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

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

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)

New Middle East Cinema series

Screening at the International House this week: New Middle East Cinema series.


October 29-30 & November 1-2, 2013

Free admission

Tuesday, October 29 
5:30pm 

Life in Stills | Israel, Tamar Tal (2011)

presented by Nili Gold

Tuesday, October 29 
8:30pm 

Water | The Israeli-Palestinian Project (2012)

presented by Iris Drechler

Wednesday, October 30 
5:30pm

The Man and the Clock | Palestine, Gazi Abu Baker (2010)

presented by Ibrahim Miari

Wednesday, October 30 
6:00pm

The Repentant | Algeria, Merzak Allouache (2012)

Friday, November 1 
5:30pm 

Azis Ayse | Turkey, Elfe Uluc (2012)

presented by Mehmet Darakcıoglu

Friday, November 1 
8:30pm 

Facing Mirrors | Iran, Negar Azarbayjani (2011)

presented by Blake Atwood

Saturday, November 2 
5:30pm 

Horses of God | Morocco, Nabil Ayouch (2012)

presented by Mahyar Entezari

Saturday, November 2 
8:30pm

Rags and Tatters | Egypt, Ahmad Abdalla (2013)

presented by Ibrahim Miari

Sponsored by the Cinema Studies Program, the Jewish Studies Program, the Middle East Center, and the Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations Department at the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival and International House of Philadelphia.

This Week at International House

This week is a busy one at the International House, so I thought I'd highlight the upcoming screenings.

Wed. 10/9 7pm
This is Not a Film 
dir. Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Iran, 2011, 35mm, Persian with English subtitles, 75 min.

Thurs. 10/10
Mekong Hotel
dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/UK, 2012, HD, Thai with English subtitles, 61 min.

Fri. 10/11
Our Nixon
dir. Penny Lane, US, 2013, HD, 84 min.

Sat. 10/12
The Illusionist
dir. Sylvain Chomet, France, 2010, 35mm, English, 80 mins.

Sun. 10/13
Revanche
dir. Götz Spielmann, Austria, 2008, 35mm, German with English subtitles, 122 min.

Albanian cinema at I-House

I have never seen any Albanian cinema, and as a national cinema, it's definitely not on the radar of most cinephiles. All the more reason the International House's series of "uncovered" European cinemas is exciting to me. Tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 5, 7pm, they will be screening Nëntori i dytë (The 2nd November, dir. Viktor Gjika, Albania, 1982, 84m), a classic historical drama.

Albanian cinema scholar Bruce Williams will be present to introduce the film and lead a Q&A afterward.

Poster image courtesy Albanian Cinema Project

Other Mid-March screenings

As exciting as the Marker and Varda events are, they're not the only thing coming up.

Wednesday, March 13
7pm
The Last Days of Pompeii 
(dir. Mario Caserini, Italy, 1913)
35mm screening with live musical accompaniment
International House

Friday, March 15
8pm

Exhumed Horror:

Terror Train

dir. Roger Spottiswoode, 1980, 35mm

Horror Express

dir. Eugenio Martín, 1972, 35mm

International House

Saturday, March 16

11am

Howl’s Moving Castle 

part of a Hayao Miyazaki retrospective

Bryn Mawr Film Institute

Tuesday, March 19

7pm

Secret Cinema presents

B movie double feature: The Crime of Helen Stanley/Madame Spy

16mm

at The Chestnut Hill Film Group

at Woodmere Art Museum

9201 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia

Admission: FREE

Marker (and Varda)

There's an embarrassment of riches this week, as Penn, Temple, and Slought are organizing a commemorative symposium on Chris Marker's work, with visiting filmmakers to include Agnes Varda. Here's a rundown of events:

Wed. March 13

6pm
Agnès Varda, in conversation with Molly Nesbit

University of Pennsylvania, Meyerson Hall

Thurs. March 14
7PM
Screening: Beaches of Agnes (Varda 2008)

Varda in person

International House

Friday, March 15

5:30PM

opening panel and reception for Chris Marker event

Slought Foundation

reservation recommended

Saturday, March 16

10AM-6PM

Chris Marker event

Slought Foundation

reservation recommended

Saturday, March 16

7PM

Screening: early Chris Marker collaborations

International House

Los Angeles School films at I House

Starting tomorrow and running through January, the International House will be screening a series of films associated with the "Los Angeles School" of African-American filmmakers to emerge in the 1970s and 80s. The series will include famous titles with new prints, more obscure films, and filmmaker appearances.

As Above, So Below (Larry Clark)

Saturday, January 5th 
2:00pm
Daughters of the Dust (Dir. Julie Dash, 1991, 35mm, color, 112 min.) - New print! Julie Dash's masterpiece, the story of an island family, descendants of escaped slaves, living off the Southern coast of the US in 1902 and contemplating a move to the U.S. mainland. Superb performances, cinematography, music and touches of magical realism grace this unforgettable film, named to the National Film Registry in 2004.
Also showing: Diary of an African Nun (Dir. Julie Dash,1977, 16mm, b/w, 15 min.) - New print! 

