DRACULA IN VEGAS
dir. Nick Millard, 1999
63 min, USA
In English

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4 – 11:59 PM
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7 – 10:00 PM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18 – 11:59 PM

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A young, German vampire arrives in Las Vegas in order to put the bite on unsuspecting showgirls and hookers.

Shot on video for what looks to be a total budget of $15, DRACULA IN VEGAS follows a young vampire on his trials and tribulations looking for love in late 90’s Vegas, plastic fangs and all.

From the director of Spectacle favorite CRIMINALLY INSANE (1975), this late career gem of ANTI-VALENTINE’S garbage (clocking in at just 63 minutes!) is not to be missed.

Come for the incredibly overwrought accents and regional no-budget charm, stay for the late film rant about art films vs pornography, including the heaviest name drops ever featured in a movie this cheap.

Following up Best of Spectacle’s A Noite Do Espantalho, this Rockuary, Spectacle Theater is proud to present “Fantasia Da Alegria: Two Films by Sergio Ricardo” (translation: Fantasy of Joy) which attempts to honor the great Brazilian composer and filmmaker whose films and musical compositions are integral to the history of both Bossa Nova & Cinema Novo.

João Lutfi, who began his career as an actor, changed his name to Sergio Ricardo to rebrand as a leading man while starring in hit Brazilian soap operas and variety shows. It was during this time that Ricardo befriended Jõao Gilberto, Tom Jobim, and other leading members of the Bossa Nova movement, which led to his involvement in the infamous 1962 Bossa Nova concert at Carnegie Hall.

That same year Ricardo directed his first short film (Edited by filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos), which marked the beginning of his career as a social-political filmmaker. He used the cinema to further develop his ideas on the struggles of the working class while turning his camera towards the harsh realities of economic disparity.

In 1965 he directed his first feature film, the french new-wave inspired, ÊSSE MUDO E MEU, a tale which illustrates the strains of economic exploitation, while that same year he ignited his most fruitful collaboration with Cinema Novo director Glauber Rocha, where he was commissioned to compose the infamous score of BLACK GOD, WHITE DEVIL. Ricardo would continue to collaborate with Rocha again in the late 60’s composing music for Antônio Das Mortes in 1969 while also providing the score & and doing voice-over work for Glauber’s 1967 film, Terra em Trance.

In 1970, Sergio Ricardo directed his second feature, the lyrical JULIANA DO AMOR PERDIDO. JULIANA DO AMOR PERDIDO. further developed Ricardo’s great range as a filmmaker focusing on a remote religious community with a plot that resembles Glauber Rocha’s BARRAVENTO, another Best of Spectacle hit. Like BARRAVENTO, Ricardo’s film portrays religion as a powerful tool for maintaining social control, however JULIANA threads these ideas through the tragic love story of the forcefully sainted daughter and her chance encounter with the modern world vis-a-vis a mechanical train conductor who’s train passes through the remote and neglected island.

Special thanks to Maria Lutfi and William Plotnick.

ESSE MUNDO E MEU
Dir. Sérgio Ricardo, 1964
Brazil, 79 min.
In Portuguese with English subtitles.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6 – 10:00 PM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17 – 10:00 PM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23 – 7:30 PM

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Photographed by renowned Cinema Novo cinematographer (/Sergio Ricardo’s brother) Dib Lutfi & edited by filmmaker Ruy Guerra, Ricardo’s debut feature blends aspects of Italian neorealism, French New Wave, and Cinema Novo as it studies in parallel the lives of two young men from Rio de Janeiro, one a shoeshine boy who is saving up money to buy a bike and win over a girl and & the other, a worker who fights for better working conditions as he tries to stop his wife from performing a risky abortion.

JULIANA DO AMOR PERDIDO
Dir. Sérgio Ricardo, 1969
Brazil, 92 min.
In Portuguese with English subtitles.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4 – 5:00 PM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20 – 10:00 PM

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Sergio Ricardo’s follow up film tracks a young woman who falls in love with an outsider until her father, a violent religious fanatic, interferes with their impassioned love affair. An ideal Anti-Valentines & Rockuary hybrid pick, the film’s musical compositions come from from the religious numbers set in opposition to the haunting mechanical sounds of the modern train.

