A GRAND MOCKERY

A GRAND MOCKERY

Posted on by danielstangl

A GRAND MOCKERY

A GRAND MOCKERY
Dir. Adam C. Briggs & Sam Dixon, 2024
Australia. 105 min.
In English.

DIRECTOR ADAM C. BRIGGS IN PERSON DECEMBER 11th, 12th & 13th.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11 – 7:30 PM (Q&A w/ Director Adam C. Briggs)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12 – 7:30 PM (Q&A w/ Director Adam C. Briggs)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13 – 7:30 PM (Q&A w/ Director Adam C. Briggs)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18 – 10 PM

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Josie, a depressed cinema worker leads a mundane, dead-end life with his girlfriend Nelly in Brisbane. Faced with the daily drudgery and repetition of his job, his existence consists of little more than drowning his sorrows away with his friends and longing for escape. Slowly, Josie begins to lose grip on reality and embarks on a strange and surreal journey that takes him from the fluorescent hellscape of the city to the outer reaches of Queensland.

Shot on Super 8mm in true DIY fashion, A GRAND MOCKERY subverts the normal portrayal of Queensland as a laid-back, beach bum oasis and uses the disaffected reality of the lower class as a springboard into a world that is much harsher and more strange. Synthesizing familiar influences like Kubrick and Buñuel with the Australian Gothic tradition, A GRAND MOCKERY defies easy categorization by rooting its psychic nightmare fully in a landscape that feels fresh and untapped, creating one of the most exciting visions of a world slipping away in recent memory.

“Grand Mockery is a dream space, a living hangover bad party breakup nightmare. Intense and effecting. Relax and let it drag you through the mud and sediment of regret and the sweet shame of a 3 day bender. Technically a marvel of super 8 goodness.”
-Ben Wheatley

Special thanks to Yellow Veil Pictures

 

BEST OF BEST OF SPECTACLE: YOU CALL THIS PROGRESS!?

Posted on by stepheno

YOU CALL THIS PROGRESS?!: THE MULTIPLE FUTURES TRILOGY
Dir. Alyce Wittenstein, 1986-1994
United States. TRT 100 min.

FILMMAKER IN PERSON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6th.
$10 SPECIAL EVENT.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6 – 7:30 PM (Q&A w/ Alyce Wittenstein)
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9 – 10 PM

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Alyce Wittenstein has been called the “Queen of the New York Underground” and this December, Spectacle is pleased to play host to her and the films making up her MULTIPLE FUTURES trilogy. These films are jam packed with familiar faces, exquisite set pieces, snappy dialogue, and dazzling costumes.  Join us for these remarkable films in a celebration of science fiction, hilarity, character actors, and ghastly view of a not-too-distant world.

BETAVILLE
Dir. Alyce Wittenstein, 1986
United States. 20 min.

The first in what would come to be known as the MULTIPLE FUTURES trilogy, BETAVILLE – a post-modern nightmare – finds a down and out detective Coman Gettme (played by Wittenstein mainstay Steve Ostringer) returning to his hometown after a chance meeting with The Girl (Holly Adams). Once the two arrive in Gettme’s Cadillac things immediately go from bad to worse for this gumshoe when he learns, over a slice at Stromboli’s, that High Fashion is the new law in town. Gettme becomes obsessed with The Girl and is determined to meet back up with her and “save” her from the these fashionable fascists.

BETAVILLE kicks off the trilogy in a pitch perfect send up of the French New Wave and science fiction, and turns noir on it’s ear while (literally) running through some familiar parts of NYC. Holly Adams is nothing short of dynamite and Ostringer’s distinctive production design would lay the groundwork for the look of the films to come. Years before becoming Brewmaster at the Brooklyn Brewery, Garrett Oliver was co-producer on the film. The short would go on to be nominated for a number of awards at festivals and play all over the world – often (unsurprisingly) alongside Godard’s ALPHAVILLE.

“Most of the detective narrator dialogue is clever, the cinematography is excellent, and I liked the (sort of) industrial music and the song by the Singing Squirrels.” – Michael J. Weldon, Psychotronic Magazine #2, 1989.

NO SUCH THING AS GRAVITY
Dir. Alyce Wittenstein, 1989
United States. 40 min.

In the not too distant future the LaFont corporation has all but taken over Earth. The company has revolutionized all elements of style, beauty, education, and housing but in the process (progress?!) has shipped many of Earth’s more “useless” inhabitants to the mysterious man made planet – and the largest scale experiment in human history – known as Nova Terra. Two scientists – Kay Zorn (Holly Adams) and Albert Leenhardt (Steve Robinson) are about to receive a prestigious award for their work on the LaFont Facelifter when they learn that Nova Terra is disrupting the Earth’s gravitational pull and will soon collide if it’s not destroyed. A headstrong lawyer and Kay’s boyfriend – Adam Malkonian (a scenery chewing Nick Zedd) – mouths off to a judge (the incomparable Taylor Mead – RIP) while defending a human teacher and is ordered to be relocated to the doomed planet. After meeting with the ambassador of Nova Terra (Emmanuelle Chaulet of Eric Rohmer’s BOYFRIENDS AND GIRLFRIENDS), Malkonian learns that perhaps the LaFont Corporation hasn’t been entirely truthful about what really happens on Nova Terra and vows to stop the destruction.

