LA UPCOMING STUFF - SEPTEMBER 2017

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

fri. sep. 1

2001 (70mm) @ aero


sat. sep. 2

the godfather, the godfather part ii @ aero


sun. sep. 3

sunset boulevard @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
los angeles plays itself @ aero


fri. sep. 8

la notte, diary of a chambermaid @ aero


sat. sep. 9

the rantouls, the teutonics, etc @ bargain rock v @ thee parkside (SF)
coming to america @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
the witch who came from the sea, lady cocoa @ cinematic void @ egyptian
jules and jim, bay of angels @ aero


sun. sep. 10

the barefoot contessa, the killers @ egyptian
the bride wore black, elevator to the gallows @ aero


mon. sep. 11

black sea @ wayfarer
numb.er, billy changer @ zebulon


thu. sep. 14

the shining @ aero


fri. sep. 15

frankie and the witch fingers @ echo
peter brotzmann @ zebulon
the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie, that obscure object of desire @ egyptian


sat. sep. 16

repo man, death watch @ egyptian
firestarter, carrie, dead zone @ aero
the molochs @ 7th&fig
the treasure of the sierra madre 1:30 PM @ autry


sun. sep. 17

moment trigger @ coaxial
history of the soda fountain 5 PM, speedy @ egyptian
stand by me, the shawshank redemption @ aero
resistance isn't futile @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian


mon. sep. 18

black sea @ wayfarer


wed. sep. 20

blade runner: the final cut (IMAX) 7 PM @ chinese theatre
the man who knew too much (1956) 2 PM @ new beverly


fri. sep. 22

copwatch 8 PM @ epfc
deerhoof @ teragram
inglourious basterds MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
linda perhacs @ hotel cafe


sat. sep. 23

wand @ troubadour
the lost city of cecil b. demille 2 PM @ egyptian
bare knuckles MIDNIGHT, fearless fighters @ new beverly
the black panthers: vanguard of the revolution FREE 6 PM @ la conxa
the music of john coltrane: "a love supreme" @ blue whale


sun. sep. 24

pather panchali 5 PM, aparajito, apur sansar @ egyptian
bad day for the cut, john hume in america @ aero
the real bruce lee 6:30 PM, lee lives within @ new beverly
soundspark extravaganza FREE (11 AM-4PM) @ sassas @ kings road park


mon. sep. 25

black sea @ wayfarer


tue. sep. 26

lucas fitzsimons, drinking flowers @ resident
machine gun mccain, wipeout! @ new beverly
raiders of the lost ark (w/ q&a) 8 PM @ chinese theatre


wed. sep. 27

the courtneys @ teragram
chasing coral FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ aero
rebecca 2 PM @ new beverly
autopsy, eyeball @ new beverly


thu. sep. 28

widowspeak @ sanctuary
paths of glory @ aero
brotherhood of death, johnny tough @ new beverly


fri. sep. 29

the passion of joan of arc (w/ live score by julia holter) FREE 8 PM @ figat7th
earth girl helen brown, sonny & the sunsets @ hi hat
ichi the killer MIDNIGHT @ beyond fest @ egyptian
the killing, the bedford incident @ aero
the mack 7 PM, the chinese mack @ new beverly
inglourious basterds MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
the holy mountain MIDNIGHT @ nuart
the florida project FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
triptides FREE @ monty bar


sat. sep. 30

the grapes of death 5 PM @ beyond fest @ egyptian
lolita, dr. strangelove @ aero
grave of the vampire, jailbat babysitter @ new beverly
walking the edge MIDNIGHT, slithis @ new beverly


sun. oct. 1

suspiria (w/ q&a) 7:00 10:00 PM @ beyond fest @ egyptian
boiling point, cop @ aero


mon. oct. 2

suspiria (w q&a), opera @ beyond fest @ egyptian


tue. oct. 3

night of the living dead (1968) @ beyond fest @ egyptian
the texas chain saw massacre 10 PM @ beyond fest @ egyptian
haunters: the art of the scare 9:45 PM @ beyond fest @ spielberg @ egyptian


