Anthology Film Archives

MOSAIC IN CONFIDENCE / MOSAIK IM VERTRAUEN (1955, 16 min, 35mm, b&w/color)
ADEBAR (1957, 1 min, 35mm, b&w)
SCHWECHATER (1958, 1 min, 35mm, b&w/color)
ARNULF RAINER (1960, 7 min, 35mm, b&w)
OUR TRIP TO AFRICA / UNSERE AFRIKAREISE (1966, 12 min, 16mm)
PAUSE (1977, 12 min, 16mm)
POETRY AND TRUTH / DICHTUNG UND WAHRHEIT (2003, 13 min, 35mm)
“Peter Kubelka is the perfectionist of the film medium; and, as I honor that quality above all others at this time finding such a lack of it now elsewhere, I would simply like to say: Peter Kubelka is the world’s greatest filmmaker – which is to say, simply: see his films!…by all means/above all else…etcetera.” –Stan Brakhage
Total running time: ca. 65 min.

In the last year Anthology has brought some remarkable films into the collection. Titles we never had by artists we deeply cherish. Works we’ve never heard of by filmmakers most mysterious. It took awhile to dig through these reels but, boy, are we delighted by what has been found. Tonight we’ll sample some of the best, as well as some of the most baffling, in this show-and-tell program that is guaranteed to be overflowing with great discoveries. Even though we know what we’re going to show, just this one time we don’t want to tell you. It’d spoil the surprise. Come curious, leave satisfied, and enjoy yourself in between.

“Based on a true incident, the film chronicles the wanderings of a woman and child looking for work and lodging in Paris. This is the only plot, and Hanoun has little interest in embellishing it with background and motivation: he never even makes it clear, for example, whether the woman is the child’s mother, guardian or companion. UNE SIMPLE HISTOIRE is, more than a narrative, a formal stylistic exercise so rigorously disciplined and understated that it makes the visual asceticism of Robert Bresson seem almost Fellini-esque by comparison.” –TIME

“His remarkable faculty is as maker of images.... [T]he images he photographs are among the most radical, super-real and haunting images the cinema has ever given us.” –P. Adams Sitney, VISIONARY FILM
“Film is a complex medium, combining elements of many other media. The ideal film artist would be a great poet, great painter, great playwright, great composer, great inventor – and maybe even a great business man or woman (most probably a woman – all the artists of the future may be women, men having long given up that profession to become soldiers or mystics). Such a composite genius has yet to appear.” –George Landow, IMAGE FORUM

EARLY FILMS BY GEORGE LANDOW (ca. 1961-62, ca. 15 minutes, 8mm-to-16mm blow-up. Preserved with support from Cineric, Inc.)
These films are not part of the Essential Cinema. According to Jonas Mekas, Landow used to show these films along with FLEMING FALOON at early screenings before he pulled them from his repertoire. They seem to be studies for FLEMING FALOON, more raw, less concise, messy split-screens, and footage re-filmed off the screen. Talking heads (including Mike Wallace and film historian Richard Kraft) blur, stretch, fade; what Jonas says is a festering arm wound that Landow had at the time is shot at various blurry exposures.
FLEMING FALOON (1963, 6 minutes, 16mm)
FILM IN WHICH THERE APPEAR SPROCKET HOLES, EDGE LETTERING, DIRT PARTICLES, ETC. (1965-66, 5 minutes, 16mm, silent)
DIPLOTERATOLOGY: BARDO FOLLIES (1967, 7 minutes, 16mm, b&w, silent)
THE FILM THAT RISES TO THE SURFACE OF CLARIFIED BUTTER (1968, 9 minutes, 16mm, b&w)
INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY (1969, 5 minutes, 16mm)
REMEDIAL READING COMPREHENSION (1970, 5 minutes, 16mm)
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? (1972, 13 minutes, 16mm)
THANK YOU JESUS FOR THE ETERNAL PRESENT (1973, 6 minutes, 16mm)
Total running time: ca. 80 minutes.

(UNTER KONTROLLE)
Made in collaboration with Stefan Stefanescu. Distributed by Credo Film; special thanks to Katharina Bergfeld.

This striking, beautifully composed, and undeniably timely documentary takes viewers into the heart of a series of German nuclear power plants, unveiling a surreal, technologically bewildering realm whose bright, sleek, seemingly highly controlled appearance belies the dangerous, destructive forces involved. We see glisteningly bright control rooms, decontamination locks, and smoke-screen devices, and enter the depths of the mineral deposits, all of which reflect the superhuman rationality that is supposed to contain and channel the power of the nuclear fission.
UNDER CONTROL offers an opportunity to marvel at a scientific project that once promised a glorious future, and which today has not lost its power to fascinate, despite its increasingly apparent shortcomings and dangers. Above all it reveals the ongoing attempts to reconcile a kind of literal ‘science fiction’ – the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy – with reality.

“UNDER CONTROL unfolds a panorama of atomic energy in Germany. Its broad perspective reveals the enormous challenges and tremendous efforts that this type of energy demands from humankind. In the control rooms, reactors, and atomic waste storages the camera focuses on the efforts of risk management. The relationship between man and machine is questioned in work environments usually hidden. With a view to the power plants, a history of civilization opens up like a piece of archeology. For me the film is an exploration of a technology that was once a synonym for progress. It was important for me to trace the hidden [sense of the] tragic.” –Volker Sattel

A FILM OF THEIR 1973 SPRING TOUR COMMISSIONED BY CHRISTIAN WORLD LIBERATION FRONT OF BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA (1974, 11.5 minutes, 16mm)
NO SIR, ORISON! (1975, 3 minutes, 16mm)
WIDE ANGLE SAXON (1975, 22 minutes, 16mm)
NEW IMPROVED INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY: IN THE ENVIRONMENT OF LIQUIDS AND NASALS A PARASITIC VOWEL SOMETIMES DEVELOPS (1976, 10 minutes, 16mm)
ON THE MARRIAGE BROKER JOKE AS CITED BY SIGMUND FREUD IN WIT AND ITS RELATION OF THE UNCONSCIOUS, OR CAN THE AVANT-GARDE ARTIST BE WHOLED? (1979, 17.5 minutes, 16mm)
NOLI ME TANGERE (1984, 6 minutes, video)
THE BOX THEORY (1984, 15.5 minutes, video)
Total running time: ca. 95 minutes.

“His remarkable faculty is as maker of images.... [T]he images he photographs are among the most radical, super-real and haunting images the cinema has ever given us.” –P. Adams Sitney, VISIONARY FILM
“Film is a complex medium, combining elements of many other media. The ideal film artist would be a great poet, great painter, great playwright, great composer, great inventor – and maybe even a great business man or woman (most probably a woman – all the artists of the future may be women, men having long given up that profession to become soldiers or mystics). Such a composite genius has yet to appear.” –George Landow, IMAGE FORUM

EARLY FILMS BY GEORGE LANDOW (ca. 1961-62, ca. 15 minutes, 8mm-to-16mm blow-up. Preserved with support from Cineric, Inc.)
These films are not part of the Essential Cinema. According to Jonas Mekas, Landow used to show these films along with FLEMING FALOON at early screenings before he pulled them from his repertoire. They seem to be studies for FLEMING FALOON, more raw, less concise, messy split-screens, and footage re-filmed off the screen. Talking heads (including Mike Wallace and film historian Richard Kraft) blur, stretch, fade; what Jonas says is a festering arm wound that Landow had at the time is shot at various blurry exposures.
FLEMING FALOON (1963, 6 minutes, 16mm)
FILM IN WHICH THERE APPEAR SPROCKET HOLES, EDGE LETTERING, DIRT PARTICLES, ETC. (1965-66, 5 minutes, 16mm, silent)
DIPLOTERATOLOGY: BARDO FOLLIES (1967, 7 minutes, 16mm, b&w, silent)
THE FILM THAT RISES TO THE SURFACE OF CLARIFIED BUTTER (1968, 9 minutes, 16mm, b&w)
INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY (1969, 5 minutes, 16mm)
REMEDIAL READING COMPREHENSION (1970, 5 minutes, 16mm)
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? (1972, 13 minutes, 16mm)
THANK YOU JESUS FOR THE ETERNAL PRESENT (1973, 6 minutes, 16mm)
Total running time: ca. 80 minutes.

DIALOGUES, OR A WAIST IS A TERRIBLE THING TO MIND
2007-09, 120 minutes, video.
Land’s final film – the first he had produced in more than 20 years – consists of an episodic series of short films informed by his study of folklore, myth, history, and the theology of all major religions, including Gnosticism and cabala. With a healthy dose of irony and a proudly irreverent attitude toward all kinds of orthodoxies, Land readily applies the structure of the Platonic dialogue to explore themes of reincarnation, art criticism, and Tantra.
“On one level, DIALOGUES is a parody of SCORPIO RISING, using era-specific hit records to locate scenes in time and mood; on another level, it’s an interpretation of Plato’s dialogue ‘Phaedo’, in which Socrates proves the doctrine of re-incarnation; on still another level, it is a polemic for the Tantric belief in the sacredness of male-female polarity. With music by Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson, Joan Baez, Patti Smith, The Byrds, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Genesis, The Human League, et al. Rated R: Restricted to audiences with a knowledge of Art History.” –O.L.

