| For Immediate Release | Contact: Carol O'Sullivan |
| Mar 22, 2005 | 412-681-5449 x205 |
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April Programming (PITTSBURGH, PA) -- The following are descriptions of Pittsburgh Filmmakers’ Film Exhibition program for March 2005. These films are screened at the Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Avenue (Downtown), the Melwood Screening Room, 477 Melwood Avenue (in North Oakland), and the Regent Square Theater, 1035 S. Braddock Avenue (in Edgewood). For admission prices and current showtimes, call 412-682-4111. All titles and dates are subject to change, due to film availability. Regent Square Theater - 1035 South Braddock Ave. Opens April 8: Vodka Lemon In the snowy badlands of post Soviet Armenia, village life is nearing subsistence level. The Russians have long departed and almost all of the young men have left to find work. "Maintaining a wry pH balance between Kaurismaki and Paradjanov, this comedy about a mountain village, its boondocks cemetery, its single bus, and two sexagenarians finding love in the ruins is a blessed wonder." - J. Hoberman, Village Voice. This audience favorite at Toronto, Seattle, Venice and Three Rivers Film Festivals, celebrates its quirky characters at the same time it mourns their plight. In Russian with subtitles. (Directed by Hiner Saleem; Armenia/France/Italy; 2003; 88 min) Opens April 15: Masculine Feminine - new 35mm print; new subtitles & translations! French New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Léaud stars as a romantic young idealist, just released from national service, and disillusioned with civilian life. He chases budding pop star Chantal Goya (six of whose real-life yé yé hits provide both soundtrack music and commentary). Despite markedly different musical tastes (he’s into Bach) and political leanings (he’s a communist, she’s clueless), the two soon become romantically involved. It was here that director Jean-Luc Godard coined his famous phrase "the children of Marx and Coca-Cola." Ostensibly based on two stories by Guy de Maupassant, Godard creates a strikingly honest portrait of youth and sex. In France, it was prohibited to persons under 18, "the very audience it was meant for," griped Godard. M/F is a time capsule of the ’60s, with references to everyone from Charles DeGaulle to James Bond to Bob Dylan, and -- true to the Godard style -- filled with in-jokes, puns and non-sequiturs. The story repeatedly is interrupted by seemingly extraneous incidents: Brigitte Bardot rehearsing the lines of a play in a bistro; a Swedish sex-cum-art film-within-a-film, with Léaud stalking off just when things get hot on-screen, to deliver a lecture on aspect ratio to the projectionist! (Directed by Jean Luc-Godard; France/Sweden; 1966; 103min) Opens April 22: Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill This is the true story of a street musician and his remarkable relationship with a flock of wild green-and-red parrots. Mark Bittner, essentially a homeless man in San Francisco, falls in with the flock as he searches for meaning in his life, unaware that the wild parrots will bring him everything he needs. The film celebrates urban wildness, bohemian and avian, and links the parrots’ antics to human behavior. Although he is no scientist and this is not a "nature film," Mark becomes something of an expert himself as he consults local birders, and as he feeds, names, studies, and protects the cherry-headed conures - escaped pets who have begun to breed in the wilds of the city. "It is a rare documentary that has romance, comedy, and a surprise ending that makes you feel as if you could fly…" - San Jose Mercury News (Directed by Judy Irving; USA; 2004; 83min) Join us after the 2pm matinee on Sunday, April 24 when the National Aviary presents LIVE parrots!! Sunday Night Series: William Powell & Myrna Loy April 3: The Thin Man The Harris Theater - 809 Liberty Ave. Weekday screenings at 5:30 are now just $5! April 1-7: Imaginary Heroes Starring Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Daniels, Emile Hirsch, and Michelle Williams, this is a funny and poignant coming-of-age story in which the façade of an ordinary American family is peeled back to reveal that nothing is as it seems. Tim Travis (Hirsch) is walking through his life like it's a bad dream. His mother (Weaver) is the master of the Travis house - with a healthy drug habit, a decade long grudge, and a secret that is literally tearing