Film Screenings / Programs / Series
JOHN WILSON SELECTS
August 19 – September 5
August 19-September 5, 2023
Filmmaker John Wilson’s invaluable cable/streaming series HOW TO WITH JOHN WILSON is one of the most genuinely inspired, oddball, and sneakily affecting of contemporary TV shows, whose existence in the mainstream entertainment landscape is a small miracle. In common with a handful of other beloved television programs, HOW TO casts an eccentrically and comically anthropological eye on the pathos-filled absurdities of human behavior, the interrelationships, and the daily rituals of 21st-century urban life. But it’s almost alone in doing so with an admirable stylistic purity, without shoehorning itself into the familiar forms of narrative or even documentary television. Like his earlier short films that first garnered attention online and on the festival circuit, HOW TO is constructed from the mountains of footage that Wilson (and his crew) catch on the fly during their wanderings through (mostly) New York City. This footage then becomes a kind of raw material from which they sculpt each episode, finding themes, links, and patterns through inspired feats of editing, all of it woven together by Wilson’s inimitable, deadpan narration.
To celebrate the return of HOW TO WITH JOHN WILSON – whose third and final season begins in July – we’ve invited Wilson to guest-curate a special two-part series. The departure point is a short-film program showcasing original work by crew members of HOW TO. Crucial to both the gathering of footage and the process of editing, these filmmakers – LJ Frezza, Leia Jospé, Nellie Kluz, Chris Maggio, Jess Pinkham, Nathan Truesdell, and Britni West – are all artists in their own right, whose work Wilson has long admired and who bring their distinctive styles and perspectives to the show. For Wilson’s Anthology program, he has invited each of them to present one or more recent short films.
This initial program comprises a group portrait of Wilson’s artistic community, and a kind of deconstruction of HOW TO. For the second part of the series, Wilson has selected a variety of films – from outside this community – that have influenced or inspired him. Encompassing rarely-screened films by Les Blank, Bruce Brown, George Kuchar, and others, the lineup he’s chosen is as singular as his own work, and as reflective of his hilariously skewed, disarmingly perceptive sensibility.
Special thanks to John Wilson and to all the filmmakers; as well as Dominic Baltazar (Lionsgate); Mitchell Block (Direct Cinema Ltd); Tom Colley & Emily Martin (Video Data Bank); Emily Duffy (Les Blank Films); Alex Mecl (Bruce Brown Films); and Elizabeth Sehring (Blowback Productions).
JOHN WILSON & CREW
“When I started to put together the team for HOW TO, I wanted to hire camera people & editors whose vision I really admired. This program showcases original work by a handful of crew members on the show who are all amazing artists in their own right.” –John Wilson
Nathan Truesdell WHEN THE LAPD BLOWS UP YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD 2022, 19 min, digital
Tensions rise on a busy street as news organizations and local residents witness an extremely volatile situation turn into a literal powder keg.
Nellie Kluz THE SUNKEN SMILE 2019, 4 min, digital
Self-contained, underwater, seasonal.
Nellie Kluz DD 2017, 3 min, digital
A movie about one of my favorite restaurants.
Chris Maggio EVEN A BROKEN CLOCK IS RIGHT TWICE A DAY 2023, 14 min, digital
Sometimes things that seem useless can be the most meaningful of all, even if only by accident.
Leia Jospé NO DELAY 2022, 4 min, digital
Leia Jospé LET ME LUV U 2022, 3 min, digital
Two music videos for songs by record producer and DJ Baauer.
Britni West TIRED MOONLIGHT 2015, 15-min excerpt from 76-min feature, Super-16mm-to-digital
Every town has a post office, lovers, guns, switchblades, and beer. You just have to know where to look and when to look the other way. Pitting grand landscapes against dinners of fried chicken and the roar of V8 engines on Saturday nights, TIRED MOONLIGHT wanders through Solitaire games (always won), secrets lost in cavernous hearts, and the fifty miles of bad road that always gets you home.
LJ Frezza NOTHING 2014, 6.5 min, digital
“Every shot from SEINFELD (1989-98) where nothing happens. A response to everyone I met in New York who said they’d love the city if only there weren’t so many people in it.” –LJ Frezza
LJ Frezza IS IT US? 2023, 6 min, digital
“A freelance writer works on her column.” –LJ Frezza
Jess Pinkham PANOPTIJOHN 2023, ca. 15 min, digital
A peek at John Wilson in production on HOW TO.
