The Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles is reopening – with new sound and style. The SMT is old but the inside is amazing, and now sound films are running with the silents. Grand re-opening is tomorrow, 10/25, with a solid Halloween lineup.

A lot of great old stuff will be showing there, but in December there is a series of new indies: “The New Naturalists”, featuring The Puffy Chair, Mutual Appreciation, Old Joy, Apart from That and Frownland. Check out all their great lineups on their website. Official press release here:

Hadrian Belove of Cinefile Video, Sammy Harkham of Family Books and Dan Harkham of the Silent Movie Theatre have teamed up to launch The Cinefamily, a new venue for revival programming– from foreign to independent, from classical to cutting edge, from silent film to live music, and from exploitation to experimental. Our home is the world famous Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax. The theater will reopen on October 25th with a bigger screen, more comfortable seating (including plush, leather sofas), and state-of-the-art projection and sound. The Cinefamily is committed to the presentation of silent films with live musical accompaniment, while expanding our calendar to embrace all forms of cinematic experience. There will be an adventurous program of regularly-scheduled events devoted to specific genres and audiences including:

Silent Movies w/ live musical accompaniment- Every Wednesday Night
Musicals, Concert Films & Special Music Events- Every Thursday Night.
Mini-Festivals- Every Friday and Saturday
Holy F*cking Sh*t (Incredibly Strange Cinema)- Every Saturday Late Night
Noir Matinees- Every Sunday afternoon
Asian Cinema Night- Every Sunday evening
Experimental Cinema- Monthly
Movie/Movie-Notable people present their favorite movies- Monthly
Short Films before features
Oodles of Special Events- Ongoing

What is The Cinefamily?

The Cinefamily is an organization of movie lovers devoted to finding and presenting interesting and unusual programs of exceptional, distinctive, weird and wonderful films. The Cinefamily’s goal is to foster a spirit of community and a sense of discovery, while reinvigorating the movie-going experience. Like campfires, sporting events and church services, we believe that movies work best as social experiences. They are more meaningful, funnier and scarier when shared with others. Our home is the Silent Movie Theatre, one of Hollywood’s most beloved and beautiful cultural landmarks. There, The Cinefamily will provide a destination spot for Los Angelenos and others to rediscover the pleasures of cinema.

http://www.silentmovietheatre.com/

The newest installment in Olivo Barbieri’s mind-melting “site specific” series will be opening at the Yancy Richardson Gallery in New York on Thursday, November 1st. “The Waterfall Project” will run through December 22nd, 2007.

Yancey Richardson Gallery
535 West 22nd St
NY, NY 10011
www.yanceyrichardson.com

In 2000, seeking new markets for their products, western pharmaceutical companies began a massive campaign to introduce a new concept to the good people of Japan; the concept of depression. Before 2000, the good people of Japan apparently did not even have a word to describe sadness as a biological illness. So the companies had to coin a new word, “Utsu,” and create a catchy ad slogan, “Does Your Soul Have A Cold?” Suffice it to say the marketing campaign was a success and anti-depressant sales have quintupled.

Mike Mills, director of Thumbsucker, has made an incredibly intimate film documenting the human effects of America’s latest cultural export to Japan.

“Does Your Soul Have A Cold” will air on IFC Monday October 29th at 9 PM EDT. Watch the trailer here.

Until then, here is an interview with Mike to get you in the mood.

INTERVIEW WITH MIKE MILLS, DIRECTOR of DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD?

1. How did you feel after making this film?

Mike Mills: After the first trip I got pretty depressed. Or, it became clear to me that part of my attraction to this subject was a desire to face the depression I’m susceptible to and that’s been around me since my childhood. It turned out to be quite therapeutic in the long run. I learned to separate my experience, my spirits, from other people’s depression. But after my first splash of hanging out with these people I got sort of a vertigo about being sad - I became terrified of falling as far as some of them have. By the time the film was really done I was mostly grateful to the subjects of the film (my rule was that I could only interview people who were taking anti-depressants), because they were so honest and willing to share the hardest parts of their life with me. Especially in a culture like Japan, which rewards harmony and avoids complaining, this was quite a generous gift to me, essentially a stranger.

