Lightstruck presents Ulrike Ottinger’s *TAIGA: A Journey to Northern Mongolia*. 501 minutes, English subtitles. 12 noon start time, with two breaks. The film will conclude at approximately 10pm.

Snacks, coffee and tea will be provided, as well as some dinner at the evening break, for a suggested donation.

Digital restoration courtesy of Arsenal with thanks to Carsten Zimmer, Reinhild Feldhaus, and especially Ulrike Ottinger.

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“Taiga is an experience that causes us to think about why we live as we do, what it is to be human, and what is important in life.” (Roger Ebert)

Lightstruck is extremely excited to present a truly epic cinematic experience, as we screen Ulrike Ottinger’s nearly 8.5-hour, immersive documentary *Taiga* (1992) in a special all-day screening.

Known for her meticulously crafted experimental narrative films infusing political radicalism with a rich, surrealist opulence, German artist Ulrike Ottinger has also produced a singular body of memorable nonfiction work, though perhaps none so monumental – and mesmerizingly beautiful – as *Taiga*.

During an extended period spent in Northern Mongolia through multiple seasons, Ottinger approached ethnography in a radically different way, rejecting authoritative narrativizing or presumptuous didacticism. The extended length of the film reflects Ottinger’s larger impulse and approach in this project: to spend time – unadulterated, attentive time – with the Northern Mongolians she had befriended, and to enable their own distinctive approach to time and space in everyday life dictate the scale and pace of the film.

Over ten parts and 38 chapters, we see a seance, two weddings, preparation of foods, wrestling contests, music performances, storytelling sessions, and countless other events large and small, yet all equally defining the overall year-to-year and day-to-day experiences of nomadic life in the Darkhad Valley of Northern Mongolia. The film succeeds so brilliantly in part because of the unapologetically and earnestly fascinated gaze with which Ottinger documents what she sees, and the clear love for and engagement with people that the filmmaking reflects.

“I tried to explain my wish, which was to record a way of life that no longer exists in the place where I’ve come from, in order to show the document to the people back home, who are very interested in the nomadic ways. At first this puzzled them, but then they thought, Yes, indeed, we too would be interested to know how your people live…” (Ulrike Ottinger)

Lightstruck: Ulrike Ottinger’s TAIGA (1991/92)

Lightstruck is thrilled to invite you to celebrate the origins of the experimental film community in a 16mm matinee program to complement the big Hollywood to-do later in the day – one show a twisted funhouse mirror vision of the other (but which is which??)

A luminous cinema icon unto himself, Jonas Mekas pioneered a distinctive form of hyper-present 16mm diaristic filmmaking, capturing the resolutely anecdotal with engaging, earthly poetry. But he was also inarguably one of the leading lights of the avant-garde, determined to foment and connect a global independent film community that he saw as utterly crucial to the potential, power, and humanity of the medium.

His feature *Birth of a Nation* radically appropriates a title inextricably linked to cinema history (yet tainted by its own corrupt vision), instead repositioning the phrase to describe and celebrate the myriad brilliant constellations of Mekas’s beloved film community. Utilizing his characteristic handheld camera, quick cutting, and an unparalleled eye for the touchingly mundane, Mekas creates a vital moving image album of filmmakers and assorted film friends that reveals these myths and legends of the avant-garde in all their anecdotal mortality.

Vastly more than a guessing game of who’s who in experimental film (there’s Will Hindle!), the film represents an incredibly rich emotional bridge between the vitality of these people at their moments of capture, and the assembly of this footage by Mekas into a collective portrait at a time (1996) when many were already gone, and their original contexts resolutely in the past. Seeing the film another 30 years further on, it packs an unexpected emotional wallop, as we are welcomed with inviting arms into the throng of a living, breathing community that – at least in its unique idiom and fragile temporality – has essentially disappeared. And yet, thanks to film itself, it still lives and breathes, and our local/global experimental film community is in part an ongoing tribute to the hundreds of folks in this film, who made independent movies and watched them together in independent spaces, just like us.

“We are the invisible, but essential nation of cinema. We are Cinema.” (Jonas Mekas)

PROGRAM: *Birth of a Nation* (1996) by Jonas Mekas. 16mm, bw & color, sound, 80 minutes.

Program by Zena Grey and Mark Toscano. Notes by Mark Toscano. 16mm print from Film-makers’ Cooperative (which was co-founded by Jonas Mekas).

Lightstruck: Jonas Mekas’s BIRTH OF A NATION (1996)

2220 Arts + Archives

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

A teenager with a death wish and a 79-year-old high on life find love in Hal Ashby’s cult black comedy. Deadpan rich boy Harold (Bud Cort) keeps staging elaborate suicide tableaux to get the attention of his mother (Vivian Pickles), but she keeps planning his brilliant future for him instead. Obsessed with the trappings of death, Harold freaks out his blind dates, modifies his new sports car to look like a mini-hearse, and attends funerals, where he meets the spirited Maude (Ruth Gordon). An eccentric to the core, Maude lives exactly as she pleases, with avid collecting and nude modeling among her many pursuits. To the disgust of Harold’s relatives and the befuddlement of Harold’s shrink, Harold falls in love with her. As lilting Cat Stevens tunes play on the soundtrack, Maude teaches Harold a valuable lesson about making the most of his time on earth.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Pictures

COUNTRY: USA

HAROLD AND MAUDE

Aero Theatre

“Like Van Gogh, Fleischer Studios, Robert Crumb, YELLOW SUBMARINE and the abstract-thought section of Pixar’s INSIDE OUT smooshed into a great lysergic cake.” – The Guardian

A superlative animated musical discovery! Touching on a wide range of styles from 1920s Art Deco to 1960s Psychedelia and 1970s Roxy Music-style decadence, BUBBLE BATH is a hypercolored yet relatable Eastern European avant-garde opera about dating problems. This irresistible experience charts the romance between medical student Anikó (a more curvaceous post-modern Betty Boop) and shop window decorator / stoned hippie alleycat Zsolt: both unsure of their attraction to each other, the choices they’ve made and what life has in store for them.

Bubble Bath

&#8220;Rude in the way the truth is rude &#8212; only funnier. The movie seduces with its humor, all the while presenting a realized vision of a harsh, absurd world.&#8221;

— Mick LaSalle, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Reese Witherspoon as potty-mouthed white trash Vanessa Lutz is among her most underrated roles. In this modern take on Little Red Riding Hood, Kiefer Sutherland plays the not subtly named Bob Wolverton, a serial killer who meets his match in Vanessa, a fifteen year old on her way to her grandmother’s after her parents are both arrested. Bob picks her up hitchhiking, gains her trust and then reveals himself &#8211; but Vanessa is sharp and quick, shooting him and leaving him for dead. Trouble is, he doesn’t die, and instead she finds herself on trial. Can this bad behaving juvenile delinquent win against a well-respected school counselor? You better believe she won’t go down without a fight! Written and directed by Matthew Bright, best known as the screenwriter for FORBIDDEN ZONE, FREEWAY is impressive and often hilarious with a great support cast including Brooke Shields, Amanda Plummer and Dan Hedaya. (Cristina Cacciopo)

Freeway

Brain Dead Studios

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In French with English subtitles.*

This incomparable story of crime and redemption from the French master Robert Bresson follows Michel, a young pickpocket who spends his days working the streets, subway cars, and train stations of Paris. As his compulsive pursuit of the thrill of stealing grows, however, so does his fear that his luck is about to run out. A cornerstone of the career of this most economical and profoundly spiritual of filmmakers, PICKPOCKET is an elegantly crafted, tautly choreographed study of humanity in all its mischief and grace, the work of a director at the height of his powers.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: France

PICKPOCKET

Egyptian Theatre

“What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem,” edited by Udo Kittelmann, is a sweeping odyssey into the depths of human experience, unfolding through film and video. Marking the first major presentation of works from the Julia Stoschek Foundation in the U.S., this audiovisual poem experiments with time-based media by placing contemporary video works in dialogue with silent films and early cinema classics. For the first time, a large-scale exhibition bridges these two universes, creating an unprecedented encounter across more than a century of visual storytelling.

Bringing one of the world’s leading collections of time-based art to a city defined by moving images sparks a rare conversation across disciplines. It dissolves the boundaries between visual art and cinema, museum and theater, white cube and black box. In doing so, it traces the evolution of visual storytelling over the past century, highlighting both the universality of human concerns and the shifting perspectives that shape their representation.

“What a Wonderful World” presents a wide range of groundbreaking works by artists such as Marina Abramović, Cyprien Gaillard, Arthur Jafa, or Lu Yang, alongside cinematic milestones by Luis Buñuel, Walt Disney, Alice Guy-Blaché, Winsor McCay, and Georges Méliès. Together, these works form a panoramic and layered portrait of humanity and history across 120 years: altogether ironic, sincere, critical and compassionate.