thu. oct. 5

predator, the running man @ beyond fest @ egyptian


fri. oct. 6

woggles @ echo
abby MIDNIGHT @ nuart


sat. oct. 7

eagle rock music festival
california avocado festival @ carpinteria
saccharine trust, numb.er @ smell
78/52 FREE 9:45 PM @ beyond fest @ spielberg @ egyptian


sun. oct. 8

california avocado festival @ carpinteria
an evening with matt groening & lynda barry @ ace hotel theatre
baby driver 7 PM, the driver @ beyond fest @ egyptian


mon. oct. 9

born in east l.a. @ ampas wilshire


tue. oct. 10

bad black FREE 7:15 PM @ beyond fest @ egyptian
the killing of a sacred deer 9:15 PM @ beyond fest @ egyptian


thu. oct. 12

sound of ceres @ satellite
angelo de augustine @ bootleg


fri. oct. 13

drinks, lee fields & the expressions, big search, triptides, budos band, ty segall, holy wave, courtney barnett & kurt vile, etc @ desert daze @ institute of mentalphysics (joshua tree)
dalek @ resident
return of the living dead MIDNIGHT @ nuart


sat. oct. 14

sleep, the gories, terry riley, john cale, the make-up, winter, iggy pop, frankie & the witch fingers, king gizzard & the lizard wizard, thurston moore group, etc @ desert daze @ institute of mentalphysics (joshua tree)
hope sandoval & the warm inventions @ fonda
budos band @ echoplex
courtney barnett & kurt vile @ immanuel presbyterian


sun. oct. 15

spiritualized, hope sandoval & the warm inventions, l.a. witch, the creation factory, allah-las, goggs, etc @ desert daze @ institute of mentalphysics (joshua tree)


wed. oct. 18

earthless @ echo
black angels @ mayan


thu. oct. 19

race & space in los angeles ix FREE @ epfc


fri. oct. 20

qui @ handbag factory


sat. oct. 21

cactus blossoms @ echo
allah-las @ regent
night of the living dead (1968) @ cinespia @ hollywood forever


tue. oct. 24

lee ranaldo @ zebulon


thu. oct. 26

brides of dracula 7 PM @ alex theatre
blank tapes @ moroccan lounge


sat. oct. 28

roky erickson @ roxy
l.a. anarchist book fair @ leimert park plaza
dracula (1931, spanish) 2 PM @ ampas wilshire
an american werewolf in london, popcorn, the tingler, hack-o-lantern, shocker, brainscan, death bed: the bed that eats @ all night horrorthon @ aero
thee cormans, the premiers @ halloween au go go @ viva cantina


sun. oct. 29

get out 3 PM @ blackout cinema
l.a. anarchist book fair @ leimert park plaza


wed. nov. 1

colleen, mary lattimore @ zebulon


thu. nov. 2

daniel johnston @ orpheum
goblin @ regent


sat. nov. 4

itasca @ bootleg


wed. nov. 8

survive @ ace hotel theatre


fri. nov. 10

eraserhead MIDNIGHT @ nuart


tue. nov. 14

the clientele @ teragram


fri. nov. 17

mark bray discusses "antifa: the anti-fascist handbook" FREE @ skylight books




WHAT IT IS:


ABBY
When a minister’s wife becomes posessed by Eshu, the Nigerian god of sexuality, an exorcist is called in to drive the evil spirit away. Dir. William Girdler, 1974, 89 mins.


BAD BLACK
2016, 60 min, Uganda, Dir: Isaac Nawibana
Are you ready for the craziest, most over-the-top action film ever seen ... from Wakaliwood, Uganda?! Bolstered by a love of action movies and a can-do attitude, the country’s most prolific filmmaker and his motley crew go to extraordinary lengths to create the best action movies known to mankind: from carving guns & ammo pouches out of wood to learning Kung-fu by copying ALL the moves from Bruce Lee films, these men pull out all stops to create wall-to-wall insanity and the effect is hypnotizing. With almost every action move trope imaginable - from heists to car chases, to exploding helicopters and long bouts of hand-to-hand combat - this is the film that makes you realize how painfully lame Hollywood action films look compared to the wild, vivid and wonderful world of Wakaliwood.


