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5/1 @ 8pm
 Dark Hand & Lamplight
Presented by Family Books
Toronto-based visual artist Shary Boyle aka Dark Hand and musician Doug Paisley aka Lamplight first came together as an opening act for Will Oldham's 2006 tour of California (under his Bonnie “Prince” Billie moniker.) For the project, Lamplight wrote a collection of new songs, which Dark Hand used as the basis for a new series of artwork. Then, Dark Hand created artwork that Lamplight next used as the basis for new instrumental compositions and improvisations. In a live setting, the duo’s collaborative performance features Lamplight singing and playing guitar while Dark Hand creates live drawings and animates pre-drawn images on an overhead projector. Choreographed to the lyrics and music, Dark Hand projects her artwork onto a screen, the wall, Lamplight, and other available surfaces. For the first time since their original tour, the duo return to California to give a rare performance including their original favorites and new, never-performed material.
Tickets - $10
5/6 @ 8pm
Enzo Castellari Double Feature: Battle Squadron & High Crime
One of the the kings of Italian action movies, Enzo G.
Castellari, who ruled ‘70s drive-ins with his amped-up
spins on futuristic sci-fi, spaghetti westerns and war
epics, will be here in person to introduce two of his
testoserone-drenched pictures, both unavailable on DVD
and making a rare big-screen U.S. showing. First up,
Enzo shows off one of his biggest budgets in the
aerial combat spectacular Battle Squadron, a feisty
film with Van Johnson (post-MGM), square-jawed
Frederick Stafford, and Francisco Rabal (Viridiana) in
the story of German saboteurs trying to infiltrate
Merry Olde England and kicking off World War II’s
Battle of Britain. Next, Franco Nero’s a tough cop
who discovers High Crime thanks to a ring of vicious
Continental drug dealers. Generally acknowledged as
the first poliziottesco (a violent and popular type of
Italian cop thriller), the film also features a
rip-roaring soundtrack from the incredible Guido &
Maurizio De Angelis.
Battle Squadron Dir. Enzo Castellari, 1969, 35mm, 100 min.
High Crime Dir. Enzo Castellari, 1973, 35mm, 100 min.
Tickets - $12/ $8 for members
5/11 @ 8pm
 The Man Who Laughs (with live accompaniment by Plastic Crimewave, Ariel Pink and Jimi Hey)
Co-Presented by Arthur Magazine
Arthur proudly presents live scores to both the classic 1928 German expressionist film The Man Who Laughs and Georges Méliès’ classic turn-of-the-century silent short A Trip To The Moon. Based on the Victor Hugo novel, The Man Who Laughs is a moody masterpiece by director Paul Leni, a tragic melodrama starring Conrad Veidt (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) as an abandoned 17th-century British aristocrat disfigured at a young age by gypsies to have a freakish eternal grin. Performing the soundtrack will be an ensemble of Chicago’s own Plastic Crimewave aka Steve Krakow (who also writes and draws the Galactic Zoo Dossier magazine for the Drag City label), and locals Jimi Hey (former drummer for Beachwood Sparks) and Ariel Pink, the lo-fi pop wunderkind behind Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. Also DJing before and after the films will be Frankie Delmane of the Teenage Frames.
The Man Who Laughs Dir. Paul Leni, 1928, DVD, 110 min.
Tickets - $12/ $8 for members
5/12 @ 7pm
 Nicky Katt's Mug Melter Monday
Nicky Katt’s been in over 40 movies, and counting. He’s also a movie
maniac. Here at the Cinefamily, we’re movie maniacs. So this
Monday, we’re sending out an all-points bulletin — calling all movie
maniacs! — we’re getting together to watch movies, all night long.
