FALL 2003
September Shows @ The Little Theatre
Thursday-Sunday, September 2 - 11
Extended Run!
BONHOEFFER
Tuesday, September 2 at 7 pm
Wednesday-Thursday, September 3-11 at 7 & 9 pm
Matinees Saturday and Sunday at 3 & 5 pm!
No shows Monday
(Martin Doblmeier, 2000, BetaSP, 90 min.)
Tuesday, September 2, 7 pm discussion to follow led by Cynthia Moe-Lobeda
As the German Protestant establishment was kowtowing to Hitler, renowned theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer became one of the most outspoken opponents of Nazism and anti-Semitism. Implicated in an ill-fated bomb plot against Hitler, Bonhoeffer went to the gallows for his dissent. This film captures his profound struggle with the question of necessary evil; voiced by Klaus Maria Brandauer, and featuring interviews with Bonhoeffer's resistance comrades, family, students, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
"If your opponent has a conscience, then follow Gandhi and nonviolence. But if your enemy has no conscience like Hitler, then follow Bonhoeffer."
-Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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In tribute to the lives of two wrestling icons who passed away this year - Fred "The King of Men" Blassie and Edward "The Sheik" Farhat - and to all those who keep wrestling real, Northwest Film Forum presents two weeks of
WRESTLEZANIA!
Friday-Thursday, September 12-18 at 7 pm
SEATTLE PREMIERE!
BACKYARD
(Paul Hough, 2002, BetaSP, 80 min.)
Broken glass, scorching flame, staple guns, thumbtacks, and barbed wire are among the weapons of choice in the backyard, where wrestlers like Heartless, The Retarded Butcher, and Sic rule. Unflinchingly honest, THE BACKYARD is described as "The Real Fight Club"! Winner of multiple awards and the highest rating of 5 stars by Film Threat, THE BACKYARD is violent and shocking-yet is "undeniably inspirational"-LA Times
Friday, September 12 at 9 pm
WRESTLING RARITIES!! LIMITED SCREENING!
A TRIBUTE TO BLASSIE:
BREAKFAST WITH BLASSIE
(Linda Lautrec, Johnny Legend, Mark Shepard, 1983, DVD, 60 min.)
Andy Kaufman's ridiculous parody of My Dinner With Andre sets Kaufman, playing himself, at an early-morning breakfast with former wrestling champion/ubermegalomaniac Fred Blassie. Andy and Fred discuss wrestling (Andy's success with wrestling women is discussed at length), then change the topic to techniques for keeping your hands clean, why not to eat pancakes or waffles, and giving autographs to fans.
+BLASSIE GOES TO WASHINGTON
(Jeff Krulik, 1995, VHS, 26 min.)
Five-time world champion wrestler Fred Blassie is indeed the King of Men, and here he also visits the nation's capital with an entourage of strippers and the largest limo around. Learn about our great nation's heritage with the man who coined the term "Pencil Neck Geek!"
MR. BLASSIE passed away on June 2.
Saturday, September 13 at 9 pm
WRESTLING RARITIES!! LIMITED SCREENING!
THE BOWERY BOYS in NO HOLDS BARRED
(William Beaudine, 1952, 16mm, 65 min.)
Here's a priceless gem from the golden era of Hollywood's greatest forgotten lowbrow funnymen: The Bowery Boys! Perennial goof Sach's cranium bizarrely hardens so that it can withstand any pain, so unconcerned buddy Slip enters him in a wrestling competition. Before the match, Sach's condition subsides, but the power moves to his fingers, leading to his gaining phenomenal power in different parts of his body and resulting in the emergence of a new souped-up world champion wrestler. Of course, the bad guys want to put the fix in and the obligatory hijinx begin!
Plays with SURPRISE WRESTLING T.V. CLASSICS!
Sunday, September 14 at 9 pm, September 21 at 7 pm
WRESTLING RARITIES!! LIMITED SCREENING!
GORGEOUS GEORGE in ALIAS THE CHAMP
(George Blair, 1949, 16mm, 60 min.)
