March 30 – 31 at The Egyptian Theatre

Sometime in the early 1950’s, borne out of the Atomic Era and a post-WWII malaise, a new social and literary movement began to make itself felt. At the time, New York writers such as Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsburg, Gregory Gorso and San Francisco poets like Kenneth Rexroth, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McLure, et.al., were making their presence known. Coffee houses sprang up in big cities – especially urban centers on the west and east coast - places where the intellectually and spiritually disenfranchised could come to socialize, read poetry, exchange ideas about the state of the world and "drop out." Somewhere along the line, society – and members within the inner circle themselves – started to call these drop-outs "beatniks." There were obvious, cliché visual signifiers - berets, sunglasses, narrowly-cut black slacks and - for many of the gentlemen – goatees. No matter that virtually none of the famous writers associated with the movement had ever been glimpsd in such get-ups. Television programs featured comic beatnik skits or characters (witness Maynard G. Krebs of the "Dobie Gillis" show). But, surprisingly, there were comparatively few references in the movies. One might see a glimpse or two of something bohemian in a musical comedy like FUNNY FACE, but, unlike the droves of published material in novels and literary journals, there were no great cinematic beat statements being made by Hollywood filmmakers. The few films that were released by the major studios tended toward the wildly exploitive (THE BEAT GENERATION) or the feeble (MGM’s amusingly pathetic attempt to adapt Kerouac’s THE SUBTERRANEANS with George Peppard and Leslie Caron). Then there were fitfully entertaining, but wildly misrepresentative drive-in pictures such as THE BEATNIKS, THE BLOODY BROOD and THE REBEL SET, efforts which equated beatniks with psychopathic criminals. Yet again other lower profile, lower budget films came close to the real thing – Curtis Harrington’s wistful and haunting NIGHT TIDE, set in the back alleys and boardwalks of Venice Beach and Santa Monica, Roger Corman’s satirical horror comedy BUCKET OF BLOOD, and Shirley Clarke’s THE CONNECTION, a gritty view of the subcultures of the cool jazz musician and the druggy hipster intersecting in early 1960’s New York. Please join us for two days of movie beat culture, including rare shorts shot in the heyday at Venice Beach as well as a glorious slide show compiled and hosted by authors Domenic Priore and Brian Chidester.

Series compiled by Chris D., Dominic Priore and Andrew Crane.

Special Thanks: Todd Wiener; Brooke Allen; Amy Lewin/MGM Repertory; Emily Horn/Paramount.

Friday, March 30 – 7:30 PM

Dennis Hopper In Person! Beatnik Beach Night

NIGHT TIDE, 1961, 84 min. Director Curtis Harrington’s debut indie feature is a masterpiece, a haunted, poetic hymn to the dark world of the fly-by-night carnival, lonely midways at dawn and the siren call of eon’s-old passion spawned by the devils of the deep blue sea. In a fond nod to Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur’s CAT PEOPLE, at-loose-ends sailor Johnny Drake (Dennis Hopper) falls in love with sideshow mermaid, Mora (Linda Lawson) who may just somehow be related to the real thing. Shot in and around Santa Monica and Venice Beach in the beat culture’s heyday, the film continues to exert a strong spell, and is brimming with the heady atmosphere of bygone coffee houses, poet hipsters, languid jazz and bongos on the shore. With Luana Anders, Gavin Muir. "…captures an intangible quality of what Santa Monica was like in the early 60s. Quite apart from Los Angeles, it was a quiet residential community. The funfair pier has just the right air of seedy despair about it. Everyone seems to be living 'just off' the mainstream."Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant Preceded by the shorts: "Venice In The Sixties" (aka "The Beat") 15 min. Dir. Leland Auslender. Originally shot for a television show and never used, this is essentially a full-color look inside the atmosphere of the Venice West coffeehouse, its various sections, activities and people; "The Beat From Within: Reflections of a Beatnik" 10 min. Produced by Ralph Morin and directed by Tom Koester, this short covers a day in the life of a Venice beatnik in glorious black 'n' white. Dennis Hopper & NIGHT TIDE director Curtis Harrington In Person for discussion!

KOREAN AND JAPANESE ANIMATION TODAY

FREE ADMISSION

Please join us for this all day event co-organized by The Korean Cultural Center of Los Angeles, The Japan Foundation of Los Angeles and The American Cinematheque. With support from the Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles, Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles, Korea Culture and Contents Agency, Los Angeles and Wowmaxmedia.

It begins with:

11:00 AM - AACHI & SSIPAK, 2006, Studio 2.0, 90 min. Dir. Bum-Jin Joe. This fabulous new animated feature from Korea about a future city where human waste is the sole energy source sparked controversy for its vulgar and aggressive attitude (this film was R-rated in Korea and is recommended for mature audiences). Bizarre and original humor abounds, including the concept of an addictive laxative that produces acute hallucinations.