“What a Wonderful World” will unfold as an explorative journey, a cinematic mystery tour, a soul-stirring experience. It invites visitors to confront the secrets and fragilities of humanity while holding up a mirror to the state of the world today.

What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem

Julia Stoschek Foundation at the Variety Arts Theater

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

**IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART I, 1944, Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 103 Mins, Janus Films, Soviet Union**

*In Russian with English subtitles.*

FORMAT: 35mm

**IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART II, 1956, Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 88 Mins, Janus Films, Soviet Union**

*In Russian with English subtitles.*

FORMAT: 35mm

Navigating the deadly waters of Stalinist politics, Eisenstein was able to film two parts of his planned trilogy about the troubled sixteenth-century tsar who united Russia. Visually stunning and powerfully acted, IVAN THE TERRIBLE charts the rise to power and descent into terror of this veritable dictator. Though pleased with the first installment, Stalin detected the portrait in the second film, with its summary executions and secret police, and promptly banned it.

IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART I & PART II

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

New York’s Upper West Side takes center stage in this NYC alt-romcom hangout from maverick writer/director Henry Jaglom. Karen Black embodies Zee, a middle-aged woman abandoned by her husband. Wandering the streets of Manhattan and endlessly muttering to herself, she serendipitously meets Eli (Michael Emil) at a sidewalk cafe A topsy-turvy romance ensues as they go to concerts and movies, fight and make love, and traverse city streets filled with real-life pedestrians. Filmed entirely within 20 blocks of the Museum of Natural History, Jaglom’s New York is rounded out with turns by Frances Fisher, Orson Welles and a true to form Larry David.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Hope Runs High

COUNTRY: USA

New 4K Restoration ‘Sunday “Rest”orations’

CAN SHE BAKE A CHERRY PIE?

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Japanese with English subtitles.*

“Who are…you?”

Mima Kirigoe, a former pop idol, makes a bold transition into acting, taking on a role in a drama that includes a disturbing assault scene, and even releasing a provocative nude photo book. Her dramatic reinvention grabs public attention, but also provokes unease among her fans, her manager and even herself as she struggles with the rapid shift from her days as a pop idol. As a stalker begins to shadow her, a screenwriter and a photographer are murdered one after another. “Did I kill them?” Mima begins to wonder if a split personality is gradually taking over, just like the character that she plays in the drama. Then “the other Mima” the pop idol who was supposed to have “graduated,” appears in front of her…

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: GKIDS

COUNTRY: Japan

PERFECT BLUE

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Japanese with English subtitles.*

The Maiku Hama Trilogy kicks things off in *akushon* black-and-white with THE MOST TERRIBLE TIME IN MY LIFE, set among the immigrant communities of a multi-cultural Yokohama. When Maiku accidentally saves a Taiwanese immigrant named Yang during a mahjong parlour brawl, he becomes embroiled in a tale of two brothers at the heart of an underground pan-Asian mafia on the brink of war.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Kani Releasing

COUNTRY: Japan

West Coast Premiere of New 4K Restoration The Maiku Hama Trilogy: Part 1 ‘Sunday “Rest”orations’

THE MOST TERRIBLE TIME IN MY LIFE

Los Feliz Theatre

Forbidden Letters  / The Night Before

Forbidden Letters

New Beverly Cinema

Suzuki's dreamlike and hypnotic meditation on fascination, fixation, and memory!

Seijun Suzuki's TAISHŌ TRILOGY:  ZIGEUNERWEISEN (1980)

Philosophical Research Society

Vidiots invites you to don your red carpet best and join us for a big-screen viewing of Hollywood’s most glamorous and award-winning night. Behold the iconic fashion, see the musical acts, cry at the acceptance speeches, and cheer as your favorites win big. We’ll have fun raffles during commercial breaks, cheeky bingo, and lots of photo ops on our pink carpet, hosted by drag performer **Anya Body**. Join us for an unforgettable time and share the magic of movie-making’s biggest night with your fellow Vidiots. Black tie attire encouraged, not required.

Doors will open/ Pink Carpet will begin at **2:00pm** with the Televised Pre-Show on the big screen!

The awards show will begin at **4:00pm**

Submit your ballots before **4:05pm** to be eligible for prizes!

This evening is a fundraiser for the Vidiots Foundation and ticket prices are suggested donations – no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

All paid tickets will come with reserved seating, free tickets will be first-come first-served.

###### This event is not sponsored by or affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Vidiots Presents: That Awards Show

Vidiots

Darby O'Gill and the Little People

Project Hail Mary - 70mm Early Access

Vista Theatre

*THE BIBLE AS CECIL B. DEMILLE NEVER FILMED IT!*

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The stories of Adam and Eve, David and Bathsheba, and Sampson and Delilah are given a subversively erotic twist in this bawdy softcore epic from acclaimed Boys in the Sand filmmaker Wakefield Poole.

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Featuring a memorable comedic performance from The Devil in Miss Jones star Georgina Spelvin as Bathsheba, Wakefield Poole’s Bible! is a loving tribute to the women of the Good Book and to Old Hollywood silent cinema. 2K restoration.

(Muscle Distribution)

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**dir. Wakefield Poole, 1973***United States, digital projection*83 min, 1.33:1

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Due to the nature of the material, this screening is ages 18+ only.

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## Sunday, 3/157:30 DOORS8:00 SCREENING$10 general admission, $9 for Whammy! members

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*Whammy! is located in the REAR unit of 2514 Sunset Blvd, entrance access is via Rampart Blvd.*

Wakefield Poole's Bible! (1973)

WHAMMY!

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Set in 1994, a record producer, Boogalow (Vladek Sheybal) seduces young folksinger duo Bibi (Catherine Mary Stewart) and Alphie (George Gilmour) into becoming part of his stable of musical stars kept in line with sex and drugs.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Park Circus

COUNTRY: USA/West Germany

Introduction by actor and fitness instructor Angie Shriner ‘Cinematic Void’

Cinematic Void Presents THE APPLE

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

A BODY TO LIVE IN offers an uncompromising look at the rise of BDSM performance art, body modification and the ‘modern primitives’ cultural movement through the agonies and ecstasies of transgressive artist Fakir Musafar and the communities that surrounded him. Blending rare archival footage with the voices of queer and artistic trailblazers, the film shows how pain, ritual, and transformation became tools of identity, survival and self-expression. Weaving from early experiments and secret gatherings to the emergence of a global subculture shaped by the AIDS crisis and spiritual reinvention, director Angelo Madsen (NORTH BY CURRENT) reveals not just the story of one artist, but a collective history of bodies in revolt – asking what it truly means to live freely in one’s own skin.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Altered Innocence

COUNTRY: USA

A BODY TO LIVE IN

Venus in Furs / Succubus

**Screenwriters**: Meera Menon,  Paul Gleason

**Producers**: Erica Fishman,  Joe Camerota,  Luke Patton,  Meera Menon,  Paul Gleason

Join us in the microcinema for a tasty new zom com from Meera Menon. Set in the not-so-distant future, a young podcaster, Vinita (Kiran Deol), struggles to maintain her dwindling audience amidst the zombie apocalypse. To make matters worse, the zombies are beginning to mutate and become more powerful. So, when her ex-boyfriend shows up with an orphaned baby, it becomes all that much more important that Vinita and her family do what it takes to survive.

Didn’t Die

**Screenwriter**: Joseph Minion

**Producers**: Robert F. Colesberry, Griffin Dunne, Amy Robinson

Celebrating the life and career of the remarkable **Catherine O&#8217;Hara**!

How bad can one night get? Prepare yourself for a one-of-a-kind experience with *After Hours*, a dark comedy that somehow combines big laughs and a suffocating, terrifying mood of pure dread thanks to Martin Scorsese’s live-wire direction. Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) is an ordinary cubicle drone in New York City whose life takes an unexpected turn when he ventures to SoHo for a hot date with Marcy (Rosanna Arquette). Unfortunately for Paul, what seems at first like a simple trip to a different neighborhood soon becomes a demented odyssey. This insanely hilarious nightmare comedy has EVERYTHING. First dates with Wizard of Oz-themed sex talk. Horrifying burn stories. Punk clubs with Kafka-esque bouncers. Cheech and Chong as art burglars. And that thing where the late, great Catherine O&#8217;Hara reminds us how hysterically weird she could be by playing an ice-cream-truck driver leading a vengeful mob!

