Venice Arts Council News: 7 Dudley Cinema & Unurban UPDATES important changes

-----Original Message-----
From: pfsuzy@aol.com [mailto:pfsuzy@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 12:23 PM
To: PFSuzy@aol.com
Subject: 7 Dudley Cinema & Unurban UPDATES important changes

Hello,

Thanks for all your listings. Please make note that several Sept/Oct dates have changed. We also have some exciting additions to the film series at Sponto Gallery (7 DUDLEY CINEMA - which is listed first) and Unurban's DOCUMENTAL, which is listed secondly. Here are the correct schedules.

Cheers, Gerry Fialka 310-036-7330 pfsuzy@aol.com

7 DUDLEY CINEMA - films & live events at SPONTO Gallery, 7 Dudley Ave, Venice, 310-306-7330, free admission, 8:00pm unless noted, Visit: myspace.com/sevendudleycinema and www.81x.com/7dudley/cinema Come early - seating is limited & pre-shows

TUES, Aug 12. ROCK'N'ROLL MADE IN MEXICO: FROM EVOLUTION TO REVOLU TION ('07, 79m) at 10pm. Intrepid filmmaker Lance Miccio and Canned Heat Legend Fito de la Parra tell the story of Mexican Rocks tortured past. With Alex Lora of El Tri, Javier Batiz (who influenced Carlos Santana’s unique style), Armando Molina and Ana Sidel. Colorfully covers the early innocent days of Cafés and yard parties, through t he illegalization of Rock and Roll after the notorious Avandaro Concert (known as the Mexican Woodstock). It wasn’t until 1985 when Rock was made legal once again. Miccio brings this epic struggle of music against authority full circle from the beginning to today, where contemporary Mexican Rockers now thrive on the world stage. 6pm: Ultra rare "sex, drugs & Rock'n'Roll" film in all it's four wild hours.

WED, Aug 13. THE SILENT REVOLUTION OF TRUTH ('07, 94 minutes) Michael Horn's (in person) compelling documentary, shot in Switzerland, California and Nevada about the amazing story of "Billy" Eduard Albert Meier. In his own words, as well as those of numerous witnesses, Meier reveals the details of his voluntary, face-to-face contacts with extraterrestrial humans, beginning when he was five years-old, in 1942. The abundant physical evidence, startlingly clear UFO photos, films, video, sound recordings and metal samples remain irreproducible even with today's technology. Meier's impeccable record of prophetic accuracy (two US wars with Iraq, AIDS, global warming, terrorism, illegal immigration, cell20phones, home computers, etc.) dates back to the 1950s. There has been 21 documented attempts on his life. Why have these contacts occurred? What do they portend for our future survival? What can we do about it? PLUS- 6:30pm live music preshow: UNPOPABLE- balloon base funk/blues. PLUS - 5p m: POLITAOKE (POLITical speeches as karAOK E = POLITAOKE) Now you too can deliver the great rhetoric filled speeches of today's most important politicians. Why settle with hearing politicians when, Politaoke allows you to become them. Politaoke, an audience participatory political karaoke bar changes the face of politics and karaoke by allowing audience members to take on the role of political leaders. Who needs American Idol when you could be a presidential candidate. Politaoke is a natural progression in Diana Arce's (in person) work as an artist, filmmaker and activist, who is interested in using artistic methods as a platform to engage in political and cultural critique and commentary in the public realm. Much of her work stems not only from her personal experience, but also from contemporary politics, economics and news. She is also notorious for her prize winning karaoke at Pan Am Lounge in Berlin.

SUNDAYS: Aug 17, Sept 21, Oct 19, Nov 16, Dec 14. SIC - SPIRITUALLY INCORRECT COMEDY at 8pm - LIVE subversive performances by cutting edge comedians - produced by Vanda Mikoloski visit: Vanda.us Past comics have included Rick Overton, Mark Maron & Andy Kindler. Preshows 7pm: Open mic POETRY. Special live music preshow 7pm on Nov 16 - The Rondo Hatton Experience with Dance Contest.

