07 Feb Philadelphia Monthly Arts Round-Up: February 2023
BY ARTA BARZANJI
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The year 2023 already had a strong start as far as Philadelphia film programming was concerned, but I’m pleased to say that February seems to even surpass January in that regard. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the coming month is going to be the single most exciting and packed month of film screenings I’ve seen since I moved to Philly over two years ago. We can only hope that this trend continues and that the film culture of this historic city will continue to grow again in this post-pandemic era.
The highlights of this month include 8 films by Jean-Luc Godard, Batikh Batikh’s special screening and Valentine’s day party, and two films that deal, in their own unique ways, with found-footage TV programs: Joe Dante’s The Movie Orgy and Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project.
Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 11:30 AM
Histoire(s) du cinéma
Jean-Luc Godard’s long and prolific career can be divided into a few different parts: the exuberant New Wave films for most of the 60s, the anti-spectacle Maoist period at the end of that decade and the beginning of the next, the subsequent turn to video, etc. Finally, with his episodic Histoire(s) du cinéma, Godard transforms fully into a video essayist. Godard, who started out as a critic at Cahiers du cinema, had once said that for him, filmmaking is only criticism by other means. In this sense, Histoire(s) du cinéma is simultaneously his critical and filmmaking magnum opus; both his stories and histories of the cinema.
Cost: $14 General Admission, $13 Students, $12 Seniors, $10 Children (12 and under)
Philadelphia Film Center — 1412 Chestnut St Philadelphia, PA 19102
Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 6 PM
Batikh Batikh presents Ya Sapphic!
Batikh Batikh and cinéSPEAK have partnered up to present an evening of Lesbian cinema from South West Asian North African filmmakers. The program of the night includes: The Window (2022)—dir. by Sarah Kaskas, I Say Dust (2015)—dir. by Darine Hotait, Bes (2021)—dir. by Ayla Çekin Satijn, Rupture Divine (2019)—dir. by Malak Mroueh, Blind Date (2022)—dir. by Mona Khaouli, and Scenes I Imagine (2020)—dir. by Metin Akdemir. There will be a Valentine’s Day dance party, as well as drinks and traditional Arab desserts after the screening.
Cost: Free
Vox Populi — 319 North 11th Street #3 Philadelphia, PA 19107
Saturday, February 15, 2023 at 7 PM
Flaming Ears
A little-known German sci-fi lesbian flick set in a fictional city, Flaming Ears follows the interconnected struggles of three women in the distant future. This newly restored rarity shot on Super 8mm film breaks traditional narrative expectations while playing with both genre convention and sexual norms.
Cost: $10 General Admission, $8 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 7 PM
The Spirit of the Beehive
Spanish filmmaker, Victor Erice, only ever completed a handful of features, yet his Spirit of the Beehive remains one of the most enigmatically beautiful achievements of cinema in the 1970s, and perhaps the closest that cinema has come to reproducing the magic of Vermeer paintings. The young Ana Torrent gives a performance for the ages, with her subdued and quiet demeanor mirroring the calm of the film itself. But under the surface, the film is rife with symbolism and allusions to the horror of General Franco’s decades-long Fascistic rule over Spain. Presented in 35 mm.
Cost: $14 General Admission, $13 Students, $12 Seniors, $10 Children (12 and under)
Philadelphia Film Center — 1412 Chestnut St Philadelphia, PA 19102
Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 7 PM
Blow Out
Brian De Palma’s masterpiece, Blow Out is the quintessential Philadelphia film which simultaneously elevates the city and its landmarks to action movie sets, while maintaining a sober, grounded gaze at their everyday mundanity. Not only one of the greatest films to come out of post-Golden Age Hollywood, but one of the sharpest critiques and most tragic stories about the system that kills dreams in order to mass produce them. This particular screening is all the more special as Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown, who served as a camera operator on Blow Out, will be present for a Q&A after the screening.
Cost: $13.50 General Admission, $8 BMFI Members, $11 Seniors/Students, $9 Children
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA
Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at 6:30 PM
Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project
Recognizing mass media and television as a tool of the ruling class to control the masses by shifting narratives and altering the truth, Philadelphia-based Activist Marion Stokes set to the task of protecting that elusive truth by recording television broadcasts 24 hours a day for over 30 years. In a mixture of interviews and records from her own archive, Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project sheds light on her life and trajectory.