5:00pm
Emma Mae (Dir. Jamaa Fanaka, 1976, 35mm, 100 min.) - New print! Emma Mae arrives in Los Angeles from Mississippi replete with rough edges and an exceptional ability to kick ass. Her plain looks and shy demeanor set her apart from other "Blaxploitation" heroines. But when folks underestimate her, she surprises everyone, including her no-good boyfriend Jesse, with her extraordinary physical and emotional strength.
Also showing: A Day in the Life of Willie Faust, or Death on the Installment Plan (Dir. Jamaa Fanaka, 1972, Digital video from 16mm, color, 16 min.)

8:00pm
My Brother's Wedding (Dir. Charles Burnett, 1983/2007, Digital Video, color, 82 min.) - Director's cut! Laid off from his factory job, Pierce (EveretteSilas) marks time working at his family's dry cleaning store, swapping loaded jabs with his brother's upper middle-class fiancé and hanging out with his best friend, recently released from prison.
Also showing: A Little Off Mark (Dir. Robert Wheaton, 1986, 16mm, b/w, 9 min.)

Saturday, January 12th 

2:00pm
Bless Their Little Hearts (Dir. Billy Woodberry, 1984, 35mm, b/w, 84 min.) - New restoration! Bless Their Little Hearts chronicles the devastating effects of underemployment on a family in Los Angeles. Nate Hardman and Kaycee Moore deliver gut-wrenching performances as the couple whose family is torn apart by events beyond their control.
Also showing: The Pocketbook (Dir. Billy Woodberry, 1980, 35mm, b/w, 13 min.) - New restoration!

5:00pm
Compensation (Dir. Zeinabu irene Davis, 1999, Digital video from 16mm, b/w, 90 min.) In two Chicago love stories, set a century apart, a deaf woman and a hearing man face the specter of death, and confront intraracial differences across lines of gender, class, education and ability. Through innovative use of sign language and title cards evoking the silent film era, Compensation is accessible to deaf and hearing audiences.
Also showing: Dark Exodus (Dir. Iverson White, 1985, 16mm, b/w, 28 min.) - New print!

8:00pm
Passing Through (Dir. Larry Clark, 1977, 35mm, color, 111 min.) - New print! Eddie Womack, an African-American jazz musician, is released from prison for the killing of a white gangster. Not willing to play for the mobsters who control the music industry, Womack searches for his musical mentor, Poppy Harris. The film repeatedly turns to various musicians improvising, leading one critic to call it "the only jazz film in the history of cinema."
Also showing: When it Rains (Dir. Charles Burnett, 1995, 16mm, color, 13 min.)

Wednesday, January 16th        

7:00pm
A Different Image (Dir. Alile Sharon Larkin, 1982, 16mm, color, 51 min.) - New print! An African American woman contemplates self-identity, heritage and perception on the streets of the sprawling Los Angeles metropolis.
Also showing: Grey Area (Dir: Monona Wali, 1981, 16mm, b/w, 38 min.) - New print! Cycles (Dir. Zeinabu irene Davis, 1989, Digital Video from 16mm, b/w, 17 min.) Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification (Dir. Barabara McCullough, 1979, 35mm, b/w, 6 min.) - New restoration!

Saturday, January 19th 

2:00pm
As Above, So Below (Dir. Larry Clark, 1973, 16mm, color, 52 min.) - New print! A rediscovered L.A. Rebellion masterpiece, Larry Clark's film comprises a powerful political and social critique in its portrayal of Black insurgency.
Also showing: I & I: An African Allegory (Dir. Ben Caldwell, 1979, 16mm, color, 32 min.) - New print! Ujamii Uhuru Schule Community Freedom School (Dir. Don Amis, 1974, Digital Video from 16mm, color, 9 min.) Medea (Dir. Ben Caldwell, 1973, Digital Video from 16mm, color, 7 min.

5:00pm
Your Children Come Back to You (Dir. Alile Sharon Larkin, 1979, 16mm, b/w, 30 min.) - New print! A single mother ekes out a living from welfare check to welfare check, struggling to provide for her daughter. She is faced with the decision to look after her personally, or allow her sister-in-law to provide "more than enough" to go around.
Also showing: Fragrance (Dir. Gay Abel-Bey, 1991, Digital video from ¾" videotape, b/w, 38 min.) Shipley Street (Dir. Jacqueline Frazier, 1981, Digital video from 16mm, color, 25 min.) Rich (Dir. S. Torriano Berry, 1982, 16mm, b/w, 22 min.) - New print!

