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SEPTEMBER 19 – 25, FRIDAY – THURSDAY AT 7:15, 9:15PM (PLUS SATURDAY & SUNDAY AT 5:15PM)
The Universe Of Keith Haring
Sponsored by THE HIDEOUT BAR and HENRY ART GALLERY
Post-film party at the Hideout after Friday night screenings!
(Christina Clausen, USA, 2007, digiBETA, 90 min)
The creator of some of the most popular and enduring images of late 20th Century art, Keith Haring was also an iconic figure of the downtown New York scene in the 80s. Christina Clausen’s documentary offers an affectionate, deeply personal glimpse into Haring's life, from his early years growing up in a small, conservative Pennsylvania town to his heyday as a world–renowned artist, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Madonna, Jean–Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol. Haring's family and childhood friends offer anecdotes about the artist's early years, but it is the recollections of the 70s and 80s New York art scene that form the heart and soul of this documentary. Combining music of the era, photo stills, and audio interviews, Clausen brings the sights and sounds of these decades vividly to life. Yoko Ono, Junior Vasquez, David LaChappelle, and gallery owner Tony Shafrazi are among those who offer insight into the significance of Haring’s work, as well as their personal memories of their friendship with him.
SEPTEMBER 12 – 22, FRIDAY – MONDAY AT 7, 9PM (PLUS SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS AT 5PM)
SPECIAL 11-DAY RUN!
Momma’s Man
(Azazel Jacobs, USA, 2008, 35mm, 94 min)
The latest work from writer/director Azazel Jacob, son of avante garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs, Momma’s Man strikes a chord with anyone who’s ever been anxious about returning to the family nest after years away from home. But what if, once you returned home, you didn’t want to leave? Momma’s Man begins when thirty–something Mikey (Matt Boren) in an existential crisis, returns to his aging parents’ place in New York after deciding not to go home to his wife and small child in Los Angeles. Unsure of what to do next, Mikey is happy to procrastinate at home with his mother, who’s just as happy to have him home. His father, though, sees right through the situation. Jacobs’ story is an intimate one; he cast his own parents and shot the film–wryly comic, sometimes heartbreaking–in their New York apartment where he grew up.
"Everything comes together, somehow, in a very satisfying way. Mikey's friend Dante (Piero Arcilesi) has a musical moment that is one of the funniest, saddest scenes I've seen in a movie all year, and Mikey's attempts to leave his parents' apartment crescendo in a slapsticky moment that feels totally earned." -The Stranger
“This is independent film defined.”– Manohla Dargis, NY Times
“A film of acute perceptions, great sadness and wordless, ecstatic joy, and the one unforgettable narrative film I saw at this year’s festival.”– Andrew O’Hehir, Salon
AUGUST 31 – NOVEMBER 23, EVERY SUNDAY AT NOON
The Sprocket Society’s Secret Sunday Matinee
This fall, NWFF revives the classic weekend matinee! Every Sunday afternoon, thrill to a new cliffhanger episode of Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe, perhaps the greatest movie serial ever made! PLUS a different classic (or just fun) feature every week! What features? That’s the secret! But count on high adventure, monsters, distant worlds, and special surprises! PLUS cartoons and shorts! What better way to spend a rainy autumn Sunday? One–day and series memberships in the Secret Matinee Club are available.
Series passes $25/NWFF members, $65/general, $130/Family pass (good for 4 people)
SEPTEMBER 23 – 24, TUESDAY AT 7:15PM, WEDNESDAY AT 9:15PM
SPECIAL GUEST!
NEW 35MM PRINT!
Miloš Forman's Formative Films
Loves Of A Blonde
(Miloš Forman, Czechoslovakia, 1965, 35mm, 88 min)
Forman’s breakthrough film, a commentary on the perils of totalitarianism, follows the everyday life and sexual fumbles of a naive teenage girl in a dreary town. A cornerstone of the Czech New Wave, the film grapples with the realities of injustice and disillusionment, yet its international popularity was due in part to the optimism and tenderness of its outlook.
Gordana P. Crnkovic, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature
and Slavic Languages and Literature will introduce the 7:15pm screning
of LOVES OF A BLONDE on September 23.
