Oddball Films

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter present Learn Your Lesson...on Drugs - Shockucational Shorts for the D.A.R.E. Generation, the third in a series of programs highlighting the most ridiculous, insane and camptastic shockucational films and TV specials of the collection. This time, we're taking drugs; that is taking on drugs and the filmic pharmacy is officially open! Melanie and Kathleen are desperate to experiment with drugs in excerpts from Degrassi Jr. High - The Experiment (1987). Creepy double-headed puppets designed by Julie Taymor teach us about intergalactic teens and peer pressure in Deciso 3003 (1982). Benny's the little man on campus and while steroids might make him bigger, they might cost him everything important in Di$ney's Benny and the 'Roids (1988). It might be in Spanish but you won't miss the meaning behind the hilarious cartoon Sex, Booze, Blues and those Pills You Use (1982). McGruff the Crime Dog is back (as a man in a clumsy dog suit and trademark trenchcoat) and he's got a lesson for the kiddies on how to narc on your druggy friends in McGruff's Drug Alert (1987). Sonny Bono gets high (pre-taping) and dons a gold lamé pajama set to tell you all about Marijuana (1968). And because it never gets old, the Oddball favorite The Cat Who Drank... And Used Too Much (1987) will be stopping by. Plus! a multi-projector Celebrity Drug PSA Mash-up featuring Beau Bridges, Paul Newman on PCP, Phil Donahue on crack and Richard Dreyfuss on cocaine! Early birds shall enjoy Narcotics Pit of Despair (1967).

Date: Friday, May 10th, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Featuring:

Degrassi Jr. High - The Experiment (Color, 1987)
The Degrassi empire began in 1983 and continues to this day (with a few breaks and reimaginations along the way). With age-appropriate casting and a bent towards taboo subject matter (abortion, AIDS, vibrators, penis pumps, incontinence on top of a cheerleading pyramid) Degrassi has been pushing the envelope for 30 years. In this episode from the first season of Degrassi Jr. High, Melanie and Kathleen are so anxious to try drugs, they buy aspirin off of Joey and have the trip of a lifetime!

Deciso 3003 (Color, 1982)

Peter Wallach, Eli Wallach’s brother directed this bizarre anti-drug PSA, in the height of the “Just Say No” ‘80s. Two couples of double-headed alien teens set out on what they think is just going to be any other intergalactic trip to the Drive-In (to see Vincent Price in The Fly) but when one of them thinks it’ll be cool to take some meteor pills and get handsy with his date, we all learn that being a teenager isn’t easy for anyone in the galaxy. The puppets were made by Julie Taymor, director of Across the Universe and Titus, and Eli Wallach narrates, though neither is credited on the internet movie database. Perhaps, like the teen alien flying home alone, they too feel the shame.

Benny and the ‘Roids (Color, 1988)
Benny has got it all; a great looking girlfriend, a best bud and the High School cred. of being on the football team. But his teammates pick on his puniness and even as he self-indulgently videotapes himself working out, the progress just isn’t fast enough. The next logical step, ask the beefiest, sketchiest looking guy at the gym where to score some steroids. How long can Benny keep his perfect life with his dirty little secret, and will it end up being worth it? As it is a Disney production, I’m sure you can guess it won’t be, but you’ll still enjoy your front row ticket to the RAGE!

Sex, Booze, and Blues, and Those Pills You Use (Color, 1982)

Sex tutorials in fine animated fair come to life in this warning against abuse of alcohol and drugs, and how they can lead to sexual dysfunction.

The Cat Who Drank and Used Too Much (Color, 1987)

Wacky anti-drug film about alcohol and drug using Pat the Cat. He hits the skids before finally reaching out for help - an all-time Oddball Films audience favorite! Narrated by Julie Harris and winner of 24 major awards!

McGruff's Drug Alert (Color, 1987)
Everybody's favorite dog detective, McGruff the Crime Dog teaches children that pills and medicines can be poisonous if they are taken by the wrong people or in the wrong amounts. He teaches also about “illegal” drugs and how to narc on your friends!

Marijuana (Color, 1968)
Sonny Bono graces the silver screen in gold lamé to set the facts straight about grass; that he appears utterly stoned himself should not denigrate his message one bit. He systematically counters all the usual arguments in favor of the evil weed (hilariously rattled off one by one by a group of teenagers being arrested).

Words of wisdom in stoner monotone: “Unlike alcohol, when you take too much at one time, you don’t pass out. You more than likely run the risk of an unpredictable – and unpleasant – bummer”.

Plus! A Celebrity Drug PSA Mash-up featuring excerpts of:

The Perfect Drug Film (Color, 1971)

Hosted by obvious stoner Beau Bridges

Angel Death (Color, 1985)

Hosted by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward about the dangers of PCP use.

Phil Donahue's Crack Show (1986)

Cocaine Abuse: End of the Line (Color, 1984)

Hosted by Richard Dreyfuss

And For the Early Birds:

Narcotics: Pit of Despair (Color, 1967)

The all-time classic of the genre, a real howler! Super-square kid is lured into the world of illicit drugs and other pleasures by the scheming drug dealer and his wanton woman. Sample voiceover: “Take a trip from Squaresville, get with the countdown, shake this square world and blast off to Kicksville!” Sounds good to me!!

Oddball Films Presents Czech Please! an evening of mind-blowing animation from the former Czechoslovakia. From cut-outs to puppets to stop-motion; from the adorable to the dark and thought-provoking, this evening will open your eyes to the brilliance, vision and creativity of some of the great Czech animators. Films include Jiri Trnka's exquisite parable of totalitarianism, The Hand (1965). The two-cutest bird friends you may ever see dance to the radio, take pictures of themselves and fight off a hungry cat in the insanely adorable Queer Birds (1967). Recurring cartoon hero The Mole paints his friends in psychedelic colors in The Mole as Painter (1972). Zip off into the future in space in the trippy, zippy Kosmodrome 1999 (1969). Clever cutout animation The Sword (1967) gives a unique take on mortality. The rare and delightful Ferda the Ant(1941), a puppet-animation sporting the first wire-framed creatures on film. A young girl's ears grow and she flies away to start a band with jungle animals in Cecily (1970's). A jungle breaks out in the classroom when two kids steal a magician's top hat in Nature in a Top Hat (1960s). A clown gets upstaged by a fish in The Clowns (1968). Bulbous-nosed inventor Mr. Koumal (1968) deals with a series of amusing calamities following inventing fire, robots and wings. Plus more for the early birds!

Date: Thursday, May 9th, 2013 at 8:00PM.

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 

Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Featuring:

The Hand (Color, 1965)
This is Jiri Trnka’s last, and many say his best work. “The Hand” is an allegorical take on the Stalinist Czech dictatorial regime. Trnka directed some of the most acclaimed animated films ever made. In 1966, four years before his death, Newsday lauded him as "second to Chaplin as a film artist because his work inaugurated a new stage in a medium long dominated by Disney." Trnka, was a 1936 graduate of Prague's School of Arts and Crafts. In 1945 he set up an animation unit with several collaborators at the Prague film studio; they called the unit "Trick Brothers." Trnka specialized in puppet animation, a traditional Czech art form, of which he became the undisputed master. He also created animated cartoons, but it was his puppet animation that made him an internationally recognized artist and the winner of film festival awards at Venice and elsewhere. His films are brilliant, bizarre and meticulously rendered.

Kosmodrome 1999 (Color, 1969, by Frantisek Vystreil)
The year is 1999. Interstellar travel is so commonplace; hordes of commuters shuttle about on rockets as casually as they commute from SF to LA today. Our hero misses his flight, however and his zany adventures with the Rube Goldberg-like rocket he tries to enlist results in bizarre and weirdly animated adventures. Brilliant animation and zany, electronic sounds! Produced by the famed Kratky Film Company in Prague.

The Mole As Painter (Color, 1972)

Famous Czech animator Zdeněk Miler made a series of cartoons with a mole as main character. Here the mole is accidentally dropped into a bucket of paint, then proceeds to paint his woodland friends in crazy, psychedelic colors to scare off a marauding fox.

Mr. Koumal (1968)

Part of a series of Czech animations featuring the bulbous-nosed Mr. Koumal. Three separate short cartoons illustrating a variety of human accomplishments in parable form.

1) Mr Koumal Carries the Torch: First, Mr Koumal invents fire (”carries the torch”). He tries to protect his torch from a variety of natural and human hazards. Comedy ensues. Mr. Koumal valiantly attempts to carry the torch to the finish line against many obstacles. The torch is snatched from his grasp at the last minute and another man claims the victory.

2) Mr Koumal Invents a Robot. Mr Koumal has a hard time polishing his shoes, so invents a machine to do it, then a robot that will do it instead. He ends up polishing the robot’s shoes instead.

3) Mr Koumal Flies Like a Bird. While climbing a mountain, Mr Koumal sees an eagle flying even higher and tries to fly off the mountain. He steals the eagle’s feathers as well as feathers from a thousand chickens, but he still can’t fly. He ends up selling the feathers as indian headdresses.

The Sword (Color, 1967)
This clever cutout animation is short and er… to the point, The Sword is allegory on the ignorance of people who enjoy their life to those who are suffering or dying at the very same instant.

Ferda The Ant (B+W, 1941)
Based on the popular children's book, this darling stop-motion short features the titular protagonist facing off against a vicious arachnid while attempting to finish a hard day of work. When Ferda and his friend are caught in the spider's web, they must free themselves or be lunch. Made by one of the founding mothers of Czech animation, Hermína Týrlová, this innovative and beautiful film features the first use of wire-frame puppets in stop-motion animation.

Queer Birds (B+W, 1967)
From KRÁTKÝ FILM PRAHA a.s., the Czech company that produced animated, cartoon and puppet films from directors like Jiří Trnka, Jan Švankmajer, Karel Zeman comes Queer Birds, a bizarre cold war tale of a black cat and two terrorized birds. The film features a brilliant and innovative pre electronic music score. One of the top animated films in the Oddball archives!

Cecily (Color, 1970’s)
In this surprising Czech animation, the eponymous Cecily is a little girl with big dreams of becoming a singer. Her grumpy grandmother, however, is less than encouraging, tugging on Cecily’s ears whenever displeased with her behavior. Such incessant ear-pulling eventually stretches the little girl’s ears to the size of sails, and little Cecily takes to the sky, Dumbo-like, to realize her dreams elsewhere. She lands in the jungle, adopted by an assortment of animals, and starts a band.

The Clowns (1968)

A clown using a fish as a comedy prop gets the joke played on him as the fish becomes the star attraction in this charming 60's cartoon.

Nature in a Top Hat (Color, 1960s)
This adorable Czech animation features a show and tell gone awry when two youngsters steal a magician's top hat and produce from it not just a bunny, but an entire jungle. Story by Milos Macourek, music by Jiri Bazans and Jiri Malasek, art by Jan Brychsa, written and directed by Boxena Moxisova

Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 64: Optical Explorations, an evening of newly discovered and choice rarities from the stacks of Oddball Films’ 50,000 reel film archive. This installment of Strange Sinema features an eclectic combination of films that illuminate the visual vanguard and optical experimentation. We begin with Rene Claire’s surrealist/dada masterpiece Entr’acte(1924) featuring avant-garde photographer Man Ray and Frances Picabia, followed by the rare documentary Art of the Sixties (1967), featuring the eye-popping soft sculptures of Claes Oldenberg, kinetic artist Len Lye, Les Levine’s early interactive environments, action painter Jackson Pollock and more. We follow up with West Coast experimental filmmaker Donald Fox’s exhilaratingly beautiful optical poem Omega(1970) and Who is Victor Varasely?,(1968)a fascinating documentary about the French/Hungarian father of Op Art and his cybernetic approach to image creation. Other films include seminal motion graphics pioneer John Whitney’s short Arabesque (1975), an oscillating color dance to the music of Persian rhythms created using early computer generated waveforms; Perspectrum (1974), directed by famed Indian animator Ishu Patel, with Japanese koto soundscore produced for the National Film Board of Canada; and a sublime work Infinity(1980), by Bay Area abstract image pioneer Jordan Belson. Plus! Let us play even more tricks on your eyes with Optical Film Loops!

Date: Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 8:00PM

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com

Featuring:

Entr’acte(B+W, 1924)

This extraordinary early film from director René Clair was originally made to fill an interval between two acts of Francis Picabia’s new ballet, Relâche, at the Théâtre des Champs- Elysées in Paris in 1924. Entr’acte is a surrealistic concoction of unrelated images, reflecting Clair’s interest in Dada, a radical art form relying on experimentation and surreal expressionism. Clair’s imagery is both captivating and disturbing, giving life to inanimate objects (most notably the rifle range dummies), whilst attacking conventions, even the sobriety of a funeral march. The surrealist photographer Man Ray also puts in an appearance, in a film which curiously resembles his own experimental films of this era.

The Art of the Sixties (Color, 1967) This rarely seen documentary aired on CBS at the height of the revolutionary and hopeful changes sweeping the art world (not to mention the rest of society). The film takes an inside look at some of the leading figures in art during the decade, including rare glimpses into their studios and workshops. Highlights include soft-sculpture pop iconographer Claes Oldenburg who states “My work is not meant to be funny or even art, my work is just made to be important”, Jackson “The Dripper” Pollock, conceptualist Sol Lewitt, Les Levine, and other artists who have since become emblematic of the wild experimentation of and use of industrial processes (Rauschenberg’s silkscreens, Barnett Newman’s steel fabricated sculptures) of the 60s. We also follow filmmaker, sculptor and engineer Len Lye among his kinetic large-scale sound sculptures.

Omega (Color, 1970)

An optical poem by West Coast experimental filmmaker Donald Fox this is a dazzling, highly original non narrative, exhilaratingly beautiful film. OMEGA deals with the end of mankind on earth, prophesying man's liberation from his earthly bounds to roam the universe at will. By sending an energy ray to the sun and harnessing its solar power, man is able to make an evolutionary leap. The film can be used to explore the outer limits of the concepts of death, evolution the afterlife, and the future of mankind. Phew! A source film that over 40 years later still inspires.

Who is Victor Vasarely?(Color, 1968) This rare documentary features French/Hungarian the legendary inventor of Op-Art (Optical Art) Victor Vasarely (1906-1997) filmed at his home, studio space and art exhibitions. The film is set in Provence, France and describes Vasarely's work, processes and theories on art through interviews with the artist and his writings. The film showcases his artwork and makes extensive use of his phenomenal use of geometric shapes.

Check out his mind-blowing website here:http://www.vasarely.com/site/site.htm

For an interview with him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs8ihV9LWfg

Arabesque (Color, 1975)

Early abstract computer-generated film by pioneer John Whitney- shimmering lines and waves of oscillating color dance to the music of Eastern rhythms and evolve from randomness to patterns inspired by 8th century Persian designs. Inspired by his 1974 visit to the city of Isfahan in Iran, Whitney found a relation between the formal and visual tradition of Islamic art and architecture and his own computer graphic study. Whitney famously collaborated with Saul Bass on the title sequence to Hitchcock’s Vertigo.

Perspectrum (Color, 1974)

Directed by famed Indian animator Ishu Patel and produced by Dorothy Courtois and Wolf Koenig. This animated short consists of simple geometric forms, as thin and flat as playing cards, but so arranged that a sense of perspective is conveyed. The effect is kaleidoscopic, but much more active, forming and re-forming constantly to the music. The koto, a thirteen-stringed Japanese instrument, is played by plucking the strings; the sound has a tinkling effect, synched to the glasslike shapes of the moving designs. Produced for the National Film Board of Canada.

Infinity (Color, 1980) In the late experimental filmmaker Jordan Belson’s non narrative film abstract forms of light and color serve as transitions between a variety of man-made and natural environments. Sublime and otherworldly.

About Bay Area filmmaker Jordan Belson

Belson studied painting at the University of California, Berkeley. He saw the "Art in Cinema" screenings at the San Francisco Museum of Art beginning in 1946. The films screened at this series inspired Harry Smith, Belson and others to produce abstract films. Belson's first abstract film was Transmutation (1947). Some of his early films were made with his scroll paintings. Belson's work was screened later as part of the "Art in Cinema" series. In 1957 he began a collaboration with sound artist Henry Jacobs at the Morrison Planetarium in San Francisco, California that lasted until 1959. Together they produced a series of electronic music concerts accompanied by visual projections at the Planetarium, the Vortex Concerts. Belson as visual director programmed kinetic live visuals, and Jacobs programmed electronic music and audio experiments. This is a direct ancestor of the 60s light shows and the "Laserium"-style shows that were popular at planetaria later in the century. The Vortex shows involved projected imagery, specially prepared film excerpts and other optical projections. Not just an opportunity to develop new visual technologies and techniques, the sound system in the planetarium enabled Belson and Jacobs to create an immersive environment where imagery could move throughout the entire screen space, and sound could move around the perimeter of the room. Belson died of heart failure at his home in San Francisco on September 6, 2011

Oddball Films and guest curator Lynn Cursaro present: Sugar Shock: Candy, Cavities and Saturday Morning Shenanigans, a batch of gooey ephemera sure to please sweet tooths and film fans alike. The exquisitely piped icing on a royal wedding cake is one mind-blowing work of Artistry in Sugar (1971), and the confectioner can even make edible dishes. Kids get into the act in At Your Fingertips: Sugar and Spice (1970), a guide to molding sparkling crystals into objets d'arts to treasure! Recently departed practical-special effects legend Ray Harryhausen whips up a yummy puppet version of Hansel and Gretel (1951). Learn all about chocolate along with Woody Allen, Jonathan Winters and pals in Chocolate: What is it? (1971). Lucy and Ethel are up to their eyeballs in hand-dipped vanilla creams in a well-loved episode of I Love Lucy (1952). We included the stunning and psychedelic dental hygiene claymation rock-opera The Munchers (1973). Celebrate sugar’s sacred place in the rituals of Saturday morning with the Banana Splits and Friends (1970s) excerpts and vintage ads for sugary treats! And MORE! As usual, home-baked pie and other complimentary treats from the curator’s kitchen for all! (All films are 16mm unless noted.)

Pipe Down!

Date: Friday, May 17th, 2013 at 8:00PM.

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00, limited seating RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Highlights include:

Artistry In Sugar (1971, Color, digital)

Sugar artist, Eric Sagar really takes the cake . . . and transforms it into a basket of buttercream flowers. Sagar studied under the master confectioners Britain and even worked on a royal wedding cake or two, so he’s the man to see when you simply must have a cartoon of Richard Nixon on a cake. The film’s intro states, “Every object featured in this picture is the product of sugar craftsmanship.” Yes, Willie Wonka fans, you CAN even eat his dishes: Among the spectacles step-by-step crafting of an edible Wedgewood plate. One of the most beautiful films in the Oddball collection.

Some ‘Splaining to Do

“Job Switch” excerpt, I Love Lucy (1952, William Asher, B+W)

Lucy and Ethel fib their way into sweet new jobs at Kramer’s Kandy Kitchen, only to find too much of a good thing can be pretty awful. One of the most beloved episodes in TV history, it’s as fresh today as when Truman was president! You know it, you love it and now it’s time to see it with a crowd of fellow Lucy fans at Oddball Archive! Let’s drown out those 60 year old “studio” laughs.

Shaping the Nation!

At Your Fingertips: Sugar and Spice (1970, Peter & Mary Winkler, Color)

Beautiful, pure, crystalline sugar, so very sweet, so very seductive. This colorful crafting film encourages kids of all ages to fashion it into festive Easter eggs, Christmas ornaments and even “paintings”. But don’t worry about waste. This film features out of control Bacchanalian scenes of the moppets actually eating their noxious creations.

Mark of (Sugar) Cane

The Munchers: a Fable (1973, Color)

A must-see claymation from Art Pierson! This trippin’ dental hygiene epic takes its style from the anti-drug films we all know and love - the smokin' score and a depraved orgy complete with tiny clay chocolate bars - possibly making Twizzlers binges look downright badass. The cape-wearing pusher man is flamboyant and gleefully evil Jack Sweet - think Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. Is the case for wholesome snacks helped or hindered by depicting fruits and vegetables in a dorky line dance?

Oh, Oh, Chongo

Danger Island and other excerpts from The Banana Splits and Friends

(1970s, Color, Hanna/Barbera)

The Banana Splits appear in host segments introducing the live action serial Danger Island and a trippy cartoon about the life-cycle of frogs told from the point of view of a some shrunken scientists. Cries of “Oh, oh, Chongo!” can probably still stir the hearts of a few diehard Danger Island fans. The absurd cliff-hanger action make it a winner in anyone’s Saturday morning memories, aside from the fact that it starred Jan Michael Vincent and was directed by Richard “The Omen” “Superman” Donner!

Save Your Kisses for ME!

Chocolate: What is it? (1971, Frank Buxton, Color)

What is chocolate? Don’t feel shy if you don’t know the ins and outs of this luscious treat, we have Jonathan Winters, Woody Allen and Jo Anne Worley to help you figure it out . . . along with some genuine 1971 vintage children! The whole process, from freaky-looks pods to sweet, sweet confections, is covered in this spry short.

The Sweetest Taboo

The Story of Hansel & Gretel (1951, Ray Harryhausen, Color)

Will the most notorious gingerbread binge in fairyland end in heartache or a just a sick tummy? Ray Harryhausen’s claymation is as expressive in this tale of hungry woodland tots as it always was for monsters.

Plus! For the Early Arrivals!

Maple Syrup and Sugar (1930’s, B+W)

A beautiful, silent glimpse of a way of life on the brink of modernization! The primitive maple tapping camps and hardy maple men evoke frontier life with a haunting immediacy. Even the babies are toughing it out. The relatively modern processing facility also feels quaint. This selection from the Eastman Company's Kodascope lending library was meant to give its audience a greater knowledge of tree anatomy, but like the best ephemera it shows much, much more.

About the Curator

Lynn Cursaro is a local film blogger. Over the past two decades, she has worked in research and administrative positions a variety of Bay Area film organizations. The monthly Castro calendar picture puzzle is of her devising.

Oddball Films presents You Give Me Fever- God, The Devil and Betty Boop, a hodge-podge of vintage shorts, documentaries, cartoons and burlesque numbers about the fervor of faith and the seduction of Satan. Films include local filmmaker Peter Adair's incredible documentary Holy Ghost People (1967), featuring the seemingly bizarre practices of a West Virginia Pentecostal congregation including speaking in tongues, ingestion of poison and use of snakes within their religious ceremonies. Kenneth Anger’s Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) is a satanic fueled vision in Technicolor with a droning music score by Mick Jagger and featuring the founder of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey. Betty Boop is ice cold when she faces off against the Devil in the Fleischer brothers classic Red Hot Mamma (1934). Burlesque queen Betty Dolan is half Devil, half sexy lady and all sizzling in the innovatively costumed Satan-Tease (1955). Other shorts include Eucharist, the 60s neo-psychedelic short produced by the Lutheran Church, the trailer for the adult feature Satan's Cheerleaders, and for the early birds, evangelist Dr. Irwin Moon from the Moody Science Institute electrocutes himself to prove the Facts of Faith (1956).

Date: Thursday, May 23rd, 2013 at 8:00PM

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com

Featuring:

Holy Ghost People (B+W, 1967)
Rightly hailed by Margaret Mead as one of the best ethnographic documentary films ever made, and a staple of every documentary film studies course Holy Ghost People by the late San Francisco filmmaker Peter Adair ("Stopping History", "Word is Out") examines the Scrabble Creek, West Virginia Pentecostal congregation whose fundamentalist philosophy encourages a literal interpretation of the Bible.

The film reveals the religious fervor, the faith healing, the trances, the glossolalia (speaking in tongues), the anointing, the ingestion of poison(Strychnine) and the use of rattlesnakes in the church's religious services. Shot inside the cramped interior of a poor, rural church Adair allows the raw power and the purity of the congregation's faith speak for itself and documents it unflinchingly.

