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Batikh Batikh Presents GATHERED IN LOVE AND RAGE: A PALESTINIAN FILM SHOWCASE

Posted on by Dan Scanlon

TICKETS
SATURDAY, APRIL 13 – 7 PM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 – 7 PM

TICKETS
FRIDAY, APRIL 26 – 5:00 PM with Q&A

 

This April, Spectacle is pleased to host Batikh Batikh Collective’s shorts program, Gathered in Love and Rage: A Palestinian Film Showcase.

Based out of Philadelphia, Batikh Batikh is a pop-up cinema and gallery that centers the work of South-West Asian North African (SWANA) women and queer artists. Curated by Batikh Batikh’s founder, Sarah Trad, this showcase includes short works by contemporary women and LGBTQ+ Palestinian independent filmmakers. These films comment on the current moment, exploring orientalism in the media and reminding us of our justified collective rage, while featuring love stories and experimental, queer, and personal narratives that provide a cathartic grieving space for the SWANA and Palestinian community.

All proceeds will benefit GAZA MUTUAL AID COLLECTIVE

The program includes the following films:

your father was born 100 years old, and so was the Nakba
(ابوكي خلق عمره ١٠٠ سنة، زي النكبة)
Dir. Razan AlSalah, 2017.
Canada/Palestine. 7 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.A ghostly voice echoes: the disembodied, imaginary voice of the filmmaker’s grandmother, a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon who was never able to return to her hometown. Her words haunt Google Street View images of Haifa, the only means she could have had of visiting her lost home. But 50 years after the “great catastrophe,” the streets are no longer recognizable. The old woman’s soul wanders in vain through cyberspace in search of her house, probably demolished after the Nakba, and for her son Ameen, imagined as a little boy from another time. Over the images, which distort and pixelate as the network connection cuts in and out, are superimposed images of the trauma of forced relocation. Razan AlSalah pays heartbreaking tribute to the first generation of refugees.

TETA, OPI, AND ME
Dir. Tara Hakimm, 2018.
Canada. 25 min.

In English, Arabic, German with English Subtitles.Filmed entirely with an iPhone, Teta, Opi & Me is a tribute to conformity, tolerance and courage. It is a poetic, meditative, multilingual, and feeling-driven short film, documenting the intricacies of the artist’s playful process in capturing her grandparents’ enduring romance through social, political and racial adversity. He comes from Bethlehem and she comes from Vienna. Incorporating poetic filmic scenarios, vérité scenes, interviews, and home movies, the work is an intergenerational dialogue that explores themes of family, love, and the intermingling of cultures.

EITR
(عطر)
Dir. Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller, 2022.
Canada. 15 min.
In English and Arabic with English subtitles.

Grinding away at the inherited family business, Mohamed works tirelessly making sales of knock-off perfume while living as a knock-off version of his true self. Grappling with the recent loss of his father, his mother’s anxious attempts to get him married and the shadow of his hidden Queer identity, Mohamed finds solace and connection in a day spent with a beautiful stranger who lives in self-acceptance and sees Mohamed for who he truly is under the many layers of polo-sport-adjacent cologne.

BOREKAS
Dir. Saleh Saadi, 2020.
Palestine. 15 min.

In Arabic with English subtitles.A breakdown on the way to the airport provides a father and son with an opportunity to reconnect.PLANET OF THE ARABS
Dir. Jacqueline Reem Salloum, 2003.
United States. 9 min.
In English.Planet of the Arabs is an experimental short on Hollywood’s negative depiction of Arabs and Muslims through the decades. Inspired by Dr. Jack Shaheen’s book “Reel Bad Arabs,” Planet was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival, won the “Best Editing” award at the Cinematexas Film Festival. It is used as an educational tool in classrooms on stereotypes in the media.

THE CUP READER
Dir. Suha Araj, 2012.
Palestine/United States. 12 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.

Warde, shamed as a young girl yet renowned in Palestine for her mystical seeing and matchmaking, lives with her sister Jaleleh and reads the fortunes of her clients. Each woman has made or will make a choice between love and marriage, not having had the luxury of both.

Our songs were ready for all wars to come
Dir. Noor Abed, 2021.
Palestine. 20 min.

