Category: Special Event

THE PATRIOT GAME

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THE PATRIOT GAME
Dir: Arthur MacCaig, 1979.
99 min. Ireland/France.

MONDAY, JUNE 17TH – 8PM
ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Special Thanks to Icarus Films and Donal Foreman

How to wield a camera in the service of a struggle? Not only to analyze, but to further it? How to implement montage as a weapon? To aid the insurgents, narratively and materially? Most importantly, how to get organized? How to win?

These are the critical questions that haunt The Patriot Game, through the historical lens of the Irish nationalist movement. It is not only the story of a people fighting for autonomy, but also of a documentarian following the irresistible call towards becoming a partisan.

“In The Patriot Game we try to show what is, in reality, happening in Ireland, to show what is certainly the most extensive, determined working-class struggle in Europe. And apart from the Basques and their organization ETA, it is the only struggle in which the entire population, armed and mobilized, has successfully faced up to the most sophisticated and brutal counterinsurgency techniques ever experimented with in an industrial, urban society.” -Arthur MacCaig, director, 1979

“This extraordinary and moving documentary reviews ten years of armed warfare by the IRA and places today’s headlines in their proper political and economic context. Through vivid footage of street battles and interviews with participants, THE PATRIOT GAME forcefully debunks the twin myths that the IRA is a ‘terrorist organization’ fighting ‘a religious war.'”—Kevin J. Kelley, The Guardian

“Informative, vivid, and partisan. The footage of urban guerillas is extraordinary. I’ve seen a number of films on Northern Ireland, none have depicted the situation this graphically.”—J. Hoberman, Village Voice

SWEET 16 PRESENTS: SYBIL

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SYBIL 
Dir: Daniel Petrie, 1976.
198 min. USA.

SUNDAY, JUNE 16TH – 6:00PM
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
ON 16MM!

Based on a book almost as heavily groped by teenage girls as “Go Ask Alice”, the made-for-TV movie Sybil stars Sally Field as the titular split-personality basket case. Substitute teaching in New York City, Sybil finds the blackouts that have afflicted her for her entire life are coming on stronger – one minute she’s leading a game of Follow the Leader, next she’s knee-deep in a Central Park pond.

Her tendency of putting her wrist through windows lands her in the hospital and in the care of Dr. Cornelia Wilbur (Joanne Woodward, herself a multiple personality alum with The Three Faces of Eve) who quickly realizes she’s going to need a bigger band-aid. Quickly the other personalities start to emerge – Peggy, the frightened child; Vicky, the francophonic sophisticate; and Marcia, the suicidal artist, among others. Dr. Wilbur gets them talking, and here your own nightmares can begin as we’re introduced to Hattie, a mother that makes Joan Crawford seem straight-up cuddly. Actress Martine Bartlett plays the character with such playful menace, like a child torturing a reptile. Shot by cinematographer Mario Tosi, the very same year he did Carrie.

Hosts Tom Blunt and Cristina Cacioppo will guide you through the fugue induced by this three-hour undertaking. There will be snacks and an intermission, so you won’t have to hold your water.

BASEMENT MEDIA FEST

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THE 3RD BASEMENT MEDIA FEST
Dir: Various
Approx. 50 min. USA.

SATURDAY, JUNE 15TH – 7:30PM
SUNDAY, JUNE 23RD – 7:30PM

`*~FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE~*`

The BASEMENT Media Fest is a survey of contemporary artists working with lo-def, lo-tech, and lo-fi motion pix techniques. Founded in response to the commercial race for hi-res and true-to-life IMG quality, BASEMENT is a celebration of the mediated experience as an aesthetic experience. Equal parts glitchd digital vidz, fuzzy VHS, and grimy 16mm film, this year’s screening ought to plaza any connoisseur of experimental .MOVs.

///WARNING/// SUM OF THESE MOVIES FEATURE FLICKERING LIGHT AND RAPIDLY CHANGING MOTION. MAY CAUSE SEIZURES/MOTION SICKNESS. IF YOU’RE GONNA SPEW, SPEW INTO THIS.