And not just any movies, we got some flicks that's melt your ugly mug
off, they're so nuclear. The back patio will be open, and we’ll
have our grill fired up (BYOHD: Bring Your Own Hot Dogs),so join us
as while we kick back a few beers, eat some meat and watch movies
one after another after another after another. We’ll be showing a
mixture of 35mm and 16mm prints, bootleg videos and whatever else we
feel like throwing on the screen. Some teaser's? How about a
beautiful 35mm print of BABY, THE RAIN MUST FALL? Or the melted mug
of Mickey Rourke in the underrated Walter Hill thriller JOHNNY
HANDSOME? That's just a taste. If you came out for Nicky’s “Trailer
Park Tuesday,” you know it’s good shit.
Tickets - $12/ $8 for members
5/18 @ 7pm
 Noisy People
Co-presented by LA Filmforum and NewTown. Funded in part through Meet the Composer’s Metife Creative Connections.
Feel like blowing into the wrong end of a horn, or slapping a drum with a head of lettuce? The Noisy People do it, and make beautiful music. Featuring skronking saxes, manipulated violins, superb synthesizers — adroitly planned and freely improvised — the documentary Noisy People follows the tightly-knit group of unusual sound artists from the San Francisco improvisational music community. Director/musician Tim Perkis filmed his fellow improvisers for one year, and what emerges are funny and lively portraits of very creative, quirky people — a picture of life outside the commercial mainstream of American music. These artists have pursued their work passionately and in the process have created a worldwide following and a supportive community at home. These are people who, as composer John Shiurba put it, "aren't going somewhere, but who are somewhere." A Q&A session and a live performance by Tom Dill (trumpet), Gino Robair (percussion/electronics), Phillip Greenlief (sax) and Tim Perkis (electronics) will follow the screening.
Tickets - $15/ $12 for members (Cinefamily and Filmforum)
5/27 @ 8pm
 Psychedelic Healing Visions: A Celebration of Lavender Diamond's film "Imagine Our Love"
A night of song, dance and visions in celebration of the upcoming Lavender Diamond music film Imagine Our Love, a visual accompaniment to the band’s album of the same name. This Earth liberation fashion fantasy is a fairy tale of kaleidescopic proportions! Starring Lavender Diamond vocalist Becky Stark, directed by Maximilla Lukacs (projection artist for the band Entrance) and with art direction by Alia Penner, the film is an extravaganza featuring Busby Berkeley-style dance numbers, animation, luxurious costumes and interplanetary ballet. For the evening, we are presenting a very special variety show with guest star performances and a sneak preview of healing visions (footage from the film!) Raffles, limited edition posters made by Alia Penner and all sorts of surprise treats for sale! Come celebrate! Peace on Earth forever!
Tickets - $10/ $7 for members
6/10 @ 8pm
 Pre-Code Cartoons
Prior to Hollywood’s Production Code in 1934, the animated cartoons produced by the major studios were just as violent, sexy, rude and crude as their live action counterparts. Nudity, naughty words, and outrageous gags involving body parts, toilet paper, voyeurism, ethnic stereotypes and, in particular, booze (remember, this was before prohibition ended) were the order of the day. The early 1930s cartoons were also artistically uninhibited in their use of the cartoon medium — the animators were allowed their imaginations to run wild, creating the trippiest cartoon shorts ever, decades before the arrival of LSD. Betty Boop, Krazy Kat, Scrappy and Flip The Frog are among the stars in this special compilation of rare film prints, assembled by animation historian Jerry Beck (of CartoonBrew.com), who will also introduce the program.
1930-34, various formats, 90 min.
Tickets - $12/ $8 for members
6/15 @ 1pm, 3pm, and 5pm
 Father's Day Charlie Chaplin Matinee: The Kid
In celebration of Father’s Day, The Cinefamily presents one of Chaplin’s most moving and beloved films. The Tramp adopts an abandoned baby he discovers in an alley, and raises him to become his sidekick in a variety of schemes and cons. A moving and hilarious film about paternal love, or as Chaplin’s first title says, "A picture with a smile, and perhaps a tear..." Children under 18 get in half price to this special “kiddie” matinee.
