ORO, PLATA, MATA

ORO, PLATA, MATA

GOLD, SILVER, DEATH
(ORO PLATA MATA)
Dir. Peque Gallaga, 1982.
Philippines. 194 min.
In Filipino with English subtitles.

SUNDAY, APRIL 28 – 5 PM with filmmaker Q&A

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Regionally acclaimed director Peque Gallaga’s ORO, PLATA, MATA represents, in its first screening in the United States since 1983, an underseen gem of Filipino cinema. It is a film that elegantly charts the complexities and realities of Filipino class dynamics, masculinities and femininities in a thoroughly alive, brutal and passionate period piece following two land owning aristocratic families set just before and during the Japanese occupation of the country in WWII. With blood, gore, violence of reprehensible sorts, and possibly unsimulated sex scenes, this is maximalist unafraid-to-be-unrestrained-about-passions cinema, Filipino-style. Very possibly the late director’s, passing recently in 2020, magnum opus, along with the great SCORPIO NIGHTS (1985).

Join us for the April 28th screening at 5pm with a special Q&A to follow.

Special thanks to ABS-CBN, Sagip Pelikula, Leo Katigbak, Julie Galino, Enrico Po, Steve Macfarlane, Connor Burns, Liz Purchell, Brandon Tilghman and August Dunson.

SKÁL + An Evening of Faroese Literature

SKÁL
Dir. Cecilie Debell & Maria Tórgarð, 2021
Faroe Islands/Denmark, 75 mins.
In Faroese with English subtitles.

TUESDAY, APRIL 16 – 7 PM, accompanied by reading & discussion

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

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This April brings Fog Swept Islands: Faroese Culture Days, a celebration of Faroese literature and culture in New York City. The Faroe Islands, a wind-battered archipelago in the North Atlantic and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, are a harsh and breathtaking environment that have for centuries fostered self-sufficient attitudes, innovative knitwear, and a literary culture with roots in the Old Norse oral tradition, the romantic nationalism of the 19th century, and more recent concerns with the impact of globalization on small cultures and the looming threat of climate change.

In collaboration with FarLit, the Spectacle is pleased to host the Faroese poets Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs, Kim Simonsen, and Rannvá Holm Mortensen, and their translators Matthew Landrum and Randi Ward, for a reading alongside a screening of the documentary SKÁL, a look at the ardency of youth, the desire to make art, and the relationship between people and nature, via a portrait of young Faroese poet grappling with questions of individualism and social pressures.

In SKÁL, which had its World Premiere at CPH:DOX in 2021, a young poet struggles to balance her Christian faith with her curiosity about the world and appetite for self-discovery.

21-year-old Dania, who grew up religious in the Faroe Islands’ Bible belt, has recently moved to Tórshavn and, unbeknownst to her parents, begun to date Trygvi, a young fellow-poet as well as the national sensation hip-hop artist Silvurdrongur (Silver Kid). As Dania movies between her cozy, stifling home, Tórshavn nightlife, and the wide-open spaces of the Faroese countryside, working to reconcile the different sides of her personhood in a scandalous poetry collection titled SKÁL (“Cheers”), this wry and tender film becomes a microcosm for the rural and hardy Nordic nation itself, and its struggle to reconcile treasured traditions, nurtured against the wind through generations, with the twinkling promises of global urban modernity.

The screening will be accompanied by a reading and discussion with:

Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs (b. 1974) is a well-known and active voice on the Faroese literature and drama scene, and has published a wide range of works since her debut in 2000. Her youth novel Skriva í sandin, 2010 won the Nordic Children’s Book Prize and was selected for the White Raven in 2011, and her latest youth novel Sum Rótskot was nominated for the 2021 Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize. Her literary double work Karmagetin ans Gentukamarið was nominated for the 2023 Nordic Council Literature Prize. Marjun is a trained nurse, holds a master’s degree in language and literature and works as a full-time writer. Her works have been translated into the various Nordic languages as well as into English, French and German.

