Animazione Demente - The Psychedelic World of Italian Cartoons - Thur. Mar. 3rd - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Animazione Demente - The Psychedelic World of Italian Cartoons, an evening of some of the trippiest, most imaginative, and mind-blowing animation to come out of Italy, all on 16mm film from our incredible animation collection, including several "brand new" finds. From the insane surrealism of Bruno Bozzetto to the whimsically sublime cut-outs of Emanuele Luzzati and Giulio Gianini, to the worldwide phenomena of Osvaldo Cavandoli's character "The Line", to the groovy mixed-collage work of Carlos Marchiori, it's more than just your average night of cartoons. From the sick and brilliant mind of Italy's foremost animator Bruno Bozzetto (Allegro Non Troppo, West and Soda) come four deranged shorts: Oddball's all-time favorite cartoon Ego (1970) the surreal nightmarescape of sexuality, fascism, consumerism, a naked Mona Lisa and a host of other explosive imagery, Opera (1973) a hilarious ode to opera that features the destruction of the planet and the Statue of Liberty in a gas mask(!), Pickles (1973) several brief bizarro vignettes about religion, drugs, TV and more, and Mr. Rossi Buys a Car (1966) in which bureaucracy and road rage lead one man on a bloody rampage throughout the city.  From the very different - but no less imaginative - Oscar-nominated team of influential painter, illustrator, and production designer Emanuele Luzzati and screenwriter and animator Giulio Gianini come three breathtaking cut-out shorts imbued with their unique visual style. Oscar nominated short The Thieving Magpie (1967), set to Rossini’s famous overture, shows what happens when birds revolt against their hunters, Ali Baba (1971) animates Luzzati's children's book of a little boy and his turban of butterflies that outwit a motley band of thugs, and Frederick (1971) tells the inspiring tale of a mouse that gathers sunbeams and poetry for the winter. The NFB produced the anti-smoking short The Drag (1967), Carlos Marchiori's psychedelic mix of collage and cell-animation. Osvaldo Cavandoli's La Linea (1973) features a character so popular, it became a worldwide advertising mascot for years. Plus, early birds will get to take a cinematic vacation to many beautiful places in Italy via the vintage travelogue Italian Interludes (1970s).

Date: Thursday, March 3rd, 2016 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 97: Laservision - Science Art Cinema - Fri. Feb. 26th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 97, a monthly evening of newly discovered films, rarities and choice selects from the stacks of the archive. Drawing on his collection of over 50,000 16mm film prints, Oddball Films director Stephen Parr has compiled this 97th program of classic, strange, offbeat and unusual films. This installment, Strange Sinema 97: “Laservision: Science Art Cinema” features films that explore the boundaries of science, art and cinema using light as a starting point. The program features a pulsating panorama of films highlighting the discovery and uses of lasers and holograms in science, art, medicine, the military and law enforcement-with a solid dose of sci-fi and futurism thrown into the mix. This program of shorts and excerpts premiered at the Frost Museum of Science in Miami in August 2015 to a sold-out audience. Highlights include West Coast experimental filmmaker Donald Fox’s exhilaratingly beautiful, optically printed poem Omega (1970), foretelling the end of the world through a series of stunning images dissolving into ethereally apocalyptic visions, Laser Blast (1978) a high-octane trailer from the cheesy sci-fi knock off where a teenager stumbles upon an alien weapon, transforming him into a grotesque killer, We Study in Moscow (1960s, excerpt) a weirdly bizarre Russian propaganda clip featuring students being taught principles of laser physics with a eerie pre-electronic music track, Holography: Memories in Light (1985) a fascinating and comprehensive look at the invention and use of holography in industry and art-from holographic space ships to a holographic Andy Warhol, The Simple Lens: an Introduction (1976, excerpt) an animated segment showing how light is organized by the human eye or a camera, Kinetic Art in Paris (1971) - the works of legendary Kinetic artists Julio Le Parc, Victor Vasarely and John Rock Yvar are some of the futuristic artists featured in this ultra rare, quirky documentary featuring music from the short-lived cult British pop duo White Trash, Learning About Light (1976, excerpt) shows experiments with light and applications of lasers, Laser Bra 2000 (1979) features sexed-up lingerie wearing female soldiers demonstrating a top-secret military weapon - bras that shoot lasers, Lasers Unlimited (1969) - produced by ATT - this short shows lasers scoring electronic circuits at Western Electric and deep research into the laser’s potential for memory storage and information processing at Bell Labs, Crime: Dye Guns, Lasers, Justice? (1972, excerpt) a futuristic look at high-tech law enforcement tools using surveillance, laser walls and dye guns with a very timely look at the role of the police by famed activist attorney Ramsey Clark, Airborne Laser Laboratory (1960s, excerpt) a surreal demonstration of the wide range of laser based military weapons produced for Air Force Now Films. Plus! For early birds: Laser (1979), a lush and mesmerizing visual depiction of lasers and their various uses from medical to industrial. From gorgeous vintage laboratory interiors to an optical kaleidoscope of the many uses of this magical harnessed light beam, with a great Moogy soundtrack. Also! Rare news outtakes from the construction of the Shiva Laser (1977) at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.

