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East
3rd Street, between Avenues A and B (closer to A) * New York City Inside
the Pioneer (blog) |
| SEPTEMBER
2006 |
|
SATELLITE (dir. Jeff Winner, 100 mins, 2004) Fri Sept
1 10:45pm - buy
tix |
"If
there's a better independent date movie out there right now, I haven't
seen it." "Captivating!
Touches a chord." Karl Geary (HAMLET, MIMIC:SENTINEL,HAPPY HERE & NOW) and newcomer Stephanie Szostak (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA) star in SATELLITE from writer, director Jeff Winner (YOU ARE HERE*). An edgy and provocative fable of love reminiscent of BONNIE & CLYDE and TRUE ROMANCE. In this fairy tale thrill ride, Kevin and Ro challenge each other to find meaning in their lives by daring one another to do the things they're most afraid of. They quit their jobs, sell their possessions and steal to make ends meet. As they get closer, their dares, which at first brought them together, threaten to destroy their relationship. A poignant closure brings the film full circle. SATELLITE also stars Pell James (UNDISCOVERED, BROKEN FLOWERS, David Fincher's ZODIAC) and features the music of indie rock sensation Calla ("#1 Band You Need to Know" - Alternative Press). |
|
EASY RIDER (dir. Dennis Hopper, 90 mins, 1969) 35mm print Sat Sept 2 11pm
- buy tix |
A landmark in film history, EASY RIDER blew the studio doors open for more young directors than any film before or since, helping to create the wide-open climate that would lead to the production of many outstanding films in the 1970s. As its director, Dennis Hopper is usually given the lion's share of credit for the film's success, but the revelations of time suggest that the contributions of the late Terry Southern and, to some degree, Jack Nicholson have endowed the film with much of its residual power. Starring
Peter Fonda as Wyatt (alias Captain America) and Hopper as Billy, it traces
the hippie duo's adventures as they mount their seriously chopped hogs
on a journey to find the real America en route to Mardi Gras. In Arizona,
they visit a commune whose members are having a tough time, and in a small
Texas town they're jailed for joining a parade. But they're quickly sprung
by an ACLU lawyer, the quirky, hard-drinking George Hanson (Jack Nicholson),
who accepts their offer to join them on the trip to New Orleans, eager
to visit the best whorehouse in the South. EASY RIDER accurately reflects
the tensions and hostilities of the period, Laszlo Kovacs's photography
is superb, Nicholson is exceptional in his breakthrough role--and the
startling, stunning ending is a shocker. |
| PUSHER
3: (dir. Nicolas Winding Refn, 90 mins, 2005) Sun Sept
3 5pm - buy
tix |
"You
can almost taste the hate and smell the stomach wounds. . .a delectably
nasty epic. . .A knockout!" "Milo
has a terrifyingly powerful rage; the darkest comedy in PUSHER 3 comes
from watching young new rivals cavalierly insulting him, like stupid
boys teasing a pit bull." Featuring Zlatko Buric in an amazing performance as Milo PUSHER III takes place over the course of a single day, with the now middle-aged Milo struggling to prepare his daughter’s 25th birthday party. As Milo fights his own personal demons in the form a smack addiction he’s trying to kick, his business day proves equally challenging once a shipment of ecstasy arrives in place of the heroin he was expecting. Milo is forced to contend with a new order of young hoods in order to move this designer drug he knows little about. Now feeling the squeeze he himself had put on so many before him, Milo must find a way to maintain his place of dominance atop the Copenhagen underworld. To do so he will have to survive one of the most harrowing episodes of his long, illustrious career. |
|
Chicago City Limits First Sundays Comedy Films First Sundays Sun Sept
3 7pm - buy
tix filmmakers & special guests will attend! This is a Sunday Shorts program. Early evenings on many Sundays, the Pioneer presents programs of short films. |
Part stand-up comedy act, part film festival, part party, First Sundays is a monthly festival featuring the best in short comedy films from around the world. Each screening features new films, audience and judges awards, and an after party sponsored by Stella Artois. Hosted by the illustrious Jay Stern and Victor Varnado. |
|
HUMAN DESIRE (dir. Fritz Lang, 91 mins, 1954) 35mm print Mon Sept 4 7pm
- buy tix This is a "Bizarro Monday" program. Every Monday at 7pm the Pioneer presents the finest (and trashiest) in horror, sci-fi, freakshow, exploitation, martial arts, genre, b-movies, z-movies, and just plain weird stuff. |
Directed
by Fritz Lang Not on DVD! Jeff
the Engineer, returning from Korea, falls in Love with his co-worker Carl's
wife Vicky, who both commited a murder. Naturally Carl gets jealous but
can't say a thing because Jeff knows a little bit about the case. |
|
(dir. Samuel Fuller, 99 mins, 1961) 35mm print Mon Sept 4 9pm - buy tix |
Directed by Samuel Fuller In
