Strange Sinema: Mind-Altering Oddities From The Archives April 24, 2009

Event: Strange Sinema: Mind Altering Oddities from the Oddball Archives featuring new finds, buried junk and mystical moving image mayhem featuring films such as “Trance and Dance in Bali (1937-39) by Margaret Mead+Gregory Bateson,” Alexander Calder: From the Circus to the Moon” (1963), directed by Hans Richter, Bizarre Food Commercials from the 70’s including Jack-in-the-Box space aliens, erotic dancer Lili St Cyr in “Bubble Dance”, two train films featuring “Why Gamble With Death?” and the “Trans-Siberian Railway” plus strange sex ed and home movies!
Date: Friday, April 24th.
Time: 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission+Info: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or [email protected]
Web: http://oddballfilm.com/resources/events_parent
"Strange Sinema”
Mind Altering
Oddities From the Archives
Screens at Oddball Films

Friday, April 24th we present “Strange Sinema: Mind Altering 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. 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, mind-altering films from around the world!

Selected shorts include:

“Trance and Dance in Bali” (1937-39) by Gregory Bateson and Jane Belo ; written and Margaret Mead Records a performance of the Balinese ceremonial kris (dagger) dance-drama, which depicts the never-ending struggle between witch (death-dealing) and dragon (life-protecting), as it was given in the village of Pagoetan in the late 1930s. The dancers experience violent trance seizures, turn their krises against their breasts without injury, and are restored to consciousness with incense and holy water. Narrated by famed anthropologist Margaret Mead against a background of Balinese music. This “ecstatic ethnography” was an extraordinary effort to use film and photography in the field, and the precursor to much of the visual anthropology that has gone on since then.

“Alexander Calder: From the Circus to the Moon” (1963)
Produced by visionary experimental filmmaker Hans Richter this whimsical world of world-renowned sculptor Alexander Calder is on full display in this insightful look at his work. Utilizing materials unfamiliar in conventional sculpture at the time including wire, discs and cut-outs, a fresh vocabulary emerges for three-dimensional expressions, exuding a his own brand o fquirky surreality that is the essence of whimsy. Calder (1898 –1976) was an internationally admired American sculptor and artist who is best known for making sculpture move. In the 1930’s, he combined engineering and art to invent the mobile, a kinetic abstract sculpture of metal pieces connected by wires or rods that are delicately balanced to float in space and move in response to surrounding air currents or the push of a finger. Calder also created wire sculptures, paintings and jewelry, illustrated books, designed sets for the grand dame of modern dance, Martha Graham and created one-off art covering airplanes, and racing cars.

Bizarre Food Commercials From the 1970s!

More bizarro ads from our 6, 000 film commercial collection. Watch “Armour Treet” (like spam only fattier!), “Shake n’ Bake”, “Swift’s Deli Spread” (mystery meat!), “Cabana Bananas”, “Bonanza Sirloin Pit”, Colonel Sanders Chicken (Watch the creepy Colonel) and a C-R-A-Z-Y Jack-In-The-Box commercial featuring space aliens.

Lili St Cyr in “Bubble Bath Dance” (1950s)
Lli St Cyr was the most influential burlesque dancer in the second half of the 20th century. Her hip-swiveling ways swayed pop-culture sirens from Marilyn Monroe (who copied her style) to Madonna (who bought her famous push up bras) for decades to come.
St. Cyr shimmied across the country with inventive routines in posh nightclubs amassing legions of famous fans, including Humphrey Bogart and Ronald Reagan. Her notoriety and fame brought financial and commercial successes, with roles in movies like Howard Hughes' "Son of Sinbad" and Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead."

Two Kinds of Railway Travel:
Crash Your Car Into a Train or Travel Across Siberia!

Why Gamble With Death? (1925-1975)
Produced by the Illinois Central Railway this short shows you what happens when a train hits a car. In the brilliant words of the narrator “When a train hits a car, it’s bad for the car. If people are in the car it’s bad for them. Why Gamble with Death?’ Ahh..because I’m in a hurry?

The Trans-Siberian Railway (1970) The world’s longest stretch of track-the Trans-Siberian Railroad-extends from Moscow in European Russia to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast. Completed in the early 1900’s the Trans-Siberian provided the means for colonization and economic development of Siberia. In addition to it’s 6,000 mile length the Railroad provides essentials such as a traveling food store, medical and dental clinics (!), and a clothing store. Rare historical footage and a now gone way of life show what the trip was like nearly 40 years ago.

Plus More Surreal Surprises!
Including home movies, double screen oddities and strange sex-ed shorts!

Official Website: http://oddballfilm.com/resources/events_parent