(UNTER KONTROLLE)
Made in collaboration with Stefan Stefanescu. Distributed by Credo Film; special thanks to Katharina Bergfeld.

This striking, beautifully composed, and undeniably timely documentary takes viewers into the heart of a series of German nuclear power plants, unveiling a surreal, technologically bewildering realm whose bright, sleek, seemingly highly controlled appearance belies the dangerous, destructive forces involved. We see glisteningly bright control rooms, decontamination locks, and smoke-screen devices, and enter the depths of the mineral deposits, all of which reflect the superhuman rationality that is supposed to contain and channel the power of the nuclear fission.
UNDER CONTROL offers an opportunity to marvel at a scientific project that once promised a glorious future, and which today has not lost its power to fascinate, despite its increasingly apparent shortcomings and dangers. Above all it reveals the ongoing attempts to reconcile a kind of literal ‘science fiction’ – the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy – with reality.

“UNDER CONTROL unfolds a panorama of atomic energy in Germany. Its broad perspective reveals the enormous challenges and tremendous efforts that this type of energy demands from humankind. In the control rooms, reactors, and atomic waste storages the camera focuses on the efforts of risk management. The relationship between man and machine is questioned in work environments usually hidden. With a view to the power plants, a history of civilization opens up like a piece of archeology. For me the film is an exploration of a technology that was once a synonym for progress. It was important for me to trace the hidden [sense of the] tragic.” –Volker Sattel

“RAPT is, paradoxically, both a film which looks back anachronistically toward the silent era and a work which belongs to the vanguard of sound cinema. Part of that paradox can be resolved by an understanding of the film’s complex utilization of music. RAPT employs very little dialogue, and in this respect it is reminiscent of the part-talkie genre…. It is linked to such abstract and hybrid avant-garde works as VAMPYR and L’?GE D’OR. The radical nature of RAPT, however, resides in its vision of a cinematic musical score. In making the film, Kirsanoff worked closely with the composers Honegger and Hoerce.” –Lucy Fisher

With the exception of BREATHING, all of the films in this program were preserved by Anthology with generous support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. 
FORM PHASES I (1952, 2 min, 16mm)
FORM PHASES II (1953, 2 min, 16mm)
UN MIRACLE (1954, 30 sec, 35mm, Made with Pontus Hulten)
RECREATION (1956, 1.5 min, 35mm)
A MAN AND HIS DOG OUT FOR AIR (1957, 2 min, 35mm)
JAMESTOWN BALOOS (1957, 6 min, 35mm)
LE MOUVEMENT (1957, 14 min, 35mm)
EYEWASH (1959, 3 min, 35mm)
EYEWASH (ALTERNATIVE VERSION) (1959, 3 min, 35mm)
BLAZES (1961, 3 min, 35mm)
PAT’S BIRTHDAY (1962, 13 minutes, 16mm)
BREATHING (1963, 5 minutes, 16mm)
66 (1966, 5.5 min, 35mm)
69 (1969, 4.5 min, 35mm)
Total running time: ca. 70 min.

(UNTER KONTROLLE)
Made in collaboration with Stefan Stefanescu. Distributed by Credo Film; special thanks to Katharina Bergfeld.

This striking, beautifully composed, and undeniably timely documentary takes viewers into the heart of a series of German nuclear power plants, unveiling a surreal, technologically bewildering realm whose bright, sleek, seemingly highly controlled appearance belies the dangerous, destructive forces involved. We see glisteningly bright control rooms, decontamination locks, and smoke-screen devices, and enter the depths of the mineral deposits, all of which reflect the superhuman rationality that is supposed to contain and channel the power of the nuclear fission.
UNDER CONTROL offers an opportunity to marvel at a scientific project that once promised a glorious future, and which today has not lost its power to fascinate, despite its increasingly apparent shortcomings and dangers. Above all it reveals the ongoing attempts to reconcile a kind of literal ‘science fiction’ – the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy – with reality.

“UNDER CONTROL unfolds a panorama of atomic energy in Germany. Its broad perspective reveals the enormous challenges and tremendous efforts that this type of energy demands from humankind. In the control rooms, reactors, and atomic waste storages the camera focuses on the efforts of risk management. The relationship between man and machine is questioned in work environments usually hidden. With a view to the power plants, a history of civilization opens up like a piece of archeology. For me the film is an exploration of a technology that was once a synonym for progress. It was important for me to trace the hidden [sense of the] tragic.” –Volker Sattel

With the exception of GULLS AND BUOYS, all of the films in this program were preserved by Anthology with generous support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
70 (1970, 5 min, 35mm)
77 (1970, 6.5 min, 35mm)
FIST FIGHT (1964, 9 min, 35mm)
GULLS AND BUOYS (1972, 8 min, 16mm)
FUJI (1974, 9 min, 35mm)
SWISS ARMY KNIFE WITH RAT AND PIGEON (1981, 6.5 min, 35mm)
BANG (1986, 10 min, 35mm)
Total running time: ca. 60 min.

HOMAGE TO JEAN TINGUELY’S HOMAGE TO NEW YORK (1960, 9.5 minutes, 16mm, b&w)
INNER AND OUTER SPACE (1960, 4 minutes, 16mm)
HORSE OVER TEA KETTLE (1962, 8 minutes, 16mm)
PBL NO. 2 (1968, 1 minute, 16mm)
RUBBER CEMENT (1975, 10 minutes, 16mm)
LMNO (1978, 9.5 minutes, 16mm)
T. Z. (1979, 8.5 minutes, 16mm)
TRIAL BALLOONS (1982, 5.5 minutes, 16mm)
A FROG ON THE SWING (1988, 5 minutes, 16mm)
SPARKILL AVE! (1993, 5 minutes, 16mm)
TIME FLIES (1997, 13.5 minutes, 16mm)
ATOZ (2000, 5 minutes, 16mm)
WHAT GOES UP (2000, 4 minutes, 16mm)
Total running time: ca. 95 minutes.

(UNTER KONTROLLE)
Made in collaboration with Stefan Stefanescu. Distributed by Credo Film; special thanks to Katharina Bergfeld.

This striking, beautifully composed, and undeniably timely documentary takes viewers into the heart of a series of German nuclear power plants, unveiling a surreal, technologically bewildering realm whose bright, sleek, seemingly highly controlled appearance belies the dangerous, destructive forces involved. We see glisteningly bright control rooms, decontamination locks, and smoke-screen devices, and enter the depths of the mineral deposits, all of which reflect the superhuman rationality that is supposed to contain and channel the power of the nuclear fission.
UNDER CONTROL offers an opportunity to marvel at a scientific project that once promised a glorious future, and which today has not lost its power to fascinate, despite its increasingly apparent shortcomings and dangers. Above all it reveals the ongoing attempts to reconcile a kind of literal ‘science fiction’ – the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy – with reality.

“UNDER CONTROL unfolds a panorama of atomic energy in Germany. Its broad perspective reveals the enormous challenges and tremendous efforts that this type of energy demands from humankind. In the control rooms, reactors, and atomic waste storages the camera focuses on the efforts of risk management. The relationship between man and machine is questioned in work environments usually hidden. With a view to the power plants, a history of civilization opens up like a piece of archeology. For me the film is an exploration of a technology that was once a synonym for progress. It was important for me to trace the hidden [sense of the] tragic.” –Volker Sattel

THIRD WORLD NEWSREEL PROGRAM
For program details, visit www.newfilmmakers.com.

SPECIAL EVENT
With The Cambodian Film Festival (Cambofest).
Jason Rosette SORRY I FORGOT (2011, 1 minute, video)
Faiyaz Jafri NATURAL PLASTIC (2010, 2 minutes, video)
Jason Rosette THE COMMUTE (2010, 4 minutes, video)
Santhauy Phomulxay MY RIVER (2011, 4 minutes, video)
Julien Ezri FOR A FISTFUL OF SNOW (2010, 6 minutes, video)
Grace Channer BUT SOME ARE BRAVE (2011, 5 minutes, video)
Poy Chhunly FLOATING AWAY (2011, 6 minutes, video)
Gun Sangkaew LITTLE JEELA (2011, 11 minutes, video)

SHORT FILM PROGRAM
About aging.
Anne S. Lewis TOUGH CROWD (2010, 7 minutes, video)
Charlotte Rabate LA CHAROGNE (2011, 10 minutes, video)
Doug C. Williams ZOLA’S DAY (2011, 11 minutes, video)
Chi Whitley A QUESTION (2010, 12 minutes, video)
Aaron Lehmann THE INTIMATE SUBJECT (2011, 23 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Rona Mark
THE CRAB
2010, 102 minutes, video.
Happiest when drinking and spewing bile, Levi hates everyone almost as much as he hates himself due to his deforming genetic disorder known as ‘Lobster Claw Syndrome.’ His only friends are the self-loathing girlfriend he despises and Lucas, his last childhood friend who refuses to give up on him no matter how obnoxious he is.

