbah (SD)
the party @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
citizen kane @ egyptian
hendrix 70: live at woodstock @ aero
the girl who leapt through time 10 PM @ silent movie theater
new works salon 8 PM @ epfc
the princess bride @ eat|see|hear @ santa monica high school
l'aura moire @ decadanse super soiree @ grand star
stand by me @ street food cinema @ exposition park< color>


sun. may 26

nashville ramblers, "lester bangs: the el cajon years" (screening), etc @ ugly things 30th anniversary day three @ the casbah (SD)
all about eve @ electric dusk drive-in
matt mccormick films FREE 7 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque
clueless @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
the revenge of frankenstein, frankenstein must be destroyed @ egyptian
lawrence of arabia @ aero
the girl who leapt through time 10 PM @ silent movie theater
corners, colleen green, the beets @ the smell


mon. may 27

harvey @ aero
colleen green (9:30) @ bootleg


tue. may 28

dog day afternoon @ greg proops film club @ silent movie theater
family plot 1 PM @ lacma


wed. may 29

call me kuchu FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc broccoli theatre
taking off, harold and maude @ new beverly


thu. may 30

tame impala @ fox theater pomona
macbeth (1971), throne of blood @ aero
good vibrations 10 PM @ silent movie theater
la air: madison brookshire 8 PM @ epfc
the rickshaw man FREE 5 PM @ the crank @ ucla james bridges
john reilly & friends @ largo
taking off, harold and maude @ new beverly


fri. may 31

tremellow (7:30) @ three-dee music fest @ artshare la
henry v (1944), richard iii (1995) @ aero
altered states MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater
samurai cop MIDNIGHT @ nuart
the blank tapes, blackfeet braves @ satellite
jon brion @ largo
love exposure @ silent movie theater
an evening with rick prelinger FREE (RSVP) @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges
back to the future FREE 8 PM @ friday night flicks @ pershing square
the k effect: stalin's editor 10 PM @ edgemar room 1 @ cinema at the edge festival
sects cults and mind control mix night @ silent movie theater
endless bummer @ ham & eggs tavern
paths of glory @ lacma
time without pity 9:05 PM @ lacma< color>


sat. jun. 1

corners (8:00), thee rain cats (9:30), the shrills (9:00) @ three-dee music fest @ artshare la
to catch a thief 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ orpheum
radar bros. (5:00), etc FREE @ make music pasadena
ninja iii: the domination 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
clueless @ eat|see|hear @ paul revere middle school
some like it hot @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
hell's half acre 5 PM @ tiki night @ egyptian
a.m. mayhem: the story of tucson's power 1490am 10 PM @ edgemar room 2 @ cinema at the edge festival
kat kong FREE @ footsie's
colleen green @ metro37
w-h-i-t-e @ the smell
the howling MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
lord love a duck 5 PM @ lacma
lolita (1962) @ lacma
dailymotion screening FREE 5 PM @ epfc
nomadic archive 8 PM @ epfc< color>


sun. jun. 2

brute force 7 PM, kiss the blood off my hands @ ucla film archive
jung bouquet @ pehrspace
tom brosseau @ mccabe's
11 points (6-8 PM) @ machine
the great rock'n'roll swindle @ egyptian
hamlet (1996) (70mm) @ aero
manhunter 2:55 7:30 PM, angel heart 5:15 9:50 PM @ new beverly< color>


mon. jun. 3

in the shadow @ ucla film archive


tue. jun. 4

canyon passage 1 PM @ lacma


wed. jun. 5

hannah arendt FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc broccoli theatre


thu. jun. 6

the scarlet letter (1926) FREE 5 PM @ the crank @ ucla james bridges
l.a. witch @ silver lake lounge


fri. jun. 7

gunfight at the o.k. corral, i walk alone @ ucla film archive


sat. jun. 8

the outre world of rolf forsberg @ ucla film archive
dead meadow @ don the beachcomber


sun. jun. 9

the leopard 7 PM @ ucla film archive


mon. jun. 10

joey molinaro @ pehrspace


wed. jun. 12

radar bros. @ satellite


thu. jun. 13

smog FREE 7 PM @ getty center
l.a. witch @ silver lake lounge


sat. jun. 15

the scalphunters, castle keep @ ucla film archive


sun. jun. 16

lit show film festival FREE @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque
fuzz @ alex's bar


tue. jun. 18

duck soup 1 PM, horse feathers @ lacma


wed. jun. 19

all about eve 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ los angeles theatre
fuzz, pangea @ alex's bar


thu. jun. 20

a hijacking FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark


fri. jun. 21

l.a. witch @ silver lake lounge


sat. jun. 22

office space @ electric dusk drive-in
dr. strangelove 2:00 8:00 PM @ alex theatre


sun. jun. 23

ulzana's raid 7 PM @ ucla film archive


mon. jun. 24

twilight's last gleaming @ ucla film archive


tue. jun. 25

saboteur 1 PM @ lacma


wed. jun. 26

ben-hur (1925) 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ orpheum


thu. jun. 27

the soft pack @ echo


fri. jun. 28

cattle annie and little britches @ ucla film archive
aliens MIDNIGHT @ nuart
l.a. witch @ silver lake lounge
jon brion @ largo


sat. jun. 29

casablanca 2:00 8:00 PM @ last remaining seats @ saban theatre


sun. jun. 30

conversation piece, atlantic city @ ucla film archive


fri. jul. 5

jaws MIDNIGHT @ nuart
oblivians @ the echo


sat. jul. 6

the warlocks @ bootleg


mon. jul. 8

the hunt FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark


sat. jul. 13

the princess bride @ electric dusk drive-in


fri. jul. 19

a clockwork orange MIDNIGHT @ nuart


sat. jul. 20

coming to america @ eat|see|hear @ santa monica high school


fri. jul. 26

jon brion @ largo


sun. jul. 28

hippie revolution films FREE 7 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque


sat. aug. 10

white fence, jessica pratt @ troubadour
kingpin @ eat|see|hear @ paul revere middle school


sat. aug. 24

the warriors @ eat|see|hear @ la trade tech


sat. sept. 7

back to school @ eat|see|hear @ santa monica high school


thu. sept. 12

godspeed! you black emperor @ fonda


sat. sept. 14

godspeed! you black emperor @ fox theater pomona


sat. sept. 28

white fence, real estate, woods, etc @ woodsist desert festival @ pappy & harriet's



WHAT IT IS:


ART21: 'Identity' & 'William Kentridge'
In the back back-to-back screenings of Art in the Twenty-First Century, the Peabody Award–winning documentary series on PBS, the question of identity creates a backdrop against which notions of portraiture, stereotypes, self-awareness, and what it means to be an artist in today's world are investigated.
The first episode, “Identity,” explores these questions through the work of artists William Wegman, Kerry James Marshall, Maya Lin, Louise Bourgeois, and Bruce Nauman (whose work For Beginners is on view at LACMA now). The second screening, "William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible," gives an in-depth look at the unique creative process behind the South African artist's work. Kentridge is known for his dynamic charcoal drawings, animations, video installations, shadow plays, mechanical puppets, tapestries, sculptures, live performance pieces, and operas.


ART21: 'Place' & 'Spirituality'
The idea of place and spirituality are central themes in the two back-to-back screenings of Art in the Twenty-First Century, the Peabody Award–winning documentary series on PBS.
The first episode, “Place,” explores the process behind contemporary artist Richard Serra’s monumental sculptures. Known for creating massive metal works, Serra redefines space, and his work requires the visitor to not only look at it but also to interact with it, walk around it, and, at times, inside of it. Serra’s sculpture Band, which is located in BCAM, is one example. Other artists featured in this episode include Laurie Anderson, Sally Mann, Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, and Pepón Osorio.
The second episode, “Spirituality,” features the work of Light and Space artist James Turrell, whose retrospective opens at LACMA on May 26. Just as Serra’s sculptures redefine a space with their monumentality, Turrell’s brilliant light installations also transform space, capturing the ethereal properties of light, and create a unique sensory experience for the viewer. Other artists featured in this episode include Beryl Korot, Ann Hamilton, John Feodorov, and Shahzia Sikander.


Atlantic City (1981)
Directed by Louis Malle
While the world he knew is literally being torn down around him, a two-bit gangster in his autumn years finally gets the chance to be the big man he always wanted to be when a young woman (Sarandon) puts a kick back in his step. In director Louis Malle's bittersweet, whimsical ode to an American dreamer awash in the end of the American dream, Burt Lancaster delivers a winning performance—by turns warm and heartbreaking—earning him his fourth Academy Award nomination.
Paramount Pictures Corp. Producer: Denis Heroux. Screenwriter: John Guare. Cinematographer: Richard Ciupka. Editor: Suzanne Baron. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Michel Piccoli, Hollis McLaren, Robert Joy.   35mm, color, 103 min.


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
1968, Disney, 127 min, USA, Dir: William Friedkin
Based on Harold Pinter’s celebrated play, THE BIRTHDAY PARTY stars the great Robert Shaw as Stanley, the put-upon tenant - with the menacingly enigmatic Patrick Magee and Sydney Tafler as the unwelcome strangers out to make Shaw’s barely marginal life a perfect hell. An underrated master of adapting stage drama to film (see THE BOYS IN THE BAND), Friedkin pushes Pinter’s savage material to the limit here, creating an unnerving sense of despair and paranoia.


Brute Force (1947)
Directed by Jules Dassin
Westgate Penitentiary is racked with tension as the warden sees his authority slipping into the hands of fascistic subordinates—especially sinister Hume Cronyn—and influential prisoner Charles Bickford. Burt Lancaster seethes as prisoner Joe Collins, who plots a dangerous escape that could lead to a bloody outcome. Violence, cruelty and betrayal combine in an explosive brew, leading to a confrontation between men and philosophies: whether to help, or crush the prison population.
Universal Pictures Company, Inc. Producer: Mark Hellinger. Screenwriter: Richard Brooks. Cinematographer: William Daniels. Editor: Edward Curtiss. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Yvonne De Carlo, Ella Raines.   35mm, b/w, 98 min.


