The Traverse Area District Library is pleased to announce the return of Cinema Curiosa at downtown Traverse City's newly restored State Theatre! Cinema Curiosa is a film series dedicated to experimental, archival and uncompromising documentary titles that challenge and enrich.
Cinema Curiosa will run the first Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m (time subject to change.) Many thanks to all the good people at the Traverse City Film Festival and the State Theatre who will helped to make this possible. Come down for a great seat, popcorn and of course... Curious Cinema! There should be plenty of room!!
Thanks! --Aaron
May 5th 2008, 7:30PM
Heima: a film by Sigur Rós
Last year, in the magic hour of the Icelandic summer, Sigur Rós (Iceland's famous musical group: sweeping, cinematic, chamber rock) returned home to play a series of free, unannounced concerts for the people of there homeland. Heima, which means "at home" presents the viewer with an all-encompassing look at the beauty of Iceland as a segment of a much larger picture, Earth. This film transcends the genre of music documentary and takes it to an entirely new level with beauty that will amaze you!
[Directed by Dean DeBlois - 97min - NR - Iceland]
"The 'Citizen Kane' of music documentaries"
-- IMDB 10/10
"Utterly entrancing, wholly captivating"
-- Mail on Sunday
"So beautiful it's hypnotic; the most beautiful audiovisual experiences of the year."
-- Empire Magazine
April 7th 2008, 7:30PM
Dancing Outlaw
This Award Winning documentary short introduces us to Jesco White the Dancing Outlaw. We meet all three distinct personalities: Jesse a beautiful man, Jesco the Devil himself, and Elvis. He is also "the best mountain dancer in these here parts." Jesco keeps his father's memory alive through Appalachian tap dancing amid the feuds, poverty, ignorance, violence and natural wildness of Boone County, West Virginia.
[Directed by Jacob Young - 30min - NR - US]
"Documentary story telling at it's best and most creative."
-- Howard Rosenberg, L.A. Times
"Dancing Outlaw, It's John Waters meets Tennessee Williams."
-- London Independent
Vernon, Florida
Absurd and endearing, VERNON, FLORIDA is more than just a poignant portrait of an unusual southern town. As Roger Ebert points out, .Morris finds the strangest insights into human nature in the most obvious places, just by letting people talk into the camera. They speak of the most mundane things, and yet in all of them there is an impulse to discover universal truths and deep philosophical insights.. -- David Ansen in Newsweek wrote, "Errol Morris makes films unlike any other filmmaker. 'Vernon, Florida' is the work of a true original. On the surface, it is simply a portrait of several somewhat eccentric residents of a slow backwater town... There's a taste of Samuel Beckett in the film's tone of droll, forlorn hopefulness, and something of Buster Keaton in the spacious frames and exquisitely deadpan comic timing. 'Vernon, Florida' isn't sociology at all, it's philosophical slapstick, a film as odd and mysterious as its subjects."
[Directed by Errol Morris - 56min - NR - US]
"An Unforgettable Film!"
--Roger Ebert
March 3rd 2008
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
His drawing and sketches are exhibited and sold worldwide. Kurt Cobain called him the greatest living songwriter. Beck, Wilco, Sonic Youth and Pearl Jam have all recorded his songs. But beneath Daniel Johnston's success as an artist and musician is an incredible story of genius touched by madness: diagnosed as manic-depressive, Johnston has spent the last three decades of his life in-and-out of mental institutions. Told through a compelling combination of interviews, home movies and performance footage.
[Written/Directed by Jeff Feuerzeig - 110min - PG-13 - US]
"a harrowing, hilarious and ultimately moving new documentary film"
-Jim Faber, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
"The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience. 5 Stars"
-THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"The razor's edge of art and madness."
-John Anderson, NEWSDAY
"4 Stars!"
-Elizabeth Weitzman, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
February 4th 2008 7:30PM
In recognition of Black History Month, Cinema Curiosa, a presentation of the Traverse Area District Library and the State Theatre, is proud to present...
Killer of Sheep examines the black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who is growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse.
Frustrated by money problems, he finds respite in moments of simple beauty: the warmth of a coffee cup against his cheek, slow dancing with his wife in the living room, holding his daughter. The film offers no solutions; it merely presents life . sometimes hauntingly bleak, sometimes filled with transcendent joy and gentle humor.
Killer of Sheep was shot on location in Watts in a series of weekends on a budget of less than $10,000, most of which was grant money. Finished in 1977 and shown sporadically, its reputation grew and grew until it won a prize at the 1981 Berlin International Film Festival.
Since then, the Library of Congress has declared it a national treasure as one of the first fifty on the National Film Registry and the National Society of Film Critics selected it as one of the "100 Essential Films" of all time. However, due to the expense of the music rights, the film was never shown theatrically or made available on video. It has only been seen on poor quality 16mm prints at few and far between museum and festival showings.
Now, thirty years after its debut, the new 35mm print of Killer of Sheep, brilliantly restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive, is ready for its long-awaited international release.
[Written/Directed by Charles Burnett - 83min - Unrated - US]
"An American masterpiece, independent to the bone... This may be Mr. Burnett's most radical truth-telling."
-Manohla Dargis, NEW YORK TIMES
"Killer of Sheep is one of the most striking debuts in movie history and an acknowledged landmark in African-American film."
-Terrence Rafferty, GQ
"A masterpiece. One of the most insightful and authentic dramas about African-American life on film. One of the finest American films, period."
-Dave Kehr, INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
"Killer of Sheep represents the highest example of contemporary black American life put on screen because of Burnett's integrity to view it purely, without typical corrupted Hollywood devices."
-Armond White, FILM COMMENT
"Miraculous... hypnotic... the surging power of old blues."
-Michael Sragow, THE BALTIMORE SUN
"At once lyrical and earthbound, tender and brutal, timeless and immediate."
-Sam Adams, PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER
Past Seasons
2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06
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Presented by the Traverse Area District Library, Sight & Sound Department
Contact: Aaron Olson, Sight & Sound Dept. Head
610 Woodmere Ave. - Traverse City, MI 49686 - 231.932.8505
Made possible with the support of: The Traverse Area District Library, the Traverse City Film Festival and the State Theatre