Cost: Free
PhillyCAM — 699 Ranstead St, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Thursday, February 23, 2023 at 7 PM
Throw Down
Viva Video presents contemporary Hong Kong master and cult-favorite filmmaker Johnnie To’s newly restored Throw Down. Tight alleyways, neon lights, fist fights, and unlikely romance and friendships fill the brisk 90 minutes of this eccentric yet elegant action comedy. I highly recommend watching this illuminating video essay by film scholar David Bordwell on the cinematic techniques and storytelling devices used in the film afterward.
Cost: $13.50 General Admission, $8 BMFI Members, $11 Seniors/Students, $9 Children
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA
Thursday, February 23, 2023 at 7 PM
Producers’ Forum With Reid Davenport: “I Didn’t See You There”
I Didn’t See You There is the meditative journey of disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport, who won the Directing Award for U.S. Documentary at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was a Grand Jury Prize nominee. Davenport, who’s been making films about disability from an expressly political viewpoint, positions the camera at his physical perspective and those of other disabled people who use wheelchairs, and in doing so questions the very ways of seeing in dominant cinema.
Cost: $7.50 General Admission, $5 Students/Seniors, $4 Scribe Members
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 2 PM
Celine and Julie Go Boating
Jacques Rivette, one of the most important filmmakers of the French New Wave, had a propensity for long films filled with an air of playful mystery (sometimes verging on paranoia) throughout their runtime. His most well-known film is Celine and Julie Go Boating, which adds a comedic and surreal twist to the mix to create one of the most unique films you are ever likely to see. It follows the eponymous characters who become involved in a fantastical time-warping adventure around an old house, in an experience which ultimately might best be described as being about the mechanics of storytelling, magic, and cinema itself.
Cost: $14 General Admission, $13 Students, $12 Seniors, $10 Children (12 and under)
Philadelphia Film Center — 1412 Chestnut St Philadelphia, PA 19102
Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 5 PM
The Movie Orgy
This rarely screened mammoth five-hour found-footage film from Joe Dante (director of Gremlins) is the event I’m most looking forward to this month, alongside Godard’s equally lengthy Histoire(s) du cinéma. Made up of a varied mixture of excerpts of feature films, TV commercials, newsreels, etc., the film is both a unique cinematic achievement as well as a piece of history captured through popular culture and a film you’re not likely to have the chance to see on the big screen again. It also makes for an interesting companion piece to the aforementioned Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project.
Cost: $10 General Admission, $8 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
MORE EVENTS:
Saturday, February 4, 2023 at 8 PM
Cost: $10 General Admission, $8 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Wednesday, February 10, 2023 at 7 PM
Cost: $10 General Admission, $8 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 7 PM
Cost: $10 General Admission, $8 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at 7 PM
Cost: $13.50 General Admission, $8 BMFI Members, $11 Seniors/Students, $9 Children
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA
Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 6 PM
Pierrot le Fou
Cost: $14 General Admission, $13 Student, $12 Senior, $10 Children (12 and under)
PFS Bourse — 400 Ranstead St, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Monday, February 20, 2023 at 7 PM
Cost: $13.50 General Admission, $8 BMFI Members, $11 Seniors/Students, $9 Children
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA
Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at 7 PM
Cost: $10 General Admission, $8 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at 7:15 PM
Cost: $13.50 General Admission, $8 BMFI Members, $11 Seniors/Students, $9 Children
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA
Saturday, February 23, 2023 at 6 PM
Paris, Texas
Cost: $14 General Admission, $13 Student, $12 Senior, $10 Children (12 and under)
PFS Bourse — 400 Ranstead St, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 6 PM
Cost: $14 General Admission, $13 Student, $12 Senior, $10 Children (12 and under)
PFS Bourse — 400 Ranstead St, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Sunday, February 26, 2023 at 7 PM
Cost: $14 General Admission, $13 Student, $12 Senior, $10 Children (12 and under)
PFS Bourse — 400 Ranstead St, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at 7 PM
Cost: $13.50 General Admission, $8 BMFI Members, $11 Seniors/Students, $9 Children
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA
*Featured Image: Still from I Say Dust, part of the program at “Ya Sapphic!” Courtesy of Batikh Batikh.
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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, 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 was a 2022 participant of the Young Critics Workshop, and his critical writings and translations have appeared both in Farsi and English.
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