Pioneer Theater

". . .makes FAHRENHEIT 9/11 seem tepid and weak . . .a brutal and brilliant bit of filmmaking."
- Jim Knipfel, NY PRESS (click here, then scroll down)

"Indelible portraits of power's absolute corruption. . .an astonishing diatribe. . .heaves with disturbing scenes of violence against innocent Belarussians. . .a primal howl of outrage and disgust."
- Jeannette Catsoulis, NY TIMES (link)

See also:
Todd Brown's notice on TwitchFilm.net (link)

Buy tickets now. Please.

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Belarus: Europe's Last Dictatorship

Wednesday, 31. May 2006, 03:28:52

non-fiction, post-Communist world, serious, horror ...

LONG KNIVES NIGHT and REPORTING FROM A RABBIT HUTCH are almost certainly the most important films the Pioneer will show in 2006. They may be the most important films the Pioneer has ever scheduled.

Recently, you have read and seen coverage of the “election” in Belarus. You have heard that the election's aftermath pits Russia against the West: Russia has endorsed Alexander Lukashenko's return for a third term, while a rather unified West, including both the European Union and the United States, have called it fraud.

You have also heard of rebellion, hunger strikes, and protesters jailed for “hooliganism.”

But who is this Alexander Lukashenko?

Why is he called “the last dictator in Europe?”(1)

What on earth has he done?

With fury and agony, LONG KNIVES NIGHT and REPORTING FROM A RABBIT HUTCH approach these questions. Writer / director Victor Dashuk has risked imprisonment and abuse – common for dissidents, as you will see in the films – to depict and attack Lukashenko's rise to authority. The films are raw, vicious, and totally one-sided: there is not a frame of sympathy for Lukashenko in these films. Dashuk is outrageously cynical, attacking Lukashenko himself, but also comparing Belarussians' prostrations before authoritarian leaders with Satanists' prostrations before their dark master.

You could easily blow off these movies. We're showing them in the wrong format (one was made on celluloid, but we're projecting both from a rather low quality video master smuggled out of Minsk). They're not a single feature, but rather two films of odd length – though the latter is a sequel to the former, and, combined, they are loosely feature length. They're not brand new. They are political propaganda.

But don't blow off these movies. Chew on them, react to them, fight with them, take them seriously. The situation they depict is certainly serious enough.

Buy tickets on our front page. This is a very limited run. June 1-7, 9pm only.

And please, help spread the word. We've got nothing going for this, except for the films' importance.

VILLAGE VOICE review, by Mike Atkinson
NEW YORKER review, by Reed Brody (scroll down)

(1)
This is a common phrase. A few recent usages include the March 5, 2006 editorial from the INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE; and the article “The EU and America put sanctions on Belarus's leaders,” THE ECONOMIST, March 24.

These films shown by the Pioneer on versions smuggled out of Belarus.

Presented with thanks to Zoya Rozin.

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Brave New Europe: New Films from and about Central and Eastern Europe

Thursday, 4. May 2006, 04:39:52

post-Communist world, the Balkans, politics

Brave New Europe:
New Films From and About Central and Eastern Europe

No one can be surprised that many good films are coming from Central and Eastern Europe, both as a source of production and as a subject for films by foreigners. Through this month and into early early June, the Pioneer very proudly hosts a wide range of films from and about the very diverse region that stretches from the Baltics to the Balkans, and from the Rhine to the Urals.

Other than some very loose historical and geographic similarities, the films have little in common. We're just taking the moment to celebrate some films from and about the region. We look forward to welcoming filmmakers and other friends from across the region, as well as people just looking for some strong movies.

The program opens tonight, with HOW I KILLED A SAINT, which stands tall alongside any film showing anywhere in Manhattan this week, period.

Click here for the entire program.

Image above is from HOW I KILLED A SAINT

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Malcolm McDowell and Angelo Badalamenti at the Pioneer

Saturday, 11. February 2006, 20:27:15

post-Communist world, horror, site-specific cinema

Last Monday the Pioneer had the great honor and pleasure to host Malcolm McDowell and Angelo Badalamenti, thanks to the resourcefulness of our friends at Fangoria and TLA Video. They joined director David Grieco for a screening of EVILENKO, starring McDowell with music by Badalamenti.

A few tidbits:
"The Faces of Evilenko," by Kiran Aditham. From FANGORIA online.

A few words from Mr. Badalamenti. (16 mb avi file; just one shot.)

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GROUNDHOG DAY and Andrew W.K. (February is the strangest month)

Tuesday, 31. January 2006, 19:50:53

horror, musician movies, site-specific cinema, silly ...

Everybody knows February is a strange month. However, this year we're making it even stranger. But to be nice, let's not say strange but special. Yes, that's right, the Pioneer presents a very special February, with many very special events.

Early February means Groundhog Day, and, in celebration of that, on Wednesday, Groundhog Day Eve, we're showing GROUNDHOG DAY, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, directed by Harold Ramis. Best groundhog costume wins a delicious salad of vegetables, nuts, and insects, and seats reserved for Murray, MacDowell, and Ramis, if they decide to show up. Weds Feb 1, 7pm.

On Groundhog Day proper, our terrific, monthly Croatian series continues with SORRY FOR KUNG FU - a satire on Croatian xenophobia. (Thurs Feb 2, 7pm.) This Croatian program, presented with the Doors Art Foundation, has been a staple in the growing Central and Eastern European presence at the Pioneer, continued later in the month by the ass-kicking Serbian-American drama LOVE, directed by Vladan Nikolic. Later this spring, look for an entire month focused on Central and Eastern Europe. This will probably be one of the most daring and ambitious programs the Pioneer has ever attempted.

