(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: "Basket Case"
Where You Can Stream It: The Criterion Channel, Tubi, Kanopy, Screambox, Arrow
The Pitch: Backed by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a group of scattered New York artists gathered in a room sometime in 1974 to talk. Their goal was to assemble a loosely organized art collective that would remain in artistic control of its own exhibitions and its own cable TV station. The resulting collective was called Collaborative Projects, or Colab for short. Colab proceeded to put on public variety performances with names like "Income and Wealth Show," "The Batman Show," and "Just Another A**hole Show." The Colab also sponsored a series of feature films that came to be known as the No Wave movement.
The Movie: "Basket Case"
Where You Can Stream It: The Criterion Channel, Tubi, Kanopy, Screambox, Arrow
The Pitch: Backed by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a group of scattered New York artists gathered in a room sometime in 1974 to talk. Their goal was to assemble a loosely organized art collective that would remain in artistic control of its own exhibitions and its own cable TV station. The resulting collective was called Collaborative Projects, or Colab for short. Colab proceeded to put on public variety performances with names like "Income and Wealth Show," "The Batman Show," and "Just Another A**hole Show." The Colab also sponsored a series of feature films that came to be known as the No Wave movement.
- 2/25/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
New York City’s fabled movie rental chain, Kim’s Video, shuttered its downtown locations throughout the early-to-mid aughts, offering an early warning sign that the cinema as we once knew it was dying, or at least migrating to other formats.
The chain’s disappearance left an open wound among lower Manhattan film buffs, stranding Kim’s hundreds of thousands of members without a good place — any place, actually — to rent movies, while leaving behind a collection of 55,000 VHS tapes and DVDs that encompassed everything from horror flicks like C.H.U.D. to the complete works of Paul Morrissey to bootleg copies of Jean-Luc Godard’s Histoire(s) du cinéma.
What happened to Kim’s treasure trove of films remained a mystery for quite some time, with occasional stories popping up — including a long-form Village Voice piece by movie critic and podcaster Karina Longworth (You Must Remember This) — explaining...
The chain’s disappearance left an open wound among lower Manhattan film buffs, stranding Kim’s hundreds of thousands of members without a good place — any place, actually — to rent movies, while leaving behind a collection of 55,000 VHS tapes and DVDs that encompassed everything from horror flicks like C.H.U.D. to the complete works of Paul Morrissey to bootleg copies of Jean-Luc Godard’s Histoire(s) du cinéma.
What happened to Kim’s treasure trove of films remained a mystery for quite some time, with occasional stories popping up — including a long-form Village Voice piece by movie critic and podcaster Karina Longworth (You Must Remember This) — explaining...
- 1/20/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Japan Society
Ghost in the Shell kicks off “Monthly Anime.”
Film at Lincoln Center
The thematically arranged Hong Sang-soo double features have their last weekend until May—highlights include Tale of Cinema on 35mm and a triple-feature on Sunday.
IFC Center
The new restoration of Inland Empire continues, while Mississippi Masala starts; Eraserhead, The Crow, Twilight, and Derek Jarman’s Sebastiane have late-night showings.
Roxy Cinema
A Nick Zedd program screens Friday; Death in Venice, Traveling Light, and prints of Unstoppable and Lady Terminator play on Saturday; Death in Venice and Unstoppable also play on Sunday, alongside a Yale Film Archive program.
Museum of Modern Art
As retrospectives of Larry Fessenden’s genre house Glass Eye Pix winds down, Buñuel’s Nazarin screens in a new restoration.
Metrograph
The Robert Siodmak retrospective winds down, while three Dracula movies play in...
Japan Society
Ghost in the Shell kicks off “Monthly Anime.”
Film at Lincoln Center
The thematically arranged Hong Sang-soo double features have their last weekend until May—highlights include Tale of Cinema on 35mm and a triple-feature on Sunday.
IFC Center
The new restoration of Inland Empire continues, while Mississippi Masala starts; Eraserhead, The Crow, Twilight, and Derek Jarman’s Sebastiane have late-night showings.
Roxy Cinema
A Nick Zedd program screens Friday; Death in Venice, Traveling Light, and prints of Unstoppable and Lady Terminator play on Saturday; Death in Venice and Unstoppable also play on Sunday, alongside a Yale Film Archive program.
Museum of Modern Art
As retrospectives of Larry Fessenden’s genre house Glass Eye Pix winds down, Buñuel’s Nazarin screens in a new restoration.
Metrograph
The Robert Siodmak retrospective winds down, while three Dracula movies play in...
- 4/14/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: The Temenos screening in Lyssarea, Greece.Registration for Temenos 2022, which will premiere a new section of avant-garde master Gregory Markopoulos's epic Eniaios, is now open. This very special event, which usually takes place every four years, will be taking place June 9-19 in Lyssarea, Greece. For more information on the Temenos screenings and the ongoing restoration of Eniaios, visit here.Hou Hsiao-hsien has announced two new projects: the long-gestating, Shu Qi-led film Shulan River, an adaptation of the Hsieh Hai-meng novel about a river goddess; and a yet unnamed project starring Chang Chen about "an elderly father and his son." Filmmaker, painter, writer, Nick Zedd has died. In addition to his darkly funny no-budget films like They Eat Scum (1979) and his zine Underground Film Bulletin, Zedd is coining the term "Cinema of...
- 3/2/2022
- MUBI
Celine Danhier with Joel Coen and Ethan Coen at the table behind us at The Odeon on the evolution of Blank City: "James Nares said 'Let me call Jim Jarmusch.' It was really like that. And then at the same time I had the music scenes and I interviewed Pat Place." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Celine Danhier's all-hands-on-deck Blank City, edited to perfection by Vanessa Roworth, enters the world of the No Wave and Cinema of Transgression. We see and hear about the work of Bette Gordon, Casandra Stark Mele, Charlie Ahearn, Michael Oblowitz, Nick Zedd, Sara Driver, Susan Seidelman, Maripol, Patti Astor, Eric Mitchell, Beth B, Vivienne Dick, Vincent Gallo, John Lurie, Steve Buscemi, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lizzie Borden, Amos Poe, John Waters, James Nares, Jim Jarmusch, Anders Grafstrom, Richard Kern, Ann Magnuson, James Chance, Lydia Lunch, Pat Place, Becky Johnston, Adele Bertei, Scott B, Tommy Turner, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Kemra Pfahler,...
Celine Danhier's all-hands-on-deck Blank City, edited to perfection by Vanessa Roworth, enters the world of the No Wave and Cinema of Transgression. We see and hear about the work of Bette Gordon, Casandra Stark Mele, Charlie Ahearn, Michael Oblowitz, Nick Zedd, Sara Driver, Susan Seidelman, Maripol, Patti Astor, Eric Mitchell, Beth B, Vivienne Dick, Vincent Gallo, John Lurie, Steve Buscemi, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lizzie Borden, Amos Poe, John Waters, James Nares, Jim Jarmusch, Anders Grafstrom, Richard Kern, Ann Magnuson, James Chance, Lydia Lunch, Pat Place, Becky Johnston, Adele Bertei, Scott B, Tommy Turner, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Kemra Pfahler,...
- 4/24/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
In September 1985, Nick Zedd published the fourth issue of his zine The Underground Film Bulletin, which featured a drawing of punk musician Richard Hell on the cover. Zedd published the zine primarily as a promotional tool to promote the work of his fellow punk Lower East Side filmmakers. The fourth issue included articles on Cassandra Stark, Manuel Delanda and Jim Jarmusch.
However, the most important article in this issue of the Underground Film Bulletin was Zedd’s “The Cinema of Transgression Manifesto,” which reads like a proclamation of war against avant-garde filmmaking and “academic snobbery.” You can read the full manifesto here. As Jeriko, Zedd proposed that “all film schools be blown up and all boring films never be made again” and declared that “any film which doesn’t shock isn’t worth looking at.”