SEPTEMBER 23 – 24, TUESDAY AT 9:15PM, WEDNESDAY AT 7:15PM
NEW 35MM PRINT!
Miloš Forman's Formative Films
Firemen’s Ball
(Miloš Forman, Czechoslovakia, 1967, 35mm, 71 min)
Miloš Forman’s final Czech film is his funniest and most savage. A satire on petty bureaucracy, the movie chronicles a provincial firemen’s ball that goes horribly awry. When it was first released, 40,000 Czech firemen resigned in protest over its unflattering depiction of their profession.
SEPTEMBER 25, THURSDAY AT 8PM
You’re Lookin’ at Country
Sponsored by KBCS 91.3 FM
Vintage performance footage from the "Golden Era of Country Music" and a live performance by singer/songwriter and Sirius Radio “Outlaw Country” DJ Dallas Wayne
Join us for a rollicking second edition of You’re Lookin’ at Country, featuring rarely seen footage of country music giants in their heyday, narrated by Texas troubadour and celebrated Sirius Radio “Outlaw Country” DJ, Dallas Wayne. Wayne will transport you to a bygone era filled with big hair, Nudie suits, jamborees, and cheerful songs about alcoholism, despair, family feuds, murder, and couples in trouble. This program will feature such greats as Hank, George, Porter, Johnny, Willie, Buck, and Loretta, singing a blissful mix of high lonesome and down dirty. The film presentation will be followed by a short live performance by Wayne, whose songs will not only take you back to the glory days of country music, but also give you hope for its future. Refreshments available.
Tickets $10/NWFF members, $12/general
“Wayne has one of the best honky–tonk voices in America today... If Nashville still valued grit and twang this guy would be a major star.” –Radney Foster, www.purespunk.com
“Missouri–born Dallas Wayne is to hardcore honky–tonk what 100 proof corn whisky is to hard liquor. Wayne’s sterling originals shine with exquisit hillbilly wit and poetry.” Bob Allen, sonicnet.com
SEPTEMBER 26 – 27, FRIDAY – SATURDAY AT 6PM
Decibel Festival 2008 Optical Multimedia Showcases
Free with an “All Access dB Pass” or $15 day of sale
Historically, visual art and electronic music have held a strong creative bond. Since its inception, Decibel has been exploring this relationship through film, VJ performances, installations, original art and multimedia workshops. To help celebrate their fifth year anniversary, Decibel will be hosting not one, but two OPTICAL Multimedia Showcases as part of the 2008 program. Both showcases explore the intersections between audio and video technology through live collaborations, featuring cutting–edge artists in both the audio and video world. Confirmed artists include William Basinski (New York), Library Tapes (Sweden), Akira Rabelais (Los Angeles), Jeff Greinke (Tucson), Carole Kim (Los Angeles), offthesky (Kentucky), Son of Rose (Seattle) and Scott Sunn (Seattle) with more to be announced. Space will be very limited. For guaranteed admission we recommend purchasing an “All Access Pass” for the 2008 Decibel Festival online through Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/38530
SEPTEMBER 28 – OCTOBER 1, SUNDAY – WEDNESDAY AT 7:30PM
NEW 35MM PRINT!
Painters Painting
(Emile de Antonio, USA, 1973, 35mm, 116 min)
We’re pleased to present a new print of Painters Painting on the 35th anniversary of this essential art documentary, and in tribute to artist Robert Rauschenberg, who passed away this spring. Regarded as one of the best films about the art and practice of painting, this rarely screened film provides a window into the ideals and processes of many of the important American painters of the 50s and 60s. Director Emile de Antonio, who was close friends with the featured artists, was in a unique position to film them informally in their studios. Candid and spontaneous conversations with Robert Rauschenberg, Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Helen Frankenthaler, Frank Stella, Barnett Newman, Hans Hoffman, Jules Olitski, Philip Pavia, Larry Poons, Robert Motherwell and Kenneth Noland (done in monochrome) are interwoven with images of their most well–known paintings (filmed in color).
SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 1, TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY AT 7:15, 9:15PM
NEW 35MM PRINT!