Says one member:
"I could feel the quickening power of the holy ghost... I would dance under the power, and the quickening power would get on me."
Inside the church people surrender to the spirit, shrieking, flailing, crumpling to the floor, talking in tongues, drinking poison, and handling snakes as the ultimate test of their faith."Holy Ghost People" is visceral and jarring, dizzying and frenetic and captures the deep faith, ecstatic states and lethal consequences of their belief.

Betty Boop in Red Hot Mamma (B+W, 1934)
It was a cold and snowy night and Betty is freezing cold in her skimpy nighty, but when she blazes a fire in the fireplace, she finds herself in a cartoon inferno, face to face with the Devil himself, and you know no man is a match for Miss Boop!

Satan-Tease (B+W, 1955)

Burlesque queen Betty Dolan brings new meaning to the phrase dancing with the devil. Cleverly costumed, Miss Dolan's right hand is the hand of the devil and she can't stop it from trying to get to third base. Strange and erotic on many different levels, it must be seen to be believed!

Invocation of My Demon Brother (Color, 1969)

In Invocation of My Demon Brother filmmaker Kenneth Anger creates an altered state of consciousness through the use of cinematic and psycho-spiritual magick techniques.

The film is described by notorious avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger as “An assault on the sensorium” features “underworld powers gathering at a midnight mass to shadow forth Lord Lucifer in a gathering of spirits”. Invocation is a quintessential late 1960 freak-out, containing a montage of drug use, pagan rituals, an albino, stock footage of the Vietnam War, the Rolling Stones in concert and abstract imagery all played back at various speeds. The film is accompanied by a repetitive, droning Moog musical score created by Mick Jagger. In the words of avant-garde film critic P. Adams Sitney “It is Anger's most metaphysical film: here he eschews literal connections, makes images jar against one another, and does not create a center of gravity through which the collage is to be interpreted... the burden of synthesis falls upon the viewer.”

Plus!
Other shorts include “Eucharist”, the 60s neo-psychedelic short produced by the Lutheran Church, the trailer for the adult feature Satan's Cheerleaders and more!

For The Early Birds:

Facts of Faith (Color, 1956)

The Moody Institute of Science, founded under the auspices of the Moody Bible Institute, an evangelical group started by Irwin Moon in San Francisco in 1938, produced a number of religious cult science films that were intended to demonstrate intelligent design through scientific experiments. In this electrifying short, Moon runs thousands of volts of god’s creation though his entire body. A stunner!

Oddball Films presentsPlay with your Toys! a fun, freewheeling program of vintage short films celebrating toys. Marvel at the childlike wonder instilled in artist Alexander Calder as he plays with his kinetic sculptures in Calder’s Circus (1963). Charles and Ray Eames were huge miniature and toy enthusiasts and offer up two visually stunning shorts, Tops (1969), a brilliant childlike anthropological film capturing spinning tops from different cultures and eras and Toccata For Toy Trains (1957) a marvelous celebration of antique toys. Grant Munro's Toys (1966) brings to life your GI Joes, but as it turns out, that's not a good thing. Everyone's favorite little green buddy, Gumby gets into shenanigans with toy trucks in the original 1957 short Toy Fun. A little girl's creepy dolls come to life in A Christmas Dream (1954). Watch a toy truck from the factory to the classroom in the gorgeous Technicolor funucational short Toy Telephone Truck (1953). Dolls aren't just for girls and Free To Be You and Me (1974) wants you to know it with the song "William Wants a Doll". Learn to share your toys or be alone with the animated social conditioning primer Most Important Person - Share it with Someone (1972). Plus! Naughty exxxcerpts from stuffed-animal smut and burlesque, vintage toy commercials and even more surprises!

Date: Friday, May 24th, 2013 at 8:00PM.

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00, limited seating RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Featuring:

Toccata for Toy Trains (1957, color)

Legends of the design world, Charles and Ray Eames had their own way of looking at everything and this table-top epic shows it. The best cinema craft was adapted to make this miniature world of trains, dolls and other tiny treasures completely alive. Leave it to the Eames to put viewers inside a toy train! Scored by renowned composer Elmer “Magnificent Seven” Bernstein.

Tops (Color, 1969)

Toys occupy several of the Eames films, including Tops, a purely visual film that documents the short life span of a spinning top. It’s essentially a silent anthropological film and captures tops from different cultures and eras. The Eames Office contained a menagerie of toys, and it was Charles who once asked rhetorically, “Who would say that pleasure is not useful?” Tops was shot from the extreme perspectives of close-ups – an expressionistic technique that lets the audience experience toys as if from the eyes of a child. Whether set into motion by the twist of the fingers or the pull of a string, these colorful tops are even more beautiful seen through the eyes of Charles and Ray Eames. The stunning variety of the tops featured here is almost as dizzying as the whirling toys themselves. Composer Elmer Bernstein, a frequent Eames collaborator, spins the musical spell.

Calder’s Circus (Color, 1963)

Before his rise to fame as the artist to popularize the mobile, kinetic sculptor Alexander Calder created a miniature moving circus out of wire, wood and cloth. In 1963, filmmaker Carlos Vilardebo filmed the icon performing his circus. As Calder exhibits the piece, we watch as Calder blurs the line between presentation and play. This remarkable circus comes to life, sometimes on it’s own, sometimes in conjunction with other elements and always in an astonishing manner.

Gumby in Toy Fun (B&W, 1957)

Everybody’s favorite little green shape shifter, Gumby and his B.F.F. Pokey go on a number of fantastical and charming adventures in these rare original shorts by Claymation Master, Art Clokey.

A Birthday for Buttons(Color, 1980s)

The toy Button really wants to have a birthday party but he has no idea how old he is. His toy friends want to help him out but seems confuse him more. Could Button’s dream come true?

Toys (Color, 1966)

Grant Munro, frequent Norman McLaren collaborator, directed this clever anti-war toy short using the stop-motion technique. It all starts innocently enough with kids coveting the toys in a store window with a groovy soundtrack. But then the war toys come to life and the ensuing violence is quite less than playful.

TV Toy+Game Commercials (1960s)

We’re still unearthing more over-the-top tv ads featuring our favorite plastic gal-pal B@rbie, Milton Bradley games like “Operation”, “Twister” “Socketheads”, “Body Language”, “FBI” and many more!

A Christmas Dream (B+W, 1954)
Little girl goes to sleep on Christmas Eve and her toys come to life. Cool/creepy stop motion animation of her favorite rag doll gives this more of Christmas Nightmare effect.
Directed and created by a team of two Czech Brothers, Borivoj Zeman and Karel Zeman. Karel Zeman became the director of feature-length movies including "The Fabulous World of Jule s VErene and Baron Munchausen” while his brother directed titles such as "The Phantom of Morrisville" and "The Young Lady from the Riverside"

Double-Talk Girl (1942), A Universal Pictures “Popular Person Oddity” with Shirley Dinsdale and her right-hand gal, Judy Splinters.

There’s nothing more unsettling than ventriloquism. Except for little girls in lace dresses doing ventriloquism. Really, it’s too much. In this wacko newsreel of the bizarre, it’s Lizzy Borden meets Chuckie as we meet a girl who may be the youngest serial killing, doll-loving supernatural psycho ever. Or she’s just good at throwing her voice and has bad taste in hobbies.

Plus!

Doll Dance, a 1930s Burlesque tit for tat dance number with Arlene and Rene. Both ladies are lovely, only Arlene has someone pulling her strings. Decades before the rise of “furry” culture, Beaver Boy (1968) is the touching story of a young man, reading quietly by himself, who is propositioned by a fox puppet, a proposition too good to pass up.

For the Early Birds!

Santa and the Fairy Snow Queen
The Fairy Snow Queen gives a sort of dreadful life to Santa’s dolls on Christmas eve. Jack-in-the-box, toy soldiers, musical doll, and other dolls dance and sing for Santa to the music of The Nutcracker Suite and Sleeping Beauty. Snoopy the Brownie (Whaa?) tells us he visits toys every night to see if they’re being well treated by the children who own them. Don’t miss the gay uniformed “ toy soldier” and the creepy over-the-top human Jack-in-the box! Proof that Sid Davis - father of the cautionary mental hygiene film- really was the king of childrens nightmares.

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter bring you Formidable Conformity: The System Fights Back, a program of films about man's struggle against the status-quo. With vintage cartoons, industrial films, PSAs and avant-garde breathtakers, this is one night the "system" never saw coming. The laughable Plastics Council sponsored film, How To Infiltrate the Establishment (1960s), seeks to recruit young hip surfers and rockers to the plastics industry by making it look groovy to get a job. Michael Keaton attempts to change employers' minds about hiring the handicapped in a musical-comedy all-star extravaganza A Different Approach (1978). A single butterfly valiantly attempts to bring beauty into the sterile world of a dystopian factory in Jan Habarta's incredible film No. 000173 (1969). There was a time when the concept of female authority was so novel, they needed to prep men with primers so that they could deal with it, like the cartoon I've Got a Woman Boss! (1977). One man goes up against the Hollywood system in the silent low-budget experimental triumph The Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra (1928). Hipsters must die in Vera Linnecar's British cartoon The Trendsetter (1969). Hippies square-off against the police in a football game in the hilarious documentary (later turned into an Afterschool Special starring Patrick Swayze) The Pigs vs The Freaks (1960s). Polish artist Jan Lenica gives us an animated adaptation of Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros (1965). With Eli Wallach in The Dehumanizing City...And Hymie Schultz (1967) for the early birds, the trailer for dystopian classic Logan's Run and other surprises, stick it to the man and get over to Oddball.

Date: Thursday, May 30th, 2013 at 8:00PM

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Featuring:

How to Infiltrate the Establishment (Color, 1960s)

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.

Benjamin: Yes, sir.

Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?

Benjamin: Yes, I am.

Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

Benjamin: Just how do you mean that, sir?--The Graduate (1967)

In the 1960s radical culture a “plastic” person was considered shallow and soulless. Not to be outdone by the social politics of its time the Plastics Education Foundation (Wha?) sponsored this mind-boggling display of protest demonstrations and 60s rock bands, cut up with stupefying surfers, NASCAR races and even spaceflight to give our youth a helping hand as they journey into the material world of petroleum based industrial culture. A laugh riot!

A Different Approach (Color, 1978)

Michael Keaton heads an all-star cast in a PSA musical comedy spectacular designed to sell employers on the idea of hiring the disabled. Nominated for an Academy Award and featuring a Busby Berkeley-esque wheelchair number, co-stars Betty White, Rue McLanahan, Norman Lear, Jim Neighbors, Charlotte Rae and directed by Fern Field (The Day My Kid Went Punk).

No. 00173 (Color, 1969)

Rare and brilliant, this experimental film by Polish director Jan Habarta portrays a fictional factory with Metropolis-esque workers in radiation suits. In the midst of this grey atmosphere, one butterfly tries to arouse a touch of beauty.

The Trendsetter (Color, 1969)
Cool British animation from the great Vera Linnecar portrays a little man who is annoyed with the little hipsters who ape and one up his every move. Illustrates how the trendsetters depend on others for their sense of self worth.

I’ve Got a Woman Boss! (Color, 1977)

Quick boys, hide the porno! The Hatchet Lady is coming! With Women’s Lib and the ERA, what’s a man to do when his higher ups hire a girl to do a man’s job? Learn all about how to deal with a woman in a position of power in this delightful corporate education cartoon from the age of bra burning and glass ceilings.

The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra (B+W, 1928)

Expressionistic miniatures interspersed with close-up photography of actors tells the story of a young hopeful actor defeated by the ruthless Hollywood star system. After he dies, he rises to heaven, where hisnumber is removed. According to director Robert Florey the total expenditure of the production was $97.00. The breakup of which is as follows: Negative ... $25.00 Store Props ... $3.00 Development and Printing ...$55.00 Transportation, etc. ... $14.00 This low cost was possible due to the use of set made using toys and cardboard buildings. Most of the filming was indoors. The actors Jules Raucort and Voya George did not get immediate payment for their work and were supposed to be compensated with benefits which might latter accrue. Florey went on to direct 60+ features before moving to television, Vorkapich edited montage sequences for Hollywood films in the 30′s, and assistant cinematographer Gregg Toland later shot Citizen Kane and The Grapes of Wrath.