Third World Newsreel Program at 6:00, Cambodian Event at 7:00, Short Film Program at 8:00, Feature at 9:15.

(UNTER KONTROLLE)
Made in collaboration with Stefan Stefanescu. Distributed by Credo Film; special thanks to Katharina Bergfeld.

This striking, beautifully composed, and undeniably timely documentary takes viewers into the heart of a series of German nuclear power plants, unveiling a surreal, technologically bewildering realm whose bright, sleek, seemingly highly controlled appearance belies the dangerous, destructive forces involved. We see glisteningly bright control rooms, decontamination locks, and smoke-screen devices, and enter the depths of the mineral deposits, all of which reflect the superhuman rationality that is supposed to contain and channel the power of the nuclear fission.
UNDER CONTROL offers an opportunity to marvel at a scientific project that once promised a glorious future, and which today has not lost its power to fascinate, despite its increasingly apparent shortcomings and dangers. Above all it reveals the ongoing attempts to reconcile a kind of literal ‘science fiction’ – the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy – with reality.

“UNDER CONTROL unfolds a panorama of atomic energy in Germany. Its broad perspective reveals the enormous challenges and tremendous efforts that this type of energy demands from humankind. In the control rooms, reactors, and atomic waste storages the camera focuses on the efforts of risk management. The relationship between man and machine is questioned in work environments usually hidden. With a view to the power plants, a history of civilization opens up like a piece of archeology. For me the film is an exploration of a technology that was once a synonym for progress. It was important for me to trace the hidden [sense of the] tragic.” –Volker Sattel

DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM
Shaun Phillips THE BEATLES AT THEIR BEST (2011, 25 minutes, video)

FIRST SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Peter Valente CALENDAR GIRL (2011, 2 minutes, video)
Peter Valente TWO YEARS LATER (2011, 3 minutes, video)
Peter Valente LIGHTING UP THE DARK (2011, 3 minutes, video)
Peter Valente RIOT FILM (2011, 3 minutes, video)
Tova Beck-Friedman LOT’S WIFE (2011, 4 minutes, video)
Tova Beck-Friedman MEDUSA’S HEAD (2011, 6 minutes, video)
Arnold Brooks OPEN (2011, 8 minutes, video)
John Giaccone TALKING DOG (2011, 11 minutes, video)
Carole Ricciordelli SUBLIMIC SUBLIME (2011, 12 minutes, video)
Jeff Zorrilla THE LANGUAGE OF THE FOX (2011, 13 minutes, 8mm)
Clayton Allis WHAT THE F*CK DOUG E. DOUG? (2011, 16 minutes, video)

SECOND SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Sofian Khan ELRON (2011, 16 minutes, video)
Ivan Corona THE SET-UP (2010, 15 minutes, video)
Yann Shan Tsai THROUGH THE NIGHT (2011, 26 minutes, video)
Kevin Huang THE SURVIVAL OF THE FAMILY UNIT (2011, 20 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Wesley Hopper
MONTH TO MONTH
2011, 92 minutes, video.
Seth, fresh out of grad school with an MFA in playwriting and no interest in the arts, would rather sneak free beers from his bartender roommate, Nate, than find a job. When Seth’s old college pal Jared stops by, a night at a trans-curious go-go club leads to new love and unexpected changes.

Documentary at 6:00, First Shorts Program at 6:30, Second Shorts Program at 8:15, Feature at 9:45.

(UNTER KONTROLLE)
Made in collaboration with Stefan Stefanescu. Distributed by Credo Film; special thanks to Katharina Bergfeld.

This striking, beautifully composed, and undeniably timely documentary takes viewers into the heart of a series of German nuclear power plants, unveiling a surreal, technologically bewildering realm whose bright, sleek, seemingly highly controlled appearance belies the dangerous, destructive forces involved. We see glisteningly bright control rooms, decontamination locks, and smoke-screen devices, and enter the depths of the mineral deposits, all of which reflect the superhuman rationality that is supposed to contain and channel the power of the nuclear fission.
UNDER CONTROL offers an opportunity to marvel at a scientific project that once promised a glorious future, and which today has not lost its power to fascinate, despite its increasingly apparent shortcomings and dangers. Above all it reveals the ongoing attempts to reconcile a kind of literal ‘science fiction’ – the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy – with reality.

“UNDER CONTROL unfolds a panorama of atomic energy in Germany. Its broad perspective reveals the enormous challenges and tremendous efforts that this type of energy demands from humankind. In the control rooms, reactors, and atomic waste storages the camera focuses on the efforts of risk management. The relationship between man and machine is questioned in work environments usually hidden. With a view to the power plants, a history of civilization opens up like a piece of archeology. For me the film is an exploration of a technology that was once a synonym for progress. It was important for me to trace the hidden [sense of the] tragic.” –Volker Sattel

(UNTER KONTROLLE)
Made in collaboration with Stefan Stefanescu. Distributed by Credo Film; special thanks to Katharina Bergfeld.

This striking, beautifully composed, and undeniably timely documentary takes viewers into the heart of a series of German nuclear power plants, unveiling a surreal, technologically bewildering realm whose bright, sleek, seemingly highly controlled appearance belies the dangerous, destructive forces involved. We see glisteningly bright control rooms, decontamination locks, and smoke-screen devices, and enter the depths of the mineral deposits, all of which reflect the superhuman rationality that is supposed to contain and channel the power of the nuclear fission.
UNDER CONTROL offers an opportunity to marvel at a scientific project that once promised a glorious future, and which today has not lost its power to fascinate, despite its increasingly apparent shortcomings and dangers. Above all it reveals the ongoing attempts to reconcile a kind of literal ‘science fiction’ – the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy – with reality.

“UNDER CONTROL unfolds a panorama of atomic energy in Germany. Its broad perspective reveals the enormous challenges and tremendous efforts that this type of energy demands from humankind. In the control rooms, reactors, and atomic waste storages the camera focuses on the efforts of risk management. The relationship between man and machine is questioned in work environments usually hidden. With a view to the power plants, a history of civilization opens up like a piece of archeology. For me the film is an exploration of a technology that was once a synonym for progress. It was important for me to trace the hidden [sense of the] tragic.” –Volker Sattel

José Val del Omar AGUAESPEJO GRANADINO (1955, 23 minutes, 35mm)
Velasco Broca VAL DEL OMAR FUERA DE SUS CASILLAS (2010, 6 minutes, video)
Luis Buñuel LAND WITHOUT BREAD / LAS HURDES, TIERRA SIN PAN (1932, 27 minutes, 35mm)
Óscar Pérez IF THE CAMERA BLOWS UP (2008, 12 minutes, video)
Valeriano López ME DUELE EL CHOCHO (2002, 4 minutes, video)
This is the unknown side of Spain that the dictatorship’s propaganda sought to hide in order to promote tourism, the flip side of the popular images of sun, paella, sangria, and beaches. A national wound that still festers. An eternal suspicion of the other. An eternal pain…
Total running time: ca. 80 minutes.

(UNTER KONTROLLE)
Made in collaboration with Stefan Stefanescu. Distributed by Credo Film; special thanks to Katharina Bergfeld.

This striking, beautifully composed, and undeniably timely documentary takes viewers into the heart of a series of German nuclear power plants, unveiling a surreal, technologically bewildering realm whose bright, sleek, seemingly highly controlled appearance belies the dangerous, destructive forces involved. We see glisteningly bright control rooms, decontamination locks, and smoke-screen devices, and enter the depths of the mineral deposits, all of which reflect the superhuman rationality that is supposed to contain and channel the power of the nuclear fission.
UNDER CONTROL offers an opportunity to marvel at a scientific project that once promised a glorious future, and which today has not lost its power to fascinate, despite its increasingly apparent shortcomings and dangers. Above all it reveals the ongoing attempts to reconcile a kind of literal ‘science fiction’ – the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy – with reality.

“UNDER CONTROL unfolds a panorama of atomic energy in Germany. Its broad perspective reveals the enormous challenges and tremendous efforts that this type of energy demands from humankind. In the control rooms, reactors, and atomic waste storages the camera focuses on the efforts of risk management. The relationship between man and machine is questioned in work environments usually hidden. With a view to the power plants, a history of civilization opens up like a piece of archeology. For me the film is an exploration of a technology that was once a synonym for progress. It was important for me to trace the hidden [sense of the] tragic.” –Volker Sattel

Rafael Ruiz Balerdi HOMAGE TO TARZAN / HOMENAJE A TARZÁN (1971, 5 minutes, 35mm)
Victor Iriarte GABON, GABON (2009, 27 minutes, video)
Lluís Escartín TEXAS SUNRISE (2002, 17 minutes, video)
Chus Dominguez NOTES ON THE EPHEMERAL / NOTAS DE LO EFÍMERO (2010, 28 minutes, video)
Laboratorium SONG BEFORE DYING / CANCIÓN DEL ANTES DEL MORIR (2011, 4 minutes, video)
Filming the other. Filming it to know more about yourself. Traveling from the primitive (and animated) origin to farewell songs for those who disappeared. This program encompasses musical portraits, landscapes reflecting the disaster of capitalism, and motels where you can find the only truth: everything ends while life goes on.
Total running time: ca. 90 minutes.

