November 2002 |
|
Canadian Premier: Daniel Krauss'
Jefftowne
With Jeff Towne, William Shatner, and Hulk Hogan
JEFFTOWNE is a film about Jeff Towne, a 38-year-old man with Down's Syndrome. Jeff is a controversial character, directly in opposition to the child-like, sympathetic handicap so often seen in the media. Instead, Jeff drinks heavily, indulges in pornography, and occasionally engages in petty theft. The film follows approximately one year in Jeff's life. He spends part of his time with his 96-year-old adopted mother, Genevieve. She is wheelchair-bound, plays her organ in her free time, and tries with little success to communicate with Jeff, who can only speak through grunts. She desperately pins their financial future on the certainty that they will win the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes. Jeff spends the rest of his days at the local mall movie theater. The employees there have become a sort of surrogate family for Jeff. They watch out for him and joke around with him. Their casualness with Jeff is sometimes startling - they ridicule him gently as they would with any friend. To outsiders this can, and does truly shock. The film follows Jeff's daily routine and daily troubles, including his poor leg circulation and constant dental troubles. It also follows several high points in Jeff's life, including his encounters with two celebrities - William Shatner and Hulk Hogan. JEFFTOWNE is unflinching, but compassionate. It shows Jeff as he is - not perfect, but undeniably Jeff. "Intensely human, fascinating, challenges our presumptions... The ultimate film of the Downs Syndrome demographic." - PAPER
Friday, November 1 at 8:30pm
Saturday, November 2 at 8:30pm
Sunday, November 3 at 8:30pm
Tuesday, November 5 at 8:30pm
Wednesday, November 6 at 8:30pm | 
|
Cineworks Presents
Prison Celluloid
Curated by Glen Sanford
Cineworks presents, with guest curator Glen Sanford (Director of
USELESS), an evening that looks into the world of incarceration and the role
of media artists who explore issues around loss of liberty, confinement and
conditioning. This program of moving images juxtaposes the photographic poetry
of Martin de Valk's WITHIN THE WALLS
with Sarah Zammit's chilling CORPORATE
LOCKDOWN. Also on the program are PALE ANGUISH KEEPS by Julie Belmas and
YOU DON'T LOOK FOR STREET SIGNS by
Paul Rosdy. Filmmakers and former
inmates will be in attendance. (Note early showtime of 7:30pm)
Thursday, November 7 at 7:30pm | 
| "Doc In the House"
The Spirit Wrestlers
With Jim Hamm
The Doukhobors believed in the life of the soul over material goods; they were pacifists and vegetarians who followed the spirit of Christianity as it was written in the heart, not in books. In 1899 they fled from Russian persecution and came to Canada to build a Christian community dedicated to Toil and peaceful life. Instead they faced a century of forced assimilation policies, including the seizure of their children. Their resistance led to escalating clashes with successive governments that resulted in the most sustained campaign of terrorist bombings and burnings ever seen in Canada. In this remarkable film, director Jim Hamm interviews Doukhobors, retired RCMP officers, and historians and, combined with extraordinary archival material, presents the complex history of a community struggling to live by its beliefs. In the process, he exposes some shocking abuses of power by the Canadian government. The film is presented by the director JIM HAMM, a Vancouver writer, producer and director of award winning political, environmental and social documentaries. (DOC IN THE HOUSE is a new monthly series sponsored by the Canadian Independent Film Caucus, curated and hosted by Clancy Dennehy)
Friday, November 8 at 8:30pm | 
| Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
PLUS: A History of Barbie Commercials Through the Ages
This is it, the one you keep asking for! The long-banned underground
classic from the director of POISON, SAFE and
VELVET GOLDMINE, Todd Hayne's SUPERSTAR
chronicles Karen Carpenter's rise to stardom and untimely death from a heart
attack due to anorexia and bulimia. Using Barbie dolls as characters, Karen's
face is sanded and puttied to portray her weight loss, while faces of family
members are similarly distorted to visualize the sinister family structure
playing into Karen's illness. Haynes juxtaposes this American dream gone wrong
with the bubble gum soundtrack of the Carpenter's pop music. While this
sing-along audio resonates in the viewer's mind, it ultimately led to litigation
by the Carpenter family, preventing this film from ever being released. Using
the life of a popular icon to discuss a multitude of issues (the problem of star
making in the United States, the political context of artistic endeavors, the
family as a structure of tyranny, and the complexity of internalization from the
female who is acting out) SUPERSTAR manages to be heart
wrenching, touching and funny. The film will be preceded by early commercials
from the sixties and seventies for Mattel's Barbie doll...