WED, Aug 20. SHORT FILMS BY DAGIE BRUNDERT - One two three hands full of super 8 short films with sunny vibes inside: about shadows diving in the ocean, negat ive processed love goddesses, self healing bikes, the effects of magic gold brandy and time punch, collapsing barbie dolls, cooperative cardboard cowboys and many many more! Dagie Brundert lives in Berlin where she studied visual communication and experimental filmmaking and formed the female filmmakers' collective FBI (Frein Berliner Ischen) in 1994. Dagie's short films light up screens and inspire audiences around the world. She is the 2008 Summer Artist in Residence at Echo Park Film Center. Plus 6:30 live music preshow: rizorkestra, the inspired one-man-folk-roots-blues-band.

WED, Aug 27. THE BEST OF THE DRUID UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL at 8pm -William Burgess' (in person) two hours of 18 mind-blowing works including Damon Packard's Skatebang, JJ Villard's Charles Bukowski piece, Steve Irwin tribute and more wild comedy, abstract, doc and music shorts - all spiritual combat against the hollow mass of tedious video art. Plus 7pm: Venice Boardwalks SUNNY WAR's cd release party & live performance.

WED, Sept 3. SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW: HAROLD ARLEN ('99, 72m) at 7pm. Don McGlynn's (in person) delightful portrait of one of the mo st noted composer of 20th century popular music - Over The Rainbow, It's Only A Paper Moon, Stormy Weather, I've Got the World on A String, Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive and many more. With stirring performances by Cab Calloway, Judy Garland, Barbara Streisand, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme &20Tony Bennett. LOUIS PRIMA - THE WILDEST ('99, 80m) at 8:30. McGlynn profiles the magnetic Prima through the racy New Orleans scene, the swinging jazz culture of uptown New York and Las Vegas's formative years. The hypnotic Prima & his acclaimed wife Keely Smith had hits with That Old Black Magic and Just A Gigolo.

SAT, Sept 13. DEAN SNIDER FILMS ('79-'92, 60m) Snider's (1949-94) films are for the most part formally playful and richly possessed of character. Doug Katelus (in person) has organized this revealing retrospective. Ultra-short, often self-mocking, Snider’s abounding catalog is a bit confusing and almost always funny. Hard to compare with any other filmmaker, Snider’s20 s subversive stance and sardonic sense of humor enlivened his varied, quixotic films and real life antics. He was known to pay a dollar to viewers who attended his shows, and as a judge at the Ann Arbor Film Festival he gave each and every festival-rejected filmmaker $3 of his prize money, igniting much debate. Beyond filmmaking, Snider's gadfly outbursts and philosophical provocations helped spark controversy and stimulate conceptual filmic border-crossings. He actively=2 0combated censorship by utilizing explicit porn film footage inserts into his narratives. He also made Situationist-style appropriations of home movies and newsreel footage, adding narration to yield new messages lampooning cinematic conventions and bourgeois mora lity. Film theorist Janice Crystal-Lipzin said of Dean's films, 'Why the titles are longer than the films!' -- no doubt referring to 'Hey!,' a single frame of a bale of hay. She had no direct comment on 'Owh! That Was My Penis You Stepped On.' Christine Svane wrote of Snider's films, '...Images roaring our of somewhere or something, a cave, something I kept wanting to name. Like a place they made me want to go,=2 0or I'd been there, yeah, I've been there, but I couldn't name it and then, funny those initials scratched on the leader like graffiti in a cave, funny lke a punchline...' 6:30pm preshow- experimental films with live music.