One of Keaton’s best silent features, setting comedy against a true Civil War story of a stolen train and Union spies.

Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste created by nuclear power plants are placed in interim storages, which are vulnerable to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and societal changes. In Finland the world’s first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock – a huge system of underground tunnels – that must last 100,000 years since this is how long the waste remains hazardous. How is it possible to warn our descendants of the deadly waste we left behind? How do we prevent them from thinking they have found the pyramids of our time, mystical burial grounds, hidden treasures? Captivating, wondrous, and extremely frightening, this feature documentary takes viewers on an unprecedented journey into the underworld and into the future.

Virginia García del Pino ME AND MY SISTER / MI HERMANA Y YO (2009, 10 minutes, video)
Daniel Cuberta THE LIFE JACKET IS UNDER YOUR SEAT / EL CHALECO ESTÁ DEBAJO DE SU ASIENTO (2009, 10 minutes, video)

Ion de Sosa
TRUE LOVE
2010, 75 minutes, video.

Elías León Siminiani ZOOM (2005, 3 minutes, video)
This program comprises films that portray emotional catharsis with pain, humor, and tenderness. Fascinated by the first-person perspective, these touching films reveal the truth of love in all its variations.
Total running time: ca. 100 minutes.

(UNTER KONTROLLE)
Made in collaboration with Stefan Stefanescu. Distributed by Credo Film; special thanks to Katharina Bergfeld.

This striking, beautifully composed, and undeniably timely documentary takes viewers into the heart of a series of German nuclear power plants, unveiling a surreal, technologically bewildering realm whose bright, sleek, seemingly highly controlled appearance belies the dangerous, destructive forces involved. We see glisteningly bright control rooms, decontamination locks, and smoke-screen devices, and enter the depths of the mineral deposits, all of which reflect the superhuman rationality that is supposed to contain and channel the power of the nuclear fission.
UNDER CONTROL offers an opportunity to marvel at a scientific project that once promised a glorious future, and which today has not lost its power to fascinate, despite its increasingly apparent shortcomings and dangers. Above all it reveals the ongoing attempts to reconcile a kind of literal ‘science fiction’ – the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy – with reality.

“UNDER CONTROL unfolds a panorama of atomic energy in Germany. Its broad perspective reveals the enormous challenges and tremendous efforts that this type of energy demands from humankind. In the control rooms, reactors, and atomic waste storages the camera focuses on the efforts of risk management. The relationship between man and machine is questioned in work environments usually hidden. With a view to the power plants, a history of civilization opens up like a piece of archeology. For me the film is an exploration of a technology that was once a synonym for progress. It was important for me to trace the hidden [sense of the] tragic.” –Volker Sattel

After the catastrophe in 1986, a 30-km restricted zone was erected around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and 116,000 people were evacuated from this area. PRIPYAT is a portrait of the people who still live and work there, and of those who have moved back. What is life like for these people, a life with the invisible and incomprehensible danger of radioactivity? How do they deal with the after-effects of an accident that was claimed to be statistically improbable? Four protagonists tell their stories and provide a look at everyday life in ‘their’ zone.

A once-in-a-calendar opportunity to take a peek at the teeming hive of creativity hiding behind the scenes at Anthology, thanks to the film- and video-making efforts of AFA’s staff, friends, fellow-travelers, and devotees.

“Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are the movies’ greatest comic duo, the quintessential dumb and dumber odd-couple. Though critically overshadowed by Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd, they were enormously popular, and proved a major influence on Abbott & Costello, Lucille Ball & Vivian Vance, and Jackie Gleason & Art Carney, not to mention Samuel Beckett (they were an inspiration for WAITING FOR GODOT), Roman Polanski (who paid homage to them in his existentialist short films FAT AND LEAN and TWO MEN AND A WARDROBE), and Ken Jacobs (whose ONTIC ANTICS deconstructs one of their films).” –David Mulkins
COUNTY HOSPITAL (1932, 20 minutes, 16mm, b&w)
Directed by James Parrott.
THE MUSIC BOX (1932, 30 minutes, 16mm, b&w)
Directed by James Parrott.
THEM THAR HILLS (1934, 20 minutes, 16mm, b&w)
Directed by Charley Rogers.
TIT FOR TAT (1935, 20 minutes, 16mm, b&w)
Directed by Charley Rogers.
Total running time: ca. 95 minutes.

After the catastrophe in 1986, a 30-km restricted zone was erected around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and 116,000 people were evacuated from this area. PRIPYAT is a portrait of the people who still live and work there, and of those who have moved back. What is life like for these people, a life with the invisible and incomprehensible danger of radioactivity? How do they deal with the after-effects of an accident that was claimed to be statistically improbable? Four protagonists tell their stories and provide a look at everyday life in ‘their’ zone.

Isaki Lacuesta MICROSCOPÍAS (2003, 27 minutes, video)
&
Joaquím Jordà
MONKEYS LIKE BECKY / MONES COM LA BECKY
1999, 97 minutes, 35mm.
We all know that moving images were born with a scientific aim: to find the invisible beneath the visible. Joaquím Jordà and Nuria Villazán, as well as Jordà’s pupil, Isaki Lacuesta, use scientific tools to go further, where the camera (normally) cannot film: what will they find?
Total running time: ca. 130 minutes.

(UNTER KONTROLLE)
Made in collaboration with Stefan Stefanescu. Distributed by Credo Film; special thanks to Katharina Bergfeld.

This striking, beautifully composed, and undeniably timely documentary takes viewers into the heart of a series of German nuclear power plants, unveiling a surreal, technologically bewildering realm whose bright, sleek, seemingly highly controlled appearance belies the dangerous, destructive forces involved. We see glisteningly bright control rooms, decontamination locks, and smoke-screen devices, and enter the depths of the mineral deposits, all of which reflect the superhuman rationality that is supposed to contain and channel the power of the nuclear fission.
UNDER CONTROL offers an opportunity to marvel at a scientific project that once promised a glorious future, and which today has not lost its power to fascinate, despite its increasingly apparent shortcomings and dangers. Above all it reveals the ongoing attempts to reconcile a kind of literal ‘science fiction’ – the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy – with reality.

“UNDER CONTROL unfolds a panorama of atomic energy in Germany. Its broad perspective reveals the enormous challenges and tremendous efforts that this type of energy demands from humankind. In the control rooms, reactors, and atomic waste storages the camera focuses on the efforts of risk management. The relationship between man and machine is questioned in work environments usually hidden. With a view to the power plants, a history of civilization opens up like a piece of archeology. For me the film is an exploration of a technology that was once a synonym for progress. It was important for me to trace the hidden [sense of the] tragic.” –Volker Sattel

Mikel Zatarain LANBROA (2010, 5 minutes, video)
Oliver Laxe GRRR! Nº8: SUENA LA TROMPETA, AHORA VEO OTRA CARA (2007, 8 minutes, video)
Isaki Lacuesta MARKER VARIATIONS / LAS VARIACIONES MARKER (2007, 35 minutes, video)
Pere Portabella MOVE / MUDANZA (2009, 20 minutes, 35mm)
Los Hijos THE SUN ON THE QUINCE TREE OF THE SUN / EL SOL EN EL SOL DEL MEMBRILLO (2008, 12 minutes, video)
In this program, there are the films but also their echoes. Besides the filmmakers listed above, the artists Víctor Erice, Chris Marker, and Federico García Lorca also appear in one way or another. They are mirrors for reflection; they are gods and ghosts.
Total running time: ca. 90 minutes.

Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste created by nuclear power plants are placed in interim storages, which are vulnerable to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and societal changes. In Finland the world’s first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock – a huge system of underground tunnels – that must last 100,000 years since this is how long the waste remains hazardous. How is it possible to warn our descendants of the deadly waste we left behind? How do we prevent them from thinking they have found the pyramids of our time, mystical burial grounds, hidden treasures? Captivating, wondrous, and extremely frightening, this feature documentary takes viewers on an unprecedented journey into the underworld and into the future.

DIGITAL FILM ACADEMY PROGRAM
For program details, visit www.newfilmmakers.com.

SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Bob Jones POLICE STORY (2011, 2 minutes, video)
Derick Crucius TRAMP (2010, 9 minutes, video)
Edward Kelahan THE COVER UP (2011, 10 minutes, video)
Jordan Block UNDERDOGS (2010, 11 minutes, video)
Michael Colton EXPIRED (2010, 23 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Mark Nistico
BLUE COLLAR BOYS
2011, 92 minutes, video.
Motivated by money and fueled by a life of hardship and hatred, lifelong friends gain a thirst for revenge.

Special Program at 6:00, Short Film Program at 8:00, Feature at 9:15.

Isaki Lacuesta
LA LEYENDA DEL TIEMPO
2006, 115 minutes, 35mm.
Isaki Lacuesta portrays one of the most traditional parts of Spanish culture: flamenco. This documentary is preoccupied by the ghost of the tradition that comes through its more modern manifestations.

ISAKI LACUESTA WILL BE HERE IN PERSON TO PRESENT THIS SCREENING!

NEWFILMMAKERS CELEBRATES CHRISTMAS

SPECIAL PROGRAM
Mattie Wilson MY CHRISTMAS (2005, 47 minutes)
This film is about more than Christmas. Thisd story is a heart filled depiction of the power of undying love.
Alyssa Codamon MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVE (2011, 36 minutes)
Three aimless post-collegiate friends interpret different ways of growing up.

FIRST SHORT PROGRAM
Chris Caraballo THE HISTORY OF SPACE FLIGHT (2010, 18 minutes)
A quest to reach their presents before Christmas sent them on a mission that rivaled man's journey to the moon.
Ryan Patch THE SHEOL EXPRESS (2011, 28 minutes)
Tired of traveling the underworld, Owen Turner boards The Sheol Express, a fantastical train that ferries souls to their final resting place at the End of the Line. Once aboard, Owen must choose where to disembark.

SECOND SHORT PROGRAM
Madeline Youngberg JUST FOR SHOW (2011, 6 minutes)
Joseph Villapaz LOVE ETERNE (2011, 50 minutes)
Medina’s (Melissa Navia) fiancé has just passed away and Quinn’s (James Gill) girlfriend broke up with him. Two separate lives suddenly torn apart. When their friends and family come to their aid, everyone’s paths are set on a new course and destiny.

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Steve Rahaman
TO BE KING
2011, 103 minutes.
The story of a down and out boxer who overcomes the odds to become a champion.
–Tuesday, December 13, Special Program at 5:30, First Shorts Program at 7:00, Second Shorts Program at 8:00, Feature Presentation at 9:00.

José Luis Guerín
WORK IN PROGRESS / EN CONSTRUCCIÓN
2001, 125 minutes, 35mm.
This film’s ostensible subject is the construction of a building of condominiums in a crumbling working-class neighborhood in Barcelona. The construction site represents an attempt to ‘improve’ the neighborhood – by pushing some longtime residents out. The subtlety of the construction of the film itself speaks to the theme of transformation, the track of time in the external landscape and in the inner one.

GUERÍN WILL BE HERE IN PERSON FOR A Q&A FOLLOWING THE SCREENING!

Jonas Mekas & José Luis Guerín
CORRESPONDENCE
2011, 78 minutes, video.
Digital technologies are changing cinema and driving it towards new directions. In some ways they are bringing it back to its origins: a man, a camera, and a world to explore. Jonas Mekas and José Luis Guerín send video letters to each other, exploring new ways of filming, and talking about what lies outside images: life.

JONAS MEKAS & JOSE LUIS GUERÍN WILL BE HERE IN PERSON TO INTRODUCE THE SCREENING!

Pere Portabella
VAMPIR CUADECUC
1971, 67 minutes, 35mm.
Every documentary film has a vampire inside: a camera that drinks the blood of the subjects being filmed. This is a behind-the-scenes look at Jesús Franco’s horror movie. Pere Portabella plays with the codes of horror and makes a materialist-experimental film using the same footage as the commercial film whose production it documents.

In this era of divided politics, defined by the growing disconnect between urban and rural communities, EMPTY QUARTER is a welcome respite. It is a film about the region of Southeastern Oregon, an area that comprises roughly one-third of Oregon’s landmass, yet holds less than two percent of the state’s population. It is a landscape in the making, constantly undergoing change, and evoking differing opinions concerning resource management and land use. It is also a landscape that is, despite some beliefs, rich with diversity, as seen by the presence of East Indian families, Japanese families, ancestors of Basque sheep herders, home to the Paiute tribes people, and to Latinos who have come to help work the land.

Through a series of stationary shots, LeTourneau and Minty reflect on the character of the region as viewed through its natural areas, industry, various labor processes, resource management, and recreation. The voices of local residents describe the history of pioneer settlement, the social life of rural communities, and the struggles of small town economies. EMPTY QUARTER is a contemplative, haunting portrait of a region that, like many others of its kind, is rarely noticed in the culture at large.

EMPTY QUARTER will also be featured as part of the Margaret Mead Film Festival, taking place November 10-13. Founded by the American Museum of Natural History, the Margaret Mead Film Festival is the longest-running, premiere showcase for international documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spectrum of work, from indigenous community media to experimental nonfiction. The Festival will be screening EMPTY QUARTER on Saturday, November 12 at 8:00pm. For tickets, click here.
For more info on the Margaret Mead Film Festival, visit http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2011/

“For two hours we stroll with Jonas Mekas through New York nights, through apartments, studios, backstage rooms, galleries, bars, and clubs. We meet old acquaintances like Ken and Flo Jacobs, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Carolee Schneemann, Marina Abramović, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pip Chodorov, friends, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and we also make many new acquaintances. The father of the diary film begins a film with the words ‘I can’t sleep.’ Who hasn’t been in this situation? Sleepy and yet wide awake at the same time, you find yourself in the world of those exhausted from the day’s exertions, the drunk, the relaxed, the dancing, the brooding, the mourning, the pensive, the partiers. In this film Mekas dives into a time vacuum…and it becomes increasingly unclear whether we really did get up and go out, whether what we’re seeing are remnants of the day that we’re remembering or remnants of films by one of the greatest avant-garde filmmakers whose life wrote film history.” –BERLINALE 2011

“This film originated from my readings of the ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. But unlike the Arabian tales, my stories are all from real life, though at times they too wander into somewhere else, beyond the everyday routine reality.
“There are some twenty-five different stories in my movie. Their protagonists are all my good friends and I myself am an inseparable part of the stories. The storyteller of the Arabian Nights was also part of his or her tales.
“Some of the people in the movie you’ll recognize, some not. The fact that some of them you’ll recognize has no bearing on the stories: after all, we all recognize John Wayne or Annette Bening, but in their stories they are no longer the people we know.
“The subjects of the stories cover a wide range of emotions, geographies, personal anxieties, anecdotes. These are not very big stories, not for the Big Screen: these are all personal big stories… And yes, you’ll also find some provocations… But that’s me, one ‘me’ of many. The very question What is a story? is a provocative question.” –J.M.

In this era of divided politics, defined by the growing disconnect between urban and rural communities, EMPTY QUARTER is a welcome respite. It is a film about the region of Southeastern Oregon, an area that comprises roughly one-third of Oregon’s landmass, yet holds less than two percent of the state’s population. It is a landscape in the making, constantly undergoing change, and evoking differing opinions concerning resource management and land use. It is also a landscape that is, despite some beliefs, rich with diversity, as seen by the presence of East Indian families, Japanese families, ancestors of Basque sheep herders, home to the Paiute tribes people, and to Latinos who have come to help work the land.

Through a series of stationary shots, LeTourneau and Minty reflect on the character of the region as viewed through its natural areas, industry, various labor processes, resource management, and recreation. The voices of local residents describe the history of pioneer settlement, the social life of rural communities, and the struggles of small town economies. EMPTY QUARTER is a contemplative, haunting portrait of a region that, like many others of its kind, is rarely noticed in the culture at large.

EMPTY QUARTER will also be featured as part of the Margaret Mead Film Festival, taking place November 10-13. Founded by the American Museum of Natural History, the Margaret Mead Film Festival is the longest-running, premiere showcase for international documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spectrum of work, from indigenous community media to experimental nonfiction. The Festival will be screening EMPTY QUARTER on Saturday, November 12 at 8:00pm. For tickets, click here.
For more info on the Margaret Mead Film Festival, visit http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2011/

“For two hours we stroll with Jonas Mekas through New York nights, through apartments, studios, backstage rooms, galleries, bars, and clubs. We meet old acquaintances like Ken and Flo Jacobs, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Carolee Schneemann, Marina Abramović, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pip Chodorov, friends, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and we also make many new acquaintances. The father of the diary film begins a film with the words ‘I can’t sleep.’ Who hasn’t been in this situation? Sleepy and yet wide awake at the same time, you find yourself in the world of those exhausted from the day’s exertions, the drunk, the relaxed, the dancing, the brooding, the mourning, the pensive, the partiers. In this film Mekas dives into a time vacuum…and it becomes increasingly unclear whether we really did get up and go out, whether what we’re seeing are remnants of the day that we’re remembering or remnants of films by one of the greatest avant-garde filmmakers whose life wrote film history.” –BERLINALE 2011

“This film originated from my readings of the ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. But unlike the Arabian tales, my stories are all from real life, though at times they too wander into somewhere else, beyond the everyday routine reality.
“There are some twenty-five different stories in my movie. Their protagonists are all my good friends and I myself am an inseparable part of the stories. The storyteller of the Arabian Nights was also part of his or her tales.
“Some of the people in the movie you’ll recognize, some not. The fact that some of them you’ll recognize has no bearing on the stories: after all, we all recognize John Wayne or Annette Bening, but in their stories they are no longer the people we know.
“The subjects of the stories cover a wide range of emotions, geographies, personal anxieties, anecdotes. These are not very big stories, not for the Big Screen: these are all personal big stories… And yes, you’ll also find some provocations… But that’s me, one ‘me’ of many. The very question What is a story? is a provocative question.” –J.M.