According to an interview with Jack Sargeant in his book Deathtripping: The Extreme Underground, Zedd...
However, the most important article in this issue of the Underground Film Bulletin was Zedd’s “The Cinema of Transgression Manifesto,” which reads like a proclamation of war against avant-garde filmmaking and “academic snobbery.” You can read the full manifesto here. As Jeriko, Zedd proposed that “all film schools be blown up and all boring films never be made again” and declared that “any film which doesn’t shock isn’t worth looking at.”
According to an interview with Jack Sargeant in his book Deathtripping: The Extreme Underground, Zedd...
- 11/23/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. John Waters' Cry-Baby (1990) is showing September 7 – October 7, 2018 in many countries around the world as part of the Back-To-School Series.The opening line of John Waters’ raucous autobiography says it all: “To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about.” Divine’s triumphant cry of “Filth are my politics! Filth is my life!” in the director’s breakout hit Pink Flamingos was more than simply a statement of intent, it was a declaration of war on good taste and all that which is socially-acceptable. The irony of writing any kind of critique on a man who celebrated pure chaos and considered coprophilia a suitable final argument is not lost on me. In fact Nick Zedd, author of the Cinema of Transgression manifesto would strenuously object to such a notion:“We propose that all film schools be blown up...
- 9/11/2018
- MUBI
In 1976, a crudely published fanzine devoted to the experimental film scene made its debut. It was called Idiolects and the first issue offered a definition of its name: “An idiolect is the language of an individual at a particular time.” That definition certainly could be applied to both the filmmakers covered in the zine and to the writers who contributed articles.
Although not an official publication of New York City’s Collective for Living Cinema screening society, Idiolects was closely tied to the organization, offering a “temporary” publication address of 52 White Street, New York, 10013 in the indicia. That was the Collective’s then permanent screening space in 1976 after having bopped around Manhattan for several years prior.
In addition, the Living Cinema was formed in the early 1970s by students who had studied filmmaking at Binghamton University in upstate New York and then moved to New York City. While Idiolects #1 gives no clear main editorial voice,...
Although not an official publication of New York City’s Collective for Living Cinema screening society, Idiolects was closely tied to the organization, offering a “temporary” publication address of 52 White Street, New York, 10013 in the indicia. That was the Collective’s then permanent screening space in 1976 after having bopped around Manhattan for several years prior.
In addition, the Living Cinema was formed in the early 1970s by students who had studied filmmaking at Binghamton University in upstate New York and then moved to New York City. While Idiolects #1 gives no clear main editorial voice,...
- 3/19/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
In 1993, after not being accepted into any major film festival of the time, such as Sundance, filmmaker Todd Phillips personally toured the U.S. and Europe with his first documentary film, Hated: Gg Allin & The Murder Junkies. Following this experience, Phillips partnered up with fellow filmmaker Andrew Gurland to launch several initiatives to help small, challenging and often controversial films connect with audiences.
One of those initiatives was the first ever New York Underground Film and Video Festival, which was held at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City on March 18-20, 1994.
The term “underground film” was first used to describe the experimental film scene in 1961 by filmmaker and film theorist Stan Vanderbeek. Using “underground film” to describe the avant-garde cinema remained popular throughout the ’60s, then lost popularity in the ’70s as terms like “structural film” came into existence. “Underground film” ultimately regained some of its mojo...
One of those initiatives was the first ever New York Underground Film and Video Festival, which was held at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City on March 18-20, 1994.
The term “underground film” was first used to describe the experimental film scene in 1961 by filmmaker and film theorist Stan Vanderbeek. Using “underground film” to describe the avant-garde cinema remained popular throughout the ’60s, then lost popularity in the ’70s as terms like “structural film” came into existence. “Underground film” ultimately regained some of its mojo...
- 2/18/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
We're back after the holiday break with another Horror Highlights. Cop your very own Sweet Tooth vinyl figure from Funko's Twisted Metal Pop! line. Keep reading for more details and let the demolition derby games begin! We also have trailers and release details for Never Open the Door and Dark Prism.
Image and Release Details for Funko's Twisted Metal Pop! Vinyl: From Funko: "The most iconic face from the demolition derby game Twisted Metal is coming to Pop! vinyl!
A psychotic murderous monster that hides behind a vicious clown mask, Sweet Tooth features his head of flaming hair and mischievous grin!
Add Sweet Tooth to your collection this winter and get ready for mayhem!
Coming in January!"
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Never Open the Door Blu-ray / DVD / Digital HD Release Details: Press Release: "Los Angeles, CA - Maltauro Entertainment in association with Baumant Entertainment has announced the December 6th Blu-ray, DVD and...
Image and Release Details for Funko's Twisted Metal Pop! Vinyl: From Funko: "The most iconic face from the demolition derby game Twisted Metal is coming to Pop! vinyl!
A psychotic murderous monster that hides behind a vicious clown mask, Sweet Tooth features his head of flaming hair and mischievous grin!
Add Sweet Tooth to your collection this winter and get ready for mayhem!
Coming in January!"
---------
Never Open the Door Blu-ray / DVD / Digital HD Release Details: Press Release: "Los Angeles, CA - Maltauro Entertainment in association with Baumant Entertainment has announced the December 6th Blu-ray, DVD and...
- 11/29/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
I arrived in Dallas for the Oak Cliff Film Festival and got picked up in a car along with Nick Zedd, the storied New York underground filmmaker who relocated to Mexico several years back. The first thing Zedd, whose own work is marked by a tongue-in-cheek fetish for violence, asked our driver about was the Kennedy assassination. Over the next few days, it became clear that Dallas, with its own mythology of Oswald conspiracy theories and Bonnie and Clyde’s, grave sites was the perfect city for a festival that had a thread of cult films and figures running through its […]...
- 6/23/2015
- by Whitney Mallett
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
I arrived in Dallas for the Oak Cliff Film Festival and got picked up in a car along with Nick Zedd, the storied New York underground filmmaker who relocated to Mexico several years back. The first thing Zedd, whose own work is marked by a tongue-in-cheek fetish for violence, asked our driver about was the Kennedy assassination. Over the next few days, it became clear that Dallas, with its own mythology of Oswald conspiracy theories and Bonnie and Clyde’s, grave sites was the perfect city for a festival that had a thread of cult films and figures running through its […]...
- 6/23/2015
- by Whitney Mallett
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
In today's roundup of news and views: A new short from Laura Poitras, a profile of Nick Zedd, an excerpt from Jeff Lipsky's forthcoming memoir, a mid-90s interview with Peter Greenaway, an examination of the connections between Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and Robert Wyatt's classic album Rock Bottom, Jonathan Rosenbaum on paintings by Manny Farber, an appreciation of Montgomery Clift, Josh Safdie and Alex Ross Perry on Entourage, interviews with Alejandro Jodorowsky and Roy Andersson, rumors of forthcoming films by Paul Thomas Anderson and Michael Haneke—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 6/9/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
In today's roundup of news and views: A new short from Laura Poitras, a profile of Nick Zedd, an excerpt from Jeff Lipsky's forthcoming memoir, a mid-90s interview with Peter Greenaway, an examination of the connections between Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and Robert Wyatt's classic album Rock Bottom, Jonathan Rosenbaum on paintings by Manny Farber, an appreciation of Montgomery Clift, Josh Safdie and Alex Ross Perry on Entourage, interviews with Alejandro Jodorowsky and Roy Andersson, rumors of forthcoming films by Paul Thomas Anderson and Michael Haneke—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 6/9/2015
- Keyframe
This year, the Melbourne Underground Film Festival will be celebrating it’s 15th year, which is a remarkable and monumental achievement. Guided since the very beginning by the dynamic — and often times controversial — festival director, Richard Wolstencroft, Muff has been and continues to be a bold and important supporter of challenging, overlooked and extreme media.
