Admission: $10 regular/$8 YBCA Member, Cinematheque member, senior, student, teacher

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Jack Smith (1932–1989) profoundly changed experimental film and theater forever, inspiring artists as diverse as Robert Wilson, John Waters, Cindy Sherman, and Andy Warhol, to name only a few. His uncompromising work blended distorted orientalism, burlesque, fluid sexuality, social critique and deadpan satire into an orgy of radical ecstasy. This series presents brand-new restorations of Smith’s films, all presented on glorious 16mm film. We also screen two documentaries which provide context for a deeper understanding of Smith’s aesthetic and influence. Smith's unique collage blends original film (starring a belly dancer, a pirate and assorted grotesque hags) with old found footage, including campaign film of Wendell Willkie, the liberal Republican who ran against FDR in 1940. The climax of this delirious mess may or may not be to be the sale of the presidential candidate at a slave auction. (1967-70, 45 min, 16mm). Preceded by the short I Was a Male Yvonne De Carlo (1967-1970s, 16mm, 28 min).

 

Image copyright Jack Smith and Courtesy Jack Smith Archive and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.