(STARA ŠKOLA KAPITALIZMA)

This film is rooted in the first wave of workers’ revolts to hit Serbia since the advent of capitalism. Desperate workers bulldoze through factory gates and are devastated to discover the site looted by the bosses. Eccentrically escalating confrontations, including a melee with workers in football shoulder-pads and helmets, and the boss and his security force in bulletproof vests, prove fruitless. Committed young anarchists offer solidarity, and take the bosses hostage. A Russian tycoon, a Wall Street trader, and U.S. Vice President Biden’s visit to Belgrade unexpectedly complicate events. Along the way, the film produces an increasingly complex and yet unfailingly lively account of present-day, up-to-the-minute struggles under the misery-inducing effects of both local and global capital.

This provocative, thrilling, and still-relevant classic is a comic fantasy of female rebellion set in America ten years after the Second American Revolution. Embedded within the radical feminist underground, it follows the activities of the Women’s Army, a powerful but loosely organized faction of female vigilantes and counterrevolutionaries, and two pirate radio programs trying to awaken the sisterhood and shake up the system. When the outspoken Black leader of the Women’s Army dies in police custody, a united front emerges to take direct action and potentially dangerous measures.

Filmed 1964-68; edited 1968-69. “Since 1950 I have been keeping a film diary. I have been walking around with my Bolex and reacting to the immediate reality: situations, friends, New York, seasons of the year. On some days I shot ten frames, on others ten seconds, still on others ten minutes. Or I shot nothing. When one writes diaries, it’s a retrospective process: you sit down, you look back at your day, and you write it all down. To keep a film (camera) diary, is to react (with your camera) immediately, now, this instant: either you get it now, or you don’t get it at all.” –J.M.
“I make home movies – therefore I live. I live – therefore I make home movies.” –from the soundtrack.

(VIVIR DE PIE. LAS GUERRAS DE CIPRIANO MERA)

LIVING ON YOUR FEET tells the story of the odyssey of Cipriano Mera, the bricklayer-turned-revolutionary who commanded the 4th army corps during the Spanish Civil War and defeated Mussolini’s generals. Even after the war, returning to his life as a bricklayer, he remained firm in his objective: to kill Franco. This is the story of a free man who refused to die on his feet or live life on his knees.

“For two hours we stroll with Jonas Mekas through New York nights, through apartments, studios, backstage rooms, galleries, bars, and clubs. We meet old acquaintances like Ken and Flo Jacobs, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Carolee Schneemann, Marina Abramović, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pip Chodorov, friends, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and we also make many new acquaintances. The father of the diary film begins a film with the words ‘I can’t sleep.’ Who hasn’t been in this situation? Sleepy and yet wide awake at the same time, you find yourself in the world of those exhausted from the day’s exertions, the drunk, the relaxed, the dancing, the brooding, the mourning, the pensive, the partiers. In this film Mekas dives into a time vacuum…and it becomes increasingly unclear whether we really did get up and go out, whether what we’re seeing are remnants of the day that we’re remembering or remnants of films by one of the greatest avant-garde filmmakers whose life wrote film history.” –BERLINALE 2011

“This film originated from my readings of the ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. But unlike the Arabian tales, my stories are all from real life, though at times they too wander into somewhere else, beyond the everyday routine reality.
“There are some twenty-five different stories in my movie. Their protagonists are all my good friends and I myself am an inseparable part of the stories. The storyteller of the Arabian Nights was also part of his or her tales.
“Some of the people in the movie you’ll recognize, some not. The fact that some of them you’ll recognize has no bearing on the stories: after all, we all recognize John Wayne or Annette Bening, but in their stories they are no longer the people we know.
“The subjects of the stories cover a wide range of emotions, geographies, personal anxieties, anecdotes. These are not very big stories, not for the Big Screen: these are all personal big stories… And yes, you’ll also find some provocations… But that’s me, one ‘me’ of many. The very question What is a story? is a provocative question.” –J.M.

Pere Portabella
EL SOPAR
1974, 50 minutes, video. In Spanish and Catalan with English subtitles.
In 1974, on the night the militant anarchist Salvador Puig Antich was executed, five former political prisoners – Angel Abad, Jordi Cunill, Lola Ferreira, Narcís Julian, and Antonio Marín – gather in a farmhouse to prepare a meal and make a film discussing the problems and issues arising from long prison terms. Portabella uses simple cinematic conventions to explore his subject: “You can’t understand liberation if you don’t begin with yourself.”
&
Jean Vigo
ZERO FOR CONDUCT / ZÉRO DE CONDUITE
1933, 44 minutes, 35mm, b&w. In French with no subtitles; English synopsis available.
Vigo’s eloquent parable of freedom versus authority is set at a boys’ boarding school and undoubtedly echoes his own unhappy experiences as a child. Under the pressure of various civic groups the film was removed from screens several months after its release in 1933. It was branded “anti-French” by censors and was not shown again in Paris until 1945.

With Gian Maria Volontè, Riccardo Cucciolla, and Cyril Cusack.
One of the most shameful chapters in American history is captured here in the dramatic retelling of the true saga of two Italian immigrants and anarchists – Bartolomeo Vanzetti (Volontè) and Nicola Sacco (Cucciolla) – who were falsely accused, tried, and executed for murder. Composer Ennio Morricone collaborated here with singer Joan Baez, who wrote the lyrics for two songs she performs on the soundtrack.

CO-DIRECTOR PACHO VELEZ IN PERSON FOR BOTH SHOWS!
Three Croatian activists struggle to change the world. As children, they lived through the violent collapse of Yugoslavia. But now, amid the aftershocks of socialism’s failure, they fight in their own way for a new leftism. Whether clashing with police or squatting in an old factory, they risk everything to live their politics. But as the setbacks mount, will they give up the fight? The film, shot during years of fieldwork with a Croatian anarchist collective, presents a portrayal of activism that is both empathetic and unflinching – an engaged, elegant meditation on the struggle to re-imagine leftist politics and the power of a country’s youth.
“Dramatic proof that the struggle for liberty is irrepressible.” –Howard Zinn

The 72-day Paris Commune of 1871 remains a seminal event for the anti-authoritarian left. Despite its brevity and tragic demise (30,000 people were massacred by the French army), this experiment in direct democracy exemplifies the credo of the First International – “the emancipation of the working classes must be achieved by the working classes themselves.” Watkins’s film is less a traditional epic than a quasi-Brechtian invocation of the spirit of the Commune. A slyly anachronistic device – the turbulent events are covered by both the left-wing ‘Commune TV’ and the state-sponsored ‘Versailles TV’ – emphasizes the need for alternative media in the era of corporate hegemony.

Preserved by Anthology Film Archives with support from The Film Foundation. Special thanks to Cineric, Inc., and Trackwise.
“The film consists of four parts. The first part contains some footage from my first years in America, 1949-52. The second part was shot in August 1971 in Lithuania. The third part is in Elmshorn, near Hamburg, where I spent eight months in a forced labor camp. The fourth part is in Vienna (1971) with Peter Kubelka, Nitsch, Annette Michelson, Ken Jacobs, etc. The film deals with home, memory, and culture.” –J.M.

“For two hours we stroll with Jonas Mekas through New York nights, through apartments, studios, backstage rooms, galleries, bars, and clubs. We meet old acquaintances like Ken and Flo Jacobs, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Carolee Schneemann, Marina Abramović, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pip Chodorov, friends, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and we also make many new acquaintances. The father of the diary film begins a film with the words ‘I can’t sleep.’ Who hasn’t been in this situation? Sleepy and yet wide awake at the same time, you find yourself in the world of those exhausted from the day’s exertions, the drunk, the relaxed, the dancing, the brooding, the mourning, the pensive, the partiers. In this film Mekas dives into a time vacuum…and it becomes increasingly unclear whether we really did get up and go out, whether what we’re seeing are remnants of the day that we’re remembering or remnants of films by one of the greatest avant-garde filmmakers whose life wrote film history.” –BERLINALE 2011

“This film originated from my readings of the ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. But unlike the Arabian tales, my stories are all from real life, though at times they too wander into somewhere else, beyond the everyday routine reality.
“There are some twenty-five different stories in my movie. Their protagonists are all my good friends and I myself am an inseparable part of the stories. The storyteller of the Arabian Nights was also part of his or her tales.
“Some of the people in the movie you’ll recognize, some not. The fact that some of them you’ll recognize has no bearing on the stories: after all, we all recognize John Wayne or Annette Bening, but in their stories they are no longer the people we know.
“The subjects of the stories cover a wide range of emotions, geographies, personal anxieties, anecdotes. These are not very big stories, not for the Big Screen: these are all personal big stories… And yes, you’ll also find some provocations… But that’s me, one ‘me’ of many. The very question What is a story? is a provocative question.” –J.M.