**Remembering Catherine O’Hara**

Catherine O’Hara, our scene stealing, impossibly funny, impeccably comically timed, deeply human, perfectly wigged icon, we will miss you so. Thank you for making us laugh til we cried and lighting up generations of artists to seize art and life with a vigor only you could inspire. We’ll be celebrating you in our video store and on our big screen always.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Need to bring more Catherine O’Hara brilliance home? Check out some of these delights on physical media:

*Beetlejuice, SCTV, Waiting for Guffman*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

After Hours

Porgy and Bess

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

**MY JOY, 2010, Dir. Sergei Loznitsa, 128 Mins, Kino Lorber, Ukraine/Netherlands/Germany/France**

*In Russian with English subtitles.*

Truck driver Georgy (Viktor Nemets) sets out on a provincial Russian highway for a routine delivery, but after a series of chance encounters his journey spirals out of control. A roadside police check, a talkative war veteran, and a too-young prostitute lead him to a village from which there appears to be no way out where the locals struggle to survive a tough, elemental world, and the past holds a vise-like grip over their everyday lives. Caught in a merciless dead end, Georgy’s unexpected fate is the crux of Loznitsa’s unique and original feature debut.

FORMAT: DCP

**DONBASS, 2018, Dir. Sergei Loznitsa, 122 Mins, Film Movement, Ukraine**

*In Russian, Ukrainian and English with English subtitles.*

In the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine, mid-2010s: a hybrid war takes place, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies on a mass scale perpetrated by Russian-separatist gangs. In the Donbass, war is called peace, propaganda is uttered as truth, and hatred is declared to be love. Life is suffused with fear and suspicion. What is real and what is fake news?

FORMAT: DCP

Q&A with filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa ‘Sergei Loznitsa: An American Cinematheque Tribute’

MY JOY / DONBASS

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

A cam girl navigates a toxic client relationship while reconnecting with her estranged, dying father, exploring complex relationships and family dynamics.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Utopia

COUNTRY: USA

Q&A with filmmaker and actor Katarina Zhu ‘Women Wednesday 2026’

BUNNYLOVR

### **ABOUT THE EVENT:**

Join us for a night of debut shorts from women directors! The Women Wednesday Night of Shorts features impressive debut short films from local up-and-coming filmmakers and a Q&A.

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

*Full lineup to be announced!*

‘Women Wednesday 2026’ Guests and full lineup to be announced!

Women Wednesday Night of Shorts Part 2

Henry & June

A.S. Hamrah joins fellow Writer and Film Critic Sandi Tan to discuss film criticism and Hamrah&#8217;s two new books *Algorithm of the Night* and *Last Week in End Times Cinema.*

Last Week in End Times Cinema, Algorithm of the Night

Now Instant Image Hall

**Screenwriter**: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke

**Producers**: Cattleya Paosrijeroen,  Soros Sukhum

Join us in the microcinema for Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke&#8217;s dark comedy fable of romance, melancholy, and consumerism. March is mourning his wife Nat who has recently passed away due to dust pollution. He discovers her spirit has returned by possessing a vacuum cleaner. Disturbed by a ghost that appeared after a worker’s death shut down their factory, his family reject their unconventional human-ghost relationship. Trying to convince them of their love, Nat offers to cleanse the factory. To become a useful ghost, she must first get rid of the useless ones.

**Accessibility Options**: Open Captions

A Useful Ghost

Project Hail Mary 70mm

The Caine Mutiny

FILM DIARY NYC is a biennial festival of experimental, autobiographical films that capture the personal history and daily experiences of the filmmaker. The 4th edition, *Go to the Mountains and Pray*,  features 170 new works by a diverse array of artists from across the world. The Los Angeles Satellite program at Whammy offers a one-night screening of 8 films that represent the range of the festival programming: from the formally experimental to the observational; from auto-fiction to home movie archives; from found footage and new media to 16mm and analogue film techniques.

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Films:

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Tourniquet

Marceline Chevako, USA, 8 Min

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I Would’ve Been Happy

Jordan Wong, USA, 9 Min

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Piñata Prayers

Daniel Larios, El Salvador / USA, 24 Min

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Looking For You Looking For Me

Wes Weisbaum, USA, 5 Min

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typhoon diary 风球日记

Helix Zhang, USA, 6 Min

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Magic Mountain

Valentina Rosset, Brazil, 7 Min

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Padre Nuestro

Emanuel Christopher Castro, USA, 15 Min

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Like a Tongue Knows the Mouth

Laura Ohio, USA / Canada, 24 Min

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“An organization unparalleled in our current moment within the New York film world.”

- Devon Narine-Singh, filmmaker, educator (CU Boulder)

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“A community of artists committed to cutting through the bullshit, excited to use any and all media to increase our understanding & create authentic connection.”

- Julie Perini, filmmaker, educator (Portland State University)

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“This festival is what real artistic community can look and feel like, and these filmmakers give me hope for the future of art on screen”

- Ife Olujobi, filmmaker, writer

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“Exciting ideas...Very much in the spirit of the kind of film community that my father helped to foster and support.”

- Sebastian Mekas

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## Total Runtime: 98 Min

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## Wednesday, 3/257:30 DOORS8:00 SCREENING

## Followed by a Q&A with filmmakers present, led by writer Chris Shields.

## ‍$10 general admission, $8 for Whammy! members

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*Whammy! is located in the REAR unit of 2514 Sunset Blvd, entrance access is via Rampart Blvd.*

FILM DIARY 4: GO TO THE MOUNTAINS AND PRAY

Lightstruck is elated to present two full evenings of rarely screened animated shorts from one of the most significant centers of experimental animation production and creativity in the history of the medium: Poland. Spanning the early 1960s to the late 1980s, these two programs (March 26 and April 16) will showcase an incredibly eclectic selection focusing on little-known masterworks and deep-cut revelations, all screening in recent restorations.

Poland has an extraordinary animation history marked by radical experimentation in technique and texture, investigating dark and complex themes inspired by social critique and surrealist visions alike. Spanning stop motion, cutout, cel, paint on glass, and hand-drawn approaches, these programs extend to include exceptional techniques such as Zbig Rybczyński’s hyper-complex optical printing, Piotr Dumała’s exquisite renderings on plaster slabs, and Julian Antonisz’s unhinged cameraless animation produced on ingenious, visionary devices of his own making. A morbid and uneasy humor often punctuates these works, which pulse with rich, emotional, and dramatic narratives and themes matched only by the exceptional imagination and talents of their authors.

We selected the films for these programs with an emphasis on shorts not generally available on home media, and spanning a particularly diverse array of styles, aesthetics, techniques, and sensibilities. Widely celebrated artists like Rybczyński, Antonisz, Ryszard Czekała, and Jerzy Kucia will be represented by lesser known (but magnificent) offerings, while deeply memorable obscurities from Jacek Kasprzycki, Zofia Oraczewska, Ryszard Antoniszczak, and Ewa Bibańska will further illuminate Poland’s incredible spectrum of animation genius.

Programs by Zena Grey and Mark Toscano. Notes by Mark Toscano. Films courtesy of Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych (+ thanks to Stanisław Bardadin) and Filmoteka Narodowa – Instytut Audiowizualny (+ thanks to Adrian Smykowski and Julia Bachman).

Polish Animation #1: Flames in Dark Places (1962-74)

Margit and her older sister Katla flee for safety after their mother is burned to death for witchcraft. Finding shelter with Johan and his resentful young son, Jonas, the sisters help form an impromptu family unit that’s soon strained by Katla’s burgeoning sorcery.

The Juniper Tree

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

A deceptively simple tale of a group of strangers trapped in a farmhouse who find themselves fending off a horde of flesh-eating ghouls newly arisen from their graves, Romero’s claustrophobic vision of a late-sixties America (literally) tearing itself apart rewrote the rules of the horror genre, combined gruesome gore with acute social commentary, and quietly broke ground by casting a black actor (Duane Jones) in the lead role.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: USA

Introduction by author Daniel Kraus Book signing with Daniel Kraus for his new book, Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World, prior to the screening at 6:30pm at the Los Feliz 3, in partnership with the Larry Edmunds Bookshop.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Filipino with English subtitles.*

A coming-of-age story of college student Joey, who’s lost all sense of direction. His only inspiration is music, but he has yet to finish writing a song. His life changes when he meets Ana and his world is suddenly turned upside-down.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: ABS-CBN Film Productions

COUNTRY: Philippines

MOMENTS IN A STOLEN DREAM

Amuck! /

The Los Angeles premiere of the restoration of Robert Bresson&#8217;s *The Devil, Probably* is presented with an introduction from Writer and Film Critic A.S. Hamrah.

The Devil, Probably

Join Titmouse for the **20th anniversary of 5 Second Day** at the LA premiere of their annual **5 Second Day… Night!!!** animation showcase, featuring a special introduction from studio co-founder **Chris Prynoski**.