the Jacobean revenge drama UNDERWORLD, U.S.A., people must use violent
means to persevere or risk falling prey to the criminal element. This
is exactly the dilemma faced by Tolly. After his father is gunned down
by four thugs, Tolly spends time in an orphanage. There he meets other
problem children and learns how to survive. Ultimately his life degenerates
into a series of trips in and out of jail cells. But these experiences
at least teach him how to thrive amid the living urban debris of gangsters,
on-the-take cops, and fleeting women. He still has one big score to settle,
though. It seems the four men who murdered his father currently have cushy
positions within the gangland hierarchy. Now Tolly has a bullet reserved
for each killer. |
|
59 SECONDS VIDEO FESTIVAL Tues Sept 5 7pm - buy tix This is a Tuesdays@7 program. Every Tuesday at 7pm features special guests presenting their film, and is followed by a beer and pizza reception for ticket holders. Sponsored by Harpoon India Pale Ale, Radeberger Pilsner, and Woodchuck Cider. |
"If
30-second TV commercials can bear the burden of our entire economy,
just think what you could do with 59 seconds. Starting last July, the
New York City-based 59 Seconds International Video festival put out
three global calls, and received everything from tragedies to mini-documentaries." "What's
the best thing you could do for yourself in 59 seconds? You could eat
a taquito, take a really long pee, put on your socks and shoes-or you
could see a creative and thought-provoking international film. The ideal
film festival for those with short attention spans. . ." "Maximum
entertainment in minimum time..." Launched by Project 59 last spring, the 59 Seconds Festival presents a wide ranging collection of 59 videos and animations, 59 seconds each by artists from around the world that were selected through three international open calls. 59 Seconds is a play off as well as a metaphor for the short video format that gives an opportunity to introduce 59 international artists and a wide range of video works: mini documentary, political satire, metaphorical, narrative, experimental, edgy, controversial, including a unique collection of videos that integrate number 59 - a video storm of a variety of techniques, ideas and visions. 59 Seconds Festival is sampling an emerging contemporary international video art scene. Audience feedback is an important part of the process of developing of the final collection. The Festival has had US screenings in New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Durham, Rockport, Portland and Pittsburgh. It has been presented internationally at Florence, Szczecin, Bishkek, Berlin, Vienna, Trnava, Bratislava, Swinoujscie, Prague and Dresden. A collection of selected 59 videos, 59 seconds each by 59 international artists, shown 59 times around the globe is an ultimate goal of 59 Seconds Festival. And shown on 9/5/2006. Curated by Irina Danilova and Hiram Levy, www.project59.org/59seconds |
|
(dir. Robert Bresson, 75 mins, 1959) Weds Sept 6 7:15pm - buy tix |
"A
masterpiece." "Ultimately
inexplicable, this concentrated, elliptical, economical movie is an
experience that never loses its strangeness." Inspired
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s classic novel CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, Robert
Bresson’s PICKPOCKET tells the story of a man whose attraction
to crime threatens to condemn him forever--spiritually as well as physically.
Michel (Martin LaSalle), a young thief, is caught one afternoon, breaking
his dying mother's heart and shocking his friends. Fortunately for Michel,
the police inspector (Jean Pélégri) is unable to prosecute
him, but the implications nonetheless sour Michel’s once firm
social standing. Trying to straighten his ways, Michel is again drawn
to the criminal world, where under the tutelage of a master pickpocket
he reverts back to thievery. All the while, his conscience nags at him,
in the memory of his deceased mother as well as in the presence of Jeanne
(Marika Green), a beautiful young woman who shows compassion toward
the troubled Michel. Eventually, Michel’s lucky streak ends, forcing
him to find redemption in the most ironic of circumstances. Using his
now-legendary simplistic storytelling style, Bresson is able to elevate
his story to a supremely spiritual state, making for a stunningly powerful
viewing experience. Delivering their lines slowly and somberly, the
actors give the audience even more time for inner reflection, resulting
in a cinematic masterwork. |
|
A CANTOR'S TALE (dir. Erik Greenberg Anjou, 95 mins, 2005) Weds
Sept 6 9pm - buy
tix |
"A
CANTOR'S TALE is a real rarity, a very funny but very serious documentary
that touches on issues of deep concern to the Jewish world." "A
movie that manages to be part biography of the amazing cantor, Jack
Mendelson, part history lesson, and more than anything, a movie that
undoes years of bad Hebrew School experiences and excruciating Saturday
mornings. . ."