Miloš Forman's Formative Films
Taking Off
(Miloš Forman, USA, 1971, 35mm, 93 min)
In this dark, affectionate satire, a husband and wife embark on a wild–goose chase after their runaway daughter and wind up experimenting with the lifestyle of youth counterculture. In his first film after migrating to the U.S. in the wake of the Soviet crackdown, Forman offers a fresh, idiosyncratic perspective on his adopted country. Ike and Tina Turner contribute an electrifying performance.
“Forman’s career pivot point between Prague’s film–school halls and the Oscars podium is still a prime example of the way a foreign director can apply an outsider’s perspective to something like Nixon’s Amerikkka and draw blood.” – Time Out NY
OCTOBER 3 – 9
The 11th Annual Local Sightings Film Festival
Local Sightings is a film festival for the Northwest.
Northwest Film Forum’s premiere showcase of Northwest filmmaking is back, bigger than ever. The festival, which happens at NWFF’s theaters in Seattle, features great prizes, filmmaker parties, archival Northwest films and an impressive national film industry jury looking for strong Northwest work.
The annual festival includes both feature film presentations as well as short film programs and special events with live film performances, installation art, audience participation and parties. This year’s festival takes place in the cinemas of Northwest Film Forum from October 3–8. The line up of films will be announced and posted on the website on September 20. Included in this year’s festival will be the usual assortment of fiction, documentary and experimental films as well as a featured presentation of a historical Seattle film, a staged reading of this year’s Washington State Screenplay Competition winning script, and an opening party that will ignite Seattle’s film scene Friday night and keep it bleary eyed Saturday morning.
OCTOBER 10 – 16, FRIDAY – THURSDAY AT 7, 9PM (PLUS SATURDAY & SUNDAY AT 5PM)
NORTHWEST FILM FORUM AND LONGHOUSE MEDIA PRESENT
The Exiles
(Kent Mackenzie, USA, 1961, 35mm, 72 min)
New 35mm print!
Opening Night Reception
Sherman Alexie will introduce Tuesday's screening
SPONSORED BY RANDY LEWIS AND NATIVE VOICES
After years of researching in the Native American community in Los Angeles, Kent Mackenzie began working with his protagonists on The Exiles in 1957. The film, which was completed three years later, is one of the first – and still very few – films about young Indians in the big city. For his empathetic observations, Mackenzie found poetic forms far from any kind of romanticizing. His graphic sense for nocturnal Los Angeles, the use of interviews with the actors as the inner monologues of the protagonists, and the soundtrack of the rock ’n’ roll band “The Revels” from radios and jukeboxes make The Exiles a masterpiece of great beauty and integrity. Its restoration closes another gap in the history of independent cinema.
OCTOBER 10 – 16, FRIDAY – THURSDAY AT 7:15, 9:15PM (PLUS SATURDAY & SUNDAY AT 5:15PM)
DIRECTOR Q&A AND RECEPTION OPENING NIGHT!
Secrecy
Sponsored by KBCS 91.3 FM and ACLU WASHINGTON
(Peter Galison, Robb Moss, USA, 2007, digiBETA, 85 min)
In today’s wired world most of us enjoy the luxury of free flowing information 24 hours a day. So why does the United States government spend more time and money than ever before making sure we don’t have access to certain information? The seduction and power of secrecy is at the core of this provocative documentary from Robb Moss and Peter Galison. Are secrets necessary for our national security? Is an informed American public the best way to fight terrorism? Where does the line exist between public safety and civil liberties? If secrets are necessary, who gets to know? The film focuses on journalists, lawyers and government officials who have spent their careers debating these important questions. From World War II and the creation of the atom bomb through September 11 and recent abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, we see the role information management has played in some of this country’s biggest triumphs and tragedies. Moss and Galison combine credible talking head interviews and real–world footage with stylized animation, and expressive music to create a layered, thought provoking narrative.
The ACLU of Washington will host a reception before the Friday 7:15 show on October 10 with director Rob Moss.
OCTOBER 17 – 26
Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
The Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival returns for its 13th year, October 17–26, 2008. Screenings, parties, panel discussions and networking events will be happening at venues all over town, including Northwest Film Forum, Cinerama, Harvard Exit Theatre, and more.
