The Wages of Fear in 4K

An Evening of Short Films from Asian American Filmmakers

Academy Museum

### **ABOUT THE EPISODES:**

**Episode 107, Dir. Alice Seabright**

FORMAT: DCP

**Episode 108, Dir. Dearbhla Walsh**

FORMAT: DCP

### **ABOUT THE SERIES:**

**MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES, 2026, Apple TV, USA**

The daughter of a former Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo is a recent college dropout and aspiring writer. Faced with a new baby, mounting pile of bills and dwindling number of ways to pay them, Margo must find a way forward.

Q&A with executive producer and actor Michelle Pfeiffer, actor Greg Kinnear and co-showrunners David E. Kelley and Eva Anderson. Moderated by Debra Birnbaum. Screening of Episode 107 and Advance Screening of Finale

MARGO'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

**A SHORT FILM ABOUT LOVE, 1988, Dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski, 87 Mins, Janus Films, Poland**

*In Polish with English subtitles.*

An expanded version of episode VI in Kieślowski’s legendary DEKALOG, this film examines love, longing and sex through the story of a young postal worker who spies on a promiscuous woman in an adjacent housing project.

FORMAT: DCP

**A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING, 1988, Dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski, 85 Mins, Janus Films, Poland**

*In Polish with English subtitles.*

A shocking, powerful film expanded from episode V of Kieślowski’s legendary DEKALOG, A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING considers societal violence in its many forms through the story of an idealistic young lawyer and the brutal murderer he is called to defend.

FORMAT: DCP

Co-presented with the Polish Cultural Institute New York ‘Krzysztof Kieślowski: An American Cinematheque Retrospective’

A SHORT FILM ABOUT LOVE / A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING

Aero Theatre

Antenna Releasing and Pure Cinema Podcast present “Weird, Wild, and Wonderful Wednesdays” at Braindead Studios, a collaboration between the newest indie distributor on the block and the official podcast of Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema &#8211; invading the coolest spot to see underground movies on the West Side. First up: Bruce Toscano’s 1984 underground classic, The Jar.

Join Pure Cinema hosts Elric Kane and Brian Saur as they present this newly restored oddity from the fine folks at Terror Vision. Synopsis: A motorist who comes upon an auto accident finds a bottle at the scene. The bottle contains a demon who proceeds to possess him. That’s all you need to know, and the less you know the better!

The Jar (aka Charon) was released by Magnum Entertainment in 1984 and was omnipresent in video rental stores. While the film was shot in scope, the distributor released it in a butchered cropped presentation cutting out about half of the intended frame in a murky VHS transfer. Terror Vision has restored Charon/The Jar using a partial camera negative along with a print to finally offer director Bruce Toscano’s unique vision in all its beautiful, color drenched glory. Accompanied by a stunning synth score.

The Jar

Brain Dead Studios

Join Elliot (Henry Thomas), Gertie (Drew Barrymore) and Michael (Robert MacNaughton) as they come together to help E.T. find his way back home. Winning four Academy Awards®, including one for the iconic score by John Williams, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is "one of the great American films" (Leonard Maltin) that forever belongs in the hearts and minds of audiences everywhere.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Steve Freeling lives with his wife, Diane, and their three children, Dana, Robbie, and Carol Anne, in Southern California where he sells houses for the company that built the neighborhood. It starts with just a few odd occurrences, such as broken dishes and furniture moving around by itself. However, when he realizes that something truly evil haunts his home, Steve calls in a team of parapsychologists led by Dr. Lesh to help before it's too late.

Poltergeist

Egyptian Theatre

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

In Miami, siblings Raymond and Coco Zhang’s art forgery ring flourishes when they encounter a disgraced millionaire in need of their expertise. Meanwhile, FBI Art Crimes agent Emily Lee moves to Miami to investigate a series of mysterious paintings.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Utopia Distribution

COUNTRY: USA

Q&A with filmmaker Jing Ai Ng and actors Andie Ju and Brandon Soo Hoo. Moderated by Lorraine Ali. Co-presented by CAPE ‘Women Wednesday’

FORGE

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

A producer monkey pitches a fairytale extravaganza to a skeptical financier. A psychedelic meta-comedy that mixes animation with excerpts from a Soviet science-fiction fantasy spectacle. A group of monkeys, including a director loosely inspired by Dennis Hopper’s EASY RIDER persona, struggle through various trials and tribulations while making an epic adventure film in this psychedelic and satirical look at the Hollywood counterculture of the early ’70s. An unlikely hybrid of analogue animation and live action Soviet fantasy film, TIKI TIKI repurposes extended passages from Rolan Bykov’s eye-popping 1967 phantasmagoria AYBOLIT-66 as the film within the film, adding irreverent comic dubbing and cutting to subvert the original intent. An unapologetically eccentric experience that has earned comparisons to H.C. Potter’s HELLZAPOPPIN’, TIKI TIKI remains one of the most sought-after animated enigmas of its era. New 4K restoration from the original a/b negatives by Canadian International Pictures with funding from Telefilm Canada.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Canadian International Pictures

COUNTRY: Canada

TIKI TIKI

Los Feliz Theatre

The Groundstar Conspiracy / P.J.

New Beverly Cinema

**Screenwriter**: Shatara Michelle Ford

**Producers**: Pin-Chun Liu,  Shatara Michelle Ford,  Naima Abed,  Adam Wyatt Tate,  Josh Peters, Robina Riccitiello,  Ben Stillman,  Ana Leocha,  Tyler Bagley,  Chris Quintos Cathcart

Featuring a post-screening conversation with filmmaker **Shatara Michelle Ford **and cast members** Sasha Compère **and **Denée Benton **moderated by film and culture critic** Zeba Blay**!

Three black queer femmes in their mid 30s take a road trip across the Midwestern United States in search of their friend who has seemingly disappeared off the grid. With their sophomore feature, Shatara Michelle Ford (*Test Pattern*) puts their singular stamp on the American road movie. After an unceremonious layoff, Z (Denée Benton, *The Gilded Age*) embarks on a trip across the Midwestern United States in search of a friend that has seemingly disappeared off the grid. Traveling with her two closest friends, these three queer black femmes find their priorities tested as shapeshifting threats in each city expose (inter)personal and ideological fractures. Tender and expansive, Ford has created an ode to chosen family and the radical act of claiming space to dream —and exist— beyond the systems of an increasingly fraught country.

*Part of The Future of Film is Female&#8217;s [THREE FILMS, FIVE CITIES](https://www.futureoffilmisfemale.com/three-films-five-cities) project.*

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

Dreams in Nightmares

Vidiots

Bowery Battalion/Paris Playboys

RZA’s One Spoon of Chocolate

Vista Theatre

VEERANA follows Jasmin, a bloodsucking seductress who leads men to their doom after being possessed by the spirit of a witch. Unless Jasmin's family can find a way to break the curse, she'll be used in a Satanic ritual to raise the real witch from her tomb. A kaleidoscopic dream zone full of Bava-esque lightning, gloopy monsters, and a killer synth score, this is the most extravagant production from the Ramsay family—India's most popular and successful horror filmmakers.

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**dirs. Tulsi & Shyam Ramsay, 1988***India, digital projection*135 min

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## WEDNESDAY, 5/137:30 DOORS8:00 SCREENING

$8 general admission, $7 for members.

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

VEERANA (1988)

WHAMMY!

Altered Innocence + Dirty Looks present *Something Must Break.*

Ester Martin Bergsmark, *Something Must Break* (*Nånting måste gå sönder*), Swedish (with English subtitles), 85min., 2014

Author Eli Levén in person.

~

Dirty Looks presents the long-overdue U.S. release of Swedish trans-punk modern classic, *Something Must Break* (*Nånting måste gå sönder*), 2014, distributed by Altered Innocence. A fraught romance traces the transition of androgynous teen Sebastian (Saga Becker) and her crust punk boyfriend Andreas (Iggy Malmborg). Shot in gritty relief against the industrial edges of Stockholm. Andreas grows volatile, as this love stresses his het identity and Sebastian slips deeper into gender play. Written by Eli Levén and directed by Ester Martin Bergsmark (*She Male Snails*), this Golden Tiger-winning film is a bold work of contemporary Scandinavian queer cinema and based off the 2010 novel, *You Are the Roots That Sleep at My Feet and Keep the Earth in Place*.

