Teenagers in the 1950s and ’60s turned Elvis Presley into an icon. His shaking hips and curled lips sent rock ‘n’ roll shockwaves reverberating around the world and challenged prevailing notions about sex, race and class. As we celebrate what would have been his 75th birthday on January 8th, we should take note of the impact he had on the culture.

He emerged from his impoverished childhood in Tupelo, Mississippi to become America’s pop culture superstar in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education on May 5, 1954 which rocked the South. His controversial singing style, mixing blues, country (at the time called “hillbilly”), and black and white gospel music with a sexually charged stage presence, made Presley “Public Enemy Number One” for those who felt threatened by the tsunami of the changes that were occurring.

“Everything is tied together with the Brown decision, public school, desegregation, rock and roll music, Elvis Presley. I think that illustrates the fear in the South that blacks and whites are going to come together,” said Michael Bertrand, Ph.D., Professor, Tennessee State University.

Presley unwittingly became the poster boy for the first round of the culture wars.

“Without meaning to, and really without understanding it, he’s a point of conflict because it’s not just the mingling of blues and rock, it’s also his reliance on a music that is in the minds of some really sinful,” said John Seigenthaler, the retired founding editorial director of USA Today, who covered him as a young reporter for The Tennessean.

He was a target of preachers and segregationists such as Asa Carter who headed the White Citizens Councils. Carter had been using his Birmingham, Alabama radio show since 1954 to talk about how the Jews and blacks were bringing down the South. In early 1956, he targeted the growing popularity of the music made popular by Elvis. Carter’s views about music were captured in a short film.

“The obscenity and vulgarity of the rock and roll music is obviously a means by which the white man and his children can be driven to the level of the n****s. This is obviously n****r music,” said Carter.

One of his followers, Kenneth Adams, who owned a gas station featuring a “We serve white customers only” signboard, also had a starring role in a short film announcing the Council’s plan to clean up jukeboxes.

“We’ve set up a 20 man committee to do away with this vulgar, animalistic n*****r rock and roll bop. Our committee will check with restaurant owners and the cafes to see what bebop records is on their machine and them ask ‘em to do away with ‘em,” said a defiant Adams.

Adam’s committee began to target record stores and branched out to other states beyond Alabama. Stan Lewis, the owner of a record store in Shreveport, Louisiana recalled the impact the Council had when it rolled into a town.

“I came to work one morning and the Council had put stickers on my door and my parking meter because I was selling R & B records and that scared me to death. They put one of my friends in Carolina out of business because of selling the same type music I was selling. That’s scary,” said Lewis.

The White Citizens Councils were very dangerous. It was an effort to put a clean face on evil — an effort to mask it by calling it ‘White Citizens.’

“It was a glorified Klan. It was a Klan without the sheets,” said Seigenthaler.

Just how dangerous became clear when a black motorist drove into Adams’s gas station with a flat tire. Adams became so angry that, when the driver got out of his car to ask him to help change his tire, Adams took out a gun and pistol whipped him. He beat him nearly to death.

“He’s arrested, but then the judge is going to find that he’s going to basically fine him a small amount claming that the black motorist should not have stopped there because he had that big signboard out that said, ‘We serve white customers only’,” said Bertrand.

People worried that Elvis was at risk.

“I think it would have been more dangerous for him (Elvis) if the children hadn’t gravitated to him with such enthusiasm, I mean they were mesmerized by him, enthralled by him,” said Seigenthaler.

While preachers, parents and the Council warned about the evils of Elvis, the kids couldn’t get enough.

“In the paper and everything the preachers called it devil’s music. Of course that made it even more enticing to all of us,” recalled Gloria Reasons.

She and her friends listened to Elvis clandestinely on their AM radios and dreamed about seeing him live. Which they did after convincing her mother to drive seven teenage girls from Alamo, Tennessee, 128 miles south to Tupelo to see him perform at a concert in September of 1956. They left at 4:00 AM in order to get there for the concert. Their mother dropped them off and took a nap at a motel. The girls somehow were able to push themselves forward and snag front row seats. They were mesmerized, snapping photos and staring wide-eyed at the “wiggling” singer. They didn’t even notice that they were getting burns from the stage lights.

“I think if you talked about it in the ’50s we wouldn’t have said the word sex aloud, but I think that’s what Elvis was, you know, I think it was just a raw sexual urge that he projected that just turned on all the young girls,” said Royce Harris, one of Gloria’s friends who attended the concert.

One of their friends, Judy Hopper, was so entranced that she squeezed up onto the stage to plant a kiss on Elvis. Somewhat bemused, he smiled, gave her a kiss and watched as she was escorted off the stage.

“He was just like a keg of dynamite, he was just explosive. I think every girl that ever looked at him thought, you know, would have wanted to go out with him,” said Harris.

The Alamo girls floated home with mom at the wheel of the family station wagon, and all was fine until the next day, when the local papers carried the photo of Judy’s escapade on stage. They all agreed the subsequent grounding was worth it.

It started to become clear that things were changing when Elvis came back home to Memphis for a July 4th concert for the Cynthia Milk Fund in Memphis at the Russwood baseball park. The crowd of 14,000 people at his benefit dwarfed the audience that Senator Eastland drew for a segregationist rally held across town that same night.

“The young kids, particularly teenagers, they’re thinking about race in a different way. This is not to say that they are thinking about it in the same way that, or in a way that we would hope they had thought about it. That maybe they go down and crusade for Civil Rights. But they’re thinking about it in a different way. They’re thinking about it in a way that their grandparents would not have understood,” said Bertrand.

