ON THE HORIZON: JUNE HAPPENINGS.
Celluloid delights! 16.5 hours of Spider-man! Movies that make you feel bad! Secret Kung Fu screening! Lots to look forward to in June…
Over in LA this June, as the world keeps dealing with anxieties like climate change, war, the repression of human rights in China and an extreme right wing push from America’s own white supremacist club known as The Republican Party, why not feel even worse as AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE invites you to its inaugural “BLEAK WEEK: Cinema of Despair,” a week long festival that spotlights some of the greatest films from around that world that explore the darkest sides of humanity, as well as some of the bleakest points in human history. Spanning across decades of cinema, classics such as SALÒ, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM (1975), THE SWEET HEREAFTER (1997), CHINATOWN (1974), SORCERER (1977), THE MIST - B&W version (2007) and much more. More info HERE.
On June 12th, Brooklyn NYC’s NITEHAWK CINEMA (Prospect Park) welcomes back SUBWAY CINEMA to unleash an action classic from the golden days of Hong Kong movie in 35mm for their SUNDAYS ON FIRE: Secret Hong Kong 35mm Feature. No clues as to what the secret movie is but it’s a period parody pairing Hong Kong’s greatest comic genius with China’s greatest dramatic actress for a double-barreled blast of satire sending up ancient Chinese dramas. Bring it… Pic above doesn’t indicate which film is screening! More info HERE.
The ‘FILM ON FILM’ series continues in June at THE PRINCE CHARLES CINEMA, London with another round of classics in 35mm celluloid format including FULL METAL JACKET (1987), THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY (1966), DARK CITY (1998), REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955), BRINGING OUT THE DEAD (1999) and much more. Come see the difference that film projection makes when a movie, shot on film, is projected using the medium intended by the film maker, offering far richer tones and depth that the often flat and compressed muddy mess, and frankly lazy color grading, afforded by streaming. More info HERE.
Ready for 16 and a half hours of web slinging action? Get set for the SPIDER-THON at Melbourne’s ASTOR THEATRE on June 11th featuring 9 Spider-Man films including Spider-Man (35mm), Spider-Man 2 (35mm), Spider-Man 3 (35mm), The Amazing Spider Man, The Amazing Spider Man 2, Spider-Man into the Spiderverse, Spider-Man Homecoming, Spider-Man Far From Home, Spider-Man No Way Home. More info HERE.
Spend an evening with Divine and the Filthiest People Alive as THE LOFT CINEMA, Arizona celebrates 50 years of bad taste with John Waters’ legendary 1972 comedy PINK FLAMINGOS on June 9th. As The AV Club describes it; “Probably still the most repellent film ever made … everything you’ve heard about Pink Flamingos is true, but what reports of its many abominations fail to convey is just how funny it is.” More info HERE.
Join NYC’s THE METROGRAPH across the first weekend of June for their FANTATERROR ESPAÑOL retrospective. For a couple of decades, the nation of Spain produced some of the most beautiful, terrible, and ingeniously perverse horror movies ever to taint cinema screens. These movies were tagged as ‘Fantaterror’: a portmanteau word combining Fantasy and Terror. The phrase never really caught on abroad, like the Italian giallo did while in Spain, these movies have sometimes been dismissed as a best-forgotten part of the puerile popular culture that reigned during the repressive dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco. But a closer look reveals a deeply rich, strange, and subversive cinematic tradition—its banner held high by such formidable talents as Paul Naschy, Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, León Klimovsky, and Carlos Aured—as well as a bounty of atmospheric oddities which explore almost every imaginable forbidden subject under the cover of genre. With two sexily secret screenings extending the program announced, it’s a heaping paella platter of bad objects; come dig in. More info HERE.