Calendar
Salesman
Sponsored by The Hideout
Oct 09 - Oct 15, 2009
(Albert and David Maysles, USA, 1969, 35mm, 90 min)
A staple of cinema vérité, Salesman is an unflinching look into the world of door-to-door Bible sales.
The Saga of Gosta Berling
Performed with live accompaniment from Murl Allen Sanders Introduction by author Paul Norlen Sponsored by UW Dept of Scandinavian Studies and the Swedish Cultural Center
Oct 16, 2009
(Mauritz Stiller, Sweden, 1924, 35mm, 183 min)
A fallen young priest, a beautiful Italian countess, an enchanting landscape: The Saga of Gösta Berling is a gem of early Swedish cinema. Breathtaking sets, lavish costumes and a gorgeous score weave together the story of a disgraced young priest (Swedish star Lars Hanson) who seeks redemption and finds love with the mesmerizing Elizabeth (Garbo).
Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
Oct 17 - Oct 22
The Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival celebrates its fabulous 14th
year October 16-25. Screenings, parties, and panel discussions and will be happening at venues all over town for ten days and nights of LGBT film, video, and fun. Plus this year the festival boasts a number of Northwest premieres, two World premieres and a bevy of work by local filmmakers.
Animated Jazz Experiments
At the Seattle Asian Art Museum
Oct 20, 2009
Sarah Jane Lapp is a Seattle-based Renaissance woman, visual artist and filmmaker, who typically takes on abstract and ethnographic subjects in her finely rendered hand-drawn experimental animations. Mark Dresser is a Jazz impresario who emerged from the L.A. "free" jazz scene of the early 70's, and is often considered one of the master bassists of modern jazz. Lapp’s dreamy animation combined with the improvisational elements of Dresser’s music creates sonorous textural explorations of memory, place and social nostalgia in our religious imaginations.
The Headless Woman
Oct 23 - Oct 29, 2009
(Lucrecia Martel, Argentina, 2008, 35mm, 87 min)
One rainy day, an upper class dentist named Veronica speeds down the road in her flashy car. Suddenly she hits something. Was it one of the street urchins playing on the side of the road, a dog or nothing at all?
"[Director Lucretia Martel] has won me over...
The complex geometry of Martel’s compositions is akin to those of Antonioni" -Seattle Post Globe
This is Not a Show
Live R.E.M. concert film!
Oct 23 - Oct 25, 2009
(Vincent Moon, France, 2009, DVD, 59 min)
This Is Not A Show captures the best moments from R.E.M.'s “working rehearsals” at Dublin’s fabled Olympia Theatre, during which singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills Stipe tested out new songs for R.E.M.’s 2008 studio album Accelerate.
The film includes concert and backstage footage from July 2007 when the band tested new material over five nights before fired-up, capacity crowds comprised of fan-club members, friends, family and fans from all over the world who were privy to R.E.M.'s so-called “experiment in terror,” as guitarist Peter Buck put it. “We were just trying to do something we hadn't done before," Buck says, "which meant there was no relaxing during the set. Every second we were playing something we didn't know all that well. Which was kind of good—there were all kinds of terror elements going on during that show."
Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia
Oct 28, 2009
(Delaney Ruston, 2009, DV)
Why do we see so many severely mentally ill people on the street off treatment? Delaney has seen her paranoid schizophrenic father in this state and for 10 years hid from him. Unlisted depicts Delaney's journey, now as a doctor, to bring her father back into her life.
Have a Rotten Halloween
Oct 29, 2009
Seattle writers Mark Rahner and Robert Horton host a Halloween party celebrating Rotten, their zombie-Western comic series (from Moonstone Books). The authors promise a highly animated—you might say "re-animated"—time including a film screening (title will be a surprise), selected shorts and various unhealthy high jinks.
Beeswax
Oct 30 - Nov 05, 2009
(Andrew Bujalski, USA, 2009, 35mm, 100 min)
Jeannie co-owns a vintage clothing shop with an old friend who threatens her with a lawsuit when their relationship goes sour. Turning to her twin sister Lauren’s ex-boyfriend for advice, Jeannie quickly becomes involved with him. This is a humorous and heartfelt look at family, responsibility and relationships.