Saturday, November 9 at 8:30pm | 
| Eye of Newt Play Live To
Werner Herzog's Fata Morgana
"I have not stopped searching on my quest for images," says Werner
Herzog at the end of his commentary to his remarkable early film FATA MORGANA. Visionary filmmakers
aren't often able to put their search in such bold and blatant terms, but
grandiosity is one of Herzog's most identifiable trademarks. Luckily, he's also
an astonishing talent, traversing feature film and documentary territory with
ease and uniqueness. From odd animal life to undulating sand dunes to rotting
carcasses, FATA MORGANA is awash in
strange, funny, terrible, and beautiful visions. With its seductive sand,
bizarre desert creatures and trick-of-the-light views of the landscapes, the
images are certainly in force. Herzog describes his creation myth movie as "a
science-fiction elegy of demented colonialism." Don't miss this incredible
custom-composition-accompaniment with THE EYE OF NEWT!
Sunday, November 10 at 8:30pm | 
| ICTV Presents
A Night of Political Programming
As a warm-up to the November 16th municipal elections, ICTV presents
a program of issues, both current and past, affecting Vancouver area residents.
First are current controversies such as the Woodward's building, military action
in Iraq and racism. The more things change, the more they remain the same. Next
is a dip into the East Side Story archive. Political personalities from the past
20 years talk about their concerns and dreams for the future of the city. Hear
from Harry Rankin, Mike Harcourt, George Puil, Libby Davies and others. See the
early days of Skytrain, the ward system and social housing activism. If we don't
know where we're going, we might not get there. ICTV is a non-profit community
television co-operative.
Tuesday, November 12 at 8:30pm | 
| Emile de Antonio's
Painters Painting
"Finally an intelligent film about how artists think and work. I don't see how it would be possible ever again to teach a course in modern painting without using Painter's Painting".-Henry Geldzahler.
In this classic of documentaries on painting, Emile de Antonio, best known for his overtly political documentaries, interviews his close friends like Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg about how traditional painting-in-a-frame becomes abstract modern art, where the limits are conceptual, not formal. "Everything I learned about painting, I learned from De," Andy Warhol said about his friend, who famously drank himself unconscious in Warhol's film Drink. De Antonio makes the point that in America, painters are often considered to be merely arbiters of taste, patronized only by the affluent and each other. This film interviews the artists informally in their studios where they talk about their influences, processes, ambitions and place in time. The artists included: Willem de Kooning, Helen Franthaler, Hans Hoffman, Jasper Johns, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Kenneth Noland, Jule Olitski, Philip Pavia, Larry Poons, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol. PAINTER'S PAINTING blazes a creative path to the exact issues that set the abstract expressionists alight. These mid-20th-century American painters - explored at the height of their glory in this film are spellbinding, and crucial to understanding the art world of today. Nowhere are their way-out ideas related in a more down-to-earth fashion. (1972, 116 mins, 16mm)
Wednesday, November 13 at 8:30pm | 
| Kevin Spenst Presents
Mr. Otto Bio Graffiti: Multi-Media Mindfuck
Is MR. OTTO BIOGRAFFITI a
comic book? Is it a collection of live music performances? Is it a
combination of video and real honest to goodness in the flesh acting? Is it
simply a chance for you to pee yourself with joy, wonder and amusement?
Yes, yes, yes and yes. It is all those things and more. Ostensibly, the
story of Mr. Otto Biograffiti is about a hard-working, multi-tasking,
son-of-a-bitch of a man who wakes up one morning to find his testicles missing,
but really the story is about us all and how sometimes we misplace those things
that we cherish the most.
Thursday, November 14 at 8:30pm | 
| Back by Popular Demand: Deep Blue Funk Presents
Radiohead VS The Matrix
From the folks who brought you DARK SIDE OF THE RAINBOW and JACOB'S WEENER comes the return engagement of this melding of music and image in the form of RADIOHEAD and THE MATRIX. This evening's strategy is to synchronize the entire library of Radiohead recordings to start together (on separate CD players) at the beginning of the thoroughly entertaining, visually engrossing and paranoia-inducing THE MATRIX. As the film plays, the music will be drawn in and out of the mix as each album unfolds simultaneously, magically blending with the images in serendipitous synchronizations. Come with an open mind and a willingness to let it all go http://www.deepbluefunkfilms.com
Friday, November 15 at 8:30pm | 
| Orchestral Amazement With
Suffering and the Hideous Thieves
+ Blood Meridian
Hailing from Seattle comes the 7-piece band known as Suffering and the Hideous Thieves. Features members of The Prom, Raft of Dead Monkeys, and Red Star Theories. Prepare to be serenaded in by cinematic visual accompaniment to songs such as "Sex is Dead" and others off their newest release, "Real Panic Formed". For the past couple of years, local music fans and critics have been enjoying the drama and black humor of Suffering and the Hideous Thieves' startling live shows. Joining them are Vancouver's own Blood Meridian. Prepare to be shocked by BM's graphic visual accompaniment to their sensual dark music. Piano, slide-guitar, drum, and bass come together to give this band their unique moody sound. Enjoy!
