John Cassavetes

Opening Night! Rush tickets available for 10/4 screening!

While at first the Cinéastes team was more interested in capturing on film the titans of Hollywood, many of them already quite elderly, attention was also given to the “New American Cinema,” as seen in these two terrific films. The Cassavetes film was shot in two parts, over three years. The first part, shot in 1965, catches Cassavetes as he is editing Faces; he recounts his unhappy experiences trying to work in Hollywood, and his palpable excitement for what he’s done in Faces is apparent throughout. The second part, filmed in Paris in 1968, reveals a more focused Cassavetes, as the success of Faces has shown him the direction in which he wants to continue. An Icarus Films Release. (50m)

On October 4, screening with:
Rome is Burning (Portrait of Shirley Clarke) / “Rome brûle” (Portrait de Shirley Clarke)
Noël Burch & André S. Labarthe | 1970 | France | 54m

In Paris for the Cinematheque screening of Portrait of Jason, Shirley Clarke was filmed in a friend’s apartment during a small gathering held in her honor (among the guests are Yoko Ono and Jacques Rivette); she speaks candidly about the “underground cinema,” its relationship to the politics of protest happening around the U.S, and its negation of Hollywood aesthetics. Clarke see the U.S. heading to a certain crisis point—hence the title, Rome is Burning—and wonders aloud about the responsibility of filmmakers in such a situation.

Images courtesy of THE KOBAL COLLECTION