Wittenstein’s first sync sound film is overflowing with amazing set pieces and incredible performances. Some scenes were shot at the New York Hall of Science – including an Ames room and a number of other dazzling optical illusions. Look out for cameos from Michael J. Anderson (TWIN PEAKS), Wittenstein’s father as the insidious Andreas LaFont, and the director herself on Nova Terra.

THE DEFLOWERING
Dir. Alyce Wittenstein, 1994
United States. 40 min.

“The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old are dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.”
– Antonio Gramsci, PRISON NOTEBOOKS

The quote above opens Wittenstein’s third and final film – THE DEFLOWERING. Again featuring some of Wittenstein’s tried and true players – Holly Adams, Emmanuelle Chaulet, Taylor Mead, and more – the film concerns yet another evil corporation this time HUXLEY BIO-TECH and their means to sanitize/beautify this world of ours. This time Wittenstein (with Ostringer back on production design) takes the costuming helm as well.

The TIB (Total Immune Breakdown) virus has left the planet reeling and lethal allergic reaction are at an all time high. Huxley’s efforts to produce perfect, designer children that are immune to viruses have had the side effect of hyper-allergic reactions. Why isn’t anything being done about allergies? No one wants to fund it! With the mortality rate skyrocketing, can mankind bounce back and feel the soft caress of skin against skin ever again or will the line at the Holo-Memorial Funeral Home grow ever longer?

NOIRVEMBER AT SPECTACLE – VI

Posted on by Isaac Hoff

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Noirvember returns for those who can’t kick the habit. This year’s slate takes a deep drag into the void through dreamlike backstreets (AKA cheapo lots), thickened studio fog, & quintessential location photography. We visit some of the most dissonant corners of the canon, the rough edges of the genre’s dimmest flickers, and explore what’s left when the last match burns out.

5pm – *** ******** ********

We open this season’s Noirvember with an ultra low-budget police-procedural that boasts some of the most impressive on-location photography of the era. Our opening selection is a lean and stylish film noir featuring a slew of non-actors in what feels like a time capsule.

630p – **** ***** * ********

Next up, a gloomy coming-of-age film noir disguised as a surrealist folktale. This vastly underrated film noir features photography from the genre’s greatest cameraman working as a gun for hire and features a small role for an accused communist turned Washington hostess.

8pm – *** ********** *****

This year’s prime-time slot goes to our favorite card-slinging auteur and features one of film noir’s greatest mugs in a transgressive tale of corruption and greed.10pm – *** * ***** *******

A deftly-paced romantic comedy disguised as film noir (or perhaps the reverse). Directed by one of the masters of the genre and featuring all the classic tropes, while light-hearted in spirit, this film is an absolute gem with excellent performances and character chemistry.

11:30pm – **** **** ********

We conclude this season of Noirvember with some late-night melancholy. Directed by character actor turned b-film auteur, this melodramatic chamber piece is a fitting late-night finale to sealed fates & waning embers.

GOD TOLD HIM TO: A LARRY COHEN CELEBRATION

Posted on by phil

LARRYCOHEN

God Told Me To
dir. Larry Cohen, 1976
United States. 91 mins.
In English

ONE NIGHT ONLY FRIDAY NOVEMBER 21 7:30PM IN 16MM

$10 TICKETS

Filmmaker, writer, and iconoclast Larry Cohen ranks among America’s most unhinged – and prolific! – auteurs. Born and raised in New York City at the height of the Great Depression, Cohen cut his teeth as an NBC page during the network’s Eisenhower-era heyday. Like many of his contemporaries, including fellow landsmen John Frankenheimer and Sidney Lumet, Cohen got his start directing and writing for the nascent medium of television.

After nearly two decades on the small screen, Cohen broke out with the 1972 Yaphett Kotto vehicle Bone, effectively launching a career that would come to include 18 features – including Q, the Winged Serpent, The Stuff, and one of his most beloved: God Told Me To.

Cohen was an expert raconteur, spending his later years regaling audiences at retrospective screenings and conventions. The author of several books on the art of film craft, Cohen’s unpublished memoir I Killed Bette Davis will finally see the light of day with a spanking-new edition available from Sticking Place Books, edited by Gavin Smith.

To celebrate the posthumous publication of I Killed Bette Davis, Spectacle is thrilled to present this special one-night-only screening of Cohen’s God Told Me To on gritty 16mm, with an introduction from Smith.