Saturday, November 16 at 8:30pm | 
| Shifting Light: Films by David Rimmer
Filmmaker In Person
Rimmer's concentration on surface texture and grain, and his attentiveness to shifting light patterns provoke a metaphysical tension that is the real subject of his films. Like a time-bomb uniquely poised between stasis and movement (Ian Birnie)
David Rimmer's distinctive and emotionally resonant body of work is at once subtle, structurally meticulous, and profoundly moving. Truly a local living legend, he remains one of Canada's foremost experimental filmmakers. We are thrilled to have David appear in person with a collection of some of his most celebrated works as well as more recently completed hand coloured films, including FISH SCALES FOR STAN BRAKHAGE. Featured will be his classic VARIATIONS ON A CELLOPHANE WRAPPER (8.5 min. 1970) "The most exciting non-narrative film I've ever seen...the film resembles a painting floating through time, its subject disappearing and re-emerging in various degrees of abstraction." (VillageVoice); BEAUBOURG BOOGIE-WOOGIE (5 min. 1992) a whirlwind tour of one of Europe's most famous art museums, with swirling visuals choreographed to boogie-woogie music by Dennis Burke; BRICOLAGE (10 min. 1984) Using found footage of the Queen, an old radio, a scene from a fifties movie, and phrases that are repeated, echoed, and transformed electronically, Rimmer presents another in his series of meditations on the nature of the cinematic image; REAL ITALIAN PIZZA (13 min. 1971) selected moments from eight months of street life outside a Manhattan pizza parlour, as seen from a fourth-floor loft. "People coming and going, changes in weather, light. My first dramatic film." (D.R.); DIVINE MANNEQUIN (7 min. 1989) A ravishing study of a runner's pace, "Divine Mannequin combines the media qualities of video and film to create the graphic quality of an animated charcoal line drawing.. (Maria Insell); AS SEEN ON TV (11 mins 1986) foregrounds the aesthetic nature of the television/cinematic medium by manipulating its pictoral qualities - image grain, scan lines, and its luminous colour; Local Knowledge (33 min. 1992) "...Shatters the comforting dualities of nature/culture, public/private, home/away, time/space. Yet in place of easy references to apocalypse, the film suggests a simultaneously wondrous and dangerous world in flux a relentless voyage into the present, a territory too little inhabited. (Colin Browne)
Sunday, November 17 at 8:30pm | 
|
BYO8: Bring Your Own Film
Tonight is the night - bring that film down! Found footage, old home
movies, student projects, recent masterworks, and self-aware nods to the night
itself (we like those). Here is your monthly opportunity to screen it to the
public, and a generous lot they are, so be unafraid! We accept works under 10
minutes on DVD, VHS, Super 8 and 16mm. Deal at the door if you're
carrying!
Tuesday, November 19 at 8:30pm | 
| Joint Effort Presents
On the Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz
Alcatraz Is Not an Island
For thousands of Native Americans, the infamous Alcatraz is not an
island...it is an inspiration. After generations of oppression,
assimilation, and near genocide, a small group of Native American students and
"Urban Indians" began the occupation of Alcatraz Island in November of
1969. They were eventually joined by thousands of Native Americans,
retaking "Indian land" for the first time since the 1880s. ALCATRAZ IS NOT AN ISLAND is the story of how this historic event altered U.S. Government Indian policy and programs, and how it forever
changed the way Native Americans viewed themselves, their culture and their
sovereign rights. Thirty years after the take over of Alcatraz, this documentary
provides the first in-depth look at the history, politics, personalities and cultural reawakening behind this historic event, which sparked a new era of Native American political empowerment, and a cultural renaissance. (Dir: James
Fortier, 2001 60 mins)
Joint Effort is a women in prison support group and
operates from an abolitionist perspective and volunteer with the prisoners at Burnaby Correctional Centre for Women.For more information check out the website at www.vcn.bc.ca/august10/jointeffort.html
Wednesday, November 20 at 8:30pm | 
| The Fifth Annual
Vancouver Underground Film Festival
Four solid days of films and videos as well as web-based art, guerilla film
events, panel discussions, parties and music. Program guides are available the
second week of November for FREE at The Blinding Light!! Cinema as well as at
select locations around town. Call for programs near you!
See here for
complete program listings.