"If the hills are alive with the sound of Julie Andrews' music, then
Cantor Jacob 'Jackie' Mendelson would have viewers believe that Brooklyn
is once again to be alive with the sound of Chazzanut." The tradition of Eastern European Jewish cantorial music is alive and well in modern America in no small part thanks to the efforts of Brooklyn-born Cantor Jacob Mendelson. "Jackie," as he is affectionately called by everyone, explores the American roots of "hazzanut"( Jewish liturgical music) while taking us on a musical voyage that spans the Atlantic, originating in his birthplace of Boro Park, Brooklyn and reaching all the way to Jerusalem. There's music in the air, everywhere. The experience of hearing the world's most renowned cantors in the synagogue was part of a lifestyle that provided American Jewry with a rich cultural heirloom. It is Cantor Mendelson's mission to insure that this legacy is passed on to this and the next generation and generations to come, in a way that is both true to its origins and relevant to the modern world. This feature-length documentary provides a nostalgic journey through family, neighborhood, and tradition. It also treats us to appearances by renowned cantors and aficionados Joseph Malovany, Ben-Zion Miller, Alberto Mizrahi, Matthew Lazar, Neil Shicoff, Jackie Mason and Alan Dershowitz. A Cantor's Tale is very much like "Levy's Real Jewish Rye", you don't have to be Jewish to love it! |
|
(dir. Ray Nowosielski) Thurs Sept
7 private screening |
'9/11 PRESS FOR TRUTH' is the compelling story of how a small group of 9/11 families fought the White House for over a year to force the creation of the 9/11 Commission. Five of the most prominent members of the Family Steering Committee, including three of the "Jersey Girls" (recently in the news after Ann Coulter's attacks), tell their story for the first time, providing the most powerful argument yet for why 9/11 still needs investigation. The filmmakers stitch together overlooked network news clips, buried stories, and official press conferences to reveal a pattern of government lies, deception and spin. |
|
REST
IN PIECES: also
screening: "Black Hearts Bleed Red," and
a special selection Fri Sept 8 9pm - tix $13 (dir. Robert Adrian Pejol, 94 mins, 1996) |
"A riveting examination of an artist who refuses to paint-or play-on the mainstream canvas. . .squirm-inducing." - NEW YORK POST "Joe Coleman
is a great artist... he remains a true outsider, an outlaw." Featuring Joe Coleman, Jim Jarmusch, and Hasil Adkins. Joe Coleman's artwork runs the marathon between grotesquely disturbing and horrifyingly detailed and as the film RIP: Rest In Pieces depicts, so does his life. The documentary, directed by Romanian filmmaker Robert Pejo contains anecdotes ranging from the absurd, to the shocking to the essentially unbelievable. He captures in real time the inspirations behind Coleman's macabre masterpieces only delved into elsewhere in books such as Original Sin and most recently The Book of Joe. Coleman's life is a vaudevillian drama filled with a bizarre cast of characters including his 'adopted son' Junior: a pickled baby in a jar. RIP takes us through Coleman's early days of blowing himself up on stage for performance art to the quieter hours of his life as a well respected painter. His works have been compared by many to Hieronymus Bosch and even Salvador Dali. The surreal aspects of his artwork translate almost fully to the stories of his bizarre or if nothing else eccentric lifestyle. RIP plays out like more of a Todd Browning 1930s horror film than it does a documentary and, in the end, Coleman is both the brooding, disfigured monster and the classic bitter-sweet hero. also
screening: "BLACK
HEARTS BLEED RED" Plus a special selection of archival footage of Joe Coleman performance art! |
Portraits
of Sat Sept 9 5pm - buy tix |
Charas, the esteemed Lower East Side cultural organization, presents two short portrait films of neighborhood heroes Yuriy Kapralov and Armando Perez. |
|
Sat Sept 9 7pm - buy tix (dir. Lili White, 65 mins, 2005) |
NY (see) is artist Lili White's first feature-length movie. Made without a script a storyboard or an editing plan, NY (see) reflects what New York stands for: America's cradle of immigration; the site of the 9/11 Disaster; the platform of a genuine international city. At
one time New York was considered to be the center of the art world. What
does it mean to be an artist-immigrant here at this time when the whole
world is on the verge of major change? |
|
(dir. Maria Pusateri, 47 mins, 2005) Sun Sept 10 5pm - buy tix
|
Winner
BEST DOCUMENTARY Long Island International Film Expo, 2006 Selected Global Peace Film Festival, 2006 Vito After is the story of Vito Friscia, a Brooklyn homicide detective who survived and bravely helped others on 9/11, then spent months sifting through toxic rubble searching for signs of those who perished. It is an intimate portrait of a selfless cop and devoted husband and father, a man whose life was forever changed by that fateful day. Vito was one of 40,000 WTC workers and volunteers, and one of 7,000 NYPD detectives who were the last to go through the debris, searching for signs of loved ones in the hopes of bringing closure to victims’ families. Their intense work exposed them to toxic substances in the rubble and dust. The film explores the consequences of their heroism through his experience. It deals with the emotional, physical and spiritual aftereffects of 9/11 on a detective who was just doing his job. What price have he and others paid for their bravery and commitment? An “.