To celebrate this important anniversary, Muff will be bringing one of the premiere voices in the history of underground cinema, Nick Zedd, who will be on hand to run a masterclass for aspiring and even seasoned filmmakers.
But, of course, running a festival and bringing in special guests like Zedd takes cash, so please consider helping Muff out by contributing to the fest’s Indiegogo campaign. Even if you don’t live in or near Melbourne, there are some great perks to contributing to the campaign, such as autographed postcards signed by Zedd and Wolstencroft.
To celebrate this important anniversary, Muff will be bringing one of the premiere voices in the history of underground cinema, Nick Zedd, who will be on hand to run a masterclass for aspiring and even seasoned filmmakers.
But, of course, running a festival and bringing in special guests like Zedd takes cash, so please consider helping Muff out by contributing to the fest’s Indiegogo campaign. Even if you don’t live in or near Melbourne, there are some great perks to contributing to the campaign, such as autographed postcards signed by Zedd and Wolstencroft.
- 6/25/2014
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
(In Part One of this interview, we discussed the making of Charles Pinion’s first feature film on video, the skater punk rock splatter movie Twisted Issues. In Part Two below, the Underground Film Journal attempted to discuss his second feature video, Red Spirit Lake, but get diverted into Pinion’s brief foray into film.)
Underground Film Journal: It seems like you had a really good reaction to Twisted Issues that I’m sure helped inspire you to make another video feature. How did the release of Red Spirit Lake compare to the release of your first film?
Charles Pinion: Funny, it’s only through retrospect and in reading the comments of others that I had any notion that Twisted Issues was a “seminal work of the shot-on-video movement” (a pull-quote I used for some time from Timothy Thompsen, who did a zine called Lunatic Fringe). My goals, then and now,...
Underground Film Journal: It seems like you had a really good reaction to Twisted Issues that I’m sure helped inspire you to make another video feature. How did the release of Red Spirit Lake compare to the release of your first film?
Charles Pinion: Funny, it’s only through retrospect and in reading the comments of others that I had any notion that Twisted Issues was a “seminal work of the shot-on-video movement” (a pull-quote I used for some time from Timothy Thompsen, who did a zine called Lunatic Fringe). My goals, then and now,...
- 5/5/2014
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Charles Pinion exists at a unique transection of the modern underground film scene.
A pioneer of the Analog Video Feature Film movement. (That never materialized.) Interaction with the Cinema of Transgression, but not a part of it. Screened back-to-back features at the then-nascent Chicago Underground Film Festival.
He’s been there. He’s done that.
To date, he’s made just three feature films. (Although, hard at work on finishing up his fourth.) And all three — Twisted Issues, Red Spirit Lake and We Await — deserve to be freshly rediscovered and recontextualized. These films put out vibes that stretch out and can be felt in work by makers such as Calvin Lee Reeder, Bob Moricz, Waylon Bacon and others, whether they were specifically influenced by them or not.
All of Pinion’s films can be purchased on DVD from the filmmaker’s website. Gross. Surreal. Unsettling. If that’s your bag...
A pioneer of the Analog Video Feature Film movement. (That never materialized.) Interaction with the Cinema of Transgression, but not a part of it. Screened back-to-back features at the then-nascent Chicago Underground Film Festival.
He’s been there. He’s done that.
To date, he’s made just three feature films. (Although, hard at work on finishing up his fourth.) And all three — Twisted Issues, Red Spirit Lake and We Await — deserve to be freshly rediscovered and recontextualized. These films put out vibes that stretch out and can be felt in work by makers such as Calvin Lee Reeder, Bob Moricz, Waylon Bacon and others, whether they were specifically influenced by them or not.
All of Pinion’s films can be purchased on DVD from the filmmaker’s website. Gross. Surreal. Unsettling. If that’s your bag...
- 4/28/2014
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Tiff’s Midnight Madness program turned 25 this year, and for two and half decades, the hardworking programers have gathered some of the strangest, most terrifying, wild, intriguing and downright entertaining films from around the world. From dark comedies to Japanese gore-fests and indie horror gems, the Midnight Madness program hasn’t lost its edge as one the leading showcases of genre cinema. In its 25-year history, Midnight Madness has introduced adventurous late-night moviegoers to such cult faves as Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. But what separates Midnight Madness from, say, Montreal’s three and half week long genre festival Fantasia, is that Tiff selects only ten films to make the cut. In other words, these programmers don’t mess around. Last week I decided that I would post reviews of my personal favourite films that screened in past years. And just like the Tiff programmers,...
- 9/18/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
The term ‘transgressive cinema’ was coined by underground film maker Nick Zedd who made several edgy black and white films which crossed moral boundaries. Indeed the term transgressive is used to describe any form of cinema, literature and art which goes beyond social mores and sensibilities. They are designed to be offensive and shocking.
Transgression in art forms can be traced back to French author George Bataille, the Marquis de Sade, Dadaists and surrealists. In cinema, transgression began the moment Luis Bunuel filmed his infamous eyeball slicing in Un Chien Andalou and followed that up with the blasphemous L’Age D’Or. Over the decades transgression has deepened in cinema to provide us with films as subversive and brutal as Pasolini’s Salo, Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left and Gaspar Noés Seul Contre Tous.
I have outlined below 10 films that are transgressive works of cinema. They may...
Transgression in art forms can be traced back to French author George Bataille, the Marquis de Sade, Dadaists and surrealists. In cinema, transgression began the moment Luis Bunuel filmed his infamous eyeball slicing in Un Chien Andalou and followed that up with the blasphemous L’Age D’Or. Over the decades transgression has deepened in cinema to provide us with films as subversive and brutal as Pasolini’s Salo, Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left and Gaspar Noés Seul Contre Tous.
I have outlined below 10 films that are transgressive works of cinema. They may...
- 7/24/2013
- by Clare Simpson
- Obsessed with Film
Underground filmmaker Nick Zedd, who founded the Cinema of Transgression and who wrote that film movement’s manifesto, has crafted a fantastic new art manifesto for the new millennium that he has allowed us to reprint below:
The Extremist Manifesto
Now that contemporary art, a system that stands for privilege, nepotism and political connections is finally dying, get out of the fucking way.
We who have been locked out of your galleries, museums and art holes… ignored, reviled and cast aside for having convictions (and belonging to the wrong class) are the voice of the future. We spit on the fashionable insignificance of today’s culture. We puke on moderation, a generation’s fashionable irony and deliberately boring contemporary art. We shit on your chronic timidity and your tamed and domesticated notion of what art can be.
The time has come for a rupture, a break, and an honest method...
The Extremist Manifesto
Now that contemporary art, a system that stands for privilege, nepotism and political connections is finally dying, get out of the fucking way.
We who have been locked out of your galleries, museums and art holes… ignored, reviled and cast aside for having convictions (and belonging to the wrong class) are the voice of the future. We spit on the fashionable insignificance of today’s culture. We puke on moderation, a generation’s fashionable irony and deliberately boring contemporary art. We shit on your chronic timidity and your tamed and domesticated notion of what art can be.
The time has come for a rupture, a break, and an honest method...
- 3/7/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
I really wanted to break my link posting hiatus on its traditional Sunday yesterday, but a technical crisis prevented me from doing so. But, here we are:
The other reason I only wanted to come out of hiatus was to share this brilliant article by donna k. giving advice to young filmmakers. I was particularly taken with her 3rd note regarding asking oneself the ever important question “Why make this film?” That’s something I’ve come across on my own as a paid screener for a festival, too, but also checking out the films submitted to Bad Lit via email. When a film doesn’t work, the first question I typically ask myself is: “Why did that person even bother?” And I usually assume the answer is just to regurgitate other shit seen in our culture. So, please take Donna’s advice: Be introspective, thoughtful and have a Pov.