The Pigs vs. The Freaks(Color, 1960s)
After several violent clashes between the police and the long-hairs of East Lansing Michigan, one hippy had the novel idea to challenge the police to a friendly football game. 16,000 people showed and The Freaks won, two years in a row. This film documents the third annual game. Will the pigs finally be able to triumph over their long-haired opponents, or will the hippies take the title for a third time? Directed by Jack Epps Jr and Jeffrey Jackson.

Rhinoceros (Dir. Jan Lenica, Color, 1965)
Filmmaker and multitalented artist Jan Lenica's checkered career has encompassed excursions into music, architecture, poster-making, costume design, children's book illustration, and all aspects of filmmaking. It is, however, for his animation that he is best known, particularly his collage and "cutout" films, which have their roots in the art of Max Ernst and John Heartfield. The films have influenced the work of Jan Švankmajer and Terry Gilliam. In this clever short, Lenica utilizes cutouts to create a very cool animated version of Eugene Ionesco's absurdist play about the dangers of conformity.

For the Early Birds:

The Dehumanizing City... and Hymie Schultz (1967)

Cut from the darkly comedic feature film, The Tiger Makes Out, (not available on VHS or DVD) starring Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson. Waking up one morning to the all too familiar frustrations and callous impersonality of big city life a mailman decides to fight back. He will be a one man army against complex bureaucratic machinery, anonymous no longer, taken advantage of no further. Nobody knows who he is, or cares. His co-workers superficially acknowledge him, and the citizens whom he serves see him only in terms of his function. The particular day starts off gloriously when the leg of his neighbor’s wife comes crashing through his ceiling, and our hero tries without success to get his landlady to make repairs. He then tackles the Housing Authority, where equally thwarted clerks treat him like a number. But today our hero refuses to be assigned any old place - he wants to be heard, at once! The bureaucracy proves more stubborn than he. Defeated and helpless, one individual lost among many, his angry campaign only led to more frustration.

Now What? (Color, 196?)
Bizarre anti-materialism short produced by the Lutheran church utilizes crude animation mixed with live footage that also clearly illustrates the pop-culture/hippie threat.

Oddball Films presents Man and the Machine - The Future of Technology from the Past, a program of vintage films about computers, robots and other omnipresent technological marvels. In Microworld(1976) an overly dramatic William Shatner explores the oddly psychedelic world of microprocessors. Ray Bradbury's The Veldt (1970s) features a nuclear family in a computerized home that leads to deadly results. Isaac Asimov and Walter Cronkite investigate The Weird World of Robots (1968). Go behind the scenes of turning Yul Brenner into a killer cyborg in The Westworld Production Short (1973). Presaging the current internet matchmaking trend, Comput-Her Babyis a wacky art film spoofing the notion of computer-assisted love in 1967. IBM commissioned Ray and Charles Eames to create the short cartoon The Information Machine (1958) chronicling man's relation to data processing. With more surprises, trailers and commercials in store!

Date: Friday, May 31st, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Featuring:

Microworld (Color, 1976)

Host William Shatner explores the oddly psychedelic world of silica and microprocessors. This AT&T-produced film is chock full of outdated notions of the future and obsolete technology.

The Veldt (Color, 1970s)

A creepy and chillingly adapted short story by Ray Bradbury. Parents George and Lydia live with their two children Peter and Wendy in "The Happylife Home," a fully automatic residence with machines that do everything for them. The two children are especially taken with the nursery, a room with virtual reality that will recreate anything their brains desire. The parents begin to worry as the pair spend more and more time in the nursery, which seems to be permanently fixed on African grasslands featuring a pair of lions gruesomely gnawing on bones in the distance. When George and Lydia decide to move out to the country to get away from their computerized domicile, the children and lions have other ideas.

Westworld Production Short (Color, 1973)

In Michael Crichton’s film Westworld, the road trip extends beyond the highway and into space. In the future, only the super-wealthy are able to afford trips to amusement park “worlds,” where they are free of all rules and laws. Yul Brenner stars as a Gunslinger android in the Old West themed park, which goes haywire and begins to attack the guests. This short focuses on the production of Westworld, providing a bizarre behind-the-scenes look at the many amusement parks featured in the film, and mostly importantly, Brenner’s detachable face.

The Information Machine (Color, 1958)

Ray and Charles Eames directed this cartoon about the progress of man's ability to process information, culminating in the computer, which at that point was little more than a giant, complicated data-processor.  Produced for IBM.

The Weird World of Robots (1968)
Famed sci-fi author and futurist Isaac Asimov and Walter Cronkite investigate the strange and

surreal world of  robotics in the 1960s. Asimov advocates a race of "worker robots" to do the

blue collar work for planet earth. Watch a robotic dog (Old Yaller), human amplifiers, a centaur and robotic machines designed to stimulate human responses to medical students. Later the "grave" questions are posed: "There is no question that man can live with the robot. The

question is, can the robot live with man."

Comput-Her Baby(Color, 1968) A wacky short musical/art film that spoofs the prospect of love and dating in the computer age. Sweet and strangely prescient.

The World of Tomorrow (1939)
Watch Elektro, the robot and his human master smoke a cigarette at the 1939 World's Fair!

Signal Syntax (1980)
Ridiculous, bizarre low budget short about killer computers that violently do away with their owners.  Featuring vintage computer technology, this John Remington film poses is an omen to the grudge against humanity personal computers of the future will hold.

For the Early Birds:

The Challenge of Tomorrow (Color, 1964)
This RCA promotional film contains some of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful Kodachrome color and stunning visuals in the Oddball Film Archive. Covers the RCA corporation’s multi-faceted electronic manufacturing and entertainment fields; from electron tube manufacturing, very rare footage vinyl record manufacturing and recording, TV cameras, computers, space technology and more. The retro future never looked better!

Oddball Films and guest curator Landon Bates bring you Submerged Cinema, a screening teeming with celluloid cephalopods and European seamen. Among other wet wonders, we'll spy the likes of shimmering starfish and gnashing sharks, in films that range from nature docs to sci-fi shockers. Peering through our 16mm porthole, we'll begin our descent into the murky depths with that nephew of Neptune, that red-capped Renaissance man of the sea: Jacques Cousteau. In Sharks, an episode from The UnderseaWorld of Jacques Cousteau(1970), the captain and his Calypso crew provoke that ferocious fish--and all for the sake of science. Biology is on the brain again, when an unsuspecting team of researchers find themselves in the lair of TheCreature from the Black Lagoon(1954); in this excerpt from the Jack Arnold classic, the eponymous monster stalks a scientist’s wife from below, Jaws-like. Smaller and less hostile creatures abound in the microscopic slides of photographer-biologist Roman Vishniac, in The Big LittleWorld of Roman Vishniac(1980's), whose wondrously amorphous images come to resemble avant garde cinema; which will lead us to L'etoile de Mer(1928), Man Ray's somber surrealist film, starring a starfish and shot through textured glass to produce a delirious underwater look. Before concluding with one last Cousteau--Night of the Squid (1970)--we'll get a dose of Diver Dan, a puppet-laden live action children's show from the early 1960's. In "Secrets of the Throne," our scuba man Dan finds himself in hot water, bubbling in the prison cell of an evil king. So, pinch your nose, hold onto your trunks, and start your summer off with a splash at Oddball!

Date: Friday, June 7, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Featuring:

Two Cousteau Classics from The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau

Among his almost innumerable accomplishments in the realms of both marine biology and cinema (a couple of which feats include developing the Aqua Lung, and collaborating with Louis Malle on the Oscar- and Cannes-winning film, The Silent World), Jacques Cousteau’s specials revealed the mysteries of the ocean to an international audience. While Cousteau’s series often took the form of nature documentaries, episodes such as these contain the suspense and thrills of the adventure film. The aesthetics and tone achieved in the series have also been lovingly adopted and parodied in subsequent television shows (e.g. “Fishing With John”) and films (e.g. Wes Anderson’s Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou).

Sharks(Color, 1970)

Join Cousteau and the crew of The Calypso as they take on that ancient and inscrutable sea creature, the shark. Cousteau and his men conduct experiments to study how sharks are attracted to an alien presence in the water, how they make visual discriminations, how night affects their behavior, and how man might protect himself from them. The Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling lends his authoritative voice.

The Night of the Squid (Color, 1970)

Cousteau and co. investigate Sea Arrow Squids, who gather in large masses during their annual mating frenzy and exhibit strange behavior after dark.

An excerpt from The Creature from the Black Lagoon(B&W, 1954)

In this 1954 sci-fi horror film directed by Jack Arnold--starring Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, and Whit Bissell—an amphibious-humanoid monster goes after the scientists who study it. The creature lurks in his lagoon, excited by human visitors (particularly the ladies).

Diver Dan: Secret of the Throne (B+W, 1963)

One in a series of 104 short children’s TV programs; in tonight’s film our main man Dan and his fish puppet companions find themselves in an undersea pickle once again. While Dan is trapped in a deep-sea prison cell by an evil king, he is assisted by pal ‘Trigger’ and a sawfish (who easily saws through the metal bars with his snout) to narrowly escape an underwater earthquake. Don’t miss the action-packed adventures of this scuba goofball and his puppet pals!

The Big Little World of Roman Vishniac (Color, 1980’s)

Photographer, biologist, and art historian, Roman Vishniac is most widely remembered for his photographic documentation of pre-Holocaust Jewish culture in Central and Eastern Europe. Vishniac also contributed to the development of photo microscopy (photographs taken through microscopic lens) and time-lapse photography. In this film, showcasing various marine specimens, the gentle Vishniac discusses his love of the natural world and the abundance of life found on the seashore.

Oddball Films presents Sid Davis: Nightmare Maker, an evening celebrating the career of the master of the educational shock film. Sid Davis films were famously funded by an initial $1000 donation by John Wayne. He went on to produce numerous classics of the educational scare film genre, priding himself by making each one for $1000- a miniscule amount even in its day. From drugs, to speeding, to child-molesters to impaling little girls with scissors, this program touches on all of Davis' favorite topics. We begin where he did, with The Dangerous Stranger (1950), about the threat of child molesters. Davis sold the film to police and schools, reaping $250,000 which he used to fund the rest of the treasures of the evening. How to Protect your Bike (1973) may teach you more about stealing than protecting anything. Freak out on acid with the knee-slapping LSD: Trip or Trap? (1967) and mellow out with marijuana with the "weedheads" and "dope fiends" in Keep Off the Grass (1970). Sammy's got a need for speed that might turn deadly if he's not careful in What Made Sammy Speed (1957). Davis' own daughter gets stabbed with scissors in the parade of household accidents that is Live and Learn (1951). Plus more hilarious shockers in store!

Date: Thursday, June 6th, 2013 at 8:00PM

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Highlights Include:

The Dangerous Stranger (B+W, 1950)

The very first Sid Davis film, the one that started it all, this film was made with a $1000 loan from John Wayne. This schlocky short lets little boys know that molesters are everywhere- and what to do if that nice man offers you a ride…

How To Protect Your Bike (Color, 1973)
Kooky film by the legendary Sid Davis about protecting your precious chopper from thieves, made with the cooperation of the Santa Monica PD. Filmed on and around the Venice Board Walk in Santa Monica, the wily thief (played by an unknown character actor who’s played the heavy in hundreds of 70s TV shows and movies). Learn all the tricks!

LSD: Trip or Trap? (Color, 1967)
A Sid Davis classic that starts with a fatal crash, and then traces the tragic path that led a good boy to experiment with the latest thrill on the scene- LSD-25. Wild freak-out scenes and good kids pressured into drugs by misguided peers.

Keep Off The Grass (Color, 1970)
Tom's mother discovers a marijuana joint in his room. When his parents confront him, Tom denies being a "dope fiend." He goes down to where the local "weedheads" hang out (a hilarious headshop), is mugged by a desperate band of marijuana addicts, and finally realizes how right his parents were: "keep off the grass!"

What Made Sammy Speed? (Color, 1957)
Automobile accidents in stunning Eastman color with great southern California street scenes and 1950s cars. A teen-age driver, Sammy Robertson, is killed in a traffic accident as a result of speed. This film explains the steps leading up to the accident: background, attitude, and reasons for poor driving.

Boys Aware (Color, 1973)
Davis presents four case histories portraying homosexual advances toward young boys. We start off when Ralph shows Billie some pornographic pictures. “What Billie didn’t know was that Ralph was sick”, our narrator says, “a sickness that was not visible like smallpox but no less dangerous and contagious, a sickness of the mind. You see Ralph was a homosexual, a person who demands an intimate relationship with members their own sex.” This over-the-top film, produced in conjunction with the Inglewood, CA Unified School District and Police Department pulls out every homosexual stereotype and scare tactic in the book including the jolting line “That evening Mike traded his life for a newspaper headline”.

Live and Learn (Color, 1951)
Sid Davis' 1951 film “Live and Learn” illustrates a series of preventable, life-threatening situations in which children frequently find themselves due to their own indiscretion. Most of the accidents are stereotypical childhood accidents and Davis squeezes out sensation in every scene. After each accident occurs, the film whisks the viewer to the hospital forcing the viewer to observe the grave and graphic injuries suffered by each child. This seemingly endless parade of kids falling (Davis’ own daughter starred in the scene where she fell on scissors), getting cut, burned and shooting out other kids eyes with a bb gun, is all part of Davis’s fear-mongering style and what made him such a legendary social guidance

Plus More!

Oddball Films presents Watch What You Eat, a program of witty and thought-provoking short films that will make you rethink your next meal. The program features the Oddball Premiere of a new short documentary The Trouble with Bread (2013) chronicling filmmaker Maggie Biedelman's quest to uncover the truth behind the new epidemic of gluten intolerance. The filmmaker will be here, in person to answer your burning bread questions. Then, our neighbors to the North try to uncover a mystery, the Mystery in the Kitchen (1958) with the housewife's guide to proper family nutrition and poison control in the family meal. Comedian Marshall Efron hits us with a double dose of food truths as he mixes up a pie out of chemicals in Chemical Feast (1973) and gives us the lowdown on your breakfast "foods" in The Sugar Cereal Imitation Orange Breakfast (1973). Creepy little boys and girls sing about the foods they'd like to eat in The Eating, Feel Good Movie (1974). Visit a commune farm and a local market to learn about Surviving the Chemical Feast (1975). Plus, the cartoon Junk Food Man (1977) that combines drawn animation with photographic collage to teach nutrition with the snack-pusher "The Creep." With vintage commercials and more surprises to sink your teeth into!

Date: Thursday, June 13th, 2013 at 8:00PM

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Featuring:

The Trouble With Bread (Color, 2013, Maggie Beidelman)

This short documentary takes us on a journey with the filmmaker as she hunts to find the answers to her apparent gluten intolerance: what could have possibly changed in the last couple of generations that so many people have been complaining of not being able to eat wheat? Maggie Beidelman takes us from farm to mill to bakery, with some surprising findings about the nature of the modern wheat industry. We're far beyond the 10,000-year-old flour-water-salt recipe, folks. Modern bread is not what you think. Featuring interviews with author Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma) and Tartine Bakery's chef-owner Chad Robertson.

Click here to watch the trailer.

Mystery in the Kitchen (Color, 1958)

Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, this soft-boiled film aimed at housewives uses satire and humor to teach proper nutrition and good eating habits by pointing out the subtle poisons you may be subjecting your family to. A well-dressed dapper man slinks around the kitchen and pantry, lecturing a long-suffering mother on how she is responsible for her family's personality problems by denying them nutrients. Beautiful color mid-century domestic scenes from our neighbors to the North.

The Sugar Cereal Imitation Orange Breakfast (Color, 1973)

As explained by the film can insert: “Comedian Marshall Efron, in boy’s cap and sweater gives some inside tips to other kids on how to manipulate Mom into buying those television advertised, heavily frosted, super-sugar, breakfast cereals- which unfortunately are low in nutrition and bad for the teeth. Then, turning his humor to a display of imitation orange juice products, Effron examines brand name concentrates, liquids and powders which variously contain water, sugar, chemicals, additives, and sometimes orange juice!”

Chemical Feast (Color, 1973)

Join our host Marshall Efron again in another satirical look at today’s (or the 1970s) modern foods. Chef Effron cooks up a big ‘ol meal of slop based on the ingredients found in some common pre-packaged, heavily processed miracle ‘foods’. Pie never looked less delicious!

The Eating, Feel Good Movie (Color, 1974)

A musical laugh riot. Children dressed in their Sunday best have a sepia-toned tea party and begin to sing about the food groups over enticing shots of vintage food. One boy sings longily over a meaty montage "I'd like a roast or a chop or a steak or a stew so I'll have big strong muscles and I'll grow right too." A creepy campy masterpiece!

Food: Surviving the Chemical Feast (Color, 1975)

From the Coping With Tomorrow series, this film takes us on a journey through the daunting world of processed foods to a greener pasture where hippies browse the natural foods store and buy grains in bulk. Visit the commune farm (cultivated by shoeless long-hairs and naked babies, of course) and take a tour of the local market to see just what it is you’re buying when you pick up that cucumber and snap off a bite. Directed by Peter Thurling.

The Junk Food Man (Color, 1977)
A funky little cartoon that combines cell-animation with cutouts of food advertisements to give children a taste of the damage they can do by over-snacking. "The Creep" travels around town in his snack food van (like a Dateline candy predator), passing out sweets and chips to eager children unaware of the effects of their poor food choices.

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter bring you Learn Your Lesson...About Sex - Shockucational Contraceptives, the fourth in a series of programs highlighting the most ridiculous, insane and camptastic shockucational films and TV specials of the collection. This time, it's all about sex and its potentially devastating aftermath. Teens talk about virginity, sex, and other taboo subjects in Romance, Sex and Marriage: All the Guys ever Want is S.E.X. (1976). Peter Sellers lends his voice to an animated father struggling to educate his child in the Birds, Bees and Storks (1965). Di$ney brings us a very different kind of cartoon, the disturbingly knee-slapping VD: Attack Plan (1972) featuring a syphilitic army sergeant directing his VD troops into battle against stupid humans. The Canadians bring us a melodramatic account of Teenage Pregnancy (1971). You better watch out for Herpes: The New Sexual Epidemic (1981) and all the problems that come with it. One girl's got a dirty little secret in the hilarious Innocent Party (1959). And since not all lessons about sex are bad, we'll also be learning How to Undress in Front of Your Husband (1937) with Mrs. John Barrymore. Plus! an excerpt from the twisted doctor’s training film Sex and The Professional, the entirely unsexy intro to a couple's film on better fellatio from The Center for Marital & Sexual Studies #17: Oral Pleasuring, the graphic vintage Army VD training film Sex Hygiene (1941) for the early birds, and even more surprises!

Date: Friday, June 14th, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Featuring:

VD: Attack Plan (1972, color)
“Yes, it’s true. Walt D*sney Productions has made a significant contribution to the war against VD. “VD Attack Plan” – A fully animated Walt D*sney 16mm motion picture.” states the brochure accompanying this 16mm educational film. VD Attack Plan had some forward thinking and enlightening approaches (not just for D*sney but everyone else producing this type of film in 1973) to the subject of sexually transmitted diseases including promotion of condoms (instead of abstinence) and the fact that VD can be spread through same sex couplings. This “war against disease “ film doesn’t miss a beat-even showcasing some of the graphic effects of the disease in action. In brilliant Technicolor, just like you’d want it to be.

Birds, Bees and Storks (1965, color)

A father sets out to explain the facts of life to his son, but becomes increasingly embarrassed to the point where his explanations are so vague as to be incomprehensible. Inspired by Gerard Hoffnung's 1960 book of the same name, this is a delightful and all too familiar study of the embarrassed middle-aged British male, as a father attempts to explain the facts of life to his son but ends up delivering a monologue so packed with euphemisms about birds, bees and butterflies that it ends up being totally incoherent. Produced by the esteemed Halas & Batchelor Animation Studio, the visual style (inspired directly by Hoffnung's drawings) is simple in the extreme - for much of the film, we just watch the father squirming and blushing in his chair, which focuses our attention both on Peter Sellers' monologue and director John Halas' subtle visual characterization, all nervous tics and fidgeting.

Herpes: The New Sexual Epidemic(Color, 1981)
“Oh no, Kathy! Did you tell David?” Join three people on their painful, and itchy journeys with the simplex. One is a young woman in the thralls of love, but a prison of shame. One is an expectant mother, ready to give the gift of life, not herpes. And the last is a sailor, infected from exotic ports of call, but hoping to dock in his beloveds harbor. Feel the pain, then, learn the facts about the “new” epidemic…

Teenage Pregnancy (Color, 1971)

No one can bring you the melodrama of teen pregnancy quite like the Canadians. This campy morsel features a lot of worry, disappointment, facts and good old-fashioned overacting. Like a lost Degrassi episode, the touching story of 16 year-old Betty’s life will bring you to tears…of laughter!

The Innocent Party (Color, 1959)
The guilt-tripped noir-like shocker about a “dirty” girl and her hidden secret- VD! See what happens when she “gifts’ her boyfriend with it! A cool beatnik-jazz soundtrack highlights highlights this sordid tale produced by the Kansas State Board of Health!

How to Undress in Front of Your Husband (1937)

Finally! A valuable lesson you can use tonight! An exercise in exhibitionism starring Elaine Barrie AKA Mrs. John Barrymore (!) wife of the famed Hollywood legend. No wonder she was his last wife!

For The Early Birds:

Sex Hygiene (B&W, 1941)
“Most men know less about their own bodies than they do about automobiles” admonishes the doctor that’s about to take one army base of whore-mongering recruits and teach them the disgusting truth of what awaits them after trifling with “contaminated women.” This classic VD film was produced in WWII by the War Department in collaboration with the Surgeon General and through epic, Star Wars-length written prologues, and graphic footage of chancres and blisters, it sought to keep our troops in fighting shape, with lessons we can still stand to learn today.

Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 65: Oddities From the Archives, an evening of newly discovered and choice rarities from the stacks of Oddball Films’ 50,000 reel film archive. This installment of the strangest show in San Francisco - Strange Sinema 65: Strange Stuntsfeatures a horde of adrenaline junkies, High Wire Daredevils, Dust Eating Drivers, Human Boomerangs, and Strait-Jacket Escapes. The hair-raising feats include High Wire (1984), an early profile of high wire artist Philippe Petit (subject of the 2008 film Man On Wire) teetering between a skyscraper and the NYC Cathedral of St. John Divine, with sound score by Philip Glass; Dust Eaters (1955), rocking rebels in the stock car racing subculture of the early 50s; Houdini Never Died (1978), a doc featuring Harry Houdini’s strait-jacket escape over Niagara Falls achieved by magician and psychic debunker James Randi;Stunt Crazy (1930s), an assortment of fantastically foolhardy leaps, dives, and the like; excerpts from Niagara Falls (1985), an award-winning doc shot by Ken Burns serves as a background for the magnificent marvels of American stuntsmanship; and Rendezvous(1976), director Claude LeLouche’s one take high speed dash through the streets of Paris. All this and more with selected live electronic accompaniment by Indonesian musician Iman Fattah.

Philippe Petit on High

Date: Thursday, June 20th, 2013 at 8:00PM

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Featuring:

High Wire (Color, 1984) Directed by Sandi Sissel. Philippe Petit (the recent subject of the doc “Man on Wire”) is a French high wire artist who gained fame for his spectacular walk between the Twin Towers in New York City on August 7, 1974. Here he metaphorically bridges the ancient and modern as he walks a high wire suspended between the towers at New York City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine and a sixteen story high-rise building across the street. With sound score by composer Phillip Glass.

A Day at the Jalopy Races!

Dust Eaters(B+W, 1955)

Hot rods mean hot girls! In this expose into the underbelly of the stock car racing subculture, learn how NASCAR wasn’t the first instance of yokels slavering over car crashes. But in the 50s, we didn’t have things like airbags and anti-lock brakes, so when these cars crash, things get really hairy! Get an insider’s lesson on the terminology and styles of car racing elites, and witness some of the most dangerous driving (and flaming accidents) you’ll see this side of Indianapolis.

Mr. Houdini is All Tied Up at the Moment...

