Studio Screen: Yuri Kochiyama

Studio Screen: A Series in Collaboration with the Studio Museum in Harlem

(at Maysles Cinema)

Sunday, December 18th, 5:00pm

Yuri Kochiyama: Passion for Justice

Pat Saunders and Rea Tajiri, 1994, 57 min

Join us for the first installment of the Studio Screen series featuring a special showing of Yuri Kochiyama: Passion for Justice. Through extensive interviews with family and friends, archival footage, music and photographs, Yuri chronicles the Harlem native's contributions to social change and participation in some of the most significant events of the 20th century. The screening will be followed by a talkback session with representatives of From Harlem with Love: A Mural for Yuri and Malcolm-- a group of artists and community activists inspired by the legacies of and deep friendship between Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X.

Studio Screen: A Series in Collaboration with the Studio Museum in Harlem

December 2016 – February 2017

Presented in partnership with The Studio Museum in Harlem Studio Screen is a nonfiction film series addressing the on and off screen legacies of socially engaged cultural movements of the 1970s. Drawing thematic inspiration from two of the Museum’s current exhibitions, Circa 1970 and The Window and the Breaking of the Window, the selected films highlight the chosen methods and leaders people turn to when everyday injustices move them to protest. Each screening will be followed by a talkback session featuring local community organizers which will serve as a space for intergenerational reflection on contemporary protest practices and the ways history is present in all that we do.

All proceeds from the screenings will support the work of Maysles Cinema, at the MDC, a not for profit organization dedicated to the exhibition and production of documentary films that inspire dialogue and action.

Smile It's Your Close Up: Radiant City

Wednesday, December 14th, 6:30pm

At the Museum of the City of New York

1220 5th Avenue at 103rd Street

Smile It’s Your Close Up: Radiant City

Bill Cunningham New York

Richard Press, 2010, 84 min

The contemporary, modish human flora and fauna of New York’s glittering concrete jungle are captured in Bill Cunningham New York, a look into the life of the late, great street and society photographer. Following the film, join us for a conversation to remember Bill with those who knew him and his work well.

Kim Hastreiter, Co-Founder and Editor, Paper Magazine

Mickey Boardman, Editorial Director, Paper Magazine

Richard Press, Director, Bill Cunningham New York

Sally Singer, Creative Digital Director, Vogue

Lana Turner, Bill Cunningham subject and friend

Phyllis Magidson (moderator), Elizabeth Farrar Tozer Curator of Costumes and Textiles, Museum of the City of New York

Smile, It’s Your Close Up: New York’s Documentaries, a nonfiction film series co-programmed by Jessica Green and Edo Choi of the Cinema at the Maysles Documentary Center and the Museum of the City of New York, zooms in on key moments, individuals, and communities to pose the question, “what makes New York New York?” Each program includes an introduction or conversation with filmmakers or other notable guests.

$15 for adults | $12 for seniors, students & educators (with ID) | $10 for Maysles Documentary Center members and Museum of the City of New York members. Includes Museum of the City of New York admission.

Includes Museum admission, wine or beer, and gourmet popcorn bar.

Attention, Maysles Documentary Center members email cinema@maysles.org for your discount code for advance ticketing and member pricing available at the door.

Attention, Museum of the City of New York members, to receive your discount, click on the "Buy Tickets" button above, then sign in to your account on the ticketing page.

Groups of 10 or more get discounts and priority seating, email or call us at programs@mcny.org or 917-492-3395.

This event is co-sponsored by the CUNY Graduate Center Film Studies Program, the FIT Models & Stylists Association, Hoot Magazine, the Hunter College Film and Media Studies Department, the International Center of Photography, Made in NY: Fashion, the Manhattan College Department of Visual & Performing Arts, the NYU Department of Photography and Imaging, the Pratt Department of Photography, and The Documentary Forum @ City College of New York.

Advance Ticketing Link: https://35948.blackbaudhosting.com/35948/Radiant-City

Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1835389840006431/

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkQklk_cfVs

I Am Not Your Negro

Friday, December 9th-Thursday, December 15th

5:00pm, 7:30pm

Special One Week Advance Screening

Oscar Shortlisted

I Am Not Your Negro (DCP)

Raoul Peck, 2016, 95 min

Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck (Lumumba, Death of a Prophet, Lumumba, Fatal Assistance, Murder in Pacot) creates a stunning meditation on what it means to be Black in America.

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his new endeavour: the writing of his final book, Remember This House, recounting the lives and successive assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Baldwin was not able to complete the book before his death, and the unfinished manuscript was entrusted to director Raoul Peck by the writer's estate.

Built exclusively around Baldwin's words, Peck's I Am Not Your Negro delves into the complex legacy of three lives (and deaths) that permanently marked the American social and political landscape. Framing the unfinished work as a radical narration about race in America, Peck matches Baldwin's lyrical rhetoric with rich archival footage of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, and connects these historical struggles for justice and equality to the present-day movements that have taken shape in response to the killings of young African-American men including Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and Amir Brooks.

Exploring what it means to be Black in America today, Peck reflects on the legacy of racial violence that still permeates the country. In Baldwin's words, "You cannot lynch me and keep me in ghettos without becoming something monstrous yourselves. And furthermore, you give me a terrifying advantage: you never had to look at me; I had to look at you. I know more about you than you know about me. Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." By revealing the deep connections between past and present injustice, I Am Not Your Negro weaves an epic narrative about America's irrational relationship with skin color — a relationship that would be absurd were it not so tragic.

Friday, December 9th, 7:30pm: Q&A with Aisha Karefa-Smart (James Baldwin's niece) and Shola Lynch (director of  Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed and Free Angela and All Political Prisoners and Curator of Moving Image and Recorded Sound, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture).

Saturday, December 10th, 7:30pm: Q&A with Phoebe Robinson (co-host of 2 Dope Queens & NYT best-selling author of “You Can't Touch My Hair.”)