This special anniversary edition will feature a unique, uncensored compilation of brand new short-form cartoons created by Titmouse animators and creative staff as part of the studio’s long-running *5 Second Day* tradition, alongside a curated selection of standout shorts from the past 20 years of the event, giving audiences a rare chance to revisit some of the weirdest, wildest, and most unforgettable cartoons from two decades of *5 Second Day*.

**About 5 Second Day: **

An annual tradition where Titmouse shuts down production for 24 hours across its Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, and Paris studio locations, giving its artists a fully paid day to unleash their most quirky, beautiful, bizarre, and laugh-out-loud ideas. 

For more information, [https://5secondday.com](https://5secondday.com)

Titmouse Presents: 5 Second Day… Night!!!

The Snow Woman/The Haunted Castle

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Georgian with English captions.*

Lisa, a sports photographer, vanishes off into the greener pastures of the Georgian countryside, traces of her passing embedded in the landscape like clues. Her father, Irakli (David Koberidze), picks up her scent in the ochre foliage and communal soccer fields she documented for her last assignment. His search-and-rescue trip defies her wishes not to be followed. With a disembodied voice in his passenger seat, he embarks on a winding pastoral picaresque, marked by the recurring gaggles of adolescents, wild dogs, and oral histories he encounters along the way. Undulating between impressionistic reverie and subversive detective story, Irakli’s near-fruitless search invites us to see—with renewed eyes—the quotidian elements which constitute both cinema and life.

Shot with a pixelated W595 Sony Ericsson phone camera, DRY LEAF stands as a palpable salvo on cinematic degrowth. While director Alexandre Koberidze teeters on the edge of a formal gimmick to challenge technological tyranny, his characters swim against the false currents of modern life. Taking an audacious leap of faith after his breakthrough WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY? and harkening back to his low-res debut LET THE SUMMER NEVER COME AGAIN, Koberidze reignites the threadbare wonders of cinematic language in spectacular, big-screen fashion.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: The Cinema Guild

COUNTRY: Georgia/Germany

Q&A with filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze and composer Giorgi Koberidze L.A. Premiere

DRY LEAF

**Please note**: This screening takes place at the Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036

Total runtime: 74 min.

This was the film that set everything in motion. *Schmeerguntz*, coined after Gunvor Nelson’s father’s nonsense word for “sandwich” (*smörgås* in Swedish), is a hilarious, grotesque and grave attack on the public ideal of the American housewife. Critic Ernest Callenbach wrote in excitement that “A society which hides its animal functions beneath a shiny public surface deserves to have such films as *Schmeerguntz* shown everywhere.”—*Professor John Sundholm, Stockholm University*

Director: Gunvor Nelson, Dorothy Wiley.

*My Name is Oona* was Nelson’s final breakthrough on the American avant-garde film scene. The sound consists of Nelson’s daughter, Oona, repeating the names of the days of the week and of her saying “my name is Oona.” The latter is edited into an expressive rhythmical structure that accompanies the visual structure of the film that plunges into the experience of a child where both bliss and fear reign. As so often in Nelson’s oeuvre, there is a female subtext too: it is male voices that execute their authority upon Oona, whereas as a girl she is still equal to boys of her own age.—*Professor John Sundholm, Stockholm University.* 

Director: Gunvor Nelson.

*Fog Pumas* is the second film that Gunvor Nelson and Dorothy Wiley shot together. It received one of the grand prizes at the Knokke Experimental Film Festival, EXPRMTL, in 1967-68. The film is a hilarious, liberating exploration of absurd imagery and situations in which Nelson and Wiley also make fun of some classical avant-garde film techniques. It is an empowering film, made in the spirit of exploring the potentialities of filmmaking and insisting upon having fun while doing it.—*Professor John Sundholm, Stockholm University*

Director: Gunvor Nelson.

*Moons Pool* marks a new path in Gunvor Nelson’s filmmaking in which she develops her interest in creating a weave of movements and superimpositions. The film that is mostly shot underwater, in a pool, begins with footage of water and a close-up of Nelson from which we move to her body immersed in water in a bathtub. Another transition occurs to a pool with male and female naked bodies swimming underwater. The latter part of the film is almost totally liberated from speech, and has a dreamlike, complex soundtrack consisting of sounds of waves, voices, water and music woven together into a seamless web of sounds.—*Professor John Sundholm, Stockholm University*

Director: Gunvor Nelson.

Movement begins and ends with snowflakes, fleeting, floating, whirling and dancing in constant restlessness. Sudden changes in direction, composition, background, density, color and contrast interrupt the perpetual flow.—*Professor John Sundholm, Stockholm University*

Director: Gunvor Nelson.

Off-site: Gunvor Nelson Tribute II: Moons Pool

Hammer Museum

Join us for a night of music featuring solo performances by Dustin Wong, thunderwerld, Randy Randall, and strangejane.

Dustin Wong, thunderwerld, Randy Randall, strangejane

Heavy Manners Library

### **ABOUT THE FILM: **

*In Nigerian Pidgin, Yoruba, and English with English subtitles.*

The UK’s Best International Feature Film entry to the 98th Academy Awards and recipient of the Caméra d’Or Special Mention at Cannes, Akinola Davies Jr.’s MY FATHER’S SHADOW is a poetic, tender portrait of father-son bonds. Framed by the political landscape of 1993 Lagos, the film follows a father and his two young sons as they journey into and around the vibrantly rendered Nigerian metropolis, quietly reckoning with their relationship while navigating a city on the precipice of democratic crisis. Brothers and collaborators Akinola Davies Jr. and Wale Davies bring us a groundbreaking feature debut – centering an award-winning performance by Sopé Dìrísù (SLOW HORSES, GANGS OF LONDON) – that reveals the profound depths of what families leave unspoken.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: MUBI

COUNTRY: UK/Nigeria

MY FATHER'S SHADOW

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Two codependent best friends become addicted to the heroin-like touch of an alien narcissist who may or may not be trying to take over the world.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Yellow Veil Pictures

COUNTRY: USA

Q&A with filmmaker Addison Heimann and actors Olivia Taylor Dudley, Jordan Gavaris and Marlene Forte L.A. Premiere

TOUCH ME

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Taking much of its inspiration from Homer’s* The Odyssey*, this Coen brothers comedy stars George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson as escaped convicts in Depression-era Mississippi. On a wild goose chase for loot from a previous crime, the trio encounter bluesmen, bank robbers, Bible thumpers and politicos, and become unlikely hitmakers as the “Soggy Bottom Boys” (in real life, the film’s bluegrass-filled soundtrack topped charts and won three Grammys). Costarring John Goodman.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Disney

COUNTRY: UK/USA/France

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

True Romance

Before his untimely death, William Pope.L was commissioned to make a new work for MONUMENTS. Though this never came to fruition, Pope.L’s 2012 film *Reenactor* engages with the Lost Cause leisure activity of battlefield re-enactments. In celebration of his life, The Brick is pleased to present two nights of Pope.L video works in partnership with Now Instant.

*Please note: seating is limited. Doors open thirty minutes prior to the listed showtime. Your RSVP does not guarantee you a seat. Seating is first-come, first-served. **This film is non-narrative and attendees are invited to come and go as they please.*

The Videos William Pope.L

The world premiere of an original program that explores Henson's formally inventive and philosophically probing early works!

JIM HENSON: EXPERIMENTS IN VISUAL THINKING feat. THE CUBE — World Premiere!

**Screenwriter**: Harry Lighton

**Producers**: Lee Groombridge,  Ed Guiney,  Andrew Lowe,  Emma Norton

Come for Alexander Skarsgård as a leather daddy, stay for the romance, laughter, and humanism of Harry Lighton&#8217;s sweet and kinky dom com! Colin, a timid man is swept off his feet when Ray, an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker takes him on as his submissive. It&#8217;s got all the biker orgies and back alley b.j.s you would hope for, but it&#8217;s also truly a wonderfully universal triumph of warmth and humor for anyone &#8211; not just those in the kink community.

Pillion

**Screenwriter**: Albert Brooks

**Producer**: Michael Grillo

Join us in the afterlife for Albert Brooks&#8217; imaginative and hilarious take on life and love after death. After a sudden death, Daniel Miller, an unexceptional and hapless ad exec, ends up in a way station between life and ascendancy to a higher journey into the Universe. In this bureaucratic limbo, the newly deceased are treated to free buffets but unencumbered by calories, but also judged for their life on earth, a pressure the nebbishy Miller is not comfortable undertaking. When he meets Julia, a remarkable woman with a ticket to the next stage, he finally starts to feel alive for the first time. But is it enough to seal their fate into the universe, or will he be destined to return to Earth a loser again?

