PROGRAM NOTES
JULY - AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2008



JULY 10 - 14 (THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY): 3:00, 5:30, 8:00
NEWLY RESTORED 35MM PRINT!
LET'S GET LOST
Dir. Bruce Weber - 1988 - 119m
Jazz musician Chet Baker was an icon of fifties cool, his languid trumpet riffs and melancholy voice complementing looks to rival James Dean’s. Bruce Weber’s documentary, long unavailable and recently restored by Weber himself, is a lyrical, suggestive portrait of the man Baker once was and the man he became - a cadaverous figure, ravaged by decades of hard living. Pauline Kael wrote, “LET’S GET LOST isn’t primarily about Chet Baker the jazz musician; it’s about Chet Baker the love object, the fetish. Behind it all is a soundtrack made up of Baker recordings that span more than three decades - the idealized essence of the man. And maybe because Weber, despite his lifelong fixation on this charmer, knew him only as a battered, treacherous wreck, in the two years before his death, LET’S GET LOST is one of the most suggestive (and unresolved) films ever made. It’s about love, but love with few illusions.”



JULY 11 & 12 (FRIDAY & SATURDAY): 10:30 PM
Alibi Midnight Movie Madness Presents: THE WHO! KEN RUSSELL!
TOMMY
All Seats $7
Dir. Ken Russell - 1975 - 111m
In this wide-eyed adaptation of the Who's classic rock opera LP of the same name, Tommy (Roger Daltrey) is a "deaf, dumb and blind kid" who retreats into himself after the death of his father. His mother, Nora (Ann-Margret), and stepfather Frank (Oliver Reed) take him to see a specialist (Jack Nicholson) but Tommy is apparently a hopeless case. That is, until Tommy discovers that "he sure plays a mean pinball." Tommy gains fame when he defeats the Pinball Wizard (Elton John) for the world championship. As a result, Tommy becomes such a celebrity that he even founds his own religious cult. Once seen, the infamous sequence with Ann-Margret bathing in a tub of baked beans is not easily forgotten.



JULY 15 - 17 (TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY): 4:30, 6:15, 8:00
RUMI RETURNING
Dir. Kell Kearns - 55m - 2008
In the fall of 2007, in a remote city in central Turkey, thousands of interfaith pilgrims from around the world converged for a birthday celebration at the sarcophagus of a 13th century Islamic teacher and Sufi poet: Mevlana Jalalludin Rumi, known to the West simply as Rumi, is celebrating his 800th birthday.  The reason The Washington Post could exult on August 30, 2007 that "Rumi is hot" is beautifully explained in this new documentary film by Kell Kearns and Cynthia Lukas. Filmed at the locations of Rumi's life and amidst the grandeur of Turkey's great mosques, Byzantine churches and Greco-Roman ruins,  RUMI RETURNING is more than a visual feast of the music and dance of the mysterious Whirling Dervishes that Rumi inspired.  It movingly tells the story of a Muslim child who fled his birthplace in Afghanistan as a refugee of war during what is now called The Golden Age of Sufism to become one of the planet's great voices for universal love and tolerance of all paths to God.
Director/producer Kell Kearns and writer/producer Cynthia Lukas will appear in person at the Thursday, July 17 screenings for Q&A. http://www.rumireturning.com



JULY 18 & 19: FRIDAY 9:00 PM / SATURDAY 1:00 PM
SPECIAL SCREENING:
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
(Repeats July 25 & 26: FRIDAY 8:00 PM / SATURDAY 1:00 PM)
All Seats $5
Dirs. Chris Walsh & Matt Garcia - 84m - 2008
Albuquerque boy Chris Walsh recently went to Mongolia with pal Matt Garcia. There, the two co-produced and co-directed a documentary called Off the Beaten Path: A Journey Into the Mongolian Steppe. It's basically the tale of two friends who go to Mongolia with the intention of making a documentary while knowing nothing about the country or what their documentary should be about. The resulting film follows their sometimes hapless, sometimes inspiring adventures in this strange and exotic land.



JULY 18 - 21 (FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY): 3:00, 5:00, 7:00
CONSTANTINE'S SWORD
Dir. Oren Jacoby - 95m - 2007
Why are intolerance, violence and war so deeply ingrained in religion? Why did the Cross become a rallying symbol for persecution? How does one man who loves the Church confront its history of crusade and conquest? CONSTANTINE’S SWORD, the latest film by Oscar-nominated documentarian Oren Jacoby, is an astonishing exploration of the dark side of Christianity, following acclaimed author and former priest James Carroll on a journey of remembrance and reckoning. Carroll, a National Book Award winner and columnist for the Boston Globe, is a practicing Catholic whose search for the truth leads him to confront persecution and violence in the name of God - today and in the Church's past. that reverberates across the centuries- from the Emperor Constantine's vision of the cross as a sword and symbol of power, to the rise of genocidal antisemitism, to modern-day wars and conflicts sparked by religious extremism. At its heart, CONSTANTINE’S SWORD is a detective story, as Carroll journeys both into his own past and into the wider world, where he uncovers evidence of church-sanctioned violence against Jews, Muslims, and others. Visiting the Air Force Academy, he and Jacoby expose how some evangelical Christians are proselytizing inside our country's armed forces and reveal the dangerous consequences of religious influence on American foreign policy. Warning of what happens when military power and religious fervor are joined, Constantine's Sword asks the timely question: Is the fanaticism that threatens the world today fueled by our own deeply held beliefs? http://www.constantinessword.com
Guest Mikey Weinstein from Military Religious Freedom Foundation in person Sunday 7:00.



JULY 22 - 24 (TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY): 3:45, 6:00, 8:15
THE RULES OF THE GAME
Dir. Jean Renoir - 1937 - 106m - In French with English Subtitles
At la Colinière, the deceptively idyllic country estate of a wealthy Parisian aristocrat, a selection of society’s finest gather for a rural sojourn and shooting party, and over the course of the weekend reveal themselves to be absurdly, almost primitively, cruel and vapid. It took decades for Jean Renoir’s THE RULES OF THE GAME to be recognized as a masterpiece. The film received terribly negative reviews and even provoked near riots in Paris upon its release. As a result, Renoir cut twenty-three minutes from the original version. And even then, it was banned by the French government. The original negative was destroyed during World War II, and only in 1959 was the film fully reconstructed from surviving prints and embraced by audiences and critics alike. Now, thanks to an unprecedented complete digital restoration, audiences today can see the film as Renoir originally intended. Playing with the lightest of touches, yet stinging like the greatest of tragedies, THE RULES OF THE GAME has come to be regarded as one of the finest movies ever made.



JULY 25 - 31: FRIDAY: 4:30, 6:15 / SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY: 4:30, 6:15, 8:00
DALAI LAMA RENAISSANCE
Dir. Khashyar Darvich - 81m - 2008
As the curtain rapidly fell on the 20th Century, his holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, grew so deeply troubled by the state of the modern world that he invited 40 pivotal Western thinkers to his secluded home in Northern India’s Himalayan Mountains, for a lengthy and pointed brainstorming session on the problems of contemporary society and how to solve them most effectively. Foreseeing the importance of this event, documentarist Khashyar Darvich joined the group with an 18-member, 5-camera crew in tow (sponsored by the Wakan Foundation for the Arts) and sought to capture the event on film. This yielded some 140 hours of video footage, forming the foundation for Darvich’s documentary, DALAI LAMA RENAISSANCE. The film preserves, in 80 minutes, the most insightful, illuminative and engaging dialogues from Gyatso's conference. These Western thinkers who meet the Dalai Lama include social scientist Jean Houston, and founder of Agape International Spiritual Center church in Los Angeles, Dr. Michael Beckwith. The film includes original music by Tibetan musicians, as well as master sitarist Roop Verma, who studied under Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan
.http://www.dalailamafilm.com


JULY 18 & 19:
No Alibi Midnight Movie Madness this weekend



JULY 25 & 26: FRIDAY 8:00 PM / SATURDAY 1:00 PM
SPECIAL SCREENING:
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
All Seats $5
Dirs. Chris Walsh & Matt Garcia - 84m - 2008
Albuquerque boy Chris Walsh recently went to Mongolia with pal Matt Garcia. There, the two co-produced and co-directed a documentary called Off the Beaten Path: A Journey Into the Mongolian Steppe. It's basically the tale of two friends who go to Mongolia with the intention of making a documentary while knowing nothing about the country or what their documentary should be about. The resulting film follows their sometimes hapless, sometimes inspiring adventures in this strange and exotic land.


AUGUST 1 & 2 (FRIDAY & SATURDAY): COMPLETE SHOWS AT 5:30, 7:30
ANGELS, LOWRIDERS & ARMY MEN: THREE FILMS FROM NEW MEXICO
Directors in Person!
THE LIVES OF ANGELS - Dir. Stephen Rubin - 2008 - 45m - THE LIVES OF ANGELS tells the story of two lovable losers: Frankie Finkel (Will Arute) and Jules McGillicudy (Stephen Rubin) who wander around Santa Fe falling into the back of trucks, on rooftops, off of arroyos, and into bars and oddly philosophical conversations. Their lives intersect with an erudite but disheveled woman, Ralph Rudy (Jody Hegarty) as well as guardian angels and the Devil, himself.
SPINNERS - Dir. Joseph v(o)n Stern - 16m - 2008 - Feisty chola Leticia (Lisandra Tena) and Bogdan (Boril Radyokov), a heartthrob shop-lacky dreamer, steal away in a candy green ‘61 Impala lowrider for a rocket-fueled romantic joyride.
ARMY MEN - Dir. Lance Maurer and Jerry Angelo - 2008 - 10m - During a fatal ambush, a squad of World War II Rangers gets sucked into a time warp which spits them out into the wild, wild West.



AUGUST 2 & 3: 2:00 PM
ART ON FILM:
THE TREASURES OF LONG GONE JOHN
All Seats $5
Co-Sponsored by Albuquerque Arts and Albuquerque Art Business Association
Dir. Greg Gibbs - 2007 - 95m
THE TREASURES OF LONG GONE JOHN is a feature-length documentary film by Gregg Gibbs. A chronicle of the eccentric art and musical obsessions of indie record producer and self-described "anti-mogul," Long Gone John. The product of a troubled childhood, John found success through the establishment of the record label, Sympathy for the Record Industry. During the past seventeen years he has single-handedly released over 750 records by over 550 bands and helped launch the careers of Hole, The Dwarves, The White Stripes and Rocket from the Crypt, among many others. Along the way, he has compulsively amassed a vast collection of art and pop ephemera, in addition to starting the "Necessaries Toy Foundation". The film explores the work of several of the artists he collects and collaborates with, including Todd Schorr, Mark Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia and Robert Williams. Featuring a wall-to-wall soundtrack of over 40 bands with artwork by 20 artists, including original animation and time lapse photography. THE TREASURES OF LONG GONE JOHN is an enticing trip through the independent record industry and the Los Angeles "lowbrow" art scene.



AUGUST 3 - 7 (SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY): 4:30, 6:30, 8:30
UP THE YANGTZE
Dir. Yung Chang - 2007 - 93m - In English, Mandarin and Sichuan with English Subtitles
A luxury cruise boat motors up the Yangtze, navigating the mythic waterway known in China simply as “The River.” In the biggest engineering endeavor since the Great Wall, China has set out to harness the Yangtze with the world’s largest mega-dam. Meanwhile, at the river’s edge, Yu Shui (whose name is later westernized by her employers to “Cindy”) says goodbye to her family and turns to face the future. From their small patch of land, her parents watch the young woman walk away, her belongings clutched in a plastic shopping bag. The waters are rising. The Three Gorges Dam, gargantuan and hotly contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle, provides the epic and unsettling backdrop for UP THE YANGTZE, a dramatic and disquieting feature documentary on life inside the 21st-century Chinese dream. Stunningly photographed and beautifully composed, UP THE YANGTZE juxtaposes the poignant and sharply observed details of Yu Shui’s story against the monumental and ominous forces at work all around her. Among the two million losing their livelihood to the dam, the Yu family must send their daughter off to work. In a bitter irony she’s been hired by Farewell Cruises, part of the strange apocalyptic tourist trade that thrives along the river, offering a final glimpse of a legendary world before it disappears forever. Life onboard mirrors the hierarchy of the wider world: Western passengers take in the spectral views, consuming entertainment on the spacious upper decks, while Yu Shui (“Cindy”) toils in the galley down below, vying with co-workers for the few permanent positions. A shy country girl, she must compete with young show-offs like Chen Bo Yu (later renamed “Jerry”), an urban kid with the over-confidence typical of single sons, the “little emperors” of China’s one-child-only policy. All the while, the ship charts a course towards its controversial destination, travelling upriver through a landscape of unprecedented upheaval, as ancient and revered sites give way to the burgeoning candy-colored towers of China’s neon future. Back at the river’s edge, far from the bright lights, Yu Shui’s parents assemble their humble possessions as the floodwaters rise. Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang directs it all with insight and cinematic flair. Drawing inspiration from contemporary Asian cinema and post-war neo-realism, he crafts a compassionate account of peasant life and a powerful documentary narrative of contemporary China. http://www.uptheyangtze.com/index.php



AUGUST 8 - 11 (FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY): 5:00, 7:00, 9:00
NEW 35MM PRINT!
A BOY AND HIS DOG
Dir. L.Q. Jones - 1975 - 91m
One of the most beloved cult films of all time returns to the Cinemascope screen in a new 35mm print! Based on the novella by Harlan Ellison, A BOY AND HIS DOG is set in a post-apocalyptic future where canned goods are used as currency and where entertainment often consists of old porn reels. Vic (Don Johnson) is a violent, illiterate scavenger who communicates telepathically with his deceptively cute-looking dog Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire). It soon falls to the oversexed Vic to aid in repopulation, leading to a surreal series of adventures.



AUGUST 9 (SATURDAY): 11:00 AM
FREE ADMISSION!
AN UNREASONABLE MAN: RALPH NADER
(Repeats Saturday August 23)
Dirs. Henriette Mantel & Steve Skrovan - 2007 - 122m
In 1966, General Motors, the most powerful corporation in the world, sent private investigators to dig up dirt on an obscure thirty-two year old public interest lawyer named Ralph Nader, who had written a book critical of one of their cars, the Corvair. The scandal that ensued after the smear campaign was revealed launched Ralph Nader into national prominence and established him as one of the most admired Americans and the leader of the modern Consumer Movement. Over the next thirty years and without ever holding public office, Nader built a legislative record that is the rival of any contemporary president. Many things we take for granted including seat belts, airbags, product labeling, no nukes, even the free ticket you get after being bumped from an overbooked flight are largely due to the efforts of Ralph Nader and his citizen groups. Yet today, when most people hear the name "Ralph Nader," they think of the man who gave the country George W. Bush. As a result, after sustaining his popularity and effectiveness over an unprecedented amount of time, he has become a pariah even among former friends and allies. How did this happen? Is he really to blame for George W. Bush? Who has stuck by him and who has abandoned him? Has our democracy become a consumer fraud? After being so right for so many years, how did he seem to go so wrong? With the help of exciting graphics, rare archival footage and over forty on-camera interviews conducted over the past two years, AN UNREASONABLE MAN traces the life and career of Ralph Nader, one of the most unique, important, and controversial political figures of the past half century.