BAD DAY FOR THE CUT
2017, Well Go USA, 99 min, UK, Dir: Chris Baugh
They say good men are hard to find - and maybe it’s better that way. This Sundance hit tells the story of Donal, a sturdy farmer who loves his aged mother, values hard work and is loyal, focused and tough. What he is not, under any circumstances, is someone to mess with. So when Donal’s monastic existence as the good son is tragically upended, his justice is bloody and thorough. Director Chris Baugh and his co-writer Brendan Mullin have created a film as deceptively simple as its hero. Set against the stark beauty of Northern Ireland, the story eschews cheap twists in favor of a slow and steady unveiling of the horrible truths hiding in plain sight. They’re aided by an able cast, especially lead actor Nigel O’Neill, whose performance is infused with the quiet rage of the overlooked.


THE BEDFORD INCIDENT
1965, Sony Repertory, 102 min, Dir: James B. Harris
Longtime Kubrick producer James B. Harris made his directorial debut with this cautionary Cold War tale. Richard Widmark stars as the captain of the destroyer USS Bedford, which has located a Soviet submarine off the coast of Greenland. Though not at war, the captain insists on baiting the sub, to the increasing concern of his crew and visiting photojournalist Sidney Poitier.


BRAINSCAN, 1994, 96 min. Dir. John Flynn. TERMINATOR 2’s Edward Furlong stars as Michael, a teen loner who plays a new interactive video game and is horrified to discover the killing that took place in the game has spilled over into real life. Frank Langella costars in this surprisingly effective sci-fi chiller.


COP
1988, Park Circus , 110 min, United States, Dir: James B. Harris
When a cop cares too much, how far is too far? Adapted from James Ellroy’s Blood on the Moon, this brisk crime film stars James Woods as a loose-cannon homicide detective who discovers that the murder of a young woman is actually the work of a serial killer. As the flippant-but-focused cop, Woods is magnetic, and he gets terrific support from Lesley Ann Warren, Charles Durning and Charles Haid (the latter two former costars of Woods in THE CHOIRBOYS). Discussion between films with director James B. Harris.


COPWATCH
Copwatch is the true story of We Copwatch, an organization whose mission is to film police activity as a non-violent form of protest and deterrent to police brutality. Around the country, a network of regular people take up cameras to bear witness to police actions and hold law enforcement to accountability. Director Camilla Hall profiles several We Copwatch members, including Kevin Moore, who filmed the arrest of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, and Ramsey Orta, the man who filmed Eric Garner’s fatal Staten Island arrest in the devastating video that has galvanized protestors and activists nationwide. And yet Orta is the only person involved in these incidents who has seen the inside of a jail cell. In her powerful directorial debut, Hall crafts an intriguing and incredibly timely profile of citizen-journalist-activists who are seeking to disrupt the ever-present challenge of police violence. DIRECTOR CAMILLA HALL IN ATTENDANCE!


DEATH WATCH
1980, Westchester Films, 117 min, United States, Dir: Bertrand Tavernier
Shot in Glasgow, Scotland, this unsettling drama takes place in a future where fatal illness is as rare as voyeurism is rampant. Besieged by reporters after she has been diagnosed with an incurable disease, Romy Schneider takes off with acquaintance Harvey Keitel - unaware that a camera has been implanted in his eye to film her final days for a reality show. With Harry Dean Stanton (as a ratings-hungry TV exec) and Max von Sydow.


THE GRAPES OF DEATH
(LES RAISINS DE LA MORT)
1978, Kino Lorber , 90 min, Dir: Jean Rollin
Pop the cork and pour yourself a glass of vintage French horror from one of the most sublime masters of the genre, Jean Rollin. Traveling to Roublès to move in with her fiancé at his vineyard, Elizabeth discovers that the locals have become flesh-eating zombies as a side effect from a pesticide used on the grapes. Now she must find her fiancé amongst the infected townsfolk or succumb to the living death herself. A dreamy mix of psychedelia, sexploitation, horror and gore best served in a dark movie theatre and enjoyed one delicious sip at a time.


HACK-O-LANTERN, 1988, 87 min. Dir. Jag Mundhra. The attention Grandpa (Hy Pyke) has been lavishing on young Tommy (Gregory Scott Cummins) is not benign - the old man is grooming him to take over a Satanic cult when he grows up. The boy’s brother grows up to become a cop - but can he put an end to the pitchfork killings that seem to swirl around Tommy? This low-budget shocker is peppered with gore, nudity and even a heavy metal video to keep things interesting.


HAUNTERS: THE ART OF THE SCARE
2017, USA, Dir: Jon Schnitzer
Americans love a good scare at Halloween and nothing quite does it like a haunted house; “haunters” build these houses and act out the roles of the monsters inside, building an atmosphere that resides between the realms of fun and fear for the people who visit year after year. Starting with the history of haunted houses, this comprehensive documentary runs the gamut, including their inception, their evolution and even their future through interviews with fascinating characters who offer unique insights into this rarely-explored world. Panel discussion following with subjects Donald, Jaimie and Daniel Julson, Shar Mayer and John Murdy, and composers Jonathan Snipes, Neil Baldock & Alexander Burke.


History of the Soda Fountain
60 min. This illustrated presentation by Cary Farnsworth will introduce you to the nicest jerk you'll ever meet as it explores the history of the soda fountain and the "jerks" who worked them. Followed at 6:00 PM by the silent comedy classic SPEEDY. Join us in the courtyard from 3:30 - 4:30 PM for an ice cream social! C.K. Farnsworth will have old fashioned ice cream sodas for sale from his vintage ice cream cart BEFORE the start of the program.


Johnny Tough
Johnny Tough is an extremely rare, socially conscious Blaxploitation update of François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, transporting the story to the desolate urban sprawl of '70s Los Angeles to follow a mischievous kid and his constant clashes at school, and on the street, with the white establishment. Dir. Horace Jackson, 1974, 85 mins.


THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER
2017, A24, 109 min, UK/Ireland, Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
Almost guaranteed to spark debate, director Yorgos Lanthimos’ (THE LOBSTER) journey into the heart of darkness is both a thriller and a parable on the evil of inaction. Colin Farrell is Steven, a brilliant neurosurgeon whose clinical attitude extends to his personal life; his interactions with his family feel as regimented as post-surgery conversations with colleagues. But Steven also has a strange friendship with Martin (Barry Keoghan), an awkward 16-year-old. Things take a bizarre turn when Martin tries to bring Steven into his family and makes the doctor a frightening proposition - a choice which will determine who lives and who dies. The uniformly great cast also includes Nicole Kidman and Alicia Silverstone.


LADY COCOA
1975, AGFA, 93 min, United States , Dir: Matt Cimber
After testifying in court against her gangster boyfriend, Lady Cocoa (Lola Falana) gets a 24-hour day pass out of jail to go enjoy the high life in Las Vegas. But her boyfriend (legendary Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle “Mean” Joe Greene) has other plans. Lady Cocoa not only has to worry about the dwindling hours of her freedom, she has to worry about whether she’ll survive them.


THE LOST CITY OF CECIL B. DEMILLE
2016, RandomMedia, 88 min, Uin, Dir: Peter Brosnan
For his 1923 biblical epic THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, director Cecil B. DeMille re-created ancient Egypt on the central California coast with one of the biggest movie sets of the silent era, which was buried after the film was completed. Director Peter Brosnan’s 30-year quest to unearth the site - and, through numerous interviews, its secrets - makes for one of the most fascinating behind-the-scenes documentaries ever. Panel discussion following with director Peter Brosnan, producer Dan Coplan, composer Steve Bauman, archaeologist Colleen Hamilton, Lisa Mitchell (actress in the 1956 version of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS), Peter Bernstein (son of composer Elmer Bernstein) and others.