As teenagers bought his records and swelled the crowds at his performances, the then-new medium of television came calling. Elvis would find out that it wasn’t just people in the South who thought he was from the wrong side of the tracks.

Steve Allen, who was in a ratings war with Ed Sullivan, offered him $5,500 to appear on his prime time, NBC show on July 1, 1956. Allen asked him to perform in a skit mocking country singers and then sing to a Bassett Hound.

“I think he was just trying to put him down. Well, if you are going to do that why hire him to do your show? Because the ratings would just go sky high for all those guys and Steve knew it,” said drummer, D. J. Fontana who performed with Elvis at the time. “He didn’t like Steve until the day he died for pulling that off on him,” said Fontana.

Steve Allen considered himself to be one of the tastemakers in this country.

“Obviously this was tasteless, so he was making fun of it,” said Bertrand.

Steve Allen’s rival, Ed Sullivan, had passed on Elvis but after seeing the ratings bump that he delivered for Allen, he signed him for three shows. When Ed Sullivan gave his nod of approval on his Sunday night show, saying he’s, “thoroughly all right,” the band thought they were finally home free.

“When you did the Ed Sullivan Show back then, that was as far as you could go, that was the highest,” said Fontana.

Controversy still surrounded Elvis, but powerful commentators such as Washington journalist Drew Pearson and others started to say that Elvis was “OK.” He went on to record 151 albums, singles and extended-play records that went gold, platinum or multi-platinum, star in 31 feature films, break all attendance records in Las Vegas, be nominated for 14 Grammy Awards (winning 3) and be the subject of over 608 books. And it hasn’t stopped. He earned over $55-million last year, even though he’s been dead for more that 32 years. Graceland, his home in Memphis, attracts over 600,000 visitors a year from all over the world. Many make the 75-mile trip south to Tupelo to see his birthplace. Yet some still dismiss him and his fans.

“Elvis may have become successful, but he never left that working class background. You don’t do that in American culture, the whole thing is about moving up, getting out, succeeding culturally, not just economically. For many people Elvis never did that. He never did. That’s a strike, against him,” said Bertrand.

Don’t say Elvis didn’t succeed to the thousands of people who are expected to make the trek to Graceland and Tupelo for the many events planned this year to celebrate his birthday. They’ll just ignore you while swaying to the music of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Elvis returned their affection when he finished his Tupelo concert in 1956 with “Love Me Tender:”

Love me tender,
Love me long,
Take me to your heart.
For it’s there that I belong,
And we’ll never part.

Love me tender,
Love me dear,
Tell me you are mine.
I’ll be yours through all the years,
Till the end of time.

Little did he know that his fans would be with him too — Happy Birthday Elvis.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rose/elvis-the-king-of-rock-n_b_414211.html

A vibrant chronicle of one of today’s most notorious and revered live bands, Gogol Bordello Non-Stop follows Eugene Hütz’s gypsy-punk brigade around the world as they spread their liberating libertine musical gospel. Filmmaker Margarita Jimeno tracks their raucous gigs from 2001 to 2006, from NYC to Italy, as the band rises from dingy basements to festival main-stages. The cast is a rotating circus of polyglot personalities from Israel, Russia and America, who dish on their music, their heritage, and their favored vices. Hütz, a sardonic mustachioed Ukrainian immigrant and the group ringleader, fuses his gypsy heritage with a love of punk rock and burlesque. Part carnival barker, social organizer, and poet, he’s a mesmerizing presence on-stage and off.

Gogol Bordello: Non Stop is an artful documentary that mixes flamboyant costumes, intricate dance choreography, a relentless beat and an explosive energy not seen since the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll.
 
 
 

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Dear Alive Mind Friends,

Fall is here, and to kick off the new season, Alive Mind is bringing you more up and coming openings, releases, and promotions!

We are excited to premiere our new film Gogol Bordella Non-Stop at New York’s Cinema Village tonight, a film that delves into the wild world of the Ukranian rock band that has garnered an international cult following. The documentary captures the vibrancy of the band’s characters, the hardships of their pasts, and the sheer intensity of Gogol Bordella’s performances.

Fierce Light premieres in Seattle tonight at the Northwest Film Forum. We’ll keep you posted as Fierce Light travels across America, coming next to the Wine Country Film Festival and San Fransisco to the Other Cinema,where Velcrow will be present to answer questions. New York is next!

If you haven’t visited our website lately, now is the time to take a second to browse our selection of films all of which are available either on DVD or Video on Demand.

Also, don’t forget to join us on Facebook and Twitter to learn more about our upcoming screenings and titiles.

Until next week, happy screening.