Dirty Looks: Something Must Break

2220 Arts + Archives

Night and the City in 35mm nitrate

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Launched in 1974 in Los Angeles, Z Channel was one of the United States’ first pay cable stations. Z Channel’s prominence was solidified in 1980 when maverick programmer Jerry Harvey took over as head of programming. Z’s uniqueness was attributed to Harvey and his staff’s determination, diverse taste and encyclopedic knowledge of cinema. Harvey’s programming showcased a combination of classic, international, independent and Hollywood films. Z was the network first to develop programming innovations such as ‘director’s cuts’ and uniquely themed on-air festivals, while also airing many rare and never before seen exclusives and critically acclaimed films not in the mainstream.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Soraya Releases LLC

COUNTRY: USA

Panel with filmmakers Xan Cassavetes, Stuart Cooper and Vera Anderson, producers Rick Ross and Marshall Persinger and Z programmer Tim Ryerson ‘Watch Local: Z Channel’

Z CHANNEL: A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION

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

Film & Fabric Volume 9: A screening series for Film Freaks, by Film Freaks, hosted by Julian Vargas (Filmmaker). Come for the films, stay for the interstitial clips, leave with new friends.

VOL.9 Filmmakers: 
Elle Reck
Elijah Valter
Jack Gilbert
Reiji Saito (Japan)
Frank Oswald (Canada)
Cuautemoc Xocoyotzin
Ashton Kellman Holmes

See y'all at the movies :)

Film&Fabric Vol. 9

Coaxial

The residents of a Florida rest home get a new lease on life when they stumble across an alien "fountain of youth" in a disused holiday home. Unbeknownst to them, aliens have been using the swimming pool in the house to store their cocooned brethren, giving the waters a powerful, rejuvenating quality.

Cocoon

Everything that farmer Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) assumed about the world is changed when he discovers a message - an intricate pattern of circles and lines - carved into his crops. As he investigates the unfolding mystery, what he finds will forever alter the lives of his brother (Joaquin Phoenix) and children (Rory Culkin), (Abigail Breslin). A unique story that explores the mysterious real-life phenomena of crop signs and the effects they have on one man and his family.

Signs

Join us for an evening of chess and community at Heavy Manners Library. Play against friends and strangers, with all skill levels welcome. Free donuts will also be provided!

Echo Park Chess Club at Heavy Manners Library (5/14)

Heavy Manners Library

### **ABOUT THE EVENT:**

Sergei Eisenstein travelled to Mexico December 1930 to experience firsthand its “geographical, ethnological, cultural and historical diversity” and to make a feature film. After shooting tons of beautiful 35mm footage, drawing hundreds of sketches and writing volumes of critical texts, he departed April 1932 without a completed project. This digital edition explores his unfinished cinema work available in partially edited fragments realized by others. The content and quality of the different releases vary greatly due to many factors none of which reflect poorly on Eisenstein. Viewed together with newly created interviews and reflections, the short and long films form a magnificent magical testament dedicated to the spirit of unbound creativity.

*Film notes by Ian Christie and Bruce Posner*

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

**“Time in the Sun,” 1940, Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Alexandrov and Eduard Tissé, 61 Mins, Kino Lorber**

After Sol Lesser’s early compilations carved from the Mexican footage, “Time in the Sun” was a first attempt to do justice to what its director, Marie Seton, believed was Eisenstein’s vision. Having spent time with him in Yalta in 1934 and heard his rapturously account of the group’s experiences in Mexico, she resolved in 1938 “to reconstruct the dream in order that it might not be entirely lost.” Seton and her collaborators effectively molded the material into a conventional ethnographic documentary that foregrounded the exotic customs and costumes which Eisenstein had Tissé and Alexandrov film copiously. “Time in the Sun” largely follows the sequence of “novellas” or episodes set in different regions and eras that he had sketched for the benefit of his sponsors and the Mexican Government. Seton’s commentary also draws heavily on one of his key inspirations, Anita Brenner’s “Idols Behind Altars,” emphasizing the “Indian spirit” that had survived Spanish invasion and dictatorship. But with its conventional music, and tentative dramatization in the marriage sequence set in Tehuantepec and the climactic revenge drama at Tetlapayac Hacienda, it hardly seems to fulfill Eisenstein’s aspirations. We know he was bitterly disappointed when he finally saw it in 1946, but we are no closer to knowing what he might have created from this spectacular material. Based on Anita Brenner’s “Idols Behind Altars” (1929), Franz Blom’s “The Conquest of Yucatan” (1936), and writings researched by Samuel A. Datlowe and Marie Seton.

FORMAT: DCP

**Mexican Symphony: “Zapotec Village” / “Idol Of Hope” / “The Conquering Cross,” 1941, Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 45 Mins, Kino Lorber**

Three rare travelogues “Zapotec Village,” “The Conquering Cross” and “Idol of Hope” are presented in the projection order indicated by Bell & Howell Filmosound Library in 1941. Missing are “Mexican Marches,” “Spaniard and Indian” and “Land and Freedom.” The entire series of six short, one-reel and two-reel, nonfiction ethnographic films were edited with footage recycled from the earlier THUNDER OVER MEXICO, EISENSTEIN IN MEXICO, “Death Day” and “Time in the Sun.” The travelogues were shaped into dapper and informative educational compilations, heavy on voice-over narration, that report on Mexican Indian life, cultural and historic backgrounds, and exotic scenic locations. Equally apparent throughout, and incorporated to great effect, appears much footage shot by Eisenstein but not previously seen or currently possible to view elsewhere. The hybrids could be projected, grouped together one-after-the-other, to form a composite feature-length documentary “Mexican Symphony.” The newly minted Eisenstein films play benignly symphonic in form and presentation.

FORMAT: DCP

**“The Disaster in Oaxaca,” 1931, Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 16 Mins, Kino Lorber**

A month after Eisenstein’s group had entered Mexico in December 1930, the southern province of Oaxaca was devastated by a magnitude 8 earthquake which destroyed its capital. The Russians hired a plane to fly to Oaxaca, to film the damage and its aftermath, apparently hoping to capture material ahead of newsreel companies. The footage of shattered buildings, displaced inhabitants and the funeral of a child eloquently documented the scale of the disaster that killed over one hundred people. Quickly edited by Eisenstein, it was shown in Mexican theaters, and a copy was sent to the USSR, no doubt to prove that the Russians were gainfully employed after their fruitless year in Hollywood. Tissé’s filming may be largely functional, but Eisenstein’s montage pointedly contrasts the ruined houses of the rich with those of the poor, and includes several sequences that anticipate the religious themes which would preoccupy him during his time in Mexico: notably life-size religious statues being rescued from a ruined church, as if emphasizing their powerlessness, and a silhouetted angel sculpture hanging over a jagged void captioned “the angel of death.”

FORMAT: DCP

Advance Screening of New Restorations Films courtesy of British Film Institute, Cineric, Inc., Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive and Gosfilmofond of Russia Photo courtesy of Kino Classics, Gosfilmofond, Filmmakers Showcase Restorations by Bruce Posner ‘Sergei Eisenstein Restorations’

¡SERGEI EISENSTEIN MÉXICO! Exotic Travelogues

### **ABOUT THE EPISODES:**

**Season 2, Episode 17, “Wounds and Scars,” Dir. James Foley, 46 Mins**

Norma’s sister, Annie, arrives in Twin Peaks.

FORMAT: DCP

**Season 2, Episode 18, “On the Wings of Love,” Dir. Duwayne Dunham, 46 Mins**

Cooper is reinstated at the FBI.

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.