Houdini Never Died(Color, 1978) A insightful documentary about child vaudevillian, trapeze artist and legendary escape artist Harry Houdini (Born Erich Weiss in Budapest, Hungary (1874-1926) narrated by Burgess Meredith. Houdini… includes rare archival footage of Houdini, famed magicians Doug Henning and the magician Shimada. The film culminates with a escape from a strait jacket over Niagara Falls by famed psychic debunker James Randi.

Just a couple of Wing-Nuts!

Stunt Crazy (B&W, 1930s)

We see here: one nutcase setting a table on a tightrope high above the Alps, another one who lives to joke about his dive off of the Seattle Bridge, and yet another who just barrel-y survives Niagara Falls.

Over a Barrel for Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls (Excerpts) (Color, 1985)

There is only one place in the Western Hemisphere that has figured in the American imagination since its discovery -- Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls: The Changing Nature of a New World Symbol is a fast-paced, archival footage laced documentary that tackles the fundamental question of what a nation does with its symbols. The film incorporates newsreels, crazy “barrel over-the-falls” stunts, vacationers and honeymooners, interviews with an Iroquois native American, high wire aerialist Philippe Petit (“Man on Wire”) and archival and historical stills and moving images.

In the 17th century, the Falls were seen as the quintessential wilderness symbol, vast and terrifying. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this symbol changed to represent the moral and national strength of the new world.

The Falls have been written about, painted, and photographed more than any other site in the Americas. Hypnotic, overpowering, and magnificent, the Falls and their rainbows draw in the viewer. With civilization in the background, this film allows the viewer to see Niagara with the eye of the artist, the explorer, and the Iroquois. Directed by Diane Grey and Lawrence Holt with camerawork by Ken Burns. Blue Ribbon winner of the 1985 American Film Festival.

Lelouch sets up the shot of a lifetime

Rendezvous (Color, 1976)

In 1976, at the end of a film shoot, Director Claude LeLouch (A Man and a Woman) found himself in possession of four things: a camera with ten minutes of film left, a gyroscopically stabilized camera mount, a sports car, and an idea: to film a mad dash (at speeds up to 140 mph) through the early morning streets of Paris. Denied the necessary permits, he shot the film guerrilla-style, in one take, with no special effects and no street closures. No one was hurt, his subsequent arrest was brief, and the film has become a legend. One take, no film tricks- you won’t believe your eyes.

Plus!

Thrills on Wheels (B+W, c. 1950s)

Wild homemade vehicles, stupid stunts and crashes galore.

About Jakarta Musician Iman Fattah

Iman Fattah is a musician, sound designer and producer from Jakarta, Indonesia. His father is a legendary Indonesian musician Donny Fattah. Fattah has been active in Indonesian rock and experimental music scene for the past 15 years, playing guitar in his own band called Zeke and the Popo and RAKSASA. Additionally he produces music for films, theater and commercials. In 2010 Iman collaborated with cutting edge film director Joko Anwar Indonesian as sound designer in the award winning theatrical performance Onrop.

Website: www.imanfattah.com

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/imanfattah

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/imanfattah

Oddball Films and guest curator Lynn Cursaro present A Brighter Yesterday: Science and Technology of the ‘20s and ‘30s. Using gorgeous educational and mesmerizing promotional films, plus cartoons and sci-fi; we look at the many faces progress between the wars, whether purely scientific or not. Sun Healing (1930s),a jaw-dropping forerunner of the infomercial, pitches an ominous health device that's "safe" to use on your own children. Take a good look at opium with Dream Flowers (1930s) featuring beautiful, meditative microphotography of a cross-section of an opium poppy. Associated Oil promises to Deliver the Goods! (1939) at the 1939 San Francisco World's Fair. Science goes horribly wrong in both the stunning horror classic The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and the Ub Iwerks Willie Whopper cartoon Reducing Creme (1934). The gruesome Battle of the Centuries pits ants against termites in a miniature war with maximum action. Basic physical principles are the focus of Invisible Forces (1920s),and the visuals of capillary action in sugarcubes will tantalize and mesmerize. Tree innards are explored in the sugary and contemplative Maple Sugar and Syrup (1920s). Dadaist Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray play with perception in the surreal experimental classic Anémic Cinéma (1926), a visual cacophony of hypnotic puns.You can be assured of purity in both your mass bottled milk with Science in the Creamery (1920s) and your makeup in the kitschy and marvelous Accent on Beauty (1930s). Plus, the curator will apply baking sciences to supply delicious home-baked pies and treats!

Radiantly Healthy

Date: Friday, June 21st, 2013 at 8:00PM.

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00, RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Highlights include:

Sun Healing: The Ultraviolet Way(c. 1930s, B+W)

A Los Angeles firm tried to sell the healing powers of the sun with this sinister-looking hand-held lamp. Trust us, it's safe, requires just minutes each day and it’s great for the whole family! The before-and-after shots and flimsy statistics are bolstered by scenes of ordinary folks gracefully waving the miracle product over themselves and their children. A jaw-dropping must-see parody of itself.

Jungle Red!

Accent on Beauty(1930s, B+W)

A luscious travelogue! Those bottles and jars filled with the promise of loveliness are a serious business, requiring both big scary machines and delicate hands. Exotic ingredients, precise manufacturing methods and skilled technicians come together to make de luxe miracles for milady's dressing table.

I Think We’ve Got a Live One!

Bride Of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935, B+W, excerpts)

The most beautiful horror film of all time! It seems like everything that scares us about science gets the prefix “Franken” added to its name, and why not? The sparking machinery and the flashes of madness are among the highlights in this spine-tingling condensed version, but nothing can steal the spotlight from the monster’s fierce maiden fair.

The Science of Bubbles

Invisible Forces/Science in the Creamery(1920s, B+W)

In Invisible Forces, surface tension and capillary action are demonstrated using sugarcubes, soap bubbles and a couple of genuine ordinary people of the 1920s, whose film careers ended here, we’re pretty sure. Even as food distribution methods were scaling up to feed a growing America, the rigorous practices and strange machines of Science in the Creamery assured viewers they could count on sweet, wholesome moo-juice in every bottle, every time.

Another Cartoon Mess

Reducing Creme (Ub Iwerks, 1934, B+W)

When a jar of a miracle slimming potion falls on Willie Whopper, the world becomes even more perilous in this swinging cartoon treat. Good thing Willie has a plan!

Anemic Cinema (Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, 1926, B+W, Silent)

“I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.”

-Marcel Duchamp

See the Whirl

The only film to come from the founder of the Dadaism movement (artistic and literary movement from 1916-1923) “Anemic Cinema” is an abstract and annalistic film short containing rotating circles and spirals interlaced with spinning discs of words strung together in elaborate nonsensical French puns.

"Duchamp used the initial payment on his inheritance to make a film and to go into the art business. The film, shot in Man Ray's studio with the help of cinematographer Marc Allégret, was a seven-minute animation of nine punning phrases by his alter ego Rrose Sélavy. These had been pasted, letter by letter, in a spiral pattern on round black discs that were then glued to phonograph records; the slowly revolving texts alternate with shots of Duchamp's Discs Bearing Spirals, ten abstract designs whose turning makes them appear to move backward and forward in an erotic rhythm. The little film, which Duchamp called Anemic Cinema, had its premiere that August at a private screening room in Paris." -Calvin Tomkins

Poppy Power!

Dream Flowers(1930s, B+W)

Beautiful time-lapse photography is used illustrate the opium poppy’s life cycle, from eager bud to the gracefully shedding of its bounty of seeds. Watch as these innocent flowers are processed into “the scourge of the East”, all deliciously narrated in crisp BBC English.

Kinda Bugged

The Battle of the Centuries (1932, B+W)

In this early educational film, we get a front row seat to the fiercest battle one log has ever seen! We follow the life-cycle of those disgustingly fascinating wood-munchers, termites, up to when they must lay their lives on the line to battle their mortal enemies, marauding bands of hungry ants. Simultaneously riveting and repellant, this film was produced by Standard Oil not long after the advent of sound.

Drive West, Young Man!

Deliver the Goods(1939, B+W)

In anticipation of the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition in 1939, the fine people at Associated Petroleum were dreaming of an American West criss-crossed by smoothly purring motors. The wonders of natural beauty are best appreciated by car and the Associated wants to service yours!

Liquid Gold!

Maple Syrup and Sugar (1930s, B+W)

Even with its exploration of the maple tree’s anatomy and glimpses of a quaintly “modern” processing facility, this selection from Eastman Company's Kodascope lending library is barely a science or an industrial film. As with the best ephemera it captured much more. The primitive maple tapping camps and hardy maple men evoke frontier life with a haunting immediacy. You’ll never look at the sweet golden syrup the same way again.

A Slam Dunk for Science

Plus! For the Early Arrivals!

Manufacturing Beaver Steel Wool(1930’s, black+white)

James H. Rhodes was a steel wool maker to the world, and boy are they proud! The history of steel wool is also recounted in some delightful set pieces that might be cheesy but are never abrasive.

About the Curator

Lynn Cursaro is a local film blogger. Over the past two decades, she has worked in research and administrative positions a variety of Bay Area film organizations. The Castro Theatre’s monthly picture puzzle is of her devising.

A Porthole to the Past

About Oddball Films

Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.

Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.

Oddball Films and guest curator Landon Bates bring you Inside the Cosmic Mind - Sci-Fi in July, seven 16mm films that squint past our planet and consider the cosmos. But peering so deeply into the celestial ether will inevitably make us turn the telescope on ourselves--a theme inspired and illustrated by our first film, Cosmic Zoom (1968), the classic NFB short in which the camera zooms ever outward, pausing on the edge of the universe--where our vast galaxy is but a speck among others—before diving back to Earth and into the “inner space” of a boy paddling a boat on a river, ending up inside a proton of a carbon atom within a DNA molecule. And so our screening proceeds from here in two parts: outer space films, with astronauts and aliens; and inner space ones, cerebral journeys through space and the mind. We blast off with that honorary astronaut Orson Welles as our galactic guide, in Who’s Out There (1975), a documentary that ponders the greater population of the universe and the likelihood (or mathematical probability) of extraterrestrial company. The question of that film’s title is then answered by the visitors of It Came from Outer Space (1953), a staple of the sci-fi thriller genre, directed by Jack Arnold (we’ll see an excerpt). Then, in Spaceborne (1977), a film consisting of footage shot during actual NASA missions, we’ll luxuriate in the elegant, near-balletic images of astronauts floating in zero gravity and our Earth receding in the black distance—sights made all the more moving by the soundtrack’s ethereal synth music. The quality and grandeur of this film’s images justifiably bring to mind 2001. We move forward and inward, into the dystopic future of Chris Marker’s landmark La Jetee (1963), a film made up of pristine still photographs, and set largely in the mind of its central character, who traverses time and memory. This is one of the great philosophical sci-fi films, and its tragic lyricism gives way to the optical apocalypse of our next film, Omega (1970), a shattering and transcendent vision of The End, in which three silhouetted figures sit serenely on a hill and accept their cosmic destiny.

Date: Friday, July 26th, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Featuring:

Who’s Out There(Color, 1975)

This NASA-sponsored documentary, hosted and narrated by Orson Welles, explores progressive scientific views about the possibility (or mathematical probability) of extra terrestrial life in the universe. A panel of eminent astronomers, including Carl Sagan, discusses the hypothetical circumstances of contact with such extra terrestrial others. At the beginning of the film, Welles talks briefly about his notorious CBS War of the Worlds broadcast, which many listeners of the program mistook for an actual news report. Several of these listeners speak about the experience.

Cosmic Zoom (Color, 1968, Eva Szasz)
The film starts with an aerial image of a boy rowing a boat on the Ottawa River. The movement then freezes and view slowly zooms out, revealing more of the landscape all the time. The continuous zoom-out takes the viewer on a journey from Earth, past the Moon, the planets of the Solar System, the Milky Way and out into the far reaches of the known universe. The process is then reversed, and the view zooms back through space to Earth, returning to the boy on the boat. It then zooms in to the back of the boy's hand, where a mosquito is resting. It zooms into the insect's proboscis and on into the microscopic world, concluding at nucleolus level. It then zooms back out to the original view of the boy on the boat.