The largest event of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, the festival continues to gain industry and audience recognition for showcasing the latest and greatest in queer film, from major motion picture premieres to emerging talent. Local filmmakers are given special attention through programs and projects such as the Super 8 Film Challenge. And returning after last year’s hit debut is the “Gay TV Dinners” series at Central Cinema.
For more information, including a schedule of events and how to purchase tickets, go to www.threedollarbillcinema.org
OCTOBER 27 – 30, MONDAY – THURSDAY AT 7, 9PM
New 35mm print!
Young Mr. Lincoln
(John Ford, USA 1939, 35mm, 100 min)
To mark the political season Northwest Film Forum presents John Ford’s masterpiece, starring Henry Fonda. The French title of the film is Toward His Destiny, an apt description of this fictional chronicle of Abraham Lincoln’s early life and steps toward his iconic place in American history. Ford and Fonda, working together for the first time, brilliantly capture the moments when Lincoln’s greatness emerged and was first tested—as he clerks in a general store, studies law, suffers through the loss of his first love, and successfully defends two brothers accused of murder. The film has inspired generations of Americans with the masterful way it captures the intense combination of compassion, integrity, intellect and ambition that formed the character of America’s most important and revered President.
“...one of John Ford’s most perfectly realized works, an effortless jelling of his bawdy sense of humor, his patriotism, his mythical sense of history and his gorgeous, cinematic poetry…this Lincoln helped bring humanity to a wild, unruly nation, and Ford has done him justice in this beautiful, funny, entertaining film.” – Jeffrey M. Anderson, CombustibleCelluoid.com
OCTOBER 28 – 29, TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY AT 8PM
Mingus (Charlie Mingus 1968)
(Thomas Reichman, USA, 1968, 16mm, 58 min)
40th Anniversary Screening
Sponsored by KBCS 91.3 FM
This frank, tender and at times shocking cinéma verité portrait of the legendary jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus reveals the volatile dimensions of this protean creator in a particularly difficult period. On the eve of eviction from his Bowery loft, the hulking but gentle Mingus moves back and forth through physical and emotional clutter, speaking candidly with Reichman on topics ranging from music to sex to racism, interacting tenderly with his 5–year old daughter Carolyn, plunking on the piano and even hoisting a rifle. The film cuts intermittently between Mingus as defiant and depressed, and performance footage in which Mingus as bandleader is, as jazz critic Nat Hentoff has put it, “like Zeus hurling thunderbolts.” The feature will be preceded by rarely screened Mingus performance footage.
NOVEMBER 1 – 2, SATURDAY & SUNDAY AT 5PM
Jazz Animation From The Hubley Studio
(John and Faith Hubley, USA, 1957–75, 35mm, 70 min)
Beginning in the 1950s, the wonderfully imaginative and innovative films of independent animators John and Faith Hubley broke from traditional styles of animation and addressed important issues with intelligence, passion and humor. Their poetic sensibility and whimsical, impressionistic visual style (more reminiscent of painters Klee and Miro than Disney) lent itself perfectly to jazz music. "There’s something about jazz’s bending of time within a rigid format that also applies to animation," Faith Hubley once observed. "That’s why they work so well together. It’s a marriage made in heaven." This special program highlights the best of the Hubleys’ jazz films, featuring their collaborations with such musicians and composers as Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Quincy Jones, Benny Carter, and others. Appropriate for all ages.
NOVEMBER 1-3, SATURDAY-MONDAY AT 7 & 9PM
Electric Heart: Don Ellis
(John Vizzusi, USA, 2007, BetaSP, 100 min)
Innovative jazz composer, arranger, and musician Don Ellis continually ventured into new musical horizons. Often to the detriment of his career, Ellis experimented with unusual time signatures, electronics, and elements of rock, classical and world music. Even his instrument, a custom designed quarter–tone trumpet was a musical innovation. But despite his stellar Columbia recordings with legendary producer John Hammond, his “Tears Of Joy” band sharing the stage with rock groups such as The Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company, and his Grammy award winning score for the film The French Connection, Ellis remains largely forgotten today. Electric Heart re–discovers his music and story with rare performance footage unseen for 40 years and interviews with such musical giants as the late bandleader Maynard Ferguson, Pulitzer–winning composer Gunther Schuller, and pianist Milcho Leviev.
