Fall 2017 Program Guide by International House Philadelphia

2017

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER / DECEMBER

Program Guide

LETTER FROM OUR CURATOR

This spring, the film program that has been based at International House Philadelphia for almost forty years changed its name to Lightbox Film Center. The response to this exciting change has been overwhelmingly positive and as we move into fall, I’m eager to share some highlights from our upcoming season. We’re thrilled to partner with Drexel University to bring artist/archivist Ross Lipman to Philadelphia in October to present his latest performance essay The Exploding Digital Inevitable. The program includes a new 4k restoration of Bruce Conner’s Crossroads followed by the Philadelphia premiere of Lipman’s documentary with live, in-person narration. The Exploding Digital Inevitable tells the story of Crossroads’ unique production, as well as the massive cultural spectacle of the original Bikini Atoll nuclear tests themselves – the single most recorded event in human history.

We will also continue our recently introduced recurring programs, including Subversive Elements, a monthly series dedicated to experimental film and artists’ moving image. Adam and Zack Khalil’s new experimental documentary INAATE/SE/ will make its Philadelphia premiere in November and for December I’ve put together a program highlighting the 50th anniversary of legendary Bay Area film distributor Canyon Cinema, the nation’s leading resource for

independent, artist made films. Arthouse Revisited, another new ongoing series which features classics of world cinema and independent film, continues with newly restored titles by Vittorio De Sica, Andrzej Zulawski, and Jacques Becker. French film enthusiasts will also want to explore our centennial survey of works by the auteur Jean-Pierre Melville in December. In addition to our curated season, we will also be hosting programs by many of our longtime partners and collaborators, including Exhumed Films, Scribe Video Center, The University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival. Of course, Lightbox will continue to be a venue for cinema culture, building a community around a shared reverence for cinema as we’ve done for almost four decades. We couldn’t do any of this without your support and if you’re not already a member, I encourage you become a member of Lightbox Film Center. I hope you enjoy what we have in store for these coming months and I look forward to bringing you more great film programs and events in 2018. Jesse Pires Chief Curator

TABLE OF CONTENTS LIVE CINEMA EVENT

SPECIAL ENGAGEMENTS

4-6

ARTHOUSE REVISITED

JEAN-PIERRE MELVILLE CENTENNIAL

8-10

SUBVERSIVE ELEMENTS

11-12

COLLABORATIVE CATALOGING JAPAN – JAPANESE EXPANDED CINEMA PROJECT

13-14

45 YEARS OF WOMEN MAKE MOVIES

LIGHTBOX MEMBERSHIP

MAKING/BREAKING THE BINARY

FAMILY MATINEES

IN COLLABORATION

19-20

IHP CULTURAL CELEBRATION

CALENDAR

23-24

LIGHTBOX INFORMATION

25-26 2

www.lightboxfilmcenter.org

•

215.387.5125

LIVE CINEMA EVENT

Friday, October 20 at 7pm Co-presented with the Department of Cinema and Television at Drexel University

THE EXPLODING DIGITAL INEVITABLE

Dir. Ross Lipman, US, 2017, 49 min. The Exploding Digital Inevitable is a performance essay by noted filmmaker/archivist Ross Lipman. Integrating live narration with an array of movie and audio clips, still photographs, and rare archival documents, it tells the riveting story of Crossroads’ unique production, while simultaneously deconstructing the massive cultural spectacle of the original Bikini Atoll tests themselves the single most recorded event in human history. Along the way it chronicles the extraordinary collaboration of Conner with Riley and Gleeson, including original interviews with both composers. It ultimately looks at the Atomic Era as only one incarnation of the human race’s ongoing mad journey to destruction, a journey that apparently continues through the present moment. Let’s hope we’re wrong about that.

Preceded by:

CROSSROADS

Dir. Bruce Conner, US, 1976, 37 min. b&w In 1976 groundbreaking collagist, sculptor and filmmaker Bruce Conner released his magnum opus, a 36-minute assemblage of US government footage of the iconic Bikini Atoll atomic bomb test. If Conner invented the modern found footage film with A Movie in 1958, he re-invented it with Crossroads. His editing of the film’s brilliant “dual” score--by seminal minimalist composer Terry Riley and synthesizer pioneer Patrick Gleeson evokes a surreal beauty latent in the devastating images that comprises one of the most profound meditations on the nuclear era extant.

