May 2003 |
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DOC IN THE HOUSE presents
THE PANAMA DECEPTION
PRESENTED BY KEN HEGAN
1993 Academy Award, Best Documentary Feature
THE PANAMA DECEPTION documents the untold story of the December 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama; the events which led to it; the excessive force used; the enormity of the death and destruction; and the devastating aftermath. THE PANAMA DECEPTION uncovers the real reasons for this internationally condemned attack, presenting a view of the invasion which widely differs from that portrayed by the U.S. media and exposes how the U.S. government and the mainstream media suppressed information about this foreign policy disaster. The film includes never before seen footage of the invasion and its aftermath, as well as interviews with both invasion proponents. Network news clips and media critics contribute to a staggering analysis of media control and self censorship relevant to any news coverage today, particularly during times of war. 'tough....provocative....moving....beautifully edited' (Vincent Canby, New York Times); 'lays out simply and forcefully the case against the 'official' version' (Peter Rainer, Los Angeles Times). (Dir: Barbara Trent)
KEN HEGAN is a Vancouver filmmaker, National Magazine Award-winning journalist, and a contributor to Rolling Stone magazine
Thursday, May 1 at 8pm |
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WITH ALL HER FUNNY FRIENDS WORDS + MUSIC + VIDEO
VEDA HILLE IS QUEEN OF THE MAY
Join us for two exceptional nights of music and images as local favourite VEDA HILLE and friends ring in the month of May with style, humour and even panache!
Friday May 2 8pm
Veda and her band perform her intimate exploration of science and nature, FIELD STUDY. Inspired by a trip through the Northwest Territories and featuring the Yukon Suite, the performance is accompanied by a commissioned video backdrop by local videowunder Shawn Chappelle. Also featured: performance poet and San Francisco multi-media artist SINI ANDERSON does her thing, and IVAN E. COYOTE graces us with PEE AMERICA!
Saturday May 3 8pm
Veda and her band break out all the favourites new and old, with video accompaniment by Shawn Chappelle and Jon Davies. In from Whitehorse for the occasion, guest KIM BARLOW plays new songs about Keno City, with film by ANDY CONNORS. PLUS: Those suburban misfits p:ano play songs with video they made themselves!
Shows starts at 8pm sharp, doors at 7:30pm, 10 bucks at the door! Advance Tickets available at Zulu and Highlife.
Friday, May 2 at 8pm
Saturday, May 3 at 8pm |
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BILL TAYLOR PRESENTS THE RETURN OF
LOCK UP YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS!
BILL TAYLOR, stalwart BL volunteer and curator at large presents a remounting of his wildly successful and truly astounding rare collection of oddities from a long history of anti-gay educational films first presented in classes and on television. This program has now toured worldwide over the past year to great acclaim. Featured tonight are SOAPY THE GERM FIGHTER: Young Billy is adament that using soap causes 'sissiness', until one night Billy is woken up by a giant talking bar of soap (with frilly sleeves!) to set Billy 'straight'. PERVERSION FOR PROFIT This incredibly rare film, with George Putnam ('Outstanding News Reporter') who blames everything from Lesbianism to S & M on - that's right - 'The Communist Masters Of Deceit'. THE REPORT: THE GAY AGENDA is a classic piece of early 90's hate propaganda which trots out scientists, pseudo-doctors spewing out percentages on how many homosexuals like anal sex, and our favorite, ex-gay ministry spokespeople to provide a very warped and skewed universe. This tape was used my religious organizations to warn everybody from small town folk, The US Capitol, to the US Marines to prove the evil goings-on of homosexuals. Also featured will be Anti-Disney Perversion Videos and Once Upon A Honeymoon ('Far From Heaven' meets the industrial film!). PLUS: MARK KENNET WOODS appears IN PERSON with his hilarious response to Putnam with THE HETEROSEXUAL AGENDA.
Sunday, May 4 at 8pm |
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ECIAD SECOND YEAR VIDEO ART & FILM
Join us for screenings of the latest from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design's VIDEO ART and FILM classes. Teachers VELCROW RIPPER and HEATHER FRISE present their students' works at 7pm, followed by CRAIG BERGGOLD's film class at 9pm with an evening they have called TUESDAY NIGHT MAKE-OUT AT THE MOVIES. Ranging from the abstract to documentary and narrative works, see the artists of tomorrow today!
Tuesday, May 6 at 7&9pm |
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BEAT SUPER 8 SOLILOQUIES
BEAT SUPER 8 SOLILOQUIES
LIVE WITH DJ RICHARD VERMUELEN
Don't miss this special presentation by Toronto-based artist PEGGY ANNE BERTON and the very talented DJ RICHARD VERMUELEN. Berton has shot and amassed hundreds of reels of Super 8 film along with hundreds of stories to tell personal, insightful, sometimes tragic but always thoroughly engaging. Intimate and genuine, Peggy Anne's performance is not unlike a screening of home movies in the family living room, but the level of commitment and engagement to the images and the stories they spawn creates a drama of a live lived and living like no other. 'She projects them in hypnotic slow motionlike Peggy Anne herself, it is all funny, but fairly intense.' (Lola Magazine)
Wednesday, May 7 at 8pm |
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JIM FINN AND DEAN RANK IN PERSON
MEN AND ANIMALS FILM TOUR 2003
Don't miss the only Canadian stop on a 23 city tour by Chicago based and super-talented filmmakers JIM FINN and DEAN RANK. With past screenings as far reaching as the Rotterdam Film Festival, the New York Underground and the THAW festival in Iowa City, this show promises an astounding breadth of new and old works by this tag team of maverick makers. 'Eschewing the facile irony in vogue among their peers, these two young Chicagoans use fragmentary and disparate pairings of image and sound to create thought-provoking commentaries on displacement and alienation in our culture. The strongest of these seven videos is Finn's chilling SUPER-MAX (2003), a tour of maximum security prisons shot from a moving car, their hulking forms framed by telephone poles and power lines that divide landscape and sky...Rank's best contribution, TEAM (2003), turns football into a macho theater of the absurd: in one scene a coach derogates certain uniform numbers as 'femme'.' (Fred Camper, Chicago Reader)
Thursday, May 8 at 8pm |
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DOXA PRESENTS
REAL! LIVE! WOMEN!
>THE FEMINIST VERITE OF KIM LONGINOTTO
>FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE
DOXA is pleased to present two films by award-winning British documentarian KIM LONGINOTTO, co-director of DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE.
Friday May 9 8pm
GAEA GIRLS
This fascinating film follows the physically grueling and mentally exhausting training regimen of several young wanna-be 'Gaea Girls', a group of Japanese women wrestlers. The idea of them may seem like a total oxymoron in a country where women are usually regarded as docile and subservient. However, in training and in the arena, the female wrestlers depicted in this film are just as violent as any member of the World Wrestling Federation, and the blood that's drawn is very real indeed. One recruit, Takeuchi, endures ritual humiliation not seen on screen since the boot camp sequences of Full Metal Jacket. - Chicago Film Festival
Silver Hugo Award Winner, Chicago International Film Festival.
