Welcome to the Spring Schedule for Other Cinema. We have a exciting lineup of new cinema initiatives this season and we hope you will come often. A number of the films we are showing have video clips available for preview in Quicktime format. These clips are indicated by a projector icon in the applicable sections. If you don't have the Quicktime plug-in, you can download it for free at www.apple.com/quicktime.

Retard Nation

SAT. 2/12: THIS AIN'T NO HEARTLAND + BRYAN BOYCE +

Dumb and dumber! If, after the ‘04 Election, you are still in disbelief over how a millions-strong crusade of hopelessly ignorant and relentlessly xenophobic religious hypocrites, in an pathological denial of world history -- past, present, and future -- could muster up the collective stupidity to endorse a living war criminal and his naked aggression against a sovereign nation…Well, perhaps Andreas Horvath's award-winning doc will rip the scales from your eyes. The Austrian photographer ventured into red state territory with a camera and some questions about the war, and what was intended as a platform for our fabled folk wisdom, instead unfolded as a grotesque comedy of unabashed political cretinism. Drown your disappointment with American electoral politics at our hosted bar for the season-opening reception, while a half-hour of anti-Bush agit-props sustain a shred or two of hope for these new Dark Ages. Free Twinkies!

Click here for Quicktime Preview

   

 

 

 

 

Free Culture

SAT. 2/19: PRELINGER'S "COPYRIGHT-FREE ZONE" + WILLFUL INFRINGEMENT

Rebel archivist Rick Prelinger hosts this energized session on current initiatives against the New Enclosure of intellectual-property privatization. Rick touches on his "appropriation-friendly" library, the Internet Archive, Creative Commons, BitTorrent, and other enlightened efforts. A portion of the door monies goes towards Rick and Brewster Kahle's suit vs. Ashcroft's copylaw, a heroic battle also discussed by Megan Shaw–Prelinger and the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Annalee Newitz. Their updates are embedded in a smart and sassy set of recent video work (Negativland, Animal Charm, Ryan Junell) that speaks to these issues, crucial to every media artist, documentarian, DJ, librarian, educator, blogger…in fact, to every citizen with any stake at all in the future of ideas. The first hour concludes with the world premiere of Scott Miller's Uso Justo (Fair Use). After bar-break, Greg Hittelman's Infringement gives critical voice to Public Enemy, Lawrence Lessig, and Carrie McLaren of Stay Free magazine.

 

Click here for Quicktime Preview
   

Band Aid

SAT. 2/26: BENEFIT FOR REV. SCREAMING (IN PAIN) FINGERS .

We were all saddened by the news of Lucio (Overdub Club, Ramona the Pest) Menegon's bike accident. He wasn't as lucky as the rest of us who have more easily managed to get on with our lives after a mishap, not with a metal plate in his face and his mouth wired shut for months. For crying out loud, get on over here and help a brother out! Your every bar-drink will literally be "to his health." And he will be in the house and smilin' back! Laurie Amat emcees and a-capellas, Thad Povey, Al Alvarez, and Robbyn Leonard unspool some cool rolls, and of course, the pancakes will be piping hot. But the evening's wild cards come in the form of Incredibly Strange Music clips -- eye-poppin' snippets of past musical, er, anomalies: Scopitones, Strum Fun, Slim Galliard, Louis Prima, William Shatner, Josie and the Pussycats, and even more looney tunes.

Special admission: $6–$66.

Click here for Quicktime Preview
   

 

 

 

Wretched Of The Earth

 

SAT. 3/5: BRECKE'S WITNESS IN DARFUR + SALGADO

 

Globetrotting photog Mark Brecke is back from Sudan with a revelatory slide presentation about the situation on the ground there. A contributor to myriad journals and movie projects, Mr. Brecke has served as eyewitness in conflict zones from Cambodia to Kosovo to Rwanda. He just recently returned from Africa, bringing back this documentary evidence and his first-hand account to a Western world that can barely imagine the severity of the human catastrophe. A satellite phone-call to a rep of the Sudanese Liberation Army will outline strategies for action. Also screening is The Spectre of Hope, a long-form homage to photo-essayist Sebastião Salgado, the Brazilian visual poet for the global poor, in which he critiques globalization with British art critic John Berger.

 

Click here for Quicktime Preview
   

 

 

We Interrupt This Program

SAT. 3/12: COX'S JAMMING DOWN UNDER + DREW'S TECHNO-PRANKS.