The other reason I only wanted to come out of hiatus was to share this brilliant article by donna k. giving advice to young filmmakers. I was particularly taken with her 3rd note regarding asking oneself the ever important question “Why make this film?” That’s something I’ve come across on my own as a paid screener for a festival, too, but also checking out the films submitted to Bad Lit via email. When a film doesn’t work, the first question I typically ask myself is: “Why did that person even bother?” And I usually assume the answer is just to regurgitate other shit seen in our culture. So, please take Donna’s advice: Be introspective, thoughtful and have a Pov.
- 1/21/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Nick Zedd & The Cinema Of Transgression
Just a quick heads up for anyone who can make it to New York in the next few days. Nick Zedd and The Cinema of Transgression Festival will be there from January 15-19. Full details, including schedule below… Don’t miss it.
9pm-late all nights
Glasshouse 246 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211(G to Broadway, M to Lorimer, or L/G to Metropolitan-Lorimer)
Entrance is free (suggested donation of $10 … Continue reading →...
Just a quick heads up for anyone who can make it to New York in the next few days. Nick Zedd and The Cinema of Transgression Festival will be there from January 15-19. Full details, including schedule below… Don’t miss it.
9pm-late all nights
Glasshouse 246 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211(G to Broadway, M to Lorimer, or L/G to Metropolitan-Lorimer)
Entrance is free (suggested donation of $10 … Continue reading →...
- 1/14/2013
- by Phil Russell
- Horror News
Nick Zedd, founder of the Cinema of Transgression, is currently raising funds for his latest feature film, Love Spasm, a drama about wayward young adults trying to get by in Berlin.
For the past few years, Zedd had been focusing on his public access superhero show The Adventures of Electra Elf and Fluffer and working on his painting career. So, this is a highly anticipated return to longform filmmaking. If you’d like to contribute, please visit the Love Spasm fundraising page on Kickstarter.
Zedd describes the film as being primarily about an artist named Eric who is involved in a variety of unfulfilling sexual relationships with women. Eric’s main squeeze is a heroin-addicted peep show worker, but he also regularly visits several other lovers.
The way Zedd describes the film is particularly interesting as it seems, in part, to channel his one-time mentor, Jack Smith, especially in the...
For the past few years, Zedd had been focusing on his public access superhero show The Adventures of Electra Elf and Fluffer and working on his painting career. So, this is a highly anticipated return to longform filmmaking. If you’d like to contribute, please visit the Love Spasm fundraising page on Kickstarter.
Zedd describes the film as being primarily about an artist named Eric who is involved in a variety of unfulfilling sexual relationships with women. Eric’s main squeeze is a heroin-addicted peep show worker, but he also regularly visits several other lovers.
The way Zedd describes the film is particularly interesting as it seems, in part, to channel his one-time mentor, Jack Smith, especially in the...
- 10/5/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Filmmaker has a curated page on Kickstarter, where we point you towards projects that we think are worthy of your attention. Here are our recent additions, and to read more about them visit them via Filmmaker Magazine on Kickstarter.
Love Spasm: New York underground film icon Nick Zedd has just launched a campaign for what sounds like an ambitious feature set to shoot in Berlin. “The themes of this movie are love, sexual freedom, loyalty, human insecurity and the strategies people employ to survive and maintain relationships within the unnatural constraints imposed upon them by the economic pressures of capitalism, landlordism and a shrinking work force,” Zedd writes on the page. Perks include an Executive Producer credit, original paintings by Zedd, and phone calls from the director.
Wakaliwood: The Documentary: Legendary producer Ben Barenholtz and film festival programmer Alan Hofmanis are teaming to make this doc about the Ugandan...
Love Spasm: New York underground film icon Nick Zedd has just launched a campaign for what sounds like an ambitious feature set to shoot in Berlin. “The themes of this movie are love, sexual freedom, loyalty, human insecurity and the strategies people employ to survive and maintain relationships within the unnatural constraints imposed upon them by the economic pressures of capitalism, landlordism and a shrinking work force,” Zedd writes on the page. Perks include an Executive Producer credit, original paintings by Zedd, and phone calls from the director.
Wakaliwood: The Documentary: Legendary producer Ben Barenholtz and film festival programmer Alan Hofmanis are teaming to make this doc about the Ugandan...
- 9/23/2012
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Considering I’m completely sick of the Internet tradition of doing fake posts on April Fools Day, don’t fear: All the links below are very real.
This Week’s Must Read is a group of links as it was a major weekend in the underground film scene with both the Boston Underground and Ann Arbor film festivals running concurrently, so lots of news about them. First, Under the Gun conducted an in-depth interview with two great Buff workers — and good Bad Lit friends — Nicole McConvery and Bryan McKay.Then, local paper the Boston Globe had a really nice Buff preview article, discussing many of the films screening.All Things Horror reviewed Buff’s opening night film, Don Coscarelli’s John Dies at the End, calling it “the perfect project falling in the right creator’s hands.”The official Buff blog had regular dispatches of its goings-on.Over at the Ann Arbor Film Festival,...
This Week’s Must Read is a group of links as it was a major weekend in the underground film scene with both the Boston Underground and Ann Arbor film festivals running concurrently, so lots of news about them. First, Under the Gun conducted an in-depth interview with two great Buff workers — and good Bad Lit friends — Nicole McConvery and Bryan McKay.Then, local paper the Boston Globe had a really nice Buff preview article, discussing many of the films screening.All Things Horror reviewed Buff’s opening night film, Don Coscarelli’s John Dies at the End, calling it “the perfect project falling in the right creator’s hands.”The official Buff blog had regular dispatches of its goings-on.Over at the Ann Arbor Film Festival,...
- 4/1/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Barry Richards TV Collection Vol. 1: Turn-On / Groove-In / Rock Out, just released as a two disc set, is a mesmerizing and fantastic collection of early performances by Alice Cooper, Little Richard, Richie Havens, Bob Seger System, Dr. John the Night Tripper, Biff Rose, Humble Pie, and a bunch of obscure rock n' roll bands who passed through the Maryland / D.C. / Virginia area in the late '60s and early 70s when I was growing up there.
Read more on Nick Zedd Unedited: “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out”...
Read more on Nick Zedd Unedited: “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out”...
- 3/29/2012
- by GATW Guest Writer
- GordonandtheWhale
It might seem like an obtuse question, but does a film festival that puts “underground” in its name under any sort of obligation to screen only “underground films”? And — as Bad Lit, the self-proclaimed Journal of Underground Film asked a few years ago — who’s deciding what’s an underground film, anyway?
First popularized in the 1960s, the term “underground film” was typically applied to the movies coming out of the New York City avant-garde and experimental scene. More importantly, the term implied that these films had elements that were dangerous to normal society.
Watching an underground film, it was assumed one could witness degenerate acts such as the queer vamping of Jack Smith‘s Flaming Creatures or the black mass rituals of Kenneth Anger‘s Invocation of My Demon Brother, or — hopefully — bare boobs.
Eventually, though, the degeneracy of the ’60s underground film scene gave way to the more formal,...
First popularized in the 1960s, the term “underground film” was typically applied to the movies coming out of the New York City avant-garde and experimental scene. More importantly, the term implied that these films had elements that were dangerous to normal society.
Watching an underground film, it was assumed one could witness degenerate acts such as the queer vamping of Jack Smith‘s Flaming Creatures or the black mass rituals of Kenneth Anger‘s Invocation of My Demon Brother, or — hopefully — bare boobs.
Eventually, though, the degeneracy of the ’60s underground film scene gave way to the more formal,...