(Directors: Kim Longinotto & Jano Williams England/Japan 106 minutes 2000)
Saturday May 10 8pm
THE DAY I WILL NEVER FORGET
THE DAY I WILL NEVER FORGET is Longinotto's newest feature. This gripping film examines the practice of female circumcision in Kenya and the pioneering African women who are bravely trying to reverse the tradition. Presenting diverse perspectives - from a nurse who does village-to-village education about the emotional and physical scars of genital mutilation to a group of elderly matriarchs who stubbornly continue and encourage the practice themselves to a group of runaway girls engaged in a legal battle against their parents Longinotto's film demystifies the tradition of female circumcision and presents a complex portrait of the debate through the very women who live it everyday.
Amnesty International DOEN Award Winner
IDFA International Documentary Film Festival (Amsterdam)
(Director: Kim Longinotto England 92 minutes 2002)
TICKETS: $6 plus DOXA membership ($1)
DOXA acknowledges the support of the Canada Council, BC Arts Council and BC Film.
Friday, May 9 at 8pm
Saturday, May 10 at 8pm |
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CHRIS CHASE PRESENTS
THE APPALLINGLY BLEAK FILMS EXPERIMENT
Regular guest curator CHRIS CHASE comes North once again, this time to present a surefire cure for hangovers, the blues, the dumps, and all manner of the world's ills. The experiment: to test the hypothesis that in order to feel better, you should make yourself feel worse. Much worse!! So here comes a rare chance to see some of the most appallingly bleak educational films ever conceived (unavailable on video!) Gordon Parks' early pre-SHAFT gut-wrencher DIARY OF A HARLEM FAMILY (1968) is shockingly bereft of hope, depicting an absolute horror of domestic urban despair; ASSEMBLY LINE (1961) by Morton L. Heilig, a Kafkaesque Noir-ish expose on the pointlessness of urban existence; Mormon genius Wetzel O. Whitaker's late masterpiece of misery CIPHER IN THE SNOW (1973), a friendless kid steps out of a school bus and drops dead in a snow bank (the film goes downhill from there...); and the subtle and painful, nearly wordless SUMMER WE MOVED TO ELM STREET (1968).
Sunday, May 11 at 8pm |
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BYO8:
BRING YOUR OWN FILM
A rare and final chance to bring us your wares to screen on a day other than Thursday (that is our regular BYO8 night). We can screen your VHS, DVD, Super 8 and VHS masterworks, all under 10 minutes please (excerpts are accepted). Found films, student mistakes, famous people revealed in early failures and MORE! Only $3 to get in if you're carrying!
Tuesday, May 13 at 8pm | 
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EXPLOREASIAN 2003 PRESENTS
CHINESE CINEMA NIGHT
7pm VANCOUVER PREMIERE
C.D. HOY: PORTRAITS FROM THE FRONTIER
Enter the world of C.D. HOY, a photographer with a rare vision of life in a frontier culture. This documentary chronicles his extraordinary life from Vancouver in 1902 to the gold mines, forts and ranches of early British Columbia. We follow the footsteps of this impoverished Pioneer as he seeks to establish a life for himself in the wilderness of the Cariboo, Canada's Wild West. Trying his hand at many a trade, CD Hoy finally establishes himself as the town photographer. At a time when other ethnographic and commercial photographers were actively creating the myth of the 'Noble Savage' and the 'Exotic Oriental', C.D. Hoy was capturing the daily lives of his subjects. Drawing on a historic photo archive of over 1400 images, rare footage of Canada at the turn of the century, the first-hand memoirs of Hoy himself and commentary of present day historians, archivists and artists, this film richly and warmly portrays a slice of history from a new perspective. Sponsored by Make Believe Media Inc. (CD Hoy Airs on Global Channel on Saturday May 17) (Dir: Lynn Booth, Faith Moosang)
PLUS: VANCOUVER PREMIER: YIN YIN/JADE LOVE
Yin Yin/Jade Love is a documentary about a granddaughter's discovery of her grandmother after she has died. The film simultaneously explores the emotional impact of the filmmaker's last visit with her grandmother, her death, what was subsequently discovered about her extraordinary life, and childhood memories surrounding her and her home. The narration, by the filmmaker, is supported by past (VHS, 8mm, historical stills), present (16mm) and recreated (Super 8) images that are woven together creating a rich densely layered reflective collage.
8:30pm ELECTRIC VIEWING
Presented by the Vancouver Association of Chinese Canadians and Independent Community Television, ELECTRIC VIEWING is the literal translation from Cantonese for television. This one hour video presentation includes segments aired on community television and new works produced for this event. The program includes HAYNE WAI's humourous slide-to-video LOFAWNTOWN, high-school student JEFF CHAN's exploration of Chinese Head Tax/Exclusion and SID CHOW TAN's highlights of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop dinner honouring Roy Mah and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy fundraiser. Following will be a discussion of the state of community television in the Lower Mainland.
Admission $5.00 Double Bill $8.00
Wednesday, May 14 at 7&8:30pm |
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PRIVATE BOOKING: CLOSED TO PUBLIC
Thursday, May 15 |
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DESTROY CHILDREN PRESENTS
VIDEO KILL
DESTROY CHILDREN presents music videos and films by indie and underground mostly Vancouver bands. Featuring videos by A LUNA RED, JERK WITH A BOMB, LE PETIT MORT, THREE INCHES OF BLOOD, I AM SPOONBENDER, RADIO BERLIN, BORING, THE LOCUST and more! PLUS: long remembered treasures cranked straight out of the 80s music video vault! Music video program will be followed deftly by live video-accompanied music performances by NIGHT NURSE (synth medical drama core) and A LUNA RED (electro punk trashcan wave).
Friday, May 16 at 8pm |
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FLICK HARRISON's
'SEX, LOVE, DRUGS, MARX...'
Terminal City Weekly presents FLICK HARRISON's long-awaited(?) experimental, romantic digital feature! Jez (PETER GRIER) and Shandy (REBECCA HARKER) move to Vancouver from Ottawa but their love struggles against work, money, and Jez's new friends: Lara (SUZANNE WARD), a cosmopolitaine who runs a mail-order bride website; her hustling buddy Guelph (TERRY SIDHU); Shandy's tough-ass boss (SHELLEY MACDONALD); and the time-distorting drug Catnip. With TOM SCHOLTE, CHRISTINE TAYLOR AND DAVID PARSONS. More info at www.armedrabble.org and preview scenes showing on CBC's 120seconds.com! (82 mins, 2003, B&W) 'The films of Flick Harrison promise to provoke a range of reactions, from simple disgust to something as noble as social enlightenment.' -Katherine Monk, Vancouver Sun. 'As a director, Harrison rocks.' -Satan MacNuggit, Broken Pencil
Saturday, May 17 at 8pm
Sunday, May 18 at 8pm |
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JEFF KRULIK IN PERSON WITH
HITLER'S HAT + HMPL!