/START PROGRAM:

WINGDINGS LOVE LETTER
Dir: Scott Fitzpatrick

noun \’wiŋ-,diŋ\ 1. A lavish or lively party or celebration. 2. A real or pretended fit or seizure; a rage. An ode to a misunderstood font is rendered by laser printing directly onto 16mm leader. Made in Microsoft Paint.

RECIPROCAL YOUTH
Dir: Jonathan Johnson

An absurd melding of home and archival videos.

CLIFFS QUARRIES BRIDGED AND DAMS
Dir: Josh Hite

Bodies under water at cliffs quarries bridges and dams.

TEN S-K-I-E-S
Dir: Clint Enns

A condensed version of James Benning’s Ten Skies with all the skies removed, leaving nothing but clouds.

I CAN’T WAIT TO MEET YOU THERE
Dir: Michael A. Morris

A meditation on morality and mediation. An elegy and a prayer for Kurt Cobain.

FALLOUT
Dir: Paul Turano

A gradual contamination of the image and increasing waves of fear give way to an irradiated bloom.

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (PROJECT 12, 8 1/2)
Dir:Dirian Lyons

Reconstructs the Hollywood film’s presidential montage, featuring statements only by Barack Obama.

THE POOL
Dir: Christine Lucy Latimer

1950’s 16mm swimmers dive unknowingly into video-infested waters.

THE EXPLODING VOICE
Dir: Allen Riley

Real-time analog sound/video synthesis using voice.

LIGHT IN EXTENSION, ABSOLUTE DOMAIN
Dir: Jon Perez

A found footage glitch piece that reverberates in and out of pure abstraction in attempt to unleash new visions for new eyes.

/END PROGRAM

GO TO BASEMENTMEDIAFEST.COM FOR MORE INFO

A BODY WITHOUT ORGANS

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A BODY WITHOUT ORGANS
Dir: Stephen Graves, 2012.
82 min. USA.

MONDAY, JUNE 10TH – 8PM
ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Director Stephen Graves crafts a vivid, intimate portrait of his father Bill, a former doctor who’s barely left home since a rare medical condition led surgeons to remove his colon and parts of his intestines in 1997.

The film unsettlingly depicts the agonizing details of his condition (he must drain waste from a sac connected to his abdomen) alongside his vibrant, medicated dreams, and stories of his libertine past. Graves re-creates his family’s subjective experiences using a unique and experimental approach to editing.

As radical in style as in subject matter, A BODY WITHOUT ORGANS is a confronting, intriguing and strikingly genuine debut.

OFFICIAL SELECTION – 2013 CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL

Chicago Reader Interview with director Stephen Graves

DIRT CITY FLIXX (Never Fahgettaboudit)

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DIRT CITY FLIXX.
2013. Various. Animated.

SATURDAY, MAY 25TH – 7:30pm
ONE NIGHT ONLY!

In a time when the medium of animation is polarized between commercial programming and independent “Art Film,” few examples can be found that epitomize the new wave of independent filmmakers that choose to utilize the medium in ways that eschew any form of targeting; rather they are narrative forms of self-expression that convey the experience of the contemporary artist. As the necessary technology of animation has become more accessible to artists, the medium itself has transformed—much like the comic book–to convey subversive, experimental, and harsh themes and techniques with immediacy previously unavailable. The films showcased here in DIRT CITY FLIXX represent some of the most exciting, funny, violent, stupid, inventive, and dirty sexxy movies coming out of New York City and the internet at large.

DIRT CITY FLIXX contains the work of the following independent filmmakers.

Dennis Morano
Ivo Stoop
Colin Kelly
Alex Wood
Rick Manlapig
Cody Walzel
Vince Cretara
Charlie Judkins
Mike Gallant
with Lavina Yelb’s Pelina

DIARY OF A LOST GIRL – LIVE SCORE BY ANA LOLA ROMAN

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DIARY OF A LOST GIRL
Dir: Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1929.
104 min. Germany.

LIVE SCORE BY ANA LOLA ROMAN

THURSDAY, MAY 23RD – 8PM &10PM
TWO SCREENINGS!
ONE NIGHT ONLY!