Special thanks: Michelle Silva, Jean Conner, Michael Kohn

SPECIAL ENGAGEMENTS

Friday, October 6 at 7pm New Restoration

TIME TO DIE (TIEMPO DE MORIR)

Dir. Arturo Ripstein, Mexico, 1965, 90 min., Spanish w/ English subtitles Juan Sáyago returns to his hometown after serving 18 years in prison for the murder of Raúl Trueba. Although he killed in self-defense, rumors in town circulated during his absence speculating that the victim was killed in cold blood. Sáyago wants to rebuild the life he was denied with his old lover, Mariana Sampedro, but Trueba’s sons have sworn to avenge the murder of their father. This classic Mexican neowestern, was the first realized screenplay of Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez and legendary Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes. Under the direction of Arturo Ripstein, Time to Die represents one of the earliest examples of New Mexican Cinema and one of the most accomplished Mexican films from the 1960s.

Saturday, October 14 at 7pm

BORIS WITHOUT BEATRICE

Dir. Denis Côté, Canada, 2016, 96 min., French w/ English subtitles The latest feature film by Québécois filmmaker Denis Côté (Carcasses, Curling, Vic & Flow Saw a Bear), Boris Without Beatrice is a morality tale with fairy-tale inflections that focuses on Boris Malinovsky, an affluent, successful businessman who comports himself with an extreme degree of pride and arrogance. When his wife, a Minister of the Canadian Government, is rendered nearly catatonic by a mysterious depression, it triggers a series of events that brings Boris to the point of professional, personal, and even existential crisis. His attempts to repair his relationships with his wife and estranged daughter are complicated by his affair with a colleague and the dangerous relationship that develops with his young housekeeper. And to make matters worse, Boris muse to contend as well with an enigmatic, threatening, and uncannily all-knowing figure, played – with typical relish and theatrical flair – by the great Denis Lavant. Boris Without Beatrice is at once a sharply observed character study, an unsparing portrait of the moneyed classes, and an audaciously dark fable.

4 www.lightboxfilmcenter.org

•

215.387.5125

Thursday, November 2 at 7pm New Restoration

MOSES AND AARON

Dir. Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet, France/ Germany/Italy, 1973, 107 min. Moses and Aaron finds Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, through their exemplary craft, transforming a familiar Biblical tale into a borderline-surreal cinematic opera of seemingly endless possibility. In expressive, melodic tones, the fraternal pair debate God’s true message and intent for His creations, a conflict that leads their followers — in extravagantly choreographed song and dance — toward chaos and sin. Set almost entirely within a Roman amphitheater whose history lends every precise line-reading and gesture, every startling camera move and cut, a totalizing force, Straub-Huillet’s adaptation of Schoenberg’s unfinished opera opens us to the stimulating worldview of a filmmaking duo whose masterful efforts are finally coming to light.

Friday, November 3 at 7pm

MANSFIELD 66/67

Dir. P. David Ebersole & Todd Hughes, US, 2017, 84 min. 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of Jayne Mansfield’s fatal and legendary car crash, yet we are still left to wonder: was her life spinning out of control in her final years, or...did the devil make her do it? Mansfield 66/67 is about the last two years of the movie icon’s life and the speculation swirling around her untimely death being caused by a curse after her alleged romantic dalliance with Anton LaVey, head of the Church of Satan. A true story based on rumour and hearsay, where classic documentary interviews and archival materials are blended with experimental dance numbers, performance art and animation, elevating a tabloid tale of a fallen Hollywood idol into a celebration of the mythical proportions of a true original.

Thursday, November 30 at 7pm

VIENTO APARTE (A SEPARATE WIND)

Dir. Alejandro Gerber Bicecci, Mexico, 2014, 99 min, Spanish w/English subtitles When their mother suffers a stroke during their family vacation in Oaxaca, Omar (15) and Karina (12) are left with few options but to come back to Mexico City by themselves. With all the roads closed by political demonstrators, they are forced to change itinerary and travel north, to Chihuahua, near the Mexico-USA border, where they will meet their grandmother. Along their journey, they will face a broken, grieving country in turmoil over a profound social and political crisis. Director Alejandro Gerber Bicecci will attend the screening for a Q&A session lead by Profs. Michael Solomon and Jorge Téllez, from the Hispanic and Portuguese Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania.

Friday, December 29 at 7pm

REBELS ON POINTE

Dir. Bobbi Jo Hart, US, 2017, 90 min. Exploring universal themes of identity, dreams and family, Rebels on Pointe is the first-ever documentary film celebrating the world famous Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. The notorious all-male, drag ballet company was founded over 40 years ago in New York City on the heels of the Stonewall riots, and has a passionate cult following around the world. The film juxtaposes intimate behind-the-scenes access, rich archives and history, engaging character driven stories, and dance performances shot in North America, Europe and Japan. Rebels on Pointe is a creative blend of gender-bending artistic expression, diversity, passion and purpose. A story which ultimately proves that a ballerina is not only a woman dancing—but an act of revolution in a tutu.