. .intriguing. . .powerful debut documentary.” “To keep
the true story of 9/11 alive, Vito After is perhaps the most important
documentary of the year.” “VITO
AFTER is Maria Pusateri's seamless look at the post-9/11 troubles of an
NYPD detective...Serious health problems now plague many of these public
servants. Pusateri observes universal truths through the struggle of one
individual, and accomplishes this task with sensitivity and, surprisingly,
a few good laughs." |
|
The
Best of the ToxicPop Sun Sept 10 7pm - buy tix |
An
insiders look at underground NYC. Since 2003, The Toxic Pop Newsletter has been bringing you the inside skinny on the underground performance/art scene in NYC. Now, the Toxic Pop Video PoPcast brings you interviews, performance footage, vintage clips recalling the history of "the scene", and artist-created videos from some of New York's best underground performance artists, musicians, poets, burlesque artists, comedians and writers. Join your hosts Bex (from VH1) and Dax, as they introduce you to the "Art Stars" - Reverend Jen, Purple Organ, The O'Debra Twins, Faceboy, and others - the intrepid spirits who are keeping NYC's bohemia alive. This screening will include highlights of the bi-weekly video podcast, as well as unreleased behind-the-scenes interviews and outtakes that were deemed too outrageous even for the internet! |
|
Fangoria presents HEADER (dir. Archibald Flancranstin, 89 mins, 2006) Screening from professional quality digital video Mon Sept 11 6:30pm - buy tix This is a "Bizarro Monday" program. Every Monday at 7pm the Pioneer presents the finest (and trashiest) in horror, sci-fi, freakshow, exploitation, martial arts, genre, b-movies, z-movies, and just plain weird stuff. |
What’s
a HEADER?
A BACKWOODS GREEK TRAGEDY “WACKY,
BRUTAL, TENSE as HELL” - Author Jack Ketchum “Sure
to become a cult classic” “This
film is hard-core!" “Leave it to an indie film to have
the balls to try something different for a change!" 4 out of
5 “machetes” Set deep in the untamed backwoods of West Virginia, HEADER depicts the collision course between ATF Agent Stewart Cummings, and ex-con Travis Clyde Tuckton. Stewart’s sickly girlfriend puts a major strain on his wallet, forcing him to traffic narcotics to make ends meet. Meanwhile, Travis, free from prison for the first time as an adult, returns to live with his grandfather. Grandpap mentors Travis about country life, family feuds, sexual perversion, and most importantly, how to achieve revenge on ones enemies. An intense psychological journey unfolds as Stewart investigates a series of bizarre and violent murders, entangling his life with those of Travis and Grandpap. Delusion, desperation, and immorality all come to a head, triggering a hellish conclusion that will blow your mind wide open. Unspeakable acts. Insanely perverse. Ultimate revenge. HEADER. |
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DOWNTOWN LOCALS (dir. Robin Muir and Rory Muir, 85 mins, 2006) Tues Sept 12 7pm - buy tix This is a Tuesdays@7 program. Every Tuesday at 7pm features special guests presenting their film, and is followed by a beer and pizza reception for ticket holders. Sponsored by Harpoon India Pale Ale, Radeberger Pilsner, and Woodchuck Cider. |
"Locals presents the complex, disarmingly human humdrum of a very different kind of daily grind, commendably skirting comfortable outsider-artist romanticism on its way to delivering a richly entertaining ethnography." -Bret McCabe, Baltimore City Paper "Rory and Robin Muir's profoundly touching film, Downtown Locals, gave me a very personal glimpse into the lives of street musicians. Some of the moments in the film are hilariously funny and some are very sad. These are people that I see all the time on New York streets. After seeing this film, I will never pass a street musician again without stopping to listen. . ." -Mary Ellen Mark "DOWNTOWN LOCALS brings up a whole lot of old memories. Anyone who has traversed the subways will recognize these eclectic and eccentric performers that range from singers to dancers to what-the-hell-is-that-person-doing. What makes the film really work is how the Muirs profile these performers, following them in their lives off the various subway platforms that they use as their stages, giving glimpse of their quixotic aspirations." - David Walker, Willamette Week "DOWNTOWN LOCALS succeeds in giving its audience a look inside something they have usually passed over." - Glen