Choreographed scenes based on documented folktales from Palestine, the film aims to create a new aesthetic form to re-awaken latent stories based around water wells and their connection to communal rituals around notions of disappearance, mourning, and death. Our songs were ready for all the wars to come explores the critical stance of ‘folklore’ as a source of knowledge, and its possible connection to alternative social and representational models in Palestine. How can ‘folklore’ become a common emancipatory tool for people to overturn dominant discourses, reclaim their history and land, and rewrite reality as they know it? The only narration in the film is a song, which is sung by Palestinian singer Maya Khaldi. Its lyrics are a collage of different folk tales. Captured through mediums of film and sound, situated stories are archived and represented, creating a context that explores the capacity of social formation, and the possibility of recalling a memory that is capable of decentralizing images of fixity; a memory that is liberated from monuments.

PARADISE VIEW

Posted on by Dan Scanlon

PARADISE VIEW
(パラダイスビュー)
Dir. Gō Takamine, 1985
Japan. 113 min.
In Japanese with English subtitles.

THURSDAY, APRIL 4 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 13 – 5 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 19 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, APRIL 30 – 7:30 PM

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In presentation with E-Flux, Spectacle brings you director Gō Takamine’s undersung first feature Paradise View, a languid and mystical gem of cultural minority cinema set in a small Okinawan community. Taking place in the period immediately leading up to the implementation of the Okinawan Reversion Agreement, which reestablished Japan’s sovereignty over Okinawa, the film is a meditation on Okinawa’s complex history of occupation. Notably, it was filmed almost entirely in the severely endangered Okinawan dialect.

Events are set in motion by the arrival of Japanese school teacher Ito, played by preeminent Japanese musician Haroumi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame, who also composed the film’s sublime electronic score. Ito is set to marry Chiru, played by Hosono’s musical equal and collaborator Jun Togawa, and the community is astir over wedding preparations. Soon, however, matters grow complicated after word spreads that Chiru has been impregnated by the ant-obsessed Reishu, played by Kaoru Kobayashi, a local who has recently quit his job on a U.S. military base.

This film is presented in partnership with e-flux’s program, Beyond Security: Approaches toward a Cinema of Okinawa. In addition to our screenings of PARADISE VIEW, e-flux will host two days of events on April 25th and April 27th in their Screening Room (172 Classon Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205).

Starting at 7:00pm on Thursday, April 25th, e-flux will feature Chikako Yamashiro’s MUD MAN, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba’s HO! HO! HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS: BATTLE OF EASEL POINT – MEMORIAL PROJECT OKINAWA, and Chris Marker’s LEVEL FIVE.

The series continues on Saturday, April 27th at 3:00 pm with a screening of Gō Takamine’s HENGYORO (QUEER FISH LANE) and, at 5:00 pm, films from Futoshi Miyagi’s body of work, AMERICAN BOYFRIEND. Go to e-flux.com/film for more information.

Hollywood Entertainment Presents: An Evening with Jay Blumenfield featuring SMALL TOWN ECSTASY

Posted on by Dan Scanlon

SMALL TOWN ECSTASY
dir. Jay Blumenfield, 2002
United States. 84 min.
In English.

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 – 7:30 PM (This event is $10. Admission includes access to the discussion with Blumenfield following a complimentary screening of SMALL TOWN ECSTASY.)

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“Aren’t people great?”

Hollywood Entertainment is proud to present Jay Blumenfield’s SMALL TOWN ECSTASY, a film of unrivaled familial tension and religious grace. One of the only films to capture glimpses of the Northern California rave scene, it shows us a family on the brink of collapse punctuated with strobe lights and pummeling trance synth. Like taking ecstasy, this is a story of the highest highs and the lowest lows once the music stops.

A 40 year old preacher’s son and father of four, Scott’s post-divorce crisis takes an atypical form. Rather than getting a Porsche or starting a cover band, he indulges in underground trance and jungle raves under the influence of ecstasy with his 20 year old son. The two go to raves in matching Adidas visors and baggy pants looking for light shows, bass, and pills while his new lifestyle creates tension between his ex-wife and younger children. Scott loves the rave and wants to share the feeling with his children without any comprehension of the dangers that lie ahead.