“Wounds and Scars” and “On the Wings of Love” ‘TWIN PEAKS: The Complete Series’

TWIN PEAKS: Season 2, Ep. 17 & 18

A Woman of Affairs / The Single Standard

**Screenwriter**: Ed Solomon

**Producers**: Iain Canning,  Jim Parks

Join us in the microcinema for Steven Soderbergh&#8217;s latest triumph, a brilliant artistic character study with phenomenal performances from Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel. A mainstay of the London art scene since his starry breakout in the creative explosion of the 1960’s, Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) has drifted into a cluttered, self-imposed seclusion. His two estranged children (James Corden, Jessica Gunning) enlist Lori (Michaela Coel), a young painter and sometime-forger, to pose as a prospective assistant and gain access to a fabled series of unfinished canvases Julian has buried deep in his home studio, in a deceptive bid to secure an inheritance for themselves.

The Christophers

**Screenwriters**: Guillermo Ríos,  Leticia Lopez Margalli,  Eugenio Derbez

**Producers**: Eugenio Derbez,  Lorenzo O&#8217;Brien

Vidiots is thrilled to welcome Writer/Producer/Director and Star **Eugenio Derbez** for a special screening of his hilariously sweet comedy ***Instructions Not Included**!*

A hilarious and heartfelt mix of wacky comedy and tearjerker drama, *Instructions Not Included* has more than earned its success as Mexico’s biggest hit movie and the highest-grossing Spanish-language film at the U.S. box office. Talented multi-hyphenate Eugenio Derbez directs, produces, co-writes, and stars as Valentin, the biggest womanizer in Acapulco, whose life changes forever when a former lover drops off a baby at his doorstep. Soon, Valentin is working in Hollywood as a stuntman while doing his best to raise his precocious daughter, but challenges loom in the form of a custody battle with his ex and a mysterious medical ailment. You’ll laugh and cry along with Derbez as his character slowly but surely learns how to become a better man!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Take home more Eugenio Derbez tonight on glorious physical media!

*How to Be a Latin Lover, CODA, Overboard*

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

Instructions Not Included

Doctor Butcher MD/Killing Birds aka Zombie 5

Kiki’s Delivery Service

The Yellow Balloon

Ran (Chaos) in 35mm

A melancholy poet reflects on three women he loved and lost in the past: a mechanical performing doll, a Venetian courtesan, and the consumptive daughter of a celebrated composer.

The Tales of Hoffmann

Suzu is a 17-year-old high-school student living in a rural town with her father. Wounded by the loss of her mother at a young age, Suzu one day discovers the massive online world &#8220;U&#8221; and dives into this alternate reality as her avatar, Belle. Before long, all of U&#8217;s eyes are fixed on Belle, when, suddenly, a mysterious, dragon-like figure appears before her.

Belle

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Japanese with English subtitles.*

WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse’s finest hour—a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko (played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine), who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo’s very modern postwar Ginza district, who entertains businessmen after work. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Japan

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

WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*“THE JOURNEY was born directly out of a collapsed project in 1982, when I tried to organize another antinuclear war film, to be funded by Central TV in England, and working with a number of peace groups across the UK. I felt that THE WAR GAME was out-of-date, and I was concerned about the escalating nuclear arms race, that was allied to the US foreign policy of a nuclear war that would be limited to Europe. My idea was to create a series of scenes, again depicting the consequences of a nuclear attack on Britain, on a larger scale than THE WAR GAME, that would allow citizens across Britain to express their concerns via their involvement in the production of this project. However, Central TV withdrew its funding, on the grounds that the budget was becoming too large, and the project collapsed. After rethinking the scale of the project into a more global film dealing with the general silence on the burgeoning nuclear arms race, I appealed for funding to a number of international TV channels. Without exception, every TV channel that I contacted refused, even though I was only requesting support for filming an ultra low-cost segment in each country, where I would ask local people what they knew and felt about the world arms race. *

*“During the time while I had no funding from the professional sector, I happened to be showing THE WAR GAME to the world’s oldest peace movement association, the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (SPAS), in Stockholm. In May 1983, during its 100th anniversary congress, SPAS unanimously decided to support fund-raising for a new film about the nuclear threat. Based in Stockholm, and with initial funding from SPAS, I immediately began to involve the network of friends and acquaintances that I had acquired over many years of travelling and lecturing, to build an international fund-raising drive for the new film, and to start research in those parts of the world where I would organize local productions groups for the actual filming.*

*“The film’s core concept started to emerge: I would visit families or groups of people in various countries, and interview them to find out what they knew about the state and consequences of the world arms race, and the effects of nuclear weapons. The interviews would also focus on the role that mass media and educational systems played in shaping a world view, and on the knowledge that these people had – or did not have – vis-à-vis these subjects.” – Peter Watkins*

FORMAT: DCP

COUNTRY: New Zealand/Australia/Canada/Denmark/Finland/Italy/Japan/Sweden/UK/Germany

‘Peter Watkins: An American Cinematheque Retrospective’

THE JOURNEY Parts 17-19

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

When a Mexican land baron puts a million dollars on the head of the man who seduced his daughter, two money-hungry men recruit a small-town bartender, Bennie (Warren Oates), to help them do their dirty work. He sets off with his girlfriend, Elita, on a tequila-fueled trek across the desolate Mexican frontier, which grows more intense, gruesome and bloody with every savage murder they leave in their wake!

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Park Circus

COUNTRY: USA

BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA

### **ABOUT THE EVENT:**

*“Between 2016-17, composer Michael Nyman and I collaborated on a massive multi-screen installation for The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, and Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. The idea was to produce a mash-up of the raw unedited Mexican footage with Michael’s music. The experimental digital restoration of the combined sounds and images would extend alongside José Clemente Orozco’s *The Epic of American Civilization* (1932-34), a large, multi-panel horizontal mural at Dartmouth College, and also inhabit a rather small area by Hermitage standards, the Jordan “Kerensky” Staircase Eisenstein had filmed for October (1928). The weight of the enterprise was its undoing. The one “object” realized was the 2-screen IDOLS BEHIND ALTARS composed of footage used by Jay Leyda for his marvelous EISENSTEIN’S MEXICAN FILM, EPISODES FOR STUDY (1955-57). The music and films evoked a new language of non-editing, that is each spoke back and forth to one another revitalizing the enchantments captured by Eisenstein. The overall effect conveys the vivid curiosity and sense of wonder witnessed by the filmmakers as they sculpted moving images into a portrait of Mexico between 1930 and 1932. The new music composed and performed in 2026 by Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky is just that, a joyous new reunion invigorating the authentic sights and sounds witnessed by Eisenstein.” — Bruce Posner*

*“If 500 years from now the name ‘Bruce Posner’ is forgotten, future historians you will name you the Master of Moving Diptychs. Eisenstein spoke of ‘vertical montage.’ When he sees your brand-new Idols Behind Altars, he will theorize ‘lateral montage.’ The panel pairs talk to each other with precision — now conjuring phantom eyeline matches, now forming geometrical shapes. The whole is very convincing, and I am sure Eisen+Tissé would not be against experimenting with parallel paneling, reminds me of Eisen’s ‘dynamic square’ theory.” — Yuri Tsivian*

*“It’s all about perspective. What is film but a collision of angles? What is a film soundtrack but an invisible mirror to the cinematic imaginary? When I approached Eisenstein’s fractured Mexican masterpiece, I found myself drawn back to my conviction that cinema is not merely a medium of observation, but a revolutionary engine of thought. In the digital age, our relationship to the image is more ‘dialectical’ than ever. It’s all a mix. We live in a world of constant juxtaposition, a perpetual ‘overtonal montage’ of data and desire. My score is a reflection of that friction. The rest, as we say in DJ culture, is ‘a remix.'” — Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky*

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Kino Lorber

Advance Screening of New Restorations Films courtesy of British Film Institute, Cineric, Inc., Det Danske Filminstitut, Filmmakers Showcase, Gosfilmofond of Russia, Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive, Indiana University, Bloomington and Turner Classic Movies Photo courtesy of Kino Classics, Gosfilmofond and Filmmakers Showcase Restorations by Bruce Posner ‘Sergei Eisenstein Restorations’

¡SERGEI EISENSTEIN MÉXICO! IDOLS BEHIND ALTARS

Diamonds Are Forever

Show People / The Matinee Idol

Waxwork

**Producers**: Diane Ademu-John,  Carl Deal,  Tia Lessin,  Karen Ranucci,  Caren Spruch, Tony Tabatznik

Fiercely independent journalist Amy Goodman has spent three decades holding the powerful to account, reporting from war zones and the *Democracy Now!* newsroom. In *Steal This Story, Please!*, Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin craft a riveting portrait of journalism’s power – and peril – in an era of corporate control and political attacks on truth.

