Special Events

Dir. George Roy Hill - 1969 - 110m

NOTE:  Judy Anderson, producer of the laser disc edition (that's now a part of the special dvd release) of the film will be in person at the Saturday 2:15 screening for a brief intro before the movie and a Q&A afterwards that will include some great stories on the production of this Academy Award winner..."In the beginning was the word of screenwriter William Goldman, who didn't like horses.  Then there was director George Roy Hill, who was captivated by the  beauty of Katharine Ross...Who was living with cinematographer Conrad Hall, who against all the  rules, let Katharine operate a camera for a big, multi-camera shot...Which got her banished from the set except when acting."  

For this year's Labor Day weekend, a classic 70s buddy western with a great cast!

This revisionist Western comedy, which served as the prototype of the buddy film for years to come, stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. At the turn of the 20th century, they've become notorious for the skill with which they and their colleagues, the Hole in the Wall gang, rob banks and trains. But their last few jobs have been botched, and after Butch and Sundance return from a brief vacation, Harvey Logan (Ted Cassidy) challenges Butch's leadership. After comically snuffing the rebellion, Butch agrees with one of the gang on risking the double robbery of a Union Pacific payroll train. Despite blowing up the entire baggage car, they survive the first stage of the robbery and spend some down time with Sundance's girl, schoolteacher Etta Place (Katharine Ross). But after hitting the train on its return trip, Butch and Sundance are relentlessly pursued by a posse of world-class lawmen planted on board by the wily railroad president. Realizing that their days are numbered, the outlaws head for Bolivia. The film, which launched the career of Redford and boosted director George Roy Hill's to another level, owes its ineffable charm to the terrific chemistry between the two stars, to William Goldman's warm and witty screenplay, and to a director capable of walking a tightrope between the comic and the elegaic.

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Dir. Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones - 2010 - Only $7 for both movies!

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment...

For Martin Scorsese, growing up in Little Italy, seeing On the Waterfront and East of Eden as a young man was a life-changing experience. Scorsese appears on and off camera throughout A Letter to Elia, taking us through Kazan's life and through his own as well, and through his growing realization that there was an artist behind the camera, someone "who knew me, maybe better than I knew myself." The film is about being exposed to the right movies at the right moment in your adolescent life, when you're wide open and ready to connect, to be spurred on by the work up there on the screen, and then, maybe, to chart a course toward making your own movies. 

Composed of clips, stills, readings from Kazan's autobiography and his speech on directing (read by Elias Koteas), a videotaped interview done late in Kazan's life, and Scorsese's commentary on and offscreen, A Letter to Elia takes a close look at the life of art and its creation - the work, the distractions, the inspirations, the complications, the intersections between art and experience. 

A Letter to Elia, written and directed by Scorsese and his longtime collaborator Kent Jones, is a deeply personal film, a frank portrait and self-portrait, and an equally frank acknowledgement of the closeness and the distance between artists and their art.

Following the LETTER TO ELIA screening:  

GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT (8:15pm) - A reporter (Gregory Peck in a great performance) pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on anti-Semitism, and personally discovers the true depths of bigotry and hatred.  [Dir. Elia Kazan - 1947 - 118m]

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Dir. Henry Joost & Jody Lee Lipe - 2010 - 61m

NOTE:  Advance tickets for 7pm & 9pm screenings are available at Marshall Performing Arts Conservatory , Alwins School of Dance, Dance Theatre Southwest.  Please click on their links for business hours.  The 5pm show will be the usual first-come-first-serve tickets on sale 15 minutes before show time.

New York Magazine raved "...this film is just about the purest, sexiest thing going in ballet" and it was also the 2010 Audience Award Winner SXSW Film Festival.

In 1958, Jerome Robbins’ “ballet in sneakers,” NY Export: Opus Jazz, became a smash hit when it was broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show and toured around the world.  Set to an evocative jazz score by Robert Prince and abstract urban backdrops by Ben Shahn, the dance told the story of disaffected urban youth through movement that blended ballet, jazz and ballroom dancing with Latin, African and American rhythms to create a powerfully expressive, sexy and contemporary style.  Now, the work comes full circle in a vibrant new scripted film adaptation, conceived by New York City Ballet soloists Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi, and shot on location around New York City.   This feature length film premiered at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival, where it won the Emerging Visions Audience Award, and had its broadcast premiere March 24 on PBS’ Great Performances.