Assistant Editors of HOW TO WITH JOHN WILSON [AMERICAN BEAUTY à la John Wilson] 2023, 2.5 min, digital
Courtesy of the Assistant Editors of HOW TO, an homage to an infamous moment from AMERICAN BEAUTY, John Wilson-style.
John Wilson MY MORNING WITH MAGIC MIKE 2023, ca. 9 min, digital
A visit with the inimitable Mike Kuchar.
Total running time: ca. 105 min.
Sat, Aug 19 at 7:30 and Thurs, Aug 24 at 6:45.
ANIMALICIOUS + LOONER
“ANIMALICIOUS is a real gem from the golden era of 4x3 documentary. Mark Lewis has this amazing way of re-enacting horrific animal attacks with the real victims in a way that doesn’t feel pretentious like a lot of contemporary non-fiction films. The whole movie is really playful and never takes itself too seriously. I’ve paired it with a documentary I made in college called LOONER about a community of balloon fetishists I found in Binghamton. The film has a lot of sit-down interviews and I feel like there are formal similarities to ANIMALICIOUS.” –John Wilson
Mark Lewis
ANIMALICIOUS
1999, 52 min, digital
A film about fate, co-existence, vanity, justice, karma and forgiveness, ANIMALICOUS comprises six stories of people and the animals that shot them, fell on them, and generally caused mayhem of one sort or another. Filmed in Kentucky, Missouri, and England, ANIMALICOUS features a bomb-diving duck, a squirrel which thinks it’s landed on Normandy Beach, a hawk that could easily work for a hair growth pharmaceutical company, a parakeet, a turkey, a hungry snake, and one tiny little dog. It’s a funny but wry account of how animals can be a way of defining ourselves. In ANIMALICIOUS Lewis displays a genuine knack for uncovering the comic and quizzical relationships that exist between people and creatures great and small.
With:
John Wilson LOONER 2007, 13 min, digital
A short documentary about the veiled lives of balloon fetishists.
Total running time: ca. 70 min.
Sun, Aug 20 at 4:30, Wed, Aug 23 at 8:45, and Mon, Aug 28 at 7:00.
Bruce Brown
ON ANY SUNDAY
1971, 96 min, 35mm-to-DCP
As a follow up to THE ENDLESS SUMMER, his groundbreaking, massively successful film about the evolving surf culture of the 1960s, director Bruce Brown turned his sights to a similarly specialized and under-documented subculture. In ON ANY SUNDAY, Brown was determined to capture the sport of motorcycling from his own unique perspective and lens. Along with his friends Steve McQueen, Malcolm Smith, and Mert Lawwill, Brown focused on the various disciplines of motorcycle racing, as well as the people and the community shaping it. From Mert Lawwill’s attempt to regain his Grand National #1 plate in dirt track and road racing, to Steve McQueen’s real-life weekend warrior racing in the desert and at the famed Elsinore Grand Prix, to Malcolm Smith’s other-worldly skills around the world at the International Six Days Trial, Baja racing, hill-climbing and trials, ON ANY SUNDAY is the quintessential motorcycle film.
“I first became a fan of Bruce Brown after watching THE ENDLESS SUMMER but after diving into his filmography, ON ANY SUNDAY quickly became my favorite of his. His narration is always really sweet and there are some great moments with Steve McQueen peppered throughout.” –John Wilson
Sun, Aug 20 at 6:30, Thurs, Aug 24 at 9:00, and Sun, Aug 27 at 6:15.
Les Blank, Vikram Jayanti, and Chris Simon
INNOCENTS ABROAD
1991, 84 min, 16mm
INNOCENTS ABROAD takes a wry look at how Europeans and Americans stereotype each other, and also examines the validity of 20th-century-style, high-speed, mass tourism. It is a glimpse into an industry which is vital to the European economy, but which also takes a very real toll on the continent, both culturally and ecologically. The eclectic soundtrack includes Mozart, Bob Dylan, Sandy Denny, Jonathan Richman, and others.
“Les Blank filming a bunch of American tourists on a bus traveling around Europe. I feel like I don’t hear about this movie very often when people talk about his filmography, and it’s a rare feature-length project that deserves more attention.” –John Wilson
Sun, Aug 20 at 9:00, Fri, Aug 25 at 7:00, and Mon, Aug 28 at 9:00.
