Revenge of the Mekons charts the unlikely career of the genre-defying collective notorious for being “the band that took punk ideology most seriously.” Featuring a Q&A with director Joe Angio and other special guests to be announced.
Born out of the 1977 British punk scene, the Mekons progressed from a group of socialist art students with no musical skills to the prolific, raucous progeny of Hank Williams. Joe Angio’s exuberant documentary follows their improbable history – a surprising and influential embrace of folk and country music; forays into the art world (collaborations with Vito Acconci and Kathy Acker); and consistent bad luck with major record labels. Revenge of the Mekons reveals how, four decades into an ever-evolving career, punk’s reigning contrarians continue to make bold, unpredictable music while staying true to the punk ethos.
Part of Nitehawk Cinema’s MUSIC DRIVEN signature series. Presented with our media partner, Noisey.
ART SEEN presents special weekend screenings of the darkly personal documentary on surrealist artist H.R. Giger, DARK STAR: H.R. GIGER’S WORLD. Courtesy Icarus Films.
Surrealist artist H. R. Giger (1940–2014) terrified audiences with his Oscar-winning monsters in Ridley Scott’s ALIEN. Sci-fi, horror, music, album covers, tattoos and fetish art have been influenced by his dark, intricate paintings and sculptures depicting birth, death and sex. Both a mesmerizing introduction to Giger’s oeuvre and a must-see for Giger devotees, Belinda Sallin’s definitive documentary DARK STAR: H. R. GIGER’S WORLD shares the intimate last years of the artist’s life and reveals how deeply he resided within his own artistic visions.
Behind the shuttered windows and ivy-covered walls of his residence in Zurich, Switzerland, DARK STAR brings viewers into Giger’s mysterious realm: from the first skull he was given by his father at the age of six, to macabre dinner parties with his close-knit team, to the grisly souvenirs from his time spent on the ALIEN set and reminiscences about model Li Tobler, Giger’s one-time muse, whose suicide reverberates throughout his work.
The film also addresses Giger’s complex relationship to the art world, where he defied traditional categories and embraced commercial projects for musicians including Debbie Harry, Korn, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and the Dead Kennedys. Fittingly enshrined in a museum dedicated to his work, Giger’s output includes sculpture, painting, drawing, film and architecture, integrating meticulous technique with a instantly-recognizable sensibility that has inspired generations of nightmares.
ART SEEN is in partnership with frieze.
Starring: Erwin Leder, Silvia Rabenreither, Edith Rosset
Banned across Europe during its initial release due to its intense violence, Austrian filmmaker Gerald Kargl’s brutal and formally transgressive Angst remains one of horror’s most under-appreciated works of sick genius. Ostensibly a look at a homicide-filled day in the life of an unnamed serial killer fresh out of prison, it’s a chilling exercise in intimate, documentary-like sadism in the hands of an overlooked director whose biggest fan is none other than Gaspar Noé. See why for yourself as Brooklyn Horror presents a special 40th anniversary screening. —Matt Barone
A remarkable film record of the legendary Everest expedition of 1924, newly restored by the BFI National Archive.
The third attempt to climb Everest culminated in the deaths of two of the finest climbers of their generation, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, and sparked an on-going debate over whether or not they did indeed reach the summit. Filming in brutally harsh conditions with a hand-cranked camera, Captain John Noel captured images of breathtaking beauty and considerable historic significance. The film is also among the earliest filmed records of life in Tibet and features sequences at Phari Dzong (Pagri), Shekar Dzong (Xegar) and Rongbuk monastery. But what resonates so deeply is Noel’s ability to frame the vulnerability, isolation and courage of people persevering in one of the world’s harshest landscapes.
The restoration by the BFI National Archive has transformed the quality of the surviving elements of the film and reintroduced the original colored tints and tones. Revealed by the restoration, few images in cinema are as epic – or moving – as the final shots of a blood red sunset over the Himalayas.
Northside Film presents TIRED MOONLIGHT as part of its 2015 festival.
Combustible dreams fail to ignite as lonely, middle-aged, Dawn is confronted by lost love in a glorified-pit-stop town. Pitting grand landscapes against dinners of fried chicken and the roar of V8 engines on Saturday nights, TIRED MOONLIGHT wanders through solitaire games (always won), secrets lost in cavernous hearts and the fifty miles of bad road that always gets you home.
Northside Film presents THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE as part of its 2015 festival.
Suspecting that those around him are actually malevolent shape-shifters, a troubled man questions whether to protect his only friend from an impending war, or from himself.
Northside Film presents THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT as part of its 2015 festival.
A psychological thriller based on the notorious true story, Billy Crudup stars as Stanford University professor Dr. Philip Zimbardo, who, in 1971, cast 24 student volunteers as prisoners and guards in a simulated jail to examine the source of abusive behavior in the prison system. The results astonished the world, as participants went from middle-class undergrads to drunk-with-power sadists and submissive victims in just a few days.
Winner of two awards at the Sundance Film Festival, including Best Screenplay, and created with the close participation of Dr. Zimbardo himself, The Stanford Prison Experiment is a chilling, edge-of-your-seat thriller about the dark side of power and the effects of imprisonment.
Northside Film presents EDEN as part of its 2015 festival.
Eden is an affecting trip into the 90s Parisian electronic dance movement experienced through the eyes of DJ groups Cheers and Daft Punk who, together with their friends, plunge into the ephemeral nightlife of sex, drugs, and endless music.
Northside Film presents DEVIL TOWN as part of its 2015 festival.
A young woman’s sets out on a quest through Brooklyn to find her missing sister, enlisting the help of a motley crew of New York weirdos.
Northside Film presents ABBY SINGER/SONGWRITER as part of its 2015 festival.
Director Onur Tukel will be in attendance for a Q&A
In Abby Singer/Songwriter, Jamie Block – a divorced stockbroker has-been who was once an indie-rock star signed to Capitol Records – meets Onur Tukel, a hapless middle-aged filmmaker who has just moved to Brooklyn. In this coming-of-middle-age story, Onur persuades Block to sink his money into a series of increasingly absurd music videos to promote his comeback as a musician. Desperate to impress his two beautiful, nonchalant teenaged daughters, Block casts them in the videos, which then play on multiple screens throughout this hallucinatory film. As tension mounts between director and musician Block’s bank account and grip on reality dwindle.