Date: Friday, February 26th, 2016 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 

Reel Housewives of Yesteryear - Thurs. Feb. 25th - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter present The Reel Housewives of Yesteryear, a tongue-in-cheek program of rare vintage 16mm cartoons, commercials, soundies, promotional films, educational and comedy shorts and other cinematic oddities about the old social mores of a woman's place within the family and society.  Generally made by men and often misogynistic and downright offensive, these cinematic slices of life remind us just how far the modern woman has come. One housewife can't contain herself once she discovers RIT fabric dye in the swingin' promotional short Color for Joy (1962).  In Merrie Melodies - Wild Wife (1954), the legendary Robert McKimson animates the "average" mid-century housewife's harried day as well as her unsympathetic husband.  One teenaged boy's mom has a lot of men over to the house while his dad's away in the philandering soundie The Man That Comes Around (1940) from the Music with Spice series. Pawn off some of your chores on your delightful domestic in the Pete Smith Specialty comedy Home Maid (1944). A good housewife is never done decorating, so why not try your hand at creating tissue-paper flowers in Cut Yourself a Bunch of Fun (1969). Mrs. John Barrymore gives us a lesson in how to keep your hubby happy in the tantalizing How to Undress In Front of Your Husband (1937).  One mother is doing everything wrong by feeding her family poisons in the form of food products, but one creepy British gentleman is stalking around her kitchen to give her proper nutrition information in an excerpt from Mystery in the Kitchen (1958).  And while we're in the kitchen, learn how to not make brainless mistakes like the silly woman you are with Cooking: Kitchen Safety (1949).  Then, it's time to take off the pounds for your man with the ridiculous Battle of the Bulge (1950). One woman single-handedly works a farm while her husband enjoys his off-grid leisurely lifestyle in the hilarious Finnish short Elsa (1982).  Plus tons of commercials, snippets and other surprises!

Date: Thursday, February 25th, 2016 at 8:00PM.

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission: $10.00, Limited Seating, RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or RSVP@oddballfilm.com

