Results tagged “anthologyfilmarchives”

BAM Cinématek

Museum of the Moving Image

BAM Cinématek

at IFC Center

July 19 - 28, Asia Society

Film Society of Lincoln Center

Museum of the Moving Image, Queens

prompted a free speech case heard by the Supreme Court and was the only film banned in New York as well as 24 states and 4 countries. For those interested in the underground film movement in New York in the '60s, Smith is a really seminal, though obscure figure. This documentary portrait gives a real sense of Smith's struggles to get his work made and his role within the scene, from his exotic, free-form film shoots on SoHo apartment roofs to his late night, drug-fueled performance art pieces. Ultimately we see how Smith unfortunate insistence that his work remain unfinished (ostensibly to safeguard against getting banned again) kept him woefully obscure. But Jordan's documentary is a wonderful opportunity to see much of his luscious, weird and provocative work blown up on the big screen as well as hear from the crazy crew of friends and enemies who knew Smith. The film is playing now at Film Forum through April 24th, so don't miss it.

Don't you just love that feeling of "discovering" a new artist that no one else knows about yet? The New Directors/New Films festival curated by the Film Society at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art's Film department have been keeping New Yorkers ahead of the cinema curve for 35 years now with their annual series. In the past they've showcased such newbies as Chantal Akerman, Pedro Almodóvar, Héctor Babenco, Terence Davies, Guillermo del Toro, Atom Egoyan, Nicole Holofcener, Spike Lee, Richard Linklater, Sally Potter, John Sayles, Steven Spielberg, Tom Tykwer and Wim Wenders, so you know picking at random from even just one of the 26 films in the series could yield a new favorite .

THEATER: There’s a growing cultural phenomenon in Japan called hikikomori, in which young people (as many as 1 million) withdraw into their rooms and refuse any contact with the outside world, sometimes for years. (In America, it’s called adolescence.) The Attic, by acclaimed Japanese playwright Yoji Sakate, is about “a mysterious company that sells tiny ‘attics’ over the internet to people who want to withdraw from society. One man embarks on a quest to find the source of these dwellings after his brother commits suicide in one. On the path to discovering the source are several attic dwellers including a teenage girl and a kidnapper, samurai, polar explorers, soldiers fighting a multi-national war, and many other commonplace and fantastical characters.” John Beer at The Village Voice says, “It might come in a coffin-like box, but this witty, bizarre, and intensely moving production is a rare gift.” - John Del Signore

Billy Bob Thorton sets aside his raunchy also comes to big screens this weekend.

THEATER: It’s “go time” for The Butane’s Group’s Operation Ajax, which ingenuously sets the CIA’s 1953 overthrow of Iran’s first democratically-elected government in the context of a casino. “Constructed from no less than 25 text sources (memoirs, documentaries, plays, poetry, novels, films, reality tv shows), the densely-layered performance explores how the addiction to risk and gambling has become a potent metaphor for U.S. foreign policy.” (For an enhanced theater experience, explore the show’s thorough bibliography, with links to all source material.) - John Del Signore

There's two majorly horrific films coming out this weekend, though only some of the frights are intentional. Gaspard Ulliel seemed like such a nice boy in . Personally the "Jack Sprat" jokes seems a little tired but maybe seeing the comedian act with himself and poor Thandie Newton in various, vaguely offensive stereotypes is your thing.

, don't subject us to this.

Doesn't it seem like you no sooner put down the fork at the Thanksgiving table and the Christmas themed movies have flooded the theaters? If you're ready to start ho ho hoing your way to the cineplex, the new slapstick family comedy , or it could be that Jerry Bruckheimer and Tony Scott have just run out of new movie ideas.

which begins a three day run at Anthology Film Archives tonight. With his work, Glover attempts to push the envelope of cultural taboo, and in every aspect of his 2 plus hour presentation, he succeeds.

With Halloween coming next week and the fall chill in the air, this is the perfect weekend to curl up with a good scary movie. , starring Tim Robbins and Derek Luke. Set in South Africa during apartheid, Luke plays a family man politicized by the injustice in his country and Robbins is a police officer on the other side.

7 p.m. Ailey Citigroup Theatre 405 West 55th Street

. Hopefully it will be as cheese-tastic as it seems from the trailers and the title. However, whether you're first in line tonight at a midnight screening or not, there's still loads coming up to see at the movies.

wherein Paul Giamatti discovers someone mysterious in the pool of the apartment complex he manages. The trailers want it to be both a horror story and an eerie children's fable, but it doesn't seem like it could really be both simultaneously.

The movie releases list this week is determined to put the conception that summer is only about the blockbuster to the test. There are documentaries, foreign films and small indies about local hot button issues that are all worth a viewing. This weekend should be all about escaping the humidity with a quality flick.

The 2006 Bicycle Film Festival is here, kicking off in New York today, and then traveling to nine additional cities across the globe.

says, "Better than any other filmmaker around, [Jia] understands their close and intense relationships to fashion, and the way pop culture makes them feel both a part of the world and very far from it at the same time. [His] films are too good, too exciting, and too uncannily on the money to be denied their rightful status as supreme expressions of the way many of us live: media-addicted, resigned to momentous change and powerless to understand or affect it."

Can't you just feel the Oscar buzz in the air? The jangling of borrowed jewels and the buzzing of nominees nerves is like a cacophony even on this coast. Gothamist is excitedly anticipating the telecast like June Carter Cash before a duet with Johnny. In the meantime though, there are movies to be watched.

With the Oscar nominations announced this week, you can expect much of the box office traffic to be people trying to cross films off of their list that they are just now realizing are "important." However, the new releases keep a coming and the New York repertory houses are programming away, so there's loads of good flicks to check out this weekend.

Here we go: it's a huge weekend for year-end Oscar-bait and questions abound. Will audiences flock to see the "forbidden" love of ? (No.) Is it any good? (It's OK.) Will people be turned off by the heavy (and occasionally heavy-handed) allusions to Christian imagery? (Possibly, but we were moved more by Aslan's humiliation and sacrifice than Jesus' in Mel Gibson's biblical slasher film)

TONIGHT: You can catch former Get A Life creator/star Chris Elliot present his semi-forgettable slapstick movie, Cabin Boy, as well as partake in a Q&A at The Anthology Film Archives at 8PM. Featuring the likes of Andy Richter, David Letterman, and Ricki Lake, Cabin Boy is a film that people either love or absolutely can’t stand watching. Either way, we still think observing Chris Elliot is worth the trip. And if you’re planning a night in of cuddling with your mouse or simply interested in wasting more time at work, then you can play trailer catch up with the futuristic V for Vendetta starring Natalie Portman, the remake of The Fog, Jennifer Aniston’s Rumor Has It (in which she plays a woman who discovers The Graduate might have been based on her family), and the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line.

Gothamist was supposed to spend the evening on a rooftop with friends and free drinks. Thank you rain for ruining the start to our weekend! We usually don't take a negative tone around here, but it needs to be said: Gothamist hates weather. It's also going to ruin at least one of the below events, see if you can pick which one. When you're done with that, grab your umbrella and rain boots and find fun indoors - after all the sun will come out tomorrow, or like, in August.

Tonight, Comedy Central presents a special pre-premiere screening of a full episode of Stella, featuring a live Q&A with Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and David Wain (you’ve probably seen them plastered all over town), followed by the hilariously absurd summer-camp classic Wet Hot American Summer. Not only is this event free and provide complimentary Grolsch Premium swing-tops, but you'll also be able to finally scream "I want you inside me" at Showalter.