WED, Sept 17. DECLINE AND FALL ('07, 80m) at 7pm Erika Suderburg's (in person) experimental documentary about aerial bombing, reconstruction, mass protest, and monumentality. Spanning historical and present day images from Rome, Yucats20 án, Berlin and Los Angeles her work examines empire; its artifacts, structures and collapse. Through archival footage of the bombing, aerial reconnaissance and rebuilding of WWII Berlin, contemporary footage of a 2.8 million person peace march in Rome at the start of the present war, a neighborhood candlelight vigil in Los Angeles, and astronomical events in an d around Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, Mexico Decline and Fall decomposes the macro and micro movements of destruction, memorialization and everyday life. SOMATOGRAPHY ('00, 70m) at 9pm Suderburg's experimental documentary that examines the nature of storytelling in relation to queer and leftist Los Angeles. City, sexuality and politics serve as volatile sites of memory, history and defi nition which in turn interrogate the amnesiac constructions that we fabricate in order to navigate our internal and external environs. Through the nesting of categories and chosen topics, overlappings, frissions and "leads" to new stories, SOMATOGRAPHY speaks to the connective and disparate nature of "city" as defined through myriad voices, fanciful reconstructions, and uncanny connections.

WED, Oct 15. DR. VIDEO (1975-2008, 120m) at 8pm. JOHN HUNT (aka Dr. Video) was the first Video Jockey (before MTV) wowing Venice audiences in 1975. The pioneer documentarian Hunt (in person) screens his revealing portraits of Henry Miller, Lisa Lyon, Lindsay Anderson, Count Basie, Venice artists Larry Bell, Wayne Holwick & Anthony Fiorello. Hunt, who has appeared at the Kennedy Center, Sundance & film festivals worldwide, will also show classic cartoons, music vi deos & Jazz shorts including Oscar Fischinger, Milcho Leviev, Elvis, B.B. King and more.

WED, Oct 22. I'M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF at 8pm ('74, 58m) Myron=2 0Meisel's (in person) probing documentary about Nic Ray's last film We Can't Go Home Again, his radical independent feature with hippie and student collaborators. Sterling Hayden's tag line in Johnny Guitar, "I'm a stranger here myself," eventually became Ray's motto. Film critic Dave Kehr's review of In a Lonely Place stated "The film's subject is the attractiveness of instability, and Ray's self-examination is both narcissistic and sharply critical, in fascinating combination . Plus: DESCRIPTION OF A PASSAGE at 7pm ('07, 32m) Phillip Gioe's (in person) existential narrative: film as oracle: divinity and divination. Plus: Johnny Smoke's Circus of Fun at 6pm Multi-media experimentation & potluck.

SAT, Nov 8. JAZZ FUNK FEST 7pm - LIVE music BSP, Freddy Ginns, Eric Ahlberg's Jazz Workshop

WED, Nov 12. CRACKER CRAZY ('07, 94m) "Georg Koszulinski's historical narrative tells the story of Florida's history20from a decidedly different point of view. Blending archival and original footage, he brings to life a cast of historical characters spanning over 12,000 years, from Floridalain ’s ancient Indians to the migrant farm workers of the 21st c entury. Meet Osceola and the Seminoles, who fought alongside escaped slaves in the most costly Indian War in American History. Unmask Florida’s Ku Klux Klan and don’t forget about Walt Disney and Henry Flagler – perhaps the two characters most responsible for the Florida we know today. Think you know Florida? Think again. See ‘Cracker Crazy’ for an eye-open ing experience." -Paul Ortiz, UofC Professor of History. Plus: LOS TRES ERRANTES ('07, 10m) Juan Camilo Gonzalez's moving animation on the 3 stages of a man wandering in the same place. DOXOLOGY ('07, 9m) Michael Langan's experimental comedy about tennis, dancing cars and God.

SAT Nov 15. PXL THIS 18 - toy camera fest 7 & 9pm - The irresistible irony of the PXL is that the camera's ease-of-use and affordabi lity, which entirely democratizes movie-making, has inspired the creation of some of the most visionary, avant and luminous film of our time. http://www.indiespace.com/pxlthiswww.indiespace.com/pxlthis

WED, Nov 19. DAY IS DONE (2005-6, 150m) at 7pm "Day Is Done is an indisputable20tour de force... a variety show scripted by a regression therapist." -Village Voice. Mike Kelley's feature-length musical examines American subcultures and folk events through the restaging of 31 carnivalesque productions intermixed into a meandering semi-narrative. Each reconstruction is a live-action scene that has been extrapolated from photographs found in high school yearbooks, with such familiar diversions from the day-to-day routine as dress-up days, memorial speeches, religious spectacles, fashion shows, singles’ mixers and musical follies. Kelley disrupts the traditional structures of such events to construct a dizzying daisy chain of performances that results in an institutional landscape populated by dancing Goths, singing vampires, hick storytellers, horse dancers and the Virgin Mary.