Sunday, December 11th, 7:30pm: A social justice focused Q&A with Dedric "Beloved" Hammond (Violence Interrupter) and Yasmeen Sutton (the Black Panther Party).

Monday, December 12th, 7:30pm: Q&A with director Raoul Peck and Greg Tate (writer and musician, author of “Flyboy 2: The Greg Tate Reader”), moderated by Trey Ellis (novelist, screenwriter, professor, playwright and essayist). A reception will follow the Q&A.

Tuesday, December 13th, 7:30pm: Co-presented by the Studio Museum in Harlem and followed by a Q&A with director Raoul Peck and Nico Wheadon (Director of Public Programs & Community Engagement at the Studio Museum in Harlem).

Thursday, December 15th, 7:30pm: Co-presented by Harlem Pride and followed by a LGBTQ themed panel discussion with Rich Blint (Baldwin scholar, Scholar-in-Residence in the Department of Humanities and Media Studies at Pratt Institute,  Emil Wilbekin (Native Son, a new platform created to inspire and empower Black Gay Men) and Deray Mckesson (Black Lives Matter), moderated by David Bridgeforth (Harlem Pride, Publisher of DBQ Magazine). A reception hosted by Harlem Pride will follow.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5ZeLuVHTbg

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/1881930015426809/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2717454 double check approval

Western Disturbance

Thursday, November 10th, 7:30pm

Western Disturbances

Co-presented by MONO NO AWARE and Maysles Cinema at the MDC

New York Premiere of feature-length documentary performance film by Alex Cunningham.

A guide in how to not find what you weren't really looking for, Western Disturbances is a feature-length performance, multi-media, personal documentary film exposing the inherent folly in expectation as seen through the filmmaker's attempt to document the 2015 South Asian Monsoon. This program will open with a series of 16mm films entitled, Raining Ragas nos 1-6. Inspired by the structured yet highly improvisational style of the Indian raga, these six rolls of 16mm film, shot and edited in-camera, perform the filmic plea of a musical raining raga in hopes of inducing the monsoon. Shot in Kerala and West Bengal during the weak and delayed onset of the 2015 South Asian monsoon, Raining Ragas Nos. 1-6 reveal the anticipation, frustration, and confusion in awaiting the unpredictable weather system.

Alex Cunningham is an experimental and documentary filmmaker currently based in North Carolina. He received his BFA from Ithaca College in 2012 and his MFA from Duke University in 2016. His films explore the issues of the physical earth as a living object and human physical intervention into and relationship with the landscape and climate, and underlying personal and psychological themes of anxiety, uncertainty, and instability. He is also a professor of photography and cinema at Duke University, a curator and programmer, and a film projectionist.

MONO NO AWARE, based in Brooklyn,  presents monthly artist-in-person screenings, organizes affordable analogue filmmaking workshops, facilitates equipment rentals, operates a film distribution initiative, plans cinema field trips, and hosts an annual exhibition for contemporary artists and international filmmakers whose work incorporates Super 8mm, 16mm, 35mm or altered light projections as part of a live performance or installation.

The term MONO NO AWARE is a Japanese phrase that means "a connection to the ephemeral".....

MONO NO AWARE strives to provide the tools and skills to make traditional filmmaking affordable and approachable in the hands of makers; to teach filmmaking at its core, from hand processing film to shooting techniques, from camera-less filmmaking to digital post-production and distribution. MONO NO AWARE celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2016.

BPT:http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2699208

FB:https://www.facebook.com/events/137650923366491/

Congo in Harlem 8

Congo in Harlem 8

Sunday, October 23rd, 3:00pm

Book Reading: Beauty for Congo

Pauline Etim-Ubah, 15 min.

Author Pauline Etim-Ubah will discuss her forthcoming book, which profiles 20 new and emerging Congolese artists, highlighting issues of violence against women, media, and public engagement.

***Work-in-Progress Screening***

(In)Visible Cities

Gianpaolo Bucci & Beatrice Ngalula Kabutakpua, 2016, 77 min.

This film follows the journey of Beatrice while she searches for her African roots through around (In)Visible Cities the world: undervalued neighborhoods that she discovers to be very different from the images of poverty and danger they are usually connected with. There she finds answers to her questions through the stories of migrants and second generations like her.

Post-screening Discussion with filmmakers Gianpaolo Bucci & Beatrice Ngalula Kabutakapua.

Congo in Harlem is an annual series of films, artwork, panel discussions, and special events focused on the history, politics, and culture of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The goal of the series is to deepen our communities understand of DR Congo through art and dialogue. Congo in Harlem is more than just movies and discussions -- it's an opportunity to discover Congo's culture, learn about it's challenges, and get involved. This series is non-profit and volunteer-run, produced by True Walker Production, Friends of the Congo and the Maysles Documentary Center. It is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Community Council.  

For more information visit: www.congoinharlem.org

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2628845

Congo in Harlem 8

Sunday, October 23rd, 6:30pm

Trans-Ville

Hubert Bonke, 2016, 6 min.

A documentary portrait of a pioneering group of female bus drivers in Goma, eastern Congo.

***Work-in-Progress Screening***

A La Courbe Du Fleuve (A Bend in the River)

Dieudonne Hamadi, 2016, 79 min.

For many years, Colonel Honorine, a veteran congolese police officer, worked in Bukavu as a key member of the Child Protection and sexual violence Unit. During her tenure there, the Unit became renowned for its effectiveness and success. But when Honorine is suddenly transferred to Kisangani, 400 miles from her home, she must start all over. There she faces a new situation - shortly after arriving, dozens of women arrive in her office, still traumatized by the acts sexual violence they experienced during kisangani’s “6 Day War”, a ferocious conflict between Rwandan and Ugandan troops that devastated the city in 2000. For Honorine a new challenge begins, as she fights for the recognition and support of these forgotten women.

Followed by Closing Night Reception.