6 www.lightboxfilmcenter.org

•

215.387.5125

ARTHOUSE REVISITED

SELECTED CLASSICS OF WORLD CINEMA AND INDEPENDENT FILM AS THEY WERE MEANT TO BE SEEN, ON THE BIG SCREEN.

Saturday, October 7 at 7pm New Restoration

Saturday, November 18 at 7pm New Restoration

Dir. Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1963, 88 min., Italian w/ English subtitles Giovanni Alberti (Alberto Sordi), a mid-level executive during the economic boom following World War II, goes to absurd lengths to maintain his wife Silvia’s (Gianna Maria Canale) standard of living. When Signora Bausetti (Elena Nicolai), the wife of a wealthy industrialist, makes him an offer that would wipe out all of his debts, Giovanni is faced with an eye-popping dilemma. Vittorio De Sica’s dark comedy was never officially released in the United States. Now newly restored, audiences will finally have the opportunity to see another side of the Italian auteur most known for his neorealist classics Bicycle Thieves and Umberdo D.

Dir. Jacques Becker, France, 1960, 132 min. French w/ English subtitles Four men in La Santé Prison, staring down the barrel at hard time, decide to execute a prison break and are forced to bring on a fifth member, Claude Gaspard (Marc Michel), when he is assigned to their cell. The particulars of the escape, based on actual events, are rendered in painstaking detail as the five men dream of freedom. The daring escape plan tests their loyalty along with their ingenuity. Becker’s final film is a meticulously rendered drama that seethes with anxiety and suspense.

IL BOOM

Saturday, October 7 at 9:15pm New Restoration

L’IMPORTANT C’EST D’AIMER

Dir. Andrzej Zulawski, France/Italy/West Germany, 1975, 109 min. French w/ English subtitles Down-on-her-luck actress Nadine (Romy Schneider) contends with the obsessive affections of photographer Servais (Fabio Testi) and her off-kilter husband Jacques (Jacques Dutronc). To win her heart, Servais secretly takes a loan from a shady source to finance a production of Shakespeare’s Richard III with Nadine in a starring role opposite a demented leading man (Klaus Kinski). Before making his mark with the utterly over-the-top Possession, Zulawski’s third feature finds the maverick director crafting a surreal, sensual masterpiece with hints of what was to come. 7

LE TROU

JEAN-PIERRE MELVILLE CENTENNIAL (1917-2017) DECEMBER 7 - 16

Jean-Pierre Melville was born Jean-Pierre Grumbach in Paris in 1917. He would later adopt the name Melville in homage to the author of Moby Dick. Following World War II, Melville wrote, produced, directed, and edited Le Silence de la mer, an austere adaptation of the famous French Resistance novel. Melville also drew praise from Jean Cocteau, among many others in the film industry, who entrusted him with the film adaptation to his famous 1929 novel, Les Enfants terribles (1950). He then made Quand tu liras cette lettre (1953), a melodrama starring Juliette Greco, which he agreed to do to prove he was not a cinematic dilettante or art house intellectual. The success of Jules Dassin’s Rififi allowed him to make Bob Le Flambeur. Melville himself acted in his next film, Deux Hommes Dans Manhattan (1958), a tale of two French journalists investigating the disappearance of a diplomat in New York. His next film, Léon Morin, Priest (1961), starred New Wave sensation Jean-Paul Belmondo as an enlightened young Catholic priest. Le Doulos (1962) was the first of his highly stylized appropriations of film noir conventions and stereotypes, which again cast Belmondo. That same year Melville filmed his adaptation of Georges Simenon’s novel L’Ainé des Ferchaux (1962), which co-starred Belmondo and character actor Charles Vanel.

NEW RESTORATIONS

The gangster epic Le Deuxième Souffle (Second Breath, 1966), with Lino Ventura as one of the great Melvillian heroes, came next. He followed that a year later with Le Samourai (1967), a hieratic thriller about a betrayed contract killer, played with icy, impenetrable grace by Alain Delon. Melville then paid a moving homage to the heroism and sacrifice of the French Resistance in Army of Shadows (L’Armée des ombres, 1969), starring Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, and Paul Meurisse. Melville’s next film proved to be the greatest hit of his career: Le Cercle Rouge (1970), a fatalistic caper drama with Delon, Yves Montand, and Gian-Maria Volonté as three outlaws and beloved funnyman André Bourvil in one of his few straight dramatic roles as the pursuing cop. Melville’s last film was another thriller with Delon, Un Flic (1972), which co-starred Catherine Deneuve. Melville was at work on the script of his 14th feature when he died suddenly of a stroke on August 2, 1973. He was 55. Melville’s maverick status within the French film industry and his then unorthodox methods of independent production (which even included his own facility, Jenner Studios, in southern Paris, where he shot the interiors for most of his films) served as a model and inspiration for many of the New Wave directors. 8

