Wed. 2/3: Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train

January 28th, 2010

Description: To pay tribute, we’ll present a screening of Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral On a Moving Train (2004, 78min) a film by Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller, from First Run Features.
“This acclaimed film looks at the amazing life of the renowned historian, activist and author. Following his early days as a shipyard labor organizer and bombardier in World War II, Zinn became an academic rebel and leader of civil disobedience in a time of institutionalized racism and war. His influential writings shine light on and bring voice to factory workers, immigrant laborers, African Americans, Native Americans and the working poor.”
Featuring interviews with Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Tom Hayden and more, with narration provided by Matt Damon.

Details: at Unnameable Books

600 Vanderbilt Ave, Prospect Heights

8pm start time
In the basement

Drinks to follow at Soda Bar, across the street

Special Thanks

January 22nd, 2010

To everyone who attended the last screening and donated to Partners in Health, I want to extend our deepest thanks. By the end of the night, we had raised $250 for rescue efforts in Haiti. It is because of generous, conscientious individuals like yourselves, and of course the filmmaker, our speakers, and the proprietors of Vox Pop cafe that we are able to continue bringing you free films, and putting together events like this.

We were able to leave that evening knowing that although it may simply be a drop in the bucket, we had the pleasure of seeing some community action.

For more information, or to donate to Partners in Health independently, visit http://www.pih.org

Once again, thanks to all who donated, keep your ears perked up, more great screenings, filmmakers and events to come soon.

Much love

-kccs

1/20: special screening of “Poto Mitan” Wed. @ Vox Pop, a benefit for Haiti

January 18th, 2010

Description:
This week we are dedicating our movie night at Vox Pop Cafe to raising funds to help with disaster relief in Haiti. We’ll be showing a documentary produced right here in Brooklyn, hosting a discussion, and collecting money for Partners In Health, the aid group that has been doing phenomenal work in Haiti for over 20 years and already operates several hospitals and clinics throughout the country.

-WEDNESDAY at 8pm we’ll be screening Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy (2009, 50min) from Tet Ansanm Productions, co-directed by Renee Bergan and Mark Schuller, with narration by Edwidge Danticat. “Told through the lives of five compelling Haitian women, Poto Mitan gives an inside perspective on globalization, Haiti’s current crisis, and the resilient women challenging this system.” Visit potomitan.net for trailer, information and project goals.
-This screening will be followed by a discussion with a representative from Fonkoze, a micro-financing institution that works closely with PIH on the ground in Haiti.

-Asking for $10 towards PIH at this event, but of course no one will be turned away. Please give what you can.

Vox Pop Cafe is at 1022 Cortelyou Rd. @ Stratford Rd in Ditmas Park. Q train to Cortelyou
voxpopcafe.com for more info, or 718-940-2084

1/15: Con Artist @ UnionDocs

January 12th, 2010

Description: Special screening of Con Artist (2009, 87min) at UnionDocs in Williamsburg.
An official selection at the 2009 Tribeca and Hamptons Film Festivals, CON ARTIST examines the controversial, contradictory, greedy, and shamelessly self-promoting pop artist Mark Kostabi. A fast and funny “docu-comedy of art, celebrity, fortune, fakery, and the American Dream,” it’s also a must for fans of the city’s art/punk/hip hop boom in the ’80s.

A special discussion and q&a with director Michael Sladek follows the 7:30 screening.


Details: Friday, 1/15, 7:30pm

There is a suggested donation of $7 at the door, but we recommend getting advance tix through the UNIONDOCS site (official trailer is up here too), as the screening room is quite cozy.
322 Union Ave, L to Lorimer/ G to Metropolitan/ J to Hewes

1/13: The Cruise @ Freddy’s

January 12th, 2010

Description: Famed bus tour guide/ pseudo-philosopher Timothy “Speed” Levitch takes us on a whirlwind tour through Manhattan (and his own headspace) in Bennet Miller’s beautifully photographed postcard to NYC The Cruise (1998, 76min). Preceded by a few vintage docs on the city.


NY Times review by Stephen Holden

Details: Wednesday 1/13, 8:30pm

Freddy’s Backroom, 485 Dean St., corner 6th Ave., 2/3 to Bergen or any train to Atlantic Pacific

12/19: Mad Max II and Repo Man @ Book Thug Nation

December 18th, 2009

BOOKS THROUGH BARS BENEFIT
RepoMan/Mad Max Movie Night and Bakesale

Just $5 for two classic 1980s dystopian technothrillers and a chance to sample home-baked goods? All funds used to send free books to people in prison? That’s right. Come support New York City’s books to prisoners program.  Learn about Books Through Bars here

7:30pm — MAD MAX II: THE ROAD WARRIOR
1982, directed by George Miller
“In a post-nuclear war world, a lone adventurer who drives the roads of outback Australia in an endless search for gasoline. His opponents include Lord Humungus, and they battle over a tiny band of civilized survivors and their horde of fuel.”
Haven’t seen Mad Max I? Don’t worry about it.