A super-rare ex-ploitation film and fascinating time capsule starring Gorgeous George, a popular and flamboyant wrestler of the late '40s and '50s. In this adventure, the Mob has framed the Gorgeous One for a murder in the ring...will he clear his good name and sleek hairless bod? Also stars the inimitable Tor Johnson (the giant inarticulate baldy of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE fame) in the only known print in the world of this early '50s wrestling classic.
Plays with SURPRISE WRESTLING T.V. CLASSICS!
Tues-Sunday, September 16-21 at 9 pm
SEATTLE PREMIERE!
GAEA GIRLS
(Kim Longitto, 2000, 35mm, 106 min.)
"This fascinating film follows the physically grueling and mentally exhausting training regimen of several young wanna-be Gaea Girls, a group of Japanese women wrestlers. The idea of them may seem like a total oxymoron in a country where women are usually regarded as docile and subservient. However, in training and in the arena, the female wrestlers depicted in this film are just as violent as any member of the World Wrestling Federation, and the blood that's drawn is very real indeed. One recruit, Takeuchi, endures ritual humiliation not seen on screen since the boot camp sequences of Full Metal Jacket�"
- Chicago Film Festival
Friday, September 19 at 7 pm
WRESTLING RARITIES!! LIMITED SCREENING!
I LIKE TO HURT PEOPLE: A TRIBUTE TO EDWARD FARHAT, THE SHEIK
(Donald Jackson, 1985, Laser Disc, 83 min.)
Known as the pioneer of hardcore wrestling, the original madman, Edward "The Shiek" Farhat wreaks havoc throughout the sleaziest locales of the American wrestling circuit-maiming, mauling, and living up to his life's code: I LIKE TO HURT PEOPLE! Features an all star cast: Andre the Giant, Abdullah the Butcher, Dory Funk Jr., Terry Funk, and Dusty Rhodes.
Farhat passed away January 18.
"Perhaps no other wrestler is more responsible for influencing the current generation of `hardcore' wrestling than the one and only Arabian madman known as the Sheik."
-The Ring Chronicle
Saturday, September 20 at 7 pm
WRESTLING RARITIES!! LIMITED SCREENING!
ED ASNER in THE WRESTLER
(James A. Westman, 1974, 16mm, 60 min.)
Starring Ed Asner and a young "Nature Boy" Ric Flair-one of wrestling's greatest showmen ("Wooooooooooooo!") - this is a '70s vintage classic with incredible scenes of ring action including Hard Boiled Haggerty, Verne Gagne, and Odd Job (from Goldfinger). Bite the canvas, worm! Plays with surprise T.V. Classics.
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September 26-October 5
FIRST PERSON CINEMA
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
A Festival of Independent Documentary
Sponsors: Vulcan Productions and Microsoft
The Northwest Film Forum's third annual 1ST PERSON CINEMA DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL features personal and artistically driven documentary filmmaking. FIRST PERSON CINEMA selections are autobiographical and intimate nonfiction portraits that use documentary filmmaking as a platform for free expression.
Friday, September 26 at 8 pm
OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION!
SEATTLE PREMIERE!
HOW TO DRAW A BUNNY
(John W. Walter, 2002, BetaSP, 90 min.)
Introduced by Eric Fredericksen
$10/$8 members. Reservations 206/329-2629.
Join us for 1st PERSON CINEMA's opening reception: Friday, September 26 and enjoy the Seattle premiere of HOW TO DRAW A BUNNY-the award-winning Ray Johnson documentary. Special keynote speaker, Eric Fredericksen will introduce the film and a catered reception will follow. Become a part of 1ST PERSON CINEMA by participating in THE FILMFORUM FACTORY-an on-site screen test installation in conjunction with the showing of ANDY WARHOL: SCREEN TESTS closing night.