Despite all the success and visibility of its debut, the intervening decades have found Opus Jazz infrequently performed.  The concept of taking this little-seen ballet and adapting it for the screen in a modern, real-world context was the brainchild of two New York City Ballet soloists, who, while dancing the ballet, found that it had urban themes and a contemporary relevance that spoke to them.  “Sean and I danced Opus Jazz at the New York City Ballet revival in 2005,” explains Bar. “We thought the ballet seemed a bit dated in its 1950’s trappings, but the themes that came out in the dancing — the energy and raw emotion of urban youth — ; were just as relevant today as they were then.” Mr. Suozzi adds that because the ballet is danced in sneakers, instead of toe shoes, it seemed especially fitting to be filmed on location. “We decided to put our dancers in regular clothes, instead of costumes,” says Suozzi. “It makes the dance even more accessible. Ballet doesn’t have to be a mysterious art form — it’s our most natural, visceral expression.”

Enlisting directors Henry Joost (Catfish, Sundance ‘10) and Jody Lee Lipes (Brock Enright: Good Times Will Never Be The Same, SXSW ‘09), Bar and Suozzi set out to make the most ambitious dance film in recent memory — the first to return Jerome Robbins’ choreography to the streets of New York since the movie version of West Side Story.  Shot on anamorphic 35mm film, this on-location adaptation utilizes New York City locations like the pre-renovation High Line, McCarren Pool, Coney Island, Red Hook, and Carroll Gardens as backdrops for the five very different movements of the ballet.  Scripted interludes between the dance scenes draw the audience further into the lives of the young, restless characters, all played by dancers from the New York City Ballet.  “Acting out rage and delight through Robbins’ carefully cultivated steps, the cast demonstrated the pent-up emotions of a new generation,” raves The New York Times of this film.  The stylized cinematography captures the majestic landscape of New York City as well the subtle beauty, energy and sensuality of the dance piece.  The resulting film is a unique and compelling 46-minute abstract narrative that highlights the form, structure and energy of the dance, while embodying the raw emotional experience of urban youth.

Following the dance film is a 15-minute documentary by director Matt Wolf (Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, Berlin ‘08) and Anna Farrell (Twelve Ways to Sunday) that recounts the history and summarizes the enduring significance and appeal of Opus Jazz.

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Dir. Oliver Stone - 2010 - 78m

There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements and the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Nestor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the region.

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1931 to 1941 - Three double features! Round 2 of The American Vaudeville Museum & Guild Cinema Collaboration

$7 per movie, $10 a double feature (day of only) or $20 festival pass!

The Vaudeville Kings & Queens of Hollywood Comedy series is a celebration of the great physical clowns of the early sound era of Hollywood comedies. Male or female, the funny folk who made Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s were experienced, well-rounded laugh-makers who had a variety of skills in addition to telling jokes.  Cary Grant was a stilt walker and acrobat from vaudeville. W. C. Fields was a world class juggler.  Margaret Dumont (the dowager social climber who Groucho always conned) was an opera-trained singer.  The Marx Brothers were all musicians who could each play a variety of instruments in addition to those seen on screen---as were Olsen & Johnson.  Mae West sang and danced in vaudeville before she began writing her own comedy material.  Martha Raye was a jazz singer, tap dancer and comedian who had been in vaudeville from the age of two!  Oliver Hardy was a fine tenor; Stanley Laurel, an eccentric dancer.  Joan Davis took acrobatic falls better than most male comics.  Lou Costello was a former stunt man in Hollywood and professional boxer.  And Shemp Howard (who made more money in support of star comedians like Olsen & Johnson and W.C. Fields than as one of The Three Stooges) could sing, dance and take any physical punishment dished out by Moe or anybody else.  They were all great because most of them did a share of the writing, and none of them used stunt people to do their acrobatics for them---at least until they got too old--and they developed original characterizations because of their unique physicality and vocal delivery.  We chose these films because each one is considered a masterpiece of comedy and is representative of each comedian's best film work.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 17 & SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 18

Way Out West (3:00, 7:00)

Starring Stanley Laurel (1890-1965) & Oliver Hardy (1892-1957) and James Finlayson (1987-1953) written by Jack Jevne, James Parrott, Charlie Rogers, Felix Adler and Stan Laurel and made for Hal Roach Studios.