NOVEMBER 1-3, SATURDAY-MONDAY AT 7 & 9PM
Martino Unstrung
(Ian Knox, UK, 2007, digiBETA, 90min)
In 1980, the legendary jazz guitarist Pat Martino was brutally silenced by memory stripping brain surgery. Filmed over the past two years, Martino Unstrung is a fascinating tale of music and memory. The film chronicles Martino’s ascent from the depths of amnesia to the peak of artistry once more. Directed by award winning filmmaker Ian Knox, it is narrated by neuropsychologist and author Paul Broks. The film explores the nature of memory, creativity and the brain systems underlying personal identity as it tracks the struggles of this great jazz artist. Interviews with musicians Delmar Brown, Red Holloway, John Patitucci, Les Paul, Carlos Santana, Pete Townshend and others shed light on the impact of Martino’s music.
NOVEMBER 5–6, WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY AT 8PM
A Man Called Adam
(Leo Penn, 1966, USA, 16mm, 102 min)
This rarely seen 1966 independent film by blacklisted director Leo Penn (Sean Penn’s father) stars Sammy Davis Jr. as a troubled jazz musician (ghosted on trumpet by Nat Adderley) and Cicely Tyson in one of her first screen roles as a young civil rights activist. The film features music composed and arranged by Benny Carter (who also scored some of the short films in our Jazz Animation From The Hubley Studio program) and appearances by jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Mel Tormé. A Man Called Adam is notable for its bold attempt at addressing issues of race and identity. The film is very rarely screened and not available on dvd, so don’t miss these two special screenings of an archival film print.
OCTOBER 30, THURSDAY AT 8PM
War Of The Worlds 70th Broadcast Anniversary
Free For Members!
Before his ascendancy to icon of all things cinema, Orson Welles was a fledgling director in New Deal America. In 1938, the man who later brought the world Citizen Kane had an idea for a radio production he believed would strike fear in homes nationwide. Welles, the director of a New York City–based radio program called "Mercury Theatre on the Air," adapted H.G. Wells’ novel War of the Worlds for the show’s Halloween episode. Converting our cinema into a living room, Northwest Film Forum will celebrate the 70th anniversary of this historic radio program by playing the original broadcast in the cinema.
OCTOBER 31, FRIDAY AT 7PM
Halloween Thriller Party
Free For Members!
Special 25th Anniversary Celebration!
Before you hit the Halloween parties, join us for a celebration of the epic music video that created a phenomenon and made Michael Jackson the “King Of Pop!” It was 25 years ago that Jackson enlisted director John Landis to make the long–form horror–themed video for the title song of his record–breaking hit album. For this special event, we present a special screening of the classic video (featuring the best zombie choreography ever captured on film!) as well as the rarely seen hour–long TV special The Making Of Michael Jackson’s Thriller including behind–the–scenes footage (showing Jackson’s fascination with facial transformation), interviews with young fans (“He’s so sexy!”), and his other videos and performances. We’ll also have music and drinks in the cinema. Horror legend Vincent Price comments, “no mere mortal can resist the evil of the thriller,” adding “Aah ha ha ha ha ha ha– AAHH HA Ha ha ha… ” Be there!
NOVEMBER 4, TUESDAY AT 8PM
Election Evening Extravaganza
Don’t let your Champagne go flat this election night! Join Northwest Film Forum and Strawberry Theatre Workshop as we turn NWFF into the epicenter of election information, complete with major network broadcasts, radio coverage, a “Capitol Hill Petting Zoo” with a donkey and an elephant, and live blogging all night long! As each state gets called, watch our master of ceremonies post red and blue light bulbs on our giant map of the country, marking wins for Obama or McCain. Raise a glass in celebration or dilute your beer with your tears–either way, it beats being home and yelling at your television. The Extravaganza is a fund–raising party for Northwest Film Forum and Strawberry Theatre Workshop. Suggested donation $10.
