Screening Roundup Week of Dec 1

I got behind the schedule for a couple of weeks, but the weekly roundup is back, and it's a busy week in Philadelphia.

Showing this week
Monday, December 1 – Sunday, December 7

The International House
Mon Dec 1 7:00pm 25 to Life (Mike L. Brown) 2014. 81m.
Tues Dec 2 7:00pm Your Day is My Night (Lynne Sachs) 2013. 64m. digital. Director in person.
Wed Dec 3 7:00pm Un Chant d'amour (Jean Genet) 1950. 26m. 16mm / Jean Genet in Chicago
(Frédéric Moffet) 2006. 26m. video.

New Authors of Italian Cinema series
Thurs Dec 4 5:30pm Border (Alessio Cremonini) 2013. 95m. DCP.
Thurs Dec 4 8:00pm Blame Freud (Tutta Colpa di Freud) (Paolo Genovese) 2014. 120m. DCP.
Fri Dec 5 5:30pm Up to the World (Il Mondo Fino in Fondo) (Alessandro Lunardelli) 2013. 95 m.  DCP.
Fri Dec 5 8:00pm House of Shadows (Controra) (Rossella De Venuto) 2014. 85 m. DCP.
Sat Dec 6 5:30pm Remember Me? (Ti Ricordi di Me?)  Rolando Ravello) 2014. 91m. Blu-Ray.
Sat Dec 6 8:00pm Human Capital (Il Capitale Umano) (Paolo Virzì) 2014. 111 m
Sun Dec 7 5:30pm The Medicines Seller (Il Venditori di Medicine) (Antonio Morabito) 2013. 103 m. DCP.
Sun Dec 7 8:00pm  I Can Quit Whenever I Want (Smetto Quando Voglio) (Sydney Sibilia) 2014. 110 m. Blu-Ray.

Roxy Theater (Philadelphia Film Society)
Special Star Trek series - all screenings on 35mm
Fri Dec 5 8:00pm Star Trek: The Motion Picture 
Sat Dec 6 8:00pm Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 

Sun Dec 7 8:00pm Star Trek III: The Search for Spock 

Mon Dec 8 8:00pm Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home 

Tues Dec 9 8:00pm Star Trek V: The Final Frontier 

Wed Dec 10 8:00pm Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

County Theater
Wed Dec 3 7:30pm The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock) 1938. 96m. DCP.

Ambler Theater
Thurs Dec 4 7:30pm The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock) 1938. 96m. DCP.

Sat Dec 6 10:30am Muppets Christmas Carol (Brian Henson) 1992. 85m. 

Colonial Theatre
Sun Dec 7 2:00pm Scrooged (Richard Donner) 1988. 101m. DCP.

Cinemark University City Penn
Sun Dec 7 2:00pm A Christmas Carol (Edwin L. Marin) 1938. 69m. DCP / Christmas in Connecticut (Peter Godfrey) 1945. 102m. DCP.

Lynne Sachs: Your Day is My Night

Screening Roundup Week of Nov 8

Showing this week
Wednesday, November 5 – Friday, November 14

The International House
Thurs Nov 6 7:00pm The Big Liebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen) 1988. 117m. 35mm.
Fri Nov 7 7:00pm Mon Oncle (Jacques Tati) 1958. 115m. 35mm.
Sat Nov 8 2:00pm Sleeping Beauty (Clyde Geronimi) 1959. 75m. 35mm.
Sat Nov 8 7:00pm Il Sorpasso (Dini Riso) 1962. 105 min. DCP.
Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival:
Wed Nov 12 7:00pm A Leading Man (Steven J Kung) 2013. 96 m.
Thurs Nov 13 6:30pm Family Ingredients (Ty Sanga) 2013. 57m.
Thurs Nov 13 8:30pm Cicada (Dean Yamada) 2014. 100m.

Roxy Theater (Philadelphia Film Society)
Tues Nov 11 7:00pm National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman), with director. 2014. 181m.

County Theater
Thurs Nov 6 7:30pm Young and Innocent (Alfred Hitchcock) 1937. 83m. DCP.

Colonial Theatre
Sun Nov 9 2:00pm A Tale of Two Cities (Jack Conway) 1935. 128m. 35mm

Cinemark University City Penn
Sun Nov 9 2:00pm One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Milos Forman) 1975. 129m. DCP

Galleries

Fabric Workshop and Museum
Question Bridge: Black Males
transmedia video installation [exhibition description]
ongoing: September 13, 2014–November 9, 2014

Events of the Week: Maysles and Wiseman

Tonight, the International House is having a special event with Albert Maysles, the noted direct cinema documentary filmmaker. He will be participating in a discussion at 7:00. [event information]

And this upcoming Tuesday, Nov. 11, the Philadelphia Film Society at the Roxy will be screening Frederick Wiseman's latest documentary, National Gallery. Wiseman himself will be in attendance for the screening. 7:00pm [event information]

Screening Roundup Week of Oct 11

Showing this week
Saturday, October 11 – Friday, October 17

The International House
Sat Oct 11 2:00pm The Witches (Nicholas Roeg) 91m.
Sat Oct 11 7:00pm Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (Benjamin Christensen) 1922. 87 min. 35mm.
Thurs Oct 16 7:00pm A Useful Life (La Vida Util) (Federico Veiroj) 2010. 67 min.
Fri Oct 17 7:00pm The All-Around Reduced Personality (aka Redupers) (Helke Sander) 1977. 98m. 16mm.  / The Wall  (Gordon Matta-Clark) 1976-2007. 15 min. video.

Philadelphia Film Society
Philadelphia Film Festival - see festival overview post for more information

Ambler Theater
Thurs Oct 16 7:30pm Blackmail (Alfred Hitchcock) 1929. 85m. DCP.

County Theater
Tues Oct 14 7:30pm Blackmail (Alfred Hitchcock) 1929. 85m. DCP.

Colonial Theatre
Sun Sept 21 2:00pm The Curse of the Werewolf (Terence Fisher) 1961. 91m. 35mm.


Galleries

Fabric Workshop and Museum
Question Bridge: Black Males
transmedia video installation [exhibition description]
ongoing: September 13, 2014–November 9, 2014

Screening Roundup Week of Oct 4

Showing this week
Saturday, October 4 – Friday, October 10

The International House
Sat Oct 4 7:00pm Backbone / Four Short Films by Richard Martin (Richard Martin) 2013/misc. digital.
Sat Oct 4 8:00pm Nosferatu (Werner Herzog) 1979. 107m. DCP.
Wed Oct 8 7:30pm Pride (Matthew Warchus) 2014. 120 min. digi-beta. DCP.
Thurs Oct 9 7:00pm Lolita (Stanley Kubrick) 1962. 152m. 35mm. [part of David Lynch selects series]

Ambler Theater
Thurs Oct 9 7:30pm The Lodger (Alfred Hitchcock) 1927. 68m. DCP. with live musical accompaniment

County Theater
Tues Oct 7 7:30pm The Lodger (Alfred Hitchcock) 1927. 68m. DCP. with live musical accompaniment

Colonial Theatre
Sun Oct 5 2:00pm The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Robert Fuest) 1971. 94m. 35mm.

Cinemark University City Penn
Sun Oct 5 2:00pm MASH (Robert Altman) 1970. 112m. DCP.

Galleries

Vox Populi Gallery
Fri Oct 3 - Sun Nov 2
Catherine Pancake, Axon Ladder, video installation [installation description]
Jody Wood and Mikel Durlam, Episodes of Violence, video installation [installation description]

Fabric Workshop and Museum
Question Bridge: Black Males
transmedia video installation [exhibition description]
ongoing: September 13, 2014–November 9, 2014

Films of the week: Oskar Fischinger shorts

This Thursday, the International House will show a program of short films by animation pioneer Oskar Fischinger. Fischinger, a German filmmaker, emigrated during the Nazi years but never quite finding a welcome home in the American studio system. Coming out of the avant-garde practice of the abstract film, he developed a visual-music animation approach that became influential in animation, including most famously in Disney's 1940s use of abstract animation (Fantasia, et al). The result is a sumptious play of color, shape, and movement, definitely worth seeing on the big screen. All the films will be screened on 35mm, with some newly restored prints. The full program is available here.

Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective
International House
Thursday, Oct. 2
7:00pm

Screening Roundup Week of Sept 27

Showing this week
Saturday, September 27 – Friday, October 3

The International House
Sat Sept 27 2:00pm Black Stallion (Carroll Ballard) 1979. 118m. DCP.
Sat Sept 27 8:00pm Le Révélateur (Philippe Garrel) 1968. 67 min. video. Live music accompaniment by Mary Lattimore and Jeff Zeigler.
Tue Sept 30 7:00pm Purple Rain (Albert Magnoli) 1984. 111 min. DCP.
Thurs Oct 2 7:00pm Oskar Fischinger Retrospective 1926-1947. 35mm
Fri Oct 3 7:00pm Backbone: Vancouver Experimental Cinema 1967-1981 (Richard Martin) 2013. 58m. digital.

Prince Music Theater (Philadelphia Film Society)
Wed Oct 1 7:00pm Dune (David Lynch) 1984. 137m.

Ritz Bourse Theater
Fri Oct 3 midnight Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven) 1984. 91m.

Colonial Theatre
Sun Sept 28 2:00pm All The President's Men (Alan Pakula) 1976. 138m. 35mm.

Cinemark University City Penn
Sun Sept 28 2:00pm, 7:00pm Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming) 238m. DCP.

Galleries

Fabric Workshop and Museum
Question Bridge: Black Males
transmedia video installation [exhibition description]
ongoing: September 13, 2014–November 9, 2014

Film of the Week: The Conformist

The Ritz theaters do not show repertory films all that regularly, but the plus side when they do, there are multiple screenings for the week. That gives plenty of opportunity to go see The Conformist (1970) this week. It's one of Berolucci's most famous films and justifiably so: it's a work which achieves a remarkable balance of the modernist currents of 1960s art cinema with a literary-thematic storytelling centered around Italian war and postwar history. And, if anything, seeing it on a big screen is an opportunity to enjoy cinematographer Vittorio Storaro's work.

The Conformist

Ritz Bourse

Friday, September  19 - Thursday, September 25

showtimes: 1:20 4:05 7:00 9:30

Screening Roundup Week of Sept 20

Showing this week
Saturday, September 20 – Friday, September 26

The International House
Sat Sept 20 7:00pm Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder) 1950. 110 min. DCP.
Mon Sept 22 7:00pm Filmmaker Visit: Xiaolu Guo - UFO In Her Eyes (Xiaolu Gou) 2011. 110 min. digi-beta.  Q and A with filmmaker
Fri Sept 26 7:00pm Holy Ghost People (Peter Adair). 1967. 56 min. 16mm./ Aquarian Rushes (Jud Yalkut) 1969. 47 min. 16mm.

Prince Music Theater (Philadelphia Film Society)
Wed Sept 24 7:00pm Inland Empire (David Lynch), with director. 2006. 179m.

Ritz Bourse Theater
every day through Sept 25, multiple showings The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci) 1970. 111m. DCP.
Fri Sept 26 midnight Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks) 1974. 106m.

Ambler Theater
Wed Sept 24 7:30pm Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini) 1945. 103m. DCP.
Fri Sept 26 11:00pm Akira (Katsuhiro Ohtomo) 1988. 124m. DCP.

County Theater
Wed Sept 24 7:30pm The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock) 1934. 75m. DCP.

Colonial Theatre
Sun Sept 21 2:00pm Girl Shy (Fred C. Newmeyer /Harold Lloyd) 1924. 87m. live organ accompaniment

Cinemark University City Penn
Sun Sept 21 2:00pm Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick) 1964. 93m. DCP

Galleries

Fabric Workshop and Museum
Question Bridge: Black Males
transmedia video installation [exhibition description]
ongoing: September 13, 2014–November 9, 2014

Film of the Week: Rare Markopoulos screening

Next Wednesday, The International House will be screening Gregory Markopoulos's Illiac Passion. Those familiar with Markopolous will know how rare screenings of his work are. A key figure in the postwar American avant-garde, he removed his films form circulation during his lifetime. Since then, his partner Robert Beavers has been giving limited screenings.  So we're getting a chance of seeing 16mm prints that for a long time were not screened in the US.

On one hand, Markopolous's style is not the most immediately accessible. He has a fondness for rigorous formal montage, cutting as often as every second in regular repetitions. And while his films involve narratives of sorts, they are highly oblique and mythological. (Illiac Passion retells the story of Prometheus.) On the other hand, he had a lush hand with color, equal to Kenneth Anger's. 

The Illiac Passion

International House

Wednesday 9/17

7:00 pm

dir. Gregory Markopoulos, US, 1967, 16mm, 92 min.

Introduced by Robert Beavers and Mark Webber 

Co-presented with Cinema Studies at the University of Pennsylvania 

Screening Roundup Week of Sept 13

Showing this week

Saturday, September 13 – Friday, September 19

The International House

Sat Sept 13 2:00pm Fly Away Home (Carroll Ballard) 1996. 107m. 35mm.

Sat Sept 13 7:00pm City Lights (Charlie Chaplin) 1931. 86m. 35mm.

Wed Sept 17 7:00pm The Illiac Passion (Gregory Markopoulos) 1967. 92m. 16mm.

Fri Sept 19 8:00pm Aliens (James Cameron) 1986. 137m. 35mm / Critters (Stephen Herek) 1986. 82m. 35mm.

Roxy (Philadelphia Film Society)

Tues Sept 16 7:30pm Top Secret Rosies: The Female Computers of WWII (LeAnn Erickson) 2010. 57m.

Prince Music Theater (Philadelphia Film Society)

Wed Sept 17 7:00pm Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch), with director. 1992. 135m.

Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Tues Sept 16 7:00pm  Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodovar)1988. 90m.
Wed Sept 17 7:00pm Mulholland Drive (David Lynch) 2001. 147m.

Ambler Theater
Thurs Sept 4 The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock) 1934. 75m. DCP.

Ritz 5 Theater
Fri Sept 19 midnight Rocky Horror Picture Show

Colonial Theatre
Sun Sept 14 2:00pm Three Days of the Condor (Sydney Pollack) 1975. 117m. DCP.

Cinemark University City Penn
Sun Sept 14 2:00pm The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis) 1963. 107m. DCP


Galleries

Fabric Workshop and Museum
Question Bridge: Black Males
transmedia video installation [exhibition description]
ongoing: September 13, 2014–November 9, 2014

Three One Nine Gallery (319 N. 11th Street)

Time Lens: Bioscope (Michael Kuetemeyer) part of New Sight exhibition

Screening Roundup Week of Sept 6

Showing this week

Saturday, September 6 – Friday, September 12

The International House

Tues Sept 9 7:00pm Lordville (Rea Tajiri) 2014. 67m.

Wed Sept 10 7:00pm L’eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni) 1962. 126m. 16mm / La Ciudad de los Signos (Samuel Alarcón) 2009. 63m. DCP.

Fri Sept 12 7:00pm White Elephant (Pablo Trapero) 2012. 105m. DCP.

Roxy (Philadelphia Film Society)

Fri Sept 12 midnight Videodrome (David Cronenberg) 1983. 84m. 35mm.

Prince Music Theater (Philadelphia Film Society)

Wed Sept 10 7:00pm Lost Highway (David Lynch), with director. 1997. 135m. 35mm.

Scribe Video Center (at the African American Museum in Philadelphia)

Sat Sept 6 3:00pm Muslim Voices of Philadelphia program. video

Ritz Theater (Bourse)

every day multiple showings Summer's Tale (Eric Rohmer) 1996. 113m. DCP.

Colonial Theatre

Sun Sept 7 2:00pm Seven Days in May (John Frankenheimer) 1964. 118m. 35mm.

Cinemark University City Penn

Sun Sept 7 2:00pm Scarface (Brian De Palma) 1983. 170m. DCP.

Galleries

Three One Nine Gallery (319 N. 11th Street)
New Sight exhibition
artwork from Dot Vile, Katie Dillon Low, EJ Herczyk, Michael Kuetemeyer, Joseph Opshinsky, Daniel Petraitis, Gerri Spilka, Sabina Tichindelaneau, and Joan Wadleigh Curran
opening Friday Sept 5

Screening Schedule Week of August 30

What’s showing this week? 

Saturday, August 30 – Friday, September 5

The International House

Martin Scorcese Presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema  [series]

Sat Aug 30 2:00pm Blind Chance (Krzysztof Kieslowski) 1987 122m. DCP.