Heinrich-Wallace, The Park Record DOWNTOWN LOCALS is a funny yet poignant glimpse into the lives of six disparate New York City subway performers -- including the Mercury Man, a struggling actor who stands motionless for hours at a time; Julio, a Colombian immigrant who dances with a life-sized doll attached to his shoes; and Helen, a forty-something Vassar graduate who reinvents herself as an accordion-playing chanteuse. Sibling filmmakers Robin and Rory Muir follow these underground performers, tracking their lives beyond the subway stops as they struggle to express themselves creatively, while also wrestling with their demons. You will never look at street performers the same way again. |
George
Stoney presents (dir. George Stoney, 58 mins, 2004) Thurs Sept 14 7pm - buy tix |
The art rehabilitation program at Sing Sing Prison and how it has changed the lives of the inmates by giving them a creative outlet. Directed by George Stoney, NYU Professor and documentary film icon. |
|
DR.
STRANGELOVE (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 93 mins, 1964) 35mm print |
MEMBERS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION ADMITTED FREE "The most
shattering sick joke I've ever come across." "It's
one of the greatest - and undoubtably the most hilarious - antiwar statements
ever put to film. See it before the world ends." DR.
STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB is Stanley
Kubrick's Cold War masterpiece. Based on the novel RED ALERT by Peter
George, the film is set at the height of the tensions between Russia and
the United States, when all it would take to destroy the world was one
push of a button. And General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) is just
the man to do it. |
|
A
PsychePolitical and Electra
Elf: HOSTED BY BRENDA BERGMAN Fri Sept 15 9pm - buy tix 18 AND OVER ONLY. EVERYONE MUST HAVE ID. THAT MEANS ABSOLUTELY EVERONE. PERIOD. |
AN EVENING OF TRANSGRESSIVE CINEMA AND POSTMOD XXX. FEATURING THE WORKS OF NICK ZEDD & JOE GALLANT AVENUE
X A scathing examination of SurveillanceAmerika set in NYC in 2010, AVE. X tells the story of a country in the grip of a corporate /military/media takeover. Environmental disasters have wreaked havoc, and government-created Abu Ghraib-esque pornography serves as a CIA-designed mind-altering tool. Underground sex-film performers are the front ranks of a new humanist Resistance, committed to re-establishing the soul, spontaneity and dignity of the human experience. During a clandestine sex scene, a benevolent alien intelligence unexpectedly enters the minds of the performers, giving them the key to a free, clean and unlimited natural power source- the mysterious "Black Mirror." However, it is revealed that this gift of knowledge has been given to selected individuals at regular intervals since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, and none have lived to reveal it- all have been silenced by agents of the Corporate State, in all of its eras and incarnations. The hunt is on- can the Saints of the Sexual Underground evade capture and termination, in order to share the information given to them? STARRING: KIMBERLY KANE * VERONICA JETT * TRINA MICHAELS * SIMONE * MICHELLE ASTON * TATIANA STONE * NICK ZEDD * TOMMY PISTOL * DINO BRAVO * JOHNNY IRONS * KENNY * BRIAN SUREWOOD The Adventures
of Electra Elf: VILE BUDDIES Episode 14 in the groundbreaking tv series written & directed by Nick Zedd, Vile Buddies stars Alison Gordy (Sopranos; singer for Johnny Thunders) as Tantalus, masked queen of fetish wear who wreaks havoc flying on a giant bat as an agent for a terrorist organization using weather as a weapon. When Fluffer (Rev Jen Jr.) crashlands in Gramercy Park, getting arrested for trespassing, Electra Elf (Rev Jen) must raise her bail by competing in a wrestling tournament against guest stars Brenda Bergman and Alison Gordy! A colossal mismatch? Action, adventure and scathing satire with a guest appearance by Angry Bob as Biff Hitler! As an added attraction, LORD OF THE COCK RINGS will be screened, directed by Nick Zedd, written by & starring Rev Jen, with Face Boy, Hank Flynn, Bruce Smallonoff. |
|
(dir. Michael
Winterbottom Sat Sept 16 7pm - buy tix
|
"A
wrenching and dismaying account of cruelty and bureaucratic indifference." "Effectively
grueling. Less narrative than experiential in its bias, THE ROAD TO
GUANTANAMO details the 24-7 'processing' of these prisoners, replete
with beatings, stompings, sensory bombardment, cage-like cells, shackles,
