Tag Archives: Cinefamily

ACÉPHALE AT CINEFAMILY

“There were some joyful moments in 1968, feast-like, maybe Dyonisian here and there, but mainly we were serious and grave, first because we hated the greasy laugh of our elders, but also because we could not get satisfaction.” — Patrick Deval, director of ACÉPHALE*

As part of its Zanzibar Films series, Cinefamily presents a rare screening of ACÉPHALE, a 1968 feature that documents the lives of young Parisians navigating the immediate aftermath of May ’68. One translation of its title—taken from Georges Bataille’s journal—indicates the need to move beyond rational thought:

“I became a bit radical in my refusal of Western civilization, constantly raving about the end of the white man. Rouch was closer to this view, becoming himself a joyful African in the oral tradition. But that was not so far from Rimbaud, Artaud, or Gauguin when he decided to ‘ensavage’ himself.” — Deval*

ACÉPHALE will be preceded by a screening of Serge Bard’s DETRUISEZ-VOUS.

ACÉPHALE, Saturday, August 26, at 6 pm.

CINEFAMILY, 611 North Faifax Avenue, Los Angeles.

cinefamily.org/films/zanzibar/

Image: Scene from Acéphale.

See Deval’s interview in Senses of Cinema:

Deval in ’68: An Interview with Patrick Deval

2015

ALMENDROS AND ROHMER

Cinematographer Nestor Almendros made his feature debut in 1966 when he photographed Éric Rohmer’s La Collectionneuse, and he worked with Rohmer on the three subsequent Moral Tales.

“The landscape and the setting can impose a certain style on a film. When Rohmer and I went to the Annecy region scouting location’s for CLAIRE’S KNEE (1970), he told me he wanted a Gauguin look….Rohmer shoots fast, but he doesn’t shoot all the time….He may arrive in the morning and do nothing concrete until noon. Though he may seem to be daydreaming, he acts with amazing speed when he decides what he wants….Since he has neither assistants nor a scriptwriter, Rohmer keeps track of everything himself….He’s open to any kind of suggestion as long as it has nothing to do with content. On this, he is inflexible.” — Nestor Almendros, A Man with a Camera (1984)

CLAIRE’S KNEE, Saturday, July 22, at 5 pm.

CINEFAMILY, 611 North Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles.

 

Unlike the previous Moral Tales, Rohmer’s final chapter LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON (a.k.a. CHLOÉ IN THE AFTERNOON) is set in Paris, which allowed Rohmer to construct a fantasy sequence where the women from the previous Tales reappear on the street.

LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON, Saturday, July 29, at 5 pm.

CINEFAMILY, 611 North Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles.

 

The July 29 screening will feature a DJ set by Jim Smith, from The Smell.

Both films will be screened in 35mm prints, courtesy of the Institut Français.

cinefamily.org/films/la-collectionneuse/#moral-tales-claires-knee

Danièle Ciarlet, a.k.a. Zouzou, in L’amour l’après-midi/Love in the Afternoon/Chloé in the Afternoon.

lamour-lapres-midi

TRINTIGNANT, FABIAN, AND ROHMER

MA NUIT CHEZ MAUD—screening at Cinefamily early Saturday evening—is the third of Rohmer’s Moral Tales, but was shot fourth, while the director waited for Jean-Louis Trintignant’s schedule to clear.

MA NUIT CHEZ MAUD is about love, being a Roman Catholic, body language and the games people play. It is just about the best movie I’ve seen on all four subjects. It is also a refreshingly intelligent movie: not that it’s ideological or academic (far from it) but that it is thoughtful, and reveals a deep knowledge of human nature.” — Roger Ebert, 1970

This presentation of Rohmer’s Moral Tales is part of Cinefamily’s La Collectionneuse series, programmed by Kalyane Lévy.

MA NUIT CHEZ MAUD, Saturday, July 15, at 5 pm.

CINEFAMILY, 611 North Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles.

At 3:30 pm, Jim Smith from The Smell is playing a DJ set at a pre-MAUD reception at CINEFAMILY. Ticket-holders can r.s.v.p. here:

docs.google.com/forms/d/1TlB9g-gsSP5mF1j9BQyd9jiVzUMBTWZiLAYsX6IWTcs/viewform?edit_requested=true

Françoise Fabian and Jean-Louis Trintignant in Ma nuit chez Maud (1969).

920329c1c2d3e4354cb46bde7ff26cf9--françoise-fabian-vintage-films

TALES OF ROHMER

Cinefamily is hosting an immersive look at Éric Rohmer’s six contes moraux, his decade-long run of “moral tales” which each have less to do with “morality” than the thoughts and behavior of a straying man—committed to one woman, attracted by another—who returns to his original love.

This week, the series begins with two short films—LA BOULANGÈRE DE MONCEAU (THE BAKERY GIRL OF MONCEAU, 1962; 26 minutes) and LA CARRIÈRE DE SUZANNE (SUZANNE’S CAREER, 1963; 60 minutes)—that never saw theatrical release, and continues with the feature-length LA COLLECTIONNEUSE (1967). Set on the Côte d’Azur and marked by an irresistable langour—described by Rohmer as a story of “l’amour par désoeuvrement” (love by idleness)—LA COLLECTIONNEUSE stars Haydée Politoff, a collector of men and an ideal image of nonchalance.

THE BAKERY GIRL OF MONCEAU and SUZANNE’S CAREER, Thursday, July 6, at 8 pm. (Doors open at 7 pm.)

ZEBULON, 2478 Fletcher Dr, Los Angeles.

After-party at Zebulon with DJs Mark Wright and Jessica Hardy from Décadanse Soirée.

LA COLLECTIONNEUSE, Saturday, July 8, at 5 pm.

CINEFAMILY, 611 North Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles.

 

Haydée Politoff in La Collectionneuse, directed by Éric Rohmer. Image credit: Mubi.

Image: mubi.comLa_Collectionneuse_mubi.com1

FASSBINDER AND HIS FRIENDS

FOX AND HIS FRIENDS (1975), one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s very few films with a queer protagonist, pits the title character (played by Fassbinder himself)—a hapless, clueless circus performer who has just won the lottery—against the imperatives of the sleek, educated gays he suddenly has access to.

FOX contains Fassbinder’s most pointed social observation…. a deep, warts-and-all image of queer identity….It questions the conventional social authority that often oppresses those who, like gay, naive Fox, go through life unaware that they lack social power.” — Armond White*

In addition to Fassbinder, FOX stars Peter Chatel as Fox’s social-climbing lover, Harry Baer as Fox’s rival, and El Hedi ben Salem (Fassinder’s real-life lover) as a Moroccan hustler. Cinematography by Michael Ballhaus.

FOX AND HIS FRIENDS, Thursday, June 8 at 7:30 pm.

CINEFAMILY, 611 North Fairfax, Los Angeles.

cinefamily.org/films/cinefamily-editions-presents/#fox-and-his-friends

*out.com/movies/2017/4/28/fassbinders-mirror-how-gay-filmmaker-examined-self-society

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (left) and Peter Chatel in Fox and His Friends. Image credits: The Criterion Collection, and Slant.

Fassbinder’s Mirror

fox and his friends

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (background) and Peter Chatel in Fox and His Friends Image credit: Slant