AUGUST 9 & 10 (SATURDAY & SUNDAY): 3:00 PM
WEEKEND NON-FICTION:
KICKING IT
All Seats $5
Dir. Susan Koch - 98m - 2008
Using the global appeal of soccer to address the pandemic of homelessness, the Homeless World Cup was first established in 2001 to give homeless people the opportunity to better their lives through sports. Five years later, 20,000 homeless people had competed on street soccer teams, with 500 players selected to represent 48 countries in the fourth annual Homeless World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa, in the summer of 2006. Susan Koch's Kicking It profiles seven of these players—men made invisible by poverty and addiction but who now emerge as compelling figures fighting to become heroes on the soccer pitch and find a way out of their situations. The men journey from all around the globe, temporarily putting behind them Dublin's heroin epidemic; Nairobi's slums; Madrid's overcrowded shelters; Charlotte, North Carolina's streets; war-torn Kabul; and the stigma of homelessness in unforgiving St. Petersburg. Whether they are experiencing victory or defeat on the field, bonding with teammates, or flirting with groupies, soccer provides an escape from their problems while it also inspires hope for actual change in their lives. KICKING IT captures their humanity and ability to overcome adversity—all through the simple game of soccer.

NEW 35MM PRINTS - 2-FOR-1 DOUBLE FEATURE!
AUGUST 12 - 14 (TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY):
MIDNIGHT COWBOY (2:00, 6:40)
Dir. John Schlesinger - 1969 - 113m
A taboo-breaking Hollywood classic, the first mainstram film to garner an “X” rating for its subject matter. Texas greenhorn Joe Buck (John Voight) arrives in New York as a hustler, but finds that he is the one getting hustled until he teams up with a down-and-out but resilient outcast named Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). The unlikely pair progress from partners in shady business to comrades in a moving, timeless character study.

THIEVES LIKE US (4:15, 9:05)
Dir. Robert Altman - 1974 - 123m
An eccentric gem from maverick director Robert Altman reworks the basis for THEY LIVE BY NIGHT into a low-key gangsters on the run drama with Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall, Bert Remsen and many other stalwarts of the Altman stock company.



AUGUST 15 - 19 (FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY):
KENNY (4:00, 6:15, 8:30)
Dir. Clayton Jacobson - 2008 - 103m - Australia
Filmmaker Clayton Jacobson profiles one of the key cogs in society's massive machine with this mockumentary about a fearless Aussie plumber who has never encountered a drain he wasn't able to conquer. A combination of philosopher and comedian, Kenny (Shane Jacobson) has a heart the size of a septic tank. Though Kenny may hold one of the most thankless jobs in modern society, he never lets the dirty work get him down. Now, as Kenny juggles family tensions, leaking porta-johns, and the constant demands of fatherhood while preparing for the upcoming Pump and Cleaner Expo in Nashville, Tennessee, he and his loyal "Splashdown" crew are profiled by a documentary crew that isn't about to let some dirty overalls get in the way of a good story.