Gogol Bordello Non-Stop opens today, September 11th, at the Cinema Village! Come see what All Movie Guide calls “a passionate punk tribute to the most uninhibited band on the planet… [a film that] goes beyond music, beyond the political, opening hearts and ears to a global artistic revolution.” Gogol Bordello Non-Stop matches the energy of the eccentric artists, examining both  their infamous onstage presence, and the complexity of their personal lives. Join us for an exhilarating journey with these rock and roll legends tonight. “…a fresh take on the experience of foreigners in the U.S… a sort of gypsy punk cabaret…its just plain awesome.” –New York Magazine “Fan and filmmaker Margarita Jimeno’s five-year journey with the band is like a gateway drug, shot in scruffy DV that’s suitable for Hütz’s gleefully debauched, outsider persona….it’s an exhilarating document.” –The Village Voice “Home-movie footage of Hutz in 1988 Kiev shows an underground superstar in the making… Three Stars!” –The New York Post Showtimes: New York NY - Cinema Village, opens September 11 Austin TX - Alamo Drafthouse, September 21-28 New Orleans LA - Zeitgeist, September 25-October 4 Winnipeg MB - Big Smash! with Lo Pub and the Winnipeg Folk Festival, October 2 Minneapolis MN - Sound Unseen at the Cedar Cultural Center, October 4 Jacksonville FL - Museum of Contemporary Art, October 15 Wichita KS - Tallgrass Film Festival, October 23-25 Read More about tonight’s screening. Read what the Village Voice has to say about this premiere.

Fierce Light is premiering in Seattle, Sonoma and San Fransisco! The feature documentary captures the excitement of Spiritual Activism that is catalyzing the planet. Fueled by the belief that “another world” is possible, Ripper seeks out today’s stories to reveal what is possible when individuals, friends and strangers, faced with a world in crisis, rise to their absolute best. Fierce Light features Velcrow Ripper’s stunning cinematography, a compelling soundtrack, and dramatic stories of resistance and transformation. Read More “Herein lies the key to humankind’s ultimate survival, and what could possibly be more important?” –The Seattle Times Showtimes: Seattle WA - Northwest Film Forum, opens September 11 Sonoma CA - Wine Country Film Festival September 17 San Fransisco CA - Other Cinema September 26 Become a fan of Fierce Light on Facebook! For more features, check out Velcro’s blog at fiercelight.myfilmblog.com

The Art of Faith is an aesthetically stunning documentary that travels the world in search of beauty in the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths. The film brings you infamous religious structures from India to Russia filmed with the saturated colors of spiritual passion. Art of Faith excites the mind, senses and heart by uniting both the theologies of divinity and the splendors of religious art and architecture from around the world. The programs are filmed in twenty-seven key locations in eighteen countries, from Russia to the USA, India to Egupt, and the UK to Hungary. Art of Faith enables viewers to enter into the lives of these people and gain a deeper understanding of the three Abrahamic faith traditions Read More © 2008. 155 minutes. $26.98 Buy Now

Elvis: Return to Tupelo, is the popular PBS show chronicling Elvis Presley’s roots, his rise to rock n’ roll icon and triumphant return to the hometown of his childhood. The Elvis phenomenon has its roots in his birthplace where Presley began a musical journey that would take him from the wrong side of the tracks in Tupelo through Memphis to worldwide iconic status. Using interviews, recordings, photographs and rare home movies, Elvis: Return to Tupelo is the rock n’ roll adventure story of one of the greatest cultural forces of the twentieth century.  Read More © 2008. 90 minutes. $24.98 Buy Now

For the month of September, Alive Mind is offering So Help Me God and Meditate and Destroy for 20% off! These films examine the enlightenment and spirituality that can sometimes come from unexpected sources. So Help Me God tells the story of a faithless man desperately searching for a God to believe in, while Meditate and Destroy portrays the path of a juvenile delinquent finding his faith in Buddhism. Don’t miss the opportunity to indulge in these two mind-expanding documentaries for a great price!

Hello Alive Mind Friends,

More publications chime in on our feature Fierce Light this week, with BeliefNet calling the film “a collection of inspiring stories” that “delved deeper into the connection between faith and activism.” Shambala Sun includes an in-depth interview with director Velcrow Ripper and delves into his background as well as the film. Fierce Light is now available on DVD! Buy your copy now.

The Sundance Channel will broadcast Hair: Let The Sun Shine In on Monday July 27th at 9PM, and again on Thursday, July 30th at 10:45AM and 7:15Pm, so mark your calendars and tune in!

The death of Walter Cronkite, “the most trusted man in America”, raises the question: who do we trust in America today? Who leads us, and in what direction? Walter Cronkite himself opined on these matters in, “The American Ruling Class.” When asked if America, that nominal democratic republic, possessed a ruling class, a group which ran the country regardless of party, the iconic anchor told the filmmakers “the way it is,” the way he saw it: “The ruling class is the rich, who really command our industry, our commerce, and our finance. And those people are so able to manipulate our democracy, that they really control the democracy, I feel.”

The American Ruling Class starring ex-Harper’s Magazine editor Lewis Lapham, then goes farther and deeper, offering a subtle and penetrating, humorous and musical tour of America’s unique ruling elite. The American Ruling Class has never been more relevant to the current news cycle or to the collective consciousness of the American public. Goldman Sachs is announcing record profits and it is the subject of a big Rolling Stone expose in which Matt Taibbi discusses “The Great American Bubble Machine,” stating, “The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it’s everywhere. The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” Does Goldman Sachs still rule the world? Find out the back story with the feature documentary, The American Ruling Class.

Click here to read the rest of Taibbi’s article.

In other news, Viktor Nagornyy of the Examiner reviews So Help Me God, simply stating “If you want something refreshing, something personal, and powerful – watch So Help Me God.” He goes on to call the film “a personal masterpiece that will leave your mind in a deep thought contemplating about your own spiritual state of mind.” Coming soon to DVD, preview it online now and see for yourself.

