February Films at EPFC

Why not walk to the movies?

Thursday, February 11  – MOCK UP ON MU – 8 PM
A radical hybrid of sci-fi, spy, Western, and even horror genres, Craig Baldwn’s Mock Up On Mucobbles together a feature-length “collage-narrative” based on (mostly) true stories of California’s post-War sub-cultures of rocket pioneers, alternative religions, and Beat lifestyles. Pulp-serial snippets, industrial-film imagery, and B- (and Z-) fiction clips are intercut with newly shot live-action material, powering a playful, allegorical trajectory through the now-mythic occult matrix of Jack Parsons (Crowleyite founder of the Jet Propulsion Lab), L. Ron Hubbard (sci-fi author turned cult leader), and Marjorie Cameron (bohemian artist and “mother of the New Age movement”). Their intertwined tales spin out into a speculative farce on the militarization of space, and the corporate take-over of spiritual fulfillment and leisure-time. More info:http://www.othercinema.com/ FILMMAKER CRAIG BALDWIN IN ATTENDANCE!

Thursday, February 18 – LEFT BANK FILM NIGHT – 8PM
A night of tribute to the Left Bank offshoot of French New Wave cinema.  Featuring Chris Marker’s 1962 short experimental Film “La Jetee” (which later inspired Terry Gilliam’s “Twelve Monkeys”) and pioneering director Agnes Varda’s 1965 “Le Bonheur.”  Curated and introduced by Rena Durrant, with Q&A to follow.

Friday, February 19 – FIG TREES – 8 PM
“Fig Trees is an extremely challenging work, absolutely innovative, both politically and aesthetically. The film scene needs this urgently: to develop the language of film, to give it a foundation and a background.” Wieland Speck, Berlinale. Fig Trees (2008) is Canadian filmmaker John Greyson’s masterful indictment of the pharmaceutical industry and AIDS policy in Canada and South Africa. Using a whirlwind of biting opera, a perverse countdown of Top-40 AIDS songs, a singing squirrel, and the patron saints of amputees, leather and soldiers, Greyson weaves together the true stories of two prominent AIDS activists, Canadian Tom McCaskell and South African Zackie Achmat. In this breathless, fantastical melange, the activists sing opera, Gertrude Stein celebrates the completion of her 1928 play Four Saints in Three Acts, and as always, Greyson turns a wicked, sharp eye on the intersection of politics, history and community. A lyrical, profoundly effective film, Fig Trees won the Teddy Award for Best Documentary at the 2009 Berlinale. Canadian filmmaker and activist John Greyson has long made daring, aggressively political work that is both provocative and funny. Often incorporating song and history, Greyson works in layered forms of narrative, essay and documentary to ignite our curiosity and celebrate the ways that history contradicts itself. Greyson’s films gnash their teeth at machinated government and a complacent public in a call to action that deftly sparks laughter as often as outrage. Previous films include the lush, haunting LIILES (1996), the AIDS-musical ZERO PATIENCE (1993), as well as URINAL (1998), PROTEUS (2003), UNCUT (1997) and many short works. Greyson will join us fresh from the 2010 Berlinale, where he screens his newest film COVERED. FILMMAKER JOHN GREYSON IN ATTENDANCE!

February 20  – 3RD ANNUAL GI JOE FEST – TWO SCREENINGS: 7 PM and 9 PM
The GI JOE STOP MOTION FILM FESTIVAL is the nation’s first festival dedicated to screening works by stop-motion artists who use GI Joe figures (12″, 8″ -sigma 6- and 3 ¾ sizes) as main characters or “actors.”GI JOE Film Festival highlights up and coming filmmakers, as well as masters of the craft and has already attracted award winning films in the past years. Under the direction of festival president Gio Toninelo, the GI JOE FEST has became one of the hottest and fastest growing stop-motion festivals in the country! More info: http://www.gijoefest.com/

Wednesday, February 24  –- CONSCIENTIOUS PROJECTOR PRESENTS TAKING CHANCE – 7 PM
The Silver Lake Chapter of Neighbors for Peace and Justice returns with their Conscientious Projector film series featuring thought-provoking films and community discussion. This month’s feature, Taking Chance, chronicles one of the silent, virtually unseen journeys that takes place every day across the country, bearing witness to the fallen and those who, literally and figuratively, carry them home. A unique non-political film about the war in Iraq, the film pays tribute to all of the men and women who have given their lives in military service as well as their families. More info: http://www.neighborsforpeaceandjustice.org/
http://www.hbo.com/movies/taking-chance/index.html#/movies/taking-chance/synopsis.html

Thursday, February 25  – SISTER AIMEE DVD RELEASE PARTY – 8 PM
Please join us for the dazzling premiere of SISTER AIMEE: THE MUSICAL! In the big dreams/small budget Depression-era tradition of “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!” this free EPFC youth filmmaking class introduced three dozen students ages 12 – 19 to the musical genre as they learned about one of Echo Park’s most dynamic historic figures. “Sister” Aimee Semple McPherson (1890 – 1944) was a pioneering evangelist and media sensation in the 1920s and 1930s who presented religion as a form of popular entertainment.  Angelus Temple, the 5300-seat home of the Foursquare Church built by McPherson in 1923, still stands right around the corner from the Film Center at the edge of Echo Park Lake. Students created original sets, costumes, songs and choreography in bringing the story of Sister Aimee to the silver screen. Project made possible in part by grants from the California Council for the Humanities and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. This event is FREE and open to the general public… Q& A and refreshments to follow screening. EVERYONE WELCOME! FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE!