MARIZA (Digital Animation)

Greece/Australia, 2008, 5 min, Beta SP, US Premiere
Dir: Constantine Krystallis

A fisherman faces his donkey’s obstinacy.

SMALL CRIME
(Mikro Egklima)

Greece/Cyprus/Germany, 2008, 85 min, 35mm, LA Premiere
Dir: Christos Georgiou

Stuck on a sleepy island where nothing ever happens, an overeager young policeman is looking for some action. When an old man is found dead following what looks like a simple accident, he takes it upon himself to launch an investigation.

*Variety Critics Choice, Karlovy Vary Int. Film Festival

ROCKING N' REELING: A TRIBUTE TO PENELOPE SPHEERIS

Moderator: Robert Rosen

Panelists: Penelope Spheeris, Ross Albert, Christina Beck, Bert Dragin, Chris Pedersen

SUBURBIA
USA, 1984, 94 min, 35 mm

Director/Screenwriter: Penelope Spheeris
Producers: Roger Corman, Bert Dragin
Cinematographer: Tim Suhrstedt
Production Designer: Randy Moore
Editors: Ross Albert, Michael Oleksinski
Music Composer: Alex Gibson
Cast: Chris Pedersen, Bill Coyne, Flea, Christina Beck

In Penelope Spheeris’ first fiction film, produced by legendary Roger Corman, the drama revolves around the lives of “The Rejected”, a group of punk kids who have abandoned their homes escaping abuse, and become squatters in a Los Angeles bungalow. Consistent with her documentary work, Spheeris delves into the pain of youths living on the fringe, finding refuge in each other, often having to defend themselves against a hostile environment, and finally realizing the impasse of their choice to live free and unfettered by society.

Spheeris’ casting arena was the Los Angeles punk scene. Among other musicians, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea plays one of the main roles. The preference of musicians and street punks over professional actors not only gives the film a sense of daring authenticity but also reveals the filmmaker’s affinity and knowledge of her subject matter. SUBURBIA may be considered a fictionalized version of Spheeris’ renowned documentary THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION: PART III (1997), both dealing with the Los Angeles punk rock movements of the nineties, even though the latter was made fifteen years later.

NO USE WALKIN’ WHEN YOU CAN STROLL

USA, 1998, 11 min
Director: Penelope Spheeris

This moving and honest portrait of Penelope Spheeris’ mother sheds light onto the director’s unusual and turbulent childhood years that would later influence her work as a filmmaker.

Penelope Spheeris is often referred to as a Rock ‘n Roll anthropologist, and is renowned for her documentary trilogy THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, a unique and courageous presentation of the American punk rock and heavy metal music scenes.

Holder of a UCLA Master of Fine Arts degree, Spheeris worked as a film editor and cinematographer before forming her own company in 1974. Rock n’ Reel was the first Los Angeles production company specializing in music videos. She produced, directed, and edited videos for major bands through the 70s and 80s, concluding her music video work with the Grammy nominated Bohemian Rhapsody video for WAYNE’S WORLD.

Spheeris’ feature film debut was the 1979 documentary on the Los Angeles punk scene, THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, which was received with unanimous critical praise. Still fascinated with the subject, she wrote and directed her first narrative film, SUBURBIA (1984). Almost 25 years later, her documentary THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, PART III would eerily mirror the events she scripted in SUBURBIA. Spheeris continued directing the fiction films THE BOYS NEXT DOOR (1984) with Charlie Sheen and Maxwell Caulfield, and DUDES (1987) with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Lee Ving and Daniel Roebuck. THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, PART II: THE METAL YEARS was released in 1988, again to critical acclaim. It is a caustically hilarious look at the Los Angeles heavy metal scene. Commentaries from Ozzy Osbourne, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Alice Cooper, Lemmy of Motorhead, Poison, etc. accentuate the then-unknown metal bands. In 1992, Spheeris directed her seventh feature and her first studio film, WAYNE’S WORLD, at Paramount Pictures. Subsequently she directed and produced the studio films THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES (Fox, 1993), THE LITTLE RASCALS (Universal, 1994), BLACK SHEEP (Paramount, 1996), SENSELESS (Dimension, 1998).

In 1997, Spheeris returned to her favorite subject with THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION: PART III, documenting the contemporary punk rock scene, focusing on social issues rather than music. In 1999, Spheeris documented the OZZFEST, America’s most successful summer concert tour, and the reunion performances of the original Black Sabbath, with the documentary WE SOLD OUR SOULS FOR ROCK ‘N ROLL, produced by Sharon Osbourne. Her latest film, THE KID & I (2005), starring Tom Arnold and Eric Gores, is about a brilliant young actor with cerebral palsy. Her next endeavor is LOVE ABOVE THE STRIP, a romantic heavy metal comedy set in the summer of 1987. Also in development is the film version of John Lydon’s best-seller biography Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs.