**Picks from the Video Store**

Looking for more life after death? Be the afterlife of the party with these gems

*After Life, A Matter of Life and Death, I Am a Ghost*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Defending Your Life

**Screenwriter:** Kaneto Shindō

**Producer:** Toshio Konya

A chilling and atmospheric slow burn from Kaneto Shindō, this dark and ghostly nightmare will sink into your subconscious with striking black and white cinematography, a frenetic sensuality, and a viscerally unnerving tone. In the wind-swept marshes of medieval Japan, a land ravaged by war and famine, two women wait for the return of their son and husband from the war as they exist by slaughtering samurai for their belongings. As word of their loved one&#8217;s demise in the war, the return of an enticing neighbor, and the mask of a demon threaten to plunge them all into a horrifying fate.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Looking for more 60s Japanese Horror? Visit our Asian Horror section for these creepfests and more!

*Jigoku, Blind Beast, Kuroneko, The Face of Another*

**Accessibility Options**: Open Captions, Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Onibaba

Rio Bravo

Super Fly

Acropolis Cinema screens *Falling Leaves* (Otar Iosseliani, 1968), in a new 4K restoration presented by Alexandre Koberidze.

Saturdays's event will feature an introduction and post-screening Q&A with *Dry Leaf* director Alexandre Koberidze and composer Giorgi Koberidze.

∆

First screened at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, *Falling Leaves* tells the story of Nico, a technician starting out at a state-run wine collective. While his friend Otar adapts seamlessly, Nico refuses to pretend that bad wine can be bottled. He also falls for Otar’s girl. Iosseliani offers up poignant observations about the clash of generations, factory life, and romance in this witty and moral tale of an individual’s resistance to oppression.

~

Otar Iosseliani is one of Georgia’s most admired filmmakers who died two months before his 90th birthday in December 2023. His unconventional storytelling, anarchic style and underlying anti-authoritarianism did not suit the Soviet authorities and by 1982 Iosseliani had moved to Paris. His self-described “abstract comedies” explore human absurdity, observing behaviour rather than following a cohesive narrative. He didn’t like "intrusive" close-ups and his unique shooting style with complex movement of people, animals and objects led Ronald Bergan, writing in the Guardian, to describe him as the “true heir to Renoir, Tati and Buñuel.” (Institut français du Royaume-Uni)

TRT: 91 min

In person: Alexandre and Giorgi Koberidze

Alexandre Koberidze presents Falling Leaves (Otar Iosseliani, 1968)

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

**THE GODFATHER, 1972, Dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 175 Mins., Paramount, USA**

Francis Ford Coppola’s epic masterpiece features Marlon Brando in his Oscar-winning role as the patriarch of the Corleone family. Director Coppola paints a chilling portrait of the Sicilian clan’s rise and near fall from power in America, masterfully balancing the story between the Corleone’s family life and the ugly crime business in which they are engaged. Based on Mario Puxo’s best-selling novel and featuring career-making performances by Al Pacino, James Cann and Robert Duvall, this searing and brilliant film garnered ten Academy Award nominations, and won three including Best Picture of 1972.

FORMAT: 35mm

**THE GODFATHER PART II, 1974, Francis Ford Coppola, 200 Mins., Paramount, USA**

This brilliant companion piece to the original THE GODFATHER continues the saga of two generations of successive power within the Corleone family. Coppola tells two stories in Part II: the roots and rise of a young Don Vito, played with uncanny ability by Robert De Niro, and the ascension of Michael (Al Pacino) as the new Don. Reassembling many of the talents who helped make THE GODFATHER, Coppola has produced a movie of staggering magnitude and vision, and undeniably the best sequel ever made. Robert De Niro won an Oscar; the film received six Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1974.

FORMAT: 35mm

THE GODFATHER / THE GODFATHER PART II

A double feature celebrating 1990s Shot-On-Video surreal horror, pairing Charles Pinion’s cult Cinema of Transgression landmark *Red Spirit Lake* with *Vick & Tarstar’s Scarecrow Factory*, a meta mumblegore nightmare from Brewce Longo of Blood Sick Productions. Both directors will be in attendance, followed by a Q&A hosted by Annie Rose Malamet of Girls, Guts, & Giallo.

### Red Spirit Lake (1993)

*Run Time:* 69 minutes

After a vengeful sorceress is tortured and killed by a corrupt industrialist seeking to harness the spectral powers of Red Spirit Lake, her niece arrives in snow-covered Angel Falls to settle her aunt’s estate.

A warped meditation on *The Old Dark House*, *Red Spirit Lake* erupts into a delirious storm of UFO abductions, witchcraft, frank nudity, castration, fatal fistings, slaughterous saunas, and psychotic surrealism. A cacophony of subversive hyper-violence and salacious sexual chaos unfolds against picturesque winter vistas, featuring performances by Cinema of Transgression icons Richard Kern, Holly Adams, Kembra Pfahler, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, and Tommy Turner, alongside an insurgent soundtrack with music by Cop Shoot Cop, Lydia Lunch, Clint Ruin, and The Lunachicks.

[TRAILER](https://youtu.be/1BCnVc3-Rt4)

### Vick & Tarstar’s Scarecrow Factory (2025)

*Run Time:* 91 minutes

Vick and Tarstar are shooting their latest trash-horror epic, *Scarecrowed*, with a cast and crew of punks, drug addicts, fetish models, and dumpster divers. As extra-hairy relationship drama, homelessness, vanishing funds, and quitting collaborators threaten to derail the production, the duo remains committed to telling their story.

Set within a deranged consumer fantasy, *Scarecrow Factory* asks a simple question: with the right bucket, can you too buy your own hair-cutting scarecrow made by the animatronic Goo Guys? A Blood Sick mumblegore nightmare by Brewce Longo and Kasper Meltedhair, the film features Erin Caywood, Nicole Elyse, Janice.Click, and SOV legends Hugh Gallagher and Tina Krause.

Charles Pinion and Brewce Longo are currently in preproduction on an upcoming collaborative feature, *Thousand Eyes*. Directed by Pinion and produced by Longo, the film will shoot in Philadelphia in May 2026 and will feature a mix of regular Blood Sick players alongside classic SOV figures.

Red Spirit Lake + Vick & Tarstar’s Scarecrow Factory

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

What if that date you thought would never end didn’t? When an uptown New Yorker innocently meets a downtown girl, he’s uncontrollably drawn into a vortex of wild, malevolent and paranoid adventures After Hours. Paul Hackett’s (Griffin Dunne) terrible night happens in the SoHo area of downtown Manhattan when he goes to keep a date with Marcy (Rosanna Arquette). Nothing in his humdrum life as a word processor has prepared him for his surreal encounters with Marcy; her far-out artist roommate Kiki (Linda Fiorentino); cocktail waitress Julie (Teri Garr); ice cream vendor Gail (Catherine O’Hara); and June (Verna Bloom), who lives in the basement of a nightclub. Now, Paul longs only for the safety of his upper-East Side apartment … but will he ever make it home?

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Park Circus

COUNTRY: USA

AFTER HOURS

*Light Years Expanding* is a further elaboration of *Light Years*, Gunvor Nelson’s journey into the Swedish landscape in which she blends animation with live-action. Whereas movement was one of the prime characteristics of *Light Years*, *Light Years Expanding* revolves more around the image-work, foreshadowing her last and most complicated collage film *Natural Features*.—*Professor* *John Sundholm, Stockholm University*

Director: Gunvor Nelson.

“I was enormously impressed and bowled over by the beauty and artistry. It is one of the few films that I have ever seen that gave me the same feeling that I get when I see painting that I really respond to on a gut/heart level. The images are very powerful. The poetry and the subtlety of the content too. The editing/rhythms all seemed perfect. The sound track kept disappearing from consciousness (exactly right), but never stopped working with the pictures. Masterpiece.”—*filmmaker* *Robert Nelson*

Director: Gunvor Nelson.

*Field Study #2 *develops further Nelson’s painterly animation aesthetics. This time the imagery is not created by a recording camera after which they are reworked, but instead the images and sounds appear out of their own world. The soundtrack consists of animal sounds and a serious male voice reciting names of animals in Latin. It is a hilarious work that makes fun of the educational film and our expectations upon the film screen to constitute a window to an outer world.* Field Study #2* urges one to look and listen while emphasizing the comic and absurd, the latter a trait that runs through so much of Gunvor Nelson’s filmmaking and which was the impetus for her to start filming with Dorothy Wiley in the ’60s. The film ends with a thank you to Dorothy Wiley.—*Professor John Sundholm, Stockholm University*

Director: Gunvor Nelson.

