Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Joe (John G. Avildsen, 1970)

Sunday 30 September 2018, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Joe (1970). Directed by John G. Avildsen. 102 minutes. In English with English subtitles. Doors open at 8pm, film starts at 8:30pm.

I screened this wild flick three years ago, as I saw a certain tendency building in the United States. Since then things have exploded… so let’s just take another look at this motherfucker in relation to current events.

This is vintage 1970’s filmmaking – swerving into unexpected areas and taking on topics that today’s formula-ridden cinema wouldn’t even imagine. Set in the swinging 60s and filled to the hilt with exploitation-like situations, this unusual film centers on corporate executive Bill Compton (Dennis Patrick) whose young daughter Melissa has overdosed on drugs. One night in a bar Bill meets a guy named Joe, an all American, anti-hippie, anti-commie, gun lovin, working class hard-head. The bizarre friendship that develops plummets the movie into the depths of the American nightmare… in a way that is totally fitting today’s political climate.

Directed by John G. Avildsen (Rocky) and starring Peter Boyle and Susan Sarandon in her film debut. Interestingly, this was the first film that Lloyd Kaufman (Troma films) ever worked on… he was the assistant director. The music is soulful and performed by Bobby Scott (who wrote He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother). Without going into the subject of the movie too much, I should say that it is something even more relevant today than when it was made… one could even say it was prophetic. A great counter-balance to the commercial nonsense that we are offered in the cinemas today, much of which – directly or indirectly – sensationalize and glamorize violence.

This will be a high-definition screening.

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

Pervomaisk, 1st of May – documentary film by Flora Reznik – screening and conversation

Sunday 23 September 2018

Pervomaisk, 1st of May
Documentary film by Flora Reznik
65 minutes

Screening and conversation with the director.
Doors open at 20, screening is at 20:30.
There will be drinks!
Organized by Jewdas.

To understand why Flora Reznik’s first film is called like a remote Ukrainian city and not Kibbutz Metzer -the Israeli commune located 2500 kilometers from Pervomaisk, where the film takes place almost in its entirety- one needs to arrive to the final ten minutes. To “arrive” and not to “await”, because what makes Pervomaisk a precise and potent symbol of so many things is being deciphered on the way towards there (and, in a sense, it is the way). There are lives, as much as there are places, in which History seems to inscribe with traces stronger than usual: many of the dilemmas, tensions and contradictions of the 20th Century are clearly readable in the parable of the kibbutz founded by Pesaj Zaskin, a wrecked utopia that Reznik does not send off with laments, but with the glorious rebellion of a techno song.
-Agustín Masaedo -Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival.

Jewdas: https://www.jewdas.org/

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

Documentary Film from Syria: Everyday Life in a Syrian Village

Sunday 19 august 2018, Documentary Film from Syria: Everyday Life in a Syrian Village. Directed by Omar Amiralay, Syria, 1974, 85 minutes, Black & white, Arabic with English subtitles. Door opens at 20:00, film and presentation from 20:30.

The first documentary to present an unabashed critique of the impact of the Syrian government’s agricultural and land reforms, this film delivers a powerful jab at the state’s conceit of redressing social and economic inequities. Interviews reveal the contrast between the peasants’ regard for the state and the attitude of state representatives towards those peasants.

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

Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Latest from the DaDa-ER

Sunday August 5th 2018, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Latest from the DaDa-ER (Letztes aus der DaDaeR). Directed by Jörg Foth, 1990, 86 minutes. In German with English subtitles. Door opens at 20:30, film and presentation from 21:00.

After the Berlin wall fell the East-German film scene went haywire, since there was suddenly a small window of time that meant it was no longer under the authority of the previous GDR government, and as of yet were not forced to become commercial by the capitalist system. In this small period they knocked out some truly wild and exceptional off-beat cries of rebellion. This film is a marvelous example. It couldn’t have been made a year earlier when the GDR was still strong, and it wouldn’t have been made a year later when the DEFA studio was bought by a French conglomerate.

What we have here is a avant-garde picaresque story of two East-German clowns rummaging through the ruins of the GDR, and although the clowns seem relieved that everything is loosening up, at the same time everything is falling apart and they also show no interest in the glamor and spectacle of the ‘other’ half of Germany. This film was made at a very acute point in time. The main forces behind this freewheeling creation were two visionary performance artists – Steffen Mensching and Hans-Eckardt Wenzel. The are both the writers and the main actors in this surreal flick about two clowns trying to survive the last days of East Germany. Their journey is almost like Dante’s inferno, as they are let out of prison, and they venture through garbage dumps and down rivers into unbelievable situations. Each stage of their quest is set up like a cabaret piece, complete with songs they sing that describe their plight. They find themselves in an almost no-man’s land, and their observations are critical of both East and West Germany.

The title of the movie is a play of words merging of the word ‘Dada’ and the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik). This highly unique flick also surprisingly features Rainer Werner Fassbinder regular Irm Hermann in a cameo role. Another outrageously rare screening of totally forgotten cinema.

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

Morning Patrol (Nikos Nikolaidis, 1987)

Sunday July 29th 2018, Movie night: Morning Patrol (Nikos Nikolaidis, 1987). Greek with English subtitles | 105 min. Doors 20:00 | Film 20:30

Going alone into an abandoned, living city, a woman tries to cross a forbidden zone swarming with the Morning Patrol and traps. Meeting one of the last city guards, they attempt recall the past and penetrate the zone together.
Communication seems to fallen by the wayside and all the dialogue we get is the woman’s internal monologue, a haze of sentimental memories and a longing for a better time.
The dialogue in Nikos Nikolaidis’ iconic  film contains excerpts taken from published works authored by Daphne du Maurier, Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler, and Herman Raucher.
Watch the trailer: http://nikosnikolaidis.com/morning-patrol/

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

Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: The Punk Singer

Sunday 15 July 2018, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema. Doors open at 20.30. Intro and film start at 9 pm. THE PUNK SINGER, 2013, directed by Sini Anderson, 81 minutes. In English.

This documentary follows the story of an iconic female singer – Kathleen Hanna of the ‘riot grrrl’ band Bikini Kill (an acknowledged influence on Kurt Cobain) and later Le Tigre. In an indie-punk/grunge rock scene totally dominated and controlled by masculinity, Kathleen Hanna and her band shattered the glass ceiling and brought something necessary to the table. The film focuses on her fierce wit, her full-throttle spirit, her humor, her spoken-word poetry, her controversial activism – and in the end it also reveals why she suddenly went silent and totally dropped out of the scene without a warning in 2005. In the end it’s an intimate portrait on so many levels.

Besides the life of Kathleen Hanna, this documentary is also a fascinating look at the explosive riot grrl movement… the sounds, lyrics, the zines, and manifestos. There are also scattered interviews throughout the journey with relevant voices like Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), Carrie Brownstein and even Joan Jett. The Punk Singer is engaging, insightful, thrilling, hilarious, sad and poignant. Kathleen Hanna has been described as a ‘cultural lightning rod’, signaling a new voice for women… and here her voice is interwoven with high-voltage performance footage, creating a wonderful film about perseverance and resilience. For anyone interested in feminist art, music or life in general.

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

Revenir (To Return), documentary by David Fedele and Kumut Imesh

Thursday 5 July 2018 at Joe’s Garage, Pretoriusstraat 43, Amsterdam
Doors open at 19pm with food. Screening and discussion from 20:30. On that screening, David Fedele will be also on-line after the screening to discuss the film with Kumut and the audience.

Revenir (To Return), a film by David Fedele and Kumut Imesh, 2018, 83 minutes, with English subtitles. Four screenings with Kumut Imesh in four different locations in Amsterdam from 5 till 8 july 2018. Big thanks to All Included http://www.allincluded.nl/

David Fedele‘s latest film Revenir is a collaboration with Kumut Imesh from the Ivory Coast in West Africa, who now lives in France as a refugee. The film follows Kumut as he returns to the African continent to attempt to retrace and film the same journey that he himself took more than ten years ago, when forced to flee his country to seek asylum… But this time with a camera in his hand.

Kumut Imesh  –  co-director / camera / protagonist : Originally from the Ivory Coast in West Africa, Kumut was forced to flee civil war in his country in 2004. Seeking a peaceful and safe place to live, he began the long journey across the African continent before finally arriving in Morocco, where he spent 7 years. While in Morocco he worked closely with NGOs and associations working closely with other migrants, providing support and assistance.