Way Out West was made toward the end of Stan’s and Oliver’s association with Hal Roach Studios. Most of their better features and shorts were made earlier in the team’s partnership. Over the 12 years (1926-1938) they teamed at Roach, Stan’s character gradually forsook his feral quality and became sillier. Ollie got heavier, moved with less ease and lost energy. Yet Way Out West is considered one of their two finest films (Sons of the Desert is the other).

Way Out West is their most charming movie, and one scene is among the funniest in any Hollywood comedy. Plus it has the benefit of Stan & Ollie’s masterful foil with the handlebar moustache, the perennially dyspeptic Jimmy Finlayson who incomparably filled that role in 32 L&H films.

Stanley Laurel & Oliver Hardy starred in more films than any other comedian or comedy team except The Three Stooges. Stan and Ollie made about 100 movies: officially 72 silent or sound shorts and 23 features plus 11 guest shots. A single reel runs about 10 minutes, so a feature is expected to be at least 6 reels long (one hour). However some of Laurel & Hardy’s short films ran as long as three reels and some of their features were a brief four reels.

Hal Roach gave Laurel & Hardy artistic freedom, but low salaries. Because Stan’s contract renewal occurred at a different time than Oliver’s, the team could never negotiate better terms. However, with the exception of Flying Deuces (1939) and Saps at Sea (1940), after they split from Roach, all the movies Laurel & Hardy made for other producers compared poorly with the Hal Roach films.  [Dir. James W. Horne - 1937 - 68m]

Duck Soup (5:00, 9:00)

Starring Chico (1887-1961), Harpo (1888-1964), Groucho (1890-1977) & Zeppo Marx (1901-1979) and Margaret Dumont (1882-1965), written by Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby, Arthur Skeekman and Nat Perrin, made for Paramount Pictures.

Although regarded as a masterpiece of writing, direction and performance, Duck Soup was the first Marx Brothers’ film that lost money, and it was their last for Paramount. All five of their Paramount-Marx movies remain among the top comedies made by anyone in film, and Duck Soup is truly satirical and anti-war.

Groucho’s role was perfectly tailored for him, as were Margaret Dumont’s and Louis Calhern’s were for them. Chico and Harpo had more peripheral roles but provided much of the comedy. At this point in their film careers, Groucho and others decided that Harpo’s solos and Chico’s deft comic piano-playing slowed down the plot, and the absence of those beloved musical interludes is Duck Soup’s only flaw. 

In 1935 they went to MGM where Irving Thalberg produced their first two MGM films: A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. Zeppo, a salaried actor rather than a full Marx Brothers partner, left acting to join Gummo Marx in business. (Allan Jones assumed Zeppo’s roles in MGM’s Marx comedies.) 

Thalberg died during production of “Races”, and thereafter there was little enthusiasm on the parts of either studio head L.B. Mayer or the Marxes to remain at MGM or to invest much energy or originality in the three films left in their contract.

Like Laurel & Hardy, the Three Marx Brothers, all past 45, were getting old for physical comedy by the late 1930s, but the final true Marx Brothers film, A Night in Casablanca (1947), when all three were about 60 years old) is by far the best of their later movies and a credit to their careers.  [Dir. Leo McCarey - 1933 - 68m]

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 19 & MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20

I’m No Angel (3:00, 7:00)

Starring: Mae West (1893-1980) and Cary Grant (1904-1986), written by Mae West, made for Paramount Pictures.

This film and its predecessor, She Done Him Wrong—also written by and starring Mae West, saved Paramount from bankruptcy She Done Him Wrong was nominated for an Academy Award as best picture, yet I’m No Angel is regarded as her funniest film. .At the time of the release of I’m No Angel, Mae West was a top ten movie box office star. However, each of the five subsequent films she made in the 1930s suffered increasing bowdlerization by the newly-fired up Production Code censors, and West’s movies without her witty, suggestive quips, delivery and glances gradually lost their appeal to her audience.