Kim Simonsen (b. 1970) is a Faroese writer and poet. In 2014, he won the M.A. Jacobsen Literature Award for his poetry collection What good does it do for a person to wake up one morning this side of the new millennium? A translation will be published in the US in 2024 by Deep Vellum. Simonsen completed his PhD in 2012 at the University of Roskilde and has published five poetry collections as well as numerous essays and academic articles. He is also the managing editor of Forlagið Eksil, a Faroese press that has published over 20 titles.

Rannvá Holm Mortensen (b. 1950) is a Faroese poet and versatile visual artist. Her art ranges from paintings, prints, installations and text to sculptures. She studied Fine Arts in Metafora International Workshop, Barcelona in 2014. In recent years, she has also worked with textile, writing, book illustration and interior decoration. Rannvá Mortensen regularly exibits in the Faroe Islands and internationally. In 2018 Rannvá made her debut with the poetry collection Suntaste which won her the M.A. Jakobsen Literature Award 2018. Her second collection Spring Milk was published in 2022. Suntaste has been translated into English and published in the US.

Thanks to Jóhanna H. Wolles (FarLit) and Christina Alsing (Made in Copenhagen).

THE LANCELOT LINK, SECRET CHIMP MARATHON

SATURDAY, APRIL 27 – 3 PM TO MIDNIGHT

$5 PER SCREENING or $25 FOR FULL-DAY

DAY PASSES ON SALE NOW!

This Spring, apes are set to take back the multiplex with KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE. Here at Spectacle, we have decided to set the month of May aside for a bit of MONKEY MAY-HEM. To prelude next month’s series, we will be presenting a rare screening of LANCELOT LINK, SECRET CHIMP — all eight-and-a-half hours of unfiltered chimp antics.

For those unfamiliar with LANCELOT LINK, SECRET CHIMP (1970), it is a televisual James Bond spoof with a cast composed entirely of chimpanzees. Over the course of 17 episodes, we follow the top agents at the Agency to Prevent Evil (APE): Lancelot Link and Mata Hairi. Under the leadership of Commander Darwin, they are tasked with saving the planet from falling into the hands of Baron Von Butcher, the nefarious ape behind the Criminal Headquarters for the Underworld Master Plan (CHUMP).

On April 27, 2024, we will be kicking off our LANCELOT LINK, SECRET CHIMP marathon at 3 PM. We will present two episodes per hour until the grand finale at midnight.

Episode synopses and estimated start times are as follows:

3 PM
There’s No Business Like Snow Business
+
The Lone APE / Missile Beach Party

In the first episode of LANCELOT LINK, SECRET CHIMP, Lance and Mata go undercover as ski instructors to protect the valuable Star of Karaichi diamond. In the second episode, Lance faces off with Baron Von Butcher and his crony Dr. Strangemind as they threaten to blow up a missile cache.

4 PM
The Mysterious Motorcycle Menace / The Great Beauty Contest
+
CHUMP Takes a Holiday / To Tell the Tooth

Baron’s motorcycle steals APE’s payroll and a dentist working for CHUMP places secret radio transmitters into the teeth of military officials.

5 PM
The Great Brain Drain / The Great Double Double Cross
+
Lance of Arabia / The Doctor Goes APE

Lance confronts the full power of CHUMP after some of its members infiltrate APE. In the aftermath of the infiltration, he is tasked with crossing enemy lines to recover a piece of microfilm that contains photos of APE’s agents.

6 PM
The Surfin’ Spy / The Missing Link
+
Bonana / The Greatest Chase in the World

After the infiltration, Lance searches for his Uncle Mortimer, who seems to be missing. But when Baron goes on the run, Lance and Mata embark on a globetrotting mission to find him.

7 PM
The Reluctant Robot / The Royal Foil
+
The Great Great Race / The Great Plane Plot

Dr. Strangemind creates a robot to kill Lance while APE and CHUMP duke it out in an automobile race.

8 PM
Landlubber Lance / The Temporary Thanksgiving Turkey Truce
+
The Dreaded Hong Kong Sneeze / The Great Bank Robbery

On Thanksgiving, Lance searches for microfilm again. Meanwhile, Baron develops a deadly airborne virus.

9 PM
The Sour Taste of Success / The Baron’s Birthday Ball
+
The Golden Swwword / The Chilling CHUMP CASE

Once again, Lance is tasked with finding some missing microfilm. While he does so, Baron gets his hands on nuclear weapons.