Thursday, November 21 at various times
Friday, November 22 at various times
Saturday, November 23 at various times
Sunday, November 24 at various times | 
| The Criminal Cinema in Association with the Yerba Buena Center For the Arts Presents:
Walking Wounded: The Films of Lech Kowalski
"The American underground's answer to Werner Herzog" -Filmmaker Magazine
The Criminal Cinema is proud to present the first-ever Canadian retrospective of the films of Lech Kowalski, organised with the assistance of San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Kowalski has spent over two decades in darkness, documenting underground personalities and cultures. His films are raw, unflinching portraits of gritty, black-eyed and snaggle-toothed drug and punk scenes. His work is often overwhelmingly intense, conjuring up a phantasmagorical yet entirely realistic vision of a nightmarish underworld. (all notes courtesy of Joel Shepard/Yerba Buena Center for the Arts)
Gringo (Story of a Junkie)
Gringo follows the title character John Spacely, a fixture on the streets of the Lower East Side. His daily routine takes him on a never-ending search for dope and finding a safe spot to read comic books. The scenes of narcotic dealing and using are totally unglamorized, as are those individuals who populate the streets of this closed (at the time) community. (1984 85 mins)
Tuesday Nov. 26th at 7:30pm
Saturday Nov. 30th at 7:30pm
TBA: see print program
Tuesday Nov. 26th at 9:30pm
Sunday Dec. 1st at 7:30pm
Boot Factory
"Imagine if the Sex Pistols made boots instead of music," says the director. His film is about Krakow bootmakers who run their business like punk rockers, living by their own rules, making boots by hand and bobbing their heads in unison to the songs of their favourite bands. As they struggle to keep their tiny business going amid drunken parties, marriage and drug addiction, Kowalski reveals the simmering tension of their lives and the release they find in music. (2000, 88m)
Wednesday Nov 27 at 7:30pm
D.O.A.
D.O.A. is the best and most authentic punk film ever made. A brash, intense document of the first US Sex Pistols tour in 1978, featuring live performances by the Sex Pistols, The Rich Kids, X-Ray Spex, Sham 69 and Generation X. Preceded by the short film Breakdance Test. (1980 89 mins)
Wednesday Nov 27 at 9:30pm
Saturday Nov 30 at 9:30pm
Rock Soup
Rock Soup is a dirty, haunting look at the homeless in Tompkins Square Park and their fight against City Hall's plan to close down their soup kitchen. (1991 81 mins)
Preceded by the short film Chico and the People
Thursday Nov 28 at 7:30pm
Hey is Dee Dee Home?
A work-in-progress, Hey is Dee Dee Home is an intense portrait of Dee Dee Ramone, bassist and one of the founding members of seminal punk band The Ramones, who died of a drug overdose in June 2002. (2002 90 mins)
Thursday Nov 28 at 9:30pm
Sunday Dec 1 at 9:45pm
|
| Director Harry Kemball and Artists ManWoman In Person With
Manwoman & The Paperbag Catholix
A spiritual Andy Warhol. Utilizing the purest idealism of the Sixties as his base matter, ManWoman alchemically transmutes eternal ideas such as Love and Death into technically dazzling post-Pop Art paradigms." RESEARCH
MANWOMAN is the infamous and fully tattooed BC-based visionary and transformational Pop artist. On a mission to educate about the sexual/spiritual experience, death, rebirth and ecstasy, he is also on a quest to cleanse the swastika of its marred status. Don't miss this rare chance to catch the original 16mm documentary on this local legend. Produced in 1975, this film is not only a slice of bizarre and thoroughly engaging local art history, but also a snapshot of a psychedelic and spiritual place and time. Featuring wild interpretations of MANWOMAN's artwork, psychotropic visuals and frank interviews, it is apparent why this artist continues to intrigue and shock with his art and vision.
Director HARRY KEMBALL will appear in person to introduce the film and artist MANWOMAN will also be in attendance with copies of his new autobiography on sale! Don't miss this!!
Friday, November 29 at 8:30pm |
|
The Criminal Cinema in Association with the Yerba Buena Center For the Arts Presents:
Walking Wounded: The Films of Lech Kowalski
"The American underground's answer to Werner Herzog" -Filmmaker Magazine
The Criminal Cinema is proud to present the first-ever Canadian retrospective of the films of Lech Kowalski, organised with the assistance of San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Kowalski has spent over two decades in darkness, documenting underground personalities and cultures. His films are raw, unflinching portraits of gritty, black-eyed and snaggle-toothed drug and punk scenes. His work is often overwhelmingly intense, conjuring up a phantasmagorical yet entirely realistic vision of a nightmarish underworld. (all notes courtesy of Joel Shepard/Yerba Buena Center for the Arts)
Gringo (Story of a Junkie)
Gringo follows the title character John Spacely, a fixture on the streets of the Lower East Side. His daily routine takes him on a never-ending search for dope and finding a safe spot to read comic books. The scenes of narcotic dealing and using are totally unglamorized, as are those individuals who populate the streets of this closed (at the time) community. (1984 85 mins)
Tuesday Nov. 26th at 7:30pm
Saturday Nov. 30th at 7:30pm
TBA: see print program
Tuesday Nov. 26th at 9:30pm
Sunday Dec. 1st at 7:30pm
Boot Factory
"Imagine if the Sex Pistols made boots instead of music," says the director. His film is about Krakow bootmakers who run their business like punk rockers, living by their own rules, making boots by hand and bobbing their heads in unison to the songs of their favourite bands. As they struggle to keep their tiny business going amid drunken parties, marriage and drug addiction, Kowalski reveals the simmering tension of their lives and the release they find in music. (2000, 88m)
Wednesday Nov 27 at 7:30pm
D.O.A.