“In *Natural Features*, Gunvor Nelson mingles hundreds of still images with 3-D objects and ‘real’ images photographed through glass layerings into a free-associative and playfully bizarre form of animation. Perhaps no film has more successfully blended an evident passion for painting with a sensitivity to filmmaking such as lush pigments alternate with and punctuate the different photographic layerings.”—*curator* *Steve Anker*

Director: Gunvor Nelson.

Gunvor Nelson Tribute III: Light Years Expanding

[$10 tickets](https://withfriends.events/event/62EWlmJC/shame/?utm_campaign=shame_62EWlmJC&utm_term=human_resources_la&utm_medium=organizer_site&utm_source=organizer_homepage&utm_content=link_on_your_website_119" data-type="link" data-id="https://withfriends.events/event/62EWlmJC/shame/?utm_campaign=shame_62EWlmJC&utm_term=human_resources_la&utm_medium=organizer_site&utm_source=organizer_homepage&utm_content=link_on_your_website_119)

		

	
		
	

	
		
			
				
					
						
	
	

						
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SHAME

Human Resources

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Japanese with English subtitles.*

Based on the life and career of Fumiko Hayashi, the novelist whose work Naruse adapted to the screen several times, A WANDERER’S NOTEBOOK traces her bitter struggle for literary recognition in the first half of the twentieth century – her affairs with feckless men, the jobs she took to survive (peddler, waitress, bar maid) and her arduous, often humiliating attempts to get published in a male-dominated culture.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Toho

COUNTRY: Japan

35mm print courtesy of National Film Archive of Japan Series co-presented by The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles and The Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities ‘Mikio Naruse: An American Cinematheque Retrospective’

A WANDERER'S NOTEBOOK

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Georgian with English subtitles.*

An enchanting love story suffused with magic, this amiably ambling fable is fit-to-burst with hope and wonder. Alexandre Koberidze’s generous ode to romance wanders the sun-dappled streets of Georgia’s ancient Kutaisi with open arms, inviting its inhabitants—and their mysteries—into a warm embrace.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: MUBI

COUNTRY: Georgia/Germany

Q&A with filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze and composer Giorgi Koberidze ’Alexandre Koberidze: An American Cinematheque Tribute’

WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY?

The Hot Box / Terminal Island

Behind the Green Door

The Brick is pleased to present two nights of Pope.L video works in partnership with Now Instant.

*Program to be announced.*

*Please note: seating is limited. Doors open thirty minutes prior to the listed showtime. Your RSVP does not guarantee you a seat. Seating is first-come, first-served.*

The acclaimed collaborative artist duo Gibson + Recoder present the Los Angeles premiere of their most recent expanded cinema project, *The Changeover System: A Projection Performance Installation (2023–2025). *An ambitious live multi-projection based on Gibson + Recoder’s 20 years of experimentation with the projection of 35mm celluloid, *The Changeover System* repurposes film projectors from within the concealed projection booth in a practice they refer to as “prepared projection,” calling attention to the creative agency of the screening room itself.

*The Changeover System* was developed in close collaboration with sound artist Richard Garet. Whereas Gibson + Recoder disappear into the projection booth, Garet performs within the theater, amidst the audience, using amplified EMF emissions, modified audiocassettes, malfunctioning tape players, interactive circuit boards, sonification of light, and computer processing.

There will be a post-screening conversation with artists Gibson, Recoder, Garet and film programmer Jheanelle Brown.

*Please note: This program contains strobe and flashing lights.*

The Changeover System: A Projection Performance Installation

REDCAT

**Screenwriters**: Tom Patchett, Jay Tarses, Frank Oz

**Producers**: David Lazer

The gang is headed to Broadway in this toe-tapping installment of everyone&#8217;s favorite bunch of puppets. After they graduate college Kermie, Fozzie, Piggie and the rest of the gang want to take their musical review all the way to the Great White Way. Kermit heads out to find a producer and ends up slinging hash in a diner before a head injury and amnesia that lead him to big frog business. Will Kermit remember his friends in time for the show or end up a Wall Street Big Wig? Jam-packed with humor, thrills, puppets, toe-tapping tunes, and a slew of celebrity cameos from Gregory Hines to Joan Rivers, Elliot Gould, Brook Shields, and Liza Minelli, this is one Muppet adventure with Big Apple appeal!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Want more Jim Henson magic? We&#8217;ve got a section jam packed with every *Fraggle*, every *Muppet*, tons of *Sesame Street* and these deep cuts:

*The Storyteller, Mirrormask, Emmett Otter&#8217;s Jugband Christmas*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

The Muppets Take Manhattan

**Screenwriter**: Sooni Taraporevala

**Producer**: Mira Nair

A kaleidoscopic portrait of Bombay’s teeming street life, Mira Nair’s first narrative feature, *Salaam Bombay!, *combines a documentary-like sense of place with a poignant exploration of everyday resilience. After the young Krishna (Shafiq Syed) is cast out by his family, he makes his way to the city, where he encounters love, friendship, and tragedy in the face of extreme poverty. Drawing compellingly naturalistic performances from a cast consisting largely of children she met on the streets, Nair creates an intimate human drama that is by turns heartbreaking and life-affirming, an ode to childhood that overflows with colorful urban chaos and a deep compassion for those who live on society’s margins.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Take home more Mira Nair tonight &#8211; she&#8217;s got her own director&#8217;s section!

*Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding, Hysterical Blindness*

**Accessibility Options**: Open Captions, Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Salaam Bombay!

**Screenwriter**: Cate Shortland

**Producer**: Anthony Anderson

Following a reckless encounter with her mother’s boyfriend, teenage Heidi is forced to flee home and restart her life, finding refuge at a motel in the icy ski town of Jindabyne. There, she lands a job at a petrol station, befriends her warm co-worker Bianca, and meets Joe, a young man grappling with his own emotional baggage. As Heidi and Joe pursue a shaky relationship and search for normalcy against a bleak winter backdrop, they must confront their vices, feelings of isolation, and need for love and belonging. Cate Shortland’s stunning feature debut is a “frank and visceral film that at the same time exudes an unexpected innocence” (Los Angeles Times). Featuring early performances from Abbie Cornish and Sam Worthington, sheds light on the complexity of growing up and the quiet ache of loneliness.

*Somersault* has been restored by Piccolo Films from the original 35mm master negative and final mix master audio components. Restoration by Ray Argall in consultation with Anthony Anderson, Robert Humphreys, Sam Patty and Cate Shortland.

Somersault

**Screenwriter**: Jason Reitman from the novel by Christopher Buckley

**Producer**: David Sacks

Vidiots is thrilled to welcome writer/director **Jason Reitman** for a special 20th Anniversary screening of his addictive satire *Thank You for Smoking*, followed by a conversation with Reitman!

Based on Christopher Buckley&#8217;s acclaimed 1994 novel of the same title and adapted for the screen by Jason Reitman, *Thank You for Smoking* is a fiercely satirical look at today&#8217;s culture of spin! Aaron Eckhart stars as Nick Naylor, a sexy, charismatic spin-doctor for Big Tobacco who&#8217;ll fight to protect America&#8217;s right to smoke &#8211; even if it kills him. When he incurs the wrath of a senator (William H. Macy) bent on snuffing out cigarettes, Nick&#8217;s powers of &#8220;filtering the truth&#8221; will be put to the test. With a smokin&#8217; all-star cast that includes Rob Lowe, Maria Bello, Katie Holmes, Adam Brody and Robert Duvall, this hilarious comedy will prove seriously addictive!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Bring home more of Jason Reitman&#8217;s films on glorious physical media tonight!

*Up in the Air, Saturday Night, Tully* and more!

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Thank You for Smoking

**Screenwriter**: Harmony Korine

**Producers**: Charles-Marie Anthonioz,  Jordan Gertner,  Chris Hanley,  David Zander

*Spriiiiing Breeeeak Forevaaaah!* Cinema provocateur Harmony Korine mixes exploitation, experimental film, and comedy to create one of the most exquisite blends of high and low brow art in cinema history and a film that influenced the cinematography and style of the last dozen years of filmmaking. Korine &#8211; one of America&#8217;s most singular auteurs &#8211; has spent the bulk of his career creating obtuse and difficult works of cinema art &#8211; and then came *Spring Breakers*. His highest budget with the most A-list talent, this girl gang goes on holiday candy-colored dreamscape is the most easily accessible of his films to date, while still experimenting with linear structure and pushing the limits of cinema (and good taste). With stunning visuals, a perfect soundtrack, and the best use of a Britney Spears song ever, this is more than just a spring break crime spree &#8211; it&#8217;s the best Art Trash film ever made!

**Picks from the Video Store**:

Harmony Korine is hard to come by streaming, but luckily we&#8217;ve got these gems (and more) on physical media!