WED, Dec 3. THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI ('06, 74m) Linda Hattendorf's inspired and inspiring film on Tsutomu Mirikitani, who was born in Sacramento and raised in Hiroshima. He returned to the United States on the eve of World War II, only to lose much of his f amily in the bombing of his childhood city and his freedom in his native state. In Cats, we meet "Jimmy" at 80 years old, a self-described "Grand Master Artist" living on the streets of Soho in New York City. Already befriended by the filmmaker months before September 11, she takes him in following that=2 0day’s toxic events. Cats is a film which succeeds brilliantly on a number of levels, not the least of which is the ever presence of hope, as revealed in Mirikitani’s capacity, even at a very late hour in his life, to clear the pain of his past. Plus: BURIED STORIES ('08, 34m) Julie Kirkenslager & Emily Wick (in person) documents Ella Rodriguez, a healing woman in two ways. She is a healer as she attends to the recuperation of an injured hummingbird and superintends the respectful treatment of ancestral sites in the path of development. Many decades after she was taken from her family and placed in an Indian boarding school, Ella also claims her power to heal herself from treatment which was anything but respectful. Her strength of being, both in her tenderness and her resilient toughness, is a marvel to witness. HELP IS COMING ('06, 8m) Ben Mor's revealing short shows three figures moving through the blasted landscape of the Lower Ninth Ward in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. One of them drags a tattered bag behind him. Who is this trio? And what is in that bag? There is no other film like Help Is Coming. And, if that9s=2 0not enough, it has Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings on it soundtrack.

WED, Dec 10. ROBERT CARL COHEN'S - CONCERNED CITIZEN FILM MARATHON - 195 Minutes of Controversial issues Which Won't Go Away - LET IT BURN (1968 - 60min.) at 7pm- Bob Cohen's (in person) Dar es Salaam interview of FBI hunted US Army & Marine Corps veteran Robert Franklin Williams, th e leading advocate of armed self-defense in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Williams tells how his "Guard" of some 300 armed and organized Blacks chased the KKK out of town. But then, in 1961, when they agreed to either participate unarmed or stay away from demonstrations by pro-integration "Freedom Riders," the Klan returned in force. The Freedom Riders were beaten and then jailed. Members of the Guard prepared to march on the jail. Arson and gunfire erupted. Events escalated, and with Alabama National Guard tanks advancing on the Black section of Monroe, North Carolina, Williams escaped, first to Canada, and then to Cuba, where he was welcomed by Fidel Castro and permitted to have the only private radio program and newsletter in the country. Williams tells how, due to actions taken by certain political factions to suppress his broadcasts, he decided he had to leave Cuba20and move to China, where he was personally welcomed by Mao Tze-Tung. Having predicted the ghetto uprisings of the mid-1960s, Wi lliams calls for Black soldiers in Vietnam to return home and turn their weapons against the racists. He declares that, unless White America ceases racist oppression, the USA will go up in flames. Bob's new book, BLACK CRUSADER - 2008 Illustrated Edition, a biography of Robert Franklin Williams, is now available both in print and as an e-book at radfilms.com COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES- (1962 - 45min) at 8pm -The first film by a US citizen which criticizes a US Government committee, includes 1930s footage of House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) Chairman Martin Dies (D) of Texas attacking "subversives" in labor unions; the 1947 Hollywood Witch Hunts; the Cold War blacklistings; & the 1960 San Francisco hearings where police turned fire hoses on student protestors inside the City Hall. The film contains an analysis of how the HUAC subpoened the newsfilms of the City Hall protests from TV stations KRON & KPIX & used federal facilities to edit them into "Operation Abolition," a falsified film attacking the HUAC'S critics; thousands of copies of which were then sold for private profit throughout the USA, including to the Armed Forces. Revelation of "Operation Abolitions" untruths led to the Pentagon banning it from all military bases. FBI files obtained under the Freedom of Information Act in 1975 revealed that, in direct violation of the First Amendment, Bob Cohen was investigated by th e HUAC for daring to make this film. In 1977 it was Certified by the US Information Agency (USIA) as being of an "International Educational Character." CAN THE ROSENBERG CASE BE REOPENED? (1975 - 90min) at 9pm -The Rosenberg "Atomic Espionage" Case, among the most controversial Cold War episodes of the early 1950s, despite the passage of decades, continues to raise serious doubts as to: The reliability of the testimony? The Judge's relationshi p with FBI Director Hoover & the prosecution? The legality of the sentence? The rush to electrocute the only A mericans ever executed for espionage?