her apart. His father (Daniels) is a shell of the man he once was, crippled by circumstance and blind to the mistakes of his past. But in typical American style, the Travises aren't depressed - they're living their lives in a forlorn haze. As painful revelations are made that threaten to divide the family, moments of laughter and truth provide the salve that ultimately bring them closer together. (Directed by Dan Harris; USA; 2004; 112min) Fri 4/8 - Sun 4/10: The Times of Harvey Milk - new print Long before Michael Moore and the recent spate of politically-charged documentaries pressing for social change, this little film actually did bring about changes. Winner of a 1984 Oscar, it is the moving and ultimately life-affirming portrait of the first openly gay man elected to political office in California. Milk's tremendous courage and humanity, as he fought for the civil rights of all people, soared above the prejudices of his day. The film chronicles the successes of his life, the tragedy of his assassination, and the uproar which greeted Dan White's infamous "Twinkie Defense." (Directed by Rob Epstein; USA: 1984; 90 min) Mon 4/11 - Thu 4/14: Moolaadé Back by request! From legendary, 81-year-old, Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene, this compelling film is the winner of the "Un Certain Regard" award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and was the Opening Night film at his year’s Three Rivers Film Festival. The action is set in a small African village where four young girls come to a local woman, asking for protection from ritual "purification," or female circumcision. The woman is known for refusing to let her daughter be mutilated. She grants them protection, or "moolaade," over the protests of her husband, but with the support of his first and third wives. Eventually there is a standoff between the women and the village men. At a time when ritual mutilation is under attack in Africa, when Islamic leaders have tried to explain it is not required by religious law but is a local custom, Moolaadé is a strong, true and important film. (Directed by Ousmane Sembene; Senegal; 2004; 124min) April 15-21: Oscar Shorts Showcase For the annual Oscar watchers who ask, "where can we see those short films," here is your opportunity. See seven of the Academy Award-nominated short films (both live-action and animated) on the big screen—plus a bonus short! These wonderfully diminutive films include the animated winner, Ryan, and the live-action winner, Wasp. (total program: 100min) Fri 4/22 - Sun 4/24: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Starring the hottest movie star out there Johnny Depp this is one hallucinogenic road movie. It’s based on the late "gonzo" journalist Hunter S. Thompson's semi-autobiographical 1971 novel as he and his lawyer, fueled with massive amounts of drugs, travel from LA to Vegas to cover a motorcycle race. (Directed by Terry Gilliam; USA; 1998; 118 min) Mon 4/25 - Thu 4/28: On The Waterfront - new 35mm print A priest sets out to smash mob control over the New York waterfront in this film classic. Meanwhile, an inarticulate longshoreman realizes what he could have amounted to in the world. Elia Kazan's direction combined with Marlon Brando's acting skill created this intelligent, superior piece of entertainment that was the winner of eight Oscars including Best Picture. (Directed by Elia Kazan; USA; 1954; 108) Melwood Screening Room - 477 Melwood Ave. Cuban Showcase, Part 3 co-presented with UPitt Latin American Studies and Mattress Factory Fri, Apr 1, 7:30: "Buena Vista Social Club." Sat, Apr 2: Reception at 7:00; lecture with Princeton film scholar Sujatha Fernandes at 7:30; video screening of "Madagascar" at 8:30. Sun, Apr 3, 7:30: "Buena Vista Social Club." Mon, Apr 4, 7:30: "One Way or Another" and "Waiting For Dark." Tue, Apr 5, 7:30: "Portrait of Teresa." Wed, Apr 6, 7:30: "One Way or Another" and "Waiting For Dark." Thu, Apr 7: 7:30: "Portrait of Teresa." Buena Vista Social Club. Guitarist Ry Cooder assembled a dozen legendary Cuban singers and musicians for a series of recording sessions, resulting in a Grammy for the 1997 album. Luckily for us director Wim Wenders captured it all on film. Extraordinary music performances intersect with shots of the artists reminiscing in decaying Havana bars. No one can quite recall where the Buena Vista Social Club once stood in pre- revolutionary Havana but this phenomenal documentary of these aging musicians resurrects