What the F(ilm)?! gets Political: Presidential Cine-Insanity - Fri. Feb. 19th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents What the F(ilm)?! gets Political: Presidential Cine-Insanity, an evening of some of the most bizarre, hilarious and insane politically-themed films from our massive 16mm collection. With primary fever in the air and the democractic process playing out in all its glory, this month we're tapping into the historical and hysterical vaults of the collection with tons of cartoons, commercials, spoofs, smut, propaganda and musical numbers. A tiny Shirley Temple tarts it up and tries to cheat an honest man in the "Baby Burlesk" Polly Tix in Washington (1933). Betty Boop sings for your vote in Betty Boop for President (1932). Escalation (1968) an animated anti-war short from Academy Award-winning Di$ney animator Ward Kimball is jam-packed with a montage of everything from erotic imagery to commercial mascots to skewering LBJ's policies on Vietnam. Fictitious candidate Roy Hardale preens and poses like a model while spouting his campaign promises in the hilarious spoof Political Posture (1984). Ford Motor Company sponsors the vintage voter guilt trip Where Were You? (1960). Walter Cronkite surveys the great American pastime of yellow journalism in a segment of Smear: The Game of Dirty Politics (1964) from the TV show The Twentieth Century. Psychedelic animator Vince Collins produced the mind-bending animation 200 (1975) for the country's bicentennial, and it will still blow your eyeballs out today. Kinestatic collage documentarian, Chuck Braverman tells the story of America in 3 minutes utilizing 1300 still images in American Time Capsule (1968). Take a feminist musical break with Schoolhouse Rock and Sufferin' till Suffrage (1974). See why America is number one in consumption in the capitalist propaganda cartoon Meet King Joe (1949). Plus, a girl gets hot and horny for a magazine spread of Richard Nixon in a Tricky Dick Cheesecake Reel, footage from journalist and activist Robert Scheer's local grassroots congressional campaign and William Howard Taft's 1908 campaign, a bouncing ball Sing-Along cartoon of When I'm the President (1945), Lance Kerwin in an excerpt of afterschool special PJ and the President's Son (1976), the trailer for All the President's Men (1976), 1970s political ads from Virginia, a creepy animated turkey commercial, Ronald Reagan hosting GE Theater, and more weirdness! This compendium of 16mm political madness is too strange to be believed and too baffling to be forgotten.

Date: Friday, February 19th, 2016 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 Soiree: Long Lost Treasures of the Tournee of Animation - Thur. Feb. 18th - 8PM

Oddball Films welcomes back Animation Historian, Author and Professor Karl Cohen for our Cinema Soiree Series, a monthly soiree featuring visiting authors, filmmakers and curators presenting and sharing cinema insights. This program will be a mixture of fine films from Canada, the US, the UK, Western Europe and a few things from the other side of the Iron Curtain all handpicked from several decades worth of The Tournee of Animation, a wonderful series of shows of internationally acclaimed animation. The Tournee ran from the late '60s to the '90s with 25 separate programs. For many years it was the only way to see animated shorts that were of outstanding artistic merit in the US. Karl Cohen and Ben Ridgway have been reviewing original 16mm archival prints from past Tournee shows and are selecting some of the most creative and remarkable works for this program. Come be surprised by what they have uncovered from the 1970s and early 1980s. Films include Instant Sex (1980), Geoff Dunbar's Ubu (1978), The Fly (1980), John and Faith Hubley's Tender Game (1959), Yellow Submarine animator Paul Driessens's Elbowing (1979), Killing of an Egg (1979), Why Me? (1978), and more!