*****************************
DOCUMENTAL shows films at the Unurban Coffeehouse, 3301 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA, 90404, 310-315-0056, free admission from 6-10pm. Info: 310-306-7330http://www.myspace.com/sevendudleycinema

MON, Aug 18. THIS IS THE LA RIVER: AN EPFC Y OUTH DOCUMENTARY FILM ('07,35m) at 8pm - Without the Los Angeles ineRiver there would be no Los Angeles. A historical and geographic reference point, a place of industry and recreation, the home of herons and toxic trash dumps, flooded and paved over, the subject of poems, art, derision and protest, the story of the LA20River is a long and winding one, open to endless interpretation. This Is The LA River invited 21 neighborhood youth between the ages of 14 and 19 to explore the River through the medium of 16mm film. The result is a captivating collaborative documentary that examines the complex past, present and future of the great waterway of Los Angeles. With Paolo & Lisa (in person) from echoparkfilmcenter.org who will show more films made at EPFC at 7pm. Experimental films from 6-7pm.

MON, Sept 22. THE PERFECT SHOW ('07, 69m) at 8pm. For over 40 years, Seattle filmmaker/impresario Karl Krogstad has been making shorts and features of every persuasion—animation, live action, documentary, found footage collage. His work has been in dozens of film festivals, the training ground for an amazing cross-section of the Seattle film community for whom he is a source of singular amusement and creativity. THE TRAVEL SHOW is an ode to the glories of France; THE SHRINE TO CIRCUSANITY,=2 0a document of an annual Krogstad happening in the eastern Washington desert; FELLINI'S LAST SCENE, his interpretation of a scene in a train car scripted by Fellini (a Krogstad hero) just before he died; THE MAKING OF FELLINI'S LAST SCENE, a making-of documentary by Alex Gonzalez about the making of the aforemen tioned film; and BEST OF THE AMERICAN AVANT GARDE, favorite clips from the cable television show he produces in Seattle that features work by Northwest filmmakers. "All these films are strange. Like good poems, all served on ice." AN EVENING OF LIGHT & DARK ('03, 63m) at 7pm - more maverick Krogstad. 6pm: experimental films.

MON, Oct 13. ENVIRONMENTAL FILMS - Filmmaker Sheila Laffey's (in person) socially concerned films invite activism. 6pm: WALDEN ('85, 10m) Thoreau's words at Walden Pond filmed on location during th e fall foliage season. HAWAII IN TRANSITION: VISION FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE ('95, 25m) covers active community projects in terms of the five elements (fire, earth, water, wood, air) with Hawaiian chanting, filmed on location on three islands. SOUTH CENTRAL FARM: OASIS IN A CONCRETE DESERT (2007, 20m) examines the high profile controversy over the largest urban farm in the country. Includes the benefits of urban farms, celebrity tree sitters, citizen supporters, rare interview with developer, footage of dramatic events at the farm and farmers efforts to continue to sustain themselves, physically and culturally. WE ALL NEED THE FOREST ('92, 20m) engaging drama of a Hawaiian boy discovering ancient principles of nature and life after meeting the Spirit of the Forest, resulting in the healing of his ailing tutu (grandfather). 8pm: SHOW ME THE WAY ('08, 60m) revealing doc, co-directed with William Gazecki, follows mentoring teams around urban LA against chall enging odds. Includes Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his own mentor. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA ('93, 20m) Two children are transported through a computer game to various island eco-systems where a guide helps them understand how unique and fun these habitats are. THE LAST STAND: HEROES AT BALLONA WETLANDS ('04, 24m) hosted by Ed Asner with Joni Mitchell music, contains views of scientists, environmentalists, development advocates, Native Americans, elected representatives and community activists. It highlights the successful efforts by citizens that have, to date, resulted in the saving of over half of the Ballona Wetlands, and their continuing efforts to save more. This short includes highlights from the earlier hour long versions and updates. Films in this series have won 20 awards.