10 PM
The Spy Who Went Out in the Cold
+
Too Many CHUMPs

In a sudden turn of events, Lance joins CHUMP. Then, they decipher APE’s coded messages.

11 PM
The Evolution Revolution / The Great Water Robbery

In the series finale, CHUMP holds an entire city’s water supply hostage.

Batikh Batikh Presents GATHERED IN LOVE AND RAGE: A PALESTINIAN FILM SHOWCASE

SATRUDAY, APRIL 13 – 7 PM with filmmaker Q&A
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 – 7 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 26 – 4:30 PM

This April, Spectacle is pleased to host Batikh Batikh Collective’s shorts program, Gathered in Love and Rage: A Palestinian Film Showcase.

Based out of Philadelphia, Batikh Batikh is a pop-up cinema and gallery that centers the work of South-West Asian North African (SWANA) women and queer artists. Curated by Batikh Batikh’s founder, Sarah Trad, this showcase includes short works by contemporary women and LGBTQ+ Palestinian independent filmmakers. These films comment on the current moment, exploring orientalism in the media and reminding us of our justified collective rage, while featuring love stories and experimental, queer, and personal narratives that provide a cathartic grieving space for the SWANA and Palestinian community.

The program includes the following films:

your father was born 100 years old, and so was the Nakba
(ابوكي خلق عمره ١٠٠ سنة، زي النكبة)
Dir. Razan AlSalah, 2017.
Canada, Palestine. 7 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.

A ghostly voice echoes: the disembodied, imaginary voice of the filmmaker’s grandmother, a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon who was never able to return to her hometown. Her words haunt Google Street View images of Haifa, the only means she could have had of visiting her lost home. But 50 years after the “great catastrophe,” the streets are no longer recognizable. The old woman’s soul wanders in vain through cyberspace in search of her house, probably demolished after the Nakba, and for her son Ameen, imagined as a little boy from another time. Over the images, which distort and pixelate as the network connection cuts in and out, are superimposed images of the trauma of forced relocation. Razan AlSalah pays heartbreaking tribute to the first generation of refugees.

TETA, OPI, AND ME
Dir. Tara Hakimm, 2018.
Canada. 25 min.
In English, Arabic, German with English Subtitles.

Filmed entirely with an iPhone, Teta, Opi & Me is a tribute to conformity, tolerance and courage. It is a poetic, meditative, multilingual, and feeling-driven short film, documenting the intricacies of the artist’s playful process in capturing her grandparents’ enduring romance through social, political and racial adversity. He comes from Bethlehem and she comes from Vienna. Incorporating poetic filmic scenarios, vérité scenes, interviews, and home movies, the work is an intergenerational dialogue that explores themes of family, love, and the intermingling of cultures.

EITR
(عطر)
Dir. Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller, 2022.
Canada. 15 min.
In English and Arabic with English subtitles.

Grinding away at the inherited family business, Mohamed works tirelessly making sales of knock-off perfume while living as a knock-off version of his true self. Grappling with the recent loss of his father, his mother’s anxious attempts to get him married and the shadow of his hidden Queer identity, Mohamed finds solace and connection in a day spent with a beautiful stranger who lives in self-acceptance and sees Mohamed for who he truly is under the many layers of polo-sport-adjacent cologne.

BOREKAS
Dir. Saleh Saadi, 2020.
Palestine. 15 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.

A breakdown on the way to the airport provides a father and son with an opportunity to reconnect.

PLANET OF THE ARABS
Dir. Jacqueline Reem Salloum, 2003.
United States. 9 min.
In English.

Planet of the Arabs is an experimental short on Hollywood’s negative depiction of Arabs and Muslims through the decades. Inspired by Dr. Jack Shaheen’s book “Reel Bad Arabs,” Planet was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival, won the “Best Editing” award at the Cinematexas Film Festival. It is used as an educational tool in classrooms on stereotypes in the media.

THE CUP READER
Dir. Suha Araj, 2012.
Palestine, United States. 12 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.