Undeterred by armed soldiers, evasive politicians, and riot police, Amy Goodman has reported some of the most consequential stories of our time. *Steal This Story, Please!* is a gripping account of the trailblazing journalist whose unwavering commitment to truth-telling spans three decades of turbulent history. From the frontlines of global conflicts to the organized chaos of her daily news show *Democracy Now!*, Goodman amplifies stories and voices too often silenced by commercial media.

Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin (*Trouble the Water, Citizen Koch, The Janes*) take us behind the scenes with the warm, wisecracking granddaughter of an Orthodox rabbi — raised in a tradition of asking hard questions – as she navigates a media landscape reshaped by technology, corporate consolidation, and political assaults on the press and on truth itself. Urgent, provocative and unexpectedly funny, *Steal This Story, Please!* is both a call to action and a celebration of resistance, posing the question: what happens to democracy when the press stops challenging power?

Steal This Story, Please!

**Screenwriter**: Karey Kirkpatrick

**Producer**: Nick Park, Peter Lord, David Sproxton

Get ready for some fine feathered fun &#8211; stop-motion style &#8211; with this delightfully kooky caper from beloved animator Nick Park. The creators of Wallace & Gromit bring you an exciting and original story about a group of chickens determined to fly the coop–even if they can’t fly! It’s hardly poultry in motion when Rocky attempts to teach Ginger and her feathered friends to fly…but, with teamwork, determination and a little bit o’ cluck, the fearless flock plots one last attempt in a spectacular bid for freedom.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Do you love Nick Park as much as we do? Take home more adorable Aardman animation tonight!

*Creature Comforts, Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep*

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

Chicken Run

**Screenwriter**: Ildikó Enyedi

**Producers**: Reinhard Brundig,  Mónika Mécs,  Nicolas Elghozi,  Meng Xie

At the heart of a German university grows a majestic ginkgo tree, its lifespan measured in centuries. As the years pass, the distinguished plant bears witness to the private lives of those who seek shade under its boundless branches, forming a nexus that connects three generations of students and teachers across time and space. In 2020, a visiting neuroscientist conducts a series of experiments into the possibilities of botanical consciousness. In 1972, a young student is profoundly changed by studying the behavior of a simple geranium. And in 1908, the university’s first female student’s photographic inquiries reveal sacred patterns of the universe hidden within the humblest of plants. Over time, each is transformed by the quiet, enduring, and mysterious power of nature.

From Ildikó Enyedi, the director of Academy Award-nominated *On Body and Soul, *comes* Silent Friend*, an epic, awe-inspiring exploration of the natural world. Featuring an ensemble cast that includes Tony Leung, Léa Seydoux and Venice Prize-winning newcomer Luna Wedler, Enyedi crafts a thoughtful meditation on the essential question of what it means to be human.

Silent Friend

**Screenwriter**: Robert Mark Kamen

**Producer**: Jerry Weintraub

*Wax on, wax off,* once again. Before *Cobra Kai*, before Jaden and Jackie, there was Daniel-san. The enduring classic from 1984, director Robert Mark Kamen&#8217;s *The Karate Kid* delivers a swift kick in the coming-of-age film&#8217;s pants by sending a New Jersey teen with a chip on his shoulder to Reseda. In a search for friends, he finds some of cinema&#8217;s worst bullies at the Cobra Kai dojo, and a mentor named Mr. Miyagi, who teaches Daniel to trust his spirit as he trusts his body. Starring Ralph Macchio, Elizabeth Shue, William Zabka, and the late, great Pat Morita, the original *Karate Kid* is still the best around. With a chance to see it on the big screen, nothing&#8217;s gonna ever keep you down.

**Picks from the Video Store**

We love Pat Morita! Take home more gems from his wild career on glorious physical media tonight!

*Even Cowboys Get the Blues, Do or Die, Auntie Lee&#8217;s Meat Pies*

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

The Karate Kid

**Screenwriter**: Mike Myers

**Producers**: Demi Moore,  Mike Myers,  Jennifer Todd,  Suzanne Todd

Austin Powers, he&#8217;s the man for you. So the story goes about swinging &#8217;60s most shagdellic spy. After his arch nemesis, Dr. Evil, rockets from Earth, international man of mystery Austin Powers is cryogenically frozen should Evil ever return to demand a million dollars. When Austin thaws, his freewheelin&#8217; ways face his toughest challenge yet: The mid-&#8217;90s. Backed by a stacked supporting cast featuring Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Seth Green, Will Ferrell, and a legendary turn from Mindy Sterling as Frau Farbissina, Mike Myers&#8217; supremely funny *Austin Powers* remains a delight regardless of what generation you&#8217;re frozen in. Come see it the way it was meant to be seen, surrounded by the grooviest cinephiles refusing to *zip it* by laughing their heads off. Yeah, baby!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Looking to get groovy baby? Check out these groovy gems on DVD and Blu-Ray tonight!

*In Like Flint, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Danger: Diabolik*, and ALL the *James Bonds*

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

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

**Screenwriters**: Don Mancini,  John Lafia,  Tom Holland

**Producer**: David Kirschner

Don&#8217;t miss the original doll-faced killer as he slices and dices his way through friends and acquaintances of one little boy and his struggling single mother. Evil had never looked so cute until Chucky stepped on the scene, and changed the face of horror forever! After being shot in a toy store, a serial killer transfers his soul into a Good Guy doll. A mother then gifts it to her 6-year old son Andy, which unleashes terror upon the city. Brad Dourif (who continues to voice Chucky almost 40 years on) does an incredible job of making the pint-sized maniac truly unnerving and sinister, making this the genuinely scariest of the series.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Want more Dourif in your horror? Hoo Boy, do we have you covered!

*Eyes of Laura Mars, The Exorcist III, Spontaneous Combustion*, all the *Chucky* movies!

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

Child’s Play

**Screenwriters**: Nick Kocher,  Brian McElhaney

**Producers**: Kelly McCormick,  David Leitch,  Aram Tertzakian,  Nick Spicer,  Guy Danella, Lee Kim

We want your Memorial Day weekend getaway to Vidiots to be a bloody good time, so we booked you a cabin in the woods to relax, unwind, and survive a half dozen murder plots! When miserable couple Dan and Lisa retreat to a remote cabin for a romantic reset, each arrives with a secret plan to kill the other. However, their carefully plotted traps and counterplots quickly unravel when strangers crash the weekend with plans of their own. As the toxic getaway spirals into chaotic carnage, Dan and Lisa must soon figure out if they want to save their marriage or survive it.

Over Your Dead Body

The Spy Who Loved Me

Pet Sematary/Pet Sematary 2

The Dark Knight

Join us in celebrating Joe Meredith's unique brand of contemporary SOV filmmaking with a double feature of VARIANT (2020) and VARIANT II (2023), followed by a Zoom Q&A with Meredith.

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Meredith's films are entirely handmade, utilizing practical effects and even stop-motion photography to bring disgusting monsters to life. Taking inspiration from the shot-on-video independent gore movies of the late 80s and early 90s, the films are primarily shot on Hi-8 videotape and are absolutely dripping with mood and atmosphere (as well as blood and guts).

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## SYNOPSIS:

EonCorp seeks to splice humans with aliens to create super-subhumans and of course, in every case, it doesn’t exactly go their way. Years of ‘alien-splicing’ has become increasingly chaotic, and the resulting monsters are impossible to control.

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**VARIANT** A lethal alien embryo is used by a deranged man to release a new infection that exceeds the malignancy of Havoc pathogen, raising the mutant dead from their graves, and unleashing a new breed of alien terror.

