Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 91, a monthly screening of new finds, old gems and offbeat oddities from Oddball Films’ vast collection of 16mm film prints. Drawing on his archive of over 50,000 films, Oddball Films director Stephen Parr has complied his 91st program of classic, strange, and unusual films. For Strange Sinema 91: Oddball’s Strangest Hits!, a surreal and sometimes stupefying selection of some of the strangest films in the Strange Sinema series. Drawn from a wealth of genres - including educational, mental hygiene, pop psychology, quack science and even smut - this program highlights the deep diversity and madcap mayhem that make this series so utterly strange. Featured films include The Cat Who Drank and Used Too Much (1988) a wacky anti-drug howler about an alcohol and drug addicted cat, Frank Film (1973), Frank Mouris’s classic of independent cinema presents 11,592 separate shots of common objects forming complex, rapidly moving patterns that Andrew Sarris called "a nine-minute evocation of America's exhilarating everythingness”, Toothache of the Clown (1972), a clown goes to the dentist in this bizarre and nightmarish kids educational film, Blind as a Bat (1956), the crackpot Christian Moody Science “Bat Truck” goes on location to study the secrets of bat navigation, Rendezvous (1976), director Claude LeLouche’s infamous, one-take high speed drive through the streets of Paris, Help! My Snowman’s Burning Down (1964) Carson Davidson’s award-winning beatnik dada rhapsody with jazz score by the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, You Asked For It! (1957) - watch Dr. Cole in this television kinescope demonstrate the science behind putting a red-hot metal poker on your tongue-painlessly!, The Great Saw Came Nearer and Nearer (1944), a sexist and comedic juke box Soundie featuring Cindy Walker getting terrorized by a beau who will saw her in half unless she marries him!, Ersatz (1961), one of the oddest animated films ever - one man inflates everything he needs for the perfect day at the beach, including a girlfriend (!) in this mid-century Oscar-winning gem, it’s monkey time starring Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp (1971) as a detective from APE (Agency to Prevent Evil) as he battles a dentist who implants radio transmitter into teeth!, Deciso 3003 (1982), the world’s first alien teen sex ed puppet film where even puppets (designed by legendary Julie Taymor) feel ashamed and Sun Healing: The Ultra Violet Way With Life Lite (1940s), cinematic curio promoting a quack medical device as a cure for skin disease. Plus! Allergy test films, men in diapers and home movie hijinks!
Date: Friday, August 21st, 2015 at 8:00PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com
Featuring:
This wacky anti-drug film about an alcohol and drug using cat features Pat the Cat as he hits the skids before finally reaching out for help- an Oddball favorite! Narrated by Julie Harris.
Frank Film (Color, 1973)This stop-motion classic of independent cinema presents 11,592 separate shots of common objects forming complex, rapidly moving patterns accompanied by two continuous narrative soundtracks played simultaneously. The result is a collective autobiography that Andrew Sarris called "a nine-minute evocation of America's exhilarating everythingness.” This film has screened over 45 times at Oddball-it’s that great!
Made to assuage children’s fears of the dentist, this film manages to combine nothing but the creepiest elements into one terrifying mind-scratcher. Hallucinating from pain, or laughing gas, this clown has surreal nightmares of children dressed as dental technicians pulling arts and crafts out of the insides of other children dressed as decaying teeth. This is one “trip” to the dentist you won’t want to miss.
Blind as a Bat (Color, 1956), the Moody Science bat truck goes on location to study the secrets of bat navigation, 
Rendezvous (Color, 1976) In 1976, at the end of a film shoot, Director Claude LeLouch (A Man and a Woman) found himself in possession of four things: a camera with ten minutes of film left, a gyroscopically stabilized camera mount, a sports car, and an idea: to film a mad dash (at speeds up to 140 mph) through the early morning streets of Paris. Denied the necessary permits, he shot the film guerrilla-style, in one take, with no special effects and no street closures. No one was hurt, his subsequent arrest was brief, and the film has become a legend. One take, no film tricks- you won’t believe your eyes.
You Asked For It! (B+W, 1957)
San Francisco archivist, imagemaker and curator Stephen Parr, founder of Oddball Film+Video has a long history of presenting and archiving the unusual. Since the 1970s Parr has produced and documented live performances of John Cage, Christian Marclay and The Ramones, screened his signature pop culture montages from the Danceteria in New York to the Moscow Cinematheque. He’s created found footage based films such as Historical/Hysterical?, The Subject is Sex and Euphoria! which have screened worldwide in venues such as The Anthology Film Archive, Jaaga in Bangalore, South India and the Leeds International Film Festival. He curates an eclectic weekly film series-Oddball Films at his archive and is a frequent presenter at film and media seminars and symposiums. He is an active member of the Association of Moving Image Archivists. He has currently completed Laservision, a program of films exploring the history of lasers and holography inaugurating the Science, Art and Cinema series at Miami’s Frost Museum.