www.lightboxfilmcenter.org

•

215.387.5125

JEAN-PIERRE MELVILLE CENTENNIAL (1917-2017) NEW RESTORATIONS

her handsome confessor. Fresh from the success of Breathless, Jean-Paul Belmondo was cast as the titular character despite his initial reluctance fearing it would undermine his newfound status as a sex symbol. This restoration of Melville’s never-before-seen director’s cut puts back 11 minutes previously excised from the original release version.

Thursday, December 14 at 7pm

LE DOULOS

Thursday, December 7 at 7pm

BOB LE FLAMBEUR

Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, France, 1956, 102 min., b&w, French w/ English subtitles Suffused with wry humor, Jean-Pierre Melville’s Bob le flambeur melds the toughness of American gangster films with Gallic sophistication to lay the road map for the French New Wave. As the neon is extinguished for another dawn, an aging gambler navigates the treacherous world of pimps, moneymen, and naive associates while plotting one last score—the heist of the Deauville casino. This underworld comedy of manners possesses all the formal beauty, finesse, and treacherous allure of green baize.

Friday, December 8 at 7pm

LÉON MORIN, PRIEST

Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, France, 1961, 128 min., b&w, French w/ English subtitles “Religion is the opiate of the people,” begins the confession of jaded Communist widow Barny (Emmanuelle Riva) in Melville’s adaptation of Béatrix Beck’s autobiographical novel. Relocated to a drab little village during the Occupation, her boredom has led to provoking the local clergy. But when her confessor dryly replies, “Pas exactement,” Barny begins a seemingly inexorable turn towards God — or perhaps toward 9

Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, France, 1963, 108 min., b&w, French w/ English subtitles Maurice (Serge Reggiani) is fresh out of prison and looking to pay a debt with an easy heist. But when the cops thwart the gangster’s plans, he suspects Silien (Jean-Paul Belmondo) for a doulos - a stoolpigeon. “One evening in January, 1957, my friend [and agent] Jean Rossignol, phoned me to say “I have a book for you.” He sent me the press proofs of a novel due out in the Série Noir collection entitled Le Doulos. l was immediately taken with it, not so much by the form, which was episodic and Montmartre-set, which I didn’t respect, but by the spirit.” – Jean-Pierre Melville

DECEMBER 7 - 16 Saturday, December 16 at 8pm

UN FLIC

Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, France, 1972, 98 min., French w/ English Subtitles Edouard Coleman (Alain Delon) spends his days and nights chasing criminals, but doesn’t see the crook right under his nose. Simon (Richard Crenna), a smooth nightclub owner, works with a small crew to execute daring heists with big payoffs, while the beautiful Cathy (Catherine Deneuve) is torn between them. As cop and criminal do what they do best, paths converge and old scores must be settled. The 13th and final film from Gallic great Melville doubles-down the ice-blue look that had been the director’s signature in Le Samourai and Le Cercle Rouge, both starring the equally cool Delon.

Friday, December 15 at 7pm

ARMY OF SHADOWS

Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, France, 1969, 145 min., French w/ English subtitles This masterpiece by Jean-Pierre Melville about the French Resistance went unreleased in the United States for thirty-seven years, until its triumphant theatrical debut in 2006. Atmospheric and gripping, Army of Shadows is Melville’s most personal film, featuring Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and the incomparable Simone Signoret as intrepid underground fighters who must grapple with their conception of honor in their battle against Hitler’s regime.

Saturday, December 16 at 5pm

LE CERCLE ROUGE

Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, France, 1970, 140 min., French w/ English subtitles Alain Delon plays a master thief, fresh out of prison, who crosses paths with a notorious escapee (Gian Maria Volonté) and an alcoholic ex-cop (Yves Montand). The unlikely trio plot a heist, against impossible odds, until a relentless inspector and their own pasts seal their fates. Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le cercle rouge combines honorable antiheroes, coolly atmospheric cinematography, and breathtaking set pieces to create a masterpiece of crime cinema. 10 www.lightboxfilmcenter.org

•

215.387.5125

SUBVERSIVE ELEMENTS

A MONTHLY SERIES DEDICATED TO EXPERIMENTAL FILM AND ARTISTS’ MOVING IMAGE.

