Oddball Films and Ladyfest
Bay Area present Settle Down and Image
This, a program curated by Christine Kwon. What is the code
of conduct for women at home and abroad? And how are these rules of behavior
imagined on film? Settle Down and Image This is a
tongue-in-cheek program that seeks to shift viewers uncomfortably in their
seats. Ambiguous, funny and at times precariously satirical, the program prods
at the contradictions and complications of how we understand a woman's place
and space. What values are assigned as strength, what do we consider antiquated
behavior, and how does class, ethnicity, and tradition play into our
celebrations and condemnations? The program pairs contemporary music with
Oddball's rare and eclectic 16mm film collection. Featuring Commercials
from the 60s and 70s so bizarre you won't believe they're real; Lipstick
and Dynamite, footage from a 1949 women's wrestling match; Noisy
Nancy Norris(1967), a spirited story-book reading by a young Shirley MacLaine;
and segments from Black Panther Liberation School (1969), showcasing
protests following the killing of Bobby Hutton and young children as students
of the social movement; along with Vintage Home Movies (1950s-60s), Educational Primers and
the Coronation
of Queen Elizabeth (1950).
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to
programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com
Featuring:
Product Commercials (1960-70, Color)
Did you know they had hair
conditioner in the Victorian Age? Or that Americans can learn how to seduce
using a foreigner's fragrance? Neither did we. Take a peak into the wacky world
of product commercials from the 60's and 70s and see what swayed your parents
into buying their everyday goods.
Lipstick & Dynamite (1949, B&W)
Furious femmes in an
all-out she-brawl! Sensitive portrayal of a premier woman's sporting event!
Which is it? Come see and decide for yourself as Mildred Burke and Mae Weston
contend for the women's wrestling championship of the world.
Love, twoo love. Twogetha.
Foweva. Witness how royalty ties the knot in rare historical footage of Queen
Elizabeth and King George take the throne.
Noisy Nancy Norris (1967, Color)
Member the good ole days
when you'd just sit and listen to someone read you a story? And what if that
person was a young Shirley MacLaine? A highly entertaining read about a little
girl who can't stop making noise, and the neighbors who tried to shut her up.
Road, city, village,
people. A mesmerizing home movie of Afghanistan from the 1960s, climaxing in a
horse race in the desert.
Dear Home Movies (1950s, Color)
Cowgirls are raised, not
born. Or so it seems in this montage of young, blue eyed American gals taking a
ride on their first ponies.
Mature Readers (1964, Color)
An instructor teaches his
teenage students how to be “mature readers,” and my how they're coming along so
well!
The Rainbow is Yours (1950, Color)
See the real-life Mad Men
in this portrayal of vibrant young couples in America's innocence age, i.e.
consumer age, as “Mr. and Mrs. America” buy their first four door Chevrolet.
The Most Important Person: Do Something Nice (1972, Color)
What's so great about
being nice? Two kids, a young white boy and a young black girl, ask a giant
bird why he's cleaning someone's yard. The bird explains that helping others is
a good thing. Well one of these kids is a little skeptical because really,
what's so great about being nice?
Black Panthers: Liberation School – San Francisco
New Lot 48 (1969, B+W)
Protest follows the
killing of Bobby Hutton, featuring a multitude of male BP speakers. Also
helping the cause: young mother's teaching the next generation how to be a
revolutionary.
Curator Biography:
Christine Kwon is a
writer, producer, and film curator. She served as the Festival Managing
Director for the Center for Asian American Media, where she created the Student
Delegate Program and produced the original comedy series Nice Girls Crew.
She has taught film in the Ethnic Studies Department at UC Berkeley, and has
curated programs for Oddball Film and Archive, the San Jose Museum of Art, and
Ladyfest. She is currently producing the documentary Breathin’: The Eddy
Zheng Story, and oversees content acquisition for the non-profit Public
Media Company.
Ladyfests are annual, non-profit events organised mainly by womyn; they feature bands, musical and political groups, lecturers, spoken word and visual artists, workshops and discussion groups and are organised purely by volunteers. The events are focused mainly on encouraging the talent of womyn and girls, and some workshops are womyn-only, so as to make them feel more comfortable, however, main music events and films/art exhibits are open to everyone. Click here for more information and events.
About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.