Starting in the 1950s and continuing through the 1970s, young, usually college-educated youth rediscovered Mae West along with the Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields, and many campus film fests and art house cinemas featured all three with the great clowns of the silent films: Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harry Langdon, Harold Lloyd and Laurel & Hardy.

Cary Grant weathered every change in films and audience taste and remained a top star for 30 years starring in screwball comedies, dramas and Hitchcock films—everything but westerns.

And, yes, Cary Grant did work in vaudeville. He began with an acrobatic troupe in England that played music hall and then came to the USA for vaudeville engagements. Grant stayed in the USA and toured in road companies of musical comedy before he moved into movies.  [Dir. Wesley Ruggles - 1933 - 88m]

Hold That Ghost! (5:00, 9:00)

Starring: Bud Abbott (1895 1974) & Lou Costello (1906-1959) and Joan Davis (1907-1961), written by Robert Rees, Fred Rinaldo and John Grant, made for Universal Pictures.

Universal Pictures was a big studio that relied on small-budget pictures to remain profitable. Horror films, the studio’s bread and butter, began in 1915 with Lon Chaney and continued into the 1940s with Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr—serials and westerns were Universal’s other bread-and-butter productions.

In 1940, Universal decided to add comedies to their outfit, a tactic that enhanced their profit. They signed W. C. Fields and three comedy teams—Abbott & Costello, The Ritz Brothers and Olsen & Johnson— to see who would prove popular. Abbott & Costello not only proved the most popular, their movies became Universal’s biggest moneymakers, and theatre owners voted the team as one of the top ten box office champs for eight out of ten years in the 1940s.

The team rushed through 35 movies in 15 years—eight of those films were released within the first two years of their contract with Universal Pictures! Hold That Ghost may be the best of their films; certainly it is among their top four or five. Many of the laughs are provided by Joan Davis, nearly as acrobatic and as great a physical clown as Lou Costello. Music interpolations by the Andrews Sisters and Ted Lewis exist outside the plot. While the Andrews Sisters sing the swing jive of the period, Ted Lewis offers a quaint throwback to vaudeville sentiment.

Today, Abbott & Costello aren’t as highly regarded as the other comedians in this fest: the decline in their reputation resulted from making too many movies too fast and appearing in every media. Abbott & Costello had weekly network radio show, made personal appearances and entered television with a weekly series. Quality declined and the team reused old material too often. America saw far too much of them within a dozen years, but they made as many good comedies as anyone, and their better films deserve re-viewing.  [Dir. Arthur Lubin - 1941 - 86m]

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 21 & WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22

The Bank Dick (3:00, 7:00)

Starring W. C. Fields (1880-1946), Una Merkel (1903-1986) and Franklyn Pangborn (1889-1958), written by Mahatma Kane Jeeves (a/K/a W. C. Fields), made for Universal Pictures.

Eddie Cline, who helmed more comedies than any director in Hollywood, directed Field’ own script—the last but one movie that Fields starred in before the onset of his disabling final illness. The result is one of comedian’s most popular and funny comedies, and the aging master is still in top form as he large carries the plot and is seldom off screen.

As in any Fields movie, the supporting cast is topnotch: prissy Franklyn Pangborn, the loveable and underrated Una Merkel, timid and doughy Grady Sutton, and twitchy Shemp Howard who served many star comedians so well.

However, by the late 1930s and forever after, few comedians other than Buster Keaton did the more difficult of their own stunts, and the extended final chase scene of The Bank Dick is marred by the obvious use of a double; the viewer does not have the satisfaction of admiring the star comedian’s physical skill.  [Dir. Eddie Cline - 1940 - 73m]

Hellzapoppin' (5:00, 9:00)

Starring Ole Olsen (1892-1963) & Chic Johnson (1891-1962) and Martha Raye (1916-1994), Mischa Auer (11905-1967), Slim & Slam (Slim Gaillard 1916-1991 & Slam Stewart 1914-1987) and the Harlem Congaroos (a/k/a Whyte’s Lindy Hoppers), written by Nat Perrin, Warren Wilson, Ole Olsen & Chic Johnson, made for Universal Pictures.

