LA UPCOMING STUFF - SEPTEMBER 2013

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

mon. sept. 2

cinecon 49 classic film festival (all day) @ egyptian
the shrills FREE @ echo


tue. sept. 3

paper moon FREE 6 PM @ santa monica library ocean park branch
frances ha @ new beverly
nickelodeon 1 PM @ lacma
final cut: ladies and gentlemen 7:45 @ silent movie theater
a teacher FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
the harder they come 8 PM @ arclight hollywood


wed. sept. 4

frances ha @ new beverly
the silent treatment: the talmadge sisters @ silent movie theater
the act of killing 8 PM @ crest westwood


thu. sept. 5

the princess bride @ silver lake picture show
the harder they come @ aero
no place like home FREE 10 PM @ aero
frances ha @ new beverly
bell gardens @ hotel cafe


fri. sept. 6

clueless MIDNIGHT @ nuart
fast times at ridgemont high FREE 8 PM @ friday night flicks @ pershing square
pather panchali 7 PM, aparajito @ ampas samuel goldwyn
hondo 7 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
house of wax (1953) 9:30 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
accattone, mamma roma @ aero
scarface (1983), carlito's way @ new beverly
our nixon 7:15 PM @ silent movie theater
close encounters of the third kind 9:20 PM @ silent movie theater
shark toys @ lot 1
kat kong @ casey's


sat. sept. 7

back to school @ eat|see|hear @ santa monica high school
bwana devil 1:15 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
european 3-d cinema 1935-1953 4:30 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
creature from the black lagoon (1954) 7:15 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
jaws 3-d 9:45 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
the dining dead @ the smell
all about eve @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
you me & us (5:00), the blank tapes (7:00), asteroid #4 (8:00) FREE @ desert stars fest @ pappy & harriet's
the decameron, salo @ aero
carlito's way 5:45 PM, scarface (1983) 8:30 PM @ new beverly
our nixon 8 PM @ silent movie theater
close encounters of the third kind 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
meg baird @ bootleg
harland williams @ improv


sun. sept. 8

robinson crusoe (1946) 2 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
miss sadie thompson 4:45 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
dial m for murder 7 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
the stewardesses 9:30 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
the gospel according to st. matthew @ aero
jackie brown, 52 pick-up @ new beverly
our nixon 5:00 10:10 PM @ silent movie theater
close encounters of the third kind 7:15 PM @ silent movie theater


mon. sept. 9

tobacco @ the echo
apur sansar @ ampas samuel goldwyn
psychedelic hesse FREE 6 PM @ documental @ unurban
pangea FREE (RSVP) @ bardot
phantom of the rue morgue 7 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
jivaro 9:30 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
jackie brown, 52 pick-up @ new beverly
our nixon 5:45 PM @ silent movie theater


tue. sept. 10

the mob 1 PM @ lacma
the glass web 7 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
dangerous mission 9:45 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
our nixon 7:45 PM @ silent movie theater
close encounters of the third kind 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
an american hippie in israel, gone with the pope @ grindhouse film fest @ new beverly
harry dean stanton: partly fiction FREE (RSVP) 8 PM @ usc broccoli theatre


wed. sept. 11

julia holter @ first unitarian church
diamond wizard 1:15 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
taza son of cochise 4:15 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
kiss me kate 6:30 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
the french line 9:45 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
videodrome, existenz @ new beverly
our nixon @ silent movie theater
the keep 9:45 PM @ silent movie theater


thu. sept. 12

godspeed! you black emperor @ fonda
white magic, body/head @ the echo
jimmy cliff FREE @ santa monica pier
inferno 7 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
i the jury 9:30 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
the source family @ vidiots annex
charulata, the music room @ aero
videodrome, existenz @ new beverly
our nixon 10 PM @ silent movie theater
the keep 7:45 PM @ silent movie theater
pat o'neill: spatial affects 7 PM @ filmforum @ moca grand


fri. sept. 13

night of the creeps MIDNIGHT @ nuart
election FREE 8 PM @ friday night flicks @ pershing square
bleeding rainbow (11:00) @ bootleg
wings of the hawk 3:30 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
it came from outer space 7 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
the mad magician 9:45 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
corners, sea lions, thee rain cats @ whisky
gate, the renderizors, peter kolovos @ human resources
stories we tell, away from her @ new beverly
lost & found film club: school daze @ silent movie theater
assorted morsels 8 PM @ epfc
dirt dress, audacity, bad antics FREE @ casey's
bouquet @ pieter


sat. sept. 14

godspeed! you black emperor @ fox theater pomona
the breakfast club @ eat|see|hear @ la state historic park
e.t. FREE @ grand park
robot monster 3:30 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
dragonfly squadron 6 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
revenge of the creature 9 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
qui @ cobraside
aliens @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
stories we tell 3:00 7:30 PM, away from her 5:10 9:40 PM @ new beverly
class of 1984 8:30 PM @ j.d. night @ silent movie theater
falling lessons 8 PM @ epfc
levitation room, the molochs FREE @ lot 1
a fistful of dollars 1:30 PM @ autry museum


sun. sept. 15

second chance 4:30 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
money from home 6:45 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
cease fire 9:45 PM @ 3D film expo @ egyptian
the asphalt jungle 3:15 7:30 PM, the killing (1956) 5:30 9:45 PM @ new beverly
fear and loathing in las vegas 6 PM @ silent movie theater
class of 1984 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
w-h-i-t-e @ five star bar


mon. sept. 16

the big city, the expedition @ aero
the asphalt jungle, the killing (1956) @ new beverly
sexy beast @ greg proops film club @ silent movie theater
the godfather 5 PM @ arclight pasadena
muscle shoals 7 PM @ reel talk @ landmark regent


tue. sept. 17

twentieth century 1 PM @ lacma
the asphalt jungle, the killing (1956) @ new beverly
a river changes course FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
an academy tribute to gabriel figueroa @ ampas samuel goldwyn
raiders of the lost ark 8 PM @ arclight sherman oaks
class of 1984 9:50 PM @ silent movie theater


wed. sept. 18

kat kong @ the smell
the hedgehog 9:45 PM @ new beverly
unfinished spaces FREE @ hammer
class of 1984 9:50 PM @ silent movie theater
moment trigger FREE @ hush club @ hyperion tavern


thu. sept. 19

funk film nite FREE 7 PM @ subversive cinema @ the talking stick
the goddess, the hero @ aero
the hedgehog 9:45 PM @ new beverly
a river changes course 7 PM @ downtown independent
gems from the archive 8 PM @ epfc
the julie ruin, la sera @ echoplex


fri. sept. 20

los angeles plays itself @ egyptian
the texas chain saw massacre @ aero
pressure point, bless the beasts and children @ ucla film archive
un flic, le petit soldat @ new beverly
enamorada, flor silvestre @ lacma
kid-thing 8 PM @ silent movie theater
brent weinbach @ improv
drug war 10 PM @ silent movie theater
john c. reilly & friends @ bootleg
moment trigger @ cake factory
strangers on a train FREE 8 PM @ union station


sat. sept. 21

lee fields & the expressions, aloe blacc, etc @ beach ball fest @ santa monica pier
ship of fools @ ucla film archive
boogie nights @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
the phantom tollbooth (1970) 1 PM @ egyptian
chuck jones 101: a birthday celebration 8 PM @ egyptian
un flic 3:10 7:30 PM, le petit soldat 5:10 9:30 PM @ new beverly
salon mexico 5 PM @ lacma
victimas del pecado @ lacma
everything is terrible! live 9:30 11:44 PM @ silent movie theater
w-h-i-t-e (9:15) @ pehrspace
new works salon 8 PM @ epfc
the flytraps @ redwood
the punk singer FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ silent movie theater
kid-thing 4:45 PM @ silent movie theater
umberto, white poppy, lee noble @ boy manor


sun. sept. 22

u roy, soul syndicate, skatalites, etc @ beach ball fest @ santa monica pier
baroff & clark films FREE 7 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque
blouse @ echo
intolerance 2 PM @ egyptian
death row ii 7 PM @ egyptian
jamel shabazz street photographer @ aero
an evening with paul dooley @ silent movie theater
muscle shoals FREE (RSVP) 3 PM @ usc ray stark
drug war 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
kid-thing 1:30 PM @ silent movie theater
moment trigger @ midnight records


mon. sept. 23

the coward, the holy man @ aero
closely watched trains @ ampas samuel goldwyn
north by northwest 8 PM @ arclight sherman oaks
drug war @ silent movie theater
kid-thing 10 PM @ silent movie theater
the insider 8 PM @ new beverly


tue. sept. 24

kadavar @ roxy
mondo afterschool special @ silent movie theater
america america FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
pablo FREE @ hammer
jaws 8 PM @ arclight pasadena
drug war 10 PM @ silent movie theater
kid-thing 5:15 PM @ silent movie theater
school on fire, young and dangerous @ grindhouse film fest @ new beverly


wed. sept. 25

bob and the monster @ egyptian
vengeance is mine, violence at noon @ new beverly
leviathan FREE @ hammer
drug war 9:45 PM @ silent movie theater
kid-thing @ silent movie theater
shark toys @ 5 star bar


thu. sept. 26

blouse @ detroit bar
the chess players, the philosopher's stone @ aero
vengeance is mine, violence at noon @ new beverly
the mack @ lacma
when cartoonists ran the show @ silent movie theater
la air: eve fowler & mariah garnett 8 PM @ epfc
nick waterhouse @ troubadour
raiders of the lost ark 8 PM @ arclight hollywood
beck, no age @ station to station @ union station
drug war 5 PM @ silent movie theater
kid-thing 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
in a lonely place FREE 8 PM @ la state historic park broadway st. bridge


fri. sept. 27

on the beach @ ucla film archive
clueless FREE 8 PM @ friday night flicks @ pershing square
jessica pratt, woods @ center for the arts eagle rock
jon brion @ largo
wild at heart @ aero
five easy pieces, cisco pike @ new beverly
la perla @ lacma
rosa blanca 9:10 PM @ lacma
freaked MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater
the canyons (director's cut) MIDNIGHT @ nuart
peter kolovos @ the smell
the squeeze MIDNIGHT @ new beverly


sat. sept. 28

white fence, real estate, woods, sonny & the sunsets, etc @ woodsist desert festival @ pappy & harriet's
barry lyndon @ aero
five easy pieces, cisco pike @ new beverly
dias de otono 5 PM @ lacma
distinto amanecer @ lacma
early films by d. w. griffith 8 PM @ epfc
the princess bride @ street food cinema @ central park glendale


sun. sept. 29

high noon 7 PM @ ucla film archive
house of wax (3-D) (1953) @ aero
family plot, airport 1975 @ new beverly
chinatown 5 PM @ arclight hollywood
foxes @ silent movie theater


mon. sept. 30

the adventures of goopy and bagha, the elephant god @ aero
family plot, airport 1975 @ new beverly
north by northwest 8 PM @ arclight pasadena


tue. oct. 1

the films of bruce conner 8 PM @ silent movie theater
kind hearts and coronets FREE 1:30 PM @ skirball
rear window FREE 6 PM @ santa monica library ocean park branch
brent weinbach FREE 9 PM @ downtown independent
equinox MIDNIGHT @ united states of horror @ silent movie theater


wed. oct. 2

jacco gardner, allah-las @ troubadour
nashville 8 PM @ new beverly
cuntz FREE 8:30 PM @ permanent records
amen. @ aero
the unholy three @ the silent treatment @ silent movie theater
lost & found film club: shocktober edition 9:45 PM @ silent movie theater
white of the eye MIDNIGHT @ united states of horror @ silent movie theater


thu. oct. 3

nashville 8 PM @ new beverly
l.a. witch @ lot 1
rushmore FREE (RSVP) @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges
the place beyond the pines, blue valentine @ aero
the ax @ an evening with costa-gavras @ new beverly
escape from tomorrow FREE 8 PM @ silent movie theater
tremors MIDNIGHT @ united states of horror @ silent movie theater


fri. oct. 4

true widow @ complex
nashville 8 PM @ new beverly
maria candelaria, pueblerina @ lacma
the sting FREE @ front porch cinema @ santa monica pier
100 onces, planeswalker @ the smell
huxley anne @ almost holden collective
final cut: ladies and gentlemen @ silent movie theater
the manitou MIDNIGHT @ united states of horror @ silent movie theater
far from vietnam FREE (RSVP) @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges


sat. oct. 5

eagle rock music festival
rio escondido @ lacma
corners @ the smell
dream boys @ ding-a-ling @ echo country outpost
merx (9:00), sea lions (4:00), shark toys (7:00) FREE @ permanent records
oh boy, beerland @ egyptian
inside out @ aero
the fly (1958) 4:45 PM @ silent movie theater
final cut: ladies and gentlemen 7:15 9:40 PM @ silent movie theater
moment trigger @ pehrspace
l'absence NOON, buud yam @ lacma
after lucia FREE (RSVP) 5 PM @ usc ray stark
citizen kane FREE 1 PM @ la central library


sun. oct. 6

la commune paris 1871 4 PM @ the public school
l.a. witch @ bootleg
gold, layla fourie @ egyptian
pather panchali 5 PM, aparajito, apur sansar @ aero
beginning of the end 3:30 7:30 PM, invaders from mars (1953) 5:30 9:30 PM @ new beverly
our vinyl weighs a ton @ street food cinema @ exposition park


mon. oct. 7

shane @ ampas samuel goldwyn


tue. oct. 8

the big heat 1 PM @ lacma
the lavender hill mob 1:30 PM @ skirball
museum hours FREE @ hammer


thu. oct. 10

bill ayers @ skylight books


fri. oct. 11

macario, pedro paramo @ lacma
the breakfast club MIDNIGHT @ nuart


sat. oct. 12

young frankenstein 7 PM @ electric dusk drive-in
the loons, the rosalyns @ casbah (SD)


sun. oct. 13

the rosalyns @ redwood bar


mon. oct. 14

you me & us FREE (RSVP) @ the echo
psychology films FREE 6 PM @ documental @ unurban


tue. oct. 15

king tuff @ echoplex


wed. oct. 16

radar bros., overseas @ satellite


thu. oct. 17

before the revolution FREE @ hammer


fri. oct. 18

quintron & miss pussycat @ satellite
buffy the vampire slayer MIDNIGHT @ nuart


sat. oct. 19

the mr. show experience, zach galifianakis, triumph the insult comic dog, etc @ festival supreme @ santa monica pier
beetlejuice 6:30 PM, poltergeist @ electric dusk drive-in
dusk til dawn horror show (films TBA) @ new beverly
halloween & mourning movie night (film TBA) @ heritage square


mon. oct. 21

goblin: giallo live, suspiria @ egyptian


tue. oct. 22

goblin: giallo live, deep red @ egyptian
shockproof 1 PM @ lacma
au revoir simone @ echoplex


wed. oct. 23

goblin: giallo live, tenebrae @ egyptian


thu. oct. 24

subversive cinema art films FREE 7 PM @ subversive cinema @ the talking stick
plateaus FREE 6 PM @ permanent records


fri. oct. 25

fuzz @ satellite


sat. oct. 26

dusk-to-dawn horrorthon (films TBA) @ aero
nightbreed: the cabal cut @ egyptian


sun. oct. 27

maxwell street revisited FREE 7 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque


mon. oct. 28

the blow @ center for the arts eagle rock


tue. oct. 29

these are the damned 1 PM @ lacma


wed. oct. 30

films selected by james welling FREE @ hammer


thu. oct. 31

the phantom of the opera (w/ live organ accompaniment) 8 PM @ disney hall


fri. nov. 1

american psycho MIDNIGHT @ nuart


sun. nov. 3

holly golightly & the brokeoffs @ satellite


tue. nov. 5

holly golightly & the brokeoffs @ alex's bar


thu. nov. 7

afi fest


fri. nov. 8

crocodiles @ echo
afi fest


sat. nov. 9

indiana jones and the raiders of the lost ark 7 PM @ electric dusk drive-in
afi fest


sun. nov. 10

afi fest


mon. nov. 11

experimental documentaries FREE 6 PM @ documental @ unurban
afi fest


tue. nov. 12

afi fest


wed. nov. 13

quasi @ echo
afi fest


thu. nov. 14

chris ware: writing the graphic landscape FREE @ fowler museum
afi fest


fri. nov. 15

labyrinth MIDNIGHT @ nuart


thu. nov. 21

subversive cinema experimental animation films FREE 7 PM @ subversive cinema @ the talking stick
jonathan lethem & raymond pettibon FREE @ hammer conversations @ hammer


fri. nov. 22

oldboy MIDNIGHT @ nuart


sat. nov. 23

the breakfast club 6 PM, back to the future part ii @ electric dusk drive-in


sun. nov. 24

pop art films FREE 7 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque


sat. nov. 30

three stooges big screen event 2:00 8:00 PM @ alex theatre


thu. dec. 5

jonathan richman @ the mint


fri. dec. 6

jonathan richman @ the mint


sat. dec. 7

jonathan richman @ the mint


sun. dec. 8

jonathan richman @ the mint


mon. dec. 9

pxl this festival FREE 7:00 9:00 PM @ documental @ unurban


sat. dec. 14

die hard 7 PM @ electric dusk drive-in


thu. dec. 19

metaphor as memory FREE @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque


sun. dec. 22

gospel music films FREE @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque



WHAT IT IS:


An Academy Tribute to Gabriel Figueroa
Hosted by writer-director Gregory Nava (“El Norte,” “Selena”)
With special guests Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo Prieto, Gabriel Figueroa Flores and Alejandro González Iñárritu
Gabriel Figueroa is often referred to as "The Fourth Muralist" of Mexico, and his seminal cinematography contributed to the establishment of a visual culture and national identity in post-revolutionary Mexico.
The Academy's tribute will feature stunning excerpts from many of Figueroa's greatest cinematic achievements, as well as commentary from contemporary admirers such as actor Gael García Bernal and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, and from Figueroa's son, Gabriel Figueroa Flores.
Clips from such Mexican classics as "María Candelaria," starring Dolores Del Rio, and "Enamorada," with María Félix, "La perla" and "Víctimas del pecado," will be shown alongside Figueroa's work for such diverse directors as John Ford ("The Fugitive"), Luis Buñuel ("Los olvidados"), Don Siegel ("Two Mules for Sister Sara") and John Huston ("The Night of the Iguana"). Figueroa's dazzling black-and-white cinematography for the latter film earned him an Academy Award nomination. Figueroa's contribution to the field of cinematography is truly global in scope, and his influence is still widely felt, inspiring DPs around the world to the highest artistic aspirations. 


ACCATTONE
1961, Compass, 120 min, Italy, Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini
For his debut feature as a writer-director, Pier Paolo Pasolini looked to the world of petty criminals that had served as the setting for his earlier novels. “Accattone” is Italian slang for “beggar,” and this grim and gritty drama focuses on a pimp who falls on hard times when his sole source of income – a prostitute – is arrested. Franco Citti makes an impressive debut in the title role; the actor would appear in several other Pasolini films (ACCATTONE also gave director Bernardo Bertolucci his start, as a production assistant). In Italian with English subtitles.


THE ADVENTURES OF GOOPY AND BAGHA
(GOOPY GYNE BAGHA BYNE)
1969, 132 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
Adapted by Satyajit Ray from a story by his grandfather, this enchanting children’s fantasy was one of the director’s most successful films in India, spawning two more installments in the series. An aspiring singer and drummer team up and are granted three magical powers, which they use to bring harmony to two kingdoms on the brink of war. A light-hearted romp with some impressive, if simple, special effects and plenty of joyful music (all of it written by Ray). In Bengali with English subtitles.


AMERICA, AMERICA
1963, Warner Bros., 174 min, USA, Dir: Elia Kazan
This sprawling epic about a young Greek, Stavros (based on Kazan’s uncle), living with his family in Turkey circa 1900 and obsessed with emigrating to America, is one of Kazan’s most moving, personal films. Kazan molds a talented cast of relatively unknown performers into a powerhouse ensemble: Stathis Giallelis is perfect as Stavros, with able support from John Marley, Lou Antonio, Joanna Frank and the underrated yet terrific Frank Wolff. "May be Kazan’s most accomplished work." - Time Out New York


ASSORTED MORSELS (2012) – 8 PM A suite of short films, including Injury on a Theme, Elixir, and Three Minute Hells. Amy Halpern is a filmmaker and artist who works with light, camera and movement. She has been making abstract films since 1972, the same year she co-founded the Collective for Living Cinema in New York. In 1975, after moving to Los Angeles and beginning studies at UCLA, she co-founded the Los Angeles Independent Film Oasis as an artist-run, non-profit, film exhibition series. In addition to her own films, she has worked as a gaffer and cinematographer on numerous projects, including films by Charles Burnett, Pat O’Neill, and David Lebrun, and has taught film and writing at many Southern California schools, including USC, Otis-Parsons Art Institute, Cal State LA, and Cal State Northridge. 


BAROFF & CLARK FILMS
Michael Baroff Films (45 minutes, 2010-12) Baroff (in person) uses the camera much like a sketchbook to serendipitously record what attracts his attention while in public environments. These unscripted visual scenes, ambient sounds and overheard talk, in which he does not overtly intervene, are then minimally edited or montaged, to create a sense of context, meaning and affect. The individual videos can be viewed from a range of stylistic perspectives including abstract, scenic, narrative, meditative, or social commentary.
Jon Clark Films: Clark's (in person) SPECTRUM HUNTER (2012, 32m) - Discover a collection of haunted media, a benevolent tribe of new wave witches, a Goth teenager with real magic powers, a bizarre cult that inhabits abandoned malls, & much more. Clark's work deals with childhood, memory, the uncanny, and the obscure corners of popular culture. Referencing an early 90s aesthetic, influenced by laserdiscs, pogs, and dark allure of arcades, this film captures the ineffable fantasy in the mind of kids that dedicated their lives to these things. Also: Clark-directed animations and music videos (2008 3m).


Before the Revolution
During the 1960s and ‘70s thousands of Israelis lived in Tehran, enjoying a special relationship with the Shah. Protected by large arms deals and complex financial ties, the Israeli community failed to note that the despised ruling power to which they are connected was collapsing. Employing archival footage and interviews, what starts as a nostalgic look at a lost era becomes a thrilling story where huge dreams are shattered in a dark reality of greed, blindness and lust for power. (2013, Dir. D. Shadur, 60 min.) A Q&A with director Dan Shadur follows the screening.


THE BIG CITY
(MAHANAGAR)
1963, Janus Films, 122 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
CHARULATA’s Madhabi Mukherjee stars as Arati, a middle-class housewife who tries to help her family make ends meet by getting a job as a saleswoman in the big city of Calcutta. Her conservative family disapproves of the notion of a female breadwinner, and the friction increases when a co-worker encourages Arati’s growing independence. Satyajit Ray earned a Silver Bear for Best Direction at the Berlin Film Festival for this insightful look at how the tide of modernity has shifted gender roles. In English and Bengali with English subtitles.


Bless the Beasts and Children (1971)
Directed by Stanley Kramer
Sent by their parents to summer camp in hopes of straightening out various behavioral problems, a varied group of teenage boys form a makeshift band of brothers.  Ostracized by other campers, they find a mission upon discovering plans for the slaughter of a herd of bison whom they set out to free.  Continuing producer-director Stanley Kramer’s career-long fascination with the problems of youth.
Columbia Pictures. Producer: Stanley Kramer. Based on the novel by Glendon Swarthout. Screenwriter: Mac Benoff. Cinematographer: Michel Hugo. Editor: William A. Lyon. Cast: Bill Mumy, Barry Robins, Miles Chapin, Darel Glaser, Bob Kramer.  35mm, color, 109 min. 


BWANA DEVIL
When the major studios turned down Arch Oboler’s idea to shoot a movie in 3-D, he did it himself… the result was BWANA DEVIL which was the first 3-D feature to be seen around the world, and launched the golden era of 3-D.  Alcoholic railway engineer Robert Stack is given a (literal) shot at redemption when he goes up against two man-eating lions terrorizing railroad construction in Kenya.  Look for veteran British character actor Nigel Bruce in one of his rare non-Dr. Watson/Sherlock Holmes roles. 1952, U.A., 79 min.


CEASE FIRE
This amazing historical rarity was shot on location in Korea in 3-D, something that had never been done in a war zone before... and hasn’t been done since.  Long considered a “lost” film in 3-D, this hadn’t been seen in over 50 years until it screened at the 2006 Expo. 1953, Paramount, 75 min.


CHARULATA
(THE LONELY WIFE)
1964, Janus Films, 117 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
In Victorian India, a restless young woman struggles to come to terms with her enforced upper-class idleness, suppressed literary talent and illicit love for her husband's cousin. Madhabi Mukherjee's vibrant lead performance, the fluid and inventive camerawork and the especially rich fusion of Eastern and Western themes are among the reasons why CHARULATA is widely considered Ray's most accomplished film, as well as being the director's personal favorite. In English and Bengali with English subtitles.