Warde, shamed as a young girl yet renowned in Palestine for her mystical seeing and matchmaking, lives with her sister Jaleleh and reads the fortunes of her clients. Each woman has made or will make a choice between love and marriage, not having had the luxury of both.

Our songs were ready for all wars to come
Dir. Noor Abed, 2021.
Palestine. 20 min.

Choreographed scenes based on documented folktales from Palestine, the film aims to create a new aesthetic form to re-awaken latent stories based around water wells and their connection to communal rituals around notions of disappearance, mourning, and death. Our songs were ready for all the wars to come explores the critical stance of ‘folklore’ as a source of knowledge, and its possible connection to alternative social and representational models in Palestine. How can ‘folklore’ become a common emancipatory tool for people to overturn dominant discourses, reclaim their history and land, and rewrite reality as they know it? The only narration in the film is a song, which is sung by Palestinian singer Maya Khaldi. Its lyrics are a collage of different folk tales. Captured through mediums of film and sound, situated stories are archived and represented, creating a context that explores the capacity of social formation, and the possibility of recalling a memory that is capable of decentralizing images of fixity; a memory that is liberated from monuments.

PARADISE VIEW

PARADISE VIEW
(パラダイスビュー)
Dir. Gō Takamine, 1985
Japan. 113 min.
In Japanese with English subtitles.

THURSDAY, APRIL 4 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 13 – 5 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 19 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, APRIL 30 – 7:30 PM

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In presentation with E-Flux, Spectacle brings you director Gō Takamine’s undersung first feature Paradise View, a languid and mystical gem of cultural minority cinema set in a small Okinawan community. Taking place in the period immediately leading up to the implementation of the Okinawan Reversion Agreement, which reestablished Japan’s sovereignty over Okinawa, the film is a meditation on Okinawa’s complex history of occupation. Notably, it was filmed almost entirely in the severely endangered Okinawan dialect.

Events are set in motion by the arrival of Japanese school teacher Ito, played by preeminent Japanese musician Haroumi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame, who also composed the film’s sublime electronic score. Ito is set to marry Chiru, played by Hosono’s musical equal and collaborator Jun Togawa, and the community is astir over wedding preparations. Soon, however, matters grow complicated after word spreads that Chiru has been impregnated by the ant-obsessed Reishu, played by Kaoru Kobayashi, a local who has recently quit his job on a U.S. military base.

This film is presented in partnership with e-flux’s program, Beyond Security: Approaches toward a Cinema of Okinawa. In addition to our screenings of PARADISE VIEW, e-flux will host two days of events on April 25th and April 27th in their Screening Room (172 Classon Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205).

Starting at 7:00pm on Thursday, April 25th, e-flux will feature Chikako Yamashiro’s MUD MAN, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba’s HO! HO! HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS: BATTLE OF EASEL POINT – MEMORIAL PROJECT OKINAWA, and Chris Marker’s LEVEL FIVE.

The series continues on Saturday, April 27th at 3:00 pm with a screening of Gō Takamine’s HENGYORO (QUEER FISH LANE) and, at 5:00 pm, films from Futoshi Miyagi’s body of work, AMERICAN BOYFRIEND. Go to e-flux.com/film for more information.

Hollywood Entertainment Presents: An Evening with Jay Blumenfield featuring SMALL TOWN ECSTASY

SMALL TOWN ECSTASY
dir. Jay Blumenfield, 2002
United States. 84 min.
In English.

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 – 7:30 PM (This event is $10. Admission includes access to the discussion with Blumenfield following a complimentary screening of SMALL TOWN ECSTASY.)

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“Aren’t people great?”

Hollywood Entertainment is proud to present Jay Blumenfield’s SMALL TOWN ECSTASY, a film of unrivaled familial tension and religious grace. One of the only films to capture glimpses of the Northern California rave scene, it shows us a family on the brink of collapse punctuated with strobe lights and pummeling trance synth. Like taking ecstasy, this is a story of the highest highs and the lowest lows once the music stops.