We are very happy to finally have the honour of hosting Washington DC-based filmmaker JEFF KRULIK here in person on a West Coast tour. Featured will be the now-classic HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT, Krulik's celebration of metal-heads and 'Priest' that has been circulating in the underground for over a decade. Jeff will also grace us with the Canadian Premiere of his highly praised and brilliant HITLER'S HAT. On April 30, 1945, 19-year old Jewish-American GI Richard Marowitz stormed Adolph Hitler's apartment in Munich searching for military intelligence. All he found was a black top hat...HITLER'S HAT is an unconventional WWII documentary that mixes humor and pathos as it tells the story of finding Hitler's Hat. The film features first-hand testimony from Rainbow Division veterans, who marched across Europe, the 'blow by blow' account from Richard Marowitz when he found The Fürher's hat, and a treasure trove of WWII-era archival footage that pokes fun at one of the modern world's most infamous fiends. (WJFF) 'moves smoothly from humor to atrocity to nostalgia, telling a wonderful footnote from World War II not in terms of battlefield tactics and grand strategic gambles, but from the perspective of purely human experience.' (Tablet)
Tuesday, May 20 at 8pm |
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EXPLOREASIAN 2003 PRESENTS
MIDDLE EAST CINEMA
IRAQI GIRLS SCHOOL (Rheim Alkadhi, 10 min 1999) 'Iraqi Girls School is conceived as a body - my body - caught, as a woman's Arab identification in the context of United States privilege. Mine began as a desire to first be a young woman at the Iraqi Girls School, and subsequently turned into a desire for the young women, just as they represent the continuously evolving formation of my own womanhood. In writing this today, I simply desire that I have represented them in a way that is counter to any excuse for war. (AS IF) BEAUTY NEVER ENDS (Jayce Salloum 2003, 11 mins.) Jayce Salloum 's work in progress is a montage of orchids blooming and footage from the sites of the 1982 massacres at Lebanon's Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps provides a elegiac response to the Palestinian dispossession. JAGADAKEER...BETWEEN THE NEAR AND EAST (Tina M. Bastajian 19 min. 2001) Jagadekeer is an Armenian word meaning fate, or literally, 'what is written on one's forehead'. Memory, nostalgia, displacement, absence and reconnection are explored using the Armenian genocide as a point of reference and a visual/aural backdrop. Stops and starts form a complex series of transitions to revisit both real and imagined sites to evoke a sense of homeland, a lost and enigmatic landscape. (2002 Women in the Director's Chair Film/Video Festival, 2001 San Francisco International Film Festival) THE WOMEN OF HEZBOLLAH (Maher Abi-Samra) Filmmaker Maher Abi-Samra returns to the neighborhood of his youth, Ramel el Ali, in Beirut's southern suburb. Settled in the 1950's by the mostly Shiite community from the villages of southern Lebanon and the Beka Valley, this community grew on the rubble of the civil war. By the early 1980's it had become one of the strongholds of the Islamic Party of God, the Hezbollah. THE WOMEN OF HEZBOLLAH is a portrait of two women, Zeinab and Khadjie, activists in the Hezbollah, and an examination of the personal, social and political factors of their commitment. 'A revelation... an understanding document [that goes] beyond appearances. Discover[s] hidden reasons for the Islamic fundamentalism in the Shiite community of Lebanon.' - Le Monde 'The goal of the filmmaker is not to apologize for the Hezbollah or to criticize it. But simply to attempt to understand why these women have adopted its convictions and how they see their woman's status, as they are torn between tradition and modernism.' - Le Figaro (** 2002 Vermont Women's Film Festival ** 2001 International Documentary Festival, Amsterdam)
Wednesday, May 21 at 7:30pm |
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CREATIVE ECCENTRICS:
THE JUNE BUG SYMPHONY + A THING OF WONDER
Don't miss this double shot of creativity and innovation for the sake of itself with Walter Forsyth's lovingly rendered JUNE BUG SYMPHONY and Rob Tyler's exploration of the mind and matter of Jerry Andrus in A THING OF WONDER. 83-year-old magician, inventor and poet Jerry Andrus has an insatiable appetite for uncovering the mysteries of life on the boundary between reason and illusion. Wandering through his 'Castle of Chaos' he demonstrates his incredible inventions (like the Tri-Zonal Space Warper) and waxes philosophic on the subjects of reason, perception, God and what he calls 'the curse of contentment'. A tribute to a man devoted equally to the science and magic of wonder. PLUS: At the mouth of the meandering Shubenacadie river lies the quaint village of Maitland. Its inhabitants are an eccentric group, but none can match the outlandish amusements contrived by a seasoned local named Ab Annand. When the wind is just right, as the light begins to fade, on a warm, calm evening, a fascinating event comes alive.THE JUNE BUG SYMPHONY.
Thursday, May 22 at 8pm
Friday, May 23 at 8pm |
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CRIMINAL CINEMA PRESENTS
CHICKENHAWK: MEN WHO LOVE BOYS
'CHICKENHAWK: MEN WHO LOVE BOYS is one of the sickest documentaries you'll probably ever see. Made in 1994, it's a look inside the world of NAMBLA, the North American Man-Boy Love Association, an organization that purportedly exists as a 'political and educational organization' for guys who like their meat real tender. There are no hard-core scenes of man-boy joy in CHICKENHAWK, but the stories and fantasies that NAMBLA members relate are jaw-droppingly creepy enough.' (VICE) ADI SIDEMAN's NYU sophomore project premiered at the NYUFF in 1994 and made national headlines (no doubt aided by the rumor that NYUFF staff got boy scouts to hand out the flyers). The subject of pretty much universal moral derision and ridicule by stalwarts of pop culture such as TV's South Park, NAMBLA members rarely get to speak for themselves candidly. And with CHICKENHAWK, they tell it all.
Saturday, May 24 at 8pm
Sunday, May 25 at 8pm |
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THREEFINGEREDFRAZE PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS
David Mamet's BOBBY GOULD IN HELL
Threefingeredfraze productions presents DAVID MAMET'S play about a man who finds himself in hell on his day of reckoning. Starring Carlo Canino, Bill Crawford, Rushpal Gill and Fraser Lyons. Directed by Fraser Lyons and Bill Crawford. Tickets $10 INFO: 604-764-8108
Tuesday, May 27 at 8pm
Wednesday, May 28 at 8pm
Thursday, May 29 at 8pm
Friday, May 30 at 8pm
Saturday, May 31 at 2 & 8pm |
June 2003 (top) |
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STAN BRAKHAGE'S ASTOUNDING RESPONSE TO WAR:
23rd PSALM BRANCH
ONE SHOW ONLY
'... an apocalypse of the imagination.' - P. A. Sitney, Visionary Film
We are very excited to be presenting one of the great works of the avant-garde, and a major work for Brakhage himself who sadly passed away in March. 23rd PSALM BRANCH was Brakhage's response to the war in Vietnam, and the film resonates today even more clearly and forcefully than when it was made over 35 years ago. After having his 16mm equipment stolen from his car on a trip to New York City, Brakhage embarked upon his SONGS series, working in the less expensive and readily available regular 8mm format. 23rd PSALM BRANCH was the longest of these, and is considered 'the furthest that Brakhage came in extending the language of 8mm cinema' (Sitney). Consisting of two parts, the first 'a study of war created in the imagination in the wake of newsreel death and destruction, and the second a searching into the 'sources' of Part I. We had moved around a lot and we had settled down enough...so we got a TV. And that was something in the house that I could simply not photograph, simply could not deal with visually. It was pouring forth war guilt, primarily, into the household in a way that I wanted to relate to, if I was guilty, but I had feelings...of the qualities of guilt and I wanted to have it real for me and I wanted to deal with it. And, I mean, it was happpening on all the programs - on the ads as well as drama and even the comedies, and of course the news programs. And I had to deal with that. It finally became such a crisis that I knew I couldn't deal directly with TV but perhaps I could make or find out why war was all that unreal to me...' (Brakhage) 'The phenomenal and painstaking craftsmanship of this film reflects the intensity of the obsession with which its theme grasped his mind.' (Sitney) (1966/1978, 16mm) NOTE: Remember that Brad Poulsen will be presenting works by Stan Brakhage on film from his personal collection by request Tuesdays at 6pm. Please email him at burponasled@hotmail.com to express your interest and to plan for these screenings.
Sunday, June 1 at 8pm |
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DICKIN' AROUND
Have you ever heard Ray Gurrie dub the 1940s Dick Tracy's voice? No? Well then you haven't seen funny my friend. Your life is incomplete. Get yourself over to DICKIN' AROUND! Hey, if you're good we'll even throw in Urban Improv's DIANA FRANCES, IAN BOOTHBY and a special guest. Not enough for you? Okay well add a JUNGLE GIRL and a BATMAN serial and give out some prizes. Honestly, you're all take, take, take. Where's the love?
Tuesday, June 3 at 8pm |
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BL CLASSICS
SUPERSTAR: THE KAREN CARPENTER STORY
PLUS: A HISTORY OF BARBIE COMMERCIALS THROUGH THE AGES
This is it - the long-banned underground classic from the director of POISON, SAFE, and FAR FROM HEAVEN. 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
Wednesday, June 4 at 8pm |
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DOC IN THE HOUSE PRESENTS
BUILDING HEAVEN, REMEMBERING EARTH:
CONFESSIONS OF A FALLEN ARCHITECT
PRESENTED BY DIRECTOR OLIVER HOCKENHULL
'...unequivocally the best documentary work to be produced in Canada in 1999.' -Peter Wintonick, POV
'A breathtaking thesis, a bookish subject made delightful and absorbing.' -Melbourne Press
'Combining the poetic, political and critical in a new digital form, Oliver Hockenhull deconstructs the modern through an exploration of the confines of architecture and the self. This erudite work of rich poetry, music and visual effects presents viewers with a broad investigation of structures around the world. It is an essay that examines architecture in its social and theoretical forms, a nomadic and trans-historical perspective into a future of associative cultural references. While watching a feather fall through the vast dome of the Pantheon confronting the mirror symmetry of the Rotunda travelling through Barcelona, Berlin, Istanbul and finally to contemplation on the steps in Kashi, City of Lights, India, viewers embark on an investigation of the structures that embody human history, human culture and human aspirations.' -Netherlands Archi-tecture Institute, Rotterdam (video, 104 mins, 2000)
OLIVER HOCKENHULL is a Vancouver based media artist, screenwriter, communication theorist, and lecturer.
Thursday, June 5 at 8pm |
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NEW LIVE WORKS BY
LOSCIL & RANDY JONES
Join us for an evening of computer-enabled sounds and images. RANDY JONES and loscil, aka SCOTT MORGAN will be performing live, interactive, computer-based audio-visual works... Randy Jones will premiere new audio-visual work made with JITTER, the programming environment he helped develop for San Francisco-based record label Cycling '74. Jones has performed at Technicolor-Berlin, the Transmissions Festival in Chicago, and the Festival de Musica Electroacústica in Havana. loscil will also be using the Max/MSP/Jitter software environment to explore relationships of sound and image in a live performance context.
Friday, June 6 at 8pm |
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MASSIVE CALIGARI ATTACK
New from Deep Blue Funk Films, the folks that brought you Radiohead vs The Matrix and Dark Side of the Rainbow, comes another alchemical experiment in film-music synchronicity. The gorgeous and disturbing German horror fable from 1919, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, tells the story of a travelling fair, a mysterious somnambulist - a dreamwalker who when woken can predict the future - and a series of gruesome murders. This expressionist nightmare is a ripe fit for a new soundtrack, and MASSIVE ATTACK'S album MEZZANINE, with it's dark, brooding, trip-hop beats is the perfect accompaniment. Insane nightmares never sounded so sexy!
http://www.deepbluefunkfilms.com/
Saturday, June 7 at 8pm
Sunday, June 8 at 8pm |
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OKIE NOODLING
WITH MUSIC BY THE FLAMING LIPS
Audience Award, SXSW
I haven't seen anything as strange and compelling as Okie Noodling. (Chris Gore, Film Threat)
'Noodlers are a dying breed not a lot of people want to stick their hand up in a hole and get bit by something.' Jerry 'Catfish' Rider
There's nothing quite like the thrill of catching a 60-pound catfish with your bare hands, and that's just what Oklahoma fishermen have been doing for hundreds of years. Diving into creeks, rivers, and lakes in search of bank-dwelling catfish, the tradition of 'noodling' originated as a Native American hunting practice, but has survived as a rural sport with a unique and colourful subculture. OKIE NOODLING is a documentary that catches the excitement and sense of community that has hooked three Oklahoma families on handfishing for generations.
'a movie about falling in love with people fiercely dedicated to their hobby (and fiercely secretive about their favorite fishing spots), with the strange beauty of silty rivers and monstrous green fish and, ultimately, with a sport that involves meeting your prey one-on-one and grappling with it hand-to-mouth.' (L.A. Weekly)
Tuesday, June 10 at 8pm
Wednesday, June 11 at 8pm |
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BYO8: BRING YOUR OWN FILM
Get in on this five-year standing monthly tradition today before it is too late! We will screen your films and videos, all you have to do is bring them to us, cued and clean. We can screen VHS, DVD, Super 8 and 16mm, and we are willing to screen up to 10 minutes of whatever the hell you want. And our audience is surprisingly generous, so don't be afraid (or alternately, take advantage!) Remember, you get a break at the door if you bring a film
Thursday, June 12 at 8pm |
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FRANK ZAPPA'S 200 MOTELS
200 MOTELS is Frank Zappa's ultracool 'filmusical' ancestor of rock videos. The first feature to utilize a special video-to-film transfer process, 200 MOTELS takes four years of 'solarized' and 'texturized' concert footage and plugs it into a surreal montage of skits. Featuring THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION, THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, THE TOP SCORE SINGERS, and others, a wigged and goateed Ringo Starr competently serves as narrator and Zappa stand-in Larry the Dwarf along with veteran actor Theodore Bikel and Keith Moon (as an OD'd nun.) The touring Mothers land in Centerville, U.S.A. and become bored. In-jokes, bilingual puns and other subtleties run rampant. Zappa's life-long fixations on Catholicism and teeth continue in the animated, Donald Duck-lambasting 'Dental Hygiene Dilemma.' And that barely scratches the surface. The film wasn't out to maliciously warp fragile little minds, however. True intentions are revealed in 'Help everybody, so they all get some action, some love on the weekend, some real satisfaction.' We eventually realize that rock 'n roll is a nookie-hunt. Critics suggested that for Zappa fans (or drug users) 200 MOTELS was a requisite view, but to the average Joe/Jane, it was merely confusing. The closing line says it all: 'Lord have mercy on the fate of this movie, and God bless the mind of the man in the street.' Required viewing! (S. Meyn) (1971 100 mins)
Friday, June 13 at 8pm
Saturday, June 14 at 8pm |
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JERRY GRANELLI: IN THE MOMENT
DIRECTOR COLIN MACKENZIE IN PERSON
"The people I really learned from were the people I surrendered to.'
- Jerry Granelli
Among the most accomplished percussionists on the international jazz scene, Jerry Granelli's reputation in the jazz community is solidly established. He first received attention in the '60s as a member of VINCE GUARALDI'S group and later as part of the rhythm section in THE DENNY ZEITLIN TRIO. In the '60s and '70s he worked with artists such as Ornette Coleman and Mose Allison. Regarded as the star pupil of drum master Joe Morrello, Granelli spent most of the '70s and early '80s concentrating on teaching. He taught in two innovative and prestigious music programs - Seattle's Cornish Institute and the Naropa Institute in Boulder. Not content with sticking to the familiar, Granelli has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians, including Halifax hip-hop artist, Stinkin' Rich, Berlin-based UFB, and he even toured with the Grateful Dead, in 1972. His drums can be found in the Peanut's theme, and on many, many albums from the past 30 years. IN THE MOMENT tells the story of Granelli's life in music: his early success on the jazz scene, his paralyzing mid-career crisis, and his eventual artistic rebirth sparked by his discovery of Buddhist spiritual teaching. The film was shot in NYC, San Francisco, Halifax, Boulder, and Berlin.
Director COLIN MACKENZIE will appear in person to introduce the film and supply a surprise early short of Jerry in action!
Sunday, June 15 at 8pm |
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BL CLASSICS
PLASTER CASTER: A COCKUMENTARY
'The hottest sex I've seen between a man, a woman, and a bucket of plaster' -Chip Rowe, The Playboy Advisor
PLASTER CASTER is Jessica Villines' utterly entertaining documentary and intimate portrait of Cynthia Plaster Caster, of world renown for plaster-casting the penises of rock and roll's finest, including, most notoriously, Jimi Hendrix. In addition to providing a history of Cynthia's pursuits, the film documents the castings of two musicians, one shy, the other extroverted; as well as the preparations for her first gallery show in New York City. 'You'll marvel at Cynthia's collection of penis tchotkes, and her extensive lore on rock god genitalia. This lady knows dick.' (NYUFF). Featuring candid interviews from rock stars, most of whom she has cast over the years (Noel Redding of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedy's, Eric Burdon of The Animals, Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks to name ust a few). PLASTER CASTER goes beyond the mythology and asks the penetrating question 'is this really art?' Featuring the music of Noel Redding, The Aluminum Group, The Demolition Doll Rods, 5ive Style, Make Up, and Momus. (103 min. 2001 video)
Tuesday, June 17 at 8pm |
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BL CLASSICS
FUGAZI's INSTRUMENT
Wednesday June 18 8pm
Well known for their anti-corporate stance as musicians, FUGAZI have managed to maintain their integrity for over a decade as one of America's most impressive 'indie' bands. Far from a traditional documentary, the project is a musical document: a portrait of musicians at work. In director Jem Cohen's words: 'With no desire on my part or the band's to create a factual career survey or any kind of promotional vehicle, the project presented an opportunity to cut things loose. Mixing sync-sound 16mm, Super-8, video, and a wide range of archival formats, the piece includes concert footage, studio sessions, practice, touring, interviews and portraits of audience members from around the country. Piecing it together over the course of about 5 years, I thought of bringing 'dub' to documentary of a project where unadulterated real-time performances, abstract, rough-hewn Super 8 collages and archival artifacts would collide and conjoin in a way that honestly represented musical experience. The project was edited with band members and extensively uses soundtrack elements provided by Fugazi specifically for the film.'
Wednesday, June 18 at 8pm |
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ION ZOO PLAY LIVE TO
ROLAND WEST'S ALIBI
Join ion Zoo for their live accompaniment to director Roland West's Alibi. Considered America's first expressionistic crime film, the plot follows a ruthless gangster who reunites with his mob after getting out of prison. He must establish an alibi when a policeman is killed during a robbery. Stylish art deco production design by William Cameron Menzies and stunning cinema-photography by Ray June make this mandatory viewing for anyone interested in film noir and expressionism. (90 mins 1929)
ion Zoo incorporate an eclectic range of styles into their improvising; from 20th Century art song to be-bop, opera to noise, free improvisation to Appalachian music. ion Zoo consists of Stephen Bagnell: reeds and percussion, Patrick Dubois: keyboards, voice and percussion, Hendrick Greidanus: double bass, Joel Lower: percussion and violin, and Carol Sawyer: voice.
Thursday, June 19 at 8pm |
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WEST COAST PREMIERE
TV CARNAGE's CASUAL FRIDAYS
"Unstoppably watchable!' -Lawrence Fishburne
'Basically Unwatchable' -CNN
After experiencing CASUAL FRIDAYS, you'll hug Mondays and saucily pat Wednesdays (hump days). It's like a 110 minute Mocca Java. (For those of you who don't know that's where Ethiopia meets Java for a wild blend.) THAT'S RIGHT! This latest TV Carnage tape is dedicated to the throngs of exceptional men and women who care about and enforce the rules of CASUAL FRIDAYS. The Randy Rivers, and Suzie Shiers, the beige kakis and sensible earth tones, sensible haircuts and a 24-7/ 365 totally extreme attitude, suitable for shopping! CASUAL FRIDAYS is another collection of excessively brutal moments in human television history. Moments that make you spring to your feet screaming: 'Holy shit did that just happen?!!' Moments and people that make you feel like you have your shit together, like no matter how much of a degenerate scumbag you are. Momentsall vying for the embarrassment of first place. ANNA NICOLE SMITH, SIR WILLIAM IDOL, GARY COLEMAN, '80S INFOMERCIALS, HAIRDRESSERS, METAL AND MORE!
Friday, June 20 at 8pm
Saturday, June 21 at 8pm |
| WORKSHOP & SCREENING WITH DEVON DAMONTE
DIRECT ANIMATION REVOLUTION NOW!
(see below for info on workshop)
THE SCREENING: DIRECT ANIMATION REVOLUTION NOW!
After a crazy afternoon of actually creating heaps of wild and crazy handmade movies, Devon will grace us with his presence to screen some of his finely crafted works including BUSTER BALLS, RADIOACTIVE SPIDER, WONDERPAIN, CATCYCLE and plenty more, along with some of his fave picks from workshops past and present 24 MOVIE MAKING EXPERIMENTS, CRACKPOT CRAFTERS NORTHEAST, FRESH VANCOUVER SPROCKETS, and more. Don't miss out!
When not vagabonding hither and yon, DEVON DAMONTE currently resides in Olympia, WA, where he leads 'Crackpot Crafters', a weekly handmade animation workgroup that's been running for over a year in Olympia and Seattle, and previously in Boston, Providence, and Waltham, MA. Damonte has made his own highly regarded direct animated films for fifteen years, with screenings at PS 1 in NY, The DeCordova Museum in Boston/Lincoln, MA, The Ottawa International Animation Festival, SXSW in Austin, TX, and The Ann Arbor Film Festival. In previous lives he had day jobs at Boston Film/ Video Foundation and The Olympia Film Society.
THE WORKSHOP: HANDMADE CAMERALESS MOVIEMAKING
PRE-REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT MANDATORY! LIMITED SPACE! SIGN UP AND PAY AT THE CAFÉ OR AT THE CINEMA. This workshop, led by Devon Damonte, will provide an in-depth tour of the fine art subversive DIY tradition of 16mm direct animation (working directly onto film leader without cameras), including hands-on demonstrations of dozens of techniques. Make a movie with a pin and dumpster finds! Or a soldering iron and colored leader. Or a crayon and scotch tape. Or almost anything you can think of! The workshop will also include discussion of theory and aesthetics of form by looking at 70 years of work by the pioneers of direct animation (Len Lye, Norman McClaren, Stan Brakhage and Barbel Neubauer, among others). Most importantly however, this workshop will provide a chance to color, scratch, splice tape collage, mess with found footage etc, and do crazy things not recommended by any manufacturer. Then we watch the created film loops right away until they burn away into glorious absolute cathexis. Finally, immediate cinematic gratification that lasts! Workshop lasts about 4 hours and costs $20 (Canadian!)
Sunday, June 22 at 1:30 & 8pm |
| BL CLASSICS
JESUS CHRIST VAMPIRE HUNTER
Honourable Mention, Slamdance 2002
'Campy, exotic and unfettered. It manages to take the spirit of low-budget gusto to the extreme.'Slamdance Film Festival
From LEE DEMARBRE comes this tale of the ultimate action hero: JESUS CHRIST! The second coming is upon us, and Jesus has returned to earth. But before he can get down to the serious business of judging the living
and the dead, he has to contend with an army of vampires that can walk in the daylight. Combining Kung-Fu action with biblical prophecy and a liberal dose of humour, the film teams the Saviour with Mexican wrestling hero EL SANTOS against mythological horrors and science gone mad, while also managing to address contemporary sexual politics. And did we mention that it's a musical? Featuring an original score by Graham Collins and new music by LUCKY RON, DR. BRUCE MURPHY, JOHNNY VEGAS, FURNACEFACE, and THE HAMMERHEADS. (16mm 85 min 2001)
Tuesday, June 24 at 8pm |
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BL CLASSICS
THE TARGET SHOOTS FIRST
'A witty, audacious and fascinating look at the music industry' -Chicago Reader
'Low key, low fi, and unpretentious. A dead-on, early 90s time capsule'
-New York Press
A film that has garnered a huge amount of media attention and screenings since we first premiered it many years ago, we are pleased to bring THE TARGET SHOOTS FIRST back one last time. In 1993, CHRISTOPHER WILCHA, a recent college graduate, took a job as a marketing assistant at Columbia House, the grandaddy of record clubs. Apparently, his qualifications for the job consisted of being a fan of the alternative rock group NIRVANA, who were in the process of changing the face of the music industry. Somehow, he managed to videotape his entire tenure there, and the result is a personal video journal that puts a whole new spin on corporate America. Hired for an entry level position, circumstances conspire to create a short climb up the corporate ladder for our hero/videomaker. Soon, Chris' usefulness to the mail-order giant becomes apparent—he finds himself in the hub of the creation of the grunge catalogue. Clueless bosses, feuds between the suits and the talent Wilcha molds his 9-to-5 job into a hip, riveting and unlikely soap opera. (Christopher Wilcha, USA, 1999, 71 min)
Wednesday, June 25 at 8pm |
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JOINT EFFORT PRESENTS
INCIDENT AT OGLALA + AMERICA'S MANDELA
On June 26 1975, a shoot out between the FBI and the American Indian Movement (AIM) on the Pine Ridge Reservation left two agents and one Indian man dead. The ensuing police hunt would span two countries and lead to the arrest and conviction of LEONARD PELTIER. Through the course of the next 26 years evidence would come to light showing that Leonard was fraudulently extradited from Canada and subsequently convicted for a crime he did not commit. Screening tonight:
AMERICA'S MANDELA
This short documentary explores history from the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee by the U.S. Calvary, to the 1973 American Indian Movement occupation of Wounded Knee. (15 mins Robert Free and David Valasque)
INCIDENT AT OGLALA
Narrated by Robert Redford, the film examines the incidents leading up to the shootout at the Pine Ridge Reservation, and the subsequent trials that resulted in the conviction of AIM activist Leonard Peltier. This documentary features interviews with Leonard, prosecution and defense lawyers, as well as with Myrtle Poor Bear whose testimony was key to Leonard's extradition from Vancouver in 1976. (1992, 93 Director: Michael Apted)
Joint Effort is a women in prison support group who operate from an abolitionist perspective and volunteer with prisoners at the Burnaby Correctional Centre for Women. In conjunction with the Blinding Light Cinema we have presented films important to the struggle for justice and liberation.
http://www.vcn.bc.ca/august10/jointeffort.html
Thursday, June 26 at 8pm |
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THE NARCOLEPTIC VIDEOGRAPHER 3:
NARCO THREE-DEE
Ignoring several restraining orders, THE NARCOLEPTIC VIDEOGRAPHER returns to the Blinding Light for a third series of in yer face comic shorts and inspired collective lunacy. After screenings at the Vancouver Underground Film Fest and the Celluloid Social Club brought rave reviews from Terminal City and the Westender, the local comedy troupe have now concocted even more visual drugs for the masses, indulging in their signature blend of visceral camerawork, actor-improv, and disturbingly bizarre character conflict. This latest collection boasts all new sketches featuring freshly baked characters as well as familiar favourites, like the bible-beating buffoons of FULL CONTACT RELIGION and the garage metal antics of the Lower Mainland1s greatest headbanger boy band, WHYTE RAWK!
Produced by Vancouver-based LO-FIBRE FILMS, the Narcoleptic Videographer shamelessly exploits the local talents of ERIC 'THE BLAZE', BRENT CLARK, BRADEN JONES, JOSH LINDSTROM, ELIZA MURBACH, AND KEVIN SPENST. LIVE IMPROV and counselling will also be provided. So, don't kid yourself - let them do it.
Friday, June 27 at 8pm
Saturday, June 28 at 8pm
Sunday, June 29 at 8pm |
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DICKIN AROUND!
BATMAN! DICK TRACY! JUNGLE GIRL! What do these three 1940's movie serial heroes have in common? They're having new words put in their mouths by Vancouver's top improvisers. Join Urban IMPROV'S IAN BOOTHBY, DIANA FRANCES, RAY GURRIE and a special guest as they fulfill the last of their community service for shoplifting from Ikea last summer. (OK, now it's almost dark enough to go check out those fireworks after the show.)
Tuesday, July 1 at 8pm |
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TONG TANA: THE LOST PARADISE
INTRODUCED BY Mutang Urud
This fascinating documentary revisits the world of the Borneo rain forest, the indigenous Penan people who live there and their struggle against destructive commercial logging on their territories. First introduced in the film's 1990 precursor, Tong Tana-a journey to the heart of Borneo, we are re-acquainted with the Penan, and their Swiss friend BRUNO MANSER. Bruno lived with the Penan in the rainforest of Sarawak for six years in the 1980's, and later brought their plight to the attention of the international community, to the displeasure of the Malaysian government and logging industry. Much has happened in the intervening ten years since the making of the first Tong Tana. Despite their hard efforts to save it, many areas of the forest home of the Penan have been logged extensively, causing extreme environmental damage and making game hard to find. As they struggle to hold on to what is left, the survival of their way of life seems increasingly tenuous. Shortly after finishing the footage of this film, Bruno re-entered Sarawak and disappeared without a trace...
The film will be introduced by Mr. Mutang Urud, a native activist from Sarawak and friend of Bruno Manser. (1999/2000 88 minutes Jan Röed, Erik Pauser, Björn Cederberg)
Wednesday, July 2 at 8pm |
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DOC IN THE HOUSE PRESENTS LILITH ON TOP
with DIRECTOR LYNNE STOPKEWICH
In 1997 SARAH MCLACHLAN and her partners launched LILITH FAIR: the all-female traveling music festival that rocked the male-dominated industry and captured the imagination and support of audiences across North America. In 1998 Lilith Fair grossed higher than any other multi-artist festival that year. In 1999, Lilith Fair hit the road again for its third and final year. Director Lynne Stopkewich (KISSED, SUSPICIOUS RIVER) and a team of filmmakers went on the road to document this 'celebration of women in music' and the people who made it a reality. From performers to fans, crew to media - this portrait of Lilith Fair is a concert fix, a look backstage and, most importantly, a testament to both the diverse complexities and unifying idealism of Lilith Fair, its creator, and to women who make music.
Thursday, July 3 at 8pm |
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EYE OF NEWT PLAY LIVE TO TRON
Friday July 4 8pm
Don't miss the EYE OF NEWT's final show at the BL with their soundtrack performed live to TRON. Computer wizard Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is digitally broken down into a data stream by a villainous software pirate David Warner) and reconstituted into the internal, 3-D graphical world of computers. It is there, in the blazingly colourful, geometrically intense landscapes of cyberspace, that Flynn joins forces with Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) to outmaneuver the Master Control program that holds them captive in the equivalent of a gigantic, infinitely challenging computer game. A milestone in cyberentertainment, catering to technogeeks while providing a dazzling adventure for hackers and non-hackers alike. A high-tech favorite and a landmark in special effects (Jeff Shannon)
Friday, July 4 at 8pm |
| WEST COAST PREMIERE ARTHUR BRADFORD'S
HOW'S YOUR NEWS?
"Touching and hilarious... unassuming and genuine.' -Filmmaker Magazine
'Luminous and informed with ramshackle grace, it always knows the difference between laughing at and laughing with.' -The Village Voice
HOW'S YOUR NEWS? is a documentary chronicling the travels of a team of reporters and crew across America in a hand-painted RV. Five of the people have disabilities ranging from Down's syndrome to spastic cerebral palsy; they are the reporters. The interactions are sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and sometimes sort of confusing but always honest. (WFF) 'The stars seem to bring out the best in the people they meet. Soft-spoken Costello sums up Texas with a poetic specificity hewn from cultural memory ('a good place to have cowboys, guns, boots, and hats'); Bird's unintelligible speech, far from signifying nothing, becomes a Rorschach test for his interviewees, and his imitation of a Texas livestock auctioneer might as well be the real thing. Harrington has absorbed the dramatic imperatives of news presentation ('We are live in an Arizona auto repair shop,' she announces, investigating the status of their busted RV) and the inalienable right to be Aretha. Unleashing 'Respect' in a Vegas karaoke booth, she careens from note to note while virtual-reality non sequiturs morph on the screen behind her. Bradford's knack for the strange and wonderful moment is nearly as marvelous as her voice. -Village Voice
Saturday, July 5 at 8pm
Sunday, July 6 at 8pm |
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BL CLASSICS
THE SITUATIONIST DOUBLE HEADER
TUESDAY:
RENÉ VIÉNET'S CAN DIALECTICS BREAK BRICKS?
'Imagine a kung fu flick in which the martial artists spout Situationist aphorisms about conquering alienation while decadent bureaucrats ply the ironies of a stalled revolution. This is what you'll encounter in RENÉ VIÉNET'S outrageous refashioning of a Chinese fisticuff film. An influential Situationist, Viénet stripped the soundtrack from a run-of-the-mill Hong Kong export and lathered on his own devastating dialogue. . . . A brilliant, acerbic and riotous critique of the failure of socialism in which the martial artists counter ideological blows with theoretical thrusts from Debord, Reich and others. . . . Viénet's target is also the mechanism of cinema and how it serves ideology.' -PFA (1973, video 90min)
WEDNESDAY:
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. 'Debord's analysis of a society suspended inside the free space of the commodity infiltrates every frame.' (Steve Seid, PFA)
Tuesday, July 8 at 8pm
Wednesday, July 9 at 8pm |
| VISION MACHINE:
ANDREA ZIMMERMAN IN PERSON
We are very pleased to have London-based media artist ANDREA ZIMMERMAN appearing in person to present her films. Zimmerman's works combine found footage and multiple formats to explore emotional spaces with intelligence, humour, and pathos. Often involving close and sustained collaboration with her subjects, her work reveals the subtle and haunting traces of memory and desire that weave identities and communities together. Since graduating from St. Martins College of Art and Design in 1997 she has established SOFTT Ltd. and Vision Machine Film Project, independent film production companies working with experimental communities to create imaginative and cutting-edge films at the frontier of documentary, fiction and collective dream. Featured tonight will be a grouping of her 'one minute' films including ONE MINUTE ON HOUSING, FLYING FOR ONE MINUTE, and ONE MINUTE ON THE BEACH, as well as the award winning VISION MACHINE, and the astounding bacterially-hand processed THE DELMARVA CHICKEN OF TOMORROW, plus others!! (Many thanks to Ali Lohan for organizing this screening).