Friday, October 13 at 7pm

Friday, November 17 at 7pm

Dir. Pere Portabella, Spain, 1971, 66 min. Filmed on the set of Jess Franco’s 1970 cult film Count Dracula starring Christopher Lee, Portabella’s Vampir-Cuadecuc mixes making-of footage with an investigation of the figure of the vampire. Both playful and deadly serious, with high-contrast black-and-white cinematography and an electronic soundtrack, the film asks us to consider the undead as a stand-in for both General Franco, the bloodthirsty avatar of a fascism that won’t die, and cinema, the art that reanimates the dead.

Dir. Adam Khalil & Zack Khalil, US/Canada, 2016, 75 min. Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil’s new film re-imagines an ancient Ojibway story, the Seven Fires Prophecy, which both predates and predicts first contact with Europeans. A kaleidoscopic experience blending documentary, narrative, and experimental forms, INAATE/SE/ transcends linear colonized history to explore how the prophecy resonates through the generations in their indigenous community within Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. With acute geographic specificity, and grand historical scope, the film fixes its lens between the sacred and the profane to pry open the construction of contemporary indigenous identity.

VIMPIR-CUADECUC

Preceded by:

THE BLACK TOWER

Dir. John Smith, UK, 1987, 26 min. A man is haunted by a tower which, he believes, is following him around London. 11

INAAT/SE/

Followed by Directors Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil in conversation with Carolyn Lazard

Wednesday, December 13 at 7pm

CANYON CINEMA 50 The Canyon Cinema Co-op was officially incorporated in 1967 and for the last fifty years has been one of the world’s preeminent sources for artist-made moving image work. In recognition of this important milestone we’ve assembled a program of films that best represents the wide range of work in the collection with an emphasis on West Coast/Bay Area artists. The program spans five decades and includes a mixture of perennial favorites and some hidden gems.

MASS FOR THE DAKOTA SIOUX

Dir. Bruce Baillie, US, 1964, 16mm, 20 min., b&w

METANOMEN

Dir. Scott Bartlett, US, 1966, 16mm, 8 min., b&w

MY NAME IS OONA

Dir. Gunvor Nelson, US, 1969, 16mm, 10 min., b&w

BILLABONG

Dir. Will Hindle, US, 1969, 16mm, 9 min.

RIVERBODY

Dir. Alice Anne Parker, US, 1970, 16mm, 7 min., b&w

SAVING THE PROOF

Dir. Karen Holmes, US, 1979, 16mm, 11 min.

REVOLVER

Dir. David Sherman, US, 1993, 16mm, 9 min.

SPHINX ON THE SEINE

Dir. Paul Clipson, US, 2009, 16mm, 8 min., Sound by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma Special thanks to David Dinnell and Antonella Bonfante

12 www.lightboxfilmcenter.org

•

215.387.5125

COLLABORATIVE CATALOGING JAPAN – JAPANESE EXPANDED CINEMA PROJECT SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4 AT 7PM

Lightbox is pleased to once again partner with Collaborative Cataloging Japan to present two screening programs in association with its research thread, the Japanese Expanded Cinema Project. Expanded cinema is moving image work that is not intended to be shown in conventional cinemas, but take various forms such as multi-media installations or performances, and may include media formats such as slide projectors, transparencies, film, the projector equipment, light, and shadow, etc. As part of an on-going screening and talk series which started in February 2017, this two part program curated by scholars Go Hirasawa and Julian Ross, showcases work by seminal artists who experimented with multiple film projections and performance.

PROGRAM ONE This program presents the expanded cinema works by Rikuro Miyai. The double projection piece Phenomenology of the Zeitgeist (1967), follows the 13

radical group Zero Jigen’s ritualistic performance in the streets of Shinjuku. Two prints of the same film are projected onto each other with a slight timedelay, conceptualizing the separation between the performative act and the film documentation. The performativity of the live action is interpreted in the presentation of the film to incorporate action into the exhibition of cinema. In Shadow (1968), he projects two films of his own shadow walking outdoors side-byside— one positive, one negative— each a reflection of the other.

PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE ZEITGEIST Dir. Rikuro Miyai, Japan, 1967, 16mm, multiple projection, 35 min., b&w

SHADOW

Dir. Rikuro Miyai, Japan, 1968, 12 min.