With Annette Michelson, Amy Taubin, Vito Acconci, Cynthia Beatt, Ilona Halberstadt, Vernon Gabor, and Yvonne Rainer.
To explore the ramifications of terrorism, Rainer employs an extended therapy session – in which an American woman speaks to a series of psychiatrists – to evoke the daily experiences of power and repression.
“Rainer’s film questions duplicitous rehabilitation (psychiatric care/control), the efficacy of radicalism, and conflicted political and personal motivations. … The collage essay technique of JOURNEYS parallels the investigation of these conflicts on a formal level. She weaves the stories of 19th-century Russian anarchists; the staging of identity as it occurs in therapeutic analysis, writing a diary, or preparing a meal; and the fate of the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof gang), which exposed the precarious and enforced nature of West German democratic freedoms in the 1970s.” –Konrad Steiner, kino21

ANNETTE MICHELSON WILL BE HERE IN PERSON ON SUNDAY, DEC 18 TO INTRODUCE THE SCREENING!

(THE ANGRY BRIGADE: THE SPECTACULAR RISE AND FALL OF BRITAIN’S FIRST URBAN GUERILLA GROUP)

Produced in collaboration with the BBC, Gordon Carr’s documentary recounts the exploits and prosecution of the Angry Brigade, the British libertarian communist group responsible for a rash of property-targeted bombings between 1970 and 1972. The film covers the roots of the Angry Brigade in the revolutionary ferment of the 1960s, and follows their campaign and the police investigation to its culmination in the “Stoke Newington 8” conspiracy trial at the Old Bailey – the longest criminal trial in British legal history. Produced after extensive research – among both the libertarian opposition and the police – it remains the essential study of Britain’s first urban guerilla group.

(STARA ŠKOLA KAPITALIZMA)

This film is rooted in the first wave of workers’ revolts to hit Serbia since the advent of capitalism. Desperate workers bulldoze through factory gates and are devastated to discover the site looted by the bosses. Eccentrically escalating confrontations, including a melee with workers in football shoulder-pads and helmets, and the boss and his security force in bulletproof vests, prove fruitless. Committed young anarchists offer solidarity, and take the bosses hostage. A Russian tycoon, a Wall Street trader, and U.S. Vice President Biden’s visit to Belgrade unexpectedly complicate events. Along the way, the film produces an increasingly complex and yet unfailingly lively account of present-day, up-to-the-minute struggles under the misery-inducing effects of both local and global capital.

“For two hours we stroll with Jonas Mekas through New York nights, through apartments, studios, backstage rooms, galleries, bars, and clubs. We meet old acquaintances like Ken and Flo Jacobs, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Carolee Schneemann, Marina Abramović, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pip Chodorov, friends, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and we also make many new acquaintances. The father of the diary film begins a film with the words ‘I can’t sleep.’ Who hasn’t been in this situation? Sleepy and yet wide awake at the same time, you find yourself in the world of those exhausted from the day’s exertions, the drunk, the relaxed, the dancing, the brooding, the mourning, the pensive, the partiers. In this film Mekas dives into a time vacuum…and it becomes increasingly unclear whether we really did get up and go out, whether what we’re seeing are remnants of the day that we’re remembering or remnants of films by one of the greatest avant-garde filmmakers whose life wrote film history.” –BERLINALE 2011

“This film originated from my readings of the ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. But unlike the Arabian tales, my stories are all from real life, though at times they too wander into somewhere else, beyond the everyday routine reality.
“There are some twenty-five different stories in my movie. Their protagonists are all my good friends and I myself am an inseparable part of the stories. The storyteller of the Arabian Nights was also part of his or her tales.
“Some of the people in the movie you’ll recognize, some not. The fact that some of them you’ll recognize has no bearing on the stories: after all, we all recognize John Wayne or Annette Bening, but in their stories they are no longer the people we know.
“The subjects of the stories cover a wide range of emotions, geographies, personal anxieties, anecdotes. These are not very big stories, not for the Big Screen: these are all personal big stories… And yes, you’ll also find some provocations… But that’s me, one ‘me’ of many. The very question What is a story? is a provocative question.” –J.M.

(CHARLES MORT OU VIF)

With François Simon.
Tanner’s first feature was among the films that put Switzerland on the world cinema map at the end of the 1960s. Today its appeal and energy remain undiminished. Tanner drew his subject matter from what he saw of the events of May ’68 in Paris, which he covered for Swiss television. Unimpressed by the ideological pronouncements of the young demonstrators, he was struck more by the elderly people marching alongside them. The film is therefore a portrait of an old man who decides to abandon his comfortable, bourgeois way of life to live with a bohemian couple. There he rediscovers his freedom and joie de vivre.

“For two hours we stroll with Jonas Mekas through New York nights, through apartments, studios, backstage rooms, galleries, bars, and clubs. We meet old acquaintances like Ken and Flo Jacobs, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Carolee Schneemann, Marina Abramović, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pip Chodorov, friends, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and we also make many new acquaintances. The father of the diary film begins a film with the words ‘I can’t sleep.’ Who hasn’t been in this situation? Sleepy and yet wide awake at the same time, you find yourself in the world of those exhausted from the day’s exertions, the drunk, the relaxed, the dancing, the brooding, the mourning, the pensive, the partiers. In this film Mekas dives into a time vacuum…and it becomes increasingly unclear whether we really did get up and go out, whether what we’re seeing are remnants of the day that we’re remembering or remnants of films by one of the greatest avant-garde filmmakers whose life wrote film history.” –BERLINALE 2011

“This film originated from my readings of the ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. But unlike the Arabian tales, my stories are all from real life, though at times they too wander into somewhere else, beyond the everyday routine reality.
“There are some twenty-five different stories in my movie. Their protagonists are all my good friends and I myself am an inseparable part of the stories. The storyteller of the Arabian Nights was also part of his or her tales.
“Some of the people in the movie you’ll recognize, some not. The fact that some of them you’ll recognize has no bearing on the stories: after all, we all recognize John Wayne or Annette Bening, but in their stories they are no longer the people we know.
“The subjects of the stories cover a wide range of emotions, geographies, personal anxieties, anecdotes. These are not very big stories, not for the Big Screen: these are all personal big stories… And yes, you’ll also find some provocations… But that’s me, one ‘me’ of many. The very question What is a story? is a provocative question.” –J.M.

This provocative, thrilling, and still-relevant classic is a comic fantasy of female rebellion set in America ten years after the Second American Revolution. Embedded within the radical feminist underground, it follows the activities of the Women’s Army, a powerful but loosely organized faction of female vigilantes and counterrevolutionaries, and two pirate radio programs trying to awaken the sisterhood and shake up the system. When the outspoken Black leader of the Women’s Army dies in police custody, a united front emerges to take direct action and potentially dangerous measures.

With Annette Michelson, Amy Taubin, Vito Acconci, Cynthia Beatt, Ilona Halberstadt, Vernon Gabor, and Yvonne Rainer.
To explore the ramifications of terrorism, Rainer employs an extended therapy session – in which an American woman speaks to a series of psychiatrists – to evoke the daily experiences of power and repression.
“Rainer’s film questions duplicitous rehabilitation (psychiatric care/control), the efficacy of radicalism, and conflicted political and personal motivations. … The collage essay technique of JOURNEYS parallels the investigation of these conflicts on a formal level. She weaves the stories of 19th-century Russian anarchists; the staging of identity as it occurs in therapeutic analysis, writing a diary, or preparing a meal; and the fate of the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof gang), which exposed the precarious and enforced nature of West German democratic freedoms in the 1970s.” –Konrad Steiner, kino21

ANNETTE MICHELSON WILL BE HERE IN PERSON ON SUNDAY, DEC 18 TO INTRODUCE THE SCREENING!