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**dir. Joe Meredith, 2020***United States, digital projection*41 min

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**VARIANT II**  After the fall of EonCorp, efforts to dispose of all remaining alien biotech are made in vain as new aberrations emerge in the streets, beyond anyone’s control.

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**dir. Joe Meredith, 2023***United States, digital projection*42 min

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*Content warning: these films utilize heavy gore effects.*

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## SATURDAY, 5/237:30 DOORS8:00 SCREENING

Followed by a Zoom Q&A with director Joe Meredith, led by writer & musician Evan Pincus.

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$10 general admission, $9 for members.

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

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A Joe Meredith Double Feature: VARIANT (2020) & VARIANT II (2023)

Join us in celebrating Joe Meredith's unique brand of contemporary SOV filmmaking with three connected shorts, TERATOMORPH (2019), VARIANT (2020), and VARIANT II (2023), followed by a Zoom Q&A with Meredith.

‍

Meredith's films are entirely handmade, utilizing practical effects and even stop-motion photography to bring disgusting monsters to life. Taking inspiration from the shot-on-video independent gore movies of the late 80s and early 90s, the films are primarily shot on Hi-8 videotape and are absolutely dripping with mood and atmosphere (as well as blood and guts).

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-------------------------------------------------

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EonCorp seeks to splice humans with aliens to create super-subhumans and of course, in every case, it doesn’t exactly go their way. Years of ‘alien-splicing’ has become increasingly chaotic, and the resulting monsters are impossible to control.

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**TERATOMORPH**The lethal alien virus known as ‘Havoc’ has spread beyond the South Mill District, and into the rural outreaches. An infected boy wanders the ravaged region, finding necrotic remains and mutant creatures along the way, as the Havoc virus begins to evolve to the next level of alien horror.

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**dir. Joe Meredith, 2019***United States, digital projection*33 min

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**VARIANT** A lethal alien embryo is used by a deranged man to release a new infection that exceeds the malignancy of Havoc pathogen, raising the mutant dead from their graves, and unleashing a new breed of alien terror.

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**dir. Joe Meredith, 2020***United States, digital projection*41 min

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**VARIANT II**  After the fall of EonCorp, efforts to dispose of all remaining alien biotech are made in vain as new aberrations emerge in the streets, beyond anyone’s control.

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**dir. Joe Meredith, 2023***United States, digital projection*42 min

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*Content warning: these films utilize heavy gore effects.*

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## SATURDAY, 5/237:30 DOORS8:00 SCREENING

Followed by a Zoom Q&A with director Joe Meredith, led by writer & musician Evan Pincus.

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$10 general admission, $9 for members.

‍

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

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The Short Films of Joe Meredith: TERATOMORPH (2019), VARIANT (2020), & VARIANT II (2023)

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.

∆

“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)

Erin Brockovich in 4K

Brighton Rock in 35mm

Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior) in 35mm

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

**BOB DYLAN: SHADOW KINGDOM, 2021, Dir. Alma Har’el, 51 Mins, White Light International Media Ltd., USA**

Shot by director Alma Har’el, this new film showcases Bob Dylan with band in an intimate setting as he performs songs from his extensive body of work. Created especially for this film, Bob Dylan performs repertoire from across his work including “Forever Young,” “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” and many more. This performance film marks Bob Dylan’s first concert since December 2019, and first performance since his universally acclaimed album, ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways.’

FORMAT: DCP

**HEARTS OF FIRE, 1987, Dir. Richard Marquand, 95 Mins, Park Circus, USA**

Grammy Award–winner and rock legend Bob Dylan stars in this hard-driving A STAR IS BORN–like, music-infused film about a striving musician (real-life pop star Fiona) drawn into the raw-edged lifestyle of fast-lane rock ‘n roll — and torn between two men and the different ways of life they represent. Written by Joe Eszterhas (BASIC INSTINCT, FLASHDANCE) and co-starring Golden Globe-nominee Rupert Everett, this features appearances by Ron Wood (The Rolling Stones), Richie Havens, lan Dury and Terry Williams (Dire Straits), with rockin’ soundtrack written by Dylan, Neil Young and John Fogerty.

FORMAT: 35mm

Celebrate Bob Dylan Day with a one-of-a-kind performance film & a cult classic drama

BOB DYLAN: SHADOW KINGDOM / HEARTS OF FIRE

While hiding from bullies in his school&#8217;s attic, a young boy discovers the extraordinary land of Fantasia, through a magical book called The Neverending Story. The book tells the tale of Atreyu, a young warrior who, with the help of a luck dragon named Falkor, must save Fantasia from the destruction of The Nothing.

The NeverEnding Story

From the rich and textured imagination of Czech visionary Juraj Herz (THE CREMATOR) comes his own vivid reimagining of a classic fairy tale in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The film follows the innocent Julie and her experiences living under the watchful eye of Netvor, a bird-like being torn between his growing affection for her and his animalistic urge to kill. Gorgeously shot, intriguingly surreal, thrillingly sensual &#8211; BEAUTY AND THE BEAST retells a beloved story in ways unlike any adaptation before or since.

Restored by Národní filmový archiv, Prague and Severin Films, supported by The Czech Audiovisual Fund.

Beauty and the Beast

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Japanese with English subtitles.*

Quiet passions erupt from within in Naruse’s late period masterpiece, a sumptuous melodrama of undulating and repressed feeling, set as the postwar dispersal of modernization stretches beyond Tokyo. Widow Reiko (Takamine) runs her in-law’s produce store, having rebuilt it herself in the 18 years since his passing, but faces a sudden outburst of new pressures: a push to remarry, fierce competition from a newly-minted supermarket and a love confession from her dead husband’s much younger brother Koji (Yuzo Kayama). Scripted by Takamine’s husband Zenzo Matsuyama, YEARNING finds devastating power in its tragic underpinnings as Takamine’s expressions—noted by even the faint glimmer of her eyes—convey multitudes—desire, melancholy and, as the film’s Japanese original title suggests, a swell of confusion in the wake of newfound longing.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Japan

YEARNING

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Japanese with English subtitles.*

In this cool, seductive jewel of the Japanese New Wave, a *yakuza*, fresh out of prison, becomes entangled with a beautiful and enigmatic gambling addict; what at first seems a redemptive relationship ends up leading him further down the criminal path. Bewitchingly shot and edited, and laced with a fever-dream-like score by Toru Takemitsu, this gangster romance was a breakthrough for the idiosyncratic Masahiro Shinoda. The pitch-black PALE FLOWER is an unforgettable excursion into the underworld.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Japan

Introduction by filmmaker and actor Greg Vrotsos ‘Sunday Print Edition’

Greg Vrotsos Presents PALE FLOWER

### **ABOUT THE FILMS:**

**“The Forgotten Faces,” 1960, Dir. Peter Watkins, 18 Mins, UK**

A film reconstruction of the Hungarian revolution of 1956.

FORMAT: DCP

**THE WAR GAME, 1965, Dir. Peter Watkins, 45 Mins, UK**

*“The filming took place in early 1965, in the Kent towns of Tonsbridge, Gravesend, Chatham and Dover. Once again the cast was almost entirely made up of amateurs, found via a series of public meetings throughout Kent some months earlier. Much of the filming, including the scenes of the firestorm, was done in a disused military barracks in Dover. The crew included cinematographer Peter Bartlett, sound recordist Derek Williams, make-up artist Lilian Munro, action co-ordinator Derek Ware, set designers Tony Cornell and Anne Davey, costumer Vanessa Clarke, and editor Michael Bradsell. I repeated the “you-are-there” style of newsreel immediacy. My purpose, as in CULLODEN was to involve ‘ordinary people’ in an extended study of their own history – only this time the subject involved potentially imminent events, for the threat of full-scale nuclear war was a very real one at that time. There was, however, an important stylistic difference in this film. Interwoven among scenes of ‘reality’ were stylized interviews with a series of ‘establishment figures’ – an Anglican Bishop, a nuclear strategist, etc. The outrageous statements by some of these people (including the Bishop) – in favour of nuclear weapons, even nuclear war – were actually based on genuine quotations. Other interviews with a doctor, a psychiatrist, etc. were more sobre, and gave details of the effects of nuclear weapons on the human body and mind. In this film I was interested in breaking the illusion of media-produced ‘reality.’ My question was – “Where is ‘reality?’ … in the madness of statements by these artificially-lit establishment figures quoting the official doctrine of the day, or in the madness of the staged and fictional scenes from the rest of my film, which presented the consequences of their utterances?”- and to that end I consistently inter-cut said interviews. Obviously beyond and above the question of form was my concern to use the film to help people break the silence in the media on the nuclear arms race.” – Peter Watkins*

FORMAT: DCP

“The Forgotten Faces” / THE WAR GAME

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

He Sang Himself Into the Queen’s Boudoir! One Kiss and the Whole Kingdom Was His!

