Futurama - A Visit to the 1964-1965 World's Fair - Thur. July 30th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Futurama - A Visit to the 1964-1965 World's Fair, a program of vintage films about and commissioned for the New York World's Fair of 1964-1965.  This international spectacle of architecture, commerce, culture, religion and art attracted millions of visitors from around the world. Countries, religions and corporations alike sought to dazzle visitors with glorifications of the past and promises of a brighter future. Tour the fair and witness all the exciting sights and sounds of the 1964 New York World's Fair in campy travelogue To the Fair (1964) including visits to the Uni-sphere (the centerpiece of the fair), the Futurama exhibit, The Vatican pavilion, presentations from exotic countries and more in gorgeous color! From the commercial sector, Ship n' Shore Fashions wants you to see the future of machine-washable clothing with two giggling girls at the fair in Fashion Fair (1964). In Magic Skyway (1965), Ford motorcars commissioned the animatronix team from Di$neyland to create an interactive ride full of dinosaurs, neanderthals and a brief trip back in time to show the past and future of cars. The legendary Saul Bass creates a kaleidoscopic vision of air travel for United Airlines in From Here to There (1964). From the religious sector, we bring you the LDS film that was watched my millions and plays out much like a mental hygiene short, warning viewers of a life of idle and harkening them to the Mormon faith: Man's Search for Happiness (1964). View the controversial film from the Lutheran Council and visionary filmmaker Rolf Forsberg depicting Jesus as a circus clown: Parable (1964).  Early birds will get the inside scoop on the planning of the fair in World's Fair Report with Lowell Thomas (1961) which includes an interview with fair planner Robert Moses and miniature models of many of the pavilions and buildings of the fair. Plus dancing dolphins, Mel Brooks's 2,000 Year Old Man talks about the very first World's Fair and more surprises. Everything screened on 16mm film from the Oddball archive.

Date: Thursday, July 30th, 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 about Puberty - A Hormonal Shockucation - Fri. July 24th - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter present Learn Your Lesson...About Puberty: A Hormonal Shockucation, the 28th 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 finally devoting a whole night to the horrible onslaught of puberty and all the awkward terror it encompasses! To start the evening, there's nothing better than Kotex and Di$ney's dreamily animated Story of Menstruation (1945).  For the first time ever, we will be distributing copies of the companion pamphlet that originally accompanied the film - Very Personally Yours  (while supplies last, so show up early!) so the whole class can follow along. Then, we'll be screening two sets of companion films that would have been originally shown in separate rooms for the boys and girls - two will be screened individually back to back and two will be screened simultaneously, side by side with live-sound mixing. Learn all about your first period and making out with smiley-faced pillows with the most awkward pubescent heroine of the 80s in Dear Diary: A Film about Female Puberty (1981). Then, for the gents; find out more about wet dreams and unexpected hard-ons than you ever wanted to know in the companion piece Am I Normal? A Film about Male Puberty (1979). Celebrity hosts Marlo Thomas and Ken Howard (and the pubescent kids they're spending the night with) will battle for your attention as we double project the uncomfortable camping trip and weenie roast of The Body Human: The Facts for Boys (1981) and the slumber party of young girls gabbing about their changing bodies, lip-syncing terribly and other girlie stuff in The Body Human: The Facts for Girls (1980). Snicker at the similarities, mock the differences, and finally get a glimpse into the other half of the class. Plus, a couple of secret surprises and more menstrutainment for the early birds, it's a great night to learn your lesson.

Date: Friday, July 24th, 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 Toys are Alive! - Thurs. July 23rd - 8PM