Robert Rosen (moderator) is an educator, critic, preservationist and Dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. He has spoken at scholarly, public, and professional meetings in more than twenty nations on subjects related to film criticism, media history, and curatorship. He has published widely in the field of media preservation and has guided the growth of the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a small study collection to the world’s largest university-based holding of original film and television materials. As a preservationist and historian, he has occupied many positions of leadership in the field. These include: Founding Director of the National Center for Film and Video Preservation at the American Film Institute, the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Film Archives, member of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress, and Board Member of the Stanford Theater Foundation and the Geffen Playhouse. With Martin Scorsese he was the organizer of The Film foundation on which he currently serves as the founding Chair of the Archivists Council. Rosen was decorated by the French Government as an Officer of Arts and Letters and was awarded the International Documentary Association’s Career Achievement Award for Scholarship and Preservation. For ten years he was the film critic for KCRW National Public Radio and he is an active member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Ross Albert’s idiosyncratic aesthetic made him well suited for his collaboration with Penelope Spheeris. SUBURBIA was one of his first solo feature editing credits. Since then, Albert has edited numerous feature comedies, dramas, thrillers, and documentaries, as well as television and non-commercial work. To date, he has worked with Penelope Spheeris on nine projects, including THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, LITTLE RASCALS, BLACK SHEEP, and THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PART III. Some of Albert’s other feature film credits include BLUE CITY, WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, LISA, DEAD AND BURIED, 2010, BUSHWHACKED, WHAT WE DO IS SECRET, BABY ON BOARD, and THE PEST.

Christina Beck began her career as a performer in Penelope Spheeris’ films SUBURBIA (1984), BOYS NEXT DOOR (1985) and DUDES (1987). Beck continued writing and acting in numerous theater productions including A Motel Lightpump in a Perfect World directed by Amy Brenneman. She has directed, written and starred in several short films, including SLICE, produced by Fox Searchlight’s New Directors program, SO HOT FOR YOU, and THE OPHELIA PROJECT. The feature screenplay version of SLICE was a finalist for the Roy W. Dean film grant, and her first feature film, PERFECTION, is currently in production.

Bert Dragin is the writer and director best known for his classic 80s horror flicks SUMMER CAMP NIGHTMARE (1987), co-written with Spheeris and produced by Roger Corman, and TWICE DEAD (1988). He also co-produced Spheeris’ SUBURBIA.

Chris Pedersen was discovered by Penelope Spheeris at a punk-rock concert, who hired him for the lead role in SUBURBIA (1984). Since then Pedersen has had major roles in several award-winning films including Oliver Stone’s PLATOON (1986) and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989), Kathryn Bigelow’s POINT BREAK (1991), and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992).

ATHANASIA-WELL KEPT SECRETS
(Athanasia-Kala Krymmena Mystika)

Greece/USA, 2008, 95 min, 35mm, US Premiere
Dir: Panos Karkanevatos

Athanasia, a Greek woman living in New York, keeps her secret well hidden in her heart; but when her daughter visits the Aegean birthplace, she discovers her mother’s past forbidden love, whose mystery still lies within the steep rocks of the beautiful island.

*FIPRESCI Award, 2008 Thessaloniki Film Festival

THEMIS

Greece, 2009, 85 min, Digibeta, US Premiere
Dir: Marco Gastine

For the very first time, a camera is allowed inside the Athens Court, within which small dramas of everyday life unfold, revealing a microcosmos of modern Greek society.

*Official Selection, ACID, 2009 Cannes Film Festival

Saturday, June 27 - 3:00 PM

Saturday, June 27 - 3:30 PM

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Saturday, June 27 - 7:30 PM

Saturday, June 27 - 8:00 PM

Saturday, June 27 - 9:40 PM

THE NIGHT FERNANDO PESSOA MET CONSTANTINE CAVAFY

Greece, 2007, 90 min, Digibeta, LA Premiere
Dir: Stelios Charalambopoulos

On 21 October 1929, the ocean liner “Saturnia” sails from Trieste on its voyage to America, picking up immigrants from the ports of the Mediterranean, along with their dreams of the New World. There, an equally dreamlike encounter will take place, between two of the greatest poets of the 20th century, Fernando Pessoa and Constantine Cavafy.

*Best Documentary, Greek State Quality Awards 2008

BATHERS
(Louomenoi)

Greece, 2008, 47 min, Digibeta, US Premiere
Dir: Eva Stefani

In the Greek spa towns of Edipsos and Kaiafas, elderly “regulars” enjoy beneficial hot springs, mud baths, and the mild sea-waters. Even more therapeutic, however, prove to be the daily heated political debates, eruptions into song and dance, and outbursts of a latent but undimmed sensuality.

*FIPRESCI Award, 2009 Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival

CHAMELEON BEACH
(Kamaeleonernes Strand)

Denmark, 2008, 52 min, Beta SP, US Premiere
Dir: Adam Schmedes

On a beautiful Greek beach, a small population of African chameleons is fighting to survive, in fierce competition with a growing tourist industry that threatens to destroy the fragile environment and drive the species to extinction.

I AM GAY
(Jag Är Bög)

Sweden, 2008, 15 min, 35mm, LA Premiere
Dir: Nicolas Kolovos

A humorous glimpse into a young man’s dilemma about how to reveal his secret to his Greek-Swedish family.

GUINNESS

Greece, 2009, 94 min, 35mm, US Premiere
Dir: Alexis Kardaras

Threatened by his debtors and driven by greed, a charming gambler arrives at a middle-of-nowhere tavern, in search of a case of gold. Instead, he attracts the tavern owner’s unhappy wife, whose affection complicates his plan and perpetuates his spell of misfortune.