NOVEMBER 7 – 13, FRIDAY – THURSDAY AT 7, 9PM (PLUS SATURDAY & SUNDAY AT 5PM)
Monks: The Trans–Atlantic Feedback
Sponsored by KEXP 90.3 FM
(Dietmar Post, Lucía Palacios, Germany/USA/Spain, 2006, digiBETA, 100 min)
“It’s Monk time!” Formed in the mid–60s by five American GIs stationed in Germany, the Monks was a short–lived, ahead–of–its–time conceptual art piece masquerading as a pop group. Heavy on feedback, nihilism and electric banjo, they were billed as the “anti–Beatles” and sported black robes and Franciscan monk haircuts. The group made a splash on German TV, recorded one album and shared the stage with Jimi Hendrix before falling apart and into obscurity. It wasn’t until decades later that their album “Black Monk Time” was re–discovered and hailed as an unsung masterpiece and early presage of punk rock. Trans–Atlantic Feedback tracks the Monks’ unusual story and celebrates their idiosyncratic brilliance and impact on modern music. The film unearths great archival footage, reunites the five band members (including Dave Day from the Seattle area who passed away this January) and interviews such fans as Joachim Irmler of Faust, Genesis P–Orridge of Psychic TV and Throbbing Gristle, and Jon Spencer.
“Wonderful…a long overdue history lesson.” – Rolling Stone
NOVEMBER 7 – 13, FRIDAY– THURSDAY AT 7, 9PM (PLUS SATURDAY & SUNDAY AT 3, 5PM)
The Romance of Astrea and Celadon
(Eric Rohmer, France/Italy/Spain, 2007, 35mm, 109 min)
From My Night at Maud’s to Claire’s Knee, from Chloe in the Afternoon to A Tale of Springtime, Eric Rohmer has made a career out of treating modern romance like the greatest classical love stories. So it is entirely appropriate for this grand master, now 87, to draw inspiration from the classic 17th century French novel The Romance of Astrea and Celadon for his latest and perhaps his last film. Gorgeous and sun–kissed, the young shepherd Celadon and the beautiful Astrea are ill–fated lovers, their romance torn asunder by a sudden misunderstanding. An attempt at suicide lands Celadon in the clutches of the sensual Galathea and her handmaidens, but a helpful passerby soon gives our hero an idea to re–enter Astrea’s life and heart. Filled with nymphs, druids and angels, the film is literally atwitter with the sounds of medieval times, and aflutter with its more sensual sights, including countless breezes caressing the billowing shirts of our hero, heroine and sundry nubile lasses.
“Rohmer’s knack for fable is manifest even in his modern–dress films, and in Astrea and Celadon a feeling of fable – of more to this story than meets the eye – is ever–present.” – San Francisco Chronicle
NOV 13, THURSDAY AT 8PM
NORTHWEST FILM FORUM AND THIRD EYE CINEMA PRESENT
Punto y Raya (Dot and Line)
SPECIAL GUESTS
(Various directors and countries, 2002–2007, 65 min)
Buenos Aires–based artist and organizer with MAD (Moviment d’Alliberament Digital) Nöel Palazzo introduces an engaging selection of contemporary experimental animated films in which artists from England, Spain, Germany, Japan, the United States and Canada explore graphics, abstraction and synesthesia. Culled from the most recent Punto Y Raya Festival, a collaboration of Mad–Actions and the iota Center, this special program surveys the currents of “visual music” with films by Chris Casady, Joaquin Gil, Danielle Ye, Laurie Gibbs, Tom Jobbins, Bret Battey and many others.
NOVEMBER 14 , FRIDAY AT 8PM
FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA FROM SPAIN
Under the Stars
(Félix Viscarret, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 107min)
Director In Attendance!
Opening Night Reception!
Director of several internationally acclaimed short films, Félix Viscarret easily makes the transition to features with this offbeat, delicately observed tale that swept the major prizes at this year’s Spanish national film festival in Malaga. Benito Lacunza (Alberto San Juan) is a mediocre trumpet player eking out a living when he gets word that his father has died. Back home, he reconnects with his brother Lalo, a sculptor and former alcoholic who has struggled to get straight. Lalo is planning to marry Nines, which Benito is against — until he meets Nines’ daughter Ainara (Violeta Rodriguez), an introverted child with whom Benito creates a most unusual friendship. Viscarret elegantly captures the feeling of small-town life, with its suspicions, jealousies and sense that everyone knows everybody else’s business. San Juan is excellent as Benito: just the right combination of big-city snobbery and barely concealed vulnerability. In her first major role, Rodriguez is a revelation.
