News and Notes, America’s Birthday Edition
July 5, 2011 – Well, we’re back after a long summer weekend, and we don’t have any events scheduled until the always-great Ottawa Animation Festival July 15, but here’s some tidbits:
-Firstly, thanks to all who came out for our final Centennial event! As always, Sans Soleil and La jetée were fantastic, and a number of you made it over to MidAtlantic Restaurant for drinks, food, pool, and a jukebox that turned out to be entirely free (!).
-NPR catches up with the classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot movie, 25 years after its initial release. We hosted director Jeff Krulik here back in 2008.
-We just confirmed the Philadelphia premiere of the much-buzzed about Sundance sensation Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, local director Jon Foy’s debut film, made with several other West Philadelphians. You may remember the movie from the Philadelphia Weekly cover story on the tale of making it to Sundance. The director and cast will be at every screening to answer questions, and we’ll also have surprises like live music and tile-making demonstrations. Look for that in September.
-Our Fall Arts Preview program is September 1 and will feature the Philadelphia debut of a new short by directors and musicians Alex Tyson and Troy Herion, as well as a live performance by Steve Moore. We’ll also have free food and drink as well as information on all our Fall programs. Mark your calendars!
-And here’s our preview for the rest summer, reposted from about a month ago:
JULY
-As we have the past few summers, we will again screen The Best of the Ottawa International Animation Festival touring program. Held each fall, the OIAF is one of the most formidable animation conventions in the world, often screening works that run the gamut between avant garde, comedy, and everything else in between. The varied, feature-length traveling program has been a favorite with audiences at The Ibrahim Theater and we are excited to present this year’s collection on Friday, July 15.
-On Friday, July 22 IHP welcomes veteran actor, musician and radio host Harry Shearer to The Ibrahim Theater. Known as the voice of many of the best characters on The Simpsons, his radio talk program Le Show and as Derek Smalls from the legendary Spinal Tap, Shearer is bringing his most recent and perhaps most personal project on tour this summer. The Big Uneasy is a documentary focusing on the real causes of the flood of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: poor scientific planning and legislative mismanagement of the coastal region. Cinedelphia and Philadelphia Citypaper have already run previews for this special event (though regular film ticket prices apply, $8 general admission and $6 students/seniors). Huffington Post also has a piece with the trailer. Make sure to stick around for a Q&A with Harry Shearer!
-Focusing on a pioneering and (perhaps more importantly) just plain “cool” mainstay in the European underground of the 60s and 70s, the series Unseen Pierre Clementi screens rare work from both of Clementi’s primary roles: actor and director. Cinephiles may know Clementi from his roles in classic films by Pasolini (Porcile), Visconti (The Leopard), Bunuel (Belle de Jour, The Milky Way), Bertolucci (Partner, The Conformist), Dusan Makavejev (Sweet Movie) and many films by Philippe Garrel. However, the footage he shot is not well-known, though it stacks up quite well with the best avant garde films of the era, such as those of Andy Warhol or Kenneth Anger.
First, on Friday, July 29, Pierre Clementi: Unreleased Reels shows rarely-screened kaleidoscopic and psychedelic footage collected during film shoots, traveling abroad, and encounters with other luminaries of the era including Nico, Philippe Garrel, Catherine Deneuve and more. These silent reels were shown at last years Views From the Avant Garde series at the 2010 New York Film Festival. Former IHP curator and archivist Michael Chaiken wrote an article on Clementi for Film Comment in 2008. The three silent reels will have soundtracks provided by three lauded improvisers: David First, a remarkably eclectic musician whose credits include collaborations with Cecil Taylor, minimalist and electronic compositions and the no wave/punk band The Notekillers; Philadelphia-based guitarist Chris Forsyth, member of Peeesseye noted for his psychedelic, hypnotic compositions; and Koen Holtkamp, who has released records on the Thrill Jockey and Type labels and plays in the “post-Komische” duo Mountains.
On Saturday, July 30, two films that highlight Pierre Clementi as an actor will be screened. Wheel of Ashes is a 1968 French film featuring Pierre Clementi searching for the meaning of life among sexual encounters and loneliness. Re:voir is working on a DVD edition of this extremely rare film and a clip can be seen on their blog, some dead-end chatter can be found on this Criterion Forum thread from 2009. Following Wheel of Ashes, another rarely screened film with Clementi in a leading role: Necropolis. A psychedelic pop pastiche from Italian director Franco Brocani, the film features Warhol superstar Viva and Clementi as Attila the Hun. Don’t miss a weekend of rare films by and starring one of the most amazing artists of the underground film movement!
Below, a clip from a film by Pierre Clementi that is not in this program, Visa de Censure n°X.
AUGUST
-Each August IHP hosts a free outdoor screening series on Wednesday evenings in our courtyard. This year, we present three programs of psychedelic animation from before the computer era. Destination: Animation showcases features that are both visually quite out-there but also suitable for the whole family. On Wednesday, August 3 we present The Phantom Tollbooth, starring Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster!) as a young boy who travels to another world through a mysterious tollbooth. The Point screens on Wednesday, August 17. Created as a visual accompaniment to Harry Nilsson’s album of the same name, the Ringo Starr-narrated film follows Oblio (voiced by Bobby Brady himself: Mike Lookinland), who is banished to the Pointless Forest and must learn to have a point. The final screening takes place on Wednesday, August 31 with The Secret of NIMH. The directorial debut of Don Bluth (All Dogs Go to Heaven, An American Tail, Dragon’s Lair) after splitting from Disney, the film can be seen as a reaction to the Disney films of the time as it is darker and more mystical. Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets. All screenings start shortly after 8PM.
-Taking aim at the wild world of downtown NYC in the late 70s and 80s, our program Too Many Creeps: New York Underground Film presents both a new documentary on the subject and a retrospective screening of some of the most early, anarchic works in the scene. Both screenings take place on Saturday, August 20.
First, Celine Dahnier‘s 2009 documentary Blank City tells the story of a group of misfit artists, musicians, and junkies who took the decaying and dangerous world of NYC as their setting and created works that defined a generation. Featuring luminaries like directors Jim Jarmusch and John Waters, musicians Thurston Moore and Debbie Harry, actor-director Steve Buscemi and photographer Richard Kern, Blank City is a compelling portrait of a scene that wanted to destroy everything that came before and create something gritty and new. The soundtrack includes Patti Smith, Television, Sonic Youth and many more.
After Blank City, we present The Early Films of Vivienne Dick. These primitive films feature no wave musicians Lydia Lunch (Teenage Jesus & the Jerks) and Pat Place (Bush Tetras, The Contortions) navigating the bleak landscape of the city that is filled with creeps, paranoia, and patriarchy. The three featured shorts (Guerillere Talks, She Had Her Gun All Ready, and Beauty Becomes the Beast) screen on 16mm. Following both programs, there will be an afterparty with DJs playing no wave and post punk music. Location and details TBA.
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