A 40 year old preacher’s son and father of four, Scott’s post-divorce crisis takes an atypical form. Rather than getting a Porsche or starting a cover band, he indulges in underground trance and jungle raves under the influence of ecstasy with his 20 year old son. The two go to raves in matching Adidas visors and baggy pants looking for light shows, bass, and pills while his new lifestyle creates tension between his ex-wife and younger children. Scott loves the rave and wants to share the feeling with his children without any comprehension of the dangers that lie ahead.

O IMPÉRIO DO DESEJO

O IMPÉRIO DO DESEJO
(The Empire of Desire)
dir. Carlos Reichenbach, 1980
Brazil. 110 mins.
In Portuguese with English subtitles.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 12 – 5 PM
THURSDAY, APRIL 18 – 10 PM
MONDAY APRIL 22- 10 PM

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“I dedicate to Pierre Proudhon: All property is theft!” – Carlos Reichenbach

“I’m the one who made this film, not Carlão. This film is mine!” – Rogério Sganzerla

“He Became a poet, lost everything.”

Brazilian master Carlos Reichenbach’s anarchistic Pornochanchada is a bacchanalian expression of pure cinema, an ode to debauchery that blends elements of slasher, political manifesto, and slapstick comedy.

Juxtaposed against the vastness of the sea, “O IMPÉRIO DO DESEJO” follows Sandra, a widow who inherits a small beach house. She appoints a hippie couple to watch over it, much to the distress of conservative lawyer Carvalho and her cruel fiancé Odilon. Together, they become entangled in an erotic quest for freedom.

Special thanks to William Plotnick & Eugenio Puppo

Content Warning: Sexual Violence

SYNTHESIZER CINEMA

SYNTHESIZER CINEMA

In 1964, the Moog became the first commercial synthesizer ever sold. Sixty years later, the marriage of synthesizers and cinema has woven a rich tapestry of filmic possibilities. In particular, synths have become the soulmate of genre and surrealist cinema. While most cinephiles are familiar with the unmistakable stylings of John Carpenter and Wendy Carlos, there exists an endless well of lesser-known film composers who have used synthesizers to great effect.

This April, we’ve brought together underscreened gems with otherworldly atmospheres that are heightened by their synthesizer scores; from the absurdist black comedy of THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, to the potently restrained sounds of VIGIL, to the dreadful dissonance of SPIRITS OF THE AIR, GREMLINS OF THE CLOUDS, to the glittering melodies of DEAD MOUNTAINEER’S HOTEL, returning to Spectacle after twelve years. Come to your favorite collectively run cinema to bathe in sensory delights!

Join us for a Q&A with TWENTIETH CENTURY director Matthew Rankin in person on Friday, April 19th at 7:30 pm.


THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Dir. Matthew Rankin, 2019.
Canada. 90 min.
In English and French.

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 – 10 PM [ TICKETS ]
SATURDAY, APRIL 13 – MIDNIGHT [ TICKETS ]
FRIDAY, APRIL 19 – 7:30 PM, w/ Filmmaker Q&A, this event is $10 [ Q&A TICKETS ]
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 – 10 PM [ TICKETS ]

In 2019, singular Canadian filmmaker, animator, and documentarian Matthew Rankin unleashed his first feature in the form of a surrealist satirical fever dream depicting the rise of Canada’s longest-serving— and perhaps loneliest— Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. Viewers follow King through his trials and tribulations as he strives to become the man his mother has been grooming him to be since birth: preserver of the National Disappointment. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY takes extensive liberties in its dramatization of real historical figures and events while nailing prevailing notions that Canadianness is synonymous with earnestness, shame, and passive aggression.

From beginning to end, it is a maximalist work of art set against gorgeous German Expressionist backdrops which create intentional artificiality, suggesting that the concept of Canada may, in itself, be fake. Highlighting its hyper-stylization is a score that vacillates between synthwave and patriotic fanfare by composers Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux and Peter Venne. Come to the Burning S for a viewing experience unlike any other (and to support the ongoing efforts to increase appreciation for Canadian culture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn).

Preceded by:

THE TESLA WORLD LIGHT
dir. Matthew Rankin, 2017
Canada. 8 mins.
In English.


