Long before CGI was invented, Marcel Duchamp made his 1926 experimental film, Anémic Cinéma, by creating abstract shapes out of cardboard and spinning them on a turnable for hypnotizing effect. (This was nearly a decade after he signed his name on a urinal and called it a sculpture, inventing the readymade and redefining what art could be.)
Anémic Cinéma and many other strange, surreal cinematic feats from the first half of the 20th century will be playing on Oct. 1 at San Francisco’s new drive-in movie theater, Fort Mason Flix. The program, co-presented by Intersection for the Arts and curated by Izzy Parlamis, is called Loud Cinema and features films by Duchamp and other experimentalists such as Slavko Vorkapich and Mary Ellen Bute.
To bring these films into the modern day, some talented, up-and-coming songwriters and improvisors recorded new soundtracks. The list of artists includes classically trained pop auteur Kadhja Bonet, jazz improvisors Salami Rose Joe Louis and Cheflee and Latin soul band Almas Fronterizas.
Off the Grid will serve food, and 50% of ticket proceeds go to Transgender, Gender-Variant and Intersex Justice Project, which advocates for trans and gender-nonconforming people in jails and prisons. Details here.