D.O.A. is the best and most authentic punk film ever made. A brash, intense document of the first US Sex Pistols tour in 1978, featuring live performances by the Sex Pistols, The Rich Kids, X-Ray Spex, Sham 69 and Generation X. Preceded by the short film Breakdance Test. (1980 89 mins)
Wednesday Nov 27 at 9:30pm
Saturday Nov 30 at 9:30pm
Rock Soup
Rock Soup is a dirty, haunting look at the homeless in Tompkins Square Park and their fight against City Hall's plan to close down their soup kitchen. (1991 81 mins)
Preceded by the short film Chico and the People
Thursday Nov 28 at 7:30pm
Hey is Dee Dee Home?
A work-in-progress, Hey is Dee Dee Home is an intense portrait of Dee Dee Ramone, bassist and one of the founding members of seminal punk band The Ramones, who died of a drug overdose in June 2002. (2002 90 mins)
Thursday Nov 28 at 9:30pm
Sunday Dec 1 at 9:45pm
|
December 2002 (top) | 
| The Blue Pony Videos of King Anderson
King Anderson works with the pictures that pour into his brain - a hands-on
recycling, stream of consciousness exorcism dealing withthe avalanche of
images that we all swim through on a daily basis. Juxtaposing the silent
language of moving pictures with evocative musical sound tracks and beyond,
King's videos speak to the destructive power that the world at large contains,
while simultaneously reflecting the creative energy of the individuals who make
art on this space station called Earth. Tonight, expect the unexpected and
everything in between. On screen are: Fate Of Universe, an homage to 80 years of science fiction
movies; Lateral Drifter, in which
William Burroughs reads The Road To The Western Lands while channel surfing; Non Sequitur, a home-brewed, erotically
charged, dada, beat, surreal, cut-up, montage homage to William Burroughs and
Salvador Dali
PLUS: What In
Tarnation?, Slo-Mo Vid-Rip, Gone Dead Train, The Sculptures of Peter
Shaughnessy, Art Seen In
Seattle and more
Remember, the show starts at
8pm with the COSMIC SLIDE SHOW!
Tuesday, December 3 at 8:00pm | 
| Seppo Renvall In Person With
Film 1999
Live Accompaniment by Hellenkeller
We are very pleased to have visiting Finnish artist SEPPO RENVALL appear in person with his
self-described anti-film FILM
1999. Well known in his home country, Renvall works in the areas of
experimental video, installation and situations. His work has shown at two
separate Venice Biennales as well as at countless film festivals worldwide. FILM 1999carries the honour of
beingthe first Finnish experimental full-length feature film. The film is
pure stream of consciousness, and was created to be accompanied by varying live
or DJ music. It has screened to wide acclaim with a variety of musicians'
participation in Mexico, Rio, and Germany among other countries. FILM 1999 has no plot and in the
tradition of structuralist film, the focus is on images, sound and form. The
pictures are a part of my diary, and I take some every now and then. One picture
per day, that is the only limit." This evening, local ambient sound masters HELLENKELLER will grace us with their
audio creations as the film unwinds (This screening organized by Ian Toews,
with thanks to the Finnish Art Council)
Wednesday, December 4 at 8:30pm | 
| Strange Grey Days This
"Docs In the House"
With Colin
Preston
Released in 1964 when bill bissett was living and working in
Vancouver, this is an intimate portrait of the well-known poet and
painter who talks about his daily life, his dealings with the art worldand
the sometimes hostile reactions he receivesin the community. He is seen at
VancouverPublic Library, strolling the city streets,working in his
studio and sketching on the beach. The film will be introduced by CBC Film
Archivist COLIN PRESTON. (DOC IN THE HOUSE is a monthly series sponsored by the Canadian
Independent Film Caucus, curated and hosted by Clancy
Dennehy.)
Thursday, December 5 at 8:30pm | 
| Never Mind the Osbournes, Here's the IMVF!
Indie Music Video Festival
Cinestir/AM (the folks who brought you The Widower and
Before Year Zero) and co-conspirators Rumbletone
Productions proudly unveil The First Annual IMVF (Indie Music
Video Festival), the ultimate cure for your Much Music Malaise. The
Festival's premiere features a hand picked collection of music videos from 50
independent artists. Cross-genre and cross-continent, be the first to witness
this startling array of rock, pop, punk, alt country electronic, karaoke,
gothic, psychedelic, jazz and avant-garde music clips from the metropolises and
backwaters of North America. The Fest runs for two nights, 2 screenings a night,
with a different program each night. Come both evenings to see 'em
all!