PUNK THE CAPITAL: BUILDING A SOUND MOVEMENT
Dir. James June Schneider & Paul Bishow, 2019
In English

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18 – 10:00 PM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22 – 7:30 PM w/ Q&A

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A historic document of the formation of the punk scene in Washington D.C. from 1976 to 1983. An unexpected crucible of the DIY punk aesthetic, that burned bright as a local scene and then exploded across the country.

A film about of the musicians, scene-makers, artists, and record labels; who all went forth and helped to define (and document) what we call punk, and hardcore in the USA.

Featuring the stories of bands such as Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Slickee Boys, Void, Faith, Rites of Spring, and Half Japanese. And highlighting the personalities on the scene such as Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, HR (Bad Brains), Jello Biafra, Cynthia Connolly, and many more.

THE LEGEND OF THE STARDUST BROTHERS
dir. Makoto Tezuka, 1985
Japan, 100 min.
In Japanese with English subtitles

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2 – 10:00 PM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18 – 5:00 PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26 – 5:00 PM

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A shady music mogul brings together two wannabe stars—punk rock rebel Kan and new-wave crooner Shingo—and transforms them into the Stardust Brothers, a girl-friendly, silver-jumpsuited, synth-pop sensation. Along with their #1 fan, who herself dreams of a music career, the duo rockets to stardom.

This Rockuary, Spectacle is thrilled to present this gonzo low budget musical gem – a live action feature that’s about as close to a live action cartoon as you can get.

The Legend of the Stardust Brothers started in unusual circumstances – director Makoto Tezuka met TV personality/musician Haruo Chicada, who shared a parody concept album for a non-existent feature with Makoto (who was just 22 at the time).

Using said album as the backbone, Tezuka and Chicada worked backwards and built out the story (and additional musical numbers) from there.

Though largely reviled + forgotten upon release, The Legend of the Stardust Brothers is getting its long overdue credit as a hilarious (and catchy) entry in the ‘band tries to make it big in the crushing music industry’ genre.

Featuring an almost non stop barrage of incredible sets, costumes, and sight gags – fans of Phantom of the Paradise and Rocky Horror Picture Show looking for a musical fix a little further off the beaten track, look no further!

Punks. Rockstars. Singer-songwriters. All of these have gotten their due at ROCKUARY. But what about the composer, that sometimes gentle, sometimes overcharged musical force armed with maniacal meticulousness and creative wizardry?

This ROCKUARY, Spectacle presents THE COMPOSERS CYCLE, a series devoted to brilliant musical tinkerers. Dorian Supin’s ARVO PÄRT — AND THEN CAME THE MORNING AND THE EVENING (1990) shows the eponymous composer hard at work, doubly troubled by the political struggles in his native Estonia and perceived inability to honor the Divine with his compositions. Filmmakers Alfi Sinniger, Duncan Ward, and Gabriella Cardazzo, all refract the famed Brian Eno’s personality through their own cinematic language, producing unique portraits that tenderly reveal his mystic manner of music-making. ENO (1973) and BRIAN ENO: IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES (1989) both show the self-proclaimed “synthesist” at different points in his musical career, testifying to his energized verve to experiment. Andrés Duque, conversely, films composer Oleg Nikolaevich Karavaichuk reminiscing on his legacy as he is about to turn 90 in OLEG AND THE RARE ARTS (2016). And Elizabeth Lennard’s TOKYO MELODY: A FILM ABOUT RYUICHI SAKAMOTO (1985) offers a look at the renown composer piecing together his first solo album, commenting on his years with Yellow Magic Orchestra, and pondering over where his career will take him next. With all its variants, THE COMPOSERS CYCLE attests to histories of continued experimentation with music, showcasing personalities on the brink of artistic breakthroughs, or reflecting on their brilliant careers.

ARVO PÄRT: AND THEN CAME THE MORNING AND THE EVENING
dir. Dorian Supin, 1990
61 mins, Estonia, Finland
In German, Russian and Estonian with English subtitles.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5 – 5:00 PM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10 – 10:00 PM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15 – 10:00 PM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24 – 10:00 PM

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In this curious portrait of the famed Estonian composer, documentarian Dorian Supin spins Arvo Pärt’s melancholy musings into a treatise bearing transcendental weight that shares more in common with the films of Andrei Tarkovsky than your average music documentary. As Pärt waxes poetic on everything from churches to peeling potatoes, intercut scenes of nature reveal the sublime power of his art: one that seduces the listener toward divine trance.