“For two hours we stroll with Jonas Mekas through New York nights, through apartments, studios, backstage rooms, galleries, bars, and clubs. We meet old acquaintances like Ken and Flo Jacobs, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Carolee Schneemann, Marina Abramović, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pip Chodorov, friends, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and we also make many new acquaintances. The father of the diary film begins a film with the words ‘I can’t sleep.’ Who hasn’t been in this situation? Sleepy and yet wide awake at the same time, you find yourself in the world of those exhausted from the day’s exertions, the drunk, the relaxed, the dancing, the brooding, the mourning, the pensive, the partiers. In this film Mekas dives into a time vacuum…and it becomes increasingly unclear whether we really did get up and go out, whether what we’re seeing are remnants of the day that we’re remembering or remnants of films by one of the greatest avant-garde filmmakers whose life wrote film history.” –BERLINALE 2011

“This film originated from my readings of the ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. But unlike the Arabian tales, my stories are all from real life, though at times they too wander into somewhere else, beyond the everyday routine reality.
“There are some twenty-five different stories in my movie. Their protagonists are all my good friends and I myself am an inseparable part of the stories. The storyteller of the Arabian Nights was also part of his or her tales.
“Some of the people in the movie you’ll recognize, some not. The fact that some of them you’ll recognize has no bearing on the stories: after all, we all recognize John Wayne or Annette Bening, but in their stories they are no longer the people we know.
“The subjects of the stories cover a wide range of emotions, geographies, personal anxieties, anecdotes. These are not very big stories, not for the Big Screen: these are all personal big stories… And yes, you’ll also find some provocations… But that’s me, one ‘me’ of many. The very question What is a story? is a provocative question.” –J.M.

CO-DIRECTOR PACHO VELEZ IN PERSON FOR BOTH SHOWS!
Three Croatian activists struggle to change the world. As children, they lived through the violent collapse of Yugoslavia. But now, amid the aftershocks of socialism’s failure, they fight in their own way for a new leftism. Whether clashing with police or squatting in an old factory, they risk everything to live their politics. But as the setbacks mount, will they give up the fight? The film, shot during years of fieldwork with a Croatian anarchist collective, presents a portrayal of activism that is both empathetic and unflinching – an engaged, elegant meditation on the struggle to re-imagine leftist politics and the power of a country’s youth.
“Dramatic proof that the struggle for liberty is irrepressible.” –Howard Zinn

(STARA ŠKOLA KAPITALIZMA)

This film is rooted in the first wave of workers’ revolts to hit Serbia since the advent of capitalism. Desperate workers bulldoze through factory gates and are devastated to discover the site looted by the bosses. Eccentrically escalating confrontations, including a melee with workers in football shoulder-pads and helmets, and the boss and his security force in bulletproof vests, prove fruitless. Committed young anarchists offer solidarity, and take the bosses hostage. A Russian tycoon, a Wall Street trader, and U.S. Vice President Biden’s visit to Belgrade unexpectedly complicate events. Along the way, the film produces an increasingly complex and yet unfailingly lively account of present-day, up-to-the-minute struggles under the misery-inducing effects of both local and global capital.

“For two hours we stroll with Jonas Mekas through New York nights, through apartments, studios, backstage rooms, galleries, bars, and clubs. We meet old acquaintances like Ken and Flo Jacobs, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Carolee Schneemann, Marina Abramović, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pip Chodorov, friends, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and we also make many new acquaintances. The father of the diary film begins a film with the words ‘I can’t sleep.’ Who hasn’t been in this situation? Sleepy and yet wide awake at the same time, you find yourself in the world of those exhausted from the day’s exertions, the drunk, the relaxed, the dancing, the brooding, the mourning, the pensive, the partiers. In this film Mekas dives into a time vacuum…and it becomes increasingly unclear whether we really did get up and go out, whether what we’re seeing are remnants of the day that we’re remembering or remnants of films by one of the greatest avant-garde filmmakers whose life wrote film history.” –BERLINALE 2011

“This film originated from my readings of the ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. But unlike the Arabian tales, my stories are all from real life, though at times they too wander into somewhere else, beyond the everyday routine reality.
“There are some twenty-five different stories in my movie. Their protagonists are all my good friends and I myself am an inseparable part of the stories. The storyteller of the Arabian Nights was also part of his or her tales.
“Some of the people in the movie you’ll recognize, some not. The fact that some of them you’ll recognize has no bearing on the stories: after all, we all recognize John Wayne or Annette Bening, but in their stories they are no longer the people we know.
“The subjects of the stories cover a wide range of emotions, geographies, personal anxieties, anecdotes. These are not very big stories, not for the Big Screen: these are all personal big stories… And yes, you’ll also find some provocations… But that’s me, one ‘me’ of many. The very question What is a story? is a provocative question.” –J.M.

FILMMAKERS IN PERSON!
Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher founded Pacific Street Films in 1969 while studying under Martin Scorsese at NYU. While filming undercover agents who were suspected of showing up at protest rallies, Fischler and Sucher themselves were harassed, photographed, and arrested. This experience became the basis for their first documentary, RED SQUAD, completed in 1971. Since then, they have directed and produced a series of non-fiction films known for illuminating and exploring modern American social history.

RED SQUAD
1972, 42 minutes, video.
An investigative (but frequently humorous) documentary on the surveillance activities of the New York City Police Department’s Bureau of Special Services, known as the Red Squad.
“An original and important political film. … This film is truth, this film is cinéma vérité, this film is ‘kino pravda.’ In a sense, RED SQUAD could be considered an ironical sequel to Dziga Vertov’s film, MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA.” –Jonas Mekas, VILLAGE VOICE
&
FREE VOICE OF LABOR: THE JEWISH ANARCHISTS
1980, 55 minutes, video.
A dramatic portrait of immigrant life in the U.S. as seen through the eyes of the sweatshop workers who made up the Jewish anarchist movement between 1900 and WWI. The film includes interviews with participants in the movement, archival photos and newsreel footage, excerpts from old motion pictures, and Yiddish songs and poems.

(THE ANGRY BRIGADE: THE SPECTACULAR RISE AND FALL OF BRITAIN’S FIRST URBAN GUERILLA GROUP)

Produced in collaboration with the BBC, Gordon Carr’s documentary recounts the exploits and prosecution of the Angry Brigade, the British libertarian communist group responsible for a rash of property-targeted bombings between 1970 and 1972. The film covers the roots of the Angry Brigade in the revolutionary ferment of the 1960s, and follows their campaign and the police investigation to its culmination in the “Stoke Newington 8” conspiracy trial at the Old Bailey – the longest criminal trial in British legal history. Produced after extensive research – among both the libertarian opposition and the police – it remains the essential study of Britain’s first urban guerilla group.

“For two hours we stroll with Jonas Mekas through New York nights, through apartments, studios, backstage rooms, galleries, bars, and clubs. We meet old acquaintances like Ken and Flo Jacobs, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Carolee Schneemann, Marina Abramović, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pip Chodorov, friends, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and we also make many new acquaintances. The father of the diary film begins a film with the words ‘I can’t sleep.’ Who hasn’t been in this situation? Sleepy and yet wide awake at the same time, you find yourself in the world of those exhausted from the day’s exertions, the drunk, the relaxed, the dancing, the brooding, the mourning, the pensive, the partiers. In this film Mekas dives into a time vacuum…and it becomes increasingly unclear whether we really did get up and go out, whether what we’re seeing are remnants of the day that we’re remembering or remnants of films by one of the greatest avant-garde filmmakers whose life wrote film history.” –BERLINALE 2011

“This film originated from my readings of the ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. But unlike the Arabian tales, my stories are all from real life, though at times they too wander into somewhere else, beyond the everyday routine reality.
“There are some twenty-five different stories in my movie. Their protagonists are all my good friends and I myself am an inseparable part of the stories. The storyteller of the Arabian Nights was also part of his or her tales.
“Some of the people in the movie you’ll recognize, some not. The fact that some of them you’ll recognize has no bearing on the stories: after all, we all recognize John Wayne or Annette Bening, but in their stories they are no longer the people we know.
“The subjects of the stories cover a wide range of emotions, geographies, personal anxieties, anecdotes. These are not very big stories, not for the Big Screen: these are all personal big stories… And yes, you’ll also find some provocations… But that’s me, one ‘me’ of many. The very question What is a story? is a provocative question.” –J.M.

(VIVIR DE PIE. LAS GUERRAS DE CIPRIANO MERA)

LIVING ON YOUR FEET tells the story of the odyssey of Cipriano Mera, the bricklayer-turned-revolutionary who commanded the 4th army corps during the Spanish Civil War and defeated Mussolini’s generals. Even after the war, returning to his life as a bricklayer, he remained firm in his objective: to kill Franco. This is the story of a free man who refused to die on his feet or live life on his knees.

(CHARLES MORT OU VIF)

With François Simon.
Tanner’s first feature was among the films that put Switzerland on the world cinema map at the end of the 1960s. Today its appeal and energy remain undiminished. Tanner drew his subject matter from what he saw of the events of May ’68 in Paris, which he covered for Swiss television. Unimpressed by the ideological pronouncements of the young demonstrators, he was struck more by the elderly people marching alongside them. The film is therefore a portrait of an old man who decides to abandon his comfortable, bourgeois way of life to live with a bohemian couple. There he rediscovers his freedom and joie de vivre.