Congo in Harlem is an annual series of films, artwork, panel discussions, and special events focused on the history, politics, and culture of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The goal of the series is to deepen our communities understand of DR Congo through art and dialogue. Congo in Harlem is more than just movies and discussions -- it's an opportunity to discover Congo's culture, learn about it's challenges, and get involved. This series is non-profit and volunteer-run, produced by True Walker Production, Friends of the Congo and the Maysles Documentary Center. It is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Community Council.  

For more information visit: www.congoinharlem.org

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2628846

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/187808374962280/

Series Pass BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2642841

Congo in Harlem 8

Saturday, October 22nd, 12:00pm

Kibuni

Modogo, 2016, 11 min.

A writer, caught between two worlds, chooses an unexpected path.

Kolwezi On Air

Idriss Adamo, 2016, 73 min

In the city of Kolwezi, one of Congo's wealthiest mining hubs, a cadre of journalists for RTMA, the largest local television station in the region, goes all out to document what is happening in their community and country. The reporters pursue their stories with great tenacity, often putting their own personal safety at risk, all in the service of informing the public. What unfolds is multi-layered portrait of Congolese society, exposing slippery politics, special interests, on-the-ground human stories, and the die-hard investigative drive of a handful of individuals seeking the truth.

Congo in Harlem is an annual series of films, artwork, panel discussions, and special events focused on the history, politics, and culture of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The goal of the series is to deepen our communities understand of DR Congo through art and dialogue. Congo in Harlem is more than just movies and discussions -- it's an opportunity to discover Congo's culture, learn about it's challenges, and get involved. This series is non-profit and volunteer-run, produced by True Walker Productions, Friends of the Congo and the Maysles Documentary Center. It is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Community Council.  

For more information visit: www.congoinharlem.org

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2628843

Congo in Harlem 8

Saturday, October 22nd, 3:00pm

Special Panel Discussion: Congo on the Brink

Panelists to be announced

The Democratic Republic of Congo is at a critical junction. For the first time since independence, there is the possibility for a peaceful, democratic transition of power. However, the road to this historic feat is fraught with obstacles, chief among them, a president who appears to want to remain in power by any means necessary.

On December 19th of this year, President Joseph Kabila is supposed to end his second term and pass his seat to a newly elected president. Yet the Kabila administration has stalled elections, and in direct opposition to the DRC's constitution, has sought a ruling from the Supreme Court to extend his power indefinitely.

This discussion will offer analysis of the current situation, and explore the impending consequences of the Kabila administration's failure to organize elections. Particular focus will be paid to the roles and stance of Kabila's majority coalition, opposition forces, civil society, the Catholic church, Congolese youth, the UN, and international community.

This event is free and open to the public.

Congo in Harlem is an annual series of films, artwork, panel discussions, and special events focused on the history, politics, and culture of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The goal of the series is to deepen our communities understand of DR Congo through art and dialogue. Congo in Harlem is more than just movies and discussions -- it's an opportunity to discover Congo's culture, learn about it's challenges, and get involved. This series is non-profit and volunteer-run, produced by True Walker Production, Friends of the Congo and the Maysles Documentary Center. It is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Community Council.  

For more information visit: www.congoinharlem.org

Congo in Harlem 8

Saturday, October 22nd, 7:30pm

Cocaïne Light

Patrick Kuba, 2016, 107 min.

On the gritty streets of Kinshasa, two brothers, Kousi and Koula, dream of luxury but their foolhardy ambitions land them in a nightmare. After failing to pay a debt to a hardened drug-lord, their lives are on the clock. In walks “Uncle Moussa” (played by the late Papa Wemba), who drops a kilo of opportunity in their laps – Cocaïne Light, the purest and sweetest high. Kousi and Koula intend to use it to wipe the slate clean, until a savvy prostitute named Rose intervenes… A fine example of street noir cut with a healthy dose of comedy, Cocaïne Light delivers a high worthy of its name.

Post-screening discussion with filmmaker Patrick Kuba and reception with Congolese food and live music by Nkumu Katalay & the “Life Long Project” band.

Congo in Harlem is an annual series of films, artwork, panel discussions, and special events focused on the history, politics, and culture of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The goal of the series is to deepen our communities understand of DR Congo through art and dialogue. Congo in Harlem is more than just movies and discussions -- it's an opportunity to discover Congo's culture, learn about it's challenges, and get involved. This series is non-profit and volunteer-run, produced by True Walker Production, Friends of the Congo and the Maysles Documentary Center. It is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Community Council.  

For more information visit: www.congoinharlem.org

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2628844

Congo in Harlem 8

Friday, October 21st, 5:00pm

Afro Congolese Dance Class

With Nkumu Katalay, Eto’o “Mabina” Tsana, & special guest DJ

105 min

Learn some new dance moves with Congo in Harlem’s musician in residence, Nkumu Katalay and Eto’o “Mabina” Tsana. The class will cover contemporary and traditional Afro Congolese forms (Contemp-tra) featuring music from a live DJ. Presented in collaboration with All in Black Fridays.

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2642861

Congo in Harlem is an annual series of films, artwork, panel discussions, and special events focused on the history, politics, and culture of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The goal of the series is to deepen our communities understand of DR Congo through art and dialogue. Congo in Harlem is more than just movies and discussions -- it's an opportunity to discover Congo's culture, learn about it's challenges, and get involved. This series is non-profit and volunteer-run, produced by True Walker Productions, Friends of the Congo and the Maysles Documentary Center. It is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Community Council.  

For more information visit: www.congoinharlem.org

BPT:

Congo in Harlem 8

Congo in Harlem 8

Thursday, October 20th, 7:30pm

Ennemie Du Temps

Muhindo Abraham, 2016, 12 min

A woman finds herself caught between future, past, and present.