Coming soon on DVD, Meditate & Destroy is now available for preview. Meditate and Destroy is an 81-minute documentary about punk rock, spirituality, and inner rebellion. The film focuses on the bestselling author of Dharma Punx and Against the Stream, Noah Levine. Tattoos, motorcycles, and Buddha are featured in this hard-hitting look at how Buddhism has a place in the world of punks. This inspiring film opens our perception to the possibilities of finding new paths- even in our darkest hours.

This film provides an up-close look at how the driving forces in Noah’s life changed from violence, addiction and rebellion to taking on the role of dedicated meditation teacher and community leader - an individual whose candor inspires others to integrate Buddhist teachings of nonviolence and inner peace with a Western lifestyle.

We hope you enjoy this quirky, unconventional film. Spread the word to all your friends and family about the upcoming DVD release in August 2009!

If you’re in the neighborhood this this Sunday, July 26th, Tibetan Book of the Dead will play at the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art on Staten Island.

Until the next Buzz.

Hello Alive Mind Friends,

We are happy to announce that Lorber Films, the theatrical and DVD releasing arm of Lorber HT Digital that specializes in award-winning international films, classics and documentary features, launched this past Fourth of July weekend with two highly anticipated release, Tony Manero and Nollywood Babylon. The critically acclaimed Tony Manero is now playing at Cinema Village in New York City through this weekend while the acclaimed Sundance documentary Nollywood Babylon, about the burgeoning, homegrown Nigerian cinema industry, is at The Museum of Modern Art through Thursday evening (click here to check times).

In screening news, The Gates will open at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa on July 11th and continue its run until the 17th, with filmmaker Christo in attendance at select screenings. Another Alive Mind release, Fierce Light, will be playing from September 11th to the 13th at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle. Nollywood Babylon will be moving out of New York with openings at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (Oklahoma City, OK) on July 9th and the Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz (Austin, TX) from August 9th to the 12th. Tony Manero will likewise be heading to the Laemmle Music Hall in Los Angeles for a July 17th opening, as well as the Screenland in Kansas City for a weekend-only opening beginning July 24th.

Also in theaters is Theater of War, John Walter’s (How to Draw a Bunny) fascinating documentary that weaves together two significant cultural climates through the prism of two extraordinary artists: Bertolt Brecht, a giant of 20th-century theater, and Meryl Streep, one of our greatest living actors. In 2006, The Public Theater in New York City mounted an outdoor production of Mother Courage and Her Children, which boasted a new translation by Tony Kushner, featured Streep and the great Kevin Kline, and was directed by the Public’s George C. Wolfe. Written in 1939 largely in response to the invasion of Poland by Hitler’s German army, the play is about the devastating effects of war and the blindness of anyone hoping to profit by it. Nearly seven decades later-as the war in Iraq wages on with no discernable end-Brecht’s play has a lamentable resonance.

Theater of War has been hailed by the Boston Herald, who said, “If you’re interested in world theater or the work ethic of arguably the greatest actor of her generation, see Theater of War…. a must-see event for theater-lovers and Streep watchers alike. Don’t miss it,” and Salon.com added, “For those interested in the continuing relevance of theater in a society dominated by momentary electronic impulses, in the responsibility of artists in wartime and in the greatest anti-capitalist, anti-government, antiwar and anti-romantic playwright of the 20th century, Walter’s cool, capable, stimulating exploration is a must.”  The film will be playing at the Castillo Theater on the following dates: July 16, 23, 30th and August 6th.  Theater of War will be available on DVD later this year.

If you’ve been following our buzz updates, you’ll be pleased to know we now have our own fan pages on Facebook! You can join Lorber Films by clicking here or join our Alive Mind fan page here for constant updates on new releases, events and special promotions.

Available now for online preview are a number of upcoming releases: Intangible Asset #82, Fierce Light, Griefwalker, and Meditate and Destroy and So Help Me God. To screen any of these titles as well as some Alive Mind classics, such as Kiki & Herb: Live at the Knitting Factory, The American Ruling Class or Sacred Love-Making, please click here.

Intangible Asset #82 captures the creative odyssey of Australian drummer Simon Barker in search of his muse, Korean Shaman Kim Seok-Chul - a Grand Master in his seventies who plays with immense energy and complex technique. In a Q&A on the SilverDocs website, filmmaker Emma Franz described her film as a “demonstration of how people from completely disparate walks of life can communicate through music.”

Fierce Light chronicles acclaimed filmmaker Velcrow Ripper Ripper’s journey to document examples of spiritual activism, what Dr. King called “Love in Action,” and Gandhi called “Soul Force.” Calgary’s FFWD Magazine called it, “Beautiful, poetic, powerful and important. It almost never happens, you finish watching a film and as the credits roll you think ‘everyone should see this film. But everyone (and I mean everyone) should see Fierce Light.”

Griefwalker is filmmaker Tim Wilson’s extraordinary  portrait of his old friend Stephen Jenkinson and his work. Whether sitting at the bedside of a dying woman, or speaking to clinicians whose job it is to delay death as long as possible, Jenkinson bears a message that most people do not want to hear: that our deaths are not something to be denied or avoided, but “befriended.”

Meditate and Destroy is an 81-minute documentary about punk rock, spirituality, and inner rebellion. The film focuses on the bestselling author of Dharma Punx and Against the Stream, Noah Levine. Tattoos, motorcyles, and Buddha are featured in this hard-hitting look at how Buddhism has a place in the world of punks. MTV Movies described the film by saying, “‘Meditate & Destroy’ is not your mama’s documentary. It features a good dose of drama, and a rockin’ soundtrack with live performances from seminal bands like Bold and Good Riddance. It doesn’t hurt that Levine’s followers are one good-looking bunch of young, blue-haired, pierced, tattooed hotties. If Noah’s students and his story have anything to prove, it’s one of the best lines in the movie: ‘Buddhism ain’t just for hippies anymore.’”