2. You know, the stereotype is that Japanese are particularly adept at adopting foreign trends and turning them into cultural lifestyle obsessions. Is that what this is? Did they really not know about depression before we began marketing anti-depressants to them? And if so, what can we do to make amends for convincing they aren’t as happy as they thought they were?

MM: It’s fair to say that the concept of depression was only known to professionals and people who were really suffering from it, and even then it seems to have been shrouded in the shame and mystery which surrounds all mental illness in Japan. It seems that the difference between depression and schizophrenia was blurry to many people, both just were just as taboo and scary. From what I learned from the subjects we interviewed, depression did get a little trendy. After these campaigns, books, websites, and magazine articles about depression shot up. The ads did create a sort of new class of people suffering from light depression who began asking for anti-depressants. I heard people in my film call this “Petit Utsu” -”little depression”. I often heard people say something like, yeah, that’s what women who work at magazines get. Truth is, with a suicide rate around 32,000 per year (about the same as America but with half the population), light and heavy depression has been in Japan for a long time. Most of the people I interviewed were very happy to see these campaigns because they “outed” depression. Just to see anybody on mainstream TV talk about depression, in a culture that historically erased it’s presence, was radical and helpful to them. They had little inclination to critique western corporate influence on their brain chemistry. In general, all things western, especially in the terrain of mental health, are perceived as being more progressive than in Japan.

3. How many people did you interview for the film and how did you find them?

MM: The bulk of the research was done online by my Japanese producer, Takuo Yasuda, and his team. Everything in Japan, from leiderhosen to BMX, has a huge online community with blogs and chat rooms etc. So the depression community has many sites that we announced our project on. We interviewed about 40 people from that and word of mouth was spread from there. I went to Tokyo and met about 15 of these people, and narrowed it down to 8. We actually began shooting 8 people, but then worked it down to the 5 that are in the film. The three that were cut were either because we couldn’t see enough of their lives- they had kids and didn’t want to expose them to the film so we were limited with the stuff we could shoot- or they had more than just depression so their stories got too complicated.

4. The fact that that we are actively exporting depression to other countries seems seriously chikusho, (which I think is Japanese for “not cool.”) You’d think congress would have to approve something like that first. I mean they do make all our cars and electronics. Anyway, what countries could/should we sell bummer to next?

MM: I think we have covered it by now. There was a New York Times article about how the Cambodian government has subsidized the prescription of Prozac to Khmer-Rouge refugees. I’ve also read things about vets giving anti-depressants to animals with depressive symptoms- parakeets that habitually pluck all their feathers out, baboons that have become reclusive. I keep thinking about all the mental disorders that have yet to be identified that will come with their own new medical cures. In the future pharmacology may be much more like taking vitamins today - a little of this, a little of that.

5. We organized a crying competition once for a film and the first attempt was a disaster because none of the guys could cry. (SEE BELOW) We think it was because they were all taking anti-depressants. Do you, like President Bush, “do tears?”

MM: Oh yes. More and more as I get older.

6. I remember my friend telling me about a Japanese company that sells Kidsbeer, a non-alcoholic “beer” geared specifically to children. It’s like a soda but they remove the sugar, color it dark brown, make it frothy, and put it in beer bottles. And it is apparently a huge seller. Their slogan? “Even kids cannot stand life unless they have a drink.” Did you see that? While you were making the film did you come across any other Utsu-themed and
marketed products?

MM: I didn’t see that beer stuff, but that sounds true. I didn’t bump into any other Utsu products. I think only because the market return doesn’t seem that big yet.

7. One of my favorite moments from DYSHAC is that long slow pan from the living room to Ken, the masochist’s, bedroom where he is sleeping. Wong Kar Wai and his DP Christopher Doyle would have spent an entire day getting shot that set up. It’s amazing. Did you pre-plan that or do these visual metaphors just sort of happen for you?

