Alyce Wittenstein has been called the “Queen of the New York Underground” and this May, Spectacle is pleased to play host to her and the films making up her MULTIPLE FUTURES trilogy. These films are filled to the brim with familiar faces, exquisite set pieces, snappy dialogue, and dazzling costumes. Hard to believe it’s been almost 3 years since we first showed these incredible works but here we are. Join us all month for these remarkable films in a celebration of science fiction, hilarity, character actors, and ghastly view of a not-too-distant world.

TUESDAY, MAY 2 – 10 PM
SUNDAY, MAY 13 – 5 PM
SATURDAY, MAY 19 – 7:30 PM (Q&A)
TUESDAY, MAY 22 – 10 PM

ONLINE TICKETS HERE

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BETAVILLE
1986, 20 min.

The first in what would come to be known as the MULTIPLE FUTURES trilogy, BETAVILLE – a post-modern nightmare – finds a down and out detective Coman Gettme (played by Wittenstein mainstay Steve Ostringer) returning to his hometown after a chance meeting with The Girl (Holly Adams). Once the two arrive in Gettme’s Cadillac things immediately go from bad to worse for this gumshoe when he learns, over a slice at Stromboli’s, that High Fashion is the new law in town. Gettme becomes obsessed with The Girl and is determined to meet back up with her and “save” her from the these fashionable fascists.

BETAVILLE kicks off the trilogy in a pitch perfect send up of the French New Wave and science fiction, and turns noir on it’s ear while (literally) running through some familiar parts of NYC. Holly Adams is nothing short of dynamite and Ostringer’s distinctive production design would lay the groundwork for the look of the films to come. Years before becoming Brewmaster at the Brooklyn Brewery, Garrett Oliver was co-producer on the film. The short would go on to be nominated for a number of awards at festivals and play all over the world – often (unsurprisingly) alongside Godard’s ALPHAVILLE.

“Most of the detective narrator dialogue is clever, the cinematography is excellent, and I liked the (sort of) industrial music and the song by the Singing Squirrels.” – Michael J. Weldon, Psychotronic Magazine #2, 1989.

NO SUCH THING AS GRAVITY
1989, 40 min.

In the not too distant future the LaFont corporation has all but taken over Earth. The company has revolutionized all elements of style, beauty, education, and housing but in the process (progress?!) has shipped many of Earth’s more “useless” inhabitants to the mysterious man made planet – and the largest scale experiment in human history – known as Nova Terra. Two scientists – Kay Zorn (Holly Adams) and Albert Leenhardt (Steve Robinson) are about to receive a prestigious award for their work on the LaFont Facelifter when they learn that Nova Terra is disrupting the Earth’s gravitational pull and will soon collide if it’s not destroyed. A headstrong lawyer and Kay’s boyfriend – Adam Malkonian (a scenery chewing Nick Zedd) – mouths off to a judge (the incomparable Taylor Mead – RIP) while defending a human teacher and is ordered to be relocated to the doomed planet. After meeting with the ambassador of Nova Terra (Emmanuelle Chaulet of Eric Rohmer’s BOYFRIENDS AND GIRLFRIENDS), Malkonian learns that perhaps the LaFont Corporation hasn’t been entirely truthful about what really happens on Nova Terra and vows to stop the destruction.

Wittenstein’s first sync sound film is overflowing with amazing set pieces and incredible performances. Some scenes were shot at the New York Hall of Science – including an Ames room and a number of other dazzling optical illusions. Look out for cameos from Michael J. Anderson (TWIN PEAKS), Wittenstein’s father as the insidious Andreas LaFont, and the director herself on Nova Terra.

THE DEFLOWERING
1994, 40 min.

“The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old are dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.” – Antonio Gramsci, PRISON NOTEBOOKS.

The quote above opens Wittenstein’s third and final film – THE DEFLOWERING. Again featuring some of Wittenstein’s tried and true players – Holly Adams, Emmanuelle Chaulet, Taylor Mead, and more – the film concerns yet another evil corporation this time HUXLEY BIO-TECH and their means to sanitize/beautify this world of ours. This time Wittenstein (with Ostringer back on production design) takes the costuming helm as well.

The TIB (Total Immune Breakdown) virus has left the planet reeling and lethal allergic reaction are at an all time high. Huxley’s efforts to produce perfect, designer children that are immune to viruses have had the side effect of hyper-allergic reactions. Why isn’t anything being done about allergies? No one wants to fund it! With the mortality rate skyrocketing, can mankind bounce back and feel the soft caress of skin against skin ever again or will the line at the Holo-Memorial Funeral Home grow ever longer?

SATURDAY, MAY 5TH – 7:30 PM
BEN MOREA IN ATTENDANCE
(This event is $10)

ONLINE TICKETS HERE

In October 1966, a group calling itself Black Mask appeared in New York City with the vitriolic statement: “DESTROY THE MUSEUMS — our struggle cannot be hung on walls… Goddamn your culture, your science, your art… The industrialist, the banker, the bourgeoisie, with their unlimited pretense and vulgarity, continue to stockpile art while they slaughter humanity.”

Accompanying this statement was a press release, explaining the group’s intentions: “On Monday, October 10 at 12:30 p.m. we will close the Museum of Modern Art. This symbolic action is taken at a time when America is on a path of total destruction, and signals the opening of another front in the world-wide struggle against suppression. We seek a total revolution, cultural as well as social and political — LET THE STRUGGLE BEGIN.”

This was the first appearance of the Black Mask group, a small collective who sought “to turn art into an instrument of revolution.” Founded by artists Ben Morea and Ron Hahne, Black Mask centered around the publication of a broadsheet, Black Mask, and a series of increasingly radical politico-artistic actions, directed primarily against cultural institutions in New York City. The group shut down the MoMA, picketed Wall Street, occupied Columbia University, dumped garbage on Lincoln Center as part of a “culture exchange,” and successfully broke into the Pentagon.

By 1968, the group was moving in away from symbolic actions and moving towards more direct political action. In May 1968, after 10 issues, Black Mask ceased publication of its broadsheet and reconstituted itself as a dedicated revolutionary group, Up Against the Wall Motherfucker. UAW-MF disbanded and went underground in 1969.

Despite their short combined existence, the groups’ writings and aesthetics echoed out into the wider radical political sphere. The English radical group King Mob dedicated the third issue of its self-titled publication to Black Mask and UAW-MF, and two of the group’s co-founders, David and Stuart Wise, were contributors to Black Mask. One of the few American members of the Situationist International, Tony Verlaan, was also a contributor to Black Mask. Additionally, the Strasbourg AFGES who played a significant role in the events of May ‘68 in France, republished Black Mask’s writings in 1966. The Black Mask / UAW-MF group even had some influence on The Weathermen, whose co-founders had intermingled with its members and borrowed from their “militant style and attitude.”

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of May ‘68, Spectacle will be welcoming artist & revolutionary Ben Morea to introduce three films that captured the radical political gestures of the Black Mask / UAW-MF crew.

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THE CASE AGAINST LINCOLN CENTER
Dir. Newsreel, 1968
USA, 12 min.
Spanish with English Subtitles.

GARBAGE
Dir. Newsreel, 1968
USA, 10 min.
English.

THE SIXTH SIDE OF THE PENTAGON
Dir. Chris Marker & François Reichenbach, 1968
USA, 26 min.
English.

Special thanks to Ben Morea, Third World Newsreel, & Icarus Films.

ZHE ZHE: SEASON ONE AND PREVIEW OF SEASON TWO
Dir. E.J. O’Hara, 2014
USA, 102 min.  – 153 min.

SUNDAY, MAY 6 – 5PM (Season 1 only)
SATURDAY, MAY 12 – 7:30 PM (THE WHOLE SHEBANG) – PLUS Q and A WITH CREATORS! PLUS TREATS!
TUESDAY, MAY 22 – 7:30 PM (A little of each Season) – SURPRISE VISIT BY RUBY
WEDNESDAY, MAY 30 – 10 PM (Whatever you want) 

ONLINE TICKETS HERE
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The line between satire and sincere documentation is wonderfully hard to measure, similar to the humor of Casey Jane Ellison and incinerating the year-old question “Why is Millennial Humor so Weird?“ If anything, since being released in 2014, the laugh-lines of ZHE ZHE have materialized into a new thrilling ‘n’ chilling reality. Chewie Swindleborne sells her inflated body for cultural export to Dubai, and now her Ameri-can-a would be bought there with Ethereum from an AI assistant. Mona DeLisa is a timeless wannabe starlet who endures however many OS updates, and Jean D’Arc’s cool will never go out of style. Perhaps the biggest cultural shift since the release of ZHE ZHE Season One is the fall of Lena Dunham, which opened up space for web series featuring leads that are not white or from NYC.Not enough has been said about web series ZHE ZHE, which is starting to release episodes from the highly anticipated second season.  The series is based around the contentious relationships of three band-mates, who are magnificently dressed, loudly expressed, and desperate for any foothold of fame in a drippy and stupidly chic New York City.  ZHE ZHE (made up of Jean D’Arc, Mona DeLisa, and the double-crossing Chewie Swindleburne) claws for space in an environment where culture is already buried deep in debt to itself.