Dir. Charles Chaplin, 1921, 35mm, 68 min.
Tickets - $12/ $8 for members
6/15 @ 8pm
 Occult L.A.
Los Angeles has long been home to one of America’s most powerful occult scenes. The frontier town was already packed with Theosophists and Hindu gurus when the mystic Manly P. Hall founded the Philosophical Research Society in 1934 and started compiling the largest occult library west of the Mississippi. Some of Aleister Crowley’s most influential followers also made the Southland a crucial center of Crowley’s magickal religion of Thelema. Tonight’s program will combine presentations by independent scholars, and experimental esoteric films from Kenneth Anger, Curtis Harrington, Chick Strand, and others. Leading the evening will be Erik Davis, author of “The Visionary State: A Journey through California’s Spiritual Landscape.” Also presenting will be Louis Sahagun, author of “Master of the Mysteries”, a new bio of Manly P. Hall; and Brian Butler, an expert on the life of Cameron, mistress of JPL rocket scientist Jack Parsons and LA’s most intriguing enchantress.
Tickets - $12/ $8 for members
6/17 @ 8pm
 A Labrat Matinee: Daytime Goes Dark
Presented by Dublab
An evening matinee may sound stranger than a manatee on the Moon but mark our words, both are inevitable, and although we have yet to see a gravity-free manatee, Dublab is ready to bring you an evening of visions burning bright. Yes, the Internet radio superstation your ears love also loves your eyes. This fifth in Dublab's screening series is bursting at the spectacular seams with unseen music videos, documentaries, comedy clips, out-there animation, short films and eye-melting magic! The Labrats have lined up a soundtrack DJ session for the intermission and some other super surprises. So turn off grainy old YouTube and come experience this wide array action in all its awesome, sense-bursting glory.
Tickets - $10/ $6 for members
6/24 @ 8pm
 The Magician (with live accompaniment)
Presented by Process Books
In celebration of the new Manly P. Hall biography “Master of the Mysteries” by Louis Sahagun, Process Books presents a special screening of Ingmar Bergman’s 1959 film The Magician with an original score performed by musician Yvanne Spevack and a live ensemble. Bergman’s film is a mystical contemplation of a magician and his vagrant troupe of medicine-show performers as they travel through the country in the mid-nineteenth century and are hounded by a skeptical public. Utilizing a combination of traditional orchestral string instruments, guitars, keyboards, accordion and electronic beats, the ensemble will be led by Spevack on acoustic and electric violin, musical saw, midi-synthesized electronic textures and processing. The Magician marks the second time Spevack has scored a film and performed it live, the first being Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle Of Algiers. “Master of the Mysteries” author Louis Sahagun will be present before and after the show to meet guests and sign books.
Dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1958, 35mm, 97 min.
Tickets - $12/ $8 for members
6/30 @ 8pm
 White Dog
Presented by Wesleyan University Press
One of the most iconoclastic, innovative filmmakers of the post-WWII era, Samuel Fuller instilled in his works a daring sense of style and a sensationalistic approach to truth. His goal was to produce emotional responses in the viewer, shock of recognitions, and he was willing to break every rule in the book to do it. White Dog, Fuller's most controversial project and one of his most rarely screened films, is the story of a young actress (Kristy McNichol) who hires an animal trainer (Paul Winfield) to cure a stray dog programmed from birth to attack blacks. Subject to uninformed charges of racism, White Dog was pulled from limited theatrical distribution by Paramount, after which Fuller decamped with his family to Paris and never made another American film. Wesleyan film professor Lisa Dombrowski, author of “The Films of Samuel Fuller: If You Die, I'll Kill You!”, will introduce the picture, and a Q & A, book signing, and reception will follow the screening.
Dir. Samuel Fuller, 1982, 35mm, 84 min.
Tickets - $12/ $8 for members
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