8:00pm
Black Art, Black Artists (Dir. Elyseo J. Taylor, 1971, Digital video from 16mm, color, 16 min.) A visual survey of black art since the 19th century, punctuated with jazz and blues selections, and a running commentary by woodcut printer Van Slater.
Also showing: Bellydancing - A History & an Art (Dir. Alicia Dhanifu, 1979, Digital Video from 1" videotape, color, 22 min.) Festival of Mask (Dir. Don Amis, 1982, Digital video from16mm, color, 25 min.) Four Women (Dir. Julie Dash, 1975, 16mm, color, 7 min.) - New print! Define (Dir. O.Funmilayo Makarah, 1988, Digital video, color, 5 min.)

Saturday, January 26th 

5:00pm
Child of Resistance (Dir. Haile Gerima, 1972, 16mm, b/w and color, 36 min.) Inspired by a dream Haile Gerima had after seeing Angela Davis handcuffed on television, Child of Resistance is an abstract and symbolic film that follows a woman imprisoned as a result of her fight for social justice.
Also showing: Brick by Brick (Dir. Shirikiana Aina, 1982, Digital video from 16mm, color, 33 min.) L.A. In My Mind (Dir: O.Funmilayo Makarah, 2006, Digital video, color, 4 min.) Rain (Dir. Melvonna Ballenger, 1978, Digital Video from ¾" videotape, color, 16 min.) The Dawn at My Back: Memoir of a Black Texas Upbringing (excerpt) (Dir. Carroll Parrott Blue, Kristy H.A. Kang; The Labyrinth Project, 2003, Digital video adapted from DVD-ROM, color, 10 min.)

8:00pm
Bush Mama (Dir. Haile Gerima, 1975/1979, 16mm, b/w, 97 min.) - New print! Introduced by director Haile Gerima A powerfully moving look at the realities of inner city poverty and systemic disenfranchisement as experienced by Dorothy, a pregnant welfare recipient in Watts, played by the magnetic Barbara O. Jones. Motivated by the incarceration of her partner T.C. and the protection of her daughter and unborn child, Dorothy undergoes an ideological transformation from apathy to action. 
Also showing: Daydream Therapy  (Dir. Bernard Nicolas, 1977, Digital Video, b/w and color, 8 min.)

Presented in association with UCLA Film & Television Archive and supported in part by grants from the Getty Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The series is curated by Allyson Nadia Field, Jan-Christopher Horak, Shannon Kelley, and Jacqueline Stewart. Co-sponsored by Scribe Video Center, Temple University Department of Film and Media Arts, and Philadelphia Weekly

Fringe Philadelphia events

PIFVA has updated their calendar and are listing the remaining media-oriented events in the Philly Fringe festival.

Region Centrale showing tonight

The International House is showing Michael Snow's La Région Centrale, perhaps a magnum opus of structural experimental film. Be forewarned about the running time!


La Région Centrale was made during five days of shooting on a deserted mountain top in North Quebec. During the shooting, the vertical and horizontal alignment as well as the tracking speed were all determined by the camera’s settings. Anchored to a tripod, the camera turned a complete 360 degrees, craned itself skyward, and circled in all directions. Because of the unconventional camera movement, the result was more than merely a film that documented the film location’s landscape. Surpassing that, this became a film expressing as its themes the cosmic relationships of space and time. Cataloged here were the raw images of a mountain existence, plunged (at that time) in its distance from civilization, embedded in cosmic cycles of light and darkness, warmth and cold.

Michael Snow, Quebec, 1971, 180 min, 16mm, color

International House

Monday, April 2

7:00 pm

Contemporary Chinese Cinema

Ghost Town

In addition to a screening of Godard's Contempt this evening, the International House is running a series of contemporary Chinese Cinema this week:

Thursday, Feb 23
07:00 PM
Street Life (Nanjing Lu)
dir. Zhao Dayong, China, 2006, video, 98 mins, color, Mandarin w/ English subtitles

Friday, Feb 24
07:00 PM
Ghost Town (Fei Cheng)
dir. Zhao Dayong, China, 2008, video, 169 mins, Mandarin, Nu and Lisu w/ English subtitles

Saturday, Feb 25
01:00 PM
Digital Underground in the People’s Republic
dir. Rachel Tejada, US, 2008, video, 18 mins, color, English and Mandarin w/ English subtitles
San Yuan Li
dir. Ou Ning and Cao Fei, China, 2003, video, 45 mins, color

Saturday, Feb 25
02:30 PM
Tape (Jiao Dai)
dir. Li Ning. China, 2010, video, 168 mins, Mandarin w/English subtitles

Full descriptions are available through their website. It looks like a great series of works that do not screen regularly.

Memories of Underdevelopment

Tomorrow, the International House shows Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomás Gutierréz Alea, 1968). It's a classic of Cuban cinema, that combines European-style art cinema with an examination of the role of the intellectual in a post-revolutionary society. It's formally exciting work that inspired a generation of Third Cinema filmmakers - and it's definitely worth seeing on film.

Thursday, February 16
7:00 PM
The Ibrahim Theater, International House