and endless, fruitless interrogations. . . one of the most oppressive
accounts of life in a military detention." A riveting docu-drama that serves as a stinging indictment of U.S. military "justice" in an era of ever-increasing scrutiny The post-9/11 climate found the U.S. government resorting to many unorthodox methods to quash the perceived threat from further terrorist attacks. None was more controversial or more headline-grabbing than the detainment camp set up in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which was constructed to imprison and interrogate Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives captured by U.S. soldiers. Prolific British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom (9 SONGS) turns his cameras on the camp with this true story of three innocent British 20-something Muslims who were captured and held at Guantanamo for two years. Winterbottom cleverly marries extensive interview footage with the three men--Asif Iqbal, Ruhel Ahmed, and Shafiq Rasifknown, collectively known as the Tipton Three--with nerve-jarring reconstructive footage of what happened to them. After
traveling to Pakistan for a wedding, the three men set out on an intrepid
exploration of Afghanistan, only to find themselves captured by U.S.
forces who mistook them for members of the Taliban/Al-Qaeda. The footage
of the capture is intense and terrifying, with Winterbottom pulling
some fearsome acting from his leads. But even that pales next to the
reconstruction of their period in Guantanamo, where the men are stripped
of their humanity and treated to brutal inquisition and torture methods,
many of which seem untested and experimental in nature. Sometimes it's
difficult to believe that one human being could treat another this way,
until Winterbottom neatly intersperses more timely reminders from his
interviews with the men themselves, adding further revelations to the
shocking scenes the cast reenacts. Winterbottom mostly shoots on digital
video throughout, and the gloomy, grainy texture of the film is perfectly
used as a mirror of the personal hell these three men went through.
Possibly Winterbottom's best film yet, THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO is must-see
cinema that is likely to leave its audience shaking with rage and despair.
|
|
SHORTZ Sun Sept 17 7pm |
Mad
Hatter Filmz presents SHORTZ, a third Sunday event profiling the latest
indie short films. Now screening productions from young filmmakers as
well as professionals alike, with films from every genre which compliment
every taste. Happening at the Two Boots Pioneer Theater every third
Sunday of the month! |
|
NY JEDI Mon Sept 18 7pm - buy tix This is a "Bizarro Monday" program. Every Monday at 7pm the Pioneer presents the finest (and trashiest) in horror, sci-fi, freakshow, exploitation, martial arts, genre, b-movies, z-movies, and just plain weird stuff. |
Join New York City's Jedis for a night of their training videos! The New York Jedi are martial artists, actors & non-actors, performers and costumers from around the world who have a particular passion for sword fighting, fight scene choreography, and most of all, light sabers! Join them for a viewing of many of their training videos and other special videos depicting the jedi way! |
Tuesdays@7 (dir. Chris Terrio, 93 mins, 2004) Tues Sept 19 6:30pm - buy tix This is a Tuesdays@7 program. Every Tuesday at 7pm features special guests presenting their film, and is followed by a beer and pizza reception for ticket holders. |
Join The Reeler editor S.T. VanAirsdale for a post-screening, talk-show style discussion with director Chris Terrio. Few films of the last five years have captured the dread, striving and cautious optimism of post-9/11 New York life as dynamically as Chris Terrio's 2005 feature debut Heights. Adapted from the play by Amy Fox, Heights follows the intersecting lives of a legendary stage and screen actress (Glenn Close), her photographer daughter Isabel (Elizabeth Banks), Isabel's haunted fiancé Jonathan (James Marsden) and a struggling young actor (Jesse Bradford) who gets to know all of them with varying degrees of intimacy. Balancing a subtle mix of pressures and entitlements over one day in the city, the characters fray without ever falling apart; even as each seeks counsel and keeps secrets, absolution is the most terrifying ghost any of them seem to face. As such, Heights represents perhaps that rarest of New York films: a measured, sympathetic portrait of bourgeois crisis. Cinematographer Jim Denault matches Terrio and Fox stroke for stroke, revealing a shimmering urban landscape burdened with deep wounds of its own. Banks and Marsden are superb as the young couple smothered by high expectations, while Close's ravaged dignity turns the archetypal diva inside-out. Modest, gorgeous and genuine, Heights is a must-see. |