(Special two-day tickets are
available and encouraged)
This mix of unseen, rarely seen and
must-be-seen videos from the creamiest of the indie crop will be topped off by
fine live entertainment from even finer surprise guests.
NOT TO BE MISSED!
NOTE: 8 & 10 pm showings, live entertainment 7:30pm.
Tickets $7, Fest pass $12 (BL!!C
membership required) ADVANCE TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE AT THE BL!!C
Friday, December 6 at 8pm & 10pm
Saturday, December 7 at 8pm & 10pm |
| Performance Works!
From ECIAD
Please join us to witness some very provocative and engaging works
mounted by Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design's senior performance class.
Pushing the boundaries of the definitions of performance as well as of what is
and is not art, expect live performance, performance through video/film and
other surprises
Sunday, December 8 at 8:30pm | 
| David Yonge Presents
The Return of Smell-O-Vision!
Plus Very Special Guests
Ever wonder what it would be like to smell the scene that your
favorite actor inhabits? Neither have we, but David Yonge has. Tonight, Yonge
will use past and present popular films, as well as a fan, hotplate and aerosol
cans to create smells that will leave you breathless, hopefully more from
laughter than gagging. Included are clips from Cast Away, Casablanca, and the Wizard of
Oz with a grand finale you'll have to smell to believe!
NOTE The last show was packed to the rafters so arrive early if you
want a seat for this project's FINAL screening. Smell what you have been
missing!
Preceded by: Yellow Diablo
Shockumentary
This short documentary captures an even shorter career by a masked
wrestler's battle with inanimate objects such as kitchen sinks, televisions and
washing machines. On an unsuspecting downtown audience, Yello Diablo squared off
with his toughest opponent a 1980 Camaro!
Tuesday, December 10 at 8:30pm | 
| Chris Chase Presents
Best of Olyfest 19
An exclusive collection of treasures from OlyFest 19 (The Olympia Film Festival) courtesy of programmer at large CHRIS CHASE, this is a truly excellent program of short films and videos culled from the juried Cine-X with select samples from special festival guests. Former TV Weather illustrator-cum-filmmaker George Kuchar's tempestous WILD NIGHT IN EL RENO (1977) rides out the storm in Oklahoma, paired with a short video documention of this year's Oly Fest by George Kuchar and his favorite new toy, a $799 mini-DV camera. Also Peter Hutton's superb b/w NEW YORK PORTRAIT III (1990), Jon Behren's stunning handpainted film FLICKERING OF THE MIND'S EYE (2001) and cross-country experiments ALL SAINTS DAY I & II (2001-2) (with Joel Schlemowitz); a super 8 film by Jason Gutz THE STRANGER (2001), along with Denise Smith's quasi-onanistic THIGHMASTERBATION (2002); Matt Mccormick's 16mm found kodachrome GOIN TO THE OCEAN (2002); And finally, Harrell Fletcher's video THE FORBIDDEN ZONE (2000) revisits a classic early Star Trek episode on Talos 4.
Wednesday, December 11 at 8:30pm | 
| BYO8: Bring Your Own Film
The Voyeur Edition
In this tribute to the home-made movie we are asking for your most intimate and
up-close home movies: puppet madness, pixelporn, self-analysis, personal
obsessions, ego-rants and paranoid personals. Grab your beaten down VHS
camcorder or that old Super 8 under the bed and tell us your problems, expose
your favorite parts and give us your best profile. We like to watch, and so do
you: a fair exchange!
NOTE: Under 10 minutes please, VHS, 16mm,
DVD and Super 8 accepted, and only $3 to get in with a film! (plus membership,
but you probably have one by now, right?)
Thursday, December 12 at 8:30pm | 
| Eye of Newt Play Live to
The Match Factory Girl
Iris has a dead-end job in a match-factory, lives with her dour and
forbidding parents, and her social life is a disaster. But when she is made
pregnant after a one-night stand by a man who thought she was a prostitute, she
decides that enough is enough and plans her revenge... In its effortless
refusal to cater to anything, it achieves a sort of weird serenity, a
devil-may-care grace. (Washington Post) Don't miss this smartly understated and
deadpan gem from Finland's driest filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki, with the
ever-talented EYE OF NEWT in tow!
Friday, December 13 at 8:30pm | 
| Multiplex Grand in:
The Sound - It's the Sound!
Those audiovisualist anti-stylists at the Multiplex Grand headquarters are
back for their last show of 2002 in an epic battle between ear, eye, sound and
light. Featuring a meshing of high and low tech both in the audio and visual
realms MG will mesmerize and mystify with their hypnotic rhythms and
hyper-layered visuals. Expect surprise ever-talented guests as is the
norm...
