“Strange Sinema: Freaky Finds and Ethnographic Oddities” September 25, 2009

Event: “Strange Sinema: Freaky Finds and Ethnographic Oddities” featuring new films, buried junk and gems such the bizarre Czech animated Kosmodrome 1999 (1968), Will Vinton’s pioneering Claymation short Closed Mondays (1975), the weird ethnographic wonder Stilt Dancers of the Long Bow Village (1980), Visit to a Movie Studio (1979), Eric Martin’s 4.000 mile, 17 minute cross-country trip USA Film (1967), The Insurance Information Institute’s hokey The Invisible Force (1963), Dance of the Peacock (1947) with the Nita Bieber Dancers and much more!
Date: Friday, September 25, at 8:30PM.
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or [email protected]
Web: http://www.oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Strange _Sinema_17.pdf
Freaky Finds and Ethnographic Oddities
Strange Sinema
Oddities From the Archives
Screens at Oddball Films

Friday, September 25th we present “Strange Sinema: Freaky Finds and Ethnographic Oddities from the Archives”, a collection of films from our unarchived collection. Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00. Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: [email protected] or 415-558-8117.
Deep in the stacks of Oddball Films’ 50,000 film collection lie hundreds of unviewed and undiscovered curiosities that have never seen the light of a projection lamp. In many cases the purpose they were made (though some seem to have no purpose!) has long since outlasted their exhibition possibilities.
These mundane, offbeat and even bizarre medical, mental hygiene, adult, music, movie trailers, home movies and commercial throw-aways were collected and archived by curator Stephen Parr in his quest to make the world a stranger cinematic place. As historical detritus they provide valuable insight into the rich variety of sub-cinema culture that lies beneath the surface of conventional feature film fare.
Some of these are films that will, in all likelihood never be screened anywhere again. Join us as we unearth and re-screen these filmic finds never to reappear on dvd or any other format again. Tonight we present some truly remarkable oddities from around the world! Plus! Some exciting new finds from our recent acquisition of over 3,000 films-that’s 6 tons of fun!

Closed Mondays (Color, 1975)
This breakthrough film created by Will Vinton (The California Raisins) and Bob Gardiner won an Academy Award in 1975. In an after-hours visit to an art museum, a drunken man encounters the world of modern art. As he wanders through the gallery, paintings and sculptures shift from illusion to reality, an abstract painting explodes with rhythmic movement, a Rousseau jungle releases its captive images, a Dutch scrub woman talks about her plight, and a kinetic sculpture comes briefly and breathtakingly to life. A tour-de-force of clay animation that set the standard for Claymation as an artform.

Visit to a Movie Studio (Color, 1979)
This film, designed for kids showcases all aspects of making a film covering the role of actors, directors, producers cameramen and editors. The action doesn’t take place in a Hollywood studio (or even a big budget one, in fact it may just be a set for the film, we’re not sure) but a low-end studio making a comic PSA on seat belt safety. It’s a “how do they make commercials meets the Flintstones “ instructional film. Quirky, informative and oddly entertaining.

Kosmodrome 1999 (Color, 1969, by Frantisek Vystreil, Czechoslovakia)
The year is 1999. Interstellar travel is so commonplace; hordes of commuters shuttle about on rockets as casually as they commute from SF to LA today. Our hero misses his flight, however and his zany adventures with the Rube Goldberg-like rocket he tries to enlist results in bizarre and weirdly animated adventures. Brilliant animation and zany, electronic sounds! Produced by the famed Kratky Film Company in Prague.

Stilt Dancers of the Long Bow Village (Color, 1980)
In this weird and astonishing spectacle, Peabody award-winning filmmakers Carma Hinton and Richard Gordon explore the tradition of stilt dancing in Long Bow, China, 400 miles southwest of Beijing. Banned during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, this art of stilt-dancing has now been revived. Stilt Dancers Documents the working class people as they paint their faces, strap on wooden stilts as tall as stop signs and put on an act that's a combination political rally, commedia dell'arte, and steeplechase. This performance tradition is contextualized historically incorporating myth, history and village life as adult and child performers portray folk heroes and villains with particular emphasis on its revival following the Cultural Revolution. The film provides examples of the aesthetics and athleticism involved in stilt dancing and shows how commentaries presented through this cultural form have become increasingly political and national in scope.