NOVEMBER 15 - 16, SATURDAY AT 7PM, SUNDAY AT 7:15PM
FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA FROM SPAIN
Me
(Rafa Cortés, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 100 min)
Named “Revelation of the Year” by FIPRESCI, the international association of film critics at Cannes 2007, Me is the story of a man who, suspecting he is to be accused of something he hasn’t done, sets out to prove an innocence that nobody yet questions.
Every attempt to correct this mistake leads him closer to the real problem: himself. Set on Majorca island, the atmosphere is supported by strange characters, suspicious looks, and a surreally nightmarish climate. They begin to build into an unsettling and meticulously crafted drama. Rafa Cortés’ burgeoning talent is undeniable, creating a palpable atmosphere with the help of Alex Brendemühl’s (who co-wrote the film) brilliant performance.
NOVEMBER 15 – 16, SATURDAY AT 9PM, SUNDAY AT 9PM
FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA FROM SPAIN
Seven Billiard Tables
(Gracia Querejeta, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 113 min)
Upon receiving news that her father is ill, Angela (Maribel Verdú), and her son Guille, travel to the capital. She arrives too late, and learns from her father’s long–time girlfriend, Charo (Blanca Portillo), that the family billiard business is far from good. Over the years, it has lost style, clients, and money. Angela decides to take over the business and try to turn it around. Seven Billiard Tables displays a superb narrative that leads us to a simple and perfect ending. Nominated for 10 Goyas (Spanish Cinema Awards) and 9 Spanish Critics Circle Awards, the film is a showcase of magnificent performances by Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Blanca Portillo (Volver). It is also proof of Gracia Querejeta’s rich talent, crowning her as one of the most interesting yet solid filmmakers working today.
NOVEMBER 15 – 16, SATURDAY – SUNDAY AT 5PM
FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA FROM SPAIN
ShortMetraje
This is a year of unparalleled creativity for Spanish short filmmakers. In a cloud of turmoil and hallucinatory imagination, these directors present their wildest hopes and dreams in different forms, from experimental plays to shouts of happiness. Free from any convention, this year’s artists have undressed their souls and minds. Come enjoy the journey!.
NOVEMBER 16 – 17, SUNDAY AT 7PM, MONDAY AT 9:15PM
FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA FROM SPAIN
In The City of Sylvia
(José Luis Guerin, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 90 min)
Director Expected To Attend!
José Luis Guerín nimbly brings moviemaking and moviegoing back to some of their lovely early pleasures in his masterful In the City of Sylvia. He is so successful at modernizing and rarefing these elements that it forces one to reconsider the dialogue and special effects in other films as clutter. In the City of Sylvia is an everyday, yet sublime, vision, one so exquisite you’d think that everything Guerín looks at—the city of Strasbourg, its flaneurs and shops, even the sun that shines on it-was created for the loving gaze of his camera. The story also evokes the most blessed moments of a New Wave work like Agnès Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7. During a few languid summer days, a young foreigner spends his afternoons sketching in an outdoor café. He is looking for a woman named Sylvia who he’d met years before in the same city. He is also sketching the many attractive young women he sees everywhere, any one of whom could be her. Then one afternoon, thinking he’s actually seen her, he sets off through the city to confront his memory. Guerín’s graceful work eloquently captures the feeling of being in love with love, and the youthful sense of a world filled with an almost limitless sensuality.
NOVEMBER 17 – 18, MONDAY AT 7PM, TUESDAY AT 9:15PM
FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA FROM SPAIN
Mataharis
(Icíar Bollaín, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 95 min)
No other Spanish filmmaker bravely portrays the untouchable issues concerning Spanish contemporary society better than Icíar Bollaín. Her previous feature Take My Eyes won every major Goya award. Now, Mataharis was nominated in six categories, including Best Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress. Bollaín dives into the lives of three private investigators. Ines (Maria Vazquez) is working undercover at a corporation, ostensibly to weed out corruption but actually to report on workers’ efforts to unionize. Eva (Najwa Nimri), recently back at work after maternity leave, struggles to juggle her caseload with family life, when she accidentally discovers a secret her partner has long kept from her. Carmen (Nuria González), investigating a case of adultery, starts reflecting on her own loveless marriage.