La Belle at the Movies

Cecilia Zoppolletto, 2015, 67 min

Kinshasa, “Kin la Belle” is a city of 10 million people without a single cinema. The story of the city, its apartheid era, and Mobutu’s neo colonialism, unfolds through the fate of its cinemas. At the same time, La Belle celebrates the Kinshasa cowboys who found their identity in the Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s. Through interviews and poetic imagery, La Belle at the Movies bears a unique testimony to an African film industry in crisis - orphaned but living in hope for a brighter future.

Followed by Opening Night Reception.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/122682019

Congo in Harlem is an annual series of films, artwork, panel discussions, and special events focused on the history, politics, and culture of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The goal of the series is to deepen our communities understand of DR Congo through art and dialogue. Congo in Harlem is more than just movies and discussions -- it's an opportunity to discover Congo's culture, learn about it's challenges, and get involved. This series is non-profit and volunteer-run, produced by True Walker Productions, Friends of the Congo and the Maysles Documentary Center. It is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Community Council.  

For more information visit: www.congoinharlem.org

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2628834

The 8th Annual Black Panther Party Film Festival

Friday, September 30th, 7:00pm

Tupac Vs.

Ken Peters, 2004, 90 min.

The basis of this 2004 documentary about the life and death of Tupac Shakur (1971-1996) is a rarely-seen 1995 video interview conducted at the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York, shortly before the rapper's release and fateful decision to sign with Suge Knight's Death Row Records. Here, we find the young icon at relative ease, even jovial and reflective, as he discusses his growing sense of distance from the Thug Life persona he had cultivated as an artist, and his desire to move to a higher plane of personal and political consciousness. Tupac Vs. dwells in the mournful space between this hopeful moment and the tragic events that followed in the life of this son of a Black Panther, Afeni Shakur, (1947-2016). September 13th, 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of Tupac's death.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU4AI_Bkwqs

Page: http://maysles.org/mdc/tupac-vs/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2598125

The 8th Annual Black Panther Party Film Festival

Thursday, September 29th, 7:30pm

The Harlem Comedy Festival

The first week-long comedy festival in Harlem celebrating people of color in comedy!

Moms Mabley: I Got Something to Tell You

Whoopi Goldberg, 2013, 72 min

Featuring recently unearthed photographs, rediscovered performance footage and the words of entertainers and historians, the film includes interviews with Eddie Murphy, Joan Rivers, Sidney Poitier, Kathy Griffin, Harry Belafonte, Bill Cosby, Quincy Jones, Arsenio Hall, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, who emphasize how Mabley paved the way for female comedians and performers everywhere in provocative stand-up routines that challenged racism, sexism and ageism.

Advance tickets:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/harlem-comedy-festival-tickets-25420217555#tickets

For More Information about the 1st Annual Harlem Comedy Festival go to http://www.harlemcomedyfestival.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/535938573274958/

The 8th Annual Black Panther Party Film Festival

Wednesday, September 28th, 7:30pm  

The Harlem Comedy Festival

The first week-long comedy festival in Harlem celebrating people of color in comedy!

Richard Pryor: Omit The Logic

Marina Zenovich, 2013, 90 min

Dave Chappelle, Lily Tomlin, Robin Williams, Bob Newhart and others offer insight into the mind of Richard Pryor in filmmaker Marina Zenovich's examination of the late comic's life and career.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ4akLJG3IU

Advance tickets:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/harlem-comedy-festival-tickets-25420217555#tickets

For More Information about the 1st Annual Harlem Comedy Festival go to http://www.harlemcomedyfestival.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/277717152612425/

The 8th Annual Black Panther Party Film Festival

Saturday, September 24th, 4:00pm

41st and Central: The Untold Story of the L.A. Black Panthers

Gregory Everett, 2010, 120 min.

The first part in a documentary series following the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party from its Black Power beginnings through to its tragic demise, this film contains interviews with former Black Panther Party members along with archival footage detailing the history of racism in Los Angeles, including the Watt’s uprising from the perspective of the participants who engaged with the LAPD. 41st & Central also gives the viewer an eyewitness account of Bunchy and John Huggins's murders at UCLA in 1968.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSVy-YtG5-s

Page: http://maysles.org/mdc/41st-and-central-the-untold-story-of-the-l-a-black-panthers

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2598117

Saturday, September 24th, 7:00pm

George Jackson: Releasing the Dragon Mixtape

Bashi Rose & Jared Ball, 2015, 63 min.

Composed of a collage of archival footage, recorded interviews, and musical and spoken word performances by a range of artists from from jazz drummer Billy Kilson to Tim Hicks of the Cornel West Theory and poet Umar bin Hassan, this tribute to George Jackson weaves a tapestry of black activist art spanning three generations.

Page: http://maysles.org/mdc/george-jackson-releasing-the-dragon-mixtape

BPT:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2598123

The 8th Annual Black Panther Party Film Festival

The 8th Annual Black Panther Party Film Festival

Produced by the Black Panther Commemoration Committee, NY and Maysles Cinema

2016 is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party and the buzz surrounding this historic milestone is electrifying. This festival will honor both the legacy of the BPP and "Remember our Political Prisoners"  

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/588072774729594/

Friday, September 23rd, 7:00pm

Free Angela and All Political Prisoners

Shola Lynch, 2013, 102 min.

This documentary, chronicling the life of young activist and scholar Angela Davis, and her implication in a botched kidnapping that ended in a shoot-out, four dead, and her name on the FBI's 10 most wanted list, vividly returns us to the fraught period immediately after the official Civil Rights Movement had crested, when a new brand of repressive conservatism was sweeping the nation. Through interviews with the irrepressible Davis herself, as well as members of her family, her lawyers, and her many intellectual contemporaries, Lynch stitches together a revealing portrait of this important thinker, one of the first to successfully articulate the underlying continuity between the modern prison system and America's legacy of slavery.