Oddball Films presents The Toys are Alive!, an imaginative, inspiring, and slightly creepy program of 16mm short films and animation full of antique playthings come to life. From the miniature circus of Alexander Calder to stop-motion animation and bizarre educational films, rediscover your early obsession with sentient toys.  Marvel at the childlike wonder instilled in legendary artist Alexander Calder as he plays with his miniature kinetic sculptures in Calder’s Circus (1963).  Grant Munro's anti-war short Toys (1966) brings to life your GI Joes, but as it turns out, that's not a good thing. Everyone's favorite little green buddy, Gumby gets into shenanigans with toy trucks in the original 1957 short Toy Fun.  Fall in love with Ivo Caprino's enchanting stop-motion interpretation of Hans Christian Anderson's Steadfast Tin Soldier (1955) in gorgeous Technicolor. The whole attic comes alive with discarded dolls and tchotchkes having a grand old time in the Friz Freleng cartoon The Miller's Daughter (1934). Watch out for that creepy clown puppet, because he might turn you invisible to answer the question Parents: Who Needs Them? (1973), a bizarro mental hygiene primer with terrible dubbing. Plus, two of Lajos Szabo's hilarious Lego Sports Shorts; Figure Skating (1986) featuring a rowdy ensemble of dancing penguins and the skiing bear of Downhill Skiing (1986) and a smattering of snippets and secret surprises all highlighting re-animated antique toys, dolls and playthings.

Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 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

An Animated History of Everything in 10 Minutes or Less - Fri. July 17th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents An Animated History of Everything in 10 Minutes or Less, a program of 16mm animation from around the world that offers an array of abridged histories on such varied subjects as art, cinema, leisure, communication, warfare, kitties and more! The Oscar-winning Australian short Leisure (1976) mixes cell-animation and pop-art collage to make you think differently about the way you spend those off hours. Ken Rudolph takes us through the history of art in 8 pulsing minutes in Gallery (1969). From England's Halas and Batchelor studio, there's the succinct and wryly witty The History of the Cinema (1957). From the NFB, discover Bretislav Pojar's tale of the escalation of aggression and the arms race leading to global annihilation: Boom (1979). Revel in the Technicolor mermaids of the Phillips-sponsored Pan-Tele-Tron (1957), a survey of communication through the ages. 6,5,4,3,2,1 (1967) combines cell-animation and collage to create a vision on human progress from the dawn of man to the future of rocketeering. The Story of Time (1949) is a beautiful and surreal stop-motion film about the telling of time from the stone age to the "modern" stop-watch; sponsored by Rolex. Di$ney brings us Of Cats and Men (1977), the historical journey of the domestic cat from Egyptian times to his current seat atop the hearts of men and crazy cat ladies alike. Plus, Pickles (1973) legendary Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto's brilliant animated montage featuring satirical and comical treatments of some of the world’s great preoccupations: advertising, drugs, television, hunger and more. Why waste time learning when you've got Oddball to infotain you with concise cartoons!

Date: Friday, July 17th, 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

Lady Sings the Blues - Thur. July 16th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Lady Sings the Blues, an evening of film rarities of female blues and jazz musicians from the archive (including several not to be found or seen elsewhere) featuring works with Bessie Smith, Lena Horne, Nellie Lutcher, Alberta Hunter, Elizabeth Cotten, Keely Smith and Ivie Anderson. From mini-musicals to personal and in-depth portrait documentaries to rare performances and Soundies; this is more than just a night of incredible music. One of the most haunting and important films of the collection, view Bessie Smith's only film appearance in the moody musical melodrama St. Louis Blues (1929).  In Alberta Hunter: Blues at the Cookery (1982), see Hunter's triumphant return to the stage in her 80s after decades working as a nurse. 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. Lena Horne dreams her way out of cleaning and into a singing contract in the mini-musical Lena Horne's Boogie Woogie Dream (1943). Plus, rare musical performances and soundies including Ivie Anderson singing Stormy Weather with Duke Ellington and his band, Nellie Lutcher's cheeky hit Real Gone Guy, Keely Smith belting out Birth of the Blues with Louis Prima, Sam Butera and the Witnesses and more surprises!