*Gummo, Julien Donkey Boy, Beach Bum*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Spring Breakers

Who Done It?

Wizards/The Time Masters

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Frank and Eleanor Perry’s brilliant 1969 film LAST SUMMER has long been considered a lost classic – never released on DVD or Blu-ray and unseen in its controversial original form for over forty years. A boundary pushing teen film briefly slapped with an X rating, it opened to ecstatic reviews and garnered an Oscar nomination for actress Catherine Burns. Last seen at the Cinematheque in a cobbled together censored 16mm print, the new restoration is a revelation. Based on Evan Hunter’s bestselling novel staring Richard Thomas and Bruce Davison as teenage boys aimlessly spending the summer at the beach on Fire Island, N.Y. They fall under the spell of Barbara Hershey’s beautiful Sandy and the trio push each other into acts of cruelty against wallflower Cathy Burns. LAST SUMMER received four stars from critic Roger Ebert and this is a screening not to be missed.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros.

COUNTRY: USA

Q&A with actors Barbara Hershey and Bruce Davison. Moderated by Larry Karaszewski. World Premiere of New Restoration of Theatrical Version

LAST SUMMER

Free screening! First come first serve.

When Seth Brundle makes a huge scientific and technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a common housefly manages to get inside the device and the two become one.

The Fly

When a Black middle-class family in South Los Angeles is visited by a mysterious old friend from the South (Danny Glover), his presence casts a spell over the previously calm household. As the inscrutable Harry, Glover flickers between menace and charm, using his commanding presence to dominate the frame. A singular work that explores how Southern folkloric traditions traveled north during the Great Migration, this intimate drama subtly announces director Charles Burnett’s mastery of his craft. In 2017, the film was named to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, and in 2026 was named one of the [best 101 films about L.A.](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/list/best-los-angeles-movies#p=to-sleep-with-anger-1990) by the *Los Angeles Times*.*—author Ashley Clark and Public Programmer Beandrea July *

Director/Screenwriter: Charles Burnett. With: Danny Glover, Paul Butler, Mary Alice, Carl Lumbly, Vonetta McGee, Richard Brooks, Sheryl Lee Ralph.

To Sleep With Anger

### **ABOUT THE FILM: **

*In Korean with English subtitles.*

A film director who no longer makes films, Seongjun, arrives in Seoul to meet a close friend. When the friend doesn’t show up, Seongjun wanders the city aimlessly. He runs into an actress he used to know, shares a drink with some film students and against his better judgment, heads to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment. The next day goes very much like the last; Seongjun meets the actress, has drinks with friends, and falls for woman who looks remarkably like his ex-girlfriend. Each new day plays out like a flimsy copy of the previous one, but only Seongjun knows why.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: The Cinema Guild

COUNTRY: South Korea

Introduction by filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze ‘Alexandre Koberidze: An American Cinematheque Tribute’ and ‘Sunday Print Edition’

Alexandre Koberidze Presents THE DAY HE ARRIVES

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

His new assignment seems routine: protecting a star witness for an important trial. But before the night is out, the witness lies dying and cool, and no-nonsense Detective Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) won’t rest until the shooters and the kingpin pulling their strings are nailed. From opening shot to closing shoot-out, BULLITT crackles with authenticity: San Francisco locations, crisp dialogue and to-the-letter police, hospital and morgue procedures. An Oscar winner for Best Film Editing, this razor-edged 1968 thriller features one of cinema history’s most memorable car chases. Buckle up and brace for unbeatable action.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros.

COUNTRY: USA

Program begins with a live recording of the Greg Proops Film Club podcast. Feature starts at 4:30pm ‘The Greg Proops Film Club’

The Greg Proops Film Club Presents BULLITT

Suzuki's mesmeric, elegiac, and lyrical meditation on art, longing, and the restless currents of desire!

Seijun Suzuki's TAISHŌ TRILOGY:  YUMEJI (1991)

**Screenwriters**: Roald Dahl, Ken Hughes from the novel by Ian Fleming

**Producer**: Albert R. Broccoli

We&#8217;re soaring away in a flying car, and we saved you and your little ones the shotgun seat! The always magical Dick Van Dyke stars as a pie-in-the-sky inventor in this delightful musical romp. When he finally invents something useful &#8211; a flying car &#8211; he&#8217;s got to contend with an evil dictator who wants to steal the car for his own nefarious needs. Now his two kids and a lovely young woman are setting off for vehicular adventures in the sky! With a script from beloved children&#8217;s author Roald Dahl based on a book from *James Bond*&#8216;s Ian Fleming, and featuring lively songs, incredible set pieces, and a nostalgic joy throughout &#8211; this is one high-flying musical adventure that still bangs!

The screening will feature a 15 minute intermission.

**Picks from the Video Store**

We&#8217;ve got more great Roald Dahl classics to share with your littles on physical media tonight!

*The BFG, Matilda, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

**Writer + Producer**: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

A beautifully human film from German master Rainer Werner Fassbinder, *Ali: Fear Eats the Soul* explores loneliness, prejudice, and human connection through the unlikely romance between an elderly cleaning woman and a younger Moroccan immigrant. Inspired by Douglas Sirk&#8217;s *All That Heaven Allows*, Fassbinder expertly wields the emotional power of classic Hollywood melodrama to expose the racial tensions underlying contemporary German culture. Profound, funny, and rapturously human, now is your chance to watch this masterpiece of world cinema on the big screen in glorious celluloid!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Our Fassbinder director&#8217;s section is stocked with dozens of his extraordinary films!

*Fox and his Friends, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, In a Year with 13 Moons*

**Accessibility Options**: Open Captions, Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul on 35mm

**Screenwriter**: Mary Agnes Donoghue

**Producers**: Margaret South,  Bette Midler,  Bonnie Bruckheimer

Break out the tissues, we&#8217;re heading for a storm of feelings with Garry Marshall&#8217;s beloved tale of friendship, music, and heartache starring The Divine Miss M herself! A tearjerker about the bonds of friendship throughout life&#8217;s ups and downs, no one is leaving this theater with dry eyes. The kind of movie that critics dismissed as schmaltz while nearly 40 years of audiences beg to differ, this is cinematic comfort food at its best! Bring your lifelong bestie and let them know they&#8217;re *the wind beneath your wings*!

**Picks from the Video Store**

You know you want more Midler! Take home these gems (and more) tonight!

*Big Business, Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Beaches

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

In this cult classic, sweethearts Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon), stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a transvestite scientist. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including a rocking biker (Meat Loaf) and a creepy butler (Richard O’Brien). Through elaborate dances and rock songs, Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation: a muscular man named “Rocky.”

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Disney

COUNTRY: UK/USA

Cinematic Void Presents THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

### **ABOUT THE EPISODES:**

**Season 2, Episode 4, “Laura’s Secret Diary,” Dir. Todd Holland, 46 Mins**

Agent Cooper gets a strange request to save a life.

FORMAT: DCP

**Season 2, Episode 5, “The Orchids Curse,” Dir. Graeme Clifford, 47 Mins**

Agent Cooper and Truman lead a raid on One-Eyed Jacks.

FORMAT: DCP

### **ABOUT THE SERIES:**

**TWIN PEAKS, 1990, Paramount, USA**

A crime drama mixed with healthy doses of the surreal, this series is about FBI Agent Dale Cooper, who travels to the small logging town of Twin Peaks to solve the murder of seemingly innocent high schooler Laura Palmer. Almost nothing is as it seems, however, and the show’s sometimes eerie visuals, oddball characters and wild dream sequences drive the point home.

“Laura’s Secret Diary” and “The Orchids Curse” ‘TWIN PEAKS: The Complete Series’

TWIN PEAKS: Season 2, Ep. 4 & 5

Last Tango in Paris

**Screenwriters**: Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde

**Producer**: Howard Hawks

One of the most hilarious films of all time, this classic screwball comedy from Howard Hawks starring screen icons Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant will leave you growling for more! David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances, he meets Susan Vance, and the duo have a series of misadventures which include a leopard called Baby. Leave your wildcats at home, but run to the theater to laugh your tail off!

**Movie Den** is a community initiative presented by Vidiots Foundation.

All tickets come with a free small popcorn. Please enter through the video store. Doors will open 45 minutes before showtime.

If online tickets are no longer available HAVE NO FEAR, we will ALWAYS have walk-ups available starting 45 minutes before showtime (which give you plenty of time for free popcorn and a browse of the video store)!

This series was designed for audience members 12 and up, please note some films may contain more mature content than others. We encourage parents, caretakers, and guardians to explore the program and titles prior to ticket purchases. We will include MPAA ratings for all films in this series. Parental discretion is advised.