Q&A with director Shola Lynch.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NCQfX3dvMM

Page: http://maysles.org/mdc/free-angela-and-all-political-prisoners-3

BPT: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2598111

Staunch: A Grey Gardens Party

Staunch: A Grey Gardens Party

(In Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Maysles Brothers’ Classic Documentary)

At the Parrish Art Museum

279 Montauk Highway

Water Mill, NY

Join us for a 5:00 pm reception and Edie (costume) Parade, followed by a 6:00 pm conversation and screening of excerpts from Grey Gardens.

The Maysles Documentary Center, The Parrish Art Museum and Hamptons International Film Festival is presenting a “site specific” conversation and excerpts from the cult classic documentary, Grey Gardens (1976, Janus Films, 95 minutes, Produced by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Susan Froemke; and directed by the Maysles, Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer), out in the Hamptons where it all went down 40 years ago. Panelists participating in the conversation include Harlem historian Michael Henry Adams, Grey Gardens subject Jerry "the Marble Faun" Torre, Grey Gardens editor and producer Muffie Meyer, and Sara Maysles (daughter of Albert Maysles and co-author of the book Grey Gardens).

In addition, following a long-standing tradition at Grey Gardens screenings, audience members are invited to dress in costume as “Big Edie” or “Little Edie” Beale. The costume contest will be judged by Iris Apfel and Jerry “the Marble Faun” Torre. Prizes included limited edition Grey Garden memorabilia including the original film poster and a new limited edition poster for this event, with art from Rebekah Maysles. Registration for the costume contest is at 5:00pm and parade and contest at 5:30pm.

Ticketing link (NOT Brown Paper Tickets please note) https://327.blackbaudhosting.com/327/tickets?tab=2&txobjid=236a96bb-82eb-4c55-a05a-fbbc34851bb7

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZl1IJLTMXM

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1557102264599115/

The Maysles Cinema and HBO Documentary Films Present Summer of Music: Mavis!

Monday, July 25th, 6:00pm
The Maysles Cinema and HBO Documentary Films Present

Summer of Music: Mavis!
(Outdoor Free Live Music and Documentaries)

6:00pm-8:30pm
Live Music Tribute to Mavis Staples, The Staples Singers and Stax Records
with DJ Stormin’ Norman and the NYCHA Youth Choir

8:30-10:00pm
Mavis!

Jessica Edwards, 2016, 80 min.
The first feature-length documentary on gospel/soul music legend and civil rights icon Mavis Staples and her family group, the Staple Singers. From the delta-inflected gospel sound she helped pioneer in the 1950s, to the “message songs”of the civil rights era marching beside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to massive hits such as “I’ll Take You There” in the soul-filled Stax era, to collaborations with Prince in the ‘80s, and her recent Grammy-winning work with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Mavis Staples is one of the most influential and enduring vocalists of our time and a true American icon. Director Jessica Edwards entwines archival material, newly filmed interviews and live performances to create a cinematic portrait quite capable of converting the uninitiated into acolytes, and elevating casual interest to flood-tide levels of respect and affection.

One of the best music documentaries of this decade. — Paste Magazine

Among a collection of stand-out biographies that premiered at South by Southwest, Mavis! was the feel-good star, a story of survival, family, change and adapting to it. — Billboard

A spirited and captivating bio-doc that richly deserves the exclamation point in its title.
— Variety

An expansive and inspiring portrait of singer and civil rights pioneer Mavis Staples.
— Washington Post

SXSW 2015 – Talk of the festival — New York Times

An Open Letter to NYC: La Tierria de Adioses

(Preceded by a quartet of short documentary films from three first-generation young women filmmakers from the Maysles Documentary Center.)

Missing Question Mark
Vicky Lee, 2015, 7 min

How To Be Bad
Vicky Lee, 2016, 7 min

En El Barrio
Kati Perez, 2015, 3 min

Union
Malaku Santiago and Savio Zigbi-Johnson, 2013, 7 min

La Tierra de Los Adioses
Stefani Saintonge, 2014, 28 min.
Zapotitlán Palmas, a small mountainous community in the south of Mexico, where 50% of the residents (80% of the men) have migrated to the United States. Engulfed in a culture of migration, the women and children left behind continue their lives missing their loved ones on the other side.

 
 

Seventh Grade
Stefani Saintonge, 2014, 11 min
Everyone is growing up except Patrice. But when a raunchy rumor threatens her best friend’s reputation, she’s forced to join the party and embrace adolescence.

Q&A with Director Stefani Saintonge, and emerging young filmmaker Vicky Lee, and reception with Haitian food to follow screening.

Stefani Saintonge is a Haitian-American filmmaker and educator. In 2014, she won the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Discovery Award for her short film, Seventh Grade and her documentary, La Tierra de los Adioses, won Best Latin American Short Documentary at the Festival Internacional de Cine en el Desierto. Her work, which focuses on women, youth and immigration, has screened at several festivals in the US and abroad. She is a recipient of the Jerome Foundation Film and Video Grant, and she works as an educator and adjunct professor in New York. She holds an MFA in Documentary Film Studies and Production.

This program is part of An Open Letter to NYC:
Immigrant Documentary Filmmakers and Their Films
Starting with the periods before, during, between, and after the two world wars through to the present day, the American film industry would not exist without the immigrant filmmaker. In fact all contemporary American art and media, including the current documentary renaissance, is enlivened by and rooted in the modern immigrant experience. An Open Letter takes stock in immigrant, refugee and expatriate documentary filmmakers and/or documentary films about immigration and pays special attention to filmmakers from dominant and emerging NYC populations including those of Caribbean, Eastern European, Latin American, South and East Asian, Middle Eastern and West African descent. Programmed by Jessica Green and Edo Choi.

This series is supported by New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) as part of the 2016 Immigrant Cultural Initiative.