MM: The film is a series of portraits. We wanted to capture as much of their life as we could, and not just portray these people as depression victims. So we basically went where we were allowed to go, and caught what we could catch. I don’t know if it’s because we have all internalized the stories we share as a culture, all the arcs and metaphors that we learn through fiction and then project them back out onto everything we see, but it seems easy to find poetic meaning and metaphors and story arcs in “real” peoples lives. The best part of making a documentary for me is that I get to write on the spot, with what’s in front of me, with a camera and not words. The funny thing about narrative filmmaking is that you do spend a lot of time and energy trying to re-create a sense of surprise, serendipity, and the accidental which is happening every second with natural light, non-actors, non-controlled settings.

8. Have you screened DYSHAC in Japan? What was the reaction?

MM: I haven’t yet, and I’m very nervous about that. Especially for the people in the film, they gave so much, you gotta hope they like it.

October 11, 2007

Buffalo, NY – Today in Federal District Court, Dr. Robert Ferrell, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, under tremendous pressure, pled guilty to lesser charges rather than facing a prolonged trial for federal charges of “mail fraud” and “wire fraud” in a surreal post-PATRIOT Act legal case that has attracted worldwide attention.

“From the beginning, this has been a persecution, not a prosecution. Although I have not seen the final agreement, the initial versions contained incorrect and irrelevant information,” said Dr. Dianne Raeke Ferrell, Dr. Ferrell’s wife and an Associate Professor of Special Education and Clinical Services at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. “Bob is a 27 year survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma which has reoccurred numerous times. He has also had malignant melanoma. Since this whole nightmare began, Bob has had two minor strokes and a major stroke which required months of rehabilitation.”

Dr. Ferrell added that her husband was indicted just as he was preparing to undergo a painful and dangerous autologous stem cell transplant, the second in 7 years.

The Ferrell’s daughter, Gentry Chandler Ferrell, added: “Our family has struggled with an intense uncertainty about physical, emotional and financial health for a long time. Agreeing to a plea deal is a small way for dad to try to eliminate one of those uncertainties and hold on a little longer to the career he worked so hard to develop… Sadly, while institutions merely are tarnished from needless litigation, individuals are torn apart. I remain unable to wrap my mind around the absurdity of the government’s pursuit of this case and I am saddened that it has been dragged out to the point where my dad opted to settle from pure exhaustion.” (To read Gentry Ferrell’s full statement, please visit: http://caedefensefund.org/press/ferrellplea.html)

Dr. Ferrell’s colleague Dr. Steven Kurtz, founder of the internationally acclaimed art and theater group Critical Art Ensemble, was illegally detained and accused of “bioterrorism” by the U.S. government in 2004 stemming from his acquisition from Dr. Ferrell of harmless bacteria used in several of Critical Art Ensemble’s educational art projects. After a costly investigation lasting several months and failing to provide any evidence of “bioterrorism,” the Department of Justice instead brought charges of “mail fraud” and “wire fraud” against Kurtz and Ferrell.  Under the USA PATRIOT Act, the maximum penalty for these charges has increased from 5 years to 20. (For more information about the case, please see “Background to the Case” below or http://caedefensefund.org)

JURIDICAL ART CRITICISM?

The government is vigorously attempting to prosecute two defendants in a case where no one has been injured, and no one has been defrauded. The materials found in Dr. Kurtz’s house were obtained legally and used safely by the artist. After 3 1/2 years of investigation and prosecution, the case still revolves around $256 worth of common science research materials that were used in art works by a highly visible and respected group of artists. These art works were commissioned and hosted by cultural institutions worldwide where they had been safely displayed in museums and galleries with absolutely no risk to the public. The Government has consistently framed this case as an issue of public safety, but the materials used by Critical Art Ensemble are widely available, can be purchased by anyone from High School science supply catalogs, and are regularly mailed.

PROFESSORS OF ART & SCIENCE EXPRESS ALARM

“The government’s prosecution is an ill-conceived and misguided attack on the scientific and artistic communities,” said Dr. Richard Gronostajski, Professor of Biochemistry at SUNY Buffalo, where Professor Kurtz also teaches. “It could have a chilling effect on future scientific research collaborations, and harm teaching efforts and interactions between scientists, educators and artists.”

