WYRD WAR'S SUMMER BUMMER!

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.