DEAD MOUNTAINEER'S HOTEL

DEAD MOUNTAINEER’S HOTEL
(HUKKUNUD ALPINISTI HOTELL)
Dir. Grigori Kromanov, 1979.
Estonia. 84 min.
In Estonian with English subtitles.

SATURDAY, APRIL 6 – MIDNIGHT
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 – 10 PM
SUNDAY, APRIL 21 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, APRIL 25 – 7:30 PM

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Returning to Spectacle after 12 years, DEAD MOUNTAINEER’S HOTEL is a sleek blend of thriller, noir, and science fiction based on the Strugatsky brothers’ novel of the same name. Opening with a winding upward mountain drive, we meet Inspector Peter Glebsky en route to respond to an anonymous tip at an isolated hotel in the Alps. Though all seems well upon arrival, he opts to stay the night and finds himself trapped by an avalanche with his bizarre fellow guests. It soon becomes clear that everything is not as it seems.

The hotel itself is a marvel of modern architecture in black and neon set sharply against bright, pristine snow, while its interior brings to mind the unforgettable and deeply ’70s mise-en-scene of cult classics like MESSIAH OF EVIL. The score by pioneering Estonian synth programmer and prog rocker Sven Grünberg, composed on an EMS Synthi 100, is an ethereal auditory dreamscape.

Special thanks to the Estonian Film Institute.


VIGIL

VIGIL
Dir. Vincent Ward, 1984.
New Zealand. 90 min.
In English.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 12 – MIDNIGHT
TUESDAY, APRIL 23 – 10 PM
MONDAY, APRIL 29 – 7:30 PM

[ TICKETS ]

The first New Zealand film ever to compete in Cannes, VIGIL is an unsettling, atmospheric drama about an eleven-year-old girl named Toss who witnesses the falling death of her father while out herding sheep on their remote farm. The only other witness is a mysterious hunter, Ethan, who carries her father’s body back home. Shortly afterward, Ethan begins working on the farm with Toss’s grandfather, Birdie. As Ethan’s relationship with her mother becomes sexually charged, Toss’s distrust toward him increases in complexity. We see the world through the eyes of a girl on the precipice of teenagehood as she experiences change, loss, and the invasion of her small, isolated world. Breathtaking imagery and unorthodox framing are complimented by composer Jack Body’s score, which combines synthesizers with string instruments to build a restrained soundscape that pierces the film’s potent, unreleased tension. This arthouse coming-of-age story, wearing the clothes of folk horror, is an indispensable contribution to the misty sheepcore canon.


SPIRITS OF THE AIR, GREMLINS OF THE CLOUDS

SPIRITS OF THE AIR, GREMLINS OF THE CLOUDS
Dir. Alex Proyas, 1987.
Australia. 93 min.
In English.

FRIDAY, APRIL 5 – MIDNIGHT
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10 – 10 PM
SUNDAY, APRIL 14 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, APRIL 18 – 7:30 PM

[ TICKETS ]

Alex Proyas’s first feature is a striking, surreal, and meditative post-apocalyptic sci-fi set in the Australian outback. The film follows Felix and Betty, two ultra-religious siblings, who have lived their lives in complete isolation until the arrival of Smith, a mysterious wanderer who is attempting to elude vague malicious pursers. Smith and Felix form an unlikely friendship as Felix’s hyperfixation proves to be Smith’s only route to salvation: building a flying machine. Meanwhile, Betty acquires a hyperfixation of her own through her obsessive distrust of Smith.

SPIRITS OF THE AIR, GREMLINS OF THE CLOUDS is a low-budget audiovisual tour-de-force. The film’s quirkiness and borderline steampunk aesthetics walk a fine line that never crosses over from inventiveness into cringe. While synthesizers typically bring to mind tight, catchy electronic melodies, they are, at their core, experimental instruments of infinite possibilities; composer Peter Miller expertly captures the film’s arid isolation with his lingering, dissonant score. If you’ve ever longed to watch a version of MAD MAX that was inspired by Tarkovsky, this is the film for you.