O IMPÉRIO DO DESEJO

Posted on by spectacletheater

O IMPÉRIO DO DESEJO
(The Empire of Desire)
dir. Carlos Reichenbach, 1980
Brazil. 110 mins.
In Portuguese with English subtitles.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 12 – 5 PM
THURSDAY, APRIL 18 – 10 PM – Q&A With Filmmaker & Film Scholar Fabio Andrade, Moderated by Isaac Hoff 
MONDAY APRIL 22- 10 PM

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“I dedicate to Pierre Proudhon: All property is theft!” – Carlos Reichenbach

“I’m the one who made this film, not Carlão. This film is mine!” – Rogério Sganzerla

“He Became a poet, lost everything.”

Brazilian master Carlos Reichenbach’s anarchistic Pornochanchada is a bacchanalian expression of pure cinema, an ode to debauchery that blends elements of slasher, political manifesto, and slapstick comedy.

Juxtaposed against the vastness of the sea, “O IMPÉRIO DO DESEJO” follows Sandra, a widow who inherits a small beach house. She appoints a hippie couple to watch over it, much to the distress of conservative lawyer Carvalho and her cruel fiancé Odilon. Together, they become entangled in an erotic quest for freedom.

Special thanks to William Plotnick & Eugenio Puppo

Content Warning: Sexual Violence

SYNTHESIZER CINEMA

Posted on by Ben Tuttle

SYNTHESIZER CINEMA

In 1964, the Moog became the first commercial synthesizer ever sold. Sixty years later, the marriage of synthesizers and cinema has woven a rich tapestry of filmic possibilities. In particular, synths have become the soulmate of genre and surrealist cinema. While most cinephiles are familiar with the unmistakable stylings of John Carpenter and Wendy Carlos, there exists an endless well of lesser-known film composers who have used synthesizers to great effect.

This April, we’ve brought together underscreened gems with otherworldly atmospheres that are heightened by their synthesizer scores; from the absurdist black comedy of THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, to the potently restrained sounds of VIGIL, to the dreadful dissonance of SPIRITS OF THE AIR, GREMLINS OF THE CLOUDS, to the glittering melodies of DEAD MOUNTAINEER’S HOTEL, returning to Spectacle after twelve years. Come to your favorite collectively run cinema to bathe in sensory delights!

Join us for a Q&A with TWENTIETH CENTURY director Matthew Rankin in person on Friday, April 19th at 7:30 pm.

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Dir. Matthew Rankin, 2019.
Canada. 90 min.
In English and French.

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 – 10 PM [ TICKETS ]
SATURDAY, APRIL 13 – MIDNIGHT [ TICKETS ]
FRIDAY, APRIL 19 – 7:30 PM, w/ Filmmaker Q&A, this event is $10 [ Q&A TICKETS ]
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 – 10 PM [ TICKETS ]

In 2019, singular Canadian filmmaker, animator, and documentarian Matthew Rankin unleashed his first feature in the form of a surrealist satirical fever dream depicting the rise of Canada’s longest-serving— and perhaps loneliest— Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. Viewers follow King through his trials and tribulations as he strives to become the man his mother has been grooming him to be since birth: preserver of the National Disappointment. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY takes extensive liberties in its dramatization of real historical figures and events while nailing prevailing notions that Canadianness is synonymous with earnestness, shame, and passive aggression.

From beginning to end, it is a maximalist work of art set against gorgeous German Expressionist backdrops which create intentional artificiality, suggesting that the concept of Canada may, in itself, be fake. Highlighting its hyper-stylization is a score that vacillates between synthwave and patriotic fanfare by composers Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux and Peter Venne. Come to the Burning S for a viewing experience unlike any other (and to support the ongoing efforts to increase appreciation for Canadian culture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn).

Preceded by:

THE TESLA WORLD LIGHT
dir. Matthew Rankin, 2017
Canada. 8 mins.
In English.

DEAD MOUNTAINEER'S HOTEL

DEAD MOUNTAINEER’S HOTEL
(HUKKUNUD ALPINISTI HOTELL)
Dir. Grigori Kromanov, 1979.
Estonia. 84 min.
In Estonian with English subtitles.