This compelling new documentary about the mysterious life and death of artist Ray Johnson is a remarkable first film by John Walters, who crossed paths with Johnson in Detroit in the 1980s and was compelled to research Johnson's life when he learned of his death in 1995. Johnson, an art-world prankster whose career resembled a Dada work in progress, used the U.S. Post Office as a distribution system for his complex, punning collages that celebrated celebrity, even as he cultivated his own obscurity. "His whole life was a game, like his work," one colleague says, while another remarks, "Ray wasn't a person, he was Ray Johnson's creation." Walters, working closely with editor/producer Andrew Moore, not only sheds light on Johnson's unique accomplishment as an artist, he also pays tribute to his spirit - and tantalizes the viewer - by structuring a film that is a puzzle without a solution.
Saturday-Sunday, September 27-28 at 7 & 9 pm
SEATTLE PREMIERE!
FILMMAKER and SPEEDO IN ATTENDANCE!
SPEEDO: A DEMOLITION DERBY LOVE STORY
(Jesse Moss, 2003, BetaSP, 80 min.)
With a promising racing career but troubled family life, Ed "Speedo" Jager, one of the nation's top demolition derby drivers, channels his violent frustrations onto the track, while hoping to parlay his talents into a "real" racing career. We soon discover that the very forces that propel him to victory on the track threaten to destroy his marriage and tear his family apart. But when Speedo falls for Liz, a racetrack official, his life takes a surprising turn.
"Addictive�an instant cult classic" -Film Threat
Tuesday, September 30 at 5, 7, & 9 pm
5 & 7 pm show closed captioned for hearing impaired
SEATTLE PREMIERE!
GIRL WRESTLER
(Diane Zander, 2003, BetaSP, 57 min.)
Tara is thirteen. She likes to go to the mall� and she loves to wrestle boys. On her way to the national championships, she battles critics who insist girls shouldn't wrestle boys. She also struggles with her father's drive to see her succeed as she fights her body to control her weight.
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October Shows @ The Little Theatre
September 26-October 5
FIRST PERSON CINEMA
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
A Festival of Independent Documentary
Sponsors: Vulcan Productions and Microsoft
The Northwest Film Forum's third annual 1ST PERSON CINEMA DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL features personal and artistically driven documentary filmmaking. FIRST PERSON CINEMA selections are autobiographical and intimate nonfiction portraits that use documentary filmmaking as a platform for free expression.
Wednesday, October 1 at 7 pm
EXTREMELY RARE REVIVAL DOCUMENTARY!
MARJOE
(Sarah Kernochan & Howard Smith, 1972, BetaSP, 88 min.)
Marjoe Gortner, former child evangelist, returns to the tent revival circuit (this is pre-televised evangelism) at the age of 20 partly to expose the greed and deception of evangelism and partly to show the spiritual release of a good down-home revival. A must see!
Wednesday, October 1 at 9 pm
SEATTLE PREMIERE!
PUT THE CAMERA ON ME
(Darren Stein & Adam Shell, 2003, BetaSP, 70 min.)
During the 80s on a suburban cul-de-sac in Encino,CA, filmmaker Darren Stein created over 50 movies between the ages of 7 and 15. Starring the neighborhood kids, the films tackled sophisticated themes such as homosexuality, the Holocaust, nuclear war, child abuse, and loneliness. Kids would vie for starring roles, as well as the attention and approval of the filmmaker-creating an atmosphere of betrayal and backbiting, with the exhilarating heights and crushing lows of a mini studio system. PUT THE CAMERA ON ME offers an intimate peek into the power structure within a group of kids captured on film when the parents are away -- the jealousy, cruelty, sexuality, innocence, and often perverse imagination seen through the eyes of a child auteur at the dawn of the video generation.
Thursday, October 2 at 8 pm
SEATTLE PREMIERE!
1ST PERSON SHORTS
CORONA
(John Columbus, 2002, BetaSp, 8 min.)
Black Maria Film and Video Festival founder/curator John Columbus reconstructs his childhood memories of food, family, and madness on the seedy beaches of the Jersey Shore.
LIBERTY AND BREAD
(Yvette Pita, 2003, BetaSP, 9 min.)
A love triangle involving a Cuban rafter, his new American girlfriend, and the wife he left behind, Liberty and Bread chronicles an immigrant's first weeks in the United States.
