Cinerevolt: The Borders of Paradise (Nicolas Romero Silva, 2024)

Sunday November 2, 2025, The Borders of Paradise (Nicolas Romero Silva, 2024 * door opens at 20:00 * intro & first film starts at 20:30.

At the border of Italy and the French Riviera the French police and Italian State create a humanitarian hotspot through physical violence, illegal pushbacks, and negligence of young people on the move.
In the town of Ventimiglia (at the French-Italian border) we meet the young men who have fled genocide, violent militias, destitution, and have risked their lives crossing the sea to reach the perceived safety of Europe. However, once in Italy they are faced with what one young man calls a “slow death”. Unable to gain the foothold of basic social services, many asylum seekers end up in Ventimiglia. For those who wish to try their luck in another European country awaits a difficult border crossing, often thwarted by the violent and extra-judicial pushbacks by the French police. Others try more dangerous means, such as the ‘pass of death’ through the mountains, in the backs of trucks, or the roofs of trains.
Caught between the agonizing wait for help in Italy and the hope of a better life on the other side of a fortified border, The Borders of Paradise is a detailed portrait of the psychological toll which neglectful European policy has on the young men who arrive on its shores. Incorporating multiple face-to-face conversations about the why and how of their migration, this film seeks to make heard the voices of those most dehumanized in the European political landscape.
The Borders of Paradise is the first documentary film by Nicolás Romero Silva. To organize a screening or learn more about the project visit https://20milesmore.org/.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: a night with Pepe Mujica (Rest In Power)

Sunday June 8, 2025, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: a night with Pepe Mujica (Rest In Power) * EL PEPE: A SUPREME LIFE * (El Pepe, una vida suprema) * Directed by Emir Kusturica * 75 minutes * In Spanish with English subtitles * doors open at 20:00 * intro & film start at 20:30

A movie night in memoriam of Pepe Mujica, who described himself and his fellow Tupamaros as “politicians with weapons.” Not the brightest of his famously lucid turns of phrase, if you consider that the Junta that eventually took power, held on to it, tortured and imprisoned him for over a decade were also, arguably, “politicians with weapons”.
Short clips and a full-length movie El Pepe, una vida suprema by Emir Kusturica.

About a month ago the former Uruguayan president José (Pepe) Mujica died. In my book, he was maybe the only so-called politician that I think was sincere, thoughtful, and straightforward. He had a philosophical bent, and was on the right side of history. For the most part politics is game-playing involving vast amounts of money going to the top government officials. Mujica brought something radically different to the table. He had spent 14 years imprisoned and tortured under the Uruguayan dictatorship in the 1970s, and understood what’s valuable about life. As president, he continued living on his small farm in the countryside, living there with his wife and his three legged dog. He would drive to work every day in his tiny Volkswagen beetle or his moped. In this film he is asked why he was so different from any other politician, why no limousines, huge palaces or red carpets? He responded “If it’s the majority of the people who elect you for office, one has to try and live like the majority, not like the minority.” Such clear-sightedness puts all other politicians to shame.

This documentary was directed by Serbian director Emir Kusturica, and it’s clear that he went out of his way to make this film about a man he admired and loved. Kusturica spent three years filming him right up until the last day of his presidency. It’s a pretty straightforward documentary, but one that covers a lot of territory and adds some lively music to the journey. There are a few documentaries about Pepe Mujica out there, and we wanted to show one of them because of his recent passing, and chose this one because it at least contextualises the situation of Uruguay and Latin America a bit.

Pepe Mujica had been one of the left wing guerilla fighters of the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement in the 60s, who robbed banks and staged prison breaks under the dictatorship in order to redistribute the money to the poor, Robin Hood style. The Tupamaros invented a new form of guerrilla warfare that became a role model for all Latin America. It was crucial for them to stay on the side of the people, and to do actions that the general people could understand…. He didn’t just shoot off, wildly out of anger or desperation, they were incredibly thoughtful in everything they did. The film weaves together this past into the present, and includes discussions with his life-long partner/companion Lucía Topolansky who reflects “We united two utopias – the utopia of love, and the utopia of political struggle.”

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Movie Night: Possession (Andrzej Żuławski, 1981)

Sunday May 25, 2025, Movie Night: Movie Night: Possession (Andrzej Żuławski, 1981) * 124 minutes * in English, German, French with English subs * doors open at 20:00 * intro & film start at 20:30.

Possession is a cult psychological horror film directed by Andrzej Żuławski. After returning home from a long business trip, Mark discovers that during his absence he has become a complete stranger to his wife Anna. He decides to find out why and finds out that Anna periodically disappears.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Cinerevolt: Supermen of Malegaon (2008)

Sunday May 18, 2025, Supermen of Malegaon (2008) * doors open at 20:00 * intro & first film starts at 20:30.

The absurdity of the culture industry was on full display when last year ‘Superboys of Malegaon’ premiered at the Toronto international film festival. The film is a fictionalized reenactment of the life of Nasir Shaikh, an amateur filmmaker who 16 years before this fictionalization was shadowed by a film crew as he prepared for and produced his rendition of superman. In a city where most work grueling jobs at cotton looms, and the entertainment of the workers lies in hollywood and bollywood, Nasir puts everything on the line in order to make his own movies with and for his neighbors. The result, Supermen of Malegaon, is a heartwarming documentary about the creative process independent filmmaking, and overcoming adversity for the ludicrous end of one’s films.

The fact that the film industry would rehash this story into a polished film with no bite is reflective of the general state of film financing now. Rather than promote this existing documentary with it’s amateuristic style, the industry finances the creation of a spectral counterpart with none of the candidness, heart, or connection to real people and real lives. The film is a great launchpad for a discussion around art in capitalism, and film/entertainment in the context of the urban proletariat.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Hukkle (György Pálfi, 2002)

Sunday May 11, 2025, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Hukkle * (Hiccup) * 2002 * by György Pálfi * 78 min * In Hungarian and Czech with English subtitles * doors open at 20:00 * intro & film start at 20:30.