PROGRAM TWO This program puts a spotlight on film’s dialogue with other arts. By bringing film into the realm of performance art, expanded cinema was one way in which the interaction between the arts was given shape. As such, many of the key players in 1960s expanded cinema demonstrated their interest in exploring these interstices. While being a document of performer Sho Kazakura’s on-street happenings, Takahiko Iimura’s Dance Party in the Kingom of Liliput, No. 2 (1966) is also a double-projection work where two prints of the same footage, one a defect print, was presented alongside one another in a way that plays with cinema’s capacity for mechanical reproduction. Featuring Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik and others, Motoharu Jonouchi’s Hi Red Center Shelter Plan (1964) is a document of an infamous event organized by the art collective Hi Red Center in a hotel room. In a 1967 performance, he stood in front of the projection and whipped the gallery wall onto which the film was projected in a gesture that brought together film and performance. The other films in the program by Mako Idemitsu, Kuri Yoji and Jonouchi, highlight film’s ability to be a tool for documentation and also an instrument for artistic expression is playfully highlighted.

DANCE PARTY IN THE KINGDOM OF LILLIPUT, NO.2 Dir. Takahiko Iimura, Japan, 1964/66, 16mm x2, 12 min., b&w

ANATA WA NANI O KANGAETE IRUNO?

Dir. Yoji Kuri, Japan, 1967, 10 min, b&w/color

HI RED CENTER SHELTER PLAN

Dir. Motoharu Jonouchi, Japan, 1964, 19 min, b&w, silent

TATSUMI HIJIKATA

Dir. Motoharu Jonouchi, Japan, 1969, 1 min., b&w, silent

Dir. Mako Idemitsu, Japan, 1973, 4 min.

A WOMAN’S HOUSE

Dir. Mako Idemitsu, Japan, 1972, 13 min. PLEASE NOTE, THERE WILL BE A 15 MINUTE INTERMISSION BETWEEN THESE TWO PROGRAMS 14

www.lightboxfilmcenter.org

•

215.387.5125

45 YEARS OF WOMEN MAKE MOVIES

A YEAR-LONG CELEBRATION OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DISTRIBUTOR OF INDEPENDENT FILMS BY AND ABOUT WOMEN

Thursday, October 26 at 7pm

Thursday, November 16 at 7pm

Dir. Kim Longinotto w/ Florence Ayisi, UK/Cameroon, 2005, 104 min. In the little town of Kumba, Cameroon, there have been no convictions in spousal abuse cases for 17 years. But two women determined to change their community are making progress that could change their country. This fascinating, often hilarious documentary follows the work of State Prosecutor Vera Ngassa and Court President Beatrice Ntuba as they help women fight often-difficult cases of abuse, despite pressures from family and their community to remain silent. Six-yearold Manka is covered in scars and has run away from an abusive aunt, Amina is seeking a divorce to put an end to brutal beatings by her husband, the pre-teen Sonita has daringly accused her neighbor of rape.

Dir. Civia Tamarkin, US, 2017, 100 min. Birthright: A War Story is the real-life version of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” In America today, a radical movement has tightened its grip on state power, seeking to control whether and how women bear children. In this crusade, pregnant women are subject to state control, surveillance, and punishment. Even women who don’t want an abortion face shocking risks—like the pregnant woman in Alabama who faced criminal charges for taking half a Valium. Or like the grieving woman in Nebraska who, already devastated by a bleak diagnosis at 22 weeks, was forced to continue an unviable and dangerous pregnancy because of a new “fetal pain” law.

SISTERS IN LAW

With fierce compassion, the two feisty and progressiveminded women dispense wisdom, wisecracks and justice in fair measure, handing down stiff sentences to those convicted. A cross between “Judge Judy” and “The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency,” Sisters in Law has audiences cheering when justice is served. 15

BIRTHRIGHT: A WAR STORY

Birthright: A War Story tells these stories of women caught up in a frightening new legal system, which criminalizes and physically violates women, threatens our lives, and challenges our constitutional protections.

BECOME A MEMBER!

ALL MEMBERS RECEIVE: • • • •

Free admission to Lighbox Film Center screenings Guest passes to Lighbox Film Center screenings Discounted admission to Collaborators' screenings, festivals, and IHP programs And more!

Memberships start at $75 for an individual with special rates for students and young professionals.

Learn more and sign up at lightboxfilmcenter.org

MAKING/BREAKING THE BINARY

As part of Making/Breaking the Binary: Women, Art & Technology (1968-85) curated by Kelsey Halliday, we present three programs of film and video held in conjunction with the video works presented by Vox Populi at the Icebox Grey Area and the core exhibition at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery at University of the Arts on view from October 8 – December 8.

Thursday, October 5 at 7pm

LEAVING THE 20TH CENTURY Dir. Max Almy, US, 1982, 11min.

Thursday, October 12 at 7pm

NEW MEDIA AND CHANCE This program highlights two groundbreaking 1970s collaborations between female new media artists and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

THE PIONEERS OF PIXELS, FEEDBACK, AND GLITCH

MERCE AND MARCEL

A program of short films by animation, experimental film, and video art pioneers who unearthed new aesthetic realms through computer art, image processing, and appropriation.

Followed by:

MUTATIONS

Dir. Shigeko Kubota/Nam June Paik, US, 1978, 13min.

TORSE

Dir. Charles Atlas, US, 1977, 55 min., featuring the Merce Cunningham Dance Company with soundtrack by Maryanne Amacher

Dir. Lilian Schwartz, US, 1972, 7 min.

BAD

Dir. Vasulkas Inc., US, 1979, 2 min.

TAKING A LINE FOR A WALK Dir. Lesley Keen, UK, 1983, 10 min.

CHAMBER SUITE

Dir. Mary Ross, US, 1982, 5 min.

ARBITRARY FRAGMENTS

Dir. Barbara Aronofsky Latham, US, 1978, 13 min.

COLLAGE

Dir. Lynda Benglis, US, 1973, 9 min.

CIRCLES I

Dir. Doris Chase, US, 1970, 7 min.

PM MAGAZINE/ACID ROCK Dir. Dara Birnbaum, US, 1980, 4 min.

IF IT’S TOO BAD TO BE TRUE IT COULD BE DISINFORMATION 17

Dir. Martha Rosler, US, 1985, 16 min.

Making/Breaking the Binary: Women, Art & Technology (1968-1985) is supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

FAMILY MATINEES

Saturday October 14 at 2pm

Saturday, November 18 at 2pm

Dir. Yoshifumi Kondo, Japan, 111 mins. A masterpiece about the awakening of creative talent, Whisper of the Heart was the first and only full-length feature by Hayao Miyazaki’s protégé Yoshifumi Kondo before his sudden death at the young age of 47. It remains one of the classics of Japanese animation.

Dir. Various, 2017, English or with English subtitles Featuring the Jury Award-winning My Grandfather was a Cherry Tree, Kid Flix 2 also boasts the newest short films from esteemed New York International Children’s Film Festival alumni, including 2012 Jury Award-winner Ainslie Henderson’s Stems, One Hell of a Plan from the directors of Phantom Boy and A Cat in Paris, and Two Friends from 2014 Audience Award-winner Natalia Chernysheva.

WHISPER OF THE HEART

Family Matinees are sponsored by

KIDS FLIX 2

Recommended ages: 8 and up.

18 www.lightboxfilmcenter.org

•

215.387.5125

IN COLLABORATION EXHUMED FILMS

Sunday, October 1 at 1pm

GEORGE A. ROMERO’S ORIGINAL DEAD TRILOGY Exhumed Films is proud to present a celebration of one of our favorite directors, the late, great George Romero. Romero forever changed cinema with his groundbreaking film Night of the Living Dead, and continued to shock and satirize American society with the sequels Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. All three films are presented here on the same bill for a rare theatrical event.

NIGHT OF LIVING DEAD

Dir. George A. Romero, USA, 1968, 35mm, 96 min.

DAWN OF THE DEAD

Dir. George A. Romero, USA, 1978, DCP, 127 min.

DAY OF THE DEAD

Dir. George A. Romero, USA, 1985, 35mm, 96 minutes $30 General Public, $25 Lightbox Members

Saturday, October 28 at 12 noon Sunday, October 29

24 HOUR HORROR-THON, PART 11

To celebrate Halloween and Exhumed Films’ 20th anniversary, we present the eleventh annual 24 Hour Horror-thon: a full 24 hour marathon of nonstop horror mayhem! Exhumed will screen a total of fourteen films, spanning decades of horror cinema, keeping the lineup a secret until the marathon begins. SOLD OUT

Saturday, December 9 at 8pm

FRANKENSTEIN’S BLOODY TERROR 3-D AND DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN One of the “holy grails” of cult cinema, presumed lost forever, has been unearthed and is heading back to the big screen for the first time in nearly fifty years. Exhumed Films and Lightbox Film Center, in association with Garagehouse Pictures, are proud to present the Philadelphia premier of a new 35mm print of Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror in 3-D! 19

FRANKENSTEIN’S BLOODY TERROR 3-D

Dir. Enrique L. Eguiluz, Spain, 1971, 35mm, 78 minutes When a pair of gypsy grave robbers remove a silver cross from the corpse of Count Wolfstein, the long-dead lycanthrope is resurrected and goes on a murderous rampage. As a bonus for our audience, we will also be showing a second freaky Franken-feature:

DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN

Dir. Al Adamson, 1971, USA, 35mm, 91 minutes Mad scientist Dr. Durray (J. Carrol Naish), is approached by Count Dracula, as the vampire lord needs his help to resurrect the original Frankenstein monster. It is not long, however, before the mighty monsters have a personality clash that leads to an epic (?) battle of the behemoths! $15 General Admission, $10 Lightbox Members