The queen of mythical Sylvania marries a courtier, who finds his new life unsatisfying.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Universal

COUNTRY: USA

THE LOVE PARADE

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

Director Baz Luhrmann’s phantasmagorical musical has been hailed as one of the most visually inventive and wildly kinetic films in recent memory for its mixture of turn-of-the-century Parisian nightlife, late-20th-century pop music (beautifully performed in the film by lovers Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor) and astonishingly ornate production and costume design, courtesy of Oscar winner Catherine Martin. With John Leguizamo as pint-sized painter Toulouse-Lautrec.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Disney

COUNTRY: Australia/USA

25th Anniversary ‘It’s Showtime at the AC!’

MOULIN ROUGE!

The seriously spaced-out masterwork that's a psychedelic see-it-to-believe it experience! Plus a primo selection of sci-fi animated shorts!

Helmut Herbst's THE CATHEDRAL OF NEW EMOTIONS + Spaced-Out Shorts!

A recently unearthed gem of Romanian animation! A sweeping psyched-out space epic with strange planets and stranger alien inhabitants!

THE SON OF THE STARS (1988) — A Romanian Animated Space Oddity!

Philosophical Research Society

**Screenwriter**: Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman

**Producers**: Frank Marshall, Robert Watts

Film Noir gets animated! This groundbreaking mix of live-action and animation is ready to delight you all over again. A classic at any age, *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* remains a funny, sexy, energizing love letter to old Hollywood, East Los Angeles, and the early cartoon giants like the Fleischer Brothers, Walt Disney, Friz Freleng, and Tex Avery.

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

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

**Screenwriter**: John Michael Hayes

**Producer**: Alfred Hitchcock

An all-time classic, Alfred Hitchcock’s delightful, voyeuristic thriller, starring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly, is endlessly watchable, perfect for a film that is itself all about watching. Stuck in his apartment with a broken leg and telescopic lens, a photojournalist (Stewart in one of his defining roles) distracts himself by observing the neighbors across the way. Most are just living normal lives — the newlyweds, a lady with her dog, a dancer with lots of boyfriends — but what’s going on in the Thorwald’s place? The bedridden Mrs. Thorwald seems to have mysteriously disappeared, and Mr. Thorwald is acting mighty suspicious. Enlisting help from his socialite girlfriend (the dazzling Kelly) and his physical therapist (much love to Thelma Ritter), our voyeuristic hero tries to make sense of what he’s seen — or at least what he thinks he’s seen.

**Picks from the Video Store**

Take home more solid gold gems from the filmography of Hollywood&#8217;s truest Princess, Grace Kelly!

*High Society, The Swan, The Country Girl*

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

Rear Window

**Screenwriter**: Paul Thomas Anderson from the novel by Upton Sinclair

**Producers**: Paul Thomas Anderson,  Daniel Lupi,  JoAnne Sellar

Paul Thomas Anderson&#8217;s epic and sprawling adaptation of Upton Sinclair&#8217;s scathing novel is part Western, part capitalist critique, and all masterpiece &#8211; magnificently filmed, acted, and crafted. Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview&#8217;s motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives. With a cinematic vision this sprawling, do yourself the favor to watch it in glorious 35mm celluloid on our big beautiful screen!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Take home a master class in acting from Daniel Day-Lewis with these gems:

*The Unbearable Lightness of Being, My Beautiful Laundrette, A Room with a View*

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

There Will Be Blood on 35mm

Cure in 4K

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Cantonese with English subtitles.*

A Hong Kong hitman accidentally blinds an innocent woman during a hit. He is determined to get her surgery to help her regain her sight but he needs to complete one more hit first. He completes the job but then is ambushed as he tries to escape: someone wants him dead. Meanwhile a resourceful, unorthodox police detective is hot on his trail.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Shout! Studios

COUNTRY: Hong Kong

Co-presented by 36 Cinema Special thanks to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research for the print ‘Cinematic Void’

Cinematic Void Presents THE KILLER

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

A cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent into the past to protect Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her teen son John (Edward Furlong) from a new advanced model cyborg T-1000 (Robert Patrick) in a bid to stop a future war between humans and the intelligent machine SkyNet.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Rialto Pictures

COUNTRY: USA

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY in 35mm

The Victors

**Screenwriters**: Michael Crichton, David Koepp, Malia Scotch Marmo

**Producers**: Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen

Hop in scientists and dino-philes, we&#8217;re heading on a prehistoric thrill ride to the world&#8217;s hottest new amusement park! In Steven Spielberg&#8217;s massive blockbuster based on the Michael Crichton best-selling novel, a group of scientists are among the first visitors to a theme park with an enormous, prehistoric twist. After extracting ancient DNA, billionaire John Hammond (Sir Richard Attenborough) has brought to life an island full of dinosaurs. When the safety precautions fail and the dinos are loose, can this rag-tag bunch of sexy scientists and pre-teens live through the night and outwit and outrun these vicious predators? Be a clever girl and find out!

**Picks from the Video Store**

Need to take home more Jeff Goldblum? We&#8217;ve got all the hits, and these deep cut gems!

*Vibes, Deep Cover, Hideaway*

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

Jurassic Park on 35mm

**Screenwriters**: William Shakespeare, Craig Pearce, Baz Luhrmann

**Producer**: Baz Luhrmann, Gabriella Martinelli

Baz Luhrmann gives Shakespeare his signature razzle-dazzle in this opulent rendition of a time-honored classic. In this contemporary take on William Shakespeare&#8217;s classic tragedy, the Montagues and Capulets have moved their ongoing feud to the sweltering suburb of Verona Beach, where Romeo and Juliet fall in love and secretly wed. Though the film is a visually striking modern spectacle, the bard&#8217;s dialogue remains.

**Picks from the Video Store**

We&#8217;ve got a huge section for Shakespearean adaptations! Take home these treasures and more tonight!

*10 Things I Hate About You, Macbeth (x4), Much Ado About Nothing*

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

Romeo + Juliet

Fucking Awesome Cherub

### **ABOUT THE EPISODES:**

**Season 2, Episode 21, “Miss Twin Peaks,” Dir. Tim Hunter, 46 Mins**

Lucy chooses a father for her baby.

FORMAT: DCP

**Season 2, Episode 22, “Beyond Life and Death,” Dir. David Lynch, 50 Mins**

In the series finale, Cooper faces his destiny.

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.

“Miss Twin Peaks” and “Beyond Life and Death” ‘TWIN PEAKS: The Complete Series’

TWIN PEAKS: Season 2, Ep. 21 and 22

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In French with English subtitles.*

Maurice Pialat’s final film, this searing autobiographical drama continues his lacerating explorations of human relationships in all their messy, emotionally volatile complexity. Gérard (Gérard Depardieu) is the middle-aged, hopelessly self-centered womanizer who is forced to confront his failures—as a father, son and lover—when his ex (Géraldine Pailhas), with whom he has a child (played by the director’s own son, Antoine Pialat), begins a new relationship and his father falls ill.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: France

‘Maurice Pialat: An American Cinematheque Retrospective’

LE GARÇU

We&#8217;re back again with another dose of 16mm celluloid curiosities &#8211; this time we&#8217;re throwing reason out the window and embracing the strange with a program of late 60s, early 70s groovy kids films that sought to open young minds to a world of imagination. In the late 1960s educational filmmakers started getting groovy and psychedelic with films that took a turn towards the far out and whimsical. While the educational standards of don&#8217;t do drugs or accept candy from strangers remained staples, a new form of creative &#8220;purposeless&#8221; films for kids started to emerge with Encyclopaedia Britannica and other educational film distributors. Weird, fun, and nonsensical, these pointless shorts encouraged creativity over morals, whimsy over shock, and through kid-focused stories and animation sought to foster the imagination with plenty of fun movie magic. This program features 5 Encyclopaedia Brittanica shorts from 1969 as well as two magnificent early short films from the great Joan Micklin Silver &#8211; ***The Case of the Elevator Duck** *(1974) and*** The Fur Coat Club*** (1973) both filled with undeniable glee for any age of cinephile, plus bonus shorts for the early birds! You may think you&#8217;ve outgrown children&#8217;s films, but give yourself over to the wonder of the grooviest period in educational film and let your imagination soar! Everything screened on 16mm film!