BULLFIGHTER AND THE LADY
Director Budd Boetticher's love of bullfighting comes to the fore in this film drama, directed and co-written by Boetticher (and produced by John Wayne). Robert Stack plays the cocky American Chuck Regan, who travels to Mexico and falls in love with the sultry Anita de la Vega (Joy Page). In order to impress her with his prowess, he convinces the famed matador Manolo Estrada (Gilbert Roland) to mentor him in the art of bullfighting. But Chuck's carelessness causes the tragic death of Manolo, resulting in Chuck's being shunned by both the villagers and Anita. In order to regain Anita's love and the villagers' respect, Chuck re-enters the arena, taking on a bull in Manolo's honor. Dir. Budd Boetticher, 1 hr. 27 min., 1951.


CALL ME KUCHU
In an unmarked office at the end of a dirt track, veteran activist David Kato labors to repeal Uganda’s homophobic laws and liberate his fellow lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender men and women, or “kuchus.” But David’s formidable task just became much more difficult. A new “Anti-­Homosexuality Bill” proposes death for HIV-­positive gay men, and prison for anyone who fails to turn in a known homosexual. Inspired by American evangelicals who have christened Uganda ground zero in their war on the “homosexual agenda,” the bill awaits debate in Uganda’s Parliament.
While most religious leaders in Uganda support the Bill, one lone voice from the Church is willing to speak out against it: Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, a purple-­robed sage who has been expelled from the Anglican Church of Uganda for his theological defense of Uganda’s LGBT community. Armed with a PhD in human sexuality and a thorough understanding of Biblical scripture, this octogenarian doggedly continues his work to establish a kuchu counseling center and safe house in Kampala.
Meanwhile, local newspapers have begun outing kuchus with vicious fervor under headlines such as: “HOMO TERROR! We Name and Shame Top Gays in the City.”
David, Uganda’s first openly gay man, is one of the few who dare to publicly protest state-­sanctioned homophobia. Working with an idiosyncratic clan of fellow activists, David fights Uganda’s government and tabloids in the courts, on television, and at the United Nations. Because, he insists, “if we keep on hiding, they will say we’re not here.”
But one year into filming CALL ME KUCHU and just three weeks after a landmark legal victory, the unthinkable happens: David is brutally murdered in his home. His death sends shock waves around the world, and leaves the Bishop and Kampala’s kuchus traumatized and seeking answers for a way forward. With unprecedented access, CALL ME KUCHU depicts the last year in the life of a courageous, quick-­witted and steadfast man whose wisdom and achievements were not fully recognized until after his death, and whose memory has inspired a new generation of human rights advocates. Running time: 87 minutes.


Castle Keep (1969)
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack's adaptation of author William Eastlake's WWII satire strikes an allegorical tone in a freefloating structure that anticipates Mike Nichols' adaptation of Catch-22 (1970). In one of his most enigmatic roles, Burt Lancaster sports an eye patch as Maj. Abraham Falconer who stations his platoon in a 10th century chateau in the path of advancing German lines despite the irreplaceable art treasures housed within. While Falconer carries on an affair with with the chateau's countess, he and his men meditate on art, sex, death and Volkswagens before everything goes up in flames. 
Columbia Pictures. Producers: Martin Ransohoff, John Calley. Based on the novel by William Eastlake. Screenwriter: Daniel Taradash, David Rayfiel. Cinematographer: Henri Decaë. Editor: Malcolm Cooke. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Patrick O’Neal, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Peter Falk, Astrid Heeren. 35mm, color, 105 min. 


Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1981)
Directed by Lamont Johnson
Produced in 1979 but not released until 1981, this neglected gem of a Western is due for rediscovery. Amanda Plummer, in her screen debut, and Diane Lane play two rebellious runaways who travel West to join the Doolin-Dalton Gang, inspired by Ned Buntline's dime novel. As the aging outlaw Bill Doolin, Burt Lancaster delivers an expansive, beguiling performance as a man resigned to carrying the weight of legend into his final sunset.
Universal Pictures. Producer: Rupert Hitzig. Based on the novel by Robert Ward. Screenwriters: David Eyre, Robert Ward. Cinematographer: Larry Pizer. Editor: William Haugse. Cast: Burt Lancaster, John Savage, Rod Steiger, Diane Lane, Amanda Plummer.   35mm, color, 98 min. 


CENTER FOR VISUAL MUSIC PRESENTS: AN EVENING WITH BARRY SPINELLO
Barry Spinello's visual music films are inspired by influences including Klee and cubist painting, where musical notation is extended onto the canvas. His background in music, painting and poetry led to a desire to merge the three. From 1967-71 Spinello made films without a camera or tape recorder, by hand drawing both sound and picture directly onto clear 16mm leader. For several decades Spinello also made documentaries, before returning to visual music film. In 1998 Spinello started translating his ideas of filmpainting into a computer environment. Towards is the result. "The idea was to work with sound and picture at the same time, in the same way. My dream was to squeeze sound and picture out of the same tube - to weave a cloth with warp as sound, woof as picture, and meaning the fabric itself." – Barry Spinello. Program: Opus One (1967) 2 minutes, 16mm. Sonata for Pen, Brush, and Ruler (1968) 12 minutes, 16mm: 14,000 frames carefully painted, with sound painted on the edge. Budget - $9.00 (four bottles ink, a brush, a pen, 400 feet used leader) and 8 months of concentration on the nib of a pen. Soundtrack (1969) 12 minutes, 16mm: We see two parallel lines of dots. One line moves off the screen and we hear the sound - that line is MAKING that sound. What we hear is what we see. Six Loop Paintings (1970) 10 minutes, 16mm: Sticky-back mylar sheets (ZIPOTONE) are cut to size and stuck on the clear film. Different patterns make different sounds. We see tones, harmonies, glissandos, rhythms. Towards (2000–2013) 18 minutes, digital: The last 10 minutes feature the voices of Gertrude Stein and TS Eliot arguing while trapped inside a Jackson Pollack painting. Screening will be followed by a Q&A with Barry Spinello and a reception.


China Girls
As a follow-up to the marvelous Orphan Film Symposium, taking place May 10 & 11 at the Academy Film Archive, Filmforum hosts a show on the China girl, curated by our former associate programmer Genevieve Yue!
The various faces of the “China girl”, sometimes called a “China doll” or “girl head”, have appeared in more films than any actress, though she is almost never seen, save for the fleeting glimpses an audience might catch at the end of a film reel. These images of a woman, positioned next to color swatches, have appeared on the leader of every commercial manufactured film since the late 1920s and continue in limited use today. The China girl image is instrumental in determining exposure, image density, and color balance, forming a kind of cinematic unconscious. Her essential but often overlooked role in film history has also made her a compelling subject for experimental filmmakers variously examining issues of celluloid materiality, the behind-the-scenes workings of the film industry, and the often marginal role of women. In some cases, the China girl is no less than the enigmatic icon of a vanishing medium.
A selection of films will be introduced by programmer Genevieve Yue. This program is co-sponsored by the Orphan Film Project.
Screening (Subject to change):
Film in Which There Appear Sprocket Holes, Edge Lettering, Dirt Particles, Etc. by Owen Land (formerly known as George Landow) (1965-66, 16mm, color, silent, 4 min.)
Standard Gauge by Morgan Fisher (1984, 16mm, color, sound, 35 min)
China Girls by Michelle Silva (2006, 16mm, color, sound, 3 min.)
To the Happy Few by Thomas Draschan and Stella Friedrichs (2003, 16mm, color, sound, 5 min.)
MM by Timoleon Wilkins (1996, 16mm, color, sound, 8 min.)
Releasing Human Energies by Mark Toscano (2012, 16mm, color, sound, 5.5 min.)
TRT: 60 minutes


Conversation Piece (Gruppo di famiglia in un interno) (Italy/France, 1974)
Directed by Luchino Visconti
An underappreciated masterpiece from the mature Luchino Visconti, Conversation Piece stars Burt Lancaster as a retired art historian settling into a life of virtual seclusion in a picturesque Roman palazzo. His self-imposed solitude, however, is swiftly disrupted by the intrusion of unruly new neighbors—namely Silvana Mangano, as an imperious upper-crust matron, and Visconti mainstay Helmut Berger, glamorously sullen as the conflicted left-wing lover Mangano installs in the apartment above Lancaster's.
Screenwriters: L. Visconti, Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Enrico Medioli. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Helmut Berger, Claudia Marsani, Silvana Mangano. 35mm, color, in Italian with English subtitles, 126 min


CORPORATE ORIENTATION
Introduced by Rick Prelinger. This segment on the cinematic creativity and artistry of in-house industrial productions and sponsored films includes “Transformations” (1968, 17 mins., digital), a gem made for IBM by Ralph Sargent, now a legendary figure in film preservation and restoration; a rarely seen ten-minute version of “A New Look for the Bell System” (Saul Bass, 1969, 10 mins., digital), produced by Saul Bass to unveil a new branding campaign; “From Here to There,” Bass’s 1964 interpretation of contemporary air travel (Saul Bass, 1964, 9 mins., 35mm); and “Two” (Satyajit Ray, 1964, 11 mins., preserved by the Academy, 16mm), a unique film without dialogue produced for the television program “Esso World Theatre,” centering on the play/rivalry between a child of the streets and a child of privilege.
Presenters: Ralph Sargent (Film Technology Co.), Sean Savage (Academy Film Archive), Jan-Christopher Horak (UCLA Film & Television Archive/Academy Film Scholar) and Priya Jaikumar (University of Southern California). 