An Open Letter to NYC: We Were So Beloved

Manfred Kirchheimer, 1986, 145 min

Between 1933 and 1941 thousands of Jews fled Nazi Germany and Austria for America. Leaving behind brothers, sisters and parents, more than 20,000 of them came together in Washington Heights in New York City. Here, for the first time, they lived among Jews. While horrific reports trickled in from the camps, the emigrants cooperated to build their new society.
Like Shoah and The Sorrow and the Pity, We Were So Beloved uses gripping personal testimony to examine the complex emotional and philosophical implications of the survival of the Jews of Washington Heights.

Manfred Kirchheimer, born in 1931 in Germany, came to the US in 1936 when his family fled the Nazis. He studied film at Hans Richter’s Institute of Film Techniques of the City College and spent 24 years in the NY film industry as an editor, director, and cameraman, editing over 300 films for the documentary departments of American television networks, with subjects ranging from cultural programming such as Leonard Bernstein in Venice, for CBS to biography for Time-Life Films as in Krushchev Remembers. Stations of the Elevated (1980) and We Were So Beloved(1986) are Kirchheimer’s most celebrated films. Stations, featured at the New York Film Festival, is a lyrical documentary that follows elevated subway trains that are illicitly painted by early proto-graffiti artists. Other films include Colossus on the River (1963), Haiku (1965), Leroy Douglas (1967), Claw (1968), Short Circuit (1973), Bridge High (1975), Tall: The American Skyscraper andLouis Sullivan (2004), SprayMasters (2008), and Art is…The Permanent Revolution (2012). He was just awarded the prestigious 2016 Guggenheim Award in Film and Video.

Q&A with Manfred Kirchheimer and reception with foods from Washington Heights to follow screening.

This program is part of An Open Letter to NYC:
Immigrant Documentary Filmmakers and Their Films
Starting with the periods before, during, between, and after the two world wars through to the present day, the American film industry would not exist without the immigrant filmmaker. In fact all contemporary American art and media, including the current documentary renaissance, is enlivened by and rooted in the modern immigrant experience. An Open Letter takes stock in immigrant, refugee and expatriate documentary filmmakers and/or documentary films about immigration and pays special attention to filmmakers from dominant and emerging NYC populations including those of Caribbean, Eastern European, Latin American, South and East Asian, Middle Eastern and West African descent. Programmed by Jessica Green and Edo Choi.

This series is supported by New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) as part of the 2016 Immigrant Cultural Initiative.

German Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany tell about their experiences under Hitler, fleeing to America, and building a new community here. They are asked about their attitudes towards recent immigrants.

An Open Letter to NYC: Tonita's

AA Prince from Outer Space: Zeki Muren
Beyza Boyacioglu, Teaser, 5 min
A Prince from Outer Space: Zeki Müren is a work-in-progress feature length documentary about Turkey’s beloved queer pop legend Zeki Müren. 20 years after his death, cross-dressing nightclub star Zeki Müren is still considered a national hero in Turkey and remembered fondly by people from all walks of life. The film follows the historical trajectory of Müren’s rise as ‘Turkey’s sun of art’ through interviews and archival footage. When the film turns its lens to contemporary Turkey, Müren’s ghosts reveal an ongoing story about Turkey’s modernization project and the LGBTQ movement.

Zeki Muren Hotline
Beyza Boyacioglu, work-in-progress, 15 min
Zeki Müren Hotline accompanies the feature length film as an oral history project and collects everyday people’s memories and ideas about Müren by using a telephone line and its accompanying website. After being launched in January, the line received more than 700 messages — most of them addressing Müren himself.

Juncos Brooklyn
Sebastian Diaz, work-in-progress, 12 min
Juncos Brooklyn is an experimental documentary looking at strong and loose connections between New York City and Puerto Rico, specifically between the neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn and the village of Juncos, Puerto Rico which have a direct connection via migration.

The film explores the idiosyncrasy of the Junqueños by observing two long-running social centers: Pabón mini market in Juncos, where regulars hang out to drink beer, making a defacto bar; and the Caribbean Sports Club in Brooklyn, where owner Maria Toñita maintains the only remaining social club in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood that was once predominantly Puerto Rican.

The film swings freely between Juncos and Brooklyn by using people or things that serve as transitions (sounds, a pothole, the sky, people dancing), creating comparisons that reveal the strong bond between the two places. The juxtaposition of postcards from a calm and provincial village next to those of a hectic urban neighborhood, raise questions about migration, adaptation and identity.

The observational and poetic footage follows two characters that serve as the main threads to this amorphous narrative: Maria Toñita who travels to Juncos after over three years to reunite with her daughter and grandson; and Sylvia, the owner of Pabón market who once had a successful bodega in Williamsburg, Brooklyn but left back to her hometown after a traumatic robbery.

Toñita’s
Sebastian Diaz, Beyza Boyacioglu, 2014, 21 min
Toñita’s is a portrait of the last Puerto Rican social club in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The short documentary dives into the microcosm of Caribbean Club (also fondly labeled ‘Toñita’s’ after its owner Maria Toñita), in order to talk about urban space, displacement and identity. The film zigzags between nightlife and daytime activities at the club, and the testimonies of its regulars. Music and dance constitute a crucial part of the film as Toñita’s is a love letter to Nuyorican culture. When the club scenes are interrupted with interviews, each testimony touches upon a specific issue, such as the history of the neighborhood, gentrification, Nuyorican music and dance, and Puerto Rican identity. The interviews paint a complicated picture of the neighborhood and the local community. Caribbean Club regulars confront the new South Side with mixed feelings, as they also reveal a sweet-sour relationship with the past. A recurring subject in the interviews is the owner Toñita, the matriarch of the community, devoted to keep the club open “until she falls”.

Toñita’s is produced at 2013 UnionDocs Collaborative Studio and is a part of UnionDocs’ Living Los Sures project. This multi-faceted project restores Diego Echeverria’s 1984 film Los Sures, makes it accessible to audiences online, remixes local histories through a web documentary platform, and reinvestigates Southside of Williamsburg, Brooklyn today through a collection of short films.