MON, Nov 10. STRANGE CULTURE ('07, 90m) at 8pm. The surreal nightmare of internationally-acclaimed artist and professor Steve Kurtz began when his wife Hope died in her sleep of heart failure. Police who responded to Kurtz’s 911 call deemed Kurtz’s art suspicious and called the FBI. Within hours the artist was detained as a suspected "bioterrorist" as dozens of federal agents in Hazmat suits sifted through his work and impounded his computers, manuscripts, books, his cat, and even his wife’s body. Today Kurtz and his long-time collaborator Dr. Robert Ferrell, Professor of Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, await a trial date. Actors Thomas Jay Ryan and Tilda Swinton play the Kurtzes, while Kurtz himself appears in interviews. "A strange and compelling Kafka-\pard plain esque account of an American artist caught up in Bush's war on terror" -Hwd Reporter. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ('06, 52m ) at 7pm. In 1998, university professor Kembrew Mc Leod (Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa) trademarked the phrase "freedom of expression" — a startling comment on the way that intellectual property law restricts creativity and the expression of ideas. This provocative and amusing documentary explores the battles being waged in courts, classrooms, museums, film studios, and the Internet over control of our cultural commons. Based on McLeod's award-winning book of the same ti tle, Freedom of Expression® charts the many successful attempts to push back the assault on free expression by overzealous copyright holders. 6pm - culture jamming shorts.

MON, Dec 8. COMPOUND EYE< /STRONG> ('06, 75m) at 8:30pm - Yahn Soon's (in person) telling film of Dream cartoonist Jesse Reklaw (the syndicated Slow Wave), who finds himself within the eye of a tempest when his latest comic depicts the World Trade Center rebuilt as an IHOP staffed by Afghan refugees. Downstairs, his roommate Fausto keeps to himself by creating lush soundscapes for his weekly pirate radio show and immersing himself in a secondhand photo album containing the lost letters of a schizophrenic. But Fausto’s quiet days are numbered as attention surrounding the cartoon threatens to bring his underground operation into the limelight. Plus short films from 6-8:30pm programmed by Mendicino Film Festival curator extraordanaire George Russell: ON THE ASSASSINATION OF THE PRESIDENT ('07, 6m) Adam Keker's educationally paranoid experime ntal short assumes the worst about subliminal media manipulation and inside-the-machinery conspiracy corruption. ANTHEM ('07, 10m) Alex Potts abstract film - "This electro-symphonic light painting honors those spirits who cross the luminous voi d." M ('06, 4m) Tiffany Doesken-Polos's silent, pulsating, coruscating, semi-abstract exploration of the grace and beauty of the human form. Light, motion, color, texture … Ero s. I MET THE WALRUS ('07, 7m) Josh Raskin's insightful and incredibly clever animation illustrates an impromptu interview by a Canadian teen with musician and peace activist John Lennon. Fourteen-year-old Jerry Levitan managed to sneak into the hotel room where John and Yoko were having one of their notorious "bed-ins" for peace and recorded a piece of history. HELP IS COMING ('06, 8m) Ben Mor's revealing short shows three figures moving through the blasted landscape of the Lower Ninth Ward in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. One of them drags a tattered bag behind him. Who is this trio? And what is in that bag? There is no other film like Help Is Coming. And, if that’s not enough, it has Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings on it soundtrack. A RUG FOR CALIFORNIA ('06, 24m) Carmen Goodyear & Laurie York's artistic doc on Vicki Fraser's colorful and revealing rug.