Thursday, October 19 at 7pm

UNEDITED PHILADELPHIA: URBAN ARCHIVES AT 50 Temple University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Urban Archives with Unedited Philadelphia: Urban Archives at 50. The series highlights recently preserved and long-time favorites from the CBS3/KYW and WPVI6/WFIL news footage collections. ‘Urban Archives at 50’ draws on raw news footage, nightly broadcasts, outtakes, and Public Affairs and feature based programming to depict vignettes of life in the Philadelphia region from the 1940s through 1990s. Everyday and landmark moments in neighborhood life, art, music, politics, religion, and more will be included. FREE ADMISSION

INTERCULTURAL JOURNEYS Sunday, November 5 at 7pm

PIRATE JENNY’S CONSPIRACY Pirate Jenny, the vengeful heroine dreamed up in Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera, sails into the 21st century as a modern-day poet and blues woman. Yolanda Wisher, Philadelphia’s Poet Laureate, imagines this retelling. Musing on black love and rage, civil rights, and the meaning of womanhood, Wisher’s performance travels the continents of spoken word and song, with first-mate and double bassist Mark Palacio at her side. $20 General Admission, $15 Young Friends (30 and under) and Lightbox Members, $10 Students & Children

PHILADELPHIA JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL Monday, November 6 at 7PM

THE FIELD

Despite his life experience, four years in an Israeli prison, his mother’s five year sentence, and a brother killed by an Israeli soldier – Ali Abu Awaad, a leading Palestinian activist, creates grassroots work with local Israeli settlers to enable political reconciliation.

Monday, November 13 at 7pm

LITTLE STONES

Sophia Cruz’s award-winning documentary, Little Stones, follows four phenomenal female artists who are making a real difference in their communities. This deeply powerful film demonstrates the impact of empowering women and encouraging self-expression around issues of global gender-based violence. $15 General Public, $13 Seniors, Free Students

SCRIBE VIDEO CENTER’S PRODUCERS’ FORUM Tuesday, November 7 at 7pm

TRIBAL JUSTICE

Dir. Anne Makepeace, US, 2017, 83 min. Tribal Justice is a documentary about a little known, underreported but effective criminal justice reform movement in America. In California, two Native American women are creating innovative systems to restore offenders so as to stop the school-to-prison pipeline that plagues their young people. $10 General Public, $8 Students/Seniors, $5 Scribe and IHP Members

PHILADELPHIA ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL Thursday, November 9 – Sunday, November 12

PAAFF presents over 50 events including film screenings, live music concerts, chef demonstrations, parties, an academic conference, theater performances, and more.

Thursday, November 9 at 7pm

OPENING NIGHT FILM AND RECEPTION - THE DRAGON PAINTER

Dir. William Worthington, USA, 1919, 53 mins Released in 1919 by Haworth Pictures, a Hollywood production company founded by Japanese immigrant actor Sessue Hayakawa, The Dragon Painter is a fantasy-allegory of love and creative inspiration. Shot on-location at Yosemite Valley, Hayakawa portrays a reclusive but talented painter who believes a dragon stole his princess fiancee. After meeting the daughter of a famous painter whom he mistakes for his love (played by his wife, Tsuru Aoki), his art begins to suffer. As a special presentation at PAAFF’17, we have commissioned a new original score that will be performed live by actor/composer Goh Nakamura (Surrogate Valentine, Daylight Savings). Ticket includes complimentary admission to Opening Night Reception. Full schedule of events and ticketing links at www.paaff.org

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Friday, December 1 – Sunday, December 3

NEW ITALIAN CINEMA 2017 The Cinema and Media Studies Program and the Center for Italian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania present the 2017 edition of New Italian Cinema Curated by Nicola M. Gentili (Penn, Cinema and Media Studies), it promotes Italian Cinema abroad with very recently released feature films. All movies in Italian with English subtitles. Free admission thanks to the support of New Italian Cinema Events.

INTERNATIONAL HOUSE PHILADELPHIA CULTURAL CELEBRATION

Wednesday, October 11 at 7pm

DIWALI

Diwali, the “Festival of Lights”, is the ancient Hindu festival signifying the victory of good over evil by commemorating the return of Lord Rama from his 14-year-long exile and his vanquishing of the demon-king Ravana. Our Diwali celebration includes a sumptuous buffet of Indian food and sweets, traditional music and dance performances, and activities including Henna, rangoli, and firecrackers. $15 General Public, $10 Members, Free for IHP Residents