Although there are still a few weeks before Cinematheque announces its September-to-December schedule, there are numerous worthwhile events in the Bay Area between now and then. A partial list, in chronological order:
Rovaté 2009: Fissures, Futures (for Buckminster Fuller)
Friday, 22-May & Saturday, 23-May at 8:00pm
Kanbar Hall at the Jewish Community Center
3200 California Street (at Presidio Avenue), San Francisco
[Rova Saxophone Quartet returns to Kanbar Hall for a no-sounds-barred evening of inspired improvisation. Berlin-based multi-media artist Lillevan joins the world-renowned musical innovators in Fissures, Futures, dedicated to the 20th century oracle Buckminster Fuller.]
Moondog Madrigal Puppet Show
Friday, 29-May at 8:00pm
Capp Street Concert Hall
544 Capp Street (near 20th Street), San Francisco
[Houston-based ensemble An Exciting Event performs an evening of music and theater, interweaving the late Louis “Moondog” Hardin‘s catchy and complex madrigal rounds with a dazzling menagerie of musical instruments and puppets.]
Illuminated Corridor
Saturday, 30-May at 7:00pm
Middle Harbor Shoreline Park
7th Street (at Middle Harbor Road), Oakland
[Among the numerous installations and sound sculptures to be showcased in this installment, artists will project film and video on assorted park surfaces (accompanied by a live radio broadcast). Featuring work by Alfonso Alvarez, Keith Arnold, Gilbert Guerrero, Kathleen Quillian and dozens more.]
New Experimental Works
Saturday, 30-May at 8:30pm
ATA Gallery
992 Valencia Street (at 21st Street), San Francisco
[Other Cinema‘s energized evening of new cinematic efforts that champion personal expression and radical form, including films by Martha Colburn, Dale Hoyt, Doug Katelus, Roger Beebe, Karla Betancourt, Bryan Boyce and more (with several of the makers in person).]
Cinematheque co-presentations at Frameline
It Came from Kuchar
Sunday, 21-June at 6:30pm
Castro Theatre
429 Castro Street (near Market Street), San Francisco
[This remarkable documentary is the definitive film about the legendary underground filmmakers Mike & George Kuchar, recipients of this year’s Frameline Award. Interviews with Buck Henry, John Waters, Guy Maddin, Atom Egoyan, B. Ruby Rich, Bill Griffith, Donna Kerness and Wayne Wang are shaped by extensive archival footage and the brothers finishing each other’s sentences. Directed by Jennifer M. Kroot.]
Thundercrack!
Tuesday, 23-June at 9:15pm
Victoria Theatre
2961 16th Street (near Mission Street), San Francisco
[Witness, if you dare, the world’s only underground kinky art porno horror film, complete with four men, three women and a gorilla. Ecstasy so great that all heaven and hell becomes just one big old Shangri-La! A true cult classic that has shocked, excited and amazed audiences worldwide, directed by Curt McDowell and written by (and starring) George Kuchar.]
[both descriptions above lifted from the splendid program notes by D.A. Johnston]
Among many other Frameline programs, Cinematheque also recommends:
Canyon Cinema’s Queer Underground
Friday, 26-June at 8:15pm
Roxie Theater
3117 16th Street (near Valencia Street), San Francisco
[A survey of legendary and lesser-known works of underground LGBT filmmakers from the Canyon Cinema cooperative curated by Dominic Angerame, featuring films by Curt McDowell, Kym S. Farmen, Kenneth Anger, Su Friedrich, Connie Beeson, George Kuchar, James Broughton and Jim Hubbard.]