|
HOME (dir. Jeffrey Togman, 78 mins, 2005) Weds
Sept 20 9pm - buy
tix |
"Reveals
the fragility of hope." "Devastating
. . . a deeply moving documentary." The American Dream for the Other America On a gang-controlled deadend street, Sheree Farmer is raising her six children alone. With the help of Mary Abernathy, a former fashion industry executive turned community activist, Sheree struggles to buy her first home and escape her violent and drug-infested Newark neighborhood. In HOME, director Jeffrey Togman follows these two exceptional women in an intimate story that speaks to the future of America¹s cities. While working to qualify for a mortgage, Sheree has a fight with one of her daughters, Jalishah, and loses custody to her ex-husband Larry, an ex-con and former drug abuser who beat Sheree brutally during their 15-year marriage. Sheree wants the house and, more importantly, she wants Jalishah back. But Sheree is scared and overwhelmed. What will happen if she goes to jail for hitting Jalishah? What if she can't handle being a homeowner? Throughout the film, and up until the very end, it is never clear whether Sheree will get the house or whether she will get her daughter back. Unflinching and surprisingly humorous, HOME challenges how we think about race, class, and the American dream of homeownership. |
| MILLE SOYA / BUONGIORNO ITALIANO / IN SEARCH OF WEALTH (dir. Boodee Keerthisena, Sri Lanka/Italy, 2002, 110mins, Sinhala with English subtitles, 35mm color) Thurs Sept 21 6:30pm - buy tix |
Third I NY presents South Asian independent cinema A
group of young Bob Marley fans and rock musicians from the lower strata
of Sri Lankan society dream of becoming famous. Surrounded by poverty
and violence, they decide to chase their dream in Naples. However, the
journey to Italy is both treacherous and illegal so their search for
fame and fortune is soon exacting a heavy price. Mille Soya is the first Sri lankan film to be shot in Europe and the first Sri Lankan film to be shot with a crew from 8 countries. USA, Germany, Israel, France, Italy, Poland, Sri Lanka, India. It won the Sri Lankan Presidential Award for Best Film and Best Director in 2005. About
the Director: |
|
with SEEING THE WORLD PART ONE: A VISIT TO NEW YORK |
TOMORROW
ALWAYS COMES It's late in the 1940's, and New York City is full of shady characters - none shadier than Spade Slade, the dubious black private dick. Our story begins when the Blonde and beautiful Vivian Conners Jr. visits his office and asks him to find her mysteriously disappeared husband, the wealthy Basil Conners Jr. At the same time, after completing a lurid sex act in a seedy hotel with Asian seductress Mai Fun, her lover Basil Conners Jr. is pleading with her to abscond with him. Then Slade¹s secretary is murdered, bitten by an exotic snake. Slade¹s quest now takes him to a murky smoke filled shop in Chinatown, and then to the Rich Millionaire's Club where he watches leggy chorines and suavely pumps the vivacious cigarette girl Rhonda Fonda for information. After trading punches, flirtations, and threats with a variety of hotel clerks, Slade finally discovers Basil¹s vermin infested room and the clue to his secret plan. Compromising photos of Basil and Mai Fun in the act, a shipboard slugfest and a blazing shootout in the engine room, dark secrets and cheap plot twists all lead our "second rung nobody of a private eye" to the solution of another case, the reward money, and a roller coaster ride into the sunset with his best girl Rhonda Fonda. TOMORROW ALWAYS COMES is a film noir in black and white with a detective of color (not to be confused with the XXX TAMARA ALWAYS COMES) For more information, go to www.tomorrowalwayscomes.com SEEING
THE WORLD PART ONE: A VISIT TO NEW YORK (1937) |
| SORCERESS
OF THE NEW PIANO (dir. Evans Chan, USA / Hong Kong / Singapore, 92 mins) Sat Sept
23 6pm - buy
tix Sun Sept
24 6pm - buy
tix
|
"I
loved SORCERESS OF THE NEW PIANO ! Margaret Leng Tan is one of those
rare, nay unique, artists whose passion and creative awareness help
