Date: Friday, September 2nd, 2016 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilms.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com
Featuring:
Smoking: The Choice is Yours (Color, 1981)
This goofy anti-smoking cartoon is making its Oddball debut! Edgar is a cowboy who just got a job at the Smokey Mountain Dude Ranch, a haven for outdoorsy tobacconistas run by the Hirschfeldesque Mrs. Hackwell. With everybody smoking, Edgar can't think of a good reason why not to until a badass hot air balloonist teaches him a few things about a smoke free life.
The notorious and heartbreaking segment of Di$ney's Oscar-winning feature documentary White Wilderness that has led to a persistent myth of the mass-suicide of lemmings. No one is sure where the filmmakers got the idea that lemmings love to leap to their deaths, but they managed to import a small population of lemmings to Alberta for the filming, ultimately throwing the furry little rodents off cliffs to drown in "the ocean" (which was actually a river) and influencing public sentiment about the little guys for decades to come. In reality, lemmings don't commit mass-suicides, although in search for new territories, they have been known to accidentally fall of cliffs and drown.
VD Attack Plan (Technicolor, 1973)
“Yes, it’s true. Walt D*sney Productions has made a significant contribution to the war against VD. “VD Attack Plan” – A fully animated Walt D*sney 16mm motion picture.” states the brochure accompanying this 16mm educational film. VD Attack Plan had some forward thinking and enlightening approaches (not just for D*sney but everyone else producing this type of film in 1973) to the subject of sexually transmitted diseases including promotion of condoms (instead of abstinence) and the fact that VD can be spread through same sex couplings. This “war against disease “ film doesn’t miss a beat-even showcasing some of the graphic effects of the disease in action. In brilliant Technicolor, just like you’d want it to be.
Der Fuehrer's Face (B+W, 1942)
A very different Don@ld short than you've ever seen, in this wartime oddity, Don@ld wakes up as a Nazi. He must wake up early, eat very little and work overtime in a Nazi artillery factory all while german soldiers bark orders at him through a Nazi megaphone. After mere minutes of screwing the tops on artillery shells, he suffers a psychotic break to various refrains of the Spike Jonze titular song. After some psychedelic SS insanity, he's overjoyed to wake up from his terrible dream in good old America again.
A different kind of propaganda short from Di$ney, this mini-doc on the importance of corn was made in conjunction with Canadian government. Tracing its roots from the communities of indigenous Americans to the insidious bi-product that invades almost every aspect of our daily lives, this short ends with a blitz of corn patriotism!
Steps Towards Maturity and Growth (Color, 1969)
Another coming of age cartoon classic brought to you by Walt Di$ney and the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company. Mostly animated with an animated embryonic cycle and several jazzy musical numbers. It emphasizes the need for an equilateral triangle of physical, mental and social health.
How To Catch A Cold (Color, 1951)A highly entertaining PSA in lovely Technicolor, produced as a collaboration between Kleenex (not yet a household name, let alone a genericized product) and Disn*y. Distributed freely to schools, it was seen by millions in its day, but now qualifies as a lost treasure.
Computers: The Truth of the Matter (Color, 1983)A goofy live-action intro to computers from Walt Di$ney Educational Services. Teacher is having a tough time with the new computer club that she's in charge of. Luckily two dopey guys - the saintly (and portly) Angelo and the no-good Luke who looks like a used car salesman - magically materialize to show her the good, the bad and the awkward in computing.
Kat Shuchter is a graduate of UC Berkeley in Film Studies. She is a filmmaker, artist and esoteric film hoarder. She has helped program shows at the PFA, The Nuart and Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater and was crowned “Found Footage Queen” of Los Angeles, 2009.
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.