Spectacle is also hosting some members of the cast of ZHE ZHE for some of these May screenings. Read some more about the series here, Here and HERE!!

 “The web series is its own brand of surreal, one where extreme earnestness sits next to the offensively rude and “hashtag problematic”. You’ve probably never seen anything like it.” – Ripley Soprano for MASK MAGAZINE

ZHE ZHE (full credits):
written by Leah Hennessey (Jean D’arc)
Created by Leah Hennessey, Ruby McCollister (Mona DeLiza), Emily Allan (Chewie Swindleburne) and E.J O’ Hara
Cinematography by Max Lakner

 

SEASON 1:

Episode 1 – That’s what Zhe Said 12:35

Episode 2 – It’s a Mad Blonde World 14:00

Episode 3 – SICK 13:59

Episode 4 – Zhemale Trouble 15: 54

Episode 5 – Everything You Always Wanted to Know about L.A. 20:33

Episode 6 – The Musical 25:06

SEASON 2:

Episode 1 – Back from the Dead 23:54

Episode 2 – Battle of the Bend 27:01

Episode 3 – (COMING OUT MAY 11) Five High School Paintings

 

DRAMATIC ESCAPE
dir. Nick Quested, 2015
90 mins. United States.

TUESDAY, APRIL 24th – 7:30 PM
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
This event is $10.

ONLINE TICKETS HERE

Nick Quested’s DRAMATIC ESCAPE is a documentary transporting viewers into the lives of maximum security prisoners at Sing Sing in Ossining, NY, as they mount a stage production of A Few Good Men. From auditions through curtain call, the men reveal their personal stories, their everyday struggles and the importance of the arts in their journeys. Sing Sing is a maximum security prison on the east bank of the Hudson River, 30 miles north of New York City.

The film is hopeful and inspiring, despite the gritty reality of maximum-security prison. Meet the self-described street thug in his second prison term. “Not convinced” by the short sentence in his previous bid, he immediately returned to crime, and is now serving 16 years. Meet a gang leader whose people thought he was crazy for giving up violence, or an RTA member in an “Aha!” moment, as he catches himself reacting angrily to an innocent situation and realizes that acting on impulse is exactly what landed him in prison. Witness their everyday struggle with what they have done and listen as they contemplate whether redemption is ever achievable either to themselves or to the outside world.

The mission of RTA is to use the transformative power of the arts to develop social and cognitive skills that prisoners need for successful reintegration into the community. Rehabilitation Through the Arts also seeks to raise public awareness of the humanity behind prison walls. Most importantly, RTA reduces recidivism. Nationally, the recidivism rate is more than 60%. In NY, it’s 43%. With a twenty one year history behind them, RTA’s is 7%!

Following DRAMATIC ESCAPE, Charles Moore and Clarence Maclin – both alumni of RTA in Sing Sing – will join the audience for a live Q&A. (Clarence is the central focus of the documentary, and Charles is RTA’s first formerly incarcerated staff member.)

SPECTACLE and RADICAL HARDWARE PRESENT: DARKER THAN AMBER
Dir. Robert Clouse, 1970
96 minutes. America.
16mm

SATURDAY, APRIL 14 – 8 PM

ONLINE TICKETS HERE

“Travis McGee is having a conference with one of his clients. Business as usual.”

From the depths of the most private recesses of the Frumkes Collection comes a one-night only 16mm screening of Robert Clouse’s blazing, amazing, bourbon-slugging revenge picture Darker Than Amber. Starring B-legend Rod Taylor as no-nonsense private detective/muscleman Travis McGee, the movie begins as a sweetly wallpapered Miami love story, but soon sees McGee following a blood trail all the way to the Caribbean, hellbent on avenging the death of hot young thing Suzy Kendall. He sniffs out a crime ring with a special appetite for rich “loners” – all they need is a pretty girl, a cruise ticket and a nice inheritance. As Travis thrashes his way to the heart of the action, Darker Than Amber greases its wheels with late-night jazz riffs and an old-fashioned fistfight that mincemeats the words of mere mortals.