Fairy Tale Frenzy - Fri. Nov. 30 - 8PM

Oddball Films and guest curator Landon Bates bring you Fairy Tale Frenzy, a lovely jumble of fairy tales as interpreted for the screen.  This program, a kaleidoscope of colors and textures, comprised of classic tales, and some fresh lesser-known ones, is sure to bring out your inner kid.  We’ll begin with the wonderfully weird Czech animation Cecily (1970’s), the story of a girl whose ears, pulled continually by her grandmother as punishment for bad behavior, stretch to the size of sails, doubling as wings that will carry her far away from her previously drab and ordinary life.  King Midas and the Golden Touch (1946) is a puppet-filled parable that warns against the dangers of greed, as the king abuses his newfound ability to turn anything he touches to gold.  A Chairy Tale (1957), a crazy sort of comic ballet, with a sitar score by Ravi Shankar, involves a boy who may not sit in a chair until the chair first sits on him.  The Owl and the Lemming (1971), a stop-motion animation with traditional Eskimo chanting music, tells of an owl who falls prey to flattery, letting his dinner elude him.  The Thieving Magpie (1967), an Italian animation by Emmanuel Luzzati, set to Rossini’s famous overture, shows what happens when birds revolt against their hunters.  And, lastly, we’ll conclude the evening with three exquisitely elegant silhouette films by Lotte Reiniger: The Magic Horse, The Frog Prince, and Puss n’ Boots (1953-54).  This evening of fairy tale fun is not to be missed.

Date: Friday, November 30th, 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

Strange Sinema 58: Bizarre Cinema Histories - Thurs. Nov. 29 - 8 PM

Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 58: Bizarre Cinema Histories, a monthly screening of new finds, old gems and offbeat oddities from Oddball Films’ collection of over 50,000 film prints. Tonight we present an offbeat look at the origins and bizarre expressions of cinema through historical inventions, experimental innovations and hand-made films throughout the ages. We start off with a fascinating documentary The Origins of the Motion Picture (1955) examining cinema history from Leonardo Da Vinci to Thomas Edison featuring oddities such as the Thaumatrope, the Phenakistiscope, Muybridge’s Zoopraxiscope and more. We follow with the early cinema experiments of Georges Méliès in excerpts from Baron Munchausen’s Hallucinations (1911) and pair of animated satires of Hollywood including Mickey’s Gala Premiere (1933) featuring M*ckey Mouse and a cast of show biz celebs viciously lampooned for our enjoyment, Daffy Duck Goes to Hollywood (1938) where our duckster makes movie mayhem by creating a masterpiece using stock footage only to enrage his boss! Witness Camera Magic (1943), a rare curio by notorious oddball photographer Arthur “Weegee” Felig demonstrating a variety of camera techniques used to produce special effects. Moving on to the 70s we take a cue from Stan Brakhage, Len Lye, and other avant-garde film makers in Michael and Mimi Warshaw’s How to Make a Movie Without a Camera (1972) and Yvonne Andersen’s Let’s Make a Film (1971), films which encourages kids to make beautiful movies by scratching and drawing directly on film and animating films using hinged cut-outs, clay, toys, painted film and live action. Another rare doc Richter on Film (1972) profiles Dadaist and abstract/avant garde filmmaker Hans Richter as he talks about his ground-breaking experimental films of the 1920's including excerpts from Rhythm 21 (1921), Race Symphony (1928), and Ghosts Before Breakfast (1927). Additional films include Mandatory Edits (1965), a wacko reel of sexually suggestive and violent censored film clips marked for the cutting room floor and saved by a film collector and Bombay Movies (1977), an inside look at the bizarre world of Bollywood films in the 1970s. 

Plus! Rare avant garde shorts and excerpts featuring Lightplay: Black- White-Grey (excerpt) (1932) by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Site (1964) (excerpt) by Robert Morris & Stan Vanderbeek and Linoleum (1967) (excerpt) by Robert Rauschenberg 

Date: Thursday, November 29, 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 

All the Trimmings: A Cornucopia of Comedy, Cartoons and Music - Fri. Nov. 23 - 8PM

Oddball Films and guest curator Lynn Cursaro present All the Trimmings: A Cornucopia of Comedy, Cartoons and Music.  There’s something for everyone in this evening of revelry and frolic to banish every manner of Winter Blahs . . . before they start! Buster Keaton remains stoic during the wackiest camping trip ever when he unwittingly becomes The Balloonatic (1923). A double shot of Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote - Whoa Be Gone (1958) and Fastest with the Mostest (1960) - are part of a centenary nod to animation genius Chuck Jones. Laurel and Hardy get into prickly, stinky mess during basic training in With Love and Hisses (1927). What do cocoa beans taste like? Jonathan Winters and pals will tell you that and much more in Chocolate: What is it? from the 1970s Hot Dog series. Mini-doc Cans (1970) might change your mind about using the humble tin as an exciting craft material. “Incendiary Blonde” Betty Hutton tears up a local USO canteen in highlights from The Stork Club (1945). How to Make a Movie Without a Camera (1971) gives us a primer on the special magic of film. The curator’s notorious home-baked gingerbread will be among the complimentary home-baked treats for all.

Run it up the Flagpole

Date: Friday, November 23, 2012 at 8:00PM.

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00, RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Spacial Relations - The Art of Architecture - Thurs. Nov. 15 - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Spacial Relations - The Art of Architecture, a program devoted to the artistry of building buildings with many of the masters of modern design.  The show will begin with a trip around the world, featuring four simultaneously projected travelogues demonstrating the architecture of the world including Paris in Claude Lelouch's Rendezvous (1976) and Mexico's Mayan ruins in Sentinels of Silence (1971).  Then we will delve into the men behind the buildings, the visionary minds that design the most interesting of domeciles in the world.  Carlos Vilardebo's haunting and meditative documentary on the grandfather of modern design, Le Corbusier (1977) tours his studio and several of his incredible buildings in France, Switzerland and India and focuses on his contribution to changing people's views about building design.  America's favorite husband and wife design team, Ray and Charles Eames give us a uniquely Eamesian tour of the house they designed and built for themselves in House: After Five Years of Living (1955).  Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water (1970) goes into the intricacies of the house that revolutionized a home's relationship to nature.  And meet the man that went about constructing (and living in) a scale replica of a European castle in the endearing portrait Castle Man (1979).  With a special appearance of the creator of the geodesic dome in an excerpt from Primer of Universe: Buckminster Fuller (1970) and a survey of the architecture of the American skyscraper in A Modern Identity (1971).

Date: Thursday, November 15th, 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

Eat Your Heart Out - Fri. Nov. 16 - 8PM

With the Holidays and their yearly double dose of feasting just around the corner, Oddball Films brings you Eat Your Heart Out, a night of vintage films about food, feasts and franchises for all tastes.  Learn about basic nutrition with a gaggle of creepy singing children in the campy classroom primer The Eating, Feel Good Movie (1974).  Take a funny and fascinating trip to Japan as Colonel Sanders takes his chicken franchise global with The Colonel Comes to Japan (1984).  Woody Allen and Joanne Worley do their best to answer an age old question in a segment from their weekly Hot Dog program : How Do They Make Hot Dog Rolls? (1970).  Get the first turkey perspective of your Thanksgiving feast in the bizarre and macabre animation I Was A Thanksgiving Turkey (1986).  Find out the facts about the other white meat in the bacontastic Pork: The Meal with a Squeal (1963).  Get a glimpse into the most entertaining lunch counter in America with Tom Palazzolo's hilarious portrait of Jerry's Deli (1976).  With a pantry full of vintage food commercials and actually edible snacks, you can feast more than your eyes!

Date: Friday November 16th, 2012 at 8:00PM. 

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 

Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Jukebox Confidential: Portraits and Curios from the World of Pop - Fri. Nov. 9th- 8PM

Oddball Films and guest curator Lynn Cursaro present: Jukebox Confidential: Portraits and Curios from the World of Pop, an evening of toe-tapping ephemera highlighting hit-makers in performance, behind-the-scenes footage and stuff that defies category. Aretha Franklin, Soul Singer (1968) captures the Queen of Soul as a singer and musician in the whirl crossover stardom and also as an artist questing to find the truest expression of her gifts. The story of a squeaky-clean 70s superstar and her downfall is told in a deluxe excerpt from Todd Haynes' cult classic Superst*r (1988). At just 19, Paul Anka’s plugging away at amusement parks in Atlantic City and the Copa in NYC on his way to Vegas big-time. Lonely Boy (1962), captures his naked ambition in an jaw droppingly sharp cinéma vérité style. After a decade of success writing for stars like Franklin, Carole King lent her voice to Maurice Sendak’s Nutshell Library, including the delightful Chicken Soup with Rice (1975). Frank Sinatra shines as a potent symbol of America in the WWII propaganda short The House I Live In (1945) and some outtakes featuring a famous first couple sometime in the 1980s. And MORE! As usual, home-baked pie, this time from adapted the Queen of Soul’s own recipe, and other complimentary treats from the curator’s kitchen. (16 mm except where noted.)

Long Live the Queen!

Date: Friday November 9th, 2012 at 8:00PM. 

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 

Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Visionary Design: The Cinema of Charles and Ray Eames - Thurs. Nov. 8th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Visionary Design: The Cinema of Charles and Ray Eames. Among the finest designers of the 20th Century, the husband and wife team are best known for their groundbreaking contributions to architecture, furniture design, industrial design and manufacturing, but the Eames’ were also brilliant and inventive filmmakers, able to illustrate the most abstract concepts with readily understood images. There is so much to say about the legacy of the Eames’s that an entire period has been named after them. This program includes An Eames Celebration (1975), a documentary about the 20th century’s groundbreaking designers and filmmakers, shot by Les Blank; Powers of Ten(1968), their most famous film about orders of magnitude; Tops (1969), a brilliant childlike anthropological film capturing spinning tops from different cultures and eras; and IBM Mathematica Peep Show (1961) is a succinct and poignant presentation of 5 separate mathematical concepts.  The legacy of this husband and wife team includes more than 100 films produced between 1950 and 1982 that reflect the rich scope of their interests. Noted for their furniture designs -- the "Eames chair" in particular is considered one of the most significant and widely recognized furniture designs of the 20th century. The Charles Eames Lounge Chair set a standard for comfort and simplicity in modern design. The chair is so important in modern furniture design that it has become a part of the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art. 

Date: Thursday, November 8th, 2012 at 8PM

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10 - Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117