THE CHESS PLAYERS
(SHATRANJ KE KHILARI)
1977, 129 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
Based on a short story by Hindustani writer Munshi Premchand, this richly layered historical drama is set in 1856, as the British East India Company was attempting to unseat a Muslim king and annex the region of Oudh. The title characters (a pair of Indian aristocrats beautifully played by Sanjeev Kumar and Saeed Jaffrey) are so obsessed with their game that monumental changes in society and even their families pass almost unnoticed. While the period is re-created in lavish detail, this poignant - and frequently comic - look at two cultures in collision has a timeless appeal. With Richard Attenborough. In English, Urdu and Hindi with English subtitles. “One of Ray’s finest achievements, the work of a master filmmaker.” - London Observer.


Chuck Jones 101: A Birthday Celebration
Among the most prolific and creative forces in the history of animation, Chuck Jones directed more than 300 cartoons during his 60-year career, creating such classic characters as the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote and Pepe LePew. As a fundraiser for the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, we celebrate the Oscar winner’s 101st birthday with an evening of his most memorable Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes, including “Bully for Bugs” (1953, 7 min.), “Ali Baba Bunny” (1957, 7 min.), “A Bear for Punishment” (1951, 7 min.), “Drip-Along Daffy” (1951, 7 min.), “Fast and Furry-ous” (1949, 7 min.), “Feed the Kitty” (1952, 7 min.), “High Note” (1960, 6.5 min.), “Now Hear This” (1962, 6 min.) and “Rabbit of Seville” (1950, 7.5 min.).  Discussion between films with Chuck Jones’ widow, Marian Jones; daughter, Linda Jones; grandchildren Todd, Craig and Valerie Kausen; Leonard Maltin; and George Daugherty, creator and conductor of “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.”


CLASS OF 1984
Director Mark L. Lester (Commando, Showdown In Little Tokyo) in person — plus, first up (on 9/14 only), it’s bonus 16mm “juvenile crime” rarities from the A/V Geeks Educational Film Archive! As the school bell tolls on another Fall semester, and as the campus security guards fire up the ol’ metal detectors, we jubilate the season with a brand-new 35mm print of one of the Eighties’ most vicious, hateful and incendiary treatises against the scourge of youth! Whether you’re into punk, vengeance, or have just always fantasized about seeing Michael J. Fox get stabbed, this is one 50-pound sack of Armageddon you cannot miss. The scene is set: a rabid pack of rampaging delinquents run our schools, our drugs and our prostitutes. Brutality and decadence are everywhere. Enter novice teacher Perry King, who’s forced to violently turn the tables on the bloodthirsty gang before their trash wave swallows the town alive. Class of 1984 is a perfect exploitation film: it’s reentlessly seedy, overflowing with assault, suicide, racism, drug use and crime, crime, CRIME!, all of which is perpetrated by minors. But beyond all this, there’s a bitterly absorbing air of human helplessness and leather-clad heartlessness that makes this movie the flat-out best in its genre. Dir. Mark Lester, 1982, 35mm, 98 min.


Closely Watched Trains
With special guest, director Jiri Menzel.
Hosted by Philip Kaufman.
Featuring a new print from the Academy Film Archive!
The Academy presents a rare opportunity to see the classic 1967 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film on the big screen, plus an onstage discussion with the film’s director.
Set during World War II, the poignant film tells the story of Milos, a young railway man coming of age in troubled times. As he settles into the routine of his first job, Milos slowly learns to cope with the ups and downs of ordinary life. He discovers love when he falls for a female conductor who regularly passes through, but as the war looms larger, the railroad brings the realities of Nazi occupation to even his small station.
Jiri Menzel is a filmmaker, actor and stage director who has garnered worldwide acclaim for his bittersweet, philosophical comedies that owe much to the modern Czech literary tradition. Born in Prague in 1938, Menzel was trained in film at FAMU, the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, from 1958 to 1962.
After directing several shorts and contributing segments to anthology films, he directed his first solo feature, “Closely Watched Trains.” Menzel co-wrote the screenplay with the revered Czech author and longtime Menzel collaborator Bohumil Hrabal, on whose novel it is based. The film earned an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Czechoslovakia in 1967. In Czech and German with English subtitles. 89 minutes.


THE COWARD
(KAPURUSH)
1965, Janus Films, 74 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
A successful screenwriter (Soumitra Chatterjee) is traveling the country researching his next script when his car breaks down in a small town. The owner (Haradhan Bannerjee) of a nearby tea estate offers him a place to stay for the night, and the writer is surprised to discover that his former lover (Madhabi Mukherjee) is now married to the man. Ray makes the most out of this small cast and short time (the film takes place over the course of one day) to create an indelible portrait of missed opportunities. In Bengali with English subtitles.


CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON
Stunning Julia Adams plays beauty to the Creature’s prehistoric beast in this still-terrifying mix of sci-fi, horror and jungle adventure – arguably the definitive 1950’s drive-in movie and a superb example of stereoscopic filmmaking courtesy of director Jack Arnold and cameraman William E. Snyder.  If you’ve only seen this film in anaglyphic (red/blue) 3-D, you haven’t really seen it. Presented in RealD Digital 3-D. 1954, Universal, 79 min.


DANGEROUS MISSION
Surprising modern-day Western noir set in Montana, with a young Piper Laurie as a witness to a mob killing being hunted by ruthless killers.  Co-stars the always underrated Victor Mature, alongside William Bendix and Vincent Price in a rare non-horror 3-D role. 1954, RKO, 75 min. IB Technicolor Print


DEATH ROW II
2013, Investigation Discovery, 208 min, USA, Dir: Werner Herzog
Director Werner Herzog continues the exploration of capital punishment that he began with 2011’s INTO THE ABYSS with four new, 47-minute documentaries profiling condemned inmates: PORTRAIT: DOUGLAS FELDMAN, PORTRAIT: ROBERT FRATTA, PORTRAIT: BLAINE MILAM and PORTRAIT: DARLIE ROUTIER. These case studies of convicts on death row powerfully examine the ethics of the death penalty and the humanity of the accused without resorting to easy answers or preaching. Herzog’s talent for observing eccentric behavior and his obsession with probing complex issues are both on triumphant display in this ambitious piece of cinematic moral inquiry.  There will be a discussion with director Werner Herzog between the second and third portraits, as well as a DVD and poster signing following the films.


THE DECAMERON
1970, Park Circus/MGM, 111 min, Italy/France, Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini
This bawdy comedy is among director Pier Paolo Pasolini's most popular films. Based on Giovanni Bocaccio’s classic novel, the first film in Pasolini’s "Trilogy of Life" established the raw, visceral feeling of the series, using gorgeous period locations and combining equal parts poetry, social satire, slapstick and sexuality into a unique living tapestry. Pasolini himself appears as a Renaissance artist, "one of Giotto’s best students," hired to paint an enormous fresco on the wall of a church. With Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti, Angela Luce. In Italian with English subtitles.


DEEP RED (PROFONDO ROSSO)
1975, 106 min, Italy, Dir: Dario Argento
From the opening with a child slashing someone and a bloody knife dropping to the floor, we're plunged into an ever-deepening pool of repressed terrors. David Hemmings is a pianist sucked into an undertow of escalating homicide after he witnesses the murder of psychic Macha Meril. One of Argento's most justly-famous gialli, where something as simple as a lizard writhing on the floor could represent a child's wounded psyche, bound some day to erupt in spectacular fits of murder. The dark and distinctive keyboard-rich soundtrack - the first by prog rockers Goblin - was a major hit in Italy. With Daria Nicolodi.


DIAL M FOR MURDER
Legendary suspense master Alfred Hitchcock was reportedly not happy with being forced by Jack Warner to shoot this in 3- D (his next film was REAR WINDOW … imagine that in 3-D!) – but the results are one of the most satisfying stereoscopic movies of the Fifties, a typically taut and suspenseful tale of ex-tennis pro Ray Milland plotting to murder gorgeous wife Grace Kelly.  Despite Hitchcock’s initial misgivings, the 3-D beautifully enhances this thriller, and his disregarding of “gimmick shots” (mostly) only adds to the creepiness. Presented in RealD Digital 3-D. 1954, Warner Bros., 105 min.


DIAMOND WIZARD
The only British 3-D feature was never released in 3-D anywhere in the world… until it premiered in L.A. at the 2006 World 3-D Film Expo!  Terrific thriller with film noir stalwart Dennis O’Keefe (T-MEN, RAW DEAL) who also co-directed, starring as an American treasury agent paired with a Scotland Yard detective to crack a mob creating fake diamonds ... or are they?? 1954, U.A., 83 min. 


Dias de Otoño (Autumn Days)
1963, 95 minutes, black and white, 35mm
Screenwriters: Julio Alejandro and Emilio Carballido; director: Roberto Gavaldón; with Pina Pellicer, Ignacio López Tarso, Luis Lomelí, and Adriana Roel
Autumn Days is a haunting urban psychodrama of Hitchcockian proportions. It is also Roberto Gavaldon’s third and final screen adaptation of a literary work by the enigmatic European expat B. Traven.
With a letter of introduction from her aunt, prim country girl Luisa (Pina Pellicer) makes her way to the pastry shop of widower Don Albino (the chameleon-like Ignacio López Tarso). Soon Luisa is decorating elaborate wedding cakes and festive piñatas. An introvert, she spends nights alone in her drab bed-sit. It’s all the more stunning when she suddenly announces that she’ll be married in 15 days to heartthrob chauffeur Carlos (Luis Lomelí), whom she’s just recently met. Yet when the wedding day arrives, Carlos never turns up. Trying to keep up appearances, Luisa descends into a whirlpool of fictions and forgeries. 
Gavaldon’s film, which opened during the pageantry and tinsel of Christmas, is a tour de force of incisive modernism with dark undertones—Figueroa’s high-contrast cinematography is razor sharp. Darkest of all is the fact that Pellicer’s promising career was cut short roughly a year after the release of Autumn Days, when she committed suicide in December of 1964. 


Distinto Amanecer (Another Dawn)
1941, 108 minutes, black and white, 35mm
Screenwriter and director: Julio Bracho; with Andrea Palma, Pedro Armendariz, and Alberto Galán
Governor Vidal’s pistoleros pursue Octavio (Pedro Armendáriz) over the span of a single, sweaty night. A colleague of a slayed union activist, Octavio is hiding documents that not only prove Vidal’s malfeasance, but his direct collusion in the murder. He is reunited by chance in a bustling movie theater with classmate Julieta (the chain-smoking, Woman of the Port femme-fatale Andrea Palma), who offers him a hideout in the squalid apartment she shares with her son and former-diplomat husband Ignacio (Alberto Galán). As he considers rekindling his romance with Julieta, now an employee of the cabaret Tabu, the clock keeps ticking and Vidal’s men draw closer and closer. Trading open terrain for dingy backstreets, Gabriel Figueroa revealed his prowess shooting in congested urban settings with this stylish film noir.


DRAGONFLY SQUADRON
Shot in 3-D but only released in flat versions, this action-packed Korean War drama gets its World Theatrical 3-D Premiere here at the Expo, courtesy of the 3-D Film Archive!  Director Lesley Selander helmed literally dozens of entertaining Westerns and War pictures in the 1940’s and 1950’s, and this is a typically solid drama of American pilots teaching their Korean counterparts to fly the latest supersonic jets while juggling heartbreak off the battle field.  The real fun here, of course, is the inventive use of 3-D photography in the well-staged flying sequences.  There are fewer and fewer real 3-D “discoveries” from the Golden Age left – so don’t miss out on this one, it may never come again! 1954, Allied Artists, 82 min.


EARLY FILMS BY D. W. GRIFFITH
"The motion picture is an art, since it approaches more closely real life." That this quote comes from D.W. Griffith creates a paradox: he helped standardize many conventions of cinematic illusion, and yet he showed a dynamic receptivity to real life. What did he mean? This screening will feature a selection of short films made during Griffith's formative years at the Biograph Company including Fools of Fate (1909), Lines of White on a Sullen Sea (1909), A Corner in Wheat (1909), The Rose of Kentucky (1911), The Painted Lady (1912) and others. All films will be projected on 16mm.


THE ELEPHANT GOD
(JOI BABA FELUNATH)
1979, Janus Films, 112 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
“The Bengali Sherlock Holmes” returns to the screen in director Satyajit Ray’s adaptation of his popular children’s novel. With cousin Topshe (Siddhartha Chatterjee) and mystery writer Jatayu (Santosh Dutta) in tow, private investigator Feluda (Soumitra Chatterjee) travels to the sacred city of Varanasi, where a priceless statue of Ganesh, the elephant god, has been stolen from the Ghosal household. As the storied sleuth zeroes in on the culprit, thrills and laughs pour forth - along with an ending sure to surprise. In Bengali with English subtitles.


Enamorada (A Woman in Love)
1946, 99 minutes, black and white, 35mm
Screenwriter: Iñigo de Martino; director: Emilio Fernández; with Pedro Armendáriz, María Félix, Fernando Fernández, and José Morcillo
The first and arguably best-loved film produced during María Félix’s tenure with director Emilio “El Indio” Fernández and cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, 1946’s Enamorada infuses a sweeping romance with screwball grace notes. The film opens in the heat of battle amid flying bullets and startling explosions as a revolutionary squadron led by macho-charmer General Reyes (Pedro Armendáriz) descends victoriously on the pueblo of Cholula and its 365 churches. Reyes seizes the monies of its land-owning colonial bourgeoisie, but his true quarry becomes spitfire-señorita Peñafiel (Félix), the daughter of the richest man in town. The more Peñafiel resists his appeals, the stronger his passions grow.
The town’s abundant baroque architecture offered Figueroa ample opportunities to explore contrasts in light and shading while the film’s surfeit of heated exchanges were underscored by dramatic dollies. Loosely inspired by The Taming of the Shrew, Enamorada became a massive hit in Mexico and one of Figueroa’s favorite of his own films. It was even remade by Fernández and Figueroa as The Torch for Eagle-Lion with Paulette Goddard in the Félix role.


EUROPEAN 3-D CINEMA 1935-1953
Many people think that 3-D movie-making basically began in the early 1950’s with the release in the U.S. of BWANA DEVIL and HOUSE OF WAX – but in fact experiments in 3-D filmmaking go back to the earliest days of European cinema with the Lumiere Bros. and others.  Stefan Droessler, Head of the Munich Film Museum and an acclaimed expert in the history of 3-D, will present a fascinating lecture about the first public 3D screenings in Europe during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s in France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Hungary, Austria and Great Britain, illustrated with stills, documents and incredibly rare 3-D film footage.
Clips include: 3-D experiments at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, the first 3-D cinema in Paris, the Russian and Hungarian 3-D cinemas without glasses, a discussion of the amazing early Russian 3-D films CONCERT (1941) and ROBINSON CRUSOE (1947, screening tomorrow 9/8 in its entirety), recently discovered films by the forgotten Austrian inventor Eduard Bankl, the legendary Festival Of Britain in London and its Telekinema and much much more! Most (if not all) of this material is unknown to American audiences and will likely never be repeated – if you’re a die-hard 3-D film lover, this show is not to be missed!


EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE! LIVE
Everything Is Terrible!’s found footage foot soldiers have outdone themselves yet again, for these psychedelic priests of discarded VHS are back with not one, but two new movies. So, what’s the deal with Comic Relief Zero? The opposite of special, this special’s jam-packed with cringe-inducing set-ups and bomb-dropping punchlines from yesteryear’s hottest ventriloquists, racists, prop comics, sexists, impersonators, homophobes, and talk show hosts. They all wish this footage was still in the landfills, for the streets will run blue with these wanton wisecracks. Wicka-wicka-what, you want more?! Okay, can we B real 4 a second? In EIT! Does The Hip-Hop, the gang’s taken the entire history of the co-opting of cool, and bashed it all together into one continuous mix to please both your earballs and eyelobes. We’re talking kids rappin’ ’bout stamps, and claymation doughboys spittin’ rhymes ’bout crescent rolls. You’d never in a billion years think old ladies can rap — but they totally can. And it don’t stop — WORD! Plus, the fur-covered, glitter-smothered EIT! gang will bring all the live costumed merriment that has made their shows (in)famous. Outrageously funny — and totally clean.


THE EXPEDITION
(ABHIJAN)
1962, 150 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
A box-office hit in the director’s native Bengal, this involving drama was adapted from Tarashankar Banerjee’s novel of the same name. A man of proud Rajput heritage who drives a taxi, Narsingh (Ray regular Soumitra Chatterjee) begins working for a merchant (Charuprasash Ghosh) after he loses his license. But the merchant is involved in drug trafficking, and as the cabbie is pulled deeper into that business, two women - the teacher Narsingh loves and the prostitute who loves him - hold the key to his redemption. In Bengali with English subtitles.


Experimental Documentaries – Rare film clips incite new questions about Grierson's definition of documentary as "creative treatment of actuality." Probing the philosophies of documentarians, fresh insights will arise concerning stagings and reenactments, and the different viewpoints on degrees of involvement with the subjects. Vertov argued for presenting "life as it is" (that is, life filmed surreptitiously) and "life caught unawares" (life provoked or surprised by the camera). What is endemic to this genre and why? Wiseman calls docs "reality fiction, Alan King "actuality dramas," and Richard Leacock "historical fantasies." Why ? "I am for anyone who seeks the truth, but I part ways with them when they claimed they found it." - Bunuel. 


FALLING LESSONS (1992) – 8 PM All the eye contact you can stand. “A healing film…. All the people in the film seem naked.” –Ornette Coleman. Amy Halpern is a filmmaker and artist who works with light, camera and movement. She has been making abstract films since 1972, the same year she co-founded the Collective for Living Cinema in New York. In 1975, after moving to Los Angeles and beginning studies at UCLA, she co-founded the Los Angeles Independent Film Oasis as an artist-run, non-profit, film exhibition series. In addition to her own films, she has worked as a gaffer and cinematographer on numerous projects, including films by Charles Burnett, Pat O’Neill, and David Lebrun, and has taught film and writing at many Southern California schools, including USC, Otis-Parsons Art Institute, Cal State LA, and Cal State Northridge. 


FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS
It’s a program of stone-cold awesome video rarities featuring the father of gonzo journalism — and the crazy motherfucker who had his ashes shot out of a canon. On tap: a sneak preview of the gallery show (including original shotgun artworks by Hunter himself), excerpts from BBC’s “Omnibus” (featuring a remarkably eerie scene with Hunter and Ralph Steadman in the late ‘70s planning Hunter’s final monument, and his ashes being shot into the air), and the very rare British doc High Noon, covering the 1970 Aspen sheriff race between Hunter (under his “Freak Power” campaign banner) vs. the more traditional, conservative Carrol Whitmire. In this incredible document, you’ll see an unfiltered view of Hunter as he does drugs with local cops, stirs cocktails with a switchblade and shows how a drug-fueled, mad journalist changed Colorado politics forever. Plus, we conclude with a 35mm screening of Terry Gilliam’s always-rad Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas! Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas Dir. Terry Gilliam, 1998, 35mm, 119 min.


Films Selected by James Welling
Zorn's Lemma
Avant-garde filmmaker Hollis Frampton’s Zorn's Lemma (1970) was hailed as “a major poetic work” by 1970s structuralist filmmaker Ernie Gehr.
July ’71 in San Francisco, Living at Beach Street, Working at Canyon Cinema, Swimming in the Valley of the Moon
Peter Hutton’s July ’71 in San Francisco, Living at Beach Street, Working at Canyon Cinema, Swimming in the Valley of the Moon (1971) is a diary of free-spirited communal living and moment-by-moment observations of fleeting pleasures. (Total run time: 100 min.)


FINAL CUT: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
A giddy found-footage shot heard ‘round the world! For years, we’ve been waiting for an intrepid soul to craft an entirely narrative feature comprised of images and sounds from other feature films — and Final Cut – Ladies And Gentlemen, the culmination of three years’ worth of editing by visionary Hungarian director György Pàlfi (Taxidermia), is nothing short of astonishing. With the totality of the moviegoing experience as its subject, Final Cut juggles clips from over 450 of the greatest films of all time, and bends deep reserves of movie tricks, tropes and triumphs into a single flowing arc. Iconic characters are raised through childhood, fall in love, go to war, marry — and as we jump from Marilyn Monroe to Jackie Chan, from Ozu to Lynch, from the Twenties to the Millenium and back again, we bask in the unity of our shared mythos. Whether you take it in as either an immersive art piece or the all-time highlight reel of your dreams, Final Cut taps directly into the cinematic subconscious with a sensitivity sure to captivate casual movie buffs and hardcore cineastes in equal measure.
Dir. György Pálfi, 2012, digital presentation, 84 min.


Flor Silvestre (Wild Flower)
1943, 91 minutes, black and white, 35mm
Screenwriters: Emilio Fernández and Mauricio Magdaleno; director: Emilio Fernández; with Dolores del Río, Pedro Armendáriz, Miguel Angel Ferriz, and Mimí Derba
Flor Silvestre set the template for many future collaborations between Gabriel Figueroa and Emilio Fernández. The film also established actors Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río as the first couple of Mexican cinema. After a ten-plus-year career in Hollywood, Río returned to Mexican cinema in Flor Silvestre.
Plantation scion Jose Luis Castro (Pedro Armendáriz) falls for both the poor farmer’s daughter Esperanza (Río) and the Revolution’s incendiary egalitarian rhetoric at the same time. But worse than the intransigence of Castro’s family is the chain reaction of vendettas that the romance sets into motion. Esperanza and her newborn son wind up being taken hostage by tequila-seeped banditos. Fernández’s film focuses on “love for the land . . . the greatest, the worst of all loves,” rendered all the more memorable by Figueroa’s luminous cinematography of equestrian figures kicking up clouds of soil against endless skies. Río, meanwhile, reinvents herself from exotic silver screen ingénue to radiant campesina (peasant).


THE FRENCH LINE
Fifties screen goddess Jane Russell goes 3-D with riotous results in this colorful musical about a millionairess desperate to escape gold-digging men, so she takes a cruise on the French Line … As the ad copy says, “J.R. in 3-D! It’ll Knock BOTH your eyes out!”   Watch closely for another screen siren, Kim Novak, in her first film appearance.  We’re running the rarely seen uncut version in a stunning dye-transfer Technicolor print, with the complete (and racy!) “Lookin’ For Trouble” number! 1954, RKO, 102 min.


GEMS FROM THE ARCHIVE
Film collector Russell Harnden is back with another screening of Gems from the Archives a film series devoted to obscure and outdated ephemeral films drawn from his personal collection of cartoons, educational, and industrial films. A sampling of these wonderful films from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s will be pulled from the vault and screened during an evening that’s sure to stimulate your mind and make you chuckle at the same time. Join us and watch as a devoted wife helps her husband keep his job in The Boss Comes to Dinner, an army of germ-fighting troops are deployed to fight the evil enemy of venereal disease in V.D. Attack Plan, and see what happens when basic forklift safety tips and common sense are ignored in The Color of Danger. There will be many more great titles as well. Taken VERY seriously when these films were made, today they now serve as campy, nostalgic reminders of a simpler time. So be sure to join us for a fun and “educational” evening!


THE GLASS WEB
One of the least-known genre films from horror and sci-fi master Jack Arnold (CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN).  This tight little thriller stars Kathleen Hughes (who’d work with Arnold on IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE), John Forsythe and the great Edward G. Robinson in a nifty story about early TV production and a ruthless actress out to blackmail the men who fall for her charms. 1953, Universal, 81 min.


Goblin: Giallo Live
Playing Los Angeles for the first time in their 40 year history, Goblin will perform a full, live set pulled from their most iconic scores, including: Dario Argento's giallo classics Suspiria, Tenebrae, and Deep Red, and George A. Romero's seminal Dawn of the Dead. Immediately following Goblin's performance will be a 35mm screening of Argento's SUSPIRIA. Immediately following Goblin's performance on 10/22 will be an incredibly rare 35mm screening of Argento's 1975 masterpiece, Deep Red. Immediately following Goblin's performance on 10/23 will be a screening of Argento's TENEBRAE. The line up for this tour will include original members since 1975 Claudio Simonetti and Maurizio Guarini (keyboards) and Massimo Morante (guitar). The band is rounded out by drummer Titta Tani and bassist Bruno Previtali that joined in 2010.


THE GODDESS
(DEVI)
1960, Janus Films, 93 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
This haunting drama, set in Bengal in the 1800s, reflects the corrosive allure of religious fanaticism in the eyes of young Doya (Sharmila Tagore, in one of her first leading roles). While her husband is attending college in the city, Doya lives with his family; all goes well until the night her father-in-law has a dream in which he sees her as an incarnation of the goddess Kali. As a flock of worshippers grows around her, Doya begins to wonder if she really is divine. In Bengali with English subtitles.


THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW
(IL VANGELO SECONDO MATTEO)
1964, Compass, 137 min, Italy, Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Working from the perspective of “an unbeliever who has a nostalgia for a belief,” director Pier Paolo Pasolini shot this story of the life of Christ in a documentary style that lends his spare imagery a power that few Biblical spectaculars ever attain. Employing non-professional actors (Spanish economics student Enrique Irazoqui portrayed Jesus, a role for which Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg were reportedly considered) and dialogue drawn directly from Matthew’s text, the film effectively allies Jesus with the meek and poor in spirit, and his rejection of materialism was a theme Pasolini often championed. In Italian with English subtitles.


THE HEDGEHOG
Paloma is a serious and highly articulate but deeply bored 11-year-old who has decided to kill herself on her 12th birthday. Fascinated by art and philosophy, she questions and documents her life and immediate circle, drawing trenchant and often hilarious observations on the world around her. But as her appointment with death approaches, Paloma finally meets some kindred spirits in her building's grumpy janitor and an enigmatic, elegant neighbor, both of whom inspire Paloma to question her rather pessimistic outlook on life. 1 hr. 38 min., Dir. Mona Achache, 2011.


THE HERO
(NAYAK)
1966, Janus Films, 120 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
With all flights to Delhi booked, top Bengali actor Arindam (Uttam Kumar) must take a train to the city, where he is being honored with an award. Also aboard is young journalist Aditi (Sharmila Tagore), whose initial disdain for the film star changes as she interviews him and the conversation becomes unusually revealing. Both lead performances are superb in this underrated gem, which uses dreams and flashbacks to open windows on two lives in a world before celebrity journalism went to seed. Ray’s final film shot by longtime cinematographer Subrata Mitra is beautifully visualized. In Bengali with English subtitles.


THE HOLY MAN
(MAHAPURUSH)
1965, Janus Films, 65 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
Charuprakash Ghosh plays the title role in writer-director Satyajit Ray’s comedic look at a would-be guru. When a widowed lawyer and his daughter become disciples of a man who claims to have known Buddha, Jesus and Einstein, it falls to the girl’s beau and his friends to shine the light of reason on the holy man’s tall tales. In Bengali with English subtitles.


HONDO
Long considered to be a “lost” film in 3-D, HONDO has been lovingly restored by Batjac Productions to its original stereoscopic glory.  The legendary John Wayne stars as a hard-bitten cavalry rider who grudgingly takes feisty Geraldine Page (in an Oscar-nominated role) and her son under his wing.  Beautifully shot on location in Mexico with tough, terse direction by veteran helmer John Farrow and a superb script by longtime Wayne collaborator James Edward Grant (DONOVAN’S REEF, MCLINTOCK, THE ALAMO).  Next to HOUSE OF WAX, HONDO was the highest-grossing 3-D film of the 1950’s.  We’re thrilled to present this 60th Anniversary Screening as a Tribute to John Wayne and Batjac Productions, who in addition to HONDO were responsible for such classics as 7 MEN FROM NOW, THE ALAMO, THE HIGH & THE MIGHTY and THE TRACK OF THE CAT. 1953, Batjac Prod., 83 min.


HOUSE OF WAX
Advertised as the “First 3-D Film from a Major Studio”, HOUSE OF WAX was and still is the quintessential 3-D film, a haunting Gothic horror show with deranged sculptor Vincent Price (in arguably his best-known role) using real-life “models” for his waxwork creations. Although one-eyed director Andre de Toth (PITFALL, PLAY DIRTY) famously couldn’t see 3-D, he understood perspective better than many cameramen.  Studio head Jack Warner demanded de Toth have at least some 3-D “gags” and the most obvious is the famous paddle ball scene featuring Reggie Rymal.  Sixty years later, HOUSE OF WAX still thrills, entertains, and reveals stereoscopic wonder. 1953, Warner Bros., 90 min. 60th Anniversary Screening.


INFERNO
Alongside Hitchcock’s DIAL M FOR MURDER, INFERNO is one of the very best suspense thrillers shot in 3-D:  a fierce, brutal crime drama set in the scorching desert with our favorite Noir actor ever, Robert Ryan (ON DANGEROUS GROUND, ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, CROSSFIRE …) in a rare good-guy role as a husband left to die with a broken leg by his cheating wife and her lover.  Superb 3-D photography, terrific direction by Roy Ward Baker (A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, QUATERMASS & THE PIT) and a killer script add up to one of the most underrated 3-D films ever made – don’t miss it! 1953, 20th Century Fox, 83 min. IB Technicolor Print


IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE
Like Warner Bros., Universal took notice of BWANA DEVIL’s success and quickly constructed their own 3-D camera. Secrecy surrounded their first 3-D film which started filming in January, 1953 based on a story by the late great Ray Bradbury.  Sci-fi/horror master Jack Arnold (THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN) delivers his other 3-D classic alongside CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON in this atmospheric chiller about an amateur astronomer (Richard Carlson) and his schoolteacher girlfriend (Barbara Rush) who confront an alien invasion of their remote Arizona town.  Presented in true stereo sound, only at the Expo! 1953, Universal, 81 min.


I, THE JURY
Crime legend Mickey Spillane’s first Mike Hammer novel gets the 3-D treatment in this 1950’s Noir produced by Victor Saville.  While it’s no KISS ME DEADLY, I THE JURY is still good fun, with terrific B&W cinematography by master D.P. John Alton (RAW DEAL, T-MEN) and gorgeous Noir siren Peggy Castle (99 RIVER STREET, INVASION U.S.A.) as the female lead opposite Biff Elliot as Mike Hammer. 1953, U.A., 87 min.


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.


JAMEL SHABAZZ STREET PHOTOGRAPHER
2012, Artists Public Domain/Cinema Conservancy, 81 min, USA, Dir: Charlie Ahearn
New York photographer Jamel Shabazz took his camera to the streets in the early years of hip-hop, capturing its evolving culture in portraits of young men and women sporting the freshest fashions. The new documentary by WILD STYLE director Charlie Ahearn shows a talented artist at work and, through interviews with Shabazz’s colleagues and subjects, opens a window on a vibrant community before crack and crime took its toll at the end of the 1980s. Discussion following with director Charlie Ahearn and graffiti legend and co-creator of "Wild Style" mural, SHARP. 


JAWS 3-D
The most requested “missing” title from our last two Expos, the long-unavailable JAWS 3-D finally screens in a beautiful new digital transfer courtesy of Universal Studios.  This time around the monster shark is trapped at – ready for this?? – a Sea World theme park, while Chief Brody’s son Dennis Quaid tries to avoid becoming fish food … Gonzo 3-D effects abound in the cheesiest and most hilarious of the 1980’s 3-D revival films.  Script by sci-fi & horror great Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, THE PIT & THE PENDULUM). 1983, Universal, 99 min.


JIVARO
Beautiful Rhonda Fleming (THE KILLER IS LOOSE, WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS) lights up the screen as an American woman chasing her missing fiancé all the way to Brazilian head-hunter territory.  Actual Amazon jungle locations and gorgeous Technicolor photography highlight this steamy action-adventure from director Edward Ludwig (WAKE OF THE RED WITCH).  This was shot in 3-D but released flat at the tail end of the 1950’s stereoscopic boom – so this is only the second theatrical screening of the film in Los Angeles ever (the first was at the 2006 Expo!) 1954, Paramount, 92 min.


KID-THING
DIRECTOR David Zellner, 83 MIN
Annie is a young girl leading a lonely existence in Austin, Texas, whose life takes a fascinating turn when she hears a plea for help coming from the bottom of a well.


KISS ME KATE
MGM’s spectacular 3-D production of the famous Broadway play is one of the essential stereoscopic movies of the 1950’s.  Flawless 3-D cinematography, brilliant choreography (including the legendary Bob Fosse), and energetic direction from George Sidney.  And we’re running the only surviving dye-transfer (“3-strip”) Technicolor print in the world!  This is only the second time KISS ME KATE has been shown in WIDE SCREEN with discrete STEREO since 1953. 1953, MGM/Warner Bros., 109 min. IB Technicolor Print – In Stereo Sound


LA AIR: EVE FOWLER & MARIAH GARNETT
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. The Girls! The Boys! The Girls! Come sneak a peak, in a voyeuristic evening of objectifying surfers. Excerpts from Eve Fowler & Mariah Garnett's new movie, Life Is Torture will be screened along side some of the films which inspired it—movies about, and sometimes by, surfers from the 1970's. Eve Fowler lives and works in Los Angeles. A graduate of Temple University and Yale University, she is co-founder of Artist Curated Projects in Los Angeles. She has had a solo shows at Horton Gallery, New York; Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles; and Julie Saul Gallery, New York. Mariah Garnett is an experimental filmmaker and artist whose work seeks to occupy a space between convention and experimentation—or, rather, to experiment with convention. The boundaries of adaptation, documentary and fiction are continually being drawn and re-drawn in her work. Her work has been screened at the Venice Biennial, Rencontres Internationales, and Outfest, and included in a two person show at ltd los angeles as well as a solo show at Human Resources Gallery.


La Perla (The Pearl)
1947, 85 minutes, black and white
Screenwriters: Emilio Fernández, John Steinbeck, and Jack Wagner; directors: Emilio Fernández; with Pedro Armendáriz, Maria Elena Marqués, Fernando Wagner, Gilberto González, and Charles Rooner
Based on John Steinbeck's novel, The Pearl was adapted for the screen prior to the publication of the novella in the United States and with the author's blessing and participation. In the hands of director Emilio Fernández and cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, Steinbeck’s realist allegory became a master class in pure cinema.
The story is set on a rustic stretch of Baja California, where men and women live meekly off the sea, trawling for their fortune on the ocean floor. When the illiterate, destitute Quino (Pedro Armendáriz) turns up an enormous prize on a dive, his life is forever changed. But the promise of a better future for his wife (María Elena Marqués) and infant son is soon contaminated by the avarice of his fellow men.
Figueroa's sublime underwater cinematography and deft interplay of textures on land can be seen in the mottled light through Kino’s grass shack, the white-shawled female figures set against sweeping beachfront vistas, a firework-speckled nighttime fiesta, and a pursuit that spans swamps and rugged mountainsides. The film is a singular masterpiece of black-and-white filmmaking and a timeless and harrowing tale of a man ensnared by an ironclad fate. Incidentally, it ranks among Figueroa’s favorite of his own films.


Leviathan
Co-presented by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Public Library as part of the month-long citywide initiative, What Ever Happened to Moby Dick?
A groundbreaking, immersive portrait of the contemporary commercial fishing industry, Leviathan was filmed off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts—at one time the whaling capital of the world as well as Melville’s inspiration for Moby Dick. Today, New Bedford is the country’s largest fishing port with over 500 ships sailing from its harbor every month.
Leviathan follows one such vessel, a hulking groundfish trawler, into the surrounding murky black waters on a weeks-long fishing expedition. But instead of romanticizing the labor or partaking in the longstanding tradition of turning fisherfolk into images, filmmakers Lucien Castiang-Taylor (Sweetgrass) and Verena Paravel (Foreign Parts) present a vivid, almost-kaleidoscopic representation of the work, the sea, the machinery and the players, both human and marine. Employing an arsenal of cameras that passed freely from film crew to ship crew; that swoop from below sea level to astonishing bird’s-eye views, the film that emerges is unlike anything that has been seen before. Entirely dialogue-free, but mesmerizing and gripping throughout, it is a cosmic portrait of one of mankind’s oldest endeavors. (2013, Dirs. L. Castaing-Taylor, V. Paravel, 87 min.)


LOST & FOUND FILM CLUB: SCHOOL DAZE
Lost & Found Film Club is Cinefamily's monthly showcase of 16mm film oddities from the 20th century, and for this special "School Daze" edition, we're proud to welcome a very special guest curator, Skip Elsheimer! As the world's leading collector of classroom films and the founder of the A/V Geeks Educational Film Archive, Skip is a veritable "Dean of 16s," and he'll take us back to school for a tour through the wide weird world of classroom classics. Expect an A+ assortment of hygiene hi-jinx, school bus safety scares, social engineering silliness, manifestos on lunchroom manners & much more. Don’t be tardy, 'cause we've prepared a double-stuffed gym locker's worth of edu-tainment as unforgettable as that yearbook photo of your first big crush. Enjoy all the laughs of a school movie day, minus the acne, wedgies, and trips to the principal's office. DJ set by Taylor 2000! EXTRA CREDIT: We'll be making sack lunches of peanut butter & jelly for the entire audience!


LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF
2003, 170 min, USA, Dir: Thom Andersen
Southern California practically bleeds celluloid; virtually everywhere you turn, you’ll see a location that once doubled as a film set. Director Thom Andersen plays private eye in this sardonic video essay, revisiting the scenes of cinematic crimes and triumphs and unraveling the tangled relationship between the movies and our metropolis. Both Los Angeles history buffs and cinema enthusiasts will marvel at the hundreds of archival and film clips revealing an almost secret history of the City of Angels. A Cinematheque favorite!
In the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan called LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF “the best documentary ever made about Los Angeles.” On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Thom Andersen's sardonic video essay about the tangled relationship between the movies and our metropolis has been remastered and re-edited. It's funnier, sharper and bigger. It's now really a double feature. No matter how many times you've seen it before, you will be blown away by the new version on the big screen! World Premiere of Remastered Edition! Director Thom Andersen In Person!


María Candelaria
1944, 97 minues, black and white, 35mm
Screenwriter: Emilio Fernández and Mauricio Magdaleno; director: Emilio Fernández; with Dolores del Río, Pedro Armendáriz, Alberto Galán, and Miguel Inclán
This is the masterpiece that brought the Golden Age of Mexican cinema onto the world stage—thanks in part to winning two prizes at the Cannes Film Festival. María Candelaria is the second collaboration between writer/director Emilio “El Indio” Fernández, cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, and stars Dolores del Río and Pedro Armendáriz, following 1943’s Flor Silvestre. Río plays the titular role, a flower seller in the floating gardens (or chinampas) of Xochimilco. It is 1909, on the cusp of the Mexican Revolution. Born to a mother of ill repute, María is ostracized by her fellow villagers, finding solace in the friendship of fellow peasant Lorenzo Rafael (Pedro Armendáriz), though brutish shopkeeper Don Damian (Miguel Inclán) also has his sights set on her. When a painter from the big city comes to town and asks María to pose for him, she passes from outcast to untouchable. Largely set on the picturesque banks and canals of Xochimilco lake, Fernández’s film is elevated by Figueroa’s chiaroscuro compositions to the realm of mythology.


NO PLACE LIKE HOME
2006, IFM, 95 min, USA/Jamaica, Dir: Perry Henzell
Following the success of THE HARDER THEY COME, Perry Henzell directed part two of his Jamaican trilogy, which follows New York producer Susan as she ventures into the Jamaican countryside (reversing the country-to-city trajectory of the first film) in search of a runaway actress. After working on the film throughout the 1970s, Henzell discovered that the footage had been lost; fortunately, it was found 30 years later, and now Henzell's follow-up to his breakthrough classic can be seen on the big screen! With music by Bob Marley & The Wailers, Toots & The Maytals and Peter Tosh and introducing Grace Jones and P.J. Soles.


Macario
1959, 87 minutes, black and white, 35mm
Screenwriters: Roberto Gavaldón and Emilio Carballido; director: Roberto Gavaldón; with Ignacio López Tarso, Pina Pellicer, Enrique Lucero, and José Galvez
The first cinematic adaptation by Roberto Gavaldón of a literary work by B. Traven, Macario filters Brothers Grimm through the rites and iconography of Mexico’s Day of the Dead. The story centers on Macario (Ignacio López Tarso), a poor lumberjack who lives in a one-room shack with his wife and unruly brood, barely making ends meet lugging fire-wood to local merchants. When a cooked turkey turns up mysteriously in his satchel, the starving Macario embarks on an adventure of surrealist proportions.
Facing a steady procession of suitors to share in his impromptu meal—a white-robed God, a whip-snapping and silver-spurred Satan, and a poncho-garbed campesino Death—Macario winds up making a Faustian pact. Thanks to a gourd’s worth of water with magical healing powers, Macario goes from peasant to posh. But what will the state make of his overnight success?
Gavaldón was nominated for an Academy Award for Macario, a film whose folkoric fantasy is delivered with an anti-materialist bite. Gabriel Figueroa’s cinematography adds an eerie gleam to this mordant fable, most remarkably as Macario descends into the fog-drenched and hundred-candle-specked cavern of Death (the grottos of Cacahuamilpa).


THE MAD MAGICIAN
Nifty little Gothic horror from acclaimed film noir helmer John Brahm (THE LODGER, HANGOVER SQUARE) and writer Crane Wilbur (HE WALKED BY NIGHT, CRIME WAVE), starring the great Vincent Price as a deranged magician forced to kill again and again.  And yes, with the same producer, star, writer and period setting as HOUSE OF WAX, this bears more than a passing resemblance to its more famous “cousin” – but it’s worth catching on its own for some excellent B&W 3-D cinematography and Price’s mondo-macabre performance in the lead role. 1954, Columbia, 72 min.


MAMMA ROMA
1962, Janus Films, 110 min, Italy, Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Middle-aged prostitute Mamma Roma (Anna Magnani) retires from the streets and reunites with her teenage son, who has grown up in the country. Though she does everything in her power to provide a better life for him, the boy is drawn to delinquency. Anchored by Magnani’s towering central performance, this tragic portrait of Rome’s cruel underbelly is one of Pasolini’s most moving. In Italian with English subtitles.


MAXWELL STREET REVISITED - Jazz historian Sherwin Dunner (in person) host an evening of inspired music films. Bargains and blues could be found on any Sunday at the biggest, brassiest open air street market in America which thrived for over 100 years before it was paved over for the University of Illinois at Chicago expansion in 1994. We'll be showing AND THIS IS FREE (1963, 50 minutes), the groundbreaking cinema verite film which captures Chicago's Maxwell Street market in full glory on a typical Sunday – a vibrant mix of blues and gospel singers, hustlers, pitchmen, pushcart vendors and preachers. Shoppers could find great deals, but also were prime for fleecing. With a sly wink, one of the stores even chose the name “Cheat You Fair.” We'll also see MAXWELL STREET - A LIVING MEMORY (2002, 30m) on Maxwell Street from the perspective of the Jewish merchants who worked there, found footage and a photo slide show. Plus live blues music.


METAPHOR AS MEMORY - Gerry Fialka probes McLuhan and Chris Marker, who said "I remember the images I filmed. They have substituted themselves for my memory. They are my memory - the act of remembering is not the opposite of forgetting." "All active media are metaphors in their power to translate experience into new forms...what is a meta phor?" - McLuhan. "Remember to forget" - James Joyce.  


MISS SADIE THOMPSON
Bad girl Rita Hayworth runs afoul of moral crusader Jose Ferrer on a lonely South Pacific island populated by nothing but U.S. Marines, in this steamy tropical melodrama based on Somerset Maugham’s “Rain”.   Look for Charles “Buchinsky” Bronson in an early supporting role. Presented in RealD Digital 3-D. 1953, Columbia, 91 min.


The Mob
1951, 87 minutes, black and white, 35 mm
Written by William Bowers; directed by Robert Parrish; with Broderick Crawford, Betty Buehler, Richard Kiley, Otto Hulett
A police detective fakes a suspension so he can go undercover.


MONDO AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL
The “CBS Schoolbreak Special”, NBC’s “Special Treat”, the “ABC Afterschool Special”, HBO’s “Lifestories: Families In Crisis” — all different monikers, but together forming a priceless piece of broadcast history from decades past: TV-movie shorts made for kids, and dealing with hot-button/pertinent topics of the day! Usually airing in the late afternoons, these juicy nuggets of edutainment often explored the usual umbrellas of racism, the environment, and the pains of first love — all mixed in with occasional jaunts into stratospheric saccharine wackiness, like wrongheaded looks into teenage boozing, suicide pacts and even musical numbers about urban gang warfare! Join us in a selection of Cinefamily’s favorites — presented on 16mm and video!


MONEY FROM HOME
Classic Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis farce – and their only film in 3-D – with the boys mixed up in a harebrained scheme to fix a horse race so Dean can pay off his gambling debts.  This was the first of only two features shot in 3-D using three-strip Technicolor cameras (so literally six rolls of film were being exposed simultaneously!)  In spite of the technical difficulties the 3-D is excellent – and we’re screening the only surviving dye-transfer Technicolor prints of the film for you here! 1953, Paramount, 100 min. IB Technicolor Print


MUSCLE SHOALS
Located alongside the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals, Alabama is the unlikely breeding ground for some of America's most creative and defiant music. Under the spiritual influence of the "Singing River," as Native Americans called it, the music of Muscle Shoals has helped create some of the most important and resonant songs of all time. At its heart is Rick Hall who founded FAME Studios. Overcoming crushing poverty and staggering tragedies, Hall brought black and white together in Alabama's cauldron of racial hostility to create music for the generations. He is responsible for creating the "Muscle Shoals sound" and The Swampers, the house band at FAME that eventually left to start their own successful studio, known as Muscle Shoals Sound. Greg Allman, Bono, Clarence Carter, Mick Jagger, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Keith Richards, Percy Sledge and others bear witness to Muscle Shoals' magnetism, mystery and why it remains influential today. Running time: 111 minutes. Directed by Greg 'Freddy' Camalier


Museum Hours
The meeting of a security guard and a museumgoer sparks an unexpected series of explorations of their own lives, the life of a city, and the way artworks reflect and shape daily experience. (2012, Dir. J. Cohen, 106 min.)


THE MUSIC ROOM
(JALSAGHAR)
1958, Janus Films, 100 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
An arrogant member of the declining aristocracy demonstrates both his refined taste and his ruinous self-indulgence by holding lavish concerts in his prized music room. Splendidly decadent settings and virtuoso musical performances mark this potent mixture of nostalgia and irony, which ranks with Visconti's THE LEOPARD and Welles' THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS as a double-edged elegy for a dying upper-class world. In Bengali with English subtitles.


NEW WORKS SALON
Ross Lipman will screen two recent works: Curva Peligrosa, part of his cycle of works on the nature of organic change The Perfect Heart of Flux, examines La Reparosa, a perilously stunning stretch of road between Tijuana and Mexacali. Though measures have been taken to increase safety it remains a major hazard, as attested to by the ruins of vehicles that lay beneath it. Dr. Bish Remedies, from Lipman’s “personal ethnography” series, is an informal visit with legendary filmmaker Bruce Baillie at his home on Camano Island in Washington State. Michele Jaquis, who will be screening three short videos, is a socially engaged artist and educator based in Los Angeles, where she is founding Director of Interdisciplinary Studies at Otis College of Art and Design. Her work has been presented at conferences, film and video festivals, galleries, museums, and alternative spaces across the U.S. and in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Combining strategies of documentary research, social practice and performance art, Michele’s recent videos explore the complexities of language, identity and communication. And visiting from the Bay Area a special expanded cinema performance by Beige, the collaborative project of Vanessa O'Neill and Kent Long. “Working with 16mm projection and live sound, we endeavor to keep present our physical selves, as we slowly succumb to the screen’s dissociative veil.”


Nickelodeon
1976, 121 minutes, color, 35 mm
Written by W. D. Richter and Peter Bogdanovich; directed by Peter Bogdanovich; with Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds, Tatum O'Neal, Brian Keith
Set in 1910, young lawyer Leo Harrigan traverses careers in the early days of cinema. He moves from writer to director, all the while being smitten with his leading lady.


NIGHTBREED: THE CABAL CUT
2012, 144 min, USA, Dir: Clive Barker
Horror great Clive Barker adapted his novel Cabal as NIGHTBREED in 1990, casting Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby and David Cronenberg (as lethal psychotherapist Dr. Philip K. Decker) in an ambitious tale originally written as a fantastical love story occupied by monsters. Unfortunately, the production was wrought with interference, and cut and packaged as a slasher movie - though even in truncated form, its fine performances, distinctive Danny Elfman score and wildly inventive make-up and special effects work elevated NIGHTBREED far above typical genre fare. Over the years, as rumors of found footage circulated, the film achieved a mythic status with a restored version quickly becoming the holy grail of horror. With Barker’s cooperation, restoration director Russell Cherrington and producer Mark Miller assembled a new edit with more than forty minutes of excised footage, restoring plotlines, characters and scenes to best represent Barker’s defining intent and bring the epic back to life.


OUR NIXON
“A fascinatingly warped and aged Polaroid of an epic life that’s grown more compelling with the passage of time.” — Nathan Rabin, The Dissolve
Us here at Cinefamily do love all things archival, and Our Nixon, with its deft blend of humor and historical reflection, is one of the very best feature-length found footage films we’ve yet seen.  The time-honored tale of the Oval Office in the ‘60s and ‘70s has been covered from a wide swath of angles (All The President’s Men, Dick, Secret Honor, Oliver Stone’s Nixon), but you’ve never seen it delivered with humanizing, penetrating reality until now.  Painstakingly sculpted from tens of thousands of hours’ worth of unearthed Super-8 home movies shot by Richard Nixon’s closest aides, Our Nixon emerges as one of 2013’s most engaging dramedies, capturing both seismic, world-changing events and previously invisible domestic tableaux.  The raw materials of this unique and personal visual record, created by H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and Dwight Chapin, were seized by the FBI during Watergate, filed away at the National Archives and forgotten for almost forty years.  Obsessively documenting their experiences on film, these idealistic, dedicated young turks had no idea that just a few years later they’d all be in prison.  They filmed because they thought that Nixon’s presidency would change the world forever — the tragedy is that they were right.  Dir. Penny Lane, 2013, digital presentation, 84 min.


PABLO
WEST COAST PREMIERE!
Pablo Ferro has won over 70 international awards; his titles and montage sequences have appeared in 12 Academy Award winning films. Blending animation, design and documentary footage, PABLO tracks the rise of a poor Cuban immigrant to the heights of the Madison Avenue commercial industry, his presence in the New York counterculture of the 1960s, and the emergence of one of the most celebrated designers of movie history. Narrated by Jeff Bridges and featuring appearances by Ferro’s illustrious friends and collaborators (Angelica Huston, Stan Lee, Jon Voigt), the film celebrates the magic of creative spirit. Post-screening Q&A with Ferro, the filmmakers and special guests. (2012, Dir. R. Goldgewicht, 90 min.) 


Pat O’Neill: Spatial Affects
Pat O’Neill, a founding father of the Los Angeles avant-garde film scene and a pioneer of optical effects, is perhaps best known for his highly graphic, layered, and reflexive film work. This program of short works, featuring two Los Angeles premieres, situates this important and singular artist within the broader context of contemporary art. In O’Neill’s films boundaries fade, narrative collapses, and multiple layers of imagery draw the viewer into the work, both suggesting and denying linear meaning. A master of experimental montage and compositing techniques, O’Neill has created a graphic language that focuses on the relationships between disparate elements assembled together in the frame. While his innovative optical techniques were prescient of our current digital landscape, his most recent work fully embraces the possibilities of this new technology. Formally rich, spatially ambiguous, and saturated with both color and feeling, O'Neill's films speak the language of painting while moving in time. In person: Pat O’Neill. Los Angeles Premieres of Painter and Ball 4-14 (2011) and Ojo Caliente (2012)


Pedro Páramo
1967, 110 minutes, black and white, 35mm
Screenwriters: Carlos Fuentes and Carlos Velo; director: Carlos Velo; with John Gavin, Ignacio López Tarso, Pilar Pellicer, and Carlos Fernández
The first film adaption of Juan Rulfo’s modernist novel (“one of the masterpieces of 20th-century world literature,” per Susan Sontag) of the same name, Pedro Páramo traces the surrealist-tinged journey of Juan Preciado into the past of the once-thriving hamlet of Comala. Now a dusty ghost town inhabited only by phantoms—including Juan’s own recently deceased mother—Comala was at one time the seat of great wealth and corruption. It was also the home to Juan’s father, the titular womanizing feudal lord Pedro Páramo (John Gavin).
Through the prism of Páramo’s dark history and the storied past of the Media Luna estate which he spawned (a refrain heard throughout the film: “We’re all sons of Pedro Páramo”), the film creates a sweeping yet intimate panorama of rural Mexico on the brink of revolution. This late entry in the canon of the Golden Age and the first narrative feature by Spanish-born documentarian Carlos Velo toggles past and present, dream and reality, memory and fantasy, and disparate perspectives—all through the polished cinematography of Gabriel Figueroa. 


PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE
Warner’s follow up to HOUSE OF WAX, loosely adapted from the Edgar Allan Poe story, is another haunting Gothic chiller with mad physician Karl Malden menacing beautiful young Patricia Medina.  Strong direction by veteran helmer Roy Del Ruth (BULLDOG DRUMMOND STRIKES BACK), with more eye-popping 3-D effects than the earlier HOUSE OF WAX.  Pure 3-D entertainment! 1954, Warner Bros., 83 min.


THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE
(PARASH PATHAR)
1958, 111 min, India, Dir: Satyajit Ray
Director Satyajit Ray’s first film outside the world of Apu was this charming, magic-realist comedy. Tulsi Chakrabarti stars as a humble bank clerk who briefly tastes the good life after he discovers a small stone that turns iron into gold on contact. A Palme d’Or nominee at the Cannes Film Festival. In Bengali with English subtitles.


Pressure Point (1962)
Directed by Hubert Cornfield
Sidney Poitier portrays a prison psychiatrist treating an inmate (Bobby Darin) whose sociopathic violence was animated by childhood traumas and expressed through Nazi sympathies.  His medical judgment ultimately distrusted by his peers because of his race, he nonetheless persists in his commitment to confronting irrational prejudices, through science as a personal stand. 
United Artists. Producer: Stanley Kramer. Based on a short story by Robert Mitchell Lindner. Screenwriter: Hubert Cornfield, S. Lee Pogostin. Cinematographer: Ernest Hall. Editor: Frederic Knudtson. Cast: Sidney Poitier, Bobby Darin, Peter Falk, Carl Beton Reid, Mary Munday.  35mm, b/w, 91 min. 


Pueblerina (Small Town Girl)
1949, 111 minutes, black and white, 35mm
Screenwriter: Mauricio Magdaleno; director: Emilio Fernández; with Columba Domínguez, Roberto Cañedo, Ismael Pérez, and Luis Aceves Castañeda
Lyrical bordering on transcendental, Pueblerina opens in a prison yard and concludes in the open plains. Released from jail after six years, young Aurelio Rodríguez (Roberto Cañedo) returns to the rugged pueblo, where he was born, and discovers that the woman he loved, Paloma (Columba Domínguez), now lives on the outskirts of town "like a savage" with her illegitimate son. Theirs is a slow courtship, largely unspoken and eloquently articulated through gestures and mise-en-scène. The whole time, their fates are complicated by the sneering interventions of patron Julio, whose brother Aurelio killed in self-defense.
Featuring one of cinema’s most heartbreakingly bittersweet wedding ceremonies, white-knuckle horseback action sequences, and Gregg Toland–esque tableaux vivants, Pueblerina shows Figueroa at his most assured.


THE PUNK SINGER
Schedule permitting, Kathleen Hanna will be here in person for a Q&A after the film! Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of the punk band Bikini Kill and dance-punk trio Le Tigre, rose to national attention as the reluctant-but-never-shy voice of the Riot Grrrl movement. Becoming both one of the most famously outspoken feminist icons of her generation and a cultural lightning rod, Kathleen garnered a list of critics who wished she would just shut up — and a legion of fans who hoped she never would. So, in 2005, when Hanna stopped shouting, many wondered why. Through 20 years of archival footage and intimate interviews with Kathleen, The Punk Singer takes viewers on a fascinating tour of contemporary music, offering a never-before-seen view into the life of this fearless leader.
Dir. Sini Anderson, 2013, digital presentation, 80 min.


PXL THIS FESTIVAL
23rd annual festival features films made with the Fisher-Price PXL 2000 toy camcorder. PXL THIS is one of the longest running film festivals in the entertainment capital of the world. Celebrating "cinema povera" moving image art, it evokes Marcel Duchamp's axiom "Poor tools require better skills." Pixelators from across the globe hoick up inventive approaches to the unassuming throw-away of consumer culture. These low-tech hi-jinx films come through loud and clear by reframing a new cinema language. "If movies offer an escape from everyday life, Pixelvision is the Houdini of the film world." - SF Weekly.  


REVENGE OF THE CREATURE
The last film produced in the Golden Era of 1950’s 3-D movie-making, this sequel to CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON is almost as good as the original.  Genre hero John Agar (TARANTULA, BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) battles the luckless Creature after it’s transported to a Florida aquarium and runs amok.  The 3-D is right on, especially the underwater scenes shot in Marineland’s (Florida) big tank where fish swim out of the screen into your face.  And check out that fellow in the lab... Clint Eastwood! 1955, Universal, 82 min.


Río Escondido
1947, 110 minutes, black and white, 35mm
Screenwriter: Mauricio Magdaleno; director: Emilio Fernández; with María Félix, Domingo Soler, Carlos López Moctezuma, and Fernando Fernández
Perhaps the most patriotic of the Emilio Fernández–Gabriel Figueroa films, Río Escondido is also one of the most pictorially perfect. Summoned to the capital—“the heart of Mexico”—by the president of the Republic himself, school-teacher Rosaura (María Félix) beholds Diego Rivera’s breathtaking National Palace murals—originally meant to be seen in glorious Technicolor, though the footage has since disappeared. She is tasked with bringing civilization to the dusty pueblo of Río Escondido, which also happens to be located in the very municipality named after Benito) Juarez, “the father of modern Mexico."
What Rosaura finds is a community under the thumb of the petty tyrant El Jefe (Carlos López Moctezuma), lacking in basic supplies and baking under the unforgiving desert sun. With the help of a young, peripatetic doctor (Fernando Fernández) she sets up a new school and vaccinates the populace. A fiery pedagogue, she nonetheless becomes the object of El Jefe’s affections. Fighting a literal heart sickness, Rosaura must face the risk of sacrificing herself for the good of the patria on a grubby span of hinterland turned sublime by the lens of Figueroa.


A RIVER CHANGES COURSE
"We've worked so hard on this land,” says Sav Samourn. “And now they've come to destroy it all. Sooner or later it will all be gone.“
In her directorial debut, award-winning filmmaker Kalyanee Mam intimately captures the stories of three families living in Cambodia as they strive to maintain their traditional ways of life amid rapid development and environmental degradation.
Deep in the jungle, Sav Samourn struggles as large companies encroach and “progress” claims the life-giving forests. She discovers there’s little room for wild animals, ghosts – and the home she has always known. In a fishing hamlet, Sari Math must quit school to help support his family. But as the fish catch dwindles, Sari and his family find their livelihood threatened. In a village, Khieu Mok must leave to seek work in a Phnom Penh factory to help pay her family’s debts. But city life proves no better, and Khieu struggles between her need to send money home and her duty to be with her loved ones.
From Cambodia’s forests to its rivers, from its idyllic rice fields to the capital’s pulsing heart, forces of radical change are transforming the landscape of the country – and the dreams of its people. Running time: 83 minutes. In Khmer and Jarai, with English subtitles.  Directed & Shot by Kalyanee Mam. Followed by a Q&A with Kalyanee Mam (USC screening only).


ROBINSON CRUSOE
A legendary 3-D rarity – finally receiving its L.A. Premiere here at the Expo, 67 years after it was made! – this adaptation of the classic Daniel Defoe novel of a sailor cast adrift on a deserted island was the first full-length Soviet 3-D feature.  Surprisingly entertaining with some excellent 3-D effects (and a hilariously pro-Communist ending), ROBINSON CRUSOE was originally screened with a now-obsolete glasses-free system which will be discussed in detail during the Saturday Sept. 7th “European 3-D Cinema 1935-1953 Lecture” (we’ll be screening it with glasses, the only way to see it properly now.)  The impact of the 3-D was so impressive it inspired legendary Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein to comment:  “Mankind has for centuries been moving toward stereoscopic cinema… Will the cinema of the future be stereoscopic? Will tomorrow follow today?”  (Note:  no English-subtitled version of the film exists so we’ll be screening it in the original Russian with a synopsis of the plot; there’s limited dialogue in the film.) 1946, 71 min. Legendary “Lost” Russian 3-D Film – First-Ever L.A. Screening


ROBOT MONSTER
Found on most “Worst Film” lists, the jawdropping and delirious ROBOT MONSTER was supposedly shot on either a $15,000 or $20,000 budget over a few day’s time (and it shows.)  But remarkably the B&W 3-D is generally pretty good – and who can resist a movie with a guy in a gorilla suit wearing a space helmet?!?  George Nader and cast perform a living comic book of sci-fi from a young boy’s perspective… Music by the great Elmer Bernstein. 1953, Astor, 66 min.


Rosa Blanca (The White Rose)
1961, 100 minutes, black and white, 35mm
Screenwriter: Emilio Carballido, Roberto Gavaldón, and Phil Stevenson; director: Roberto Gavaldón; with Ignacio López Tarso, Christiane Martell, Reinhold Olszewski, Rita Macedo, and Begoña Palacios
Writer/director Roberto Gavaldón, a contemporary of Emilio Fernández, made several masterpieces with Gabriel Figueroa. One of Gavaldón’s many screen adaptations of works written by elusive German-émigré B. Traven—best known to American audiences as the author of the novel The Treasure of the Sierra Madre—Rosa Blanca is an acidic indictment of American imperialism. The film was so vehement a critique that it was banned by the Mexican government for more than a decade.
Gavaldón regular Ignacio López Tarso stars as Jacinto Yanez, an illiterate Indian who owns and operates a hacienda in Veracruz that just happens to sit on oil-rich land. And the Los Angeles–based Condor Oil Company will stop at nothing to buy it out from under him. Sharply contrasting the edenic, almost communal way of life on Jacinto’s Rosa Blanca with Condor’s baronial corporate culture, Figueroa/Gavaldón’s film is a scathing indictment of no-holds-barred capitalism that doubles as an inky paean to the tropical beauty of Veracruz.  