- 3/29/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
My knowledge of the current state of film is restricted to free movies I view on flights in and out of the country, doing film tours (and occasional bootleg DVDs I buy on the sidewalk, like the mildly disappointing Machete.) Among the latest movies I’ve seen are Cowboys And Aliens, a moronic yet initially entertaining genre piece that succombs to mindless violence and special effects like most action films. I see no new trends in film. Just as in the past, there are mostly bad movies and a few good ones.
Read more on Nick Zedd Unedited: “Trumph of the Ill” Part Two...
Read more on Nick Zedd Unedited: “Trumph of the Ill” Part Two...
- 3/14/2012
- by Drew Tinnin
- GordonandtheWhale
This is filmmaker in exile Nick Zedd reporting from Mexico City, where immersed in an alien environment, I’ve been reinventing myself for the last year. Why you might ask, would I uproot myself from New York City after spending most of my life there, making underground films, books, paintings, acting in plays and producing a TV series for five years?
Read more on Nick Zedd Unedited: “Triumph of the Ill” Part One...
Read more on Nick Zedd Unedited: “Triumph of the Ill” Part One...
- 3/5/2012
- by Drew Tinnin
- GordonandtheWhale
Michael (18)
(Markus Schleinzer) Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger, Gisella Salcher. 96 mins
The daily routine of an Austrian paedophile who keeps a young boy locked in his cellar was hardly something anyone was queuing up to see, but this challenges us, and itself, to take a look. At the same time, it thankfully averts its gaze from scenes of actual abuse. There are keen observations on parenting, privacy, power relations and more, but the flat, factual approach verges on dull, and the absence of empathy ultimately just leaves you feeling grubby. So get in line for the grimmest movie of the year!
This Means War (12A)
(McG, 2012, Us) Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Reese Witherspoon. 98 mins
Two suspiciously close CIA buddies fall out when they discover they're dating the same woman – cue the misuse of government equipment and their own combat skills for one-upmanship. The romcom high concept is novel for a good reason: it's completely ridiculous.
(Markus Schleinzer) Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger, Gisella Salcher. 96 mins
The daily routine of an Austrian paedophile who keeps a young boy locked in his cellar was hardly something anyone was queuing up to see, but this challenges us, and itself, to take a look. At the same time, it thankfully averts its gaze from scenes of actual abuse. There are keen observations on parenting, privacy, power relations and more, but the flat, factual approach verges on dull, and the absence of empathy ultimately just leaves you feeling grubby. So get in line for the grimmest movie of the year!
This Means War (12A)
(McG, 2012, Us) Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Reese Witherspoon. 98 mins
Two suspiciously close CIA buddies fall out when they discover they're dating the same woman – cue the misuse of government equipment and their own combat skills for one-upmanship. The romcom high concept is novel for a good reason: it's completely ridiculous.
- 3/3/2012
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Seventies New York's motley collection of artists, musicians and film-makers come out to play in a fascinating tribute to a terminally cool scene
The no-wave underground cinema of late 70s New York gets a work-out in this admiring documentary by French-born director Céline Danhier, who can't have been out of nappies when the whole thing was going on. By all accounts, New York was a wild and scary place in the late 70s, particularly the Lower East Side and Alphabet City, where a motley collection of artists, musicians and wannabe film-makers washed up, often squatting in the same dilapidated warehouse loft. Danhier's film is an entertaining examination of a chronically self-involved group of people looking back at their terminally hip former selves: some, like Nick Zedd, still living the scene as if it were still happening. Of the faces on show, only Jim Jarmusch and Steve Buscemi managed to maintain...
The no-wave underground cinema of late 70s New York gets a work-out in this admiring documentary by French-born director Céline Danhier, who can't have been out of nappies when the whole thing was going on. By all accounts, New York was a wild and scary place in the late 70s, particularly the Lower East Side and Alphabet City, where a motley collection of artists, musicians and wannabe film-makers washed up, often squatting in the same dilapidated warehouse loft. Danhier's film is an entertaining examination of a chronically self-involved group of people looking back at their terminally hip former selves: some, like Nick Zedd, still living the scene as if it were still happening. Of the faces on show, only Jim Jarmusch and Steve Buscemi managed to maintain...
- 3/2/2012
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
You have to be 18 or older to see You Killed Me First, which, according to the Kw Institute of Contemporary Art, is the first exhibition on the Cinema of Transgression. There'll be a talk with Nick Zedd on Tuesday evening, followed by another with Richard Kern on Wednesday. The exhibition's opened this weekend and will be on view through April 9.
Also in Berlin, and starting tomorrow, the Arsenal will be screening a selection of titles from the Forum program at this year's just-wrapped Berlinale. Eleven films over eleven evenings, beginning with the three films by Yuzo Kawashima, The Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate (1957), Suzaki Paradise: Red Light (1956) and Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (1954), and ending with the two restorations of films by Shirley Clarke, Ornette: Made in America (1984) and The Connection (1961).
Next week, the Arsenal wraps its series of films by Ulrike Ottinger by screening her Berlin Trilogy...
Also in Berlin, and starting tomorrow, the Arsenal will be screening a selection of titles from the Forum program at this year's just-wrapped Berlinale. Eleven films over eleven evenings, beginning with the three films by Yuzo Kawashima, The Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate (1957), Suzaki Paradise: Red Light (1956) and Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (1954), and ending with the two restorations of films by Shirley Clarke, Ornette: Made in America (1984) and The Connection (1961).
Next week, the Arsenal wraps its series of films by Ulrike Ottinger by screening her Berlin Trilogy...
- 2/19/2012
- MUBI
Feb. 18 & 19
6:30 p.m. (18th) & 12:00 noon (19th)
Vivid
140 Heath Mill Lane
Birmingham, West Midlands, B9 4Ar, U.K.
Hosted by: The Garage
This two-day event curated by Bernadette Louise features films and performances both direct from and inspired by the Cinema of Transgression movement of the 1980s..
On Feb. 18, Transgression vixen Lydia Lunch will headline a night of spoken word performances. Lunch herself will read excerpts from Paradoxia, her memoir of working within the Transgression scene where she starred in numerous films produced in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
Following Lunch, there will be selection of performances by artists such as Joss Carter, Paula Davy, Emergent Behaviour, Evangelia Christakou, Yolanda de los Bueis, Isabelle Schiltz, Benjamin Fox, Andrew Moscardo-Parker and a DJ set by Greg Bird.
Then, on Feb. 19, spend an afternoon watching films by the founder of the Cinema of Transgression movement, Nick Zedd, and one of the movement’s major contributors,...
6:30 p.m. (18th) & 12:00 noon (19th)
Vivid
140 Heath Mill Lane
Birmingham, West Midlands, B9 4Ar, U.K.
Hosted by: The Garage
This two-day event curated by Bernadette Louise features films and performances both direct from and inspired by the Cinema of Transgression movement of the 1980s..
On Feb. 18, Transgression vixen Lydia Lunch will headline a night of spoken word performances. Lunch herself will read excerpts from Paradoxia, her memoir of working within the Transgression scene where she starred in numerous films produced in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
Following Lunch, there will be selection of performances by artists such as Joss Carter, Paula Davy, Emergent Behaviour, Evangelia Christakou, Yolanda de los Bueis, Isabelle Schiltz, Benjamin Fox, Andrew Moscardo-Parker and a DJ set by Greg Bird.
Then, on Feb. 19, spend an afternoon watching films by the founder of the Cinema of Transgression movement, Nick Zedd, and one of the movement’s major contributors,...
- 2/14/2012
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Feb. 21, 2012
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $34.95
Studio: Kino Lorber
The colorful "No Wave" cinema movement is explored in Blank City.
The 2010 documentary Blank City chronicles the “No Wave” and “Cinema of Transgression” film movements that emerged in New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a time of cheap rent, excessive drug use and unbridled ambition.
In the movie, first-time director Celine Danhier examines the rise of the D.I.Y. independent filmmaking trend and its roots in the punk music, avant-garde art and cult cinema of the era.
In addition to a slew of archival footage, the film features new and vintage interviews with such filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch (Stranger Than Paradise), Nick Zedd (Geek Maggot Bingo), Lizzie Borden (Born in Flames), Amos Poe (Alphabet City) and John Waters (Desperate Living), performance artists Ann Magnusum and Lydia Lunch, actor Steve Buscemi (TV’s Boardwalk Empire...
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $34.95
Studio: Kino Lorber
The colorful "No Wave" cinema movement is explored in Blank City.
The 2010 documentary Blank City chronicles the “No Wave” and “Cinema of Transgression” film movements that emerged in New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a time of cheap rent, excessive drug use and unbridled ambition.
In the movie, first-time director Celine Danhier examines the rise of the D.I.Y. independent filmmaking trend and its roots in the punk music, avant-garde art and cult cinema of the era.
In addition to a slew of archival footage, the film features new and vintage interviews with such filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch (Stranger Than Paradise), Nick Zedd (Geek Maggot Bingo), Lizzie Borden (Born in Flames), Amos Poe (Alphabet City) and John Waters (Desperate Living), performance artists Ann Magnusum and Lydia Lunch, actor Steve Buscemi (TV’s Boardwalk Empire...
- 1/5/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Big announcement from the Zurich Film Festival yesterday: "Director Roman Polanski will attend the upcoming 7th Zurich Film Festival to accept the lifetime achievement award that was intended for him two years ago, to honor his outstanding career achievements as a filmmaker. The World Premiere of a full-length nonfiction film will follow the tribute ceremony. Details regarding the film and the world premiere will not be released before the official screening on Sept 27."
You have to wonder what subject that nonfiction film will be addressing. Meantime, MoMA's Polanski retrospective reels on through September 30 and I've been posting updates on it in the entry for Carnage. Earlier: "Polanski Season," now updated with Criterion's "Three Reasons" for Cul-de-sac (1966).
On view at Microscope Gallery in New York through October 2: Independence Returns, with work by Peggy Ahwesh, Michel Auder, Agnes Bolt, Martha Colburn, Raul Vincent Enriquez, Bradley Eros, James Fotopoulos, Su Friedrich, Andrew Lampert,...
You have to wonder what subject that nonfiction film will be addressing. Meantime, MoMA's Polanski retrospective reels on through September 30 and I've been posting updates on it in the entry for Carnage. Earlier: "Polanski Season," now updated with Criterion's "Three Reasons" for Cul-de-sac (1966).
On view at Microscope Gallery in New York through October 2: Independence Returns, with work by Peggy Ahwesh, Michel Auder, Agnes Bolt, Martha Colburn, Raul Vincent Enriquez, Bradley Eros, James Fotopoulos, Su Friedrich, Andrew Lampert,...
- 9/16/2011
- MUBI
The B-Movie Underground and Trash Film Festival brings their unique collection of international sleaze on Sept. 7-11 in the city of Breda in the Netherlands. Violence, gore, general grossness and perversion are, once again, near and dear to the heart of this fun fest.
From the U.S., the But Fest is screening a few modern underground classics while also celebrating a few of the old masters. Included in the lineup are Usama Alshaibi‘s mind-blowing Muslim sex worker flick Profane, Zach Clark‘s wild weekend of debauchery Vacation! and Dan Nelson & Drew Bolduc‘s over-the-top The Taint.
Plus, But is honoring Cinema of Transgression mastermind Nick Zedd with several screenings of his classic works, such as Thrust in Me, Police State and Whoregasm, as well as his recent public access TV series Electra Elf.
Other films from around world include horror hits like César Ducasse & Mathieu Peteul’s Dark Souls,...
From the U.S., the But Fest is screening a few modern underground classics while also celebrating a few of the old masters. Included in the lineup are Usama Alshaibi‘s mind-blowing Muslim sex worker flick Profane, Zach Clark‘s wild weekend of debauchery Vacation! and Dan Nelson & Drew Bolduc‘s over-the-top The Taint.
Plus, But is honoring Cinema of Transgression mastermind Nick Zedd with several screenings of his classic works, such as Thrust in Me, Police State and Whoregasm, as well as his recent public access TV series Electra Elf.
Other films from around world include horror hits like César Ducasse & Mathieu Peteul’s Dark Souls,...
- 9/7/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Europe’s B-Movie, Underground and Trash Film Festival will be held this year in the city center of Breda in the Netherlands on Sept. 7-11. In addition to film, the fest also celebrates several other arts, including music, poetry and comic books.
But, on the film front, this year’s special film guest of honor will be Cinema of Transgression founder Nick Zedd. Plus, they’ll be honoring filmmakers Julia Ostertag, Marian Dora and Fred Vogel.
While the fest’s Call for Entries just recently ended, as soon as they’ve confirmed a final screening lineup, we’ll get that posted on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film.
Read More:Movie Trailer: Noise And ResistanceMicroscope Gallery: Nick Zedd Films, Part 2Microscope Gallery: Nick Zedd Films2010 B-Movie, Underground and Trash Film Festival: Official Lineup...
But, on the film front, this year’s special film guest of honor will be Cinema of Transgression founder Nick Zedd. Plus, they’ll be honoring filmmakers Julia Ostertag, Marian Dora and Fred Vogel.
While the fest’s Call for Entries just recently ended, as soon as they’ve confirmed a final screening lineup, we’ll get that posted on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film.
Read More:Movie Trailer: Noise And ResistanceMicroscope Gallery: Nick Zedd Films, Part 2Microscope Gallery: Nick Zedd Films2010 B-Movie, Underground and Trash Film Festival: Official Lineup...
- 8/2/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
May 7
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
Update: 2nd screening added Monday, May 9 at 7:00 p.m. Fotopoulos will be in attendance again, plus the premiere of two of his new short films!
Head out to the Microscope Gallery for the World Premiere of James Fotopoulos‘ latest feature film, Alice in Wonderland! Being a Fotopoulos film, however, this is far from a traditional adaptation of the classic book by Lewis Carroll. The filmmaker will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.
Fotopoulos has adapted not the book, but the 1886 musical based on the book, “Alice in Wonderland: A Dream Play for Children,” which was written by Henry Saville Clark and Walter Slaughter. In addition, the filmmaker was also inspired by a 2003 Lewis Carroll daguerreotype exhibit.
Using sculpture, drawing, text and original music, Fotopoulos also examines the relationship between Carroll and the writer/art critic John Ruskin; plus,...
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
Update: 2nd screening added Monday, May 9 at 7:00 p.m. Fotopoulos will be in attendance again, plus the premiere of two of his new short films!
Head out to the Microscope Gallery for the World Premiere of James Fotopoulos‘ latest feature film, Alice in Wonderland! Being a Fotopoulos film, however, this is far from a traditional adaptation of the classic book by Lewis Carroll. The filmmaker will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.
Fotopoulos has adapted not the book, but the 1886 musical based on the book, “Alice in Wonderland: A Dream Play for Children,” which was written by Henry Saville Clark and Walter Slaughter. In addition, the filmmaker was also inspired by a 2003 Lewis Carroll daguerreotype exhibit.
Using sculpture, drawing, text and original music, Fotopoulos also examines the relationship between Carroll and the writer/art critic John Ruskin; plus,...
- 5/3/2011
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
April 23
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
Tapeless Melodies is an event curated by Marianna Ellenberg that features several short films and a live interactive performance.
The performance, entitled “Make Anyone Fall in Love With You,” is an interactive inspirational workshop conducted by filmmaker Oriana Fox that also includes live audio interventions by Ellenberg and Melanie Neergaard, as well as excerpts of self-help scripts and advertisements all designed to help the audience with their mental well-being and internet-dating.