Sweet 16mm: Kinder Nonsense

**Screenwriters**: Erik Matti,  Michiko Yamamoto

**Producer**:

Co-presented by Community Partners **A Bunch of Savages** and followed by an epic set of karaoke!

This compelling crime drama from filmmaker Erik Matti takes you through the gritty streets of Manila for an audacious conspiracy shocker. This unsung treasure from the Philippines centers on the ambitions and passions of four men trying to make a living, for themselves and their families. It shows the parallels between two prison inmates who are contract killers, and the two agents of the law investigating the murders. As they get caught in a web of machination of corrupt government officials, their jobs lead them on a head-on collision against each other with their loved ones as collateral damage. Based on a true-life corruption scandal, this unflinching glimpse into Manila&#8217;s underbelly is helmed with naturalistic performances that anchor the action and violence for unforgettable cinema!

[**A Bunch of Savages**](https://www.abunchofsavages.com/about) is a creative collective in Los Angeles, California. We are unapologetically Filipino-American with a knack for premium multifaceted storytelling in the arts. Toss your KPIs out the window because we have one bonafide intention &#8211; To do cool sh*t that matters. If anyone asks, we’re a collective of dreamers, filmmakers, writers, and creatives with a commitment to empowering the next generation of artists. Our name comes from a phrase used to describe the Filipinos in 1899 by then Gov. Theodore Roosevelt.

On the Job

Dr. Syn

Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 4K

Hell Is a City in 35mm

In 1910, Richard Gere shoots his boss and runs off to a farm in the Texas Panhandle. Featuring a love triangle, wheat blowing in the wind and lots of locusts. That soft, lyrical and sumptuous Terry Malick touch.

Days of Heaven

### **ABOUT THE FILM:**

*In Japanese with English subtitles.*

A couple at the table by the window look happier than anybody else in the restaurant. Hiroshi Eda, who works at a governmental office, has got a promotion and his wife, Yumiko, has been pregnant. Their happiness seems to last forever, but actually it ends that afternoon with a traffic accident that kills the husband. Shiro Mishima, the young man who has caused the accident, is a promising salaried-man of the Pacific Trading Company. He happens to meet Yumiko in the restaurant where she has last seen her husband alive. Shiro promises to give her fifteen thousand yen every month for compensation.

FORMAT: 35mm

DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films

COUNTRY: Japan

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

SCATTERED CLOUDS

The Black Arrow / Fortunes of Captain Blood

Bowery Buckaroos/Crazy Over Horses

Join us for the Los Angeles premiere of END OF HISTORY (2025) presented by MeansTV, followed by a Zoom Q&A with director Jacob Gregor.

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SYNOPSIS:

A man obsessed with motivational and right wing culture war videos goes on a hollow road trip of discovery.

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*“What could have been a thin gimmick lends itself cinematically to a lot of potential excavation. The long final shot encapsulates the film's freewheeling range of formal, durational, comedic, dramatic, mundane, and absurd preoccupations. And it vindicates the entire project as something worthwhile and illuminating and really fucking funny.” (Sable, Letterboxd)*

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*“Imagine a man with the mediocre soul of Lex Fridman inhabiting a James Benning film. Even the most handsome vistas are liminal spaces; natural beauty doesn't supply human connection.” (Steve Erickson, Letterboxd)*

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*“Jeanne Dielman for red-pilled incels (complimentary).” (Jacob Farley, Letterboxd)*

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**dir. Jacob Gregor, 2025***United States, digital projection*82 minutes

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## WEDNESDAY, 5/277:30P DOORS8:00P SCREENING

Followed by a Zoom Q&A with director Jacob Gregor, led by writer & filmmaker Chris Shields.

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$10 general admission, $9 for members.

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

END OF HISTORY (2025) L.A. Premiere!

Acropolis Cinema presents *Two Seasons, Two Strangers* (Dir. Sho Miyake, 2025).

A tale of cinema with a bifurcated film-within-a-film structure reminiscent of Hong Sangsoo, *Two Seasons, Two Strangers* begins in a seaside town, where tourist Nagisa (Yuumi Kawai) and local Natsuo (Mansaku Takada) fall into a lush summer romance, all deep-sea blues and wind-whipped sundresses. It then yanks us out of this story to show its screenwriter, Li (Eun-kyung Shim, a former Korean child star who also acts in Japan), ducking questions and musing on her own creative block at a deliciously awkward post-screening Q&A (“I don’t have much talent”). In need of a creative and personal refresh, Li heads off to a snowy resort, where she meets the divorced innkeeper Benzo (Shinichi Tsutsumi). The two soon form the kind of relationship that a filmmaker without “much talent” would struggle to make compelling. But not Sho Miyake, who builds his story—adapted from two manga by the legendary Yoshiharu Tsuge—on a foundation of shimmering, serendipitous images, at once cozy and profound, like the way the steam off a bowl of noodles fogs up a pair of glasses, or the revelation of a landscape as a train emerges from a tunnel. Miyake’s *Small, Slow But Steady* was one of the highlights of the 2022 Berlinale, and Locarno Golden Leopard winner *Two Seasons, Two Strangers* further confirms his status as a master of deceptively placid, sensitive, and witty studies of surprising human connection. A Several Futures release. (Film at Lincoln Center)

Acropolis Cinema: Sho Miyake's Two Seasons, Two Strangers

**In collaboration with Los Angeles Greek Film Festival**

On May 28, we welcome Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) with three new films from Greece!

[](https://www.lagff.org/)

### BEARCAVE (2025)

Set in the Greek mountain village of Tirna, Bearcave follows Argyro, a badass farmer, and her best friend Anneta, the village “it” girl and local manicurist. Once Anneta admits that she’s pregnant and planning to leave town with her lame cop boyfriend, Argyro challenges Anneta to embark on an adventure to find the mystical bear cave. Before Argyro has a chance to confess her own love, Anneta leaves for her new life in the big city. Argyro is left broken. Meanwhile, in her new home with her clingy mother-in-law, Anneta quickly realizes her destiny lies elsewhere,

Krysianna Papadakis (b. 1995 she/they) is from Crete, living in Athens, Greece. She completed her undergraduate studies in Social Studies with an emphasis on political theory and philosophy at Harvard University and a master’s degree in media, language, and performance in international politics at the University of Oxford. During these degrees, she also studied playwriting, comedy directing, and scenography and discovered a passion for writing and directing. She co-founded a theatre company in London and worked as a director and writer for theatre before pivoting to film. Since 2016, she has mentored teenagers in creative writing and social sciences, helping them deconstruct issues, construct narratives and find their voice. Her debut short film/proof of concept BEARCAVE, which she co-directed and co-wrote with Stergios Dinopoulos, won the Golden Dionysus for Best Film at the Drama International Film Festival and it’s now in the final stages of becoming a feature length debut.

Bearcave

**In collaboration with Los Angeles Greek Film Festival**

On May 28, we welcome Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) with three new films from Greece!

[](https://www.lagff.org/)

### LAST TROPICS

*Run Time:* 20 mins

*Release Year:* 2025

[*Trailer*](https://youtu.be/mAkbkAsw49Q?si=9mO9jRyoq8ElCOI9)

As an aquatic malady threatens their forgotten coastal village, three young fishermen resort to illegal dynamite fishing.