 “It’s deeply alarming that the government could pressure someone of Dr. Ferrell’s stature into agreeing to something like this. The case threatens all Americans’ Constitutionally guaranteed right to question the actions of their government,” said Igor Vamos, Professor of Integrated Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

PLEA COMES AMIDST OVERWHELMING PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR DEFENDANTS

The plea bargain agreement comes at a time of overwhelming public support for the two defendants. A film about the case, Strange Culture—directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson and featuring Tilda Swinton (Chronicles of Narnia, Michael Clayton), Thomas Jay Ryan (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and Peter Coyote (E.T., Erin Brockovich)—has drawn widespread critical praise and public interest, with screenings in dozens of U.S. cities after its selection to open both the 2007 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival doc section. An October 1st screening of the film at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City drew a crowd of 400 who stayed for an hour afterward for a discussion with Hershman Leeson, Professor Kurtz, and Tilda Swinton. Special Benefit screenings of the film in numerous cities have raised thousands of dollars to offset the two defendants’ escalating legal costs.

BACKGROUND TO THE CASE

The legal nightmare of renowned scientist Dr. Robert Ferrell and artist and professor Dr. Steven Kurtz began in May 2004. Professor Kurtz and his late wife Hope were founding members of the internationally exhibited art and theater collective Critical Art Ensemble. Over the past decade cultural institutions worldwide have commissioned and hosted Critical Art Ensemble’s participatory theater projects that help the general public understand biotechnology and the many issues surrounding it. In May 2004 the Kurtzes were preparing a project examining genetically modified agriculture for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, when Hope Kurtz died of heart failure. Detectives who responded to Professor Kurtz’s 911 call deemed the couple’s art suspicious, and called the FBI. Within hours the artist was illegally detained as a suspected “bioterrorist” as dozens of federal agents in Hazmat suits sifted through his work and impounded his computers, manuscripts, books, his cat, and even his wife’s body.

CASE DEPLETES PUBLIC & PRIVATE RESOURCES

The government has pursued this case relentlessly for three and a half years, spending enormous amounts of public resources. Most significantly, the legal battle has exhausted the financial, emotional, and physical resources of Ferrell and Kurtz; as well as their families and supporters. The professional and personal lives of both defendants have suffered tremendously. A trial date has not yet been established. 

For more information about the case, with extensive documentation, please visit:
http://caedefensefund.org

Live in San Francisco? Like short films? Like experimental freak out beauty? Then run to the great ATA this weekend for their 2nd Annual ATA Film & Video three day fest of “original, independent & underground” cinema. On Wednesday October 10th, the Opening Night Party will feature an eclectic music selection by dj_spaceinvader & Niles of mk2 reality enhancement, and will premiere local filmmaker Paul Clipson’s new super 8 film “Illuminations” with live musical score by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.

On Thursday, October 11, the night starts with the experimental shorts program “Auteur Space”, anchored by the haunting Paradise Drift (Martin Hansen), following people whose bodies are on earth but their souls seem elsewhere. Followed by the political program “Reelpolitik”, a strong collection of films that are minimal yet very lyrical, including the mystical, endearing films Marmot (Olga Chernysheva); Tetescha Us (Stefanie Wuschitz) and La Parabolica (Xavi Sala).

The Friday, October 12, early program is “Mnemonics”, avant shorts of really nice, classic design like hand painting and scratching, and reinventing found footage. Flight Home (Tadashi Moriyama) is engaging, following these animated sort of Sim City guys in a strange universe, and Paul Clipson’s Echo Park is a luscious, epic lightshow. The later program is “States of Matter”, mixing a variety of films from rough art performance to articulate cut and paste animation. Sissy Boy Slap Party (Guy Maddin) and Phantom Canyon (Stacey Steers) are great standouts.

Also on the scene are ATA Film & Video Festival Installation Films:
Btween calm & chaos & calm & chaos… (Dayv Jones); Cantata In C
Major (Ronnie Cramer); Contraction (Marlon Gonzalez); Fanatica (Marco Castro); Hybrids (Niloo Tehranchi); La Fuerza Eyaculatoria del Ojo/The Ejaculatory Power of the Eye (Sara Sama Acedo); Three Decades of Static (Yin-Ju Chen); Todo Disfraz Esta Hecho de Recuerdos/All Disguise is Done of Memories (Manuel Olias).