SATURDAY, APRIL 6 – MIDNIGHT
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 – 10 PM
SUNDAY, APRIL 21 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, APRIL 25 – 7:30 PM

[ TICKETS ]

Returning to Spectacle after 12 years, DEAD MOUNTAINEER’S HOTEL is a sleek blend of thriller, noir, and science fiction based on the Strugatsky brothers’ novel of the same name. Opening with a winding upward mountain drive, we meet Inspector Peter Glebsky en route to respond to an anonymous tip at an isolated hotel in the Alps. Though all seems well upon arrival, he opts to stay the night and finds himself trapped by an avalanche with his bizarre fellow guests. It soon becomes clear that everything is not as it seems.

The hotel itself is a marvel of modern architecture in black and neon set sharply against bright, pristine snow, while its interior brings to mind the unforgettable and deeply ’70s mise-en-scene of cult classics like MESSIAH OF EVIL. The score by pioneering Estonian synth programmer and prog rocker Sven Grünberg, composed on an EMS Synthi 100, is an ethereal auditory dreamscape.

Special thanks to the Estonian Film Institute.

VIGIL

VIGIL
Dir. Vincent Ward, 1984.
New Zealand. 90 min.
In English.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 12 – MIDNIGHT
TUESDAY, APRIL 23 – 10 PM
MONDAY, APRIL 29 – 7:30 PM

[ TICKETS ]

The first New Zealand film ever to compete in Cannes, VIGIL is an unsettling, atmospheric drama about an eleven-year-old girl named Toss who witnesses the falling death of her father while out herding sheep on their remote farm. The only other witness is a mysterious hunter, Ethan, who carries her father’s body back home. Shortly afterward, Ethan begins working on the farm with Toss’s grandfather, Birdie. As Ethan’s relationship with her mother becomes sexually charged, Toss’s distrust toward him increases in complexity. We see the world through the eyes of a girl on the precipice of teenagehood as she experiences change, loss, and the invasion of her small, isolated world. Breathtaking imagery and unorthodox framing are complimented by composer Jack Body’s score, which combines synthesizers with string instruments to build a restrained soundscape that pierces the film’s potent, unreleased tension. This arthouse coming-of-age story, wearing the clothes of folk horror, is an indispensable contribution to the misty sheepcore canon.

SPIRITS OF THE AIR, GREMLINS OF THE CLOUDS

SPIRITS OF THE AIR, GREMLINS OF THE CLOUDS
Dir. Alex Proyas, 1987.
Australia. 93 min.
In English.

FRIDAY, APRIL 5 – MIDNIGHT
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10 – 10 PM
SUNDAY, APRIL 14 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, APRIL 18 – 7:30 PM

[ TICKETS ]

Alex Proyas’s first feature is a striking, surreal, and meditative post-apocalyptic sci-fi set in the Australian outback. The film follows Felix and Betty, two ultra-religious siblings, who have lived their lives in complete isolation until the arrival of Smith, a mysterious wanderer who is attempting to elude vague malicious pursers. Smith and Felix form an unlikely friendship as Felix’s hyperfixation proves to be Smith’s only route to salvation: building a flying machine. Meanwhile, Betty acquires a hyperfixation of her own through her obsessive distrust of Smith.

SPIRITS OF THE AIR, GREMLINS OF THE CLOUDS is a low-budget audiovisual tour-de-force. The film’s quirkiness and borderline steampunk aesthetics walk a fine line that never crosses over from inventiveness into cringe. While synthesizers typically bring to mind tight, catchy electronic melodies, they are, at their core, experimental instruments of infinite possibilities; composer Peter Miller expertly captures the film’s arid isolation with his lingering, dissonant score. If you’ve ever longed to watch a version of MAD MAX that was inspired by Tarkovsky, this is the film for you.

A LOOK AT NIKOLAIDIS

Posted on by David Williams

Nikos Nikolaidis is without a doubt the most important Greek filmmaker of the 20th century. The devious, psychosexual DNA of his films can be found spread wide across cinema, from the obvious and confrontational style of fellow Hellene and Oscar darling Yorgos Lanthimos to countless underground filmmakers with a taste for the disturbing and sensual. New York screenings of Nikolaidis’ magnum opus SINGAPORE SLING have been known to pack crowds to the rafters on more than one occasion. We here at Spectacle are no stranger to the work of Nikolaidis. We have shown his films numerous times across our decade plus of existence. And damn it, we’re going to do it again!