the magnificent music of that era. (Directed by Wim Wenders; Cuba/USA/Germany; 1999; 105 min) One Way or Another. This extraordinary film is the first Cuban feature by a woman. It follows the relationship between a school teacher and factory worker, but instead of imposing a patriarchal authorial voice, Afro-Cuban director Sara Gomez provocatively combines fiction sequences with documentary footage, and her playful use of form is both startling and purposeful. Sections that seem to be fiction are later revealed to be documentary, while other apparently dramatic scenes are interrupted by discursive sequences. The editing style encourages an active viewing process and it encourages us to seek wider interpretations. Sadly, Gomez died in 1974 while the film was in post-production. (Directed by Sara Gomez; Cuba; 1974/1977; 40 min) Waiting for Dark. Shot in Havana by a Cuban crew and American director, this short is a documentary without words. Through music and images it explores the daily life on an island undergoing severe economic and political crises. Soundtrack features great Cuban music. (Directed by Jordan Mechner; 1993; 19 minutes) Portrait of Teresa. Vividly portrayed by Daisy Granados, Teresa is a housewife and mother who works in a textile factory. Her involvement in political and cultural groups incurs the displeasure of her husband, who expects her to be waiting with a hot meal when he comes home at night. The resulting difficulty in their marriage is depicted with compassion and authenticity and, though center stage belongs to Teresa, it is the bond of sexual and emotional empathy between her and her husband that gives the film its intensity and anguish. The film takes an unflinching look at what is still the reality for many Cuban women today. (Directed by Pastor Vega; Cuba; 1979; 115min) Madagascar. Evoking the model of the 1968 classic Lucia, Fernando Perez paints a wistful picture of three generations of women living under the same roof in contemporary Cuba but, while poetic in style, he’s intent on upsetting the stereotypes. (Directed by Fernando Perez; Cuba; 1994; 50min) Sujatha Fernandes, a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton, teaches courses on cultural politics and Latin American society. She recently organized a Cuban film series at the university, and is pursuing a research project on urban popular culture and politics in contemporary Venezuela. She is currently completing a book entitled The Arts of Politics: Culture, Public Spheres, and State Power in Contemporary Cuba. Fernandes will speak about Cuban film on April 2 and introduce the film Madagascar. April 8-10: THX 1138 director's cut Made in 1971, THX 1138 marked the George Lucas's filmmaking debut. Francis Ford Coppola and his American Zoetrope studios produced the film at the height of the American independent movement. It is a thought-provoking and visually rich exploration of a theme that would repeat itself throughout Lucas's career: One man's quest to realize his own potential amid an oppressive society. THX 1138 is a chilling look at a 25th-century totalitarian state where mankind is stripped of any individuality. People are numbered drones, and a government-enforced program of sedating drugs controls the populace. The story's title character, THX, is a factory worker whose life is irrevocably changed when he stops taking his mind-numbing drugs. (Directed by George Lucas; USA; 2004; 88 min) April 12: Film Kitchen Presented on the second Tuesday of every month, Film Kitchen showcases local film and video art. Reception at 7:00; screening at 8:00pm. Co-sponsored by Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Pittsburgh City Paper, WYEP, Pittsburgh Brewing, Pittsburgh Deli Co. April 16: The International Experimental Cinema Exposition With this fifth anniversary tour, TIE marks more than 400 experimental films exhibited to the public. Though it is TIE's first traveling showcase, the mission remains the same: screening celluloid works in their true format, from the latest contemporary works to archival films from the rich history of experimental cinema. The tour is a collection of highlights from the past five years of TIE’s expositions and festivals. There are 10 short films in this program from around the globe, including Kenneth Anger’s Invocation of My Demon Brother, shown in a variety of film formats. TIE’s director Christopher May will appear in person. |
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