BERTHA ALYCE
(Gay Block, 2001, BetaSP, 23 min.)
"In 1973, I took my first camera to her apartment. She was on the phone, nude. I took one picture; then she posed for four more. Thus began this project about Bertha Alyce, my unusual and difficult mother." - Gay Block
LIFE IN A BASKET
(David Hogan, 2003, BetaSP, 32 min.)
A collection of interviews with residents of L.A.'s Skid Row, Life in a Basket explores the daily lives of homeless men and women by way of their most valued possession � the shopping cart.
Friday, October 3 at 7 and 9 pm
Saturday and Sunday, October 4 & 5 at 5 pm
SECRET LIVES: HIDDEN CHILDREN AND THEIR RESCUERS DURING WWII
(Aviva Slesin, 2002, BetaSP, 72 min.)
In 1939 there were 1.5 million Jewish children living in Europe. Only about 10% survived the Holocaust. SECRET LIVES is the story of those children who made it through the hellish years of WWII because of the extraordinary kindness of non-Jewish strangers, who at great risk to their own lives hid Jewish boys and girls in their homes, attics, and closets. Director (and Academy Award winner) Aviva Slesin was herself a "hidden" child.
Saturday, October 4 at 7 and 9 pm
SEATTLE PREMIERE!
THE SAME RIVER TWICE
(Robb Moss, 2003, BetaSP, 78 min.)
Working as river guides for much of the 1970s, the director and his friends lived an unscheduled, communal and often naked outdoor life. Cutting between images of a month-long river trip filmed twenty-five years ago and the current lives of five people from that trip, the film explores bodies, time's passage, and living with one's life choices.
"Mr. Moss, then a river guide and now a Harvard film professor, makes The Same River Twice a tone poem on the answers that were never discovered by the idealistic kids he had filmed years before and the new questions chasing them down."
-The New York Times
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Sunday, October 5 at 7 pm
DOCUMENTING>ART:
1ST PERSON DISCUSSION SERIES
ANDY WARHOL: SCREEN TESTS
(Andy Warhol, 1960, 16mm, 40 min.)
Screening followed by a panel discussion, DOCUMENTING>ART, with members of Seattle's arts community and moderated by Lyall Bush. Panelists: Greg Kucera (Greg Kucera Gallery), Eric Fredericksen (Western Bridge Gallery), and Tara Young (Tacoma Art Museum). Between 1964 and 1966, Andy Warhol shot approximately five hundred "screen tests"-simple cinematic portraits of visitors to his legendary studio, the Factory. These intimate black and white portraits capture Warhol's famous (and sometimes infamous) friends � everyone from Lou Reed to Susan Sontag to Salvador Dal�. Exercises in personality and style, the screen tests represent Warhol's awakening to the idea of celebrity.
Sunday, October 5 at 9 pm
ANDY WARHOL: SCREEN TESTS
+ FILMFORUM FACTORY SCREEN TESTS
(Andy Warhol + FF Factory, 1960 + 2003, 16mm + Video, 55 min.)
A second helping of Warhol screen tests PLUS the world premiere of the FilmForum Factory screen tests-a collection of video portraits taken at our opening night HOW TO DRAW A BUNNY reception. Face yourself � finally.
Tuesday, October 7 at 7 pm
FREE!
Northwest Film Forum and Paralax View present
COVERAGE AND CRITICISM
A panel discussion on the local press ecology
Why do some films get covered and not others? Is the coverage of cinema in this town robust or anemic? What can be done to improve the situation? These questions and many more will be debated in a free panel discussion with a film critic, filmmaker, publicist and exhibitor. Your panelists: Robert Horton, Everett Herald, John Jeffcoat (director BINGO: THE MOVIE), Laura Bebovski (Allied-MacDonald Entertainment)... schedule permitting, and Michael Seiwerath (Northwest Film Forum).
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Friday-Thursday, October 10-16 at 7 & 9 pm
No show Monday
SEATTLE PREMIERE
HELL'S HIGHWAY: THE TRUE STORY OF HIGHWAY SAFETY FILMS
(Bret Wood, 2003, BetaSP, 90 min.)
