Oddball Films
presents Strange Sinema 56, a
monthly screening of new finds, old
gems and offbeat oddities from Oddball Films’ collection of over 50,000 film
prints. This evening features a series of short, confounding and plainly
strange films ranging from unique animation to spellbinding science to silent
slapstick. Works include the brilliant
Canadian filmmaker Arthur Lipsett’s Very Nice, Very Nice (1961), a sardonic re-reading of 1950s consumerism, mass media and popular
culture, Charlie
Chaplin’s silent Laughing Gas (1914) where he pumps his patients with laughing
gas, pulls out the wrong teeth and knocks them out with clubs, the Mouse
Activated Candle Lighter (1973), a bizarre Rube Goldbergesque short
demonstrating the principles of motion, Crystallization (1975),
award-winning filmmaker Carroll Ballard’s cinematic science excursion into microcinematography
and electronic music, another short by Arthur Lipsett- Free Fall (1964)
featuring dazzling pixilation, in-camera superimpositions, percussive tribal
music, syncopated rhythms and ironic juxtapositions, Rhinoceros (1965), Polish master Lenica utilizes cutouts creating an animated version
of Ionesco’s play about conformity, Experimental (1974), famed director Robin
Lehman’s brilliant montage of feats of flight produced with the Experimental
Aircraft Association. Other films include the euphoric Dream Flowers (1930s) featuring
opium poppy harvesting and smokers, an eye-opening verite view of
Texas cheerleaders Beauty Knows No Pain
(1971) by famed American photographer Elliott Erwitt, and a rare film They Shall See (1972) by Los Angeles filmmaker
Nicholas Frangakis with cinematographer Steve Craig in a theological
orientation to the mystery and beauty of nature, without narration and produced by the
Franciscan Communications Center. These films will amaze, delight, confound and inspire, so be sure to come get your strange on!
Date: Friday, September 21, 2012
at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415)
558-8117
Featuring:
Very Nice, Very Nice (B+W, 1961)
From the brilliant avant-garde filmmaker Arthur Lipsett,
this film is composed of the rapid juxtaposition of still images and sound
fragments. In Very Nice, Very Nice,
Lipsett disrupts the representational value of documentary image and sound,
moving beyond the genre's aesthetic codes of truth and reliability. The result
is a sardonic re-reading of 1950s consumerism, mass media and popular culture. Critically
acclaimed it still plays frequently in festivals and film schools around the
world.
Laughing Gas (B+W,
1914, silent w/added sound)
Pretending to be a dentist Charlie Chaplin wreaks havoc on
his “patients”, pumping them full of laughing gas, knocking them out with
clubs, pulling the skirt off the dentists’ wife and pulling the wrong tooth out
of an unfortunate patient. Watch this laugh riot from the master of silent
silliness.
The Mouse Activated Candle Lighter (Color,
1973)
Watch this fascinating Rube Goldberg device consisting of
a mouse trap, fishing pole, alarm clock, ice pack, train motor, rubber band,
match and candle illustrates various forms of kinetic energy.
Crystallization (Color, 1975)
Directed by award-wining filmmaker Carroll Ballard (The Black Stallion) this film explores
the formation of crystals in liquids through the electron microscope under
polarized light. With innovative electronic soundscore. Shown at the SF
International Film Festival and winner of the Golden Gate Award in 1975.
Free Fall (B+W,
1964)
Free Fall features
dazzling pixilation, in-camera superimpositions, percussive tribal music,
syncopated rhythms and ironic juxtapositions. Using a brisk “single-framing”
technique, Lipsett attempts to create a synesthesic experience through the
intensification of image and sound. Citing the film theorist Sigfreud Kracauer,
Lipsett writes, “Throughout this psychophysical reality, inner and outer events
intermingle and fuse with each other – 'I cannot tell whether I am seeing or
hearing – I feel taste, and smell sound – it's all one – I myself am the
tone.'” Note: Free Fall was intended
as a collaboration with the American composer John Cage, modeled on his system
of chance operations. However, Cage subsequently withdrew his participation
fearing Lipsett would attempt to control and thereby undermine the aleatory
organization of audio and visuals.
Rhinoceros (Dir. Jan
Lenica, Color, 1965)
Filmmaker and multitalented artist Jan Lenica's checkered
career has encompassed excursions into music, architecture, poster-making,
costume design, children's book illustration, and all aspects of filmmaking. It
is, however, for his animation that he is best known, particularly his collage
and "cutout" films, which have their roots in the art of Max Ernst
and John Heartfield. The films have influenced the work of Jan Švankmajer and Terry
Gilliam.
In this film, Polish master
Lenica utilizes cutouts creating an animated adaptation of Eugene Ionesco’s brilliant play
about the oppressive and manipulative power of conformity.
Experimental (Color, 1974)
Oscar award-winning British
filmmaker Robin Lehman’s non-narrative impressionistic evocation of the history
of aviation culminating in the advent of the Concorde and hang-gliding. Made with
the cooperation of the Experimental Aircraft Association. With an innovative
use of sound montage.
Dream Flowers (B+W, Silent,
1930s)
Beautiful
black and white time-lapse footage of the development of the poppy flower in
its various stages, both fascinating and other worldly. Watch smokers partake
of the euphoric drug.
Beauty Knows No Pain (Color,1971)
In Texas, Gussie Nell Davis, who
wears harlequin glasses and seems to exercise her face by smiling, talks about
the values she instills in the girls who become Kilgore College Rangerettes;
loveliness, poise and dependability. “Beauty Knows No Pain” is a documentary
film about the Kilgore Rangerettes by Elliott Erwitt. In 1940, the Kilgore
College Rangerettes became the first dancing drill team in the nation. They
have been performing at half-time shows during college football games ever
since. Beauty Knows No Pain gives an in-depth look at the young ladies who come
from all over the country to compete in a two-week drill, knowing that not all
of them will make the cut. At the end of the two week camp, the girls
gather to see who is in, who has been chosen as an alternate, and who will go
home unfulfilled. The girls meet their triumph and disappointment with shrieks
and tears. An eye-opening verite view of true-blue All-American culture.
About Elliott Erwitt
Erwitt discovered the
Rangerettes while on assignment for Paris Magazine to document Texas culture in
the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination. Erwitt is an internationally
renowned artist and Magnum photographer since 1953 and his work includes Arthur Penn: the Director (1970), Red,
White and Bluegrass (1973) and the prize-winning Glassmakers of Heart, Afghanistan (1977). He is credited as Camera
Operator for Gimme Shelter (1970),
Still Photographer for Bob Dylan: No
Direction Home (2005), and provided Addition Photography for Get Yer Ya Ya's Out (2009).
They
Shall See
(Color, 1972)
Los
Angeles filmmaker Nicholas Frangakis with cinematographer Steve Craig created
this theological orientation to the mystery and beauty of nature, without
narration. The camera captures the wonder of the everyday world from the
simplicity of the dewdrop to the grandeur of crashing surf. Influenced by the
1960s countercultural movement this exploration into non-narrative filmmaking
was produced by the Franciscan Communications Center in a unique attempt to
create a sense of visual meditation for theological purposes.
Curator Biography:
Stephen Parr’s previous programs have explored the
erotic underbelly of sex-in-cinema (The
Subject is Sex), the offbeat and bizarre (Oddities Beyond Belief), the pervasive effects of propaganda (Historical/Hysterical?) and oddities
from his archives (Strange Sinema).
He is the director of Oddball Film+Video and the San Francisco Media Archive
(www.sfm.org), a nonprofit archive that preserves culturally significant films.
He is a member of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) where he is
a frequent presenter.