Date: Thursday, February 18th, 2016 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 Dating, Sex, and Marriage - A Valentine's Shockucation - Fri. Feb. 12th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Learn Your Lesson on Dating, Sex, and Marriage - A Valentine's Shockucation, the 35th in a monthly series of programs highlighting the most ridiculous, insane and camptastic educational scare films, mental hygiene primers and TV specials of the collection. This month, in honor of Valentine's Day, we're taking a look at romance with 1950s dating instructional films, VD cartoons, divorce scare films, teen pregnancies and more! Junior High students take their first plunge into dating at the Winter party, see who does it right and who needs a few extra takes to not fail miserably in the newly acquired Beginning To Date (1953). Winnie and Ken seemed so in love, now see them in mid-century divorce court screaming at each other and wondering where it all went wrong in another new find: This Charming Couple (1950). More couples ponder what makes a good match for marriage in Is This Love? (1957). Planned Parenthood sponsored Mark and Susan (1975) is a simple film with an important message: "No means No!". Peter Sellers lends his voice to an animated father struggling to educate his child in Birds, Bees and Storks (1965). Di$ney brings us a very different kind of cartoon, the disturbingly knee-slapping VD: Attack Plan (1972) featuring a syphilitic army sergeant directing his VD troops into battle against stupid humans. The Canadians bring us a melodramatic account of Teenage Pregnancy (1971). Debbie Harry, Carrie Fisher, Gilda Radner and more celebrity babes in their prime explain why American Women Love Creeps (1979). Confused about your teenage hormones? The Sexual Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together (1982) will give you a healthy dose of some Christian morality and schmaltzy expository theme songs to help you keep those hormones in check and save it for marriage. Early love birds will be treated to Mormon-made audience favorite The Phone Call (1977) a film that wants you to know that even geeky, karate and bassoon-loving fast food workers deserve love, and with a little self-confidence and a great ginger-fro, they just might get it. 

Date: Friday, February 12th, 2016 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 

Cold-Blooded Murder - Thur. Feb. 11th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Cold-Blooded Murder, a program of 16mm shorts on that most heinous yet fascinating of crimes: homicide. From the fictional to the factual with a vintage police training film, Poe and Bradbury adaptations, dark animation, Orson Welles deconstructing a true crime classic and more, it's one night of murder and mayhem you won't see anywhere else. Films include Crime and the Criminal (1973) edited from In Cold Blood (1967) and featuring Orson Welles making literary alliterations about the book and the film, a gorgeous print of rare police training film Homicide Investigation (1960s) to give you a taste of real-life criminal investigations before the advent of DNA and other high-tech forensic technology, the feverish episode of Ray Bradbury Theater: The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl (1988) starring Michael Ironsides as a man moments after a murder, Wolfgang Urchs' dark animation on escalating violence Die Pistole (1964), the Gracie Barrie Soundie about justifiable homicide: Stone Cold Dead in the Market (1946), and a noir-inspired adaptation of the Poe classic The Tell-Tale Heart (1971) for the early birds, plus plenty of deadly Trailers and more!

Date: Thursday, February 11th, 2016 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 Stupor Bowl: Potheads and Pigskins - Fri. Feb. 5th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents The Stupor Bowl: Potheads and Pigskins, a night of 16mm marijuana scare films and bizarro vintage football ephemera just in time to get weird with super bowl weekend. This program of gridiron and ganja includes Afterschool Specials, antique Mi©key Mouse cartoons, wacky newsreels, soundies, and (of course) good old-fashioned anti-pot scare films with appearances by Woody Allen, Scott Baio, Jonathan Winters and more.  Shock-meister Sid Davis (who would have turned 100 this year) brings us young Tom's descent from good kid to "weedhead" in the hilarious educational short Keep Off the Grass (1970). Mi©key Mouse and his rag tag team square off against the formidable Alley Cats in the early Di$ney cartoon Mi©key's Football Manglers (1932).  Scott Baio goes from square nerd to raging pothead, until he nearly kills his own brother in the ABC Afterschool Special Stoned (1980).  Woody Allen and the Hot Dog bunch try to determine just exactly How Do They Make Footballs? (1970). Pre-teens and teens talk about their chronic pot-smoking in the NBC Special Treat Reading, Writing, and Reefer (1978). See what football was like 120 years ago in the Universal Newsreel Football Forty Years Ago (1936). Plus, an excerpt from The Ballad of Mary Jane (1970), the sporty soundie Always on the Bench (1940s), the melodramatic trailer for Marihuana: Assassin of Youth (1936), double-projected marijuana footage and football follies, a Halftime Spectacular featuring Isaac Hayes performing the theme song from Shaft with dozens of groovy dancers, the hilarious documentary The Pigs vs The Freaks (1973) for the early birds and even more surprises!

Date: Friday, February 5th, 2016 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