Sponsor: Something Weird Video
Ever wonder where the hell the idea of showing gruesome vehicular accidents in educational films like SIGNAL 30 and WHEELS OF TRAGEDY to impressionable children ever came from, and why the nation's school systems and the nation itself embraced it? Did you know that the Highway Safety films was a major for-profit business that had shady dealings with Jimmy Hoffa? Did you know that Highway Safety Films held a major telethon starring Sammy Davis Jr.? Exploring a fascinating lost chapter in 20th Century pop culture, HELL'S HIGHWAY: THE TRUE STORY OF HIGHWAY SAFETY FILMS revisits the shock-value driver's ed. films that haunted American teens throughout the 1960s and '70s, with loads of excerpts from not only Highway Safety reels but other educational films.
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Thursday, October 16 at 5:30 pm ONLY!
THE THREE STIGMATA OF MARSHALL MCLUHAN
An evening of film performance by Raymond Salvatore Harmon.
"Harmon�s intense, often kaleidoscopic use of montage and filmic decay creates a multi layer narrative comprised of found footage, news clips, advertisements, and homemovie 8mm loops that take Eisenstein�s theories to another dimension."
www.raymondharmon.com
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Friday-Sunday, October 17-19 at 7 & 9 pm
Matinees Saturday and Sunday at 4:30 pm
SEATTLE PREMIERE!
BALSEROS
(Carles Bosch & Josep M� Dom�nech, 2002, 35mm, 120 min.) In the summer of 1994, seven Cubans set out to sea in homemade rafts to reach the coast of the United States. One of the balseros (rafters) was on a raft that was not seaworthy and had to return to Havana. The others made it far enough to be picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard, and were eventually allowed to enter the United States. This documentary chronicles from 1994 to 2001 the destiny of people shipwrecked between two worlds.
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Monday-Wednesday, October 20-22
Three Dollar Bill Cinema presents the
2003 SEATTLE LESBIAN & GAY FILM FESTIVAL
The Northwest's largest queer arts event is back for a week of more than 150 films and videos at the Little Theatre, the Harvard Exit Theatre, and the Cinerama Theatre. This year's line-up includes feature-length narrative films, short films and videos, experimental work, documentaries, international films, and work by local film and videomakers. Look for the full program in early October at local bookstores, bars, and cafes, as well as the theatre venues and online at www.seattlequeerfilm.com. Advance tickets go on sale October 7 through Ticket Window: www.ticketwindowonline.com or 206.325.6500. To volunteer or for more information call 206.323.4274.
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Thursday, October 23 at 8 pm
FREE FOR MEMBERS!
MICHAEL JACKSON'S THRILLER
Special 20th Anniversary Celebration!
It was 20 years ago that Michael Jackson enlisted director John Landis to make the epic music video for the title song of his record-breaking hit album, Thriller. The video features Michael's prophetic facial transformations, the voice of Vincent Price, and the best zombie choreography ever captured on film. Just in time for Halloween, we present this special screening of THRILLER and the TV special THE MAKING OF MICHAEL JACKSON'S THRILLER, which includes behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with young fans, and other classic videos and performances. There will be a moonwalk contest before the screening, so brush up on those glides!
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Friday-Sunday, October 24-November 2 at 7 & 9 pm
No show Monday
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
DRACULA: PAGES FROM A VIRGIN'S DIARY
(Guy Maddin, 2001, 35mm, 73 min.)
Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin takes on the classic scary tale, adapting the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's version of Dracula, Bram Stoker's 19th-century story of the supernatural. With Maddin's very particular touch, the eerie drama becomes a highly stylized, black and white (with just a dash of red!) silent dance melodrama. The photography is mesmerizing, and the choreography skillfully heightens the madness that is afflicting the characters. Maddin's camera moves like a voyeur, taking indulgent peeks at the action until danger suddenly appears! All the familiar iconic figures are on hand: the vampire (as fearsome stranger and more), Lucy (the virgin), Van Helsing, Harker, Mina, and Renfield (the eater of bugs). Excessive, obsessive, and utterly thrilling.