Last but not least, So Help Me God is a breezy and sharp journey across America in the search of God. This is the story of Simon Cole, an Englishman who lives a charmed life. Simon has everything he could want: a beautiful car, a house, and a loving wife. But there is something Simon feels is missing in his life - the presence of God.  Simon thus decides to begin a trip that will take him into strangers’ homes and many a religious establishment as he asks questions that have beset him for too long.

And don’t forget to check out our special summer promos on the Alive Mind site… Arab Labor is now $26.98, which is an $8 savings for this side-splitting Jewish-Palestinian hit comedy series. And on the home front, below is a picture of our vice president schmoozing with the world-renowned artists, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, at Silver Docs. They are the featured artists in The Gates, another Lorber Films title coming to you on DVD soon.

Hello Alive Mind Friends,

With its recent win of Best Revival of a Musical at the Tony Awards, why not check out the definitive and entertaining documentary HAIR: Let the Sun Shine In, a perfect DVD for any HAIR musical enthusiast? The DVD includes one hour of bonus material featuring interviews with original stage and revival cast members, author/lyricist James Rado, and much, much more. Hailed by Jeffrey Kaufmann of DVD Talk as “a fascinating journey down memory lane with many of the people that created and performed in the musical,” our DVD is a collector’s must have.

In other news, our award-winning documentary FlicKeR had its New York City premiere at the Anthology Film Archives, with special guest DJ Spooky and filmmaker Nik Sheehan in attendance. FLicKeR tells the story of the influential yet little-known artist Brion Gysin (1916-1986), and his amazing dream machine, a drug-free way to achieve altered states of mind through dancing pulses of light, which he and his friends believed would revolutionize human consciousness. San Francisco Weekly called it a “rare documentary that jumps beyond informative and entertaining into the realm of mind-expanding, FLicKeR blends revelatory biography, energizing philosophy, and seductive trances.” Read more about FLicKeR below. To screen this film online, buy a ticket for $4.95. When you receive your ticket number along with confirmation of purchase, go to the Screening Room, select FLicKeR from the pull down menu, and enter the ticket number. The ticket is good for one week. After this, the price of the ticket can be applied to your purchase of the DVD.

Also notable is Intangible Asset #82, which screens July 17th at this year’s SilverDocs. In a Q&A on the SilverDocs website, filmmaker Emma Franz described her film as a “demonstration of how people from completely disparate walks of life can communicate through music.” Preview now for $4.95 by clicking here and apply the price towards the upcoming DVD release, later this summer. When you receive your ticket number along with confirmation of purchase, go to the Screening Room, select Intangible Asset from the pull down menu, and enter the ticket number.

In recent releases, Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action marks its debut on DVD, available exclusively to Alive Mind subscribers. The film chronicles acclaimed filmmaker Velcrow Ripper Ripper’s journey to document examples of spiritual activism, what Dr. King called “Love in Action,” and Gandhi called “Soul Force.” Calgary’s FFWD Magazine called it “Beautiful, poetic, powerful and important. It almost never happens, you finish watching a film and as the credits roll you think ‘everyone should see this film. But everyone (and I mean everyone) should see Fierce Light.” Preview online by purchasing your ticket here, or buy your copy now by clicking here.

Also, a recent op-ed piece by Ray Hanania in The Jerusalem Post makes specific mention of our series Arab Labor. Hanania says “I laughed hysterically. Not at the racism portrayed by each side, but rather at the way that real life deals with these anomalies in our tenuous existence,” adding, “It’s not really an Israeli version of Jerry Seinfeld, the Jewish American actor whose mother is a Syrian-Jew (making him my favorite Arab comedian, by the way). It’s more like the 1960s and 70s American TV sitcom, All in the Family, where race and race issues were ripped apart to make a social point.” Now Available exclusively from Alive Mind, purchase your copy here.

The Huffington Post also notes our film Absolutely Safe in the article “Are Breast Implants “Absolutely Safe?” The article, by Marcia G. Yerman, is an extensive look at the debate on the safety of breast augmentation, a specific point the film addresses. Filmmaker Carol Ciancutti-Leyva is currently drafting legislation for informed consent to be a legal requirement. Show your support either by visiting Carol’s site and learning more, or by purchasing a copy of the film today by clicking here!

As our films continue to make appearances, recent screenings include Fierce Light, which screened at Noetic conference in Tucson, June 17th through the 21st, the Santa Fe Film Center, the Maui Film Festival, and the Waterfront Film Festival in Michigan with an appearance by actress Daryl Hannah. Intangible Asset also screened at the Santa Fe Film Center through June 24th. Finally, The Gates will be screening at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa July 11th through the 17th, with Christo, one of the artists behind the installation, in attendance. Visit the Alive Mind site to learn more about upcoming events!

Until next time friends, follow us on Twitter by clicking here!

FLicKeR will be making its New York City premiere on Saturday June 13 at 8pm.  The film will be showing at the Anthology Film Archives, located at 32 Second Avenue, with another showing on Sunday June 14 at 8pm.

Director Nik Sheehan will be in attendance along with special guests.  DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid will be on hand for the Q&A on Sunday.

ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
32 SECOND AVENUE NEW YORK, NY 10003; (212) 505-5181 fax (212) 477-2714
For Immediate Release       May 15, 2009

Contact: Stephanie Gray at publicity@anthologyfilmarchives.org

SPECIAL FLICKER-FILM WEEKEND!
June 13 - 14

Featuring NYC premiere engagement of
Nik Sheehan’s documentary
FLicKeR
Filmmaker in person!

And, featuring classic “Flicker” films by
Tony Conrad, Paul Sharits, Peter Kubelka,
William S. Burroughs/Anthony Balch & more

Anthology is thrilled to present a special FLICKER-FILM WEEKEND featuring the NY Premiere Engagement of Nik Sheehan’s award-winning documentary FLicKeR, about Brion Gysin and the dream machine, alongside two jam-packed programs of classic “Flicker” films including Tony Conrad’s infamous THE FLICKER, along with films by William S. Burroughs/Anthony Balch, Peter Kubelka, Bradley Eros & Jeanne Liotta, Paul Sharits, and more!

FLicKeR director Nik Sheehan will be there in person, along with special guests from the film.

To be screened;

NIK SHEEHAN’S DOCUMENTARY FLicKeR

“Really, I think, behind everything, he was trying to teach people to see differently.” –Genesis P-Orridge, on Brion Gysin

FLicKeR tells the story of the influential yet little-known artist Brion Gysin (1916-1986), and his amazing dream machine, a drug-free way to achieve altered states of mind through dancing pulses of light, which he and his friends believed would revolutionize human consciousness.

Featuring greats like William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin (in archival footage), singer Marianne Faithfull, rocker Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo, singer/artist Genesis P-Orridge of Psychic TV, poet John Giorno, filmmaker Kenneth Anger, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, and artist/turntablist DJ Spooky, among other counter-culture superstars, FLicKeR is a hypnotic documentary that asks fundamental questions about an individual’s freedom to dream and create.

The Dream Machine looks simple enough: a 100-watt light bulb, a motor, and a rotating cylinder with cutouts. Just sit in front of it, close your eyes, and wait for the visions to come. The Dream Machine offers a drugless high that its creator – poet, artist, calligrapher, and mystic Brion Gysin – believed would revolutionize human consciousness. He wasn’t alone. William S. Burroughs thought it could be used to “storm the citadels of enlightenment.”

With a custom-made Dream Machine in tow, Nik Sheehan takes us on a journey into the life of Brion Gysin – his art, his complex ideas, and his friendships with some of the 20th century’s key counterculture figures. Taking the Dream Machine as the basis of its explorations, FLicKeR asks crucial questions about the nature of art and consciousness, and imagines a humanity liberated to explore its creativity in complete freedom.

FLicKeR has played numerous prestige international film festivals and was released theatrically across Canada in winter 2009, to rave reviews and universal praise.

“The rare documentary that jumps beyond informative and entertaining into the realm of mind-expanding, FLicKeR blends revelatory biography, energizing philosophy, and seductive trances.”
– SAN FRANCISCO WEEKLY

“Fascinating… illuminating… riveting, and eye-opening to those who thought they knew their Beats until now.”– John Griffin, MONTREAL GAZETTE

–Showing Saturday and Sunday, June 13 & 14 at 8:00 each night.

FLicKeR
2007, 75 minutes, video.
Special thanks to Ray Privett (Cinema Purgatorio).

****
TWO PROGRAMS OF CLASSIC FLICKER FILMS!

FLICKS PROGRAM 1:

William S. Burroughs & Anthony Balch
TOWERS OPEN FIRE
1963, 16 minutes, 16mm, b&w, sound. Archival print courtesy of the British Film Institute; special thanks to Fleur Buckley (BFI) & Genesis P-Orridge.
TOWERS OPEN FIRE is an assault on linear narrative and good taste, bringing together readings by Burroughs, unrelated film sequences, and the pervasive image of Gysin’s Dream Machine – inducer of hallucinations and mental stimulation.

Paul Sharits
RAZORBLADES
1965-1968, 25 minutes, double-screen 16mm, color/b&w, sound.
“A mandala opens to the other side of consciousness. Since the film ends as it begins and because its inner fabric is made up of loops, an infinite loop is suggested.” –P.S.
“This complex and controversial experiment utilizes two screens and the simultaneous projection of two separate films working in tandem. Each consists of unrelated, compulsively recurring images, not more than a few frames in length, interrupted by carefully-spaced blank or color frames.” –Amos Vogel, FILM AS A SUBVERSIVE ART

Anthony Balch
THE CUT UPS
1966, 18 minutes, 16mm, b&w, sound. Archival print courtesy of the British Film Institute; special thanks to Fleur Buckley (BFI) & Genesis P-Orridge.
With THE CUT UPS, Burroughs and Balch oversaw the creation of a cinema that attempted nothing less than the savage deconstruction of the relationship between image and reality. The film negates even the loose narratives of underground film in favor of a jarring mathematical cut-up technique that attempts to create an estrangement between sensory and psychological conceptions.
Total running time: ca. 65 minutes.
–Saturday, June 13 at 6:00.

FLICKS PROGRAM 2:

Tony Conrad
THE FLICKER
1966, 30 minutes, 16mm, b&w, sound.
Conrad studied the physiology of the nervous system at Harvard. Through this film, consisting of only alternating black-and-white film images, he invents a new film image. By implicating the retina rather than sight – that is, by stimulating physiological rather than psychological impressions – the film displaces the centers of reception from the sensory to the neural.