The second of three OC double-headers brings to our stage a pair of seasoned agent-provocateurs in the culture wars. A sorely missed David Cox returns to Frisco after a four-year Australian research stint, bringing back a briefcase-full of outrageous documentation of the Aussie culture-jamming front, never seen in the US! Among his parade of pranksters are Pauline Pantsdown, BUGAUP, and Kill Your TV. The homecoming is also the occasion for the North American premiere of Cox' Pluto Press publication, Sign Wars, on SF's "semiotic guerrillas" of the ‘90s. PLUS: The good Doctor Jesse Drew, back by popular demand, to present his comprehensive review of Google hacks, fake websites, and cutting-edge meme warfare. Free jam on toast!

Click here for Quicktime Preview
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New Revolt

SAT. 3/19: CARLSSON'S HEAD FIRST! + MACPHEE'S STENCIL PIRATES +

Spinning out of the contemporaneous Anarchist Book Fair, these two intensely committed cultural workers grace our gallery with an explication of their organizing and publishing projects. Capping the incredible hat trick of three book releases in the last six months!!!, Carlsson publicly launches his next journal on 21st Century labor activism. He'll demonstrate the stakes via video views of McDonalds' occupations, political street theater, Michael Moore reports, before Natasha Moss–Dedrick takes the mic to propose local initiatives. Stencil Pirates author Josh MacPhee's slideshow narrates a radical history of engaged sidewalk art. Free wine, bread, and roses.

Click here for Quicktime Preview
   

Maybe Logic

SAT. 3/26: ERIK DAVIS + ROBERT ANTON WILSON + REICH.

 

Our favorite performance-lecturer Erik (Techgnosis) Davis wades into the deep waters of Wilson's literary legacy, christening the Bay Area debut of Maybe Logic. This long-form doc, directed by Lance Bauscher (in person), affords us precious access to the visionary philosopher who penned the Illuminatus Trilogy and hundreds of others. After a break (10pm), an extraordinary screening of Wilson's performance Wilhelm Reich in Hell will complete the double feature. $6.66 for the 8pm early show; $9.99 for both.


Click here for Quicktime Preview
   

 

 

 

 

 

Cyborg Circus

SAT. 4/2: ROBOTS ON THE MARCH!

Setting into motion a parade of performance-enhanced presentations for the month of April, here's a salon that celebrates the projects of regional sculptors and media artists who work with robotics, automation, and artificial life. Curated by Heather Dewey-Hagborg, the program is played out around the gallery as a series of "guided viewings" of tabletop and installation-based pieces, accented with a DIY assembly station, single-channel videos, and a free-flowing refreshment counter. Among the interactive exhibits are new initiatives from Kal Spelletich, Sean Talley, Kristin Lucas, Amy en Stijn, Virgil Polit, Jack Buffington, Liam McNamara, Joe McKay, Aimee Friberg, Michael Shiloh, XK SAZ, and others. Bring a bot that's hot to trot for free admission!

Click here for Quicktime Preview
   

 

Sexaphonic

SAT. 4/9: PORNORCHESTRA'S NEW SOUNDS TO SEX FILMS + I.K.U. +

In its SF debut, here's a 10-member ensemble that radically reinterprets tracks to adult movies. Conducted by Myles Boisen, they perform original compositions to a half-dozen shorts, vintage stags, and even feature excerpts. Their hour-long set is consummated by Iron Porn, a juicy group improvisation to a suite of erotic classics. PLUS: Shu Lea Cheang's I.K.U., a hot Japanese featurette that enacts its cyberporn scenarios within a science fiction of orgasmic data collectors. ALSO: Assorted skin flicks by Martha Colburn, Ed Wood, Irving Klaw, and others. $6.9 gets you in!

Click here for Quicktime Preview
   

 

 

Political Stuntmen

SAT. 4/16: THE YES MEN +

Mike Bonanno of The Yes Men dons suit-and-tie to properly pitch a business plan built on pranks, parodies, and impersonations. These reality-hackers have passed as some of the world's most powerful corporate criminals -- most notably of the WTO -- at conferences, on television, and on the Web, in order to "correct" their identities. The program includes their recent Dow Chemical hoax, their "Smokey the Log" campaign, and last year's feature doc by Chris Smith, Dan Ollman, and Sarah Price. Enemy Combatant Radio DJs provide the audio-collage ambience for this $6 fundraiser for the Critical Art Ensemble's ongoing legal defense.