"It's characters may be undead, but the film itself is crazily, passionately alive!" -The New York Times
Plays with Guy Maddin Award-winning short,
THE HEART OF THE WORLD
(Guy Maddin, 2000, 35mm, 5 min.)
Winner of the 2001 Best Experimental Film award from the National Society of Film Critics (USA) A brilliant, breathless parody of silent Soviet propaganda films, a rampant celebration of all things kinetic, and the best 5 minutes of your life, we promise!
"Explodes on screen like a nitrate-laced firecracker!"
-FILM COMMENT
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November Shows @ The Little Theatre
NWFF AND THE EARSHOT JAZZ FESTIVAL PRESENT:
EARSHOT JAZZ FILMS
Sponsor: Kingfish Cafe
Thursday - Friday, November 6 & 7 at 7 & 9 pm
SEATTLE PREMIERE!
NINA SIMONE, LOVE SORCERESS
(Rene Letzgus, 1998, France, BetaSP, 75 min.)
Nina Simone's artistry defies classification. From the late-1950s until her passing away this spring, she continually collapsed musical boundaries-roaming across classical, jazz, blues, folk, pop, and soul music with a voice unmatched in deep texture and soulful emotion. The many musical moods of the legendary songstress are captured in this rarely seen document of a 1976 Paris concert. Join us in celebrating the unpredictable and breathtaking High Priestess of Soul.
"This isn't so much a concert as a work of performance art, one of the best I've seen since Richard Pryor: Live In Concert."
-Jonathan Rosenbaum, CHICAGO READER
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Saturday - Sunday, November 8 - 9 at 7 & 9 pm
SEATTLE PREMIERE! NEW 35MM PRINT!
SPACE IS THE PLACE
(John Coney, 1974, 35mm, 83min.)
In this incredibly bizarre '70s sci-fi musical, intergalactic jazz artist Sun Ra lands in Oakland, offers humans an alter-destiny, battles a supernatural pimp called "The Overseer," and performs with his Arkestra. This version restores more than 20 minutes of previously unseen footage. Nearly 30 years after the making of this film, and 10 years since his actual departure from Earth, Sun Ra's legacy of cosmic philosophy and innovative music remain mind-blowing.
Director John Coney will be in attendance for the Saturday 7pm show!
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Tuesday, November 11 at 8 pm
JAZZ TRANSMISSIONS
Join us for this special screening of great jazz performances shot for television in the 1960s. This selection includes John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, and others. Television played a great role in transmitting jazz across the country and the world. Now, it transmits performances across time as well, giving us front row seats to see some of the greatest jazz innovators of the 20th Century at work. No talk, just great music!
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Thursday-Sunday, November 13-16
SEX, GUNS & BATMAN:
A WEEKEND OF CHEAP THRILLS & HOT ACTION WITH B-MOVIE ARCHEOLOGIST JACK STEVENSON IN PERSON
Media Sponsor: The Stranger
Famous for bringing misfit filmmakers out of the sewer and into the gutter, film archivist Jack Stevenson carries the banner for out-cast cinema. Through exhibition and print (LAND OF A THOUSAND BALCONIES: DISCOVERIES AND CONFESSIONS OF A B-MOVIE ARCHAEOLOGIST), Jack Stevenson brings his trash trove of cult and underground cinema to the Northwest.
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Thursday, November 13 at 8 pm
KUCHAR BROTHERS FILMS
(George and Mike Kuchar, 1965-66, 16mm, 90 min.)
SINS OF THE FLESHAPOIDS (RESTORED PRINT!)