Toñita’s is a documentary portrait of the Puerto Rican community and Nuyorican culture in Brooklyn, through the last remaining Puerto Rican social club in South Williamsburg, its owner Maria Toñita and its colorful regulars.

Q&A with Sebastian Diaz and Beyza Boyacioglu followed by reception with Puerto Rican, Mexican and Turkish culinary delights.

This program is part of An Open Letter to NYC:
Immigrant Documentary Filmmakers and Their Films
Starting with the periods before, during, between, and after the two world wars through to the present day, the American film industry would not exist without the immigrant filmmaker. In fact all contemporary American art and media, including the current documentary renaissance, is enlivened by and rooted in the modern immigrant experience. An Open Letter takes stock in immigrant, refugee and expatriate documentary filmmakers and/or documentary films about immigration and pays special attention to filmmakers from dominant and emerging NYC populations including those of Caribbean, Eastern European, Latin American, South and East Asian, Middle Eastern and West African descent. Programmed by Jessica Green and Edo Choi.

This series is supported by New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) as part of the 2016 Immigrant Cultural Initiative.

An Open Letter to NYC: Documented

Jose Antonio Vargas, 2013, 90 min
In 2011, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in the New York Times Magazine. Documented chronicles his journey to America from the Philippines as a child; his journey through America as an immigration reform activist/provocateur; and his journey inward as he re-connects with his mother, whom he hasn’t seen in 20 years.

Q&A with producer and editor of Documented, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon followed by reception with Haitian food.

Sabrina Schmidt Gordon is a Haitian-American documentary filmmaker with over 17 years experience in all aspects of production, from research and development, to producing, editing and directing. Her editing debut won an Emmy for WGBH’s Greater Boston Arts series, and she has continued to distinguish herself as a producer and editor on numerous award-winning films, TV programs and web series. She is the co-director of BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez,”Winner of Best Documentary Directed by a Woman of Color,” ADIFF.

This program is part of An Open Letter to NYC:
Immigrant Documentary Filmmakers and Their Films
Starting with the periods before, during, between, and after the two world wars through to the present day, the American film industry would not exist without the immigrant filmmaker. In fact all contemporary American art and media, including the current documentary renaissance, is enlivened by and rooted in the modern immigrant experience. An Open Letter takes stock in immigrant, refugee and expatriate documentary filmmakers and/or documentary films about immigration and pays special attention to filmmakers from dominant and emerging NYC populations including those of Caribbean, Eastern European, Latin American, South and East Asian, Middle Eastern and West African descent. Programmed by Jessica Green and Edo Choi.

This series is supported by New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) as part of the 2016 Immigrant Cultural Initiative.

Subscribe to TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/sxaw6h Subscribe to COMING SOON: http://bit.ly/H2vZUn Subscribe to INDIE & FILM FESTIVALS: http://bit.ly/1wbkfYg Like us on FACEBOOK: http://goo.gl/dHs73 Follow us on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/1ghOWmt Follow us on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/1ghOWmt Documented Official Trailer 1 (2014) - Documentary HD SYNOPSIS Jose Antonio Vargas began his immigrant journey at age 12, when he was sent to the United States from the Philippines by his mother to live with his grandparents in Mountain View, California.

Maysles Cinema Mondays at Nowadays

 

                                         Maysles Cinema Mondays at Nowadays
                                         56-06 Cooper Ave, Ridgewood, Queens

Monday, June 20th, Sundown
Muhammad and Larry
Introduced by Producer Laura Coxson

Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Bradley Kaplan, 2009, 52 min
In October of 1980 Muhammad Ali was preparing to fight for an unprecedented fourth heavyweight title against his friend and former sparring partner Larry Holmes. To say that the great Ali was in the twilight of his career would be generous; most of his admiring fans, friends and fight scribes considered his bravado delusional. What was left for him to prove?

In the weeks of training before the fight, documentarians Albert and David Maysles took an intimate look at Ali trying to convince the world and perhaps himself, that he was still “The Greatest.” At the same time, they documented the mild-mannered and undervalued champion Holmes as he confidently prepared to put an end to the career of a man for whom he had an abiding and deep affection.

Here for the first time is the unseen build up to that fight, accompanied by freshly shot interviews by Albert Maysles with members from both the Ali and Holmes camps, as well as others who were prime witnesses to this poignant foolhardy attempt at courage.

Monday, June 27th, Sundown (**RESCHEDULED FOR MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH AT SUNDOWN DUE TO RAIN**)
Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau
Screening to be preceded by a traditional Hawaiian chant and dance performance.
Sam George, 2013, 100 min
Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau examines the legacy of the fearless big wave surfer and first-ever North Shore lifeguard beyond inspiring one of surfing’s most famous catchphrases, “Eddie Would Go.” Through interviews, reenactments and dynamic historical footage, professional-surfer-turned-filmmaker Sam George uncovers Aikau’s little-known personal and family history and finds a compelling allegory for the reclaiming of Hawaiian culture. Narrated by Josh Brolin and produced by Stacy Peralta.

Monday, July 11th, Sundown
Stretch and Bobbito
Bobbito Garcia, 2015, 95 min
During the 1990s, Stretch and Bobbito introduced the world to an unsigned Nas, Biggie, Wu-Tang, and Big Pun as well as an unknown Jay-Z, Eminem, and the Fugees. The total record sales for all the artists that premiered on their radio show exceed 300 million. The late night program had a cult following in the art/fashion world and prison population as well. All would loyally tune in for the humor just as much for the exclusive tunes. Stretch and Bobbito brought a unique audience together, and created a platform that changed music forever.