Salón México
1948, 95 minutes, black and white
Screenwriters: Mauricio Magdaleno and Emilio Fernández; director: Emilio Fernández; with Marga López, Miguel Inclán, Rodolfo Acosta, Roberto Cañedo
Emilio Fernández and Gabriel Figueroa’s first cabaretera—noir-tinged melodramas often about fallen women in the smoky milieu of back-alley night clubs and cabarets—Salón México is a stylish portrait of Mexico’s urban underworld. Opening with a rigged dance contest that ends in an afterhours double-cross for the tellingly marked couple number 13, Salón México follows the tribulations of working girl Mercedes (Marga López). Residing in a shanty atop a rundown apartment block, she works nights at the titular saloon, piecing together a living one rhumba at a time so she can put her baby sister through a pricey boarding school.
Torn between rival beaus—the kind-hearted, widowed policeman, Lupe (Miguel Inclán) in one corner, and the macho-thug, Paco (Rodolfo Acosta) in the other—Mercedes gets along by clawing pesos from the clutches of her clients, as El Son de Clavo’s Afro-Cuban rhythms throb in the background. Not without its grand patriotic flourishes—this a Fernández film after all— Salón México is a gritty look at life in the neon-soaked gutter. Boasting a nighttime chase across the rooftops and through the desolate side streets of Mexico City and a climatic face-off limed in moonlight, the film places Figueroa alongside likes such as John Alton and Burnett Guffey in the canon of noir cinematography.


SECOND CHANCE
RKO’s first 3-D feature was this tough little film noir starring gorgeous, ill-fated Linda Darnell (FALLEN ANGEL, HANGOVER SQUARE) as a mobster’s girlfriend on the lam in Mexico running into ex-pat American prize-fighter Robert Mitchum (OUT OF THE PAST, NIGHT OF THE HUNTER).  Typically strong direction from noir stalwart Rudolph Mate (D.O.A., THE DARK PAST) – and look out for bad guy supreme Jack Palance, fresh off his career-making turn in SHANE. 1953, RKO, 82 min.


SHANE
A 60th anniversary screening of a new digital restoration, with an introduction by James Mangold
“A gun is a tool, Marion, no better or no worse than any other tool, an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.” – Shane
“Shane” is a classic western that has influenced numerous directors, including Warren Beatty and Woody Allen, who called “Shane” one of his favorite American films and praised its “poetry and elegant flow.”
Based on Jack Schaefer’s successful 1949 novel, the film recounts the age-old story of the duel between good and evil through the eyes of Joey (Brandon De Wilde), an impressionable young boy who idolizes a mysterious gunslinger. Shane (Alan Ladd), the man without a past or a future, inserts himself into the battle over land being waged between homesteaders and a cattle baron, and in the process, transforms a beleaguered town. Van Heflin and Jean Arthur co-star as Joey’s parents, who find their lives deeply affected by Shane.
Considered by Allen to be veteran producer-director George Stevens’s masterpiece, “Shane” marked Stevens’s first foray into color. Shot on location near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the film’s rich Technicolor cinematography captures the panorama of the frontier during a crucial moment in Western mythology, when civilization was encroaching on the seemingly endless wilderness. 118 minutes.


SHIP OF FOOLS
Directed by Stanley Kramer
1933: A German cruise ship bound from Mexico to Bremerhaven hosts a menagerie of passengers of various classes and nationalities, whose self-absorption, indifference and obliviousness depict humanity as easy prey for the coming havoc of European Fascism.  From disaffected ship’s doctor Oskar Werner to dissipated socialite Vivien Leigh, all sail blithely into danger, in this wryly observed, star-studded, allegorical drama.
Columbia Pictures. Producer: Stanley Kramer. Based on the novel by Katherine Anne Porter. Screenwriter: Abby Mann. Cinematographer: Ernest Laszlo. Editor: Robert C. Jones. Cast: Vivien Leigh, Simone Signoret, José Ferrer, Lee Marvin, BarBara Luna.  35mm, b/w, 149 min.   In-person: BarBara Luna and Karen Sharpe Kramer. 


Shockproof
1949, 79 minutes, black and white, 35mm
Written by Helen Deutsch and Samuel Fuller; directed by Douglas Sirk; with Cornel Wilde, Patricia Knight, John Baragrey, Esther Minciotti
A beautiful ex-con falls for her parole officer while still dating the crook who landed her in prison.


THE SILENT TREATMENT: THE TALMADGE SISTERS
As the Roaring Twenties raged on, silent star Constance Talmadge was a titan in the field of light romantic comedy — while, at the same time, her sister Norma was equally dominant playing dramatic leads in some of the most opulent productions of the day. Together, the Talmadge sisters (along with third sister Natalie, who would go on to wed Buster Keaton) were an unstoppable force in the picture business — and tonight, we celebrate their dazzling legacy with a double feature of seriously rare 35mm Talmadge-mania. First up, Connie — who first shot to success in D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance — stars alongside Latin lover Don Alvarado in the sophistico ode Breakfast At Sunrise. And, after intermission, it’s Norma in the classic 1926 romance Camille, a picture which marked the first of many collaborations with co-star/paramour Gilbert Roland. Tonight’s screening of Camille is extra-special, for it comes from the only known surviving print! Live music track by resident Cinefamily accompanist Cliff Retallick.
Breakfast at Sunrise Dir. Malcolm St. Clair, 1927, 35mm, 62 min. (Archival print courtesy of the Library of Congress)
Camille Dir. Fred Niblo, 1927, 35mm, 53 min. (NOTE: print contains only known surviving, shortened version — as the original-length version is considered a “lost” film.)


STORIES WE TELL
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.


TAZA, SON OF COCHISE
Although often unfairly criticized as a gimmick or novelty, 3-D in the early 1950’s attracted a number of major directors including Hitchcock, Boetticher, de Toth and others.  TAZA, SON OF COCHISE was legendary director Douglas Sirk’s (IMITATION OF LIFE, WRITTEN ON THE WIND) only film in 3-D, a surprisingly moving and sympathetic portrait of Native American life with Fifties idol Rock Hudson in the title role as the inexperienced son of a dying Apache chief (Jeff Chandler in a cameo appearance), trying to keep his tribe from going to war. 1954, Universal, 79 min.


A TEACHER
Part psychological thriller and part provocative character study, A TEACHER explores the unraveling of a young high school teacher, Diana (Lindsay Burdge), after she begins an affair with one of her teenage students, Eric (Will Brittain). What starts as a seemingly innocent fling becomes increasingly complex as the beautiful and confident Diana gets fully consumed by her emotions, crossing boundaries and acting out in progressively startling ways. Lindsay Burdge delivers a deeply compelling and seamlessly naturalistic performance that brings us into the mind of an adult driven to taboo against her better judgment. Running time: 77 minutes. Written & Directed by Hannah Fidell. Followed by a Q&A with Actor Will Brittain and Cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo.


TENEBRAE
1982, 110 min, Italy, Dir: Dario Argento
Dario Argento's mastery of the giallo is clear in this stylish thriller, which is among the writer-director's most violent - and erotic. In Rome to promote his new novel, a murder mystery writer (Anthony Franciosa) learns that his work has inspired a serial slasher who targets women. As the author teams with the police to find the killer, the blood flows as freely as the plot twists in this oft-censored "video nasty," which includes some of Argento's most dazzling set pieces. Goblin keyboardist Claudio Simonetti, guitarist Massimo Morante and bassist Fabio Pignatelli reunited to create the suspenseful soundtrack. With John Saxon and Daria Nicolodi.


These Are the Damned
1965, 87 minutes, black and white, Scope, 35mm
Written by Evan Jones; directed by Joseph Losey; with MacDonald Carey, Shirley Field, Viveca Lindfors, Alexander Knox
Children bred to survive a nuclear holocaust escape from a top-secret military facility.


Unfinished Spaces
In 1961 Fidel Castro and Che Guevara commissioned three young architects to create Cuba’s National Art Schools in Havana. As Revolutionary dreams became reality, construction was abruptly halted. Forty years later, with the unfinished schools in decay, Castro invites the exiled architects back to finish their unrealized dream. (2011, Dirs. A. Nahmias, B. Murray, 86 min.) Post-screening Q&A with Alysa Nahmias.


VENGEANCE IS MINE
A gut-wrenching, violent psychological crime drama from start to finish, this award-winning film by noted Japanese director Shohei Imamura is based on a true story. Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) is a murderous sociopath who kills two money lenders in a gory opening scene. Then flashbacks are interspersed with Enokizu's flight across Japan as his miserable childhood and the development of his malevolent, anti-social behavior are portrayed. Vicious and sexually aggressive, Enokizu's rage simmers during an earlier stay in prison as he imagines his wife is bedding down his father. Once on the run from the police, his aberrant sexual life and violent nature are further revealed in a series of gripping events. 1979, Japan, 35mm, 140 minutes. Directed by Shohei Imamura; written by Masaru Baba; based on a novel by Ryuzo Saki; starring Ken Ogata, Mayumi Ogawa, Rentaro Mikuni, Mitsuko Baisho; in Japanese with English subtitles


Victimas del Pecado (Victims of Sin)
1951, 90 minutes, black and white
Screenwriters: Mauricio Magdaleno and Emilio Fernández; director: Emilio Fernández; with Rodolfo Acosta, Ninón Sevilla, Tito Junco, and Rita Montaner
Gabriel Figueroa created some of his most memorable images in Emilio Fernández’s white-hot Victims of Sin. Saloon hoofer Violeta (Ninón Sevilla, one year after Alberto Gout’s delirious Aventurera) leaves behind the Changoo Bar once she discovers its zoot-suited proprietor Rodolfo (Salón México’s Rodolfo Acosta) has abandoned a newborn by leaving it in a garbage can as he sets off on a midnight crime spree.
Violeta rescues the baby, raising it as her own while Rodlofo winds up behind bars. She takes a job at rival cabaret La Maquina Loca, whose enigmatic owner (Tito Junco) falls for her. But what will happen once Rodolfo is back on the streets? A red light, bare-bulb melodrama that mingles Caribbean rhythms with mariachi laments, Victims of Sin is a masterpiece of Mexican noir. Returning time and again to images of trains—eruptions of black smoke thickening the night air, metallic tracks lacerating the landscape—Figueora offers a visual metaphor not only for modernity’s unrelenting march forward, but also for the fleeting hope of escaping from it.


WHEN CARTOONISTS RAN THE SHOW
From the very first frame of the first episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show, it was as if an impassioned, collective inquiring shout could be heard ‘round the world: “WHAT IS THIS?! WHO MADE THIS?! WHERE DID IT COME FROM?!” The answer: one Mr. John Kricfalusi, better known as John K., the sultan of Spümcø. Whether in his earliest work on Ralph Bakshi’s Mighty Mouse mutation, with hero Bob Clampett on Beany & Cecil, his own series The Ripping Friends or music videos for the likes of Tenacious D, John’s feverishly audacious style and brilliantly skewed wit are unmistakable and wholly his own. Perhaps that’s because he took notes from the greats, legends of the cartoon era who fired off their own manically marvelous singular visions with each flick of their pencils. Tonight, John will be at the Cinefamily in person to take us through his favorite classic cartoons from the masters of the golden age: Clampett, Tex Avery, Walter Lanz, Max Fleischer and more — discussing them along the way, examining the disparity in philosophy and approach between these classic films and modern cartoons, and sharing how they shaped him as as a young, budding soon-to-be animation legend, shedding some light on that amazed, still-echoing bellow of “WHERE DID IT COME FROM?!”. In addition to sharing a selection of classic cartoons from his personal collection, John will be sharing a handful of very scarcely seen films of his own, including the uncut version of “Mighty’s Benefit Plan” (starring Elwy and the Tree Weasels) for all you Spümcø-heads out there!


WINGS OF THE HAWK
Colorful, two-fisted Mexican Revolution drama from legendary Western director Budd Boetticher (7 MEN FROM NOW, THE TALL T) in his early Universal Studios period, with rugged miner Van Heflin mixing it up with revolutionaries while trying to win CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON’s Julia Adams.   Boetticher was apparently desperate to get out of his Universal contract, so he set up a dynamite explosion for the film that shattered windows a half mile away and made the L.A. papers! 1953, Universal, 81 min.

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