Few comedians were as successful on stage in live performance as Olsen & Johnson. After decades in vaudeville they were box office champs on Broadway from 1939 to 1946. The traditional “fourth wall” didn’t exist for them; they turned not only the stage but the auditorium and lobby into a three-ring circus of manic zaniness. Because mad spontaneity was their style, it was nearly impossible to transfer their comedy style into film.

Although there are amusing sequences in other Olsen & Johnson movies—even inventive spots such as the opening reel of Crazy House—their only celluloid masterpiece is Hellzapoppin. Not only is it superior to the rest of their movies, it is among the most original comedies ever made by Hollywood.

Olsen & Johnson were a “nut comic act,” like Bert Lahr, Bobby Clark & Paul McCullough, Joe Cook, Ted Healy and the Ritz Brothers, a brand of comedy very difficult to fit into a story line and better suited to live performance on stage where the nut comics could follow their instincts and engage in bizarre flights of comedy rather than have to stick to a script. The brilliantly clever screenwriter Nat Perrin devised a compatible narrative for Hellzapoppin, one that focused on the supposed near impossibility of translating the long-running Olsen & Johnson stage hit into a movie. H. C. Potter ably directed.

As was true of every O&J venture on stage or screen, the supporting cast is given excellent opportunities to shine on their own. Hellzapoppin may be Martha Raye’s best film role and she is nearly as central to its success as Chic Johnson and Ole Olsen. Other standout support comes from Mischa Auer in one of his finer film outings, Hugh “woo-woo”Herbert, gruff Clarence Kolb (a knockabout comedian in his youth) and the always reliable and welcomed Shemp Howard.  [Dir. H.C. Potter - 1941 - 84m]

Dir. Eric Bricker - 2008 - 84m - AIA presentation ARCHITECTS IN FILM SERIES -Free tickets are available at the AIA Office Monday Thru Thursday 318 Isleta Blvd. SW (505)242-9800.

An AIA Albuquerque presentation...

Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, Visual Acoustics celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the world's greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every major modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner, and Frank Gehry. His images epitomized the singular beauty of Southern California's modernist movement and brought its iconic structures to the attention of the general public. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images.

NOTE:  Tickets are FREE and available at the door on first come first served basis - OR - reserve your tickets no later than Monday, September 20. Your tickets will be held at the door Will Call. Tickets are limited to two tickets per person. Reserve your tickets by email administration@aiaabq.org or by phone 505-242-9800.

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Dir. Nick Castle - 1984 - 101m - All Seats $5 - Mom's Matinee Continues

Teenager Alex Rogan lives and works in the trailer-park that his mother owns. His life consists of contemplating his rather bleak future, and waiting for word on his college loan application to arrive. One night all this changes forever. Alex possesses an extraordinary skill at video games, and when this skill attracts a space-travelling recruiter looking for pilots to protect the galaxy from outside forces, he suddenly finds himself on another planet in the middle of an inter-galactic war. It seems that his game-playing abilities are an invaluable military asset to the embattled "Star League of Planets."

"An enjoyable mash-up of western-styled action and John Hughes-styled coming of age drama, Nick Castle's The Last Starfighter was also, according to a 2003 article in the humor newspaper The Onion, the film that inspired former President George W. Bush to seek the presidency...the rousing kind of kid flick that inspires ten-year-old boys to grab broomsticks, storm the neighborhood hill, and go nuts on pretend aliens with ridiculous faux karate moves." - Keith Breese, AMC filmcritic.com

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Dir. Banksy - 2010 - 87m - As part of 516 ARTS and ACLU NM's STREET ARTS: A Celebration of Hip Hop Culture & Free Expression

For more info on the co-sponsoring STREET ARTS and it's organizers, please visit here. 

The first film by renowned graffiti artist Banksy, became the hottest ticket at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival where it made its world debut. 