USA Film (Color, 1977)
Directed by Eric Martin at the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University the film collapses 4,000 coast-to-coast miles (From Washington DC to San Francisco) into a high speed 17 minute single-framed opus incorporating found sound and radio broadcasts creating a jittery, pulsating whirlwind of images.
India (Color, Kodachrome, 1947)
A Jam Handy Presentation for General Motors, this whirlwind motorcar tour of India features many of the major historical sites in Northern India as well as the lavish palaces of the Maharajahs. The film purports to document the Lawrence Copely Thaw’s Trans-Asiatic Expedition. It’s a mix of the high and low-part exotica and idealization of Indian culture, part awe at the richness of Indian wealth and part rubbernecking travelogue as we watch Indians making sandals with American tire scraps and frying goat burgers. There’s much splendor in the capitalist driven narrative as we watch ecstatic tribal dancers and wealthy Maharajahs parade their elephants and entertain guests. India vibrantly reveals heavy colonialist overtones just 3 years before the country’s Independence. In glorious Kodachrome!

Dance of the Peacock (B+W, 1947)
Nita Bieber was a glamorous actress and dancer who starred in many films including Rhythm and Weep with the Three Stooges, News Hounds with the Bowery Boys as well as roles with legendaries such as Tony Curtis, Dean Martin, Judy Garland and more. In the early 1950s she formed the Nita Bieber Dancers headlining shows at the famous Frontier and El Rancho in Las Vegas and performing on television’s then most popular program The Colgate Comedy Hour. The Dance of the Peacock is a rare, moody and atmospheric gem that’s equal parts pseudo Indian Carnatic Jazz (i.e. Drums, Bongos, Flute and Gong) and campy dance.

The Invisible Force (B+W, 1963)
This Jerry Fairbanks film was produced for The Insurance Information Institute and features hokey reenactments of insurance policies through the ages. As John Hendricks, the man with the magic ring (who materializes in the historical past) says “There is a penetrating and far-reaching force that means better living!” you realize he’s spent the entire film plugging insurance. Watch it and wonder!

Plus! Very, very, strange new films, double projections and more!

About Will Vinton and Claymation
Not many filmmakers launch their careers with an Academy Award, and few animation Directors go on to breathe life into so many characters that they become living icons of animation. Will Vinton created numerous milestones in 3D animation having launched the careers of the California Raisins, the Noid, Dinosaurs “Herb & Rex,” M&M’s “Red & Yellow” and The PJs’ Thurgood Stubbs - all while founding and growing one of the most respected, creative, dimensional character animation studios in history, Will Vinton Studios.
Vinton grew up in the town of McMinnville, Oregon. In the early ‘70s, he studied at UC Berkeley. Fascinated by the fluid designs created in clay similar to the work of Spanish sculptural architect Antoni Gaudi, he began experimenting with clay animation. After graduating with a degree in architecture, he entered the world of film production, working as a director, writer, cinematographer and editor on a variety of personal and commercial entertainment projects. His experimental feature, Gone For a Better Deal, captured the essence of the “counter-culture” and became a key source of footage for other productions including Berkeley in the 60’s.
In 1975, Will won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film for Closed Mondays, a clay animated short he co-created with Bob Gardiner. He founded Will Vinton Productions (which later became known as Will Vinton Studios) to explore the potential of Claymation and dimensional animation.
The word "Claymation" was originally coined by Will Vinton in 1976 and trademarked soon after. Claymation as developed and practiced by Vinton was timely. At a minimum, it helped introduce audiences to 3D animation at a time that 2D was all-pervasive. At some level, it enthralled audiences and made them hungry for 3D animation – opening up the potential for 3D CG animation to become the dominant form of animation today. Will Vinton's work in 3D animation also helped open the door for adult animation at a time when all animation was thought of as children’s entertainment. Vinton's Claymation work found enormous acceptance and appeal with adults. Today, 3D forms of animation no longer have the stigma of kids only entertainment. He has also been a successful Creative Director nurturing other Directors in animation.

About Krátký Film Praha
The film library of Krátký Film Praha a. s. has been in existence since 1945, and is world-renown for its innovative animation and eclectic filmmaking and filmmakers. It has produced more than 50,000 titles of animated, cartoon and puppet films including the famous films of Jiří Trnka (The Hand, screened at Oddball Films in 08), Jan Švankmajer, Karel Zeman and many full-length and short films.
Upcoming Programs:
Fri Sept 25-Strange Sinema 17-Freaky Finds and Ethnographic Oddities
Sat Sept. 26-Lost Animation (An occasional series, from obscure to classic)
Fri Oct 2-Soul/Food SF Food Bank Benefit at Gallery 16
Sat Oct. 3-Son of Trailer Trash (A night of film trailers)
Fri Oct 9-India Films: Photo Wallahs
Sat Oct 10-Weirdsville 7 (Oddities from the Archives)
Fri Oct 16-Crazy Cats 2: The Cat Came Back (Cat films- all new program)
Sat Oct 17-Home Movie Day, Strange Sinema- “World’s Strangest Home Movies”
Fri Oct 23-Sonic Oddities Live
Fri Oct 30-Rock n’ Roll at the Movies
Sat Oct 31-Terror Noir-The House on Telegraph Hill in SF +Halloween Wet Dream

About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.