her audience discover and appreciate the most intriguing, underknown
20th century music in Evans Chan's mesmerizing documentary." "Pianist
Margaret Leng Tan has been fighting the good fight for avant-garde music
for a quarter century -- a 'sorceress' indeed -- and now she is
the subject of one of the best films ever made about a musician. Evans
Chan explores Tan's work in the same manner that she explores
a piano -- from the inside out. SORCERESS OF THE NEW PIANO
is not only an exciting work of art in itself, but one of
the very few films that manage to communicate some real and
substantial information about the art of music." "This
film is full of surprises: from the riveting opening performance of
George Crumb's Makrokosmos, to Leng Tan's duo with singer Joan La Barbara
- played without using any of the piano's keys! To see this slightly-built
woman transformed into a pounding, elemental force of nature behind
the piano is one of contemporary music's great treats. To see
how she brings that same intensity and musicality to the toy piano is
another. Evans Chan has captured both in this charming, very human film." "Equally
fascinating for avant-garde music buffs and those with no knowledge
of the genre, Chan¹s film enables us to hear (and see) music where
we least expect it." Strumming the strings of the piano like a harp and performing Beethoven and the Beatles on toy piano are among the surprising scenes in Evans Chan's documentary, Sorceress of the New Piano, which celebrates the trans-cultural career of Singapore-born, New York-based pianist Margaret Leng Tan, hailed by The New Yorker as "the diva of avant-garde pianism." The film traces Tan's quest for a new pianistic language, as she performs ground-breaking works by American masters Henry Cowell, George Crumb, and her longtime mentor John Cage, as well as by maverick composers of the next generation -- Philip Glass, Tan Dun, Somei Satoh, Ge Gan-ru, Toby Twining, Lois V Vierk, Raphael Mostel, and Stephen Montague. Critics Edward Rothstein (The New York Times), Mark Swed (Los Angeles Times), and Joshua Kosman (San Francisco Chronicle) share their thoughts on Tan's artistry and musical lineage. Incorporating vintage footage of Merce Cunningham's dance, Jasper Johns' art, and a Marcel Duchamp film, Sorceress also highlights Tan's latest transformation as the world's first professional toy pianist, turning a humble toy into an instrument worthy of the international concert stage. A decade in the making, Chan's documentary surveys an important chapter of twentieth century avant-garde music through the sonic odyssey of a unique artist who illuminates the confluence of East and West, Asia and America. |
|
VITO AFTER (dir. Maria Pusateri, 47 mins, 2005) FIREFIGHTER Tues Sept 26 7pm - buy tix
|
Winner
BEST DOCUMENTARY Long Island International Film Expo, 2006 Selected Global Peace Film Festival, 2006 Vito After is the story of Vito Friscia, a Brooklyn homicide detective who survived and bravely helped others on 9/11, then spent months sifting through toxic rubble searching for signs of those who perished. It is an intimate portrait of a selfless cop and devoted husband and father, a man whose life was forever changed by that fateful day. Vito was one of 40,000 WTC workers and volunteers, and one of 7,000 NYPD detectives who were the last to go through the debris, searching for signs of loved ones in the hopes of bringing closure to victims’ families. Their intense work exposed them to toxic substances in the rubble and dust. The film explores the consequences of their heroism through his experience. It deals with the emotional, physical and spiritual aftereffects of 9/11 on a detective who was just doing his job. What price have he and others paid for their bravery and commitment? An “.
. .intriguing. . .powerful debut documentary.” “To keep
the true story of 9/11 alive, Vito After is perhaps the most important
documentary of the year.” Also
showing:"FIREFIGHTER" |
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Doors Art Foundation presents films from Croatia [Title to be announced] Thurs Sept 28 7pm - buy tix A Cultural Thursdays program. At 7pm on the First Thursday of the month, the Doors Art Foundation presents a film from Croatia. Other Thursdays at 7pm often feature programming presented with other ethnic and cultural groups. |
The Doors Art Foundation presents a new film from Croatia. |
Pioneer Theater
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