This is a gorgeous little gem by Hungarian director György Pálfi. There is a small genre of films that is hugely neglected of movies that don’t rely much on dialogue. This has a bit of dialogue, but it’s minor and mostly inconsequential… for the most part it’s emerged into real life and nature. It’s a movie that steps back to see the bigger picture, and it makes most other cinema look incredibly fixated and narrow-minded in contrast.

In this journey we are tossed into a small countryside village in Hungary. In a seemingly random series of vignettes we see the entire environment unfold with all of its dynamics. Ants, an elderly man, a tree, a pig, an open field, a close-up of an ancient sewing machine, crickets… they are all more or less given the same importance. After all, they are all residents of this rural community. The movie drifts, and woven into this chain of events there is a story, but it’s a subtle one. In fact, it’s so minor you could even miss it perhaps. This is the kind of film that encourages you to open up, sharpen your perception and really see with your own eyes. The images are astonishing, and feel fresh… and the effect, in the end, is that you and your imagination are sent reeling.

The soundtrack likewise also tends to take the side of nature, in the sense that whenever human words are spoken tend to be smothered by the sounds of leaves crunching, birds singing, dogs barking and insects buzzing. The film can be seen as a deadpan comedy, a lyrical ode to pastoral life, and perhaps even the sinister presence beneath the surface of everyday life.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Movie Night: Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog, 1982)

Sunday April 27, 2025, Movie Night: Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog, 1982) * 158 minutes * in German with English subs * doors open at 20:00 * intro & film start at 20:30.

“Fitzcarraldo” is a 1982 West German epic drama adventure film directed by Werner Herzog, his fourth film in collaboration with Klaus Kinski. The story depicted in the film is based on real events in the life of Peruvian rubber baron Carlos Fermín Fitzcarraldo.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Cinerevolt, two films by Harun Farocki: The Inextinguishable Fire (1969) and Eine Sache, die sich versteht (1971)

Sunday April 20, 2025, Cinerevolt: 2 films by Harun Farocki, The Inextinguishable Fire (1969) and Eine Sache, die sich versteht (1971) * doors open at 20:00 * intro & first film starts at 20:30.
This month Cinerevolt returns to highlight the experimental and propagandistic work of German filmmaker Harun Farocki.

The Inextinguishable Fire (1969)

“When we show you pictures of napalm victims, you’ll shut your eyes. You’ll close your eyes to the pictures. Then you’ll close them to the memory. And then you’ll close your eyes to the facts.”

These words are spoken at the beginning of an agitprop film that can be viewed as a unique and remarkable development. Farocki refrains from making any sort of emotional appeal. His point of departure is the following: “When napalm is burning, it is too late to extinguish it. You have to fight napalm where it is produced: in the factories.”

Resolutely, Farocki names names: the manufacturer is Dow Chemical, based in Midland, Michigan in the United States. Against backdrops suggesting the laboratories and offices of this corporation, the film then proceeds to educate us with an austerity reminiscent of Jean Marie Straub. Farocki’s development unfolds: “(1) A major corporation is like a construction set. It can be used to put together the whole world. (2) Because of the growing division of labor, many people no longer recognize the role they play in producing mass destruction. (3) That which is manufactured in the end is the product of the workers, students, and engineers.”

Eine Sache, die sich versteht (1971)

One thing that goes without saying is an educational film about a section of political economy. The subject matter of instruction is the concepts of use value, exchange value, commodity, labor power; they are intended to initiate the process of understanding the labor theory of value and the law of value, alienation and fetish.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: The Visitor (Giulio Paradisi, 1979) + snacks and videogames LAG benefit

Sunday April 13, 2025, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: The Visitor * 1979 * Directed by Giulio Paradisi * 108 minutes * In English * doors open at 20:00 * intro & film start at 20:30.

This is a cult gem that was rediscovered a few years back and caused an uproar across the alternative cinema circuit in America. In the 1970s, before the sci-fi opera Star Wars ironed things out and set the standard, science fiction films were pretty wild, exploding in so many directions. From radical social commentary to hallucinogenic explorations of both outer space and the inner mind. The Visitor is an Italian film, shot in America, and looking back at it from today, one is simply dumbfounded. How the hell could this film ever be made?

This psychedelic sci-fi flick is so bizarre, so off the map, that I won’t even try to describe it. Its reckless journey, a number of different influences collide… from The Omen and The Exorcist to the excesses of Dario Argento, along with Hitchcock’s The Birds. From all accounts, the director Giulio Paradisi was a madman, and everyone who worked on the film, from the actors to the cameraman (Ennio Guarieri) and the scriptwriter (Lou Comici), had no idea what the movie was even about. It was shot in a frenzy of crazed ecstasy. In the end, the film is an audio-visual explosion, an “appealingly weird mish-mash of aliens, evil businessmen, and demonic children” which often treads on the cinematic explorations of Brian De Palma, Raúl Ruiz, and Chilean provocateur Alejandro Jodorowsky. What is really at work here is the stunning camera work and the choreography of the film, giving it an incredible style.

Even if the plot did make sense, most viewers probably forget it, caught up as they are in the movie’s astounding imagery. And the cast of actors is equally unbelievable. How did this director ever manage to assemble the legendary John Huston, Mel Ferrer, Glenn Ford, Shelley Winters, Franco Nero, Lance Henriksen, Joanne Nail and Sam Peckinpah to act in this insane cinematic cocktail?

This will be a high-definition screening of this cult sensation.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net