STREET TRASH
Dir. J. Michael Muro, 1987.
91 min. USA.

FRIDAY, JULY 26 – 7:30 PM

One show only! Writer/producer Roy Frumkes in attendance for discussion, rare shorts, and more!

We’ve been hearing a lot about how hot it is. In fact a lot of folks are saying it’s so hot they’re gonna melt. Well, you talked and we listened. We know we were looking at our phones, but we assure you we were listening.

This sweltering heat wave’s gotta break sometime, right? Well til it does, join us for an evening with professor, producer, director, root beer fiend, and friend of the theater Roy Frumkes for an evening that almost literally drips off the screen!

Roy will once again be in attendance to regale us with tales of his storied career and of a New York gone by. If you’ve not been to one of these events, you are truly missing out.

Up first – a favorite of all of us at Spectacle (and probably everyone who has ever seen it) – a very special presentation of the unfinished ice cream gangster masterpiece – SWIRLEE. James Lorinz (STREET TRASH, ROBOCOP 3, FRANENHOOKER) and David Caruso (SESSION 9, KING OF NEW YORK, CHINA GIRL) star in this lost send up and monument to latex mask effects as they turn up the heat, try to find love, and butt heads and cones with a vicious crime lord.

Then we proudly present the new HD transfer of a Brooklyn staple – STREET TRASH!

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3 – TWO PROGRAMS

ALWAYS FOR PLEASURE/ CIGARETTE BLUES – 8:00 PM
IN HEAVEN THERE IS NO BEER? / GAP-TOOTHED WOMEN – 10:00 PM

JUST ANNOUNCED Special Guests! Son Beau Blank will be in attendance for discussion at the 8:00 PM show, and Harrod Blank at 10:00 PM.

Spectacle is honored to be among the New York venues participating in a citywide celebration of the late Les Blank, both one of documentary’s most rambunctious and sensitive artists.

Between 1960 and his passing this May, Blank made dozens of documentaries celebrating the cultures from around the world, especially the Cajun, Creole, Tex-Mex, Southern, Appalachian, and Hawaiian peoples. What he captures is a delight to the eyes, but might appeal foremost to the ear, the heart, and the stomach — cooking, dancing, drinking, and storytelling are the means by which Blank invites the audience into the world of his subjects. And though among the most respected artists in the field, Blank resists easy categorization as someone who is resolutely non-commercial, yet not falling easily into cinema verite, essay, or anthropological film making traditions. Ultimately, each of his films is a celebration, and one we cordially invite you to be a part of.

For more Les Blank, check out the other shows at The Academy Theater at Lighthouse International (Spend It All, July 30), BAM (Lightnin’ Hopkins & A Well Spent Life, August 1), and the Museum of the Moving Image (Dry Wood, August 2) and UnionDocs (Burden of Dreams, August 4).

PROGRAM 1: SATURDAY, AUGUST 3 – 8:00 PM

Beau Blank in attendance for discussion!

ALWAYS FOR PLEASURE
Les Blank & Maureen Gosling. 1978.
58 min.

An intense insider’s portrait of New Orleans’ street celebrations and unique cultural gumbo: Second-line parades, Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest. Features live music from Professor Longhair, the Wild Tchoupitoulas, the Neville Brothers and more. This glorious, soul-satisfying film is among Blank’s special masterworks.

CIGARETTE BLUES
Les Blank & Alan Govenar. 1985.
6 min.

Oakland bluesman Sonny Rhodes sings “Cigarette Blues”: a musical warning that compares cigarette smoking with playing with a loaded gun.

PROGRAM II: SATURDAY, AUGUST 3 – 10:00 PM

Harrod Blank in attendance for discussion!

IN HEAVEN THERE IS NO BEER?
1984. 50 min.

A joyous romp through the dance, food, music, friendship, and even religion of the Polka. The explosive energy and high spirits of the polka subculture are rendered with warmth and dedication to scholarship in this journey through Polish-American celebrations. Polka stars like Jimmy Sturr, Eddie Blazonzyck and Walt Solek are featured.

GAP-TOOTHED WOMEN
1987. 31 min.

A charming valentine to women born with a space between their teeth, ranging from lighthearted whimsy to a deeper look at issues like self-esteem and societal attitudes toward standards of beauty. Interviews were conducted with over one hundred women, including model Lauren Hutton and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

All descriptions by Les Blank/Flower Films

SATURDAY, JULY 6 – 8:00 PM
ONE NIGHT ONLY!

In 1994, Mike Diana became the first underground cartoonist convicted of obscenity in the United States. His work, from the notorious ‘zine BOILED ANGEL and beyond, is surreal, perverse, violent, graphic and funny as heck. We’re celebrating his solo show at Superchief Gallery with a rare screening of his two video works, which were both investigated during his trial. Mike will be here for a Q&A between the shows.

BAKED BABY JESUS
Dir. Mike Diana, 1990
USA. 120 min.