Banksy is a graffiti artist with a global reputation whose work can be seen on walls from post-hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. Fiercely guarding his anonymity to avoid prosecution, Banksy has so far resisted all attempts to be captured on film. Exit Through the Gift Shop tells the incredible true story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner – with spectacular results. 

The film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Invader and many of the world’s most infamous graffiti artists at work, on walls and in interview. 

As Banksy describes it, “It’s basically the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed."

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Dir. Denis Delestrac - 2009 - 85m - A STOP THE WAR MACHINE presentation & benefit - any donations greatly appreciated!

Just over fifty years ago,  the first satellite was spun into orbit. Space filled us with optimism and  awe. But were we in fact just staking out a new war zone? Space weapons  feature prominently in science fiction, but how close are we to seeing real  weapons systems in space? Today, 1,000 active satellites are officially  recorded as circling the earth. Most countries use satellite technology. And  45 nations own their own orbiting satellites. By shutting down a few  satellites, the infrastructure of an entire country or continent can be  paralyzed.

Now, the United States is the Master of Space. It dominates  as the owner and user of space systems, both civilian and military. "Full  spectrum dominance" - control and dominance of land, sea, air and, more  recently, space, is still the goal of some within the U.S. Defense Department.  But what are the realities behind these aims? Trying to track down what the  Defense Department is spending on space weapons projects is a tricky  business.

When Hitler had the first V2 missile launched in 1944, the  weapons race in space officially began. Masters of Space is the saga of the  emerging competition between the major industrial nations to control space and  the fine line between space-faring and space warfare.

With  unprecedented access to present and former US military personnel, and insights  from anti-weapons activists, as well as military analysts, Masters of Space  explores space as a "new arena for war".

Masters of Space (and Pax  Americana) is a Lowik Media and Coptor  Productions. 

For more info on the presenting organization, STOP THE WAR MACHINE, please visit here.

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Dir. Tony Silver & Henry Chalfant - 1983 - 70m - Director Henry Chalfant in Person! - $10 General Admission / $7 students & 516 ARTS members

As part of 516 ARTS and ACLU NM's  STREET ARTS:  A Celebration of Hip Hop Culture & Free Expression...

Regarded as the indispensable document of New York Street culture of the early '80s, this is the filmic record of a golden age of youthful creativity that exploded into the world from a city in crisis.

STYLE WARS captured the look and feel of New York's ramshackle subway system as graffiti writers' public playground, battleground and spectacular artistic canvas. Opposing them by every means possible were Mayor Edward Koch, the police, and the New York Transit Authority. Meanwhile MCs, DJs and B-boys rocked the city with new sounds and new moves and street corner breakdance battles evolved into performance art.

New York's legendary kings of graffiti and b-boys own a special place in the hip Hop pantheon. STYLE WARS has become an emblem of the original, embracing spirit of hip hop as it reached out across the world from underground tunnels, uptown streets, clubs and playgrounds.

“A breakthrough documentary.” ––A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"Evocative. Unforgettable. Style Wars emanates joy from both sides of the camera. A film that vibrates with the energy, poetry and color of an art form rising up from the streets”. ––Nathan Rabin, The Onion

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The Southwest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is the only event of its kind in New Mexico. Since its founding in 2003, SWGLFF has presented more than 300 films and has grown to be one of the state's largest film festivals.

“Gay, straight or somewhere in between, the film fest delights.” – Santa Fe Reporter

More details to follow soon, stay tuned!!

As part of 516 ARTS and ACLU NM's STREET ARTS: A Celebration of Hip Hop Culture & Free Expression - $7 per movie or $10 for both

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT:  THE RADIANT CHILD - In his short career, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a phenomenon. He became notorious for his graffiti art under the moniker Samo in the late 1970s on the Lower East Side scene, sold his first painting to Deborah Harry for $200, and became best friends with Andy Warhol. Appreciated by both the art cognoscenti and the public, Basquiat was launched into international stardom. However, soon his cult status began to override the art that had made him famous in the first place.

Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat's own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man.  [Dir. Tamra Davis - 2009 - 93m]

View a trailer here.

COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS - An examination of the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money.