This April, Spectacle is proud to present A LOOK AT NIKOLAIDIS, a further exploratory dive into his fascinating fascistic dripping dystopias EURIDICE BA 2037, THE ZERO YEARS, and the return of Spectacle favorite MORNING PATROL.

Very Special Thanks to Simon Nikolaidis and Marie-Louise Bartholomew.

EURIDICE BA 2037
(ΕΥΡΙΔΊΚΗ ΒΑ 2037)
Dir. Nikos Nikolaidis, 1975.
Greece. 105 min.
In Greek with English subtitles.

FRIDAY, APRIL 5 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, APRIL 9 – 10 PM
MONDAY, APRIL 15 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 – 7:30 PM

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Constantly monitored, mocked, and locked in an oppressive hellhole, Euridice (prisoner codename: BA 2037) finds herself reuniting with Orpheus, a former lover and supposed savior. Things do not go as planned. This is Niko Nikolaidis’ first film.

“…the projection and filmic confirmation of a nightmarish and hidden reality.” – Nikos Nikolaidis

MORNING PATROL
(ΠΡΩΙΝΉ ΠΕΡΊΠΟΛΟΣ)
Dir. Nikos Nikolaidis, 1987.
Greece. 108 min.
In Greek with English subtitles.

MONDAY, APRIL 8 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 13 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 19 – MIDNIGHT
TUESDAY, APRIL 23 – 7:30 PM

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A lone woman wanders through The Forbidden Zone. A guard from the Morning Patrol offers to help her evacuate the dangerous and abandoned city in order to reach “The Sea”. Will their love survive in such a place?

“This is a movie that still scares me and I avoid watching it…” – Nikos Nikolaidis

THE ZERO YEARS
(ΤΑ ΜΗΔΕΝΙΚΆ ΧΡΌΝΙΑ)
Dir. Nikos Nikolaidis, 2005.
Greece. 126 min.
In Greek with English subtitles.

SATURDAY, APRIL 6 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 12 – 10 PM
MONDAY, APRIL 22 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 26 – MIDNIGHT

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Four women have been sterilized and sentenced to carry out their term in a rotting government-run brothel, forced to cater to every wish and desire while ignoring their own: to have children. One day, a visitor goes missing and the women are questioned.

It would be a mistake to interpret this as a futuristic story. No matter how harsh it may appear, this movie is about the shape of things that are already here and established…” – Nikos Nikolaidis

WHO AM I THIS TIME?

Posted on by spectacletheater

WHO AM I THIS TIME?
Dir. Jonathan Demme, 1982.
United States. 53 min.
In English.

MONDAY, APRIL 1 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 6 – 5 PM
SUNDAY, APRIL 14 – 5 PM
TUESDAY, APRIL 30 – 10 PM

TICKETS HERE

Helene Shaw (Susan Sarandon) is directionless when she arrives in the small town of North Crawford. Harry Nash (Christopher Walken) is a meek hardware store clerk who by night transforms into iconic characters of the stage. When Helene is cast alongside Harry in a community theater production of A Streetcar Named Desire, it kicks off a passionate romance. However, as they get to know one another the lines between their characters and real life blur. WHO AM I THIS TIME? is an examination of performances we put on in our everyday lives. This made-for-TV film, originally broadcast on PBS as a part of the American Playhouse series, was adapted from a Kurt Vonnegut story. Jonathan Demme, hot off of the award-winning Melvin and Howard, directs with his usual humanist sensibility. WHO AM I THIS TIME? is TV entertainment at its peak with an all-star team in front of and behind the camera.

Screenings Will Be Preceded By:

TRISHA BROWN’S ACCUMULATION WITH TALKING PLUS WATER MOTOR
Dir. Jonathan Demme, 1986.
United States. 11 min.
In English.

STONE ZONE MARATHONE

Posted on by Ben Tuttle

STONE ZONE MARATHONE 4.20.2024

Is your idea of a perfect Saturday getting stoned and watching movies for 13+ hours straight? Ours too. Especially if it’s 4/20 and they are covertly (and overtly) political weed movies. Take a trip with Spectacle to the not so distant past, when cannabis was still accepted on the state level as a Schedule 1 narcotic, and your eyes weren’t assaulted on every block by the bright colored flashing LED lights of less-than-legitimate “dispensaries.” When the culture was still counter, and the fuzz was still hot. Burn one outside, or load up on gummies, and sit back and relax as we present the best in stoner comedies, weedsploitation, doped up documentaries, homegrown edits, and much much more.

As is Spectacle marathon tradition, all movies will remain a mystery until they screen. Sadly, we cannot allow smoking or vaping inside the theater (that’s what the sidewalk is for). No harshing anyone’s mellow, no bummer highs. And if you don’t like the films, don’t worry, you probably won’t remember them anyway.

SATURDAY, APRIL 20, NOON–END

DAY PASS: $25 [ PURCHASE ]
INDIVIDUAL FILMS: $5 each*; first come, first served

*No membership discounts will be offered

Run of Show:

MOVIE 1

******** ****
Dir. *** *********, 1973.
United States. 83 min.

Starting things off easy, real casual like, with this early 70s documentary about the cultivation, distribution, and consumption of cannabis sativa, you know, weed. And while it is a documentary, that doesn’t mean there won’t be a pot-smoking animated dog baked out of his mind singing at some point. Like a classic surf film without the surfing; think ENDLESS SUMMER or FIVE SUMMER STORIES, but instead of catching waves, we’re scoring grass and learning about the drug trade first hand.

 
MOVIE 2

**** ****** *** *****
(aka ** *** *******)
Dir. *** ****, 1977.
United States. 90 min.

Then it’s time to ramp things up, take things higher, as we head to the deep south for an action packed escape from the fuzz. Based on a true story, in the original locations, with locals playing the parts. One character even plays themself, an American Airlines DC-4.

 
MOVIE 3

******’* ******** **.
Dir. ****** *. ** *****, 1973.
United States. 70 min.

After that jolt of action, it’s time for a giggle with the original stoner comedy. Directed by and starring the future screenwriter of a slew of high profile 1980s and 90s action flicks, this before-its-time satire takes big swings at American corporatism, corruption, police, and draconian drug laws. But just so we can start this one at 20 past, we’re gonna watch this accompanying short first:

*****
Dirs. *** *** ******, **** ****, & ******* *****, 1994.
United States. 20 min.

A short slice of life by a renowned Ohio regional horror persona and his cohorts, showcasing a few “high-functioning” stoners as they go about their daily lives, getting stoned, working, getting stoned, drinking beers, driving to get more weed, getting stoned some more, and of course, being awarded Employee of the Month.

 
MOVIE 4

*******
Dir. *** **********, 1978.
Jamaica. 100 min.
In Jamaican Patois with English subtitles.

For our halfway point feature, oh boy do we have a treat for you. Do you fuck with Robin Hood? Robbing from the rich and giving to the poor? Do you like reggae? Then you will fuck with this Kingston-based tale quite heavily, as it stars some of the biggest names in the genre. And while the plot doesn’t specifically deal with cannabis, there’s enough on screen smoking to abide; plus this film is just too damn good to leave anybody, stoner or otherwise, unsatisfied.

 
MOVIE 5

******* *********
Dir. ******* ********, 1970.
United States. 89 min.

Our fifth entry of the day is one of the earliest independent films to depict the American political and cultural issues surrounding the Vietnam War, and was banned by the US military for it. A one-night-only Spectacle hit a few years back, we’re excited to bring this one back for the special occasion. It’s that thing where you’re in Vietnam, killing a bunch of women and children, but then your dad dies. So you have to come back home for the funeral and get caught up with a group of drug-running, war protesting, free-lovin’ hippies because you’re thinking with the rifle in your pants.

 
MOVIE 6

****** ****
Dir. ***** *****, 2007.
United States. 84 min.

Not going to lie, we may have put this entire day together just so we could watch this next movie with y’all. As far as movies that Spectacle likes to shine a light on, this one probably needs no help, but as far as stoner comedies go, it’s an unsung bonafide classic. The writing: impeccable; the directing: flawless; the acting: inspired. Think along the lines of a Safdie bros anxiety odyssey, but instead of being fueled by cocaine or amphetamines, it’s thoroughly baked out of its mind on herb.