Go support true indie art!

One of our favorite films from CineVegas 2006 is being self-released on DVD in a beautiful special edition with a photo book. Variety critic Robert Koehler told me it was his favorite American film made last year. Please check it out and see some true independent cinema.

from co-director Randy Walker:

Dear friends,
Well, after 24 festivals, 3 awards, a “limited
engagement” theatrical run in theaters across the US,
a Croatian television appearance, a nod and a shove
from WHOLPHIN:

http://www.wholphindvd.com/wordpress/2007/05/lost-pet-apart-from-that/

…these quotes:

“”an original and resonant feature debut…fashioned
by young artists with a defiantly personal sense of
visual design and pace, along with considerable
sympathy for their exceptionally human characters.”
-VARIETY

“…its characters are more akin to the American
grotesque of Raymond Carver and Flannery O’Connor than
any film precedents, save perhaps early Cassavetes.”
-THE LIST

…and let’s not forget this one:

“The sort of film you could threaten naughty children
with.”
-some guy in Scotland

…Jen and I are happy to finally announce the
official release of the APART FROM THAT SPECIAL
EDITION DVD/CD/ART/PHOTO PACKAGE, now available at

www.foreignamericanpictures.com

Here’s everything:

1. DVD including special features:
-behind-the-scenes documentary
-auditions
-deleted scenes
-interviews
-exclusive trailers for films
currently on the festival circuit that Jen and I are
in love with

2. CD SOUNDTRACK with original score composed by
Christopher Shainin, Patrick Shainin and Brian Olpin.
Also includes “Ulla’s recordings of sounds,” along
with other music and dialogue from the film.

3. ART+PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK; hard-bound/cloth cover,
consisting of over 50 photographs from the production,
combined with illustrations and correspondence from
the cast and crew.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in the
film, we are also on myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/apartfromthat

And you can also check out the ad for the book on
YouTube:

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

much love,
Randy & Jenny
APART FROM THAT
www.foreignamericanpictures.com

Do you know what a “terrorism enhancement” is? It’s when a guy at the justice department decides that a crime you have been charged with was meant to influence or coerce the government into changing a particular policy and thus warrants an additional punitive sentence far in excess of murder or any other violent crime on the books.

Basically by adding a terrorism enhancement, the Justice Department is saying, as inexplicable as it sounds, that burning a hummer because you have a creepy fire fetish is simple arson, but burning a Hummer to protest our government’s inaction regarding global warming is a worse crime than either murder or child rape.

On May 15, 2007, government prosecutors successfully convinced a judge to add a “terrorism enhancement” to arson charges against several environmental activists in Portland, Oregon who had pled guilty to destroying research facilities and other buildings. The government insisted that they qualified for the additionally punitive label, which comes with a mandatory 30-year minimum sentence, because “at least one of the fires each of them set was intended to change or retaliate against government policy.” It was the beginning of what is now being called “The Green Scare.” The Green Scare is the same thing as the Red Scare only with environmental and animal activists as the primary targets.

The fact that our government has come to see the Aristotelian concept of praxis- public action with the intention of changing the world- as not the constitutional duty of every good American, but an evil to be squashed in a Guantanamo prison, is the gasping canary in our collective civil rights coalmine. So, while we still can, we offer:

The Likelihood That Someone At Some Point Will Accuse You Of Terrorism Based On Recent Events Quiz.

1. November 20, 2006
A US Airways pilot orders six Muslim imams off his Phoenix-bound flight after their praying, conversation and behavior alarms flight attendants and several passengers. Some witnesses report the men were making “anti-American statements involving the Iraq war.” “These guys were up to no good,” passenger Pat Snelson said.

What is the likelihood of this happening to you? Check the most appropriate answer below:

A) I never fly US Airways because they have had 9 fatal events since 1970 according to airsafe.com, have declared bankruptcy twice, their CEO was just arrested for drunk driving, and only 56% of their flights arrived on time according to a recent study.

