Oddball Films and guest curator Lynn Cursaro present Picture This: Image-Making from the Scratch Pad to the Silver Screen, a freewheeling look at the ways we immortalize the stuff of life. Scratch pad doodles come to life in Trikfilm (1973). Norman McLaren's Boogie Doodle (1941) gives a squiggle the grace of an Astaire. The powdering of a shiny nose is more bizarrely beautiful as one of the Moving X-Rays (1950). Oscar winning Frank Film (1973) weaves magazine cut-outs into a mid-century portrait of American plenty. The raw material of memories, Kodak photo-paper, rolls out in dizzying… Read more
Oddball Films and guest curator Kat Shuchter bring you So You Think You Know Dance?, a sumptuous evening dedicated to the art of Dance and the transformative nature of film to bring that art and beauty out in new and innovative ways. The grande dame of modern dance, Martha Graham, brings us into her studio as her dancers demonstrate the techniques created and imparted to them by the pioneering dancer and choreographer in A Dancer's World (1957). Maya Deren's A Study in Choreography for the Camera (1945) serves both to capture dance as well as transform it into a post-modern work of art. The… Read more
Oddball Films and guest curator Landon Bates bring you Spooky Booky! , a program of spooktacular gothic literary adaptations that will bring out the boo! in book. This Friday the 13th, take a break from all your mid-summer sun-tanning and recede for an evening into the shadows, with a program of live action short story adaptations, as well as animated interpretations of several classically creepy poems. The selections include The Hangman (1964), a semi-surrealistic animated rendering of Maurice Ogden's poem; a made-for-TV adaption of William Faulkner's cobweb-infested A Rose for Emily (1983… Read more
Oddball Films brings you Black Music In America, an evening saluting the great contribution of African American artists to the musical and cultural landscape of the mid-20th century. From Blues, to Jazz, to Motown, to Funk, with shorts, documentaries, performances and portraits. Including a rare screening of Bessie Smith's only screen performance before her tragic death, St. Louis Blues(1929). Then, Louis Prima and Keely Smith get a little rowdy at Lake Tahoe in The Wildest (1958). Street-guitarist, singer and ordained minister, Blind Gary Davis (1964) plays us some blues and takes us around… Read more
Oddball Films and guest curator Emily Schleiner present The Scene of the Mutant Gene! , featuring films about DNA, heredity, mutants, and genetic throwbacks! Be amazed by the antics of mutant monsters, heredity, inheritance and see the results of science experiments on DNA long before Jurassic Park made its debut and Dolly the sheep walked the Earth! This program features excerpts from Creature From The Black Lagoon , a water monster spine-tingler from 1954, directed by Jack Arnold and starring Richard Carlson and Julia Adams. This film series awed 1950s audiences with nothing less than a… Read more
Oddball Films present America The Strange . An evening of odd Americana on film, this program highlights the most masterful animations, campy educationals and downright bizarre safety films in Oddball Films 50,000 reel collection. Featuring: Vince Collins' supremely psychedelic animated tribute to our nation's bicentennial 200 (1975); precursor to Super Size Me and Food Inc., All American Meal (1976) is a little gem of an educational that warns of the dangers of processed food; and a kooky safety film starring a fire puppet (!) Fireworks (1970s). Peter Fonda in his trademark Captain America… Read more
Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 53: Kinetica , a monthly screening of offbeat films, old gems and newly discovered oddities all culled from Oddball Films 50,000 film archive. Entertaining, experimental and eye-opening, this program’s films feature an eclectic mix of kinetic, motion-oriented innovative art and sounds from the 20 th century . Films include the mesmerizing documentary Kinetic Art in Paris (1971), a viscerally challenging, kaleidoscopic homage to light, sound and motion featuring some of the world’s foremost kinetic artists. The Dreamer That Remains (1973), Stephen Pouliot‘… Read more
Oddball Films and guest curator Christine Kwon present Portrait of a Lady: The Fashionable Struggle. Gender studies students put your black-rimmed glasses on for a night that explores the glory and plight of that most mysterious of human subjects: a woman. The collection kicks off with Woman Speaks (1940s), a rare and fascinating series profiling pioneering ladies of the 1940s. In The Fur Coat Club (1973), two young rascals sneak into an upscale fur shop, where they confront frightening illusions and thwart real-life thieves. And none is more iconic of a young girl’s imagination then Alice’s… Read more
O ddball Films presents Come Fly With Me! - an evening of vintage travel films. Let us whisk you away to exotic faraway places, to lands forgotten by time on modern, glamorous and sexy airplanes. Early travelogues in shimmering black and white, 1950s travel films in stunning Kodachrome color, and swinging sixties go-go holidays! Highlights include Pan Am’s World (1966); a trip to pre-revolution Cuba in Rhumba Holiday (1947); and bandleader Harry Owens stars in Polynesian Holiday (1955), a rare tongue-in-cheek island vacation short featuring the Oscar winning song “ Sweet Leilani.” Pre- Laugh… Read more
Oddball Films and guest curator Kat Shuchter bring you Guy Trouble, a program of vintage films designed to shed light on the tough lot of that underprivileged minority, Men. Some troubles start at birth, like Craig in He’s Mentally Retarded (1975). Whereas from mere boys, guys are bombarded by threats of predators as seen in Boys Beware (1973) where we are taught that the homosexuality is a "sickness of the mind." They are subject to the horrible onslaught of puberty and all the awkward terror it encompasses, as actor Ken Howard and three young men he picked up for a camping trip, learn in… Read more
Oddball Films, with guest curator Lynn Cursaro, presents Unstoppable: The Many Moods of Momentum , an exploration of the forces of physics and emotion. Classic cartoons, crash test footage, experimental cinema and a school film or two depict all sorts of ceaseless activity. Hoffnung’s Palm Court Orchestra (1965) play on in the face of disaster. Is the stuff of life piling up or collapsing in Arthur Lipsett’s dream-like, experimental Free Fall (1964)? A staggering array of colorful playthings spin in Charles and Ray Eames’s Tops (1969) . In Mouse Activated Candle Lighter (1967) , a simple Rube… Read more
Oddball Films presents Crazy Cats! - The Cat Came Back. This evening of crazy cats includes shorts films starring cats, about cats, and people dressed as cats! Highlights include: The Incredible Cat Tale (ca. 1960), a live action cat adventure from Hungary; The Perils of Priscilla (1969), a neglected pussy sets out on her own and hits the big city; Of Cats and Men (1968), an animated history of Felis Cattus Domesticus; the sinister side of felines in Superstition of the Black Cat (1934); The Cat’s Meow (1976) , hilarious educational short was the surprise hit of our previous program; plus… Read more
Oddball Films presents an evening of Lost Animation -rarely screened classics and obscurities of world animation. Most are quite scarce despite scads of accolades and international awards. Films include: Claymation (1978), legendary clay animator Will ( California Raisins) Vinton in the studio; The Romance of Transportation, whimsical Canadian animation from 1952 with a dynamic jazz soundtrack; Harold and Cynthia (1971); consumerist culture skewered; The Mole and The Rocket (1965), beautiful Czech cartoon for kids (and mid-century style-loving adults); Queer Birds (1967), bizarre and… Read more
Oddball Films presents Bad Behavior, a program exploring teen traumas, cultural conflict and youthful rebellion. Whether in a French Boarding school in 1933 or on the streets of the San Francisco’s Mission district in 1971 disaffected youth have many ways to express their frustration. The program features the legendary Jean Vigo film Zero for Conduct (1933). One of the most poetic films ever made and one of the most influential, Vigo based his first fictional film on his own miserable experiences in a French boarding school, and the result is one of the greatest films about youth ever made.… Read more
Oddball Films and guest curator Emily Schleiner present !!Blind Reason!! A Night of Mad and Bad Scientists! The program is packed with films about time-travel, hideous experiments, and ultimately, the fine line between intelligence and folly in the lab. Featuring excerpts from La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962), the renowned precursor to 12 Monkeys; The Invisible Woman (A. Edward Sutherland, 1940), a time-capsule of a film about a fashion model who uses a mad scientist’s experiment toward her own ends; and Dr. Cyclops (Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1940) a science fiction & horror gem wherein Dr.… Read more
Oddball Films presents Shot in San Francisco. This program features vintage 16mm films focused on our beautiful city by the bay. Long lost sights and sounds, rare early color cinematography and everywhere parents, grandparents and great-grandparents in their prime. Highlights include: G, by Edward Demartini, a rare portrait of San Francisco Garbage collectors in 1963, 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition (1939), astounding color scenes from the ’39 World’s Fair held on the newly constructed Treasure Island; Trojan Horse (1967), follow eccentric artist Fredric Hobbs all around “Summer of… Read more
Oddball Films and guest curator Hannah Airriess present Happy Trails: Imagining the Western Frontier. The Western frontier has always been a vital part of the American imaginary, and has been represented in a diverse range of ways. With the recent resurgence in popularity of the western cinema, this program will deal with the way in which the genre and frontier imagery was imagined in earlier decades. Films include the historic short The Great Train Robbery (1903), trailers from the Hopalong Cassidy series (1938-1939), home movie from the San Francisco Horseman’s Association (1943), an… Read more
Oddball Films and Curator Stephen Parr present Strange Sinema 52 , a monthly screening of offbeat films, old gems and newly discovered oddities all culled from Oddball Films 50,000 film archive. Entertaining, experimental and eye-opening, tonight’s films feature: Land-Divers of Melanesia (1972), Kal Muller and ethnographic famed filmmaker Robert Gardner’s collaborate to profile Melanesian men as they attach vines to their ankles, diving headlong from a 100 ft wooden tower in the Naghol land-diving ritual; Isaac Hayes performs the Theme From Shaft in this eye-popping, over-the-top display of… Read more
Oddball Films and guest curator Christine Kwon present Love Lunatic: Or, How to Be Loved When You're a Psycho, a delightful selection of films that speak on the eternally incomprehensible theme of love. The night kicks off with the original bumbling lover, Buster Keaton, as he proves what women really want isn't money, but someone to risk his life in a pistol duel in She's Oil Mine . From there, The Magic Tree transports us to the Congo with a story about a son who risks everything for mommy dearest, followed by Love Me, Love Me, Love Me, a “moral tale” about a man whose only friend is a… Read more
Oddball Films presents Blackballed Cartoons! An evening of banned or censored cartoons filled with racism, sexism, drug references and more. Subjects routinely featured in American animation - many of these cartoons were shown on TV through the late 1960’s until they were pulled from distribution. Swept from the public eye as an embarrassment by the studios and considered a danger to the public, these cartoons are a part of American cultural and artistic history, and need to be seen. Titles include: Coal Black and The Sebben Dwarfs, Tokio Jokio, Little Black Sambo, A ll This and Rabbit Stew,… Read more