POPCORN, 1991, Synapse Films, 91 min. Dir. Mark Herrier. When a group of film students stage an all-night horrorthon at an abandoned movie palace, they include a bizarre short film called “The Possessor,” whose creator killed his family. Maggie (Jill Schoelen) has been having frightening dreams that seem to be connected to the short, and as the festival proceeds, she and her friends are stalked by a mysterious killer. This entertaining mix of old-fashioned creature features and ’80s slashers boasts a great cast including Dee Wallace Stone, Tony Roberts and Ray Walston.


RACE AND SPACE IN LOS ANGELES IX
The ninth installment of our ongoing series exploring issues of race and space in Los Angeles focuses on community efforts to fight for greater control of neighborhoods before and in the aftermath of the 1992 civil unrest. It will feature a series of grassroots films produced by Michael Zinzun, one of the founders of the Coalition Against Police Abuse (CAPA). CAPA linked rising poverty and unemployment with the growth of police forces and expansion of California’s prison system, a strategy they viewed as a means to contain poor communities of color. Through organizing and mobilizing communities, CAPA offered an alternative strategy to transform inner city neighborhoods from spaces targeted for control to spaces of empowerment. Introduction and discussion by Yusef Omowale and Michele Welsing of The Southern California Library who also curated tonight's event.


RESISTANCE ISN'T FUTILE
Resistance takes many forms, riotous and quiet, political and economic, through education and through engagement.  In our program this week, we look at some forms of resistance – by people and groups and filmmakers, by seeing some of the ways that films have found dynamic ways and unheralded people to face dark times and make better futures.  We’ll also take a look at a few of the issues of the day, to remember the troubles of the past that people have resisted, and how some of them have never left us.  Classic and new films by Straub-Huillet, Kelly Gallagher, Danny Lyon, Kevin Jerome Everson, Penelope Spheeris, Marco Braunschweiler, Robert Fenz, and more.  Curated by Adam Hyman.
Screening:
* En rachâchant by Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub
1982, France, b&w, 8 min.
* Black Panther
This is the film the Black Panthers used to promote their cause. Shot in 1969, in Oakland, San Francisco and Sacramento, this exemplar of 1960s activist filmmaking traces the development of the Black Panther organization. In an interview from jail, Minister of Defense Huey P. Newton describes the origins of the Panther Party, Eldridge Cleaver explains the Panthers' appeal to the Black community, and Chairman Bobby Seale enumerates the Panther 10-Point Program as Panthers march and demonstrate. 1969, 14 min.
* Key to the Cities by Kevin Jerome Everson
Features two mayors honoring the “Candy Man” in two different ways. 2008, 16mm, 1:45, black and white
* Pearl Pistols, by Kelly Gallagher
Pearl Pistols is an animated glitter bomb and resurrection of a speech by the radical and revolutionary civil rights leader Queen Mother Moore. 2014, video, 3 min.
* National Rehabilitation Center, by Penelope Spheeris
Two years before Peter Watkins’ Punishment Park (1971), director Penelope Spheeris takes the McCarran Act to its inevitable next step and shows us—via an early use of mockumentary—what the U.S. might be like if potential subversives were simply locked up en masse before they had a chance to subvert anything. 1969, 16mm screened from digital, 14 min
* Crossings, by Robert Fenz
In Crossings (2006–07), made for the 2008 Whitney Biennial, Fenz switches to color film to convey more sensate information about the United States–Mexico border wall. Ten minutes of film features Crossings played twice—first silently, next with ambient sound—allowing the viewer to imagine a soundtrack before the imposed audio begins. Presented as quick, single-frame snapshots are a pair of frames shot looking to the left and right from each side of the wall followed by upward and downward views on both sides, creating a strobelike effect that recalls the psychedelic experiments of James Whitney or Harry Smith. The length of each shot is of primary importance to Fenz, for whom each frame is a captured moment in time. These moments build, highlighting the surprising formal beauty of the wall while evoking the frenetic, fearful energy one might feel if trapped by it. By visually simulating what the wall symbolizes, Fenz depicts terror and awe as impossibly intertwined. 2006-07, 16mm, 10 min.
* El Mojado, [The Wetback] by Danny Lyon
A portrait of a hard-working undocumented laborer from Mexico. 1974, New Mexico, 16mm, color, 14 minutes. English and Spanish with subtitles,
* Bradley Manning Had Secrets, by Adam Butcher
The story of Chelsea Manning (formerly known as Bradley), not as a Wikileaks 'hacktivist', but as a young American soldier simultaneously going through a crisis-of-conscious and a crisis-of-gender-identity. Animated in a rotoscoped pixel-art style and using dialogue from Chelsea’s online conversations, the film explores issues of personal and political secrets, digital identity and alienation. All dialogue was taken from the real online conversations that Manning had with Adrian Lamo. This was then voiced by actors. This film was created in November 2011, nearly 2 years before Chelsea came out publicly as a trans woman. This was also before her chosen name “Chelsea” became public knowledge. 2012, color, 5:30
* James Baldwin #1-#5 by Marco Kane Braunschweiler
Marco Kane Braunschweiler is a Swiss-American artist based in Los Angeles. In James Baldwin #1-#5, Braunschweiler strips away the image of writer James Baldwin, leaving a white shifting silhouette of his likeness against a black background to content with his disembodied voice. 2014, HD video, 4:11
* Portrait #2: Trojan, by Vanessa Renwick
The Trojan Nuclear Power Plant, with its 499-foot tall cooling tower that loomed over its otherwise bucolic Columbia river setting, is the only commercial nuclear power plant ever built in the state of Oregon, at the cost of $450 million in the 1970's economy (almost 3 trillion dollars in today’s money). Beset by environmental concerns and citizen protest from the moment it began operations in 1975, resting in close proximity to a fault line, suffering unplanned closures due to leaking steam tubes and other operating issues, and shortly after Portland General Electric spent $4.5 million to defeat a ballot measure to shut the reactor down, the plant finally closed for good in 1993, after only 17 years in operation. At 7:00 am on May 21, 2006, in the first ever implosion of a cooling tower at a reactor plant in the United States, with the river and its denizens as witness, Trojan fell.  Portrait #2: Trojan is a sublime representation of the surrounding environment leading dramatically up to the moment of demolition. Sam Coomes’ flawless score provides stunning sonic context for the happy ending of the Oregon nuclear skyline. The film is an effective prescription in prevention of politically-triggered anxiety and depression in post-modern Cascadia. 2006, 5 minutes, 35mm to SD video.