B) I only pray when I’m hungover, but I do have a beard, a big trendy Kazinsky. I grew it after the New York Times published this paragraph:“Do beards that call to mind Charles Manson suggest dissatisfaction with “the system”? Are broody beards, like the dark and somber mood of the fall fashion collections, physical manifestations of a melancholia in the air? Are they a reflection of the stylistic impact on mainstream fashion of the subculture of gay men known as bears, who embrace natural body hair?”

C) I never pray because I stopped believing in God the moment Tony Bennett thanked Target during his acceptance speech with Stevie Wonder at this year’s Grammy’s, and despite the New York Time’s informative article pondering the subconscious motivations driving the grooming habits of “10 out of 15” Vice Magazine employees, I find beards itchy and a little gay in that order.

(Answers: A, 35% chance. B, 64% chance. C, 8% chance.)

2. April 2004
The FBI’s Latent Fingerprint Unit makes a 100% positive identification that a partial print that investigators pulled from a plastic bag found at the scene of the Madrid train bombings belongs to Brandon Mayfield, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

Ignoring Spanish investigators who seriously question the match, U.S. officials conclude that since Mayfield had once represented a man in a Portland child-custody case who was later suspected of terrorism, he should be investigated and detained under the Patriot Act. Mayfield was imprisoned for weeks as a material witness before a judge finally threw out his case suggesting the FBI re-evaluate their understanding of the term “100% positive.”

A) I have fingers.

B) I have no fingers… but I am a defense lawyer who believes every American deserves legal representation.

C) I refuse to go to Spain until their government acknowledges that the Basques are one of the planet’s oldest living bloodlines- over 35% have type 0 Rh-Neg blood, the blood from which all other human bloodlines reportedly developed- and thus deserve all the autonomy they want.

(Answers: A, 50% chance. B, 50% chance. C, 20% chance.)

3. March 2, 2007
While hosting a May Day Rock concert, an Italian comedian, Andrea Rivera, jokes “The Pope says he doesn’t believe in evolution. I agree, in fact the Church has never evolved.” The following day L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official newspaper, accuse him of “terrorism.” “It’s terrorism to launch attacks on the Church,” it said. “It’s terrorism to stoke blind and irrational rage against someone who always speaks in the name of love, love for life and love for man.”

A) I too sometimes make jokes about the pope. In fact I’ve got a joke for you; The Pope, Mr. “Love For Life and Man” gets on stage in Rio in May and starts explaining that his church wasn’t brutally colonizing the Indians during the bloody conquistador wars, it was purifying them. Purifying them. Nice. Then he told all of Brazil to stop having premarital sex. Brazil! Comedy or terrorism? You decide.

B) I just realized that Googling “Pope Palpatine” gets 3,710 image results.

C) Anyone who says “the Catholic church has never evolved” has never heard Sister Wendy say the words “pubic hair.”

(Answers: A, 100% chance. B, 666% chance. C, 40% chance.)

4. September 2006
A Wisconsin man who wrote “Kip Hawley is an Idiot” on a plastic bag containing toiletries was detained for hours by airport security.

A) Kip is no idiot, He’s a genius. As the director of the TSA his “3 ounces or less” policy for all toiletries while still refusing to screen all baggage for explosives is a perfectly intelligent way to trick the terrorists into thinking we are a nation run by complete morons. Plus, I bet he’s confiscated enough hair product to last himself a lifetime. Clever bastard.

B) I am a young man of, I guess you could say, “dark complexion.”

C) I like graffiti.

(Answers: A, 50% chance. B, 70% chance. C, 75% chance.)

5. April 2006
A taxi driver reported Harraj Mann to British authorities for listening to a Clash record in his cab on the way to the airport. The driver was apparently “so frightened by some of the lyrics that he took them as a rallying call for a terrorist attack.”

A) A brother was able to get a taxi out of Lester Square? Right. Not bloody likely.

B) I once asked a friend to punch me as hard as he could in the face so I could replicate Joe Strummer’s captivating smile but since the economy’s tanking I can barely afford a bag of chips much less cab fare to the airport.

C) The Clash? They sound like The Strokes right?

(Answers: A, 90% chance. B, 40% chance. C, 2% chance of being accused of terrorism, 90% chance of being a Chav)