From Muppets to Metal: Music Movies @ YBCA

Dec 1--18, 2011 • YBCA Screening Room More @ http://ybca.org/muppets-metal-music-m... As holiday mayhem descends upon us, this five-part series of music movies will sometimes lift your spirits, sometimes hurt your ears, but mostly will entertain, challenge and inspire you. THE PROGRAM Chico and Rita SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW! By Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal and Tono Errando Oscar-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque) and Spain's most famous designer, Javier Mariscal, create a passionate, animated Cuban love story. In the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero, the film follows two young lovers who are united in music and romantic desire, but their journey -- Havana to New York, Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas -- brings heartache and torment. Cuban pianist and bandleader Bebo Valdès, who actually sat at the piano and led the orchestra at the Tropicana Club in Havana, wrote the music score and plays on the soundtrack. (2010, 93 min, 35mm) COLEMAN-ROLLINS-KIRK-CAGE A program of three rare 30-minute films by Dick Fontaine, an unsung filmmaker who documented countercultural movements beginning in the 1960s. Program contains: Who's Crazy? (a.k.a. David, Charlie, and Ornette), a meditation on freedom of expression with three avant-garde musicians under the leadership of composer and multi-instrumentalist Ornette Coleman; Who Is Sonny Rollins?, a moving portrait of jazz great Sonny Rollins during his self-enforced exile from his audience in protest against the Vietnam War; and Sound??, a poetic journey from zoo to anechoic chamber in search of the limits of music with blind musician Rahsaan Roland Kirk and composer John Cage. (1966-68, 90 min, digital) Saxon: Heavy Metal Thunder -- The Movie By Coolhead Productions The story of heavy metal monsters Saxon is a classic rock 'n/ roll saga, as five friends from the backstreets of Yorkshire set out to take on the world. This new documentary tells their story of 30 years of heartache, earache, success and excess. Though they never reached the popular success of other British new wave metal bands like Iron Maiden and Motörhead, Saxon are now widely considered metal heroes. The very definition of a film made "for the fans," it was entirely funded by donations from their rabid legion of followers. (2010, 120 min, digital) Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas -- Uncut! By Jim Henson This beloved classic is the heart-warming story of Ma Otter and her son, who both secretly enter a talent contest to win money for each other's Christmas presents. They are challenged by the Riverbottom Gang and their rowdy hard-rock band, The Nightmare. This is a rare special version, which contains all of the Kermit the Frog scenes edited out of the DVD release! The program also includes a delightful selection of highlights from other Christmas specials. (1977, approx 75 min, digital) JOHN ZORN: A FILM IN 15 SCENES By Lewis Klahr, Gobolux, Henry Hills & Joey Izzo Joey Izzo in person Cinema has inspired some of composer and artist John Zorn's greatest works and deeply informed his artistic development. For this project, Zorn reached out to four acclaimed filmmakers, commissioning four different versions of a script he began writing in 1981. The script has 254 shots divided into 15 scenes, and explores juxtaposition and experimental narrative. Program contains: 15 Scenes: 254 Shots by Gobolux (KimSu Theiler & Andrew Nelson); Well Then There Now by Lewis Klahr; Bare Room by Joey Izzo; and arcana by Henry Hills (2011, 98 min total running time, digital) "Much of my work is about the interaction of imaginations, and the balance of what is specified and what is left for interpretation is one of the keys to making great work." -- John Zorn