FR/DE 2024, D: Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell, 216’, OV with English subtitles, DCP
One of the best-known autonomous zones in Europe, known as a “zone à défendre” (ZAD) in French, is located near Nantes. Land was occupied there in the mid-2000s to prevent an airport expansion. The area has since grown to over 1,500 hectares, with actors from numerous left-wing groups living there permanently and averting government attempts to evict them. Ben Russell and Guillaume Cailleau have regularly visited the ZAD and in DIRECT ACTION, describe the everyday life of the residents, which is organised close to nature. The film moves from the depiction of activities securing subsistence to decidedly political actions, such as the preparation of demonstrations. By linking the narrative speed to the real time of what is depicted and in the static, precisely framed shots, the cinematic form itself becomes political.
| So 15 Sept | Luru Kino in der Spinnerei |
| 1 pm | In the presence of Guillaume Cailleau € 7 (6 reduced) |
Retrospektive | BAD GIRLS GO TO HEAVEN
US 1974, D: Doris Wishman, A: Chesty Morgan, Frank Silvano, Saul Meth, 73’, German version, 35mm
Outsider art of “cheap thrills”: DOUBLE AGENT 73 is associative pulp fiction, a loose sequence of agent and erotic film scenes – and not a suspense film in the classic sense. Classy however, is Chesty Morgan, a striptease dancer of Polish descent, with whom Wishman had already made a film the previous year with the telling title DEADLY WEAPONS: Morgan’s massive bust is also the centrepiece of the film in DOUGLE AGENT 73, far less an object of lust than a threat to all men who cross her path. If you let yourself in for that camp, which has an ardent admirer in John Waters, you are in for a fever dream of a eccentric low-budget film.
| Sat 14 Sept | Luru Kino in der Spinnerei |
| 10 pm | € 7 (6 reduced) |
Retrospective | BAD GIRLS GO TO HEAVEN
US 1973, D: Stephanie Rothman, A: Ena Hartman, Barbara Leigh, Tom Selleck, 88’, English OV, 35mm
An exploitation film that combines the most diverse motifs of 1970s market-based genre cinema and doing so, shakes up male-dominated genre conventions: Stephanie Rothman’s first and only action film is part outdoor prison film, part socio-critical dystopia à la ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK: ”No Walls, No Guards, No Rules”. In order to banish murderers from society, they are deported to an isolated island, Terminal Island, without further ado. Is it only the law of the jungle that applies there, or does the isolation also harbour the possibility of imagining a new, freer society?
| Sat 14 Sept | Luru Kino in der Spinnerei |
| 8 pm | With an introduction to the evening’s double feature by Silvia Szymanski (author and film critic) € 7 (6 reduced) |
BR/PT 2023, R: Carolina Markowicz, D: Maeve Jinkings, Kauan Alvarenga, Thomás Aquino, 101′, OV with English subtitles, DCP
Single mum Suellen is worried about her teenage son Tiquinho. When Tiquinho is not at school, he puts on make-up, makes lip-sync videos to Billie Holiday songs and tries to sell cosmetic products on social media. Suellen is persuaded to enrol him in a costly conversion therapy programme, which she finances through criminal means, driven by her caring thoughts.
From the grainy, atmospheric images of the story’s (sub)proletarian milieu to the expansive industrial landscapes of the city of Cubatão, TOLL captivates with its remarkable acting of the multi-layered characters and its humour, especially during the therapy sessions. We learn that the anus is in league with the devil. With good reason an international festival hit.
| Sa 14. Sept | Luru Kino in der Spinnerei |
| 18:00 Uhr | € 7 (6 ermäßigt) |
Special | MILIEU-KINO
US 1976, D: Carter Stevens, A: Susan McBain, Alan Marlow, Terri Hall, 84′, English OV, 35mm
Finally, on 13 September, we will be showing ROLLERBABIES, a thoroughly obscure find from grindhouse cinema. ROLLERBABIES is one of the earliest sci-fi erotica parodies of the 70s. In a dystopian future, sexual intercourse is forbidden due to overpopulation. People must take anti-aphrodisiac pills to suppress their sexual urges. Only licensed performers are allowed to perform sexual acts in live television broadcasts as an aid to masturbation.
To save his career, the imaginative TV manager Sherman Frobish comes up with a daring idea: he organises a live TV competition in which the participants perform sexual acts on roller skates.
| Fri 13 Sept | Milieu Kino at Rabet Park |
| 16:00 Uhr | € Free admission |