Saturday, December 14 at 8:30pm |
| Two's a Crowd:
ECIAD 2nd Year 16mm Film Screening
Come on down and find out what our future filmmakers have been up to
as we unspool over a dozen brand new short 16mm films for your viewing pleasure
straight outta the brainmatter of this year's second year film students at
ECIAD. With subjects ranging from gothic horror to unrequited love, most of
these have had their finishing touches put on them mere hours before you see
them here! Last year this show was packed, so get here early!
Sunday, December 15 at 8:30pm |
| Xmas Holiday
Tuesday, December 17 to Thursday, January 16
We are on holiday until the new year - Have a great break, happy new year, and see you in 2003!
|
January 2003 (top) |
| Schlock!
Canadian Premiere!
The Secret History of American Movies
"Vastly entertaining" (LA Weekly)
"Riveting" (Glue Magazine)
"Remarkable... destined surely for cult status" (The Hollywood Reporter)
Think you know everything about movies? Think again. From the teen-themed horror
flicks of the 1950s to the "nudie-cuties" and "roughies" of the 1960s, SCHLOCK!
The Secret History of American Movies is an investigation of exploitation
movies and their influence. Filmmaker Ray Greene persuasively makes a
case that our past cinematic dickens, as it were, have come home to roost.
And while there's no denying that ogling footage from such obscure films as "
Nude on the Moon" is enough to interest fans of cinematic
fringe work, Greene and a dozen or so interviewees - from L.A. critic and
screenwriter F.X. Feeney to the country's most prolific female feature director,
Doris Wishman - are realistic about the artistic merits of the films in question
and a little in awe of how they opened up markets the major studios subsequently
co-opted. Other participants include Forrest J Ackerman, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Roger
Corman, David F. Friedman, Dick Miller, Harry Novak and Maila Nurmi, who helped
provoke the onslaught of lurid, gory horror flicks when she first appeared as TV
movie host Vampira in 1954. Starting with 1936's "Reefer Madness
," which Greene shows us has become a stage musical that adds to its reputation
as the epitome of bad taste and bad filmmaking, Schlock! covers
a lot of ground. (THR) (90 mins 2001)
Friday, January 17 at 8:30pm
Saturday, January 18 at 8:30pm
Sunday, January 19 at 8:30pm |
| Guy Debord's
Society of the Spectacle
Debord's incisive and unrelenting film Society of the Spectacle
seems more relevant now than ever as it explores the very essence of our
culture's sleep-walking complicity in maintaining an ignorance of the
blood-soaked impact of commodity culture, while remaining in apolitical awe of
its spectacle. Society of the Spectacle is an intense and
densely packed montage assembled out of "detourned" images from feature films,
pornography, commercials and news footage.
"Few groups have had as profound an
impact on French culture as the Situationist Internationale with its
unparalleled interrogation of political and cultural relations. While the
writing of leading Situationist Guy Debord has become the cornerstone of
postmodernism, his paintings, artist books, and films remain unknown." (Keith
Sanborn, translator/subtitles)
"Debord's analysis of a society suspended inside
the free space of the commodity infiltrates every frame." (Steve Seid, PFA)
Tuesday, January 21 at 8:30pm |
| Nanook of the North
Eye of Newt Play Live to
Mover over Atanarjuat! Join The Eye Of Newt as they orchestrate sounds to this silent classic. Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North (1922) documents one year in the life of Nanook, an Eskimo (Inuit) and his family, as they struggle to survive in the harsh conditions of Canada's Hudson Bay region. The film describes the trading, hunting, fishing and migrations of a group barely touched by industrial technology. While Nanook of the North was widely shown and praised as the first full-length, anthropological documentary in cinematographic history, it is critically revisited to this day in discussions of documentary filmmaking practice. Enormously popular when released in 1922, Nanook of the North is truly a cinematic milestone.
Wednesday, January 22 at 8:30pm |
| Canadian Premiere: Doug Hawes-Davis'
This Is Nowhere
"Powerful... The film paints a disturbing, almost tragic, portrait of people looking for something different, yet wanting everything to be the same (Arthur Stamoulis)
There are about 2.8 million people that live full time in motor homes and trailers, and we all love Wal-Marts!" (Interviewee)
Each year tens of thousands of travelers steer their RVs into Wal-Mart parking lots to "camp" for a night or two. Not because they have to. Rather, because they want to. Just as they seek out national parks and historic sites, RV travelers have marked Wal-Mart stores as travel destinations. Full of irony, This is Nowhere humorously captures the essence of American attitudes toward nature, equality, and civic values as it documents RV travelers' interactions with landscape, technology, communities, and each other. The beauty of these portraits is that we can see a little of ourselves in these freedom-seekers and recognize their itch the follow-through is where the beauty lies. (87 mins, 2002)
Thursday, January 23 at 8:30pm
Friday, January 24 at 8:30pm |
| Westcoast Premiere: Sarah George's
Catching Out
The phrase 'Catching Out' describes the act of hopping a freight
train. In the documentary film "Catching Out," the adventure
begins on the porch of a grainer hurtling through the arid expanse of the Mojave
Desert and continues into the unconventional terrain of an American sub-culture.