Shot during the turbulent Estonian Revolution, Supin also uses his documentary as a way for Pärt to impart his humanist philosophy before the camera. He does so begrudgingly, as though defeated. And when he can’t find the words to comment on the ills of the world, as well as his own sense of political ineffectuality, he lays his head on his piano and plays. From here spring the film’s most touching moments, with his compositions performing as both a palliative from politics and evidence to the conditions that inspire it.

BRIAN ENO: IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES
dirs. Duncan Ward & Gabriella Cardazzo, 1989
41 mins, United Kingdom
In English

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19 – 5:00 PM w/ Q&A (This event is $10)
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25 – 10:00 PM
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 – 7:30 PM

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In Duncan Ward and Gabriella Cardazzo’s BRIAN ENO: IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES, the composer appears more reserved than he was in his younger years. Past his rock-phase, Eno is still seen experimenting with synthesizers and reflecting on his ritualistic manner of composing. As Eno muses on music, directors Ward and Cardazzo play with dreamy montages of cityscapes and desert landscapes that complement his words. Between the synthesist’s words and the directors’ images, a riveting collage coalesces to the tunes of the master composer.

screening with

ENO
dir. Alfi Sinniger, 1973
24 mins, United Kingdom
In English

ENO is Brian Eno at his most scintillating: a rock-star in Roxy get-up aspiring to shake up the genre’s foundations. Alfi Sinniger presents his eponymous subject candidly. Eno is shown meticulously toying with synthesizers, scribbling in his many notebooks, and furiously looking to come up with the next musical concoction that he believes will change the world. Alfi Sinniger’s ENO is a far cry from more recent documentaries on the famed composer, capturing him at the precipice of a fabulous career to come, high-strung on all the ideas that would soon spill from his mind.

OLEG AND THE RARE ARTS
(Oleg y las raras artes)
dir. Andrés Duque, 2016
70 mins, Spain
In Russian with English subtitles

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12 – 5:00 PM w/ Q&A (This event is $10)
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25 – 7:30 PM

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Having outlived his peers and disgruntled by the recent history of musicianship in Russia, Oleg Nikolaevich Karavaichuk bears his soul on screen. In a series of interviews with director Andrés Duque, Karavaichuk denounces Russian society’s diminishing respect for cultural affairs and the lack of innovation in his field.

Walking around his sylvan neighborhood on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Karavaichuk also remarks on what being an artist was under Stalinism and recalls living among like-minded artists such as Andrei Tarkovsky. Duque’s small portrait of one of Russia’s most idiosyncratic musicians produces a larger commentary on the de-evolution of art in contemporary society, and the role power-hungry politicians play in sidelining experiments in expression.

TOKYO MELODY: A FILM ABOUT RYUICHI SAKAMOTO
dir. Elizabeth Lennard, 1985
62 mins, France and Japan
In Japanese, English and French with English subtitles

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13 – 10:00 PM
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25 – 5:00 PM w/ Q&A (This event is $10)

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In TOKYO MELODY: A FILM ABOUT RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, the eponymous composer is seen at the height of his popularity, performing alongside Yellow Magic Orchestra across Japan, and investing his remaining time toward developing his solo compositions. Filmmaker Elizabeth Lennard captures Sakamoto at his most stylish and sedulous; Sakamoto is seen discussing his aesthetic interests, understanding of time, and the influence new technologies will have on the future music production.

During one of the film’s most touching sequences, the composer is filmed performing a piano duet with his wife Akiko Yano, aka “Japan’s Kate Bush.” In the afterglow of an early popular music career and moving toward establishing himself as a globally renowned composer, Sakamoto glints with genius throughout Lennard’s taut documentary. As a time-capsule of 1980s Japan, and Sakamoto’s role in its music scene, TOKYO MELODY offers a brilliant mix of insightful reveries, arresting sights, and fabulously rendered scenes from everyday life.