 
MOVIE 7

***** *****
Dirs. **** *. ******* and ***** ******, 1972.
Florida. 80 min.

Like many a great picture, the audience’s suspension of disbelief weighs heavily on our final joint of the night. You’re gonna have to go into this one pretending that marijuana is highly addictive. And what could be more potent than pot to a pothead that’s become the victim of an agricultural business’s nefarious lab experiments? The blood of other drug addicts of course. What appears as a piece of Christian propaganda could very well just be a stoner’s elaborate joke, a decidedly hilarious one at that.

 


Poster by Benjamin Tuttle

THE EARLY OBSESSIONS OF BIGAS LUNA

Posted on by spectacletheater

“The thing that interests me most in films is to create credible subworlds. I prefer not to call them fantasies. I want to explain the stories in logical and realistic forms.” – Bigas Luna

Bigas Luna, born José Juan Bigas Luna in 1946, trained in interior and industrial design before beginning his filmmaking career in his native Barcelona in the mid-seventies. He exploded onto the silver screen with the gritty low-budget thriller BILBAO in 1978. Though many might recognize the name from REBORN (1981), his only American film, starring Dennis Hopper and Michael Moriarty, or ANGUISH (1987), his inventive and intense film within a film horror film, starring Zelda Rubinstein, he is perhaps best known for introducing audiences to Penelope Cruz, and for introducing her to Javier Bardem, in the torrid love triangle JAMÓN, JAMÓN, in 1992. The film would join GOLDEN BALLS (1992) and THE TIT AND THE MOON (1994) to form his Iberian Trilogy, also called his Iberian Passion Trilogy, a trio of seductive, surreal, erotic and painterly melodramas that would bring him critical and commercial success.

His early works BILBAO (1978) and CANICHE (1979), though less polished, maintain an intensity, a provocative power and a rebellious spirit that render them continuously fascinating and disturbing, as shocking and fresh as anything else produced in his career, distinguished as vital films in his filmography and in the whole of Spanish cinema. They belong to a time of renewed freedom in Spanish culture and filmmaking, a period of transition after the death of Franco, in which orthodox ideas could be challenged, icons shattered, and taboos destroyed. This April, in collaboration with The Bigas Luna Tribute and Tierra Extraña NY, Spectacle is proud to present two of his early works, BILBAO & CANICHE.

BILBAO
dir. Bigas Luna, 1978
Spain. 98 min.
In Spanish and Catalan with English subtitles

FRIDAY, APRIL 5TH – 5 PM
THURSDAY, APRIL 11TH – 10 PM
MONDAY, APRIL 15TH – 10 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 26TH – 7:30 PM (W/Q&A)

GET YOUR TICKETS! Q&A

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A disturbed middle-aged man (Ángel Jové) becomes obsessed with a stripper and prostitute named Bilbao on his nighttime prowls through Barcelona’s Chinatown. He follows and studies her, setting a plan in motion for her abduction. Shot in 16mm, the second feature shot by Bigas Luna following TATUAJE (1979) was actually his first to premiere on Spanish screens, shattering the taboos of Spanish society of the era and inaugurating a cinema of iconoclasm and eroticism.

In BILBAO, we share a dangerous intimacy with our obsessive protagonist. His thoughts and words, images and objects, sounds and pieces of music repeat incessantly over the course of the film, haunting him and us, as they reappear in sinister unexpected ways, stained by the rising tides of his lust and shaped by the shifting contours of his perversions. His everyday objects turned fetish objects become our fetish objects, as we join him in the crafting of his idealized sex object and the construction of his ultimate crime.

“Luna’s debut is a wonderful ample catalog of perversions, a voyeuristic exercise full of suggestive imagery… that brings the most fetishistic and twisted Alfred Hitchock to the damned and dirty Barcelona of the late seventies.” -Xavi Sánchez Pons

Each screening of BILBAO will be preceded by a video introduction from Carolina Sanabria, author of Bigas Luna, El ojo voraz.

The April 26th screening of BILBAO will be followed by a special discussion about the film in Spanish with Santiago Fouz-Hernández and Carolina Sanabria of The Bigas Luna Tribute and Casilda García López of Tierra Extraña NY.

