Cartoons in Space - Intergalactic Animation - Thur. Dec. 4th - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter bring you Cartoons in Space: Intergalactic Animation, a program of international Space Age animated shorts about rockets, planets, aliens and more outer space fun.   As the 1950s ushered in the Space Age, the international imagination was seized by space-fever as man made his first attempts to blast out of this atmosphere and into the vast universe beyond.  The animation world was no exception and began producing some of the most imaginative interpretations of the present and future of interplanetary travel.  Daffy Duck and Marvin the Martian square off over Planet X in the hilarious classic Chuck Jones cartoon Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (1952).  From the acclaimed Zagreb Films and Oscar-winner Dusan Vukotic comes the utterly charming tale of a little nerdy girl, her homemade rocket and a terrifying alien beast in The Cow on the Moon (1958). With two from Czech animation giant Kratky Film Praha; Frantisek Vystreil's Kosmodrome 1999 (1967) imagines a 1999 of zippy interstellar travel and Zdenek Miler's Mole and the Rocket (1965), features the little mole in a journey from the bottom of the ocean to the stars above. Everyone's favorite clay toy-boy Gumby runs away from home and blasts off to The Small Planets (1957) only to discover a bunch of bratty kids. Even the insurance industry goes spacy with a little green alien in the super-rare promotional film Man from A.U.N.T.I.E. (1967).  Scientists study the foliage of a mystery planet to try and solve Earth's hunger problem in the Eastern European stop-motion puppet animation Journey to a Star: A Science Fantasy (1969).  Science mixes with imagination in Beyond the Stars: a Space Story (1981). With the opening credits for Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space (1972, courtesy of the Jenni Olson Queer Archive), and a visit from Space Angel (1963) the outer space answer to Speed Racer, using human mouths for dialogue, and more spacy surprises, get ready to blast off into the outer reaches of space and the imagination!  
Date: Thursday, December 4th, 2014 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com 

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Cinema Soiree Series

Oddball Films presents the Cinema Soiree Series, an upcoming monthly soiree featuring visiting authors, filmmakers and curators presenting and sharing cinema insights.  Join us for screenings and eye-opening discussions on a wide-range of celluloid subjects.

 Jim Morton on East German Cinema - Thursday, September 18th

 Richie Unterberger on Eccentric Visionaries of '60s Rock - Thursday, October 23rd

John Turner on Outsider Artists and Korla Pandit - Thursday, November 20th

Laurel Braitman on Animal Madness - Postponed


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Cinema Soiree with John Turner on Visionary and Outsider Artists - Thur. Nov. 20 - 8PM


Oddball Films presents Outsider Artists and a sneak peak at John Turner’s portrait of Korla Pandit, the visionary television organist as part of its the Cinema Soiree Series, a monthly soiree featuring visiting authors, filmmakers and curators presenting and sharing cinema insights. Join us for screenings and eye-opening discussions on a wide-range of celluloid subjects. Tonight we bring you John Turner, author, producer, director and photographer of folk art and popular culture (see bio) and the director of the upcoming documentary of legendary cult organist Korla Pandit. John will introduce selected shorts of American and international outsider artist films such as: Messages From The Garden (1998) a fascinating profile of the world of Howard Finster, famed artist, storyteller and visionary artist; Possum Trot: The Life and Work of Calvin Black 1903-1972 (1977) SF filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf showcase the wildly eccentric art a folk artist who lived in California's Mojave Desert and created more than 80 life-size female dolls, each with its own personality, function, and costume performing live in his “Bird Cage Theater”; Emery Blagdon and the Healing Machines by Thom Peterson, focuses on the extraordinary kinetic and healing sculptures and paintings the self-taught artist Emery Blagdon created between 1956 and 1986; The Mystery of the Electric Pencil (Color, 2012), the extraordinary story of discovery of the art of The Electric Pencil (John Edward Deeds) committed to life in a state lunatic asylum in Nevada Missouri at the age of 17; From Windmills to Whirligigs: A Conversation with Vollis Simpson (1997) a mechanic and visionary artist who created a cluster of gigantic whirlygigs on his farm using scrap metal;  Nek Chand: The Rock Gardens of Chandigarh (Color, 1985), astonishing film about self-taught sculptor Nek Chand’s 25 acre complex of several thousand sculptures combined with huge buildings and a series of interlocking waterfalls-acknowledged as one of the modern wonders of the world with over 5,000 visitors each day; Watts Flowers (date unknown) Simon Kelly’s experimental short is an explosion of color and form that is the Watts Towers in Los Angeles. The film features rare footage of creator Simon Rodia at work; Dilmus Hall features an interview of famed African American folk artist from Georgia. And lastly John Turner will screen a trailer from Korla his upcoming doc about the sensational cult organ legend Korla Pandit. Plus! A Boy Creates (1971), a non-narrative film follows a young boy through the abandoned ruins of San Francisco’s Playland at the Beach and tracks him tending to his army of found art swamp statues in the long gone Emeryville Mud Flats.

Date: Thursday, November 20th, 2014 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com 
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Strange Sinema 82: The Wild World of Saul Bass- Fri. Nov. 21 - 8PM


Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 82, a monthly screening of new finds, old gems and offbeat oddities from the archive. Drawing on his collection of over 50,000 16mm film prints, Oddball Films director Stephen Parr has compiled his 82nd program of classic, strange, offbeat and unusual films. This month we present Strange Sinema 82: The Wild World of Saul Bass.  Films include the Oddball audience favorite Bass on Titles (1982), a documentary showcasing one of the 20th century’s legendary graphic designers, filmmakers and title producers - Saul Bass and featuring some of the designer’s iconic title sequences and logos and Why Man Creates (1969), a series of explorations, episodes and comments on creativity by Saul Bass and winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 1969. Other films include highlights from the International Clio Awards (1966), Madmen style award-winning commercials like ads for Westinghouse Jet Set appliances, Colt 45 Malt Liquor and the infamous Noxzema sexy shaving cream “Take it Off” commercial as well as Maurits Escher (MC Escher) (1988), a short doc of M.C. Escher, noted Dutch surrealist, mathematician, and graphic artist whose work has had a major influence in the arts worldwide. Plus trailers for films with Bass-designed titles sequences and more! 

Date: Friday, November 21st, 2014 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com 
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MESS with Techno-Counterculture Iconoclast R.U. Sirius - Fri. Nov. 14 - 8PM

Oddball Films has the rare opportunity to present the sixth annual installment in the innovative interview-based series MESS (Media Ecology Soul Salon) featuring  writer, editor, podcast host, musician and techno-counterculture iconoclast R.U. Sirius. Los Angeles media artist and curator Gerry Fialka will interview Sirius in person on the Oddball Cine Stage.  This event is a MESS (Media Ecology Soul Salon), an engaging interview by Gerry Fialka with modern thinkers who will address the metaphysics of their callings and the nitty-gritty of their crafts. Screening before the interview; two culture-jamming films from Gerry Fialka: Jam Z Jammerz: See, Reappear & Breathe (2007) and Eye am Not a Robot (2009).
Date: Friday, November 14th, 2014 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com
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The Future is Calling: Stunning Science Shorts from Bell Labs - Thur. Nov. 13 - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter present The Future is Calling: Stunning Science Shorts from Bell Labs. Bell Laboratories— beyond inventing the transistor, the laser, the electron tube, the first communications satellite and so much more— also created some of the most visually stunning and campy industrial “What’s New” and “How-To” films as well as produced television programs that sought to bring science education to an entertaining and absorbable level by adding excellent animation, humor and story lines. These eye-popping films bring art and science together in beautiful harmony.  Films include: Century 21 Calling (1964), a campy romp through the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and the Bell System Pavilion; Krystallos (1962), a gorgeous color film detailing the Bell Labs research into synthetic quartz used extensively in microwave technology; Laser (1979), another stunner all about harnessing the power of light for medical and scientific purposes; The Thinking Machines (1968) a camptastic animated explanation of various forms of computer intelligence, from the mathematic to the artistic; and excerpts from all four Frank Capra-produced Bell Science Series episodes: Our Mr. Sun (1956), Hemo the Magnificent (1957), The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays (1957) and The Unchained Goddess (1958).  Plus, excerpts from Bottle of Magic (1948) about the electron tube, Telstar Communications Satellite (1962), and Speech Chain (1963). It's the most beautiful, entertaining and creative night of science films you'll ever see.
Date: Thursday, November 13th, 2014 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com 
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Learn Your Lesson from Di$ney: An Animated Shockucation - Fri. Nov. 7th - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter present Learn Your Lesson from Di$ney: An Animated Shockucation, the 21st in a monthly series of programs highlighting the most ridiculous, insane and camptastic shockucational films and TV specials of the collection. While obviously more well known for their animated features, Di$ney (as Walt Di$ney Educational Media) has been making educational primers since the 1940s with audacious subject matter like menstruation, venereal diseases, child-molestation, drug abuse and more.  This program features the high and lowlights of Di$ney's educational side. Always the trailblazers, the dreamily animated The Story of Menstruation (1945) is reported to be the first film to use the word "vagina" in its screenplay.  In VD Attack Plan (1973), a cartoon syphilitic sergeant directs his VD troops into battle against ignorant humans. Donald Du©k helps us learn how we can help in the war effort in the WWII propaganda short The Spirit of '43 (1943). Learn all about growing up, from an animated embryonic cycle to adolescent pimples in the zippy musical short Steps Towards Maturity and Growth (1969). From the same series, we learn about The Social Side of Health (1969), including an animated drug trip and more zippy songs. Their entries into musical education include some of the most stunning animated shorts of the collection including the Oscar-winning Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom (1953) and the overview of 20th century music: Symposium on Popular Songs (1962) which includes the cutest dancing rutabagas you've ever seen as well as a mix of cell, cut-out and stop-motion animation.  Learn about the imaginary future of car travel in a stunning excerpt of Magic Highway USA (1958). It's a magical night to learn your lesson! 
Date: Friday, November 7th, 2014 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com 

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Automania 2000: Vintage Cars on Film - Thurs. Nov. 6th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Automania 2000:  Vintage Cars on Film, a night of awesome automobiles from the 1950s-1980s dug out of the Oddball Archive. This high-octane 16mm program features midget car racing, mid-century automotive animation, kitschy promotional and scare films, vintage car shows and commercials all highlighting that magic machine on four wheels; the automobile. Behold the beauty of the "newest" line of Chevy sedans in the stylish promotional film The Rainbow is Yours (1951) from Jam Handy. Get in on some midget car racing with the "phantom racer" in Bullet on Wheels (1951). Halas and Batchelor studio brings us an animated vision of a future so obsessed with cars, they begin to take over the whole world in Automania 2000 (1963). The Car of Your Dreams (1984) chronicles car commercials from their inception to the 1980s in a fast-paced, thought provoking, and eye-popping montage of hundreds of ads.  The National Film Board of Canada brings us a martian's point of view of our auto-obsessed world in the witty cartoon What in the World? (1964). Learn all about the importance of seat belts when dolls go flying through the front windshield in the ridiculous scare film Safety Belt for Susie (1962). Plus, get a taste of some homegrown auto-worship with the Kodachrome time capsule San Francisco Excelsior: Low Rider Car Show (1965).  Plus more surprises and 1960s auto-show footage for the early birds to enjoy, put the pedal to the metal and speed on down to Oddball! 
Date: Thursday, November 6th, 2014 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com

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