"A remarkably subtle, even elegant movie." -Seattle Times
"A symphony of the ordinary...If Beeswax is part of the mumblecore movement, then it is one of its highest achievements." -The Stranger
"a near-perfect little film" -Jew-ish.com
"It is time the world stood up and took notice [of director Bujalski" -Seattle PostGlobe
Guy And Madeline On A Park Bench
Oct 30 - Nov 01, 2009
(Damien Chazelle, USA, 2009, DigiBeta, 82 min)
Within the first ten minutes, we meet Guy (Jason Palmer) and Madeline (Desiree Garcia) as they meet each other, embark on a brief romance and part ways. The rest of the film focuses on the mellifluous voice of Guy’s trumpet and Madeline’s charming tap dancing, creating an ode to Boston’s eclectic jazz scene.
Icons Among Us
Oct 31 - Nov 02, 2009
(Lars Larson, Michael Rivoira, Peter J. Vogt, USA, DigiBeta, 2009)
Developed from a four-episode TV series, Icons Among Us is an erudite snapshot of today’s jazz scene, both reveling in the joyful energy of the world’s best jazz artists and delighting in the richly complex history of this important cultural form. Interviews with dozens of musicians from multiple generations and tons of live performance clips make this an appealing documentary for seasoned jazz lovers and newcomers alike.
Import Export
Seattle Premiere
Nov 06 - Nov 12, 2009
(Ulrich Seidl, Austria, 2007, 35mm, 135 min)
Olga barely scrapes by as a nurse in the Ukraine, and after a dismal stint in the online porn business she leaves to find a better life in Austria. Her Austrian counterpart, Paul, is similarly fed up with drowning in debt and unemployment, so he departs for the Ukraine. Ultimately, a stirring, humanistic message emerges in their search for identity and a contented existence.
"Deserves to be experienced as a vital reminder of the humanity that can be lost when all human relations become a matter of buying and selling." -Seattle PostGlobe
35 Shots of Rum
Seattle Premiere
Nov 06 - Nov 12, 2009
(Claire Denis, France, 2008, 35mm, 107 min)
The elegantly sketched narrative delves into the evolving relationship between Jo (Mati Diop), a Parisian university student, and her train engineer father, Lionel (Alex Descas). Rather than make her characters easily readable, Denis chooses a more subtle approach by filling in the details ever so discreetly, breathing life and depth into the father-daughter duo while making them tangibly relatable.
"It reminds us of the beauty of the only world we shall ever know and see our loved ones in" -The Stranger
"SW Pick: Sublime" -Seattle Weekly
La Libertad
Seattle Premiere
Director in Attendance
Nov 11 - Nov 14, 2009
(Lisandro Alonso, Argentina, 2001, 35mm, 73 min)
The first feature by celebrated Argentine director Lisandro Alonso, La Libertad is a thought-provoking piece of minimalist realism. The actor playing the protagonist, a woodcutter named Misael, had never been to the movies let alone been trained as an actor. He spends his days chopping wood, transporting it, hunting and sleeping.
Los Muertos
Seattle Premiere
Director in Attendance
Nov 12 - Nov 15, 2009
(Lisandro Alonso, Argentina, 2004, 35mm, 73 min)
After serving thirty years in prison, a grim man named Vargas journeys back through thick jungle and swamp to reunite with the daughter he left behind long ago. A mysterious aura emanates from him, just as it does from the inscrutable depths of the jungle, so that they meld together in a way that blurs the lines of the man’s identity.
Araya
Seattle Premiere
New 35mm Print
Nov 13 - Nov 19, 2009
(Margot Benacerraf, Venezuela / France, 1959, 35mm, 82 min)
This remarkably beautiful documentary about life on the arid peninsula of Araya has won unanimous critical acclaim upon each of its rare screenings over the past five decades. Not until now, however, have audiences had the chance to experience the original version that prompted Jean Renoir to urge Benacerraf: “Above all…don’t cut a single image!” Lyrically capturing the rhythms of a culture over the course of 24 hours, Araya is canonical both as Venezuelan and as feminist Latina cinema.
"Stunningly photographed...[a] work of poeticized ethnography." -Seattle Weekly
Liverpool
Seattle Premiere Free screening for members on Monday at 7pm; followed by a discussion with program director Adam Sekuler
Director in Attendance Friday & Saturday
Nov 13 - Nov 19, 2009
(Lisandro Alonso, Argentina, 2008, 35mm, 84 min)
A graceful ode to solitude and the existential need for meaning, the story follows a sailor named Farrel on a lonely journey in the southernmost region of Argentina. After traveling the world, Farrel asks the captain if he can leave the ship to see if his mother still lives in their old village.
"Bleak and beautiful, this is the richest of Alonso’s films to date" -The Stranger