 

Pxl Vision

SAT. 4/23: PXL THIS FEST

As you probably know by now, PXL videos are recorded on audiocassette in a $100 toy camera. Their grainy, ghostly, and glitch-ridden texture provides a funky, punky B/W platform for first-person essays that profit from a proximity to subject and a distinctly minimalist look. In the 14th iteration of this legendary annual event, LA-based Gerry Fialka brings his inspiring media-ecology initiative to this appreciative niche in NorCal. Highlights include 9-year-old Juniper Woodbury's My Magic Eightball, King Kukulele's Fish, Fruits & Nuts, Michael Possert's PXL Piñata, Eli Elliott's MJ Dong, Robert Dobbs' Outer Rings, Paolo Davanzo's Wonder, plus two new works from those crazy Craig brothers. McLuhan's tetrads pepper the pre-show patter, amidst platters of popping corn and the singing Williams sisters.

Click here for Quicktime Preview
   

Analog Avatars

SAT. 4/30: MOOG + HANS GRÜSEL'S KRÄNKENCABINET

Indubitably, in the field of electronic music, Bob Moog must rank as America's greatest living maverick inventor. The beloved mad scientist who brought forward the synthesizer that bears his name is seen here in Hans Fjellestad's hour-plus portrait. Also interviewed are Jean-Jacques Perrey, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, DJ Spooky, Mix Master Mike, and many more. Opening the evening is an electrifyingly live performance of an original composition by the dark-carnivalesque Hans Grusel and his puppentroupe, krankin' up three generations of those marvelous Moog machines. 6 bux cheap!

Click here for Quicktime Preview
   

Cardboard Copy

SAT. 5/7: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION.

Guest curator Peggy Nelson has written extensively about the fascinating social phenomenon known as "Fan Films," and tonight she not only presents her research, but also introduces the genre's most famous example: The Adaptation. Started in 1982 when the directors were 12(!), this best-ever tribute film is a shot-for-shot remake, lensed in the backyards, basements, and swamps of suburban Mississippi. PLUS: Pre-show clips from the Turkish Star Wars, and free peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. Note: Sorry, the "Raiders Adaptation" and its makers are not going to be available for this show as originally announced, though Peggy Nelson will still appear.

 

Exploding Cinema

SAT. 5/14: POLTA + SANTOMIERI + KPR + 3-D +

Here are a half-dozen projector-performance pieces that demonstrate the rich multiplicity of approaches to "live cinema." Pad McLaughlin adds even another dimension to deep-space through collective immersion in his Depths of Field via our "Chroma-Depth" glasses. Steve (os) Polta accompanies our freefall with his tape-loop drones. Dean Santomieri explores conceptual, perceptual, and narrative spaces with Three Views from the Panoptican. Ken Paul Rosenthal mocks (up) a photochemical cooking show in The Galloping Whore-May. Craig Baldwin revs up his roto-strobo-scope in Unified Film. PLUS: The Light Surgeons, stereoscopic interludes, filmstrips, and (too) much more! $6.

Cinematic Cesspool

SAT. 5/21: M. KUCHAR'S SINS OF THE FLESHAPOIDS + CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS .

A deliriously lurid return to the primal realms of cinematic fantasy, Mike's extremely rare 1965 Kodachrome classic is a 43-min. revel in erotic pleasure, absurd costuming, wildly imaginative mise en scène, and quintessential camp, starring brother George Kuchar, Donna Kerness, Bob Cowan, and Voluptuous Tarzan. Made just a couple of years earlier, Wesley Barry's Creation of the Humanoids is an ultra-low budget oddity wringing a paltry few allegorical ideas out of a ridiculously stilted minimalist potboiler, set in the android-anxious future after WWIII—and was Andy Warhol's favorite movie! Come early for Kuchar's Tales of the Bronx, a Jack Smith home movie, and Eartha Kitt.

Avant To Live

SAT. 5/28: NEW EXPERIMENTAL WORKS

As always, our calendar is consummated by a kick-ass celebration of new movies that champion personal expression and radical cinematic form. Making up this season's flying wedge of vanguard artists -- many in person! -- are Yin-Ju Chen, Enid Blader, Adam Bork, and Sylvia Schedelbauer. ALSO: Greta Snider's Off Earth Now, Kerry Laitala's Transfixed, Damon Packard's Al's Techno Club, Nate Boyce's Portals, Johnny Rogers' Gameboy Trilogy, Karl Lind's A Eulogy for Memory, Ben Folstein's Damsels in Distress, and others TBA.