Sat Aug 30 5:00pm The Constant Factor (Krzysztof Zanussi) 1980. 90m. DCP.

Sat Aug 30 8:00pm  A Short Film About Killing (Krzysztof Kieslowski) 1987. 85m. DCP.

Ambler Theater

Wed Sept 3 7:00pm  Sabrina 1954. 113m.

Thurs Sept 4 7:00pm Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton) 1955. 93m.

County Theater

Wed Sept 3 7:00pm Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton) 1955. 93m.

Ritz 5 Theater

Fri Sept 5 midnight Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis) 1985. 116m.

Colonial Theatre

Sun Aug 31 2:00pm The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Michael Powell) 1943. 163m. DCP.

UCLA Festival of Preservation

A lot of film events going on this spring in Philadelphia. Perhaps most exciting to me is a series of classic Hollywood films playing at the International House from the "UCLA Festival of Preservation." It's a chance to see hard-to-find Hollywood films on the big screen. Bonus is the strong representation from Paramount, a studio that's often slow to release its back archive on DVD.

The series starts tomorrow. Film descriptions are available at the links.

Wednesday 4/2   7:00 pm

Mantrap

dir. Victor Fleming, US, 1926, 35mm, b/w, silent, 75 min.
Silent Sinclair Lewis adaptation

Thursday 4/3    7:00 pm

Gun Crazy

dir. Joseph H. Lewis, US, 1950, 35mm, b/w, 86 min.

Freudian-infused B-noir masterpiece.

Friday 4/4     

7:00 pm

Double bill:

Double Door

dir. Charles Vidor, US, 1934, 35mm, b/w, 75 min. 

Based-on-a-true-story dynastic melodrama

Supernatural

dir. Victor Halperin, US, 1933, 35mm, b/w, 65 min.

Forgotten 30s horror film

Wednesday 4/9   7:00 pm

Midnight Madness

dir. F. Harmon Weight, US, 1928, 35mm, b/w & tinted, silent, 65 min.

Silent romantic melodrama set in Africa

Live musical accompaniment by Andrew Marsh and Kate Porter

Thursday 4/10    7:00 pm

The Chase

dir. Arthur Ripley, US, 1946, 35mm, b/w, 86 min.

Noir based on Cornell Woolrich novel

Thursday 4/17    7:00 pm

International House

dir. Edward Sutherland, US, 1933, b/w, 35mm, b/w, 68 min.

early sound comedy starring W.C Fields, George Burns, Gracie Allen and Peggy Hopkins Joyce

combined with:

Busy Bodies

dir. Lloyd French, US, 1933, 35mm, b/w, 19 min.

Laurel and Hardy short

Friday 4/18     

7:00 pm

That Cold Day in the Park

dir. Robert Altman, US, 1969, 35mm, 112 min.

early, pre-fame Altman feature

Saturday 4/5     2

:00 pm

Thirty Day Princess

dir. Marion Gering, US, 1934, 35mm, b/w, 74 min.

Paramount comedy with Sylvia Sidney and Cary Grant

(image credit DVD Beaver)

Michael Snow at PMA

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is having a film series of Michael Snow's work, starting tonight:

The Films of Michael Snow: Program A
Wavelength (1966–67); Standard Time (1967–68, with Joyce Wieland); and One Second in Montreal (1969)
By exploring individual cinematic techniques, such as camera zooms and pans, these films reveal Michael Snow’s interest in how films affect our perception of time and space.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Friday, February 21, 2014, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

The Films of Michael Snow: Program B
See You Later (Au Revoir) (1990); and To Lavoisier, Who Died in the Reign of Terror (1991)
Michael Snow appears in two films produced in 1990s, both of which are concerned with breaking down basic ideas we hold about cinema, such as the physical properties of celluloid and Hollywood’s narrative drive, to push film towards greater abstraction.

Friday, February 7, 2014, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

The Films of Michael Snow: Program C
Reverberlin (2006) 
Incorporating concert footage of the free improvisational ensemble CCMC (Paul Dutton, John Oswald, Michael Snow), Reverberlin weaves together images and sounds from performances that have taken place across the globe.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Films works screened on 16mm at the Van Pelt Auditorium. (free tickets required, presumably in addition to admission). This film program is guest-curated by filmmaker and writer J. Louise Makary.