Monday, July 18th, Sundown
Monterey Pop
Introduced by Director D.A. Pennebaker
D.A. Pennebaker, 1968, 78 min
On a beautiful June weekend in 1967, at the height of the Summer of Love, the first and only Monterey International Pop Festival roared forward, capturing a decade’s spirit and ushering in a new era of rock and roll. Monterey would launch the careers of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding, but they were just a few among a wildly diverse cast that included Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas, the Who, the Byrds, Hugh Masekela, and the extraordinary Ravi Shankar (shot by Albert and David Maysles). With his characteristic vérité style, D. A. Pennebaker captured it all, immortalizing moments that have become legend: Pete Townshend destroying his guitar, Jimi Hendrix burning his. Seeing this film inspired Michael Lang to create the Woodstock festival in 1969, and the neo-hippy Coachella generation would not exist without Monterey Pop.

Monday, July 25th, Sundown
Herzog Eats His Shoes
Les Blank, 1980, 20 min
Yes, German film director Werner Herzog really does eat his shoe to fulfill a vow to fellow filmmaker Errol Morris — boldly exemplifying his belief that people must have the guts to attempt what they dream of. Inspiring. Werner Herzog forges ahead in his unique cinematic quest for truth and the late, great filmmaker Les Blank — and co-founder of the American direct cinema movement with Robert Drew, Ricky Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker and Albert and David Maysles — captures it all.

Burden of Dreams
Les Blank, 1982, 95 min
For nearly five years, acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog desperately tried to complete one of the most ambitious and difficult films of his career, Fitzcarraldo, the story of one man’s attempt to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle. Documentary filmmaker Les Blank captured the unfolding of this production, made more perilous by Herzog’s determination to shoot the most daunting scenes without models or special effects, including a sequence requiring hundreds of native Indians to pull a full-size, 320-ton steamship over a small mountain. The result is an extraordinary document of the filmmaking process and a unique look into the single-minded mission of one of cinema’s most fearless directors. Also with Klaus Kinski and Claudia Cardinale.

Monday, August 1st, Sundown
Rubble Kings
Post Screening Q&A with director Shan Nicholson and film subjects (TBA).
Shan Nicholson, 2010, 68 min
From 1968 to 1975, gangs ruled New York City. Beyond the idealistic hopes of the civil rights movement lay a unfocused rage. Neither law enforcement nor social agency could end the escalating bloodshed. Peace came only through the most unlikely and courageous of events that would change the world for generations to come by giving birth to hip-hop culture. Rubble Kings chronicles life during this era of gang rule, tells the story of how a few extraordinary, forgotten people did the impossible, and how their actions impacted New York City and the world over. Rubble Kings covers the real life NYC history that inspired the cult classic The Warriors.

Monday, August 8th, Sundown
Midsummer’s Night’s Dream
Julie Taymor, 2014, 160 min
A film by Julie Taymor of Julie Taymor’s much heralded and sold-out production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, filmed at Theatre For A New Audience, Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn, New York in 2014. Taymor is the creative force behind such productions as The Magic Flute (Metropolitan Opera), Across the Universe, Frida, and of course the highest grossing Broadway musical of all time, The Lion King. Of all Shakespeare’s plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the most phantasmagorical, featuring fairies, spells, and hallucinatory lovers. Julie Taymor turns out a production that’s visually breathtaking, funny, sexy and darkly poetic. With cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto (Argo, Frida) and music by Academy Award-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal, this is an immersive, inventive cinematic experience that was filmed during the show’s highly acclaimed inaugural run. The feats of visual imagination are ingenious and plentiful, but beating at the centre of the film is an emotionally moving take on the deeper human aspects of this beloved tale. In honor of mid-summer, the 62nd anniversary of Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare in the Park, and the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

Monday, August 15th, Sundown
The Look of Silence
Joshua Oppenheimer, 2015, 103 min
Oscar®-nominated The Look of Silence is Joshua Oppenheimer’s powerful companion piece to the Oscar®-nominated The Act of Killing. Through Oppenheimer’s footage of perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide, a family of survivors discovers how their son was murdered, as well as the identities of the killers. The documentary focuses on the youngest son, an optometrist named Adi, who decides to break the suffocating spell of submission and terror by doing something unimaginable in a society where the murderers remain in power: he confronts the men who killed his brother and, while testing their eyesight, asks them to accept responsibility for their actions. This unprecedented film initiates and bears witness to the collapse of fifty years of silence.

 

Monday, August 22nd, Sundown
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One
William Greaves, 1968, 75 min
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One is a film that is as complex creatively as the pronunciation of its title. Director William Greaves created a seminal movie-within-a-movie by expanding on the cinema verite style of filmmaking and the using production techniques in both the filming and editing that reflect on the process of filmmaking itself. The film takes place in Central Park where an eccentric director, played by Greaves, has three separate film crews cover the proceedings of making a screen test. It was filmed in 1968 but didn’t premiere publicly until 1991 whereupon it rapidly gained a cult following and reinforced Greaves status as one of the great American documentary filmmakers.

Gaining a cult status from those individuals who were able to view it, the film eventually caught the attention of actor and filmmaker Steve Buscemi, who caught a screening of the docu-drama at the Sundance Film Festival in 1993. Seeing the film’s potential, Buscemi worked to secure financing for a sequel and the wide-release of the original film. Eventually, Buscemi and Greaves were joined by the adventurous Hollywood director Steven Soderbergh. Together, the three managed to secure both distribution channels for the film as well as financing for one of Greaves’s sequels.
 

Monday, August 29th, Sundown
This is Spinal Tap
Rob Reiner, 1984, 82 min
A mockumentary, a musical, a comedy, a film that made Tom Waits cry. This is Spinal Tap follows fictional (now only semi-fictional) British heavy metal band Spinal Tap on their US tour as they try to reclaim their place on the charts and maneuver the array of requisite groupies, promoters, hangers-on and historians, sessions, release events and those special behind-the-scenes moments that keep it all real. Rob Reiner directs and stars in this largely ad-libbed 1984 spoof that leaves everyone quoting that line “Turn it up to eleven”. It does for rock and roll what The Sound of Music did for hills. With Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Ed Begley Jr., Dana Carvey, Billy Crystal, Paul Shaffer, Angelica Huston, Fred Willard and Fran Drescher.