01 Nov Philadelphia Monthly Arts Round-Up: November 2022
BY ARTA BARZANJI
Please refer to the official websites for events to ensure that you have the most up-to-date information about ticketing, reservations, delays, re-scheduling, cancellations, and other guest policies for venues, including relevant COVID-19 requirements.
One of the things that I appreciate about living in Philadelphia is that it’s a fairly walkable city. And walking around can lead you to interesting discoveries. As the cold of November arrives, however, I find less and less motivation to embark on these exploratory walks. If you also find yourself wanting to avoid the cold, don’t worry, as the exploration doesn’t have to stop: there is plenty to be discovered in the dark corners of the cinema.
Highlights of November include the 2022 edition of the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival with 11 days of nonstop talks and screenings; three new programs by Philly’s own Secret 16 mm specialist repertory series; and a program of Native American shorts co-presented by cinéSPEAK. Read on for the full list of film events happening this month.
Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 7:30 PM
Weird Cartoons
If you also feel the acute lack of celluloid in your blood, there is no better place to get that fixed in Philly than Secret Cinema, the long-running, celluloid-only, “floating” (i.e. no permanent screening venue) repertory film series by Jay Schwartz, with a knack for oddities you probably wouldn’t find anywhere else. Going strong for 19 years, the Weird Cartoon series is an especially delightful peek at short cartoons from a time when despite the dominance of the studio system, there was still space for the truly bizarre stuff aimed at the general public to get through the cracks here and there, giving us a glance of unrestrained explosive creativity in the form of moving drawings. The program includes, but is not limited to: Buddy’s Lost World (1935), Korochan the Little Bear (1959), To Your Health (1956, Dir: Phillip Stapp), Willoughby’s Magic Hat (1943, Dir: Bob Wickersham) and The Wacky World of Numbers (1968, Dir: Steven Clark).
Cost: Admission: $13.50, $8.00 BMFI members, $11.00 seniors/students, $9.00 children
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA
Thursday, November 3 to Sunday, November 13, 2022
Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival
One of the three biggest Asian American film festivals in the US, PAAFF is still going strong after nearly a decade and a half of annual programming. This year’s festival includes an array of documentaries, narrative features, shorts, talks, Q&As, and Philly-based films and classics. It’s a long list of films to explore, but if I had to make one recommendation, it would be to make time for Rea Tajiri’s touching new documentary, Wisdom Gone Wild, in which the filmmaker takes an experiential approach to deal with her mother’s struggle with dementia.
Cost: Varies
Online/ In person: Asian Arts Initiative — 1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA 19107, United States
Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 5 PM
Pioneers of Queer Cinema: Shorts Program
Continuing Lightbox’s “Pioneers of Queer Cinema” program from last month, this series of shorts from LA’s Gay Girls Riding Club (GGRC) gives us a peak into the pre-Stonewall Southern California gay rights movement and beyond. It would be a shame to miss these rarely screened films, especially as presented in a cohesive and thoughtful program, which should be greater than the sum of its parts.
Cost: $10 General Admission, $8 Student/Senior, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 6:30 PM
IN PROCESS with Vernon Jordan III
Afrofuturist Philly-born writer, filmmaker, poet, and professor of screenwriting at Moore College of Art & Design, Vernon Jordan III joins writer, activist, and researcher Jaz Riley for a conversation at the historic Paul Robeson House & Museum. Jordan’s new short, One Magenta Afternoon, will also be screened.
Cost: $10 General Admission, Pay-What-You-Can
Paul Robeson House & Museum — 4951 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19139
Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 7 PM
Vengeance is Mine
A Jewish German immigrant, Michael Roemer, is one of the figures of the new American cinema who didn’t quite get his due. His stellar debut feature, Nothing But a Man, actually predates the “official” start of what came to be known as New Hollywood a couple of years later. His final film, Vengeance is Mine, was never even properly released, only being broadcasted on PBS, and under a different title. Fully restored, now we can finally see the film in its full glory on the big screen and remember a filmmaker who never got his due.
Cost: $10 General Admission, $8 Student/Senior, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 8 PM
Batikh Batikh presents Jin Jiyan Azadi: Kurdish and Iranian Women’s Cinema
cinéSPEAK and Vox Populi co-present this short film program focusing on how systems of power and the State affect individual bodies. The program includes a variety of genres, from performance art films to narratives, and the films explore topics such as incarceration, censorship, sexuality, fascism, and displacement. All proceeds from ticket sales will go towards mutual aid for refugees in Iranian and Kurdish communities. This program is presented in solidarity with the protests and feminist revolution happening in Iran.
Cost: Suggested donation of at least $10
Vox Populi — 319 North 11th Street #3, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 7 PM
cinéSPEAK presents Best of Fests 2022
For a variety of reasons, including a near lack of commercial distribution and publicity, short films rarely get the attention that they deserve. cinéSPEAK’s attempt at remedying this comes in the form of a program that highlights some of the most worthwhile short films from younger Philly-based filmmakers that have already played in local film festivals.
Cost: Free
The Rotunda — 4014 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Friday, November 18, 7 PM
Producers’ Forum with Lynne Sachs: “Film About a Father Who”
Between practice and theory, installation and performance, personal and political, poetry and film, Brooklyn-based artist Lynne Sachs has a long and illustrious oeuvre that is not limited to a single mode of practice. Weaving together footage from her businessman father from over the years, Sachs’s new film is a personal exploration of her family and the webs that connect them.
Cost: $7.50 General Admission, $5 Students/Seniors, $4 Scribe Members
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 3 PM
cinéSPEAK x We Are The Seeds: Dawnland Shorts/Reciprocity Shorts
We Are The Seeds 2022 includes two exciting programs of short films about Native American people, culture, and experiences. The two programs are “The Dawnland Shorts” (4 PM) and “The Reciprocity Project Shorts” (5:30 PM). Conversations with artists Adam Mazo, Chris Newell, and Jennifer Kreisberg will follow the screening.
Cost: Free/Suggested donation of $10
Cherry Street Pier — 121 N Christopher Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 7 PM
Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux
Canadian director, Guy Maddin, is a familiar name for cinephiles, with his dream-like, highly experimental films that function like collages of different periods of film history, and special emphasis put on silent cinema. His first feature, Tales from the Gimli Hospital, has remained his most obscure and least-seen film for decades. But the good news is that this can be remedied now with the beautiful new 4K restoration of the film.
Cost: $10 General Admission, $8 Student/Senior, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 9 PM
Born in Flames
Lizzie Borden’s singular Born in Flames imagines New York City after a socialist revolution, which might have failed at its aims. The film follows different radical feminist groups, each with their own pirate radio, in their struggle for liberation. The fact that this was released during Reagan’s presidency makes the daring radicalism of the film all the more impressive. This is a film that seems to have really been born in flames.
Cost: $14 General Admission, $13 Student, $12 Senior, $10 Children (12 and under)
Philadelphia Film Center — 1412 Chestnut St Philadelphia, PA 19102
Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 7 PM
Movie Club series: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Philadelphia Film Society’s new Movie Club monthly film series, showcasing debut features from important filmmakers from around the world, will also feature an “introduction, post-viewing discussion, and a packet of suggested additional viewing, listening, and reading.” The first film of the series is Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or-winning first film, which was also one of the early landmarks of the Romanian New Wave. The film remains potent in its depiction of the horrors of the lack of access to safe and legal abortions. The film is presented on 35mm print.
Cost: $14 General Admission, $13 Student, $12 Senior, $10 Children (12 and under)
Philadelphia Film Center — 1412 Chestnut St Philadelphia, PA 19102
MORE EVENTS:
Thursday, November 3, 2022, at 8:30 PM
Cost: $14 General Admission, $13 Student, $12 Senior, $10 Children (12 and under)
Philadelphia Film Center — 1412 Chestnut St Philadelphia, PA 19102
Friday, November 4, 2022, at 8:30 PM
Near Dark (35 MM)
Cost: $14 General Admission, $13 Student, $12 Senior, $10 Children (12 and under)
Philadelphia Film Center — 1412 Chestnut St Philadelphia, PA 19102
Tuesday, November 8, 2022, at 6 PM
Cost: Free
PhillyCAM – Virtual
Wednesday, November 9, 2022, at 6:30 PM
Cinema Classics Seminar: The Seventh Seal
Cost: $25 for members, $35 for non-members
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA
Thursday, November 10, 2022, at 6 PM
Cost: Free
PhillyCAM – Virtual
Saturday, November 26, 2022, at 1:30 PM
Community Screening: Quest
Cost: Free
Philadelphia Film Center — 1412 Chestnut St Philadelphia, PA 19102
Tuesday, November 29, 2022 at 7:30 PM
‘B’ Picture Double Feature: Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome and The Brute Man
Cost: Donations suggested
Woodmere Museum — 9201 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19118
*Featured Image: Still from Ink & Linda. Courtesy of PAAFF.
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Arta Barzanji is an Iranian cinephile, writer, filmmaker, and a current MFA candidate in Film and Media Arts at Temple University. His work, encompassing experimental, narrative, and documentary modes, always deals directly with the cinema itself, exploring the relationship between the viewer and the screen while engaging with the works of filmmakers as diverse as Stan Brakhage, Orson Welles, Kamran Shirdel, and Malcolm Le Grice. Arta’s critical writings and translations have appeared both in Farsi and English.
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