The films include Laida Lerxtundi’s My Tears Are Dry, which you can read a review of on Bad Lit here; Ellenberg’s own Blossom, which features a restaging of scenes from Wes Craven’s classic horror flick Last House on the Left; and Fox’s shockingly titled Cunt, in which the filmmaker casts herself in a variety of roles, including “Betty Crocker brunettes, soap-opera blondes,...
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
Tapeless Melodies is an event curated by Marianna Ellenberg that features several short films and a live interactive performance.
The performance, entitled “Make Anyone Fall in Love With You,” is an interactive inspirational workshop conducted by filmmaker Oriana Fox that also includes live audio interventions by Ellenberg and Melanie Neergaard, as well as excerpts of self-help scripts and advertisements all designed to help the audience with their mental well-being and internet-dating.
The films include Laida Lerxtundi’s My Tears Are Dry, which you can read a review of on Bad Lit here; Ellenberg’s own Blossom, which features a restaging of scenes from Wes Craven’s classic horror flick Last House on the Left; and Fox’s shockingly titled Cunt, in which the filmmaker casts herself in a variety of roles, including “Betty Crocker brunettes, soap-opera blondes,...
- 4/19/2011
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
Although it's an unfortunate turn of phrase given the era, the best way to describe the documentary "Blank City" is still as something of a gateway drug when it comes to the late '70s, early '80s underground film scene in New York. It's easy to tell this since it's obvious French director Celine Danhier recreates her own experience of discovering the no-budget avant garde movement known as "No Wave" cinema in her documentary, presenting one snippet of rare footage after another, teasing the audience with clips of Michael Holman's self-descriptive "Vincent Gallo as Flying Christ" and Charlie Ahearn's groundbreaking hip-hop flick "Wild Style" and having such personalities as Deborah Harry and Steve Buscemi talk about what a wild and crazy time it was.
It's the shortcoming of "Blank City" that it isn't as adventurous in mirroring the era the film documents, settling into a style where...
It's the shortcoming of "Blank City" that it isn't as adventurous in mirroring the era the film documents, settling into a style where...
- 4/8/2011
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Reviewed by Randee Dawn
(from the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival)
Directed by: Celine Danhier
Produced by: Avivia Wishnow
Starring: Jim Jarmusch, Steve Buscemi, Lydia Lunch, Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, John Waters
Go to a New York film festival, you risk running into the same people. Go to the Tribeca Film Festival in 2009, and you risk running into the same movie.
True, Blank City and Burning Down the House: The Story of Cbgb (reviewed Here) are not really the same film. While one focuses on the rise and fall of New York’s punk music scene as seen through the lens of a legendary, infamous club, Blank City instead turns its lens on the independent film scene of much of the same period – a time before “independent film” barely even had a name, and was called anything from “No Wave” to “The Cinema of Transgression.”
But there is a wide area of...
(from the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival)
Directed by: Celine Danhier
Produced by: Avivia Wishnow
Starring: Jim Jarmusch, Steve Buscemi, Lydia Lunch, Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, John Waters
Go to a New York film festival, you risk running into the same people. Go to the Tribeca Film Festival in 2009, and you risk running into the same movie.
True, Blank City and Burning Down the House: The Story of Cbgb (reviewed Here) are not really the same film. While one focuses on the rise and fall of New York’s punk music scene as seen through the lens of a legendary, infamous club, Blank City instead turns its lens on the independent film scene of much of the same period – a time before “independent film” barely even had a name, and was called anything from “No Wave” to “The Cinema of Transgression.”
But there is a wide area of...
- 4/4/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
Reviewed by Randee Dawn
(from the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival)
Directed by: Celine Danhier
Produced by: Avivia Wishnow
Starring: Jim Jarmusch, Steve Buscemi, Lydia Lunch, Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, John Waters
Go to a New York film festival, you risk running into the same people. Go to the Tribeca Film Festival in 2009, and you risk running into the same movie.
True, Blank City and Burning Down the House: The Story of Cbgb (reviewed Here) are not really the same film. While one focuses on the rise and fall of New York’s punk music scene as seen through the lens of a legendary, infamous club, Blank City instead turns its lens on the independent film scene of much of the same period – a time before “independent film” barely even had a name, and was called anything from “No Wave” to “The Cinema of Transgression.”
But there is a wide area of...
(from the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival)
Directed by: Celine Danhier
Produced by: Avivia Wishnow
Starring: Jim Jarmusch, Steve Buscemi, Lydia Lunch, Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, John Waters
Go to a New York film festival, you risk running into the same people. Go to the Tribeca Film Festival in 2009, and you risk running into the same movie.
True, Blank City and Burning Down the House: The Story of Cbgb (reviewed Here) are not really the same film. While one focuses on the rise and fall of New York’s punk music scene as seen through the lens of a legendary, infamous club, Blank City instead turns its lens on the independent film scene of much of the same period – a time before “independent film” barely even had a name, and was called anything from “No Wave” to “The Cinema of Transgression.”
But there is a wide area of...
- 4/4/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Production equipment savvy? Living in Calgary or looking to move there? The Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers wants to hire a Production Coordinator to help manage their equipment. Visit their site for details.Speaking of Canada, Rhizome has a cool video from a ’70s Canadian arts show where artist Evelyn Roth discusses crocheting sculptures out of videotape. Plus, Rhizome finally has their archives back online.Then, Experimental Cinema has news of a DVD of Canadian filmmaker Joyce Wieland’s films being released.Are female horror directors on the rise in the U.K.? Eleanor McKeown investigates for Electric Sheep.Then, for Peaches Christ’s website, Michael Varrati sticks up for the much maligned slasher genre. Hear, hear! They’re just damn fun, is all!Listen to the mellifluous voice of Mike Plante discussing his new Cinemad distribution effort.Landscape Suicide has some very lovely stills from Hollis Frampton’s underground classic Zorns Lemma,...
- 3/13/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Short, but sweet, this week. I was out of town pretty much all week and didn’t have time to gather many links, unfortunately. Plus, I’ve been ensconced in a couple of bigger projects that have been eating up tons of my time. But, I had a few links drop pretty much into my lap, so that’s what we’ve got. Here they are:
Sick of the Radio interviewed Bad Lit fave Jon Clark about his music video for “So Unreal,” plus about his work in general. They asked him just about all the questions I would have wanted answered — and a few more.For Moving Image Source, Ed Halter writes a lengthy essay on the formerly “lost” films of philosopher Manuel DeLanda, one of Nick Zedd’s inspirations behind the Cinema of Transgression.Speaking of Transgression — and I usually am — Jay Hollinsworth lets us know about a...
Sick of the Radio interviewed Bad Lit fave Jon Clark about his music video for “So Unreal,” plus about his work in general. They asked him just about all the questions I would have wanted answered — and a few more.For Moving Image Source, Ed Halter writes a lengthy essay on the formerly “lost” films of philosopher Manuel DeLanda, one of Nick Zedd’s inspirations behind the Cinema of Transgression.Speaking of Transgression — and I usually am — Jay Hollinsworth lets us know about a...
- 3/6/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Feb. 12
8:00 p.m.
Millennium Film Workshop
66 East 4th St.
New York, New York 10003
Hosted by: Millennium Film Workshop
To celebrate the publication of the 53rd issue of the Millennium Film Journal, the Film Workshop will be screening a selection of films that are discussed in the journal. The full lineup of films as well as the table of contents are listed below.
Each issue of the journal is dedicated to a particular theme. Issue #53 deals with the subjects of migration and dislocation. Articles include reviews of the 2010 New York Film Festival’s Views From the Avant-Garde section and of the excellent Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film 1947-1986 DVD box set. Plus, there are interviews with filmmakers Peter Rose and Vincent Grenier, who each have a film screening, as well as tributes to the late Tom Chomont and Gary Beydler, who are both also represented with a film at this event.
