Film

Here is a listing of Monday night films at Jefferson Market through November. I’ll post detailed descriptions as the screening dates approach, but for now take a look and mark your calendars.

Of particular interest: On November 3rd, Werner Herzog’s Stroszek. This has to be one of my favorite movie endings of all time. America’s endless pursuit of entertainment! Herzog has called the final minute one of the best things he’s ever filmed. Bonus points for you if you happen to know the reported connection between this film and Ian Cutis of Joy Division. On November 11th, Errol Morris’ Gates of Heaven appropriately paired with Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.

Click through for the full schedule...

10. It is hot outside. It is cool inside. Very cool!

9. It’s FREE!

8. I’m thinking about unveiling the world premiere of my new composition 4:34, a tribute of sorts, based on Cage’s own 4:33. So show up early! My composition is one second longer, and therefore, one second better!

7. See number 4.

6. The first film on the first night features Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
You might not know his name but you probably know his music. When you think of the Austin Powers flicks what song do you think of? Soul Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones? That catchy melody played on flute, that’s Kirk. Imagine a large African American male in a top hat playing three saxophones at the same time. He is also playing a flute with his nose. By using the circular breathing technique he plays continuously without stopping to take a breath. He is also blind. Sound like something out of a dream? Described as a “supernatural one-man vaudevillian freak show,” Ronald Kirk was born on August 7, 1936. Sickness at the age of two left him blind. A dream compelled him to change his name from Ronald to Roland. Years later he heard the name Rahsaan (also in a dream) and he added that one too. He never really received the credit or attention his contemporaries received, in part due to being labeled a gimmicky multi-instrumentalist. But he was no gimmick. He was the real deal.

5. The Jefferson Market Branch is easy to get to, in the heart of Greenwich Village.

4. See number 9.

3. John Cage was born on Sept 5, 1912 so you can come and celebrate (one month early) what would have been his 96th birthday.

2. John Cage once asked, “Which is more musical, a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?” Come to our Monday night film screenings in August and you might find out.

1. Did I mention, like all the great events and programs at NYPL, that it is free? That is very cool. Very cool indeed.

See here for a complete listing of our August film schedule.

John Cage
Nine Films
Every Monday in August at 6PM
Jefferson Market Library
425 Avenue of the Americas at 10th Street
NY, NY 10011
1-212-243-4334

The schedule:

On a recent Saturday and with a few friends, I visited the Brooklyn Museum and the near-permanent exhibit, American Identities. Tired from the walk, we loitered around the first room and looked at the disparate paintings, furniture & objets d’art. Also in this room was a television monitor showing a loop of Thomas Edison’s films of revelers at Coney Island. These films reminded one of us of another Edison film from Coney Island that hasn’t made it onto the Library of Congress’ American Memory site: “Electrocuting an Elephant” (1903). Two grainy versions of the film are available here & here, but it’s perhaps best to start with the reported account of the execution from the New York Times.

I’m not quite sure of the aesthetic merits of this animal snuff film, but it is imprinted in my mind like Andy Warhol’s Electric Chair series. The inventor of the electric chair was, of course, Mr. Thomas Alva Edison and the elephant was named—after a little girl who ‘growed’—Topsy.

The New York Times announced today that a new animated adventure featuring the inventor Wallace and his long-suffering dog companion Gromit is in the works. It promises to be a murder mystery set in a bakery, and I look forward to a reunion with this quirky man and beast duo.

Movies, you say, in a blog the focuses on the handmade? Even IF one of the characters is a knitter (and Gromit is), why mention the film here? Maybe it’s a stretch, but here’s my reasoning. Wallace and Gromit are the work of Aardman Animations, which uses three dimensional stop motion animation techniques to create films and shorts beloved on both sides of the Atlantic. In their films, including The Wrong Trousers and Creature Comforts (these and others are available at the branches for checkout–just do a keyword search for Aardman and they’ll come up), the animation is the result of labor-intensive hands-on stop motion filming, as each plasticine character is slightly adjusted, frame by frame, to simulate movement. So there’s definitely a handmade facet to this filming, see? NYPL has books that can help you learn more about this animation process: Cracking Animation and Creating 3-D Animation are two to read.

And if you want to look deeper into Aardman, there’s a typescript screenplay for the Aardman film Chicken Run at the Performing Arts Library too.

(Will Wallace and Gromit’s bakery look anything like the New York City one above? Image from the NYPL Digital Gallery.)