From Eastern Europe to the world of rock. This weekend we have three shows of ANDREW W.K.: WHO KNOWS?, a rockumentary about and made with the rock superperformer. The shows are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, all at 11pm. After the Friday and Saturday shows, W.K. will perform solo on the keyboard. Tickets for those shows are sold out; however, tickets for Sunday, which will still be a rocking good time, can be smuggled out here.

And back to Eastern Europe. Sort of. On Monday, Malcolm McDowell is coming to the Pioneer for EVILENKO, a movie about a notorious Soviet Serial Killer. The screening is presented by our friends from Fangoria, in association with TLA. Mon Feb 6 6:30pm.

February is customarily saddled with many themes; perhaps the most famous is Valentine's Day. Around Valentine's Day, we're doing a "Love-A-Thon," with many romantic or at least erotic movies. The idea is, you have already seen these movies a zillion times, and you really just want to make out during the movie anyway. So come see ANNIE HALL, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, or, um, LAST TANGO IN PARIS, GAY SEX IN THE 70s, or DEEP THROAT. Come and make out, but, please, don't take it too far. We don't want anyone arrested.

A Bizarro Monday falls on February 13, the day before Valentine's Day, so naturally we'll take the Valentine's love theme to even further abstraction. FearsMAG's "One Dark and Stormy Night" promises a bunch of short films about horrific love. (Mon Feb 13 7pm.) Later that evening we screen PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, set on Valentine's Day 1900. Mon Feb 13 9pm.

February is also Black History Month (and as more than one comedian has noticed, of course Black History Month is the shortest month of the year. . .) Partially to recognize that and partially because we want to show the film again, we're doing two more screenings of ARISTIDE and the Endless Revolution, the film that tore up our boxoffice earlier this year. Those shows are Sat Feb 18 5pm and Sun Feb 19 5pm.

Later on, there is that uncomfortable holiday of President's Day. As Loudon Wainwright III put it a few years back, "for me it's blue Monday on President's Day." But we have to confront the current state of the Presidency. So, we're doing an "un-President's Day" screening of BUSH'S BRAIN, about Karl Rove. Best Karl Rove impression wins a copy of the Satanic Bible, by Anton Lavey. That's February 20 7pm.

February 21, we celebrate Mardi Gras prematurely by one week, with the movie MARDI GRAS: MADE IN CHINA. The ultimate downer, but still a very good movie, MARDI GRAS: MADE IN CHINA shows where and how Mardi Gras beads are made. Following the screening is a Mardi Gras-themed beer & pizza reception, starring Two Boots' "Bayou Beast" pizza. Tues Feb 21 7pm.

There's so much more going on; it's hard to keep up. And this post has veered a little off the general purpose of this blog: that is, to comment specifically on events rather than to do basic announces. I'll hope you'll forgive me for that, this time, and take into consideration just how special, and strange, the events are.

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Eccentric musicians

Tuesday, 1. November 2005, 17:48:05

non-fiction, musician movies, the Balkans, post-Communist world

Perhaps we should start an ongoing program called "eccentric musicians."

One of the biggest hits of this last year was the Flaming Lips movie, THE FEARLESS FREAKS FEATURING THE FLAMING LIPS. FEARLESS FREAKS is also probably one of the best movies we've shown over the last few years.

Other eccentric musician movies have included:

YOU THINK YOU REALLY KNOW ME, about Gary Wilson, eccentric 70s psychedelia musician who now works in a dirty bookstore in San Diego
STRANGER: BERNIE WORRELL ON EARTH, about the mind-blowingly great keyboardist from Parliament / Funkadelic (presented a few months ago with Slamdance)
BEAUTIFUL DREAMER: BRIAN WILSON AND THE STORY OF SMiLE, about the most important of the Beach Boys (presented last year with CMJ)
LOW IN EUROPE, about the Mormon mood rockers from Duluth, Minnesota (read some big news about them here

. . .and I know there have been some others in there as well, and others still are in the works for the future.

Starting this Thursday, we're adding to that robust tradition with a movie called DERAILROADED: INSIDE THE MIND OF WILD MAN FISCHER. A one-time protégé of Frank Zappa ("protégé" in the original French sense of "someone protected by" Frank Zappa), Fischer was / is a street performer who howled songs at passersby, threatened his mother with a knife, and has been in and out of mental institutions his whole life. DERAILROADED spends an extended period of time with Fischer and his clan, getting to know the man in all his demented glory and genius while simultaneously documenting his history. It's a moody and powerful movie; the Wild Man himself is infinitely fascinating (and dangerous).

A note though: please don't show up expecting DERAILED. That's the Jennifer Aniston movie opening elsewhere some time soon, distributed by the Weinstein company. (Un?)fortunately, Jennifer Aniston makes no appearance in DERAILROADED. The nearly simultaneous scheduling / titling was, at least on our end, completely coincidental.

So DERAILROADED is the featured movie this coming week. But Thursday night, at 7pm, we're running another movie featuring an eccentric musician, albeit in a different way. Yes, that's right, I'm talking about the rapper Coolio, making his European acting debut in A WONDERFUL NIGHT IN SPLIT. This is the first in a monthly series of Croatian movies, taking place the first Thursday of every month, presented with the Doors Art Foundation. I'm excited about this series, and I look forward to the films. Sadly, though, I suspect this will be the only one featuring Coolio.

DERAILROADED: INSIDE THE MIND OF WILD MAN FISCHER
A WONDERFUL NIGHT IN SPLIT
Coolio

A picture of Coolio in A WONDERFUL NIGHT IN SPLIT: