for immediate release, contact: Gerry Fialka 310-306-7330 pfsuzy@aol.com laughtears.com
SUBVERSIVE CINEMA at 212 Pier Coffeehouse http://www.212pier.com/ 212 Pier Ave (one half block east of Main St), Santa Monica, CA 90405 screens films the last Friday of every month from 7:30-10pm, free admission, 310-314-5275, more info:310-306-7330, laughtears.com
Curator Gerry Fialka screens films as antennae of the race, broadcasting the hidden effects of what we have invented. From experimental films to political activist cinema to lit, art, music flix to avant garde documentaries, this series provokes new questions and features fiery discussions.
In the spirit of cultural democracy, the audience can help select the film titles between 6:30 and 7:30pm beforehand. Sometimes the titles are programmed in advance. For example:
Friday, July 29 at 7:30pm (rescheduled from June)
DANNY PLOTNICK FILMS - WARTS & ALL (1986-2001, 104m) at 7pm. Danny Plotnick (in person) roared into the underground film world in the 1980s. Fueled by his love of punk & alternative culture and infected with righteous DIY spirit, he started making films that captured a similarly snarly attitude. His films were pegged as bawdy, bad-mouthed and beautiful, straddling the line between high-brow and low-brow art. It's no surprise that his work has screened at such high falutin' places like MOMA in NYC to lowlife haunts like the Golden Shower Film Festival, San Antonio, TX and mortuaries in Baltimore to the Independent Film Channel. A veritable film school in an evening. Plotnick's eleven shorts include PIPSQUEAK FOLLIES (kids gone wild), DUMBASS FROM DUNDAS (teen angst), SWINGERS' SERENADE (suburban sexual malaise), FLIP ABOUT FLIP (Ode to Flip Wilson) and more. "Plotnick's films are funny and very important." -NY Underground Film Fest.
Aug 26 - TBA
Sept 30, THE KINGDOM OF SURVIVAL (2011, 92 minutes) Producer Alex Hebert and Director M. A. Littler's (both in person) interdisciplinary documentary explores modern skepticism in America, challenges the status quo and uncovers provocative links between survivalist philosophy, ecumenical spirituality, radical political theory, and outlaw culture. The audience is invited into a thoughtful conversation with the likes of Prof. Noam Chomsky, Dr. Mark Mirabello, Ramsey Kanaan, and the riveting final interview with beloved author, Joe Bageant. These unique thought leaders cast a rare shadow of doubt over our most blindly accepted American traditions. By framing this journey in a cross-country travelogue, maverick writer and director M.A. Littler connects art, religion, academia, alternative media, utopianism, anarchism, globalized capitalism and radical fringe philosophy in an elegant American tapestry. The transformative visual execution of the cinematography acts as a lingering contextual reminder of the events that shaped the featured philosophies. By remaining observantly agnostic to the subjects, the film is able to honestly investigate the physical and psychological practices of diverse individuals in a conflict-ridden and confused post-modern world. In a time of brainwashing corporate and political propaganda, The Kingdom of Survival reunites us with the life-changing spirit of the outlaw highway. “We have to go within, man. We have to go within and find something that brings joy to our souls.” -Will “The Bull” Taylor. M.A. Littler is a maverick writer and filmmaker. Littler's films have been described as a strange cocktail of European auteur cinema, intellectualism and Rock 'n' Roll paired with an idiosyncratic sense of melancholy. Littler's films and writing merge the intellectual and the primitive and display an unhidden affinity for outsiders of all kinds. When asked about this, Littler says: "I'm interested in people who dance to their own beat, prototypes who fix their radio with a blow torch.
Oct 28, Nov 25, Dec 30 - TBA
SUBVERSIVE CINEMA is inspired by two seminal books: Gene Youngblood's EXPANDED CINEMA and Amos Vogel's FILM AS A SUBVERSIVE ART. In FILM AS A SUBVERSIVE ART: AMOS VOGEL & CINEMA 16 (2003 documentary directed by Paul Cronin), these thoughts were expressed by Scott MacDonald and Amos:
"Scott MacDonald: In Amos Vogel's Cinema 16 programming strategy, he was very conscious of Eisenstein; with the ideas of juxtaposing one kind of thing with another to create energy in the audience and maximum thought in viewers.
Amos Vogel: When I showed 5 or 6 films on the Cinema 16 program, they were always selected from the point of view how they would collide with each other in the minds of the audience. On one program there would always be an abstract film, a scientific film, an avant-garde film and a political documentary, because my intention at all times was to subvert audience expectations by showing such diverse and different films on one and the same program....
Many films shown at Cinema 16 and in my book "Film As A Subversive Art," show reality in ways that we have not previously anticipated. ... This is how I use the word "subversive" - anything that changes or undermines previous ways of thinking and feeling. Subversive art makes you look at things in a new and very different way. It disrupts. It destroys, and thereby builds up new realities and new truths."
"I have always been on the side of those who seek the truth, but I part ways with them when they think they have found it." - Luis Bunuel.
These thoughts inspire the spirit of curating films at SUBVERSIVE CINEMA. The public is invited to join us, free admission. Laughtears.com
To screen your film at SUBVERSIVE CINEMA, contact Gerry Fialka pfsuzy@aol.com, 310-306-7330, laughtears.com
Also, 212 PIER welcomes all up-and-coming filmmakers to show their films & videos. Contact: Guru Thapar guru@212pier.com
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