In 2013 he met the film director David Fedele in Morocco, and he worked as the translator for the film The Land Between. During this time, Kumut developed a very keen interest in documentary film-making, especially the potential to tell stories from an African perspective, and the original idea to make a film retracing his journey across Africa was born.

In 2014 Kumut arrived in Europe, and was granted asylum. He currently lives as a refugee with his wife and small child in France, working as a webmaster. He is also the founder and president of ACSORE (Actions of Solidarity for Refugees), an association in France that works for the social and educational integration of asylum seekers and refugees.

REVENIR is Kumut’s first film.

Trailer of the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP-vs31b-ZY

Thursday 5 July 2018
Location: Joe’s Garage, Pretoriusstraat 43, Amsterdam
Joe’s Garage https://joesgarage.nl/
Doors open at 19pm with food. Screening and discussion from 20:30. On that screening, David Fedele will be also on-line after the screening to discuss the film with Kumut and the audience.

Friday 6 July 2018
Location: Bollox, Eerste Schinkelstraat 14, Amsterdam
Anarchistische Groep Amsterdam http://www.agamsterdam.org/
Doors open at 19:30pm with food in the Bollox. Screening and discussion from 20:30

Saturday 7 July 2018
Location: Tetterode, Bilderdijkstraat 165, Amsterdam
Migratie Route Tetterode http://www.allincluded.nl/posts/migratieroute-tetterode/
All Included http://www.allincluded.nl/
Screening and discussion from 16:00

Sunday 8 July
Location: Filmhuis Cavia, Van Hallstraat 52-1, Amsterdam
Filmhuis Cavia http://filmhuiscavia.nl/
Screening and discussion from 21:00

David Fedele is an independent documentary filmmaker, traveler, wanderer, dreamer, musician, part-time philosopher and full-time incessant thinker. He entered the world of documentary filmmaking through a love of travel and exploring different cultures, having traveled extensively throughout Australasia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America. Generally working alone, self-producing and self-funding his own projects, David is particularly interested in exploring cultural, humanitarian, environmental and social justice issues. His films have covered such diverse topics as sub-Saharan African migration in Morocco, electronic waste in Ghana and illegal logging in Papua New Guinea.
In 2014, David Fedele screened The Land Between in various locations in Amsterdam.

REVENIR – synopsis: For years, the stories of West African migrants and refugees have been told through the lenses of foreign journalists. Now there is a story from the inside.
Part road-trip, part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Revenir follows Kumut Imesh, a refugee from the Ivory Coast now living in France, as he returns to the African continent and attempts to retrace the same journey that he himself took when forced to flee civil war in his country … But this time with a camera in his hand.
Traveling alone, Kumut will be documenting his own journey; both as the main protagonist in front of the camera, as well as the person behind it, revealing the human struggle for freedom and dignity on one of the most dangerous migratory routes in the world.
A controversial film experiment, a courageous journey and a unique collaboration between filmmaker and refugee; which is not without consequences.

David Fedele http://david-fedele.com/
Revenir http://revenirfilm.com/

Rosa Luxemburg (1986)

Sunday 17 June 2018, Movie night: Rosa Luxemburg (1986). Die Geduld der Rosa Luxemburg, by Margarethe von Trotta. German with English subtitles | 123 min.
Doors 20:00 | Film 20:30

“Freedom is always the freedom of the one who thinks differently.”

Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919): german-polish socialist, docorate in a time when women couldn’t graduate on German universities, speaker of the Left in the Labour Partry 20 before women in Germany gained the right to vote, co-founder of the Spartakus group, icon of the student movement in Germany. Margarethe von Trotta’s film “The patience of Rosa Luxemburg” tells her story, but als paints a clear picture of the economic and social situation in Germany before the First World War.

Von Trotta didn’t work to on the basis of the ledgend. She didn’t deal with the different views of her, didn’t explain anything, didn’t justify anything. She lets Rosa Luxemburg speak for herself. The basis of the scenes and dialogues in the film are mainly the 2500 letters Luxemburg send to friends and comrades. The film only shows what can be documented in such a way – the film is radical and subjective because it is only commit to one truth: the truth of Rosa Luxemburg herself.

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