Two double-feature nights with director Penelope Spheeris
Thursday August 25:
DUDES (1987) and THE EARLY SHORT FILMS OF PENELOPE
SPHEERIS
IT’S SUMMER! Time to hit the wide-open American highway and
follow your bliss to your true purpose…or die
trying! Join us for a rare 35mm screening of the obscure cult classic Dudes (1987), followed by a panel
discussion with director Penelope Spheeris, screenwriter Randall Jahnson and
producer Miguel Tejada-Flores moderated by Wyrd War's Dennis Dread. Take a trip
with Jon Cryer (Pretty in Pink),
Daniel Roebuck (River’s Edge) and
Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) as they
slam dance their way across the country à la Easy Rider and bang heads with a redneck biker gang led by Lee Ving
(FEAR) and infamous punk rock album
cover artist “Mad” Marc Rude. Dudes
is a hilarious and heartbreaking saga in the American countercultural tradition
popularized by Jack Kerouac’s On the Road,
boasting a high octane soundtrack featuring W.A.S.P., Jane’s Addiction, The
Vandals, The Leather Nun and
more! We are delighted to screen the only known 35mm print courtesy of the University
of North Carolina School of the Arts Moving Image Archives.
7:30pm: Dudes
9pm: Panel discussion
with Director, Writer and Producer
9:30pm: Short Films
Program
Friday August 26th:
SUBURBIA (1983) and THE EARLY SHORT FILMS OF PENELOPE
SPHEERIS
We return with a rare 35mm screening of Suburbia (1983)! Produced by exploitation mogul Roger Corman, Suburbia transcends genre to emerge as
an almost anthropological study of the early 80s squatter punk movement of
southern California. It has since become something of a rite of passage for
nearly every disenfranchised adolescent looking to find their tribe beyond the
fringes of the smug status quo. Cigarette burns, nose piercings, head-shavings,
slam dancing and Manic Panic dying rituals. It’s all here in Penelope’s
unintentional “How-To” film that has been lovingly embraced by generations of
snarling punks throughout the world, even as it has been condemned by
hand-wringing parents and the grimacing Moral Majority. The soundtrack features
D.I., The Vandals and T.S.O.L.
and, naturally, it rules. We will be screening a beautiful 35mm print courtesy
of the Academy Film Archive.
THE EARLY SHORT FILMS OF PENELOPE SPHEERIS
Both nights include a very rare screening of the complete short
films of Penelope Spheeris, beautifully restored by the Academy Film Archive.
The shorts collection is a full 88 minute journey into the creative foundry of
one of Hollywood’s living legends. A true renegade badass, Spheeris delivered
punk rock kicking and screaming to mainstream consciousness with caustic humor
and finely attuned sensitivity. In spite of an industry that is especially
unforgiving to its female talent, Spheeris unwaveringly pursued her wild
visions over the course of four decades…and came out on top! Produced between
1968 and 1972, with the exception of No
Use Walkin’ from 1998, her short films are a dynamic and inspiring way to
experience her creative brilliance as a spiritual misfit and “Outsider”
insider. We are extremely fortunate to show them both nights with Spheeris in
attendance to illuminate the wild visions of bellbottoms, drag queens, crying
clowns and born-to-lose margin walkers that cast the die for her now legendary
oeuvre. See the world as it will never be again.
7:30pm: Short Films
Program w/ Introduction by Penelope Spheeris
9:15pm: Suburbia
Each night is $11…or get tickets to both nights for the
special “punk price” of $18! We mean it, maaaan.