Thursday, July 10 at 8pm |
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BL CLASSICS
ALAN ZWEIG'S VINYL
'The best Canadian film I saw at Hot Docs' -NOW
'Brilliant...poignant' -TORONTO STAR
'Why collect stacks of records when you don't have the time to hear them? Experiencing conflicting emotions over his vinyl habit, kvetchy filmmaker Alan Zweig sets out to interview other disturbed pack rats, touring dingy, record-lined apartments, hoping to find answers. While penetrating the compulsions of an antisocial cadre of quirky hobbyists, Zweig's journey turns into a personal, comic exploration of guilt, obsession, and mouse-trapping. Years in the making, VINYL features a cast of hundreds, including Geoff Pevere, Daniel Richler, Don McKellar, Guy Maddin, and a man who wants to collect every single record ever made.' (Hot Docs) If you've ever owned a record, see this film!
Friday, July 11 at 8pm |
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SPATIAL POETICS II
Powell Street Festival Society presents SPATIAL POETICS II, an interdisciplinary event which celebrates collaboration, experimentation and innovation in the use of text, visuals, music, and performance by an eclectic line-up of local artists. The end result will be a diverse collection of new works exploring community, identity, boundaries, and the nature of performance by emerging and established Asian Canadian artists, building on the success of the sold-out Spatial Poetics event last summer. Premiering new pieces will be Sook C. Kong & Rupinder Sohal; Baco Ohama & James Brown; Wayde Compton & Jason de Couto; and Cindy Mochizuki, Aretha Aoki & Patricia Collins. Also, a screening of video-poems will be curated by Rafael Tsuchida.
This will be a lead-up event for the 27th Annual Powell Street Festival, to be held on August 2nd and 3rd. For more information, contact Miko at 604.683.8240 or email miko@dkam.ca
Saturday, July 12 at 8pm |
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U-PICK-THE-MOVIE:
THE AD AND THE EGO
Here it is - the film most requested and the one you picked to see AGAIN, and for the final time, at the Blinding Light!! Cinema.
"The Ad and the Ego is the first comprehensive documentary on the cultural impact of advertising in America," says Neil Postman, NYU author of AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH. "It should be required viewing for every consumer - which means all of us."
Harold Boihem's stunning THE AD AND THE EGO traces advertising's development from its largely descriptive 19th century origins through today's ads which eschew rational arguments for symbols and imagery playing directly to our emotions. Artfully intercutting clips from hundreds of familiar television ads with insights from Stuart Ewen, Jean Kilbourne, Richard Pollay, Sut Jhally, Bernard McGrane and other noted critics, the film performs a cultural psychoanalysis of late 20th century America and its principal inhabitants: Consumer Man and Woman. Making the critical connections between the rise of consumerism, environmental degradation and our blind commitment to economic growth at any cost, THE AD AND THE EGO "brilliantly dismantles one of the ego's most comforting self-flatteries: that we are immune to advertising. Consider this your first real inoculation." (Leslie Savan, Village Voice Critic and Author, The Sponsored Life)
Sunday, July 13 at 8pm |
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TRENT HARRIS'
BEAVER TRILOGY
'A rivetingly strange, multilayered inquiry into celebrity, obsession and serendipity.' -New York Times
'Beaver Trilogy is so perfect, so odd, and so affecting that you will feel you're in the presence of a minor miracle or some strange form of beatitude.' -New York Video Festival, Lincoln Center
Direct from the mind of one of the great underground cinema heroe of today, TRENT (RUBIN & ED) HARRIS, comes THE BEAVER TRILOGY. A series of three pieces about the same subject, an eccentric innocent young man from a small town called Beaver who is trying to break into showbiz. The first piece is a documentary, while the second and third are dramatic works based on the documentary starring SEAN PENN, and then CRISPIN GLOVER. Crispin has called this his favorite part of all time. In it, he plays the small town boy with big dreams of appearing on TV as his cross-dressing alias OLIVIA NEUTRON BOMB, while in THE BEAVER KID - Harris' personal favorite we meet the inspiration for the Glover and Penn roles - all the more strange because this time he's REAL! This will be the first time we have mounted these as a trilogy, and the magic to be found both in their differences and similarities, to say nothing of what Glover and Penn bring to the roles, is truly wondrous.
Tuesday, July 15 at 8pm
Wednesday, July 16 at 8pm |
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BYO8: BRING YOUR OWN FILM + REQUESTS
On this cornerstone screening night, we invite you to bring your films to screen one final time, and we are taking requests! Maximum total screening time is 3 hours, so get here early and make your requests for favourites from past programs by email at least one week prior to the show (shorts only of course). And for the last time remember to keep them under 10 minutes! We can screen DVD, VHS, 16mm and Super 8
Thursday, July 17 at 8pm |
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CLOSING NIGHT PARTY!!
Join us on our final night at the Blinding Light!! Cinema where we will be featuring a slew of films and videos projected every which way, live entertainment of all stripes, surprise guests, and more the neighbours aren't going to like us after this, butwho cares? featuring music, performance, video and more by: FEATURED:
the precious fathers, eyelickers, whyte rawk, the sparrow, hot toddy girls, paul kincaid jamieson, djs pantythrow, hasslehoff, & crankenstein
Plus surprise films & guests!
Special 'retroactive fundraiser' prices in effect: $8!
Friday, July 18 at 8pm |
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[CLOSED FOR GARAGE SALE PREP]
Saturday, July 19 |
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THE BLINDING LIGHT GARAGE SALE
We will be unloading everything from popcorn bags to projectors if there is something you are particularly interested in, name it and your price, and leave it in our suggestion box by the box office or email us - you may get lucky (no guarantees and no promises!) Otherwise, show up (no early birds) and dig in: theatre seats, furnishings, dishes, food baskets, shelving, a TV, speakers, extension cords, and plenty more.
NOTE: no videos or film prints are being sold.
ALSO NOTE: cash and carry this day only.
AND ONE FINAL NOTE: All earnings go to reducing our outgoing debt, so try not to be too cheap about it when you are wheeling and dealing!
Sunday, July 20 at 10am - 7pm |
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