La Jetee (B+W, 1963)

After a global holocaust, humanity's hopes for survival hinge on time-travel experiments conducted upon a man whose dreams reveal a clarion recall of a defining moment in his childhood when he witnessed a murder and a woman’s face. The narrative, revealed through a montage of still images creates a tight loop of incident in which the protagonist simultaneously realizes his past, present, and future. More a human story than sci-fi, densely layered and deeply effecting, “La Jetee” is evolutionary and enigmatic cinema at it’s most sublime.

It Came from Outer Space (B+W, 1953)

In this eye-popping vision of a film an alien ship lands on earth. Its occupant holds people hostage while the ship is being repaired. Townspeople debate amongst each other on what will become of the space ship while angry mob is after the ship. Someone finds a way to hold them off until the ship can leave. Is this mysterious group a force for good or evil?

Omega(Color, 1970)

An optical poem by West Coast experimental filmmaker Donald Fox, this is a dazzling, highly original non-narrative, exhilaratingly beautiful film. OMEGA deals with the end of mankind on earth, prophesying man's liberation from his earthly bounds to roam the universe at will. By sending an energy ray to the sun and harnessing its solar power, man is able to make an evolutionary leap. The film can be used to explore the outer limits of the concepts of death, evolution the afterlife, and the future of mankind. Phew! A source film that over 40 years later still inspires.

Spaceborne (Color, 1977)

Take a ‘trip’ through the cosmos, through the eyes of NASA. This film floats through local and deep space with a visually stunning array of images gathered from a decade plus of space exploration and investigation. Footage from manned flights, telescopes, and observatories come together in this mind-blowing compilation set to futuristic electronic music. Leave the world behind and delve into the realm of galaxies, stars, and planets.

Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 66 Oddities From the Archives, an evening of offbeat discoveries and choice rarities from the stacks of Oddball Films’ 50,000 reel film archive. This month's installment, Strange Sinema 66: Strange Synthesis/Media Manipulatorsis an examination of forward thinking artists and cultural theorists. The program features films by surrealists, avant-garde geniuses and media misfits from the 1920s through the 1960s. Films include the plotless, dadaist Anemic Cinema (1926) by the 1920s avant-garde icon Marcel Duchamp; excerpts from Andy Warhol (1967) with highlights from his early films; media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s Picnic in Space(1967), sublime ruminations with a background pop cultural pastiche and an electronic music score by Morton Subotnick, a groundbreaking examination of the Dadaist movement, Dada(1967) featuring Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Hans Richter reenactment of a Cabaret Voltaire performance with Dadist Jean Arp playing piano. We finish with Art of the Sixties (1967), featuring the monumental soft sculptures of pop icon Claes Oldenberg, kinetic artist Len Lye, Les Levine’s interactive environments, action painter provocateur Jackson Pollock and more. Also! Twenty Four Dollar Island (1927), Robert Flaherty’s portrait of New York City as a living breathing mechanical and industrial overlord.

Date: Thursday, July 25, 2013 at 8:00PM

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com

Featuring:

Anemic Cinema (1926, Silent)

Directed by Marcel Duchamp

“I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.”

-Marcel Duchamp

The only film to come from the founder of the Dadaism movement “Anemic Cinema” is an abstract and annalistic film short containing rotating circles and spirals interlaced with spinning discs of words strung together in elaborate nonsensical French puns.There's no plot, only moving shapes and objects, in an attempt to deny the vision of art as contemplation and ecstasy.

Andy Warhol (1973, Color, excerpts)

This seldom-seen film features astute commentary by Warhol Factory superstars Viva and Bridgit Polk. Directors Paul Morrissey (“Trash”, “Women in Revolt”) and Emile de Antonio (“Point of Order”, “Painters Painting”) offer some keen insights into all that is Warhol.

The free wheeling style of the documentary gives it a loose, edgy feel and showcases Warhol in action craftily playing to the camera. Excerpts from Bike Boy, Chelsea Girls, Women in Revolt, Trash, Lonesome Cowboys and I, A Man give us a deeper sense of the range and raw cinematic and self-absorbed style Warhol pioneered.

Picnic in Space (1967, Color)

A rare film featuring the legendary media theorist Marshall McLuhan and his long time cohort, Harley Parker, a Canadian artist and scholar. The film features McLuhan and Parker's ruminations on a wide variety of topics; including 'space' and its properties, jazz, language, and art.

Shot in 1967, the film captures the experimental spirit of the time; with scenes of contemplative pastoral idyll intercut with bold, minimalist animation, pop art, pastiche, and a wonderfully strange electronic soundtrack courtesy of visionary American composer, Morton Subotnick. A dazzlingly kinetic gumbo of jazz, ambient electronics, and psychedelic synthesizers, the film is a perfect example of McLuhan's concept of 'cool' media.

Dada (1967, B+W)

Arp declared: “Tzara invented the word” . . . “on February the 6th 1916 at 18:00 hrs. I was there with my twelve children when Tzara pronounced the word for the first time. It was at the cafe de la Terrasse in Zurich and I had a bun in my left nostril.”

This brilliant centerpiece of our Media Manipulators program is a “Dada”, film celebrating 50 years of Dadist art and cinema, featuring a discussion about the history and influence of Dadaism from leading German, French and English exponents including Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Hans Richter, all considered some of the most influential and important artists of the 20th century. The film is peppered with film clips and examples of their works including a reenactment of a Cabaret Voltaire performance with Dadist Jean Arp playing piano. A bizarre and rarely screened documentary.

“I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum.”-Claes Oldenberg

The Art of the Sixties (1967, Color)

This documentary aired on CBS at the height of the revolutionary and hopeful changes sweeping the art and technology world (not to mention the rest of society). The film takes an inside look at some of the leading figures in art during the decade, including rare glimpses into their studios and workshops. Highlights include soft-sculpture pop iconographer Claes Oldenburg who states “My work is not meant to be funny or even art, my work is just made to be important”, Jackson “The Dripper” Pollock, conceptualist Sol Lewitt, Les Levine, and other artists who have since become emblematic of the wild experimentation of and use of industrial processes (Rauschenberg’s silkscreens, Barnett Newman’s steel fabricated sculptures) of the 60s. We also follow filmmaker, sculptor and engineer Len Lye among his kinetic large-scale sound sculptures

Plus!

Twenty Four Dollar Island (1927, B+W) Legendary filmmaker Robert Flaherty’s portrait of New York City as a living breathing mechanical and industrial overlord, reflecting centuries of human civilization.

Oddball Films presents Polanski and the Polish Avant-Garde, a program of brilliant short films and animation from Cold-War era Poland. Dark, clever and with an ever-present undertone of veiled oppression, this program will open your eyes to the beauty and wit of this handpicked handful of Polish innovators. A young Roman Polanski (arguably the most famous filmmaker to come out of Poland) brings us Two Men and a Wardrobe (1958), his darkly comic student film rife with absurdities and angst. The visionary artist Jan Lenica, (among Polanski's biggest influences) gives us a hip animated version of Ionesco's Rhinoceros (1965) utilizing collage and cut-outs. With strict censorship from the state, many Polish filmmakers were forced to use allegory to relay their anti-war messages in a veiled manner. Tad Makarczynski's The Magician tells the story of young boys recruited to be soldiers by a nefarious magician. The incredibly brilliant (and Oddball favorite) dystopian masterpiece No. 00173 will blow your mind with it's eery depiction of a grim factory, momentarily brightened by a colorful butterfly. Working with oil-based paints on glass, master Polish animator Witold Giersz's Red and Black (1963) influenced animators the world over. Plus, two stop-motion pieces; Worek (AKA The Sack) about a burlap sack that dictatorially terrorizes a room of inanimate objects and the darling The Day the Colors Went Away with a little girl who must hunt down her runaway watercolors to recolor the world. With more surprises for the early birds!

Date: Thursday August 1st, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Featuring:

Two Men and a Wardrobe (B+W, 1958)

Roman Polanski’s darkly comic early film has many of the director’s preoccupations already present: alienation, crisis in identity, and a bizarre view of humanity that sees us as some very strange animals. In this quasi-surrealist jaunt, two otherwise normal looking men emerge from the sea carrying an enormous wardrobe, which they proceed to carry around a nearby town. Seeking fun, solace, or maybe some place to put the damn thing, all the two find is rejection at every turn. Watch for Polanski in a bit part he later reprises in Chinatown. “Two Men and a Wardrobe” initiated Polanski’s collaboration with Krzysztof Komeda, the great Polish jazz composer who went on to score such Polanski hallmarks as Knife in the Water, Cul de Sac, and Rosemary's Baby.

Rhinoceros (Dir. Jan Lenica, Color, 1965)

Filmmaker and multitalented artist Jan Lenica's checkered career has encompassed excursions into music, architecture, poster-making, costume design, children's book illustration, and all aspects of filmmaking. It is, however, for his animation that he is best known, particularly his collage and "cutout" films, which have their roots in the art of Max Ernst and John Heartfield. The films have influenced the work of Jan Švankmajer and Terry Gilliam.

In this film, Polish master Lenica utilizes cutouts creating an animated adaptation of Eugene Ionesco’s brilliant play about the oppressive and manipulative power of conformity.

The Magician aka Czarodziej (B+W, 1962)
Directed by Tad Makarczynski; produced by Semafor Studios in Poland, this remarkable rarity is a grim, savage and unpleasantly effective little anti-war allegory, cleverly conceived and beautifully executed. “The Magician” recruits a small group of young boys to become little soldiers… Not much information on director Makarczynski,- he most certainly lived through the horror of the Nazi invasion of Poland and the Warsaw Uprising, and in addition to many documentaries about the war he collaborated with “On The Bowery” director Lionel Rogosin on the anti-war film “Good Times, Wonderful Times”.

No. 00173 (Color, 1969)

Worek (AKA The Sack) (Dir. Tadeusz Wilcosz, Color, 1967)
Mysterious and creepy stop-motion film from Poland- a burlap sack proceeds to consume everything in sight, until all the objects- scissors, sewing machines, etc. revolt, organize and subdue it.

The Day The Colors Went Away (Color, 1971)
Charming Polish stop-motion animation about a messy painter girl. The colors in her paint box are fed up with her messy painting style and hit the road- taking all the world's colors with them. Stuck in a black and white world, the little girl sets out to find the colors (who have gathered in a rainbow) and re-paint the world.

Red and Black (Dir. Witold Giersz, Color, 1963)

Working with oil-based paints on glass, master Polish animator Witold Giersz creates a fluid, color patch style that would influence many.

For the Early Birds:

Gypsies (1972, B+W)

Directed by Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych, this enthralling non-narrative documentary provides unique insights into the nomadic life of Polish gypsies in the late 1960s.

Oddball Films and guest curator/Oddball archivist Scotty Slade present: Stand Your Ground,films that explore youthful identity in opposition to the old guard's rancorous ways in three steps. In Thank You Mask Man (1971) with Lenny Bruce, downright public contempt comes gushing out of the guts of those who are disgusted by what they cannot understand in this animated anti-homophobic film about a sexy affair between the Lone Ranger and Tonto. In a laughable attempt at trying to understand "the youth" of 1959, the National Association of Churches for Christ along with CBS paired up to make Hipster, Delinquent, Square, an utterly ethnographic study on this ever puzzling trifecta of puzzling identities. Much to the dismay of the producers expectations, this film is way too good/cool/interesting to actually have been made by conformist little minions. It has that lovely quality of all great subversive films, the ever so obvious humor that the people who pay for or allow them to be made are too dense to see. Finally, to bring it all home right here to the history of vibrant bay area youth, is Last Free Ride(1974), "a hip pirate movie", about a bohemian community of houseboat dwellers and the rock band The Red Legs, who come face-to-face with the squarest of square bay area anti-youthers, desperately attempting to end the floating utopian lifestyle and sell sell sell. In this tour de force of a film, the actual residents of the famed Sausalito community come together to re-enact their own past. Bay area filmmaker Bill Daniell is quoted saying, "Here's a true gem of a cultural artifact...it's just unbelievable that kids living in such wild-ass anarchy could pull off a feature film. It's sincere, hokey, authentic-- unlike any sixties film you've seen." Best of all, filmmaker Saul Rouda will be here in person to talk about the film, the community, and some bay area history. If you love youth, inspiration, seeing cops falling off boats and bad people stuck in the mud - not to mention incredible house-boat architecture, rarely-seen unconventional forms of living, and bay area history - this film will rock your red legs! Check out the trailer and some other info here: http://www.lastfreeride.com/. So come on down, bring your friends, and get ready to storm the streets of life on your way out!