CANICHE
(Poodle)
dir. Bigas Luna, 1979
Spain. 90 min.
In Spanish with English subtitles

FRIDAY, APRIL 12TH – 7:30 PM (W/Q&A)
FRIDAY, APRIL 19TH – 5 PM
THURSDAY, APRIL 25TH – 10 PM
MONDAY, APRIL 29TH – 10 PM

GET YOUR TICKETS! Q&A

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Brother and sister Bernardo (Ángel Jové) and Eloisa (Consol Tura) lead a cloistered existence in a crumbling Catalan mansion where they subsist on the charity of their wealthy aunt as they await the inheritance they’ll receive from her death. They lavish their attention and affection on their pet poodle Dany, sublimating erotic desires onto their canine companion. Dany is the witness to and the victim of their downward spiral of debasement, which only accelerates as their financial fortunes grow.

Bigas Luna’s odyssey of the perverse continues in CANICHE, a provocative and perturbing dissection of the incestuous, cannibalistic and bestial bourgeoisie.

“… (CANICHE is) the spiritual sister of the John Waters films FEMALE TROUBLE (1974) and DESPERATE LIVING (1977). The first three Bigas Luna films are just as corrosive, free-spirited and punk as Waters’ films from the seventies; they seduce us with a dirty realism -very pop- which turns beautiful and causes Stendhal syndrome.” -Xavi Sánchez Pons

Each screening of CANICHE will be preceded by a video introduction from Santiago Fouz-Hernández, co-organizer of Bigas Luna Tribute, editor of the book and podcast El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna and author of the forthcoming book The Films of Bigas Luna.

The April 12th screening of CANICHE will be followed by a virtual Q&A with Santiago Fouz-Hernández.

THE EARLY OBSESSIONS OF BIGAS LUNA is presented in collaboration with The Bigas Luna Tribute and Tierra Extraña NY.

The Bigas Luna Tribute provides audiences with the unique opportunity of seeing some of Bigas Luna’s most critically acclaimed works and participating in in-depth discussions with special guests (academics and members of the Spanish film industry who worked with Bigas Luna).

Tierra Extraña NY is a living social network for New York’s Spanish diaspora, encouraging each other’s feats and initiatives and bringing Spain to life in NYC in events, productions & culture.

Special thanks to Santiago Fouz-Hernández, Carolina Sanabria and Casilda García López.

FANTASY A GETS A MATTRESS

Posted on by David Williams

FANTASY A GETS A MATTRESS
Dirs. Noah Zoltan Sofian, David Norman Lewis, 2023.
United States. 79 min.
In English.

FRIDAY, APRIL 5 – 7:30 PM, Q&A moderated by Emily Pierce
SATURDAY, APRIL 6 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, APRIL 7 – 5:00 PM, Q&A moderated by Ariel Motto
MONDAY, APRIL 8 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, APRIL 9 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY APRIL 11- 7:30 PM

ALL FANTASY A GETS A MATTRESS SCREENINGS FEATURE A Q&A WITH THE FILMMAKERS / $10 TICKETS

SPECIAL EVENT TICKETS

The larger-than-life rapper with autism FANTASY A is well-known in every corner of Seattle for his unconventional and memorable guerilla marketing tactics. After being unfairly kicked out of his group home, FANTASY A is forced to use his genius towards a new goal: getting a good night’s sleep. Along the way, he’ll face off against seedy club owners, hip-hop vampires, scummy dojo losers, and a slew of other wack Seattleites who hope to stop FANTASY A in his tracks and crush his dreams of fame, fortune, and a safe place to catch some Zs.

All the way from the Emerald City, please welcome FANTASY A and his crew to Spectacle for a weeklong run of their new bizarro dark comedy FANTASY A GETS A MATTRESS! Each night will feature an extra special cast and crew Q&A, April 5th through April 11th. Only at the Burning S.

“Funny A.F.” – Sir Mix-a-Lot

“Already a cult classic—one of my favorite Seattle movies of all time.” – Rachel Kessler

“Vibrantly offbeat, highly original” – Cynthia Brothers (Vanishing Seattle)