On May 23rd, Ana Lola Roman will provide live electronics, synths, beats, live vocal atmospheres, and drum pads to provide a futuristic, timeless, modular, and modern soundtrack/score to G. W. Pabst’s first Louis Brooks’ film. Roman’s haunting, lush, and minimal flourishes will provide a sound-scape that teeters on suspense, sexuality, raw-eroticism, and danger. This will be a chance to see silent film’s penultimate Muse; the vivid innocence, playfulness, and primal, yet refined beauty of Louise Brooks through Roman’s modern, raw, animistic, refined lens.

Louise Brooks, the silent film star who very well could have been the first to engage in the earliest version of ‘method’ acting, stars in Pabst’s Diary of a Lost Girl. Brooks plays the main character of Thymian, who is forced to face lurid tragedies and brief encounters with scandal and lust.

The premise of the story is disturbingly modern. Diary of a Lost Girl plays on fears we could face at anytime. We see Thymian take on a variety of misfortunes all while forced into a class-system she was not born into and which is clearly beneath her. Modern viewers will first notice that this film, released in 1929, is the first of its kind to deal with problems of exploitation, prostitution, and abandonment. Even before Lolita, or before Taxi Driver, this silent film eerily depicts a new genre of film to come.

Poster by Domokos (Tit’nul) from Future Blondes

MIL KDU DES: The Sound Stage Massacre

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MIL KDU DES present THE SOUND STAGE MASSACRE
Originally directed by Michael Soavi, 1987. Italy.
Approx. 45 min.

THURSDAY, MAY 30TH – 8PM & 10PM
ONE NIGHT ONLY!

THE SOUND STAGE MASSACRE is a heady re-edit directed by MIL KDU DES with editing assistance from C. Spencer Yeh of Michael Soavi’s 1987 directorial debut. STAGE FRIGHT: AQUARIUS (a/k/a: DELIRIA, BLOODY BIRD).

When a troupe of actors unwittingly let an escaped mental patient into their humble theater, the only thing that rises faster than the curtains is the body count. Coupled with dealing with an abusive and fame obsessed director the group discover that the maniac in the giant owl mask stalking them in the darkness isn’t the only thing they have to worry about. Also, there’s a lot of dancing and a character named Ferrari.

Rising from the graves of such musical monoliths as ANONYMOUS OWL, FEEL YOUNG, and PUKEALYPTUS comes the first (last?) public performance of Brooklyn’s mysterious and probably handsome – MIL KDU DES.

These unbelievably staggering musical pedigrees are only aided by the fact that members of the band also penned such Hollywood blockbusters as NIGHT OF THE HUMANNIQUINS and ACID WHALE.

Come join Spectacle for an evening spent submerged and steeping in the staggering splendor of theater and “live” “musical” accompaniment! Two sets – 8pm & 10pm! Fog machines! Terror! Surprises! No refunds!

Here’s what the experts are saying:

“Why is the band name spelled like that? Is that on purpose?”
– Jon “Screen Slate” Dieringer, Screen Slate.

“No it’s fine, I’ll just wait and hear it at the show.”
– Lindsey Rhoades, AudioFemme.

#RightBetweenTheEyes

 

AUTONOMY AND DELIBERATION

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Autonomy and Deliberation
2012, Australia
The first feature film by Johann Rashid, Starring THE UV RACE
60 min.

May 22, 2013 at 8:00 and 10:00 PM

Autonomy and Deliberation is a film by Johann Rashid starring The UV Race. Set and shot in Melbourne and other rural Victorian locations in Australia, the film features tons of cameos by members of the most progressive music scenes in the world, including Circle Pit, School of Radiant Living, Eddie Current Suppression Ring, The Twerps, Boomgates, Total Control, Lost Animal, Dick Diver, and Woollen Kits.
In the desperate, post-apocalyptic world of Autonomy and Deliberation, UV Race isn’t a band any more, and have succombed to the darkside of life–gambling, drugs, and prostitution. Main character and lead singer Marcus [Rechsteiner], resolves to get the band back together amid a city full of strange wild creatures.