Bradley Eros and Jeanne Liotta
DERVISH MACHINE
1992, 10 minutes, Super-8mm-to-16mm blow-up, color/b&w, sound.
“Hand-developed meditations on being and movement, as inspired by Gysin’s Dream Machine, Sufi mysticism and early cinema.” –Eros/Liotta
“DERVISH MACHINE reminds us that the cinema is a ferris wheel, a zoetrope and a time bomb.” –Mark McElhatten

Peter Kubelka
ARNULF RAINER
1960, 7 minutes, 35mm, b&w, sound.
Combines an image track consisting of black-and-white frames with a soundtrack alternating white noise and silence. The effect is a flickering screen image and a pulsating sound that is not directly synchronized to the visual pattern. In reducing cinema to its essentials, Kubelka illustrates that “cinema is not movement but a projection of still images – and that it is not between shots but between frames where cinema speaks.”

Victor Grauer
ARCHANGEL
1966, 10 minutes, 16mm, color, sound.
“[It] is a color flicker film that was finished about the same time as THE FLICKER…an extension of [Grauer’s] concepts of music into the spectrum of color, a transposition. So I think each person – Kubelka first, Tony and Victor and myself in the same year – came to it from different angles.” –Paul Sharits
Total running time: ca. 60 minutes.
–Sunday, June 14 at 6:30.

**

Check out these sites for more info on FLicKeR!
Official website (with clips, credit list & more):
http://www.flickerflicker.com

Blog:
http://flicker.myfilmblog.com/
Press screening of the selected “Flicker” films will be held:
Wed, May 27, 1pm – 2pm
Tony Conrad: The Flicker (30 min)
Peter Kubelka: Arnulf Rainer (7 min)
Victor Grauer: Archangel (10 min)

Press screening of FLicKeR will be held:
Thurs, May 28, 1pm – 2:15pm

FLicKeR SCREENERS AVAILABLE
FLicKeR director available for interviews

IMAGES AVAILABLE for FLicKeR & other films

To RSVP to a press screening, request a screener, an image, an interview or further info, email Stephanie Gray: publicity@anthologyfilmarchives.org

About Anthology Film Archives:  Founded in 1970, Anthology’s mission is to exhibit, preserve, collect documentation about, and promote public and scholarly understanding of independent, classic, and avant-garde cinema. Anthology screens more than 900 film and video programs per year, publishes books and catalogs annually, and has preserved more than 700 films to date.
Directions: Anthology is at 32 Second Ave. at 2nd St. Subway: F or V to 2nd Ave; 6 to Bleecker.
Tickets: $9 general; $8 Essential Cinema (free for members); $7 for students, seniors, & children (12 & under); $6 AFA members.

Hello Alive Mind Friends,

We are happy to announce that after premiering at SXSW and Hot Docs, Intangible Asset #82 is on its way to the Silver Docs! This insightful documentary chronicles the journey of Simon Barker, a highly respected Australian musician internationally renowned for his jazz drumming and improvisation. After hearing a recording of one Kim Seok-Chul seven years ago, Simon was immediately impressed by the immense energy and complex technique present. Kim Seok-Chul, officially designated as Intangible Cultural Asset Number 82 by the South Korean government, is an esteemed Korean hereditary shaman, occasionally appearing for villagers to perform rituals for a bumper fishing harvest or to settle restless souls of the dead. As he explored further, Simon discovered that few recordings exist of Kim Seok-Chul and none of his music has been transcribed for future generations. With the conviction that he must find and learn from the enigmatic shaman, Simon begins his seven-year quest.

Erin Criger of Toronto’s City News commended the film as “the most unlikely of road-trip movies,” adding that “it’s a race against time to meet the ill man and part of the journey is spent learning the intricacies of Korean music.” Jay Seaver of EfilmCritic called it “a fascinating trip from the very first stop,” and a “a great place to start, as it really drives home just how different traditional Korean music is from traditional Western music, while getting us into the countryside and establishing what a strong tradition music has in the culture.” Intangible Asset #82 will be playing at cultural venues and micro cinemas throughout the summer and will be available this fall on DVD, so keep an eye out for upcoming screenings in your neighborhood either at Alivemind.net, or on our new Alive Mind Twitter feed. Read the filmmaker’s blog here.

Also coming soon to a theater near you is Fierce Light, which ranked #2 against against Star Trek in Toronto and Vancouver! This transformational documentary captures the wave of Spiritual Activism exploding around the planet, and the powerful personalities who are igniting it, such as Alice Walker, . Vanessa Farquharson of the National Post calls it a “thorough and honest portrait of today’s activists and what they should understand if they hope to move forward with any measure of success,” and Liz Braun of the Toronto Sun says, “Fierce Light offers a wide variety of interpretations of spirituality. Connectedness is a common thread, and that connection extends to the planet and every aspect of nature.” Read Velcrow’s blog to learn more about Fierce Light and upcoming screenings/appearances or preview online for $4.98, which is applicable to your future DVD purchase.

Among our new releases, Arab Labor is now available on DVD. This controversial Israeli TV comedy series focuses on Amjad, a Palestinian journalist and Israeli citizen in search of his identity as he seeks high status in the society into which he was born but where his car is searched everyday when he drives from his Palestinian neighborhood to his job at a newspaper in Jerusalem. Poking fun at the cultural divide, Kashua and his characters play on religious, cultural and political differences to daringly depict the mixed society that is Israel. Los Angeles Times hailed Arab Labor as a “valiant, consistently hilarious attempt to explore the tensions and contradictions of everyday life among the Israeli minority.” Buy your copy here.