George Kuchar
WEATHER DIARY 5
1989, 38 min, video
Reflecting the fascination of a born-and-bred Bronx native with the “big skies” and extreme weather of the Great Plains, George Kuchar’s “Weather Diaries” were made during his annual vacations to the heartland, where he would stay in small, nondescript motel rooms, ostensibly waiting for tornados to materialize. In fact, the “Weather Diaries” encompass the immediate environment of the motels, the lives and habits of the people he encounters, George’s own loneliness, and his musings on things great and small. In WEATHER DIARY 5, a more socially-active addition to the series, we meet the natives and participate in the rituals of business and schooling and high hopes on the flatlands.
“I’ve watched the entire ‘Weather Diary’ series more times than I can count but number 5 has always been my favorite. Most of the editing seems to have been done in-camera which still baffles me. There’s even this one amazing scene when he’s getting a tour of a hair salon and instead of putting a music track over it in post-production, he actually carried around a tape player and made everyone scream over the Muzak playing in the room.” –John Wilson
With:
George Kuchar LOW LIGHT LIFE 1988, 15 min, video
Shooting in low-light style, Kuchar documents his experiences with various underground filmmakers such as James Broughton and Ken Jacobs, then moves on to the other side of the Hollywood lifestyle to visit Nicholas Cage. Images of crowds and facial close-ups comprise this haunting tape.
George Kuchar AWARD 1992, 20 min, video
A behind-the-scenes look at the man behind the trophy and the poisons that taint an otherwise jubilant jamboree.
Total running time: ca. 75 min.
Mon, Aug 21 at 6:45 and Sat, Aug 26 at 6:30.
Mark Benjamin & Marc Levin
THE LAST PARTY
1993, 96 min, 16mm-to-digital
“Shot in 1992 during the contested presidential election between George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, THE LAST PARTY feels uncannily auspicious from the retrospective lens of 2020. Directed by Mark Benjamin and Marc Levin, the documentary follows a young Robert Downey Jr. traversing a polarized America, navigating the waters of early nineties sociopolitical issues and their subsequent weaponization in lieu of the impending election.” –Eric Hehr, MAAK HAUS MAG
“Robert Downey Jr. is insufferable in this movie but it still manages to be one of the most beautiful documentaries I’ve ever seen. There are so many surprise cameos from 90s celebrities and the focal length is always really wide so you get all this amazing imagery on gorgeous film stock.” –John Wilson
Mon, Aug 21 at 9:00, Sat, Aug 26 at 8:45, and Tues, Aug 29 at 6:30. Filmmakers in person on August 29!
Tony Montana & Mark Brian Smith
OVERNIGHT
2003, 82 min, 35mm-to-digital
“OVERNIGHT tells a riches-to-rags story, like ‘Project Greenlight’ played in reverse. ‘Greenlight,’ you will recall, is the Miramax contest to choose and produce one screenplay every year by a hopeful first-time filmmaker. In OVERNIGHT, the director starts out with a contract and money from Miramax, and works his way back to no contract, no film, and no money. Call it ‘Project Red Light.’” –Roger Ebert
“Any time I feel too cocky about anything during production I think of this movie and make a reminder to second guess myself. It’s a cautionary tale about creative hubris, in which the director of THE BOONDOCK SAINTS is so convinced of his own excellence that he eventually capsizes all his personal and professional relationships in pursuit of a mediocre action movie. It does weirdly become one of the first anti-Harvey Weinstein pieces of media to come out before all the ‘MeToo’ stuff, though.” –John Wilson
Tues, Aug 22 at 7:30, Fri, Aug 25 at 9:15, and Sun, Aug 27 at 8:45.
William H. Whyte
THE SOCIAL LIFE OF SMALL URBAN SPACES
1980, 58 min, 16mm-to-digital
This witty and original film – the filmic counterpart to Whyte’s seminal book of the same name – is about the open spaces of cities and why some of them work for people while others don’t. Beginning at New York’s Seagram Plaza, one of the most used open areas in the city, the film proceeds to analyze why this space is so popular and how other urban oases, both in New York and elsewhere, measure up. Based on direct observation of what people actually do, the film presents a remarkably engaging and informative tour of the urban landscape and looks at how it can be made more hospitable to those who live in it.
“William Whyte is a legendary people watcher who likes to study the subtle ways public space is used. I think about this film constantly whenever I’m out shooting. It all feels very scientific but he has a little fun describing human behavior, like when he identifies the ‘girl watchers’ hanging out in a midtown plaza. My favorite part is when he studies the way that people use chairs.” –John Wilson
Wed, Aug 23 at 7:00, Sun, Aug 27 at 4:30, and Tues, Aug 29 at 8:45.