CINEMA MARGINAL PIAUIENSE

Posted on by Isaac Hoff

In the 1970s, a collective of artists, journalists, filmmakers, and cultural agitators from Teresina transformed Super 8, then a domestic Kodak technology, into a language of avant garde cinema. Influenced by Tropicália, Brazilian cinema de invenção, Cinema Marginal Piauiense represents radical artists who had created films that challenged narrative codes and the repression of the dictatorship with freedom, humor, and critique.

Today this body of work is recognized as CINEMA MARGINAL PIAUIENSE, a symbol of an intense experience of experimentation, friendship, and rebellion that transformed the margins into a creative force.

In collaboration with Cinelimite. Special thanks to William Plotnick.

A DREAM IN PIAUÍ (Duration 102m)

The films of the Cinema Marginal Piauiense cycle are among the very first ever made in the state. Before the emergence of this group of filmmakers and artists, the idea of making cinema in Teresina was nothing more than a distant dream. The arrival of Super 8 cameras represented a true revolution, making not only filming but also the developing process much more accessible and democratic. With the support of Dr. Antônio Noronha in financing productions, the union of a group of rebels connected to counterculture and the arts, and the return in 1971 of the already famous Torquato Neto, poet, journalist, and Tropicalist lyricist, this dream began to turn into reality. Neto, whose presence brought legitimacy and inspiration to the movement, helped to drive this creative scene forward. Our opening session presents the pioneering works of this cycle. After the completion of O Terror da Vermelha (The Terror of Vermelha, 1972), many of the participants left Teresina in search of study and work, but the underground legacy remained and the seed of cinema had already been planted. This session traces that first moment of growth.

 

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8 – 7 PM w/ Post-Screening debate with Brazilian experimental film scholar, Patrícia Mourão de Andrade
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20 – 10 PM
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24 – 10 PM

THE TERROR OF VERMELHA (O TERROR DA VERMELHA)

dir. Torquato Neto, 1972
Brazil, 24 min
In Portuguese with hardcoded English subtitles.

 

AN AMERICAN DREAM (UM SONHO AMERICANO)
dir. Arnaldo Albuquerque, 1973
Brazil, 4 min
In Portuguese with hardcoded English subtitles.

 

MOTHER’S HEART (CORAÇÃO MATERNO)
dir. Haroldo Barradas, 1974
Brazil, 15 min
In Portuguese with hardcoded English subtitles.

 

MISS DORA
dir. Edmar Oliveira, 1974
Brazil, 18 min
In Portuguese with hardcoded English subtitles.

 

FORJUSTNOW (PORENQUANTO)
dir. Carlos Galvão, 1973
Brazil, 15  min
In Portuguese with hardcoded English subtitles.

 

TUPY NIQUIM
dir. Xico Prereira, 1974
Brazil, 17 min
In Portuguese with hardcoded English subtitles.

 

LANDFILL (ATERRO)
dir. Dogno Içaiano, 1979
Brazil, 9 min
In Portuguese with hardcoded English subtitles.

MARK LOMBARDI: DEATH DEFYING ACTS OF ART AND CONSPIRACY

Posted on by phil

MARKLOMBARDI

MARK LOMBARDI: DEATH DEFYING ACTS OF ART AND CONSPIRACY
(MARK LOMBARDI – KUNST UND KONSPIRATION)
Dir. Mareike Wegener, 2011.
Germany. 77 min.
In English.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7 – 10PM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14 – 10PM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18 – 7:30PM
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23 – 5PM, with virtual Q&A, this event is $10
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29 – 5PM

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Mark Lombardi’s medium would probably be described as “graphite” or “pencil” on a museum placard, but his true medium was information. The tools he used to create his works were various publicly available journalistic outlets. The work, an assemblage of the information put together and showing the connections between the world’s governments, politicians, financial markets, military and terrorist operations. His ‘drawings’ were concept maps, diagrams showing the relationships between entities in regards to geo-political events. Lombardi followed the money, and he presented his findings in art galleries and museums rather than the dark recesses of the internet.

The associations Lombardi drew would garner the attention of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation after the events of September 11th, 2001, when they contacted the Whitney Museum and Pierogi Gallery to look at drawings of his that connected the Bush family, their oil holdings, the Saudis, and Osama bin Laden. The nature of Lombardi’s work, and the names contained within raise an eyebrow to the circumstances surrounding the taking of his own life in March of 2000. Lombardi was found dead in his Williamsburg apartment a day before his birthday and a day after he bequeathed all of his work to Pierogi Gallery.

Director Mareike Wegener humanizes and presents Lombardi through interviews with the people who knew him best: his friends, family, fellow artists, and gallery representation. Intertwined with archival footage and home videos taken by Lombardi’s friends showing him at work, as well as a now nostalgic depiction of late aughts Williamsburg that long time frequenters of Spectacle may recognize.