AUGUST 20 - 28 (WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY): 4:00, 6:15, 8:30
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Dir. Werner Herzog - 2008 - 99m
With ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, legendary director Werner Herzog becomes the first filmmaker to shoot a feature on each one of the seven continents. Long known and admired for his love of adventurers, explorers, and visionaries, Herzog is himself all three, and has consistently gone where no filmmaker has gone before – esthetically,
dramatically, and geographically. Throughout his career, which spans more than four decades and includes more than 40 films, he tells stories about men who, like him, are drawn to uncharted territory of all kinds. Yet, despite the wide variety of his locations and protagonists, Herzog has an unerring ability to find the common threads that unite these disparate
people and places with one another – and with us.
Set in Antarctica, ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD is chiefly about McMurdo Station, the U.S.-run hub of all activity for the continent, and deals with the roughly 1000 inhabitants who call this remote, unwelcoming, and unique place home. Invited by the National Science Foundation to make the film, Herzog agreed after seeing some breathtaking underwater – or, rather, under-ice – home-video footage taken by an arctic diving enthusiast (who was later engaged to compose ENCOUNTERS’ score), Herzog not only deals with the resident population and the extraordinary physical environment in which they live; he also deals with his own experiences on the journey, casting himself as narrator, commentator, and character in his own film. To be sure, of the people Herzog encounters, a high percentage (many of them scientists and researchers) could be considered oddballs, eccentrics, misanthropes, and even madmen. Many are gripped by personal obsessions, some are following a dream, others are merely escaping the conventions of ordinary middle-class life. All of these are traits commonly found among artists, and Herzog, who has famously filmed in the most extreme of conditions (including – literally – at the edge of an active volcano), never lets us forget that he, too, has chosen to come to “the end of the world.” He may be visiting his subjects in Antarctica, but in many significant ways he is also one of them. Dating back to the earliest days of his career, Herzog has shown an interest in the documentary form and has made no fewer than 20 non-fiction films of various lengths interspersed with an equally prolific output of dramatic films.
What is most interesting is that, as far as his oeuvre is concerned, the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction are blurred. If a Herzog project requires the Amazon jungle, a swarm of rats, an emaciated hero, or a meal consisting of maggots, he does not resort to artifice; the actual location, the real thing, and the authentic condition is captured. After decades of filming in the world’s most remote locations, Antarctica may represent Herzog’s final frontier, but ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD proves that his thirst for new experiences remains unquenched. It also reconfirms his unparalleled ability to photograph sights no one has ever before seen without sacrificing either their majesty or mystery. There are images in ENCOUNTERS that are as wondrous as any ever captured on film and, more importantly, they succeed in conveying to even the most jaded moviegoer the sense of awe that Herzog must have felt when seeing these places for the first time. To be sure, other camera crews have gone to Antarctica, but with Werner Herzog guiding us, what might have been mere tourism achieves the level of art. http://encountersfilm.com/



AUGUST 23 (SATURDAY): 11:00 AM
FREE ADMISSION!
AN UNREASONABLE MAN: RALPH NADER
Dirs. Henriette Mantel & Steve Skrovan - 2007 - 122m
In 1966, General Motors, the most powerful corporation in the world, sent private investigators to dig up dirt on an obscure thirty-two year old public interest lawyer named Ralph Nader, who had written a book critical of one of their cars, the Corvair. The scandal that ensued after the smear campaign was revealed launched Ralph Nader into national prominence and established him as one of the most admired Americans and the leader of the modern Consumer Movement. Over the next thirty years and without ever holding public office, Nader built a legislative record that is the rival of any contemporary president. Many things we take for granted including seat belts, airbags, product labeling, no nukes, even the free ticket you get after being bumped from an overbooked flight are largely due to the efforts of Ralph Nader and his citizen groups. Yet today, when most people hear the name "Ralph Nader," they think of the man who gave the country George W. Bush. As a result, after sustaining his popularity and effectiveness over an unprecedented amount of time, he has become a pariah even among former friends and allies. How did this happen? Is he really to blame for George W. Bush? Who has stuck by him and who has abandoned him? Has our democracy become a consumer fraud? After being so right for so many years, how did he seem to go so wrong? With the help of exciting graphics, rare archival footage and over forty on-camera interviews conducted over the past two years, AN UNREASONABLE MAN traces the life and career of Ralph Nader, one of the most unique, important, and controversial political figures of the past half century.



AUGUST 29 - SEPTEMBER 1 (FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY) :4:30, 6:15, 8:00
MY WINNIPEG
Dir. Guy Maddin - 2008 - 80m - Canada
Guild favorite Guy Maddin is one of cinema’s most creative characters. His dreamlike narratives, marked by his endless parade of obsessions both cinematic and human (such as THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD, BRAND UPON THE BRAIN and CAREFUL) are hilarious and sometimes disquieting, fantastical yet knowing. Turning his gaze towards the place he’s known his entire life, the legendarily snow-bound subzero urban landscape of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Maddin has applied this sensibility to the (faux?) documentary, and the results are every bit as hilarious and surreal as in his fiction works. Sleepwalkers, frozen horse heads, family re-creations and demolished landmarks figure into a highly personal and evocative portrait, starring Ann Savage (the cruel femme fatale of DETOUR) as Maddin’s mother!
http://www.ifcfilms.com/viewFilm.htm?filmId=617



AUGUST 29 & 30 (FRIDAY & SATURDAY): 9:45, 11:45
Alibi Midnight Movie Madness Presents
MOTHER OF TEARS
All Seats $7
Dir. Dario Argento - 2007 - 101m
Legendary horror director Dario Argento (SUSPIRIA) presents the final installment of his "Three Mothers" trilogy. An ancient urn is found in a cemetery outside Rome. Once opened, it triggers a series of violent incidents: robberies, rapes and murders increase dramatically, while several mysterious, evil-looking young women coming from all over the world are gathering in the city. All these events are caused by the return of Mater Lacrimarum, the last of three powerful witches who have been spreading terror and death for centuries. Alone against an army of psychos and demons, Sarah Mandy, an art student who seems to have supernatural abilities of her own, is the only person left to prevent the Mother of Tears from destroying Rome.



SEPTEMBER 2 - 6 (TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY): 4:00, 6:15, 8:30
ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED
Dir. Marina Zenovich - 2008 - 99m
What happens when one of the world’s most famous directors becomes trapped inside one of his own movies? Directed and
produced by Marina Zenovich, ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED is a fascinating look at the public scandal and private tragedy that led to the legendary director’s sudden flight from the United States after his conviction for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in 1977. The documentary reopens the complex and still-controversial case 30 years later, challenging many of the myths that have built up around it, while exploring the circumstances that led up to his conviction, as well as the media circus that followed. Known for such films as ROSEMARY’S BABY, CHINATOWN and MACBETH, Roman Polanski’s life was marked by tragedy. His mother was killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust and his fairy-tale love affair with his wife, actress Sharon Tate, ended when she was murdered by followers of Charles Manson in 1969. She was eight months pregnant at the time. Surviving these tragedies, he rebuilt his career in the ‘70s, until he made a fateful mistake during a photo shoot with a 13-year-old girl. Subsequently convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, Polanski pled guilty and served 42 days in jail. ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED explores how the case affected both the young girl and Polanski, while addressing larger, lasting questions about the media, our cultural obsession with celebrity and the U.S. legal system. Uncovering a treasure trove of telling footage from the past and incorporating revealing modern-day interviews, the film recounts the events that might have influenced Polanski’s behavior, unearthing little-known information about the case. In particular, the documentary sheds light on the unusual conduct of presiding Judge Laurence Rittenband, whose zeal for celebrity cases was unprecedented. Revisiting many of the key players – from the candid, clear-eyed victim, to the lawyers representing both sides, to members of the media and friends – the film presents an extensive examination of the case. Among the exclusive interviews are: the victim, Samantha (Gailey) Geimer, now 45 years old, who publicly forgave Polanski in 1997; former Assistant District Attorney Roger Gunson; and Polanski’s defense attorney, Douglas Dalton, who breaks his silence after 30 years to reveal the extraordinary backstage maneuvers that ultimately led Polanski to flee. Now 74, Roman Polanski has lived in France for the last 30 years, where he has been highly honored and continues to be revered.



SEPTEMBER 6 & 7 : 2:00 PM
ART ON FILM:
AGNES MARTIN: WITH MY BACK TO THE WORLD
All Seats $5
Co-Sponsored by Albuquerque Arts and Albuquerque Art Business Association
Dir. Mary Lance - 57m - 2002
A groundbreaking documentary on the internationally renowned painter, designated by ARTnews Magazine one of the world's top-ten living artists. This documentary was shot over a period of four years, from 1998 through 2002, Agnes Martin's ninetieth year. Interviews with Martin are inter-cut with shots at work in her studio in Taos, New Mexico, with photographs and archival footage, and with images of her work from over five decades. It is a venue for Martin to speak about her work, her working methods, her life as an artist, and her views about the creative process. She also discusses her film, "Gabriel" and reads from her poetry and lectures. It was shot in 16mm film by cinematographer Dyanna Taylor and in digital video by producer/director Mary Lance. In keeping with Martin's chosen life of solitude, she alone appears in the documentary.


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