CRAVEN SUCK
HOLD ME WHILE I'M NAKED
"Forget all those other boring indie brother teams - these guys were the original geniuses of cinema's bargain basement! No art form demands as much spontaneous, imaginative improvisation as low-budget filmmaking, and no American low-budget filmmakers are as imaginative as George Kuchar and his twin brother Mike. Major figures in the American Underground film movement of the 'sixties, they are the acknowledged pioneers of the camp/pop aesthetic that would influence practically all who came after them, from Warhol and Waters to Vadim and Lynch. That influence is still being felt." -Jack Stevenson
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Friday, November 14 at 7 pm & Sunday, November 16 at 7 pm
KNOW YOUR ENEMY: TWISTED CLASSICS OF AMERICAN WAR PROPAGANDA
Enter the strange world of the American military and get your brain washed. Learn why the German people are evil. See how easy it is to survive an atomic bomb explosion and find out why communists never have sex. This tour through the hall-of-mirrors of official U.S. military thinking will leave you amazed and confused. These films, from WWII up through the Cold War, were made for both soldiers and civilians, and are particularly relevant in light of the current world situation. The messages conveyed are by turns hilarious, disturbing, and downright unbelievable.
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Friday-Saturday, November 14-15 at 9 pm
AN EVENING OF HORROR AND PLEASURE FOR ADULTS ONLY!
WHIPPED & ABUSED: A SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN EXPLOITATION CINEMA
An extremely entertaining yet informative introduction to the history of American exploitation cinema told via a well-paced mix of trailers, clips, out-takes, short subjects, pseudo-documentary newsreels, and amature home movie erotica. It proceeds in chronological order from the silent era to the mid-70s, surveying a range of exploitation sub-genres that were popular at different times. The diverse range of styles that constituted exploitation are illustrated, from the barking mad scare tactics of the sensation-mongers in the 30s to the more charming and humorous amateur erotica that spanned virtually the entire period and was pushing the limits of censorship just as aggressively.
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Saturday, November 15 at 7pm, Sunday, November 16 at 9 pm
CULT OF CAMP
An affectionate tribute to camp cinema as it was first identified in Susan Sontag's famous essay, NOTES ON CAMP (1963). Since it is turning 40 this year, we thought it was time to throw a party and invite some of the high queens of camp, such as Maria Montez, Eartha Kitt, and Jayne Mansfield. Various highlights of camp cinema, both famous and obscure, are revealed. Among the items are WWII-era jukebox films, a Technicolor trailer tribute to Maria Montez and an episode of the 1966 Batman TV show starring Eartha Kitt as the evil Catwoman.
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Monday, November 17 at 8 pm
FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE!
DEBORAH STRATMAN FILMS
Deborah Stratman blows in from the Windy City on a whirlwind tour of the Northwest (her first appearance in these parts) to screen her masterful 16mm works IN ORDER NOT TO BE HERE, UNTIED, and FROM HETTY TO NANCY. Her films are spectacular in their use of both found sound and off-screen sound, her framing is razor-sharp, and her themes are accessible to even the most jaded audiences.
IN ORDER NOT TO BE HERE (2002) was shot with a night vision camera from a helicopter to capture an actor running from a "crime scene." He trots unmolested through traffic and fields, then dives into a pond, the helicopter tracking his movements. The minimalist score by avant-turntable guitarist Kevin Drumm evokes the steady pulse of the helicopter blades and police scanners.
Also featuring the watershed film FROM HETTY TO NANCY (1997), in which the cold and white of Iceland are as personal and warm as the steam emanating from the cracks; and UNTIED (2001), a short found-footage film which has stunned underground film festival audiences worldwide. Plus other surprises!
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Thursday-Sunday, November 20-23 at 8 pm
WORLD PREMIERE!
Northwest Film Forum and locust present:
DEFACE
Musician/Composer Zeke Keeble
Performer/Choreographer Amy O'Neal
$12-20 sliding scale. Reservations: 206/329-2629
Zeke Keeble and Amy O'Neal's newest work, deface, combines dance, music, and video to test the boundaries of confinement, bringing forth shockingly physical action in a tiny space, and joining locust is the awe inspiring Ellie Sandstrom, along with the incredible recent New York transplant Mark Haim. Preceeding DEFACE will be a performance by Keeble's band MARROW (O'Neal is the singer) accompanied by short films by locust. In addition to the live performance, a video installation featuring well over 30 local artists and friends will lure you off the street and into the theater. This performance was made possible in part by Artist Trust.