9:30pm — REPO MAN
1984, directed by Alex Cox
“Otto, a baby-face punk played by Emilio Estevez, becomes an apprentice to Bud (Harry Dean Stanton), a coke-snorting, veteran repo-man-of-honor prowling the streets of a Los Angeles wasteland populated by hoods, wackos, burnouts, conspiracy theorists, and aliens of every stripe.”

Book Thug Nation

100 N. 3rd St. bet. Berry St. and Wythe Ave, Williamsburg

12/9: The Day of the Beast at Freddy’s

December 8th, 2009

Description: Freddy’s Backroom tomorrow, Wed. 12/9 with El dia de la bestia (The Day of the Beast, 1995, 99min, Spain/Italy), director Alex de la Iglesia’s horror-thriller-comedy mash-up about an unhinged priest and his attempts to thwart the birth of the Antichrist in present-day Madrid on Christmas Day. In time for the holidays.

english language trailer

Details: 8:30pm, Freddy’s Backroom, 485 Dean St., 2/3 to Bergen St. or any train to Atlantic/Pacific

12/2: The Promise of New York

December 1st, 2009

KCCS hosts a special post-election screening of The Promise of New York, Raul Barcelona’s irreverent look at mayoral politics in NYC
8pm, Wednesday, 12/2, Vox Pop Cafe: 1022 Cortelyou Rd @ Stratford Rd, Q to Cortelyou
free as always

A blogger turned stand-up comic, an obsessive political gadfly and a high-school math teacher compete against each other and arch rival incumbent Michael Bloomberg for the post of New York City mayor. As these ordinary citizens take politics into their own hands, The Promise of New York explores the meaning of democracy and the identity of a city with hilarious irreverence and thought-provoking sensitivity.”

New York City. Politics. Mayhem.

**Director Raul Barcelona will join us for an intro and a Q&A after the film, and will have copies of his recently released DVD to sell**

“The film is at times whimsical, frustrating and hilarious, and the perfect vehicle to show how the political process in New York stifles rather than cultivates democracy.”-City Hall News
Winner of Best Documentary Audience Choice Award @ 31st Big Muddy Film Festival

trailer & more info at www.thepromiseofnewyork.com
directions/info at voxpopcafe.com

11/18: Porcelaine Skyline scores experimental shorts in Bushwick

November 16th, 2009

Description: Tiffany Frances and Porcelaine skyline provide a live accompaniment to a series of nature-themed experimental shorts:

-A Ballad About Green Wood (Jiri Barta)
-The Garden of Earthly Delights (Stan Brakhage)
-A Temporary Arrangement [excerpt]  (Phillip Barker)
-Jewel [excerpt] (Kiki Smith)
-Glaze of Cathexis (Stan Brakhage)
-Ashden’s Walk on Mon (Derek Jarman)
-Illuminations (Itai Froumin)
-Wood Smoke (Fredo Viola)
-Sirius Remembered (Stan Brakhage)
-Picnic With Weissberg (Jan Svankmajer)

Details: Program starts at 9pm. In the downstairs den @ Northeast Kingdom, 18 Wyckoff Ave. Bushwick. L to Jefferson.

Wed. 11/11: Miike x2

November 10th, 2009

Description: Join us Wednesday in Freddy’s Backroom for a doubleheader of sick and depraved Nippon-horror from Takashi Miike. 

7:30pm GOZU, (aka Yakuza Horror Theater: Gozu, 2003, 125 min) Miike’s twisted conflation of Yakuza mystery, Lynchian comic-horror, Japanese folklore, and lots of lactating.  ”…a straight-to-video Japanese release that snuck into Cannes last year and has been leaving a trail of damp, crusty stains on the festival circuit since, is likely his most cunning and controlled work since the sex-panic Venus flytrap Audition.” -Dennis Lim

japanese trailer and Lim\’s original Village Voice review

9:45pm VISITOR Q (2001, 84min) a perverse thriller ostensibly about a deranged dad documenting the exploits of his seriously damaged family. Sure to offend everyone.

bizarre original trailer and a recommendation from trusty Joe Bob Briggs

Details: Films at 7:30/ 9:45

Freddy’s Bar and Backroom, 485 Dean St. @ 6th Ave

freddysbackroom.com