THE DECADE YOU SPENT A DECADE TRYING TO FORGET: MOVIES AND READINGS BY BILL BROWN
Lonesome drifter of underground cinema Bill Brown will present the West Coast Premiere of his latest movie, Memorial Land, a documentary portrait of six people across the United States who built their own DIY 9/11 memorials. He will also screen a selection of recent work on 16mm, including Document and The Other Side, “a personal essay...imbued with magical landscapes and searing observations softly spoken during the director's cinematic trek along the United States-Mexican border” (-Lincoln Center Film Society). In addition to the films, Bill will be reading from the soon-to-be-released 15th issue of Dream Whip, his ongoing collection of stories about road trips, all-night bike rides, and bad coffee. Program: Memorial Land (2012) 28 minutes, 16mm & DV; Document (2011) 2 minutes, 16mm on DV; The Other Side (2006) 42 minutes, 16mm. Filmmaker Bill Brown in person!


THE DEEP
Based on the astonishing true story story of survival and human endurance, THE DEEP fashions a modern-day everyman myth about the unlikely sole survivor of a tragic local shipwreck, whose superhuman will to survive made him both an inexplicable scientific phenomenon and a genuine national hero. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur. Running time: 95 minutes. In Icelandic, with English subtitles.


DELICATE TEXTURES: FILMS BY STEVE POLTA
Bay Area artist Steve Polta has been producing a body of films, mostly on Super 8, over the past two decades that are as exquisitely nuanced as they are rarely seen. Each film presents a narrow window onto the ordinary world, prodded by subtle observation until it yields images of ethereal beauty. “In 1997A Arrival and 1997B Departure the elements of a profoundly defocused lens distort a transit tunnel into a portal between worlds, traversed by color-spiked forms. And in Picture Window the picture verges on pure black, the barest hint of an image causing the screen to reverberate between a window and a surface plane. It’s the texture of the image that constitutes the film, the essence of a film, which one can reveal only by opening the window hidden in every screen.” –Brian L. Frye, The New Science of the Cinema in Radical Light: Alternative Film in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945–2000. For this rare Los Angeles appearance, Polta will bring a program to include 1997B Departure (1997) Minnesota Landscape (1997) Estuary #1 (1998) Interval Oakland 99 (2000) A House Full of Dust (2007) Summer Rain for LMC, side A (2007/2011) Summer Rain for LMC, side B (2007/2011), and others tbd, all projected from Super 8 or 16mm. Steve Polta in person!


The Dream Machine: A Living Room Screening with Phil Solomon
Filmforum is delighted to host two evenings with Colorado-based master filmmaker Phil Solomon, as part of a multi-venue celebration of his work.  In this first night, Solomon relocates his dream machine to the marvelous Velaslavasay Panorama for the sort of informal living room screening that we all dream of.  It’s a night for rare super8mm films, even two that were never released, and a few joyful larks.  Plus the Panorama’s garden welcomes everyone for the post-show conviviality.
Screening (Subject to change on the fly):
Nocturne 3 (The Dream Machine) (1976, super-8, silent, 8 minutes)
Nocturne 4 (1980, color, super-8, 10 minutes)
The Passage of the Bride (1978, 16mm silent, 6 min.)
As If We (1980, color, silent, 16mm, 15 minutes)  
Remains to be Seen (1989, Super-8mm, sound, 17 min)
The Exquisite Hour (1989, Super 8mm, sound, 14 min.)
The Eternal Courtship (2013, digital video, sound, 1 min.)
Rocket Boy vs. Brakhage (1980-89, digital, 30 min)
With Phil Solomon in person!


Drift 
(Canada/USA, 2002)
Directed by Quentin Lee
Twenty-something coffee-puller and hopeful screenwriter Ryan shares a comfortable, if rote, existence with boyfriend Joel. When he meets cute college student Leo, who shares his passion for horror movies, serial killers and such, Ryan pursues a new destiny—then another and another, as the film explores different choices he might make. A heady romantic drama, Drift underlines the enormity of life decisions, when so much of life is still ahead. Screenwriter: Quentin Lee. Cast: R. T. Lee, Greyson Dayne, Jonathan Roessler.  35mm, color, 86 min.


THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM
Never released on DVD — even in Japan! For the lucky ducks reading this who’ve seen Nobuhiko Obayashi’s masterpiece House, you know that the man knows how to make a crazy movie. The normal language of film you’re accustomed to is left for dead, with virtually every aesthetic choice being completely hypnotic and magical. Loooosely based on the manga by visionary Kazuo Umezu (“Cat Eyed Boy”), The Drifting Classroom’s “international high school” is populated by a ragtag team of Annie-esque English-speaking kids of all stripes. During an impromptu jam session of “Here Comes The Bride”(?!), a tornado hurls the entire school into an alternate dimension time-slip — and as the baffled students and faculty (led by ‘50s teen idol Troy Donahue) navigate through a desert wasteland, giant bugs tear through the children like twigs, a gripping madness immediately sets in with the children, and hell breaks loose at every turn! With an impossible Neverending Story-meets-Twilight Zone vibe, the fantastic and the bleak blend together beautifully with this baby; this one is so face-melting your head will be a panini by the time it’s over. Dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1987, digital presentation, 104 min.


THE ELEGAIC VISIONS OF PHIL SOLOMON
Since 1975, Phil Solomon has been making films that magically penetrate the surface of images and reveal depths of new poetic meaning. Solomon’s 16mm films imbue prerecorded imagery with fantastical sensual and dimensional qualities. His recent work extends these concerns into the digital realm, creating haunting landscapes that reawaken the mysteries of life and death, and of physical reality and alternative states. Solomon presents two masterful films, What's Out Tonight is Lost (1983) and Psalm I: “The Lateness of the Hour” (1999), and four digital works, Innocence and Despair (2002), his tribute to 9/11, and In Memoriam (2005–09), a trilogy in memory of filmmaker Mark LaPore that mystically transforms backgrounds from the video game series Grand Theft Auto.
In person: Phil Solomon


El General (The General)
Mexico, USA/2008/90min/Color/Spanish with English Subtitles
Dir: Natalia Almada
El General tells the story of one of Mexico’s most controversial figures, Plutarco Elías Calles—alternately known as “The General,” “Nun-Burner” and “The Dictator”—as told by director Natalie Almada, his granddaughter. The film is both a journey into Almada’s family history, and an intimate portrait of Mexico a century after the Revolution of 1910, touching on the socio-economic injustice that has prevailed for the duration. The film will be followed by a conversation with the director.


El lugar más pequeño (The Tiniest Place)
Mexico/2011/140min/Color/Spanish with English Subtitles
Dir: Tatiana Huezo
Five families walk through the jungles of El Salvador for several days; they arrive in their village to find nothing left. The characters—farm laborers from a guerrilla town—struggle to resume living amidst the nightmares and wounds inflicted by civil war. They begin to organize themselves, collecting the remains of the dead, sowing the soil and looking after their animals. Forced to give up their weapons, they commit to the memory of what has happened. The film will be followed by a conversation with the director.


Elmer Gantry
Directed by Richard Brooks
Burt Lancaster won his only Academy Award (out of four nominations) for his devilishly seductive performance as a down-and-out scoundrel-turned-fiery-preacher in Richard Brooks' adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' novel. Jean Simmons plays the revival leader who falls for his line and Shirley Jones as the prostitute who undoes him. Lancaster's spellbinding energy extends Brooks' assault on religious hypocrisy to critique the very charisma that made him a star.
United Artists Corp. Producer: Bernard Smith. Based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis. Screenwriter: R. Brooks. Cinematographer: John Alton. Editor: Marjorie Fowler. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Arthur Kennedy, Dean Jagger, Shirley Jones. 35mm, color, 146 min.  (1960)


ERNEST COLE
(1999, Director: Jurgen Schadeberg, 52 minutes).
Director Jurgen Schadeberg, who met Ernest Cole at DRUM magazine, sheds light on his fellow photographer in this beautiful film that reveals how Cole's art was a shining symbol of anti-apartheid activism. Weaving rare video footage of Cole together with contemporary interviews of his family and associates, the film tells the story of a courageous artist who-at great personal cost-crusaded to alert the outside world to the injustices of his society.


AN EVENING WITH RICK PRELINGER
Rick Prelinger is an archivist, writer and filmmaker, and founder of the Prelinger Archives, a collection of 60,000 advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur films acquired by the Library of Congress in 2002 after 20 years' operation.
Rick has partnered with the Internet Archive to make over 3,800 films from Prelinger Archives available online for free viewing, downloading and reuse. With the Voyager Company, a pioneer new media publisher, he produced fourteen laserdiscs and CD-ROMs with material from his archives, including Ephemeral Films, the Our Secret Century series and Call It Home: The House That Private Enterprise Built, a laserdisc on the history of suburbia and suburban planning (co-produced with architect Keller Easterling). Rick has taught in the MFA Design program at New York's School of Visual Arts and lectures widely on American cultural and social history and on issues of cultural and intellectual property access. He sat (2001–2004) on the National Film Preservation Board as representative of the Association of Moving Image Archivists, was Board President of the San Francisco Cinematheque (2002–2007), and is currently a Board Member of the Internet Archive.
His feature-length film Panorama Ephemera, depicting the conflicted landscapes of 20th-century America, opened in summer 2004. He is co-founder of the Prelinger Library (with spouse Megan Shaw Prelinger), an appropriation-friendly reference library located in San Francisco. In recent years he has produced archival compilation films on the history of San Francisco (Lost Landscapes of San Francisco, 7 annual films, 2006-2012, and Lost Landscapes of Detroit, 3 films, 2010-12.) He was awarded a Creative Capital grant in 2012 for his forthcoming film No More Road Trips?, which premieres at South by Southwest in March 2013.


AN EVENING WITH SUZANNE CIANI, SYNTH PIONEER
With one of the widest and coolest portfolios for an electronic musician ever, synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani is a living treasure. Having done everything from music/sounds to old-school video games, electrified commercial jingles, vintage dance records, futuristic film scores and her own brand of floating-soundscape solo albums — Ciani is proof that, in both a synth underground and a commercial world monopolized by male domination, a woman’s touch is an essential secret ingredient to successful sonic seduction. Tonight, we celebrate this leading light in modern American electronica with an incredible, jam-packed night of live music and other treats, including:
- Q&A with synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani (moderated by Finders Keepers founder Andy Votel)
- Buchla Modular Synth demo by Suzanne Ciani
- live improv/performance by Ciani as “STEVE”, her synth-y male alter-ego (first time performed live in 30 years!)
- a presentation of Suzanne’s work scoring TV commercials
- a live set by Neotantrik (masters of New Age/musique concrete/Teutonic tones!)
- a screening of The Delian Mode, the new documentary short on Delia Derbyshire, fellow female synth pioneer
- DJ sets by B-Music/Finders Keepers’s Doug Shipton and Mahssa!


Flow 
(Canada/USA, 1998)
Directed by Quentin Lee
For his debut feature, Quentin Lee resourcefully reworked a number of short student films into a feature film format, positing an unseen filmmaker who reviews the films he has made by way of reviewing his evolution in self-understanding. Bridging topics from matricide and vampires to budding romance, Lee's stylish and surprising feature charts a compelling course through queer life and art, viewed from the inside out. Screenwriter: Quentin Lee. Cast: B.P. Cheng, Radmar Jao, Lela Lee. 16mm, color and b/w, 80 min.


Flower Buds
(Poupata) (Czech Republic, 2011)
In-person: director Zdenek Jirasky
A bleakly humorous snapshot of life in a snowy and remote Czech town, Flower Buds tracks with clear-eyed tenderness the intersecting hardships and hopes of its residents, centering on the Hrdina family: Jarda, a train signal operator with a gambling problem, his wife Kamila, who pines for her lost youth, and their restless teenage children.
Cineart TV Prague. Producer: Viktor Schwarcz. Screenwriter: Zdenek Jirasky. Cinematographer: Vladimír Smutny. Editor: Petr Turyna. Cast: Vladimír Javorsky, Malgorzata Pikus, Marika Soposka, Miroslav Panek, Natalie Rehorova. 35mm, color, in Czech with English subtitles, 90 min.


FRANCES HA
Frances (Greta Gerwig) lives in New York, but she doesn't really have an apartment. Frances is an apprentice for a dance company, but she's not really a dancer. Frances has a best friend named Sophie, but they aren't really speaking anymore. Frances throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as their possible reality dwindles. Frances wants so much more than she has, but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness. FRANCES HA is a modern comic fable in which Noah Baumbach explores New York, friendship, class, ambition, failure, and redemption. Running time: 86 minutes.  Directed by Noah Baumbach. Written by Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig. Produced by Noah Baumbach, Scott Rudin, Rodrigo Teixeira, and Lila Yacoub


GONE WITH THE POPE, 1976, Grindhouse Releasing, 83 min. Writer-director-producer Duke Mitchell stars as Paul, a criminal with an unholy scheme: to kidnap the pope and charge "a dollar from every Catholic in the world" as ransom. This deliriously entertaining saga was shot in 1976 but remained unfinished until 2009. Now fully realized in 35mm!


GOOD VIBRATIONS
A chronicle of Terri Hooley's life, a record store owner instrumental in developing Belfast's punk rock scene. Good Vibrations star Richard Former, along with co-directors Lisa Barros D’Sa & Glenn Leyburn, will be here at the Cinefamily for a Q&A after the film! Dirs. Lisa Barros D’Sa & Glenn Leyburn, 2012, 103 min.


Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
Directed by John Sturges
Director John Sturges' classic Vistavision take on the legendary gunfight in Tombstone, AZ was the second big screen pairing for Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas and it solidified the chemistry the two would share in films to come. As the stolid Wyatt Earp, Lancaster emanates a quiet power matched by the wilder, chaotic energies of Douglas' Doc Holliday. A fantastic supporting cast, including Rhonda Fleming, Jo Van Vleet and a young Dennis Hopper round out the action.
Paramount Pictures Corp. Producer: Hal B. Wallis. Screenwriter: Leon Uris. Cinematographer: Charles B. Lang Jr. Editor: Warren Low. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Jo Van Fleet, John Ireland.  35mm color, 122 min. 


Gypsy (Cigan) (Czech Republic/Slovakia, 2011)
Directed by Martin Sulik
When his father is killed and his loan-shark uncle becomes head of the family, a Roma boy is caught between two worlds—he navigates poverty and prejudice as he struggles to support his family, while resisting his uncle's criminal activities and embittered attitudes toward non-Roma. Shot on location, evocative hillside landscapes and touches of magic realism balance this astutely realist drama.
In Film Praha. Producer: Rudolf Biermann. Screenwriters: Marek Lescak, Martin Sulik. Cinematographer: Martin Sec. Editor: Jiri Brozek. Cast: Janko Mizigar, Miroslav Gulyas, Martina Kotlarova, Attila Mokos, Martin Hangurbadzo. 35mm, color, in Roma and Slovak with English subtitles, 100 min.


HANNAH ARENDT
The sublime Barbara Sukowa reteams with director Margarethe von Trotta (Vision, Rosa Luxemburg) for her brilliant new biopic of influential German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt. Arendt’s reporting on the 1961 trial of ex-Nazi Adolf Eichmann in The New Yorker—controversial both for her portrayal of Eichmann and the Jewish councils—introduced her now-famous concept of the “Banality of Evil.” Using footage from the actual Eichmann trial and weaving a narrative that spans three countries, von Trotta beautifully turns the often invisible passion for thought into immersive, dramatic cinema. An Official Selection at the Toronto International and New York Jewish Film Festivals, Hannah Arendt also co-stars Klaus Pohl as philosopher Martin Heidegger, Nicolas Woodeson as New Yorker editor William Shawn, and two-time Oscar Nominee Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs) as novelist Mary McCarthy. Running time: 113 minutes. In German, French, English, Hebrew, and Latin, with English subtitles.


HENDRIX 70: LIVE AT WOODSTOCK
2012, Omniverse Vision, 99 min, USA, Dir: Michael Wadleigh, Bob Smeaton
Three muddy days of peace and music, Woodstock was one of the defining events of a generation. The epochal rock festival closed with headliner Jimi Hendrix, who lit up the stage with hits like "Fire," "Purple Haze" and "Foxy Lady" as well as one of the greatest versions of "The Star-Spangled Banner” ever heard. This digitally restored live performance is preceded by a documentary about the road to Woodstock, including interviews with Hendrix band members Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox.


A HIJACKING
The cargo ship MV Rozen is heading for harbor when it is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. Amongst the men on board are the ship’s cook Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk) and the engineer Jan (Roland Møller), who along with the rest of the seamen are taken hostage in a cynical game of life and death. With the demand for a ransom of millions of dollars a psychological drama unfolds between the CEO of the shipping company (Søren Malling) and the Somali pirates. Running time: 99 minutes. In Danish, with English subtitles.


The House
(Dom) (Slovakia/Czech Republic, 2011)
"Sensitively observed, intelligently made realist drama is remarkable for its depth of characterization." — Variety
Directed by Zuzana Liova
Anxious to escape her small town, ambitious teen Eva saves money to become an au pair in London, while her taciturn father stubbornly builds a house for her on the family property. An intimate, carefully observed drama of generational conflict in which the weight of unspoken expectations, unmet desires and family grudges surfaces when Eva's older sister returns home with her ne'er-do-well husband.
Fog’n’Desire Films. Producers: Viktor Taus, Michal Kollár. Screenwriters: Z. Liova, Jana Skorepova. Cinematographers: Jan Baset Stritezsky, Asen Sopov. Editor: Anna Johnson Ryndova. Cast: Judit Bardos, Miroslav Krobot, Tatjana Medvecka, Marian Mitas, Lucia Jaskova. 35mm, color, in Slovak and Czech with English subtitles, 100 min. 


THE HUNT
Directed and co-written by Thomas Vinterberg, the film is a disturbing depiction of how a lie becomes the truth when gossip, doubt and malice are allowed to flourish and ignite a witch-hunt that soon threatens to destroy an innocent man’s life.
Mads Mikkelsen (NBC’s Hannibal, A ROYAL AFFAIR, CASINO ROYALE) won the Best Actor Award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival for his penetrating portrayal of Lucas, a former school teacher who has been forced to start over having overcome a tough divorce and the loss of his job. Just as things are starting to go his way, his life is shattered when an untruthful remark throws his small community into a collective state of hysteria. As the lie spreads, Lucas is forced to fight a lonely fight for his life and dignity.
Co-founder of the Dogme movement and director of award-winning international hit FESTEN (THE CELEBRATION), Vinterberg, this year’s President of the Jury for Un Certain Regard at Cannes, delivers yet another powerful drama that is sure to leave its mark.THE HUNT premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, was a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival and screened at Telluride. Co-written by Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm (whose credits also include A HIJACKING, which he co-wrote and directed), THE HUNT won the Best Screenwriter prize at the 2012 European Film Awards, and was nominated for prizes in a number of other categories, including Best Film, Director and Actor. Running time: 111 minutes. In Danish, with English subtitles.


I DRINK YOUR BLOOD
“What do you get when you throw LSD-dropping devil worshippers, shotgun-packing children and old men, rabid dogs, zombies, and heaping piles of severed limbs into a blender?” — Steve Habrat, Anti-Film School
The only thing scarier than a dirty hippie in the early Seventies was a dirty-hippie death cult — a fear that the outré, impossibly daffy I Drink Your Blood exploits to maximum Manson-hysteria effect. The cultural remnants of the Manson Family’s “Helter Skelter” murders casts a long shadow over this freak-fest, but director David E. Durston pushes things further than even Charlie & Co. could conceive, with a plot involving meat pies, rabies and copious amounts of drugs. Like a brown acid trip in a blood-soaked charnel house, this is a trash landmark well worth of its status as a drive-in/Times Square legend. Starring super-siren Lynn Lowry (Shivers, Score, The Crazies) and a gloriously unhinged performance from wild-eyed Indian actor/dancer Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury as cult leader “Horace Bones”, this is one grody trip you don’t want to miss. Dir. David E. Durston, 1970, 35mm, 90 min.


In the Shadow (Ve stinu) (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Poland/Israel, 2012)
Directed by David Ondricek
During the consolidation of Soviet power in 1950s Czechoslovakia, a cracked safe and stolen cash lead an honest police inspector into a dangerous web of corruption in the State Security bureau—even as his reckless pursuit of the truth alienates and endangers his family. Rain and power blackouts contribute to a taut atmosphere in this neo-noir police thriller.
Bleiberg Entertainment. Producers: David Ondricek, Krystof Mucha, Ehud Bleiberg. Screenwriters: Marek Epstein, D. Ondricek, Misha Votruba. Cinematographer: Adam Sikora. Editor: Michal Lansky. Cast: Ivan Trojan, David Svehlík, Sona Norisova, Sebastian Koch, Marek Taclik, Jiri Stepnicka. HDCam, color, in Czech and German with English subtitles, 106 min. In-person:  director David Ondricek.


Intimidades de Shakespeare y Víctor Hugo (Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies)
México/2008/Color/83min/Spanish with English Subtitles
Dir: Yulene Olaizola
The lodging house owned by Rosa Carbajal at the corner of Shakespeare and Victor Hugo streets in Mexico City hides an intimate and passionate story. Twenty years ago, Rosa met Jorge Riosse, a charismatic young tenant who became her closest friend. But after his sudden death, a darker portrait emerged. The film is a profound sketch of two lonely characters whose lives become strongly and strangely entwined.


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.


I Walk Alone (1948)
Directed by Byron Haskin
In their first screen appearance together, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas square off as former Prohibition-era rum-running partners at odds over the spoils of their enterprise. Returning after 14 years in prison, tough guy Frankie Madison (Lancaster) is out for vengeance when he finds his former partner, the unctuously scheming Dink Turner (Douglas), running a successful nightclub and reluctant to give Frankie his due.
Paramount Pictures, Inc. Based on the play by Theodore Reeves. Screenwriter: Charles Schnee. Cinematographer: Leo Tover. Editor: Arthur Schmidt. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey, Kristine Miller. 16mm, b/w, 97 min.


KILL ME AGAIN
In his film debut, novice director John Dahl (who would later make The Last Seduction), weaves a quirky tale of love, murder and deception. Jack Andrews (Val Kilmer), a seedy private detective is hired by Fay Forrester (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer), to help her fake her own death in a clever scheme to escape from her mob pursuers, whom she double-crossed stealing money she had been sent to pick up, and are now intent on killing her. There then ensues a series of complicated plot-twists, double-crosses and surprises as Fay and Jack race each other to escape the mobsters, who have found them, and to get the money before the other does.  1989, USA, 35mm, 94 minutes. directed by John Dahl; written by John Dahl and David W. Warfield; starring Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Michael Madsen, Jon Gries, Pat Mulligan


THE KINGS OF SUMMER
Premiering to rave reviews at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, THE KINGS OF SUMMER is a unique coming-of-age comedy about three teenage friends – Joe (Nick Robinson), Patrick (Gabriel Basso) and the eccentric and unpredictable Biaggio (Moises Arias) - who, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land.  Free from their parents’ rules, their idyllic summer quickly becomes a test of friendship as each boy learns to appreciate the fact that family - whether it is the one you’re born into or the one you create – is something you can't run away from.
Starring Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Alison Brie, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. Running time: 92 minutes.


Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)
Directed by Norman Foster
A desperate chase opens this high-intensity noir, as troubled ex-soldier Bill Saunders (Lancaster) flees the scene of a London bar fight in which he's just killed a man. Attempting to put his violent ways behind him with the help of a good woman (Fontaine), Saunders finds himself ensnared by a blackmailing hoodlum (Newton) and the inexorable pull of his past.
Universal Pictures Company, Inc. Producer: Richard Vernon. Based on the novel by Gerald Butler. Screenwriter: Leonardo Bercovici. Cinematographer: Russell Metty. Editor: Milton Carruth. Cast: Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, Robert Newton, Lewis L. Russell.  35mm, b/w, 79 min.


LA AIR: MADISON BROOKSHIRE
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. Madison Brookshire is a Los Angeles-based artist and filmmaker. He is currently working on a hand-made film by soaking lengths of 16mm acetate in paint and allowing evaporation, dust, crystallization, mold, and more to inform the image. In addition to this work in progress, Brookshire will present a program of works detailing his relationship to music, including OPENING (2007), an elliptical landscape film with a live soundtrack of indeterminate music; and Five Lines (2012), a digital video that is also a musical score. Brookshire will be in attendance and Ezra Buchla, Mark So, and more will perform. 


The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) (France, 1963)
Directed by Luchino Visconti
Burt Lancaster was not Luchino Visconti's first choice for the proud Sicilian prince at the center of his sumptuous, CinemaScope epic set during the convulsive 1860s Risorgimento that transformed Italy into a unified nation. Even after watching Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Visconti, according to Lancaster, only offered, "Well, maybe." The production proved challenging for both but the result is a towering landmark of postwar cinema. Lancaster delivers the performance of his career as the dignified aristocrat holding fast to aristocratic values in the face of inexorable change.
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. Producer: Goffredo Lombardo. Based on the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. Screenwriters: Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Enrico Medioli, Massimo Franciosa, L. Visconti. Cinematographer: Giuseppe Rotunno. Editor: Mario Serandrei. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale, Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli.  35mm, color, in Italian with English subtitles, 187 min. 


LIT SHOW Film Festival
Gerry Fialka screens rare literature films to celebrate THE LIT SHOW. Dorothy Parker wrote a song that Billie Holiday sang. Tennessee Williams wrote a song that Marlon Brando sang as a rambling troubadour in The Fugitive Kind. Lonely House was written by Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes. Jack Kerouac & Allen Ginsberg wrote Pull My Daisy with David Amram. You've read the book, now hear the songs. NOW SEE THE FILM. 


LOVE EXPOSURE
“It’s too bad words like ‘masterpiece’ and ‘epic’ have been so overused by excitable film critics, because Sion Sono’s Love Exposure is an actual epic masterpiece that is going to dominate the filmscape for decades.” – New York Asian Film Festival
“Japan’s eroto-theosophical answer to the allegorical journeys of Alejandro Jodorowsky” — Film Four
Ask yourself this question: when was the last time a movie really mattered to you, and shattered your world? Every so often, a film comes screaming out of the ether that magically reveals a larger truth about this thing we stumble through called life — and Sion Sono’s behemoth 2009 masterpiece gleefully fits that bill, tackling life’s biggest issues: love, death, sex, revenge, cults, religion and up-skirt panty photography. Winner of festival awards across the globe, and purportedly based on the life of one Sono’s friends, it’s the epic story of a teen who loses his Catholic faith when his mother dies, and his bible-thumping priest father demands he confesses to sins he hasn’t committed. Manufacturing sins to keep his father pleased, Yu trains in the “art” of panchira (clandestine panty snapshots) — and all bets are off when he crosses paths with Yoko, the woman of his dreams (his “Virgin Mary”), at a streetfight. As he pursues his heart, Yu gets tripped up by apocalyptic religious cults, Catholic guilt and the call of pornography — and must use his love to fight his way out of darkness. The Cinefamily is proud to once more present one of the top Japanese films of the last decade!  Dir. Sion Sono, 2008, HDCAM, 237 min.


Made in Ash (Az do mesta As) (Slovakia/Czech Republic, 2012)
Directed by Iveta Grofova
A naive teenage girl heads west from Slovakia to the Czech-German border, dreaming of a better life, but succumbing to exploitation as hard times and discrimination narrow her options and dispel her illusions. Non-professional actors and handheld camera punctuated with interludes of animation contribute to a gritty but lyrical portrayal of border town realities.
Protos Productions. Producer: Barbara Kipsova. Screenwriters: Marek Lescak, Iveta Grofova. Cinematographer: Viera Bacikova. Editor: Maros Slapeta. Cast: Dorotka Bila, Silvia Halusicova, Robin Horky, Jarka Bucincova, Maria Billa. HDCam; color; in Czech, Slovak, and German with English subtitles; 84 min.


MATT McCORMICK FILMS
Experimental documentaries focusing on the sublime decay of contemporary culture and the landscape both urban & rural. Matt McCormick is a Portland, Oregon based artist, award winning filmmaker and noted video installation artist. His work extends documentary and experimental filmmaking, focusing on the sublime decay of contemporary culture and the landscape both urban and rural. His work spans mediums and defies genre distinctions to fashion witty, abstract observations of contemporary culture and the urban landscape. His project Future So Bright maps and catalogs the abandoned spaces in the American West, while American Nutria "examines the plight of an imported species while chastising capitalism’s tendency to create its own disasters." The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal makes the observation that the process of destroying one art form unwittingly creates another, while his installation piece Ride a Wave To Tomorrow’s Sunset reflects on society’s need for ‘synthetic meditation’.
The Great Northwest (2012, 70 minutes) Matt McCormick's engaging experimental documentary based on the re-creation of a 3,200 mile road-trip made in 1958 by four Seattle women who thoroughly documented their journey in an elaborate scrapbook... Fifty years later, Portland filmmaker Matt McCormick found that scrapbook in a thrift store, and in 2010 set out on the road, following their route as precisely as possible and searching out every stop in which the ladies had documented. In 1958, Bev, Berta, Sissie and Clarice packed into a Plymouth and hit the road. Visiting tourist attractions and national parks in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon, they explored the Pacific Northwest just months before the construction of dams and the Interstate Highway System would drastically change the landscape. Along the way they took photographs, kept notes, and collected menus, brochures, post-cards and receipts, all of which the organized into a crafty scrapbook. Patiently shot with an observational and voyeuristic approach, The Great Northwest is a lyrical time-capsule that explores the fragility of history while documenting the present. Using only location sound recordings and void of any narration or music, the film paints a portrait of the region while exploring how the visual landscape of the region has changed over the past 50 years. While documenting transformations in culture, architecture, and land-use, the film explores the region’s relationship to natural resources, looks at the history of roads, and considers the impact of tourism on the history and development of the American West.
The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal - Emerging from the human psyche and showing characteristics of abstract expressionism, minimalism and Russian constructivism, graffiti removal has secured its place in the history of modern art while being created by artists who are unconscious of their artistic achievements. 


Memoirs of Prison (Memórias do cárcere) (Brazil/France, 1984)
Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Nelson Pereira dos Santos planned to follow up Vidas Secas (1963) immediately with an adaptation of Graciliano Ramos' account of his time as a political prisoner in the 1930s, but political realities after the coup of 1964 delayed the project two decades. Taking up Ramos' story just before the then-government's anti-communist crackdown, dos Santos follows the author's ordeal as a prisoner, but also his journey as an intellectual encountering in his fellow prisoners the humanity he'd only theorized before as a political abstraction.
Embrafilme. Screenwriter: Nelson Pereira dos Santos. Based on the memoir by Graciliano Ramos. Cinematographers: Jose Medeiros, Antônio Liz Soares. Editor: Carlos Alberto Camuyrano. Cast: Carlos Vereza, Glória Pires, José Dumont, Tonico Pereira, Lygia Diniz.
35mm, color, in Portuguese with English subtitles, 185 min.


The Milky Way
Luís Buñuel’s The Milky Way follows two pilgrims en route to the shrine of St. James in Santiago de Compostela, in Spain. Despite the setting in politically tumultuous 1969, no one they encounter mentions politics, only religion. Making outrageous leaps across space and time—Albigensian heretics perform secret rites; the pope is assassinated by a group of radicals; in a domestic scene, Mary compliments Jesus on his beard—the film is a provocative turn to theology, produced at a time when filmmaking was focused on political themes. (1969, 91 min. Dir. L. Buñuel.)


Mi Vida Dentro (My Life Inside)
Mexico/2007/Color/120min/Spanish with English Subtitles
Dir: Lucia Gaja
Mi Vida Dentro tells the story of Rosa, who, at the age of 17, migrated illegally from Mexico to Austin, Texas. In January 2003, she was detained for suspected murder, and then put on trial more than eighteen months later. The film provides powerful insight into the life of Mexican immigrants in the United States through one woman's struggles in the judicial system. The film will be followed by a conversation with the director.


NINJA III: THE DOMINATION
An absolute Video Nights favorite — it’s Flashdance meets The Exorcist meets Enter The Ninja! When Ninja III: The Domination hit theater screens in 1984, it was immediately hailed as a brave and important film, one of Hollywood’s first to deal openly with the contemporary issue of ninja spirit possession. Lucinda Dickey (star of the Breakin’ mini-franchise) plays an aerobics instructor taken over by the ghost of a bloodthirsty ninja warrior — and when she takes revenge against his murderers (which here equals the entire Phoenix police force), the sword-wielding badass Sho Kosugi must lock horns with our svelte anti-heroine. Even with the above description, it’s difficult (and great fun) to put into words up just how off its rocker this legendary slab of neon delirium really is: from one of the most inexplicable opening sequences in all of martial-arts cinema, in which “the golf course slaughterstorm immediately sets the stage for an IQ-shattering attack against all five senses” (Alamo Drafthouse) — to sexual antics more at home on the planet Mars than in the suburban Southwest — Ninja III will blow your booty to bits. Come celebrate NINJA NIGHT with us dressed as a ninja and we’ll give you stuff!
Dir. Sam Firstenberg, 1984, 35mm, 92 min.


NEW WORKS SALON
Several local and visiting artists will present in-progress or recently completed works in an informal screening with brief introductions by the artists and time for discussion between each work. Amy Halpern will show her film By Halves, an appropriation piece. John Cannizzaro will show his work Trance, an impromptu “energy transfer ceremony” filmed in Death Valley. Cosmo Segurson will show a new 16mm film. A selection of new 16mm films by current Calarts MFA students, including Indabaabasaan, Soda Lake, and Boozhoo Jiibayag by Eve LaFountain, The Surface of Perfection by Heather Trawick, With Pluses and Minuses by Mike Stoltz, and Untitled Laser Movie by Andrew Kim. Perhaps more!


ORPHAN OUTLIERS
Be amazed, perplexed and entertained by ten short films from off the map and under the radar (if not beyond the pale). This selection will likely never be replicated and includes the sole surviving Auroratone and projection from a working 16mm home Vitaphone sound-on-disc. Other content ranges from World War II Americana to “Mad Men”-period absurdities, from post-Vietnam War politics to beautiful smart science, and includes three Oscar-nominated shorts plus filmmakers Penelope Spheeris and Jon Boorstin in person.
* “When the Organ Played ‘Oh Promise Me’” (Cecil Stokes, ca. 1943, 4 mins., 16mm) – Bing Crosby croons in this abstract animated film, the only surviving Auroratone production, made with the intention of soothing audiences, including hospitalized war veterans. Presenter: Walter Forsberg (NYU Libraries).
* “Shit” Happens: The Salvation of a Lost Student Film, a screening and discussion of Penelope Spheeris’s never-before-seen film “Shit” (1969, 4 mins., preserved by the Academy, 16mm). Presenters: Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris and Mark Toscano (Academy Film Archive).
* “Felix Ferdinando and His Orchestra in 'Musical Moments'” (Bristolphone, ca. 1929-30, 14 mins., from the Herbert E. Farmer Motion Picture Technology Collection at the USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive, 16mm), with a demonstration of a rare 16mm Vitaphone sound-on-disc film projector. Presenter: Dino Everett (USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive).
* “City Harvest” (ca. 1943, 8 mins., preserved by the Academy, 35mm) from the Academy’s War Film Collection. Chicago residents from diverse neighborhoods grow victory gardens and participate in the war effort in factories and other ways. Presenter: Heather Linville (Academy Film Archive).
* “What About Thad?” (BYU/LDS Motion Picture Studio, 1973, 8 mins.), produced for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, plus a rare LDS homefront commercial. Presenter: Hadrian Belove (The Cinefamily).
* “Help! My Snowman’s Burning Down” (Carson Davidson, 1964, 10 mins., preserved by the Academy, 35mm), an Oscar-nominated satire on the Madison Avenue image of the world through advertising. Presenter: Brian Meacham (Academy Film Archive).
* An excerpt from “Don’t Bank on Amerika” (Peter Biskind, 1970, 5 mins., digital), about the burning of the Bank of America in Isla Vista, California. Presenters: Ross Melnick and Charles Wolfe (UC Santa Barbara Film Archive).
* “Mission to Mongo,” postcards from the streets of Chinatown (Jim Hoberman, 1978, 16mm, 3 mins., preserved by Anthology Film Archives with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts). Presenter: Dan Streible (NYU/Academy Film Scholar).
* An excerpt from “Naked Yoga” (Paul Cordsen, 1974, 5 mins., preserved by the Academy, digital), Oscar-nominated documentary short. Presenter: Ed Carter (Academy Film Archive).
* “Exploratorium” (Jon Boorstin, 1974, 15 mins., preserved by the Academy, 35mm), an Oscar-nominated documentary short exploring the noted San Francisco science museum. Presenters: Liz Keim (Exploratorium) and filmmaker Jon Boorstin.


The Outré World of Rolf Forsberg
A true auteur of the often unjustly unsung genre of sponsored films, Rolf Forsberg has written and directed a number of highly stylized expressionistic shorts that defy simple description, including the controversial and acclaimed Parable (1964), which was named to the National Film Registry last year. While many of Forsberg's films were made on assignment for major religious organizations, his complex body of work is unexpectedly provocative, independent and experimental. Illustrating key influences, including Bergman and Fellini, Forsberg employs enigmatic symbolism and poetic lyricism to create vivid, nightmarish allegories situated between the spiritual and the secular, heaven and hell. UCLA Film & Television Archive is pleased to celebrate Rolf Forsberg's uniquely humanist canon with a selection of some of his most notable films and a conversation with the filmmaker himself. In-person: director Rolf Forsberg.


Polski Film 
(Czech Republic/Poland, 2012)
"...the satiric look at moviemaking will draw laughs from audiences all over the world." — Hollywood Reporter
Directed by Marek Najbrt
Four Czech actors decide to play themselves in a film about their youth, but the production is plagued with everything from financial problems and tabloid scandals to religious crises and an actor's inexplicable speech impediment. This self-reflexive satire of the moviemaking industry recalls the absurdism of classic Czech comedies and the deft irony of Christopher Guest.
Negativ. Producers: Milan Kuchynka, Grzegorz Madej. Screenwriters: Robert Geisler, Benjamin Tucek, M. Najbrt. Cinematographer: Miroslav Holman. Editor: Pavel Hrdlicka. Cast: Tomas Matonoha, Pavel Liska, Josef Polasek, Marek Daniel, Jan Budar. Blu-ray, color, in Czech and Polish with English subtitles, 105 min.


PXL THIS 22
PXL THIS 22, the 22nd annual toy camera film festival featuring Pixelvision films made with the Fisher-Price PXL-2000 camcorder and the second oldest film festival in LA, celebrates visionary moving image artists from 4-years-olds to professionals. All genres are here: avant-garde, comedy, documentary, abstract, music, art, narrative & films words cannot describe. "PXL is the ultimate people's video." - J. Hoberman. "If movies offer an escape from everyday life, Pixelvision is the Houdini of the film world." - SF Weekly. Director Gerry Fialka will be present for discussion! 


RED ROCK WEST
Nicolas Cage is just an average guy mistaken for a hit man. It's the perfect premise for a film noir thriller. Cage has just blown a chance for a high-paying oil rig job when this mistake occurs. Before he can decide what to do, his supposed target, Lara Flynn Boyle, doubles the offer made on her life by husband J.T. Walsh... 1993, USA, 35mm, 98 minutes. 20th anniversary! directed by John Dahl; written by John Dahl & Rick Dahl; starring Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle, J.T. Walsh, Timothy Carhart, Dan Shor, Dwight Yoakam


THE RICKSHAW MAN
Matsugoro is a poor rickshaw driver whose animated spirit and optimistic demeanor make him a favorite of the town. Matsu helps an injured boy, Toshio, and is hired by the boy's parents, Kotaro and Yoshioko, to transport the boy to and from doctor appointments. Matsu comes to love the boy and his parents. When Toshio's father dies, Matsu becomes a surrogate father, helping to raise the boy and secretly falling in love with Toshio's mother Yoshioko. But Matsu knows there is a great gulf between their classes and there seems no hope that Matsu can ever be more than the rickshaw man to the mother and son.  Dir. Hiroshi Inagaki, 1958, 103 min.


The Scalphunters (1968)
Directed by Sydney Pollack
A Western with a blistering satiric edge, The Scalphunters finds Burt Lancaster again embracing an unsavory character as Joe Bass, an ornery frontier trapper who is forced to give up a wealth of furs in exchange for an escaped slave, Joseph Lee, played by Ossie Davis. When Bass subsequently loses Lee to a band of even more loathsome scalphunters (headed by Telly Savalas and Shelley Winters), he wages a one man war across the desert to reclaim his "property." Balancing sharp wit, racial politics and the violence of revenge, the film culminates in an extended, mud-soaked fist fight that's a true classic of the genre.
United Artists. Producers: Jules Levy, Arnold Laven. Screenwriter: William Norton.  Cinematographer: Duke Callaghan. Editor: John Woodcock. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Shelley Winters, Telly Savalas, Ossie Davis.   35mm, color, 103 min. 


SHADOWS UP CLOSE
"SHADOWS UP CLOSE" is an illustrated lecture by IN PERSON guest Ross Lipman, restoration specialist from the UCLA Film & Television Archive, on the restoration of SHADOWS as well as the collaboration between John Cassavetes and jazz legend Charles Mingus. This will be followed by a Q&A with IN PERSON guest Seymour Cassel!


Short Films Starring Llyn Foulkes
The Hammer presents an evening of short films and film excerpts—dating from the late 1950s to present—featuring the artist and musician Llyn Foulkes. With an introduction by Stanya Kahn.
Falling Pink (1959, Dir. Robert H. Spring, 9 min.)
This art film features the young Foulkes as a deranged artist at work.
Excerpt from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (1974, 5 min.)
Llyn Foulkes and the Rubber Band perform for Johnny.
Happy Song For You (2011, Dir. Kahn, 5 min.)
A bloodied and blindfolded Foulkes appears in this collaboration with video artist Stanya Kahn.
The Machine (2012, Michael Gregory, 15 min.) Foulkes performs on The Machine in this short film by Michael Gregory, which is also featured in the exhibition.


Signal
(Czech Republic, 2012)
Directed by Tomas Rehorek
The arrival in a remote town of Filos and Kaja, two pranksters claiming to be scouting locations for a cellphone tower, sets off an underhanded competition among locals for the lucrative contract promised to the owner of the land chosen for the tower. In this farcical depiction of rural intrigue and urban condescension, complications ensue when the townsfolk discover the deception.
Infinity Prague. Producer: Tomas Hoffman. Screenwriter: Marek Epstein. Cinematographer: Tomas Sysel. Editor: Ondrej Hokr. Cast: Krystof Hadek, Vojtech Dyk, Boleslav Polivka, Karel Roden, Jiri Menzel. 35mm, color, in Czech with English subtitles, 100 min. 


Silent Comedy Shorts
Join us for a Flicker Alley program of hilarious live action and animated shorts from the collections of Serge Bromberg, Lobster Films and David Shepard. These beautiful new digital transfers make their U.S. debut here!
Program includes:
“The Cartoon Factory” (1924, 8 min.) Koko the Clown and his animator do battle with toy soldiers.
“What Price Goofy?” (1925, 24 min.) A jealous wife and a stray dog keep Charley Chase hopping.
“The Immigrant” (1917, 20 min.) While on the boat to America, Charlie Chaplin falls for a woman.
“The Love Nest” (1923, 20 min.) Buster Keaton takes to the sea to forget the woman who broke his heart.
“Now You Tell One” (1926, 22 min.) Members of a Liar’s Club are impressed by Charley Bowers’ fantastic story.
“Excelsior! Prince of Magicians” (1901, 2 min.) A bit of movie magic from Georges Méliès.
“Felix Goes West” (1924, 8 min.) Everyone’s favorite cartoon cat is caught between cowboys and Indians.
With live piano accompaniment by Cliff Retallick.


SILENT REDISCOVERIES & HEY, L.A.
The re-premiere of two recently discovered silent films: “The Love Charm” (1928, 10 mins., digital), a two-strip Technicolor production shot by Ray Rennahan, who went on to win an Academy Award for Color Cinematography for “Gone with the Wind,” and “The Bishop of Hollywood” (Fred Caldwell, 1924, 20 mins., preserved by the Academy, 35mm), a rediscovered two-reel comedy presented with live piano accompaniment by Michael Mortilla. “The Love Charm” is a recent restoration by George Eastman House with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation, with nitrate source material provided by the New Zealand Film Archive.
Presenters: Jeff Lambert (National Film Preservation Foundation) and Snowden Becker (UCLA Moving Image Archive Studies).
Hey Mama
Beyond Hollywood proper, Los Angeles is home to artists, filmmakers, teachers and students who have collectively produced fascinating documentation of communities in Southern California. “Hey, L.A.” includes filmmaker Vaughn Obern’s short “Hey Mama” (1969, 18 mins., 16mm), which looks at the lives of working class African Americans living in the Venice section of L.A., and lead-ins to vintage film screenings on Black Entertainment Television in 1981 (S. Pearl Sharp and Thom Eubank, 1981, 20 mins., digital).
Presenters: Mark Quigley (UCLA Film & Television Archive), Jacqueline Stewart (Northwestern University) and artist S. Pearl Sharp.


SKY SONG
Is it possible to reach the moon in one breath? Yes, it is if you have the will to fly and the appropriate training. This is the case with postman Rain. This is an animation full of experimenting with form and materials. Some of the characters are original, but some originate from the history of mankind. The film is full of symbols and symbolism, surreal images and scenes. This is not simply the journey of a postman to deliver the package to the Moon. It is also a philosophical journey in time and eras, through people and their characters, through thoughts and imagination. This is a visual version of thoughts and imagination of a postman who is fulfilling his task in-spite of all problems and distractions. Dir. Mati Kütt, 2010.


SMALL FORMAT: AMATEUR FILMS REFRAMED
Whether purposely shot amateur works or modest home movies, small-gauge films far outnumber theatrical motion pictures. When preserved, they provide a wide array of perspectives on the past and how it was recorded. This segment features a rare home movie from a San Francisco family circa 1917 (Herman Barfield Collection, ca. 1917, 4 mins., digital), a unique color home movie featuring baseball legend Satchel Paige (Richard Brooks Collection, 1948, 5 mins., digital) and a screening of renowned gay activist Pat Rocco’s footage from an early Hollywood Gay Pride Parade (Pat Rocco, 1971, 11 mins.).
Presenters: Lynne Kirste (Academy Film Archive), Todd Wiener (UCLA Film & Television Archive).
Remaking the Archive with Home Movies Home movies pose not only a challenge to commonly accepted forms of narrative and documentary cinema, but to commonly accepted forms of the archive as well. Filmmaker and archivist Rick Prelinger presents home movies as both fascinating evidence and archival monkey wrenches, points out ways in which home movies challenge collecting institutions and workflows, and suggests several tactical approaches by which home movies can propel archives forward. The talk will include a sneak peek from his work in progress, “No More Road Trips?”
Presenter: Rick Prelinger (Prelinger Library & Archives, San Francisco). 


SMOG
The laconic and moody Smog (1962, 35mm, 88 min) is a little-known film from director Franco Rossi that presents a compelling outsider's perspective, following Italian attorney Vittorio Ciocchetti (Enrico Maria Salerno) through two days in the City of Angels, from LAX airport and Pierre Koenig's Stahl House (both newly built) to the oil wells of Culver City. Complements the exhibition Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940–1990.


THE SOURCE FAMILY
A radical experiment in ’70s utopian living, Los Angeles’ The Source Family was known for their outlandish style, popular health food restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women, all of which made them the darlings of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip — but their outsider ideals, and the unconventional behavior of their spiritual leader Father Yod caused controversy with local authorities. Fleeing to Hawaii, the Family met a dramatic demise in 1975 — but decades later, former family members have surfaced and the rock band has reformed, revealing how their time with Father Yod shaped their lives in the most unexpected ways. The Source provides an intimate, insiders’ view of this incredible group of people through their own archival photos, home movies, audio recordings, and contemporary interviews with Family members. Serving as a highly personal guide to the Seventies counterculture movement, The Source is inspired by the cult classic book “The Source: The Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13, and The Source Family” (Process Media). Dirs. Jodi Wille & Maria Demopoulos, 2013, digital presentation, 98 min.


STORIES WE TELL
In this inspired, genre-twisting new film, writer/director Sarah Polley discovers that the truth depends on who’s telling it. Polley is both filmmaker and detective as she investigates the secrets kept by a family of storytellers. She playfully interviews and interrogates a cast of characters of varying reliability, eliciting refreshingly candid, yet mostly contradictory, answers to the same questions. As each relates their version of the family mythology, present-day recollections shift into nostalgia-tinged glimpses of their mother, who departed too soon, leaving a trail of unanswered questions. Polley unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: always complicated, warmly messy and fiercely loving. Stories We Tell explores the elusive nature of truth and memory, but at its core is a deeply personal film about how our narratives shape and define us as individuals and families, all interconnecting to paint a profound, funny and poignant picture of the larger human story. Running time: 108 minutes.


THE STORY OF ADELE H.
In 1863, the beautiful young daughter of the world-famous writer Victor Hugo crosses the Atlantic in desperate pursuit of the man she believes is her fiance, her lover, her destiny. For months and years she waits for him, harasses him, throws herself in his path. Finally, her intensity gives way to madness. Isabelle Adjani gives a compelling performance in a film Truffaut called "the autopsy of a passion."  1975, France, 35mm, 96 minutes. directed by François Truffaut


TECHNICOLOR TOONS
With the total marginalization of film just on the horizon, there’s never been a better time to celebrate the greatest film stock of all: Technicolor, the cream-of-the-crop chemical film process requiring three separate negatives to create its vivid images. And, unlike other film stocks, Tech’s colors never faded. We’ve dug up a whole program of diverse classic cartoons with only one thing in common — each is a vintage film print struck in the original three-strip Tech process. Join animation historian Jerry Beck for an entire buffet of 35mm Technicolor cartoons from the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s. Sadly, Technicolor’s dye-transfer process, used during the golden age of Hollywood, stopped due to costs in 1974. Luckily, prints still exist — but they’re getting scarce. This is going to be one helluva show, with Color Rhapsodies, Terrytoons and Noveltoons galore.


TERRORISM AND KEBAB
(AL-IRHAB WAL KABAB)
Program begins at 1:00 PM with a presentation by food author and scholar Charles Perry on Arabic food culture in general and Egyptian food in particular, noting how the Nile River’s seafood and irrigation has fostered a diet that is unique in the Arab world. Lecture followed by a sampling of Egyptian refreshments.
Film will begin at 3:00 PM: 1993, 105 min, Egypt, Dir: Sherif Arafa
Adel Imam (“the Egyptian Charlie Chaplin”) stars as Ahmed, who braves government bureaucracy to have his son transferred to a new school. His requests fall upon deaf ears, until a security guard’s gun winds up in his hand, and Ahmed suddenly becomes a terrorist with demands - which turn out to include some tasty kebab. This gut-busting satire of red tape and miscommunication is one of the most successful and acclaimed Egyptian comedies of all time. In Arabic with English subtitles.


THREE KIDS
(TWA TIMOUN)
2012, Hélicotronc/Résonances, 81 min, Belgium/Haiti, Dir: Jonas D'Adesky
Director Jonas D'Adesky was documenting relief efforts in Haiti when he was inspired to create this fictional look at a disaster from a child’s point of view. 12-year-old Vitaleme and his two friends live in an orphanage in Port-au-Prince. Troubled by memories of work as a servant, the boy yearns to bust out of the home with his pals. The three find the freedom they seek when an earthquake hits; out on the street, they struggle to survive and gradually rebuild their lives. In Creole with English subtitles. Discussion after the film with director Jonas D’Adesky. Belgian beer reception to follow.


Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Burt Lancaster's attraction to the exploration of paranoid politics runs throughout his filmography, from Seven Days in May (1964) to Executive Action (1973). In his final film with director Robert Aldrich, Lancaster plays his most sympathetic radical as a former general who seizes control of a Midwest nuclear silo (assisted by Paul Winfield and Burt Young) as leverage to force the government to reveal its tragic rationale for prolonging the Vietnam War. Newly restored, Twilight's Last Gleaming deserves reconsideration as a classic anti-war statement.
Allied Artists Pictures, Inc. Producer: Merv Adelson. Based on a novel by Walter Wager. Screenwriters: Ronald M. Cohen, Edward Huebsch. Cinematographer: Robert Hauser. Editor: Michael Luciano. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Charles Durning, Melvyn Douglas, Paul Winfield, Burt Young. 35mm, color, 144 min. 


Ulzana's Raid (1972)
Directed by Robert Aldrich
In a career already marked by images of brutal violence, Robert Aldrich still manages to up the ante in this Vietnam-era Western about a troop of soldiers on the hunt for a renegade Indian. Burt Lancaster plays the world-weary Army scout instead of the renegade—as he did in his first outing with Aldrich, Apache (1954)—with Bruce Davison as the earnest, young Lieutenant who grapples with the hard realities of vengeance, pride and survival on the frontier.
Universal Pictures. Producer: Carter DeHaven. Screenwriter: Alan Sharp. Cinematographer: Joseph Biroc. Editor: Michael Luciano. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Bruce Davison, Jorge Luke, Richard Jaeckel, Joaquin Martinez. 35mm, color, 103 min.


UP TO THE BORDER—A PERSONAL VIEW ABOUT THE BERLIN WALL
Sunday, August 13th 1961, the government of the German Democratic Republic lays the foundation stone for the “ugliest monument in the world”. A whole city is in a state of shock. At first the “atrocious century-construction“ is watched in disbelief. Then people start pulling their 8mm-cameras out of their cupboards to capture the images of the events. On the basis of these extraordinary, widely unknown recordings and found footage, Claus Oppermann und Gerald Grote’s first feature film tells many impressive but forgotten stories about the rise of the Berlin Wall in 1961 to its fall in 1989, about the division of Germany and a bloody borderline through the middle of Europe. Claus Oppermann works as a camera operator, author, director and editor for cinema, TV, and advertising productions. Gerald Grote is primarily active as a graphic designer. He worked as a talk show host before becoming the editor-in-chief of a regional magazine, and is also active as an author and filmmaker. Bis an DIE GRENZE—der private Blick auf die Mauer, dir. Claus Oppermann and Gerald Grote, 95 minutes, Blu-ray, 2012. Presented by Villa Aurora. 


THE WAR PARTY
It’s a crying shame that a movie this genuinely fun and well-crafted has been mostly lost to time, but let’s try to rectify the situation. Picture the same amount of mindblowing-to-your-inner-twelve-year-old, coming-of-age action radness of Red Dawn, but also with the small-town naturalism of a John Sayles film — and M. Emmet Walsh as an ultra-smarmy bounty hunter! A shining diamond buried in the still-not-yet-released-on-DVD hinterlands, War Party stars Lost Boys vamp Billy Wirth alongside Entourage’s Kevin Dillon in this rollicking, on-the-lam Midwestern tale. A Civil War battle re-enactment is just what’s needed to economically revitalize our heroes’ Indian rez in Montana — except that racial tensions flare, real guns are fired during the “show”, and a large batch of really awesome chaos erupts. Director Franc Roddam (Quadrophenia) keeps things slick and appropriately dusty, Wirth is full of broody charm (as well as sports a wicked Ian Astbury-style, bangs-heavy ‘do), and more than one tomahawk gets firmly planted in villainous rednecks’ skulls.
Dir. Franc Roddam, 1988, 35mm, 97 min.


WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS
Filmed with the startling immediacy of unfolding history, Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney’s WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS details the creation of Julian Assange’s controversial website, which facilitated the largest security breach in U.S. history. Hailed by some as a free-speech hero and others as a traitor and terrorist, the enigmatic Assange’s rise and fall are paralleled with that of PFC Bradley Manning, the brilliant, troubled young soldier who downloaded hundreds of thousands of documents from classified U.S. military and diplomatic servers, revealing the behind-the-scenes workings of the government’s international diplomacy and military strategy. 
In seeking to expose abuse in the corridors of power, Assange and Manning were undermined by forces within and without, as well as by their own human failings. WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS is a riveting, multi-layered tale about transparency in the information age and our ever-elusive search for the truth.


WHO AM I THIS TIME?
1982, SpectiCast, 53 min, USA, Dir: Jonathan Demme
Shy hardware store clerk Christopher Walken becomes a different person when performing in local theater; new arrival Susan Sarandon is cast opposite him in “A Streetcar Named Desire” without realizing that his Stanley Kowalski is just an act. This production for TV’s “American Playhouse” series was adapted from a Kurt Vonnegut short story and features music by John Cale.


WILLOW CREEK
Join us for a super TOP SECRET screening of Bobcat Goldthwait's new film! You must accept this confidential mission to learn more.
PLUS there will be a Bobcat sighting in person for a very special Q&A to help you unravel some of life's great mysteries.


WITNESS: LIBYA & WITNESS: RIO
Drug trafficking, poverty, gang violence, corruption and ethnic warfare have created some of the most dangerous hot spots on Earth. In WITNESS,the four-part HBO Documentary Films series executive produced by Michael Mann and David Frankham, our current generation of war photojournalists carry us into the heart of the human drama of the people in the action on the ground. We see what compels the photojournalist and experience why, when everyone else seeks cover, the photojournalist stands and moves closer. WITNESS: LIBYA–Michael Christopher Brown has been to Libya five times during the conflicts that brought down Gaddafi’s rule. Now, the revolution is over, but the chaos has only begun; the current situation in Libya is even more complicated. On an earlier trip, in April 2011, Brown was in Misrata with veteran photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros. He remembers having an uneasy feeling, saying, “The city was like a shooting gallery that day.” Then a mortar round struck nearby, Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros were killed, and Brown was wounded. In WITNESS: LIBYA, Brown is in the extreme moments of present-day chaos and reliving the loss of his friends and mentors. Directed by Abdallah Omeish; produced by Julie Herrin and Josiah Hooper. WITNESS: RIO–Though Rio de Janeiro will host the Summer Olympics in 2016, the city currently remains crippled by a war raging between police and powerful drug gangs. Over 2,000 Brazilian military have taken to the streets in a largest offensive in decades. They are taking on the Red Command and Amigos de Amigos, two powerful gangs, in an attempt to regain control of the city’s hilltop favelas before the world’s eyes focus on Brazil as it hosts the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. The powerful drug gangs have fought back with a series of urban terror attacks on cars, buses and police stations. Several journalists have been murdered. Photographer Eros Hoagland is one of only a few willing to venture into the dangerous favelas like Mangueira, which overlooks the Olympic stadium. Rio’s murder rate is said to be falling, yet missing persons cases are dramatically on the rise. “Is this ‘social cleansing’?,” Hoagland asks. “Where are the bodies?” As he journeys deeper into the dangerous streets he finds some of the answers – disturbing images of bodies in alleys, buried in wells or burned beyond recognition. Directed by David Frankham; produced by Julie Herrin and Josiah Hooper.

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