CineMarfa 2011
The first year of CineMarfa highlighted films from the late 70’s, in particular No Wave Cinema.
James Nares' feature-length cult classic ROME ’78, Nares' and his short films NO JAPS AT MY FUNERAL, WAITING FOR THE WIND, and PENDULUM were also shown. There was a panel discussion with James Nares, Christopher Wool, and Glenn O'Brien.
O'Brien presented a program of never before seen highlights from his legendary NYC cable access interview talk show TV PARTY that featured guest appearances by Debbie Harry, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Klaus Nomi, George Clinton, and many more. Mr. O’Brien, the original editor-in-chief of Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine, also introduced Andy Warhol’s LONESOME COWBOYS, a hilarious, over-the-top camp take on the Western.
Artist and filmmaker Larry Clark presented TULSA, a newly unearthed 16mm film reel that was shown for the first time ever in its original 16mm format. Made in Tulsa in 1968, Billy Mann and others from Clark’s seminal 1971 book, Tulsa, come to life in this 16mm black and white film footage. A Q & A with Clark followed the screening. Clark also presented his rarely-screened feature KEN PARK, as well as WASSUP ROCKERS, which chronicles a group of East LA skate kids’ fateful experiences of on a day trip to Beverly Hills.
Two films by revolutionary underground filmmaker Jack Smith were shown, SCOTCH TAPE and FLAMING CREATURES, a 16mm film that brings a tableaux vivant of exotic glamour and polysexual fantasy to life.
The Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Road Show brought their portable 35mm projection and giant outdoor screen to host screenings of a 35mm print of Walter Hill’s futuristic thriller THE WARRIORS and Kaplan’s cult classic about teen rebels OVER THE EDGE, both at El Cosmico. Director Celine Danhier presented her new documentary on No Wave Cinema BLANK CITY, which weaves together an oral history of the No Wave Cinema and Cinema of Transgression movements through compelling interviews with the luminaries who began it all.
As a counterpoint to the New York scene, CineMarfa screened storied Austin filmmaker Eagle Pennell’s 1979 feature THE WHOLE SHOOTIN’ MATCH, a nuanced film that evokes the blank stare of the No Wave, with a regional twist. SXSW founder Louis Black introduced the film, which was shown at the Lost Horse Saloon.
Rounding out the program were two feature films by German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger, MADAME X, a feminist pirate movie, and TICKET OF NO RETURN, a comic story of alienation and dipsomania set amidst the backdrop of late-70’s Berlin.