78/52
2017, 91 min, Dir: Alexandre O. Philippe
The shower scene in PSYCHO is accepted as one of director Alfred Hitchcock’s most masterful achievements, both technically and in terms of storytelling. This new documentary puts the scene under a microscope, covering its every angle with expert interviews and technical analysis. Through personal stories from filmmakers, actors and fans ranging from Elijah Wood to Peter Bogdanovich, this meditation and celebration of Hitchcock and his legendary shocker paints a picture of a late-’50s film world on the brink of change and shows how PSYCHO delivered that change.


WALKING THE EDGE
Jackie Brown’s Robert Forster is a cabby pushed past the breaking point when he picks up Nancy Kwan, a desperate woman on the hunt for vengeance, in the tough, ultra-violent crime thriller Walking the Edge. Brought together by chance, the unlikely pair must unite to survive the mean streets of Los Angeles and outgun the vicious gang of killers, led by Maniac’s Joe Spinell, that’s hot on their heels. Dir. Norbert Meisel, 1985, 94 mins.


WIPEOUT!
Calling all Italian genre film fans: Fernando Di Leo’s Wipeout (aka The Boss) is a vicious, gritty & uncompromising mafia masterpiece mixing poliziotteschi thrills with true-to-life mob brutality. When a gangland assassin (the unmistakable Henry Silva) uses a bomb to decimate a rival clan, the lone survivor (Pier Paolo Capponi from Argento’s The Cat o’ Nine Tails) vows vengeance against the hit man and his employers, resulting in an explosive war that threatens to engulf them all. Yes, a lot of people are going to die and only one can truly be The Boss! Featuring The Godfather’s Richard Conte and New Bev fave Gianni Garko, plus an amazing score by frequent Di Leo collaborator Luis Bacalov! Dir. Fernando Di Leo, 1973, 100 mins.

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