8:00 p.m.
Millennium Film Workshop
66 East 4th St.
New York, New York 10003
Hosted by: Millennium Film Workshop
To celebrate the publication of the 53rd issue of the Millennium Film Journal, the Film Workshop will be screening a selection of films that are discussed in the journal. The full lineup of films as well as the table of contents are listed below.
Each issue of the journal is dedicated to a particular theme. Issue #53 deals with the subjects of migration and dislocation. Articles include reviews of the 2010 New York Film Festival’s Views From the Avant-Garde section and of the excellent Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film 1947-1986 DVD box set. Plus, there are interviews with filmmakers Peter Rose and Vincent Grenier, who each have a film screening, as well as tributes to the late Tom Chomont and Gary Beydler, who are both also represented with a film at this event.
- 2/8/2011
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
Feb. 7
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
Following last month’s successful screening of Nick Zedd’s films, Brooklyn’s Microscope Gallery is having the Master of Transgression come back for a second time with four different films spanning across his career.
This event also marks the last time you can check out Zedd’s paintings and publications that are also on display in the gallery. His oil paintings — a series he’s been working on over the past three years called “Entities” — are portraits of mutants that are pretty freaky looking, so if you haven’t seen them in person yet, now’s the time to go. You can see samples of them on the Microscope Gallery website.
The films that Zedd will be screening at this Closing Night event include his notorious 1987 classic, Police State, a 20 min. 16mm B&W film,...
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
Following last month’s successful screening of Nick Zedd’s films, Brooklyn’s Microscope Gallery is having the Master of Transgression come back for a second time with four different films spanning across his career.
This event also marks the last time you can check out Zedd’s paintings and publications that are also on display in the gallery. His oil paintings — a series he’s been working on over the past three years called “Entities” — are portraits of mutants that are pretty freaky looking, so if you haven’t seen them in person yet, now’s the time to go. You can see samples of them on the Microscope Gallery website.
The films that Zedd will be screening at this Closing Night event include his notorious 1987 classic, Police State, a 20 min. 16mm B&W film,...
- 2/6/2011
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
Feb. 5
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
Brian Frye and Penny Lane are two recently married experimental filmmakers and this screening, entitled “From Here to Eternity: Occasional Histories,” features selections that they’ve made separately and together.
Most excitingly, the pair will present a 15-minute excerpt from their current work-in-progress, the feature-length documentary Our Nixon. The film features actual Super-8 footage filmed by President Nixon’s closest aides, a who’s who of those involved in the Watergate scandal: Chief of Staff H.R. “Bob” Haldeman, Chief Domestic Advisor John Ehrlichman, Special Assistant to the President Dwight Chapin, and Deputy Assistant Larry Higby.
Our Nixon is the first opportunity for the general public to see this long forgotten footage. You can watch clips of some of it in the trailer below. After the Nixon White House made these “home movies,” all the...
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
Brian Frye and Penny Lane are two recently married experimental filmmakers and this screening, entitled “From Here to Eternity: Occasional Histories,” features selections that they’ve made separately and together.
Most excitingly, the pair will present a 15-minute excerpt from their current work-in-progress, the feature-length documentary Our Nixon. The film features actual Super-8 footage filmed by President Nixon’s closest aides, a who’s who of those involved in the Watergate scandal: Chief of Staff H.R. “Bob” Haldeman, Chief Domestic Advisor John Ehrlichman, Special Assistant to the President Dwight Chapin, and Deputy Assistant Larry Higby.
Our Nixon is the first opportunity for the general public to see this long forgotten footage. You can watch clips of some of it in the trailer below. After the Nixon White House made these “home movies,” all the...
- 2/3/2011
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
I always love new websites that celebrate the art of short films. Short of the Week is a nice new site that features some great stuff, including, yes, short films, but also news and updates. Go bookmark this one. Congrats to Bad Lit fave Jef Taylor for a successful Sundance romp! (You usually hear so little about short films at these kinds of events.) His After You Left got some nice reviews, first at Reel Guys and then at College Movie Review. It was sad to hear that Random Lunacy star Poppa Neutrino passed away last week. The New Yorker‘s Alec Wilkinson, who wrote a book on Poppa, has a wonderful remembrance. Rupert of SnuffBox Films keys us into a great new web video tool, Vid.ly, which converts video into every playable online video format possible. The sample played really great. Mike White posted up an amazing list...
- 1/30/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Jan. 25
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
The creator and leading figure of the Cinema of Transgression movement, Nick Zedd, will appear in person to present his most controversial films, from 1984′s collaboration with Richard Kern, Thrust in Me, to several of his multiple-projector films.
Back in the early ’80s, Zedd captured the zeitgeist of a style of filmmaking that was emerging in NYC’s Lower East Side. He thus created the Cinema of Transgression, a loose connection of low-budget independent filmmakers who were making work that rebelled against traditional social norms. Some of these filmmakers included Richard Kern, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Tommy Turner and David Wojnarowicz. You can read Zedd’s Transgression manifesto here.
Films screening at this particular event include Thrust in Me, a 1984 Super 8 collaboration with Richard Kern in which Zedd plays two characters, basically himself and a woman with whom he sexually molests.
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
The creator and leading figure of the Cinema of Transgression movement, Nick Zedd, will appear in person to present his most controversial films, from 1984′s collaboration with Richard Kern, Thrust in Me, to several of his multiple-projector films.
Back in the early ’80s, Zedd captured the zeitgeist of a style of filmmaking that was emerging in NYC’s Lower East Side. He thus created the Cinema of Transgression, a loose connection of low-budget independent filmmakers who were making work that rebelled against traditional social norms. Some of these filmmakers included Richard Kern, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Tommy Turner and David Wojnarowicz. You can read Zedd’s Transgression manifesto here.
Films screening at this particular event include Thrust in Me, a 1984 Super 8 collaboration with Richard Kern in which Zedd plays two characters, basically himself and a woman with whom he sexually molests.
- 1/22/2011
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
Jan. 23
7:30 p.m.
Museum of the Moving Image
35 Avenue at 37 Street
Astoria, NY 11106
Hosted by: Academy Film Archive
Mark Toscano, a preservationist at the Academy Film Archive, presents an evening of restored masterworks and rarities as part of the Museum of the Moving Image’s Avant-Garde Masters series.
After being closed for three years, Momi has recently reopened with a $67 million renovation that features a brand new 267-seat theater and a 68-seat screening room.
The films of this particular screening have been chosen by Toscano based on an inspiration from Keewatin Dewdney’s 1967 film The Maltese Cross Movement, which is included in the lineup. Dewdney’s film and the others “playfully explore many elemental and metaphorical aspects of celluloid cinema.”
A couple other highlights in the lineup, which is listed in full below, include an early experimental film by indie screenwriting expert J.J. Murphy, Sky Blue Water Light Sign,...
7:30 p.m.
Museum of the Moving Image
35 Avenue at 37 Street
Astoria, NY 11106
Hosted by: Academy Film Archive
Mark Toscano, a preservationist at the Academy Film Archive, presents an evening of restored masterworks and rarities as part of the Museum of the Moving Image’s Avant-Garde Masters series.
After being closed for three years, Momi has recently reopened with a $67 million renovation that features a brand new 267-seat theater and a 68-seat screening room.
The films of this particular screening have been chosen by Toscano based on an inspiration from Keewatin Dewdney’s 1967 film The Maltese Cross Movement, which is included in the lineup. Dewdney’s film and the others “playfully explore many elemental and metaphorical aspects of celluloid cinema.”
A couple other highlights in the lineup, which is listed in full below, include an early experimental film by indie screenwriting expert J.J. Murphy, Sky Blue Water Light Sign,...
- 1/20/2011
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
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