What's Happening

July 19, 2008

Midnites for Maniacs

San Francisco, CA

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks first started programming midnight movies when he was 16 — after lying about his age in order to get a job at his local theater in Salt Lake City. In time, he moved from SLC to the Bay Area, where he really began to find an audience who connected with his often bafflingly diverse taste. A lecturer in film history at San Francisco's Academy of Art, Ficks is best known for his penchant for those films considerably more trashy, violent or just plain weird than Citizen Kane or Casablanca. The outspeak for his love of B-movies all the way down to Z-movies has been Midnites for Maniacs, a regular late night film series which Ficks has programmed and presented at the Castro since late 2005 and which has quickly developed a following with triple features with titles like "So Straight, It's Gay" and "Vertically Challenged Monsters." The latest event to spring from Ficks' consciousness is the upcoming "Animals Attacking Humans," a five-film creature feature extravaganza featuring Saul Bass' ant attack movie Phase IV, the classic Jaws, Lewis Teague's Alligator, Days of the Animals (which featured Naked Gun's Leslie Nielsen straightfacedly wrestling a grizzly bear), and James Cameron's big break, Piranha Part Two: The Spawning.

Until July 30, 2008

Fred & Ginger: The Classic Astaire-Rogers Musicals of the 1930s

Chicago, IL

It's 75 years since Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers first danced together in Flying Down to Rio; at the time, they were supporting actors playing second fiddle to the movie's romantic leads, Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond, but the chemistry between them was so great that they were the stars of their next movie together, The Gay Divorcee. The legendary response to Astaire's screen test was "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little," but the truth was that Astaire could just about hold a tune, had an aptitude for light comedy and, well, his skill as a tap and ballroom dancer was second to none in Hollywood. The pairing of Astaire with Rodgers — who had sex appeal, was a skilled actress and comedienne, had a pleasing voice and, as has been famously said, did exactly the same as Astaire, but backwards — was absolute dynamite, and over the course of the thirties they made classic after classic, from Top Hat to Shall We Dance, from Swing Time to Follow the Fleet. To mark the partnership's special anniversary, the Gene Siskel Film Center screens almost all of their films in Fred & Ginger: The Classic Astaire-Rogers Musicals of the 1930s, plus also Damsel in Distress an "unofficial" Fred and Ginger movie in which Joan Fontaine stands in for the esteemed Ms. Rogers.

Until July 31, 2008

Of Angels and Apocalypse: The Cinema of Derek Jarman

Portland, OR

Since filmmaker and artist Derek Jarman died of complications due to AIDS in 1994, the significance of his work and life have become more and more apparent. Last year, filmmaker Isaac Julien and Tilda Swinton (who started her career with Jarman) collaborated on an elegiac film Derek about their dear friend. It has pushed many to review Jarman's immense contribution — as a visual artist, a political activist, and an unintentional hero. Portland's Northwest Film Center presents Of Angels and Apocalypse: The Cinema of Derek Jarman to remember him by. Derek kicks the series off, but what follows are nine films that encompass the wide range of his work, from his 1976 initial foray Sebastian, a Latin-language homoerotic take on the famed saint, to his experimental monochromatic 1993 work, Blue. The series also includes many of his most famous films, including Caravaggio, Wittgenstein and The Last of England.

Until August 3, 2008

Bruce Conner: Mabuhay Gardens

Berkeley, CA

Artist Bruce Conner died last week at the age of 75. As luck would have it, the Berkeley Art Museum has a current exhibition of his photographs to remember his special genius by. While Conner is known by many as an avant-garde filmmaker, leading the way for the fractured montage style that would be MTV, he was also a ardent photographer and follower of popular music. (Many of his later films he made in collaboration with people like Brian Eno, David Byrne, and Devo). In the 70s, the center of punk in San Francisco was a dilapidated Filipino restaurant that had been turned into a scorn and safety-pin arena for local bands (Avengers, Negative Trend, the Mutants, etc.). On assignment for a new zine, Conner set off to photograph with the ferocity of a soldier and anthropologist the world of punk. During 1977, he would return, night after night, often wearing knee pads and other protection to keep from being injured by the pogoing crowd, to record this moment in history. Fifty-three photos documenting his time there are now on display in Bruce Conner: Mabuhay Gardens.

Until August 18, 2008

Films on the Rocks

Denver, CO

In our piece on outdoor exhibition, one of the film series we featured was the Denver Film Society's Film on the Rocks. Movies are screened at the Red Rocks Park and Ampitheatre, a famous concert venue set against the stunning backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, and the arena's musical heritage is carried forward in the way that these events are presented. Playing in tandem with every movie is a performance by a band, meaning that each show becomes a full-fledged night of entertainment. Still to come in the now-running 2008 season is John Hughes' Brat Pack favorite The Breakfast Club, Blade Runner: Final Cut, last year's definitive version of Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic, Prince's extravagant Purple Rain, and finally the film which introduced us to the true meaning of the phrase "Blue Steel," Zoolander, which will be supported by what is billed as the "World's Largest Guitar Lesson."