Guitar Stories - Les Paul, Elizabeth Cotten, Blind Gary Davis - Fri. May 29th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Guitar Stories, a trio of documentary portraits of legendary guitarists Les Paul, Blind Gary Davis and Elizabeth Cotten. This musical and historical program will allow you uncover the captivating people behind the strings and the experiences that shaped their sound. Discover the endless accomplishments and the endearing nature of the man, the myth, the machine: Les Paul in the funny and fascinating The Wizard of Waukesha (1979). With engaging and candid interviews and archival footage, Paul takes us from his early days in radio, jazz and big band up through his guitar design and into the "new sound" he invented along with the 8 track recording system. Harold Becker paints a portrait of mid-60s Harlem and the unsung blues-master Blind Gary Davis (1964), a short, lyrical and moving mini doc. And rediscover the influential child prodigy, turned housekeeper, turned folk hero Elizabeth Cotten and her favorite upside-down guitar in Me and Stella (1976), an ultra rare and moving piece featuring intimate conversations with the octogenarian blues and folk singer-songwriter. Plus! Oakland native and electric guitar pioneer Alvino Rey performs The Whistler and His Dog (1941) with his swing orchestra and his pedal steel guitar, snippets of the recently departed legend B.B. King in concert, and more surprises. Come early for the educational film The Guitar (1969) that traces the instrument from its origins up through rock n' roll. All films screened from 16mm prints from the archive.

Date: Friday, May 29th, 2015 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

(Un) Feminist Flashback - Sexist Absurdities from Yesteryear - Thur. May 28th - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter bring you (Un) Feminist Flashback - Sexist Absurdities from Yesteryear, a program of 16mm short films from the 1940s-1980s exemplifying the patronizing, sexist and misogynistic tones and themes designed to keep women in their place and make their progress seem quaint and precious.  By scoffing and laughing at these offensively antiquated and cringe-worthy newsreels, educational films, commercials and other ephemera, we can see what progress we've made in the fight for equality, but also the steps that still need to be taken. Learn how to make-up your face and shut-up when men are talking in Why Not Be Beautiful? (1969). In the workplace, Brad's got an issue with all the emotions, obligations and problems with his female employees in The Trouble with Women (1959). Ask yourself the all important question for a young woman, Do I Want to be a Secretary? (1954). Cindy's friends have all gone off to exciting careers as secretaries and teachers, will she find her own way with Beauty for a Career (1962)? One man is so pleased with his simple country life, especially since his wife Elsa (1982) does all the work, in this hilarious Finnish satire. Watch out boys, the ladies bowling champ Tillie Taylor is tearing up the lanes, now would be a good time to fat-shame another woman trying to knock down a few pins in Splits, Spares and Strikes (1941). Isn't that cute, now Manhattan Beach has a group of Lady Lifeguards (1941), who knew girls could do that? An angry little cartoon man, Mitt Mittel, needs a lesson when he can't seem to understand why I've Got a Woman Boss! (1977). Plus, see historical women through the ages not talk about their menstrual pains in the opening segment of Cramps! (1983) and tons of Vintage Sexist Commercials! 

Date: Thursday, May 28th, 2015 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 

Strange Sinema 88: Groundbreakers of the Avant-Garde with Live Accompaniment by Bohdan Hilash - Fri. May 22nd - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 88: Groundbreakers of the Avant Garde - a once monthly evening of newly discovered and avant-garde rarities from the stacks of the archive. Drawing on his collection of over 50,000 16mm film prints, Oddball Films director Stephen Parr has compiled his 88th program of classic, strange, offbeat and unusual films. This program features a wide array of films focused on groundbreaking, avant-garde and experimental filmmakers and artists that have shocked, thrilled, mesmerized, bored and disrupted conventional cinematic aesthetics. Additionally, selected shorts will be accompanied live by NYC multi- instrumentalist and woodwind player Bohdan Hilash (Meredith Monk). We lay the groundwork for this evening’s strangeness with Marcel Duchamp’s Anemic Cinema (1926), a hypnotic exploration of wordplay intermixed with optical illusions followed by The Life And Death Of 9413: A Hollywood Extra (1927), Robert Florey and Slavko Vorkapich’s legendary masterpiece of low budget art and early Hollywood cynicism, Un Chien Andalou (“The Andalusian Dog”, 1928), Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí’s shocking and best-known surrealist films, with the most famous opening scene in cinema history, Buried Treasure (1928), this anonymous (and infamous) erotic curiosity is considered the granddaddy of animated smut, Maya Deren’s A Study in Choreography for the Camera (1945), articulates the potential for transcendence through dance and ritual, while her extraordinary Meshes in the Afternoon (1943), one of the most influential works in American experimental cinema, attunes itself to the unconscious mind caught in a web of dream events that spill over into reality, Merce Cunningham (1964), a very rare French-made poetic montage of movement pioneer Merce Cunningham’s dance performances and collaboration with life partner and sound composer John Cage featuring “found object” sets by radical pop artist Robert Rauschenberg. Finally, we close with Chris Marker’s legendary apocalyptic opus La Jetée (1962), a mind-bending reflection on time, memory, and man at the end of it all and one of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made. Plus: A rarely screened NET documentary of seminal pop artist Robert Rauschenberg showcasing a young Rauschenberg’s innovative “Revolvers” or “Combines”- multilayered painted sculptures that expand the boundaries of art.

Date: Friday, May 22nd, 2015 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 

Cinema Soirée - Quadratura Circuli (Squaring the Circle) - films by tooth and others - Thur. May 21 - 8PM

Oddball Films welcomes Bay Area artist, filmmaker and archivist tooth to our Cinema Soirée, a monthly soirée featuring visiting authors, filmmakers and curators presenting and sharing cinema insights and films. This month, we bring you Quadratura Circuli: a program incorporating a recent film cycle of performative and single channel 16mm and super 8mm works by Bay Area filmmaker tooth screened with a collection of pieces by other artists chosen for a filmic conversation that looks at the recurrent cyclic forms of the circle, sphere, and spiral throughout cultural and natural histories as a container for a disparate collision of concepts and beliefs. Taking its title from the Squaring of the Circle (Quadratura Circuli), a concept looked to by the Alchemists as representing the unification of opposites to form a higher synthesis; the program seeks to oscillate between a focus on the micro and macrocosmic recurrence of these forms and their accompanying symbology such as the blood cell, the iris of the eye, the spiral of the galaxies, the shape and rotation of the planets. With particular preoccupation on the Moon (represented in Alchemy by the corresponding metal of silver; a main ingredient used to fix photochemical images on celluloid film) and its phases in relation to various divination practices and the mapping of temporal and biological cycles. The night will begin with a series of films by tooth: the initiating phase in a stroboscopic circumnavigation that begins to trace a line of sensory research through intersecting spheres of history in CYCLOS ATARAXIA (2014), the physical fracturing of the artifacts of personal memory, as the recession of time and dimming light line the spectral sensitivity curve in LOST SIGHT (2015), the printed material of I Ching hexagrams create a point of departure for filmic divination in the two screen performance version of HEXAGRAM which utilizes a method direct animation via xerox printing toner directly onto clear acetate film which also creates the phasing optical sound of the piece (i.e. what you see is what you hear), followed by a piece using this same xerox technique with an eye to the symbology of moon phases and their relationship to the biological order (and disorder) of things in a three screen version of TETRADIC MOONS (2015). A drive through the residue of a city's mythical, "invented", sacred, profane and purposefully obscured histories to mark a planetary rotation in TRIADIC MOONS (2011), the tones and color textures of a rain soaked lunar new year ritual in YEAR OF THE RABBIT (2011), a two channel fever dream trajectory through the decaying archive of THE COLOR OF BLOOD (2015) and an ascent into a mystery of recurrent subtleties in INVISIBLE MOUNTAIN (CRESCENTS) (2015). Also screening, Robert Smithson's 1970 film SPIRAL JETTY, "a poetic and process-minded film depicting a 'portrait' of his monumental earthwork situated in the waters of Utah's Great Salt Lake", will be preceded by three very rarely screened masterworks by an unnameable yet legendary Bay Area filmmaker, painter and mystic. tooth will be in person to present the program and to speak briefly about the process of the cycle and the conceptual linkage between the works. 

Date: Thursday, May 21st, 2015 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

The Future is Fuzzy - Science Fiction Strangeness - Fri. May 15 - 8PM

Oddball Films presents The Future is Fuzzy - Science Fiction Strangeness with a whole star fleet of science fiction weirdness on 16mm film with works by heavy-hitters Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury.  A ship full of cat-faced and wookie-esque aliens attempt to save the people of Earth before the sun explodes, but maybe it's them that need the saving in the utterly ridiculous Clarke adaptation Rescue Party (1978).  In the future, technology can bring forward a neanderthal boy, but just because it can, does that mean it should? Find out in Isaac Asimov's Ugly Little Boy (1977).  Meet Trogmoffy, an orange fuzzy alien from Saturn who has come to Earth to learn proper grammar in the terrifying children's primer The Adventures of Trogmoffy: Rescue on a Strange Planet (1971).  Ray Bradbury's Zero Hour (1978) counts down to an alien invasion with the help of a gaggle of creepy children and their interactive board game. To add some animation to our insanity, there is the Chuck Jones classic (in pristine Technicolor perfection) Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (1952) and the baffling human lip-synced Space Angel - The Gladiators (1964).  With the exception of Duck Dodgers, all films are unavailable on home video or the internet, so watch 'em while you can!

Date: Friday, May 15th, 2015 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

The Visionary Animation of John and Faith Hubley - Thur. May 14 - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter present The Visionary Animation of John and Faith Hubley, an animated program of films by the first family of animated experimentation as part of our Masters of Animation series. In the 1940s (up to 1951), John Hubley worked as a director and animator at UPA, defining their mid-century style of minimal and stylized backdrops, a style that would take over the animation industry for decades to come. John was blacklisted from the studio system in the age of McCarthyism and so he and his wife struck out on their own, working out of their kitchen, experimenting with form and technique and creating some of the most ingenuitive, forward-thinking, and politically conscious - but nonetheless humorous and entertaining - cartoons in animation history and winning several Oscars in the process. Inspired by jazz (and often scored by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones and Benny Carter), the Hubleys films have the same feeling of improvisation and experimentation. This program will highlight both John and Faith's solo-careers as well as their plentiful and imaginative collaborations. We will begin with the last Mr. Magoo short John Hubley directed for UPA, the hilarious Fuddy Duddy Buddy (1951) in which our nearsighted hero mistakenly befriends a tennis-playing walrus. Adventures of an *(1956) - the first collaboration between John and Faith - features a stunning experimentation of imagery and a soundtrack from the great Benny Carter. Dudley Moore and Dizzy Gillespie improv a tale of two soldiers on either side of a borderline discussing the absurdities of war, the nature of humanity and even dinosaurs in the hilarious and thought-provoking The Hat: Is This War Necessary? (1967). A runaway city on legs devours everything in its path in the engaging allegory of urbanization Urbanissimo (1967). A taped recording of the couple's toddler daughters, Emily and Georgia (from Yo La Tengo) provide the naturalistic soundtrack to the delightful Cockaboody (1973). Take a ride on the carousel of life in excerpts from Everybody Rides the Carousel (1975). A rock pushes a little boy into the center of the earth to teach him about pre-history in Dig: A Journey into the Earth (1972).  We will be finishing the evening with Faith's first solo work, the inspiring and beautiful Women of the World (1975). Plus!  Two John Hubley commercials: Maypo (1956) and doggy Flavor Snacks (1966, a Clio award-winner) and the AT&T produced We Learn About the Telephone (1965) a mix of live-action and Hubley animation for the early birds.

      

Date: Thursday, May 14th, 2015 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

Learn Your Lesson on Prom, Parties and Peer Pressure - A Social Shockucation - Fri. May 8th - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter present Learn Your Lesson on Prom, Parties and Peer Pressure - A Social Shockucation, the 26th in a monthly series of programs highlighting the most ridiculous, insane and camptastic educational films, mental hygiene primers and TV specials of the collection. This month, we're going to party and you are cordially invited to this cinematic shindig of social guidance primers centered on social gatherings.  1940s glamour and goofiness comes alive in gorgeous Technicolor when four teens are on their way to Junior Prom (1946) and must discover to take off that headband, fill out their dance card, and party primly and properly. Meredith Baxter and Bill "Will Robinson" Mumy star in The Party (1971) about a bunch of teens facing some serious and sexy dilemmas against a terrible green screen backdrop. Hollywood primate Zippy the Chimp almost has his birthday party ruined by a bully, until quits monkeying around and gets revenge in Zippy's Birthday Party (1940s). Four kids are all dressed up and out for the night of their lives, but their necking and reckless driving, might just make this The Last Prom (1963). Teenaged Paula Abdul and a gaggle of young girls sing about throwing a Party in a musical excerpt from Junior High School (1978). Plus, the trailer for Carrie, Marcel Marceau mimes good manners in Bip at a Society Party (1975), party and school dance excerpts from Sid Davis' LSD:Trip or Trap?, Who's Different?, Kristy McNichol in Me and Dad's New Wife and more surprises!  It's a magical night to learn your lesson.

Date: Friday, May 8th, 2015 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

The Body Beautiful - Thur. May 7th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents The Body Beautiful, an eclectic mix of 16mm shorts that explore the human body from sensuality to athleticism, movement and dance and the transformative power of film to alter these all too familiar images into something transcendent and sublime. The evening will begin with a fun exploration of those who dare to bare it all with Nudism: a Way of Life (c. 1950). Experimental genius Ed Emshwiller meditates on the human condition in his monumental work Relativity (1966); from which we will be watching a mesmerizing sequence about corporeality and sexuality. Canadian innovator Norman McLaren's Pas De Deux (1968), superimposes the minute movements of two glowing ballet dancers to create one of the most beautiful and ethereal films of the collection. Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia Diving Sequence (1936) endures as one of the most breathtaking documents of the beauty of the human form throughout cinema history. Dozens of chorus girls create a human waterfall in the jaw-dropping Busby Berkeley number "By a Waterfall" from Footlight Parade (1933). Get a glimpse under the skin with the ghostly images of Moving X-Rays (1950).  Plus, an excerpt of the mother of modern dance, Martha Graham's Cortege of Eagles (1969) starring Graham herself as the tragic Greek figure Queen Hecuba, double projection of Vintage Beefcake and Cheesecake shorts, and more surprises.

Date: Thursday, May 7th, 2015 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