Also out is The Tibetan Book of the Dead. An ancient source of strength and guidance, The Tibetan Book of the Dead remains an essential teaching originating in the spiritual cultures of the Himalayas. Narrated by Leonard Cohen, this enlightening two-part series explores the sacred text and boldly visualizes the afterlife according to its profound wisdom.

Another new release is Through the Eastern Gate. Filmed in the gorgeous countryside and ancient cities of India and Turkey, this compelling documentary follows the journeys of three young people who have turned their backs on the material comforts and distractions of the West to find meaning in the spiritual philosophies of the East. Save 25% through June 15th when you purchase The Tibetan Book of the Dead and Through the Eastern Gate Insert, just insert code ThroughTibetan25 at checkout.

Upcoming DVD releases include So Help Me God, a witty and exploratory journey across America in search of God in different cultures, is one of our upcoming releases. In the film, the filmmaker and protagonist meets with Mormons, Muslims, Jews and Jehovah’s in hope they can help to fill the hole he feels his life is missing. The film approaches the complex yet universal questions about God and religion in an entirely accessible way. The film will be available on DVD in late July, priced at $24.98.

In news around the world, at Cannes Richard Lorber unveiled the upcoming release of Sokurov’s The Sun and 2008 New York Film Festival winner Tony Manero. Tony Manero, is a macabre political parable, in which the main characters’s obsession with Saturday Night Fever is an apt metaphor for the dictatorship. The film’s use of violence and sexual dysfunction is appropriate and powerful. Raul’s fantasy, and his single-minded pursuit of it, paints a dark picture of life under a dictator.

Until next time friends, sign-up for the Alive Mind newsletter to receive information about upcoming releases, screenings near you and special promotions or follow us on Twitter!

http://twitter.com/alivemind

Arab Labor is a raucous and irreverent critically acclaimed comedy series from Israel about Amjad, a Palestinian journalist and Israeli citizen in search of his identity. His personal quest for status and success as a journalist at a Jerusalem newspaper is foiled by the humiliating searches he endures everyday when he leaves his Palestinian neighborhood to commute to his job. In the midst of a walloping identity crisis, Amjad jockeys between two cultures as he tries to polish his image for his Jewish friends and colleagues while enjoying his own down-to-earth family life. The result is a comedy series that pierces the taboos of acceptable language and humor surrounding the prickly, long-standing status quo in which Palestinian and Jewish Israelis live side by side.
 
 

“Meet the Palestinian Seinfeld.”
-San Francisco Chronicle

“…groundbreaking and amazing…”
-Los Angeles Times

“It will tickle your funny bone, and maybe strike a nerve.”
-The Associated Press

“…a groundbreaking TV show…”
-The Chicago Tribune

“…barges through cultural barriers…”
-The New York Times

“It’s not really an Israeli version of Jerry Seinfeld, the Jewish American actor whose mother is a Syrian-Jew (making him my favorite Arab comedian, by the way). It’s more like the 1960s and 70s American TV sitcom, All in the Family, where race and race issues were ripped apart to make a social point.”
-Jerusalem Post

“…one of the most brilliant portrayals of the challenging life Arabs in Israel face every day… remarkably captivating… Episode after episode draws the viewer through the maze of conflicts that make of the reality of Arab-Jewish life in Israel…I urge you to get it. Not to laugh at the foibles of human tragedy, but rather to understand through the only medium that permits understanding in the emotion-charged Arab-Israeli conflict, humor.”
-The National Arab American Times Newspaper

• Video Clips - Coming Soon!
• Credits

In the state of Judea in southern Africa, violence, poverty and sectarianism are endemic. The neighboring Alliance has invaded to restore ‘peace’ at gunpoint. Bloody street battles accompany the neighboring dictatorship’s incursion into its weaker satellite. Promises of a transition to open democratic rule accompany summary executions and brutal massacres. As the civil war reaches a new level, a divine child is born to a lowly couple. As he grows and witnesses the inhumanity of the world he lives in, his angelic guardians offer him an escape to the heavens. He refuses. This is his world and he must try to save it from the work of evil men and from the darkness working through them. As an adult, he travels to the capital, gathering followers from the armed factions of rebels that crisscross the land. He demands that his followers give up their guns and confront their corrupt rulers with a vision of non-violent protest and solidarity. Inevitably, he attracts the attention of the Judean tribal leaders who have struck a power-sharing deal with the aloof Governor Pilate. The Son of Man must be brought down and destroyed. It should be another simple ‘disappearance’ like any other…
 
 

“More moving than the Last temptation of Christ and smarter than Mel Gibson’s Passion”
- Seattle Weekly

“It doesn’t strain to draw parallels with world events because it doesn’t have to…extraordinary and powerful.”
- Roger Ebert

“Vivid, thrilling, awe-inspiring”
- Telegraph

“Son of Man could hardly
be bettered”
- Variety

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



Son of Man DVD
Price:	$26.98 (Home Use)
Item #:	LF-DVD-37
Availability:	U.S.
Running Time:	91 minutes
Technical Aspects:	16:9
Language:	English and Xhosa with English subtitles
Copyright:	© 2007 Spier Films. All rights reserved.

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