The film features a seasoned eco-activist named Lee, a young nomad named
Jessica, and a tramp couple named Switch and Baby Girl. In three interwoven
stories, "Catching Out" follows these contemporary trainhoppers
as they navigate between the constraints of society and the freedom of the road.
Cutting between synch-sound interviews and incredibly beautiful train footage of
the American landscape, the characters share their thoughts and insights. As
their personal stories unfold, the rails recede into the background: we visit
Lee's forest home, meet his parents, and eventually follow him to a hobo
gathering in Dunsmuir, CA. Jessica settles temporarily in San Francisco where we
meet her friends, her mother, and her sister. Switch and Baby Girl retire from
the rails in order to raise their son Isaiah. The trainhoppers in
"Catching Out" confront the tension between individual freedom
and social conformity juxtaposing the trainhoppers' adopted lifestyle against
the materialism and consumerism of mainstream culture. (80 mins
2001)
Saturday, January 25 at 8:30pm
Sunday, January 26 at 8:30pm |
| Canadian Premiere
Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping
"Though the collar is fake, the call is real." Alisa Solomon, Village Voice
With the oversaturation of information and images, the Disneyfication
of America, and increasing economic polarization and consumer narcosis, how can
one create and deliver messages with social meaning? Reverend Billy, a.k.a. Bill Talen,
is an actor/performance artist and a leading figure within the
anti-globalization movement. His work combines the ideas of social and political
change with the means of theater arts to counteract our media-laden culture. The
film follows the Reverend's "shopping interventions/actions" into cultural dead
zones such as Starbucks, Disney and the New York University construction site at
Poe House.
"The most hilarious and pointed political theater in New York." Jonathan Kalb, New York
Times
Providing a rallying force of resistance to modern-day consumerism,
Reverend Billy revives the Left using fun-as-force movement. (No9 Magazine) (90 mins 2002)
Tuesday, January 28 at 8:30pm
Wednesday, January 29 at 8:30pm | 
| BYO8: Bring Your Own Film
It's open screening time and your big chance to bring us your goods -
Super 8, 16mm, DVD and VHS - we'll show them all. Bring a film and get in for
$3! (10 minutes max please). Tonight we focus on (but don't limit ourselves to)
HOME MOVIES - let's see you in diapers (and don't forget your
membership)!
Thursday, January 30 at 8:30pm |
| Canadian Theatrical Premiere:
Jon Moritsugu's
Scumrock
"Part melodrama, part
comic book, part art-damage assemblage, Jon Moritsugu's films unfold like an
amphetamine-laced car crash... The only thing more brutal and abject than the
films of Jon Moritsugu is real life." (Raygun)
I'm saying 'fuck you' to the digital revolution, digital is just another way for The
Man to keep the brothers and sisters down." Jon Moritsugu
We are pleased to present this latest lurid, low-budget feature by Jon Moritsugu (Fame Whore,
Terminal USA, Mod Fuck Explosion) and his first shot on Hi8 video. Made
with his trademark irreverent aesthetic, Moritsugu exploits video for what it
is: an electronic signal rather than a photographic image. A lo-fi satire about the lives of struggling artists in San
Francisco, Scumrock chronicles the
intertwining stories of a group of Bay area hipsters struggling to be creative
on their own terms. Miles is a struggling filmmaker and record collecting geek
in his late-twenties, freaking out that he's too old. He is about to shoot his
first independent feature film Death, sorta based on the fact that both his
parents were recently killed in a freak car accident. Miles' know-it-all friend
Jelly agrees to produce the flick. She's a student at San Francisco State and
hating every minute of it. Meanwhile on the other side of town, Roxxy and her
punk rock band rehearse for their upcoming comeback gig. Aside from the
pressures of breaking in a new bass player, Roxxy must also contend with the
fact that she can't drive and must rely on her snotty kid brother for rides,
she's 27 and still lives with her folks, and worst of all her real name is the
very uncool Amy. Scumrock features the filmmaker's
usual stock company of players, including leading lady Amy Davis (as Roxxy), the exquisitely
named Victor of Aquitaine, along
with cameos from Bay area filmmaking legends Danny Plotnick, Valerie Soe, and Craig Baldwin. (80 mins 2002)
Friday, January 31 at 8:30pm
Saturday, February 1 at 8:30pm
Sunday, February 2 at 8:30pm |
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