Bringing Up Baby

### **ABOUT THE EPISODES:**

**Season 2, Episode 6, “Demons,” Dir. Lesli Linka Glatter, 47 Mins**

Donna tries to convince Truman that Harold Smith has Laura’s secret diary.

FORMAT: DCP

**Season 2, Episode 7, “Lonely Souls,” Dir. David Lynch, 47 Mins**

Cooper and the One-Armed Man inspect guests at the Great Northern.

FORMAT: DCP

### **ABOUT THE SERIES:**

**TWIN PEAKS, 1990, Paramount, USA**

A crime drama mixed with healthy doses of the surreal, this series is about FBI Agent Dale Cooper, who travels to the small logging town of Twin Peaks to solve the murder of seemingly innocent high schooler Laura Palmer. Almost nothing is as it seems, however, and the show’s sometimes eerie visuals, oddball characters and wild dream sequences drive the point home.

“Demons” and “Lonely Souls” ‘TWIN PEAKS: The Complete Series’

TWIN PEAKS: Season 2, Ep. 6 & 7

**Screenwriter**: Sean Wang

**Producers**: Carlos López Estrada,  Josh Peters,  Valerie Bush,  Sean Wang

On the cusp of high school, Chris Wang, a.k.a Wang Wang, is spending an aimless summer in his quiet Northern California hometown of Fremont. His mom, Chungsing, is the only person who sees and loves Dìdi (the affectionate term in Mandarin meaning “little brother”) for who he really is. Chris can’t stand it when she looks at him with the loving gaze of an immigrant mother whose greatest pride and most animated dreams rest in her child. He’s too busy watching skate videos on YouTube and scouring the Myspace page of his crush, Madi. When Chris, wielding the power of a well-deployed Paramore t-shirt and A Walk to Remember reference, finds a way to get close to Madi, he suddenly seems to be figuring things out.

But Dìdi (弟弟) isn’t the story of a teenage boy getting the girl. In Sean Wang’s telling, Chris doesn’t exactly come of age as much as trip and stumble his way through an endless teenage summer — and perhaps find a way to log off AIM and see his mother for the first time.

**Movie Den** is a community initiative presented by Vidiots Foundation.****

All tickets come with a free small popcorn. Please enter through the video store. Doors will open 45 minutes before showtime.

If online tickets are no longer available HAVE NO FEAR, we will ALWAYS have walk-ups available starting 45 minutes before showtime (which give you plenty of time for free popcorn and a browse of the video store)!

This series was designed for audience members 12 and up, please note some films may contain more mature content than others. We encourage parents, caretakers, and guardians to explore the program and titles prior to ticket purchases. We will include MPAA ratings for all films in this series. Parental discretion is advised.

Dìdi (弟弟)

**Screenwriters**: Ted Allan,  John Cassavetes

**Producers**: Yoram Globus,  Menahem Golan

The electric filmmaking genius John Cassavetes and his brilliant wife and collaborator Gena Rowlands give luminous, fragile performances as two closely bound, emotionally wounded souls who reunite after years apart. Exhilarating and risky, mixing sober realism with surreal flourishes, *Love Streams* is a remarkable film that comes at the viewer in a torrent of beautiful, erratic feeling. This inquiry into the nature of love in all its forms was Cassavetes’s last truly personal work.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Bring home more Gena Rowlands treasures tonight on DVD and Blu-ray!

*The Neon Bible, Columbo: Playback (S4 D3), Hysterical Blindness*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Love Streams

**Screenwriters**: Jymn Magon, Chris Matheson, Brian Pimental

**Producer**: Dan Rounds

Head out on a road trip of goofing proportions in this very 90s animated dad joke! An endearing modern-day story about how the lovable Goof bonds with his teenage son Max on a hilarious cross-country road trip. En route to the ol&#8217; fishing hole, they find themselves up to their floppy ears in misadventure! A movie for the goofball in all of us!

**Movie Den** is a community initiative presented by Vidiots Foundation.

All tickets come with a free small popcorn. Please enter through the video store. Doors will open 45 minutes before showtime.

If online tickets are no longer available HAVE NO FEAR, we will ALWAYS have walk-ups available starting 45 minutes before showtime (which give you plenty of time for free popcorn and a browse of the video store)!

This series was designed for audience members 12 and up, please note some films may contain more mature content than others. We encourage parents, caretakers, and guardians to explore the program and titles prior to ticket purchases. We will include MPAA ratings for all films in this series. Parental discretion is advised.

A Goofy Movie

**Screenwriter:** Ingmar Bergman

**Producer:** Allan Ekelund

Ingmar Bergman&#8217;s iconic and sublime parable of humanity&#8217;s search to cheat the inevitability of death. When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives. Stunning, philosophical, and groundbreaking, this existential essential requires big-screen viewing!

**Accessibility Options**: Open Captions, Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

The Seventh Seal

**Screenwriter**: Paul Attanasio from the memoirs of Dick Goodwin

**Producers**: Robert Redford,  Michael Jacobs,  Julian Krainin,  Michael Nozik

Go behind the scandal that rocked television and the world with Robert Redford&#8217;s true-life story of the scam of the mid-century! John Turturro is magnificent as Queens-born Herbie Stempel becomes an unlikely hero after winning on America&#8217;s beloved game show, &#8220;Twenty One.&#8221; When the network decides to bring in a more telegenic contestant, the WASP-ish Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), Stempel decides to take the show down with him, announcing that the game is rigged. Now the show has got to answer for its misdeeds and a congressional investigator is brought it to discover the truth behind America&#8217;s favorite game. Engrossing from start to finish, with incredible performances from Turturro and Fienes, this Oscar-nominated winner is the real deal &#8211; no lie!

**Remembering Robert Redford**

Robert Redford&#8217;s legacy is not only in the films he made, but in the way he lived &#8211; committed to the power of human and earthly connection, to truth, storytelling, and showing us that championing artists and sharing stories is pivotal to a healthy, open society.  Off screen, he championed the environment, independent voices, and the radical idea that stories can change the world. All who love and make movies are forever indebted to Redford and the path he forged. We&#8217;ll remain ever mindful of his constant message that storytelling is activism and that movies are a powerful force for hope.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Need more Robert Redford? We’ve got tons, including these gems!

*The Electric Horseman, Downhill Racer, A Bridge Too Far*

**Accessibility Options**: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.

Quiz Show

Like a pod of dolphins leaping harmoniously through the waves, the SoCal tour of ***JOHN LILLY AND THE EARTH COINCIDENCE CONTROL OFFICE*** arrives April 2–5 through a collaboration between **Oscilloscope**, **Brain Dead Studios**, **7th House**, **Philosophical Research Society, **and **Ojai Playhouse****.**

Directed by **Michael Almereyda** and **Courtney Stephens**, this new documentary explores the life and work of the daring experimenter Dr. John C. Lilly, a scientist who dedicated his life to radical self-investigation and unlocking the mysteries of consciousness and communication. Lilly’s motto, “My body is my laboratory,” guided his pioneering and controversial research into the intelligence and language of dolphins and whales, as well as his explorations of psychedelics and sensory deprivation.

Alongside the documentary, 7th House and Brain Dead present two films shaped by his work: Mike Nichols’s DAY OF THE DOLPHIN (Saturday, 4/4 at Brain Dead Studios) and Ken Russell’s ALTERED STATES (Sunday, 4/5 at The Philosophical Research Society). Together, these films chart the strange and fascinating cultural wake of Lilly’s quest to understand the mind, the ocean, and the hidden systems that might connect them both.

John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office

501(c)3 arts organization in DTLA dedicated to experimental video, sound & performance art.

Lightstruck: Ulrike Ottinger’s TAIGA (1991/92)

12:00 PM

Lightstruck: Jonas Mekas’s BIRTH OF A NATION (1996)

1:00 PM

HAROLD AND MAUDE

1:00 PM

Bubble Bath

5:45 PM

Freeway

8:00 PM

PICKPOCKET

12:00 PM

What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem

5:00 PM

IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART I,

IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART II,

1:00 PM

CAN SHE BAKE A CHERRY PIE?

5:00 PM

PERFECT BLUE

7:30 PM

THE MOST TERRIBLE TIME IN MY LIFE

10:00 PM

Forbidden Letters

The Night Before

6:30 PM

Forbidden Letters

6:30 PM

Seijun Suzuki's TAISHŌ TRILOGY: ZIGEUNERWEISEN (1980)

6:00 PM

Vidiots Presents: That Awards Show

2:00 PM

Darby O'Gill and the Little People

10:00 AM

Project Hail Mary - 70mm Early Access

4:00 PM

Wakefield Poole's Bible! (1973)

8:00 PM