Date: Friday, August 2nd, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter bring you Learn Your Lesson...Boys - Shockucational Shorts for the Guys, the sixth in a series of programs highlighting the most ridiculous, insane and camptastic shockucational films and TV specials of the collection. This time it is all about the boys, from wet dreams, illiteracy, crying, making friends and dealing with bullying as just some of the hilarious lessons we'll learn...together! Kareem Abdul Jabar (with the help of Clarence Williams III and a little bleach in his brother's eyes) inspires one boy to admit his illiteracy in The Hero Who Couldn't Read (1984). The White Shadow Ken Howard talks wet dreams and unwanted pregnancies while he roasts weinies with three unaccompanied youngsters in Facts for Boys (1981). NFL great and needlepoint enthusiast Rosey Grier sings "It's Alright to Cry" from Free to Be...You and Me (1974). In Shy Guy (1947), Dick York likes tinkering with his radio in the basement, but will he ever make any real friends? Richard Widmark narrates the pointed tale of teenage delinquency, Boy with a Knife (1956). Little James cut his finger and he feels Just Awful (1972), will he learn to man up? Early birds will learn a lesson in homophobic bullying in Who's Different? (1986). Plus! More man-sized surprises in store!

Date: Friday, August 9th, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Highlights include:

Facts for Boys (Color, 1981)
“Changing from a boy to a man is a one way trip. I’m Ken Howard and I’ve been through it all and I’d like to share the experience with you.” Actor Ken Howard, in the middle of his stint as the White Shadow, decided to take three young boys, Li’l Billy Warner, Shane Hankins and Kade Lyons on an unsupervised camping trip to shoot the shit about wet dreams and unwanted pregnancies over wiener roasting and s’mores. With a dynamite soundtrack that includes hits by Rod Stewart, Blondie, The Eagles and Willie Nelson.

The Hero Who Couldn't Read (Color, 1984)
An ABC Afterschool EXTRA Special (shown before at Oddball only in excerpts) and howlingly funny dramatization of one teen basketball superstar's struggle with literacy. While illiteracy may be no laughing matter; the overacting, the heavy-handed inspirational speeches, the fake tears, the bleach in a little boy's eyes, it will all bring you to tears... of laughter. Featuring Clarence Williams III as the only teacher that cares enough to get him back on the right path and Kareem Abdul Jabar, playing himself and reading his cue cards like a champ!

It’s Alright To Cry from Free To Be...You And Me (Color, 1974)

Rosey Grier was an NFL star turned Renaissance Man, presidential bodyguard, singer, actor, needlepoint enthusiast, and Christian Minister. In this comforting ballad, “The Gentle Giant” teaches girls and boys alike that a little tearfest never hurt anyone, and even one of the Fearsome Foursome can be “sad and grumpy, down in the dumpy.”

About Free To Be You...And Me

Finding a dirth of positive, modern-thinking children’s literature and programming, Marlo Thomas (That Girl) set out to gather some of the biggest names at the time to teach the new generation of children about race and gender equality, caring, sharing, overcoming stereotypes, self-sufficiency, the validity of boys owning dolls, and the brotherhood of man. First a record, then a book, and in 1974, Free To Be You And Me became an Emmy-Winning television broadcast. With singing, dancing, cartoons and puppets! The magic of Free To Be You and Me was its effortless way of making heavy ideas of feminism, consumerism and understanding palatable and entertaining for children and adult-children alike.

Shy Guy(B+W, 1947)

This unintentionally humorous film depicts high school kid Phil Norton (Dick York) as a transfer student to a new town where he has no friends. He is a true geek, who spends all his time in the basement building a radio. His father offers him advice on fitting in. Phil then studies the popular kids in school. He sees that they are good listeners and are always polite and helpful. At an afterschool mixer, Phil offers to help Beezy Barnes (a fellow radio geek), and all the kids immediately become interested in Phil.

Boy With a Knife (B+W, 1956)
Narrated by film noir legend Richard Widmark, this educational film makes juvenile delinquency seem positively benign compared to today’s problem youth. Some great campy moments.

Just Awful (Color, 1972, 8 min)
Oh no! James cut his finger on the playground and he feels: “Just Awful!” Now he has to go see the nurse, which makes him feel even worse. It’s his first time there, so we watch him take it all in, see how other kids react, and then follow him through a triumphant bandaging, returning to class like the champ he is. Seriously, a very weird film even by educational film standards.

For the Early Birds:

Who's Different (1986)

Teens playing water polo. Classroom with high school students. Bully picking on school nerd. Jock won’t get help in geometry from the nerd, and will get kicked off team if he doesn’t improve his grades. At school dance they have confrontation. Water polo coach, an African American male, pulls the athlete aside and talks to him about difference and race. Same jock works on car and learns more about being different and ends up getting math help from nerd and learns to be more accepting.

Oddball Films Presents Oddball Beach Party: Surf, Sand and Cinema with a groovy, sexy, funny and tubular cinematic trip to the beach. Just because San Francisco's own beach is too foggy and cold to traverse, doesn't mean we can't vicariously catch some waves, admire bikini clad beauties or twist with Louis Prima! Louis, Keely Smith and Sam Butera and the Witnesses don their pedalpushers and set the South Shore of Tahoe on fire in the rare musical treat The Wildest (1958). Catch some big waves and groovy tunes in the psychedelic surf-fest Hang Ten (1970). Woody Woodpecker and Wally Walrus are out to ruin each other's beach vacations in The Beach Nut (1944). Learn how to stay beautiful, even as a beach bum, including how keep your clothes clean, or at least off, in the sexy short Beachcombing Belle (1949) from the Bikini Girls nudie cutie series. Set out for exotic ports of call in the vintage cheeky travelogue Polynesian Holiday (1955), shot in stunning Kodachrome! One man inflates everything he needs for the perfect day at the beach, including a girlfriend in the mid-century cartoon gem and Oscar winner Ersatz (1961). One lonely bug must make it across the hell of an extremely 80's Venice Beach to make it to a romantic shoreline rendezvous in Why'd the Beetle Cross the Road? (1984). And Renee Taylor spoofs Fellini in the outrageous seaside romp Two (1971). Plus! Hawaiian Soundies, more sunny surprises and Choosing a Sunscreen (1989) for the Early Birds, this is one beach party you won't want to miss!

Date: Thursday August 8th, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Featuring:

The Wildest(B+W, 1958)

Filmed on the South Sore at Lake Tahoe, this super rare short features Louis Prima with Keely Smith and Sam Butera and the Witnesses. A very loose plot serves to feature the high-energy band tearing through When You’re Smiling, Birth of the Blues, Listen to the Mockingbird and more. Crazy lakeside capris pants twist action!

Hang Ten(Color, 1970)

Directed and produced by the team of Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman (cult surf favorite 5 Summer Stories and the surf sequences in Big Wednesday, plus second unit scenes in Blade Runner, The Shining and more), “Hang Ten” is a psychedelic riff on surfing and surfculture. Image overlaps, color shifts, reverse motion coupled with a bizarre, fuzz/chamber pop soundtrack by the mystery band Topaz.

Woody Woodpecker in The Beach Nut (1944)
Woody just wants to have a great day by the seaside. But his unending feud with Wally Walrus won't let him get any rest. As they ruin each other's fun, something's going up in flames, and it's not Woody's hot dog!

Bikini Girls (B+W, 1949)
Titillating tales featuring bikini-clad women and an over-the-top narrator. Shot over 60 years ago these risque shorts always feature women doing things that expose themselves like applying suntan lotion, trying on clothes and “getting comfortable” in the hot sun. A sexy and sexist look at the lighter side of eroticism in the 1940s.

“Beachcombing Belle” A brunette does laundry in a tide pool and strips down to a bikini and sun bathes. The waves wash away her clothes!

Polynesian Holiday (Color, 1955)
Filmed in stunning Kodachrome color, this rare short travelogue stars bandleader Harry Owens in a tongue-in-cheek island vacation, where he’s fanned and feted by beautiful native women. Harry established the “hapa haole” style of Hawaiian music (native music as interpreted by foreigners) and won an Oscar for his song “Sweet Leilani”.

Ersatz (AKA Surogat) (Color, 1961)

This Yugoslavian animated short was the first foreign animated film to win an Oscar. A fat man goes to the beach and inflates everything he needs. like a boat, a tent, and a shark. He manages to have a fine time until he inflates a girlfriend for himself and realizes that women are too much damn trouble. A gem of mid-century modern style!

Why'd The Beetle Cross The Road (Color, 1984)

Like a game of Frogger set on the bikini-clad boardwalk of Venice Beach, we follow one unlucky beetle as he's trampled by sexy teenagers, volleyballs, and bicyclists, all while merely trying to reach the beach. Will he make it, and why did he do it? One girl in High School knows the answer, but we're not telling...

Two (Color, 1971)

Spoof of overwrought Italian films written by and starring Reneé Taylor (nominated for an Oscar for Lovers and Other Strangers). A delicious send up of your art house favorites by way the Borscht Belt! A glamorous pair of Fellini rejects find themselves on an empty beach and become tangled in an absurd frenzy of neurotic passion and brutal debasement! The Two lovers try to out-passion each other, then out-debase themselves until the woman walks away in disgust.In perfectly awful Italian and Yiddish with subtitled in English. Written by and starring Reneé Taylor (nominated for an Oscar for Lovers and Other Strangers).

For The Early Birds:

Choosing a Sunscreen (Color, 1989)

Watch this exciting (yeah sure!) infomercial about sunscreen produced by Neutrogena. Witness shots of people windsurfing, horse riding, catamaran sailing, golf, hurling, white water kayaking, gardening, fishing, sailboat sailing, hot air ballooning while we question Dr. Nicholas Lowe, dermatologist, next to a pool. Learn everything you always wanted to know about sunscreens as we see women playing backgammon in a hot tub, playing tennis and polo, the application of sunscreen and sunscreen labels and pool side gardening, biking, roller coaster, dancing, a fashion show. Outside-it’s where we burn up!

Learn Your Lesson...on Drugs: Shockucational Shorts for the D.A.R.E. Generation - Fri. May 10th - 8PM

Czech Please! Animated Wonders from the former Czechoslovakia - Thur. May 9th - 8PM

Strange Sinema 64: Optical Explorations - Thur. May 16 - 8PM

Sugar Shock: Candy, Cavities and Saturday Morning Shenanigans - Fri. May 17 - 8PM

You Give Me Fever - God, The Devil and Betty Boop - Thur. May 23 - 8PM

Play with your Toys! - Fri. May 24 - 8PM

Formidable Conformity: The System Fights Back - Thur. May 30 - 8PM

Man and the Machine - The Future of Technology from the Past - Fri. May 31 - 8PM

Submerged Cinema - Fri. June 7th - 8PM

Sid Davis: Nightmare Maker - Thurs. June 6th - 8PM

Watch What You Eat - Thur. June 13 - 8PM

Learn Your Lesson...About Sex - Shockucational Contraceptives - Fri. June 14 - 8PM

Strange Sinema 65: Strange Stunts - Thur. June 20 - 8PM

A Brighter Yesterday: Science and Technology of the ‘20s and ‘30s - Fri. June 21 - 8PM

Inside the Cosmic Mind - Sci-Fi in July - Fri. July 26 - 8PM

Strange Sinema 66: Strange Synthesis/Media Manipulators - Thur. July 25 - 8PM

Polanski and the Polish Avant-Garde - Thur. Aug. 1st - 8PM

Stand Your Ground - Fri. Aug. 2 - 8PM

Learn Your Lesson...Boys - Shockucational Shorts for the Guys - Fri. Aug. 9th - 8PM

Oddball Beach Party: Surf, Sand and Cinema - Thur. Aug. 8th - 8PM