Date: Thursday, July 16th, 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

Computerized - Yesterday's Technology for Tomorrow - Fri. July 10th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Computerized - Yesterday's Technology for Tomorrow, a program of vintage films about the rise of computer technology and the early predictions for an automated future. From Isaac Asimov Sci-Fi to early computer generated animation, outdated educational films and more, take a look at the future of technology through the eyes of the past.   Look into employment opportunities and find out if Careers in Computer Services (1983) are for you. Isaac Asimov's All The Troubles of the World (1978) details a computercide plot in a world run by the omnipotent Multivac. Di$ney Educational brings us a cheesetastic overview of computer technology for elementary school students (and teachers) in Computers: The Truth of the Matter (1983). Arthur C. Clarke and John Whitney Sr. postulate on some of the exciting and terrifying ways technology effects humanity in Computers: Challenging Men's Supremacy (1976). Then, get a taste of some of the first computer-generated animation and motion graphics with Whitney's Catalog (1961) and his son Michael's mesmerizing Binary Bit Patterns (1969).  Gary Demos, the special-effects guru behind Tron and Futureworld creates a mesmerizing light show in I Had an Idea (1972).  Plus, the first CG music video, Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now (1972) from animator John Wilson, and a couple of Top Secret Surprises, too juicy to publicize! Come early for Bell Labs' The Thinking Machines (1968) a camptastic animated explanation of various forms of computer intelligence, from the mathematic to the artistic. 

Date: Friday, July 10th, 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 Soiree with Kerry Laitala - Spectacle of Light and Sound - Thurs. July 9th - 8PM

Oddball Films welcomes moving image artist Kerry Laitala to our Cinema Soiree Series, a monthly event featuring visiting authors, filmmakers and curators presenting and sharing cinema insights and films. Kerry Laitala is a media archaeologist who uses analog, digital, and hybrid forms to present traces of forgotten technologies from the distant and recent past. Laitala's work resides at the crossroads of science, art, history, and her uncanny approach to evolving systems of belief through installation, photography, para-cinema, performance, kinetic sculpture, and single-channel forms. Laitala will be revealing the secrets of her direct film manipulation and experimental imaging techniques and presenting two works from her City Luminous Series, celebrating the lighting pioneers that gathered a century ago at the fabulous Jewel City, a 635-acre monument to impermanence constructed, and soon after, demolished in San Francisco’s Marina district. These include The City Luminous: Spectacle of Light, which recently received an audience choice award at the 2015 Crossroads Film Festival presented by SF Cinematheque, and The City Luminous: Electric Salome, a brand-new work being world-premiered right here at Oddball Films. Both of these performances will feature live sound from Oakland’s experimental music duo extraordinaire Voicehandler, made up of Jacob Felix Heule and Danishta Rivero.  In addition, Laitala will screen the slightly salacious The Kali of Technology, and Side Show Spectacle with live sound by Brian Darr. Lastly, 3D manifestations will propel the audience into the screen and beyond the as their retinas get pushed and pulled through the taffy maker of prismatic chromadepth. These works include: Afterimage: A Flicker of Life, sound collaboration Between K. Laitala and Wobbly, Chromatic Frenzy and Nine Lives Measured in Mercury with original sound by Neal Johnson.

Date: Thursday, July 9th, 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

What the F(ilm)?!: All-American Cine-Insanity from the Archive - Fri. July 3rd - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter present What the F(ilm)?!: All-American Cine-insanity from the Archive, an evening of some of the most bizarre, hilarious and insane films from our massive 16mm collection. This month we're featuring a cornucopia of insane-Americana with Di$ney war-propaganda, fire puppets, psychedelic animation, atomic scare films and even a naked marching band.  Walt Di$ney and Donald Duck help out in the war effort in The Spirit of '43 (1943), a bit of good old fashioned cartoon propaganda. 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).  Woody Allen and Jonathan Winters chime in on the age old question How Do They Make Hot Dog Buns? (1970) fromHot Dog, a short-lived bizarro educational program. With two camptastic slices of American cheese, Jerry Fairbanks brings us patriotic talking animals with Speaking of Animals - In Current Events (1940s) and a gorgeous technicolor road trip on a Greyhound Bus full of love with America for Me (1952). Learn all about fireworks from a disturbing Krofftesque fire puppet in safety primer Fireworks (1970s).  All American Meal (1976) is a little gem of an educational that warns of the dangers of processed food. And since everybody loves a parade, we will be double-projecting the hilariously weird homoerotic short Nude Marching Band (1970s) with Parade, Parade (1973)the kitschy document of a small-town parade.  Plus, stripping for Uncle Sam with The Pretty Priorities and their patriotic burlesque soundie Take It Off (1942) and even more insane surprises!

Date: Friday, July 3rd, 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