A LOOK AT NIKOLAIDIS

Nikos Nikolaidis is without a doubt the most important Greek filmmaker of the 20th century. The devious, psychosexual DNA of his films can be found spread wide across cinema, from the obvious and confrontational style of fellow Hellene and Oscar darling Yorgos Lanthimos to countless underground filmmakers with a taste for the disturbing and sensual. New York screenings of Nikolaidis’ magnum opus SINGAPORE SLING have been known to pack crowds to the rafters on more than one occasion. We here at Spectacle are no stranger to the work of Nikolaidis. We have shown his films numerous times across our decade plus of existence. And damn it, we’re going to do it again!

This April, Spectacle is proud to present A LOOK AT NIKOLAIDIS, a further exploratory dive into his fascinating fascistic dripping dystopias EURIDICE BA 2037, THE ZERO YEARS, and the return of Spectacle favorite MORNING PATROL.

Very Special Thanks to Simon Nikolaidis and Marie-Louise Bartholomew.

EURIDICE BA 2037
(ΕΥΡΙΔΊΚΗ ΒΑ 2037)
Dir. Nikos Nikolaidis, 1975.
Greece. 105 min.
In Greek with English subtitles.

FRIDAY, APRIL 5 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, APRIL 9 – 10 PM
MONDAY, APRIL 15 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 – 7:30 PM

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Constantly monitored, mocked, and locked in an oppressive hellhole, Euridice (prisoner codename: BA 2037) finds herself reuniting with Orpheus, a former lover and supposed savior. Things do not go as planned. This is Niko Nikolaidis’ first film.

“…the projection and filmic confirmation of a nightmarish and hidden reality.” Nikos Nikolaidis

MORNING PATROL
(ΠΡΩΙΝΉ ΠΕΡΊΠΟΛΟΣ)
Dir. Nikos Nikolaidis, 1987.
Greece. 108 min.
In Greek with English subtitles.

MONDAY, APRIL 8 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 13 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 19 – MIDNIGHT
TUESDAY, APRIL 23 – 7:30 PM

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A lone woman wanders through The Forbidden Zone. A guard from the Morning Patrol offers to help her evacuate the dangerous and abandoned city in order to reach “The Sea”. Will their love survive in such a place?

“This is a movie that still scares me and I avoid watching it…” – Nikos Nikolaidis

THE ZERO YEARS
(ΤΑ ΜΗΔΕΝΙΚΆ ΧΡΌΝΙΑ)
Dir. Nikos Nikolaidis, 2005.
Greece. 126 min.
In Greek with English subtitles.

SATURDAY, APRIL 6 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 12 – 10 PM
MONDAY, APRIL 22 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 26 – MIDNIGHT

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Four women have been sterilized and sentenced to carry out their term in a rotting government-run brothel, forced to cater to every wish and desire while ignoring their own: to have children. One day, a visitor goes missing and the women are questioned.

It would be a mistake to interpret this as a futuristic story. No matter how harsh it may appear, this movie is about the shape of things that are already here and established…” – Nikos Nikolaidis

WHO AM I THIS TIME?

WHO AM I THIS TIME?
Dir. Jonathan Demme, 1982.
United States. 53 min.
In English.

MONDAY, APRIL 1 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 6 – 5 PM
SUNDAY, APRIL 14 – 5 PM
TUESDAY, APRIL 30 – 10 PM

TICKETS HERE

Helene Shaw (Susan Sarandon) is directionless when she arrives in the small town of North Crawford. Harry Nash (Christopher Walken) is a meek hardware store clerk who by night transforms into iconic characters of the stage. When Helene is cast alongside Harry in a community theater production of A Streetcar Named Desire, it kicks off a passionate romance. However, as they get to know one another the lines between their characters and real life blur. WHO AM I THIS TIME? is an examination of performances we put on in our everyday lives. This made-for-TV film, originally broadcast on PBS as a part of the American Playhouse series, was adapted from a Kurt Vonnegut story. Jonathan Demme, hot off of the award-winning Melvin and Howard, directs with his usual humanist sensibility. WHO AM I THIS TIME? is TV entertainment at its peak with an all-star team in front of and behind the camera.

Screenings Will Be Preceded By:

TRISHA BROWN’S ACCUMULATION WITH TALKING PLUS WATER MOTOR
Dir. Jonathan Demme, 1986.
United States. 11 min.
In English.