NOVEMBER 18 – 19, TUESDAY AT 7PM, WEDNESDAY AT 9:15PM
FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA FROM SPAIN
Solitary Fragments
(Jaime Rosales, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 128 min)
The beautifully nuanced performances of both Sonia Almarcha and Petra Martínez, as well as director Rosales’ keen ability to portray isolation and beauty in the apparently mundane world, makes Solitary Fragments a supreme delicacy not to be missed. Having premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard section, the film swept three Goyas (Spanish Cinema Awards), including Best Picture and Best Director. Adela lives a quiet life in rural Spain with her son Miguelito. Hoping for more from life, she moves with her son to Madrid, where they share an apartment with a couple, Ines and Carlos. Stylish yet thoughtful and far from melodrama, the film takes you by the hand towards an ending difficult to forget.
NOVEMBER 19 – 20, WEDNESDAY AT 7PM, THURSDAY AT 9PM
FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA FROM SPAIN
Septembers
(Carles Bosch, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 120 min)
For the incarcerated participants of the 2005 Festival of Song, singing love songs is not merely entertainment. It is also a poignant reminder of the people they left behind. Carles Bosch, director of the Oscar–nominated Balseros, follows four men and four women in prison. Spanning a year-from September to September, between one festival and the next—the film portrays their love stories. Despite the hostile environment, this film displays extraordinary emotion and it is an inspiration to all who watch it. With major accomplishments already under its belt (shortlisted for the Best Feature Documentary IDA Awards–International Documentary Association and nominated as Best Documentary in the Joris Ivens Competition at IDFA), Bosch’s sympathetic and at times humorous vision delights us with the question, can a documentary capture the true essence of love?
NOVEMBER 19 – 20, WEDNESDAY AT 7:15PM, THURSDAY AT 7PM
FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA FROM SPAIN
Le Chant des Oiseaux
(Albert Serra, Spain, 2008, 35mm, 98 min)
Have you ever thought of the Three Kings’ relationship to one another while they traversed the world’s deserts in search of Christ? Albert Serra, whose previous film Honor de Cavalleria/Quixotic was named “one of the best 10 films of 2008” by Cahiers du Cinéma, is back with a film even more beautiful and crazy than his debut. Displaying freely his own vision about the classic myth of the Nativity, the film is beautifully crafted and contemplative, with impressive views and photograph–like cinematography to satisfy the most demanding eye. This exercise about the essence of cinema held rank with the films of major importance at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight. Even so, the Three Kings are so human they will make you smile.
NOVEMBER 21 – 26, FRIDAY – WEDNESDAY AT 7, 9PM
Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press
Sponsored by ACLU of Washington
(Daniel O’Connor, Neil Ortenberg, USA, 2007, BetaSP, 97 min)
(Daniel O’Connor, Neil Ortenberg, USA, 2007, BetaSP, 97 min)
Although it is likely you’ve never heard of Barney Rosset, he is one of the most influential cultural figures of the 20th century. Through his imprint Grove Press and his magazine Evergreen Review, Rosset fought tooth and nail (often before state and federal supreme courts) for the American right to read the works of Samuel Beckett Henry Miller, Jean Genet, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Harold Pinter, D H Lawrence, Alain Robbe–Grillet, Amiri Baraka and many other “enemies of morality”. “Grove was a valve for pressurized cultural energies,” says the now octogenarian and still feisty Rosset, “a breach in the dam of American Puritanism.” Obscene traces the important history and impact of Groove’s free speech fights — from Ginsburg’s “Howl” to “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” to the Swedish film I Am Curious (Yellow) — while creating a fascinating portrait of the volatile, eccentric Rosset whose unyielding restless energy and questionable business sense upended both this country’s censorship law and his own life.