This documentary traces the rise of hip-hop from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry. For more than thirty years, innovative hip-hop performers and producers have been re-using portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. When lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.” The film showcases many of hip-hop music’s founding figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground—while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers, Ninja Tune, and more.

It also provides an in-depth look at artists who have been sampled, such as Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown’s drummer and the world’s most sampled musician), as well as commentary by another highly sampled musician, funk legend George Clinton.As artists find ever more inventive ways to insert old influences into new material, this documentary asks a critical question, on behalf of an entire creative community: Can you own a sound?

Support for Copyright Criminals provided in part by the Independent Television Service, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the University of Iowa.

Featuring interviews with Julian Schnabel, Larry Gagosian, Bruno Bischofberger, Tony Shafrazi, Fab 5 Freddy, Jeffrey Deitch, Glenn O'Brien, Maripol, Kai Eric, Nicholas Taylor, Fred Hoffmann, Michael Holman, Diego Cortez, Annina Nosei, Suzanne Mallouk, Rene Ricard, among many others.  [Dir. Benjamin Franzen - 2009 - 65m]

View a trailer at here.

Dir. Charlie Minn - 2010 - 100m - All Seats $7

The Las Cruces-Mayfield high school football rivalry was voted the 9th best by rivals.com in 2008.  A new poll should be out shortly and this historic rivalry, dating back to 1967, has only gotten better.  The Trojans lead the overall series 25-19-1, but have lost the last three meetings, including the 2008 playoff game.  One reason for the heated rivalry is the success both teams have had in the past fifteen years. Ten state titles have been won between the two schools since 1995, compared to only three overall before that. Since 1998, either Cruces or Mayfield have played for the state title every year except once(2004). The Trojans boast seven state championships and the Bulldawgs six. Every Mayfield title has been coached by a Bradley, Jim has won five, his son Michael has won two. On the Cruces side, head coach Jim Miller has won four out of the six state titles and is undefeated in championship games. Rudy Camunez(1959) and Rex Henington(1975) won the other championships for the Bulldawgs. The teams are 15-15 against each other over the last thirty games. Both schools once went 24 years without winning a state crown and then immediately won 3 out of 4 championships. These historical similarities only demonstrate how even these two schools have become. It's this balance, parity, and superiority that makes the annual game every November so unpredictable. About a third of the city attends this thrilling match-up year in and year out. No other city in the nation can say this. This years game is on Friday, November 5th with a district title usually at stake. The city divides to witness what some will tell you to be the best high school football rivalry in the country. 

NOTE TO LOBO & BRONCO FOOTBALL FANS:  Lobos are off on the 16th and the Cowboys and Broncos don't play until 2pm on the 17th so you won't miss anything by coming to see these Albuquerque Premiere screenings!

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Dir. Somebody, somewhere, somehow! - 1968 to 2010 - 60m & counting! - All Seats $7

To get you in the mood a week early before that grandest holiday night of the year...

Years in the making, finally SKELETON FARM'S HALLOWEEN HORRORSHOW is here! It's a tribute to Halloween, Classic Horror Movies, Monsters and All Things Ghoulish, presented in a brain-melting collage of sights and sounds. So, take a trip into the macabre on a virtual Spook House ride with SKELETON FARM'S HALLOWEEN HORRORSHOW!

A BURNING PARADISE VIDEO and SKELETON FARM concoction!

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Dir. Barry Sonnenfeld - 1991 - 99m - All Seats $5 - Mom's Matinee Continues

Director Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) brings his distinctly cartoonish sensibility to this feature film version of the old Charles Addams comic strip. Anjelica Huston was born to play Morticia Addams, matriarch of the ghoulish Addams clan, and the late Raul Julia is a very agreeable, lusty Gomez. But it's Christina Ricci who many argue steals the show as their stone-faced daughter, Wednesday. 

For 25 years uncle Fester has been missing. An evil doctor finds out and introduces a fake Fester in an attempt to get the Addams Family's money. The youngest daughter has some doubts as to the sincerity of the new uncle Fester. The fake uncle adapts very well to the strange family. Can the doctor carry out her evil plans and take over the Addams Family's fortune...

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