Mareike Wegener is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer based in Cologne, Germany. Wegener came to New York in 2009 as the recipient of the Gerd-Ruge scholarship, to work on the documentary during her graduate studies at the New School. Wegener will join us virtually for a post-screening audience Q&A on November 23rd at 5pm.

REVERIES

Posted on by phil

This November, Spectacle is ecstatic to present three psychedelic transmissions from the heady-depths of the minds of Graham Mason, Matt Barats and Anthony Oberbeck.

REVERIES

REVERIES
dir. Graham Mason, 2018
United States, 46 min
In English

Two mysterious drifters travel across the American landscape in a journey into their own unravelling minds and psyches.

to be screened with

REVERIES: GOING DEEPER
dir. Graham Mason, 2020
United States, 60 min
In English

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22 – 5 PM w/ in person Q&A

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In a dystopian society, two mysterious drifters transmit pirate radio broadcasts from their underground bunker, journeying deep into their own minds…deeper than they’ve ever been before.

MINDPRISON

REVERIES: THE MIND PRISON
dir. Graham Mason, 2025
United States, 79 min
In English

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7 – 5 PM ft Introduction by Graham Mason + Matt Barats
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11 – 10 PM ft Introduction by Graham Mason + Matt Barats
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22 – 7:30 PM w/ in person Q&A

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Two mysterious drifters wandering a strange desert find themselves thrown into a journey of self-discovery, traversing a surreal and hostile terrain in search of answers to life’s unanswerable questions. As they spiral deeper into a world of madness, they must discover the meaning of…THE MIND PRISON.

Presented by Cartuna

ONE DAY AND ONE NIGHT

Posted on by phil

ONEDAYONENIGHT

ONE DAY AND ONE NIGHT
(하루낮 하루밤)
Dir. Pak Kyong Jin, 2022.
North Korea. 95 min.
In Korean with English subtitles.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8 – MIDNIGHT
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29 – 10 PM

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“NORTH KOREA’S FIRST HORROR FILM”

After accidentally unearthing a conspiracy that seeks to thwart the revolution, young nurse Ra Myong Hui must gather the might to prevail against the forces that hope to end the worker’s cause… and her life.

Although some States-based gorehounds may just crave more blood, ONE DAY AND ONE NIGHT is a truly unique ghost story that adopts the more violent and thrilling aspects of its Southern siblings, while still towing the line as a Juche-Approved stagepiece about the awesome power of self-reliance and iron smelting (we agree). Playing all November long, only at Spectacle!

THE MAIDEN

Posted on by phil

MAIDEN

THE MAIDEN
dir. Graham Foy, 2022
Canada. 117 mins.
In English

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21 – 5 PM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26 – 10 PM

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A mesmerizing and poetic debut feature from Canadian filmmaker Graham Foy, THE MAIDEN caught a great deal of attention upon its New York premiere at New Directors/New Films last year. On the occasion of its release by our friends at Altered Innocence, Spectacle is thrilled to share this intoxicatingly dreamy and richly textured film.

Best friends Colton and Kyle float the river, trade dreams, and spray-paint in the local ravine. Like the boys, Whitney explores the ravine, seeking solace by writing and drawing in her diary. But when her best friend abandons her, Whitney disappears.

The kids’ lives swirl with natural wonder and beauty, but darkness and death loom not far behind. The discovery of Whitney’s diary transports us to a mirror world. A magical ravine. A paranormal encounter. The return of a dead black cat. Is this a dream? The afterlife? Once deeply connected, are we ever really alone?

Special thanks to Altered Innocence

HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES FOR BLINDNESS (2012)

Posted on by phil

HOMEOPATHIC

HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES FOR BLINDNESS
Dir. Alan Zignoto, 2012.
United States. 123 min.
In English

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1 – 5 PM
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6 – 10 PM
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17 – 10 PM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26 – 7:30 PM

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“HR4B” is a home-video snapshot from the catalogue of prolific audio/visual wizard Alan Zignoto. Shot in 2006, scored over the next few years, and released on VHS in 2012, is a slow-cooked music video manifestation of Zignoto’s ongoing music project Slobberkiss Intl. Zignoto describes the film as an aggregate of visuals they were fascinated with, and collecting onto video, in a time before they had social media platforms at their disposal for sharing. While living in Louisville, Kentucky, Alan (or ‘Al N’, ‘Arsenio’, ‘Raw Thug’) collaborated with multiple groups of the improvisational and genre-escaping DIY midwest landscape, including Softcheque, Sapat, Kark, and others. The film offers a casual, pedestrian, almost ambient glimpse into the suburban environments of Louisville, set to experimental, sometimes casiotone, musical accompaniment.