Thanasis Trouboukis explores cinema on the fluid border between fiction and documentary. His work questions memory, reality, dreams and the ambiguity between them. He is a graduate of Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains in France. His short films have been selected by numerous festivals, among them Oberhausen ISFF, Sarajevo FF, Palm Springs IFF, Hong Kong IFF, CPH:DOX, Vienna Shorts, Encounters FF and Montréal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma. He is currently developing his feature-length directorial debut, supported by Greek Film Centre (GFC), Onassis Culture and Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC).

### They Come Out Of Margo

*Run Time:* 76 mins

*Release Year:* 2025

A tender horror flick, an experimental melodrama. Any attempt made to categorise this unconventional cinematic experience seems inadequate. Greek director and musician Alexandros Voulgaris, a.k.a. The Boy, brings us an unusually intimate, yet expressively powerful study of an artist on the brink of middle age. All fears, anxieties and hopes are embodied in the character of Margo, a songwriter who was once famous but who now isolates herself in her apartment. A party held to celebrate her 40th birthday and the emotions that are born there unexpectedly help Margo enter a new stage in her life.

Alexander Voulgaris (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Βούλγαρης) is a Greek film director, screenwriter, composer and actor. Films Voulgaris wrote, directed and scored include Thread, Roz and Higuita. His composing credits include The Last Note, Park and The Sentimentalists, the latter of which garnered him a Hellenic Film Academy Award for “Best Music”. Voulgaris is frequently credited as “The Boy”. He is the son of Pantelis Voulgaris and Ioanna Karystiani.

They Come Out of Margo & Last Tropics

This unconventional documentary explores the world of gleaners—people living on the margins who forage what society throws away. Self-reflective in her approach, filmmaker Agnès Varda positions herself as a “gleaner” too. Collecting images and ideas through a handheld camera, Varda ruminates on the formation of cinema, Michelin-star restaurants, and the beauty of heart-shaped potatoes. A later work by a leading voice of the French New Wave, *The Gleaners and I* remains a testament to Varda’s distinct documentary vision.

The Gleaners and I

Now Instant Image Hall

Snake in Eagle's Shadow

Dreams (Yume) in 35mm

Gardena Cinema is the oldest and only vintage single-screen stand-alone movie cinema in Southwest Los Angeles.

Bastian finds a magical book in an old bookstore that takes him on an adventure into the land of Fantasia.

THE NEVERENDING STORY (1984)(PG) Atreyu: Noah Hathaway In-Person 7:30pm

Gardena Cinema

Celebrate Harry Smith’s (1923–1991) birthday and the closing weekend of *Brain Drawings: The Art of Harry Smith*, on view at the [Philosophical Research Society][1], with a special guided viewing at the Getty Research Institute of material by the artist, musicologist, filmmaker, and esoteric icon. Through [objects from the Getty Research Institute’s collection][2], including Smith’s paper airplanes, tarot cards, pop-up books, and string figures, exhibition curator Rani Singh will share insights into Smith’s experimental pursuits and radical nonconformity that has inspired bohemians and artists for generations.  

The celebration continues with drop-in art-making stations inspired by [Smith’s whimsical personal collection of paper airplanes][3]. 

*Brain Drawings: The Art of Harry Smith* is open through May 31 at the Philosophical Research Society. 

Visit the Getty Research Institute's [Exhibitions and Events page][4] for more free programs.


  [1]: https://www.prs.org/
  [2]: https://www.getty.edu/research/collections/collection/113YH9
  [3]: https://www.getty.edu/news/treasures-from-the-vault-harry-smith-and-patterns-in-the-wind/
  [4]: https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/

Show & Tell: Harry Smith Archive

Getty Center

*West Coast Premiere of New Restoration*

Named by *Film Comment* as one of the best restorations of 2025, director Ossie Davis’ third feature is finding its audience more than 50 years after its original release. The play on which the film is based, *Black Girl*, by J. E. Franklin, who wrote the screenplay, was already a landmark of Black theater after a record-setting off-Broadway run in 1971 that earned Franklin the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Playwright. Actor-turned-director Davis was coming off the box office success of his *Cotton Comes to Harlem* (1970), an adaptation of Chester Himes’ politically charged detective novel that helped spark the Blaxploitation wave of the 1970s. In a contemporaneous interview, civil rights icon Davis nevertheless lamented the lack of films about the “trials and tribulations of the Black middle class.” For the family in *Black Girl, *the personal and cultural politics of upward mobility are central to the conflicts among three generations of Black women. The youngest, Billie Jean (Peggy Pettitt), strives to become a dancer, earning taunts from her half-sisters (Gloria Edwards, Lorette Greene). Their mother, Rose (Louise Stubbs), still stinging from her own mother’s indifference, has seemingly given up on her own children, placing her hopes in Netta (Leslie Uggams), a neighborhood girl she took in now studying for law school. Every member of the ensemble cast — including a swaggering Brock Peters as Rose’s ex — rises to the occasion as their characters clash in a cramped Venice, California, home, prompting *Variety* to declare *Black Girl* the best depiction of Black family life “since Lorraine Hansberry’s *A Raisin in the Sun*.” The film’s distributor, however, gave it an exploitation-style release, booking it in action houses with posters promising the same, leading the trade paper to complain the strategy would “keep away serious filmgoers who would have been rewarded by the fine directing and acting.” *Black Girl* now stands ready for rediscovery.—*Paul Malcolm*

DCP. **Production:** Marconlee. **Distribution:** Cinerama Releasing. **Producer:** Robert H. Greenberg. **Director:** Ossie Davis. **Screenwriter:** J. E. Franklin. Based on the play by J. E. Franklin. **Cinematographer**: Glenwood J. Swanson. **With:** Brock Peters, Claudia McNeil, Leslie Uggams, Louise Stubbs, Peggy Pettitt.

*Restoration funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation from 35mm acetate original picture and track negatives. Laboratory services by illuminate Hollywood, Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound, Fotokem. Special thanks to J. E. Franklin, Malika Nzinga.*

Black Girl

*World Premiere of New Preservation*

With original commercials

Hosted by comedian Redd Foxx, …*& Beautiful* was the first syndicated television special produced for African American audiences to be sponsored by a Black-owned company (Johnson Products, makers of Afro Sheen). Directed by trailblazer Mark Warren, the first African American to win an Emmy Award in a directing category (for his work on *Laugh-In*), the groundbreaking music-variety special offered viewers a rare primetime showcase foregrounding Black excellence and pride. Dynamically stylized with Afrocentric and psychedelic designs and costuming, the vibrant production represents an invaluable late-’60s audiovisual time capsule documenting the joy, liberation and empowerment of the Black Is Beautiful movement.*—Mark Quigley*

DCP. Syndicated. **Production:** Western Video Production. **Executive Producer:** Richard Gottlieb. **Producer:** Mark Warren. **Director:** Mark Warren. **Writer:** Cal Wilson. **With:** Redd Foxx, Della Reese, Donald McKayle Dancers.

*Preservation funding provided by the John H. Mitchell Television Preservation Endowment. Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from an original 2 in. videotape. Engineering services by CBS Media Exchange.*

...& Beautiful

Hammer Museum

Join host Katja Bartholmess for an open writing studio at Heavy Manners Library from 1-3! No frills, no prompts, just write!

**

Manuscripts, Screenplays, Articles … whatever you’re working on, let’s do it in each other’s company!

Afternoon Writing Session**

1:00pm to 3:00pm

Drop in and stay a while!

The Wages of Fear in 4K

2:30 PM

An Evening of Short Films from Asian American Filmmakers

7:30 PM

MARGO'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES

6:30 PM

A SHORT FILM ABOUT LOVE,

A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING,

7:30 PM

The Jar

7:30 PM

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Poltergeist

FORGE

7:00 PM

TIKI TIKI

10:00 PM

The Groundstar Conspiracy

P.J.

7:30 PM

Dreams in Nightmares

7:30 PM

Bowery Battalion/Paris Playboys

2:00 PM

RZA’s One Spoon of Chocolate

VEERANA (1988)

8:00 PM