Equal parts home movie, performance art and backyard gore-fest, this tour through the Floridian hell-scape leaves no taboo stone unturned. In the short “The Second Cumming” a teenage Joseph pisses on a cross, gets raped by a multi-dicked demon and gives butt-birth to a stillborn baby Jesus. In “Sleazy Love,” Mike finds a (fake) corpse by the railroad tracks and brings her home for some not-so-wholesome fun. Take a trip to “Babyland” infant cemetery, an automobile altercation, an electrical fire, and an abortion rally. Watch Mike’s beloved pet pooch get in on the blasphemous action in “Daisy Licks Jesus.” Fun for the whole family! (If your family is the Manson family.)

BLOOD BROTHERS
Dir. Mike Diana, 1989
USA. 60 min.

Mike’s VHS gore-epic stars his younger brother and sister in a series of queasy misadventures chock full of home-made blood and guts. Frank Henenlotter called it “The ultimate home video gone terribly, terribly wrong. The kids are way too young to do what they’re doing, and the victims look even younger (well, at least the boys do) making it all that much more perverse. All of a sudden I know why 15-year olds are not supposed to watch R-Rated movies!!!”

MADRID, 1987
Dir: David Trueba, 2011.
104 min. Spain.
In Spanish with English subtitles.

THURSDAY, JUNE 13TH – 8PM
ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Presented by Pragda as part of their CINEART Spain series. Pragda is a film distribution company created to promote, disseminate, and maintain the legacy of Spanish and Latin American cinema through unique cultural initiatives.

On a hot summer day in a vacant Madrid during a period of social and political transition in Spain, Miguel, a feared and respected journalist, sets up a meeting in a café with Ángela, a young journalism student. He takes her to a friend’s studio. His intentions are clearly sexual; hers are less clear. Chance events force them together for more time than they would have chosen, locked in a bathroom, naked, without the possibility of escape. Removed from the outside world, the pair, who represents polarized generations, is pitted in an unevenly matched duel involving age, intellect, ambition and experience. The political and social context of the period provides the background to the power shifts that continually take place between them over twenty-four hours.

OFFICIAL SELECTION – 2012 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

The Film-Makers’ Cooperative Presents:
16MM FILMS BY JENNIFER REEVES & MM SERRA
1995-2002.
Approx. 43 min. USA.

FRIDAY, JUNE 28TH – 8PM
ARTIST IN PERSON!
ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Spectacle is proud to welcome back MM Serra to present an evening’s worth of rarely seen queer art-core on 16mm from the Film-Makers’ Co-op’s archives.

THE GIRL’S NERVY
Dir: Jennifer Reeves, 1995.
5 min. USA.

Cut, pasted, painted and cracked film frames. A rhythmic play of flickering film elements.

SOI MEME
Dir: MM Serra, 1995.
6 min. USA.

An erotic dance performance by Goddess Rosemary; soundtrack by Zeena Parkins.

DARLING INTERNATIONAL
Dir: Jennifer Reeves & MM Serra, 1999.
22 min. USA.

In noir New York, a metal worker’s femme fantasies are explored. Starring Jennifer Reeves and MM Serra.

“An evocative work whose sexual sadomasochistic scenario, grainy visual texture and layered soundtrack render it highly tactile, fairly begging to be touched.” -Shannon Kelly, Sundance Film Festival

FEAR OF BLUSHING
Dir: Jennifer Reeves, 2001.
6 min. USA.

7200 painted frames flash by “suggesting a cinematic free-association.” Recognizable shapes flirt with the eye behind color and a textured veil.

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE
Dir: MM Serra, 2002.
4 min. USA.
w/ sound by Jennifer Reeves

Part of the “Ad It Up” series of commercial parodies, and an homage to Andy Warhol’s Kiss. Starring Jennifer Reeves.

Jennifer Reeves is a New York-based filmmaker working primarily on 16mm film. Reeves was named one of the “Best 50 Filmmakers Under 50” in the film journal Cinema Scope in the spring of 2012. Her films have shown extensively, from the Berlin, New York, Vancouver, London, Sundance, and Hong Kong Film Festivals to many micro-cinemas in the US and Canada, the Robert Flaherty Seminar, and the Museum of Modern Art.  Reeves has made experimental films since 1990. She does her own writing, cinematography, editing, and sound design. Her subjective and personal films push the boundaries of film through optical-printing and direct-on-film techniques. Reeves has consistently explored themes of memory, mental health and recovery, feminism and sexuality, landscape, wildlife, and politics from many different angles.

MM Serra is an experimental film/videomaker, curator, author, and Executive Director of the Film-Makers’ Cooperative, the world’s oldest distributor of independent media. She has produced, directed and edited more than fourteen works. Her own films, as well as her curated programs, have been screened at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Centre Pompidou, Cinematheque Francais, the London Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. Her most recent piece, BITCH BEAUTY, premiered at the 2011 New York Film Festival. Titillating, sumptuous, and always subversive, Serra’s short films focus on alternative cultures and intimate moments. They are simultaneously eye-opening and awe-inducing. Whether creating documentary portraits or colorfully dynamic exposés, Serra never fails to go where you would least expect.

The Film-Makers’ Cooperative is the oldest and largest archive and distributor of independent and avant-garde films in the world. Created by artists in 1961, as the distribution branch of the New American Cinema Group, the collection holds more than 5,000 films, videos and DVDs. The FMC is an active non-profit organization that hosts screenings and workshops for the public. MM Serra has been its Executive Director since 1991.