Nitehawk’s LIVE SOUND CINEMA celebrates the films of ALICE GUY BLACHÉ with our special “SHE MADE IT” presentation that features a live score by REEL ORCHESTRETTE.
There is nothing connected with the staging of a motion picture that a woman cannot do as easily as a man, and there is no reason why she cannot completely master every technicality of the art. – Alice Guy-Blaché, 1914
Alice Guy Blaché is cinema’s first female director who, between 1896 and 1920, wrote, produced or directed more than a thousand films in France and in the United States. A profound influence upon the evolution of cinema, she was a pioneer whose works stands alongside that of the Lumière Brothers, Georges Méliès, and Edwin S. Porter, in cinema’s rapid growth from an optical illusion to a storytelling medium to an art form. For this special Live Sound Cinema presentation, we will be screening Kino’s “Gaumont Treasures” which features her work for the French Major Film studio Gaumont (1897 – 1907) and will include hand-colored, comedies, social commentaries, early “trick” films and the 33-minute religious epic, The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ (1906).
Reel Orchestrette (Bradford Reed & Geoff Gersh) is dedicated to the art of live musical accompaniment to silent films. Reed & Gersh have been collaborating together for almost 20 years, they formed Reel Orchestrette in 2012.
Part of Nitehawk’s September SHE MADE IT brunch, midnite, and special event series.
A two-hour video variety show of rare footage and pop culture commentary.
A story is only as good as its villain, so comedian Kevin Maher takes an obsessive look at some of the best and worst super villains. This two-hour multi-media show includes a virtual parade of power-mad perverts, bald villains, cartoon criminals, Satanic weirdoes, wrestling heels and more.
Kevin is joined by co-host Tenebrous Kate (creator of My Dream Date with a Villain) and a diabolical line-up of special guests, including
- Illustrator Becky Munich (“Monster Activity Book”)
- Writer Nick Nadel (truTV, IFC.com)
- Doctor Maureen Mararese
- Filmmaker Paul Murphy (Red Obsession)
- Professor Geoff Klock (“The Future of Comics, The Future of Men”)
All this, plus trivia prizes, lame super-villains and even some V.I.L.F.s
Who can survive the vengeful blade of the Golden Swallow in COME DRINK WITH ME? A 35mm presentation!
When bandits make off with a governor’s son and hold him for ransom, the gov. retaliates with the big guns: the deadly Golden Swallow, his deadliest warrior and only daughter. Just as Golden Swallow begins ripping through the bandits holding her brother captive, she’s sidelined by a poison dart and re-habilitated by a local drunk who has his own share of secrets and hazy motives. Considered by many to be one of the best movies to ever come out of Hong Kong, Come Drink With Me elegantly blends elements of dance and martial arts, and was one of the first kung-fu films to feature a woman in the lead role.
Part of Nitehawk’s August KUNG FU THEATER midnite series.
You best protect ya neck, THE FLYING GUILLOTINE is coming for you! A 35mm presentation.
Desperate to cling to power, the Emperor enlists a deadly assassination squad to keep the populace in line and equips them with the deadliest weapon ever conceived of by man: The Flying Guillotine. It’s basically just a hat fitted with a rope, but you don’t want to try this guy on for size, it’ll slice your head clean off from a 100-yards away. When one of the Imperial Guard grows weary of collecting heads for the paranoid regent, he retreats to the country for a quiet life of a farming, but it’s not too long before his past catches up to him and he finds himself a mark of the Emperor’s assassins!
Part of Nitehawk’s August KUNG FU THEATER midnite series.
Shaolin shadowboxing and the Wu Tang sword style. If what you say is true, the SHAOLIN AND WU TANG could be dangerous. A 35mm presentation.
Besides being the namesake film of The Wu-Tang Clan, Shaolin and Wu Tang is a lit piece of dynamite from Hong Kong legend Gordon Liu. The film follows a tense rivalry between two competing schools of kung-fu: Shaolin shadowboxers and Wu Tang swordsmen. Threatened by the level of skill in both schools, a local warlord vows to master both styles of fighting and then force the two schools to destroy one another. It’s Machiavellian twists with a kung-fu grip, bring the ruckus!
Part of Nitehawk’s August KUNG FU THEATER midnite series.
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.