A triumph of low-budget DIY ethics, that started with little to no script and results in a hilarious and heartwarming journey that is set against the canvas of a full length UV Race album. With a cast of characters with little to no training in acting prior to making the film, we witness each characters’ personalities shatter the barrier of having no experience. In this case, it feels like the triumph of getting the band back together acts as a metaphor for working through the unknown and accomplishing something, much like the experience of creating the film.

Autonomy and Deliberation premiered in October 2012 in Melbourne’s Westgarth Cinema, and the May screening at Spectacle marks the first time the work has been shown outside of Australia. The 8PM show will be followed by a Q&A with the band, The UV Race in the middle of their US tour.

AN EVENING WITH PHIL TIPPETT

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AN EVENING WITH PHIL TIPPETT
Screening and Discussion
SATURDAY, MAY 4TH – 8PM & 10PM
Second screening just added at 10PM! ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Over the course of the last 3 short years, Spectacle has played host to a great number of extremely exciting, important, and often rare events that leave keep everyone high-fiving and sometimes shaking their heads in utter disbelief. On May 4th of this year we welcome a man who has undoubtedly shaped the vision of animation, special effects, and filmmaking itself for cinephiles the world over. Phil Tippett will grace our humble theater for a night of shorts, stories, and presentations from his career.

As a young boy Tippett was taken with the effects work of Ray Harryhausen and THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD and over the course of the next 4 decades turned that passion into a jaw-dropping resume. Pioneering stop-motion/go-motion effects techniques on films like the original STAR WARS trilogy, ROBOCOP, DRAGONHEART, JURASSIC PARK, STARSHIP TROOPERS, THE HAUNTING, and more. While earning enough Academy Awards to stock a bandoleer, Tippett also found time to helm his own studio and to take a seat in the directors chair for STARSHIP TROOPERS 2 and countless short films. This barely scratches the surface of the illustrious career of this legendary wizard. Currently, Tippett resides in California and is working on a project called MAD GOD. He’ll be presenting some of that along with a personal history of stop motion animation.

I’M GONNA TAKE YOU HOME: A NIGHT OF SOURCE FAMILY RARITIES

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Dir: The Source Family, 1969-1974.
Approx. 90 min. USA.
Isis and E Aquarian of The Source Family and filmmakers Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulos in attendance!
MONDAY, APRIL 29TH – 8PM
JUST ADDED — 10:00 PM SHOW!!
ONE NIGHT ONLY!

At the end of the 60s, The Source Restaurant was on everyone’s lips in every sense of the word. With an endless stream of celebrity clientele, good press, good food, and a heady vibe, they were pulling in $10,000 a day at its height. As the business grew, so did the staff.

At its helm was James Baker. Baker was born in Ohio and throughout his life dabbled in everything from a decorated military service to jiujitsu to being a stuntman to alleged bank robberies. After studying under Yogi Bhajan and ultimately settling on taking a higher path, Baker changed his name to Father Yod (and eventually Ya Ho Wha) and gathered his people together in a commune and formed The Source Family- devoted to a lifestyle based on other levels of consciousness through natural living, meditation, art, music, and communal utopia.

Meanwhile, a media circus and climate of fear was surrounding the Family in the wake of the Manson killings as folks were wary of another gaggle of longhairs with weird ideas and freaky jams. But The Source Restaurant flourished, and the Family grew. Following hours of meditation, spontaneous and lengthy jam sessions led to the recording of a purported 65 albums under an umbrella of different monikers and players – Father Yod and the Spirit of ’76 to Ya Ho Wha 13 to The Savage Sons of Ya Ho Wha, Yodship, and Fire Water Air.

As a jump off to a week-long celebration with events throughout the city- including the premiere of the new documentary The Source Family at IFC Center on May 1st- Spectacle is thrilled to welcome the filmmakers Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulos as well as Isis and E Aquarian for an evening of rare archival interviews, live performances, deep cuts, cable access appearances, wisdom, and a wealth of stories from the people who actually lived it. Join us for a truly one of a kind evening.